Secrets of Memories Chapter 53: Interlude
A cold breeze blew, as thunderclouds rolled across the skies. Zeus the thunder god and father of Hercules seemed rather bored. Which did not make their situation less painful.
" Why thunder?" Kobi whined, staring up at the sky. " Why!"
Lorien did not answer or consider his question. In fact, she had blocked him out entirely. Her mind was already pondering why it was that they had turned up in Hollow Bastion instead of Traverse Town. Did one of the doors malfunction for once? And at the wrong time?
" This for sure ain't Traverse Town," Lorien commented crossly. " Traverse Town did NOT look like this."
" You think I don't know that?" Kobi's mood swiftly turned from childish to full-blown teenage anger. " I'm not some idiot toddler you can boss around, Lorien."
She turned to him, narrowing her sharp blue eyes. " What's gotten into you?"
" Nothing!" Kobi turned away from her and decided to stubbornly stare at the dark towers of Hollow Bastion.
Lorien stared at him for minutes longer, then sighed. " Look Kobi, we can't act all immature right now. Make do with what we have and let's get out of here."
Kobi sighed, tried to pull himself back together. " You're right, Lorien. I need to put my act together. It's just…it's just that…"
" The stress finally getting to you?" Lorien asked as she began to walk towards what seemed to be back doors. Not front doors, but the back doors into Hollow Bastion.
" No…well, yes! I mean, uh…" Kobi pondered this as he ran to catch up to her. " I don't know Lorien, but I can say this: we must be here for a reason."
" A reason? Like what?" Lorien asked as she studied the great rusted bronze doors. " This is the home base of the Heartless. You do know that, right?"
Kobi nodded, his eyes wide with astonishment. " Uh…sure…"
" We're in the heart of enemy territory. Maybe you're right, Kobi. I know for a fact that we would not be here, this close to the enemy, unless someone or something directed us here for a very specific reason…"
" You and your predestiny again," Kobi sighed as he reached over and pushed open the doors. " Maybe Eldest directed us here…only problem is that we don't know why…"
" Maybe you don't know but I think I do," Lorien hit on something, scratching her head. She peered down the long dim hall, with its crimson carpets, watching for any suspicious movement. " Remember? Eldest kept talking about a library here. Supposedly the greatest library in the Universe. Even greater than the Castle Library at Fabled Countryside."
" No shit really?" Kobi asked incredulously as he followed Lorien into the hallway. He ran his fingers through his silver hair. " Oh wait…never mind. I remember, Eldest had a lot to say about that. All those books…didn't he say he wish he was there now?"
Lorien nodded, pushing her way through the dark hall of Hollow Bastion eagerly, seeking a hall or door that may lead them into the fabled library of Hollow Bastion. " Yes…he wanted to find books. Specifically, two books. One was on the old wars between the Dark and the Light. He said that book would tell us more about why the Darkness does what it does than being part of the Darkness itself…like us. You know, double agents? The other book was some report written by former King Ansem ages ago. Something called Ansem's Other Report. That would tell us about the past and what made things the way they are now."
" Lorien, those books are the same then." Kobi was now confused.
" No, I mean, that old book would tell us about what happened maybe thousands of years ago. Ansem's Other Report is what happened maybe a decade or two ago…or four…well, kinda recent stuff, basically. See the difference?"
Kobi nodded, feeling more lost than ever. Where did she get her info?
Lorien spotted light at the end of the tunnel and headed straight for it, her senses on the alert, watching the quiet suits of armor that lined the hall along with the chandeliers and candle holders. She nearly knocked over a pot in her haste to get to that light but luckily Kobi was behind her just in time to catch it.
" Whoa!" Lorien found herself in what seemed like the grand entrance. Huge double doors before her rose up. She stood on the second story, a semi-circle that faced a beautiful chandelier and a hovering platform. Pots and suits of armor lined the second floor. Below them was a fountain that gushed water of strange pastel colors; it seemed to sparkle before her eyes. Then something else shone and her eyes turned to the source of the light. She gasped.
" What? What's wrong Lorien?" Kobi asked urgently as he rushed up and looked down with her. He nearly yelled when she quickly covered his mouth, then held a finger to her lips and pointed down.
She had seen light reflecting off a very familiar weapon. A Fire and Wind Wheel.
Kobi's eyes widened. Axel?
" Let's go through the doors behind us," Lorien murmured in his ear. He felt his knees weaken. " I don't think they're coming out the room those doors lead into."
They carefully pulled back, sliding their feet along the carpeting to reduce noise. Carefully they eased the ornate mahogany doors open, pulled themselves in, and eased the doors closed. They winced when the doors clicked shut.
" Let's hope nobody heard that," Kobi remarked, feeling relieved by their sudden rush into danger but Lorien didn't seem to hear him. She stared at what was behind them, her mouth agape with astonishment and shock.
" Lorien?" Kobi turned…and reacted in the same fashion.
Books. Books loomed before them, next to them, all around them. Shelves stacked up on one another, books piled on top of each other, scrolls littered the tables, books were everywhere.
" Oh my god." Lorien inched forward, fully ready to respond to a tripped wire, but nothing happened. It was quiet, silent, a library of the dead. There was not a living soul in the library. No one but themselves.
" This…this is amazing," Kobi whispered to her. " We could probably find anything and everything in here."
" Exactly," Lorien hissed back, an idea forming in her mind. " Eldest always wanted two things fro this library, a book on the ancient history of the Universe and Ansem's Other Report. You know what that means."
" With this many books?" Kobi gestured at the hopelessness of their fine plan – thousands of books awaited their eager eyes. " Isn't this kind of impossible?"
" Nothing's impossible if the enemy doesn't know you're in the heart of their base," Lorien shot back rather devilishly, grinning as she went to the first bookshelf. " Nothing at all."
''
"…kick his ass, I tell you!" Axel muttered angrily to a rather calm Domitan. " He's such a dolt. Nobody's gonna pull through with that kind of plan! You can't just walk up to a damn tooth doctor and-"
" Axel, it's dentist, not tooth doctor," Domitan corrected him. " Say it."
Axel, twitching, as jittery as ever, growled out through clenched teeth, " Dentiiiiist…you happy?"
Domitan smiled evilly. " You didn't even have to say that. But please, go on."
Axel snarled but kept talking. " As I was saying, you can't just walk up to a damn dentist and ask him to bag some fish for you! The damn angelfish or whatever he is is damn well protected! That's what the Order's good at!"
" But Orion was able to expose Cid Number Two, am I right?" Domitan pointed out. " Therefore, we can get this fish out in the open…and snag him! We'll pay the dentist very good money for it, too-"
Click.
Domitan froze. The two conspirators blinked at each other, then both looked up, at the source of the clicking sound. Axel knew instantly what it was.
" Doors," he told his friend. " Someone's closed some doors."
" Who could be here right now besides us, Marucia, Master, and Ansem?" Domitan puzzled over. " Oh and besides the idiots outside of Hollow Bastion and that damn Advocate wherever he is…"
" Nobody can enter the library without leave from the Master," Axel explained. " Intruders…"
" As in the ones that tried to escape us?" Domitan asked. He knew already. " I could feel it. Their energy, they are here. Somehow the door went haywire, I'm guessing. I know for a fact that our little double agent would not direct a door to Hollow Bastion."
" You mean its impossible, Domitan." A dark green fire began to flame in his eyes. " Unless…you-know-who intervened on their behalf…or their doom."
" You should tell Master about this," Domitan told him. " He should be through with Ansem right now."
" The fool that Ansem is," Axel shook his head as he turned to push aside a suit of armor to reveal a spiraling staircase. " Domitan, watch the front. After I alert the two, I'm going to explore the castle a bit…"
""
" What happened?"
Aladdin's question echoed down the abandoned streets of a very desolate – and messy – city known as Agrabah.
" You tell me," Genie remarked, staring down the main street in horror. " What a nightmare!"
" But…everything's back, everything's returned," Jasmine countered, the optimistic one in the group. " Father…the Princess of Heart has done her job."
" You mean that one?" the Sultan questioned pointedly.
" Yes…" The sultry princess of Agrabah smiled. " Did you see? Some of the other worlds were returning."
" You mean that little mass of debris spinning around like mad near Traverse Town?" Genie questioned, scratching his head. He pulled off a scorpion and threw it a little ways. " I thought the worlds would just come back with a pop! Apparently not. Wish things weren't so natural."
" If nothing was natural, things would be just weird, Genie." Aladdin smiled as Abu climbed onto his shoulders and chattered loudly into his left ear. " What's that? What? The Cave of Wonders?"
" The Cave of Wonders?" Everyone's attention turned to the chatter between Aladdin and Abu.
" That means we can get the gem!" Genie exclaimed eagerly. " The Red Eye that can only be handled by human hands!"
"But…" Jasmine looked thoughtful. " Won't the red gem have been lost in the transition?"
" I doubt it!" The Genie, ever optimistic, gave a thumbs up and jabbed in the direction of the searing desert. " That gem, I told you, can't move without human hands! I mean, c'mon people, listen to what I just said! It can't move without someone's hand on it! We might as well check it out. No harm, is there?"
" Genie, I'm quite sure the Guardian didn't get lost in the transition," Jasmine reminded him. " You can get by him easily but we can't…well, maybe besides me…"
" Great, you can be in the middle of it!" Aladdin said happily, everything coming together instantaneously in his mind. " You two can convince the Guardian to let us pass. We'll disturb nothing but the Red Eye itself. The Guardian should know how important it is to let us pass into the Cave…of course, he's just a head of sand so I doubt he's got brains in him."
" Leave that to me," the Sultan shuffled off towards the palace.
" Father! You shouldn't go barging off by yourself in a world much too quest to be at peace with," Jasmine reprimanded, following her father.
" Let me escort you both!" Genie said. He snapped his fingers and the three of them promptly vanished.
" Genie!" Aladdin threw his hands up in the air. " Seriously, the things you do…"
" We're back!" Genie announced loudly and with a loud pop!, they reappeared. The Sultan was cradling a gold statue of a monkey with emerald eyes.
" You can trade this for the Red Eye," the Sultan offered. " This also came from the Cave of Wonders, years and years ago. Don't ask how I got it; it's a family secret."
" I don't wanna know!" The Genie cried out in a rather exaggerated manner and shielded his face. Aladdin was quite tempted to smack his head to bring him back to reality but quickly changed his mind. " Anyways, let's go to the Cave of Wonders. Where's that magic carpet?"
The lovely tasseled Persian rug soared into view.
" Okay, everybody hop on except the Sultan and me. We're going to fix up Agrabah as best as possible!" The Genie waved farewell then led the Sultan away. They quickly immersed into a discussion on how to renovate Agrabah to make it better than ever.
Blinking, Aladdin, Jasmine, and Abu watched them go. The magic carpet rose up and tapped Aladdin on the shoulder, gesturing madly towards the open desert.
" Once the Red Eye is ours," Jasmine told Aladdin on their flight to the Cave of Wonders, " this world will be protected from the Heartless. They may come periodically, as the flow of darkness can never be stopped fully, but they can no longer do serious harm to us again."
" Why can't we stop the darkness completely?" Aladdin asked curiously.
" It's common sense, Aladdin," Jasmine answered. " If all darkness is gone, then how can one define light? There can be no light without darkness, no white without black, no day without night. You can't have love without hate. That's why we can't stop the darkness completely. All we can do is staunch the flow of darkness to a bare minimum."
Aladdin nodded. " Makes sense."
Abu suddenly went and chattered into Aladdin's ear. As they neared the circular depression that marked the place of the Guardian of the Cave of Wonders, a look of surprise crossed over Aladdin's face.
" Hey, Jasmine, you know, we forgot all about Iago. Where'd he go?"
Jasmine looked surprised as well, as the magic carpet landed. " He didn't make it with us…so he would've gone to the other side."
" What happens to those who go to the other side?"
" It depends," Jasmine said with a shrug. " I don't really know."
" Oh crap," Aladdin swore as he stepped off the carpet. " Iago…"
""
Silence. Utter silence. All was quiet.
He looked up from the piece of paper in his hand. It was there, those words, those dreaded words. It had happened, once again. But this time, there was no inside help. It was all done by the machinations of the Society.
" They're getting better," he spoke, in a voice so quiet, yet to dominating. " Emperor, we must do something about this. Are we letting things slip? Or are they simply getting better?"
" That is the Society's little gift, I daresay," the Emperor commented, stroking his long beard. " Their gift, our curse. They're catching up."
" They haven't harnessed every power yet," Friar Tuck remarked, walking into the onyx-covered room. " The Lake, for one. The Crystal Force, for another."
" And they have yet to match the strength and courage of many devoted to our cause," Meg added, entering the room as well. " I'm not just talking about Hercules, mind you. Oh and one of our new 'recruits' brings official word: the Guardian has escaped. He personally oversaw it. We still have hope."
" A fading hope," King Mickey sighed, sitting down on his ebony seat. " Their options are running out. Their every move is being thwarted by our efforts. Only one option remains…and we must not let them grab the chance. Find Aozora!"
" We must reach Kairi first," Meg countered. " He has yet to reappear in this Universe."
" Agrabah has come back," Friar Tuck said. " That means he must be here…somewhere…"
" Or he could simply be at the crossroads," the Emperor said calmly. " You know what I mean by the crossroads. Two of our greatest warriors have passed through the crossroads, you know. He could be there as well. No telling what might happen from there."
King Mickey sighed and pushed his chair back. " There's no telling how much we must do. Someone find out what's become of Princess Kida. Emperor, we might need to contact Mulan. We're going to need her help in amping up the defenses. Meg, contact Cid Number One and his crew. Someone needs to evaluate the worlds Kairi's sent back. We need to send someone to Spira. We still have to find that Vegnagun. We need Leon and Cloud to find Eldest's two disciples. Cid Number One hasn't sent us word of those two, meaning they're lost or something happened to them. Someone get to Twilight Town. After our little 'accident', we have to know what's become of Cid Number Two. I'm not sure it's safe for him to stay in Twilight Town, someone find him and find out. And someone please find out what happened to Gil!"
" Well, its obvious," Bo Peep commented, knocking and walking in. Wheezy waddled in after her. " The Society's gotten smarter. Oh and Wheezy's fully recovered. Besides the singing."
" Are we still going to go through with the plan to recruit Buzz?" Wheezy asked tentatively. " He's got the skills and the spirit for it."
" Hm…" King Mickey thought.
" Chip and Dale could build him the actual weapons," Meg laughed. " He could finally be the real Buzz Lightyear for once!"
" Exactly," the Emperor nodded vigorously and turned to King Mickey. " We need more members. We've lost Grandmother Willow, Cid Number Two can't do much anymore after being exposed by that relative of Ansem's, and we've lost Gil. And we don't know what's become of Princess Kida yet. We're going to need more members, King Mickey."
" I know…" King Mickey sighed. " Alright. We need fresh blood. Bo Peep, find Buzz. Besides, if Woody's your world's Keyhole, Buzz can be his ammo-charged fightin' guardian."
Bo Peep nodded to Wheezy and they left the room.
" Right…" King Mickey sighed. " Any word of Pete?"
Silence.
" Ah…no, not exactly," the Emperor offered as a reply. " It's tough, Mickey. Extra defenses around New World, amping up defenses elsewhere, keeping track of darkness activity, and we're trying to defend four different parties at once. It's a tiring task, Mickey. It's not easy adding that to our already-impressive list of things to do."
" Sorry, sorry," Mickey apologized hastily, seeing the error in his question. " But Pete is still a problem to us, Emperor. What do we do?"
" I'll take care of that," Friar Tuck offered. " We haven't done much since Sora saved us. Robin Hood, Little John, and their impressive group of recruits are running Sherwood Forest and Buckinghamshire well on their own. I could spend my time tracking down Pete."
" How?"
The friar hit his head and sighed. " The Lake, King. Since we no longer have contact with King Nedakh and his power over the Crystal Force, the Lake's the only reliable force to use. I could still use all its powers. I can use to find Pete."
" If you are still the Lake's master," a fire had begun to glow in Meg's eyes, " then can you find our little four?"
" It will not be easy," Friar Tuck said. " I've tried before. Some strange barrier seems to surround them. But I will try."
King Mickey nodded. " I guess that concludes our little session. Back to business, I guess."
Those present nodded and filed out of the room. King Mickey sighed again and rubbed his eyes.
" Hyper little body, but still I miss the height," King Mickey stood up. The table was for a full-sized man and King Mickey was just taller than it. " What's done is done. Time for a little excursion into the darkness…"
He stretched out his right hand and the Golden Kingdom Key quickly materialized in his hand. He gave it an expert spin, took some experimental swipes, then set the blade over his right shoulder. Whistling, he pressed into a wall and a door spun. He vanished behind it into the unknown.
""
" Have you found anything yet?" Lorien hissed to Kobi, who was one story above her. She dropped the book she was holding on top of a very impressive stack of books and pulled out another one.
" I'm not sure…" Kobi's voice drifted from above. A few seconds later, a page turned.
" So you did find something," Lorien shot back. She went to the next book, dropping the one she was holding. " What is it?"
" Hold on a sec…"
Lorien sighed, dropped the next book, and was about to finish wiping out the 104th shelf when she spotted something deep within the depths of the shelf. It was a dark oblong thing, a book perhaps? Maybe.
" What have we here…" She reached in and felt dust and cobwebs falling all over her hand. " Not a pretty sight, I guess. Must've been in here for a long-ass time."
Her fingers felt all around, searching for the corner of the oblong thing she saw, until she felt a hard corner.
" Gotcha," she muttered under her breath, and pulled it out.
It was the dirtiest book she ever saw, blanketed in a snow of dust and cobwebs. She shut her eyes and blew on the cover, then held her breath as she felt the dust rise in the air.
" Blegh. I hate dust."
She looked at the book now, touching its leather cover. It was a black book, with no titles, nothing on the covers. Well, maybe there was something on the cover. A little stamp, something like a huge, fancy A. Lorien could only guess whose A it was.
" Ansem," she muttered and carefully flipped open the book.
The first thing she saw was a beautifully pressed spider. It seemed to have been there for the longest time. She tilt the book and watched the black spider silently slide off. Then she scrutinized over the elaborate handwriting on the very first page.
" If you find this text, written by my hand, you may turn the page, and read what you can. Beware, though, for what you will find may not be the material for your troubled mind. So read with care, I dare you, for what I found will tell you your fortune."
She stared at the writing again, seriously considering if King Ansem did have a life when he was more human.
" Stupid poet," she muttered and turned the page. Instantly, a musty smell arose and threatened to gag her. She held her breath, waited a few seconds, then breathed again. The musty smell had gone.
" The poem makes sense," she remarked snappishly. " Musky smells are not for my troubled mind."
She peered at the handwriting. It was even fancier than his handwriting on the front page. She blinked at it, staring at the page. On the very first page, the writing went from neat and careful to wildly messy.
" Oh shit," she swore. She looked at the next page and sighed in relief. Ansem had reverted to printing, in neat block letters. She flipped through the pages quickly, studying the handwriting. Ansem must've gotten bored while writing; the writing changed from cursive to block printing to calligraphy, all in different orders.
She caught one page in the book. It was in massive calligraphy, done quickly. It was written: I HAVE A SON! I SHALL CALL HIM…
Her hands shook as she read the name. No, it can't be…
She quickly flipped over several pages, then read again: The king frightens me. His liquid black eyes boil like oil. They follow me, follow me everywhere. He thinks I have done something but what have I done? All I've done is begin my studies of the followers of Shadowrenis…he says those who study the darkness lose their will to the darkness. Is that what will become of me? No, my will is strong, I will not bow to the darkness. I must stay strong for my only son, I will show him what we can do, what we can master. The King of Phoenix Walt will not stop me; I will study this darkness and find the weakness that will destroy it!
" Phoenix Walt?" Lorien had never heard of that before. And Eldest had told her nothing of it either.
" It is the former name of Disney, home of the wretched ruler King Mickey." Someone breathed down her neck, cold puffs of air.
She whirled around, her back pressed against the bookcase, staring up at the one person she least wanted to meet, especially in a dusty library, gloomy and silent as it was.
" And what are you doing here…dove?" Domitan grinned, leaning against the bookshelf and effectively cutting off one means of escape.
" Don't call me dove," she shot back through tightly clenched teeth. " What are you doing here?"
" We don't like intruders here," the blue-haired Elite member said coolly, his sapphire eyes boring into hers. " Especially intruders like you."
She didn't like the look in his eyes and began to slowly inch away, Ansem's book hidden behind her. Domitan watched her, a hawk watching his prey, half-caught.
" You're…not going anywhere," he hissed and the other arm blocked her off, cornering her in.
" Who says?" Lorien said, her breathing coming in faster from a growing fear.
" I say so, dove," Domitan grinned. She swore he seemed to be closing in on her. And for reasons other than attacking 'intruders'.
" Always the pretty one," he whispered darkly. " Roxanne cares for none…and you're the only one left."
" Stay away from me, you bastard," she spat. " If you dare…I will kill you."
" How, dove?" Domitan questioned, his eyes mocking. " I don't see any weapons. Your friend is too busy immersed in reading his own past. And I could kill you, right now with my own bare hands, if I wanted to."
" And if I called for help?" Lorien snapped.
" I'm not the only one in here."
Axel, Lorien realized. No!
" Just one small kiss and I'll finish you off," Domitan grinned. " No struggles. If you resist, I'll make your death all the more painful. If you let me, it'll be quick and painless."
Lorien had to smirk at this. Some people were just serious idiots.
" You are an insane airhead," she remarked matter-of-factly. " An insane airhead and a fool."
Domitan twitched ever so slightly. She felt rather evil, evil and happy when she saw his blue eyes flaring with the insult.
" You…" he hissed. His right arm moved and pressed against her throat. Lorien tensed, feeling danger magnifying tenfold.
" Such an immature little adult," she added. " Ready to do the reckless thanks to a lightly thrown insult. I can't imagine how you got into the Elite in the first place-"
" Shut up!" Domitan snapped angrily and shoved his forearm into her throat.
The world that she saw began to fade into black, when she saw silver hair appearing, silver hair and a blindfold…"
''
He slowly flipped through the next page, his light sea green eyes glazed over with every word he read. He slowly scanned the page, his mind imprinting every word into memory, then turned to the next one.
" Entertaining, Kobi?" Someone asked in dark amusement behind him.
Jerking from reflex, he quickly shut the book and shoved it away, turning around quickly, his arms up in the air. His staff and Lorien's sword leaned against a bookshelf, much too far away for him to reach in time.
" What an interesting book you've found to read," Axel drawled, his emerald eyes scanning the cover of the moldy text. " Pity you can't read it anymore. Intruders aren't allowed here."
" Just like you," Kobi hissed back, his voice shaking madly.
" Apparently you've read far too much," Axel added, his voice becoming hard and angry. " But soon…you'll forget."
Kobi had just enough time to call his staff to his side.
Chapter 54…
Who are you to invade my mind?
There is a way to fight the darkness…
" We only jumped ship with you. Thought you had a plan or something."