Disclaimer- I do not own any of the characters from Kingdom Hearts I or II, or Final Fantasy Advent Children.

Notes- If you play KH then you probably know who this "mysterious" newcomer to my story is. But if you don't them I would expect you'd be excited for this chapter. Maybe, maybe not... but I ramble! GEH' ON WITHEH! That would be what it would look like if I typed "get on with it" in a British accent. So here I go!

Chapter 22-An Explanation

"My name is Maleficent."

The voice boomed.

"And you are Sora, no doubt? Yes, yes... very good. You've finally arrived."

Sora was still standing in front of Fleur, stunned at the name. He was speechless, staring in awe into the blackness from which the disembodied voice boomed from every direction. He could think of nothing to say. After a few moments of silence, though, his stun turned to rage.

"You! You witch! What have you done to Kairi and Riku?! Tell me!" He bellowed. "Show yourself, you coward!" He gripped the keyblade handle tighter.

"Very well." The voice boomed. Sora looked around, waiting to see her. Seconds passed before she faded into view several yards before him. His raged tripled inside of him as he was now holding the keyblade as tight as possible.

"Happy?" She said. Getting no reply, she answered herself. "Yes? Good."

She stood tall, with a long black cloak covering her entire body. Her pale face was framed by a large collar on her cloak, and her eyes pierced the black abyss.

"Ugly as ever." Sora commented, now gaining enough composure to throw smart remarks. "You never were much of a looker." He said with a smirk and a condescending chuckle.

"Let's not get cocky now." She replied, her voice becoming quieter now that she was there in body.

"Well, if I remember correctly, I earned bragging rights when I slit your throat in our last encounter. Now that you have my friends, oh... Not even your sick mind can imagine what I'll do to you." He paused, and she almost replied, but he cut her off and continued. "If you hand them over to me without a fight, maybe I'll only rip out one of your lungs... but I could take both if you prefer to be difficult."

Maleficent was becoming annoyed with Sora's confidence. Her pale face began to redden.

Fleur was standing behind Sora, just taking everything in. When had these two met before? What happened then? Alongside these questions, Fleur was shocked at Sora's attitude. She had never seen him this way. She had never even imagined that he could be this way.

She must have done something horrible for him to hate her with such passion... She thought to herself. But her thoughts were interrupted my Maleficent's voice.

"You have quite a bit of confidence in yourself, I see. Well, I guess we could negotiate... but I guess wrong, don't I?"

"Oh har! So funny I forgot to laugh. But wait... before we get bloody, tell me what you've done this time. All I know is my friends are living but completely unconscious and, well, dead. So what magic trick have you pulled this time?"

"An explanation... not too hard. See, they are very much alive. You obviously know that. But they've been robbed of their free will. I control them like puppets. They are sleeping simply because I've put a tiny spell on them."

Sora's rage began to resurface, but he suppressed it. "Very original." He remarked sarcastically.

"Why thank you. You make think so even more when I tell you how I've done it and why... care to hear?"

"Why not?" Sora said. Maleficent snapped and two chairs appeared. Sora took one and so did Fleur. Maleficent snapped again and a large throne appeared behind her. She sat.

"Where to begin... Well the heartless, for one thing, have become very useful to me as minions and servants. I've even been able to develop a new breed, capable of doing just what I've done to your friends. Now, as to why... I knew they would seek you out after the demise of your previous master, Lyvenn. When the castle was burned in the war, they escaped. I, of course, knew all of this because of my close relations to Lyvenn. I knew they had not yet been sold, even though you had and that Meichem was looking to pick a fight with Lyvenn."

She paused, hoping he would ask about Lyvenn. He just waved his hand for her to continue.

"Right. After what you did to me, I was not about to let you live a happy life with your friends. But killing them would take all the fun out of it, there would be no pursuit on your part once you discovered news of their death. So, I stole their free will. They do only what I tell them to. Understanding all this?"

"Of course. You know, Maleficent, you're not as smart as you may seem. See, even if you had killed them, there would be a pursuit. That of me after you, that is. And once I had succeeded in killing you, again, then I would only need to give my friends a proper resting place to end this all. So you wasted your time, because now you'll just have to die anyway, and my friends are still alive. I win."

"Oh do you? Hmph. You seem a bit too confident for my tastes. Sora, my dear, do you know what will happen if you kill me, since I possess your friends' free will?"

Sora hesitated.

"Exactly. Their free will would disappear forever, along with me. So sure, you would have your friends alive, but unable to do anything."

Sora just stared.

"But, there is one thing I may be willing to do in exchange for the free will of your friends."

He had an immediate change of heart. "Go on..."

Notes- Is Sora about to make a deal with the devil? Maybe so! Keep reading! R+R!!

-VarekaiSoleil