A/N: The title is inspired by the piece from Hans Zimmer, used in the soundtrack of Angels and Demons. I worked out much of this chapter while listening to the piece. Many thanks to my beta DigitalTart!
Disclaimer: Nomura owns everything. Oh—and Disney owns some too XDDD Disney starts to pop up here.
The castle had been abandoned.
The cobwebs covering the stairs and the furniture had bluntly given it away. The three teenage boys and the two young girls had crept around the main floor in a state of curiosity and shock, examining the dining and reception hall (with seven thrones, Leon noted with stark irritation), the kitchens, and two of the studies. The rooms were all abandoned. When the group had walked into a study that clearly stored government papers and work on the city that looked like it hadn't been touched in weeks, everyone became uneasy at the increasingly clear proof that the rumors about their wise and just ruler were all true.
With that information sinking into their minds, Squall's growing paranoia began to wander towards weapons as the crew walked into the vast library—just in case. Meanwhile, everyone took a moment to gape when they entered the library.
"Wow," Aerith breathed in awe. Lush green carpet cushioned their steps, with shelves full of books that completely enveloped them.
Lea frowned. "I thought a wise and just ruler was supposed to educate their own people. Why did Ansem keep all of this from us?"
Isa chuckled. "What, like you want to stay in here all day and read these books?"
Lea snorted. "No, but still."
"Ienzo never liked it here either." Kairi said thoughtfully. "He said all Even had him do was read. He said it was getting repetita, repeti—" she stumbled over the word before plowing forward. "Repetitive."
"Reading is good for you," Squall said absentmindedly as he scanned the wide array of shelves. They were crammed to the brim with colorful tomes with different languages written on the spine of each book.
The little girl peered up at him curiously. "But all of the time?"
"Smart kid." Lea grinned, gently ruffling Kairi's hair and he strode ahead of the group. "To much of anything is bad for you. Even reading. You need to get out and enjoy the sun once in awhile."
"I love the sun!" Kairi piped up, letting go of Aerith's hand and trotting over to one of the stained glass windows where the light was pouring in. Despite her necklace still emitting faint glows, Kairi seemed to look a little better when she was standing in the sunlight. She smiled broadly "It makes me feel good!"
"She does look a little better under the sun doesn't she?" Aerith murmured to Squall. He gave Aerith a little smile and nodded.
Squall scanned the area with Isa. There was nothing but shelves and shelves of books and an occasional set of tables, chairs, and reading desks.
Isa called out to the others. "Things seem to be alright. Why don't we just wander around this floor of the library and meet back in," he checked his watch, "five minutes? That way someone can stay with Kairi."
Kairi was twirling around and giggling in the light from the stained glass windows, clearly in her own little dream world. She definitely was looking better by just standing in the warm sunlight.
How odd, Squall thought to himself. I know a little bit of sun is good for everyone, but Kairi genuinely looks healthier under the sun. It's strange.
"Sounds good," Lea called back. "Squall, why don't you stay with Aerith and—"
"Hey Lea!" Kairi ran up and tugged on Lea's cargo pant leg. "Lea, Lea, didn't you say you thought you met one of the people Zack was talking about the other day?"
Squall raised an eyebrow while Isa smirked at his best friend. Aerith let out a small giggle at Lea's predicament. Lea, however, just gave a small exasperated sigh while smiling good-naturedly as he bent down to Kairi's eye level.
"I did," he said.
Kairi's eyes lit up in excitement. "Can you tell the story to me, please?"
Squall bit back laughter at the very good show of restraint Lea was showing as he realized that he'd be the one staying behind with the girls instead of exploring. Lea then focused his attentions on Kairi. People of all ages always had a habit of warming up quickly to Lea, especially smaller kids like Kairi. Squall knew that Lea didn't mind, but Lea was also the same age as Squall, and he knew Lea was less than pleased at the prospect of being held back from what he knew Lea considered to be an adventure of a lifetime. Regardless, Lea turned his attentions to Kairi. "Well, Isa and I were walking in the front courtyard and we found this kid around our age sitting by the gardens..."
Aerith came over to where Kairi and Lea were standing, in the light of the stained glass windows, while Lea wove his tale. She encouraged the three of them to sit down, and they got comfortable while Isa and Squall stood a few feet away watching them bemusedly.
"Let's leave 'Uncle Lea' to his story-telling," Isa chuckled. Squall smirked in response and the two teens began to poke around the library, making sure that they could still hear Lea, Kairi, and Aerith's voices.
"So," Isa said quietly while examining a row of books written in a language Squall didn't understand. "What do you think so far?"
"Honestly?" Squall's voice lowered. "I think something very wrong is going on here. Why did Ansem and all of his apprentices just abandon the castle like this? And the place that looks like Ansem's office..." he trailed off, remembering when they pushed open a set of large double doors made of oak and walked into a personal study—or at least what Squall thought might have been a personal study. There were scattered papers and books on the floor. Both the main desk and the chair was upturned and broken, while every single lamp, painting, and picture in the room was damaged. For a finishing touch, there were puncture marks on the walls and places in the room that looked like it was singed with either fire or pockmarked from bullets. Squall wasn't sure. They had left that particular room quickly, because Kairi and Aerith became visibly frightened at the sight of the room in complete shreds.
"It looked like a crime scene without the blood, I know," Isa said, fingering the width of a particularly thick book. "Lea's wary too, but he's more excited over the fact that we've managed to get this far into the castle without getting caught."
Squall found that suspicious as well. Then he remembered Aerith mentioning she saw someone inside the castle. "Aerith thinks there's someone here."
Isa looked up, fingers on a lavender tome. "She saw someone?"
"Or something." Squall frowned, remembering Aerith's quiet, cut off words. "It looked like a black and gree—"
A black and green monster?
A loud lurch was suddenly heard from behind the shelf Isa and Squall were standing in front of. Both of them jumped back, startled as the lavender book Isa was fingering tilted back like a latch, and the entire bookshelf opened to reveal a brand new room sheathed in shadows.
"Is everything alright over there?" It was Aerith.
"Yeah," Squall said as both he and Isa pulled out the flashlights they'd packed simultaneously. Squall flicked his on. "Don't worry about it."
"Squall and I are going in to take a look," Isa added, and he flicked on his flashlight.
"Ok," Lea called out. "Don't take long." Squall hid a smirk as he detected a slightly put out tone in Lea's voice.
Isa grinned. "He'll get over it. He secretly loves entertaining Kairi."
The two of them shined their lights down what looked like a hidden pathway. There was an open door at the end, and an open door a small ways down to the left. The boys carefully walked down the path, shining their flashlights on every nook and cranny they could find. Even though they had only walked a few steps, Squall was starting to get on edge. He could have sworn he saw multiple pairs of yellow eyes blinking at him from the open door at the end of the pathway.
Isa didn't see them. He opened the door and let his flashlight peer in. "Hey look, a small armory!"
Squall followed Isa in and shone his beam on rows and rows of weapons, varying from guns to spears and swords. Isa paused in interest as he looked at a pair of crossed claymores tacked onto the wall over a suit of armor.
Squall, on the other hand, noticed a small handful of latched cases containing long, strange weapons. He unlocked one of them to reveal a long, wide, weapon pointed sharply at the end like a sword. He checked the handle. It was in the shape of a revolver.
"Wow, they've got extra gun blades stashed back here.." Isa was next to him looking at the weapon curiously. Upon further inspection, Squall discovered that his friend was right.
Isa's blue eyes glinted in excitement at Squall. "After you Mr. Gun blade wielder."
Squall rolled his eyes at Isa, but he smiled as he slowly slid the gun blade out of the case. The two of them were both in an intensive training program set up by the Radiant Garden guards. Spearheaded by the head guards, anyone who was as young as eight years old and were 'reasonably athletic,'the Royal Guard training program marketed itself as a self-defense program until participants became teenagers. Then the program made it plain that anyone else who went further would be trained to defend the Radiant Garden Castle. Those who continued were outfitted with their own personalized weapons and continued training with them. Squall worked best with the gun blade, which he had been using since he was 13. Isa went from having a broad sword to a claymore, which is what he preferred to train with. Isa took a few steps back to allow Squall to take a couple of swings with the gun blade, and position himself properly without hurting Isa. "For some reason the gun blade suits you, Squall. Do you think you'll keep up with it when we graduate from the academy?"
"Thanks, I think." Squall knew the age old trick to properly handling a weapon like the gun blade: Think of it as an extension of the body. " And yeah, I think I might. Do you think I should keep this with me?" Squall asked him. "Kairi would probably get creeped out by the gun blade, though."
Isa grunted a little as he hoisted a claymore from its position on the wall. There were multiple weapons set up in little patterns on the walls around them. "You sound more paranoid about there being monsters in here than I am." He said as he shifted his grip on the hilt.
"Well, you were in here once before," Squall said flatly as he swung the gun blade around in an arc before positioning the tip towards the ground. "Was it this creepy when you and Lea made it to the basement?"
"A little," Isa admitted. "But more in a 'creepy-scientist' sort of way, y'know? But I do agree with you," he added as he walked out of the small armory with the claymore in hand. Squall followed him, taking the gun blade with him. "There's something really off about this place. And the lack of people in the castle is only half of it."
"Wanna see the other half? Because it's standing right behind you!"
Squall and Isa whirled around, weapons in hand. Standing in the threshold of the open doorway was the fattest and ugliest creature Squall had ever seen. Wearing a strange outfit, he was towering in front the two teenage boys with a grin on his face that suddenly gave Squall an urge to punch him hard. Or run him through with the gun blade.
The creature let out a leer in the dimly lit hallway. "Pete's the name, terrorizin's the game. Your turn pipsqueaks! What're your names?"
But before Squall or Isa could say anything back, Kairi let out a blood-curdling scream in the library that made Squall's blood run cold. Then, the portal leading back out to the library slammed shut.
Both Squall and Isa jumped as the small hallway was coated in darkness, except for small, dim lights from torches lining the hallway, and the dozens of yellow eyes blinking behind Pete.
"Well well well, look what we have here. Intruders."
Aerith's insides coiled at the woman descending the steps before her, Kairi, and Lea. Actually, she really couldn't call her a woman. She was a creature, a witch with a female voice that made her breath catch in her throat in the worst ways possible. With green skin, a black horned head that was clutching a witch's staff with green spindly fingers, it was quite clear that she was the intruder of the castle, and not them. Aerith made sure to tell her so, adding that she should give Ansem and his apprentices back. After all, this dark creature was here, so she must be connected to the mysterious disappearance of Ansem the Wise and his apprentices.
The woman-creature merely laughed, turning the grip Kairi had on her skirts into a near death grip. Lea stood directly in front of Kairi and Aerith, shielding them and glaring at the horned witch.
"Why," she laughed, looking delighted at Aerith's defiant glower. "My dear child! Your leader and his disciples were long gone before Pete and I arrived in your world."
Lea blinked. "Pete?"
That was when their ears picked up a series of bangs and loud yells from the closed portal Squall and Isa had gone through, indicating a fight. Aerith paled and hugged Kairi as close to her as she could.
Lea's face went white. "Squall! Isa!" he called.
He made a move to the library wall, but it simply went up in green flames with a snap of the witch's fingers.
"Fear not, my dear boy. Your heroic friends will be able to find their way out of the mess they foolishly walked into." She gave a soft laugh. "Fighting is not one of Pete's stronger points. But alas, he is good at other things. Like finding this rare treasure of light that you call your world, for example."
Aerith fought to keep the bile rising from her throat down as a bang issued from the closed corridor that shook the room. Kairi whimpered and clung to Aerith's legs like they were her life line, ignoring the feeling of something pressing warm and hot on the fabric that lay right below her knees.
Lea's voice shook. "What did you do with Ansem?"
"Like I said, I did nothing." The witch sounded amused. "Did you not listen to the rants of that bullheaded daughter of his? His apprentices turned on him."
"What?"
The answer came out as a choked out cry from both Aerith and Lea's mouths.
Ansem's apprentices turned on him? Never. The idea was inconceivable to Aerith, despite abruptly remembering how strange Ansem's newest apprentice was when she had once ran into him on the street with her friend Cloud. Young, with long white hair and yellow eyes, he looked at them as if they weren't really there, before continuing his trip back to the castle.
Lea, however, showed signs of being slightly more convinced. His green eyes slowly became wide and he took in a sharp breath.
Aerith's voice shook. "Y-you know Elenar?"
"Yeah." His voice was quiet.
"Why did she leave the castle?"
"She never gave me a straight answer." Lea lifted his eyes to meet Aerith's. Green on green. "She just kept talking about how much she hated her father's apprentices, and about his favorite one, Xehanort."
"What—" she paused and took a deep breath. "What did she say?"
"She said," Lea looked uneasy. "She said, 'next time I see one of them I'll kill them. I'll rip their hearts out with my bare hands for what they did to Dad...' And then she said something about his apprentices 'ruining Radiant Garden with their monsters.'
The witch looked delighted. "Ah, so they were the ones that unleashed these creatures?" A number of small black creatures with black antennae and beady yellow eyes sprung up around her. "How fascinating. I heard they were studying the spiritual workings of the heart."
The what? Aerith was confused. "How—" she began to ask, but the witch interrupted her.
"Apparently, your ruler wanted to stop. And his disciples wanted to continue." The witch began to descend the stairs in a cloud of black and purple smoke, which came out from under her robes. The black creatures began to spring up from behind her.
With every step the witch took, Lea, Aerith, and Kairi took another step backwards. Kairi was now quaking so violently that Aerith struggled to pick her up with trembling hands. She was surprisingly light, but Aerith couldn't get a steady grip on her. Lea swiftly took Kairi from her, and the little girl burrowed her face in Lea's shoulder, trembling like a leaf against the wind.
Aerith's insides filled with fear as she let Kairi grip one of Aerith's hands, and she let her face peer fearfully at the older girl. The small girl looked deathly ill.
"Lea," she hissed.
"I know," he muttered, and his grip on Kairi became tighter.
Aerith gently squeezed Kairi's hand, trying to show her that it will be okay, they'll get out of here with Isa and Squall, and everything will go back to normal. Anything that will stop Kairi from looking like she was going to drop dead at any moment.
Kairi merely whimpered at her and yanked out her dewdrop necklace. Aerith's eyes widened. It was emitting a bright, steady glow.
"Kairi..." Aerith whispered fearfully.
A series of loud bangs came again from the closed corridor, followed by a loud shout. Then it was silent.
Lea growled at the witch. She merely laughed.
"Your pitiful attempts at bravery will get you nowhere, boy. Now, what shall I do with the three of you?"
The crow perched on her shoulder flew around the trio like vulture spotting its prey. It let out a caw before swooping down on Lea, Aerith, and Kairi. Kairi let out an ear-piercing shriek at the exact same time a blast of light encircled the three of them, forming a bright barrier that the crow couldn't penetrate. The sudden blast caused Aerith to jump and hug Lea from behind to get under the barrier's protection. The crow let out a shriek, and then fled to its master.
The witch regarded Kairi with a newfound curiosity as the bright barrier shrunk... and disappeared into Kairi's necklace.
Aerith blinked in shock. Didn't Kairi say something earlier about an older girl giving her something that would protect her? That girl that had saved her from the blue monsters?
"How utterly fascinating," The witch mused. "Is that girl your sister?"
Aerith gave the witch the fiercest glower she could muster. Lea let out a nearly feral growl.
The witch appeared to be utterly nonplussed. "Hmph. No matter. She couldn't possibly be one of them." The witch seemed to be saying this more to herself than the three of them as she waved her hand over the orb perched on her staff. "She is far too young."
One of Aerith's hands slipped from Kairi's grip and tugged frantically on the fringes of Lea's scarf when she noticed the witch's orb glowing. "Lea, we need to go!"
"You three? Go?" The witch let out a bone-chilling laugh. "Such hearts filled with pure light like yourselves don't quite deserve to walk away unscathed. And yet." Her eyes hovered for a moment on Lea before she continued on, pausing mid-step. "No," she said. "No matter."
Lea's eyes narrowed. "What the hell are you talking about?"
The witch smirked. "I've been in this castle for weeks, just waiting for the opportunity to unleash these monsters on this despicable speck of light you children call home. While your city has no use for me, this castle will work for a new home—with some alterations, of course." She added while glancing around the library bemusedly.
Aerith's mind raced. This witch got in? But what about Chief Trepe's police force?
Lea did the talking for her. "You got in while we've been trying to break into here for weeks?"
The witch's lips broke out into a broad, delighted smile that made Aerith feel ill. It was utterly ironic to her how white the witch's teeth looked when she smiled.
"Your leader's daughter placed some magic on the doors to try and lock her father's apprentices in the castle. 'To contain them', as she said to me when I interrogated her. She spoke of those men like they were diseased. Who knows?" the witch said idly. "They probably were. But her magic was no match for my powers. It was quite fun, however, to watch your pathetic police force break in here."
Maleficent took another step down the stairs. "And then I saw you." She was staring straight at Lea. "Your persistence with your friend is really quite admirable. So I thought to myself," she said as she opened her arms grandly in what Aerith wondered vaguely was a purposeful show of dramatics, "why not give the boys a chance?"
The bottom of Aerith's stomach dropped out in horror, while Lea inhaled sharply and gripped Kairi even tighter. Aerith's voice dropped to a strangled whisper. "You let your magic down on purpose." She squeezed her eyes shut to prevent the tears from coming. "You wanted us in here on purpose."
The witch's laugh was soft, yet toxic. "Very good my child," she said softly as she finished descending the stairs. "I thought the irony was fitting for this world's downfall. Radiant Garden's valiant police force can't get into the castle, and yet a group of meddling children break in to unknowingly unleash my heartless onto an unsuspecting city."
"No!" Lea gasped and he stumbled back with Kairi in his arms. He nearly fell, but regained his footing. Aerith struggled to help Lea steady himself. She jumped when a small, cold, and clammy hand found Aerith's and gripped on it hard.
It was Kairi's hand.
"I'd insist on an introduction of names," the witch said promptly as she waved her hand around the orb on her staff. "But you three won't be seeing me again anyway. Your hearts will be lost to the darkness."
Aerith's breath caught in her throat. The little black creatures were slowly multiplying behind the witch, and were multiplying at an increasing speed. Lea noticed as well, and the two resumed their pace in backing away, Lea still clutching Kairi tightly in his arms. Kairi turned her head a little and whimpered at the slight of the witch and the black creatures, her brightly glowing necklace hidden from the witch. Aerith, however, could see it. The necklace was glowing a little brighter than before.
Lea was at his tipping point and he snarled at the witch. "Where the hell are Isa and Squall?"
"Oh," the witch gave an oddly serene smile that looked downright dangerous as she airily waved a hand around. "Somewhere in this castle, fighting off my hordes of loyal minions. They've defeated Pete, I'm sure, but there's no way they'll escape these." She gestured to the black creatures around her that were proliferating even faster than before. "Such base creatures they are, consuming everything around them, just in the pursuit of a heart." The witch gave a tsk. "How sad. But lo and behold my loyal minions, there are three bright hearts right in front of us, just waiting to be devoured!"
The bottom of Aerith's stomach dropped out again as a sinister grin slowly spread across the face of the green skinned witch. Kairi let out a long whimper. "Lea, Aerith..."
The witch's low command shot down Aerith's spine like lightning. "Destroy them."
Lea snatched Aerith's hand with the one that wasn't clutching Kairi's, and the two bolted.
Hot tears leaked at her eyes as Aerith panted to keep up with Lea. Where are Isa and Squall?
Aerith's thoughts were interrupted by Kairi's ear shattering scream of terror.
Lea's eyes suddenly widened in panic as he looked up at something above them. "Aerith, MOVE!"
Aerith's hand slipped from Lea's grip and she ducked out of the way just in time as a massive black claw slammed in-between them, engulfing a whole bookshelf in thick, inky black smoke. Aerith looked up to see a yellow-eyed creature with jagged horns looming over her.
Aerith screamed. The library was being eaten up whole by the black monsters.
Eaten up by darkness.
Lea yanked on her arm again, and they pelted out of the library. Aerith could barely focus amidst Kairi's bone shattering screams of terror, so she simply let herself focus on keeping up with Lea. Despite all of this, one question kept repeating itself over and over like a mantra in her mind.
Where's Squall and Isa? Where's Squall and Isa? Where's—
"LEA! AERITH! KEEP RUNNING AND DON'T LOSE KAIRI!"
Lea skidded short in front of the threshold to the entrance hall, despite the monsters that were creeping out from all of the doorways in the circular main hall. Aerith freaked out as Lea began to look frantically for the source of the bellowing voice.
"Lea!"
"That was Squall!" Lea protested. Kairi started hyperventilating. Aerith looked uneasily at Kairi's necklace, which was now emitting a bright yellow light that looked like it could burn Lea.
Then came Isa's voice.
"YOU IDIOT LEA, WE'RE RIGHT BEHIND YOU!"
Out from one of the underground doorways near the fountain came Isa and Squall. Both of them were clutching long, dangerous looking weapons. A large gash was on the bridge of Squall's nose, and it was trickling blood down his entire face. While Isa was running side by side with Squall, he was openly grimacing with every step he took, looking like he was holding onto the last threads of his stamina for dear life.
Aerith and Lea took one glance behind Squall and Isa. Whatever color was left in their faces was completely drained at the sight of rolling, inky black smoke trailing behind the boys through the door. Within seconds, the dark smoke poured out of the doorway and engulfed the fountain in darkness.
"Oh my god." Aerith's voice came out in a strangled gasp.
Kairi let out a bone-chilling scream the same time Isa screamed himself hoarse. "RUN!"
A/N: *Clears throat* So, I've never done anything that I thought should be placed into a sub category of 'horror' before, but as I looked up various KH videos that showed rolling clouds of darkness and various other items being eaten up by darkness, I realized that the 'horror' subcategory was appropriate. I've also never done serious tension in fics like this before where lives are actually on the line, so I really hope I captured that. I'm also not a fan of the all caps dialogue, preferring to use italics to express stronger emotions (including anger), but I thought that the situation at hand called for some caps lock usage. Reviews are awesome and greatly appreciated!