Author's Notes: I do not own the song entitled "Snuff Out the Light," and if the integration of the song into the story isn't too good, then you can blame me, since it's the first time I've ever done anything quite like it.
Chapter XII: Snuff Out the Light
The Excalibur flew through interspace, carrying its passengers to another new world. Though the gummi ship was an upgraded model of the Kingdom-class, with better weapons and armor, Sora overlooked the engines during its construction. The Excalibur could take a lot of damage, but it wasn't the fastest thing in the stars. This proved good for to Tracy Starlight, who took advantage of the slow speed to write.
Sora had executed Zidane's request and dropped him off back at Traverse Town, leaving himself, Riku, Tracy, and Felicity to counter the threat of the Heartless on their own. The worldless thief felt that he should be with his friends during this crisis and leave the Keyhole sealing to the professionals. In addition, he told them that the reason he went with them in the first place was to meet up with Kuja one last time, who he had the greatest feeling had still been alive. His mission, however badly it might have ended, was fulfilled.
Tracy stared at the blank paper before him, tapping his pencil against it in thought. What question could he try to answer this time around? His eyes drifted away from the blank sheet to rest upon Riku, sitting next to him behind the piloting Sora.
Riku and myself, thought Tracy, What a concept...
When the glancing child noticed that Riku was holding the Lockheart in his hand, however, another thought came to Tracy. "Riku," he asked politely, "may I see your Keyblade?"
"Sure," he responded kindly, handing the Keyblade to him handle-first.
"Thanks," Starlight sent back before he began to examine the weapon curiously. As the idea came to him, he placed the Lockheart down, leaning it against the seat next to him as he proceeded to write down his pondering.
What exactly is the Keyblade? Actually, I should say "Keyblades", for there are two of them known to exist. The first, most important such weapon is the one that Sora holds in his power, the Keyblade that locks and unlocks the doors to the hearts of worlds among other things. That one is quite a curious force. The Keyblade chooses its master, which implies some form of consciousness or mind behind its power. Could it have a heart, as well? The fact that the Keyblade can change hands is peculiar. From Sora to Riku to Sora again — despite the darkness that had infected Riku's heart and mind, the Keyblade went to him all the same. "The heart that is strong and true will win the Keyblade," Ansem said to Riku. The darkness and light have no hold over the Keyblade; it is simply a tool for good or for evil. Which one depends on the heart. This so determined, it could very well be a force of peace or destruction, just as the legends state.
A second Keyblade presents another mystery. When Ansem possessed Riku's heart and body, another Keyblade came into being, a Keyblade with the power to unlock people's hearts. That Keyblade, called the Lockheart, was created from the hearts of six princesses of heart, and it must've been made for the soul purpose of releasing Kairi, the missing seventh princess, from within Sora. Riku — or Ansem... or both? — put the Lockheart to another use, however, when he unlocked the power within Maleficent's heart. This shows that the Lockheart can unlock more than what it was made to open. When Sora used the weapon against himself to release Kairi, the Lockheart was destroyed, having fulfilled its purpose, and the power returned to the princesses. The mystery is this: I am looking at that Keyblade even as I write. If it was created for that purpose alone from a source that is no longer practical, then why does it exist now? I wish that I could believe that the power of Memoria made the Lockheart real from Riku's memory of it, but something inside me says that there's more to it than that. Is there another heart out there that needs to be unlocked? If so, then I hope that we can find it in time.
"We're coming up on the next world, guys," Sora announced to the passengers.
—————
"They're coming here," Magus told Yzma as she paced about her hidden laboratory, "and you've failed to both kill that emperor of yours and find the Keyhole."
The old woman glared angrily at Magus, the wrinkles on her aged face seeming to grow red with her mood. "I'm working on it!" she said to Magus with forced relaxation, "The Heartless are looking now, and they'll kill off the emperor all in due time."
"Your poison didn't seem to help," Magus commented, "Unless you consider being turned into a llama dead, I'd say that we need to talk about your vocabulary."
"That," she snarled, "was an honest error, and it will be corrected soon, Magus. Quite soon."
"I hope so, Yzma, for your sake," Magus coldly spoke, "Kuja failed in his assignment, and look what happened to him."
Yzma's ancient eyes glared intently at the sorcerer, sensing a hidden implication. "Are you doubting my darkness?"
Magus returned her look, stating the lesson simply, "Within every heart, there is darkness. Within every heart, there is light. Don't let the light shine too brightly, or you, too, may fall into it, just like Kuja."
"My, my, Magus," she giggled at him girlishly, "You're underestimating me. Allow me to demonstrate!"
What little light that there was in the room was extinguished for a brief second before a spotlight activated, shining upon Yzma like she was on a performing stage. She had her back turned to Magus as she began her soliloquy, her voice halfway between speaking and singing, "When a woman acquires a certain age and the men who adored you no longer swoon, it pays to avoid the sunlit days and live by the light of the kindly moon, but the moon grows old, just like us all, and her beautiful years are done. So now she prays through endless days to take her revenge on the sun!"
From the darkness that existed outside the spotlight, a band joined into the song, adding a definite rhythm to the moment before the old woman went on into her lively tune.
"When I was a girl at my daddy's
side,
Papa, the royal mortician,
Revealed to me in secret signs
The mark of a magician,
"And Daddy was no dummy.
Did outrageous things with a mummy!
And often the stiffs that he would shrive
Would look better dead than they did alive!"
The music began to pick up as even more instruments joined in the performance, adding to the experience of Yzma's enjoyment of the act of breaking into sudden song.
"I studied well, I learnt the trade.
I thought my looks would never fade.
If I could find that recipe
To give eternal youth to me!
"It was always my ambition
To use Papa's tuition
And gain some small remission
From the vagaries of time.
"Every little ray of sunshine robs
me of my youth.
Who to blame?
Who the one?
Who to curse?
You know the only one to blame
Would be my enemy the Sun!"
A choir joined Yzma in the fitting refrain, one that she knew would definitely appeal to Magus, who was surprising tapping his foot to the rhythm Yzma had started.
"Snuff out the light!
Claim your right
To a world of darkness!
Snuff out the light,
Neophytes
Of a world of darkness!"
Yzma leapt towards Magus, her one-man audience, and she began to encircle him as she began the next verse.
"Magus, baby, turn me on!
Every wrinkle soon be gone!
I could squeeze myself with glee.
The promises you made to me.
"I've really stopped at nothing
—
Murder, treachery, and lying.
Whatever it takes to keep my looks.
You really can't blame a girl for trying.
"Snuff out the light!
Claim your right
To a world of darkness!
Snuff out the light,
Neophytes
Of a world of darkness!"
The lyrics broke off, allowing for an instrumental moment, one that Yzma took to begin a strange dance with a clearly unprepared and definitely unwilling Magus. The odd couple danced across the floor, Yzma trying to keep the rhythm while Magus simply tried to remain standing. Eventually, though, the time came for the words to come again, and Yzma literally threw Magus out of the way as she began once more.
"Snuff out the light!
Claim your right
To a world of darkness!
Sniff out the light
Here tonight!"
The deranged woman held the last word out on the same note as the choir then took the main attraction.
"Apparitions of eternal darkness
Spiraling in circles through the night,
Creatures of beguiling blackness
No more squinting in the light!"
The star performer then joined with her subordinate singers as the song neared its grand finale.
"Bats and owls and coiled sea
dragons,
Crocodile and carrion beast,
Swirling in the growing darkness,
Join us in the coming feast!
"Specter, wraith, and apparition,
Spirit, demon, phantom, shade,
Salamander serpents, dog-faced devils,
Dance and watch the dying sunlight fade!"
—————
Nighttime settled onto the village on the great hill as the stars assumed their nightly patterns in the heavens, second in their brightness only to the brilliant moon. Grass swayed gently, moved by the faint howls of the wind as it traveled across the land. Lights shined through the windows of some houses, most notably the house at the hill's apex. The peaceful village, though outwardly calm, held a subtle feeling of fear. Not a soul stirred within the houses; no person was visible when Sora and his party walked up the hill of this new world.
"Look familiar?" Riku asked Tracy in a whisper.
"I think so," he told Riku uncertainly, "I feel that I should remember this place, but..." He shrugged in brief agitation, the facts within his head out of reach at the time. "Sorry."
The group of four continued their trip to the top of the hill, still not encountering anyone; neither human nor Heartless interfered with their progress.
This place is familiar, Tracy told himself, It makes me wish I'd watched more Disney movies before I left.
"Hey, you guys!" the sound of a man's voice called from ahead of them as a large, heavily-built character emerged from the house atop the hill. He wore a large verdant poncho with brown shorts and a white shirt on underneath. His head was topped with a brown cloth fixed in the shape of a hat. "Who're you?" he asked the otherworldly visitors as he approached them slowly.
"My name's Sora," the youngest boy introduced before gesturing to his friends respectively, "There's Riku, Tracy, and Felicity."
The heavy man gave the strangers a cursory glance. "I'm Pacha," he identified himself, "the village leader. For a moment there, I thought you guys might've been those Heartless demons."
So, the Heartless are here, too? We're always a step behind.
"They're here?" Felicity asked in fear.
Riku jumped in, "Where are they?"
"No one's really sure where they are," Pacha explained to the outsiders, "They just seem to appear whenever they want and cause all kinda of trouble. Some who've seen them say they're looking for something."
The Keyhole, guessed Tracy smartly to himself.
Before any further knowledge could be conveyed, though, a startling scream sounded from behind the house. Pacha whirled around speedily to face the general direction. He seemed to recognize the fear-filled voice, and he yelled back to it, "Kuzco!"
Familiar name? struggled Tracy in his mind, Where is that from?
When Pacha began his sprint towards the backyard of his house, Sora started after him heroically. "Guys! We should help him!" he told Tracy and Riku, "Let's go!"
The local villager led Sora and the others to the yard behind Pacha's house, where a slightly comical sight greeted them. An adult llama with fine brown hair and a strange awareness in his eyes was surrounded by three other llamas. The offending animals' however, were certainly not normal creatures. They were mostly pitch black, and the only color was the red Heartless symbol on their long necks. The eyes of the animals were glowing with a pale yellow light.
"Ahh!" yelled Felicity as she saw their opponents, "Heartless llamas!"
Sora moved instantly, hurling his Keyblade from his distant location at one of the Heartless creatures. Riku and Tracy, though, chose a more direct approach, charging into a run at their opponents. Sora's Ultima Weapon flew with great speed, twirling like a discus through the air and striking against the head of one of the black animals and knocking the thing away from the normal llama. While this went on, Pacha and Felicity went to a safe distancec and watched as the three teenage boys went to work on the Heartless.
Sora regained his flying blade and leapt into the fray with his two friends. Tracy's staff moved with fatal accuracy, twirling in between his fingers as it hit the bodies and necks of the Heartless with repeated attacks. Riku seemed to take a brief back seat to Tracy, who performed most of the attacks for that time. After giving the innocent llama time enough to retreat away from the yard-turned-battle zone, Riku, Sora, and Tracy, now standing back-to-back-to-back, unspokenly split their efforts, each one sparring one-to-one with a Heartless nemesis.
Tracy's Heartless stared at him coldly before launching a peculiar attack, spitting a ball of flame at him. Without time to knock it away, Tracy shielded his face with his hands and his staff. The stick provided most of the protection, and it magically absorbed the majority of the flame. Temporarily surprised, Tracy decided to press the offensive, testing his magical ability by casting a wide-reaching Blizzaga at the llama by raising the rod over his right shoulder and swinging it downward like a sword. The blasts of coldness launched from the rod immediately, landing a solid blow to the Heartless. Dazed for the moment, the Heartless stumbled back with its four legs. Starlight brought it to a swift end with a fast blow to its head. Like any other Heartless, it vanished upon its defeat.
With the adrenaline rushing through him, Tracy's eyes zoomed about the area, looking for any more foes to annihilate, but it seemed that Sora and Riku were equally quick in dispatching their own offenders, and the area was clear of threats. "Darn," he mumbled.
"Wow!" Pacha shouted at the trinity, "You're really good! I've never seen anyone get rid of them that quickly!"
The llama that they had saved from the Heartless stood next to Pacha, looking up at him with something that resembled a grin. "I could've taken them out myself, ya know!"
"Talking llama," Riku examined, as if it were an everyday sight.
The sight of the human-like llama finally brought the truth about the world into Tracy's memory. "Now I remember this place!" he whispered to Riku and Sora. "That llama is the ruler of the kingdom! His name is... Uhm... What was his name?"
"Kuzco!" Theme Song Guy sang loudly as he popped out of a nearby barrel before dropping back into it.
Tracy and Felicity glared at the barrel with mixed feelings of amusement and confusion.
"Well," Pacha went on to say with gratitude, "since you seem to like the Heartless as much as the rest of us, you guys're free to spend the night here in my house. It's gettin' late, and we'll have a lot to talk about, so get some rest, and we'll talk things over in the morning when we head back to the palace."
Sora smiled at Pacha's generosity and agreed, "Sounds good! How 'bout it, Riku, Tracy?"
"No problem," Riku said, his thoughts elsewhere, looking to the night sky.
"Let's get some rest, then," Tracy concurred confidently. "Tomorrow's another day, I guess."
