I stood at the table with Maleficent and one of her cronies. I didn't know who it was, nor did I care. All I knew was that I was one step closer to saving her.
"That smarmy vizier could've had em.... if SOMEONE had stuck around to give him a hand." The minion leered at me.
"Hey, I did my part. I brought the princess, didn't I?" That had been easy. She was unconscious, and this vizier lackey had been keeping Sora and his goon squad busy down below.
"Jafar was beyond help, consumed by his own hatred," the witch declared in her monotone voice. "One should beware of letting it burn too fiercely." Was she talking to me? I doubted it. I bore no hatred in my heart. The only person who could come close was Sora, and I had simply cut all connections with him. I neither appreciated nor despised him. The warning must have been for her subordinate.
He thought so too. "Whoa whoa whoa. Lighten up. I'm as cool as they come, okay?" What an idiot. If he were so cool and calm, he wouldn't have taken up with this witch. Everyone under her wants something, and they know she can get it for them. "By the way, kid..." he suddenly and unexpectedly addressed me as if we were old pals, "have we got something special for you."
I was so surprised by this total change in the focus of things that I blurted out "Huh?" before anything else.
"We had a deal, yes?" Maleficent chimed in. "You helped us, and we grant you your wish...." And then she appeared. Not her, actually, but a hologram. She was horizontal and motionless. Heartless. Only her appearance separated her from those annoying black creatures Maleficent had been using.
"Kairi!" I cried in another sporadic outburst. The witch seemed to understand my excitement. "Go to her. Your vessel is waiting." And then another one of her seemingly endless lieutenants appeared. His voice was harsh and annoying as he spoke.
"Just remember this is no pleasure cruise. It won't be a pleasant voyage." Pleasure held no meaning for me anymore. The only times I could remember real pleasure was when I was with her, near her, talking to her. And it had seemed ages since that had happened. I was about to mindlessly leave with this new escort when it dawned on me: this is too good to be true! I couldn't be getting Kairi back just by delivering an unconscious girl. There's something wrong here... "Why are you doing all this for me? What's the catch?"
"Catch?" she repeated as if I was speaking in another language. "What's the catch? Silly boy," she patronizingly scolded me. "You're like a son to me. I only want you to be happy." Yeah, and go a million miles out of YOUR way. She extended her arm and gently stroked my face, something she had never done to me before. I pulled back out of her arm's reach.
"I seriously doubt that," I muttered to myself. The thought of someone who looked and acted so stoic wanting someone else to be happy just didn't ring in my book.
"Believe what you wish," she replied. Evidently, I hadn't been as quiet as I would've liked. "But lest we forget, I kept my end of the bargain." Wanting my happiness indeed. She must be overwhelmingly concerned about every little thing to throw our deal into the fray. Truth be told, I couldn't even remember my part of the contract. I had been so eager when she said she could help that I had signed on without a second thought. I simply scowled and left with the newest flunky.
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Maleficent watched the boy leave. Their relationship was purely business... for now. She intended to change that. With time, he could outmatch the key-bearer, both physically and in strength of heart.
"What was the purpose of this?" the darkness asked.
"The boy's singular goal is the attainment of his friend and her heart. Nothing will stop him."
"And nothing will stop ME from keeping my niece!" The black melted into a large, rotund figure. His cone head and outrageous moustache gave him a somewhat comical appearance, although he was anything but a laughing matter. "Bending the Heartless to my will took less effort than bending my forefinger. They had no free will to begin with. Employing my technique brings them completely under my control with no threat of my heart being consumed."
"Are you certain about that, Julian?" Maleficent turned and walked away, vanishing as she did so.
"Absolutely," Dr. Robotnik replied. "No one will take Kairi Kintobor from me! And my robo-Heartless will see to it!"