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Ever since the curse had broken on Prince Adam and the village, Belle had wanted to encourage him to get to know the people and vice versa. There were many balls, filled with dancing and beautiful music for hours. The villagers soon spread the word abroad and others began coming from far and wide to attend the lavish balls. It wasn’t at all unusual to see strangers there, and Belle made an effort to talk with them all.
This particular ball was no different. There were people there Belle didn’t know. But none caught her attention as much as a mysterious stranger dressed in black who appeared at the top of the ballroom stairs an hour into the ball. Everyone looked up, and there were many gasps of surprise. The man with long silver hair and three blue wings glided down the stairs with the grace of an angel and proceeded to dance with any of the ballgoers who showed an interest. Many, if not all, seemed to find him quite charming, and Belle noticed many adoring eyes on him as he moved through the crowd.
Belle herself was certainly curious. The first chance she got, she danced over to the man and took his gloved hand as a new waltz began. “Hello,” she greeted. “I haven’t seen you around before.”
He smiled, accepting her hand as he began to dance with her. “I don’t live in the village,” he said. “I am just passing through . . . Princess Belle.”
“You have the advantage of me,” Belle retorted. “I don’t know your name.”
“It’s a name that means many things to many people,” he said. “For some it means heroics and goodness. For others, darkness and danger. But I suppose a Princess of Heart wouldn’t know much of the darkness.”
“I know it exists,” Belle said evenly. “And I can sense it.”
“So I’ve heard. If that is so, what do you sense about me?” he asked.
She frowned, staring deeply into his green eyes framed by the black eye mask. “. . . You know about the darkness,” she finally replied. “But you’re not a bad person.”
“Hm. There are many who would disagree with you,” he remarked. “But for you to say it, perhaps I will have to take greater stock in the idea.”
That comment surprised her. “You think you’re a bad person,” she realized. “Why?”
“I once lived in the light, but I have walked the path of darkness and caused harm to the person I love most.” The depth of the sorrow in his eyes stunned and saddened her. “I can never live in the light again.”
“. . . Never is a long time,” she said. “Adam felt that way too, but he was wrong!”
“Adam?” he repeated.
“The Prince,” she said.
“And he feels differently now?”
“Yes,” Belle insisted. “There’s always hope.”
He looked like he was considering the idea, at least.
“It’s said the Princesses of Heart possess no darkness in their hearts,” he mused. “Is that the truth? Can anyone truly be a whole person without darkness as well as light?”
Belle watched him carefully, frowning a bit. “You know a lot. It’s not common knowledge about Princesses of Heart.”
A shrug. “I hear many things.”
“From who?” Belle asked.
“Usually not any one source in particular.”
“Do you ever talk with Maleficent?” She watched him closely.
The top wing twitched. “Maleficent is afraid of me,” he confessed. “She knows I can take control of her army at any time. I’ve done it before.”
“Really.” Belle studied him. “So that’s what you do with your knowledge of the darkness?”
“Occasionally.”
“Do you ever use it to hurt others?”
He looked thoughtful. “That would depend on what you mean by ‘hurt.’ I fight with many abilities, including that, during tournaments and other shows of power. Sometimes I push people to fight to the best of their abilities in other circumstances as well. I can’t say they’ve always been grateful for that.”
“It sounds like you use your powers more to help than to hurt,” Belle said.
“Perhaps,” he said with a nod.
“. . . You dance well,” Belle remarked.
“As do you,” he said smoothly. “This song is intriguing. What is it called?”
“The Waltz of the Damned,” Belle told him.
“Hm. A curious name,” he mused. “Fitting for Prince Adam, at least in the past . . . and myself.”
“He’s found the light again,” Belle said. “Why can’t you?”
His eyes were still sad. “Some sins can never be forgiven . . . or repaired.”
She frowned in concern. “Is the person you love . . . dead?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I will never stop searching for him if I never find positive proof. But even if he is alive, I don’t know if even he can forgive what I did. It wouldn’t have happened had I listened to him in the first place.”
She was silent as she considered that. “People we love have a way of forgiving us even when it seems like they never could or even should,” she said at last. “And it sounds like what happened to your loved one was an accident. If you didn’t even mean to cause him to get hurt, how could he hate you for that?”
“I would never hurt him on purpose,” he said. “But I thought I knew best what to do and didn’t value his concerns as much as I should have. He would have every reason to hate me for that, especially when he suffered because of it.”
“I hope you’ll find him alive and well,” she told him. “And I hope he will forgive you.” She really couldn’t imagine he wouldn’t when she saw how much this man was suffering over his tragic mistakes.
“It is a comforting dream, at least,” he said.
“Princess Cinderella says a dream is a wish your heart makes,” Belle remarked.
“True, I suppose,” he mused. “But no matter the sentimental words you use, it doesn’t help your dreams come true any better.”
“She and I both believe in going out and seizing the day and making your dreams come true yourself,” Belle said. “But that doesn’t always work for every dream.”
“No,” he agreed. “It doesn’t.”
“. . . Why are you here?” Belle asked.
“I’m tracking something,” he said. “It may come here, either drawn by your light . . . or sent to take you.”
“I’ve already been kidnapped once, thanks,” Belle said. “I’m not going to let it happen again. What is this thing you’re tracking?”
“It’s drawn to pure hearts,” he said. “I’ve already driven it away from Princess Aurora’s and Princess Snow White’s worlds.”
“You’ve been busy,” Belle said. “Are you a Keyblade wielder?”
Something flickered in his eyes. “No. I never have been.”
“But you wish you had been?”
“It’s better that I wasn’t.”
“So what are you then?”
He gave her an amused look. “You ask a lot of questions.”
“Well, how else am I going to learn anything?” Belle countered.
“Perhaps I will lie. Or can you sense that as well?”
“I can’t actually sense it. But sometimes I know,” she said.
“And do you feel I’ve told you the truth so far?” he asked.
“I haven’t felt that you haven’t,” she said.
As the waltz came to an end, the nearest window suddenly shattered as a cloaked being flew into the ballroom, claws bared from under the cloak. The partygoers screamed, most of them scattering to the far sides of the room or even out of the room altogether. Prince Adam looked ready to charge, sword bared.
The mysterious stranger suddenly summoned his own sword, an incredibly long katana. As he and Adam both lunged at the beast to keep it away from Belle, it swiped at them both. The stranger slashed at it, sending it leaping back with a cry.
“What is this creature?!” Adam cried in anger. “How do we know you didn’t draw it here or bring it here yourself?!”
“It’s after the Princesses of Heart,” the winged man retorted. “I did not bring it here.”
Belle didn’t want to just stand by and watch the fight. She began to gather her power to drive back the darkness of the creature with her light.
It dodged, instead lunging at the stranger and pinning him to the floor. Unable to use his long sword at that angle, he charged a fireball to shove at it. It snarled as the fire hit, but did not let him up. Instead, one clawed hand reached for his heart.
He forced it back with both arms and all three wings. As it tumbled over the ballroom floor, Belle’s attack of light suddenly bathed it in purity. An unearthly scream tore from its throat and it leaped away, fleeing towards the broken window.
Adam chased after it. But by the time he reached it, it had leaped through a portal into the darkness of the night.
Belle hurried over to the winged man. “Are you alright?” she demanded.
He sat up, examining the left side of his chest visible with his open coat. The creature’s claws had not pierced his skin, but the memory of it grabbing for him was still fresh in his mind. “Yes,” he said.
Adam frowned, watching him. “If it was supposed to be after Belle, why did it attack you the way it did? That wasn’t an average type of attack.”
He got to his feet, retrieving his sword and the fallen eye mask. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “It’s the third time I’ve stopped it from claiming a pure heart. It must just be growing enraged with me.”
“But why try to take your heart?” Adam retorted.
Belle looked from him to the winged man. “He said it himself—it’s after pure hearts.”
A scoff. “My heart is hardly pure.”
Belle walked closer to him. “A pure heart doesn’t have to mean a heart completely free of darkness. As far as I know, only the Princesses of Heart fit that qualification. But I’ve met others whose hearts are pure too—people who devote their time and energy to helping others above all else. You’ve been tracking that creature through all the worlds where you think it will strike. That certainly isn’t something you have to do. And you’re not expecting to get paid for doing it. You’re doing it to try to keep people safe. What could be more pure than that?”
He stared at her for a long moment before turning away. “I should go. It’s probably heading for another Princess of Heart.”
She nodded. “Be careful, Sephiroth.”
All the wings went stiff. “I never gave you my name.”
“I’ve heard of you,” Belle said. “The longer we talked, the more I was sure. Not everyone thinks you’re now a being of darkness. Just remember, I know you’re not. You haven’t lost the light; you still live in it in your heart.”
He looked back at her over his shoulder, his expression unreadable. Then, slowly, he nodded. “That is . . . a lot to take in. Thank you, for your words.”
“I hope someday you’ll know them too,” she said.
He formed a portal above the floor. “I suppose we’ll see, won’t we.” And he stepped through to the world beyond.