Chapter XI: Yesterday's Reprise, Part 2
The Hollow Bastion, Five Years Earlier
Flashback II: Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
'Raine, my darling Raine... Why, why did you leave...? You hadn't the chance to witness Squall's first words, first steps... Had not the chance to witness Ellone growing into a beautiful little girl... heh... Neither did I...'
-From the journal of Laguna Loire, dated thirteen years previous to the
Sealing of Kingdom Hearts
"Laguna, I love you very dearly, but this is getting ridiculous. You go home drunk every night, leave Ellone and Squall home alone, and feature bits of aggression when anyone mentions Raine. I'm afraid I've come to the decision to take Squall and Ellone away from you, and place them in a home." It pained Dalaar to say this to Laguna, as she sat on the high bench, looking down upon Laguna... But she had no choice.
"Y-Your Majesty! I beg of you, please don't take them away!" He slammed his fist on the table across the bench, causing the mahogany wood to crack. Dalaar twitched some at this, for Laguna's undiluted anger is the exact reason why Dalaar had no choice but to take the children away from Laguna. She could just feel that he would soon turn violent on them. What she half- expected was attempted violence on her.
Laguna stood, drew his pistol, and pointed it at Dalaar. "I'm sorry Your Highness, but I'm going to have to ask you to rethink your decision," Laguna threatened, cocking the dueling pistol. His hair was greasy, his eyes bloodshot, his hand trembling, his face sweaty. All symptoms of a lunatic about to do something rash.
"Laguna, drop the gun. Now, before you do something you're going to regret." Dalaar replied calmly, putting her hands in the air.
"You've already made the decision that you're going to regret, queen," Laguna growled.
"I do not regret my decision," Dalaar responded firmly. Laguna charged towards Dalaar, who was prepared for this, and paralyzed Laguna with a quick spell. Then, she cast another spell, one that rose prison bars made of light, from the ground, surrounding the paralyzed Laguna in a miniature cell.
Sighing heavily, she walked through the Bastion, coming to Vincent Valentine's home. She rapped on the door, lightly, her strength slowly leaving her. After a few tries at this, an extremely tired-looking Vincent opened the door. It looked like he hadn't shaved in several days, and his hair looked greasy and unwashed. All symptoms of a shell who hadn't let go of the past.
"Vincent... We... I have a problem..." Dalaar let the words slither out, and it almost disgusted her- this was Laguna! This was a man who she had laughed with, laughed at, and a man she knew for the majority of her life! Dalaar shook her head, and Vincent stared at her with cold, gaunt eyes.
"What is it?"
Not half an hour later, Laguna was in a cell, stripped of his dueling pistol that he had carried with him since... since Raine gave it to him... Laguna looked so pitiful in the cell... And the children- what were they going to do with them? She knew they had to place them in a home... Edea's perhaps? Dalaar couldn't think of this... Laguna, whom she had grown up knowing, and his kids whom she'd die for.
Heck, Dalaar would die for anyone in the castle. Even Laguna, who'd tried to kill her... What did it matter? He lived here. People often wondered where true paradise lied... It was right here. No need to search any further- paradise was the Hollow Bastion, with the people.
Ansem, no longer the prankster that the elderly citizens of the Hollow Bastion looked down upon, was now twenty-six years old, and was on the verge of becoming a scientist. More than on the verge, he had already done experiments on some of the more willing guards of the Hollow Bastion. He had done this in secret for all of his experiments ended in tragedy: the victim's heart always failed. And, yes, Ansem had tried to come up with a cure for this, but he had no choice but to contain the shells in the Depths of the Hollow Bastion, in the immense cliffs and chasms. But still... A scientist! He just finished writing another report to add to his collection:
"It is my duty to expose what this darkness really is.
I shall conduct the following experiments:
Extract the darkness from a person's heart. Cultivate darkness in a pure heart. Both suppress and amplify the darkness within. The experiments caused the test subject's heart to collapse, including those of the most stalwart. How fragile our hearts are! My treatment produced no signs of recovery.
I confined those who had completely lost their hearts beneath the castle. Some time later, I went below and was greeted by the strangest sight.
Creatures that seemed born of darkness... What are they? Are they truly sentient beings? Could they be the shadows of those who lost their hearts in my experiments?"
Ansem's assailant- erm, assistant, Doctor Amadeus Odine, who knew the most vast amount of knowledge of magick in the Bastion, was busily fumbling with a gadget, that Ansem couldn't quite describe. It was a disc, with many dials and needles and Ansem watched as the middle- aged man hunched over this contraption, until Odine lifted his head, and snapped in the direction of Ansem. "Yes? Vhat iz it?" Odine asked sharply. "What is that?" Ansem inquired, motioning to the disc. "Zis? Nuzzing important. You! You must find dat cure for ze victimz of your experimentz." "Fine, old man, keep your secrets. And I'm working as fast as I can to create a cure... From nothing..." "Anzem, you have everyzing you need. I have full faith zat you vill find a cure for ze people whoze hearts have collapsed. You vill find a cure." "I hope you're right, Odine. I pray to Hyne you're right."
----
Adel was disgruntled, to say the least. How was she supposed to teach magic, if her students did not show up?!
"Foolish children," she muttered angrily. "How the hell do they expect me to choose an apprentice when both of them are unfashionably late?!"
After a few more minutes of Adel drumming her fingers impatiently on her mahogany desk, Ellone clumsily stumbled into the room. Her cheeks were somewhat puffy and red, as if she'd been crying, but this was not Adel's job- Adel's job was to train her daughter Lulu, and Ellone all sorcery she knew, so that her successor would have the wisdom to be a sorceress.
Edea was a fine candidate, but... she had recently married, and started an orphanage, so Adel didn't think it fair to Edea that she shatter that happiness with the burden of being a Sorceress.
In any case, Ellone had taken her seat, and Lulu had briskly charged into the classroom, and sat in the remaining of the room's two desks. Adel stared at them both fiercely and asked, bitingly, "Are we all ready to begin?"
"Yes, Sorceress Adel," replied Ellone immediately- whatever was troubling her before, she had hidden it well.
"Sorry I'm late, Mother, I-"
"Lulu, we both know I do not tolerate excuses. Now... I have taught you both many things. And against all my objection, the queen is imploring me to make a decision tomorrow, of whom I going to choose as my successor."
"Mother, I think we both know, that it is I who should-"
"Lulu..." Dalaar sighed, cutting her daughter off, "Assuming and presuming seems to be one of the only things you're good for. I don't know if it's that Ellone is more mature than you are, but I think we both know now, that I'm choosing her today."
"What?! Mother, you can't-"
"There you go again, Lulu, assuming that I can't, when it is I who holds all power, and it will be Ellone who will receive that power. Now, go home Lulu. Get out of here, now."
In Lulu's eyes was a raging fire, a torrent from the darkest places of her soul. That fire followed her as she stormed out of the classroom, and ignited her physically, as well as mentally, on her way home. Although only eleven years old, Lulu was tasting darkness, and she was lit aflame, with calm, green, unburning embers.
'Believe me Mother... I promise that I'll be your successor... And there is nothing you can do about it...'
---
Dalaar was weary. After entrusting Princess Kairi to Ma Dincht for the next few days, she hoped to get some much-needed rest. Ever since that day, ten years earlier, when she lifted the monstrous Hojo, and then changed the vampire Vincent back to his human form, she never seemed to get her energy back.
Of course, she never told anybody this, not even her brother Ansem, she didn't want them worrying needlessly. After all, she was fine. Really! She still had energy... Perhaps not as much as she used to, but she was pushing thirty. She was getting older. But, in retrospect, Ma Dincht was taking care of children for around ten years now, and had all the energy in the world for it, and then some.
She sighed, and slowly laid herself across the bed. Putting thoughts of Kairi's father out of her mind- he was a man she never wanted to think about again- she started to think about what Kairi would be like in the future. What kind of woman she'd become. If she would make a wise ruler... Pondering these things and more, her thoughts slowed down, and she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
---
Ellone was... coping. After all, her entire life had changed today, and in more ways than one. She had moved out of Laguna's house, and into Edea's orphanage, she and Squall, and now she had just been chosen to become the next in a long line of sorceresses.
"I can do this," she said to herself, walking back to Edea's orphanage. "I can do this. I'm fine. Everything is fine."
It goes without saying, of course, that nothing was fine.
---
"She didn't choose me?! Why didn't she choose me?!" She wasn't screaming- screaming was below Lulu. She handled things calmly, but the way she handled things usually went to the extreme. This way of things handled being a prime example.
Lulu was furiously writing down a spell, a spell to cast on her mother. Her raven strings of hair fell onto the paper, like black blood, spilling onto the parchment. Once the spell was finished, Lulu lifted her head up quickly, looking at the spell. She calmed herself on the inside, let all emotions balance themselves out, and read:
"Forces of Fate,
Prophets of Time,
From my hate,
Punish the crime.
Hear my cries,
Let her see,
With knowing eyes,
She, who's worthy.
Power without fail,
Magick to cause,
A rain of red hail,
To break ancient laws.
I beg you to hear,
For power is lust,
To control all fear,
And turn all to dust."
Several seconds passed, Lulu breathing heavily, and nothing happened. She sighed in light despair, and crumbled up the parchment, tossing it out her window. "Fine," Lulu said half to herself, half to the Mighty Forces, "that's the way you want to play it? Fine. I'll find more conventional ways of getting power. I'll- Ugh!"
Lulu had no idea what had happened, all she knew was, was that she was in pain. Her back burned with a fiery intensity that she had never known. Lulu fell forward from the impact of the blow, and propped herself up using her elbow to turn and see her mother.
---
A guard, Randall Halcyon, stumbled into Dalaar's quarters, not bothering to knock. Dalaar, tiredly, sat up, and looked at the guard in worry, for- well, he was missing an arm. And a good chunk of flesh had been taken out of his left leg.
"Your... Magesty..."
"Lieutenant Halcyon, what happened?!" Dalaar asked, weakly getting to her feet and walking, slowly, to the injured soldier. Halcyon collapsed on the carpet, blood spilling from his wounds.
Dalaar calmed spirit, and balanced out her emotions, and as she concentrated, Halcyon's wounds closed, but the flesh did not regenerate, and he stood, almost as frailly as Dalaar as his body became accustomed to the rapid healing.
"Now, Lieutenant Halcyon, tell me: what happened?"
"It's Sorceress Adel, Your Majesty. She- She's gone insane," Halcyon explained, looking down at the blood-stained carpet.
"I-Insane? Wh-What do you mean insane? How did this happen?!" Dalaar asked, near hysteria. As she lost control of her emotions, Halcyon's wounds slowly opened up again, though Dalaar was too distressed to notice.
"We-we're not sure, Your Majesty," Halcyon said nervously, and in too much pain to feel anything.
"Alright, alright. What has she done so far?"
"Um... She's... She's killed, Majesty," Halcyon said hoarsely.
"Killed?" Dalaar asked, her voice seething with concern. "Killed who, who's dead?"
"Uh, my unit, a few citizens..."
"Alright. We need a plan to contain Adel. Get my brother, Odine, and Vincent Valentine here now. I want the rest of the castle to be evacuated to the dungeons of the castle. And I-"
Dalaar couldn't finish her sentence- as her focus collapsed, her spell had reversed itself, for she didn't keep her spirit balanced enough for the spell to finish finalizing itself. Randall Halcyon's wounds opened once more, and Dalaar had to turn away as he died...
"Oh Hyne..." she whispered to herself, "And he had a son!" A shudder tore through Dalaar, almost making her fragile figure collapse. Dalaar, not directly looking at Randall Halcyon, father of Zack Halcyon, stepped over him, and walked, as briskly as she could out of her quarters to find-
"Ansem!" Dalaar cried upon seeing her younger brother.
"Dalaar! I came as soon as I heard-"
"Ansem, what's happened?!"
"I don't know. Adel must have done something though- she's casting some of the Darkest Magicks, the most forbidden spells. Dalaar- I saw her perform a crucifixion on Rutherford Almasy in an instant."
"Ansem, we need Odine. He might know how to stop Adel, where is he?"
"Well, I, um, don't know..."
"What?! Where can he be now?!"
---
Amadeus Odine strolled into the cave. In this cave, there was a bed, a dresser, a sword, and a few rather thick books, resting on a table. Resting on the bed, was a boy. A boy with spiky blonde hair, azure blue eyes, and plain maroon clothes.
"Cloud! Cloud Strife, vake up!" Odine yelled. The boy sat, bolt upright, in the bed, terror flashing in his eyes, as if he'd been dreaming.
"What?! What is it, father?!"
"Bah! I'm not your fazzer, boy! I am Doctaire Odine!"
"I'm sorry, Doctor. You... you awoke me from a dream... I forgot myself." Odine's mood changed immediately.
"Dream? Really? Vhat happened in zis dream?"
"Darkness... I saw a woman... Darkness, and Power. She was consumed with it...." the boy, Cloud, replied, breathing heavily.
"How did zis happen?" Odine asked, scrambling through the piles of books, finding a piece of parchment and a pen.
"Her- her daughter... She... was vengeful... angry... She- she wanted the power for herself, but... she cast a spell. A spell to 'let her see'... her mother's eyes... But... the spell... it made the mother see that she was the only one who deserved power... power to... ugh... 'power to force one thousand cries'..." the boy struggled to remember. "Then... then she just started to kill... Fath- doctor. When you go back up, be careful. This woman is a dark force to be reckoned with."
"Yes... Zank you, Cloud. But, if I don't return... Wait here. Wait for ze ultimate darkness to come. Becauze it vill. Vhen you start to see it clearly, zurface. But do not vait too long, or else it vill be too late."
"I won't, doctor. I will prevent this world from falling into darkness," Cloud said, bravely, yet... fearful at the same time. Almost uncertain...
"Yes, vell... Good luck. You vere, my best finding evaire. Ve vill save zis vorld. I promise."
---
Guards were frantic, placing people in the dungeon to hide them, but of course, nobody could hide from Adel too terribly long...
Ansem was down there, idly throwing glances at people who bore resemblances to his sister, and avoiding death, of course, was his primary objective was to speak to Laguna. And, Ansem found Laguna, and stood in front of his cell.
"Well, well... Laguna... The one person I never thought would have tried to kill my sister."
"I would suppose that makes two of us then..." Laguna replied bitterly. "Look, sire, I'm sorry I tried to kill Queen Dal-"
"YOU DON'T GET TO SAY HER NAME!!!" Ansem yelled, grabbing the bars of Laguna's cell, and attracting much attention to himself.
"Alright, fine. I'm sorry I tried to kill Her Majesty, but... well... there's something. I want out." "What?!" Ansem said incredulously, staring at Laguna as if he were from a different world, "Impossible! I don't care if you can-"
"I know what's going on up above. And I know how to stop Adel."
"What do you mean?"
"Quid pro quo, sire, this for that: I want out of this cell for good, before I tell you anything."
"No," Ansem said firmly, "There is no possible way you are getting out of that cell alive."
"Then it looks like your sister will meet a tragic end today," Laguna said forlornly.
"What do you mean?" Ansem asked suspiciously. Laguna grabbed a rather large book from the end of his bed and held it up for Ansem to read the title. "'Mava, Volume I'... What is this?"
"A book that I requested from the library. It has some very interesting things. Like... The Death of Sorceress Queen Dalaar. Also known as, Chapter seven." Ansem grabbed the book, and looked at the table of contents:
Chapter IV: The Arrival of Darkness....................................................183 Chapter V: Seekers of Knowledge........................................................198 Chapter VI: Insanity's Requiem............................................................217 Chapter VII: Death of the Sorceress....................................................229
Ansem turned to the page 'Death of the Sorceress' started on, but found there was no Chapter VII. He looked to Laguna who held a handful of ashes, and looked at Ansem slyly.
"You burnt the pages, didn't you?" Ansem asked, throwing the tome between the bars.
"Yes. But, for the small price of letting me out of prison, I will tell you what Chapter seven was all about, and you have my vow as-"
"Your vows mean nothing, Laguna," Ansem spat. His face glistened in dim light with sweat. "You tried to kill my sister! That isn't something easily forgiven! If Dalaar wasn't so soft in these matters... You'd get what you truly deserve... But for now..." Ansem produced a key ring from his trousers pocket, found the key he needed, and unlocked Laguna's cell. Ansem opened the door, and Laguna skittered out of his cell, looking around, somewhat nervously, as some were giving him dark glares.
Turning Laguna to face him Ansem whispered very quietly, "Now what do you know?"
---
Power... Power is Eden...
Not Light...
Not Darkness...
Power.
And Only Power.
Love
Hate
Vengeacne
Compassion
All brought to their knees by Power.
I am Sorceress Adel.
I Am Power.
---
Odine rushed into the dungeon, only barely escaping Adel's view. He rushed to Ansem and Laguna, and was brought up to speed.
"Prophezy? What prophesy?"
"In Mava, apparently," Ansem explained dryly.
"Vhat duz it zay?"
"Well, you see, the prophecy went something like this: 'The Queen will confront the Sorceress, and will be struck down. The Sorceress will take her power, and will be locked.'"
"That's a bit vague," Ansem grunted.
"Actually, no, it iz not. Dalaar will confront Adel. Adel vill kill her, and take her power, and she vill be 'locked'," Odine explained, rather urgently.
"Dalaar... will die... No, that won't happen," Ansem said, mainly to himself.
"No, you don't get it. Most of the prophecies in that book have already come to pass. Hojo's power trip? Yeah, in the book. As was Sephiroth's birth for some reason."
"I zink ze prophesy may already be undervay..."
"What do you mean?" Ansem asked sharply.
"I zaw ze queen going towardz Adel. I tried to stop her, but she ignored me- "
"Oh, Hyne... no..." Ansem ran out of the dungeon, through the halls of stone, taking the levitating lifts, walking down cobblestone streets. He heard nothing. Everything was inaudible. What little sound he did hear echoed, as he reached the Entrance Hall, and saw his sister, and a friend, battling. Adel was obviously winning, as Dalaar, though looking stronger than she had in years, still looked ragged and still looked tired.
"Adel..." Dalaar whispered.
"Dalaar... If this is the part where you offer me the chance to redeem myself, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to skip it," Adel said, her eyes solid obsidian stones, her red hair burning with fires of rage. Her robes were aflame with green.
"A second chance? Too late for that, Adel. I've come to kill you," Dalaar said, and as she did, Dalaar's own inner demon was unleashed.
Ansem watched in horror, as his sister grew hawk-like talons, and angel wings with charred feathers ripped their way out of her back. Horns split out of her skull, and she was a harpy-creature, alit with green flames.
"D-D-Dalaar..." Ansem whispered weakly, his legs giving way. The Sorceresses fought with magic, and their own bestial attributes now. Dalaar's talons tore off Adel's flesh in strips, and Adel's magic singed Dalaar's flawless face.
Finally, though Adel had finally tired, Dalaar collapsed first, in a heap of blood, flesh, and torn robes. Adel, breathless, cackled maniacally.
"Well, well. We finally know who holds true power. With that out there, I see no point in you living," Adel said, materializing a stone cross, and blasting it on the wall. With no strength to stop her, Adel levitated Dalaar, melded her ankles together, outstretched her arms, and held her against the cross. Adel conjured three red-hot iron spikes, and drove them into each of Dalaar's wrists, and the largest into her merged ankles.
Ansem stopped staring at his sister, being tortured in crucifixion, and turned his attention to Adel. He walked briskly toward her, never breaking stride, and while Adel was watching Dalaar, Ansem planted a well-placed elbow to the side of Adel's face. She fell over from the force of the attack, and Ansem kicked her in the same place. Adel rolled over on the stone floor, and stood. She walked towards Ansem and tossed him into the opposite wall of Dalaar. Here, Ansem saw she was still alive, the Harpy- like attributes and green flames had left her. And she still had strength.
Dalaar, using magick of course, ripped the spikes from her wrists and ankles, and broke the flesh bond of her ankles. She fell to the floor, but, with an inexorable will to live, she forced the spikes into Adel's back.
"What is with you, Dalaar?! You. Are. Going. To. Die! There is no stopping it!" Adel screeched, the spikes seeming to not faze her. Adel snapped her fingers, and the bloody spikes evaporated. "You think you can hurt me with my own magick?"
"I don't care how I hurt you anymore, Adel, just as long as I get it done. Ansem, get out of here, now!" Dalaar ordered. "You too, Edea!" Ansem and Adel turned to see the newly-wedded Edea Kramer, complete with black dress, and purple cape. She had
"Edea, what are you doing here?!" Adel asked, grinning. "Have you come for punishment as well?! 'Cause I would be more than happy to oblige!"
A jet of black flames rushed toward Edea, who sidestepped them easily. Ansem tackled Adel before she had a chance to try again, but Adel, conjuring an athame, planted it deep into Ansem's torso. Ansem's eyes widened as the knife entered his body, and he felt blood seep out.
The blood came out in intervals, in perfect synchronicity with his heartbeat- he thought it was interesting. That was his last thought before he blacked out....
"ANSEM!" Dalaar yelled, conjuring a large sickle, and charging at Adel, twirling the blade over her head. Adel, with a slowed reaction time, had no time to prevent her head detaching itself from her neck, courtesy of Dalaar's scythe.
Dalaar took a sigh of relief that was cut short due to Adel's head, slowly sliding to her neck. Dalaar looked to Ansem, concerned, and then to Edea.
"You came."
"Yes, Your Majesty, and I'm ready to take your power," Edea said firmly. "We discussed this, and I am ready."
Dalaar nodded, wincing in pain, "Good... Good..." she whispered weakly. Standing on her own two feet, Adel's regeneration imminent, Dalaar joined hands with Edea, and both closed their eyes.
Dalaar, willing to let go of her power, let it flow into Edea, and Edea, willing to accept this power, let it flow into herself. Dalaar collapsed, one final time, and for a moment, Edea was dizzy, and she swayed for a moment, swooning in a split second of delirium... But then the severity of her predicament struck her, and she watched as Adel, head reattached, stood.
Edea whispered one last goodbye to ran towards the library that would lead to the dungeons- but not before she got her own strike at Adel. Adjusting to her new power, Edea conjured two very large spikes of ice, and sent them into Adel.
'I'm sorry, majesties...' Edea thought as she ran through the library, '... but I promise to wreak vengeance upon Adel...'
Adel, ripping the ice out of her body, turned to a weak Dalaar, who was breathing in short gasps, and was slowly dying.
"Now... I believe you mentioned something of pain. Let's continue with that thought," Adel said. Before Dalaar could speak in objection, she was cocooned in a wooden box. "Long live the queen." The box was blazing with flames of black and red, flames that Adel danced around in circles, and Ansem, floating semi-conscious, in the Entrance Hall fountain, watched with glazed eyes.
---
A tired Edea entered the dungeon, finding Laguna and Odine talking.
"Edea, what's wrong?" Laguna asked. Edea looked at him oddly- she was one of those who sympathized with Laguna, but still... it was a bit awkward to talk to the man who had almost killed the woman who just instilled her with power, the woman who just died.
"It... It's Queen Dalaar... Adel killed her..."
"Ahhh, you see? Ze books vere correct! Adel killed ze queen! It iz a very sad event, but it vas fortold. Did she take ze queen's powers?" Odine asked urgently.
"Ummm... no... It-it was something the queen and I talked about earlier. I received her powers," Dalaar said nervously.
"Impossible! The prophezy fortold-"
"No, it was right," Laguna interrupted. "Edea's mother, Sorceress Alexandria, passed her powers to Adel. Queen Dalaar's grandmother passed her powers to Dalaar. Now, they are all inter-related, in one familial relation or another, and so, technically, since Edea was a descendant of a Sorceress, she was destined to become one. As is Lulu, and Lady Kairi, and if Sid and Edea have a daughter, she will be destined to become one as well."
"But... that's two sorceresses to pass on powers, and three girls to accept them," Edea replied.
"Ahhh... Zat vould only be if you have a daughter. You may bear a son," Odine pointed out.
"I see..." Edea thought for a moment. She loved children. Adored them. In fact, Ellone and Squall had only moved in with her yesterday. But... she didn't want to take the chance of Lulu or Lady Kairi dying. It was... unthinkable, and Edea was ashamed of herself. Having a child would put two other childrens' lives at risk... "So, what are we all going to do now?" Edea asked. "Adel is still on the rampage, and Prince- ummm... King Ansem was stabbed by Adel..."
Odine looked sharply at Edea, narrowing his eyes. "Vhat?!"
"Adel conjured an athame and stabbed King- His Majesty with it," Adel explained. What to call Ansem? He wasn't coronated yet, and there was Lady Kairi to deal with... She couldn't think about this now. Adel had to be stopped...
"Hyne... Alright. We've got to find His Majesty as soon as we can. We can send Vincent up there to retrieve him, and distract Adel with-"Laguna's eyes lit up. Edea could tell he'd hit something in whatever brains he had. "We can seal her. If Dalaar couldn't kill her-"
"Stop," Edea said quietly. "Just stop, alright?! This is Adel we're talking about! And Dalaar, and Adel is insane, Dalaar is dead, and Hyne-only-knows how Ansem is, and we're talking about killing Adel, and sealing Adel, and the queen is dead. We'll never talk to her again, or see her move, or anything!!" Tears shimmered in the corners of Edea's eyes now, and she ran into the crowd to find her husband.
"Hyne... She's right... The queen is dead, isn't she...?" Laguna asked aloud. His shoulders slumped as the stark, naked thought sunk in. A fragmented sigh escaped his lips.
"Eh, she finished ze job you started-"Odine's sentence was interrupted with a forceful punch from Laguna. His jaw was clenched, and his hand was wound into a trembling fist. Odine was taken aback for moment, and Laguna picked him up (he was a very small man) by his collar, and slammed him against the bars of a cell.
"You listen to me, you sick, revolting sub-human. You will build a machine that will freeze Adel. You will also build an instrument to absorb her power. You will do these things, or I'll do things to you that'll make Adel look like a saint," Laguna threatened, letting Odine drop to the stone floor when he finished. Odine cowered in fear of Laguna, and skittered away, out of the dungeon and to his lab.
---
Adel was... bored. Everybody was gone. Dalaar was dead. Ansem was dying. And everyone else she hadn't killed was-
"Gone. Everybody is gone. Hiding, perhaps?" Adel asked herself, her lips curving into a sinister grin. "Time to go seek, then."
---
After the sun had risen and set, Odine had finished the thing that would absorb Adel's powers. It was a brooch, that when touched by a Sorceress would immediately steal their powers. Odine was proud of this accomplishment, and held up his invention with pride, as it had taken him only a few hours to create it.
He wondered how Cloud Strife was doing, but decided not to worry- the child was a survivor, if anything. He had been born, or created, or forged in the world's core, and had so much potential knowledge... If only the boy would let himself remember, he would be wiser than everyone in the castle combined.
After a few more hours of planning, Odine had drawn up schematics of a containment chamber, that would- literally- freeze time for Adel. Now, the hard part was finding an ideal place to build it, and luring Adel there without being eviscerated. But, as every inventor, Odine loved a good challenge.
---
Vincent Valentine tread ever so softly in the castle. He was alert of all his surroundings, and kept quiet to hear Adel's approaching footsteps. Creeping through the fortress, he finally came to the Entrance Hall, and saw Ansem- he was floating face-up in the fountain, the water a blood red.
Vincent quickly went down the stairs, and kneeled next to the injured monarch, checking his pulse. It beat, but very weakly, and Ansem's eyes lolled in his skull to look at Vincent.
"Vincent..." Ansem croaked softly.
"Not now, Your Majesty. Save your energy. I'm taking you back to the dungeon. Sorceress Edea will then heal you, and, hopefully, the spell will hold long enough for you to be in perfect shape. As we speak, Odine is building a machine to stop Adel in the Depths."
"That's.... good...." Ansem's voice was barely above a whisper, as Vincent picked the dying man up, and, keeping his eyes away from the pile of ashes in the center of the Entrance Hall, crept through the castle once more, taking Ansem back to the dungeon.
Never in his entire life had Sephiroth Valentine been more terrified. Lulu's mom was coming, hunting for them, coming for him. And Lulu was missing. Queen Dalaar was already dead, and when his father brought Prince Ansem back, he saw that the wounded man was dying. Never more terrified, but, still, he'd never been more thrilled either.
'Should I feel bad, that I feel great through all this death?' he thought to himself. Sephiroth decided not to think about. Thinking lead to places he didn't want to go.
---
Odine, Laguna, and Edea were already in the Depths. Monstrous cliffs with countless caves and trails surrounded them, and the wind whipped at them in the dark chasm, where Odine's machine, a large stone pillar, resembling a sarcophagus, with various pipes and gears, was resting against the dead end of a cliff trail. Edea used her new powers to send up a beacon of light. Brilliant red, a crimson beacon Adel would surely not miss.
Adel saw the small line of scarlet light rise from the Depths. She sensed people there, one of them holding great power... Power that Adel would use, and abuse. Only because she could.
Without warning, Adel was There, standing next to Odine. She grabbed him by the throat, and tossed him over the side of the wide trail. His scream echoed for what seemed like centuries...
"Well then. What have we here...? A sorceress and a not-murderer. How interesting..."
"O, Glorious Adel, I present to you, this gift..." Laguna said, kneeling before Adel, holding the brooch. Adel, scoffed, obviously disappointed.
"Honestly, did you think I'd fall for such a silly trick?" she asked slyly. Silently, Edea opened the door of the sarcophagus...
"Hmmm..." Laguna considered for a moment. "You're right... my ideas are always.... PERFECT!" Laguna shouted.
With that, Laguna jammed the brooch into Adel's neck, and all power that she had gained rapidly seeped into the brooch. Adel stood, convulsing, only the whites of her eyes showing.
When Laguna was sure the brooch had done its job, he pulled it out, and a weakened Adel looked into his eyes. Her eyes begged for compassion- compassion she'd not shown anyone. She whispered, "Take care of Lulu," and fell back into the sarcophagus.
Edea quickly slammed the door, and Adel was frozen in time, and the long, hellish nightmare had ended. As Laguna looked over the cliff-side to see if Odine had got caught on any rocks, or such business, Edea fulfilled her promise to Dalaar and Ansem. Tapping into the darker magicks she discovered, she cast a spell that made Adel's sealing device a coffin of perpetual aguish. She would keep her conscious forever, never-aging, and living in never-ceasing pain. As Laguna gave up, and the two started back for the castle, Edea smiled wickedly, and her eyes glowed a dim green...
---
Lulu, distraught, couldn't believe the force of one itty-bitty spell... thirty people dead... Nobody told her about everything her mother did. The other kids were terrified of her- except for Seifer, of course- and everyone knew that her mother had killed Queen Dalaar.
"Interesting..." Lulu murmured to herself. It was late night, two days after her mother had vanished, and Lulu was holding the brooch Odine had made.
She had snuck into Laguna's home and found the brooch. Edea- erm... Matron had told her that Laguna had something interesting... That he had something she couldn't receive for quite a while... She let slip that it was Adel's powers.
"Well, well... This must hold mother's powers" Lulu whispered, holding the brooch in her palm. Power vibrated within it- power Lulu desperately wanted. "Hmph. I suppose it should only be proper that I inherit them," Lulu whispered to herself, as to not wake Laguna. Lulu thought for a moment, preparing a quick spell, and closed her eyes, whispering the spell her mind wrote only a few seconds ago.
The effect was instantaneous. Too late for Laguna, who had got up to get a glass of water. He watched dumbly as the brooch glowed with brilliant white light, which soon faded. It took a few seconds for Laguna's groggy mind to register what just happened. When it did, the concept hit him with the force of a war-hammer.
Lulu looked as if she were about to faint, and fell over, Laguna rushing over to catch her. As Lulu's eyes fought to stay open, she grinned one of her mother's trademarked grins. She saw Laguna's look of horror, and whispered weakly, "No worries, Laguna. I can take all this..." Lulu's eyes closed and she fell asleep, exhausted.
Laguna took the liberty of carrying Lulu back to Edea's orphanage, her new home, and woke Edea.
"I think we have a problem..."
"What is it, Laguna?" Edea asked, yawning.
"Lulu she found the brooch. I think she unlocked the power within."
Edea stopped mid-yawn and looked at Laguna fiercely. "Please tell me you're joking."
"Sorry... I brought her back home. It seems Fate sent her to live with you. Two fledgling sorceresses..."
"Fate? Perhaps... Maybe we'll learn from each other..." Edea said wistfully.
"Maybe... or maybe she'll kill all of you in your sleep..."
Edea glared at Laguna and shook her head. "Do you want to see Ellone and Squall?"
"Mm? No. It's... it's too soon..." Laguna said hoarsely, his throat going dry. "Mm.. Good night Edea."
"'Night..."
---
Dalaar's memorial was held a few days later, while Ansem was recovering from anemia. The ashes from Dalaar's cremation were placed in an urn, and placed in the family crypt with Ansem's ancestors, and the crypt was on that solitary meadow where Raine Leonhart-Loire, Remus Gast, and Lucrenia Valentine were laid to rest a decade earlier. More graves were added the day of Dalaar's memorial.
As many of the people were mourning for their lost loved ones, a creature, small and black, with wriggling antennae and glowing yellow eyes. Ansem, despite his weakness, walked up to the creature, and stomped on it, tears streaming in his eyes. The creature moved around dizzily, and Ansem kicked it, sending it off of the island meadow, and into the icy ocean.
'How dare they?! How dare those... things, come here, and disturb us now?! And on consecrated ground?!?! Heartless bastards...' Ansem thought darkly, as he boarded a boat that would take him back to the castle.
---
Ansem was... confused. Along with the death of his sister, the deaths of many of his people, his upcoming coronation, his research, and his weakening anemia, he now had a niece to raise.
Lady Kairi was an orphan now, her mother killed and her father- well, the less said about him, the better. Ansem cradled the small baby in his arms.
"You're all the family I have now, Kairi... But, no worries. Everything will be fine... Everything will be fine..."
The trip to the cemetery changed Vincent. With another rampage, and another visit to Lucrecia, he realized how much time had passed. And that she wasn't coming back... And Sephiroth was suffering from it as well.
He hadn't been there to support Seph, when children made fun of his wing, or when Seph wanted to do... anything. He'd been a fool... But no more.
It was early one morning when Vincent cleaned his pistols, and went out for target practice, taking Sephiroth with him.
---
It had been several weeks since then... And Cloud knew that he was alone. His fath- erm, Doctor Odine hadn't returned since he left...
"He must surely be dead..." Cloud whispered, letting out a sigh afterwards. "I truly am all alone............. ....................... ...................... ....................... Rats."
To survive after that, Cloud killed various cave and cliff-dwelling creatures for food. From the materials Odine left behind he made himself new clothes when necessary, and forged his own weapons. Trained with them. Trained for the coming darkness... and her...
---
Ansem sat at his desk, glad to be getting his strength back, and dealing with his sister's death. But he remembered the memorial, and took a trip to the caves with Vincent Valentine, who'd reinstated himself as his guardian.
There, they saw the creatures. One becoming two, two becoming four. Vincent killed as many as his bullets would allow, but the two had to retreat. While Vincent thought it was exhilarating, Ansem was terrified.
"The shadows that crawl beneath the castle... Are they the people who lost their hearts, or incarnations of darkness? Or something entirely beyond my imagination?
All my knowledge has provided no answer. One thing I am sure of is that they are entirely devoid of emotion. Perhaps further study will unlock the mysteries of the heart. Fortunately, there is no shortage of test samples.
They are multiplying underground even as I write this report. They still need a name.
Those who lack hearts... I will call them the Heartless."
Ansem filed this as the third page, in his ongoing investigation. One that he started ten years ago. And would continue until the day he died.
---
Five Years Later
The Hollow Bastion Depths
Gala trudged through the cliff trails, but could not find Yuffie. He was positive his granddaughter had perished, but he would not-
A loud noise from above interrupted his thoughts. As he looked up, he saw a large black thing, descending upon him. The large, metal object landed before him, on the summit of a cliff far from the Bastion. He heard the sound of machinery dying, and watched as a door opened, and a woman stepping out. She looked to be in her mid-thirties or mid-forties, and wore an excessive amount of makeup. She held a gold staff with a green orb levitating above it, and was exceptionally tall. Gala was speechless. Was this woman from another world...?
"Ahhh... This is it, isn't it? The Hollow Bastion?!" the woman asked, excited. Gala drew his sword, and took battle stance.
"Who are you?!"
"Mm? Oh, me? We'll get to that later. For now, I'm going to ask you to do me a favor- well... I'm not going to ask, for you have no choice in the matter..." Gala looked at the woman suspiciously, and he was suddenly lit aflame with green flames. Unburning flames, flames that felt evil, but still felt so good. The woman waved her staff in a horizontal arc, and a Heartless appeared. The Heartless looked to the woman, who pointed at Gala with her staff. Gala, who'd collapsed by now, and was writhing on the cliff top, suddenly became very sluggish as the Heartless entered Gala, through his mouth. A few moments passed, the green flames faded, and Gala stood, sword in hand. "Ahh... splendid. Well then, what I want you to do.... Ummm...?"
"Gala, Mistress," Gala replied in monotone.
"Gala. What I want you to do, Gala, is to travel to a world called 'China', and find a man named 'Shan-Yu' that he is acting too slowly. I want you to take his position, and find China's 'keyhole'. Kill Shan-Yu if necessary. What I have given you is the power to cross worlds, and the power to summon and control the Heartless. The Heartless in you will tell you how to find the Keyhole. When you find it, send for me."
"Yes, Mistress," Gala said, bowing.
"Oh, don't bother with bowing, Gala."
"Of course, I apologize. When I find Shan-Yu, who should I tell him this message is from?" Gala asked in monotone.
The woman started to walk away, and tossed back, "Tell him it is from 'Sorceress Maleficent'," before vanishing, setting off for the castle... and more importantly, the Keyhole.