Secrets of Memories Chapter 49: World Turning
Milo was not the happiest man on Earth…or Atlantis, for that matter. His death glares were quite harmless but his emotions were not. They were seething, bubbling like lava, ready to burst but unable to escape its living confines.
Milo James Thatch did a good job of containing his simmering angry, as he reluctantly followed a very happy Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke at the head of the mismatched group of people – and lion – up the pathway towards the noble, decaying city of Atlantis.
How could they betray me like this? Milo continued to ask himself. What would motivate them to such an extent that they would willingly destroy an ancient and proud civilization like this? I mean, don't they understand what will happen if the Crystal force is taken? Atlantis will die!
Then he remembered what Princess Kidagakash, Kida was the short nickname, and the strange teenage boy Sora had discussed earlier.
"…when you open the door, Sora Keyblade Master, the Old Order will come to an end and with it goes Atlantis…"
Atlantis was destined to fall. But Milo will not let it fall just yet.
" Listen, can we make a deal here?" Milo pleaded. " I mean, you want money, basically, right? Why don't we just…uh…"
" I've got all the money I need," Commander Rourke snapped back, throwing at his face a thick wad of greenbacks. " All I need now is power."
" Oh, so it's all just an old issue of human nature, is it?" the scholar crossed his arms and scowled. " Great, just great!"
" What is he talking about?" Simba hissed to a fuming Sora.
He did not answer. Simba looked at the Keyblade Master and made a mental note not to talk to him when his face was literally flaming red. Audrey Ramirez, who had the dubious honor of escorting him by pistol, pushed him forward.
" Men…they seek power, power and wealth," Princess Kida spoke in hushed tones. Helga Sinclair had left Wilhelmina Packard in charge of guarding the Atlantean princess and had gone forward to talk with Commander Rourke and Milo about the Crystal force. The old woman was, thankfully, rather deaf and did not hear the exchange. " I see it all now, I see it indeed. Milo seeks power through wisdom while that man seeks power by brute force. It will be his downfall."
" But I don't see any Heartless or Nobodies," Simba looked around them discretely as they entered the perimeters of Princess Kida's beloved home. " Isn't that saying something?"
Princess Kida fell silent. " You are right. Something is wrong."
" No, nothing's wrong, nothing at all." Sora's faint voice, hiding his boiling anger, drifted their way in the exotic air of this subterranean world. " I know why they're not here yet. The perfect opportunity before them and they're not attacking us when we're most vulnerable because there's something Donald and Goofy mentioned before, something they never explained to me but always mentioned."
" Which reminds me, where are they -"
Audrey coughed politely. " Less talking, more walking."
She cocked her pistol and they took it that she was serious.
Not the best day of my life, Simba thought depressingly as they made their way through the moss-covered paved road leading to the palace, still some distance off.
" Pete, Peg-leg Pete," Sora hissed quickly, then nearly wilted when Audrey hit him over the head with the great iron firearm.
" Don't kill him now, Audrey," Dr. Joshua S. Sweet warned. " If that blow's been harder, you could've crushed his skull. You know how Commander Rourke is about his orders. Carry them out precisely and the way he'd want you to do."
" I know, Sweet," Audrey snapped back.
"…don't care what you're up to!" Milo was fighting with Commander Rourke and Helga again. " I won't let you destroy this civilization, these people!"
" People die, Milo, it's a part of life," Commander Rourke shrugged it off like it was nothing. " We're just…making it a bit faster for them. Less suffering, you know."
Milo stared at the middle-aged man like he had gone insane. " How-how could you? You have no idea how important it is keeping this civilization alive!"
He'd better not blow our cover! Princess Kida thought with fear. Oh gods, no!
" They're all doomed to die anyways," Helga said coldly, casting dark glares at anyone who looked in the general direction. " You can see it everywhere. There's almost no children and most everyone's aged to the point that all they wait for is death to take them. The whole city's in decay. Look at the place."
She sneered at the venerable buildings. Milo was deeply hurt.
" Their death is more tragic than you know," he said quietly. " If the kid opens that door, our whole world will blow."
" What are you talking about?" Helga turned on the scholar. " What is it that you haven't told us about? What kid? That kid?"
She pointed at Sora, who was busy staring at his feet. Princess Kida was watching them all in profound horror.
Commander Rourke placed a reassuring hand on the woman's shoulder. " Relax, Helga, I know what's going on. What did I tell you, that one's got his nose in everything. Even the bits about the kid."
Princess Kida stared at him. What!
" If this world's going to blow, might as well make do with that Crystal force and save ourselves," Commander Rourke was saying. " That is, if the kid gets to the door first. If not, we'll be dining like kings and living like Genghis Khan did back in China. To the very least like emperors and to the very best like God Himself."
Princess Kida could not help but snort at the man's proclamation. Just how many gods does Commander Rourke think's out there? Such blasphemy would've gotten him killed in the olden days but the gods had abandoned them when the city of Atlantis sank into the sea.
Then her face grew dark. What will her father do, once he sees the predicament they're in? His father had given them only one day to explore all of Atlantis; Commander Rourke had exploited the man's reluctant trust in them to find the Crystal force, wherever it may be.
And I'm very sure my father knows where the Crystal force is, I know he does, Princess Kida thought, knowing that her father completely understood the situation when Kida's mother sacrificed herself to the Crystal force to protect Atlantis when it fell from grace. And if he understood that situation, however horrible it may be, surely he understood this one…Though, he is getting a bit old. He doesn't have the authority he had before. His time is nearing an end; what will he say if he sees what has become of us?
She saw Simba furiously attempting to communicate with Sora. That was a very unsuccessful venture. Was the Keyblade Master thinking about something? Was he planning their escape? Or…
Or had he given up? Had he cracked under the pressure piling up around him?
''
" Come now," ol' notorious Peg-leg Pete said in his swaggering, trying-to-be-nice-and-utterly-failing-at-it way. " Let's not fight. Why not be friends? We were friends once, weren't we?"
" That was another life, Pete!" Donald snapped back, his Mage staff held out defensively in front of him. The white duck made sure his back was against Goofy's. " Your request has come much too late."
" Huyuk, whatever he says," Goofy added. " Besides…der…we've been fighting since way back when. Who says we'll start talking now?"
" I say so," Pete snapped back, crossing his arms and scowling at them. He had taken a long time to figure out what to do and say once he confronted them and so far he had nothing in mind. Too late now, though.
" You don't have the authority," Donald snapped. " So stop trying to find some."
" If it was authority I was going for, I could've taken Disney already," Pete reasoned coldly. He found pleasure in the stunned looks on their faces. " Oh yes. Your home is so pathetic; I just need to reach out with my hand and take it! Just like that. No defenses whatsoever, naïve fools that the lot of you are!"
" Queen Minnie won't let you," Goofy hiccupped. " She's got a good mind and she knows what to do, huyuk!"
Pete shook his head. " No, its not authority I want. Its you."
" Us?" Donald demanded. " What do you want with us?"
" Vengeance," Pete grinned manically. " Once all I wanted was a throne and a world to rule but now…now its more than that. It's pure power. And once I have pure power, Paradise will be mine!"
He made a fist in their faces and the magic Heartless around him juggled in the air, excited by Pete's enthusiasm with this 'paradise'.
" Paradise is not yours!" Donald snapped back. " And there's nothing you can do to get Paradise at your will. Nothing!"
" Power is the key," Pete spat. " With power, you can create Paradise. That's what I seek now. And with you standing in the way, there's nothing much I can do but-"
" So its all about Paradise now, isn't it?" Goofy asked of Donald.
" Always been, always will," Donald replied, watching Pete warily.
The colorfully dressed former general was still watching them. " My Paradise…the Paradise I seek…"
Pete smirked. " I could take you two as prisoners, easily done, I suppose. But there are other things at hand so you two must wait. The longer I deprive myself of pleasure, the greater the pleasure is, oh yes…"
" What other things?" Donald asked, still wary.
" Amazing you're still King Mickey's friend, despite the capacity of your brain." Pete shook his head as he studied the two of them. The Red Nocturnes hovered and juggled about restlessly while the Green Requiems interested themselves in making big and small circles around and melding into the circle of Red Nocturnes. " But then again, being stupid would be helping our cause. But better it is to kill you both!"
The mage staff and the shield went up.
" And after that, disposing of that boy would be real pleasure," Pete smiled, " if I'm the one to do it!"
" You're not going anywhere!" Donald shouted.
" Yeah!" Goofy agreed.
" You can't stop me," Pete grinned. " You've not enough! And besides, its not only the Heartless I control."
With a wave of his hand, five Shield Nobodies appeared right out of thin air. Scientifically impossible, of course, but who's to say that the Nobodies follow the laws of Nature?
" The Shield Dusk are most useful," he looked darkly at a stupefied Donald and Goofy. " Dusk, Nobodies, what difference does it make? They are the one and same, and they serve the same purpose."
He waved them closer and the twisting shiny creatures joined ranks with the Red Nocturnes and Green Requiems.
" You see," Pete said, " both obey me. That is a power unto itself. Let's see how worthy you two are now as my adversaries!"
Donald didn't wait a minute. Hollering, he aimed at the Red Nocturnes. " Blizzaga!"
The Green Requiems doused the floating little red Heartless with life magic and shielded them from the blast of ice. They were wounded but with enough life to fire back.
" Huyuk!" Goofy jumped to the front, his shield up in the air. The fireballs bounced off harmlessly and died off. Goofy then took a swing at an advancing Shield Nobody but the Green Requiems were quick in healing the Dusk.
" Aim for the Green Requiems!" Donald ordered and Blizzaga'd two that happened to float next to each other. Though that was unsuccessful – the Green Requiems seemed to absorb the magic and heal themselves in the process – Goofy provided the breakthrough when he threw his shield discus-style and hit them.
As two red hearts meandered off into the Atlantean skies, Donald leaped and whacked another Green Requiem on the head. Dazed, the Heartless could not counter Donald's second physical attack and exploded as well. The wizard then aimed for a Red Nocturne with Blizzaga, this time his attack being successful.
Goofy then threw his shield again, hitting a Green Requiem, two Red Nocturnes, and a Shield Nobody. The Dusk were a more stoic foe than the Heartless; the Shield Nobody was still standing but badly injured. A Green Requiem floated in to help while the other Shield Nobodies and the surviving Heartless attacked at once.
Donald found himself flying ten feet in the air, skidding to a stop in some damp, if not muddy, soil. Goofy braced himself against the attack, hiding behind his shield while the Dusk rammed at it continuously.
" Donald!" Goofy shouted over the din. " Big magic! We've got ter risk it!"
Donald didn't hesitate just once, even though he knew quite well how unstable the forces of magic were becoming as everything in the Universe slid out of control.
But what should he do? What magic should he use?
" Graviga!" Donald shouted and pointed the staff down.
There was a purplish-black explosion of energy as all the Heartless and Dusk got sucked onto the ground, their lives draining away. The moment they were back up, woozy as they were, Goofy attacked the Green Requiems. Four meandering red hearts followed up on four mild explosions and Pete, who was standing off to the side, silently cursed. This battle would be shorter than expected.
As long as the battle tired them, everything will be fine…
" Gawrsh!" Goofy exclaimed as the last of the Red Nocturnes popped into a red heart. " Five Shield Nobodies to go!"
Donald nodded, aimed, and fired.
" Firaga!"
Before a stunned Shield Nobody could retaliate, Goofy tornadoed his way over with his shield. The Dusk were flung into the air and the Nobody hit by Donald popped into a blue heart.
" Four more to go!" Goofy shouted.
Pete watched with growing concern as Donald and Goofy meticulously and tenaciously wiped out each Shield Nobody. He did not know how long it was going to take Commander Rourke to find the Crystal force and do away with both Princess Kida and Sora the damn Keyblade Master. He was not sure what is going on with the other plan at work here on Atlantis. All he knew was that the faster he does away with Donald and Goofy, the better chance he has of catching up to the foolish man and, after having him kill the princess and the teenager, kill the commander himself and take the Crystal force.
If there was one thing Peg-leg Pete prided himself on, it was his ability to plan out complex plans and work them out to perfection, something for which he was prized by King Mickey, before his fall from grace. And, so far, his record had been perfect: every plan he had carried out, long and short, finished with flair, with an actual ending.
And if all went well this time, there was more to the reward that would follow. There was power. There was the hope of change. There was the hope of turning back the curse. There was Paradise.
" Paradise, it will be mine…" he chuckled under his breath, rubbing his hands together in glee, as he watched Donald and Goofy team together to bring down the two remaining Shield Nobodies.
" Excellent job, just excellent!" he boomed out as he approached them, mockingly applauding them. The two weary warriors faced him with apprehension, warily waiting for him to make his move.
" We don't want ter hurt you, Pete!" Goofy said, his shield out before him.
" But we will blast you if you make us!" Donald finished the warning, his staff pointing at the traitor.
" Yeah, yeah, on with the talk," Pete brushed off their threat. " Try this on for size!"
He leaped into the air, somehow somersaulted over their heads, and landed behind them. The impact shook the ground violently and the two stumbled.
" New boots, you know," Pete said proudly, looking at his feet. " Guaranteed to create any earthquake that would topple all your enemies. Aren't they beautiful?"
Then he charged.
''
" What is this?"
The Atlantean guards cowered as the odd assembly stormed into the palace, dragging along the prisoners without a care, and with Commander Rourke poking Milo Thatch forward with a pistol at his head.
King Kashekim Nedakh turned his head towards them, his white eyes seeing nothing but his ears telling him everything.
Commander Rourke did not look kind as he shoved Milo out of the way and approached the invalid king like a cobra about to strike.
" The Crystal force, Your Majesty," the burly man said as kindly as possible. " Where's the Crystal force?"
" It is not here," King Nedakh said in precise words, slow and deliberate. " The Crystal force is not here."
" I say it is," Commander Rourke reached forward and lifted up the old king by his collar. " Tell me where it is, old man, or your daughter dies."
Princess Kida turned whiter than her hair.
" We can't let them take the Crystal force," Simba murmured to her. " That is what we must do."
He was suggesting something.
" Father, don't tell them anything!" she shouted. " Don't say a word-"
Helga hit her on the head with the pistol. She then cocked the pistol and pressed the muzzle against her head. " Do tell, or I will fire."
" No!" Milo shouted. " Don't shoot!"
Commander Rourke looked behind to the woman. " Helga, put the gun away. Shooting the princess won't help us at all, not yet! I'll tell you when to shoot her. But keep your gun on her head."
" You want the Crystal force?" King Nedakh questioned, his voice hoarse. " Or is it power?"
" Either one is fine with me but tell me old man, where is it!"
" You…will not find it here," King Nedakh fired back firmly.
Furious, Commander Rourke shoved the king away from him, and, for extra measure, socked and kicked him.
" Father!"
" The king is a liar," Commander Rourke told his crew. " The Crystal force is here, or so this page says."
He held up the page and its cryptic writing. Sora stared at the symbol drawn into the bottom half of the page. The symbol looked familiar, vaguely familiar-
It hit him. The symbol looked like the pool in this room!
" Your grandfather was kind enough to translate just enough of this page for me before he died," Commander Rourke grinned darkly at the poor young man who was staring in horror at the king. " He told me just enough, where this…symbol could be found, before he died…by my hand."
Milo turned on him, his jaw dropping.
" Sacrifices must be made, you know, in all quests for glory, power, and goodness," Commander Rourke said airily. " Pity your grandfather and this king were two of them."
" No!" Princess Kida screamed and tried to get up; Helga forced her back down. " Father!"
" Murderer…" a voice hissed. Milo saw Commander Rourke's face slightly lighten. " All for power…and it will all come back to you…"
The man cast a dark look on Sora. " I will pay for what I've done in my own time. Don't tell me what to do, what I am, you brat. Righteous little snob; I've half a mind to send you packing after him."
He jerked a thumb towards the seemingly-lifeless king. Then he gave a malicious smile. " But I'll extend my mercy to others. Helga, let the girl talk to her father before he dies on us. He might be able to tell us all something useful about the Crystal force."
He then turned to the others. " You lot, make a ring around this palace. Get those guards out of here. If anyone tries to interfere, tries to come in, shoot. But if someone requests me, and me only, let that someone in. Audrey, Sweet, Vinny, the brat and the lion. Milo Thatch, get your ass over here or I will shoot your little princess and the two here in three seconds."
Milo, throwing looks over his shoulder to a weeping Princess Kida, inched along after Commander Rourke as he pushed Sora and Simba before him, marching through the waters of the pond in the throne room and to the platform in the middle. He knew what was written in the page; he was fluent in reading and writing Atlantean, and he knew exactly what they were supposed to do. But what was supposed to happen afterwards, he didn't know. And a strange, tingling sensation in his nerves told him that maybe he didn't want to know after all.
Princess Kida was the only one to hear her father's last words. " Do not let them get the Crystal force…my child…but turn it against them…protect Atlantis until its dying days…alert King Mickey…once…they are gone…"
" Father," she wept. " Don't go, you don't have to go."
" My time has come before I am ready," he said, his voice fading. " I will never be able to crown you Queen of Atlantis…but this responsibility you must take upon yourself. Follow your heart and the calling of your soul. My child, I will always be there…."
Helga knew the old man had expired and, cocking her pistol again, pointed it at Princess Kida's head and said, " Move. That old man's dead."
" Don't call my father 'old man'," she shot back.
Helga pointed at the ceiling and fired. She then cocked the pistol and pointed it at a pale Princess Kida. " Its one of them reloading pistols. So don't try me. Move!"
Simba looked at the exchange. He looked at Sora and Milo, and gave an uneasy smile. " Well, looks like things aren't going the way they should be going, huh?"
" And you're smiling?" Sora muttered.
" My friends back home have this time-honored philosophy," Simba replied. " Smile in the face of danger and say, " Hakuna Matata!" Works every time."
Sora and Milo stared at him. " What!"
" No more silly phrases or I will have your head and hang it up on top of my fireplace before you know it!" Commander Rourke snapped at them. " Princess, get over here, NOW!"
He did not see her give a silent command to several fearful Atlantean guards who would not leave the premises of the palace, choosing to stay outside of the throne room and watch what was going on. Discreet nods passed and the men blended into the flora.
''
Commander Rourke motioned Helga to join him; his accomplice obliged most willingly and then the man leaned down and twisted a ceramic in the center of the platform. Sora looked around him warily as the platform groaned, heaved, and then slowly began to descend. Even Helga looked wary about this but Commander Rourke was not scared; he stood there, like the conqueror he was, ready to take his prize and be off.
Princess Kida was taking slow, deep breaths, which unnerved the very nervous Milo. She seemed to be pulling her thoughts together. But for what? What did her father tell her?
It was dark, when the platform they were standing on ceased to move. A single shaft of light lit the area dimly from above, and they could barely make out a large, deep pool of water, an underground freshwater pool.
" I don't see anything…" Simba muttered, his eyes glistening in the dark.
" I do."
Milo peered into the darkness where Sora was looking, trying to see what the teenager could see. He adjusted his glasses as he waited for his eyes to adapt to the darkness that swallowed them. It seemed the others did as well, for they stood there, trying to see in this gloom.
Suddenly Princess Kida gasped. She strode forward, off the platform, and towards the pool of water. She had seen something, something Sora had already seen. The Keyblade Master decided to follow her and the others had no choice; if two very significant people thought whatever they saw was important, then surely it really was important for them all.
Then Milo saw it, a spectacle of the like he had never seen before.
They were huge boulders, massive stones that hovered above the waters in a circle. Water dripped down them and hit the pool below with a distinct dribbling noise that echoed in the chambers, proof that they had only just risen from the waters. Webs colored aqua-blue criss-crossed over and around each stone; they began to glow as Princess Kida approached, her crystal necklace glowing the same colors. The glow became pulses of white-hot energy as Sora followed her to the edges of the pool.
" Amazing…" Milo stared up in awe. Simba followed suit.
Commander Rourke grinned in certain triumph but Helga was not so confident of things. She looked about warily, unsure of what was going on and uncomfortable in this glaring darkness.
The stones began to spin in slow procession. Sora counted six stones as they swirled in a glowing circle. Power pulsed with each revolution, a pulsating light that grew more powerful as Princess Kida stepped closer to the hovering stones.
Milo moved forward, worry and apprehension on his face, but Commander Rourke put a hand in front of him. " Don't go near her."
It was an order that was reinforced by Helga's cocking pistol. Milo had no choice but to stand still and watch as Princess Kida stepped into the shallows of the pool towards the spinning stones. Sora watched from the shores, glowing in the stones' pulsating light.
And then, Sora felt it. A presence in his mind. Something unearthly was flipping through his memories, page after page, reading with fascination.
Power resides in you still while your friends remain with you, this presence spoke quietly, sorrowfully, wistfully. But soon you will lose them all to the darkness, darkness and fire. Beware of the flames for they hold a power over all that you face.
Sora stood frozen, as the light began to glow with sudden intensity. The voice continued to speak.
Foolish have you been to cast aside the twilight, the voice shook his mind. Each word was beginning to hurt him. The twilight cannot become dawn for the darkness within your heart. The dawn cannot bring day because you have lost your light. Defeat your darkness before you face yourself. Crush the Heartless within you before they reach you! DESTROY THE ARM OF DARKNESS BEFORE IT RIPS YOUR HEART FROM YOUR SOUL AND DESTROYS YOU!
With a shrieking scream, Sora fell to his knees in the shallows of the freshwater pool, clutching his head and trying to withstand the vibrating voice within his mind that jarred his head. The light of the circle of stones cast an unearthly glow upon his shaking form, as Princess Kida glowed with the same color. Princess Kida, in fact, became that color, a glassy, aqua-blue glowing figure, a crystal like the one on her necklace. She had, in short, become a Crystal.
" Amazing," Commander Rourke, Helga, and Milo all said at the same time.
But Simba was paying attention to a completely different problem. " Sora!"
He leaped off the platform before anyone reacted in time to stop him; so caught up were they with Princess Kida as she hovered above the waters and floated towards the circling stones. He ran to Sora, splashing water everywhere, and nosed him. " Sora, are you okay? Come on, get up."
Sora didn't seem to hear him. The voice was blocking out all his senses as it spoke to him, jarring his mind. Until you leave, I will be here and I will show you…a way to fight the Darkness, to fight them off before they can take control of the Heartless that you had once become, the evil that resides in you still. The Society had failed and they must never try to do so again! Let me show you what you must know. Let me show you what you can do! I WILL TEACH YOU SO YOU CAN DO MORE THAN BEFORE!
The stones spun so fast it became a blur of glowing blue light, a spectacle like never before seen. Within Princess Kida hovered, light emanating from her in webs and touching upon each of the stones. Power pulsed between, from the stones to Princess Kida, until she began to glow more than the stones themselves.
" What is going on?" Milo wondered as he stared at Princess Kida.
Sora opened his eyes, staring at his reflection in the water he was kneeling in. He saw his reflection, glowing with that blue light. The blue light shone from him. And then he stared in astonishment and horror.
His eyes glowed with their own lights. Right and left, gold and silver.