Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and everything else belongs to Walt Disney and Square-Enix.
The OCs and their alter-ego that appear in this story belong to their respective authors. More information about them are found in the "Original Characters' Intro" chapter.
Author's Note: Did anyone watched "Make it or Break it" last night? If not, then you missed your chance to see the Birth by Sleep commercial, as the show was sponsored by that game. Either way, I'm just so excited for its release. Only 6 more days and counting. And also to celebrate, a new KH fanfic: Keyblade Riders will be published. Look for it very soon.
Now, this episode is going to be the longest one I've written. So get ready for the beauties and the craziness :D
::KINGDOM HEARTS III Online HD::
-Beauty and the Beast's Anniversary-
Beast's Castle
It was an early night at Beast's Castle Courtyard. But everything was quiet; so quiet that even the crickets were sleeping…
…but that moment of silence quickly shattered when a Keyhole Portal came out of the blue, and out came Thunder in his stylish Keyblade Knight armor. His armor disappeared, reverting him back to his regular form.
He looked over the portal and shouted, "Yo! C'mon! We don't have all day!" he then noticed the night sky and corrected, "…or all night! The Portal needs energy y'know!"
Taylor came out of the Portal. She appeared reluctant and quite disturbed. She let out a heavy abrupt sigh.
Then Matt came out of the Portal, following Taylor. He too also appeared disturbed. Heck, Matt was more edgy than Taylor. The Portal vanished by Thunder's finger snap.
"Okay. So this is it: Beast's Castle." Thunder said, staring at the grand castle. Taylor and Matt saw the castle also in awe.
"It is quite beautiful." Matt commented.
"…yeah. Nothing ever seen… or heard." Taylor said, almost bitterly, "…at least its walls have no secrets."
She walked up front, leaving Matt and Thunder behind. Matt glowered at Thunder and shook his head, almost rolling his eyes. He then followed.
Thunder sighed, "Relationships… can't control 'em."
He followed the two teens. The trio was heading inside the Castle, unaware that Beast was watching them with wrathful rage filling up his eyes. The traitors…
"Indeed they are." A shady voice was heard lingering behind Beast's ears, "They are obviously not welcome here. If I were you…"
"…I shall eliminate them…" Beast breathed.
"Good… and well-said…"
xXx
"Are the others coming?" Matt reluctantly asked.
"You know no one's comin', Matt." Taylor reminded him, "It's just you, me, and Rian, remember? Unless you want another reminder from your Dominion friends..."
"Oh boy." Thunder whispered, already guessing this conversation would take an ugly turn. "Um, guys. Maybe we should think about our mission for a second here. Like..." He quickly pulled out an opened envelope from his pocket and uncovered a letter addressed from Belle and Beast. He showed the letter, "... Like this letter, right there. I mean doesn't it spell suspicion?"
"You wanna know suspicion?" Matt said bitterly to Thunder before glaring back at Taylor, "She's right in front of you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Taylor defensively asked.
"What's that? You think I wasn't suspicious when I saw you crushing on Rian for the past two years?" Matt revealed, "The crush was so much that you had to be friend with him and see if he felt the same way about you, but eventually he didn't see that and you ended up hooking up with me instead; because I was a loner and you wanted to make him jealous! Friends for benefits?"
Thunder, flabbergasted, looked back at a fuming Taylor. "Whoa..."
"Oh! And it gets better, Ri! She used me to go to that homecoming dance last year! Did I forgive her? Forgiven and forgotten. But when I joined a league of evil, from a VIDEO GAME, a long time ago for only a short period of time, I get treated like a leper!"
"AT LEAST THE LEPER GOT NOTHING TO HIDE!" Taylor screamed, "And for your information, Rian had a date at that Homecoming! And what gives you the right to swoop into my diary?"
"So it WAS in your diary!"
GASP! Taylor put her hands over her mouth.
"Guys, does it matter who came onto whom?" Thunder tried to douse the heat between the couple, but the heat was just getting started. "At least we're together!"
"Oh-OHH!" Matt sarcastically laughed, "I don't think so!"
"Oh-OHH!" Taylor exclaimed, "Is that what you want? Well then perhaps we should break up!"
Thunder panicked but Matt gladly agreed, "Then perhaps we should."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! You're breaking up?" Thunder exclaimed, "You two CAN'T break up!" he then desperately turned to Matt, "If you break up, then my crush for her is gonna come back!"
Matt and Taylor glared back at Thunder.
"Did I say my crush?" he stammered, "I meant my love for her. I mean... My... D'oh!"
Taylor faced Matt again, "You know what?" she said strongly, "I'm SO glad that Rian released his true feelings for me off his chest, because now I can do this without ANY regrets!"
On cue she grabbed Thunder by the colon and pulled him into a juicy passionate kiss that almost lasted 10 seconds. An appalled Matt watched. She finally released Thunder, glanced back at Matt with her chin-up and proudly walked away, leaving the boys in shock.
Matt glared back at Thunder. Thunder suddenly got nervous, "I swear I didn't do anything. P-Please don't hurt me."
"Hmph." Matt angrily walked away. Thunder quickly followed, "Okay, maybe you can hit me a little."
xXx
Thunder found Taylor by the stairs leading to the Castle's West Wing. He quickly joined her.
"Hey, where's Cross... I mean, Matt?" he asked.
"Why should I care?" Taylor solemnly said before wiping a tear off. Thunder noticed Taylor has been crying and he suddenly got tensed. He was never good at comforting the sad people. He would usually cheer them up by either telling a mean joke or a pointless request like making the sad person to fix a snack for him. And then after that he won't stop with the jokes and the teasing.
"Hey!" Thunder suddenly put on this cocky flirtatious smile, Joey Tribbiani-style, "How you doin'?"
Taylor turned to glare at him.
"Hey, I gotta great joke for ya: why is Eight afraid of Seven?" Thunder grinned.
Taylor continued to glare.
"Cuz Seven ATE Nine! HA! Get it?" Thunder quickly changed subject, "Ooh, wait! I got 'nother good one!"
Taylor started walking away but Thunder kept going, "What is a pig who knows Karate? Porkchop! HA! Hey, speaking of porkchop…" Thunder happily rubbed his stomach and licked his lips.
"Rian. I'm not in the mood."
"C'mon, girl! Just because you ain't together with grumpy Matt up there doesn't mean you can't still move on and hook up… If you know what I mean. Growl." Thunder let out a low teasing growl.
"Ughh… What's wrong with you? What happened to the sensitive side of you I used to like about?"
"Ooh, Feisty! So you do like me?" Thunder asked.
"Not anymore."
"Great! No wait. Not great. Anyway, we got an anniversary to crash in style and—!"
CRAAASH!
"WHOAA!" Thunder and Taylor screamed, startled at the sight of Beast standing right in front of them.
"Looks like someone already did that... Prince Adam?" Thunder called the Beast, surprised to see him in his physical form.
"Hey, it's Beast!" Taylor said, but then faced Thunder with a bewildered look, "…wait, you know him?"
"How dare you come in to this castle after what you did to me!" Beast pointed an accusing finger on the duo.
"What we did? But what did we do—? KYAAA!" Taylor screamed, as Beast surprisingly attacked them with a mad dash.
Thunder quickly covered for Taylor in front and casted a Reflect spell, blocking Beast's attack. But Beast kept charging on the shield.
"Whoa man! Calm down! What are you doing?" Thunder exclaimed.
Beast flinched through the Reflect spell, prompting Thunder to swing his Keyblade at him in a counter move. But Beast quickly recovered, grabbed Thunder by the neck and rammed him to a wall.
"RIAN!" Taylor screamed.
Beast clutched Thunder by the throat, "Claiming what you made me lose… I want my revenge back! REEVEEENGE!"
"Re… revenge…" Thunder chocked.
"Hey!" Taylor called Beast out. She had transformed into Soledad and pointed her Keyblade at him, "Leave him alone, or else!"
"OR ELSE WHAT? You gonna take his place instead?" Beast barked, "Like I haven't heard that BEFORE!"
A distant cry was heard, catching all their attentions. Thunder, Soledad and Beast looked up to a small skylight—the direction of the scream to catch a glimpse of a star blinking from above, giving that ominous sense that something was coming toward them.
Then suddenly a meteorite, shaped like a duck, crashed through the skylight and landed on the party in a massive explosion.
The smoke cleared up and Beast was found unconscious, and had released Thunder.
"Rian… cough, cough… you're… cough, cough… okay…" Taylor coughed.
"I… cough, cough… I guess so…" Thunder coughed, "…but… cough… what was that?"
The teens found a charred duck on top of the unconscious Beast. The duck shook his head and body to get rid of the dusts off his feathers, revealing his face.
"Donald!" Taylor and Thunder gasped.
"Uh… I will never… ever… going to use King Mickey's Star Shard again…" Donald groaned.
GRAWWWWL!
Quuuaaaaack!
Beast took a swing at Donald. Donald dodged the blow. The gang immediately noticed a red Berserk aura surrounding Beast and his eyes screaming for bloody murder.
"RUUUUN!" Taylor screamed and the gang took off running with Beast at their tails.
They swung past a corner, dashed right through the hallways, jumped off stairs and, finally after losing Beast they crashed through the first room they could find.
"Phew..." Thunder exhaled, "That was pretty close..."
"Hello."
AAAAAAHHHHH!
The heroes saw in front of them inanimate objects talking. There was a Big Ben-like miniature clock (Cogsworth), a candelabra (Lumière), a teapot and a teacup (Mrs. Potts and Chip).
Thunder recognized them all, "Guys? Is that YOU?"
"Well if it isn't Th—!"
"Tragic!" Donald interrupted, changing subjects while at the same time covering Thunder's true identity, "What the feathers happened?"
"What do you think happened to us?" Cogsworth complained, "We were cursed… AGAIN!"
"By that enchantress again?" Taylor asked.
"No, by a man with darkness in his heart!" Cogsworth exclaimed.
The heroes looked at each other, already guessing who that man was, "Blackheart." They said.
"Speaking of that, he should've really lightened up." Lumiere said jokingly, "His heart was so dark, you'd need brighter candelabra like me to shine him on!" he laughed. So did Thunder, "Good one!"
"That's not funny." Taylor commented.
"If you're a Blackheart, sure." Thunder countered.
"No, seriously! This isn't funny!" Cogsworth added, "This man stole the one thing that our dear Prince worked so hard to earn! His love!"
"The Blackheart stole Belle?" Donald exclaimed.
"No. His Love Essence." Added Mrs. Potts, who was with her son Chip and the rest of the group. "When Beast finally learned how to love, he developed an essence unique for it. Now that this dark man stole it from him, he's back to the way he was before: bitter, selfish and uncaring, but worse… he's turning into a dangerous menace."
"Which explains why he attacked us." Thunder added.
"Is there any way to reverse it?" Taylor asked.
"Of course there should!" Donald rudely responded, "We steal it back from these Blackheart thieves!"
"But it's not going to be easy." Cogsworth added, before showing the heroes another enchanted flower under a glass. This time the rose was a black tulip. "We only have till the last fallen tulip petal for the spell to be reversed, or else it'll become permanent… and the Prince will remain a Beast, and will hate everything he adored, forever."
"Even worse, he'll hate the love of his life Belle." Lumiere sighed gloomily. His news alarmed the heroes.
"Jeez. What a fun way to spend your anniversary with your loved one:" Thunder mumbled, "doomed to be a hater forever."
All eyes glared at Thunder. He shrugged, "What? It's true!"
xXx
Matt was seen walking down the East Wing grand hallways, tapping on his PSP Device. He placed a call from the US Secret Service.
"Hawk." he called, "Can you hear me now? Good. Any chance you can bring the Gummi Ship back to me? I'm at Beast's Castle... yeah, you know where I am!"
Matt heard a distant weeping a little far down the hall. He found a young woman there: brown hair, beautiful, but scantily-dressed with a silk red foot-length robe that exposed most of her left leg.
Matt, already attracted to the young lady, approached her, "Hey…" he asked with a gentle voice, "What's up? Why are you crying?"
The young woman wiped her tears before looking up bashfully at Matt. Her piercing blue eyes were captivating enough to charm him.
"Oh… sniff… h-hi…" she quivered.
"Are you okay? You look like a mess." He said.
"Oh, I am a mess all right!" she cried anew, "My boyfriend doesn't love me anymore!"
"Your boyfriend?" Matt said, "You guys broke up?"
She nodded.
Matt sighed, sympathizing as he just had his breakup, "I know the feeling." He said, "At least you got out of this mess before it even started."
"But I love him!" she cried again. Matt realized he's not helping the situation, "Okay, let's try this again: what happened? Why did you guys break up?"
The girl sniffled, "well… I'm not comfortable sharing my broken heart to a stranger, but in this case, I don't care. I'll tell you everything: I was once his maid, in this very castle. And then we had a fling and that's it! He told me he loves me!"
"Wait, whoa! You were his maid? Here in this castle?" Matt exclaimed, "Wait a sec. Is he—?"
"Yes it's true. The love of my life was Adam." The girl revealed, "He's now what you call… the Beast!"
Matt looked horrified.
xXx
"We can't let this curse be permanent!" Cogsworth said to the heroes and his fellow colleagues, "Belle is coming to the castle tonight to spend her anniversary with her Prince, and the last thing she wants is to see him back in his Beast form and twice as enraged as before!"
"We should move guys!" Taylor exclaimed, "We got an Essence to find!"
"Right!" Donald said.
"Okey-Dokey!" Thunder said, "Hey, by the way, what does Beast's Love Essence look like?"
The gang looked at each other and then back at Thunder. "I mean it's gotta look like a person, y'know, like a hot girl or a…"
Everyone left the room. "Ohh, okay." Thunder said dismissively.
The gang was at the castle's main hall when Cogsworth said, "We should split here: with Belle coming anytime soon, somebody has to be the lookout. We should be the lookout. You guys do the scavenging."
The heroes split.
xXx
Matt and the girl were talking briefly. Matt got to listen to the girl and her relationship problem while at the same time got to share his own wounded relationship.
"So if I understand it, you got a message from Beast to leave the castle on vacation leave, when really, he was kicking you out?"
"It was his own nice way of firing me." The girl said, "I don't even know what I did wrong! I was an excellent maid! Made sure the smallest dust was no more!"
"Cruel." Matt replied, "And before you knew it, you heard about Belle getting to the Castle uninvited, and were supposed to be his prisoner…"
"But no, he learned to love her instead." The girl bitterly said then sighed, "At least I heard nice things about that Belle girl. Unlike your girl who has no forgiveness in her heart!"
"Psht!" Matt rolled his eyes, scoffing, "Yeah, tell me something I don't know already."
"And really, how manipulative of her to use you so that she can get her best friend, or crush, jealous? That must've hurt!"
"Well, I tried to be a prince about it and forget, until she learned about my secret and changed her attitude towards me."
"You know what? How about we make a pact: I swear off men completely, and you swear off girls and your friends completely. People like that are poisons to hang out with. You have to move on!"
"You're right!" Matt said vehemently, "I don't need them. I need to move on! If these people don't want me in the league, then it's their loss."
Matt pulled out his PSP again and called. "Hawk? Forget the ride. I'll take the rest of my life from here." He turned his PSP off and faced the girl again. "Hey, thanks for the advice, err…" he hesitated, realizing he didn't get her name.
"Betsa." The girl said, as if reading his mind.
"Right. And I'm Matt." He said, "Anyway, you take care now!" he took off.
"I will! Thank you." Betsa said with a smile, "Finally, someone who understands me."
xXx
Thunder, Taylor and Donald were walking down a grand hallway, when Thunder said to Taylor, "So, you and Matt are over now?"
Donald looked surprised, "Over? What happened? What did I miss?"
"Nothing!" Taylor exclaimed, "Nothing that concerns you two."
"Come on, girl. He made a mistake, big whoop!" Thunder said before facing Donald, "She's mad because she found out about Matt and the Dominion."
"Ohh, the ultimate betrayal." Donald said understandably.
"Weren't YOU set on exacting vengeance on him too when YOU found out?" Taylor countered.
"I was." Thunder admitted, "But then he saved my life, remember?"
"Yeah, and Sora thought he made a mistake too," Donald said, "and we thought we couldn't forgive him, but we did. Forgiveness is the heart of true friendship."
Taylor shook her head, "You know what: keep feeding me your philosophies or your mumbo-gumbo Confucius stuffs. He and I are over and done! There's nothing you can do that can change that. We should focus on finding Beast's Love Essence and save at least ONE couple from Blackheart disaster! That's all that matters now! Let's go!"
Taylor stomped forward.
"Oh well, at least we've tried." Thunder said before he was about to add something; but Donald stopped him, "DON'T even think about it. She's still in a relationship."
Donald took off. Thunder followed, "Aw, come on! They just broke up!"
The trio continued down the hallways.
"Excuse me." They heard Betsa's voice. They turned to see her approaching them.
"Hi." She greeted bashfully.
"Can we help you?" Donald asked, while Thunder was staring at her, drooling, "Oooh… you're pretty."
Donald elbowed him.
Betsa hesitated, "Yeah, hi." She then threw the bomb, "I'm looking for Prince Adam. He's the love of my life."
The gang looked at each other, stunned.
"The love of your life?" Taylor repeated.
"That's right! The love of my life!" Betsa exclaimed, suddenly feeling confident, "I'm Betsa and I don't care who he is with now. I'm here to see my man again."
"Oh boy." Donald sighed.
Taylor approached Betsa menacingly, "Okay, listen, freak show…"
"Freak show?" Thunder interrupted, coming between the girls, "She's a sexy thing!" he added.
Taylor rolled her eyes and went on, "Whatever." She snapped, "You ain't the love of his life anymore, okay? We—!" Taylor paused. An evil idea was forming into her mind.
"Hey, you know what? Why don't you meet him at the West Wing?" She smiled devilishly, "Yeah, I'm sure he'll welcome you with open arms."
"Or open claws!" Donald exclaimed, already knowing the evil plan Taylor was cooking up in her brain. Betsa was ready to take off when Thunder stopped her, "…OR, you could join us!" he added, "We're looking for Beast ourselves. Heck, we're looking for something he lost."
"HEY!" Taylor and Donald screamed at Thunder. Thunder looked confused, "What? What's wrong with telling her that he lost his Love Essence?"
Donald whacked Thunder in the head with his staff. "Ow…" Thunder groaned in pain.
"Love Essence?" Betsa appeared worried, "What's this about Love Essence?"
Taylor sighed, "Well, since dingbat Rian told you, your prince lost his Love Essence. So now he's back to his Beast form, and this time he's gone Berserk."
"And we have to find that Essence before the last Petal falls." Donald showed Betsa the Black Tulip. Two petals have fallen from the flower already. Betsa gasped dramatically, "Ohh, no. That's bad! We have to find his Love Essence right away." She said.
"Yeah, but just because you're what you call yourself, the Love of his Life, that doesn't mean he's gonna love you back when he gets back to normal." Donald warned, "He still loves Belle."
"Yeah, Belle is his present and his future." Taylor added, "So you may join us on this quest, but you cannot get your man, GOT IT?" she vehemently yelled that last word.
The frightened Betsa stepped back, "Ohh-kay. Did somebody put some Epinephrine in your coffee?"
"Ignore Taylor." Thunder approached Betsa, pushing Taylor out of the way. His eyes were still fixed on her, "She's just bitter 'cuz she doesn't have her love life anymore. Ohh my. What's that perfume? Pharaoh-Monet?"
"Pheromone." Donald corrected.
Thunder threw a hand in dismissal, "Whatever. Let's go, my love."
They continued down the hall when suddenly all the lights flashed out, startling the heroes. The only light that shone in the hall was the moonlight, but it was very faint and the heroes couldn't see each other.
"What just happened?" Taylor muttered.
"All the lights are gone." Thunder pointed out.
"I hate the dark." Donald mumbled.
"Stay together guys!" Thunder ordered and everyone gathered around, feeling surrounded all the sudden as yellow-beady eyes were emerging from the thickest shadows: Heartless!
"You're okay, Betsa?" Thunder asked the girl who quietly responded, "Yes… when I'm with you."
The Heartless jumped. The heroes summoned their weapons and quickly struck them down with couple of attacks. Thunder attacked with couple of Blitzes and a Stun Edge Combo. He blasted upcoming foes with Blast attack and send out reinforcements flying with his Thundara attack. Taylor kept reflecting enemies' attacks as more kept coming toward her. She then fended them off with couple Keyblade swings. Donald froze his enemies with his Blizzaga moves and sends them off flying with Comet-style attacks. Betsa, the only girl with no fighting talents kept looking back and forth with a panicky expression on her face. She suddenly felt separated from the gang.
A couple more Heartless dashed toward Thunder. "Oh no, you don't! BRAVE BEAM!" Thunder smirked before separating his Keyblade into two and began attacking his enemies mercilessly with infinite combos. He then combined his blades again into one massive cannon, "You're finished!" he yelled before shooting out a golden-colored beam, eradicating his enemies.
The enemies were defeated. The lights turned back on, and Thunder was out of breath, "Phew… that was a close one huh guys?"
"Uhh, Rian?" Taylor called him, "I think we're the only ones here."
Thunder noticed Donald and Betsa were missing.
"Uh? But… but where's Donald? And Betsa? Where's the love of my life?" Thunder yelled in panic.
"Seriously Rian. Still in the room here." Taylor muttered, still feeling green with jealousy.
We got more Kingdom Hearts Trivia!
(Where we ask fans everything about the development of the Kingdom Hearts series)
Hey everyone, It's Jean-Michel Elincio! Coolest guy ever, y' feel me? Anyway, got a quick question for ya:
As of NOW, what's the latest Kingdom Hearts title? The real answer's coming soon.
Thunder and Taylor ran past another hall. They've been searching for Donald and Betsa everywhere for the past hour and still no sign of them.
"Dang it! Still no sign of them." Thunder sighed.
"And Donald has the enchanted tulip!" Taylor pointed out, "We don't know how much time we have left to restore Beast's Love Essence before his anniversary with Belle."
"If only we knew how it looked like." Thunder rubbed his chin.
Taylor shrugged, "Maybe it could look like a heart. Think about it: a heart is filled with all kinds of emotions, including…"
"…Love!" Thunder finished her sentence, "You're right Taylor! Maybe we need to find a heart." Thunder then sighed miserably, "I hope Betsa is okay."
Taylor smiled slyly, "Oh, I'm sure she is."
xXx
Somewhere in the castle, Donald was seen, all alone, carrying the enchanted tulip.
"Uhh… Rian? Taylor?" Donald called out but received no answers. He stared at the tulip, "Only three petals left. Oh boy!"
The servants found Donald. "Donald!" they called out to him.
"You found Beast's Love Essence yet?" Cogsworth asked.
"No." Donald mumbled, "But I lost three people."
"We can help!" Lumiere proposed.
Donald lit up, "Really?"
"Yeah! We can be the lookout to see if Belle is coming or not! That way we can warn you." Lumiere said.
"I thought we were doing that." Cogsworth reminded his friend.
"No we were slacking." Lumiere argued.
"No, you were slacking!" Cogsworth argued back.
"No, you!"
"NO, YOU!"
Beast broke through a wall, quickly sizing up Donald and the servants by surprise, "GRRAAAAAAWWWL!" he roared again.
"RUNNNN!" Donald screamed and the gang took off, with Beast giving chase.
The gang quickly separated and Donald was all alone again. "Ahh, phooey…" he mumbled.
xXx
Thunder and Taylor turned to yet another castle hall when they saw Matt. But Matt didn't see them for his back was turned to them.
"Hey, isn't that Matt?" Thunder pointed, "You should talk to him!"
"Yeah. And I should talk to my evil stepmother." Taylor sarcastically responded, "The only time I will ever talk to this guy is if he apologized for his mistake."
"Didn't he already do that?"
Taylor glared back at Thunder.
"I should shut up."
"No." Taylor grinned, pulling up her best mischievous smile, "You should talk to him."
Thunder looked back at Taylor with a startling look, "What? I can't talk to him! He's gonna have my head!"
Taylor pushed Thunder toward Matt. "HEY YO MATT!" she screamed.
Matt turned around. Taylor quickly hid behind a soldier's statue. Thunder looked back, then looked at Matt. He gulped.
"Rian." Matt scoffed, saying his name in vain.
"What's up?" Thunder grinned, putting up his best innocent smile.
"What's up?" Matt scolded, "I'll tell you what's up? My girlfriend dumped me. And she found the perfect way to do so by kissing my best friend in front of me, and now I'm all alone with a broken heart. Now how's THAT for what's up?" he angrily approached Thunder. Thunder receded.
"Okay, I still sense anger in your heart…" Thunder chuckled nervously, "…but hey, I wasn't expecting that kiss either! It came out as a shock! And don't you think you're giving up too soon? You two are supposed to be like Romeo and Juliet, or Aphrodite and Adonis."
"Yeah, sure." Matt sounded sarcastic again, "You're more Adonis to her than I could ever be. She used me to get to you. She found you. She ended it with me. So why should I get back with someone who can't even apologize for actually using me to get what she wants? Now get out of my face before I actually make use of my Keyblade on you!"
"Okay, okay. You win. I'm leaving." Thunder backed off, "Sheesh man. For someone with a broken heart, you sure are cranky."
Matt glared back at Thunder.
"Gotta go!" Thunder took off, quickly rejoining Taylor who was still hiding.
"Well, now I know what's really in his heart." Taylor mumbled, as if to herself.
"You heard him." Thunder said, "He's miserable without you!"
"Let him." She replied, " 'Cuz I'm done with him and I can finally move on."
Thunder stared back at Taylor, surprise whizzing through him. There was this awkward moment of silence between the two friends.
"Really?" Thunder finally said to Taylor. He couldn't believe he just heard from the girl he's been vying for years— Or the girl that looks like her, he thought—said these words, "moving on!"
Taylor honestly nodded.
"So… you're saying you're done with Matt? Over? Finito? Complete?" he asked again, making sure he wasn't hearing things.
"Yeah." Taylor said, before a smirk passed over her lips, "Is that a problem… honey?"
His heart skipped a beat. He broadly smiled back, "Oh no!" he exclaimed, "Not at all! So, what should we do? Dinner and a movie?" he leaned toward her with his lips puckered up.
"Actually." Taylor walked away toward an empty guest room, avoiding the kiss, "We should get inside this room."
"Huh?" Thunder cocked a head on one side.
"I believe I found something… interesting, while you were talking to Matt." Taylor pointed out.
The confused Thunder suddenly lit up, "Ohh, is it Beast's Love Essence?" he asked, finally remembering their mission, "I totally forgot about that!"
Taylor hesitated. She had forgotten about that too. "Yeah, sure…" she played along, "Just come in. It won't take long…" she grinned again, "but it'll be pleasant."
xXx
Donald was finally on the East Wing. The tulip, still on his hands, was ready to lose another petal. Donald was becoming frantic.
"Aww, where could Thunder and Taylor be?" he exhaled, "And that Betsa too?"
He passed by a closet when he heard some muffling sounds. He stopped to listen. It sounded like someone was locked in.
"Who's there?"
The muffling grew louder, as if crying out for help in response to Donald's question. It sounded like a girl.
"Uh-oh. Must be Betsa." Donald thought. "Hold on, I'll get you out!"
Donald set the tulip aside and pulled on the doorknob. "Nggh! The door is locked on tight! I can't open it!"
The muffling cry of help turned to panic.
"Hold on, I'll bust this door out with my magic!" Donald pulled out his staff and pointed, "Eeneeme! Minnieme! Mileyme! BUST!"
A ball of light shot from Donald's staff and struck the door. The door vanished in dusts and out the closet came pouring out a massive flood of water. WHOOOOOSSSH!
Donald coughed out the water. He looked up at the person he just saved. "Hey are you all—!" he gasped, his eyes went wide.
"TAYLOR?"
Taylor coughed out the water. She looked up to Donald weakly. "Donald… you saved me…"
xXx
Moments later and Taylor (the REAL Taylor) was still slowly regaining her strength. She was still feeling cold from that cold crisp water closet she was trapped in. But she and Donald were not alone. Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts and Chip, and Armoire were with them, providing the almost drowning heroine warm towels and hot tea.
"What the quack happened to you?" Donald exclaimed, "Why were you in that closet? Filled with water?"
"What happened? I'll tell you what happened?" Taylor bitterly hissed, "I'll tell you EXACTLY what happened?"
"What happened?" Cogsworth asked.
"I dunno." Taylor sounded defeated, "it's still all blur."
"Don't worry about it, honey. It'll come back to you." Mrs. Potts said, "Care for some more Chamomile Tea?"
"And some more towel, dear?" Madame Armoire offered Taylor another warm blanket. Taylor took another sip of tea and snuggled with another blanket. The warmth in her body was coming back again. "Thank you guys." She said, "All I know is that we were separated during that power outage." She mentioned, "When we were attacked by heartless."
"Right." Donald agreed.
"But then I was knocked unconscious and stuffed into that small stuffy closet filling up with WATER, with little to no memory of how I even got there!" she then paused, "…but I do remember talking to someone while I was trapped inside."
"Who?"
The gang suddenly heard Lumiere screaming in panic. They watched him coming toward them in frantic panic.
"What's going on?" Cogsworth asked.
"Is it Beast again?" Donald asked.
"No!" Lumiere exclaimed, "It's Belle! She's in the CASTLE!"
"GAAASSSP!" everyone gasped.
Donald stared at the enchanted tulip, "Oh no! Only two petals LEFT!"
Taylor suddenly had that struck look on her face like she was remembering something extremely important!
xXx
"Hey, what's going on here? Why am I in this closet?" She exclaimed. She looked up, staring frantically at the drops of water falling on her head, "And why is it dripping water?"
"Why hello, honey." The voice of Betsa spoke dramatically from the other side of the door, "Slept well?"
"Betsa?" Taylor exclaimed, peeking through the peephole of the closet to stare at her sly face, "What did you do? Why did you put me in this closet?"
"I did it for revenge."
"Why?"
"Uh… 'cuz you tried to throw me under the Gummi Ship by sending me straight to the Beast in Berserk Mode? Duh! And second of all, I wanna make sure that someone loses their heart here, while another gets theirs broken."
Taylor gasped, realizing something, "you talked to Matt?" she angrily said, "What did you say to him?"
"The truth." Betsa replied as she took a step back and twirled in place. A cloud of darkness overwhelmed her as she changed appearances. She now looked like Taylor herself! Taylor gasped.
"He doesn't deserve you, or any of your friends." Betsa, in Taylor's guise, went on, "He's on his way to a new life as we speak. As of your other companion… the one you cheated Matt with? His heart… shall be mine." she whispered that last phrase seductively.
"Grr…" Taylor clenched her fists. Betsa snapped her finger and the crack on the ceiling that was dripping water spread out, letting more water to pour in. Taylor looked around in panic, with no way out.
"Ohh, and by the way," Betsa said, "I'm not interested in Beast anymore. It was all an act. But I AM really a part of him. Happy swimming, dear." She giggled evilly.
Taylor took a sharp breath. Everyone looked at Taylor, startled.
"WHAT? What is it?" Donald exclaimed.
"Betsa!" Taylor said the name again in vain, "She was it all along!" she faced the gang, "She's the reason why Matt and I broke up! She LOCKED me in that supply closet!"
"What?" the gang screamed.
"And she's after Rian's HEART!"
"WHAT?"
"And she's Beast's LOVE ESSENCE!"
"WHAAAAAT?"
"WHY ARE WE SCREAMING WHAT FOR?" Cogsworth exclaimed, "We gotta get a MOVE ON!"
The gang took off.
Here's your answer to the Kingdom Hearts Trivia!
As of now, the latest Kingdom Hearts title is Kingdom Hearts 3DS! Yeah, no kidding! The keyword trick here was 'as of NOW', and we all know that NOW, the latest is KH3DS instead of Birth by Sleep before E3. Tricky question huh?
Everyone was running down the grand hallways in panic, when Donald stopped, "Okay! What should we do?" he quacked, "Belle's in the Castle! Rian is nowhere to be found: most likely to get his heart ripped by Beast's Love Essence BETSA!"
"…who made sure that Matt and I stayed broken up, thank you very much!" Taylor exclaimed.
Donald's face turned red with fury. He ragingly grabbed Taylor by the colon and screamed, "YOU TWO BROKE UP BEFORE SHE EVEN SHOWED UP IN THE FIRST PLACE!"
"WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING AT ME FOR?" Taylor screamed back.
"CUZ YOU'RE THE ONE WHO GOT RID OF HIM, AND LET BETSA FINISH THE JOB!" Donald yelped.
"GAAASSP!" the offended Taylor gasped.
"Everybody settle down!" Lumiere tried to calm down the panicky party.
"We're doomed here people!" Cogsworth muttered, shuddering and rocking back and forth like a psychopathic person, "Belle's gonna find us like this again! We're doo-oo-oomed…"
"HEY!" Lumiere yelled, "WE servants, are gonna distract Belle!" He then faced Donald and Taylor, "While YOU two, YOU work on finding your partner, Beast's Love Essence, and Beast, so we can fix all of this before time runs out!"
Donald glanced at the Black Tulip on cue. Still only two petals left!
"MOVE IT!" Cogsworth screamed and everyone split.
xXx
"Hellooo…" Belle called out from the entryway, "Adam, my love! Are you here?"
No answer.
"Happy Anniversary!" Belle sang gleefully as she scampered up the stairs, "I brought you a little gift."
Suddenly a massive six-foot butler stood in Belle's way. The butler wore a large trenchcoat and hat to cover its face, but the voice speaking under the costume was Lumiere's "Ahh, Belle! What a pleasurable surprise to see you here."
"Oh, Lumiere! Is that you?" Belle said, stunned, "You startled me. Oh, my! How have you grown!"
"Oh why thank you ma Cherie. Been eatin' right."
"Is Adam upstairs? I'd like to see him."
"Oh, definitely, but you ain't going up without a password."
"Huh?" Belle cocked her head on one side, "A password?"
xXx
Meanwhile, Matt was at the courtyard when he suddenly felt a wave of guilt take over him. He shouldn't have snapped at Rian like that, he thought. It wasn't his fault that all of this had to happen.
"Man, why did I yell at him like that for?" he sighed, "Rian is innocent in all of this. He and Taylor are best friends after all, not lovers! And besides, Rian WAS the one who forgave me for my ever-shameful secret."
He sighed once more then turned back, "I gotta find him and apologize. It's the least I can do."
xXx
The fake Taylor— or Betsa—locked the door shut. Thunder looked around, immediately recognizing the room.
"This is Belle's bedroom." Thunder said, "Why are we even here?"
Betsa didn't reply. Instead she changed subjects, "Ah, finally." She turned to face him, smirk still on her face, "Alone at last."
"Are you okay?" Thunder asked the fake Taylor, cocking his head on one side. He's still had no idea that it was Betsa in disguise.
"Oh, come on, hon… aren't you the one who told me that I should move on and hook up… If you know what I mean? Growl." She let out a teasing growl.
Thunder appeared nervous. But he's not sure if he should like where this was going or he should be afraid, "Uhh… I guess so… WHOA!"
Betsa pushed Thunder onto the bed and crawled over to him, getting personal. Thunder gulped.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Betsa growled under her breath. She grabbed Thunder's shirt and ripped them in two, exposing his sweaty rockhard abs, glistening to the moonlight. "Let's… hook up." She whispered that last part, sultrily, before closing in on Thunder. Betsa's feral smile was captivating. Thunder's heart was pounding. Their lips were inches away from connecting when…
The door suddenly busted open, and Matt came in! He saw the duo! The duo saw him! His jaws dropped!
"WHAT THE F—FORNICATION IS THIS?" Matt screamed.
Thunder jumped off the bed. So did Betsa. "Whoa, whoa, WHOA! Matt!" he quickly ran up to him, panicking, "It's not… it's not what you think!"
"Yeah, it's not." Betsa interrupted, "We've moved on, honey. So you should."
Another door slammed open. It was Taylor—the REAL Taylor—and Donald! All eyes saw each other!
"Wrong answer, tramp!" Taylor yelled.
Matt's eyes boggled, "TWO TAYLORS!" he yelped. Thunder was stunned.
"Get her!" Donald charged toward Betsa. Betsa jumped on the bed; her body suddenly turned to steel and knocked Donald unconscious. She glowered at the heroes who had cornered her.
"Actually, one…" Betsa hissed, "For you've left me NO CHOICE!"
She screamed a strident, deafening, demonic cry as her body was morphing into a giant snake with her female body attached to it on top: A Lamia! Her forehead bore the Unversed symbol with a skull on it.
"Blackheart!" Thunder gasped, recognizing that symbol. He then frowned disgustingly at that menace that was standing in bed in front of him. He couldn't believe he was ready to hook it up with that!"EEEWWWW!"
"That's right Rian." Taylor said to him, "She's not after your body, she's after your heart!"
Thunder looked even more surprised.
"And I intend to get it!" the Lamia yelled out before expanding her body into that of a massive python or anaconda, overwhelming the guest bedroom. The heroes prepped for combat.
Then the windows shattered inside the room, allowing Beast to break inside and scaring everyone.
"GRAWWL! I knew it. I KNEW I'D FIND MY TRAITORS HEEERRE!"
Not far downstairs, Belle heard Beast's voice, "Adam?" she then called him, "Beast?"
She tried to pass but the large butler costume blocked her way again. "Uhh... I'm-a sorry Princess, but yeeh cannae pass without a propa password!"
"Ok Lumiere. Enough with the joke and what's with the fake accent? There's no such thing as a password!" Belle angrily said before ripping the trenchcoat off. All animated objects flew off, exposed, including the mini big Ben ornament, the candlelight, the teapot and cup, and a couple of brooms and mops disguised underneath that trenchcoat to make a person. When Belle saw the servants in their curse forms again, she was stunned.
"Lumiere? Cogsworth? Mrs. Potts and Chip?" she exclaimed.
"Uhh… Hi, Miss Belle." the servants nervously waved to her.
"Beautiful night isn't it dear huh?" Mrs. Potts asked, trying to distract her further.
Belle crossed her arms, "Lemme guess: Adam got cursed again?"
The servants hesitated.
"All right fine! You got us!" Cogsworth screamed. "Adam got cursed again! But FOR THE LOVE OF ALL HEARTS, PLEASE DON'T GO UP!"
But Belle went right past them and headed for the stairs. The servants panicked, "No, no, no, no, no, no!"
"You idiot!" Lumiere screamed at Cogsworth, "Now she's gonna find out for real!"
"I thought she already did." Cogsworth mumbled.
xXx
"You are trapped now… worthless piece of runts!" Beast bellowed, cornering everyone in the room. "GRAAWWWL!" he charged toward the heroes who screamed in panic.
Thunder jumped, dodging the attack. Beast rammed into a wall. He quickly recovered and delivered a slash, knocking both Donald and Taylor down. Matt suddenly jumped on Beast's back and with his Keyblade on hand, restrained him by the neck. Beast kept thrashing and tossing about. But Matt was still holding him straight. The Lamia seized her chance to escape.
"Get that creature now!" Matt yelled, watching the creature's tail disappearing to a corner.
"She's getting away!" Donald exclaimed.
"Let's get her!" Thunder ordered, and as the gang were storming out of the bedroom, he stopped to notice he was still shirtless, "oh, right." He moved his hands over his shoulders as if popping up his collar and a new t-shirt similar to his old one magically popped in. The gang took off, but Matt who was still restraining Beast stayed behind.
"Matt!" Taylor called out to her boyfriend (or ex-boyfriend).
"Don't worry about me! Just go get that thing! NOW!" Matt shouted out. Beast was still fighting to break free, "GRAaAWWWLL!"
"I'll be okay." Matt gave Taylor a reassuring wink, letting her know that he's gonna make it. Taylor smiled back, but she was reluctant to leave him alone. She finally took off.
xXx
The gang bumped into the panicky servants.
"Where is Beast?" Cogsworth screamed from the top of his lung, "And why are we still NOT BACK TO NORMAL?"
"What's up with you all?" Taylor asked.
"Oh, Belle's coming up the stairs to see Beast as we speak. Nuttin' big." Lumiere said with a shrug, almost sounding like everything was okay.
"Nothing BIG?" Cogsworth shouted back, "LOOK!" he pointed at the black tulip Donald was still holding. "ONLY ONE PETAL LEFT! GET BEAST BACK TO NORMAL NAAAOWW!"
The gang took off again without a second to waste. They kept running, running, and running down halls and halls… until they stopped, face-to-face with Belle!
"Belle!" the gang said together.
"Thunder? Sol?" Belle exclaimed, "Donald?" she noticed the black tulip he was holding. "Okay, is there's something that you're not telling me?" The angry princess asked, hands on her hips.
The gang hesitated.
"Maybe there is something that you're not telling me, princess." Thunder smiled at Belle, raising his eyebrow flirtatiously.
"Aw, come on!" Taylor and Donald hollered in disgust, and Belle looked on flabbergasted.
"What?" Thunder protested, "She's the one flirting."
"Okay, first of all, I don't date children." Belle said, "And second of all, where's Adam?" she asked firmly.
"He's not in your bedroom thrashing the place about, if that's what you're askin'!" Taylor quickly said. Donald whacked her with her staff again.
"We're just having some last-minute prep for your anniversary." Donald said with a calm tone and a big grin on his face, "This won't take long."
"…but what's with the—!"
"BYE!" the gang zoomed right past Belle again, leaving her questionably puzzled, "…the enchanted tulip?" she finished her question. "GRRR!"
xXx
The gang reached the Grand Ballroom. It was empty but spacious. So spacious that even whispers could be heard in echoes.
"I could have sworn I saw that creature slipped into this room." Thunder said.
"Where could she be?" Donald wondered.
"Hey, Beastly freak!" Taylor shouted, "We know you're in here! So don't try to slip past us!"
A dark cloud suddenly immersed and enveloped the ballroom's chandelier, blacking out the place again like last time. The cloud began to swirl and formed into a massive shape.
"It's dark again…" Thunder pointed out.
Then out of the blue, the shape came out as the Lamia's snake tail; twice as massive as a tree trunk, it came out swinging hard and struck Thunder full-force. Thunder went flying across the room like a speeding train, smashed right through the balcony's glass doors and fell unconscious.
"RIAN!" Donald and Taylor screamed for their friend. They ran to his aid, but an invisible wall magically blocked their path, and the snake's large slithering body circled around the ballroom, sizing up the party.
"Oh, he's gonna be fine…" the Lamia, who now took on a colossal size, spoke a booming evil voice, "…he's gonna be fine, just as long as you make a deal with me."
Her snake long body and tail took over the ballroom.
"What do you want?" Taylor angrily said.
"You've wanted Beast's Love Essence all along, and now you have it. Right in front of you." The Lamia provoked, "But the price is no money, no object, just… your little companion's Heart. And nothing more."
"Forget it!" Donald and Taylor said together.
"We're not gonna sacrifice our friend just so that we can save another!" Taylor said.
"Yeah! It's all or nothing!" Donald snapped.
Right on cue, the last tulip petal fell off to the heroes' shock.
"Oh no…" Taylor breathed, "The spell… it's now permanent."
Clap. Clap. Clap.
The heroes heard clapping. They looked up and they saw Tidicus coming toward them, applauding. An evil smirk was on his face.
"Well then, I shall congratulate you all for coming this far on your meddling…" Tidicus said, "…oops. I meant your journey."
He then noticed the enchanted tulip was no longer living, "Well, look at that! The last fallen tulip petal, right on cue. I take it that your mission came to a failure, right? Finally! Sigh… now I don't know if I should say 'I'm so sorry' or 'good riddance, serves you right'? Help me out here."
"You jerk!" Donald tossed the glass down, shattering it to pieces. He pulled out his staff, "We should've known you were behind it ALL!"
He ran toward Tidicus. Tidicus floated backward and slowly disappeared into the night. "Well, come and get me then, little balls of sunshine! I shall await you… if you can pass by my beautiful Lamia!"
On cue the Lamia's face, as giant as the moonlight blocked Donald's way. She hissed and her eyes flashed bright. Donald is knocked backward like the wind swept him off his feet.
"DONALD!" Taylor screamed.
"NYEEK! NYEK! NYEK! NYEK!" the snake laughed, as more snake tails started growing out of her colossal body like vines of an invasive weed.
Taylor transformed into Soledad and immediately her Keyblade is summoned.
"CHAAARRGE!" The snake raised one of her tails and hammered down on Soledad, but she nimbly dodge-rolled the attack. She recovered and saw snake tail coming down on her. She dodge rolled them again. Dozen of snake tails came down on her and she managed to dodge all of them. She stopped to catch her breath, but the Lamia sent another tail attack and this time struck Soledad backward. Soledad wall-jumped on a pillar to break her fall, and flew right toward the Lamia.
"NYEEK! NYEK! NYEK! NYEK!" the Lamia laughed again. "FIRE!" Soledad aimed her Keyblade and shot a Fire attack. No damage to the Lamia. "YoU cAnNoT dEfEaT mEeEeE! NYEEK! NYEK! NYEK!"
The Lamia raised her arms up and a flurry of fireball rained down on Soledad, striking her with a flurry of combos, knocking her right through a pillar. Soledad tried to get up, but the damage she received was too much.
"…dang it." Soledad gasped, "Donald… Rian…"
Donald and Thunder were both still unconscious.
"RAAAAAWWL!" The Lamia charged her snake tails again toward Soledad. Soledad raised her Keyblade in an attempt to block the attack. The snake tails suddenly burned to crisp right in front of her. The Lamia cried in pain.
Soledad saw Matt, as Cross, on top of the Lamia's body. Keyblade pointed at Soledad, the Keyblade heroine knew he was the one who casted Fire on her attackers.
"Matt?"
The Lamia twisted her head to see Cross, "WHAT?" she angrily barked, "YoU! We HaD a DeAl!"
Cross changed Style Mode to Tornado Fury. His body suddenly felt light and was covered in Aeroga and Firaga spells. He jumped off her body and charged toward her in a mighty breeze, striking her right through her neck, causing a hole. "GAaaaAAAh!"
Cross landed right besides Soledad. "Oh we have a deal alright." He faced the Lamia, "We have a deal that NO mongrels like you should tell me who I shouldn't hang out with, and who I shouldn't date!" he faced Sol again; "I make that decision."
Soledad smiled. Cross smiled back.
"GRAAAAWWWLL!" The Lamia's neck recovered, "ThEn YoU'Re DeAd To Me!"
The Lamia sent out more fireballs rain on the two heroes. Cross telepathically raised his Keyblade, casting Reflect. The Fireball struck the Reflect shield, and the Reflect shot back a combo of Aeroga and Firaga, striking the Lamia. The duo seized their chance to go to Donald, but the damaged Lamia quickly recovered.
"Donald, wake up man! Wake up!" Cross shook the duck to consciousness.
"LOOK OUT!" Sol screamed. Another snake tail struck the heroes, knocking them apart. The snake tails kept attacking, dealing massive damages at the teens.
"NYEEK! NYEK! NYEK! NYEK!" the Lamia laughed again.
"Oh, no you didn't!" Matt charged on the Lamia again and landed on her body. He swung consecutive strikes on her snake tails as he ran down her body. He finally reached her face and jumped.
"TORNADO FURY" He furiously swung his blade; sending out flurry of slashes as he teleported in various locations. He then spun in midair and casted his best Aeroga/Firaga spell, overwhelming the snake, then dove like a meteor on its target with a powerful finishing combo move similar to Sora Final Strike/Final Arts. Cross landed on the ground and looked up. The Lamia still had little scratch on her after all that attack. "What?" Cross gasped, breathlessly. "CHAAAARRRGGE!" the Lamia's eyes flashed again and Cross is blown off to a wall. "CROSS!" Sol screamed. Cross quickly stood up, but he looked dazed like he was seeing stars, "I'm okay…" he mumbled. "GRAAAAWWWLL!" The Lamia raised her arms up and a flurry of fireball rained down on Cross. Cross casted Reflect, blocking all the fireballs. But the fireballs just kept on coming and Cross grew tired. Before he knew it, Beast was in front of him, reflecting all the fireballs himself with his claws. The fireballs struck the snake mercilessly. Beast let out a ferocious roar and air-dashed toward the snake. He grabbed her by the neck, restraining her. The Lamia struggled. "STRIKE HER HEART! NOW!" Beast roared.
Cross and Soledad nodded.
"And my demons lay in waiting…" Cross said then Soledad added, "…tempting me away!"
Cross concentrated all of his Wind power on his Keyblade then swung upward to the ceiling to cast a powerful Gust. Soledad jumped over Cross and unleashed her Focus Mode SunRise. As Soledad sent wave of fires toward Cross's Gust attack, Cross unleashed his own Focus Mode Phoenix on his Gust attack. He sent out waves of fires on the Gust to create his Phoenix. The Phoenix grew twice its size as it received multiple fires.
"Phoenix of the SunRise's Breeze!" Cross and Soledad cried out before using the Gust spell with their Keyblade to send the Phoenix flying straight to the Lamia's heart. The Phoenix struck the Lamia right through, burning the enemy's entire body as well as its snake tails companions. Beast let go off the snake to avoid getting burned.
"CHAAAAARRRRRR! GRAAAAAAWWWWLL! GNYAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
The Lamia hissed in pain and vanished in pieces of flames, leaving behind a Heart. The Heart floated at will toward Beast and dissolved into his chest.
"Groan…" Beast went down on his knees as light took over his body, alerting Cross and Soledad. Donald and Thunder woke up from their unconsciousness and watched as Beast's body transformed back into a magnificent prince before their very eyes. The prince then fell asleep as if nothing happened.
"All right! Beast is back to normal!" Donald jumped of joy and rejoined the group, so did Thunder. Cross and Soledad returned to their regular forms.
"You guys are all right!" Taylor said to Donald and Thunder.
"Now that Beast is back, we sure are." Thunder joked. Matt elbowed Thunder. "What?" Thunder protested.
"You were out the entire battle, and you're joking now?" Matt angrily said to Thunder.
"Hey, don't blame a player for not being prepared for the game!" Thunder exclaimed, "I was caught by surprise here."
The Prince woke up. He looked around groggily, "Uhh… what happened? What am I doing here in this ballroom?" he then faced the heroes, "Thunder…? Soledad and Cross? And Donald?"
"You're all right. Thank goodness you're not a Beast anymore." Taylor said to the Prince.
"And not in Berserk Mode too." Donald added, "What a relief."
Aaaargh! The gang heard Tidicus's scream echoing in the ballroom. The heroes must have forgotten about him. They turned to face him.
"What have you done with my precious Lamia? My beautiful slither of passion and destruction? She's… she's…!"
"Uhh… gone, destroyed, her head cut off?" Thunder said and the heroes laughed on cue.
"By the way Tidicus," Taylor said, "next time you wanna put a fake enchanted tulip for show, use your hair!" she pointed out Tidicus's full hair that was similar to Kuja's.
"You mean head?" Tidicus asked.
"No, she means hair." Thunder added, "You'll be bald at the last fallen petal!"
Everyone laughed out loud.
Tidicus glowered at the cheering heroes, "YOU are not going to see the last of us, Keyblade freaks! YOU HEAR ME? I've destroyed you once! I will destroy you again! YOU'LL SEE!"
Tidicus vanished as the Corridor of Darkness engulfed him like a bed sheet.
"Destroyed us before?" Taylor said, chuckling, "Please, in their dreams."
"Right, guys?" Matt said to Donald and Thunder, who nervously laughed along, "Yeah… pssht. Like they did before…!"
xXx
Moments later since the battle and everything in the castle has returned to normal. Beast was the handsome prince Adam again, and his servants were once again back in their regular human forms. As for Belle, she was reunited with her love just in time to celebrate their one-year anniversary and was caught up with all that went down in the Castle.
The couple were in the ballroom, which was set up to look like a fine restaurant, with fancy tables and chairs and dishes, and the most exquisite foods… all served and catered by the Prince's royal servants.
"I don't know how much I can thank you all for helping out my love in time of need." Belle said, before facing Adam, "But, sigh… if only I knew, I could've helped sooner."
Adam gave Belle a reassuring smile, "Hey, it's okay, my love. At least you were not hurt when all that happened."
"Cuz that's what we all care about: your safety, Princess." Lumiere proudly said. Cogsworth elbowed him to keep him quiet. Lumiere shrugged, "What? It's true."
Adam faced the servants, "I should thank you guys also, for standing by me…" he then faced the heroes, "…and thank you for bringing me back to the way I was. Ever since I learned to love Belle, I learned to love everyone else as well. And that is something I will always treasure: Love."
The prince and princess smiled at each other before sharing a kiss.
"Aww… love." Thunder grinned, before facing Matt and Taylor, "Y'hear that guys? Love. Don't you just love Love?"
Matt and Taylor tried not to look at each other.
"Speaking of thanks," Adam ordered a soldier to approach the table. The soldier was carrying a silver box, "Sol. Cross." He called Matt and Taylor by their KH names, "I want you two to have this. It's a token of my gratitude for bringing me back to my senses."
The soldier opened the silver box to reveal two Charms. Taylor and Matt picked up the Charms, admiring them in awe.
"It's The Lion's Charm and the Dark Roar's Charm." Adam said, "They were gifts from my parents on their Wedding Day. There're supposed to bring true happiness with your loved ones. I also think that it holds an incredible power."
"What power?" Donald curiously asked.
"I think you'll have to figure it out yourselves." Belle said.
"Wow! It's really… It's really beautiful. Thank you." Taylor complimented.
"…yeah. Nothing ever seen or—!" Matt stopped, remembering that line. That was the exact line Taylor said earlier when she was being sarcastic. The duo looked at each other. There was this awkward silence in the room.
"You know what?" Taylor quickly said to the Disney couple, "We should probably head out! Let you lovebirds enjoy your anniversary." She quickly ran out and the rest of the heroes followed, waving goodbye and wishing happy anniversary as well.
Taylor was at the Entrance Hall when Matt called her, "Taylor!"
She stopped, turned on her heels and faced him.
"Hey, you're all right?" he asked.
Taylor shrugged, "I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Well…" Matt hesitated, "You just took off like… something was bothering you."
Taylor stayed muted, her eyes stared on the floor.
"Does it have to do with…" Matt hesitated again, "…you know. Our little mishap?"
Taylor looked up, "Mishap? You mean breakup?"
Matt blinked, "…unless you wanna call it breakup… then…"
Taylor shook her head. Awkward silence.
"Okay, fine! You broke me! I want you back, allright?" she snapped.
Matt looked surprised.
"I'm sorry for my little… mishap back there."
Matt smiled, "You said mishap?"
Taylor nodded. As the couple was talking, Donald and Thunder were watching nearby.
"Hey, I'm the one who should be sorry." Matt said, "I was too stressed out about the whole secret and…"
"Forget it."
"Huh?"
"Forget it. It was your secret, and I understand why you wanted to keep it in the dark. What matters now is the future."
"…so, we're… we're okay now?"
Taylor shook her head, "We're not okay." Matt looked stunned. But then Taylor added with a smile, "We're awesome."
Matt smiled back.
"Aww!"
The couple turned to face Thunder who just ruined the moment, "Now wasn't that so hard? You guys are back together!"
"Way to ruin a moment, Rian." Donald said.
"Hey, it's all thanks to my matchmaking skills that you two are all right again!" Thunder protested.
"Matchmaking skills?" Matt squinted.
"Last time you ever done some matchmaking was with a freaky woman snake." Taylor said, and everyone but Thunder laughed.
"HEY! In my defense, she wasn't…" Thunder hesitated, "…pretty! In her real form, mind you! But…"
Everyone walked away, still laughing. But Thunder kept talking and protesting.
xXx
Tidicus was sitting in the middle of nowhere with his thoughts running deeply, and his fingers running to each other; like a little boy who knew that he was gonna get in big trouble with his parents when he got home. In this case, home was the Blackheart Dominion, and his parents were… well, just one: Alistare, the Mastermind. Cold-blooded and ruthless member, he was now leader of the Dominion. It wasn't long since Alistare took the place of Maurchel after he mercilessly killed him so that he can shift the Dominion's plan in motion to take on Kingdom Hearts. And to have power over the Heart of all Worlds, and all worlds as well, he gotta collect the Hearts of Pure Bravery and Pure Light.
…and Tidicus was unsuccessful. Taking away Beast's Love Essence was all a scheme to lure the heroes to their trap, and he got pawned again.
"Tidicus!" a voice startled him. He turned to see Phantamis, a solemn expression was on his face.
"Phantamis!"
"We got a problem."
"I can explain!"
"No chiz." Phantamis said, "There's been a breach at the Lounge. That Blazen guy escaped!"
"What?"
On the Next upcoming Chapters of KH3 Online HD
(scenes subject to change in the episodes)
"What do you mean he escaped?" Tidicus shouted in panic.
"I mean he's gone. Gone like the Wind!" Phantamis argued.
xXx
"Find this Keyblade freak! NOW!" Alistare roared.
xXx
"We have finally found it," said Yen Sid to King Mickey, "our Keyblade Champion."
***Look for the KH3Online HD prequel***
KH: Keyblade Riders
(to be published 9-9-10)
Next Chapter:: The Escape