I'M BAAACCKKK! So sorry for the late update! With the school year just around the corner for me, I haven't had as much time to work on this story as I used to. So this means I won't be able to update weekly like I promised in Chapter 1… :( But this story will go on!
Okay, enough of me talking! On with the next chapter!
Chapter 4
"YOU FOOLS! Find Alice and bring her back here at once! I don't care how!"
Frightened by the queen's temper, every card soldier in the courtroom fled and went to search for the missing girl.
Riku remained hidden in the shadows of the maze as he waited for Kaida. Where is she?
A whoosh from behind nearly made him jump and he turned around to see his raven-haired partner come out of a dark corridor with Alice in her arms.
"Took you long enough," Riku scoffed.
"Oh I'm sorry," she said sarcastically, "Didn't mean to keep you waiting."
Riku rolled his eyes, and then looked at the girl in Kaida's arms. "This is her?" She nodded. "Have to admit, she's kinda cute."
Kaida glared at Riku in disbelief and said, "We're not here to get her so you can date her you know. Now let's get out of here!"
Riku grinned while raising an eyebrow. "Jealous, are we?"
The raven-haired girl scoffed, "Me? Jealous? Not on your life." She was just about to go through the corridor when she turned around to see Riku looking back at the courtroom. "Hey! Are you coming or not?" He glanced at her with a slight glare and quickly walked past her and through the corridor. Kaida took a quick glance back at her surroundings and went after Riku.
Maleficent leisurely strolled down the hallways until she reached the chapel, smiling to herself. Indubitably, she strongly believed her plans to use the Princesses of Heart to rule all worlds will go without a hitch.
After having to move to Hollow Bastion after Aurora's capture, the evil fairy had an almost difficult time keeping her 'daughter' sufficiently in check when she sent her off on missions to other worlds. Even with the help of her colleagues, she had doubts that she could keep Kaida's memories at bay for long. But now that she had Riku, not only did she have another pawn, but she will be able to make sure Kaida remains loyal to her until Xehanort comes for the girl.
Just as she entered the chapel, Riku and Kaida had returned from Wonderland. "I take it that your mission was a success?" she asked. The two teenagers were surprised to see Maleficent and the evil fairy noticed the girl in Kaida's arms. Maleficent smiled maliciously as she said, "I commend you both on a job well done. Now, let us go put her with the others."
"The others?" Riku asked while looking at Kaida with a confused expression.
"You'll see," Kaida told him. After showing him the secret passage hidden behind one of the chapel walls, Kaida and Maleficent made their way to the Great Hall with RIku following behind.
The hazel-eyed girl glanced down at the young blonde in her arms and thought about what happened when she retrieved the princess from Wonderland. She couldn't really explain it. Kaida would've just grabbed Alice and took her against her will when the blonde refused to move, but something about the vision of the woman with short blue hair made her act otherwise. It was almost as if a part of her that she never knew she had awakened after seeing that vision. But who was the woman and did she know her? Kaida shook her head at the possibility since she had never been outside the Forbidden Mountains during her childhood. Still…
"Is something troubling you my dear?" Kaida perked her head up to see Maleficent glancing back at her.
"No, mother. Nothing's wrong," the girl lied. Maleficent seemed suspicious at first, but then decided to not ask further.
Once they arrived at the Great Hall, Riku was in awe as he looked around the large room. What caught his attention the most were the three women resting in the pods on the side walls. "Who are they?" he asked.
"They're princesses with hearts of pure light," Kaida replied, "just like Alice." The raven-haired girl then placed Alice in the empty pod next to Aurora and Belle and stepped back just as black tendrils wrapped around the blonde girl's sleeping form.
"Kaida." Said girl turned and faced her mother. "I wish to speak to Riku alone. You may go and roam the castle as you please but stay in Hollow Bastion."
"Yes mother." Kaida bowed to Maleficent and walked out of the hall, but not before giving Riku a warning look while Maleficent wasn't looking.
"Let's see… 'History of Hollow Bastion'? Read it. 'Spells for Beginners'? Nope. 'Tale of Two Cities'? Sounds interesting." Kaida skimmed over the large row of books as she walked around the library. She had read a couple of the books during her time at the castle whenever she wasn't wandering the halls. The hazel-eyed girl did a search for any books regarding the keyblade or the princesses, but so far she found none.
"'Advanced Fighting Tactics.' This could be useful." After getting a ladder, Kaida pulled out the book and was about to open it when she noticed something peculiar in the bookshelf. Just above where the other books had toppled down, there were indentations in the wood that conspicuously formed the shape of a rectangle. Inside it was some sort of square puzzle with 8 smaller square pieces that were all mixed up.
"What do we have here?" she wondered out loud. Kaida looked closer at the jumbled pieces in the square and started moving them around to see if she could make the picture. After many attempts, she finally started to recognize the image of the Heartless symbol. Once she completed the image, a secret compartment in the shelf sprung open and revealed to contain a small hardcover journal titled 'Ansem's Reports.'
Carefully making sure no one was watching, she pulled out the book and blew away the dust. Sitting on one of the ladder rungs, Kaida flipped through the journal to find pages full of information about the Heartless and many other things concerning hearts: notes, diagrams, charts, even a few drawings. She looked closely inside and noticed that a few pages were missing and looked as if they were ripped out of the journal. She flipped the book back to the beginning and started to read the first journal entry.
Much of my life has been dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge.
That knowledge has guarded this world well. Not a soul doubts that.
I am blessed with people's smiles and respect. But though I am called a sage, there are things I do not understand.
I believe darkness sleeps in every heart, no matter how pure. Given the chance, the smallest drop can spread and swallow the heart. I have witnessed it many times.
Darkness...Darkness of the heart. How is it born?
How does it come to affect us so?
As ruler of this world, I must find the answers. I must find them before the world is lost to those taken by the darkness.
So this Ansem used to rule here before Maleficent and I came along, she thought, and he was studying the darkness. Wonder what happened to him? She turned to the next page to find a few notes written down along with another report and some sketches of a Shadow Heartless. Kaida saw where the two pages that were suppose to go before the next one were gone and she kept a mental note of it as she read the next report.
The Heartless appear in groups, and are multiplying rapidly. I've provided them both living and nonliving samples. They've responded only to the living. They seem to multiply after absorbing something from the living creatures. Their prey vanishes without a trace.
I believe the Heartless are taking hearts. They are born from those who've lost their hearts, and thrive on hearts seized from others. The hearts taken by the Heartless become Heartless themselves.
Though I lack proof, I am confident in this hypothesis. I must also study their behavioral principles. Though they lack emotions, they do seem to have some intelligence. How to communicate with them?
It's just occurred to me: Could they be the darkness in people's hearts?
The sound of a door opening and closing followed by footsteps nearly made Kaida fall off the ladder just as she finish reading.
"Kaida?"
Regaining herself, she slapped the book shut and was about to put it back when a piece of paper slipped out and started to fall down. She tried to grab it back but the page kept floating away from her hand. She reached for it again and caught it with one hand on the ladder and one foot on the rung.
"Kaida? Where are you ya little bugger?" The footsteps were getting closer and closer.
"You sure she's in here?"
"Well, of course I'm sure! I saw her coming in here minutes ago!"
"Kai! You in here?!"
Hearing the two voices coming even closer, she frantically shoved the journal along with the page back into the secret compartment and concealed it; then she repositioned the books on the shelf the way she found it as quickly as she could. Just as she was about to climb down, Kaida felt something crawling down her arm. Slightly trembling, she looked at her arm and her eyes widened at what she saw what was tickling her skin.
"Aaaahhhh!" She flew back her hands as she screamed from seeing the little black spider that crawled off of her and onto the ladder. Kaida suddenly wobbled on the ladder and she yelped as she fell off from a great height. The raven-haired girl squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for a spine breaking crash with the ground until-
"Whoa!" Instead of her back hitting the hard floor, Kaida felt herself caught in someone's arms.
"There she is! I told you she'd be here. Nice catch by the way."
Kaida opened her eyes and saw gloved hands and muscular arms carrying her bridal style and she looked up till her eyes met with very familiar aquamarine eyes.
Riku smirked at the dumbfounded girl in his arms, "Glad I caught you huh?"
Kaida just looked annoyingly at the smug silvernette. "Do you mind putting me down?" Riku laughed a little and set Kaida back on her feet.
"Ha ha ha! Kaida, that was one banger of a scream!" Said girl blushed slightly and glared at the owner of the voice, which was a large chubby sack-like thing with stubby hands and feet and a pointed head. He had his hands on his hips and was guffawing like there was no tomorrow.
"Oh shut up Oogie!" Kaida retorted. She hated looking weak and helpless, especially in front of her 'superiors' and Riku. But Oogie Boogie only laughed harder until he coughed up a few bugs. She cringed at the sight of the little creeps crawling on the floor, trying not to scream in fear again.
Kaida then heard a slight chuckle and turned her glare at him. "So the tough vigilante is scared of bugs?" Riku taunted, crossing his arms across his chest as he smirked. If looks could kill, RIku would be a dead man from the cold expression on the girl's face.
Oogie 's laughter died down and brought his stubby hand under the holes that were his eyes as if he was crying. "Anyhoo, I'm done here, so I'm off!" he exclaimed and then walked away and out of the library.
After Kaida calmed down, Riku was the first to speak. "So what were you doing up there?" he asked, pointing his eyes upward.
"I was just looking through the books to see if there was anything interesting for me to read," she replied. Kaida didn't want to tell Riku about the secret journal in case he might report it to Maleficent. If her mother had secrets to hide from her, there's no reason why Kaida can't have secrets of her own to hide.
"And how did you fall?" Riku asked.
"I…accidently slipped on the ladder on the climb down when I heard you and Oogie come in." It wasn't a complete lie and Riku seemed a bit skeptic by her response.
"Right," he teased, "did you slip because of a bug on the ladder?"
"Oh be quiet!" she growled, "Anyway, why were you looking for me in the first place?"
"I…uh…wanted to ask you about the princesses."
Kaida raised an eyebrow. "What about them?"
"Any idea what your mother's going to use them for?"
She gave out an exasperated sigh before she replied, "Sorry to disappoint you, but I have no idea. There are some things she keeps to herself, even from her own daughter."
"Oh…" Riku seemed a little disappointed that she didn't have any details about Maleficent's plan.
"So how'd it go?" she asked.
Riku knew she was asking about his discussion with Maleficent earlier. "Well, after you left…"
"So, how was your mission with Kaida in Wonderland?" Maleficent asked as soon as she made sure Kaida was gone.
Riku shrugged as he replied, "It was…interesting to say the least."
Maleficent seemed interested. "How so?"
"We ran into this Cheshire Cat who kind of helped us find Alice and then saw Sora was there too."
"Really?"
"Yes. He had a keyblade with him and there were these two other guys with him. A duck and a dog, I think?"
Donald and Goofy, the king's pitiful lackeys, Maleficent thought to herself. "I see. It seems you have one less friend to worry about now. The keyblade has chosen him and it wouldn't surprise me that this Sora will begin to value that weapon and his new companions more than he did you and Kairi."
Riku was taken aback by the evil fairy's claim. "That's insane! There's no way Sora would ever replace me and Kairi!"
"Believe what you want. But don't say I didn't warn you. After all, one never knows the secrets to another's heart."
He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Sora? Forgetting about him and Kairi? Ridiculous! Riku and Sora have been best friends since they were little and no one knows the brunette better than him and Kairi.
"What about the princesses? Why do you have them here?" he asked, trying to change the topic.
"You will know soon enough my child. Once you and Kaida have obtain the other pure lights, I will tell you what I intend to do with them," Maleficent replied almost ominously. "That is all I wish to discuss. You are dismissed."
Riku bowed to her and then went back the way he came, hoping to ask the raven-haired girl if she knew anything.
"Sounded like you had quite a talk," Kaida deadpanned after Riku finished explaining, "at least you didn't tell her about our little…dispute."
"We had a deal didn't we?" Riku said, as if she had already forgotten.
"I know, I know," she replied dismissively.
"But what bugged me the most was what she said about Sora. He wouldn't just replace me and Kairi and then forget about us…"
Kaida may not know about her partner's best friend, but when she saw the spiky brunette in Wonderland, she could almost tell a few things about him. The way he acted in the courtroom made it seem like he's the type of person who was willing to help those in need no matter what the cost. Then again, Maleficent had given her the same warning about not knowing what a person truly is like.
And then there was the task she had been given: plunge Riku deeper into the darkness and sever his ties with his friends. "Well, she might be right," she claimed, leaning back against the bookcase with her arms crossed.
"Are you serious?!" he said incredulously, "You barely even know him and yet you're already judging him!"
Kaida kept her calm demeanor and said, "I'm just saying that there might be things about Sora you just never knew about, even if you've known him for a long time."
The silvernette scoffed in annoyance. "Whatever." And with that, he stormed out of the library, leaving Kaida alone.
I thought he'd never leave, she thought as she heard the doors slamming shut. The ravenette looked up at the spot where the reports were hidden. Wonder if my mother knows anything about the book. Well, whatever the case, let's just hope I'll get some answers.
And that's it for now. Hope you guys like it! As I've said in earlier, my updates will be going a bit slow from now on, but I'll try to post up the next chapter as soon as possible!
The part with the journal hidden in the bookshelf was inspired from the movie "National Treasure: Book of Secrets." Pretty great movie. :)
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Until next time! :)