The Promise
Chapter 2
"Seems he took the bait, mistress Maleficent." A shadow heartless said to a figure cloaked
in a new degree of darkness. It was the deep chamber of Crimson Castle, named that for the
crimson light that it was surrounded by thanks to the energy given off by the numerous
Heartless floating about. It's appearance gave the mortal observer instant chills down his
or her spine and at the same time curiosity of how such a beautiful castle could be so
ominous and demented. It had the look of a Celtic manor, but with Gothic architecture aged
by many more centuries then one could or would want to count. It was surrounded by a moat
filled to the brim with water that had Sea Neon, Search Ghosts, Screwdivers and a large
Shark like Heartless that could eat three full-grown men in one bite.
Maleficent stepped out of the darkness towards the shadow that was near the light they had
watched Sora in.
"My my, how easily the strong are fooled. I guess the key blade master is becoming senile."
Maleficent said. She looked as if she hadn't aged at all since the battle between her and
Sora. Her long green skinned fingers wrapped around her scepter and gripped it so hard her
knuckles whitened. Her other hand extended to the light and she touched it with her pointer
finger, making the image of Sora shatter.
"Sora, it's been a long time. And now we'll finish what we started all those years ago. And
this time…" She paused and approached the shadowy corridor which she came from. She held her
free hand out to the darkness and it absorbed into her quickly.
"I will not be so easily subdued." Her eyes flashed a deep red as she cackled wildly.
"Time travel?!" Exclaimed an elderly man at the gummi retail store.
Sora had landed on Ganymede 8 and started asking around about time travel possibilities.
"Yes, I want to know if time travel is possible with gummi parts." Sora said calmly.
"Well it's not, so stop asking and leave decent folks to their business."
Sora rolled his eyes and left the grumbling old man.
"Geez, it's not like I haven't helped these people before, but whenever I need help I'm
always on my own. Typical." Sora said to himself as he kicked a lone can dropped by some
careless citizen.
"I believe I can help you, boy." A beggar on the side of the street said.
Sora looked towards the speaker.
"Wha-….How?" Sora asked.
"Ah, you have seen many a battle I presume." the beggar gestured to Sora's mechanical left
arm.
Sora covered his left arm as if he were ashamed of it.
"What of it, old one?" Sora asked.
"Just making small conversation. Now about your problem. There is a castle in another world,
pretty close to here, and in that castle is a woman who may be able to help you with your
problem."
Of all the years of Sora's wandering and all the stories he had heard, he had never heard of
Crimson Castle, or any woman there that could help people. So he had to ask.
"Who is it?" Sora asked the old beggar.
"She is known far and wide as Maleficent the good witch." The beggar replied with confidence.
(Is he for real?) Sora thought as he allowed the beggar's information to sink in.
"Maleficent is dead though, isn't she?" Sora asked, obvious doubt in his mind.
"Ah, that is what most are meant to think." The beggar began. "But she is indeed alive and
well."
Sora wanted to swear.
"Great…Are you sure she's a good witch? When I was young, she was…how can I put this….evil."
Sora said to the beggar.
"Indeed! But she reformed her ways. I would never lie about such a thing!" The beggar said
defensively.
Sora doubted the validity of the beggar's claim, but this was his best lead so far.
"So how would one find this good witch? Is she still in Hollow Bastion?" Sora asked,
referring to the castle reference the beggar had given him.
"Oh indeed not! She is in the great monastery known as Crimson Castle." The beggar said as
he stroked his long dirty white beard.
"Uh, and how would one get there?"
"Why, by gummi ship of course! And this navigation gummi will take you right there!" The
beggar exclaimed this as he held out a navigational gummi to the keybearer.
Sora at first hesitated to even touch the gummi, but he reached for it and took it in his
hand. He looked it over closely, doubt still in his mind.
"I speak only the truth, young one, you can not doubt my words." The beggar said and flashed
a toothless grin to Sora.
Sora cringed inwardly at the sight of the beggar's gingivitis infected gums, but responded
with an uneasy smile and began to hand the gummi back, but the beggar pushed it back to him.
"You are a troubled young man, but take your ship to where this gummi leads you and all your
dreams will come true." the beggar said.
Sora still wasn't sure about the whole thing. Especially after that last line. But if this
truly was a hoax, it was his own responsibility to settle the affair and make sure no one
would get hurt.
"Alright, old one, I'll do as you say." Sora said and turned around, his long coat swishing
in the air as it was rapidly turned and trailing behind the middle-aged hero's steps.
When Sora was out of sight, the old man chuckled a bit and ripped off his long beard,
revealing a black well cared for curled one. He stood up to a straight, perfect posture and
swished his hands a bit, a copper cobra staff appearing in his bony hand.
"Perfect…." His voice changed from an old man's to that of an evil man Sora had face long ago.
It was Jafar!
"All my dreams come true…puh." Sora said in a gruff tone as he sat down in the pilot's seat
of the gummi ship.
He had installed the gummi already and was preparing the engines. Something inside him,
childish hope he supposed, was eager to get to Crimson Castle and go back to Kairi if this
was true, that Maleficent could help him.
But not a lot had worked out for the now 42 year old warrior. At one time he had had no
doubt he would get home and get to be with Kairi on the Destiny Islands. But as the years
had passed and age had come onto him, the dream just became that, a dream, nothing more. He
imagined Kairi, waiting hopelessly there for him, and one day realizing he would never come
back and die of a broken heart.
He got rid of the thought quickly. There was no way in hell he would allow that to happen.
He watched as the coordinates lit up on the screen, showing where he currently was, Ganymede
8, and where he was going, a world titled Crimson Castle.
"I guess this is it." Sora said quietly.
(I'm coming, Kairi, just wait for me, okay?)
"Kairi, c'mon, the party's about to start!" Selphie said eagerly as she skipped over to the
shore where Kairi stood, watching the sky.
Both girls were older now, Selphie, 17 now, still had about the same style hair and clothing,
but had matured quite a bit in appearance, but was only 5'1. Kairi, 18 now, was about 4
inches taller then Selphie, and she had grown her hair out long to about halfway down her
back. She too still wore similar clothes to what she had when she was 14, but a little more
reserved.
"I'll be there in a minute, Selphie." Kairi said, looking to her friend who was walking
towards her.
Selphie, obviously a bit annoyed, was used to the pattern of Kairi's attitude. But she felt
it was her responsibility to snap her friend back to reality, or what she thought was reality.
"Kairi, I know you love him, but you have to let him go." Selphie said while putting a hand
on her friend's shoulder. "It's been 4 years already."
Kairi didn't speak.
"Kairi…Tidus, Wakka and I are worried about you. None of us want you to get hurt." Selphie
said in a concerned tone.
"I'm just keeping a promise I made." Kairi said quietly.
"Promise you'll come in a few minutes, Kairi. We want you to have fun for once, that's all."
Selphie said.
"I just need a few minutes. I'll come." Kairi said.
"Great! I'll go tell Tidus and Wakka."
Kairi watched Selphie run off eagerly. She turned her gaze back to the stars.
"Come back soon, Sora…" She said. "I miss you…"
A tropical breeze came by as she said this, blowing caressing warm wind around the girl. She
wrapped her arms around her bare arms and closed her eyes as she enjoyed the breeze.
Sora stood outside the gate of Crimson Castle, Keyblade in hand and his promise still on his
mind.
"Okay. Now where's the door bell." Sora asked aloud to no one in particular. He found what
looked like a gong and a withered percussion mallet near the cobwebbed, rusted and otherwise
creepy looking gate. He began to pick the mallet up, but it disintegrated into a pile of rotted
wood and termite maggots. He sighed in annoyance and raised his left mechanical arm.
He hit the gong with his fist hard.
The sound of the gong echoed through out the area, forcing Sora to cover his ears in pain.
The gates began to open right then, creaking and squeaking as they slowly went. Sora gritted
his teeth from the sound, but bared through it.
"This had better be it." Sora said coldly.
He marched towards the menacing castle. Sora prided himself in not being scared easily. With
his gruff attitude and age, he had also grown a spine that would make Rambo jealous and a
recklessness that could make a bull cringe.
As he approached the door, he noticed numerous heartless floating around it. And the weird
thing was, they didn't seem to notice him, or if they did they didn't care much.
He reached the moat which divided the castle from the path he was currently on. The gate/
bridge was lowered with a quick rush, forcing Sora to jump back for fear of losing his toes.
He looked up at the watchmen in the tower overlooking his position. Sora gave the heartless
watchmen a look that could've made pain peel and walked in. From the moat, the shark
heartless in it watched his movements, finally snapping at him when he dared get closer to
the edge. Sora jumped back out of surprise, but paid the shark no more mind after that. He
entered the castle. The castle's inside was completely different from it's outside.
Sora almost wondered if he had stepped into the same building as he looked up at the ceiling
at the crystalline chandelier, the ceiling painted with various scenes of some knight doing
various noble deeds going across the vast length of the ceiling. The paintings ranged from
what looked like the knight defeating what looked like gothic heartless to rescuing a
princess, defeating a dragon and finally what looked like a wedding scene between the knight
and princess.
The paintings looked as if they were painted long ago, but recently restored. Sora looked to
the walls where paintings of other knights in various noble positions hung. The knights were
different from each one you looked to, but each was connected to the other somehow. Sora
continued forward, still looking at the paintings. Near the end of the hallway, there was a
vacant spot where it looked like a painting was to be hung soon.
"Admiring my paintings, Sora?" Maleficent's voice roused Sora from his trance.
Sora looked towards the circling stair case that was in the direction he had been walking.
About halfway down it stood Maleficent, holding her sceptor and looking sinister as Sora
had ever seen her.
"Maleficent!" Sora said and immediately got his key blade ready.
"Relax, keybearer, I mean you no harm." Maleficent's voice echoed throughout the hall. "It
has been many years since we last saw each other."
"Not long enough." Sora muttered.
"Is there something you want? Put away your weapon if there is." Maleficent said calmly.
Sora clenched his teeth in inward anger, but put away his key blade.
"Word is you're some good witch or something like that." Sora said with obvious disgust in
his tone.
"Yes…I have changed my ways since your defeat over me." Maleficent said. "I realized my
magic would benefit many people if properly used."
"Right….So after a humiliating defeat you realized being bad was stupid, right?" Sora asked
sarcastically.
"That attitude is not going to get whatever you came for accomplished."
"Can you help me or not?" Sora demanded.
"Temper temper…" Maleficent said as she stepped down the stairs and walked towards Sora. She
stopped close to in front of him and raised her green, bony hand around his protective
collar to touch Sora's face. "You've grown quite handsome over these past 28 years."
Sora lurched his head bag as well as his body. A smirk came over Maleficent's face as she
spoke.
"What is it you wanted?" Maleficent asked.
"I want to travel back in time." Sora said.
"Ah…any particular reasons?" Maleficent asked.
"It's none of your business."
"You should trust me a little more then that if you want help."
Sora balled his fists and began explaining to her his reason, not including too many details,
but enough to be a valid reason.
"So you want to find your past self to get him back home to your, or his girlfriend." The
witch said with a near laugh.
"Can you help me or not?" Sora demanded.
"I can…follow me." Maleficent began towards the stairs she had previously been on. Sora
stayed where he was.
"Are you coming or not?" The witch asked from the beginning of the stairs.
Against his better instincts Sora nodded and followed Maleficent up the creaking stairs. The
walls had tapestries of foreign make, Sora guessed, and they seemed to depict the worst
scenes from old fairy tales he had heard as a boy. One in particular grabbed his attention.
It was of a princess, it looked almost like Aurora, one of the princesses he had helped
rescue, and she was laying flat on a bed, a flower in her lifeless hands, and a large black
dragon standing menacingly over her.
He withdrew his attention from the image and continued following the witch.
"These stairs are awfully long." Sora commented after it had been 20 minutes.
"We must get to the proper room for me to be able to send you back in time, keybearer, so
patience would be preferred over your constant complaining." Maleficent said to the annoyed
warrior.
"This had best not be a trick, woman." Sora replied, his ire aroused by the witch's shot.
"You'll not be disappointed. Trust me." Maleficent continued up the stairs and Sora stopped.
(Yeah, I'll trust you. I'll trust you about as much I'll trust a snake with a chicken.) Sora
thought bitterly as he continued up the stairs, continuing his train of thought. (Does that
make me the chicken?)
His better instincts, if he had chosen to follow them, said to leave immediately, in fact,
probably to not have even come to the world in the first place. Yet his heart, the heart
that had stayed in near perfect condition from his boyhood held hope that maybe Maleficent
could help him.
The stairs ended finally and when the two had entered the door to the room Maleficent had
led him to, Sora found himself in the largest room he had ever been in. The ceiling had to
be ninety, no a hundred feet high, and the floor expanded well over twice the ceiling's
height. And the width had to be 60 feet at least.
The room was well lit, amazing Sora greatly. The ceiling looked as if it had been coated in
the purest gold color, cherubs and angels flying across, and the chandeliers seemed to have
been made of diamonds that shown the most beautiful light. The walls were covered in fine
silk cloth tapestries and enough mirrors to confuse one if he attempted to look at each. The
floor was a varnished wood that seemed to have never been scuffed or walked on.
"What kind of room is this?" Sora asked as he looked around the well taken care of room.
"It's the only room large enough for me to be able to send you back." Maleficent said.
She stepped towards the middle of the room, her heels clicking and echoing throughout the
room. She turned and gestured for Sora to follow. He complied.
"Now, is there a point in time you wish to go back to?" Maleficent asked.
Sora nodded and began to say it, but Maleficent silenced him with a gesture.
"Just place it in your mind and I will read it from there." She said.
Sora nodded and closed his eyes, picturing the moment he, Goofy, and Donald had left Kairi
there on Destiny Islands. He pictured when their hands had lost their hold on the other's.
Maleficent had her hands raised around Sora's head, reading the thought through her fingers,
a sickening grin on her face.
Sora's mind began screaming for him to leave. But something seemed to paralyze him to the
spot he was standing in. All his instincts yelled at him to leave or attempt to at least.
But Sora's thirst to go home just had to be quenched.
(What the devil is the matter with me?) Sora thought (I'll be going home soon. Why can't my
heart accept that?)
"Ah, perfect. I can see it clearly. You may open your eyes now." Maleficent said.
Sora opened his eyes and noticed the room looked much shabbier then it had earlier. He then
noticed Maleficent still had her hand's around his head.
"You fool." Maleficent began as her eyes rolled back in her head.
"What's the meaning of this?" Sora demanded, but quickly a surge of magic was sent from the
witch's fingers into his skull, quickly knocking him out.
He fell to the rotted wood floor at the witch's feet. Maleficent formed a self-satisfied
smirk on her face as she looked the fallen warrior over.
"Is he unconscious?" echoed a voice through the room.
"Yes master. Just as you said, he wanted to go back to that point." Maleficent replied to
the omniscient voice.
"Good. Too bad he'll miss that point by a few years…." The voice chuckled.
"To the point in which you were at your highest peak in power, am I correct, my lord?"
"Yes. One decade, eight years, and ten months ago…."
Maleficent then raised her arms to the ceiling and a storm cloud began to appear above her,
crackling with thunder and lightning.
Sora in his unconsciousness dreamt. He found himself in a world in vast disrepair, debris
everywhere and little or no life to be seen or sensed anywhere. The sand under his feet had
been long dried from death. It had once been teeming with life. Once laughter and the
chirping of healthy birds could be heard in the air. Utter silence was all Sora could hear.
The sky was once a vibrant light blue with just enough clouds to make for a perfect day of
seeing what you could find in the sky. Now the sky was a dead gray color, the clouds, if
they were there were unnoticeable against the pasty sky. Sora looked to what used to be a
shore he guessed, but the water was long dried and gone. Sora knew where he was, but this
couldn't be it. This couldn't be the Destiny Islands he knew. Everything was dead.
"How could you, Sora?" said an echoing familiar voice.
Sora turned around and saw behind him a phantom he guessed. He reached for his Ultima Weapon,
but he found it long gone, and in it's place the kingdom key.
"What is this? What happened to my weapon?" He asked in disbelief.
"You lost it, Sora…"said the phantom as it began to take on the shape of a 14 year old girl.
"Wait a minute….Kairi?" Sora asked.
"Why did you let Maleficent trick you?" She began to disappear.
"Wait!" Sora reached out to her, but her image shattered. He kept his hand where it was,
still reaching for something he could not grasp.
"No…" Was all he could say.
Back in the real world.…
"I can't believe he was so trusting of you." the voice said to Maleficent as she created the
time/space portal. "But I do give you praise for your time gummi you planted in the shipment
he ordered."
A cloaked figure appeared behind Maleficent.
"All one needs to attract flies is a drop of honey, the flyswatter takes care of the rest."
Maleficent said.
The cloaked figure laughed with the same voice Maleficent had been conversing with.
"Excellent wording." He said.
"So all you need from him is his ultima weapon, correct?" Maleficent asked, turning her head
to look at her master.
"Yes. He won't last long against his own weapon. Remember to open a portal to this castle in
the same time frame so this will be delivered." The cloaked figure held up the ultima key
chain.
"Of course, my lord." Maleficent replied.
The portals were completed. The cloaked figure raised his left arm, Sora's body levitating
along with it. Sora's body was then flung into the space/time portal Maleficent had created
to send him 18 years in the past.
Then the cloaked figure tossed the ultima key chain into the smaller portal next to the
space/time one, sending it back the same amount of years, but to the current world.
"Get ready, aged warrior." The cloaked figure said. "Our prolonged battle shall thus
commence."
End of Chapter 2
Chapter 2
"Seems he took the bait, mistress Maleficent." A shadow heartless said to a figure cloaked
in a new degree of darkness. It was the deep chamber of Crimson Castle, named that for the
crimson light that it was surrounded by thanks to the energy given off by the numerous
Heartless floating about. It's appearance gave the mortal observer instant chills down his
or her spine and at the same time curiosity of how such a beautiful castle could be so
ominous and demented. It had the look of a Celtic manor, but with Gothic architecture aged
by many more centuries then one could or would want to count. It was surrounded by a moat
filled to the brim with water that had Sea Neon, Search Ghosts, Screwdivers and a large
Shark like Heartless that could eat three full-grown men in one bite.
Maleficent stepped out of the darkness towards the shadow that was near the light they had
watched Sora in.
"My my, how easily the strong are fooled. I guess the key blade master is becoming senile."
Maleficent said. She looked as if she hadn't aged at all since the battle between her and
Sora. Her long green skinned fingers wrapped around her scepter and gripped it so hard her
knuckles whitened. Her other hand extended to the light and she touched it with her pointer
finger, making the image of Sora shatter.
"Sora, it's been a long time. And now we'll finish what we started all those years ago. And
this time…" She paused and approached the shadowy corridor which she came from. She held her
free hand out to the darkness and it absorbed into her quickly.
"I will not be so easily subdued." Her eyes flashed a deep red as she cackled wildly.
"Time travel?!" Exclaimed an elderly man at the gummi retail store.
Sora had landed on Ganymede 8 and started asking around about time travel possibilities.
"Yes, I want to know if time travel is possible with gummi parts." Sora said calmly.
"Well it's not, so stop asking and leave decent folks to their business."
Sora rolled his eyes and left the grumbling old man.
"Geez, it's not like I haven't helped these people before, but whenever I need help I'm
always on my own. Typical." Sora said to himself as he kicked a lone can dropped by some
careless citizen.
"I believe I can help you, boy." A beggar on the side of the street said.
Sora looked towards the speaker.
"Wha-….How?" Sora asked.
"Ah, you have seen many a battle I presume." the beggar gestured to Sora's mechanical left
arm.
Sora covered his left arm as if he were ashamed of it.
"What of it, old one?" Sora asked.
"Just making small conversation. Now about your problem. There is a castle in another world,
pretty close to here, and in that castle is a woman who may be able to help you with your
problem."
Of all the years of Sora's wandering and all the stories he had heard, he had never heard of
Crimson Castle, or any woman there that could help people. So he had to ask.
"Who is it?" Sora asked the old beggar.
"She is known far and wide as Maleficent the good witch." The beggar replied with confidence.
(Is he for real?) Sora thought as he allowed the beggar's information to sink in.
"Maleficent is dead though, isn't she?" Sora asked, obvious doubt in his mind.
"Ah, that is what most are meant to think." The beggar began. "But she is indeed alive and
well."
Sora wanted to swear.
"Great…Are you sure she's a good witch? When I was young, she was…how can I put this….evil."
Sora said to the beggar.
"Indeed! But she reformed her ways. I would never lie about such a thing!" The beggar said
defensively.
Sora doubted the validity of the beggar's claim, but this was his best lead so far.
"So how would one find this good witch? Is she still in Hollow Bastion?" Sora asked,
referring to the castle reference the beggar had given him.
"Oh indeed not! She is in the great monastery known as Crimson Castle." The beggar said as
he stroked his long dirty white beard.
"Uh, and how would one get there?"
"Why, by gummi ship of course! And this navigation gummi will take you right there!" The
beggar exclaimed this as he held out a navigational gummi to the keybearer.
Sora at first hesitated to even touch the gummi, but he reached for it and took it in his
hand. He looked it over closely, doubt still in his mind.
"I speak only the truth, young one, you can not doubt my words." The beggar said and flashed
a toothless grin to Sora.
Sora cringed inwardly at the sight of the beggar's gingivitis infected gums, but responded
with an uneasy smile and began to hand the gummi back, but the beggar pushed it back to him.
"You are a troubled young man, but take your ship to where this gummi leads you and all your
dreams will come true." the beggar said.
Sora still wasn't sure about the whole thing. Especially after that last line. But if this
truly was a hoax, it was his own responsibility to settle the affair and make sure no one
would get hurt.
"Alright, old one, I'll do as you say." Sora said and turned around, his long coat swishing
in the air as it was rapidly turned and trailing behind the middle-aged hero's steps.
When Sora was out of sight, the old man chuckled a bit and ripped off his long beard,
revealing a black well cared for curled one. He stood up to a straight, perfect posture and
swished his hands a bit, a copper cobra staff appearing in his bony hand.
"Perfect…." His voice changed from an old man's to that of an evil man Sora had face long ago.
It was Jafar!
"All my dreams come true…puh." Sora said in a gruff tone as he sat down in the pilot's seat
of the gummi ship.
He had installed the gummi already and was preparing the engines. Something inside him,
childish hope he supposed, was eager to get to Crimson Castle and go back to Kairi if this
was true, that Maleficent could help him.
But not a lot had worked out for the now 42 year old warrior. At one time he had had no
doubt he would get home and get to be with Kairi on the Destiny Islands. But as the years
had passed and age had come onto him, the dream just became that, a dream, nothing more. He
imagined Kairi, waiting hopelessly there for him, and one day realizing he would never come
back and die of a broken heart.
He got rid of the thought quickly. There was no way in hell he would allow that to happen.
He watched as the coordinates lit up on the screen, showing where he currently was, Ganymede
8, and where he was going, a world titled Crimson Castle.
"I guess this is it." Sora said quietly.
(I'm coming, Kairi, just wait for me, okay?)
"Kairi, c'mon, the party's about to start!" Selphie said eagerly as she skipped over to the
shore where Kairi stood, watching the sky.
Both girls were older now, Selphie, 17 now, still had about the same style hair and clothing,
but had matured quite a bit in appearance, but was only 5'1. Kairi, 18 now, was about 4
inches taller then Selphie, and she had grown her hair out long to about halfway down her
back. She too still wore similar clothes to what she had when she was 14, but a little more
reserved.
"I'll be there in a minute, Selphie." Kairi said, looking to her friend who was walking
towards her.
Selphie, obviously a bit annoyed, was used to the pattern of Kairi's attitude. But she felt
it was her responsibility to snap her friend back to reality, or what she thought was reality.
"Kairi, I know you love him, but you have to let him go." Selphie said while putting a hand
on her friend's shoulder. "It's been 4 years already."
Kairi didn't speak.
"Kairi…Tidus, Wakka and I are worried about you. None of us want you to get hurt." Selphie
said in a concerned tone.
"I'm just keeping a promise I made." Kairi said quietly.
"Promise you'll come in a few minutes, Kairi. We want you to have fun for once, that's all."
Selphie said.
"I just need a few minutes. I'll come." Kairi said.
"Great! I'll go tell Tidus and Wakka."
Kairi watched Selphie run off eagerly. She turned her gaze back to the stars.
"Come back soon, Sora…" She said. "I miss you…"
A tropical breeze came by as she said this, blowing caressing warm wind around the girl. She
wrapped her arms around her bare arms and closed her eyes as she enjoyed the breeze.
Sora stood outside the gate of Crimson Castle, Keyblade in hand and his promise still on his
mind.
"Okay. Now where's the door bell." Sora asked aloud to no one in particular. He found what
looked like a gong and a withered percussion mallet near the cobwebbed, rusted and otherwise
creepy looking gate. He began to pick the mallet up, but it disintegrated into a pile of rotted
wood and termite maggots. He sighed in annoyance and raised his left mechanical arm.
He hit the gong with his fist hard.
The sound of the gong echoed through out the area, forcing Sora to cover his ears in pain.
The gates began to open right then, creaking and squeaking as they slowly went. Sora gritted
his teeth from the sound, but bared through it.
"This had better be it." Sora said coldly.
He marched towards the menacing castle. Sora prided himself in not being scared easily. With
his gruff attitude and age, he had also grown a spine that would make Rambo jealous and a
recklessness that could make a bull cringe.
As he approached the door, he noticed numerous heartless floating around it. And the weird
thing was, they didn't seem to notice him, or if they did they didn't care much.
He reached the moat which divided the castle from the path he was currently on. The gate/
bridge was lowered with a quick rush, forcing Sora to jump back for fear of losing his toes.
He looked up at the watchmen in the tower overlooking his position. Sora gave the heartless
watchmen a look that could've made pain peel and walked in. From the moat, the shark
heartless in it watched his movements, finally snapping at him when he dared get closer to
the edge. Sora jumped back out of surprise, but paid the shark no more mind after that. He
entered the castle. The castle's inside was completely different from it's outside.
Sora almost wondered if he had stepped into the same building as he looked up at the ceiling
at the crystalline chandelier, the ceiling painted with various scenes of some knight doing
various noble deeds going across the vast length of the ceiling. The paintings ranged from
what looked like the knight defeating what looked like gothic heartless to rescuing a
princess, defeating a dragon and finally what looked like a wedding scene between the knight
and princess.
The paintings looked as if they were painted long ago, but recently restored. Sora looked to
the walls where paintings of other knights in various noble positions hung. The knights were
different from each one you looked to, but each was connected to the other somehow. Sora
continued forward, still looking at the paintings. Near the end of the hallway, there was a
vacant spot where it looked like a painting was to be hung soon.
"Admiring my paintings, Sora?" Maleficent's voice roused Sora from his trance.
Sora looked towards the circling stair case that was in the direction he had been walking.
About halfway down it stood Maleficent, holding her sceptor and looking sinister as Sora
had ever seen her.
"Maleficent!" Sora said and immediately got his key blade ready.
"Relax, keybearer, I mean you no harm." Maleficent's voice echoed throughout the hall. "It
has been many years since we last saw each other."
"Not long enough." Sora muttered.
"Is there something you want? Put away your weapon if there is." Maleficent said calmly.
Sora clenched his teeth in inward anger, but put away his key blade.
"Word is you're some good witch or something like that." Sora said with obvious disgust in
his tone.
"Yes…I have changed my ways since your defeat over me." Maleficent said. "I realized my
magic would benefit many people if properly used."
"Right….So after a humiliating defeat you realized being bad was stupid, right?" Sora asked
sarcastically.
"That attitude is not going to get whatever you came for accomplished."
"Can you help me or not?" Sora demanded.
"Temper temper…" Maleficent said as she stepped down the stairs and walked towards Sora. She
stopped close to in front of him and raised her green, bony hand around his protective
collar to touch Sora's face. "You've grown quite handsome over these past 28 years."
Sora lurched his head bag as well as his body. A smirk came over Maleficent's face as she
spoke.
"What is it you wanted?" Maleficent asked.
"I want to travel back in time." Sora said.
"Ah…any particular reasons?" Maleficent asked.
"It's none of your business."
"You should trust me a little more then that if you want help."
Sora balled his fists and began explaining to her his reason, not including too many details,
but enough to be a valid reason.
"So you want to find your past self to get him back home to your, or his girlfriend." The
witch said with a near laugh.
"Can you help me or not?" Sora demanded.
"I can…follow me." Maleficent began towards the stairs she had previously been on. Sora
stayed where he was.
"Are you coming or not?" The witch asked from the beginning of the stairs.
Against his better instincts Sora nodded and followed Maleficent up the creaking stairs. The
walls had tapestries of foreign make, Sora guessed, and they seemed to depict the worst
scenes from old fairy tales he had heard as a boy. One in particular grabbed his attention.
It was of a princess, it looked almost like Aurora, one of the princesses he had helped
rescue, and she was laying flat on a bed, a flower in her lifeless hands, and a large black
dragon standing menacingly over her.
He withdrew his attention from the image and continued following the witch.
"These stairs are awfully long." Sora commented after it had been 20 minutes.
"We must get to the proper room for me to be able to send you back in time, keybearer, so
patience would be preferred over your constant complaining." Maleficent said to the annoyed
warrior.
"This had best not be a trick, woman." Sora replied, his ire aroused by the witch's shot.
"You'll not be disappointed. Trust me." Maleficent continued up the stairs and Sora stopped.
(Yeah, I'll trust you. I'll trust you about as much I'll trust a snake with a chicken.) Sora
thought bitterly as he continued up the stairs, continuing his train of thought. (Does that
make me the chicken?)
His better instincts, if he had chosen to follow them, said to leave immediately, in fact,
probably to not have even come to the world in the first place. Yet his heart, the heart
that had stayed in near perfect condition from his boyhood held hope that maybe Maleficent
could help him.
The stairs ended finally and when the two had entered the door to the room Maleficent had
led him to, Sora found himself in the largest room he had ever been in. The ceiling had to
be ninety, no a hundred feet high, and the floor expanded well over twice the ceiling's
height. And the width had to be 60 feet at least.
The room was well lit, amazing Sora greatly. The ceiling looked as if it had been coated in
the purest gold color, cherubs and angels flying across, and the chandeliers seemed to have
been made of diamonds that shown the most beautiful light. The walls were covered in fine
silk cloth tapestries and enough mirrors to confuse one if he attempted to look at each. The
floor was a varnished wood that seemed to have never been scuffed or walked on.
"What kind of room is this?" Sora asked as he looked around the well taken care of room.
"It's the only room large enough for me to be able to send you back." Maleficent said.
She stepped towards the middle of the room, her heels clicking and echoing throughout the
room. She turned and gestured for Sora to follow. He complied.
"Now, is there a point in time you wish to go back to?" Maleficent asked.
Sora nodded and began to say it, but Maleficent silenced him with a gesture.
"Just place it in your mind and I will read it from there." She said.
Sora nodded and closed his eyes, picturing the moment he, Goofy, and Donald had left Kairi
there on Destiny Islands. He pictured when their hands had lost their hold on the other's.
Maleficent had her hands raised around Sora's head, reading the thought through her fingers,
a sickening grin on her face.
Sora's mind began screaming for him to leave. But something seemed to paralyze him to the
spot he was standing in. All his instincts yelled at him to leave or attempt to at least.
But Sora's thirst to go home just had to be quenched.
(What the devil is the matter with me?) Sora thought (I'll be going home soon. Why can't my
heart accept that?)
"Ah, perfect. I can see it clearly. You may open your eyes now." Maleficent said.
Sora opened his eyes and noticed the room looked much shabbier then it had earlier. He then
noticed Maleficent still had her hand's around his head.
"You fool." Maleficent began as her eyes rolled back in her head.
"What's the meaning of this?" Sora demanded, but quickly a surge of magic was sent from the
witch's fingers into his skull, quickly knocking him out.
He fell to the rotted wood floor at the witch's feet. Maleficent formed a self-satisfied
smirk on her face as she looked the fallen warrior over.
"Is he unconscious?" echoed a voice through the room.
"Yes master. Just as you said, he wanted to go back to that point." Maleficent replied to
the omniscient voice.
"Good. Too bad he'll miss that point by a few years…." The voice chuckled.
"To the point in which you were at your highest peak in power, am I correct, my lord?"
"Yes. One decade, eight years, and ten months ago…."
Maleficent then raised her arms to the ceiling and a storm cloud began to appear above her,
crackling with thunder and lightning.
Sora in his unconsciousness dreamt. He found himself in a world in vast disrepair, debris
everywhere and little or no life to be seen or sensed anywhere. The sand under his feet had
been long dried from death. It had once been teeming with life. Once laughter and the
chirping of healthy birds could be heard in the air. Utter silence was all Sora could hear.
The sky was once a vibrant light blue with just enough clouds to make for a perfect day of
seeing what you could find in the sky. Now the sky was a dead gray color, the clouds, if
they were there were unnoticeable against the pasty sky. Sora looked to what used to be a
shore he guessed, but the water was long dried and gone. Sora knew where he was, but this
couldn't be it. This couldn't be the Destiny Islands he knew. Everything was dead.
"How could you, Sora?" said an echoing familiar voice.
Sora turned around and saw behind him a phantom he guessed. He reached for his Ultima Weapon,
but he found it long gone, and in it's place the kingdom key.
"What is this? What happened to my weapon?" He asked in disbelief.
"You lost it, Sora…"said the phantom as it began to take on the shape of a 14 year old girl.
"Wait a minute….Kairi?" Sora asked.
"Why did you let Maleficent trick you?" She began to disappear.
"Wait!" Sora reached out to her, but her image shattered. He kept his hand where it was,
still reaching for something he could not grasp.
"No…" Was all he could say.
Back in the real world.…
"I can't believe he was so trusting of you." the voice said to Maleficent as she created the
time/space portal. "But I do give you praise for your time gummi you planted in the shipment
he ordered."
A cloaked figure appeared behind Maleficent.
"All one needs to attract flies is a drop of honey, the flyswatter takes care of the rest."
Maleficent said.
The cloaked figure laughed with the same voice Maleficent had been conversing with.
"Excellent wording." He said.
"So all you need from him is his ultima weapon, correct?" Maleficent asked, turning her head
to look at her master.
"Yes. He won't last long against his own weapon. Remember to open a portal to this castle in
the same time frame so this will be delivered." The cloaked figure held up the ultima key
chain.
"Of course, my lord." Maleficent replied.
The portals were completed. The cloaked figure raised his left arm, Sora's body levitating
along with it. Sora's body was then flung into the space/time portal Maleficent had created
to send him 18 years in the past.
Then the cloaked figure tossed the ultima key chain into the smaller portal next to the
space/time one, sending it back the same amount of years, but to the current world.
"Get ready, aged warrior." The cloaked figure said. "Our prolonged battle shall thus
commence."
End of Chapter 2