Author's Notes: I must be having an off-night... Luckily, the odds are very good that only one person's made it this far, so... On with the show!
Many thanks to Cynthia Chen for pointing out the "Tract" error.
Chapter XIV: Dark Designs
The echo of Sora's footsteps resonated through the void, lit only by the circular, stained glass stage that he walked on. An image of Alice from Wonderland decorated the circle, and red hearts with black spades lined the periphery of the stage. Beyond the well-lit circle, nothing was visible to Sora. Though it had been over one month ago, he recalled his previous experience with this type of environment and prepared himself for whatever was needed.
"So much to do," a voice, familiar to Sora, sounded within his head, "So little time."
"What is this about?" Sora called aloud into the blackness loudly, "Who are you?"
The mysterious force behind the young boy's dreams ignored his inquiry, instead proceeding to tell him, "Nearby, in the far distance, destiny awaits. The door to the light remains enshrouded in the darkness. You will be the ones to open it."
"The door to the light?" Sora's voice echoed, "The ones to open it? But didn't I open it already? I don't understand."
"Some will never understand," the strange words came to Sora's thoughts, "while others may consider it mere child's play." As the dreamer thought on the cryptic statement, he heard mentally, "The Keyblade Trinity will unseal the door. Bring them together, the Keyblades and their masters, and release purest light."
"A Keyblade Trinity?" Sora repeated inquiringly, "A third Keyblade?"
"You will release the third Keyblade. Believe in yourself, your heart, and your friends, and you'll not fail."
—————
The throne room of Emperor Kuzco was darkened and sealed, allowing for Yzma, now ruling after the emperor's untimely "death", to converse privately with her guest, Magus, who held with him unwelcome news.
"They arrived in the middle of the night last night," the wizard told Yzma, "It seems that your Emperor Kuzco has enlisted their aid in retaking his kingdom from your clutches."
"And how," the old witch sent back to Magus, her fingers pressing against each other absently as she spoke, "do you know this?"
"I have eyes," he shot back calmly, "When the Heartless are around, Keyblades aren't exactly easy to hide."
Yzma's eyeballs bulged noticeably as she growled at the powerful magician, "Then tell me where they are!"
"I have a better idea," suggested Magus, "If the Keyblade master intends to take back Kuzco's kingdom, then he'll have to come here," he gestured to the throne room around him, "and that's when you capture them."
"Capture?" the doubting Yzma nearly shouted, "Capture? Why—"
"It's not your concern, Yzma," he said to her coldly, "It's come to my attention that I may require them to be alive for what I have planned." Magus's hand pointed to the floor in front of Yzma, which conjured a magical image of the three teenage boys and the girl that traveled with them. "That's them," he said, "Get a good look at them. I'll need all of them." The evil master seemed to think twice about it momentarily. "Then again, the girl is expendable, but those boys, I need alive."
Yzma examined the 3D picture closely, eyeing the teenage girl oddly. "So, I can kill that girl off?"
"If it suits your fancy," Magus answered with a sinister grin.
"I don't think so," the lady thought again, "She might be useful to me."
"Don't fail, Yzma," commanded Magus, "Bring them to me, and I'll make sure you're handsomely rewarded."
—————
"You're staying here, Felicity!" Tracy told her for the fifth time as he walked out of Pacha's house into the daylight of a fresh summer morning to meet with Riku and the others. "We're heading to Kuzco's Palace, and if what we've heard so far is accurate, that's the local Heartless grand station! It's way too dangerous!"
Felicity countered, "Every world is dangerous, Tracy! If it's so dangerous, then why're you going?"
"Because I have this." He held up his staff surely.
"And I have this!" Felicity showed off the Wizard Rod she had received from Zidane days before.
Tracy thought about the logic of her argument, plotting a way to dissuade Felicity from accompanying them. "Ah!" he finally spoke, "But can you do this?" With a swing of his weapon in a direction clear of obstructions, Tracy launched a powerful fireball off harmlessly into the distance, which dissipated before doing any serious harm to anyone or anything.
"Whore!" she snarled at Tracy Starlight, finding no other way of ending the argument.
"Queer," the other said back plainly.
"Lesbian!"
"Orthicon."
"Querulous!"
"Custard pastry in a vase."
"Evil bastard!"
Tracy retaliated with a strange, unattractive, high-pitched screeching sound.
Felicity, confused and unable to respond to him, asked Tracy, "What?"
"I win," he declared quietly as he gave her a pat on the head and left to join Sora, Riku, Pacha, and Kuzco.
Riku looked between Felicity, fuming with childish anger, and Tracy, shaking his head with a victorious smirk. "I guess she didn't take it well," Riku determined.
"I have to agree," admitted Tracy.
"I hate to interrupt this simply intriguing line of conversation," the talking llama interjected, "but my palace is waiting!"
Sora's eyes glared at Kuzco strangely. "So, the old woman you told us about can change you back into a human, Kuzco?"
"Even though she's the one who turned you into a llama in the first place," Riku added.
"Knowing her," explained the transformed ruler, "she's probably sitting snugly on my throne right now. You guy'll just take me back to the palace, and I'll kick her off myself."
Tracy walked past the crowd, his eyes gazing along the road to Kuzco's palace, the road to danger. "Nice plan, Your Highness," he commented, "We'll do our best to make sure you get there in one piece." He turned quickly, locking eyes with Felicity. "You'll stay here with Pacha's family," he told her for the last time. "We'll be back ASAP."
She frowned at him, her eyes focusing on him with great irritation. "You'd better!"
With that fond farewell, the three teenage boys and Kuzco followed Pacha as he lead them out of the village, giving the quaint little place no second looks behind them as their journey began.
—————
"So, lemme get this straight," Riku sorted out aloud with Kuzco and Tracy as they strolled along the forest road, "This Yzma woman tried ruling the country behind your back, so you fired her. After that, she accidentally turned you into a llama when she tried to kill you. Then, the Heartless appeared under Yzma's control and began looking for you, so you escaped to Pacha's village. Am I right?"
"That sounds right," Kuzco nodded an affirmative. "And it looks like she's spread a tiny, little lie about me being dead to make the people follow her. Man, is she gonna get it when I get back!" The llama elevated himself, standing briefly on his hind legs as he punched into the air in front of him with his front legs. "Bam! Pow! Wack! I'll make her wish she'd never seen a llama before!"
"So, the Heartless follow her?" Sora inquired. "We should be careful. She probably has all kinds of tricks up her sleeve."
"She's just an old woman," Riku sent back at Sora, "What can she do?"
"She turned Kuzco here into a llama," Pacha offered, "Who knows what else she's got in her bag."
Tracy paused in his steps on the drop of a dime when leaves rustled behind him. His head jerked around briskly as he readied his stick, but when nothing came forward from the brush of the forest, his attention only grew more intense.
"Guys," he whispered, "We're being followed."
Riku gave Tracy a quizzical expression, and he told the teen, "It's Felicity. She's been tailing us since we left."
"Dammit!" the girl's voice came from the bush, "How'd you know that?"
Tracy, embarrassed that he hasn't seen it sooner, mumbled to himself, "I knew that."
The teenage girl stepped out of the bushes, brushing herself off as she shot an evil look at Tracy. "That's what you get for leaving me behind!" she yelled as she kicked him weakly in the leg.
"Felicity," he spoke softly as they continued along the path, "Don't blame me when you get into trouble, because I'll only say, 'I told you so'!"
The large group traveled in relative silence as Pacha led the way through the land that was so familiar to him. I guess we're getting close, Tracy determined, I wonder what we'll find there when we arrive. Let's see... Find Yzma, get the antidote to change Kuzco back into a human, defeat Yzma, find the Keyhole and seal it before the Heartless get to it — seems like an ordinary day for Sora and company, doesn't it? Of course, things are never that simple, right?
—————
The town surrounding the grand palace of Kuzco was a welcome sight at first. When Sora and the others, however, came closer, whatever dark force was at work behind the scenes made itself devastatingly apparent in this particular part of Kuzco's world. The buildings had been literally torn apart, wreckage and debris from the city's once-glorious structures were scattered about the streets as the six travelers of the road set foot into it. Even though the sky was shining with a brilliant blue and white, it was dark and dreary on the ground. There was no sign of any survivors of whatever brutal massacre had taken place before their arrival, which only made the sight even more horrifying. Despite his best efforts to hold his thoughts and questions back, Tracy couldn't restrain it any further.
What's the worse fate, he asked himself, being turned into a Heartless or death? Can becoming a Heartless truly be considered life? His eyes closed sadly, lamenting the needless end to so many innocents.
Kuzco was the first of them to talk. "Yzma... did this?" he asked, shocked at the sadistic display.
"She probably didn't have any control over this, Emperor," Riku told His Highness, "The Heartless feed off of the hearts of their victims. Since this is the nearest city to the palace, this must've been nothing more than the local Heartless diner to them. Even they need to feed." He paused as he realized the unintended dark tone of the words coming from his lips. "I-I'm sorry, Kuzco," the youth apologized quickly, "That probably wasn't the best thing to say at—"
The regretful teen was cut off abruptly when a blast of fire was launched from an uncertain location, hitting him directly in the back and sending him flying forward into a pile of rubble remaining from a charred building. Kuzco, Sora, and Tracy simultaneously directed their attention to a Heartless llama, newly materialized and ready for battle. An instant later, to Tracy's expectations, the llama was no longer alone as four others appeared alongside it, letting out a viciously loud cry as they charged at the fighters boldly with as little regard for their own safety as any other Heartless. Kuzco countered their attacks with his own, slamming his hard head against those of the black creatures in true llama fighting style, yelling out various insulting remarks as he kicked against them.
Nice job, Your Highness, Tracy commended silently, turning his attention to more pressing needs. Even as the Heartless llamas boldly fought against Kuzco, more of their kind, supplemented with a familiar array of Soldiers and Wizards. Tracy's quick glances around the vicinity indicated a startling fact that Tracy had no wish to face.
They were surrounded.
"Llamas and Soldiers and Wizards," Starlight counted, "Oh, my." He shrugged to no one in particular as he leapt into the action, rushing at the enemy lines with his staff brought into the attack with full force. Using the wisdom that he had used back when his life wasn't at risk, the young gamer set his offensive sights on the Wizards, releasing powerful chain attacks against them one at a time. Despite his efforts, though, the other Heartless soon surrounded the teenager, and those who weren't dissuaded by repeated hits with his stick succeeded in landing their teeth, hands, hoofs, or whatever onto the boy's sides. Fortunately for him, the pain was, as always when in battle, a secondary ailment. In almost total ignorance of his physical limitations, Tracy pressed onward, taking down Heartless after Heartless until, though his own fault, he was against one of the last strong and standing walls that the city had left.
Well, he analyzed, this is not good.
With Pacha, Kuzco, and Sora too far away to assist and Riku and Felicity nowhere in sight, Tracy Starlight was forced into an entirely defensive strategy. Using his weapon to shove the enemies away from him with his not-so-powerful arms, he found his efforts, though desperate, to be ineffective.
Hope, it seemed, was on his side, though. From a nearby pile of rubble, a blast of bright energy emanated, encompassing Tracy in an wind of healing light. At the same time, a familiar figure with long, silvery locks of hair leapt from behind the wall, his strong Keyblade swinging wildly as it leveled the playing field, taking down several of the Heartless foes before the others leapt away from Riku, preserving themselves to fight again mere seconds later.
Tracy stepped forth to meet his punctual hero. "I was right," he kidded quickly, "You do swing a mean Keyblade!"
"Party's just getting started!" Riku retorted as the couple stood back-to-back, the Heartless recovering from the surprise of Riku's ambush as even more appeared to replace those that has fallen under the Lockheart.
Another voice, a girl's voice, joined them in the chaos. "Shell! Protect!"
Immediately, two magical shields of protection, blue and pink, surrounded both Tracy and Riku. Tracy laughed at the sudden advantage, a handy gift from an unseen but truly appreciated Felicity. Maybe it was a mistake to leave her, he admitted silently.
Riku's voice pierced through him as he yelled out in warning, "Here they come!" The mixed regiment of dark monsters started a rush that died stillborn; all of them stopped themselves, as if heeding an unheard command. Tracy could feel Riku's head tilt in confusion, and Tracy's eyebrows raised in a similar expression of surprise. "What the...?" both boys said at the same moment.
"Unless you'd like to continue this little game," an old voice, worn by age and darkness, spoke to the slightly dazed fighters, "you'll surrender at once!"
Tracy kept himself from looking around for the woman with the familiar voice, staying focused on the threat of the Heartless standing at ease in front of him. Odds are that's Yzma, thought Tracy Starlight.
"Yzma!" Tracy was proven correct as he heard Kuzco yell at her, "You've got a lotta nerve to—"
"Ah, my dear Emperor Kuzco!" the woman greeted with obvious disrespect, "I'm so glad to see you're alive, and you're looking quite handsome, too!"
The irate llama shot back, "Only you'd think so! And you must be getting senile if you think we're going to surrender!"
"Fine!" huffed Yzma, giving up faster than Tracy would've expected from a villain such as she was, "Have it your way!" There was a short breath before the old woman's voice burst forth, "Take this!"
After the warning was given, there was a loud banging noise, and the ground shook under the pressure of an explosion. The shockwave sent a strange, salmon-tinted gas in every direction, bathing the entire battlefield in a haze of low visibility as it spread. The instant the pink vapor reached Tracy and Riku, the pair immediately began to cough seriously, the alien substance entering them as they breathed.
"Not," Riku yelled through the coughing, "good!"
Riku's newest friend retorted, equally labored, "You... think?"
Then the darkness came.
