Chapter 6
The Gathering
Maleficent and Pete looked around the room, taking in the unusual view of the colorful cast of characters that they had enlisted. Only one of them had been on their side before. The Olympian God with bluish-gray skin, a black toga held with a skull-shaped pin, and blue fire in place of hair, Hades, was an associate from Maleficent's first endeavor in controlling the Heartless. There were ten others in the room besides them and Zeromast. One man wore gold armor and a green cape. He had shoulder-length black hair and a mischievous smile, giving off the impression of a trickster archetype and a master manipulator. There was a tall, skinny man with dark skin, purple eyes and a moustache. He wore a dark maroon tailcoat, black pants, black shoes with white spats, a purple vest, a red cummerbund, and a top hat adorned with a purple feather, a red band and a skull and crossbones design, and he carried a cane with a purple crystal ball on top. There was a thin woman with a mop of hair that was half black and half white. She wore a form-fitting sleeveless dress, an enormous fur coat and a pair of elbow-length red gloves. She was looking downward at the character in front of her, trying to make sense of the sight: what appeared to be a rotund albino gerbil that possessed rabbit ears and a tail with a bushy tip. He stood about two feet in height and wore a red cape held with a golden "H"-shaped brooch on his chest. Elsewhere stood a pale-skinned man wearing blue and black robes and a turban of similar colors as well as a brown glove on his right hand, while his left remained bare. He was accompanied by a floating eel. A few feet away from him stood a blond-haired man dressed like a clown or a court jester, wearing garb of red, yellow, blue and purple colors as well as white, red and purple face paint. There was also an elderly gray-skinned woman who wore a black and purple dress that flared out at the bottom, as well as a purple wig and mane, black sandals, and large blue disc earrings. Leaning up against the wall was a human-sized male sheep wearing a yellow-green chemist's jacket. He drank from a coffee cup, apathetic to the characters around him. There was also a man with silver hair that fell halfway down his back, blue eyes, and a very slender and feminine figure. He wore a violet mantle about his shoulders, white sleeves, a white robe strapped around his waist and held up by a codpiece, purple pantlegs, and black boots with golden buckles. Last was a skeletal humanoid creature with green rotting flesh, glowing red eyes, sharp teeth, and two gnarled, bony horns atop his head, who wore a wine-red hooded robe with a fur mantle. All of these guests were sinister individuals drawn among the most evil lifeforms across the worlds.
Pete looked around nervously. He felt fear around the dark wizard with the eel and the undead horned guy, unease around the haughty woman-looking man and the trickster type man in the green cape, and absolute confusion at the inclusion of the woman in the fur coat and the behavior of the jester. They had all responded to his and Maleficent's sales pitch and shown up to see if what they offered was worth it. However, Pete worried that half of the group could simply destroy the tower and possibly kill everyone within if they were not impressed. He simply hoped that Zeromast's offer would hold.
The raven on Maleficent's shoulder, Diablo, let out a loud screech to get everyone's attention. Maleficent gave the bird a look of annoyance while Zeromast covered his ears, due to standing right next to Maleficent and being so close to the raven. In spite of that, the fairy did have everyone's attention.
"Now that everyone is here," she began, "you all should be familiar with the powers of the Heartless and the battle for supremacy between light and darkness."
"Of course. I have observed your progress from afar," the man in the green cape admitted. "I must say that I am disappointed that darkness did not quite make the cut," he added with a wry smirk.
Maleficent raised her eyebrow in mock surprise at the remark. "Oh. Is there something that you would like to say, Loki?"
"I think everyone should be allowed to know what he saw, Missy," Hades interjected. "You see, I was with her first band of knuckleheads commanding the Heartless. We sent them to attack a ton of worlds, swallow their hearts, and plunge them into darkness, and hunt down seven lovely ladies while we were at it." He chuckled. "Now, Maleficent had picked me up after I'd clawed my way back from an unsuccessful coup against the gods up on Olympus, right, and you see I was seething with rage. I wanted revenge on my brother, Zeus, and particularly his kid, Jerkules. But the plan I had going then was one I put eighteen years into, setting things up so I had these huge Titans at my fingertips, and then they were kicked to the curb and it turns out they had a pretty limited warranty. So, there I was, sitting on my throne, thinking of something I could use to get back on top, when this lady shows up in a burst of green flame. And she says that with the Heartless under my control, I can send them to destroy everyone who ever ticked me off. Herc the jerk? Yes, sir. Zeus? Totally. That punk who blew off my offer to show him how to use the darkness a few years ago? Sure, why not? And so, I send the Heartless to terrorize the town, but that doesn't seem to hold. Then I get the idea to sign them up for the games against the baby-faced lout. Some punk shows asking help in finding his dark half, whatever that means. I pour some dark power in him and set him against everyone's favorite hero. Then, this runt shows up, carrying a weapon I'm sure some of you history buffs have heard of. The Keyblade? Anyone? Well, for the last few days, he's been jumping between worlds, fighting the Heartless. He even sealed a Keyhole by then, meaning that there was one less world for the Heartless to munch. Maleficent thinks he could be of use. But I figure I can just throw him into a few matches with the Heartless, eventually he gets stepped on and boom, problem solved.
"But then, I'm sitting back in my lounge chair, a bowl full of popcorn in my lap, and I watch it all happen in the Games and out in the worlds. The runt plows through the Games, smashing every Heartless he goes up against, along with his idiot sidekicks. Meanwhile, on every world he gets to, he beats the Heartless, cuts down Maleficent's little group one by one and finally fries the witch herself, and seals the Keyholes. Then he goes down the end zone and smashes whatever was holding the remnants of the fallen worlds, setting them back to normal! So, for all your talk of darkness being supreme and having the power to rule over all, it turns out light really was stronger and you—we got beat by a kid who was, seriously, like, four feet tall."
This caused the villains to grumble amongst each other, wondering what they were still doing there.
"She said that I could be empress!" the elderly woman, Yzma, complained.
"What about crushing everyone I hate?" the woman wearing the fur coat, Cruella De Vil, shot back, puffing a cloud of green smoke from her cigarette holder. Yzma covered her mouth and fanned the fumes away with her hand.
"I was supposed to reclaim what was rightfully mine!" the gerbil, Doctor Hämsterviel, remarked.
"If you have no faith in Maleficent and what she has to offer, then why are you even here?" the man in the blue and black robes, Mozenrath, asked Hades.
The lord of the dead shrugged. "I figured we should all know the lady's position so we could get a feel for why she's so confident about this scheme."
After about a minute of bickering, and just as the jester, Kefka Palazzo, was starting to juggle enormous fireballs, Maleficent slammed the end of her staff into the ground three times, creating a booming sound that reverberated around the room and caused everyone to quiet down. The dark-skinned gentleman, Doctor Facilier, noticed that Kefka was still holding fireballs and used some of his magic to snuff them out. Kefka gave him a mock pout. Facilier simply responded by pointing toward Maleficent.
"You are correct, Hades," Maleficent admitted dryly. "For all my efforts to smother the pathetic light and plunge everything into darkness, the simple fact of the matter is that such a thing cannot be done; darkness cannot completely consume light, and light cannot wipe out darkness. There is a balance that the worlds will always try to maintain. There are rules that the worlds must abide by. But, were there a way to change those rules, to redefine the balance, and make it so the worlds obeyed our will…" She trailed off, listening as the gathered villains expressed their curiosity and intrigue. Satisfied that she had regained their interest, Maleficent turned to the white-haired man. "Shall you say your piece, Zeromast?"
Zeromast drew a metal rod that was slung across his back. He reached into a pouch, took out several flat pieces of metal and a single red crystal, and assembled them onto one end of the rod so that it appeared as though four bent pieces of metal were holding the crystal in the center. The magic users eyed the glowing crystal curiously, wondering what sort of power it possessed.
"I am a scholar who has studied the history of all the worlds. Befitting my role as a Watcher, I am one of a select few individuals entrusted with knowledge of a secret chamber, knowledge passed down for generations, since the cataclysmic war that resulted in the division of the worlds."
This drew confused glances from many in the audience. Understandable, as the existence of other worlds has been a well-hidden secret that for a long time had only been privy to Keyblade wielders, aside from elders who passed down an ancient legend. Many in the crowd had only just learned that other worlds existed when Maleficent and Pete arrived to recruit them. Even then, almost nobody was aware of how it happened.
The only exceptions, apparently, were Hades and Loki. "Ah, yes. I have been told stories of such an event. Alas, I was a boy when it occurred, and my… father," the trickster god enunciated with contempt, as though he had recently had a disagreement with his paternal figure, or learned a painful truth about his origins, "had refused to intervene."
Zeromast decided to continue. "In order to restore the World in any shape or form, the survivors had to use the power hidden inside this chamber to make a few changes to the World of Light. Resisting the urge to change too much for fear of unimaginable consequences, they shifted the darkness that had smothered the majority of the World into a sea of dark energy that divided remnants of civilization into countries, states and towns of varying size." He took notice of the intrigue on the villains' faces as they realized what he was implying. "You all heard right: this 'power' is a gift that, to those using it, offers the possibility to destroy or create entire worlds, and design the rules that govern them."
Kefka snickered. "A world of our very own, to wreck, make and wreck again as we please?" He let out a unique laugh that took everyone around him by surprise. "Well, how do we get there?"
"Alas, the gateway protecting the chamber has been sealed, and its antechamber buried in the most twisted depths of twilight, at least from what I understand. This door is so complex that it cannot be opened unless it was complete. In my studies, I have learned that there are several key artifacts necessary to complete the portal, and if a single one is absent, the chamber cannot be accessed; not even the Keyblade can open it."
Some in the audience, as well as Pete, were surprised. Others showed no reaction, as they had little to no understanding of what a Keyblade was. Maleficent herself was not surprised, as in her experience there have been a few doors whose locking mechanisms were so complex that his weapon could not simply open them; rather, he needed to solve certain puzzles to proceed.
"So, that is why you have gathered us," the feminine-looking sorcerer, Kuja, realized. "You require all of our help in gathering these artifacts, to take control of the power to alter reality to our every whim. But what is it that you desire?"
Zeromast traded a glance with Maleficent. "We desire a new world order."
"One where darkness consumes all and the light of hope is expunged," Maleficent finished.
Hades smirked. "Well, I guess I'll stick around. Heck, I could finally get the chance to turn things around on Olympus and smash that little bugger Hercules."
The giant sheep, Doug, shrugged and took a final sip of his coffee. "Why not? As long as I get paid, it beats jail."
"I'm in!" the villains announced simultaneously, agreeing to participate in the grandest conspiracy yet. The majority of them engaged in a glorious evil laugh.