Chapter Twelve: Into The Beast


Alfred and Antonio walked back into the cockpit of the Gummi Ship. Alfred was swinging his keychain in his hand. Antonio was behind him, and he immediately dropped down into his chair.

"Alfred," he said. "Why did you need me to come down with you ?" Alfred shrugged.

"You don't," said the boy. "I just wanted someone to train with. Artie's always flying the ship, so I have no one to do it with me."

"Is that why I heard so many things crashing?" said Arthur from the controls. Alfred stopped swinging his keychain and sat down, sliding it into his pocket. "What did you break?"

"Just a couple of boxes, no big deal." Arthur slammed a hand down on the control panel.

"Bloody hell, Alfred! How do you know that those boxes weren't full of our provisions or something?"

"Well, I made sure that they weren't…" said Antonio. "They were empty crates." Arthur spun his chair to face Antonio. He crossed his arms and gave off a neutral expression. "What?"

"Shut your mouth." Before Arthur could turn around, a shadow danced across the windshield of the ship. Everyone froze for a split second. Arthur whirled back around to the front with wild eyes.

"What was that?" he asked. "Did anybody see it?"

"I don't know, but I do know one thing. It was huge!" remarked Alfred. The thing that cast the shadow from before crossed in front of the ship again, only this time, the trio got a clear look at it.

"It's a giant whale!" Antonio exclaimed as the whale flew back around. Alfred turned to Arthur.

"Arthur, get us out of here!" he ordered.

"Don't you think I'm trying?! Do I look like I want to run into a giant space whale?! While Arthur messed around with the controls, the whale made its way towards them. It opened its huge jaw, revealing it's mouth full of teeth. Arthur looked up at it. "It's too late! He's going to swallow us!"

The whale overtook the ship, swallowing it whole. The Gummi Ship rocked and shook as it went down. Alfred leaned back and hit his head against the ship's controls, losing consciousness.


A young child sat in a small cave. His face was buried in his knees. A small beam of moonlight shone down from an opening in the roof cave. His chest was heaving with silent sobs. Anything that came out of his mouth was silenced by the worn leather of a jacket he held tightly in his hands as if it were his lifeline. The boy was only five years old.

A bright beam shot down from the cave's hole.

"Alfred?" said a meek voice from the cave's entrance. The tunnel leading from the entryway made it echo.

"Go away!" shouted the younger Alfred, peeling his face away from the jacket just to answer. Alfred could hear the sound of barefeet walking across the stone. He didn't even bother to look up. Alfred could hear Matthew walk over to him. Matthew dropped down on the ground beside him. Alfred peeked out from the jacket. Matthew was still wearing his pajamas, the bottoms of his pants dripping with wet sand. Both boys were quiet.

"You okay?" Matthew asked for a while. Alfred shook his head.

"No!" he said, his voice louder than he wanted it to be. "He's gone!" Alfred sniffed. "He's gone and he's never comin' back!" Matthee hesitated for a moment before reached out towards Alfred. He batted his friend's hand away. "Don't touch me!"

"I was tryin' to-"

"You can't! You can't bring him back!" Matthew looked over at Alfred as he buried his face back in the jacket.

"Everyone's looking for you. You ran away." Alfred remained silent. "I wanna help you Al. I wanna know what to do."

"You can't do anything," muttered Alfred. "Your dad isn't…" He dropped in his sentence. Matthew crawled over. He tackled Alfred in a tight squeeze.

"I'm sorry…" said Matthew. Alfred curled up against him.

"I just want him back."

"I'm here, though," said Matthew. "So is my dad and your mom and…" Alfred nuzzled his head into Matthew's chest.

"Don't leave me."

"You're my best friend in the world! I'm not gonna." Alfred looked up at Matthew. He broke away from him, rubbing a balled up hand in his eye.

"Promise?" Matthew nodded.

"I promise." He extended his pinky finger, holding it out to Alfred. "Let's both make a promise. We'll ever leave each other behind. We'll never forget about each other. We'll be friends until the very end." Alfred stared at Matthew's finger before locking it with his own. He nodded.

"We'll be even closer! Like brothers!"

"Yeah," said Matthew with a small smile on his face. "Brothers."

"Alfred?!" cried out a woman. It was the faint call of a mother's worried voice that echoed in the distance.

"Matthew?!" called out a man. The cry of a father looking for his son.

"Mrs. Jones! Papa!" called out Matthew. "We're in here!"

The memory faded as the younger version of Alfred stood up to meet his mother as she entered the cave.


That was… that's the night… Matthew and I made that promise in our secret hideaway. Wait… that was the cave on the beach! How did I forget… our cave… our pact… our brotherhood?


Back in reality, Arthur had his hands firmly placed on Alfred's shoulders.

"Alfred!" he shouted for the tenth time. "Wake up!" Alfred groaned as his eyes opened as his flashback had ended. In front of him were Antonio and Arthur. He shook his head to clear it.

"Alfred," said Antonio as he helped the boy to stand, "Are you okay?" Alfred nodded.

"Yeah… I think so," he answered, looking around. What the trio stood in looked suspiciously like a mouth. "What happened anyway?" Before his question could be answered, something came flying from overhead. Alfred took a step back to narrowly avoid being hit by it.

"Uh…" Antonio muttered, looking around. "I think that big whale swallowed us…"

"Great…" Something landed by Antonio's foot. "And for today's weather: expect showers." Another item of the same kind fell from who knows where and hit Antonio in the back of the head.

"Heavy showers…" said the soldier, rubbing the back of his head. Arthur turned to a high ledge nearby. On it, someone was searching through a chest, throwing things down at the three while doing it. Arthur's eyes narrowed.

"Who's up there?" he called out. Someone looked up from the chest down at the three.

It was a marionette made to look like a little boy whose arms and legs were rectangular blocks of peach-colored wood. His legs also had clear hinges at his knees. He had thick, black hair and eyebrows, and blue eyes. The boy wore a yellow hat with a red feather in it, brown shoes, and white gloves. He wore a tan, short-sleeved shirt under a black vest with gold lining. His shorts were red, and he wore a blue bow on the front of his shirt.

"It's me!" said the boy. He began walking down the ledge and away from them. He was carrying a large block in his hands.

"Hey kid, where are you going?" Alfred called out. The boy kept on walking. "Hey!" Alfred sighed. "Come on, guys. I think we should follow him."

"Why exactly do you think that?" asked Arthur with an eyebrow raised.

"We're in a giant whale. I'm pretty sure there is somebody other than that boy here." Arthur groaned.

"All this agreeing with you is truly painful."

"Duly noted." And on that final note, the three followed after the boy.


The trio maneuvered their way across various pilings of wood scattered in the giant mouth they were stuck in. Their eyes landed on a large wooden boat. The boy from before was heading over there. Alfred leaned up against a wood pile that hid them from view.

"I have a feeling I know where we are…" he muttered to himself before he and the others walked a little closer to the boat. As they got closer, voices began to dance on their ears.

"What have you got there, Pinocchio?"

"With this, we can get out of here Father."

"Really? With this big block? You think so?"

"It's true," thought Alfred out loud. He covered his mouth for a split second before making the decision to climb on board the ship. Arthur climbed up on his own, while the two pulled Antonio on deck. Before them stood the boy from before and an old man.

"So, how did you end up here, Pinocchio?" Alfred asked the boy. "That's your name, isn't it?"

"Oh, my. So the whale swallowed all of you, too?" said the old man. "My goodness."

"It appears so," Arthur said with a sigh. "I'm Arthur Kirkland. These two are Alfred and Antonio." He gestured to the two other beside him.

"My name is Geppetto. I'm Pinocchio's father. When we got separated, I traveled all over, looking for him. Thank goodness we're together again."

"Family is very important," Antonio noted as Geppetto picked up the block Pinocchio brought up to the deck. Alfred helped him to move it. The two placed the block near a bed as a goldfish swam in its bowl on the bedside table.

"Well, we've all had quite a journey. Right, Pinocchio? Pinocchio?" When there was no answer, Gepetto looked around for the boy, but Pinocchio had disappeared. "I warned him not to wander off here. He can be a naughty boy. Even so, he's very precious to me."

"We'll find him," said Antonio before turning to the others with a innocent smile. "Right?" Alfred nodded.

"Yeah," he said. Arthur ran a hand through his hair.

"Even if I say anything, I'm outvoted," said the wizard. "Let's go into the bowels of the beast." Alfred cringed as the three walked off the boat and into the whale.

"Dude, that sounds gross…"

"That may be, but it's true."


Luckily, Pinocchio wasn't that far into the whale's oddly colorful insides. God, Alfred was right. Even when you have to read it, it sounds disgusting.

Alfred, Arthur and Antonio stopped walking when they saw the puppet not to far away from them.

"Pinocchio," Alfred called out, causing the boy to face them, "Come on. Let's head back to the boat.

"You know, Geppetto's awfully worried about you," Antonio added. Pinocchio didn't come towards them, over even move at all. Arthur crossed his arms.

"Pinocchio, stop fooling around!" he said sternly. "This is no time for games!" Pinocchio once again didn't listen to them. All three turned and began walking away.

"But I thought you liked games," called out a familiar voice from behind that caused all three to stop. Alfred was the first to turn around. Standing behind them was Matthew. Arthur and Antonio turned around as well.

"Or do you not want to play them now that you have the Keyblade?" Matthew continued.

"Matthew!" said Alfred, slightly excited to see his friend. "What happened to you? What are you doing here?"

"Playing with Pinocchio." Alfred crossed his arms over his chest as he walked a little closer.

"I think you know what I mean. What about Sakura? Did you find her?"

"Possibly." Alfred raised an eyebrow. He took a few steps closer to his brother. He stiffened. Matthew's eyes seemed like they had a layer of ice over is purple irises. There wasn't a single spark of warmth to them. Everything about Matthew had become cold. It was unnatural. "If you catch us, and I tell tell you what I know."

"Matt, are you alright?" Matthew didn't answer. He grabbed Pinocchio's hand and lead him further into the whale. Alfred's eyes narrowed. "We have to go after them. Something's wrong."

Alfred sprinted off down after Matthew and the puppet, with Arthur and Antonio following.

"What do you mean 'something's wrong'?" asked Arthur.

"Matthew. There's something wrong with him."

"Are you sure?" said Antonio.

"You didn't notice what I did."

"Eh, he seemed normal to me." Alfred sighed.

"You aren't as close to him as I am. You don't know him. It was like… something was wrong. He's my brother and my best friend. I can tell something's wrong. He was just so... cold." Antonio and Arthur exchanged a look with each other before following Alfred deeper into the whale.


Somewhere else in the whale, Matthew had stopped. He put his hands over his heart, with his nails digging into his chest. It was enough to draw a little blood. From behind him, he could hear someone approaching him from behind. Out of the corner of his eye, Matthew could see Maleficent.

"Why do you still care about that boy?" she asked. "He has all but deserted you for the Keyblade and his companions, after all."

"I don't care about him anymore," Matthew lied. "I was… confusing him so he doesn't find out the plan."

"Oh, really? Of course you were." He could feel her smiling. "Beware the darkness in your heart. The Heartless prey upon it." And it was on that note that Maleficent disappeared, leaving Matthew alone.

"I'm in control. I'm in control of myself," he muttered to himself. "I'm fine. I'm in complete control..."


Meanwhile, the Trinity, otherwise known as Antonio, Arthur, and Alfred, were navigating through the maze-like intestines of the whale. To top off the fact that Alfred- who was leading them truly had no idea where he was going, Heartless had started to appear out of nowhere and attack the three.

Arthur stowed his wand away after another battle with the Heartless before turning to the boy behind him.

"I swear to God, Alfred," said Arthur, rather ticked off, "If you lead us to more Heartless one more time, I will personally-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Alfred cut in before someone had to cover his ears. "But I'm certain this time. They're right down this tunnel." Alfred pointed in the direction of a random exit. "Now, come on." Alfred could hear Arthur sigh loudly before he and Antonio followed him down the tunnel.


For once, Alfred was right. At the end of the tunnel, they came across Pinocchio, who was running away from Matthew. Matthew had his back to them.

"Matthew!" Alfred shouted, getting the boy's attention. Matthew turned to face them. He still gave off a cold atmosphere, his eyes were still frozen. However, Alfred could still feel Matthew behind them. "What's the matter with you? Are you okay? Don't you realize what you're doing?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing, Alfred," replied Matthew, crossing his arms over his chest. "You only seem interested in running around and showing off your Keyblade these days. Do you even want to save Sakura?" Alfred raised an eyebrow as he tensed.

"What are you talking about?" asked Alfred, "Save her from what?!" Before Matthew could answer, a scream erupted from the bowels of the whale. Everyone exchanged a look between one another before running in it's direction.


At the end of the tunnel was a large, circular chamber. Standing in the middle was a large Heartless.

The Heartless's main body was a large, magenta blob with glowing yellow eyes and thin, rounded teeth that resembled prison bars. A much smaller pink head rested on top of the main one. This second head sported a jagged mouth, glowing yellow eyes, two short, dark purple spikes under its mouth, and a curled, magenta antenna on its head. Two long, aquamarine tentacles sprouted from either side of the second head and end in violet "hands" with three fingers, each with a dark purple spike on it. The Heartless emblem was between its eyes. Inside of the Heartless's bar-like mouth was Pinocchio.

The Heartless swung its arms as soon as the four entered, as if it was waiting patiently for them to come nearer in order to strike them.

The Trinity summoned and drew their weapons. Alfred turned when he heard a fourth blade being drawn. Matthew was standing behind him, with his eyes now back to the ones Alfred knew. In his hands was a sword that appeared to be interwoven with branches. The Keyblade Wielder smiled a bit.

"Are you ready?" asked Matthew. Alfred nodded, getting ready to fight.

"No problem," said the boy, "Let's do it!" Alfred ran over to the Heartless and swung at the small head on top. The Heartless began to swing its arms wildly, trying to strike the Keyblade Wielder. Matthew ran behind it to avoid them and struck from behind. Alfred continued to attack the top half.

"Tonitrua!" Arthur shouted. A bolt of lightning shot out of the end of his wand, electrocuting the Heartless. In this state, the Heartless lifted an arm and brought it down on Alfred, sending him into the floor.

"Arthur!" yelled Alfred as he stood, "Watch where you're aiming that thing!"

"Not my fault the Heartless hit you!" Alfred rolled his eyes before going in for another attack. He slashed his Keyblade at the cage part of the Heartless, where the young puppet was trapped. Unfortunately, the creature would not open up. Alfred gave on more upward slash. The Heartless began to shake and grabbed onto the ceiling for balance. The Heartless spat Pinocchio into a hidden hole that was below it. Alfred exchanged a look with Matthew, before the boy jumped down after him. Alfred got ready to jump back down as well.

"Alfred," called Arthur. Alfred turned. Arthur was pulling Antonio to his feet. Alfred ran over.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I'm fine," said Antonio, brushing off his clothes. "I just got hit by the Heartless before it escaped." Alfred nodded and turned back to the hole.

"You guys ready to go after it?" Arthur nodded. Antonio hesitated for a second.

"Yes," he answered. The three gathered at the edge of the hole and jumped down.


Surprisingly, the three landed unscathed on the ship inside of the mouth of the whale.

"Pinocchio! Pinocchio!" The Trinity straightened themselves out and turned into the direction of the voice. It was Geppetto, who had his back towards them. "Please! Give me back my son!" With a curious look, Alfred followed his gaze. He felt his body tense up in disbelief. Standing high on a ledge was Matthew. He held Pinocchio under his arms.

"Sorry old man," said Matthew, "But I have some unfinished business with this puppet."

"He's no puppet! Pinocchio is my little boy!"

"He is unusual. Not many puppets have hearts. I am not sure, but maybe he can help someone who's lost theirs." Alfred raised an eyebrow and took a few steps forward.

"Wait a minute," he said, getting Matthew's attention. "Who are you talking about?" Matthew's eyes narrowed.

"Why would you care? Sakura isn't yours to worry about." Alfred's eyes widened.

"What's wrong with Sakura?" he asked, his voice taking on a different, more panicked tone. "Where is she?!" Matthew didn't answer. he turned and headed down a tunnel behind him.

"We have to get after Matthew, before he hurts himself or someone else," said Arthur.

"But how are we going to get up there?" asked Alfred, pointing over to the high ledge.

"We climb up. On the wood piles."

"Alright." The three jumped into the water and proceeded to make their way up to the ledge, climbing on wood pile after wood pile. When they finally got up there, Alfred took a look down at his hands.

"Arthur," he said, getting the wizard's attention. He raised his hands. "Check out my splinters." Arthur rolled his eyes as he headed down the tunnel with Antonio. Alfred laughed before shaking the wooden scraps from his hands and dashing after them.


"How long is this going to go on?" asked Antonio after a while. The group had been climbing down ledges to get down to wherever Matthew and Pinocchio were. Arthur shrugged.

"I don't know, does it look like I know the anatomy of a whale?" said Arthur sarcastically. Antonio shook his head.

"I do," said Alfred. Arthur rolled his eyes again.

"Of course you do. Than tell us, where are we heading." Alfred looked around the tunnel.

"Judging by the direction we came in, I would say we're in the…" Alfred sentence was cut off by Arthur slipping on something. Antonio and Alfred watched Arthur take a fall down to the bottom of the tunnel. "The throat." Alfred laughed a little bit before turning to Antonio. "You first. This seems quicker."

"We'll do it together, alright?" Alfred nodded. He grabbed Antonio by the hand and jumped with him down into where the throat lead to. The stomach. The three headed down the rest of the tunnel and into what was the stomach. It was purple as well, with a moat of green acid surrounding a good deal of it. Ledges lined the walls. Across from them was Matthew, who had his back to them. Pinocchio was in front of him, propped up against a wall and unmoving.

"Hey," called out Alfred. Matthew stood and turned to face the Trinity. There wasn't much life to his eyes, only a single spark. "Let Pinocchio go, Matthew."

"A puppet that has lost its heart to the Heartless... Maybe it holds the key to helping Sakura," said Matthew, ignoring Alfred's request. "What do you say about it, Al? Let's join forces to save her. We can do it, together." He took a few steps towards the three. Before he could get any closer, Alfred summoned his Keyblade. Matthew stopped as Alfred narrowed his eyes. "You'd rather fight me? Over a puppet that has no heart?"

"Heart or no heart, at least he still has a conscience."

"Conscience?" Using this as a distraction, Antonio ran over to where Pinocchio was. Alfred pointed his Keyblade at the boy.

"You might not hear it, but right now it's loud and clear. And it's telling me you're on the wrong side!" It was by now that Antonio had reached the puppet and was trying to wake him up.

"I'm not gonna make it," Pinocchio said weakly. That's when a small light glittered off of the boy. When it faded, it had revealed the Pinocchio's nose grew. He was lying. "Oh! I guess I'm okay!" Antonio laughed happily. After this scene, Alfred exchanged a look with Arthur before looking back over at Matthew. The boy stood there for a second. Suddenly, the Heartless from before fell from a hole in the ceiling. The was a flash of purple from behind it. Pinocchio runs out of the stomach, with Antonio joining beside the others. Arthur and Antonio drew their weapons, ready to take on the Heartless.

The Heartless picked itself up off the floor and swung around, trying to hit the three. said targets dropped onto the floor.

"What are we going to do?" said Alfred ducking underneath the Heartless's attack.

"I can strike it with my magic," said Arthur, "It will only be for a second though." Alfred nodded. Arthur raised his wand.

"Tonitrua!" Arthur shouted. The lightning from his wand's tip shot at the Heartless once again, causing it to cease it's swinging and fall back onto the floor. Alfred shot up and started to strike it's body with his Keyblade.

The Heartless began swinging its spiked arms at the soldier and wizard in front of it. Antonio raised his shield and hit the arm, causing the Heartless to reel back. The top head fell backwards, causing the cage to open. It laid there, unconscious. Alfred raised his Keyblade and continued to do damage to it. Before the boy could deal the final blow, The Heartless straightened up. It began swinging its arms again. Arthur rolled out of the way of one of them, the arm only centimeters away from hitting him.

"We have to take it out, now," stated the former pirate in a firm tone. Before either one of the three could make a move, the Heartless placed its arms into the stomach acid, sucking it up through its appendages, and blowing it out through its mouth. The acid shot directly at Alfred and Antonio. While it barely grazed by Alfred, it hit Antonio with full force. Antonio hit the back of the wall and fell onto the floor. His shield fell beside him, turning back into a keychain. He was still living because of it.

"Antonio!" shouted Alfred. He turned back to the Heartless. It was swinging its arms madly. Alfred looked over at Arthur. They both ran at the Heartless, raising their weapons in unison. Alfred brought down a strike on the creature. Arthur shot fire to add force to Alfred's attack. The Heartless flew backwards. A glowing heart came out of its cage-like mouth and floated away. Unlike most of the Heartless, this one fell over into the pools of acid, splashing it everywhere.

Alfred looked around the stomach, trying to find where Matthew was. He hadn't seen him at all during the battle.

"Matthew!" he called out. "Matthew, where are you?!"

"Alfred, we have to leave. Now," said Arthur. Alfred turned back to see the Wizard holding the unconscious soldier. "Do you want to be digested?" Alfred took one last sweep of the stomach before running to Arthur. He swiped up Antonio's shield off of the floor. The three - more like two since Antonio was still out cold- ran out of the stomach and back towards the mouth. They took no time in running back to their ship- which was back where they had first landed in the mouth. The trio got into the ship. Before they could even take off, the whale- disrupted by all this agitation, sneezed. The ship was lurched back into the vastness of space.


Alfred stared out the window after Arthur had managed to get the ship back under control. He glanced back over at the wizard, who was tending to Antonio. He was still passed out cold.

"How long until you think he wakes up?" Alfred asked, placing his head in the palm of his hand.

"I don't know," said Arthur. "I never encountered this before. My magic did what it could. Either way, we can't head off to another world until Antonio wakes." Alfred turned back to the window.

"I sure hope Pinocchio and Geppetto are okay."

"Hopefully they landed somewhere safely…" Alfred nodded and sighed. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing it's just…" Alfred straightened up. "Back in the stomach, and several other times in that whale… when we ran into Matthew…"

"Yes, you said there was something wrong with him." Alfred nodded.

"Yeah. I know Matthew. And that wasn't him. I mean, it was him but it wasn't." Arthur blinked.

"You're not making a lick of sense." Alfred sighed.

"I'm just worried. What if he's gone all… you know…" Alfred made the gesture of a small explosion. Arthur shrugged.

"I don't know. I highly doubt that it's normal for someone's eyes to go lifeless like you said they were. The only thing I can think of is some sort of possession, but demonic possession is near impossible without the vessel's consent. So it couldn't be a demon." Arthur narrowed his eyes at Alfred. "So don't even think about raiding the salt supply." Alfred nodded, staring off out into the vast space before them.


Meanwhile, in another ship floating about the cosmic universe, Matthew Williams stood in the captain's hold. Behind him was a witch, in front of him was his former ally. He was trying to keep himself calm. The last thing he clearly remembered was fighting a Heartless alongside Alfred. Everything else seemed to sort of blur together. He could barely even remember what had happened. And now, Matthew was sitting here with Maleficent. The evil fairy had just delivered some very disturbing news to him.

"So, Sakura's like a lifeless puppet now?" he asked.

"Precisely," replied Maleficent. Matthew stared at Sakura's body laying on the sofa before him.

"And her heart was…"

"Taken by the Heartless, no doubt." Matthew turned to face the witch.

"What can I do to help her?" he asked, the words falling out of his mouth quicker than he could think of what to do.

"There are seven maidens of the purest heart. We call them the princesses of heart," Maleficent explained. "Gather them together, and a door will open to the heart of all worlds. Within lies untold wisdom. There, you will surely find a way to recover her heart. Now, I'll grant you a marvelous gift." She leaned in closer to him. Matthew felt a chill run up his spine. "The power to control the Heartless."

"Wh-What?" Matthew stuttered. "Maleficent, I-" Before Matthew could protest further, Maleficent raised her arms. Green energy surrounded the boy. Matthew winced at the pain enveloping him. He looked back at the unconscious girl laying behind him. Matthew propped himself up on the sofa, pain stabbing at his chest.

"Soon... we'll be get back home..." he muttered quietly. "Soon…"