"There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other." –Douglas Everett

Chapter One: Rekindling of the Black Flame part 1

It was a quiet evening, full of cheerful screaming children. What do you expect on October 31, one of the most active days of the year? Little gremlins dressed up in cute costumes, bought from a store or hand-made, running loose in the neighborhood, trying to get the most candy before bedtime. These festive activities struck jealousy in the hearts of teens and joy in the hearts of old. The sound of doorbells ringing and shouts of "Trick or Treat!" could be heard from every direction. The giggling, the chattering, the happy screech of laughter…

"It makes me sick!" huffed Pete. He stood a good 7 feet tall; a giant among midgets. He wore a dark blue and red body suit. The fat cat came here on orders from Maleficent to find more people to make into heartless. So far, he hadn't had any luck. Not in this world anyway. He left the happy going-on behind him as he tried to find a quiet place to think.

It was just last year that Maleficent took over the World That Never Was and the keyblade master disposed of the Organization XIII. Things were quiet and heartless were in decline. Whatever that kid did to the darkness was making Pete's life miserable! And this happy Halloween Night wasn't making things any better. Pete came out of his musing to find himself standing outside a small desolate graveyard. He looked past the gates. There was nothing fancy about it…But…It was dark out and that made it look spooky. 'Maybe I should get outta here!' The cowardly cat started walking backward when he felt a heart teeming with darkness pulsing in the direction of the cemetery. A tall figure appeared out of nowhere and stood hovering over one of the gravestones. But as Pete tried to get a better look, the shadow vanished. Pete shook his head, blinked and squinted his beady eyes. Instead of the shadowy stranger, there was what looked like a cat. It was too dark to tell what color it was. Pete just grumbled and left without a second thought. But as he turned the corner, he looked back. Something still bothered him; the stranger may have disappeared, but the presence of Darkness was still hanging over the graveyard. He gave an involuntary shudder and walked on, "How do I get myself into these situations?"

Pete decided to try his luck with the upper class section of this town. Wealthier people tended to be very greedy and greed always beckoned to the heartless. He wandered around until he found the largest house in the neighborhood. The white colonial revival stood three stories tall. Every light was on in the ground floor and laughter could be heard emanating from the open windows. Pumpkins and haystacks piled up on either side of the front gate. Pete sensed a rebellious heart contained within its walls. As he stepped toward the entrance, however, two more black hearts were attempting to sneak up on him. He turned and found two teenage boys blocking his path.

"Looky what we got here! What are you supposed to be, Old Man? A werewolf?" scoffed the tall one in the leather jacket, "What'd you think, Ice?"

"I say he looks more like a fat cat!" laughed the one call Ice. "Hey, Old Man, got any smokes? Or maybe we should relieve you of your wallet?"

"Fat Cat? Old Man?!" Pete snapped. "You kids otta watch yourselves! Who knows what kind of trouble you'll get yourselves in?"

The teens burst out laughing.

"That's it! You asked for it!" Pete towered over them. He had snapped. He summoned large amounts of Darkness and thrust it into the pranksters' chests. Their laughter was cut short and both ended up crying out in agony. Pete smirked as he pulled his arms away; in his hands were their captured hearts. The teens watched blankly as the hearts disappeared in a haze of Darkness. Then fleeting horror struck them as the Darkness engulfed their bodies. As the Darkness dissipated, two small Shadows stood in their place. Pete scowled at how weak their hearts turned out to be.

"Oh well," he said, turning back to the house. "A heartless is a heartless." Turning back to the Shadows, he ordered, "Return to Maleficent! Now!"

The insect-like heartless disappeared into Darkness leaving behind two silver ghost-like beings. The Dusks wobbled around without any sense of direction.

"ACH! Nobodies!" Pete pulled out his sword and dispatched them immediately. "Disgusting little creatures!"

Behind him, the front door opened, forcing him to take shelter in the Corridor of Darkness.

"Did you hear something?"

"It's probably just the guys from school scaring kids again. Are we going?"

"Wait, Max. This is a bad idea. Let's go home!"

"C'mon, Dani. You're the one who's so interested in the stories. Why not make a believer out of me?"

"But Max—."

Pete stepped out again as the threesome passed him. The heart Pete sensed a minute ago left in the same direction as those kids. So he followed them at a distance using Darkness to cloak his presence. Walking in front of him was a boy and girl in their teens and a younger girl in between them, chattering away happily. The rebelliousness had to be coming from the young man. The way he stood and talked said in plain English: "Rebel without a Cause".

Houses began to shrink in quantity as they traveled further toward the woods. The noises from the town all but disappeared. The creaks and moans of the barren trees got louder. The wind whispered through the dead leaves telling the intruders they weren't welcome in this forgotten place. But still they ventured in deeper. Pete's eagerness bled away the farther he went in. He jumped at every little sound. These kids were nuts to go this far alone! He stopped, debating on whether or not to abandon this mission. Maleficent had other, more efficient ways of getting heartless.

He made to turn around when, out of the corner of his eye, a large shadow passed behind him. Pete froze in place. He began to whimper. This wasn't how he envisioned his death! The oversized cat trained his eyes forward. There were no signs of the children. Not wanting to face the unknown behind him, he forced his legs to move and fled deeper into the ancient forest.

Relief came when he ran headlong into something hard. As the lights died away, Pete realized it was the side of a cottage. 'An old one at that,' he thought as he took in its condition. Shingles were missing from the roof. The wood was soaked through and smelled of rot. Cobwebs hung from the gutters and the window panes were cracked.

Just when he thought it was abandoned, light came flooding out from the windows. Pete pulled himself up to a window seal and peaked in. The kids he followed were inside. To his left, he heard a soft thud. He looked briefly and did a double take. Sitting next to him was a black cat. It stared at him with piercing eyes.

The staring contest lasted for seconds until one of the kids spoke up. The cat broke contact to look inside.

"So what was the story again?" asked the rebel, Max.

Pete listened closely as the older girl related the story of three witches who stole the lives of children so that they could be young forever. She told of the death of Emily Binx and the disappearance of her brother. She told of the witches' vow to return from the grave and to steal the lives of the children of Salem.

"Winifred Sanderson said that they'd return on All Hallows Eve when a virgin lights the Black Flame Candle," the girl finished. The room, and even outside where Pete was hiding, were still. Pete did everything he could to stop anyone from hearing his chattering teeth and the knocking of his knees. Inside, the little girl was silent with fearful awe. The storyteller looked smug as her words sank in. Max could hardly contain himself:

"What a load of bull! That story was only invented to spook people away from this place during Halloween," he said.

"How can you say that this is bull when there's a ton of evidence sitting right under your nose?!" exclaimed the older girl. "Here stands Winifred's cauldron!"

"Could've been used for cooking. Or…It's a major fashion statement."

"What about her book? It sits right here. It carries her most deadliest spells!" countered the girl.

"The book's a fake for all we know," the rebel stated. "And this candle here…This so-called 'Black Flame Candle'; it could be a fake too!"

Pete watched as the boy sauntered over to a single ominous-looking candle sitting in front of the window. He ducked his large mass as the kid grabbed at the explanation plaque beside it. He read, " 'The Black Flame Candle: said to be made from the fat of the Hangman.'" He look at the girls glaring at him and said in a mocking tone as he pulled a lighter from his pocket, "So…Let's light the sucker and meet the old broads!"

But, as the rebel came close to the wick, the window shattered. Pete flung his hands over his head to protect it from falling glass. The black cat launched itself at the boy and attempted to claw at his face. The boy, who'd been caught by surprise, fell to the floor, pulling at the feline. As he was about to hit it, though, the cat streaked off, spitting as it left, "STUPID CAT!!"

"Okay, Max. You've had your fun," cried the little girl. She started crying during the commotion. "Can we go home now?"

"Man, I hate Halloween!" said Max as he got up, "C'mon, Dani. Let's get out of here."

Pete kept silent as the kids left. When he was sure they were gone he made his way into the house. Walking through the front door, he saw more of the abandoned cottage than he glimpsed through the window. The cauldron mentioned stood suspended in the middle of the room. Overhead hung a rickety looking chandelier, the fake candles glowing with electricity. In the corner, next to the door was an old fashioned cash register and glass cabinets full of forgotten souvenirs. Next to the broken window he'd hidden under was a staircase leading up to the second floor. Next to that, the room branched off into what could have been a dining area. Across from that doorway was a fireplace that hadn't been used for more than three hundred years.

Pete walked over to the spell book the teens argued over. It looked like an ordinary old and tattered book with an elaborate clasp to keep it shut. An idea came to him. He didn't know much about magic and spells, but Maleficent did. Perhaps the witch could find something of value in its pages. He grabbed a nearby blockade post and broke open the glass casing the book was in. He pulled it from under the broken glass and placed it in one of his many pockets.

As he turned toward the candle, something caught his attention. A sort of shimmering came from a fist sized crack in the wall near the fireplace. Pete bent down to get a closer look: A small gem was wedged inside. It took him several long minutes to get his fat fingers into the hole to pull out the forgotten artifact. When he managed to finally get it out, he realized that while the gem emitted a soft blue glow, it was severely cracked and, in several places, missing large pieces.

"What a load of junk!" said Pete. "No wonder they stashed it there. It prolly ain't worth much…But… still…I can't go back to Maleficent empty-handed. Otherwise, she'll have my hide nailed in her bed chambers!"

Pete stood up and took a final look around the cottage before resting his gaze on the fiendish candle that stood out like a sore thumb. Something in his gut told him that this was a container for a storm of Darkness that accumulated over the centuries. Just looking at it sent shivers down his spine. But, like before, fear of his boss overrode his fear of everything else. Pete picked up the lighter the troublemaker dropped and stood with his hand poised over the wick.

'Mise-well get this over with,' he thought as he clamped his hand over his eyes and turned away as he lit the candle.

Nothing happened.

Pete looked around. A warm orange flame flickered on the candle. He let out the breath he had been holding and giggled hysterically: it's just a gimmick.

Then the flame burned black.

A gale of wind blew through the open door and the broken window causing the house to creak and moan violently. The lights overhead burst out, darkening the room. Pete made for the door, but it slammed shut of its own accord. The floorboards under Pete's feet began to quake and emit an eerie green light, causing Pete to fall over. High-pitched cackling sent him cowering behind the cabinets as fire replaced electricity in the chandelier above. Flames roared to life in the fireplace and under the cauldron as the cackling grew louder.

As quickly as it came, though, the wind died down and the quaking stopped. But Pete was petrified in place; he couldn't move a muscle if his life depended on it.

Just as he got feeling back in his legs, the door blew open and the sound of cackling entered the house. Pete chanced a peak from behind the counter. Three odd-looking women walked in. The first one was a slightly heavy woman with flaming red hair bunched into giant, puffy pigtails. She held her clawed hands up in excitement.

"We're home!" Pete couldn't see what she wore because the second woman stepped in his line of vision. Now she was heavy. Her red dress was like a tent. Her black hair looked like someone took an electric mixer to it. The third one had wavy blond hair and was, in Pete's opinion, the most beautiful of the three.

"Beautiful Revenge," said the first mumbling to herself. The other two danced around in glee. Pete stayed as quiet as he could.

"My curse worked perfectly! We're back."

"That's because you are perfect," the second one sucked up. Apparently the red-head was the oldest. She and the fat one moved further in to the house, while the blond looked stupidly around.

"I knew I left the cauldron on, when we left." stated the fat one as she studied the hunk of iron. The red-head looked around and noticed the dark candle flickering against the broken window.

"But who lit the Black Flame Candle?" Pete began to sweat as he watched the woman draw closer to the window. He prayed silently, hoping that he hadn't left anything behind that would give him away. The power of Darkness in the room was overwhelming him and he didn't want to find out if they were stronger than Maleficent.

The red-head was deep in thought when she glanced over to the spot where she left her precious treasure some time ago. Only it wasn't there.

"Where is it?! Where's my book?!" She ran franticly to the broken case, in hope that she was seeing things. The fat one did something peculiar. She began to sniff the air. She walked around the room as Pete started to hyperventilate. He seriously hoped he didn't stink too much…After all, he hadn't taken a bath in a couple of weeks.

"Book! BOOOOK! Where are you, Darling?!" The fat one walked up behind the red-head as she searched the floor around the case on hands and knees.

"Winnie…I. Smell. Children!"

"Sick 'em!" Winifred growled. Whoever was hiding took her precious book and she was going to take it back!

The blond dropped the dead looking rat's tail she pulled from the rafters and followed the others around eagerly. The large one sniffed the air and identified the scent.

"It's a little girl…seven… maybe eight and a half."

"Oh! Let's play with her!" squealed the blond. She began to sing, "Come little children. I'll take thee away in—."

The redhead silenced her by covering her mouth as they neared the intruder's hiding spot behind the counter. "Come out, my dear. We will not harm you."

"We LOVE children," cried the fat one as she slammed her fist on the counter. But what jumped a foot in the air was no child but giant black cat wearing a bodysuit. They stared at him and he them. No one moved for over a minute.

Then the red-head turned slowly to the fat witch and advanced on her.

"N-Now, Winnie," stuttered the fat one. "I'm sure I smelt children. This place reeks—!"

"You and your stupid shenanigans have failed me for the last time!" she grabbed the red dressed witch by the neck and pushed her backwards. The blond kept staring at Pete, who was now drenched in sweat. She smiled and asked, "Can we keep it, Winnie?

It took Pete a moment to realize that she meant him. That slowly brought him out of his petrified shock.

"Absolutely not," Winnie cried. "We don't need it mucking up my house!"

"Now wait just a moment!" Pete snapped out of his reverie. He bristled when the red- head referred to him as a common house cat and, even more when she called him a vermin. "I'm not somethin' that gets stuck under yer shoe! The name's Pete and I'm Maleficent's second in command!"

The red-head snorted.

"What's so funny?"

"I didn't think Maleficent had fallen so far as to hire a fur ball like you." She crossed her arms, walked over to Pete and sized him up, "Of course, she always did prefer brutish yes-men with no brains for lackeys."

"Humph!" Pete glared at her. He wasn't an idiot lackey. He was the commander of Maleficent's heartless armies! And he wasn't going to be intimidated by this witch…at least…not completely!

"Now if you will kindly take my spell book out of your left pocket and give it back; I have some questions that need answering while the night is still young!"

To Be Continued…

A/N: HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!!!!! Well here's my next installment. This be out last halloween, but nothing was coming to me. This chapter is supposed to be longer but I didn't want to exceed 7 pages. So I split it up. Anyway I hope to get the next chapter up in an hour or so. If not it should be up in a day or so...but if I don't get a review soon I may just hold it hostage...And for those of you who are hoping to see Axel I hope you review....'cause he shows up in the next chapter. Again Happy halloween!!!!