Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and everything else belongs to Walt Disney and Square-Enix.
The OCs and their alter-ego that appear in this story belong to their respective authors. More information about them are found in the "Original Characters' Intro" chapter.
::KINGDOM HEARTS III Online HD::
-True Beauty-
Dwarf Woodland. Inside a radiant white castle lived Snow White's wicked stepmother, the Queen. No one knows of her true name, so we'll just go with the Queen.
The Queen was terribly obsessed with beauty, and terribly paranoid that her stepdaughter would surpass her on the beauty scale. And at every hour strike she would consult her Magic Mirror inside her darkest chambers with one question in mind.
Who was the fairest of all?
An hour has passed and she was facing her Magic Mirror, only to stare at her reflection. She then raised her arms up in the air and chanted,
"Slave in the Magic Mirror, come from the farthest space, through the winds and darkness I summon thee!"
Her reflection suddenly vanished, to be replaced by smokes and thunders and wheels of burning fire.
"Speak!" she said, "Let me see thy face!"
On cue, everything cleared up and the mirror displayed in its reflection a drama mask-like face in a dark green shady color.
"What wouldst thou know, my Queen?" it spoke.
"Magic Mirror…" the Queen spoke, "who… and I mean who, is the fairest of them all worlds!"
"All worlds, my Queen?" the Mirror repeated.
"All worlds." The Queen clarified.
"Famed is thy beauty, Majesty." the Mirror spoke, "But hold… what I see, is fairer than thee. Hair as blonde as the sun, eyes as perky as joy… hold. She wields not a heart of Pure Heart, but a heart… of Pure Bravery."
"Oh, thank you Magic Mirror. I…" the Queen stopped, turning cold, "Wait… blonde?"
The Queen of course, was not blonde. Snow White, dare she be the fairest of them all worlds again, was not blonde either! But who was blonde? The Queen saw rage in her eyes, determined to find the person who robbed her beauty instead of Snow White.
"Who is blonde?" she let a thunderous shout, rocking the chamber she was in.
She started for the exit, fists clenched. She then paused to sneer, "I will rob that person of her beauty. And she won't live to hear the rest."
Back at Midlight City,
"Are you serious?" Rian exclaimed.
"I came as soon as they left the Gummi Ship." Pierre informed the teens his encounter with Donald and Goofy and they all looked paranoid.
"If Donald and Goofy both find out that we ditched them without their permission… no, without Donald's permission, we'll no longer be Keybearers!" Taylor worried.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Sierra's scream shook the entire Midlight City High School. The teens rushed toward the girls' restroom where Sierra was heard and was hiding. The teens saw teenage girls running out of the restroom, screaming for their lives.
"Sierra! Are you okay?" Rian was ready to knock down the door, but Taylor stopped him, "Hey, you don't have to be heroic."
Taylor entered the restroom, and suddenly the gang heard her scream.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The guys looked more edgy. The restroom opened and Taylor came out with Sierra, who had a brown bag covering her face. The guys looked suspicious.
"What's with the bag?" Talen said, slightly laughing.
"Don't start with me boy!" Sierra pointed the finger at Talen.
"Guys." Taylor looked like she had seen a ghost, "No matter what happens, I want you all to know, that Sierra's our friend, and I don't want to hear anything different from you the moment you see her face."
"What's wrong with her face?" Axel asked.
"Taylor!" Sierra threatened, "Don't you dare!"
Taylor hesitated before removing the brown bag off Sierra's head. The teens flinched in dreary shock. Sierra's face was covered in pimple! Huge ones at that, the size of marbles! Worse, her nose was curved down to look like that of a witch. Her eyes' sizes were uneven. One was larger than the other, while the smaller one looked like a yellow bead-eye similar to that of the heartless.
"Sweet mama of Freakazilla!" Axel screamed, "What did you do?!"
"What did I do?" Sierra looked pissed, "I woke up with THIS! That's what I did! I wasn't paying attention to my face since we got here until some student called me Pimpling-Face!"
The guys chortled.
"That's not funny!" Sierra barked, "I CAN'T BE NAMED HOMECOMING PRINCESS IN TIME FOR THE PAGEANT LOOKING LIKE THIS! We gotta fix this!"
"But, we got a mission to fulfill in another world!" Rian said before facing Pierre, "Apparently, Pierre wasn't discreet enough to avoid Donald and Goofy!"
"Hey, don't look at me." Pierre pointed at himself, "I'm not the one who set us up in this mess! And by the way Sierra, no matter what happen, I will never leave you for someone else." Pierre quickly held back on puking.
"Hey I got an idea!" Axel declared, "Why not split?"
"Split?"
"Yeah!" Axel said, "Apparently, we're six! We split up 3-on-3? Three people will go on the mission, and then the three remainders will fix Sierra's skin disease."
"IT'S NOT A DISEASE! IT'S ACNE!" Sierra screamed.
"Really?" Axel grinned, "Cuz I don't remember a curved nose being an acne problem."
"RAWWR!"
Sierra was ready to rip off Axel, but Taylor restrained her.
"You know what? Maybe you guys should go on the mission yourselves!" Taylor shouted, "I'll handle Sierra myself."
"Okey-dokey." Talen said, "Good luck with the face."
The guys laughed before running off to a secluded room to teleport, as Sierra kept pulling from Taylor's grasp to pursue the boys, and Taylor kept restraining.
Ivy was watching the teens Keybearers through a moon's reflection from the Dominion's Lounge, mumbling to herself. The Lounge looked very similar to Organization XIII's lounge from KH 358/2 Days
"Sloppy, sloppy work." She mumbled, "We were this close. This close to finish them!"
She angrily faced her Blackhearts comrades, "But no, that friggin' jerk knight Terra had to ruin everything again!"
"My Behemoth… sniff." Tidicus was staring at a Behemoth figurine, weeping over his loss.
"All right, that is enough, you two!" Alistare the Mastermind bellowed, "You sicken me! We have biggest stuff in hand than to cry over spill milk." Alistare was the oldest of the Blackhearts' dominion, a middle aged ruthless figure whose heart was as cold as his comrades. Which explained his rudeness to Tidicus and Ivy.
"Do you even know how we feel?" Ivy approached Alistare, hurting like an innocent bird.
"Oh I know exactly how you feel." He blankly said, "But I don't give a damn. If one plan falls on the water, we move on to the next."
Alistare then faced the other Blackheart member, Percicle the Champion, who gave him a nodding signal. The rest of the Blackhearts rejoined the group for a brief meeting.
"Percicle has gathered some vital information he'd like to share to us Blackhearts." He explained.
"Vital info?" the curious Firias the Anger wondered, "I boil to speculate, but you better share every detail."
"Sure enough." Percicle begun, "I've detected a great flow of darkness at Snow White House. It seems that someone is working some serious dark magic in that world where one of the Princesses of Hearts resides. If we assist whoever harnesses this type of darkness, the princess's heart, better yet, the world will be ours for the taking. Even better, that darkness seems to be drawing attention to those possessing the Hearts of Pure Bravery."
"Meaning that these pesky Keybearers are coming to the world." Sage the Calm said.
"Exactly."
"Excellent find, Percicle." Maurchel said, "We should tend to the darkness wielder's assistance very soon. In the meantime, we should be ready."
"What for what exactly?" Deimos the Demeanor who shares multiple personalities asked.
"The Day of Reckoning is coming." Maurchel informed, "We must find the vessel. The perfect vessel that will draw in his heart. Now, why do you think we are collecting Hearts of Pure Braveries for, hmm? Ultimate power is what we seek. And ultimate power is what we'll gain." Maurchel finished, like all great villains, with an evil laugh. And his comrades followed.
Thunder, Sharx, Blazen, and Stone arrived at Dwarf Woodland at an area not far from the mine where they just missed the seven dwarves going to work and singing, "Hi-Ho! Hi-Ho! To work we go, we go!" (I dunno the lyrics)
"So this is Snow White's House?" Stone gasped, "That is one HUGE house! Like how many house plants does she has, dozen? And checkout the fireplace!" he then pointed at the mine.
Blazen rolled his eyes, "That is NOT Snow White's House, you peabrain! That's Dwarf Woodland!"
The confused Stone looked around and finally took notice of the actual forest he was in, "Ohh…"
The ground started shaking a bit, giving a sense that something big was approaching.
"You feel that?" Thunder warned, "We're being followed."
The shaky ground eventually grew louder, making the guys unstable on their feet. They heard galloping from behind them. Huge galloping. Like they were coming from horses' hooves.
They turned around and they saw an army of Centaurs. Heartless Centaurs! Like an army of half-Neo Heartless with half-horses so black that they make them look like giant cockroaches that make you crawl.
"WHOA! SH—!"
"GET OUT!"
"AW, CRAP!"
The boys started running for their lives. But the creatures were too fast. At a split-second, the boys jumped out of the way and fell to nearby bushes. The heartless continued on aimlessly down the road, unaware of the boys' hiding spots.
"What the hell was that?!" Sharx exclaimed.
"I think… I think… they were heartless?" Thunder said, feeling traumatized.
"Heartless as in heartless creatures, or heartless as in these huge cockroaches bugs that crawl into your freaking bedside manner?!" Blazen barked. The boys didn't get what he was saying but they were too freaked out to disagree.
"I think it was both!" Stone said.
"Something dark and serious is at work in this world." Thunder said, "We should precede carefully guys."
"Yeah, tell us something we don't know." Blazen said, rolling his eyes.
"Seriously guys, after that experience, I don't think I should be playing another 'God of War III' before bed!" Sharx confessed as the boys proceeded deeper into the forest.
They finally reached Snow White's House, or presumably the house of the dwarves. It was a nice warm-looking cottage hiding deep within the woods. The boys could hear Snow White's lovely singing voice from a distance and located her drying out sheets outside on tree branches. She was humming "Someday my Prince will come"
"Now that is Snow White's House!" Blazen said, clarifying to Stone.
"We're supposed to protect her, right?" Sharx asked, "Exactly how should we protect her?"
"We're Keybearers." Thunder clarified, "We can do anything."
"Really? Then, let's cast a Reflect Spell on her to protect her and her house!" Stone said before calling on his Keyblade and aimed it at the house.
Thunder lowered the blade, "Okay, maybe not everything. How about we talk to her?" he proposed, "At least one of us. Volunteer, anyone?"
There was an awkward silence with the teens. They then blurted out.
"Not it!"
"Not it!"
"Not it!"
"Not it! Damn!" Sharx cursed and the guys hollered at him.
"Aw, come on. You talked to princesses before." Thunder grinned, "Aren't you like the best KH player in the game?"
"You just said that 'cuz I said it!" Sharx whined.
"And I'm sayin' it again. Whoo-bam!" Thunder cackled, "Now get it there and talk!"
Thunder pushed Sharx off the bushes and into the yard to face Snow White. Snow White turned around, startled. Sharx froze. The boys quickly lowered their heads in hiding. There was this awkward silence again.
"Ohh my… it's…" Snow White blinked, "… I don't seem to acknowledge your presence. Who are you?" she asked with a gentle smile.
"I…I…I …I…I…" Sharx stammered, "…I…I w… wa… wah… ahem! …was… in theforest when I uhh…"
Snow White tried to understand what he was blabbing on about. Sharx quickly cleared his throat, "…saw you and was wondering if… Hi!" he quickly said, shaking off his nervousness, "I'm… my name is Axe… I mean Sharx! And uh… I'm your protector."
He held out his hand for a handshake.
"Oh! Protector." Snow White responded to his handshake with a graceful curtsy instead. "It's nice to meet you. Are you also my prince?"
Sharx then formed a huge grin, and looked on the ground bashfully, "Well… hee-hee… if you put it that way…"
"Scoff! Yeah, right?!" Thunder snobbishly shouted out, startling Snow White and Sharx. The boys finally got out of their hiding place and approached. "You're not a prince!"
"Excuse me?" Snow White looked ever more confused.
"HEY!" Sharx screamed, "Do you have to ruin peoples' moments?!"
"Get used to it. It's his hobby." Blazen commented, reminiscing the time he lied to Sierra and Pierre about the Gummi Ship and Rian had to blow it. He glared at Thunder on cue.
"Who are you?" Snow White asked, but then she suddenly turned pale at the sight of Stone's Keyblade. She began to step back, "Wait… my stepmother hired you didn't she? You're here to kill me, are you?"
"What? Wait… whoa… WHAT?!" the boys gasped in unison, already panicking.
"Wait a minute, no! We're not—!" Thunder tried to speak.
Blazen saw what caused Snow White to back away: Stone's Keyblade. He snapped, "Man! Get this thing away from lovely princesses, dang it! Sheesh!"
"Aw man…" Stone reluctantly made his Keyblade vanish, "then how can we protect the princess if we put it away?"
"Wait… Protect me?" Snow White asked. She quickly approached the boys, "you're not from the castle?"
"No we're not." Thunder said, "We're more than that."
Thunder morphed back to Rian. Then the boys followed, turning back to their old selves again.
"We're Keybearers."
"Defenders of the Realm of Light?" Snow White pulled up a relieved smile.
Rian nodded proudly.
"Uh-huh. Yeah sure. Be cocky." Axel said, rolling his eyes.
"Wait, why would your stepmother send out guards to kill you?" Pierre asked Snow White, looking perplexed.
"Simple." Talen replied, "All stepmothers are evil. My pops married six women, and all of them became my stepmothers. None of them were nice! I mean, they were either mean and nasty, or snobbish and clueless like London Tipton… sheesh. And the last one was just as cold as ice!"
"Actually, my stepmother used to be a lovely woman." Snow White clarified, "But that was until my father died."
xXx
I used to live in that elegant white castle up on the hills when I was very young. I had a lovely family. There was my father the King, and his royal subjects who treated me with care and kindness. My mother the Queen, whom I never got the chance to meet, died the day I was born. My father, I could recall how much pain and sorrow he had for losing her that day, thought he would never find love again. But thanks the spirits, my father had another chance at it again and fell in love with my stepmother the Queen whom he then took as his loyal wife. The Queen was a very lovely woman. And she was very beautiful too. But something tragic made her change. My father died of a grave plague and the queen became obsessed of ruling over the kingdom and obsessed of being named the most beautiful woman in the land. And ever since then, she's been treating me like a servant and soon strived for ways to get rid of me.
"So that's why she sent out soldiers to get you?" Talen said. The boys and Snow White were inside the house having a snack that the princess had whipped up.
"Because of your beauty?" Pierre said, trying to make sense of the situation.
"Looks like we have an insecure queen to deal with." Rian remarked.
"What? Like you're not insecure with your video game skills?" said Axel, grinning at Rian tauntingly.
Rian scoffed, "That is a whole 'nother story!"
Snow White looked confused, "Video games?" she repeated.
"Yeah, that's a whole other story." Rian said.
"So now you're staying in this house?" Pierre asked.
"Yes. The seven dwarves'. They took me in when I was needed most." She said.
"And you're gonna need us plenty." Talen said, reassuring the princess, "Y'see. We're on a mission to protect you from these bad guys in black and—!"
"Talen!" the guys exclaimed. Talen shrugged, "What?"
"Bad guys in black?" Snow White said, "You mean these dark shadow horses that have been running down the woods recently?" the princess mentioned the centaurs the boys crossed paths with earlier.
"Wait… whoa… WHAT?! Guys in horses?" the boys exclaimed.
"I saw an army of them three days ago." Snow White replied, "They tried to take me, but the dwarves saved me from their clutches."
"She's talking about those creepy roachy horse-heartlesses." Pierre muttered to Talen.
"I know what she's talking about!" Talen snapped.
"These centaurs… what do they want from you?" Axel asked, "It sounds like they didn't want to kill you like the Queen's guards."
"They seem to want something else from me." Snow White said, "They muttered something about stealing my heart."
The boys looked warned.
The Queen's Castle
"Your Majesty. You have a visitor," called one of the guards to the Queen.
The Queen watched one of the Blackhearts in trench coat approaching, their face hiding under hood.
"I was not expecting a visitor. I was expecting a message!" the queen said angrily.
"Patience, queen." Spoke a female voice underneath the hood. The hooded Blackheart revealed her face: Sage the Calm. Calm and serene, Sage always eased the tension of any angry person (especially Firias in previous chapters) without even frowning or raising her voice. She has that same striking beautiful resemblance as that female villain from Final Fantasy XIII.
"It is a virtue." She added.
The Queen sternly glared. Sage went on, "I have sensed that you needed help and assistance. And I'm here to give it to you." Sage said with loveliness in her tone.
"What do you know?" the Queen turned her back on Sage, and she started to leave when Sage said, "I know about true beauty."
She froze.
"…and I can give it to you."
The Queen slowly turned to face Sage.
"Say the word," Sage continued, "and I promise I will sent out armies of dark centaurs and black zits to overrun this world, and hurt anyone stealing your beauty including your so-called stepdaughter the fairest Snow White… and the one possessing the Pure Bravery Heart. I would even personally give Snow White a hearty treat. After all, she's willing to trust anyone." On cue she summoned her dark Keyblade and it transformed into a delicious firm red apple.
"I do not know, and care who you are." The Queen then pulled a murky grin, "but I like your intent to gain ultimate power."
"Believe me." Sage smirked as well, "I don't intent to gain it. I get it."
Unknown to the Queen and Sage, the Prince was watching, spying on the Queen's latest scheme and horrified by the Blackheart's presence and her weapon. He somehow had to warn his love of his life, Snow White, of the danger, and fight the terror that was coming before he was too late
Next Chapter::
The Princess and the Bad Boy
Author's Note: Matt Salazar/Cross, and Violet Kitari/Flora will appear in the next episode. And if you want more of the Blackhearts' Dominion, then check out Kingdom Lights, a KH fanfic co-written by me and Rhodes's (the guy who created Violet/Flora for this fanfic). This tale is about the last Keybearer being hunted down for his blood by the Blackhearts' available at my deviantart page