Darklight Green [Maleficent]

[Castle]

He was walking back to the inn when he saw it.

The small green glow stood out in the oncoming darkness of evening. The sun was below the horizon, but the last rays of twilight were still on the Radiant Garden, giving it a last, soft illumination. The green glow stood stark against this illumination, and that was what caught Castle's attention.

He stopped and looked toward it. To his surprise, it began to move, floating away through the streets and alleys. His curiosity was already piqued, but it quickly grew into an all-out compulsion, a bizarre urge to follow that light and see where it was going. And so, he did, not caring that it would be dark soon or that he had to get up early in the morning to keep up his job in the Marketplace.

Things only got more bizarre from there. One minute, he was chasing the light through the streets, barely focused on anything else. Then, quite suddenly, the light was gone, and he was in another place entirely.

Castle stopped abruptly and surveyed his new surroundings. It was a large room, a foyer of some kind, dark, colored mostly in green. There were twin staircases ahead of him that wrapped around a strangely carved fountain. The water gurgled rhythmically, but eerily.

"What the...?" he muttered. How in the world had he ended up here without realizing it? Was he dreaming?

[Maleficent]

Maleficent turned around and saw that her pawn had finally arrived. Good, she knew that she would be able to lead him here quite easily. She had known that some great dark presence had visited Hollow Bastion recently, someone she was unfamiliar with. She noticed that after that presence left, certain people seemed to have darkness growing in their hearts. Sure it was still not as much as the light within them, but she could use that small amount of darkness and make it grow and consume them.

She had picked one of the people at random, one she was not familiar with since there were others that had been tainted with darkness she recognized, but she didn't think she could so easily use them. She had led this person here to make his darkness grow and have him possibly join her. After all she still needed many more pawns in her possession if she were to retake this world.

She slowly descended one of the staircases to greet her guest. "Welcome young one," she said to her guest, noticing it was a boy. "What brings you to my castle?" she asked him. She wasn't going to admit to luring him here unless he realized it for himself.

[Castle]

Castle managed to not notice the witch descending one of the staircases until she spoke. The sudden voice startled him greatly, and he jumped about a half an inch off the ground and turned to face her in the same motion. It was a woman, a tall figure all dressed in black. But... was that green skin, and were those horns on her head? The sight was a bit unnerving, he had to admit, especially in a place like this.

He quickly composed himself, straightening up and letting his arms hang at his sides. He was just edgy from the bizarre change in scenery, that was all. This person didn't actually scare him. He'd seen weirder. Well, maybe.

"Ah, um, well," he began, lifting one arm to rest a hand on his hip, purely out of habit, "I'm kind of here by accident. I guess I got distracted while I was walking... home, today. Sorry if I'm trespassing."

He tried a smile. Just a small one, enough to be polite and let her know he wasn't intimidated.

Suddenly, a memory from earlier that day reared up and struck him in the brainpan. Zexion's words flashed back to him, a warning about a witch who lived in the Radiant Garden's "abandoned" castle. This was that witch, he realized, and this was that castle.

He kept his smile composed, however. She hadn't done anything threatening yet.

[Maleficent]

Maleficent smirked at the boy's feared reaction. It always amused her when one acted as such in front of her. It had been awhile since she had really been able to intimidate anyone, so it felt good she was still able of doing so. She stood there at the bottom of the staircase, listening to him talk about how he got here. He didn't really remember, saying he had just been walking home and then he came here.

She smirked to herself, that spell she had used worked better than she had thought, this boy had been quite drawn to the green glow and just lost his train of thought as she summoned him. He seemed not to have caught on to that yet, which was good more time for her to manipulate him further. "Do not worry, you are not trespassing," she told him calmly. "It is has been far too long since I have had guest,"

She then bowed trying to give off an air of politeness and make the boy at ease....for now. "Pardon me, but I have yet to introduce myself. I am Maleficent," She came back up an faced her guest. "Now who might you be?"

[Castle]

Somehow, the bow only made the situation more eerie. She struck him as possibly being a recluse in this castle, and since she was a witch, there was no telling how long she'd actually been in here. She said she hadn't had a guest in "far too long." How long was that?

But, at any rate, she'd just confirmed her identity to him. He thought he should be on guard, but again, she wasn't doing anything wrong so far. And hey, maybe if she was as reclusive as he suspected, people like Zexion wouldn't even know what she was really like. Heck, maybe she was lonely.

On the other hand, that look on her face was a little... Nah, he did the same thing.

"Castle. Castle Carmindy," he said. He remembered some story he'd heard once about not giving your real name to witches, but it was too late now. He didn't think that was actually true, anyway. How could you manipulate someone with a name, when names could be changed in a second? "Nice to meet you," he added, just to be safe.

He should probably work on getting out of here. He was giving her the benefit of the doubt, but she, and this place, were really... dark. If she was affiliated with Darkness, he'd best leave as quickly and efficiently as possible.

[Maleficent]

The boy...Castle he had called himself, seemed a little tense. It made sense though, the castle just emanated darkness and only an idiot could not see that. Plus, the boy must have been still concerned that he managed to get in here when he did not realize how he had done so. "Yes.....nice to meet you as well," she responded back to him.

Now how to approach this one and make him embrace the darkness. She needed to make him feel like there was no danger here even with all the darkness. She had an idea and turned around to hide a smile before she spoke. "Forgive me if I seem.....imposing. It has been such a long time since I have had a guest in the castle.....I'm afraid I'm not used to such close encounters with people,"

She then turned back to face hm, the smile she was hiding gone and hopefully her face looked like one that deserved sympathy. "You know what it is like to feel alone, correct?" she asked him. She thought she had picked the right string to pull, it was only a matter of time to see if she was correct.

[Castle]

That struck a chord. A look of surprise flashed briefly across Castle's face, but vanished as soon as it appeared. He didn't know why her last statement affected him like that, so he pushed the feeling aside and buried it.

"Yeah, I guess," he said carefully. It wasn't like he was totally alienated, but he had his fair share of being alone. Probably not as much as Maleficent, though.

He couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for her. She had just come right out and apologized for being imposing, and now, she was acting kind of like an old lady whose family was all gone and lived alone with the cat. He had no idea if that was an accurate comparison or not, but that was the impression she gave now.

A little alarm bell went off in the back of his mind. What if she was tricking him somehow? Witches did that kind of stuff, didn't they? But, how was he supposed to know what a real witch was like? He only knew one wizard, Merlin, in passing, but there seemed to be a great difference in the dispositions of the two classes, at least from what Castle heard.

Well, whatever. She didn't seem that bad at the moment, so he would continue to withhold any kind of prejudice. For now.

[Maleficent]

Maleficent would have smiled, but it would give her away. Yes, she had picked the right string to pull, undoubtedly. That brief look of surprise that had appeared on Castle's face was all she needed to continue. This boy was more alone than he cared to admit or possibly even realized. She thought she even detected a little bit of sympathy coming from him as well. The idea sickened her and pleased her at the same time, it was what she was going for but any thought of sympathy bothered her.

Now to try and turn this conversation onto him instead of her and hopefully get him to say something she could further use. "Yes....I can see it in your eyes," she told him. "You feel alone, even now. Do not deny it. She turned away again, a smile forming she couldn't stop and had to hide away.

"Do you not have any friends? I can not imagine someone like you as being without a friend," Yes...this would hopefully push him in further and allow her to manipulate him further. She was almost surprised at how well it was going so far, but then again she was a master manipulator was she not?

[Castle]

Those words just surprised him the normal way. What the heck was that? She just met him, and now she was trying to read his mind? It felt like something had just been turned around, somehow, though Castle didn't bother to pinpoint what exactly that was.

"Of course I have friends!" he blurted, "And, I don't feel alone right now. I just wandered off, like I said."

He managed to subdue his tone back into a polite manner by the end of that sentence. Like she said, she wasn't used to dealing with people. Maybe she didn't realize how presumptuous her statements were. Still, Castle felt a bit edgy now, though he hid it under his usual composed manner. Or at least, he tried to.

Why was his heart beating faster now? The situation was creepy, yes, but that was no reason to push the panic button just yet. She just made a guess about him. A weird guess. That was all. It wasn't like it was true. He wasn't totally alone. Not all the time.

Maybe it was her weird way of trying to connect. And maybe that was why she was alone here, he realized. But... it still felt too early to make a serious judgement.

[Maleficent]

Maleficent smile grew wider at the reaction, it seemed a little defensive in her opinion. She had to stifle a chuckle or two as well. The boy was still insisting he had wandered off as well, still not having realized he was summoned. "Yes of course you do..." she replied in an almost mocking tone. She turned back to him, her face returning to a more neutral looking one.

She had started to get him thinking a little bit more about his loneliness, but she needed more. She needed to get that thought to grow and grow till it consumed him. "However, just because one has friends, does not mean you are not alone," she told him. "It bothers you because there is some truth to what I say is there not?"

She smirked for a moment, before continuing on. "Besides are you sure these so called friends of yours return your sentiments? Perhaps you are just deluded into thinking it to be so..." She had dropped the nice act now, she had gotten the boy to let his guard down and that was all she needed, plus she didn't know how much longer she could have stomached acting that way.

[Castle]

Now he knew what that turning-around feeling was. She had just dropped an act. Dropped it hard.

Castle shifted one foot a half a step back. His smile was totally gone now, replaced with the ghost of a glare, laced with wariness. It was pretty obvious that the first impression she gave him was a load of bull. And now, he began to wonder if that glowing green orb had been a coincidence, or something else.

"Deluded..." he began, and then gathered his confidence, his hands curling into fists at his sides, "Where do you get the idea that you can just say that to someone you barely know?!"

He should probably get out now. Would she try to stop him? That staff in her hand suddenly looked very ominous. How powerful was this witch? After a small pause, he decided to voice his previous idea,

"That light orb was yours, wasn't it?" he continued, more quietly, "Do you want something from me?"

Because you're not going to get it, he added silently.

[Maleficent]

Maleficent chuckled at the boy's response. How amusing he was. "You haven't exactly denied my statements as lies now have you?" she responded to him. "I only speak what even you seem to think is the truth," She then actually laughed when the boy finally realized that he didn't come here by chance. "Yes...I wondered how long it would take you to realize that,"

He then asked if she wanted something from him. Of course she did, why else would this boy be here? "Of course. There is a darkness that lingers and grows in your heart," she started off explaining. "I want it to continue to grow. After all, are you not tired of the light?" She smirked, even if the boy wasn't convinced she will have done enough to make the darkness in his heart grow.

She move her arms in an extravagant manner. "You do not need friends when you have darkness at your side. Let it be your ally," she told him. She preyed on his apparent loneliness that he did not care to admit. At the very least she would be planting a seed of doubt in his head and that was all that was needed for the darkness in his heart to grow.

[Castle]

The mention of the darkness in his heart sent a chill through him. He thought immediately of the battle with the Figure, and the Figure's claim to have reinforced the darkness in his and the others' hearts. A pressure seemed to grow in his chest, and he took a full step back this time.

"No way!" he exclaimed angrily, "There's no way I'm falling for that, you witch!"

There was a door behind him. He'd seen it when he first arrived, right after the orb vanished and he looked around the room. He would probably be able to make it if he was fast, or if it turned out Maleficent wasn't a fast enough spell caster to stop him. He doubted that somehow, but on the off-chance, he had to try.

"You stay here with your darkness! I'm not interested!"

With that, he turned sharply and ran for the doors. He didn't care that he was running away. He had nothing to prove to this witch. He just needed to get out of this dark place as fast as possible, and then never come back. Maybe he should warn Emi about the castle, too, in case she was thinking of exploring it.

[Maleficent]

Maleficent laughed at the boy's response. He may not be interested in the darkness now, but as the darkness in his heart continued to grow he would....have a change of heart so to speak. She also laughed at his attempts to run, the doors leading out of the castle would only open right now if she willed them too. She had not yet finished saying what she wanted to say.

"One last thing to think about before you leave young one," she called out to him. "My 'light orb' as you called it....it can only attract those who have a good amount of darkness in their hearts...." she laughed some more. "I hope you will consider that,"

She then turned and started heading back up one of the staircases, the exit opening by itself. "We shall meet again...Castle. Whether by your choice or mine," she told him and then laughing madly as she exited through the door at the top of the stairs.

[Castle]

When he reached the doors, he found them locked. So she was fast enough to stop him, but on his current adrenaline rush, he didn't much care. He yanked on the handles as the witch continued to speak, and only when she revealed the truth about the orb did his efforts slacken. He turned halfway around to watch her ascend the staircase, and as that happened, the exit swung open of its own accord.

She left the room, her mad laughter ringing on the walls. Castle gritted his teeth and ran through the now open doorway, his heart beating furiously in spite of his determination that everything she said was a lie.

Suddenly, he was on the streets again. Castle stumbled to a halt and whipped around. The castle wasn't even in sight from here. The way he had come was just an empty street, dark now under the star-filled sky. Everything was silent, save for his fast breathing.

He sighed deeply, his shoulders sagging. What the heck was that all about? Did it even happen, or was he going crazy? He subconsciously lifted his hands in front of him and saw that they were shaking. He growled in frustration and curled his fingers into tight fists.

It happened, he knew it did, but that didn't mean Maleficent wasn't a liar. He would just have to steer clear of that crazy witch from now on. There was no way he'd turn to the darkness because of a nonexistent problem.

"No way," he muttered.

He looked around again to gather his bearings, and then hurried off in the direction of the inn. Maybe he wouldn't tell Emi. She'd already been warned by Zexion, and if he told her again, she would know something happened. Even though Maleficent's words didn't have anything on Castle, he still didn't enjoy the thought of telling anyone about them.

Lies. She was definitely telling him lies.