Act XIV

locked and freed

Sora stood in front of the great locked doors. He pointed the Kingdom Key before him and aimed it at the massive locks in the centers of the door. A golden light began to swirl around the tip of the Keyblade, and then a flash of stars scattered across the end. Sora lifted his arms and with them, the Keyblade, and held it level with the lock. He jumped back and swung around the Keyblade, then aimed it back at the lock. A golden beam shot out and hit the lock. There was the heavy sound of something unlocking.

Sora lowered the Keyblade and grinned to himself. He wiped at his mouth and spat on the ground – blood was still mixed with his saliva. A little worried, he swallowed and clipped the Keyblade to the back of his belt. With the Keyblade dangling from the back of his pants, he pushed open the doors and began to walk inside.

Inside, it was enormous: The ceiling was high enough to cover two average stories, with great chandeliers coming down from them. A scarlet carpet lined the rough, dark stone of the floor. The walls sparkled with the rough feel of age. Cobwebs had been built with care by spiders into the corners of the walls and turns and around the chandeliers. A set of stairs emerged before him, and then divided into two: One going east and the other going west. In the middle was a great set of doors, and below the stairs was one other door.

Despite the overwhelming feel of foreboding, Sora felt rather welcome. The home of Beast and Belle; they had to remember him. If it was true what the Heartless kept telling him, they should – Sora met Beast, and later Belle, in Hollow Bastion when it was still under the control of Maleficent. Over a year previously. So they had to, right?

Sora's thoughts were stopped when great portals of Darkness exploded into life before him. A group of Soldier Heartless came tumbling out, dancing around in their spots. Behind them came a massive Large Body.

The Soldiers danced back and forth as they tried to focus a little more on the closest beating heart. They locked onto Sora, who unclipped his Keyblade and dropped into a fighting stance. "More Heartless, huh? I can handle you!" he said.

And then: A bizarre feeling overwhelmed Sora. His vision swirled before him and he staggered backwards, dropping out of his fighting stance. His free hand immediately went to his face. He felt as though all the blood had been drained out of him, and left him feeling weak and empty.

It was only a seconds, and Sora's vision was fixed again. 'What ... what was that!?' he thought. 'Oh no ... this is exactly how I felt while I was ill in Destiny Islands,' Sora thought with horror.

But the Soldiers were coming towards him, and Sora had to ignore his feelings. The Soldiers dauntingly came towards him, until one brought its leg back and its foot began to glow purple. It launched itself forward with a wicked kick that Sora parried. He flung the Keyblade in front of him, hearing it ring against the Soldier's kick. The Heartless dropped to the ground, and Sora brought the Keyblade down on its head. The thing crumpled beneath him and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The other three continued to come at him, while the Large Body was not moving. In fact, its tiny chin was resting on its chest and a bubble of snot swelled and shrunk out of its unseen nose every time it inhaled and exhaled. It was asleep.

Sora ignored it, thankful he didn't have to worry about it just yet, and focused on the Soldiers. Another Soldier swung its leg at him and he parried with the Keyblade. He swung a horizontal slash and cut the Soldier in two, right through the middle. Sora ran through the smoke it burst into and towards the remaining two Soldiers. He hurled the Keyblade at the first, catching it by the neck and destroying it instantly. The last was smarter; it dropped to the ground and the Keyblade feebly bounced off the front of the Large Body. The great Heartless awoke with a jerk.

"Oh no!" Sora exclaimed. The Large Body snorted and looked around, then threw its hands up and began to fall into a tantrum. With every wild jump, it shook the floor viciously. The Soldier stumbled and fell over. Sora stayed low to the ground and tried to crawl over to his Keyblade. When he was right before the Large Body, it finally noticed him, and raised its hands again. Sora grabbed the Kingdom Key and forced himself to slide underneath the Large Body. Behind him, the ground shook horribly as the Large Body's fists collided with the ground.

Sora jumped up and hit the Heartless in the back with all his force. The Large Body jiggled and then stood quite still. Sora's hands and arms stung with pain from the force, but the Large Body seemed to pop and then vanish into a great cloud of Darkness. Sora coughed and choked, and it wasn't until he felt something hit his shin that he remembered he was still in combat. He stepped back when he saw the Soldier attempt to hit him again; Sora jumped back and then swung the Keyblade downwards.

The Soldier fell apart and burst into a thin cloud of ash-tasting Darkness. Silence filled the hall, while Sora collapsed down onto the bottom step.

"What was that?" Sora asked. His fingers wanted to let go of the Keyblade, but he just couldn't. He didn't feel safe without it. Placing his face back in his hand, Sora fell quiet and thought for a while.

'Maybe ... maybe I never got over that sickness ...'

The thought made Sora feel sick. But he forced himself to ignore it and stand up. He placed the Keyblade at the back of his belt, and then turned around and faced the steps. "But first! I got to find Cogsworth-tachi ... or Belle ... or Beast. Or someone," he announced to himself.

-xxx-

Figuring that the best way to go was the East Wing, where he knew he could at least find Belle or Wardrobe, Sora headed up the stairs to his right. They curved around the wall dividing it and the Ballroom, and headed into the next hallway. Now one story off the ground floor, the way to Belle's bedroom was long and dark. The crimson carpet stretched seamlessly around a small set of stairs, around a corner and all the way down to the very end. Moonlight splashed on the floor through floor-to-ceiling windows. In between the windows, there were stony gargoyles.

Before Sora even started down the hallway, he stopped at the first gargoyle and tapped it cautiously. The Heartless had caused these to spring to life the last time he came through, and he knew he had to be careful.

Thankfully, it did nothing.

So Sora ran down the hallway without looking at any more statues. Their empty eyes gave him the creeps and made the hairs on his neck stand straight (but at that time, nearly everything did, it seemed). He stopped at a single wooden door and tried to twist the doorknob, but it didn't budge. "Locked," Sora said to himself.

"Help! Help! The Master has locked me in here! Master, if that's you, please! Have the decency to let me out!" screamed a familiar female voice from the other side.

Sora's blue eyes widened and he stepped back without thinking. He threw all of his weight into his shoulder and rammed it as hard as he could. The door didn't give but it shook considerably.

"Master? Belle? Who is out there? If it's those Dark Creatures again, then you'd better stop!"

Sora realized exactly what he was doing and just about fell over. "Baka," he grumbled to himself and stood back. He aimed the Keyblade at the door and threw it around just like he had done before; he stepped back and a beam of light hit the lock from the tip of the Keyblade. There was the sound of something unlocking, and the door clicked free. Sora quickly opened the door and ran inside.

Belle's room was something between girly and archaic: Mirrors on the wall, a great four-poster bed, and lacy curtains over the window. Her room happened to be connected to a balcony outside. But Sora didn't see Belle: He saw a great, curved pink armoire with a painted face at the top. The wardrobe shuddered and shook her shoulders when her eyes fell on Sora, and then straightened up considerably.

"Who are you? Not a Dark Creature, I see! If you're a thief, you'd better leave now before I give you a reason to -," she began to threaten him but Sora stopped her.

"Iie, iie, I'm not a thief," Sora said. "I'm Sora. A friend of Belle and Beast's."

"Sora?" Wardrobe asked. She paused and a look of thinking came over her animated face. "Oh! So-ra!" she said, pronouncing his name into two words. "The friend who helped my Master and the lady Belle while we were away; over at that dreadful castle. What was it called? Hollow ... Hallow ... something ..."

"Hollow Bastion?" Sora asked.

She nodded quickly. "Good! So-ra, can you help us? The Master has locked all of us into rooms and refuses to let any of us to come out! And there are those terrible Dark Creatures crawling all over the castle. I despair to think of what they're doing to it!"

"Wardrobe, where is Belle?" Sora asked seriously.

"I don't know, and that worries me," Wardrobe said, "and the Master too. They have both disappeared to who-knows-where!"

"Then where should I start looking?" Sora asked hopelessly. "I mean, the castle is sort of big ..."

"Hmm ..." the Wardrobe fell quiet. "The last time those Dark Creatures were here, the Master locked all of us up in the dungeon. Until Lumière and Cogsworth showed us a way out through the secret passage."

"Then I'll try there! Arigatou gozaimasu!" Sora called over his shoulder and left the room at a run.

The Wardrobe stayed behind and tried to figure out what 'arigatou gozaimasu' meant.

-xxx-

Sora left the East Wing and returned to the entrance hallway he was attacked in before. He didn't stop as he ran down one set of stairs and up the other, dashing into the West Wing. The West Wing was considerably more welcome than the East; instead of gray stone, the walls were a light cream. Golden chandeliers dangled over the place and the red carpet had broadened to cover most of the floor. Statues of armored soldiers were placed some feet apart.

As Sora rounded a corner and headed into the main body of the West Wing, he could see only two doors: One across a small set of stairs and one above the stairs. The second was harder to see, especially as they were around an open corner and a set of statues blocked the way. When Sora neared the soldiers, they jumped to life: They weren't Heartless, but Sora knew they were animated by Darkness.

Only two attacked, but Sora found the battle somewhat difficult. Without any visible weaknesses, he found being outnumbered harder than before. Immediately as the first attacked with a long, slender sword Sora couldn't name, the second jumped in with it. Sora parried both attacks and forced both backwards. When he leaped in to attack, his Keyblade simply rang off their armor. It shook Sora all the way up to his elbows. The armor he hit picked up its sword and slashed horizontally in front of it; even though Sora ducked, he could feel the wind caress his spiky hair.

Sora jumped backwards but the suits of armor were on him in an instant. They attacked in unison: One high and one low, so that Sora could dodge only by stepping back. He kept his head as far away from their swords as possible. Before he knew it, all he did was dodge and parry. Dodge and parry. Dodge and parry. Sora began to wear out faster than he thought he would, and his dodges became slower. Twice he nearly lost a good chunk of hair and scalp because of his timing.

Soon, Sora was out of breath. When his heel hit a wall, Sora panicked. 'I've blocked myself in!' he thought. Sora watched the suits of armor get closer and aimed his Keyblade before him. "Deep freeze!" Sora shouted with all his might and a blizzard of ice spikes shot out. None of them pierced through, but instead, they did something they never did before: They melted against the armor and froze all around them. The armor suits were frozen in place from the neck down.

"Gotcha," Sora grinned to himself tiredly. He walked away from the frozen suits of armor and began to ascend the stairs: That was the way to Beast's room. He heard the sound of something cracking and came to a stop. He turned around in time to narrowly avoid the now-freed suits of armor bolt back to their post. They just about ran him over in hurry to get back to their previous places.

Sora sighed to himself and realized he would have to go to the Dungeon first. He turned around, careful not to get any closer to the suits of armor lest he start another battle. Sora walked over to the Dungeon's door, the only door he could get to, and lo and behold, the door was locked.

"Man, gimme a break!" Sora grumbled to himself as he pointed his Keyblade at the lock.

-xxx-

The door opened to reveal a shabby, stone-built room with only one visible source of light. It was dark and miserable, with a set of stairs going up above him where two more suits of armor guarded an open archway. Bits of furniture were crammed up around the corners and only one door was able to be seen. Sora didn't dare near the suits of armor and walked over to the door.

It was locked.

Sora irritably unlocked it and walked into what could have been mistaken for a broom-cupboard: It was so tiny and cramped that Sora himself made the room look smaller when he entered. There was no light-source, but a carefully-placed Fire spell solved that. Only inanimate objects could be seen: A clock, a set of candles, a tea pot and a tea cup. Sora knew that wasn't the truth, but they were so still they could have passed for inanimate objects.

"Cogsworth! Lumière! Mrs. Potts! Chip!" Sora named them all with a grin.

The tiny clock jumped to life at once and eyed him suspiciously. "I'm sorry, but have we met?" Cogsworth asked.

"Aa -," Sora began and then quickly remembered where he was. He quickly changed his first statement, "Aa ... ano, iie. We haven't. But I know your Master! Beast, and Belle too!"

"You do?" Cogsworth asked.

Sora shivered a little; it was cold in the dungeon. But he grinned and nodded. "Of course. We met in Hollow Bastion," he said, which he felt a little better saying – it was the truth.

"Zen you must bee the famous Zora!" Lumière, the set of candles, said with a thick, French accent.

"Hai!" Sora nodded.

"That is good news," Mrs. Potts said, a tea pot who had been sitting in front of a chipped tea cup.

"Wow! I never imagined you to be so big!" Chip said behind her, completely awe-struck.

Sora chuckled and scratched his cheek. "Well, I'm actually a little on the short side, but ..." he stopped himself and then said, "Where is Beast? And Belle? Are they in Beast's room?"

"Well ..." Lumière said hesitantly.

"I'm afraid we think we know where Belle is," Mrs. Potts said. She looked down-cast, "For you see, she was locked in here with us when those Dark Creatures came. The 'Heartless', I believe the Master called them. We are certain he locked us in this place for our safety, but unfortunately, Belle escaped through the secret passage."

"We tried to stop her!" Cogsworth said. "But she wouldn't listen ...

"'Once she remembered the secret passage, she got that odd look in her eye. "Wait here!" she told us and headed through the passage.'

"We tried to run after her, but she barricaded the archway to the secret passage. Once she found some old furniture to use, she put us back around here and threw all the old furniture in the archway to block it. Not long afterwards, the suits of armor came through and put us in here! We tried to get through, but the suits of armor locked the door," Cogsworth explained.

"Zere isn't much we can do, az we our now," Lumière said.

"Then I'll go through and find her!" Sora said bravely. "Demo ... I'll need some help. At least, trying to get past those guards."

"Those guards are nothing!" Cogsworth said. "They'll obey you if you give the right command."

-xxx-

The 'right' command was very simple, "Step aside, guards! And let us through!"

The guards immediately leapt out of the way.

Sora felt rather stupid.

But as the five gathered around the archway, Sora, for the first time, saw the bits of furniture crammed into the archway. He could not have seen them coming into the dungeon. Lumière stood before Sora and bowed, flicking one candle-arm at the mess. When bits of melted wax fell to the floor, he quickly straightened up and said, "After you, mon ami."

Sora decided not to ask Lumière what 'mon ami' meant, but he went ahead and began to shove the furniture forward. It was easy to push all of them aside, until the point where Sora and the group could easily crawl through a great hole at the top. Inside, it was not decorated at all.

It was all stone, and no statues. The place was lit by torches set into the walls. There were no carpets, no painting, no tapestries – nothing. But Sora saw, as soon as they entered, on the far end, a Large Body sleeping away. He could hear the jingle of something else too.

"Stay here!" Sora shouted to Cogsworth and the others and quickly dashed down the long, winding passage. He was lucky the Large Body was so tall, or else he wouldn't have noticed it.

The clinking of wood, metal and porcelain quickly died away when Sora reached a small group of Heartless surrounding a fallen girl. Two Soldiers and a Large Body Heartless; but the Large Body was asleep.

"Hey, you!" Sora shouted and without hesitance, flung the Keyblade over at the two Soldiers. The whirling weapon caught both in one strike and they twitched and vanished into a puff of Darkness. The Large Body awoke at once and then thundered towards Sora, upset that its nap had been stopped. Sora cried out and quickly dodged to the left, while the Large Body thundered behind him.

His sense of direction and time suddenly shifted and the ground seemed to quake; but the Large Body had stopped moving. "Iie ... not now!" Sora moaned, clutching his hand to his temple. He sunk down to his knees and heard the tiny voice of Chip squeal,

"Sora!"

The Large Body began to turn around at the sound of Chip's voice. Sensing an easy meal, it began to head towards the oncoming group of four. Sora forced himself back to his feet when he saw this. "Iie!" he screamed and ran forward. He skidded to a stop when he was right behind the unknowing Large Body, and with all his strength and rage, cut the Keyblade deep into the folds of its back. The Large Body let out an unmistakable high-pitched scream of pain and then vanished into Darkness.

"Are you guys alright?" Sora breathlessly asked them.

"Sora! That was so cool!" Chip said in awe.

"Dear, you look so tired," Mrs. Potts said.

"No time for rest! Look!" Lumière pointed down at the girl.

A young, thin maiden with long brown hair in a low ponytail was the girl who rested on the floor. She appeared to be unconscious. She was dressed in a knee-length blue dress with a white apron, and a set of black slippers. Sora finally realized who she was. "Belle!" he shouted in surprise.

Next Chapter: In order to restore what was lost, Sora goes on a hunt to find Beast. He finds Beast trying to bargain with a Heartless, who merely leers and taunts him before disappearing. Sora informs the already-frustrated Beast of what is going on in his Castle. Unfortunately, Beast already knows of the catastrophe. Before the two can do anything, the Shadow Stalker makes its arrival. They battle it ferociously, but the Shadow Stalker seems to be always one step ahead.

Next time!