54. Bad Breakups
When Vexen became aware of the presence of another living being at the opposite end of his lab table, he considered actively ignoring it. But, figuring it was one of his more respectable colleagues or superiors, he lifted his head to look the person in the eye.
Which turned out to be a mistake, as it was Demyx.
"What do YOU want?" Vexen snapped.
"I was just curious," Demyx began.
"If you're expecting me to explain to you everything you don't know," Vexen sighed, "you should be aware that there are some tasks even beyond my ability."
"How about you just explain ONE thing," Demyx proposed, "and we'll call it square?"
Vexen sighed. "What can I tell you?"
"Well," Demyx recalled, "back in Organization XIII, nobody ever seemed to like me. And nobody ever seemed to like you, either. So why weren't you nicer to me? We were both kinda the outcasts of the group. Shouldn't losers stick together?"
"The difference is that I was disliked because the others could not comprehend me or accept that I was right," Vexen told Demyx. "You were disliked because you are insufferable by nature. If you are looking to ally yourself with outcasts and incompetents, I suggest you turn away from me and look within these walls. You are bound to find at least one who will suit you for company."
"I just thought that maybe, since we both actually understood where we came from before this, we might have some kind of, I dunno, brotherhood thing," Demyx suggested.
"Your reasoning has led you false," Vexen said sharply.
Demyx shrugged. "Thought I'd try, anyway." He set a small flask on the table. "By the way, I have it on very good authority that Garfield Lynns took this from you."
Vexen wasn't sure whether or not to believe him; Demyx had a tendency to pass the blame onto other people to cover for his wrongdoings. Then again, Garfield was the sort who would swipe something from Vexen for fun. Vexen simply clutched the flask, bringing it closer to himself protectively.
"See ya," Demyx said as he turned and strode away.
"Man, that was cold," Herb said from his own table, where he was tightening screws on an incomprehensible device.
"Certain elements are not meant to mix," Vexen said haughtily. "Such as that which composes me and that which composes him."
"Do you actually like anyone here?" Herb wondered out loud.
"I have no heart," Vexen reminded him. "It is impossible for me to truly 'like.' I respect a great many people here. Mr. Snatcher, Mozenrath, the Huntsman, Xayide, Neopolitan…" The obvious answer lingered on his tongue for a moment.
"I heard through the grapevine you have a complicated relationship with the violin woman," Herb brought up.
Herb had been the one to say it out loud, Vexen thought, not Vexen himself. "She committed an error that caused me to reconsider my judgment. But before that, she was among those I respected most."
"What'd she do?"
"I would rather not discuss it."
"No, seriously. You brought it up, and now I gotta know."
Vexen sighed. "She undertook a mission she should not have. She interfered in a process I had completely under control."
"Yikes. Did she mess you up?"
"Technically, no…"
"Then what's the problem?"
"I don't think I need to explain further," Vexen said sharply before immersing himself once more in his work.
He was hiding something, Herb thought. A motivation he didn't want anyone to know. And as someone who'd only been his lab-mate for a short time, Herb knew he wasn't going to be the one to coax the answer out. He hoped Ravess could figure it out. He felt rather bad for her, knowing what he knew of her and Vexen's tiff.
Come to think of it, he felt a little bad for Demyx, too. No one in the WHAM ARMY seemed to have connected with him yet, and he seemed relatively harmless. Hopefully, Herb thought, Demyx could make some good friends soon.
Hopefully he would also find the blueprints for his old gadgets, which seemed to have disappeared. He moved a few tools aside and found them neatly stacked up on the side of the table, where he was sure he had looked several times already, but he shrugged it off.
...
When Sora, Riku, and Kairi reconvened in the Radiant Garden library, they needed quite some time to swap stories. Once they finished, all were rather awestruck.
"I'm glad everyone came out of your mission okay," Sora said in concern. "So Dilan's back to his old ways too."
"More and more of the Organization seem to be showing up," Riku observed. "Hopefully, we won't have to deal with the return of any more."
"Not Ienzo!" Kairi insisted. "Or Lea or Aeleus!"
"We have no reason not to trust any of them," Riku said firmly. "I'm more concerned about the ones we haven't heard from since their defeat. If Demyx showed up again, there might not be anything stopping Marluxia from coming back."
"That was one of the guys I forgot, right?" Sora inquired.
"Be glad you did," Riku told him. "Anyway, we're glad to hear you made it through your mission okay."
"It was nothing I couldn't handle!" Sora bragged. "Well, except for the endless parade of Heartless. But the rest of it? Piece of cake!"
"I'd love to be able to meet the other friends you made there someday," Kairi said.
Riku nodded. "Me too. Any friend of yours is a friend of mine."
"That makes almost everyone in existence your friend," Kairi laughed.
"Well, at least Xander, Ren, and Cadance had a good time," Sora said wistfully. "Things have been kinda hard on the rest of us. I know we're supposed to be going after Cinder Fall next, but I think we all just need to take a long break."
"I wouldn't mind a longer break than usual," Riku agreed. "There's danger all around, but if we don't take some time to lift our spirits, we'll be worse off."
"We'll run it by everyone else," Kairi agreed, "but I think we can stand to wait a little bit before we ask the hourglass for anything else."
"Sooooooo," Sora said, "what should we do in the meantime? Something fun?"
"I could go for some fun," Riku said with a nod.
"I think there's an old board for Command Capture somewhere around here," Kairi suggested, "if you're up for a game. Ienzo and I used to play all the time when we were younger."
"I think that's a great idea," Riku told her.
"We should see if anyone else wants in," Sora suggested. "I think I know just who to ask."
"You go do that," Kairi told Sora and Riku, "and I'll find that board."
Sora and Riku managed to round up three more players, one of whom insisted upon making unhealthy snacks for the occasion. Kairi located the board game, spreading it out on the floor of the library's lower level. When the six players arranged themselves around the board, Kairi took some time to explain how the game was played; the others caught on fast.
After a half hour had passed, Stork and Papyrus entered the library, in the midst of a conversation. "That would make being boiled alive my…thirty-second least favorite way I would ever want to be tortured," Stork mused.
"IT CERTAINLY DOESN'T SOUND PLEASANT," Papyrus agreed. "THOUGH I RATHER THOUGHT THAT – WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?"
He and Stork stopped in their tracks. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Ruby, Chip, and Vida lay sprawled around the game board. Several plates held the remains of the chocolate chip cookies Ruby had made, which had been mostly reduced to crumbs in the carpet and chocolate stains on napkins that were strewn about. Chip had thought to remove his shoes and socks for comfort, and the other five had followed suit, leaving said articles splayed across the room.
"I move forward two spaces," Kairi announced, "land on the prize cube, ride it for two more spaces, and collect the points from it!"
"All right, my roll," Chip said as he took the dice. As he tossed them onto the board, he considered his next move. "Okay. I think I'm going to move onto this space Sora's holding – "
"Heyyyyy!" Sora complained. "I'm in last place! Can you let me keep just one?"
"I'll think about it," Chip teased. "Hmm…no. I'm going to take over your space and complete my chain of three."
"HA!" Ruby cried as she pointed at Sora.
"You're ruthless," Sora said jokingly.
"That's what they call me!" Chip replied. "Ruthless Chip!"
"No one calls you that," Vida laughed. "You're the opposite of ruthless."
"Maybe when board games aren't involved!" Chip retorted.
"EXCUSE ME?" Stork broke in, bringing all eyes to him and Papyrus. "Do you have any idea how big of a MESS YOU'RE MAKING?"
"YOU'VE GOTTEN COOKIE CRUMBS ALL OVER THE CARPET!" Papyrus observed. "YOUR SHOES AND SOCKS ARE EVERYWHERE, AND THOSE NAPKINS ARE GOING TO GET THE CARPET EVEN MORE DIRTY! YOU SHOULD MOVE THAT GAME UP ONTO THE TABLE AND CLEAN UP THAT MESS!"
"And at LEAST put your shoes and socks under the table," Stork contributed.
"Come on, guys," Vida protested, "it's just for a little bit. We'll clean up later."
"THAT'S WHAT THEY ALL SAY!" Papyrus accused. "BUT THAT'S GENERALLY SANS-SPEAK FOR 'I REFUSE TO CLEAN UP AT ALL'!"
"Please?" Ruby begged. "We're in the middle of stress relief!"
"You can have stress relief in an actual CLEAN environment," Stork argued.
"I don't see why it bugs you so much," Vida went on. "You can just pretend we're not here."
"Pretend you're not here," Stork repeated. A sly smirk spread over his face as he turned to Papyrus. "Did you hear that, Papyrus? We should pretend they're not here."
"I DID HEAR THAT!" Papyrus affirmed. "AND I THINK IT'S A WONDERFUL IDEA! LET'S GO START PRETENDING THEY'RE NOT HERE AT ONCE!"
Exchanging a suspicious glance, the pair of neat freaks left the room.
"Okay," Riku said once they were gone, "my roll." He tossed the dice. "That puts me on Ruby's space – "
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Ruby howled.
"And I think I want it," Riku said with a smirk.
The thrumming sound of a vacuum cleaner became apparent in the distance; then Stork and Papyrus burst through the door with the device, letting it whine loudly. "SHOULD WE MAYBE WAIT FOR ANOTHER TIME TO VACUUM THE LIBRARY?" Stork called out over the noise.
"I DON'T SEE WHY WE SHOULD!" Papyrus replied. "THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO ONE HERE TO BE BOTHERED!"
Stork began sucking up the cookie crumbs with the vacuum hose, making deliberately sure to get it close to the faces of everyone playing the game.
"HEY!" Ruby swiped her piece off the board before it could disappear into the vacuum.
"Okay, okay!" Sora grumbled, standing up. "We'll clean up!"
"I'M SORRY?" Stork replied. "I COULDN'T HEAR ANYTHING!"
"IT MUST BE BECAUSE THERE'S NO ONE THERE!" Papyrus insisted.
Riku, Kairi, Ruby, Chip, and Vida all stood up along with Sora. "WE'LL CLEAN UP!" the six yelled as one.
Stork switched off the vacuum. "Perfect," he said with a grin that was positively evil.
Riku took ahold of the vacuum. "I can finish getting the crumbs out of the carpet," he said decisively. "Kairi, Vida, can you move the board on top of the table? Ruby, you should pick up all the napkins. Chip, you can help move the shoes. Just be sure to keep the pairs together."
"Okay, you totally didn't give Sora anything to do because he's your boyfriend," Vida pointed out.
Riku grinned. "Not entirely wrong."
"I'll help move the socks," Sora volunteered. He gently nudged Riku's upper arm; "Thanks for trying."
The group worked away at their cleanup as Papyrus and Stork observed. "Was that SO hard for them?" Stork sighed.
"IT ALMOST FEELS A LITTLE UNFAIR THAT WE ARE JUST STANDING AND WATCHING WHILE THEY DO THE WORK," Papyrus commented.
"Well, there's no shortage of things that need cleaning in this castle," Stork pointed out. "If it makes you feel better, we could team up on one of the bathrooms. We could even do an entire floor of bathrooms, but that's nobody's idea of fun…heheh…"
"AN ENTIRE FLOOR'S WORTH OF BATHROOMS?" Papyrus repeated. "THAT IS A TASK FOR ONLY THE BRAVEST OF MONSTERS! AND AS ONE OF THE VERY BRAVEST MONSTERS OF THEM ALL, I GLADLY ACCEPT!"
"As neither a monster nor very brave," Stork chimed in, "I think I'm gonna join you on that one anyway."
...
An insistent rap came on the door of the apartment that had been assigned to the Overkills. "Just a minute!" Scarlet yelled before finally reaching and opening the door to find Snatcher on the other side, his hands behind his back.
"Mrs. Overkill," he greeted.
"Mr. Snatcher," she replied.
"I had simply wanted to wrap up a loose end," Snatcher told her. "Now, don't go reading all into this. It was purely Torchwick's idea. But since our acquisition of the meteorite ended up playing into the grand scheme, we thought it only fair to let you personally keep the other half of our spoils. That being said, Torchwick, Mr. Lynns, and I have been working on a little…project involving the objects in question."
"A project," Scarlet repeated, dubious. "Does this have anything to do with what you're hiding behind your back?"
"It most certainly does," Snatcher confirmed. "The three of us managed to create this, which I thought might be of interest to you."
He brought the object he had been holding out into Scarlet's view. The starting point had been the emerald, ruby, and sapphire medallions; the gold from around them had been melted down and reforged into the frame of a tiara. This tiara sported the emerald, the ruby, and the sapphire on its front, forming the base of a pyramid that was topped off by the massive diamond.
"You had a particular affinity for crowns, if I recall correctly," Snatcher said casually.
Scarlet's hands flew to her mouth. "This…is for me?" she said around her gloved fingers. "I don't believe this. I…"
"Just take it," Snatcher urged. "As I said, it was Torchwick's idea."
Scarlet swiped the crown, settling it on her head beneath the hair heaped upon it. "I'M A PRINCESS!" she squealed. "Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!"
"Mrs. Overkill," Snatcher sighed, "please do not make a spectacle of – "
She surged forward and pulled Snatcher into a tight hug.
"AND DON'T DO THAT," he growled. Still, he made no move to push her away, simply rolling his eyes and bearing it. He should have expected this and he knew it.
The Huntsman's voice broke in over the intercom: "Mozenrath. Archibald Snatcher. Roman Torchwick. Yzma. Wuya. Madam Mim. Ayam Aghoul. Report to the lower meeting room. NOW."
"That would be me," Snatcher informed Scarlet. "The Huntsman will be most displeased if I am not punctual, so kindly LET ME GO."
Scarlet backed off. "Okay." Then, in a loud whisper: "Thank youuuu."
Snatcher gave her another eyeroll in response before shutting her door and making his way down to where he'd been called.
The lower meeting room was the one where all but Mozenrath had conspired to ordain a leader when Mozenrath's memory had been erased; having never seen the room before, Mozenrath had to be shown the location by Yzma, but once there, he acted as if he'd known about the room all along. Once all eight were gathered, the Huntsman fixed them all with a venomous glare from the depths of his helmet.
"I have come here to discuss the nature of our relationship," he announced in a low tone.
Mozenrath knew what was coming, and he found it difficult to accurately describe the emotion that was rising within him. He just knew it was ugly and full of sharp edges.
"Whoa," Roman commented. "What's with the tone? Did one of us break your favorite vase or something?"
"I'm sure we are all aware that for the majority of our employment together," the Huntsman went on, "we have considered each other friends. The seven of you may define your relationships with one another however you like, but I am here to inform you that such a label shall no longer apply to me. I am your ally and your co-worker. I am not your friend. I do not wish for you to address me as such, to invite me to gatherings that do not pertain to business, or to interact with me in any way that is anything but professional. Those of you who know my legal name are not to use it."
"Wait," Yzma interrupted. "Who knows your NAME?"
"It's George," Wuya answered. "We found that out in the Four Nations."
"George?" Mim repeated. "Well, that's a letdown."
"You don't perchance have a surname, do you?" Snatcher asked.
"I AM 'THE HUNTSMAN' TO YOU ALL," the Huntsman insisted. "I request to hold my authority as a founding member of this faction if I am so allowed. However, as of now, my friendship with each and every one of you is dissolved."
"You're breaking UP with us?" Wuya seethed.
"What have we ever done to you?" Snatcher asked coldly. "I'd thought we were of quite like minds!"
"I have been putting my priorities in the wrong place," the Huntsman asserted. "I have lost sight of my goals and who I am. I intend to right this wrong by cutting out all unnecessary diversions."
"UNNECESSARY DIVERSIONS?" Yzma repeated. "Is THAT what we are to you?"
"Well, fine!" Mim folded her arms. "Maybe we don't want you for a friend anyway!"
"Um, yeah, we do," Roman contradicted. "This ain't gonna fly, Skullface."
"I would prefer the elimination of nicknames as well," the Huntsman told Roman stonily.
"Too bad, Skullface," Roman countered. "You don't just get to call off our friendship whenever you feel like it because…because of whatever the FUCK reason this is!"
"It's because he didn't get to kill TWO dragons," Mozenrath explained coldly. "He thinks if he didn't care about us, he would have managed to bag them both."
"I am certain I would have," the Huntsman insisted.
"THAT'S what this is about?" Wuya said, flabbergasted. "Dragon slaying as a career, I get, but throwing us aside because you missed one or two? You still killed one on our watch!"
"Are you THAT obsessed?" Yzma added.
"You know what this is?" Snatcher hypothesized. "You're out of your comfort zone, and are blaming us for the fact that you know care about things other than all you knew."
"Hypocritical words, coming from one who eschewed all bonds in pursuit of a white hat," the Huntsman pointed out.
"And that's what makes the two of us so similar!" Snatcher insisted.
"So that's it?" Aghoul asked. "No more karaoke nights?"
"It isn't as though I was ever a contributing part of your frivolities to begin with," the Huntsman pointed out.
"And whose fault is that?" Yzma asked. "We've accepted you so far as an even bigger killjoy than Mozenrath. It's just who you are. But at some point, you're just going out of your way to avoid caring about any of us!"
"As is the plan!" the Huntsman reminded her. "As should have been the plan from the very beginning!"
"Well, we like you now," Aghoul said aggressively, "and there's no coming back from that!"
"Are you saying you don't like any of US?" Mim asked.
"I respect your accomplishments and powers," the Huntsman replied.
"Starting to sound like Iceman a tiny bit," Roman pointed out.
"That's no coincidence," Mozenrath told him. "Guess who put these thoughts in his head?"
"THE WORDS WERE TRUE," the Huntsman insisted, "AND THEY ARE NOW MY OWN!"
"How do you KNOW all of this?" Yzma asked. "Did you two discuss this beforehand?"
"Of course they did," Wuya realized. "They're dating."
"Of COURSE!" Yzma remembered. "Now that Mozenrath has his memories back – "
"We WERE involved," the Huntsman corrected. "We are no longer."
"Well, Mozenrath?" Aghoul asked. "Are you going to let him just cut us off?"
"I've already told him all I have to say on the subject," Mozenrath grumbled. He was riding a fine line between anger and a more melodramatic breakdown, and he was doing his best to tilt toward the side of anger in front of the others.
"And what happens next, hm?" Snatcher asked. "Do you abandon us in favor of someone who will treat you more PROFESSIONALLY?"
"That is not my intent," the Huntsman said calmly. "Then again, should this arrangement continue to result in failure, my departure is not out of the cards."
"WHAT?" the others cried as one – except for Mozenrath, who remained silent, giving the impression of stoicism.
"You can't walk out on us!" Yzma insisted. "Not after all we've been through together!"
"As I told Mozenrath," the Huntsman declared, "one day, you will all realize that you have to make the same choice. Either your friendship with each other, or the goals you have devoted your lives to realizing. You cannot have it all."
"Yes, we can!" Mim argued. "We can have whatever we want, and we won't give up until we get it!"
"I cannot believe you are arguing in favor of friendship," the Huntsman told Mim in disbelief.
"Normal friendships are disgustingly sweet affairs," Mim explained. "What we have is deliciously despicable! Eight evil minds coming together to produce even more evil!"
"That is the general result," Wuya agreed. "The only reason we work is because we work TOGETHER."
"I disagree," the Huntsman stated. "I can see there is no convincing you to accept this change of status. You shall simply have to become used to it. If you have not understood me thus far, I have no more to say to you." He turned and stalked from the room, cape billowing behind him.
"DON'T YOU FUCKING WALK OUT ON US!" Roman yelled, but to no avail.
Once the eight had become seven, six of them turned to look at Mozenrath, all thinking the same thing: the Huntsman's change of heart must have hit him hardest of all. "What do you make of this?" Wuya asked.
"If he wants to stop being our friend," Mozenrath said dryly, "then he made his choice. Who am I to stop him?"
"You're taking this pretty well, all considered," Yzma observed.
"I don't have any choice but to take it well," Mozenrath told her. "Besides, what does it even matter? It probably did make us weaker anyway."
"You're NOT taking this well, are you?" Snatcher realized.
He could have lied. But Mozenrath knew perfectly well the company he was in. "N…no…no, I'm not." He closed his eyes, shaking. "But I don't have any CHOICE."
Aghoul threw an arm around Mozenrath, casually pulling him close. "I've seen this before," he said flippantly. "You want them, but they don't want you. Thankfully, there are solutions. I have any number of ways to force the Huntsman to marry you against his will. Then he'll HAVE to treat you as more than a co-worker."
Mozenrath's eyes snapped open at this prospect, and Wuya saw the interest spark within them. She shoved herself between Mozenrath and Aghoul, forcing them apart with her outstretched arms. "We are NOT doing that," she insisted. "You'll just…have to get over him." She withdrew her arms for a shrug. "It won't be as hard as you think it is. I've gotten over plenty of men and women in my life. Granted, most of them I was just using as idle distractions before I disposed of them, but there were some sparks. I had a little bit of difficulty breaking up with…well, you don't need to hear my story. Soon, he'll be like a broken sword. You throw it out and you forget it was ever that useful. Then you get a new sword. It's the cycle of evil."
"I…will…move on," Mozenrath insisted between deep breaths. His quivering voice righted itself into his usual flippant tone: "If he thinks he can throw us out so easily, he wasn't worth my time anyway. He wasn't worth OUR time."
"Forget him!" Mim grunted. "We don't need him!"
"I'm not so sure about that," Snatcher muttered, looking at the door through which the Huntsman had left.
"We need to figure out what we're doing next," Mozenrath stated. "We need to find the next element and acquire it. Without him."
"You realize that will involve talking to Vexen," Yzma reminded Mozenrath. "Who I am to understand is…somehow involved in all of this?"
"I don't mind talking to him," Mozenrath said casually. "In fact…" He clenched both fists. "I have some choice words set aside for him."
...
Kairi stood on tiptoe to replace the Command Capture board in the storage closet where she'd found it. It was part of a stack of many board games, some of which she had vague memories of playing with Ienzo and their grandmother when she was but a child. They perhaps deserved revisiting. She wondered about inviting Ienzo to the next game.
The thought made her shudder. Up until recently, she had felt safe rekindling her relationship with her brother. But Dilan's defection had given her cause for concern. Could Ienzo also be harboring secret thoughts of betrayal? According to Riku, he had been a mastermind of the Castle Oblivion scheme. It was all too possible that he could want to reclaim that life.
As Kairi's heart sank, she knew what this situation called for. If the Atmos debacle had taught her anything, it was not to refrain from communication when the dynamic between oneself and someone else was unsure. She became determined to find Ienzo and ask him about the subject point-blank.
He was slightly difficult to find, but eventually located in a lounge, taking tea with Lea and Aeleus. All three of them, Kairi realized, were suspect now. She wondered if perhaps it would be more appropriate to return at a later time, when she could catch one of them alone rather than bringing up the subject in front of all three.
But she'd been noticed. "Kairi?" Ienzo greeted, glimpsing her in the door frame. "Did you want something?"
"I…" Kairi swallowed hard, flushing with nerves. "I'm not sure if it's a good time to talk about it."
"What, you've got something to say to him you can't say in front of me?" Lea teased. "I thought we were better friends than that."
"If she wants her privacy, we should respect that," Aeleus chimed in. "But I am willing to halt our conversation for this."
"Well, it kind of does involve all three of you," Kairi admitted.
"Come on in," Lea said with a beckoning gesture.
Kairi tentatively moved into the room.
"Sit," Aeleus told her, and the tone of his voice was such that she found herself quickly scrambling into a chair.
"Now," Ienzo said as he leaned in toward Kairi, "what did you wish to discuss with us?"
"Well…" Kairi knotted her fingers together in her lap. "I was just thinking about how Dilan turned on us on Atmos, and…" She didn't want to accuse any of them outright, so she turned her gaze down to her laced hands.
"Ah," Ienzo realized. "You are afraid one or more of us will return to our old ways as well."
"It's not that I think you will," Kairi said hastily. "It's just…I trusted Dilan."
"Yeah," Lea replied. "So did we."
"We were actually discussing a relatively similar subject ourselves," Ienzo admitted. "Hence the reason the three of us gathered. First we lost Even to the temptations of the Darkness, and now Dilan. It is concerning to say the least."
"He said he missed the thrill of manipulating people and ruining their lives." Kairi's head snapped upward. "You don't feel that way, do you?"
"No," Ienzo assured her. "To this day I am plagued by regrets. I am very thankful that you have all forgiven me after what I have done."
"You wanna talk about forgiveness?" Lea chimed in, looking to Ienzo. "I still can't believe you let it go that I made the replica murder you."
"We were both different then," Ienzo stated. "You were corrupted by a multitude of influences, and I daresay I deserved what was coming to me."
"We were all different," Aeleus added.
"Well, I don't miss it one bit," Lea said as he leaned back in his seat, crossing one ankle over the opposite knee. "If there's anything I still miss, it's Roxas. Y'know, sitting on the tower with him and sharing an ice cream. But I know THAT ship's sailed. The rest of the Organization's icky business? I'm through with that."
"I'm sorry you had to lose Roxas," Kairi said sympathetically.
"Hey, I've had enough time to get over it," Lea told her.
"I can only imagine doing the things I did if I truly had no heart to regret them," Aeleus broke in, "and even then, looking back now, I should know much better. There was no thrill to be had in such pursuits."
"I know there probably isn't anything we can say to ease your mind permanently," Ienzo told Kairi. "As time passes, our trust will build with each other. But for what it is worth, I couldn't take pleasure in manipulation or harm anymore. There are still deeds I feel as though I need to make up for."
"Thank you for telling me," Kairi replied. "I'm sorry if I made you feel…accused."
"Hey, after Even and Dilan, anyone would suspect us," Lea told her. "I'm surprised more people haven't come forward about it."
"I worry of who may suspect us in silence," Aeleus added.
"I could talk to them," Kairi suggested. "I could ask anyone who suspects you to come forward."
"I appreciate the thought," Ienzo told her, "but the three of us need to fight our own battles. We should know better than to get away with no consequences after pledging our service to Xemnas and all that entails."
"Well, it's like you just said," Kairi replied. "Trust will build after we've spent more time together."
"Perhaps the more worrisome thought is what other ghosts from the past will reappear," Aeleus said somberly. "Sora has also reported the return of Demyx."
"What do you think that guy's real name was, anyway?" Lea wondered out loud.
"I always had the feeling you knew," Ienzo said in surprise. "Were you and Demyx not close?"
"Not really," Lea said. "He and Xigbar always seemed to be the dream team."
"Braig and loyalty hardly seem to be sensible mates," Ienzo reminded Lea. "I doubt any alliance with him was beneficial to Demyx. I always got the feeling Xigbar never liked him."
"I never liked him either," Lea confessed. "Kinda hard to when you get teamed up on a mission and the guy leaves you to die at the hands of a giant Heartless…three different times. It was always run, run away whenever things got dangerous."
"He had no heart," Kairi reminded the others. "Of course he couldn't care about you."
"Well, now we have an even better reason not to like him," Lea pointed out. "If he's in with this Mozenrath guy, we gotta be careful. He'd do anything to get out of a tough fight, but if you somehow miraculously got him to stick around and put up the fight, he was no pushover. Which makes it all the more weird that he tried to abandon so many fights."
"Maybe he just didn't believe in himself," Kairi suggested.
"Or perhaps he was lazy," Aeleus offered.
"I'm gonna go with 'lazy,'" Lea agreed.
"Whatever the case, he and Even have both allied with our newest enemy," Ienzo reiterated.
"Now THAT'S a duo," Lea commented. "How long before they drive each other nuts?"
"I would not be surprised if one did not come out of the arrangement alive," Aeleus suggested.
"We now can't help but wonder where the others are," Ienzo stated. "There's been no word from Xehanort all this time, and we know Isa and Braig are working with him to this day. That leaves the questions of Marluxia, Luxord, and Larxene…potentially the most dangerous wild cards."
"It never ends," Kairi realized, "does it? There's always a new evil. Or an old evil coming back."
"There's always something to fight," Lea concurred. "But it beats letting 'em win."
Kairi nodded. "And we will fight. No matter how many of them try to tear us apart."
...
After a long time spent in the Liminal Space, multiple cups of tea drank and many tears shed, Harley Quinn stood. "I should leave you guys alone to get some work done," she resolved, trying to put fire back in her voice. "Thanks for bein' here, you guys. It means so much to me."
"Well, we like ya, Harley," Hoagy reminded her. "We don't wanna see ya hurt."
Harley set her teacup down on the shop counter. "But really, I'm takin' up your time, and I gotta…I gotta figure out what I'm doin' next."
"At the risk of saying what you've probably heard before," Terminus ventured, "have you thought about disassociating yourself with, well…him?"
Harley shook her head. "I love him. You'd understand if you loved somebody. Especially somebody bad. You gotta forgive 'em when they mess up. That's just how it is."
"But I know how it is to love somebody who's a bad guy," Hoagy informed her. "And maybe he might send me into a dragon's lair once in a while – "
"Oh, for goodness' sake," Terminus groaned, "you and I both know that dragon wouldn't have hurt you!"
"He wouldn't do anythin' to actually hurt me," Hoagy concluded. "And I wouldn't do anythin' to hurt him."
"He's right, you know," Terminus confirmed. "I wouldn't."
"Oh, you guys…?" Harley pointed to each in turn. She smiled; "I really shoulda guessed. It's obvious now that I think about it."
"You can have a life of cons and crime without the black eyes," Hoagy insisted.
"From him, anyway," Terminus added. "You might pick up a few from the enemies you make along the way. But there are solutions for that, too. Aliases, retaliation…"
"But without him," Harley asked, "then who am I?"
"You're Harley Quinn," Terminus stated, almost derisively. "It's plainly obvious. You're the one who's been whipping this shop into shape, and you've been doing so without any Joker looming over your shoulder. Don't bring him around, by the way. He's the last thing we need mucking up business."
"You'd really be somethin' without him," Hoagy insisted.
"But we're in this together with Maleficent," Harley argued. "How would I even say goodbye to him?"
"How should I know?" Terminus said in mild frustration. "I just know the preferable outcome, not the details!"
"I just don't know," Harley sighed. "He's got ahold of my heart pretty bad. But you guys ain't the first person to tell me I'm better off without a Mr. J. It wasn't this Mr. J., but I ain't sure how all this parallel world stuff works. Maybe deep down, they're just the same. I…I gotta give this some thought."
As she turned for the door, Hoagy asked, "You're not going back to stay with him in the castle, are ya?"
"I think I'll find a spare room to sleep in tonight," Harley replied. "Maybe I'll set up a few blankets in one of the dungeon cells. It couldn't be that hard to bring a mattress down there. I'll be fine! Don't worry about me!"
Then she was through the door and gone, leaving behind a pair who immediately disobeyed her last command and worried.
Harley, in the meantime, began to truly think it over. Was Joker worth all this? Had he crossed a line she couldn't forgive?
Her love for him – was it love after all? – was wrapped up intricately with her loyalty to Maleficent for giving her a purpose and a place to call home when her friends from Gotham had failed her. Joker and Maleficent's destinies were intertwined, and so long as Harley shared space with Maleficent, she could never escape Joker. Did she need to escape him? She hoped not.
For if she hoped to rid herself of him, as it seemed may have been the correct course of action after all, she would have to run away from Villain's Vale altogether.
...
The breeze softly tugged at Moana's hair as she stood out on the ridge of the Radiant Garden castle's outer edges, her eyes drinking in the horizon. The sun had gone down some time ago, leaving a sky with stars scattered throughout. Lamps winked on in the town below.
A rustle of movement alerted Moana to someone else's presence; she turned to behold Katara. "Uh…hi," Katara greeted, waving awkwardly. "I didn't know anyone was still up."
"Hi," Moana replied with a confident wave and a smile. "You're…Katara, right?"
"Right!" Katara nodded. "And I'm sorry, but I forgot your name."
"I'm Moana," Moana reminded her. "What are you up to?"
"Just exploring," Katara stated. "It looks like I'm going to be calling this place home base for a while, so I thought I'd get familiar with it. It's a lot bigger than I expected."
"It's enormous," Moana agreed. "I still get lost sometimes. I didn't go too far away from my room, just in case. You'd think a master wayfinder wouldn't get lost in a castle, but it's harder when you can't map out your course on the stars." A thought crossed her mind; "You know where your room is, right?"
"I think so," Katara replied. "I'll find my way. So what are you doing out here so late?"
"Just looking around," Moana answered. "I think the ocean used to be here, once. There's a lot of empty space outside the town. Like it just dried up. How could that even happen? I just feel like she was here, but now she's lost."
"She?" Katara noticed.
"I have kind of a special relationship with the ocean," Moana explained. "She's my friend. She guides me when I'm lost."
"That's amazing!" Katara gushed. "Can you communicate with it? Her?"
"Yes." Moana nodded.
"The ocean has given so much to me and my people," Katara stated. "If you do meet up with her again, can you tell her I say thank you?"
"I will," Moana promised. "Actually, I was wondering about you. I saw you in the kitchen earlier doing…things with the water that came out of the sink. So I wondered if maybe you had a relationship with the water too."
"Not like you have," Katara answered. "I can't talk to water, and it doesn't guide me. I just bend it. I guide it, really. Which kind of feels weird to think about now that I know the ocean is alive."
"I'm sure she doesn't mind," Moana reassured. She turned back to look at the horizon. "I miss her."
"Well, maybe you can find her on this world," Katara suggested. "There has to be ocean somewhere out there. You just need to figure out where."
"Maybe," Moana agreed. "When things calm down, and if I can get someone to come with me who knows more about this world."
"It could be an adventure!" Katara asserted.
"It would be!" Moana agreed. She began to walk back to the castle's interior, yawning and stretching. "I think I have to get some sleep, though."
"Yeah," Katara agreed. "Me, too."
"I think the room next to mine is empty. If you can't find yours…"
"I'll keep it in mind," Katara said. "Thanks."
They entered the castle together. It took Katara another few minutes, but she eventually arrived back at the room she'd been assigned.
...
After the last noises headed Vexen's way had turned out to be Demyx, he didn't particularly want to acknowledge the next ones, no matter how insistently those footsteps were storming his way. Thus he was caught completely off guard when he was seized by telekinesis and lifted up away from his table, stretched out like a rope.
Mozenrath held his right hand high, indicating it was what was keeping Vexen in place. "YOU," he growled.
"What have I done?" Vexen groaned.
"YOU convinced the Huntsman his friendship with us was holding him back!" Mozenrath insisted as Yzma, Wuya, Snatcher, Roman, Mim, and Aghoul filed in behind him. "YOU'RE the reason he reduced our relationship to professional!"
"I only warned him about the path he was taking by having a romantic relationship with you," Vexen said calmly. "I said nothing about the others. Though it was probably to his benefit to take the extra step."
"YOU RUINED US!" Mozenrath accused.
Yzma could sense Mozenrath was on the verge of doing something nastier to Vexen than simply holding him in place in the air. "Careful," she warned. "We still need him."
"That you do," Vexen reminded. "I am surprised you are taking this so badly. Am I to understand that you had the same feelings for him that he did for you? Because if so, I would have thought to warn you as well."
"WARN ME ABOUT WHAT?" Mozenrath yelled.
"The dangers of becoming attached," Vexen explained. "As I told the Huntsman, I have observed a great man become reduced to barely anything because of the bonds he held. Love, friends, family…it will all tear you apart and lead you to a swift stab in the back. Look, already, how you are reacting to the Huntsman's treatment of you. You're unstable. This is an instability you could avoid if you took the step to redefine what he means to you. If an enemy caught you off guard at this very moment, could you win the fight? What if that enemy were the Huntsman all along? How close would you have let him get?"
"The worst part is there's a time when I would have believed you," Mozenrath admitted. "But you had to throw a rock in the mechanism NOW. AFTER I already let them all in! After I let YOU in!"
"If you have changed to become less sensible," Vexen stated, "that is no one's fault but your own. Just as I do not dictate the Huntsman's actions. I may have warned him, but I forced him to take no action against you. I, for one, believed he would outright ignore me until the end of time. Were I capable of fear, I would fear for you. If the loss of a friendship brings you all to such anger, how easily can our enemies exploit the seven of you from now on?"
Mozenrath growled, "I have half a mind to – "
"PUT him down," Snatcher broke in, shoving himself in front of Mozenrath, "and set this debate aside for another day. It is quite obvious where both of you are coming from, and we could go round and round for hours upon end discussing it. It is clear that Mr. Vexen is acting out of what is to him good intent, whilst Lord Mozenrath is rightly disappointed, as are the rest of us. But Mr. Vexen is right about one thing. The Huntsman is his own man, and made his own decision." He gave Mozenrath a meaningful look.
Mozenrath wasn't quite sure he read exactly everything in Snatcher's gaze that the latter wanted to express, but he got the basic gist. He slowly lowered Vexen back to the floor.
"I'd banish you," Mozenrath threatened Vexen, "but we do still need you."
"And I would refuse to offer my help," Vexen retorted, arms folded, "but as it is, I still need the rest of you. Our professional relationship is, at the moment, symbiotic. Once our goal has been achieved, we can perhaps revisit the matter."
Vexen and Mozenrath stared each other down for a good minute before Wuya cleared her throat and asked, "So. Darkness, Life, or Fire?"
"Right," Mozenrath grumbled. "We came down here to find the location of the next element, and we'll need you to decode the location. I suppose you're going to give us false information and send us on a wild phoenix chase."
"Do you believe I am truly that petty?" Vexen scoffed. "As I mentioned, the completion of this spell is as much my goal as it is yours."
The compass was rounded up and placed into the base of its accompanying map. "Show us where we can find a pure concentration of Darkness," Mozenrath commanded the object.
The map shifted, fixing a world in its sights. However, it was clear to all involved that the world was slightly off-center. A faded presence seemed to shimmer beside it.
"Interesting," Vexen muttered. "Quite interesting."
"Well?" Yzma urged. "Tell us what we're looking at!"
"The world just out of focus in the map is Hyrule," Vexen began.
"THAT'S HYRULE?" Wuya barked suddenly.
"You know the place?" Mim asked.
"Do I KNOW the place?" Wuya repeated. "Hyrule and I have a history."
"Well, we're not going to let you get away with just saying that," Aghoul told her. "Explain this…history."
"You'll recall I ruled my own world with an iron fist and a cloak of Darkness," Wuya reiterated. "I also liked to visit other worlds from time to time and see how they were doing in the Darkness department. That's how I first met Ganondorf. Now, there was a tyrant! He was capable of oh, so horrible things. Our similar taste in destruction and malice drew us to each other, and our competitive streaks made it a competition. We were always trying to out-evil each other with our new schemes. I would bring him reports of things I'd done and compare them to deeds he did. And, as you can expect, we eventually became lovers."
"I'm not sure that was as predictable as you made it out to be," Yzma said in surprise.
Wuya shrugged. "We had similarly twisted minds. We made quite a pair for a while, and we shared a fiery passion…until he decided he actually hated me and I realized I hated him."
"This story is just a ride that you never get off," Roman commented.
"He claimed I was too showy," Wuya groaned. "That having all the frivolities that come with ruling the world wasn't necessary so long as you kept people in line. He was one of those austere types. All business and very little pleasure. Sure, he'd slaughtered thousands, but I didn't realize just how boring he was about it until he started complaining about me and saying I was growing fat resting on my laurels. And may the gods help any man who calls me fat."
"For what it's worth," Mim chimed in, "I always thought you were too skinny and bony."
"I thought you liked skinny and bony," Aghoul brought up.
"Well, you and Rémy both make it work," Mim said with a shrug.
"So I tried to kill him, but he was too strong for that," Wuya continued. "And he tried to kill me, but I was too strong for that. We decided to keep our distance, but I could never stop thinking about how I wanted the last word. So I started devising a plan to show Ganondorf up once and for all while simultaneously killing him. But before I could carry it out, Dashi, Guan, and Chase showed up with their little box, and then it was millennia of solitude and boredom. I never did get the last laugh against Ganondorf. You know, I tried to give him everything when we were together. Riches, jewelry, thrones, carriages. And he didn't want a single bit of it. Of course, this was over a thousand years ago. I suppose he's long dead by now. I wonder what did him in. I'm already jealous of it."
"If you are done telling your sob story about your romantic life," Vexen broke in, "I haven't explained the complications surrounding the depiction on this map. Hyrule is visible, yes, but it is not the location of the item you asked for. The real location is the Twilight Realm: a world cloaked in shadows, only accessible through Hyrule. Many have tried to travel to it through the Darkness or by using a Gummi ship, but all attempts have failed. It is simply as though the world is not there unless it is reached from the access point in Hyrule. And there is only one access point. A mirror in the Gerudo Desert, used to banish war criminals to the Twilight Realm. You will, of course, require a map in order to properly locate it. I shall set about creating one at once. You, in the meantime, may want to assemble a proper team for the extraction of this item." A sudden thought hit him. "And I believe I know exactly what this item is. The fabled Fused Shadow: magic forged from invaders upon godly realms.
"To be more precise, the Twilight Realm is a dimension of punishment forged by the Hylian goddesses to contain those that claimed dominion over the goddesses. The interlopers were banished and their magic distilled into the Fused Shadow. The goddesses of Hyrule wished so badly to keep the interlopers from returning to the realm of light that they left only one link – this mirror I spoke of – connecting the Twilight Realm to any other. I had thought the Shadow was broken and scattered throughout Hyrule, but perhaps I was mistaken. It only makes sense that it should be returned to the Twili. That would be the people that populate the Twilight Realm, of course. Yes, it must be the Shadow you seek. I shall complete the map posthaste." Muttering to himself about twilight and shadows, Vexen sat down and pulled a large sheet of paper toward himself, beginning to sketch.
"The Gerudo Desert, is it?" Wuya repeated. "That was HIS homeland." A sour look crossed her face.
"He really left an impression on you, didn't he?" Yzma realized.
"It was over a thousand years ago," Wuya reminded her. "I've had plenty of time to get over it."
"But did you?"
Wuya sniffed derisively. "Being reminded is more annoying than anything. He was never really worth my time at all."
Her companions all suspected that was not the case, but no one dared challenge her on the point.
"And wasn't 'Shadow' the name of your father?" Mim suddenly recalled.
"This just seems to be a parade of reminders of the people who tried to hold me back," Wuya growled.
"We could schedule a little time for revenge while we're in the neighborhood," Yzma suggested.
"Who is there to get revenge on?" Wuya asked. "Ganondorf and my father are both dead. Reminders are all I have. Let's just focus on getting that Shadow and leaving."
"Well, I doubt the Huntsman wants any part of this," Mozenrath sighed. "Looks like it's just the seven of us."
"Six," Mim corrected. "I've had enough adventuring! You think I want to get captured by another Shadow Man? No, I'm staying here, and any trouble that happens will be caused by my own two hands!"
"Make that five," Aghoul told the group. "Mimsie and I need some time to…catch up."
"That we do!" Mim seized Aghoul by wrapping an arm around his neck and drawing him in close; her grip was too hard, and that was how Aghoul wanted it. She pecked him on the forehead.
"Spare me the details," Mozenrath sighed. "All right. We should round up some candidates to fill in for our missing – "
"Four," Snatcher stated.
"You're not going either," Mozenrath groaned.
"I've a very good reason," Snatcher insisted. "One I shall inform you of when we have a moment of privacy. Torchwick, I do hope this does not hamper your plans."
Roman shrugged. "I'm going with or without you. But do you mind filling me in?"
"Yes," Snatcher said, "after I've spoken with Lord Mozenrath about it. It is a…personal matter."
"Okay," Roman replied. "I'll go pick somebody to fill in. Actually, I have a pretty good idea of who should come with us. It'll be an experiment more than anything, but I wanna see how the guy stacks up."
"There's someone I simply MUST invite on this mission!" Yzma added.
"I have a little experiment in mind, too," Wuya said cryptically. "Someone I don't think we've had the chance to truly see the raw evil power of."
"Then we'll meet in the control room in half an hour," Mozenrath decided.
As Mim, Aghoul, Roman, Yzma, and Wuya departed the lab, Mozenrath turned to Snatcher. "So you want privacy. My quarters should offer that."
"Then let us be off," Snatcher said with a glance askance at Vexen. Vexen was too enraptured by his work to notice.
...
Demyx adjusted his sitar against his body as he stood upon the stage of the karaoke room. The entire chamber was empty; the spacious dance floor would serve his purpose perfectly.
It was partly to practice and partly to have fun. Demyx plucked a string, letting the sound reverberate off the walls.
"Perfect," he muttered.
He set fingers to strings and played; as the notes mingled in harmony, water flowed over the dancefloor, contorting to Demyx's command. It stood up in the form of a hundred clones of himself, which then shifted to the shapes of sitars similar to his own, then musical notes. They flowed together into one body, shooting fountains upward at the edges of the room and slightly shorter fountains adjacent, going inward until they met in a V. The columns of water collapsed, and the entire mass lifted itself off the floor and formed a spiral in midair, curling inward and inward, spinning round and round.
"BOO!"
The sudden noise startled Demyx; he plucked a sour chord, and the water splashed to the floor in a single splat, utterly lacking in grace. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" Demyx whined as he spun to stare down a giggling Roman Torchwick.
"That was priceless," Roman replied. "Come on, even you have to admit it was funny!"
"No, it wasn't!" Demyx moaned.
"Aw, did I huwt you' feewings?" Roman teased. "Well, get over it! We're going on a road trip!"
"WHAT?" Demyx flinched. "We just got BACK from an adventure! You wanna take me on another one?"
"I wanna see what you're made of," Roman told him. "I know the basic gist, but not the details. Apparently, you have wicked awesome powers with that water guitar – "
"It's a sitar," Demyx said flatly. He plucked a string, letting the sound linger on the air. "Can a GUITAR make a sound that pure? Also, its name is Arpeggio."
"…So you're pretty good with that water guitar," Roman insisted; Demyx rolled his eyes. "You're also apparently a stellar thief, as you have NOT yet proven, and you're good at noticing things. But you know what everybody, including me, seems to agree on? You're a little shit. There's GOTTA be more to you than the guy who picks his buddies' pockets because he didn't wanna do hard work. Or the guy who looked at our dying boss and said 'Ew.' I'm just giving you a chance to prove yourself."
"And what if I don't wanna go?" Demyx groaned.
"Then you'll just have to admit that Gar and I are the superior thieves forever," Roman told him.
"But that's not – you're not!" Demyx sputtered.
"You wanna take the title?" Roman challenged. "Then come with us and help us steal a Fused Shadow."
"A WHAT?"
"I don't know. It was something Iceman told us about. All I know is it's gonna help us. Look, it's going to be a pretty easy job. We walk in, we beat up whoever has the Shadow, and we leave."
"This is going to blow up in our faces somehow," Demyx told Roman. "I just know it."
"Well, it usually does," Roman admitted. "Those are the breaks. You wanna be part of the WHAM ARMY – "
"I was FORCED to join the WHAM ARMY!"
" – You prepare for disaster," Roman concluded. "So. Are you in?"
"You're not going to stop bugging me unless I say yes, are you?"
Roman just winked.
"Fine," Demyx sighed. "I'll come on your heist."
"That's the spirit!" Roman clapped Demyx on the back a little too roughly. "Meet us in the control room on the half hour. Be there or be an object of ridicule for the rest of your natural life."
As Roman turned and left, Demyx muttered several rude comments to himself about the redhead. He only had a few more minutes left to practice his craft, so he might as well make the most of it.
...
Irmaplotz lay sprawled out on her stomach on the floor of the reading room, poring over a book as usual. It was just getting to the bad part, which always made her heart beat faster in anticipation. The unfortunate part was that she was beginning to come to the end of the books available in that reading room. Hopefully, there were more libraries scattered throughout the warship; it was the size of a small kingdom, so the prospect was likely. Irmaplotz was prepared to seek out a new haunting ground.
For now, she still had a few novels to go, and the one she was neck-deep in was of extremely poor quality; therefore, it was riveting. Her eyes darted over the page in anticipation. The twist that was coming was predictable, more than foreshadowed, and it would turn the entire narrative into an incredible cliché. Anticipating the inevitable, she flipped the page.
A bare foot slipped under the back cover of the book and slammed it shut, effectively losing Irmaplotz's place.
"Okay, why?" Irmaplotz asked as she looked up at Wuya, who towered over her.
"That's enough reading," Wuya commanded. "You're actually going to go outside and do something."
"Are you criticizing my reading habits," Irmaplotz asked, "or inviting me on a mission?"
"Both," Wuya told her. "We're after powerful Dark magic, and we need extra hands on deck. You seem like a lot of wasted potential that needs to be turned into something useful."
Irmaplotz scrambled to her feet. Her book could wait. "Oh, I'll get you Dark magic," she promised. "I'll show you the true might of Princess Irmaplotz!" She threw up her hands and let out a hearty "BWOHOHOHOHOHO!"
Wuya flinched. "Tell me that's not your actual evil laugh."
"First mother, and now you!" Irmaplotz folded her arms. "Why does EVERYONE always pick on the laugh?"
"Because it's terrible," Wuya said flatly. "Finish up what you were doing and be in the control room on the half hour."
"I will," Irmaplotz promised.
Wuya exited the room, and Irmaplotz scrambled for her book; perhaps she could make it to that twist before –
Wuya zoomed back in and shut the book again. "Oh, no, you don't!" she scolded. "I know how THAT goes! You promise yourself one chapter, and then you're up all night until you've finished it, and you've missed twelve scheduled torture sessions and a blight!"
With a heavy sigh, Irmaplotz shelved the book.
...
Yzma burst into Zevon's apartment without knocking. "ZEVON!" she announced.
Zevon had set up a minor collection of chemistry equipment in his living room for the times when he wanted to work on potions without going all the way to the laboratory to do it. He finished filling up and corking a bottle before addressing Yzma; "Mother!"
"Get your things together!" Yzma demanded. "We're going on a mission!"
"A mission?" Zevon repeated. "A real mission? FINALLY! I get to be a part of your nefarioso schemes!"
"That you do!" Yzma promised.
...
Snatcher shut Mozenrath's apartment door solidly behind him, fairly certain there were no prying ears about yet still wary.
"Sooooooo…you're going to tell me the real reason you're skipping out on this mission?" Mozenrath prompted.
"Someone needs to talk some sense into the Huntsman and Mr. Vexen," Snatcher explained. "Perhaps find the root of their motivations. If the Huntsman thinks he's to cut himself off from us that easily, he's about to be met with resistance. You must admit if anyone can reach him in this dire hour, it is myself."
"And I know you won't make things worse because…?" Mozenrath replied.
"Oh, come now, Lord Mozenrath!" Snatcher feigned hurt at the statement. "Surely you've more faith in me than that!"
"You do have a way with people," Mozenrath admitted.
"I can't promise you'll have the Huntsman's affections back when you return," Snatcher said, "but you'll at least know I will have tried."
"I get you wanting him back as a friend," Mozenrath said. "You two did have a certain chemistry when it came to subduing magical creatures. Why you care about him and me is another matter."
"As disgusted as you may be with public displays of affection," Snatcher told Mozenrath, "I've no doubt you'd do the same to reunite Torchwick and myself, or Madam Mim with Mr. Aghoul. I'll save you a response, as I know you're not about to admit to it. And furthermore, you and the Huntsman simply seem to belong together. The way I'm seeing it, I'm returning the natural order of things."
"Well…" Mozenrath was unsure how to respond. He was somewhat flattered, but he wasn't about to let himself move into the territory of gratitude.
"Say no more," Snatcher told him. "I've already been embraced once today and I don't intend to go through it again unless it comes from Torchwick."
"I don't hug people."
"Then we're on the same page!" Snatcher grinned. "I simply wanted to inform you of my intentions. I'll be telling Torchwick next, but I thought it more appropriate to relay the information to you personally first."
Mozenrath nodded. "It was."
"Just you wait," Snatcher promised. "I'm not about to let him get away with this. And if I can tear down Mr. Vexen's walls in the process, we'll call it a bonus."
...
After Snatcher had explained his absence from the Hyrule mission to Mozenrath, he made a point of seeking out Roman and explaining the same to him. Roman was impressed, expressing faith that Snatcher could accomplish the deed of breaking the Huntsman and Vexen down from their pedestals of emotionless stoicism. With that, Snatcher was bade farewell.
Mozenrath, Yzma, Wuya, Roman, Zevon, Irmaplotz, and Demyx – the latter of whom had considered not showing up but realized the consequences weren't worth it – gathered in the control room of the warship when the clock struck.
"So this is the team," Mozenrath sighed, looking over Irmaplotz, Zevon, and Demyx. "Well, at least this will give you a chance to finally impress me."
"Considerate yourself impressioned!" Zevon stated confidently.
"Don't write me off either," Irmaplotz added.
Yzma nudged Wuya. "Are you ready for this?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" Wuya replied.
Yzma knew better than to retread the ground of Ganondorf. "Just making sure."
Mozenrath cast the Corridor, then held up the map Vexen had drawn of the Gerudo Desert. "One Fused Shadow, ready for the taking."
The seven strolled into the Corridor, already feeling the desert heat from the other side.
...
Cinder Fall bowed before Maleficent. "You wanted to see me."
"Indeed," Maleficent told Cinder. The only other person present in the audience chamber was Ursula, who Maleficent gave a nod toward; Ursula did not need to pay Maleficent such formalities as bowing. "I have a special task for both of you. You may rise."
Cinder stood to full height, and Ursula slid in alongside her.
Maleficent held out a sizeable, rounded bottle filled with sand of all colors, gripped within her clawlike fingers. "These are the sands collected from the Goab Desert in Fantastica," Maleficent explained, "each with its own unique magical property. When combined in the proper order and treated with the knowledge of the Witches of the Sand, this earth can change reality itself. It is through this sand that we are to achieve the retrieval of the Book of Prophecies."
"And how are we going to do that?" Cinder asked casually.
"We are going to alter reality in such a way that the only way to undo what has been done is to write the desired outcome in the Book of Prophecies and watch it come to pass," Maleficent explained. "We shall leave our young heroes no choice but to right the wrong with the use of the book. And when they find it, we shall follow in their footsteps and remove it from their possession."
"Sounds delicious," Ursula commented. "So what are we going to do? Put one of them to sleep with the fish and watch the others scramble to bring them back?"
"Their sort is at a strange peace with death," Maleficent explained. "They grieve when one of their number is lost, but do not seek to undo the damage, as they are aware of the grave cost. No, we must change something more vital to their way of life. A condition under which they cannot go on. But I am already getting ahead of myself. Before we enact such a plan, we must test to be sure it will work as expected. The sands I have selected are for use on such a testing ground. It so happens that I have an old ally I now see a need to bring back to his former glory. His native world shall be the grounds upon which we test the power of the sands. I shall grant him the authority to change that which he wills to change there, and we shall record the results of the experiment. However, there is a chance he may not be as loyal as I recall. I do believe he has had dalliances with forces in the past who are opposed to us now. That is why he will need two chaperones, at least."
"And we're those two chaperones," Cinder realized.
"You catch on quick, sweetie," Ursula said with a light pinch to Cinder's cheek. Cinder didn't react.
"Indeed," Maleficent confirmed. "Depending on the outcome of the experiment, you may also need to call others of our ranks. Or, for that matter, from yours." Maleficent looked directly to Cinder. "Salem and I have discussed the terms of an alliance. Now is your chance to prove to me that her cohorts are worth the trouble."
"I'll keep it in mind," Cinder said tranquilly.
"So who's the lucky man we get to play with?" Ursula asked.
"You shall meet him shortly," Maleficent said. "I shall first need to return him from his deceased state."
Ursula took the bottle of sand from Maleficent, knowing her master would need both hands free to perform such a resurrection. "Whenever you're ready."
Maleficent took up her staff, letting the Dragon's Eye sphere at its tip glow brightly. The entire room became devoid of light save for the green of the Dragon's Eye; its glow became ever more radiant.
Ursula had seen resurrections by Maleficent's hand time and time again. Cinder, on the other hand, was completely awed, though she didn't let it show. As lightning struck the stone floor before her and a thick green flame erupted upward, containing a silhouette within it, she stared raptly.
The silhouette was of a tall, muscular form. As he walked out from the fires, both Ursula and Cinder examined him from the ground up with their eyes. Before he so much as spoke a word, both women knew their new ally was to take them on a journey that would be interesting at the very least.
...
The Gerudo Desert stretched out for miles of bright golden sand beneath a bright golden sun. As Mozenrath walked out into the warmth, he took a deep breath of heated air, then exhaled it. "It feels just like home," he told his companions.
"Speak for yourself," Wuya said as she stepped out in front of him. "It's completely different from when I was here last. It doesn't feel right."
"It's too hot," Demyx complained.
"It is not snow," Roman chimed in, "so I'm good."
"According to Vexen," Mozenrath said as he consulted the map, "we're looking for the Arbiter's Grounds." He held the map up to the horizon, comparing a margin sketch to a visible structure in the distance, one that could have been confused for a castle if one didn't know it was an elaborate prison. Vexen's sketch didn't do it justice; his hand was blocky, logical, without artistic flourish. Even from far off, one could see that the real Arbiter's Grounds were a master work of architecture.
"Well, Wuya?" Mozenrath asked. "Been there before?"
"Stayed away from it," Wuya informed him. "It was Sage territory, and us evil types didn't want to cross the Sages unless we had to."
"So we should be braceted for a fight!" Zevon inferred.
"Perhaps," Wuya mused. "Or perhaps they've abandoned the place. There's only one way to find out."
"All right, team," Mozenrath declared. "Move out."
They began to cross the desert, stopping every now and again to dispose of toothy creatures that snaked beneath the sand and erupted out of the earth to bite. "I'm glad Mim didn't come," Mozenrath remarked. "All this sunshine would make her sick."
"It's making ME sick," Yzma complained. "Who said any place had the right to be this bright?"
"So, Wuya," Demyx attempted, "you have some kind of history with this place. What's the deal?"
"Old flame," Wuya answered. "Bad breakup."
"Geez," Demyx replied. "What did you DO?"
"Do?"
"Yeah, to make your partner break up with you."
"I vote he stops talking," Wuya growled.
"Give him a chance," Roman suggested. "After all, I did invite him, and he really wouldn't do anything to MAKE ME REGRET THAT."
Demyx didn't get the hint. "So where's the big guy with the skull helmet? He seems like he'd be a handy guy to have around in a place like this."
"We're not discussing it," Mozenrath said sharply.
"Why?" Demyx asked. "Wait. Did YOU guys break up? What did YOU do?"
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Mozenrath yelled, rounding on Demyx. "HE'S the one who abandoned ME!"
"Seriously," Wuya grumbled to Demyx, "stop talking."
Roman rubbed his already sweating forehead with a gloved hand. "I really am going to regret inviting him, aren't I?"
"If you're having trouble with romancifiction," Zevon offered, "you have my condolation."
"Let's just forget about it," Mozenrath demanded. "And I mean it. We don't need him here. This team is better. Well, with one glaring exception, but otherwise, better."
"Ooh, ouch," Demyx said as he nudged Irmaplotz. "That has to be a blow to your ego."
"I'm sure he was talking about you," Irmaplotz retorted.
An awkward silence fell over the group as they continued their walk.
In an attempt to break it, Irmaplotz began, "So I'm reading this new book, and I think you all should too. It's about – "
"NO ONE CARES," Mozenrath, Wuya, Yzma, and Roman said in unison.
After that, the group let silence reign.
They were all slick with sweat by the time they grew close to the Arbiter's Grounds. "We probably should've brought water," Irmaplotz realized.
"We have potions," Zevon offered, "but they come with side effects."
Demyx took a bottle away from his face, licking stray drops of water off his lips. "Yeah, no thanks. I'll stick with this."
Mozenrath turned to give Demyx a good look-over and noticed the bottle in his hand. "You had water."
"Well, duh," Demyx replied. "My powers let me conjure it up wherever."
"And you didn't think maybe THE REST OF US COULD USE IT?" Mozenrath growled.
"Well…I…uh…"
"Okay, Dishwater," Roman sighed, "either you're going to hydrate all of us within the next five minutes or we bury you."
That ensured water was passed around to all the thirsty.
A small village, or perhaps something better defined as an encampment, came into view before the grounds. "This definitely wasn't here before," Wuya said as she glared at the small civilization.
"It's small," Mozenrath observed. "We should be able to make short work of this."
An arrow whistled through the air. Wuya snapped her hand outward and caught it before it could pierce Irmaplotz's chest. She turned her focus to see where it had come from, observing a small, green and horned man loading up his bow with another arrow at the top of a lookout pillar. Wuya quickly conjured up a bow into her own hands, sending the arrow flying right back at its host. The Bulblin man dropped, stone dead, from the pillar and impacted the sand.
"You weren't kidding," Irmaplotz said in slight awe. "This will be quick work."
Wuya kicked in the encampment gates, alerting a horde of Bulblins to the WHAM ARMY presence.
Not ten minutes later, the seven walked out of the other side of the encampment, which was now afire. "I really need to get out on missions with you more often," Irmaplotz realized.
They had reached the Arbiter's Grounds, which towered up to the sky. "Our mirror is on top of this complex," Mozenrath reminded everyone.
"This building better not be full of fucking puzzles to solve to get up there," Roman grumbled as the group marched into the gates.
...
When they finally reached the top of the grounds, walking out into open air, Roman's mumbled cursing about the puzzle-like obstacles they'd faced to get there were drowned out by Demyx's screams of "BUGS! BUGS ALL OVER ME! GET THEM OFF GET THEM OFF GET THEM OFF!"
"Should we help him?" Irmaplotz wondered out loud as Demyx scrambled to swat away every beetle he'd accumulated.
"Hmm, I don't know," Wuya replied. "Did he share his water when we were drying out in the desert?"
"Point," Irmaplotz said decisively.
Once Demyx had rid himself of the beetles, the seven continued up the stairway that encircled the outer wall of the grounds' upper level. "This is it!" Zevon exclaimed. "We are about to reach the summith!"
"From here," Mozenrath stated, "it should be smooth sailing. All we need to do is activate the mirror, and from there, the compass should tell us which way to go." He retrieved the compass from his pocket; the needle spun constantly around, indicating that the Fused Shadow was technically nearby but undetectable on the current plane of existence.
"You just had to, didn't you?" Roman sighed.
"Had to do what?" Mozenrath answered.
"Make it sound like it would be easy," Roman groaned. "Every time someone says it's going to be easy, the world drops a bomb on the plan. It's the same principle as saying 'It can't get any worse.'"
"Exactly what is going to stop us?" Mozenrath asked.
"I don't know," Roman groaned. "Maybe these Sages Wuya was talking about?"
"We can handle them," Wuya insisted.
"I thought you avoided them for a reason," Roman reminded her.
"More out of convenience than anything," Wuya clarified.
"Stop worrying, Roman," Yzma commanded. "Everything is going to be just fine!"
They reached the summit, or perhaps the zenith, of the grounds. A long, flat arena awaited them. In the center was an enormous flat stone wall, and before that wall, on a raised platform with a stairway connecting it to the floor, was the frame of what had once been a round mirror.
A frame that had no glass in it.
...
A/N: The Hyrule in this story is taken from the Twilight Princess era, some time after Twilight Princess ends. On the greater Legend of Zelda timeline, it will be canon divergent from that point.