II. Hollow Bastion: Theory
"She's here again." Yuffie said, making a face. She absent-mindedly swung her legs back and forth under the desk she was perched on. Behind her, Aerith continued shelving the books of the Library.
"Hmmm? Who?" Aerith said, examining an incongruous green book that was amidst the yellow bound ones on the shelf. "Now, who put this here? The Mava volumes belong in the M section."
"HER," Yuffie answered, "That green faced witch."
"Maleficent?"
Yuffie nodded. "You know any other green faced witches that come around here to bother us?"
"Be nice. Ansem asked us to treat her with respect."
"Yeah, well, neither of them are here, are they? I don't like her. She gives me the creeps. There's been too many weirdos coming around here lately."
"You didn't say that last month when the King visited." Aerith said, turning away from the shelves. "You spent a lot of time around him, as I recall."
"He was cool. And he knew how to have fun."
"I think Cloud and Squall would disagree with you on that point."
"The paint washed out eventually!" Yuffie protested. "Not my fault if those two can't take a joke."
"Oh, we can take a joke just fine, but it has to be funny." came a male voice from around the corner. A moment later, Cloud and Squall appeared, swords slung onto their backs.
"So is she behaving herself, or do I need to send her down to help Barret patrol the waterways again?" Squall asked Aerith, with a glance at Yuffie.
"Aside from being rude about Ansem's guests, she's behaved herself." The librarian answered. "She doesn't care for Maleficent, apparently."
"I don't blame her." Cloud said, "She's not exactly the friendly type."
"Don't start." Aerith chided gently. "I've heard enough of that from Yuffie. She's polite to us, and she's Ansem's guest. The least we can do is be polite back."
"Polite, yes. But I keep feeling like I'm under a microscope every time she looks at me." Cloud replied. "I've been feeling that way a lot lately."
Squall rolled his eyes. "Not this again. How many times do I have to tell you? Ansem is not Sephiroth. He is not plotting to kill us all for no good reason. He's not psychotic, now let it go already!"
As she faced the shelves, Aerith smiled to herself. Even though she loved Cloud dearly, she couldn't help but be amused by Cloud's overactive paranoia. Of course, he had every right to be.
Life under Sephiroth's reign had been...unpleasant, to put it extremely mildly. And when the proof had finally come that the former ruler of Hollow Bastion was stark raving mad, Ansem had led the coup that finally dethroned the nihilistic madman, and resulted in Sephiroth's exile not only from the castle, but from the world itself. Ansem was elected the new ruler by unanimous vote, and he had settled into the role with grace and wisdom. A new golden age had come to Hollow Bastion, with learning and knowledge being prized above power and wealth. Yes, compared with the deranged and capricious Sephiroth, Ansem was a godsend to the people of Hollow Bastion.
"Fine, Captain," Cloud said to Squall. "You tell me why those...things never showed up until he explored the waterways six months ago, then. They have to have come from somewhere."
"The Heartless are not Ansem's fault, Cloud, no matter what your paranoid imagination may think." Squall replied, "And yes, they're annoying but hardly dangerous. Hell, Yuffie's taken out more than her fair share of them. One decent hit and they dissolve. I hardly think they're that much of a concern."
"And what about Seifer and Edgar? They never came back out of those damn tunnels. Still think the Heartless are that harmless?"
Squall frowned. "I'm not going to have this argument with you again. Seifer and Edgar were careless. We know not to let them attack us en masse or to go down there alone. We have them under control."
Cloud snorted. "Sure, for now. But they aren't stupid, no matter how much they look it. They're plotting something, and even if they aren't, Ansem is. Ever since they started showing up he's been acting weird. Distant. Like he's too busy to deal with the rest of us. Then there's the abductions. Eight of them in the last three months and he's not worried? I tell you he's up to something and he's-"
"He is right behind you, Cloud," came a new voice, deep and resonant. The group of them turned their heads upward and saw Ansem and Maleficent standing on the balcony overlooking the main room of the Library. Both had amused smiles on their faces. Ansem turned and strode down the staircase towards the group.
"If you are going to lambast someone," he said, strolling over to them, "I suggest you make sure they aren't in the room." He smirked at Cloud, orange eyes amused. Then he turned to Squall. "Speaking of the waterways, how are things down there?"
"Quiet. Haven't seen any of them for a few days." Squall answered. "We still hear them moving around though, so I doubt they've left."
Ansem nodded. "Aerith, did you have any luck finding that book I asked for?"
"Yes," Aerith answered, "One moment." She walked across the room to one of the pillars that supported the ceiling. There was an opening in the base. Inside was a rotating platform, dividend into thirds by small walls. Aerith rotated the platform until a section appeared containing a leather bound volume. The cover was embossed with a image of three crossed stylized keys beneath a large keyhole.
Aerith picked the book up and brought it back to Ansem. He took it with a charming smile.
"Thank you, my dear. I'm afraid I'll be late for dinner tonight. Maleficent and I have much to discuss. If one of you would be so kind as to tell the kitchens, I'd appreciate it."
"I'll go!" Yuffie said, jumping off the desk. She cast a sour look up at Maleficent, stuck out her tongue, and ran out of the Library before anyone could stop her.
"Yuffie!" Aerith scolded. Ansem chuckled.
"Don't trouble yourself," Maleficent said, smiling faintly. "She's young. She can be excused."
"Nice of you to take it that way." Squall said.
"Yes," Maleficent agreed. She then looked at Ansem. "I'm afraid my time here is growing short, Ansem. If we could continue our conversation in private?"
"Surely," Ansem replied. "Thank you again, Aerith." He turned to climb the staircase to the upper level. As he began to ascend he stopped.
"And Cloud," he waited until he had the guard's attention. "There is an old expression that I think you should keep in mind; 'Be careful you don't become so sharp that you cut yourself.' Sound advice, I think."
"Yes, sir." Cloud muttered. Ansem nodded again, and continued up the stairs. As he and Maleficent left, the visitor looked down at the small group of teenagers below. As she glanced at Cloud, her eyes narrowed. Then they were gone.
"Yuffie's right," Squall said, after a moment. "She DOES give you the creeps."
---
"Cloud suspects something." Maleficent said as she and Ansem walked through the halls of the castle.
"Cloud always suspects something," Ansem said as he paged through the book, "He was Sephiroth's favorite whipping boy during his reign. As a result, he sees all leadership as something to suspect."
"The more I hear of Sephiroth, the more I wonder if it might not be to our advantage to recruit him."
"Doubtful," Ansem replied, "Even if we could locate him, he was extremely unhinged. Kept babbling some quasi-religious nonsense about something called 'Jenova.' Totally insane, and useless for our purposes, even if he did realize the truth."
"Still, unless something is done about your paranoid guard, he may convince the others. The child is already suspicious, and the pilot has been spending quite a bit of time with him."
Ansem snorted. "Yuffie is seven years old, and Cid is well on his way out of his glory days. Besides, he's fascinated by the gummi blocks. If he can figure out how to create a ship like the King's, odds are he'll leave as soon as it's built. As for Cloud, Squall is still the Captain of the Guard, and he'll keep him in check."
"And the abductions?"
"Suspended for now. I have plenty for the experiments at the moment. If more are needed, well, perhaps Cloud will be the next one to disappear."
Maleficent smiled. It was one thing to have people fear you as you executed your plans, Ansem had found a way to make his people love him while he committed far worse atrocities than Sephiroth ever had conceived of. And he did it directly under the noses of the very people who were supposed to stop this sort of thing.
"But onto our current project," Ansem said, as they took one of the technomagic lifts to the upper levels of the castle. He pointed at a a page of the book. "I was right. This book the King left behind details the legend of the Keyblades and the Door to Kingdom Hearts."
"So the Door does exist." Maleficent said.
Ansem nodded as the lift came to a halt. They stepped out and headed for the Chapel. "Apparently, Kingdom Hearts is the heart of all worlds. Every world in the cosmos came from it at some point. The legend says that Kingdom Hearts itself is a group of islands isolated in space with one massive door standing upon the largest. The Door which leads to the power behind Kingdom Hearts. The power that creates worlds."
"Fascinating." Maleficent said, "And the Heartless come from the Door?"
Ansem frowned. "The book isn't clear on that point. It's very strange, almost as if it were written by two different people. One page says that the Heartless are abberations bent on destroying the Door, another says they're guarding it. One thing that does tally with both perspectives is that, since all worlds came from Kingdom Hearts, all worlds are connected to Kingdom Hearts, and if the Heartless come from there-"
"Then the Heartless have access to all the worlds in the cosmos." Maleficent finished. "And, it just so happens that this is in line with your theory."
"Yes, the power behind Kingdom Hearts is the power of darkness. It is the only thing that makes sense. The Heartless are destruction personified. Entropy, if you will. They suck the very life force out of the worlds they visit and those that inhabit them. The 'hearts' of those worlds. The world is then eliminated and the remains returned to Kingdom Hearts. The life cycle in action."
"What about the Keyblades?" Maleficent asked, remembering the words of the voice back in her own castle. It warned that the Key would be out to prevent the Door from being opened.
"As near as I can figure, there are three. Two of them connected to the Door of Kingdom Hearts, the other formed from the Hearts of the Seven Princesses. The book refers to them as the Silver, Gold, and Dark Keyblades."
"Yes?" Maleficent said, quirking an eyebrow. The two of them had reached the Chapel, and Ansem waved a hand at a seemingly blank wall. The wall vanished, revealing a new passageway. The two continued down the new hall.
"The Dark Keyblade is formed from the Seven Princesses of Heart. It is able to unlock the power of darkness in people's hearts. If they are strong enough, they are able to use that power. If not, the darkness consumes them, presumably turning them into Heartless themselves.
"The Gold Keyblade is arguably the strongest of the three Keyblades. It can be used to seal the Door, but even then, it needs the Silver Keyblade to seal the Door permanently. However, it can destroy the more powerful forms of the Heartless, such as the Invincible or Darkside with a single stroke.
"That leaves the Silver Keyblade. While not as powerful as the Gold or Dark Keyblades, it is the most versatile. It's fairly effective against the Heartless, and, as I said, with the Gold Keyblade, it can permanently seal the Door to Kingdom Hearts. However, it also is able to seal the Keyholes of any world."
"Yes, the Keyholes." Malifecent mused. "What are these Keyholes?"
Ansem paged through the book. "Ah, here we are. 'Just as Kingdom Hearts has it's Door, so do all worlds that come from it. All worlds have a Keyhole that lead to the Heart of that world. Those without hearts covet the Hearts of worlds more than the Hearts of the inhabitants. If they find the Keyhole of a world, before that Keyhole is sealed by the Keyblade, the Heart of that world can be consumed and the world destroyed.'
"Essentially," Ansem continued, "if the Heartless find a world whose Keyhole has not yet been sealed, they can enter that Keyhole and consume the Heart of that world. The world is then destoryed and the energy returned to Kingdom Hearts."
"So, the more worlds destroyed, the more power Kingdom Hearts has behind the Door."
"Exactly." Ansem replied. "Of course, there is the matter of GETTING to Kingdom Hearts in the first place."
"The Heartless don't seem to have any difficulty." Maleficent said.
"Exactly my point. They have no Hearts, so there's no danger. But the book says that Kingdom Hearts is more or less crawling with them. Let's not delude ourselves, my dear Maleficent. The Heartless don't serve us, they tolerate us. If we let down our guard or let our own inherent darkness consume us before we acquire the power of Kingdom Hearts, they will destroy us."
"So, going to Kingdom Hearts before we are adequately prepared would result in our own elimination, being the only Hearts in the vicinity." Maleficent said.
"Exactly. Except-"
"Yes?"
Ansem shook his head. "Another hypothesis of mine, but at the moment it's irrelevant to our present discussion. As I was saying, the initial problem is FINDING Kingdom Hearts without being a Heartless. This appears to be where these Princesses of Heart come into play."
"Oh?"
"Once again, the book isn't quite clear on how it works, but apparently out there, somewhere, are seven Princesses who's hearts are connected to Kingdom Hearts. If the hearts of all seven are joined, the power of those seven hearts will open another Keyhole."
"One that leads to Kingdom Hearts," Maleficent finished.
"Exactly. And the Hearts themselves will form the Dark Keyblade. Once that's done, all that remains is to go to Kingdom Hearts and find the Door."
"And then the power will be ours. The power to rule all worlds for all eternity." Malificent savored the phrase as it passed through her lips.
"Yes, indeed." Ansem replied.
"Who are the Princesses and where can we find them?" Maleficent said.
"Unknown." Ansem replied, consulting the book. "The only clue to the identity of the seven Princesses is a poem."
"A poem?"
"See for yourself." Ansem handed the book to Maleficent. "That's the problem with prophecies of ultimate power, they hardly ever provide clear directions on how to find it."
Maleficent nodded absentmindedly as she looked at the book. On the pages was a lengthy poem written in flowing calligraphy:
Seven they are with the power of Heart
United they are but all worlds apart
The power within them sleeps silent and still
Until they are found by One's strength of will
The Princess of Charity pays as she goes
For the protection of friends from her most deadly foes
Vanity falters at the sight of her face
And she is the key to a ruler's disgrace
The Princess of Duty is a responsible one
With time only for work, never for fun
She suffers in silence, in the embers and soot
Never knowing her destiny will soon be afoot
The Princess of Hope was doomed from the start
Cursed with a sleep that no doctor could chart
A kiss was needed to restore her to life
And she now sings in her joy at becoming a wife
The Princess of Wisdom looks deep within
Past a surface that some see as a sin
With knowledge and care she continues to solve
The cause of an anger that must be resolved
The Princess of Faith is a mere slip of a girl
Who falls through the border leading to a new world
Where logic is chaos and madness supreme
And reality little more than an afternoon dream
The Princess of Daring combines brains and skill
To thwart the plots of an evil fiend's will
Down in the alleys she will soon see
The face of a rogue as daring as she
The Princess of Light is the last of them all
Unaware of the power she has at her call
Her memory is eroded, her location is lost
And two vow to find her, no matter the cost
Seven they are with the power of Heart
United they are but all worlds apart
The Door they can find, the place they can mark
And unless the Key can be found, all will succumb to the Dark
"Fascinating," Maleficent murmured, "It seems to be half poetry and half prophecy."
"You noticed it, as well." Ansem said. "It appears that some of the Princesses are going to do some things, others are in the process of doing them, and some have already done them."
"Yes..." Maleficent said quietly, half-listening. Her attention kept getting drawn to the fourth stanza, about the Princess of Hope. The events described sounded familiar...much too familiar. As she read and re-read the stanza, it came to her. A slow evil grin spread across her face. The irony was just too delicious...and it would provide her with the revenge she so rightly deserved.
"My, that's an intriguing expression," Ansem said, with a grin that mirrored Maleficent's own. "Something interesting in the poem?"
Maleficent closed the book and handed it back to Ansem. "I believe I know where we can find one of the Princesses."
The two disappeared into the darkness of the castle Chapel, making their plans. In the shadows around them, the Heartless watched them go...and waited for the day they knew was coming.
"She's here again." Yuffie said, making a face. She absent-mindedly swung her legs back and forth under the desk she was perched on. Behind her, Aerith continued shelving the books of the Library.
"Hmmm? Who?" Aerith said, examining an incongruous green book that was amidst the yellow bound ones on the shelf. "Now, who put this here? The Mava volumes belong in the M section."
"HER," Yuffie answered, "That green faced witch."
"Maleficent?"
Yuffie nodded. "You know any other green faced witches that come around here to bother us?"
"Be nice. Ansem asked us to treat her with respect."
"Yeah, well, neither of them are here, are they? I don't like her. She gives me the creeps. There's been too many weirdos coming around here lately."
"You didn't say that last month when the King visited." Aerith said, turning away from the shelves. "You spent a lot of time around him, as I recall."
"He was cool. And he knew how to have fun."
"I think Cloud and Squall would disagree with you on that point."
"The paint washed out eventually!" Yuffie protested. "Not my fault if those two can't take a joke."
"Oh, we can take a joke just fine, but it has to be funny." came a male voice from around the corner. A moment later, Cloud and Squall appeared, swords slung onto their backs.
"So is she behaving herself, or do I need to send her down to help Barret patrol the waterways again?" Squall asked Aerith, with a glance at Yuffie.
"Aside from being rude about Ansem's guests, she's behaved herself." The librarian answered. "She doesn't care for Maleficent, apparently."
"I don't blame her." Cloud said, "She's not exactly the friendly type."
"Don't start." Aerith chided gently. "I've heard enough of that from Yuffie. She's polite to us, and she's Ansem's guest. The least we can do is be polite back."
"Polite, yes. But I keep feeling like I'm under a microscope every time she looks at me." Cloud replied. "I've been feeling that way a lot lately."
Squall rolled his eyes. "Not this again. How many times do I have to tell you? Ansem is not Sephiroth. He is not plotting to kill us all for no good reason. He's not psychotic, now let it go already!"
As she faced the shelves, Aerith smiled to herself. Even though she loved Cloud dearly, she couldn't help but be amused by Cloud's overactive paranoia. Of course, he had every right to be.
Life under Sephiroth's reign had been...unpleasant, to put it extremely mildly. And when the proof had finally come that the former ruler of Hollow Bastion was stark raving mad, Ansem had led the coup that finally dethroned the nihilistic madman, and resulted in Sephiroth's exile not only from the castle, but from the world itself. Ansem was elected the new ruler by unanimous vote, and he had settled into the role with grace and wisdom. A new golden age had come to Hollow Bastion, with learning and knowledge being prized above power and wealth. Yes, compared with the deranged and capricious Sephiroth, Ansem was a godsend to the people of Hollow Bastion.
"Fine, Captain," Cloud said to Squall. "You tell me why those...things never showed up until he explored the waterways six months ago, then. They have to have come from somewhere."
"The Heartless are not Ansem's fault, Cloud, no matter what your paranoid imagination may think." Squall replied, "And yes, they're annoying but hardly dangerous. Hell, Yuffie's taken out more than her fair share of them. One decent hit and they dissolve. I hardly think they're that much of a concern."
"And what about Seifer and Edgar? They never came back out of those damn tunnels. Still think the Heartless are that harmless?"
Squall frowned. "I'm not going to have this argument with you again. Seifer and Edgar were careless. We know not to let them attack us en masse or to go down there alone. We have them under control."
Cloud snorted. "Sure, for now. But they aren't stupid, no matter how much they look it. They're plotting something, and even if they aren't, Ansem is. Ever since they started showing up he's been acting weird. Distant. Like he's too busy to deal with the rest of us. Then there's the abductions. Eight of them in the last three months and he's not worried? I tell you he's up to something and he's-"
"He is right behind you, Cloud," came a new voice, deep and resonant. The group of them turned their heads upward and saw Ansem and Maleficent standing on the balcony overlooking the main room of the Library. Both had amused smiles on their faces. Ansem turned and strode down the staircase towards the group.
"If you are going to lambast someone," he said, strolling over to them, "I suggest you make sure they aren't in the room." He smirked at Cloud, orange eyes amused. Then he turned to Squall. "Speaking of the waterways, how are things down there?"
"Quiet. Haven't seen any of them for a few days." Squall answered. "We still hear them moving around though, so I doubt they've left."
Ansem nodded. "Aerith, did you have any luck finding that book I asked for?"
"Yes," Aerith answered, "One moment." She walked across the room to one of the pillars that supported the ceiling. There was an opening in the base. Inside was a rotating platform, dividend into thirds by small walls. Aerith rotated the platform until a section appeared containing a leather bound volume. The cover was embossed with a image of three crossed stylized keys beneath a large keyhole.
Aerith picked the book up and brought it back to Ansem. He took it with a charming smile.
"Thank you, my dear. I'm afraid I'll be late for dinner tonight. Maleficent and I have much to discuss. If one of you would be so kind as to tell the kitchens, I'd appreciate it."
"I'll go!" Yuffie said, jumping off the desk. She cast a sour look up at Maleficent, stuck out her tongue, and ran out of the Library before anyone could stop her.
"Yuffie!" Aerith scolded. Ansem chuckled.
"Don't trouble yourself," Maleficent said, smiling faintly. "She's young. She can be excused."
"Nice of you to take it that way." Squall said.
"Yes," Maleficent agreed. She then looked at Ansem. "I'm afraid my time here is growing short, Ansem. If we could continue our conversation in private?"
"Surely," Ansem replied. "Thank you again, Aerith." He turned to climb the staircase to the upper level. As he began to ascend he stopped.
"And Cloud," he waited until he had the guard's attention. "There is an old expression that I think you should keep in mind; 'Be careful you don't become so sharp that you cut yourself.' Sound advice, I think."
"Yes, sir." Cloud muttered. Ansem nodded again, and continued up the stairs. As he and Maleficent left, the visitor looked down at the small group of teenagers below. As she glanced at Cloud, her eyes narrowed. Then they were gone.
"Yuffie's right," Squall said, after a moment. "She DOES give you the creeps."
---
"Cloud suspects something." Maleficent said as she and Ansem walked through the halls of the castle.
"Cloud always suspects something," Ansem said as he paged through the book, "He was Sephiroth's favorite whipping boy during his reign. As a result, he sees all leadership as something to suspect."
"The more I hear of Sephiroth, the more I wonder if it might not be to our advantage to recruit him."
"Doubtful," Ansem replied, "Even if we could locate him, he was extremely unhinged. Kept babbling some quasi-religious nonsense about something called 'Jenova.' Totally insane, and useless for our purposes, even if he did realize the truth."
"Still, unless something is done about your paranoid guard, he may convince the others. The child is already suspicious, and the pilot has been spending quite a bit of time with him."
Ansem snorted. "Yuffie is seven years old, and Cid is well on his way out of his glory days. Besides, he's fascinated by the gummi blocks. If he can figure out how to create a ship like the King's, odds are he'll leave as soon as it's built. As for Cloud, Squall is still the Captain of the Guard, and he'll keep him in check."
"And the abductions?"
"Suspended for now. I have plenty for the experiments at the moment. If more are needed, well, perhaps Cloud will be the next one to disappear."
Maleficent smiled. It was one thing to have people fear you as you executed your plans, Ansem had found a way to make his people love him while he committed far worse atrocities than Sephiroth ever had conceived of. And he did it directly under the noses of the very people who were supposed to stop this sort of thing.
"But onto our current project," Ansem said, as they took one of the technomagic lifts to the upper levels of the castle. He pointed at a a page of the book. "I was right. This book the King left behind details the legend of the Keyblades and the Door to Kingdom Hearts."
"So the Door does exist." Maleficent said.
Ansem nodded as the lift came to a halt. They stepped out and headed for the Chapel. "Apparently, Kingdom Hearts is the heart of all worlds. Every world in the cosmos came from it at some point. The legend says that Kingdom Hearts itself is a group of islands isolated in space with one massive door standing upon the largest. The Door which leads to the power behind Kingdom Hearts. The power that creates worlds."
"Fascinating." Maleficent said, "And the Heartless come from the Door?"
Ansem frowned. "The book isn't clear on that point. It's very strange, almost as if it were written by two different people. One page says that the Heartless are abberations bent on destroying the Door, another says they're guarding it. One thing that does tally with both perspectives is that, since all worlds came from Kingdom Hearts, all worlds are connected to Kingdom Hearts, and if the Heartless come from there-"
"Then the Heartless have access to all the worlds in the cosmos." Maleficent finished. "And, it just so happens that this is in line with your theory."
"Yes, the power behind Kingdom Hearts is the power of darkness. It is the only thing that makes sense. The Heartless are destruction personified. Entropy, if you will. They suck the very life force out of the worlds they visit and those that inhabit them. The 'hearts' of those worlds. The world is then eliminated and the remains returned to Kingdom Hearts. The life cycle in action."
"What about the Keyblades?" Maleficent asked, remembering the words of the voice back in her own castle. It warned that the Key would be out to prevent the Door from being opened.
"As near as I can figure, there are three. Two of them connected to the Door of Kingdom Hearts, the other formed from the Hearts of the Seven Princesses. The book refers to them as the Silver, Gold, and Dark Keyblades."
"Yes?" Maleficent said, quirking an eyebrow. The two of them had reached the Chapel, and Ansem waved a hand at a seemingly blank wall. The wall vanished, revealing a new passageway. The two continued down the new hall.
"The Dark Keyblade is formed from the Seven Princesses of Heart. It is able to unlock the power of darkness in people's hearts. If they are strong enough, they are able to use that power. If not, the darkness consumes them, presumably turning them into Heartless themselves.
"The Gold Keyblade is arguably the strongest of the three Keyblades. It can be used to seal the Door, but even then, it needs the Silver Keyblade to seal the Door permanently. However, it can destroy the more powerful forms of the Heartless, such as the Invincible or Darkside with a single stroke.
"That leaves the Silver Keyblade. While not as powerful as the Gold or Dark Keyblades, it is the most versatile. It's fairly effective against the Heartless, and, as I said, with the Gold Keyblade, it can permanently seal the Door to Kingdom Hearts. However, it also is able to seal the Keyholes of any world."
"Yes, the Keyholes." Malifecent mused. "What are these Keyholes?"
Ansem paged through the book. "Ah, here we are. 'Just as Kingdom Hearts has it's Door, so do all worlds that come from it. All worlds have a Keyhole that lead to the Heart of that world. Those without hearts covet the Hearts of worlds more than the Hearts of the inhabitants. If they find the Keyhole of a world, before that Keyhole is sealed by the Keyblade, the Heart of that world can be consumed and the world destroyed.'
"Essentially," Ansem continued, "if the Heartless find a world whose Keyhole has not yet been sealed, they can enter that Keyhole and consume the Heart of that world. The world is then destoryed and the energy returned to Kingdom Hearts."
"So, the more worlds destroyed, the more power Kingdom Hearts has behind the Door."
"Exactly." Ansem replied. "Of course, there is the matter of GETTING to Kingdom Hearts in the first place."
"The Heartless don't seem to have any difficulty." Maleficent said.
"Exactly my point. They have no Hearts, so there's no danger. But the book says that Kingdom Hearts is more or less crawling with them. Let's not delude ourselves, my dear Maleficent. The Heartless don't serve us, they tolerate us. If we let down our guard or let our own inherent darkness consume us before we acquire the power of Kingdom Hearts, they will destroy us."
"So, going to Kingdom Hearts before we are adequately prepared would result in our own elimination, being the only Hearts in the vicinity." Maleficent said.
"Exactly. Except-"
"Yes?"
Ansem shook his head. "Another hypothesis of mine, but at the moment it's irrelevant to our present discussion. As I was saying, the initial problem is FINDING Kingdom Hearts without being a Heartless. This appears to be where these Princesses of Heart come into play."
"Oh?"
"Once again, the book isn't quite clear on how it works, but apparently out there, somewhere, are seven Princesses who's hearts are connected to Kingdom Hearts. If the hearts of all seven are joined, the power of those seven hearts will open another Keyhole."
"One that leads to Kingdom Hearts," Maleficent finished.
"Exactly. And the Hearts themselves will form the Dark Keyblade. Once that's done, all that remains is to go to Kingdom Hearts and find the Door."
"And then the power will be ours. The power to rule all worlds for all eternity." Malificent savored the phrase as it passed through her lips.
"Yes, indeed." Ansem replied.
"Who are the Princesses and where can we find them?" Maleficent said.
"Unknown." Ansem replied, consulting the book. "The only clue to the identity of the seven Princesses is a poem."
"A poem?"
"See for yourself." Ansem handed the book to Maleficent. "That's the problem with prophecies of ultimate power, they hardly ever provide clear directions on how to find it."
Maleficent nodded absentmindedly as she looked at the book. On the pages was a lengthy poem written in flowing calligraphy:
Seven they are with the power of Heart
United they are but all worlds apart
The power within them sleeps silent and still
Until they are found by One's strength of will
The Princess of Charity pays as she goes
For the protection of friends from her most deadly foes
Vanity falters at the sight of her face
And she is the key to a ruler's disgrace
The Princess of Duty is a responsible one
With time only for work, never for fun
She suffers in silence, in the embers and soot
Never knowing her destiny will soon be afoot
The Princess of Hope was doomed from the start
Cursed with a sleep that no doctor could chart
A kiss was needed to restore her to life
And she now sings in her joy at becoming a wife
The Princess of Wisdom looks deep within
Past a surface that some see as a sin
With knowledge and care she continues to solve
The cause of an anger that must be resolved
The Princess of Faith is a mere slip of a girl
Who falls through the border leading to a new world
Where logic is chaos and madness supreme
And reality little more than an afternoon dream
The Princess of Daring combines brains and skill
To thwart the plots of an evil fiend's will
Down in the alleys she will soon see
The face of a rogue as daring as she
The Princess of Light is the last of them all
Unaware of the power she has at her call
Her memory is eroded, her location is lost
And two vow to find her, no matter the cost
Seven they are with the power of Heart
United they are but all worlds apart
The Door they can find, the place they can mark
And unless the Key can be found, all will succumb to the Dark
"Fascinating," Maleficent murmured, "It seems to be half poetry and half prophecy."
"You noticed it, as well." Ansem said. "It appears that some of the Princesses are going to do some things, others are in the process of doing them, and some have already done them."
"Yes..." Maleficent said quietly, half-listening. Her attention kept getting drawn to the fourth stanza, about the Princess of Hope. The events described sounded familiar...much too familiar. As she read and re-read the stanza, it came to her. A slow evil grin spread across her face. The irony was just too delicious...and it would provide her with the revenge she so rightly deserved.
"My, that's an intriguing expression," Ansem said, with a grin that mirrored Maleficent's own. "Something interesting in the poem?"
Maleficent closed the book and handed it back to Ansem. "I believe I know where we can find one of the Princesses."
The two disappeared into the darkness of the castle Chapel, making their plans. In the shadows around them, the Heartless watched them go...and waited for the day they knew was coming.