Half-Heartless

Chapter 18

"I think he likes ya." Kristina giggles, nudging me.

"He's Heartless, Krissy." I softly say the her. If I was human, my entire face, no, my entire BODY would be bright red. The Wyvern is making such a big deal about Storm saving me every time I get into trouble. "He can't like girls."

Kristina smirks and leans over to me. "Yes, but what about YOU? You're half- Heartless." I punch her in the shoulder and she flies ahead. We're travelling up the labyrinthine "staircase" of Oogie's manor. Man, Oogie should get a job as a maze-maker!

...

I hate it when I get off track.

I follow along behind the group, reflecting on past moments. My life now is so different from my life a long time ago. Four years spent as a half- Heartless. Even the first three were a heck of a lot more carefree than this little adventure! I thought getting away from Deep Jungle would make me feel better. But instead, I'm suffering from severe nostalgia. I want to go back. I wish I had hidden in the bamboo while Sora fought through the hordes of Heartless.

"Des, you okay?"

"Uh-huh!"

Kristina snickers and winks at me as Storm falls back to check on me. I shake my fist at her threateningly. The Air Pirate ignores my gesture. "You sure? You seemed dazed and your head was bowed, like you were sick or worried or something."

"I'm positive," I reassure him, "I'm fine. I don't want you to worry."

"Sorry. It's just, I don't want you to get sick or hurt. I nearly killed you a few times, and you have Fate inside of you sometimes taking control... Plus you went unconscious before Kristina when I did Trinity Limit." Storm tells me. "And why are you straggling behind all of us like some kind of anti-social weirdo? C'mon, join the party!"

He grabs my hand and pulls me up with everyone else. I look up. We're almost to the top. I sigh and think about what Storm told me. When he used that tone of voice... it's as if he blames all of my misfortunes on himself. It wasn't his fault Xavier controlled him, and it isn't his fault that I have a dark side. It's more of my fault, since I'm so weak, that I fainted before anyone else when Storm used the Final Combo.

So why does he blame it on himself? Storm used to be so optimistic and cheerful. But... so did I... before this ridiculous thing began.

"You're beating yourself up for stuff you're not responsible for." Mel whispers in my ear. I blush and realize that I'm doing EXACTLY the same thing Storm is doing. The Requiem floats around my head. "Kristina told me what she told you. Don't listen to her. She's soft in the head. You an' Storm are just really great friends."

Snickering at my idiocy, I straighten myself, head held high, and trot along with everyone else. We finally reach the very tip, where Lock, Shock, and Barrel are hiding. I glance at the ground far below and try not to have a panic attack as we enter the small chamber.

No one's inside. We all search around the room, but the kids aren't there. Suddenly, I'm startled by a childish voice. "HIIIIIIYAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Someone's foot connects with my back and sends me sprawling. Shock dances around. "Whee-hee! Come and get me!"

Sora hits her (AN: I THINK Shock is the girl...) and the little witch is thrown across the floor. Barrel and Lock come out of hiding. The battle goes on for awhile, but it's relatively easy and we eventually have them sitting around crying. Donald tries to get them into telling us things, but they won't tell.

"But it has nothing to do with that lever right there." Barrel declares, pointing at the lever in the corner.

What an idiot.

I start to pull on the lever, but a trap door opens underneath me. I grasp onto the sides, but something grabs my feet and drags me down. Storm grabs onto my hand, Maria puts her arms around his waist and helps, Kristina clutches Maria's tail, Sora grabs the Wyvern's wings, Goofy grabs onto Sora and Donald grabs onto Goofy. Mel floats worriedly above me, unable to do anything.

The being that's grabbing me pulls hard. Storm's grip breaks, but the impact sends him and Maria falling down with me. We land in a dark room, and the trap door shuts on its own. I can hear Sora and the others rattling it and calling our names, but we fell from such an awful height that I had the wind knocked out of me.

The light flicks on and I hear Maria scream. Oogie Boogie towers over us, an evil smile on his face. "I was just aimin' for the half-Heartless, but three traitors would get more of a reward than one. Heh, heh! G'night, sweet little Heartless."

A nauseating smell fills the air as gas fills the chamber. Oogie walks out of the room, chuckling darkly. The world starts to spin around me. I cough and sputter, trying to keep my eyes open. But I'm so sleepy... I yawn and start to fall asleep, but someone shakes me.

"Des, don't fall asleep!" Maria insists drowsily. "Oogie Boogie will take you away and you'll get killed for betraying the Heartless! Don't!"

"What... About... You?" I ask, yawning.

Maria starts to go limp. She leans into me. "I'll be fine. I'm not nearly as wanted as you are. They'll just throw me in a prison. But for your sake, Des, stay awake!" She falls asleep in my lap.

I try to fight the sleepiness, but the gas is seeping into my mind and my eyelids droop. I fall onto the floor next to my friend and tumble into a deep slumber.

Fate "wakes me up" in the funhouse place, where I first saw her. She prods me in the chest with the halberd. "So, you're givin' up that easy, huh? I'm ashamed! You idiot! You're gonna get yourself killed! And Maria and Storm are gonna get captured! Think of how happy Oogie will be! He'll be REWARDED for this!"

"Well, uh, excuse me, but that gas was pretty strong!" I reply sarcastically. I snatch the halberd out of her hands and prod HER in the chest with every syllable. "According to what you just said, YOU gave up, YOU'RE ashamed of yourself, YOU just called YOURSELF an idiot and YOU'RE gonna get YOURSELF killed!"

"Will you knock it off with the split-personality for a second???" Fate glares at me darkly, then grabs the halberd and makes it vanish.

I want to stick my tongue out at her SO badly. "You never did! Oh, silly me! I never did! And why am I talking to myself? No sense in that!"

"What's with the attitude?"

"Gas made me cranky. And I rather dislike it when I'm woken up by myself and yelled at... by myself!"

"Okay, now you're overdoing it!"

"You overdid it!"

Fate crosses her arms. Her red eyes burn at me. "I know why you have such an attitude. You hate yourself. For just existing in the first place. On the outside you look so perky and happy, but that's just a shield to reassure everyone else! You hurt inside. First off, you'll never be accepted by neither Heartless nor humans because you're half-Heartless! Second off, Xavier possessed Storm 'cause he wanted YOU. Oogie took both Storm and Maria hostage because he wanted YOU. I started haunting you in the first place because the Heartless wanted YOU. Everyone hates you! They're searching for you! They want to kill you! All because Ansem is enra- "

"Who's Ansem?" I query, tilting my head to the side in sudden curiousity. The winged Bouncywild looks as if she is mentally scolding herself for letting something slip.

"You weren't supposed to find out until you met him." Fate explains. "But since I've converted to the good side, I'll tell you." She sits down and pats the ground next to her. I obey and sit down next to her. I gasp in awe and shock when the mirrors begin playing a movie.

A silver-haired man with tan skin and yellow-orange eyes appears onscreen. He's leaning over a desk with a pen in hand, writing something in messy hand-writing. As past events play out before my very eyes, Fate narrarates. "Ansem is the man you see before you. Originally, he wanted to protect the people of Hollow Bastion from being destroyed by darkness. But, eventually, he accidentily created a Heartless."

The image of Ansem standing in front of a single Shadow, looking very startled, appears. "He conducted more experiments, created more Heartless. Ansem built a machine that could create artificial Heartless. Finally, to discover more about the Heartless, he became one himself. He lost all kindness in the process, and Hollow Bastion was overrun with the Heartless. They shattered the barriers between worlds and went to other worlds. Like Traverse Town."

I shriek in terror as the Fourth District incident plays out before my very eyes. Before my human form is attacked by the Soldier I hide my eyes in my hands. Fate just continues speaking. "So you could say that Ansem created the Heartless."

The funhouse returns to normal and my dark side grasps my hand. She pulls me through a mirror like so long ago, but I find the quiet darkness peaceful. Fate fades out of existence, the essence of a smile around her, and I'm enveloped by a bright light.

"Well, Oogie, you found her. Good work."

"It was nothing! And what about her two buddies?"

"You'll get a bonus for them as well. Ansem will be pleased."

My eyes eventually adjust to the darkness of the room. I try to stand up, but there's a collar around my neck with a chain connected to the wall, so I'm forced to sit down. A lady with a pale green skin, narrow, dark eyes, and a black robe smirks at me with a certain superiority.

She waves her staff at me. "I'm afraid you're not going anywhere, my dear!"

"Where's Maria and Storm?" I demand. Oogie Boogie laughs and I grow more angry. "Well, where are they? Are they dead? Did you throw them in a dungeon somewhere? Where am I?!"

"You are in Hollow Bastion," the woman answers, smirking in her conceited way. "And as for your friends. They are alive and well. They're not in a dungeon, but are being held captive in the Dragon's Nest." She leans in. "And I am Maleficent."

[Author's Note]

Maji: Short chapter, I'm having brain damage. Sorry for the long wait, I moved... So much packing and unpacking of boxes... ^^; Here are some extras:

Interesting fact:

It appeared, in Kingdom Hearts, that there were no Final Fantasy IX characters. Indeed, there weren't, but after some research, I found that Squaresoft had put something in there that was reminiscent of FFIX (and yes, it's something other than Donald's "Save the Queen" staff). You know the magic Heartless? Blue Rhapsody, Green Requiem, all that good stuff. Well, they've got something in common other than the way they're magical. The beginning of their name is a color. The second part of their name is a type of song. In FFIX, there were sidebosses in Disk One called the Black Waltzes. They were towering six-foot Black Mages with wings (but No. 1 was crippled or something...). They used magic and had the same black skin and glowy yellow eyes. This may be a coincidence. You decide.

Interesting story:

There was a sleepover at my church the other day. I think somebody spiked my Mountain Dew. I drank one cup, then went back and drank another. About fifteen minutes later I wanted to throw up and I felt very dizzy. For the rest of the night I kept on getting hiccups and accidentily ran into things. There was also a hill right outside. I would go out and roll down it. One time, everyone was on the hill and talking and stuff, when these two guys walk up to us. They have things with them that look like guns, so of course we run away screaming. Later, L.T. (the supervisor) talks to them. It turns out that the "guns" are cell phones and the two guys are high on drugs or something. One of the girls, Jechro, says, "You guys made such a big deal out of it we all thought that there were fifty guys out here."

Heehee. I'll put a mini-skit of the HH characters right here. They're very OOC. You have been warned.

Destiny: *waves* Hi.

Storm: What? Do we, like, do something?

Maji: Duh.

Storm: Can I kill Maria?

Maji: No.

Maria: *evil glare* Bakayaro.

Storm: *gasps* Take that back!

Maria: NEVER!

Destiny: *watches with popcorn*

Maji: *pokes her* Can I have some?

Destiny: *holds the tub of popcorn protectively* Mine, evil demon authoress!

Maji: --;

Storm: *thwacks Maria upside the head* Bit-

Maji: Language.

Storm: BITE ME, YA FOOL! *chases Maria* Die, evil demon Bouncywild!

Maria: I'm not a demon! _ *pounces on Storm*

Storm: STOP! *pushes Destiny aside* I dun want you to get hurt.

Maria: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Storm: *slaps Maria* I told you to stop doing that!!! I'd rather be dead than in love with Des!

Destiny: *gets teary-eyed*

Maji: *evil grin* Oh, Storm, you're going to hate me so badly by the end of the story...

Storm: I didn't need to hear that. Now I'm curious. What happens?

Maji: That's all I'm saying...

Storm: ...I'm scared now.

Destiny: Heehee. I know what happens. I have the script.

Storm: Let me see it.

Destiny: No.

Storm: If you don't, I'll torment you until the day you die.

Destiny: I dun care.

Maji: ...

Maria: ...

Storm: ...

Destiny: ...Well?

Storm: Well what?

Destiny: Arencha gonna torment me?

Storm: No. I need a way to get that script.

Destiny: Don't try. Nothing works.

Storm: I'll give you a cookie.

Destiny: Okay! *snatches the cookie and gives Storm the script* *gobbles down the cookie*

Storm: -_- Des...

Destiny: Whuh? *cookie crumbs fall out of her mouth*

Maria: Des, have some manners.

Storm: Maria, shut up. *waves the script in the air* This is the script to Maji's upcoming NeoPet story, you moron.

Destiny: Oh...

Maji: Poor Destiny. There's not much between her ears besides air currents.

Destiny: Is that a good thing?

Storm: *sarcasm* Yes, Des, it is.

Destiny: SWEET!

-End-

[Disclaimer]

Lawyers: *chase after Maji*

EEEEK! I scared!

Lawyers: *take out assorted instruments of torture* Disclaimer, now!

NEVER!!!!

Lawyers: YOU MUST! *run after Maji*

Vivi: *watches* Entertaining.

Oh, and Krissy belongs to Blue Fox. I'm not saying aaaaaaaaanymore.