A/N: never expected this chapter to become long (2k words). Happy reading!

OST – Fukasawa Hideyuki (Mahoutsukai no Yoru/Witch of the Holy Night)

Music Atonement: Ghost Bell

Main Point 3: Undesirable Past

They approached the individual peeping at the crack of the door. Stopping at the foot of the stairs, JC crossed her arms as she stayed back a few meters away from the trio to watch the scene unfold in front of her.

"What's goin' on?" Donald inquired at the suspicious peeper.

The stranger laughed, not turning around despite three unknown people just asked him a question. "I send some of my lackeys inside to see if the master of this tower's as big and tough as they say."

She blinked at his words. Is some big shot person living here?

"Word is, he's a real powerful sorcerer." The peeper continued, responding to her silent question. "Which would make him the perfect bodyguard for me. See, it don't matter how tough he is—once he is a Heartless, he'll do as I say!"

The trio immediately take a battle stance to the stranger. "A Heartless?!"

JC arched an eyebrow at this but she didn't uncrossed her arms and continued to witness the scene roll by.

"That's right. They're those things that come outta the darkness in folk's heartless. Why, with all those Heartless at her side, my dear Maleficent is gonna conquer everything!"

JC felt her heart stopped, forgotten how to breathe of the name she just heard.

"And since I got me a debt to pay, I'm goin' round to a bunch of different worlds and buildin' an army of Heartless, special for her."

…what? She stood frozen behind them, unaware of her shocked expression at the revelation. Maleficent—the first mistake she trusted in her youth, a former mentor of hers who claimed to cultivate her potential when in reality, used her for her own selfishness.

The person who gave her an illusion of righteousness.

Maleficent, her former adoptive mother and the last person she wanted to see.

Of all the efforts of running away from her—not wanting to see her again due to the betrayal she felt for the villain; who never thought that this stranger who seemed to have a connection to a person who was a distorted familial figure would come running back at her.

"Pete!?"

She was forcibly snapped out of her trance at the loud voices. She looked ahead in confusion.

"You know him?" Sora asked Goofy beside him.

"We sure do!" Goofy nodded. "Pete's been causing trouble for ages! His majesty banished him to another dimension a long time ago. I wonder how he escaped."

She frowned. Again with this majesty person…

"You wanna know, eh?" Pete laughed as hard as he can. "Well, Maleficent busted me out, that's how!"

She looked at Pete in disbelief. There's no way Maleficent saved him without a catch, isn't it? Well… judging from his words, Maleficent had been using him tremendously with his talk about jumping to other words for building armies of Heartless for Maleficent to 'conquer' everything.

She sighed, shaking her head at the villain-like ambition. Now that she was older and wiser now, she was able to see the ridiculousness of Maleficent's goal to triumph the world—or rather, worlds under her command.

Again, there's a nagging feeling returned at the back of her head, as if telling her that she forgot something. Something that she's supposed to be aware of.

"Maleficent, huh…" Sora said as he looked over his companions, chuckling under their breath. She stood behind them with a tilted head at the knowing yet mocking behavior towards the stranger Pete.

"What are you laughing at?!" Pete was obviously miffed at this sight. "Why, Maleficent's power is so great—"

"She's toast." Sora said simply.

"Sorry, but Maleficent can't help ya now." Goffy added.

"Whaddya mean?!" Pete spoke out JC's same question at them.

"Like Sora said, she's toast. She's gone, Pete." Donald clarified.

Pete gasped in realization. "You! So you're the ones that did it!"

"Well…" Sora put his hands behind his head. "we mighta had something to do with it." He said cheekily.

Pete was clearly pissed, trembling and grinding his teeth in frustration before he called out with a loud voice. "Heartless Squad! Round up!"

JC did a double take with multiple Heartless appearing out of nowhere under them like a shadow. "Wait…!" She had finally spoken after she had taken her role as audience. "They can be commanded?!"

"Yeah… it's a long story but we have to take them out first!" Sora said confidently as a weapon appeared in his hands that is shaped like a gigantic key. She stared at it for a while as a sense of familiarity came to her from it.

"Donald, Goofy! Protect her from the Heartless!"

"Got it!" The duo nodded at the boy's command.

She was taken back. "Whoa, wait—"

"Incoming!"

She wasn't able to speak up to them, busy destroying Heartless one by one. Standing at the sideline, she took this time to contemplate for herself, taking the news Maleficent being gone—killed by the trio during their journey.

She internally shook her head in disbelief. There's no way Maleficent would go down that easily. She's her (former) mentor, for goodness' sake—she knows how cunning Maleficent can be in her arsenal. Being defeated by a bunch of adventurers, surely she must have been planning some type of revenge against the poor trio for making her go down. Something unpleasant that JC doesn't want to know.

But still, the news of Maleficent being gone… she felt a bit disheartened. She knows for a certain fact that she was being manipulated by the villain but there is another fact that she was the one who took care of her when there is no one for her. Something that she was grateful for. She sighed at her thoughts. To think her first thoughts of Maleficent was her being saddened by the news of her death—there must something wrong with her head.

JC felt herself recoiled as a tight grip grasped her arm without warning. She turned her head at the culprit and came face to face with Pete's.

"So, you're the girl Maleficent was talking 'bout," He started to drag her to who-knows-where. "I dunno what's important to ya but you're coming with me!"

Without warning, she punched him in the face in her free hand. Pete staggered away from her, loosen his grasp to her arm and gripped his face at the hard blow, groaning in pain as she took this opportunity to get away from him.

He growled in irritation. "Heartless! Get her but don't hurt her too much!"

She frowned at his command. Does the Heartless even have that kind of intelligence to not hurt her?

"JC!" The trio came running at her as they slain the Heartless that came at her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," She nodded at them, hiding her disappointment for not destroying the handful of Heartless for herself. "I'm fine."

"You…! You just wait!" Pete pointed at them in anger, his other hand still covering his face in pain. "Nobody, and I do mean nobody, messes with the mighty Pete!"

"Sooo, mighty Pete," Sora mockingly played along how Pete addressed himself. "I wonder if you deserved to be called 'mighty' when you got punched in the face by a girl."

The villain scowled at him.

"Anyway, miiiiggghhty Pete," the boy purposely dragged the word, ignoring the look that was shot to him. "Would you care and tell me who lives in this tower?"

Pete gave them a look and scoffed at them. "Oh, ya don't know? Well, it's old Yen Sid."

"Master Yen Sid lives here?!" Donald exclaimed in shock as he hurriedly ran inside the tower, leaving his friends behind.

"Who's that?" JC asked, turning to Sora and Goofy in inquiry.

"Well, Yen Sid is the King's teacher!" Goofy answered for her.

"Wow, sounds powerful." Sora seemed impressed.

JC decides to join in. "Well, he does sounds like one but I have a question. Who's your king—"

For the second time of the day, she wasn't able to speak up to them when they left to enter as she was left on her own outside the tower. She hanged her hand in chagrin and sighed under her breath.

"Hey, girl!" She heard someone called out when she was about to take a step to the stairs. She turned her head to Pete. "You tell those three to expect something worse from me next time we met! And," he pointed at her. "I'll make you regret for giving me undeserving punch in the face!"

She just stared blankly at him. "You better should go, Mister mighty Pete. If the person who lives in this tower is powerful as people says, you are not right to think that he had become a Heartless."

"And what makes you say that, girl?" The villain narrowed his eyes at her.

JC raised her eyebrows at him incredulously. "Does that seriously need an explanation? Alright. The fact that those three—"she pointed her thumb at the door, meant to point the trio who are already inside, "easily destroyed that Heartless Squad of yours, and the fact that you easily faltered from my weak punch, it makes sense why you wanted a bodyguard."

"What?!"

"Have you ever thought why Mister Yen Sid didn't come out from his tower despite how small the land is? I'm sure your answer will be, 'well, because he's afraid to face me, that's what!'" She imitated Pete's voice. "Well, you are wrong. He didn't come out in his tower because you are not worthy enough to face him."

"Why, you—!?"

"Like I said, Pete. You should go. The next time you search for a bodyguard, make sure that they are the same level as you."

JC didn't wait for a response from the other party as she entered the tower, following the trio inside and gently closed the door behind her.

"You took so long to enter, JC!" Sora greeted her inside. "Did Pete said something at you?"

She shrugged. "Nothing special. Just exchanged a few words."

"I never expected to run into Pete here!" Goofy joined their conversation. "To think he's not just messing around with our world but here too…"

"Pete's a little late to the party." Donald shook his head. "We already defeated Maleficent."

"So it is true, then? That you defeated Maleficent?"

Sora put his hand behind his head with a grin. "Yeah. We struggled a bit against her but we managed."

She put her hand under her chin, humming thoughtfully at his words. She should be relieved at this news but she can't help but feel an unsettling feeling in her gut. Maleficent can be shrewd in her own way. Just because they defeated Maleficent doesn't mean she's completely gone. The loopholes of resurrections can exploited in her own way.

"Why does that make you worry? Do you know her?" Sora asked with tilted head.

JC dropped her hands to her sides. "Nothing. I knew her in the past… I just can't believe that she was defeated."

Donald glanced at her suspiciously. "You knew Maleficent? What is your relationship with her?"

She took a moment to stare at them. From Sora's expectant look to Goofy's blinking naive eyes and Donald frowning expression. She took a deep breath.

"Maleficent is my adoptive mother."

The trio stood frozen, stunned at the revelation.

"WHAT?!"

"HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!"

"SORA, GET AWAY FROM HER! SHE MIGHT BE AN ACCOMPLICE TO MALEFICENT LIKE PETE!"

JC held her hands in front of her. "I no longer had contact to her anymore ever since I was a kid. I ran away when I found out that she was just using me."

"…and how can you prove that?"

She looked at Donald in thought. She had no way to prove that she no longer communicates with Maleficent.

"…I'll give you my notebook to prove that." She decided.

"Are you sure about that, JC?" Goofy looked at her worriedly. "Are you sure that we can just snoop around in your journal?"

"I don't care if you read it all the time, I'm not that easily offended." She shrugged. "Besides, I have no reason to lie."

The trio looked among themselves, silently communicating with each other. After a few moments of eye-talking, Sora stepped forward and smiled at her.

"Sure! Since those three, uh… Hayner, Pence and Olette trusted you, we have no reason to turn you away!"

"Sora!" Donald exclaimed at him.

"What? At least she told us that Maleficent was her mother. She was being forward about it."

"But we can't easily trust her either! What if she suddenly betray us and left us?"

"Hey." JC cut them off. "I'm not even part your rag-tag team. Why are you all suddenly acting as if I am one of yours?"

Donald stood stunned, realizing his own words.

"Hey, guys…" Goofy attempted to break the tension. "I think we should go to Yen Sid. There must be a reason why the King wanted us here."

Donald nodded. "Right. The King."

As if the argument never happened among them, the four moved forward in silence in the spiral set of stairs.

"I'm sorry about that, JC." Sora whispered beside her. "You know, Donald is just being… Donald."

"It's okay. Being told that your companion had a mother who is villain does that every time."

The boy laughed at her dry joke. "Yeah, it is. Are you sure that we haven't met before?"

JC pat him in the head. "Probably, probably not. There are infinite possibility that we may or may not have met."

Sora looked up to her, unimpressed. "Seriously? Riddles?"

"Anyway," she ignored Sora's look. "Is this the right time to tell me about your king?"

"Uh…" Goofy trailed off, glancing at Donald beside him.

"No." The duck firmly said.

"Okay." JC said as they continued their walk.

Silence sprang around the group as they walked forward at the top of the tower.

Maleficent, mistress of all evil. JC was found by the villain, orphaned and alone at the side of the road. For some unknown reason, the mistress decided to take her in her care and watched her grow until in her pre-teen.

JC still doesn't why she was taken under her but, despite the villainous actions that she did, she was at least grateful caring for her and the dysfunctional love she received.

Maleficent, claiming to have the powers from hell—maybe perhaps the villain 'cared' whom she mentored of the girl as she continued to search as a sideline quest to her conquering grand quest of taking over the world.

What a twisted relationship.

File Discussion – Anthem of Atonement.

A/N: we are still in the "introductory" stage of the story. The next chapter will probably be the last one. And after that, is the start of the "good stuff" of the story.

Satisfied with the chapter or nah? Please let me know and leave a review!

Edited (6/19/10): added some missing words.