Homecoming
Maleficent saw Pete off at the beginning of a Dark Corridor that led to Twilight Town. "Remember Pete" she said. "You are not to return until you have Roman Numeral Thirteen bound and gagged. You have a budget of ninety nine thousand munny to spend. That is the maximum. This Xavier's Flyer's group is not going to be cheap. They'll want a lot, especially if they have to go off-world to do it."
"I know" said Pete. "Why didn't you tell me about the plan?" he complained.
"Because, you fool, I couldn't trust you to keep it a secret" was the response.
Pete stepped into the portal. It was like entering a cold shower of mist and he didn't like it. But, such was life. Once Maleficent ruled the worlds, there was going to be a lot more usage of Dark Corridors. He disappeared inside of it.
After Pete was gone, Maleficent looked around at the balcony. It was odd, not having him around. Now she would be alone in the castle by herself. Well, it was no big deal. She could use the time to catch up on magic reading and casting. Suddenly, she was aware of eyes on her. Maleficent whirled around toward the stairs. Another Dark Corridor had opened. Maleficent gritted her teeth in rage. That fool Pete! He was as inept at using the darkness power as he was at everything else.
"You imbecile!" Maleficent stormed, going up to the portal. "You don't open a second one in the same area that you're standing in---" her words cut off in a gasp as a man in a long black robe stepped out. He was wearing an unpleasant smile that spoke of hidden viciousness. His yellow eyes were cold and an X shaped scar crossed his forehead. Maleficent recognized him, not by name, but by affiliation.
"Organization XIII!" she gasped. This was impossible. The Organization was dead! Killed by that little triumvirate led by Sora! This thing was obviously an illusion, a hallucination brought on by too much stress. Maleficent told it this.
"Too much stress, eh?" the man said. He seemed to consider this. "Hmmm…if I were a hallucination brought on by too much stress, would I do this?" faster than she could follow, he pulled out a large claymore. He swung it in an arc, smashing it into the wall. Patterns of blue flame spread out cracking the stone. "I didn't think so" he said to Maleficent's shocked face. Then it grew worse. Portals began to form all over the walkway. Laughter flowed from each of these twelve portals. Along with a flood of Nobodies. Sorcerers, Dancers, Snipers, Assassins, Berserkers, Gamblers, Samurais, Creepers, and Dusks crawled, walked, skipped, and hopped out of them as well. It was at this point that Maleficent fainted.
When she woke, she was in a cell. It was in the very basement level of the Castle. It was below even the laboratories where she had created Tine. Maleficent stood up, and took in her surroundings. She noticed right away that she was missing her staff.
"Where is my staff?" she snarled, used to being in charge.
"Oh no, I'm afraid that won't do" said a voice outside her cell. Maleficent turned to see a man in a black robe appear. One lock of silver hair fell in front of one eye, covering it. "You are no longer the mistress of this castle" he said. "So you would be well advised not to act so."
"Who are you?" Maleficent demanded, no less forcefully than before. The robed man sighed.
"Number six in the Organization, Zexion, and the Cloaked Schemer."
"You think" Maleficent said, "That because you invaded my castle, that I am no longer its mistress?" she laughed. "Things have changed since you infested this place with your nonexistent minions. There are places that only I can go into, security systems that only I can decode."
Zexion waited until she was finished. "Do you mean the retina scanner and voice activation machine that you installed into Vexen's lab?" he asked. His form abruptly glowed. When the light faded, Maleficent saw herself standing before the cell. "So much for your 'security' systems, eh?" Zexion/Maleficent said with her voice. "It was child's play to infiltrate that place. As we speak, we are remodeling this poor place."
"You can't do this!" Maleficent growled in anger. "I have allies and thousands of troops---"
"You have no troops, and your allies are based in their own worlds" said Zexion lazily, shifting back to his true form. "I can not be bothered by the lies of a foolish old witch. Now, I did not come here to discuss castle fashions, or the matter of who is in charge of the World That Never Was. What we came to discuss was the experiment that you created using some of the same methods that Vexen used to create the Riku Replica. We know that you lost control of what you spawned in that tank. Where is it?" the last words were a hiss.
"I have no idea" Maleficent snapped. "Why don't you look in your hearts---oh, that's right, you don't have them."
At first the Cloaked Schemer looked absolutely murderous…then he calmed down. "Oh, that's all right" he said. "You don't have to tell me anything. But hunger and thirst do a lot for a person when there's information to be had. Remember that, witch!" he then teleported in a flash of dark energy.
Maleficent sighed. She didn't know what she was going to do. For the first time in her long life, Maleficent found that she didn't have a backup plan. This was a completely illogical invasion. It was impossible. Organization XIII was dead. At least she thought they were. Apparently the boy had not done as good a job as he thought. Oh, what else was new? "I'm surrounded by fools!!" Maleficent shrieked and raged. The metal walls were good companions. They listened patiently and didn't complain at all. Maleficent was glad for that.
She had a feeling she was going to be spending a lot of time with them.