Chapter 14

Treading through the corridors of the castle of Hollow Bastion was much more difficult when her body — and Diablo — protested every movement. It made the trek down to the entrance hall seem much longer than usual, and the stairs were a particularly grueling task. Though she kept expecting to run into Riku or Maleficent, the castle was empty and silent. Before she had found Riku again, she'd gotten used to the silence and the size of the castle. Walking through it with Diablo now reminded her of how she'd felt when she first arrived.

"Hush," she said, bringing her staff back down to the ground a little harder than necessary when the bird squawked at her. She shot a glare at him as she descended the final step. "You're the one who decided to come."

He ruffled his feathers disapprovingly at her, but she ignored him. She'd explored every inch of the castle she could reach, unable to make her way past the various locked doors she'd found — doors that intrigued her to no end, but were immovable. She knew that she wouldn't find anything of interest in any of the rooms available to her, so she wandered the castle aimlessly. Every so often she would come across one of these locked doors and each time gave the handle an experimental tug. But, just like every other time she tried, they remained steadfastly shut.

Natsumi glanced up at Diablo with a frown.

"Too bad you actually can't talk." She pressed her hand against the door, a short laugh passing her lips at the familiarity. "I bet you know what's in there. Don't you?"

The raven didn't deign to answer her. He simply held her gaze until she scoffed and pulled her hand away. Suddenly, she missed Kumo. The little Heartless wasn't any better of a conversationalist than Diablo, but at least with him she didn't have the nagging sense that he was clever enough to keep secrets. The more time she spent with Diablo, the clearer it was that he wasn't an ordinary bird, the fact that he couldn't talk notwithstanding.

Natsumi turned away from the door, letting her eyes rove aimlessly over the empty hall. She didn't think that any of the other doors would spontaneously unlock under her touch either, but she still didn't want to go to any of her usual haunts. She turned to the overly large doors at the end of the hallway and eyed them thoughtfully. From their size, she could only assume that they were the entrance to the castle. Her fingers had barely wrapped around the handle when Diablo cawed loudly, bursting up from his perch on her staff and flapping his wings wildly.

"Hey!" Natsumi threw up her hands to block the barrage of feathers against her face, her staff clattering loudly to the ground. "What the heck?"

Diablo only continued flapping his wings, screeching again.

"Knock it off! Get—" Huffing and still holding her arms in front of her face, she knelt down quickly and picked up her staff again. "Get out of here!" She swung the staff at him, narrowly missing as he quickly retreated.

The raven now sat atop a mean looking gargoyle statue, beak open in silent indignation. His feathers were fluffed, making him appear larger than he was.

"What's your problem?" He stared at her silently. "You don't want me to go outside?" Diablo's eyes narrowed at her, which she took as a yes. "Well tough. I'm not sitting cooped up inside waiting for somebody to give me permission to leave."

She scowled at the thought, ignoring as Diablo cawed at her again and opening the door. There was a whole world outside that she hadn't yet explored, and she wanted to see it.

The doors were stiff and opened slowly, but still she winced as the light assaulted her eyes. She hadn't realized just how drastically the old castle kept out any sort of light, having become accustomed to the way the shadows pooled in the corridors and alcoves. Outside of the doors there was a long parapet surrounding a brick walkway that disappeared around the edge of the castle. But that wasn't what caught her eye.

Beyond the parapet, the world stretched on, a large gorge between her and dark almost blue colored mountains, and further beyond that, what looked to be the hints of a town. Her breath caught in her throat and she rushed forward, leaning as far over the railing as she dared to try to get a better look. There were several stone platforms leading down to a larger platform with a tiled floor. The edges were chipped and uneven, as though the smaller platforms had broken away from it and somehow found their own orbit. Magic, she assumed. The rounded platforms moved in short patterns, and led all the way down into the basin, though she couldn't quite see where they ended.

The end of the basin itself was in her sight, the wall of it stretching up so high it would have completely obscured the hints of the city if she had been any lower. She grimaced slightly. There was a world beyond the castle and what she'd explored so far, but unless she found a way down that didn't involve jumping from floating platform to floating platform, she'd never be able to see it. Pulling back from the edge, she looked to her left — the only way she could continue walking.

She followed the path a short ways, expecting a set of stairs to become visible as she approached it, but when she reached the end, there was nothing but a sudden and dangerous drop. Looking down at the drop and being unable to see the bottom made her heart jump into her throat. Did this mean the castle itself was floating, or was its foundation simply obscured by the thick fog below? Was there really no way down except the floating platforms? She tried to imagine Maleficent jumping from platform to platform, lips twitching at the comical image. No, there had to be some other way down.

Natsumi looked around, but no solution was apparent. Frowning, she walked towards the balustrade again, even though she knew that there would be nothing there, just as there was nothing except the platforms over the first balustrade she'd looked over. Even so, she leaned over the railing, huffing a bit when her suspicions proved correct. Natsumi pulled back, wondering if she should just give up after all. Maleficent did use those dark portals most of the time, so maybe there really was no other way out of the castle and into town.

Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw something start to glow. She turned her gaze toward the glowing light, finding that her staff was glowing, along with a jewel set in a pale pink stone pedestal she hadn't noticed before. She had just enough time to recognize that it matched the one at the lift inside the castle before its light blinded her and then faded to reveal another floating platform. One she could get to easily. Brushing off her surprise, she grinned and stepped forward onto the platform. As soon as she'd stepped completely onto the platform, it began to move, nearly knocking her to her knees with the suddenness of it.

A bright light enveloped the platform as it moved, obscuring her surroundings. She hadn't seen where the platform had come from, so she had no idea where it was taking her either. The platform moved so smoothly that, without being able to see the world around her as it passed by, she couldn't even tell if it was going up or down or in a straight line. If she hadn't almost fallen down earlier, she wouldn't have thought it was moving at all. For a brief moment she let herself wonder if the platform would disappear and leave her stranded down in the city. Then, it came to an abrupt stop, sending her stumbling again.

The light intensified before disappearing and Natsumi scowled, rubbing her eyes. It seemed like she was being blinded more often than not lately, and a part of her was suddenly grateful for how dim the lighting always was in the castle. She opened her eyes to see a small rocky area in front of her. At first glance, she thought it was a dead end, and she sighed heavily. But then, a shadow shifted beyond the rocks, revealing a path that wrapped around them and disappeared from sight.

She walked eagerly down the path, wondering where it led and hoping that it led to the town she had been able to see from the castle. Now all she could see was the cliff face, and a thin line of the pink sky above her. She couldn't even see the castle anymore, though it hadn't felt like the platform had carried her that far.

"Kumo?" she called, looking around as she walked.

She had assumed that the shadow she'd seen was the little Heartless, since he always seemed to appear to guide her when she needed him, but there was no sign of him or any other creature. The world outside seemed just as deserted as the castle was. Natsumi frowned. What could have happened to this world to make it so that its only inhabitants were her, Riku, and Maleficent?

Silence pressed in on her. She'd never noticed before how quiet it could be; the castle was full of noise, though she hadn't consciously noticed it at the time. The sounds of the old building settling on whatever foundation it rested on, the soft hiss of something making its way through the brass pipes that lined the walls and ceilings, there was always some sort of noise going on, soft as they were. But here, outside the castle, all was still. Not even a hint of wind stirred.

Natsumi felt goosebumps raise on her arms. Not for the first time, she wondered why Maleficent insisted they stay in the castle. Was this absence of people her doing, or was she actually trying to protect them from something? Maleficent's actions had her thoughts going in circles. She thought about calling out for Kumo again, but the silence seemed too heavy to break. Instead, she continued on as quietly as she could.

Suddenly, the world opened up in front of her as she found herself at the top of a large square. This time, there was a set of stairs she could descend, and directly opposite the platform she stood on, there were two others, though she couldn't have said how anyone was supposed to reach them. She saw several fountains throughout the square, none of them functional, the water in the pools turned dark and brackish. Ivy grew, wild and unrestrained up and across the blue colored bricks, a stark contrast to the lack of life within the fountains. The ivy clearly had no qualms about how deserted the world around it was.

Her eyes roved further across the square, finding the furthest platform from her had a darkened entryway with a set of stairs leading upwards. She stepped closer to the ledge, trying to get a better look, frowning when she saw that there was no way up to that doorway. Each side of the platform was a sheer wall, offering no aid in climbing up. Not that she could have climbed anything in her current state anyway. She frowned deeply, and after a moment longer, she turned away, heading back the way she came.

She continued like this, walking through the abandoned city and realizing that there was a second pathway she had missed entirely when she'd first arrived. A thrill coursed through her at the sight, and she quickened her steps, ignoring the way her side ached and protested the movement. She was rewarded for her curiosity when this second path opened up to a small plaza in front of her. Here were the houses whose roofs were the only thing she'd been able to see from up in the castle, and as she walked closer, she could see more and more.

It wasn't until she'd reached the middle of the square that she noticed it. All of the houses were dark. The cobblestone pathways were in disrepair, and the roofs, that had seemed whole from a distance, were littered with holes. The silence continued to loom ominously around her. Her eyes glanced furtively around and her fingers clenched tighter around her staff.

"Kumo?" she tried again. Her voice was barely a whisper, but even that felt too loud for this place. The little Heartless did not appear.

The door of the nearest home had been left ajar, and beyond it lay shadows and dust. Despite this, or maybe because of it, she crossed the square towards it. She hesitated only briefly with her hand outstretched towards the door before pushing it open gently and calling out, "Hello?" Nobody answered, and once her eyes adjusted to the dimness, she could see why. The home was empty, books haphazardly strewn across the floor from the bookcase to the crumpled up rug pinned beneath an overturned chair.

Her stomach turned as she took in the sight, finding more signs of distress the longer she looked, and dust settled over the entire scene. Slowly, she began to creep out of the doorway, back into the daylight, though she couldn't bring herself to close the door. Her fingers were starting to ache, joining the ache in her side, and she suddenly realized how very helpless she was. She whirled around, breath catching in her throat.

While she'd been immersed in the frantic nature of the abandoned home, Heartless had begun to fill the square. Some were the small shadows she'd grown used to with Kumo's presence, but more of them were larger, and far more threatening. They all eyed her blankly, winged Heartless hovering in place, while still others stood silently behind their shields. Every muscle in her body was frozen, though her brain was screaming at her to retreat into the house and bar the door. And yet, it felt like a delicate balance had been struck and if she so much as breathed wrong, they would pounce.

Then, as if they could hear her thoughts, the Heartless surged forward all at once.

Her eyes widened and then closed as she held up her staff to try to ward them off, knowing that there was no way she'd be able to fight them. Their wings beat the air loudly enough that she could hear them, even with the thundering footsteps of the larger Heartless, and then all at once, with a blinding green flash that pierced through her eyelids, everything went silent.

"Go," a familiar voice said imperiously. Natsumi opened her eyes just as something crashed against the cobblestones. "Begone with you."

Maleficent stood in front of her, arms extended and Natsumi watched, still frozen, as all the Heartless were simultaneously engulfed in green flames. Her breath caught in her throat, eyes glued to the place where the Heartless disappeared. Even when Maleficent turned her attention to Natsumi, she didn't move.

"Well? Explain yourself."

Natsumi looked up at Maleficent, and found herself entirely speechless. She was still trying to process the disappearance of the Heartless, those green flames seared into her eyelids.

"I… I just wanted…" Her restless wandering seemed far more reckless now than it had when she'd been angry with Riku and confined to her bed. Cheeks burning, she couldn't hold eye contact with Maleficent. Despite all her protests, it seemed she really couldn't take care of herself. "...to see what was out here," she finished.

"Foolish girl. Perhaps if you'd heeded my advice from the start, you'd be better suited to protect yourself."

Maleficent's gaze was scathing as she looked Natsumi up and down. Natsumi felt a spark of annoyance at her judgment.

"Well maybe if somebody would actually help me, I would be!"

It wasn't as though she hadn't been trying. She'd been poring over books since she'd arrived on Hollow Bastion, practicing every day to try to perform magic, but she had no proper teacher. No one to direct her and show her what she was doing wrong or how to improve. Maleficent's accusation reminded her of the way Riku said she couldn't go with him and infuriated her with its unfairness.

"Silence," Maleficent commanded, and Natsumi's eyes narrowed. "Have you forgotten already? I said we would discuss your studies upon my return."

"Then does that mean—"

"Come."

Maleficent lifted her arm, and a dark portal appeared. She gestured for Natsumi to enter first, and, with one last look around the abandoned town, she did so. It made sense now how Maleficent got to and from the castle — being able to open a portal anywhere she wanted left very little room for limitations.

"Can I learn how to do that?" Natsumi asked as they emerged from the portal back in her bedroom. The sight of her bed made her realize all at once how tired she truly was, and she sat down heavily on the edge of it.

"In time," Maleficent replied. "There are a great number of other lessons you will need first."

"Like what? Will you—" She lifted her hand to stifle a yawn. "—be teaching me?"

"No. I have enlisted the help of an associate of mine."

That caught Natsumi's attention.

"An associate?" It was the first she was hearing of Maleficent speaking with anybody besides Diablo and Jafar, and she wondered just how far the woman's reach extended.

"Indeed. She will instruct you in the ways of magic, and show you how to properly wield that staff."

"When will I meet her?" Natsumi held her breath. It seemed too good to be true that she was finally getting what she'd wanted since she found the first book of magic.

"Tomorrow." Maleficent began to turn towards the door. "I will fetch you when the time is right. Ensure that you are ready."

"I will."

Maleficent's lips curved upwards, ever so slightly, before she turned away from Natsumi completely.

"Marvelous," she said, and then she was gone.

Natsumi stared after her for a moment longer before allowing herself to fall backwards on her bed. She was exhausted, and the pain in her side was making itself known now more than it had when she'd walked through the town. Even that couldn't banish the small smile from her face.

Something was finally going right, and tomorrow, she'd begin learning magic from a teacher, and not a dusty old book. She couldn't wait to tell Riku.

A/N: This has been a long time coming and I'm so sorry for that! I couldn't figure out how to properly write the scene between Maleficent and Natsumi, and it was crucial I get it right. On top of that, Curryfury and I are still going strong on Lucky0Stars, so that takes up a lot of time, haha! But this story is still a priority and I definitely plan to continue putting out chapters.

To the anon who reviewed Habitual Sinner (if you by some chance see this), I haven't forgotten that story either, I swear, even if it seems like it. Chapter two is in the works, it's just that this story and the blog are my priorities right now. I'm working on it, so I hope you keep checking in, but I can't make any promises.

As always, thanks for reading, and if you have time, please review!