Dawn of a New Day

[Oeilvert]

***Off to Showtime!, in Hyperspace***

[Acteur de la Noir]

As the others departed for the theater, Acteur watched with a soft chuckle, that crescent-shaped smile wider than ever. All was going according to plan--the cast was assembling, Lord Atticus' plans were proceeding perfectly, and the performance of a lifetime was about to be unleashed. No matter HOW one looked at it, there was more than enough reason to feel confident. Of course, confidence--oft portrayed with such theatrical wit--came rather easily to the Heartless puppeteer; but it DID feel nice to have such valid reason for his antics. And what reason could be greater for a scheming puppet-master than to witness his endeavors turning out so perfectly?

Then Acteur's attention was drawn back to Shego...and as he turned to face the transformed master criminal, the Victorian-inspired darkling felt a twinge of sympathy for his sibling Heartless. It seemed that when she'd lost her heart to Atticus--both in the literal and figurative sense of the word--Ms. Go had been stripped of more than anyone could have predicted. After all, Acteur recalled the woman that Shego had been rather vividly--that cunning, devious apprentice to Maleficent, whose razor-edged wit and keen fighting prowess were akin to a Japanese katana--elegant, sharp, and focused to most exquisite effect. But now, the shapely shadow woman seemed to have lost that focus--her memory, independence, and clarity of purpose swallowed by the darkness that had claimed her heart. All that was left was this poor, confused being...beautiful and deadly still, but so susceptible and malleable that she would be as lost and helpless as a newborn babe without proper guidance.

Then Acteur found himself wondering what might have become of Sarah, had the Darkness claimed her. Would a similar fate have awaited? Despite himself, the Heartless Puppeteer felt a surge of paradoxical relief that he had arrived in time--that he, against all that he represented as a Heartless, had stopped Ms. Appleton from taking that irrevocable step. Which, in and of itself, was a plot twist that he himself could never have suspected coming.

Why had he done it, anyway? To preserve Sarah's musical talent? Because she was one of the few among the Light who accepted the Dark? Or...?

Abruptly, Acteur shook his head. No matter. There was a play to attend to...he could reflect on this unsettling matter another time. Reaching out to lay a gloved hand upon Shego's green-and-black checkered shoulder, the Victorian-inspired Heartless have his female brethren a reassuring squeeze, his ghostly eyes flickering softly behind his theatrical mask as they met those verdant pools.

"Follow me, cherie," he urged her in a ghostly whisper, his voice both elegant and hypnotic. "I shall lead you to Atticus, himself...it is he whom you can aid, above all others."

Then the puppeteer snapped his fingers just so, producing a vortex of swirling darkness that served as a Corridor across the worlds. Into this void, Acteur would slowly vanish, leading Shego to where the curtain was soon to rise.

*To Showtime*