- Chapter 7 -
Mysterious Youths
Enchanted Dominion
On the peak of the Forbidden Mountain sat a tall, dark castle, and within the castle lurked three figures: the dark witch Maleficent, who was seated on her throne, and her two minions, Pete and Mortimer Mouse, who were leaning against the wall on either side of her.
Fair and green-skinned, Maleficent's shining, yellow eyes were heavily shadowed with violet make-up, and her lips were painted red. Her head was topped with a black-horned headdress. Maleficent wore a long, tattered black robe with a purple trim and maroon edges which flare out, and a golden ring with a circular black stone in it. She carried a staff with a glowing green orb at the tip, through which she cast her spells. Maleficent sat on her throne quietly, a bored expression on her face.
Pete was a tall, fat, tailless black cat with pointy ears, a tan muzzle, and four large square teeth protruding from his jaws. He wore what seemed to be armor colored in shades of blue and purple overtop a red, short-sleeved shirt with a vertical pink stripe descending from the neck. He wore navy blue and white sneakers with light blue fronts and two periwinkle straps keeping each one secure. His pants were also navy blue, with light blue lining, purple lower legs, and two enormous pouches on either front side. These pouches were attached to his pants by four pins, both sporting a silver, horizontal zipper. The most distinguishing feature of these pants was the comically large zipper going down the front and reaching around to the back side of the pants. He also wore two navy blue pauldrons, each sporting two cyan bumps and a periwinkle area near the lower section on each shoulder. Two gold buttons at the top of Pete's pants connected to two blue straps that intersected over his chest before connecting to two similar, albeit smaller buttons on his shoulder pauldrons. Pete also wore a pair of fingerless gauntlets. The wrists of these gauntlets were light blue with a pale yellow semi-circle on top, while the gloves were periwinkle with a bump on each knuckle. There was a dark blue-green design on the back of each glove, descending from each knuckle to the end of the glove.
Mortimer was a tall, skinny black rat with a long, thin nose and two buck teeth. He wore a blue shirt with a large zipper that extended from the collar to the shirttail, with the cuffs of the sleeves being pulled back with red straps in a style similar to Goofy's pant legs, along with two red arm bands around his upper arms, and two red straps with white trim intersecting across his chest. He wore a pair of pants that were a bright red, bordering on pin, with the lower legs being a darker red with two zippered pockets the same shade of red as the upper legs on either side, with a pair of red fingerless gloves that bore a white design on the backs, descending from each knuckle to the end of the gloves. He also wore a pair of sneakers similar to Sora's with zippers and two intersecting straps on either side, though his were completely red. Finally, holstered at his left hip was a red-and-blue pistol.
It had been six months since Maleficent and Pete's failed attempt to retrieve the data they hoped to acquire from Disney Castle, with the two having relocated to Maleficent's home world for the time being. Along the way, they had encountered Mortimer, who, like Pete before him, had been banished from Disney Town for his constant troublemaking, as well as his attempts to woo Minnie and steal her from Mickey. Maleficent had given Mortimer the same offer she had given Pete; eager to get revenge on Mickey, Mortimer eagerly accepted.
Suddenly, Maleficent's eyes snapped wide open, having apparently sensed something. Pete and Mortimer turned to her.
"What's going on?" Pete asked.
"We have an intruder," Maleficent said.
With that, she raised a hand, and a small stone table surfaced from the center of the throne room, projecting an image of the courtyard of the castle. Along with the generic pig and bird monsters Maleficent had long used as foot soldiers, the courtyard was filled with Heartless, but what caught the trio's attention was a figure dressed in a hooded coat similar to those worn by Organization XIII, but dark grey as opposed to black, running through the courtyard and avoiding the Heartless and goons as they did.
"How did an intruder get here undetected?" Mortimer asked. Maleficent looked carefully at the figure, seeming to notice something that her henchmen did not.
"It can't be," she said to herself. "Impossible." She turned to Mortimer and Pete. "Capture this person. Bring her to me alive." Pete and Mortimer immediately ran off to do so.
Enchanted Dominion
The hooded person ran through the courtyard, avoiding the enemies whenever possible; they didn't want Maleficent to get suspicious. The dark grey coat completely masked their face and body, rendering it impossible to make out any individual features. The figure stopped by the castle gates to catch their breath.
"There's gotta be a way off this world," the figure said to herself in a feminine voice.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" the figure turned to see Pete and Mortimer approaching, Mortimer aiming his gun at her. "Now, how did you get in here?" The girl started to back away slowly.
"I had my experience in the Realm of Darkness," she said simply. As she was backing up, her foot caught a rock, and she let out a high-pitched scream as she clumsily fell to the ground.
"Not very graceful, are ya, a-cha-cha?" Mortimer asked. The girl stuck her tongue out at them from under the hood; not wanting to get into a fight at the moment, she sprang to her feet and took off running out of the gates and down the mountain trail, with Pete and Mortimer in hot pursuit.
She made it down the mountain and found herself in an open meadow next to a lake (1). She looked around frantically, hearing Mortimer and Pete coming.
What am I gonna do now? she thought. As if in response to that thought, a corridor of darkness opened on the wall before her, and two figures stepped out.
The first was a boy around seventeen or eighteen years old, with short, somewhat messy black hair, hazel eyes, and lightly tanned skin. He wore a high-collared, double-breasted, black leather duster with silver lining down the sleeves and sides over a dark green long-sleeved undershirt, dark blue jeans, dark green fingerless gloves, and black-and-white sneakers. Across his chest were two intersecting silver straps that bore several knives, and somehow, the girl got the impression that he had more weapons hidden on his person.
The other figure wasn't human, but was a short, cat-like creature with grey fur and black tiger stripes. Its body proportions were similar to a moogle's, having a large spherical head, small pointy ears, and stubby arms and legs. On its back was a blue cape, and around its neck was a red purse that bore a stylized white star.
The boy held a hand out to her.
"C'mon," he said. "We gotta get out of here." The girl backed up uneasily.
"Why should I trust you?" she snapped immaturely. "Who are you?" The cat creature let out a soft meow, while the boy raised an eyebrow.
"There's no time to explain," he said urgently. "Besides, what choice do you have?"
The girl looked between the boy and the way she came; she could see the shadows of Pete and Mortimer approaching. After a moment, she rolled her eyes under her hood.
"Okay, you win." With that, she took the boy's hand, and they escaped through the corridor of darkness just as Pete and Mortimer turned the corner.
Twilight Town
The dark corridor led them to a new world. The girl looked at the boy.
"Um, thanks," she said. "Not to sound ungrateful, but why'd you help me?" The boy shrugged.
"Seemed like the right thing to do," he said. At that moment, the girl felt a strange tickling sensation, and looked down to see the boy's cat... thing nuzzling against her legs. After a slight hesitation, she gently patted its head.
"Huh, looks like Tiger likes you," the boy said simply. The girl just nodded.
"So..." the girl said. "Do you know this place?"
The boy nodded. "Yeah, I came here a few times when I was little, with my parents. It's a nice place."
The three of them were sitting atop a high clock tower, overlooking a town bathed in seemingly perpetual sunlight. They had arrived in Twilight Town.
Right around the same time, Sora and his group were just docking the Gummi Ship...
Author's Note:
(1): The same place Terra shows up in upon the first visit to Enchanted Dominion in Birth by Sleep.
Just FYI, the "mysterious youths" in the chapter title are the girl and boy at the end of the chapter; more on them will be revealed next chapter. I will say this: the boy is my OC, with some of his character design coming from Kirito of Sword Art Online.
The boy's pet, Tiger, is a Chirithy, a creature introduced in the online game Kingdom Hearts χ; for those who haven't heard of it (and you probably haven't, since as far as I know, it's a Japan-exclusive), it's a 2D online browser game set during the Keyblade War.
Mortimer Mouse first appeared in the Disney short Mickey's Rival. His costume and weapon here are the property of PrismRain13, used with her permission.
Please R&R. Until next time!