Chapter 2 – The Garden of Despair
Edit – I made a couple of mistakes in this chapter, so I edited them. Enjoy ^^
Current location – 47` by 23` by 58` in the space time continuum. Approximate time of Arrival to – Radiant Gardens – 15 hours, and 44 minutes.
"That's what it said on the navi-screen when I last looked…" Tidus stated, obviously bored.
"And that was…when?" Selphie asked, playing Solitaire with Wakka's deck of cards.
They were all on the gummi-ship Midnight, which was slowly making its way through warp to Radiant Gardens. It had been 3 days since they left Destiny Islands, and already they were more bored than a monkey without a banana. And that is pretty boring, in comparison to other boring situations.
"…About 5 minutes…" Tidus answered, smiling as he made a move for Selphie.
Sora walked in, yawning. He muttered a small 'Morning' to the people in the room, then sat down on the couch and promptly fell asleep again. Kairi came in and started making some breakfast. Riku came in, lured by the smell of frying bacon and eggs. Sora sniffed in his sleep, then got up and sleep-walked to the pan of said bacon and eggs, took a nice whiff, and his eyes popped open.
"Food…" Sora said, and his stomach rumbled for emphasis.
Riku chuckled as Kairi piled his plate with eggs and bacon. Sora's mouth watered as he stared at the food cooking. Tidus smelled it and immediately turned over to look. Selphie continued to play her game.
Wakka walked in, obviously having a very good night's sleep. He picked up a plate and piled on some bacon and eggs. He then immediately went to making waffles.
Cloud was next to stride in, obviously feeling hungry himself. He looked like he didn't get much sleep the night before. He sat at the table, a cup of coffee seemingly materializing out of nowhere.
"…We are an hour and a half away from Radiant Gardens…" He informed them, taking a sip.
Selphie smacked Tidus up-side the head, pouting. Sora merely glanced at Cloud before getting pushed away by Kairi with a plate of food in his hand.
XXXXXXXXXX
The ship emerged from warp, entering Radiant Gardens' airspace. Cloud sent in some type of code to verify who they were. He then zoomed in on the planet, landed in a hanger bay.
The group of six got out of the ship, and stared at their surroundings. It was beautiful. Almost every building was shiny, as if they were made of crystal. The roads may as well have been made of crystal, because they caused a glare when light hit them. And the castle…there really is nothing to be said.
Sora stood, gaping at the vast changes to Radiant Gardens' scenery. Kairi just smiled, and started walking toward the shining castle. Wakka, Tidus and Selphie followed her. Riku glanced at Sora before following the rest of them. Sora shook his head, snapping himself out of it, and then ran after them. Cloud came out of the gummi-ship, and then just stared off at the spiky haired teen. He just shrugged, taking a warp panel to the castle.
XXXXXXXXXX
They all looked around at their surroundings as it changed from shining utopia of the city to the epic training fields of the Citadel. Teenagers and young adults ran everywhere, some practicing swordplay, others magic. Some were just jogging, while others stood around laughing and enjoying their small break. Sora and Tidus stood in awe as they looked at the trainees.
They heard a deep voice grunt from behind them. "Took your bloody time, did ye?"
They turned around to see a man with flight goggles on his brow, a grimy white t-shirt and a pair of blue cargo pants, laden with tools of every profession.
"Hey, Cid…" greeted Kairi warmly.
They all exchanged greetings, then Cid forced them to follow him into the Citadel itself.
XXXXXXXXXX
The outside may have been beautiful, but the inside…that was another story altogether.
The entrance hall was at least the size of one of the islands on their home world. Giant stone pillars rose from the ground to keep the ceiling from collapsing on top of them. On the ground, many official looking people bustled around, some carrying huge piles of papers, some hefting huge broadswords or lengthy spears. One man, a black older man with a cybernetic arm, came out of a room with a box the size of Sora.
"So the runts finally showed up?" He asked, walking past Cid, who nodded.
The black man walked on, apparently having no time to talk. "Who was-" Sora began, but Cid answered before he asked.
"That was Barrett, who is one of the generals of the military here on RG. We like to refer to them as SeeDs." He stated, continuing forth.
Now they climbed several flights of stairs, and they still had more to climb when Selphie asked for a break.
"Are you kidding?" retorted Cid, gesturing to the stairs. "This is one of the tests that enroll you into the SeeD training program! It tests your stamina, or it's supposed to…"
They continued forth, Selphie having to endure the pain. They climbed all the way to the top with no stops.
They walked up to a door and Cid stopped. "Leon is inside…"
Sora looked up at that comment, looking at the door.
"I'm not allowed in…I'm not military…neither are these three." He said, nodding toward Tidus and them.
Tidus grumbled, Wakka shrugged, and Selphie was close to tears. "We came all the way up here for nothing?!" she asked, dropping to her knees. Tidus went and patted her shoulder.
"Sora, you and the other two are to go in…" Cid began, but before he could finish, Sora started for the door.
"Wait, whoa, hold your horses!" He tried stopping Sora, but he needed to get to this meeting, as it was probably the strategy meeting the king talked about, and he almost missed it.
Sora glared at Cid. "…You have to knock first…" Cid informed him defensively.
Sora sighed, and finally knocked on the door.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Come in!" Came a women's voice.
Sora sighed to calm himself, and opened the door. In the room was a long table, and at the head stood Leon, with Aerith sitting in a seat next to him. At the other head sat three chairs, one with a crown, one with a heart, and one that was completely black. Next to Aerith was none other than Cloud, who sat with his feet up on the table. On his other side sat a man in a brown trench-coat and a cowboy hat. He had a rifle slung on his shoulder.
On Leon's other side sat a man in a red cloak with some kind of wrap around his forehead. The man had blood red eyes, with a bored look in them. Next to the trench-coat guy sat a women with glasses on, a whip slung on her hip, and a SeeD uniform. On the red-eyes other side sat none other than the 'Great Ninja' Yuffie. She smiled at Sora, who grinned back.
The last two chairs were unoccupied. One was ornately designed with a mouse head on the back. The other was beat up, as if the person inside it threw several tantrums a day in that chair, tearing it apart.
Riku nodded at Leon, who nodded back. He then bowed. "We have a Princess of Heart in our presence, guys. Show your respect." He ordered.
Everyone then bowed to the three friends. Sora cleared his throat, then turned a bowed as well, a goofy grin on his face when he looked up at Kairi. Riku did a slight lowering of his head, then sat down. Sora pulled out Kairi's chair, then sat in his own. Kairi whispered her thanks and sat down herself.
Leon rose, smirking. "Now that our guests of honor have arrived, let's begin this strategy meeting!"
XXXXXXXXXX
Leon had then pressed a button which opened three panels on the ceiling to drop down three small stacks of paper in front of the three teens. Sora looked at the front of his to see the title and gasp in shock. 'The Darkness – Intel Record'
"You have information on them already?" asked Riku, flipping through his papers.
"Yes, albeit, not much…" replied the red-eyed man.
The three teens stared at him, as he blinked. "My name is Vincent Valentine. I'm...an acquaintance of Cloud's" He introduced.
"Irvine Kinneas, at your service." The man in the trench coat added, waving his hand at them.
The woman with glasses looked up from her own report, a small frown on her face. "Quistis." That was all she said before going back to the report.
Leon shook his head. "I'm sorry about her…she's worried about this dilemma we're dealing with."
Sora shrugged. Riku frowned. "If you want us…" He began, gesturing to the three of them, "To move out as fast as possible, we need information, and fast."
Leon nodded. He pushed a button on the table and a hologram appeared of a round table with 10 chairs surrounding it. "We don't know much, like Vincent pointed out."
"There are 10 members, according to our spies…" Yuffie informed them, looking at the table. She seemed serious, which wasn't like her.
Leon touched two places on the hologram, and in doing so, called up intel on those two members. "We only know a couple…these include number II, who is named Matt, and number VII, who is named Edric."
Sora looked at the one named Matt. He had blond hair, cold blue eyes, and a permanent frown on his face. The other file didn't show a picture, just a question mark.
"Sadly, we don't have pictures of Edric, although those who have encountered him note that he is big, uses a broadsword for his weapon, and deals with the element Earth." Leon said, and then gestured to Aerith.
"Matt, on the other hand, deals with Darkness, and uses pure darkness from his heart to engage in combat…" Vincent said instead, standing up.
He pressed on another chair, the one next to Matt's, which highlighted an almost empty profile.
"Another member is a spy for us, or so Mickey has told us…" Leon said, pointing toward the file, "He only refers himself to K, but is gladly giving us what information he can."
"K deals in shadows, and uses the shadows of night to attack, although he won't attack you unless he is in the presence of another member." Quistis added, closing all three files.
"So, what are we going to do?" asked Kairi, slowly standing.
Leon looked at the others, who all sighed at the look he gave him. He sighed as well, then pressed another button on the table. "That's not all…"
The round table disappeared and was replaced with an image of The Castle That Never Was. "Maleficent is stirring, gathering allies." Leon said.
"The only ones on her side we know of are Pete and Hades, but other than that, she could have 10 or 20 other guys and gals with her!" stated Irvine, frowning under his hat.
"Like the princess said…" A gravelly voice sounded from the door of the room.
They all turned to the black man with a cybernetic arm. "What are we gonna do about it?"
"Ah, Barrett," Said Quistis sarcastically as Barrett sat down in the beat up chair, "Nice of you to join us."
Sora stood, and all eyes went to him. "I'll tell you what we're gonna do…" He said, getting up on the table. "We're gonna do what we always do. We're gonna stop this 'Darkness' organization and Maleficent, and keep them from getting Kingdom Hearts, cause that is obviously what this is all about!"
Leon looked at Aerith. She smiled, and looked back at Sora. "Good answer."
Leon smirked. "Maleficent is building herself an army of Heartless. To stop it from growing, I want you, Riku and Kairi to go out and stop the worlds from collapsing into darkness. Kill any Heartless you come across, and keep an eye out for members of The Darkness, we don't want them to ally with Maleficent."
Sora saluted Leon. "I won't fail ye, cap'n!" He said with a grin.
And with that, they set off.
XXXXX Meanwhile XXXXX
Pete wandered the halls of the Castle that Never Was, leading a group of people toward Maleficent's office of sorts. Pete came to a door and knocked twice in quick succession, then three times. A dog-boy, big and rotund like Pete, opened the door. He wore an outfit like Pete, except his had the word 'Trainee' written in bold on the back.
"She doesn't like to be kept waiting, dad…" the boy said, pulling the door open all the way.
"I know, PJ, but it is kinda hard to navigate through them Corridors of Nothingness. They change while you walk through them." Pete retorted, leading the group of people in.
"These guys think they are big and bad enough to join us, Maleficent…" Pete informed the chair behind the desk, in front of which the people stopped.
One guy had a bunch of armor on with horns sticking out the top. The guy next to him wore spandex with a big 'S' on the front. The third had a bunch of piercings and weird eyes that had multiple rings in them. He also wore a black cloak with red clouds on it. The fourth and final guy, or…girl, was made from pure energy; with a blue hew to…it.
"Hmmm…and what makes you think you are worthy enough to join me?" asked Maleficent, turning in her chair.
"How about demonstrations?" asked the pierced man.
"Yes…I do believe demonstrations are needed." Maleficent murmured, her smile cruel as she thought about it.
She gestured to the horned knight first, who bowed.
"I am known as the Horned King. I deal with a black cauldron that is so powerful; it can bring back the dead." He said, gesturing for some heartless to bring it in.
He waved his hand over it and it spouted out three skeletal knights, each armed to the teeth with swords, spears, axes and crossbows.
He chuckled. "It can mutate the Heartless…" He said, picking up one of the Heartless that had brought the cauldron in. He then dropped it into the cauldron, with glowed with a green light. Out stepped a massive Heartless, with green cracks along its skin, and red eyes instead of yellow. The Horned King chuckled even more, "…making them almost invincible."
"That'll give the Keyblade Brat a run for his munny." Said Pete, awed by the new heartless.
Maleficent smiled. "Any heartless made in here will be called Omega Heartless. Okay, Horned King, you have my attention."
The Horned King bowed and stepped back. The spandex guy stepped forward.
"Hey, how you all doin'?" he asked.
"…"
"Whoa, tough crowd. Okay, I'll get to the point." He said, tugging at his collar.
"Okay, what does every little henchman of a huge army gonna need?" He asked, gesturing to PJ.
"Um…something to fight for?" he answered, smiling.
"Nope!" He turned to Pete.
"Power!" Pete answered, going into a body-building stance.
"Mmmm, no…" He turned to Maleficent.
"Weapons…" She said, as if it was obvious.
"Yes! And where do you get weapons?" He asked, egging her on.
"You? Hah!" She retorted, having a little chuckle.
"Yes, me! I, Syndrome, am an inventor of highly destructive weapons, and/or enhancers." He walked over to PJ.
"Could you put these on?" he gave him a pair of metal gauntlets.
PJ smiled and put them on, only for them to fall to the ground, and he couldn't pull his hands back up. Syndrome pressed a button on his wrist-pad and PJ could pick them up like they were nothing.
Syndrome pressed another button and zapped a wall into existence. "Could you please punch the wall?" He asked, gesturing toward it.
PJ ran at the wall and punched it, knocking it down. Syndrome zapped the wall away. He took back his gauntlets and took out a big gun. He gave said gun to Pete. "Could you shoot at one of the buildings over there?" He asked, gesturing toward the window.
Pete shrugged and shot out the window, and 3 buildings were reduced to dust.
"Well?" Syndrome asked, taking back his gun.
"I still don't see why I should hire you…" Maleficent replied, eyeing him oddly.
Syndrome shrugged. "Tough crowd, alright, how about this?"
He walked over to the Omega Heartless, pressed a button on his wrist-pad, and tapped the Heartless. The Heartless grew to twice the size. It looked even buffer than it did before, and the cracks were blue now. "I call this baby the Beta Heartless. Sure, it may be bigger and stronger, and that is all you would see, but it is also faster, more destructive, and smarter than anyone in this room now."
Maleficent smiled evilly. "Okay, you're hired."
"Sweet!" Syndrome said as he shook her hand, then took a step back.
The pierced man stepped forward. He had orange spiky hair, held back by a headband.
"And you are?" asked Pete, looking at him up and down.
"My name…" the man responded, as a second man who looked exactly like the first, except with long hair, grabbed the big dog by his neck, "…is Pain."
"Okay, Pain…" Said Maleficent. "What do you have to offer me?"
Pain smiled. "I am a leader of an organization known as the Akatsuki. We were only based on one world, but now we have spread to multiple worlds. As you can see, I have multiple clones of me. One of us can torture a man just by looking at him. One of us can make clay dolls that fly and explode on their own. And one of us can control over 100 puppets at once."
Maleficent smiled. "I've heard enough, you may join."
Pain bowed and stepped back. The blue energy…thing stepped forward. It started speaking in another language while holding out a hologram projector.
Pete took the projector and played it. It showed a mass blue ship destroying multiple worlds. Maleficent smiled at the power this potential ally held. "You…" Her smile widened as a terrible plan began formulating in her head, "…are in."
A/N – Who can guess who the last ally of Maleficent is? A cookie to whoever guesses it correctly.
-As from this chapter onward, I will reply to my reviews at the end of each chapter. - -
KairiXPrincessXofXLight - Thank you for the compliment, I do hope you will keep reading!
DaniPotterLovesGod - No, I am not Darius Almighty, but I have read his story, which did inspire part of this one. ^^