Chapter Three
Meeting in Shadows
Pete rapped the crystal ball with his finger. The large anthropomorphic cat studied it intently, wondering why the reflective surface was still dark. He looked around nervously. From the window, the raven was staring at him with disappointment. Or was it irritation? Or did it just not care. It didn't matter to Pete. The bird creeped him out. At the doorway, Pete saw his boss, the raven's mistress, Maleficent, standing with her back to him.
She waved her arms around, willing a dozen small Shadow Heartless to appear from the ground. With her black horns, cloak that spread out on the floor behind her, and scepter, she would have looked as though she was one of the shadows, if not for the green glow of the crystal orb on the top of her scepter, her pale face and the pale skin and red nails of her hands. She raised her scepter, and three Heartless that were slightly larger than the Shadows and resembled suits of leather with metal helmets appeared. The Soldiers had a black and red emblem on their chests, resembling a heart shape with a thorny X through the middle. They danced around in a jittery way, then stopped and stood at attention, saluting the witch who summoned them.
Feeling ambitious and wanting to establish her dominion over more of the monsters, Maleficent bade a pool of darkness materialize in the middle of the floor. A forceful gale of dark power caused the flames of the candles set in the wall to blow out. Something made of purple and gray metal rose out of the pool. It loosely resembled a four-fingered hand with a cylindrical extension that looked like an attached arm, which was completely separated from the body. Another metal hand appeared, a mirrored copy of its companion. Two forms popped out of the pool, resembling disembodied boots. Then, what was intended to be the torso materialized, resembling a pipe that was contracted in the middle to resemble a sort of hourglass shape, and took its place in between the gauntlets and legs. Lastly, the head appeared. The head appeared to be an entirely spherical metal ball, save for a gray spike on top and a visor with small circular holes on the front.
The evil fairy laughed. At last, for the first time in months, she had regained the authority to conjure a Heartless commander. They had been shy in swearing loyalty to her for most of the previous year since her influence had faded since she was defeated more than a year ago, and they had since gone freelance or partaken in individual attacks against the realm of light. After her return, she was able to gather an army of Heartless, but had only been able to occasionally call upon more powerful monsters on the fly, and her army was vanquished by her enemies when she attacked the town of Hollow Bastion, and she was subsequently humiliated and left without her resources. Now, she was biding her time, slowly building her influence over the Heartless. She no longer had to worry about any Organization to compete with in her evil plans, and the heroes that had once opposed her had retired to resume the lives they would have led had they not been swept up in her plots to plunge the worlds into darkness. Someday soon, perhaps she will have the power and forces to crush her foes and establish her dominion over all worlds.
"Hey, uh, Maleficent… Erm, how do you get this thing working, again?" Pete asked timidly. Maleficent rolled her eyes, annoyed that he interrupted her inner musings over something so trivial… again.
She sighed. "Did you draw out the runes?"
Pete looked at the table, a cylindrical platform constructed out of the same stone that made up the rest of the tower in which he stood. He studied the funny-looking pictures and characters that he drew on the tabletop in white chalk and compared them to the parchment that Maleficent had given him. "Yup," he answered.
"Are you thinking of whom you wish to converse?" Maleficent tapped the orb of her scepter testily with her fingers. The Guard Armor gave her an apathetic shrug with its floating arms, apparently aware of how tedious it can be to work with idiotic minions.
"Of course," Pete responded meekly, cognizant of his boss' growing frustration.
"Then you must be forgetting the invocation," Maleficent decided. "Why do I even bother with you? You cannot even remember to conduct a simple communication spell. Just place your hand hovering over the crystal ball, picture the person you wish to talk to, and say 'Noivilbo'."
"Oh, right. Thanks," Pete said. He waved his hand over the crystal ball, closed his eyes, and muttered "Noivilbo." He opened up one eye and was pleased to see the orb fill up with purple smoke. He concentrated for a few more moments until finally the smoke cleared and he could see his son's face in the curved, reflective surface.
"Hey, Dad," P.J. greeted. On his end in Disney Town, a flat screen had materialized in a wisp of smoke in front of him, and the screen was showing Pete's face.
"Hiya, Junior," Pete replied. "How have you been?" Over the last few months, Pete had started using the crystal ball to communicate with his son, making it appear as if he was simply on the other side of a window. They had arranged to have these talks once a month to catch up with recent events on either end. This began after Pete had visited his days as a steamboat captain via a door to the past, and after satisfying his nostalgia (while also trying to help Maleficent breach Disney Castle's defenses using this method), Pete had felt longing for the family he had back in Disney Town. Although she felt no empathy for his homesickness and in spite of, or perhaps because of her exasperation with his incompetence, Maleficent had agreed to his request for a method to contact his son, whom he had not seen since Queen Minnie had sent him to a pocket dimension to "cool off" and he had escaped to join forces with Maleficent. In retrospect, perhaps that was not the most responsible decision.
"Things have been going well over here," P.J. answered. "Pistol said she's going to join the soccer team at school this fall."
"Oh, that's good for her. But your sister's been keeping up in school, right?"
"Of course."
"What else has been going on? The Royal Knights graduation was coming up, correct?"
"Actually, it was yesterday. And Max was in the graduating class."
"So the Goof boy is a full-fledged knight-in-shining-armor? Ha! Well, tell him and Goofy I said congrats!" Pete chuckled. Despite winding up on different sides, he still had a measure of respect for his former neighbor and his son. "Who else made the cut?"
P.J. stopped to think. "Tommy Blackstone, Humphrey the Bear, Tank—"
"Tank?" Pete interrupted, pricking up at the familiar name. "Wasn't he part of that club? The 'Gammas'? Don't tell me the boss of that club made it too?"
At this, P.J. gave his dad a knowing smirk. "Brad? No way, he didn't make it. He actually got held back because he showed no sportsmanship and even tried to sabotage everyone else to prove he was the strongest. Several times. He was so obsessed with being the best that he attacked the graduation party last night and fought with a lot of the knights, even trying to kill Max."
"Oh, dear," Pete gasped. "Is Max alright?"
"Yeah. He beat Brad and saved everyone. Tomorrow, actually, Brad will be facing trial for what he did." He laughed. "And now Max is the local hero."
"Hmph. Serves that punk right. I knew he was trouble when he was a tyke. His father never had any honor either."
"I actually helped Max against him. I threw the surprise balls at him. The ones you sent me for my birthday."
"Nice. Did they work out for you?"
"They did distract him. Though I've been having trouble putting the flashbang back together, and Brad broke the shock charge one by kicking it into the wall."
"Huh. Then you should see if your friend Bobby can fix 'em. He's been working with machines with the chipmunks, right?"
"Yeah. Thanks. So, how have things been going over there?"
Pete shrugged. "Same old, same old. Maleficent's still trying to get the Heartless to obey her again. She is having more luck as of late, though. Heck, just a few minutes ago, she hauled up a Guard Armor."
P.J.'s eyes widened. "Wasn't that one of the first Heartless that Captain Goofy and Mister Donald fought? There's another one?"
"I heard that there was a second one running around half a year ago, and there have been some similar-looking guys with different color schemes that were sighted in the last several months. I guess this one just happens to have the same color."
"So what have you been up to lately?"
"Eh, nothing too different. Maleficent has been sending me on some more errands. I've been sneaking around town peeking in on the goings-on. I even played a prank on that grumpy mechanic as he was moseying up to the castle. He responded by swearing to update the security system to sic the CLAYMATION things on me." Pete snickered as he recounted this.
A puzzled look crossed P.J.'s face. He did not respond to Pete's anecdote, causing his father to become confused and concerned. "Is something wrong, son?" Pete asked.
"Oh, sorry, Dad. It's just that the image has become foggy." P.J. waved his hand in front of his face to indicate this.
"Huh. I wonder if there's some kind of interference. I'll check it out. You wait right here." Pete stood up and turned to investigate the disturbance. At this moment he realized that he had no idea if the spell over the crystal ball would stop working if he left it alone, but he decided that he would restore the connection if he needed to. Assuming he could remember the magic word.
Now that P.J. mentioned it, Pete did notice something in the air. The aura was so palpable he could almost smell it. Actually, considering how thick darkness was known to permeate from those with a strong affinity to it, he could literally smell it. Though he noticed there was something different about the smell. It was not the usual brand of darkness. Along with the standard whiff of sulfur and rotten eggs, he could detect a dash of incense and aether. He followed the scent into the next room, where Maleficent had been. He wondered if she had summoned a particularly powerful Heartless, or if she had fished a new kind of darkness user out of the Realm of Darkness. However, he did not see any of the Heartless that the fairy had conjured earlier. Perhaps she had dismissed them when the source of the interference appeared.
He stepped into the stairwell and noticed that the scent was getting stronger. He made his way up the spiral stairs, traversing the circumference of the tower three times before he ascended into the next chamber. A large window overlooked the mountainous divide between the Villain's Vale and the town of Radiant Garden. Enormous rusted gears hung in front of the window, obscuring most of the view. Only one of the gears continued to turn, trying to work some sort of mechanism that was most likely disconnected or defunct.
Maleficent stood in the center of the chamber, facing an unfamiliar figure, who stood by the window, looking out toward the castle that Maleficent had once called "Hollow Bastion". The stranger was a human male. He wore a black coat, slacks and shoes. The coat and slacks had purple trim at the collar, wrists and ankles. He had long white hair which came to small spikes going down. The 'do reminded Pete of that Riku kid. His arms were crossed behind his back, and Pete could see that his hands were very pale, as if he had scarce seen the sun for years, only stepping outside when necessary. Despite this, he appeared to be well-built. His sleeves widened toward the wrist, and they hung loose over his forearms.
"I remember when this world was ruled by darkness," the stranger spoke with a deep voice, still facing away from Maleficent and Pete. "Eighteen months ago, those who used the power of the Heartless made their home in that castle. Now it is the property of the defenders of light."
Maleficent scowled. "If you have any business to intrude here other than to gloat, speak it, or leave," she threatened, maintaining her commanding presence while keeping her irritation in check. Pete simply stared at the newcomer. This was definitely the source of the interference. Sizing him up, he judged that he was far more formidable than he appeared.
"Clearly, you cannot simply snuff out the light." The man turned to face the witch. Pete noticed that he wore a sort of purple body armor that hugged his torso tightly and gave an even greater impression of his developed physique. The synthetic fiber had a blue trim. A part at the middle rose above the collar to sit over part of his chin. He wore a purple and blue belt with a square maroon belt buckle that had a design resembling a blue sun spreading its rays around the edge of the buckle. There were two small maroon pouches on either side, clipped onto the bottom edge of the belt with a pair of bronze hooks each. Looking at his face, Pete was instantly intimidated. The man's face was just as pale as his hands. He wore a small goatee on his chin, which spread around the tip by an inch on either side and had been allowed to grow to little more than peach fuzz. His eyes were covered by bangs ever so slightly, but Pete could see the cold, piercing gaze in his fierce red eyes. The combination of light hair, pale skin and red eyes reminded Pete of the folk tales he had heard around the worlds about vampires. He was freaked out even more when he realized that the raven was staring at him just as fiercely and the man was not even a bit perturbed.
Despite his fear of both the intruder and his boss, Pete decided to speak up. "Who are you, anyway?" he asked, doing surprisingly well to keep his voice from shaking. "And what do you know about what we've been doing?"
"I am Zeromast," the man introduced himself, his expression unchanging. "And I know everything that has ever happened."
Pete was confused. "What does that mean?" Maleficent gave him a curt glance, not wanting to lose control of the conversation to the newcomer and his ego nor to her subordinate.
Zeromast spread his arms out as he answered. "Every war that was ever fought, I know every detail. I have seen every blow struck. Everything ever learned, I have learned as well, following the studies and lectures throughout the history of all the worlds."
Maleficent and Pete shared a glance. Pete was growing less wary after such a silly boast, and Maleficent was losing patience.
"So, is he one of those door-to-door religious types?" Pete asked her.
"It matters not," Maleficent answered quickly. She raised her scepter, which flared with tongues of green fire.
Zeromast reached into his right pocket and took out a palm-sized rock with a rectangle carved into it. Maleficent pointed her scepter at the man and a ball of green flame flew from the crystal orb. Unconcerned, Zeromast tapped the carved shape with two fingers then held the rock out in front of him. The fireball made contact with the stone, which was now emitting a white glow from the carved lines, and simply vanished without fanfare.
After a brief pause, Pete spoke. "Okay, talk," he said.
"Tell us what you would like to say," Maleficent asked of him, a command wrapped in the tone of a request. She was still unfamiliar with the concept of tact.
Zeromast replaced the runestone and cleared his throat. "I understand that for the past decade, you have been using the Heartless to consolidate your rule. First, you led the creatures of darkness to consume the hearts of the worlds so as to plunge them all into darkness. But not only did the Keyblade wielder impede your plan by locking the Keyholes of the worlds he came across, but the worlds were all brought back to the realm of light when the hero and the King accessed Kingdom Hearts. This also resulted in the defeat of your allies as well as your own death."
Maleficent grimaced. "Do not remind me," she retorted with a hint of anger.
"Then, after you returned, you downgraded to simply gathering an army of Heartless to try to crush your opponents," he continued, disregarding the witch's remark. "But once again, light fought back." He wagged his index finger to punctuate the last three words.
"Get to the point," Maleficent loudly commanded.
Zeromast frowned, but continued. "You have been fighting against the laws of the universe, expecting everything to bend to your will when it instead sticks to its own rules. There is a balance, one that the worlds and their defenders will try to maintain. Just as light cannot exist without darkness, nor can darkness exist without light. You cannot smother everything in shadow and not expect light to shine through. As long as the universe continues to maintain its balance, it will never bend to your will.
"But what if I told you that you could change the rules?" Maleficent and Pete were piqued at this, as Zeromast hoped. "Imagine a place from which Creation flowed, a sealed ground where rules can be written, enacted, and repealed, and matter and life itself can be created and tied together. Such a closely-kept secret that only a single person from each world is allowed to know something of that nature even exists. What would you say if you were made aware of such a place?"
For once, Maleficent was at pause. She gripped her chin, deep in thought. "A place where I could change the rules that govern the entire universe… Not even the great dominion of Kingdom Hearts would hold authority over this power?"
"From what I understand, Kingdom Hearts exists due to the code written in this place," the man clarified, his red eyes gleaming. He knew he had them sold.
"How do we know this ain't just some bamboozle?" Pete questioned, still unsure whether this stranger actually had their interests at heart.
The sly scholar anticipated the question. "I swear to you, this is no joke. And I will be happy to share with you everything that I know of this place, if you choose to take me up on my offer."
Maleficent raised an eyebrow. "What sort of offer?" Pete gasped and looked at her disbelieving, amazed that she was actually listening to him, particularly after the last time a strange man offered her a power she could not refuse. He did not know the details, but he knew full well that the weirdo in the brown robe only intended to gain power for himself and left Maleficent in the dust, which led to her temporary death. And then the guy's other half, his Nobody, became their rival for world domination.
Zeromast extended his hand, a simple gesture even though neither the witch nor the cat could reach it and probably would not care to even if they could. "An alliance. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours, as the saying goes. I cannot reach this place without your help, and, though I mean no disrespect, you cannot get what you want without the power I speak of. Ascertain this power, claim control over reality itself, and all our wishes will come true. What do you say?"
Maleficent took a moment to consider the offer. She noticed that Pete was no longer trying to dissuade her, and gave him an inquisitive glance, wordlessly asking for his input.
It took a few seconds, but Pete noticed Maleficent's expression and realized what it meant. "Well, I think it might be worth a shot," he suggested, keeping his voice to a whisper so Zeromast would not be able to hear. "We see what he's got, go along with it, and see if we can't get it. All the while, we keep an eye on this guy, and if he betrays us, we turn the tables. Hey, and if this works, we can finally get that world domination! And the Boat-Boy King, and the runt Sora, they will be kissing the ground where we stepped. Ga-ha!" He covered his mouth, embarrassed, when he realized that in his enthusiasm he let out a loud cackle.
Maleficent nodded at him, deciding to ignore the outburst, then turned her gaze back to Zeromast. "All right. We have a deal."
Zeromast smiled. "Very well," he declared. "But first, we must gather allies. This will be a massive operation spanning every world. And as I mentioned before, brute force and strength in numbers aside, which in this case tends not to amount to anything when the defenders of light actually fight back, the resourcefulness of just the two of you is… limited."
"Well, ya see, we did try to put the band back together when Maleficent came back," Pete explained, "but most of them were dead, Hook wanted nothing to do with the Heartless, Jafar was stuck in a lamp and nowhere to be found for months, and Hades simply refused."
"I have located others, who I am sure would be happy to join our enterprise," Zeromast promised. "I have compiled a list. Feel free to take some off if you don't think they will work." He reached into his left pocket and took out a square of neatly-folded paper. He opened the paper up into a full-sized sheet with yellowing edges and stepped forward to hand it to Maleficent.
Maleficent and Pete looked the paper over. There was a list of names going down, written in perfect calligraphy. Next to each name was the name of the world on which they lived.
"Glom… Him?" Pete considered the idea, then shook his head. "No way! If we pick this guy up, then one way or another, we'll get the McDuck guy going against us directly!"
Maleficent thought about this for all of three seconds before quickly slicing the name off of the list with her razor-sharp nail. Listening in and watching, Zeromast gave a quick nod in understanding, making sure they did not see him do so.
"Wait, I thought he was dead," Pete commented. "Didn't you throw him off the fortress when we invaded five years ago?"
Maleficent checked the name Pete was focusing on, and paused, taking a minute to recall. "That was moments before the Keyhole was breached and the world was consumed. Perhaps the final hours were undone when it was brought back."
"Then it's good he probably won't remember you did that, huh?" Pete doubled back to a name higher up on the list. "You think he'll actually say yes?"
"If we suggest that he could use this power to claim that seat at the head of his pantheon and a chance to finally get his revenge on the demigod, I am sure he will be on board."
Pete snickered. "Those twerps won't stand a chance!" The raven cawed in agreement
Zeromast watched as his new allies made up their minds and smirked to himself. So it begins, he thought to himself.
A/N: In case you're wondering why I put the prologue and the first three chapters up in one day, I figured that I should get this stuff out and introduce the main groups so I can get things moving so that you all don't lose interest with a sluggish opening. I'll post the next three chapters next week, and after that things are going to pick up, so I'll switch to a more standard schedule with one chapter per week. Let me know what you think as it goes along.