Update (July 13, 2006): Added in a few scene-switch bars that I forgot to add in when I first posted this chapter.
Kingdomhearts soar - Whoo hoo! Another reviewer! Anyway, about your Walt Disney comment, he is basically God in this fic since he made the Disney characters and such. Most Heartless would praise Maleficent or Ansem, but Lilac is different. Oh, and I'm guessing Hades would be the devil... Or Ansem. (Is it just me, or is it just CREEPY when his shirt is off for the final boss?)
Chapter 5 - Cursed... Or am I?
As I lay in my chambers that night, I began to ponder his words. "I don't just kiss any Imperfect." It wasn't the words themselves that bothered me... but it was his tone that did. His words had been plastered with evilness until he said that single sentence, which seemed to have its darkness peeled off slightly. Could it be at all possible that he, The Imperfect Hunter, was an Imperfect himself?
As if by pure coincidence, my mind flashed to when I had only just been created. The memory had been long lost until now, when it seemed to be more vivid than the day itself...
I stood in the middle of a cluster of Heartless, standing as high as I could to see over the Soldiers in front of me. We were all in a room crowded around a circular platform with a tube in the middle of it. Maleficent stood in front of the tube, holding the chain attached to the collar of an imprisoned Bouncywild.
"My minions," Maleficent began, holding a hand out toward the monkey-like Heartless. "The Bouncywild you see here... possesses a heart!"
Collective gasps swelled up in the crowd. I was the only one who was silent. What was so bad about having a heart?
"She has been planning rebellious actions against the entire Heartless army!" Maleficent continued. "And she would have not been found had my Imperfect Hunter not been there."
Right on cue, a Black Fungus with darker coloration than the others in the audience walked up onto the platform. He stopped next to Maleficent and bowed. Cheers erupted from the others. Why was I the only one who was confused?
"I hereby sentence her to her death!" Maleficent boomed.
Everyone applauded as the Bouncywild began to shriek and tug at the collar. She pulled out her slingshot and aimed at Maleficent, but The Imperfect Hunter smacked it out of her hand and crushed it with his skull. The monkey was dragged to the tube, and metallic bounds wrapped around her feet. As the tube lowered, she attempted to paw her way up, but she was stuck to the ground.
"LET ME GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she shouted, pounding on the sides of the tube.
"Destroy her!" Maleficent commanded, pointing at The Imperfect Hunter.
There was no way that any bit of evilness could have left his voice in his final statement.
He had been the one who pulled the lever, sending painful bursts of energy right through the Bouncywild's heart. Up until the day that I discovered that Heartless were meant to be... well, heartless, I had been utterly confused about why she had been sentenced to death.
"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!"
I sat up and gasped. What in the name of Walt...? Curiously, I got out of bed and cracked the door open a bit. Standing there was none other than White Cherry, shouting at a Search Ghost.
"I saw you! I saw what you were doing!" Cherry growled.
I shivered, holding back the urge to wrap my arms around myself. A strange feeling overcame me. Was this the same White Cherry, always so hyper for a Heartless, shouting at this Search Ghost? She would never shout at anyone... would she?
"I can explain!" the Search Ghost said, obviously in full panic. Was he, too, an Imperfect?
Cherry continued to glare at him with a hardened look in her eyes. Suddenly, her gaze softened. "So, you are Imperfect," she whispered.
I could only blink in confusion.
"W-What...?" the Search Ghost muttered.
Unfortunately, my lack of balance kicked in again, and, as I leaned forward for a better listen of their argument, I toppled over onto my face. I quickly got up to avoid casting another Cure spell.
"Lola?" Cherry gasped, backing away. "What are you doing here?"
"I should be asking you the same thing," I growled. "What's going on? One second, you're yelling at him, and the next you're being as gentle as... as..."
"As an Imperfect," Cherry concluded. She looked around. "There had better not be anyone else with you."
"There's not. I have a room by myself."
Cherry sighed, shaking her head. "I didn't wanna do this..."
"You... You're not gonna turn me in, are you?" the Search Ghost asked, shaking.
"No, no. I'm not gonna turn either of you in." She exhaled softly. "Let's talk in your room... Lilac."
"So, you've known all this time?" I asked, adjusting my bow.
"Yes," Cherry replied. "Though I wish I didn't..."
"Why not?" the Search Ghost, Mauve, inquired. "If we're all Imperfects, then..."
"I'm not fully Imperfect," Cherry interrupted.
There was a frightening silence in the room for what seemed to be the longest time. I could only sit there, blinking in confusion. Did I dare ask...?
"You see," the White Mushroom began, "I am an Imperfect, yes, but..." She paused. "You two have to understand that what I'm about to say is really hard. I've barely even been able to tell myself."
"We'll understand," Mauve said, nodding his head.
More silence. "I... Well, sometimes, even though I'm Imperfect, I'll somehow convert back to evil."
"W... What?" I whispered.
"But it doesn't happen very often. Maybe ten percent of the time, I'm evil. It usually wears off pretty quickly." A tear fell from her eye. "I've turned in an Imperfect before. He was the boyfriend of the Bouncywild who was destroyed a while back, Coral. His name was Cobalt, and he led the small army of Imperfects.
"We were about to unleash our first attack. I was to be the signaler. Before we began our raid, I stood next to Cobalt, and we reviewed the signals. Suddenly, I felt myself change. Darkness began to overwhelm me. The next thing I knew, I was shouting, 'Imperfect Heartless! Imperfect Heartless!' The others had run off, but I had Cobalt by the arm with a firm grip.
"Maleficent came in and arrested him. He was destroyed a few days later. I was crowned as a hero among my peers, but I was ashamed of myself. I ran away for a long time and came back with my new identity of White Cherry."
"What was your name before you came back?" I asked in my softest voice.
Cherry turned her head. "I can't tell you, Lilac. Not yet. But one day, when you're ready, you will learn my name. Not by my telling, but by your own heart."
Mauve shifted his mid-air position. He seemed a bit uncomfortable with the fact that my best friend was part evil. Nonetheless, I would always accept it, even if she tried to turn me in one day.
"I may end up like that, too," I sighed, looking at the ground. "You know about Dark Love, right?"
"I've heard of it, yeah," Cherry mumbled, nodding her head.
"... I've been cursed with it," I managed to utter. "The Imperfect Hunter, Midnight, kissed me a couple of hours ago. It's only a matter of time before..."
For the first time in since Cherry had told her story, Mauve spoke: "Before nothing. Dark Love is only a myth. It never works. The whole process is in the head of the victim. Trust me; I've been through it before."
"You have?" I asked.
"It was a female Shadow who cursed me," Mauve explained. "She was well-known for turning even the most pure of Imperfects to evil. Only... she didn't kiss me. Her name was Siren. She gained that name because of the song that performed the Dark Love process. When she sang to me, I thought it was hopeless, that my mind was to be dissolved by darkness.
"That same night, I had a dream. A dream of a heart. I saw it covered with darkness. I attacked the darkness and cleaned the heart. When I woke up, I felt darkness lifting from me. I know it sounds a bit crazy, but... it's true."
To be continued...
Weird place to end a chapter, I know, but if I had gone on, the chapter would have been too long for my standards.
It was really hard to write this chapter for some reason. I'm never too good at writing how characters re-tell their stories. Oy.
Anyway, same as last time: At least one review before I go on. And, Rike-sama, where are you?
