07-11-2015, 10:09 AM
The pair weaved their way through the alleys of Coruscant’s Tier Four.
“I should mention,” Xehanort spoke up after several minutes of silence, “I am the leader of a group… we call ourselves Organization XIII, for our thirteen members. That’s what this black cloak signifies—it is our uniform, you see.”
The mouse could not shake the increasing confusion that washed over him as Xehanort continued to explain the ever-changing situation to him. “A group?” he asked.
“A… coalition,” Xehanort expanded, “working toward a common goal.”
The next logical question escaped Mickey’s mouth without much hesitation. “And what exactly is that goal?” Something told him he didn’t want to know—but his penchant for noble action in the face of evil made him want to know exactly what he was dealing with. If Xehanort was working toward something the mouse judged was wrong, he would have no choice but to deal with it accordingly.
Xehanort paused, trepidation washing over him. “Well,” he started, seeming to struggle to put it correctly, “…well, it’s Kingdom Hearts of course. Creating it. Keeping it alive. Utilizing it correctly and making sure others utilize it correctly.”
“And how exactly do you think it should be utilized?”
“That would be telling.”
Mickey scowled. He didn’t like the silver-haired boy’s enigmatic answers, but he knew he would get nowhere by pressing, so he chose not to. Instead, he followed the boy to a large warehouse in one of the darker sections of Tier Four. The place towered over the mouse. He could not help but feel a certain sense of dread creep up his spine as Xehanort led him inside.
Once they crossed the threshold of the warehouse, though, all of Mickey’s doubts seemed to disappear. Inside the huge chamber, a fantastic yellow light illuminated everything. Just ahead, a circle of twelve men—dressed in black robes similar to the one Xehanort sported—stood in a semi-circle around a huge, glowing heart, yellow in color. Energy pulsed through Mickey Mouse’s hands as he found himself drawing nearer and nearer to Kingdom Hearts. He could not keep his thoughts inside for long. “What… how did you do this?”
Xehanort chuckled. “Well, that’s top secret information, Your Majesty,” the silver-haired boy scoffed, quickening his pace. “Gentlemen! May I have your attention, please?” The twelve other members of Organization XIII turned to face Xehanort. Almost, immediately, however, their eyes all fell to Mickey. “I have done what I have promised, and brought you all the only known Keyblade Master in the Omniverse,” Xehanort smiled, “or certainly the most powerful one.” Mickey’s brow furrowed at his companion’s little speech. “Your Majesty, forgive me for skipping the pleasentries with my twelve compatriots,” Xehanort turned back to Mickey, “but we’ve really got to be moving. You see, we’ve been waiting a long time for you. Ever since I first saw you in the Dante’s Abyss pre-show compound, in fact.”
“Waiting… for me?” Mickey stammered, confused. “I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t,” Xehanort shrugged, “I haven’t answered your questions yet. How did I create this Kingdom Hearts, you wonder? Obviously it isn’t the same as the one from our homeworld.”
Mickey nodded. That much was evident.
“You see, Kingdom Hearts requires the life force of… well, hundreds of people to survive,” Xehanort’s grin widened, “And it is my job—our job—to acquire that life force. We have spent a lot of time finding exactly enough Omnilium to create this, Your Majesty, but we found a way to… expedite the process. You see, it requires a lot more omnilium to create a secondary than it does anything else.”
Things began to get clearer for the mouse the more Xehanort talked. “So you used them to your advantage,” Mickey continued, guessing at the black-robed boy’s game. “You murdered a bunch of innocent secondaries and used the huge amounts of omnilium in their bodies to quickly make yourself this… thing.”
Xehanort nodded. “Exactly.”
“That’s awful,” Mickey scowled.
“I figured you might say that,” the silver-haired man sighed, “But alas, it doesn’t matter—it’s already done, and a… benefactor of ours, a prime, of course, has constructed this device for us, which can provide immense power to anyone who can wield its energy.”
“Which, I’m guessing, is your plan,” the mouse spat back, “Wield the energy to do something terrible. Conquer the Omniverse. What have you.”
“That all depends on your definition of what terrible is,” Xehanort replied, “but I suppose—in your very naïve point of view—our methods could be considered… less than moral. I assure you, we’re only looking out for the good of the Omniverse. We just have different ideas about what that means.” Xehanort lifted a hand, and a few of the Organization XIII members scurried off, for reasons unknown to Mickey. “Unfortunately,” the silver-haired boy continued, “we’ve run into an issue. Only a Keyblade Master can truly harness the power of Kingdom Hearts, at least in this world. Which is why—”
“—which is why I was able to do it in Dante’s Abyss,” Mickey interrupted.
“Yes, essentially,” Xehanort smiled, content that the mouse seemed to finally be on the same page. “Which is why we need you, Your Majesty. You can control our Kingdom Hearts… and if you aren’t prepared to join us, we’re prepared to try to take that power from you.”
If Mickey had eyebrows, he would have raised one at that idea. Take that power from him? What in the world did that mean? Did they want his Keyblade? Or did they have some method of taking his primeness away from him and transferring it to Xehanort? Perhaps, the mouse thought, he could be bluffing—but certainly they could incapacitate him. If the mouse was gone, then nobody in the entire Omniverse could control it, and they could figure out how without any potential interruptions. That must have been it, then—they planned to get rid of him if he refused to comply.
Certainly they must have come prepared, then, because his answer had been written from the very start.
“You can try,” he lifted his chin, unsheathing Star Seeker once again.
“Oh, but your Majesty,” Xehanort smirked, “I forgot to mention what was in it for you.” The black-robed boy waved his hand, and the mouse’s attention refocused on a shuffling behind the huge, yellow heart-moon. A familiar squeal erupted from behind there, and seconds later, a trio of similarly robed men emerged from hiding, escorting a very unhappy looking prisoner.
“Get your hands off of me this instant,” Minnie Mouse scolded her captors, trying her darndest to jerk away from their grip. “I refuse to be treated like this! I am a queen!”
“Minnie!”
The word escaped Mickey’s lips almost involuntarily, and the mouse queen looked up from her struggle and, for the first time in what seemed like forever, met eyes with her husband. She relaxed immediately, and the Organization XIII members took this moment to jerk her forward, carrying her to Xehanort’s side. Two of the men fell back as one held her next to the ringleader, presenting her to the Keyblade-wielding mouse.
For a few seconds, Minnie and Mickey just stared at each other, trying their best to convey with only their eyes the weeks of love they had missed. “You know what?” Xehanort smirked, the evil Mickey had seen from the start oozing out of his pores, “Let’s let them have a little reunion. Let her go.” His black-robed henchman released his grip on Minnie, and without another word, the Queen picked up her red dress and sprinted across the distance separating her and her husband, diving into his arms. He pulled her into a sweet embrace, planting a light kiss on her little mouse lips as finally, after weeks and weeks of searching, he was reunited with his lady love.
“What are you doing here?” Minnie separated from him, looking her husband up and down.
“Now or before?” Mickey asked with a smile.
“Now?” the Queen asked, a slightly puzzled expression washing over her face.
Mickey scoffed, as if the answer was obvious. “Rescuing you, of course, dollface.” Minnie smiled broadly, throwing herself into a hug with her long lost husband.
Mickey broke eye contact with his wife, and returned Xehanort’s glare, who had begun to stare at them. He shuffled Minnie behind him; the Queen kept a tight grip on his arm, not wanting to let him go now that she’d finally gotten him back. The silver-haired boy lifted another hand, and the other twelve members of Organization XIII lowered themselves into combat stances. Mickey lifted Star Seeker up once more.
“So I’m taking that as a no, then?” Xehanort quipped.
“You betcha.”
“I should mention,” Xehanort spoke up after several minutes of silence, “I am the leader of a group… we call ourselves Organization XIII, for our thirteen members. That’s what this black cloak signifies—it is our uniform, you see.”
The mouse could not shake the increasing confusion that washed over him as Xehanort continued to explain the ever-changing situation to him. “A group?” he asked.
“A… coalition,” Xehanort expanded, “working toward a common goal.”
The next logical question escaped Mickey’s mouth without much hesitation. “And what exactly is that goal?” Something told him he didn’t want to know—but his penchant for noble action in the face of evil made him want to know exactly what he was dealing with. If Xehanort was working toward something the mouse judged was wrong, he would have no choice but to deal with it accordingly.
Xehanort paused, trepidation washing over him. “Well,” he started, seeming to struggle to put it correctly, “…well, it’s Kingdom Hearts of course. Creating it. Keeping it alive. Utilizing it correctly and making sure others utilize it correctly.”
“And how exactly do you think it should be utilized?”
“That would be telling.”
Mickey scowled. He didn’t like the silver-haired boy’s enigmatic answers, but he knew he would get nowhere by pressing, so he chose not to. Instead, he followed the boy to a large warehouse in one of the darker sections of Tier Four. The place towered over the mouse. He could not help but feel a certain sense of dread creep up his spine as Xehanort led him inside.
Once they crossed the threshold of the warehouse, though, all of Mickey’s doubts seemed to disappear. Inside the huge chamber, a fantastic yellow light illuminated everything. Just ahead, a circle of twelve men—dressed in black robes similar to the one Xehanort sported—stood in a semi-circle around a huge, glowing heart, yellow in color. Energy pulsed through Mickey Mouse’s hands as he found himself drawing nearer and nearer to Kingdom Hearts. He could not keep his thoughts inside for long. “What… how did you do this?”
Xehanort chuckled. “Well, that’s top secret information, Your Majesty,” the silver-haired boy scoffed, quickening his pace. “Gentlemen! May I have your attention, please?” The twelve other members of Organization XIII turned to face Xehanort. Almost, immediately, however, their eyes all fell to Mickey. “I have done what I have promised, and brought you all the only known Keyblade Master in the Omniverse,” Xehanort smiled, “or certainly the most powerful one.” Mickey’s brow furrowed at his companion’s little speech. “Your Majesty, forgive me for skipping the pleasentries with my twelve compatriots,” Xehanort turned back to Mickey, “but we’ve really got to be moving. You see, we’ve been waiting a long time for you. Ever since I first saw you in the Dante’s Abyss pre-show compound, in fact.”
“Waiting… for me?” Mickey stammered, confused. “I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t,” Xehanort shrugged, “I haven’t answered your questions yet. How did I create this Kingdom Hearts, you wonder? Obviously it isn’t the same as the one from our homeworld.”
Mickey nodded. That much was evident.
“You see, Kingdom Hearts requires the life force of… well, hundreds of people to survive,” Xehanort’s grin widened, “And it is my job—our job—to acquire that life force. We have spent a lot of time finding exactly enough Omnilium to create this, Your Majesty, but we found a way to… expedite the process. You see, it requires a lot more omnilium to create a secondary than it does anything else.”
Things began to get clearer for the mouse the more Xehanort talked. “So you used them to your advantage,” Mickey continued, guessing at the black-robed boy’s game. “You murdered a bunch of innocent secondaries and used the huge amounts of omnilium in their bodies to quickly make yourself this… thing.”
Xehanort nodded. “Exactly.”
“That’s awful,” Mickey scowled.
“I figured you might say that,” the silver-haired man sighed, “But alas, it doesn’t matter—it’s already done, and a… benefactor of ours, a prime, of course, has constructed this device for us, which can provide immense power to anyone who can wield its energy.”
“Which, I’m guessing, is your plan,” the mouse spat back, “Wield the energy to do something terrible. Conquer the Omniverse. What have you.”
“That all depends on your definition of what terrible is,” Xehanort replied, “but I suppose—in your very naïve point of view—our methods could be considered… less than moral. I assure you, we’re only looking out for the good of the Omniverse. We just have different ideas about what that means.” Xehanort lifted a hand, and a few of the Organization XIII members scurried off, for reasons unknown to Mickey. “Unfortunately,” the silver-haired boy continued, “we’ve run into an issue. Only a Keyblade Master can truly harness the power of Kingdom Hearts, at least in this world. Which is why—”
“—which is why I was able to do it in Dante’s Abyss,” Mickey interrupted.
“Yes, essentially,” Xehanort smiled, content that the mouse seemed to finally be on the same page. “Which is why we need you, Your Majesty. You can control our Kingdom Hearts… and if you aren’t prepared to join us, we’re prepared to try to take that power from you.”
If Mickey had eyebrows, he would have raised one at that idea. Take that power from him? What in the world did that mean? Did they want his Keyblade? Or did they have some method of taking his primeness away from him and transferring it to Xehanort? Perhaps, the mouse thought, he could be bluffing—but certainly they could incapacitate him. If the mouse was gone, then nobody in the entire Omniverse could control it, and they could figure out how without any potential interruptions. That must have been it, then—they planned to get rid of him if he refused to comply.
Certainly they must have come prepared, then, because his answer had been written from the very start.
“You can try,” he lifted his chin, unsheathing Star Seeker once again.
“Oh, but your Majesty,” Xehanort smirked, “I forgot to mention what was in it for you.” The black-robed boy waved his hand, and the mouse’s attention refocused on a shuffling behind the huge, yellow heart-moon. A familiar squeal erupted from behind there, and seconds later, a trio of similarly robed men emerged from hiding, escorting a very unhappy looking prisoner.
“Get your hands off of me this instant,” Minnie Mouse scolded her captors, trying her darndest to jerk away from their grip. “I refuse to be treated like this! I am a queen!”
“Minnie!”
The word escaped Mickey’s lips almost involuntarily, and the mouse queen looked up from her struggle and, for the first time in what seemed like forever, met eyes with her husband. She relaxed immediately, and the Organization XIII members took this moment to jerk her forward, carrying her to Xehanort’s side. Two of the men fell back as one held her next to the ringleader, presenting her to the Keyblade-wielding mouse.
For a few seconds, Minnie and Mickey just stared at each other, trying their best to convey with only their eyes the weeks of love they had missed. “You know what?” Xehanort smirked, the evil Mickey had seen from the start oozing out of his pores, “Let’s let them have a little reunion. Let her go.” His black-robed henchman released his grip on Minnie, and without another word, the Queen picked up her red dress and sprinted across the distance separating her and her husband, diving into his arms. He pulled her into a sweet embrace, planting a light kiss on her little mouse lips as finally, after weeks and weeks of searching, he was reunited with his lady love.
“What are you doing here?” Minnie separated from him, looking her husband up and down.
“Now or before?” Mickey asked with a smile.
“Now?” the Queen asked, a slightly puzzled expression washing over her face.
Mickey scoffed, as if the answer was obvious. “Rescuing you, of course, dollface.” Minnie smiled broadly, throwing herself into a hug with her long lost husband.
Mickey broke eye contact with his wife, and returned Xehanort’s glare, who had begun to stare at them. He shuffled Minnie behind him; the Queen kept a tight grip on his arm, not wanting to let him go now that she’d finally gotten him back. The silver-haired boy lifted another hand, and the other twelve members of Organization XIII lowered themselves into combat stances. Mickey lifted Star Seeker up once more.
“So I’m taking that as a no, then?” Xehanort quipped.
“You betcha.”
![[Image: 2agonyw.png]](http://i68.tinypic.com/2agonyw.png)