The gummi ship slows down to a halt as it reaches its destination. The three teens look at the world to see what's in store.
"Wait, isn't that?"
"Beasts castle, right?" Xion says, finishing Roxas' sentence.
"You two have been here?" Namine asked, intrigued by their past experiences.
"Yeah, we were sent here on a few missions a number of times while we were part of the organization," Xion said. "Actually, It was the place where I regained the ability to use my keyblade after a period of being unable to use it." Thinking back on those awful days of the organization.
"Oh, sorry about that. That was probably my fault." Namine says her eyes meeting the floor.
"No need to apologize. You were just doing what you thought you needed to do to help sora, just like what we're doing now." Roxas said, hoping to lift the mood.
"Thanks," Namine said. "You two should get going. The paths won't unlock themselves." Namine said half-jokingly.
"Alright. If anyone ever needs to talk while separated, you know what to do, right?" Xion asks. Namine nodding with confidence. With that, Roxas and Xion enter the familiar world of Beast's Castle. Wondering what has changed since they last visited. The two enter the castle and find . . . Nothing. But they do hear something. The roar of the beast. The two, falling into the instincts as organization members, sneak around the castle, attempting to find the beast's location.
Xion opens the door to one of the rooms near the entrance and peeks inside.
"He's not in here," Xion says stepping inside, Roxas quickly follows. As he enters the room something quickly catches Roxas' eyes.
"Xion, look!" Xion turns to see Roxas pointing at a glowing rose that is held inside a protective glass casing.
"This is the beast's rose!"
"What's so special about the rose?" Xion asked
"Me and Xaldin did a mission here once. We learned that this rose wilts very slowly, and that if the beast isn't turned back into a human by the time the rose wilts, he gets stuck in the body of a beast forever.
"Strange. Why would he keep it here instead of somewhere safe?" Xion asks.
"That's the weird part, it wasn't here before, it was in a different part of the castle altogether," Roxas answered.
"Well, let's get moving. We shouldn't-" But as Xion is about to finish her sentence, large, stomping footsteps are heard heading closer to the door
"Quick! Hide!" Roxas says, pulling Xion behind a tapestry. The door opens and the large footsteps move across the room, before suddenly leaving the room. The two, still pressed up against the wall with each other, take a second to sigh in relief before exiting their hiding place. It doesn't take long for Xion to notice something
"Roxas! The rose!" Roxas turns to the table where the rose once stood to see it's gone.
"He must have taken it with him. Let's keep exploring and see what we can find." Xion nods her head and the two exit the room to explore more of the castle. Well, "explore" is probably the wrong word. The two go through the castle with ease, they practically have it memorized from their many missions here. They eventually find themselves near a room in the east wing of the castle, and they hear voices inside.
"What am I going to do? The voice behind the door said, worried. The two lean against the door to hear closely when suddenly, the door opens wide and they fall to the ground. The two look up, and see a girl in a white and blue dress, with brown hair. She looks at the two in recognition for a moment, before her face goes back to worry
"Who are you two? Are you okay?" The girl says in both confusion and worry. The two get up and introduce themselves
"I'm Roxas."
"I'm Xion. We're uh-" Xion turns to look at Roxas, the two nod their heads simultaneously, knowing there's no point in keeping secrets. "We're trying to help Sora, we're keyblade wielders," Xion says, Summoning her keyblade for the girl to see.
"Friends of Sora! OH, I'm so happy you're here! I'm Belle." Belle says with a smile "Beast has ben acting very strange lately, and he refuses to talk to me. The only people who may know what's going on are his servants, but he's locked them in the dungeon. Do you think you can help them, and find out what's wrong with the beast?"
"Of course!" Xion says
"We're always happy to help," Roxas adds on.
"Thank you, so much. The entrance to the dungeon is in the west hall. Please, be careful." Belle says. Roxas gives a thumbs up and the two head to the west hall. The two find the dungeon with ease, as they had been there before. The two push against the door to open the dungeon, but suddenly, the stone door springs to life, revealing its true form, a heartless. The twin wolf engraving on the door becomes two wolf-like heartless attached to the door, their massive claws and large arms used as very powerful tools of destruction
The heartless swung its arms around wildly, its limbs extending as if it were in a cartoon. The two attempt to slash their keyblades at the door, but the wolves deflect their keyblades, their claws stronger than the metal of the blades. The wolves put their hands together to create a large ball of darkness between its palms, summoning multiple bat-like heartless known as hook-bats. The two slashed through the bats but didn't expect them to explode upon death. The two, distracted by the fire from the bats, were knocked back to the opposing wall by the door heartless.
The heartless summons more bats and Roxas thinks of entering Valor form to try and end the battle right then and there but had his train of thought halted when Xion called his name
"Roxas! The bats!" Roxas was confused, and Xion made herself more clear. "The bats! Use the bats!" suddenly, Roxas realized what she was saying, using his keyblade, he got the notches of the blade stuck on the bat's hook, he swung them around and threw one at Xion, who hit it with the blunt of her keyblade, knocking it into the door heartless. The heartless showed visual signs of damage, and the two keyblade wielders tossed more bats at it, until finally, Xion shot a small beam of light from her keyblade, thinking of unlocking the door, when a dark ball with a face on it appeared from out the door. Revealing the heartless' true nature, as the door turned back to stone.
The two keyblade wielders sliced and diced through the possessor heartless, knocking it back and forth between each other, as if they were playing a casual game of tennis. The heartless managed to escape their ping-pong slashes and went back into the door. The wolves springing back to life, put their palms together as if they're gonna summon more bats, Roxas and Xion charge at it, so they can grab the bats and throw it back at it
The heartless sees this coming and grabbed them. Squeezing them with every ounce of its strength Roxas looked around for anything to use but the pain was worsening his focus and vision. Roxas found it harder and harder to breathe when he hears Xion's voice within his head.
"Rox- . . . as" Xion says. Fading away slowly. Roxas, adrenaline pumping through his veins, emits mass amounts of red energy as he dawns a red outfit and two keyblades. He forces the wolf's paws open and slashes straight through both of them, releasing the unconscious Xion. He rapidly strikes at the heartless over and over, as rage fills his mind. The heartless flees from the door, attempting to flee from the furious keyblade wielder, but it is only met with the notched ends of the keyblade.
Roxas, Rage quelled. Turns and runs to Xion's side.
"Xion? Xion wake up!" Roxas says, but he is met with no response. "Namine. . . Is she?" Roxas says, not wanting to say the word as if saying it out loud would ensure her demise.
"She's okay Roxas, just injured and unconscious." Namine says, hoping to calm Roxas. Roxas takes a sigh of relief.
"Thanks, Namine."
"Mhm," Namine says before her voice cuts off, signaling that she's no longer implanting her words within his mind. Roxas picks up Xion and carries her in his arms.
"Don't worry Xion, I'll take keep you safe. . " Roxas thinks back to his experience at Destiny Islands, and what Kairi had told him "Just as you did for me. . ." Roxas carries Xion as he enters the dungeon, he looks around for the servants and sees them on the chairs and crates. These weren't ordinary servants, however. They too were under the effect of the spell that had turned the prince into the beast. The servants of the castle were turned into objects of the castle. In the room are a teapot, teacup, clock, and candelabra. The objects in the room stood perfectly still, attempting to hide from Roxas, who to them is a random intruder.
"So he really did lock you guys in here huh?" As Roxas says this, the objects come to life
.
"You knew we were the servants?" Candelabra asked.
"Yeah, Belle told me" Roxas lied, not wanting to explain how he'd been to the castle before.
"That girl, is she alright?" The chipped Teacup asked.
"Yes, she's just unconscious. She'll be okay" Roxas said. The servants introduced themselves to Roxas. Lumiere the candelabra, Cogsworth the clock, and the teapot and teacup, Mrs. Potts and her son, Chip Potts. Their names really were quite fitting, it seems the enchantress that cast the spell had quite the sense of humor.
Lumiere guides Roxas and the unconscious Xion through a different path in the dungeon when Roxas asks the golden question.
"So, why exactly has the beast been acting so strange all of a sudden?"
"I don't know for sure, but we've seen His highness speaking with a strange man, and ever since then, he's been acting stranger and stranger
"Strange man huh, could it be?" Roxas thinks to himself, but puts that thought aside, not wanting to make assumptions that could change how he approaches the situation while protecting Xion, Eventually, they all reach the door to Beast's room.
"Okay, me and Cogsworth will go into his room, you guys make sure Xion is safe," Roxas says before he hears a voice
"It's okay, you can put me down now." Roxas looks at Xion and sees that she's wide awake, with a big smile on her face as well.
"You're okay! Why didn't you say so earlier?" Roxas asked.
"I like being carried," Xion says hugging Roxas, who responds by opening his arms and dropping Xion on the floor.
"Hey!" Xion says. The two laugh as Roxas helps Xion get up, Xion punching Roxas' shoulder before being shushed by Cogsworth. The two put their serious faces on and take a peek inside the room when they hear a familiar voice.
"It's time you dealt with Belle, Beast." The voice comes from a man in an organization coat. He's tall and large, definite on the more physical side of strength than mental. He has his hood up, conveniently covering his face, but Roxas and Xion recognize him immediately
"It's Xaldin! I knew it!" Roxas says, as quite as he possibly can.
"She's scheming to take everything you have. This castle, your precious rose, and finally, your life. Trust no one. Feed your anger! And use it to destroy everything that opposes you." But the beast interjects.
"I've had enough of strength. There's only one thing I want-" The beast doesn't even finish his sentence before Xaldin pipes up.
"What? To love? To be loved in return?" Xaldin laughs before going on. "Who could ever love a beast?" The beast turns and roars as he sees Roxas and Xion at the door. Xaldin turns as well. Instead of acknowledging his old allies, he makes use of the situation "See? She has accomplices. Xaldin enters a corridor of darkness and disappears, leaving only the beast and the heroes.
"Beast, don't listen to-" but before Roxas can finish he's met with a loud roar from the beast, who attacks. The heroes dodge out of the way. The beast's eyes are filled with anger and hate. If they want to talk to him, they'll need to put some sense into him. The beast is fast and strong, forcing Roxas on the defensive when he attacks, only being able to get hits in when Xion hits him from behind, or when Roxas has the chance to counterattack. The two make sure to use the blunt end of their keyblades when fighting the beast however, they want to bring him to his senses, nor harm him.
Finally, The beast swipes are Roxas, and he dodges, and follows it up with a hit over the head, knocking the beast to the ground. For a moment, he's silent, before he gets back up.
"What . . . happened?" the beast asked, in a concerned voice.
"Well, you maybe have locked everyone down in the dungeon for a while," Xion says, not trying to say it in a way that could anger the beast again.
"I did what?" The beast said, confused.
"Yes, master, you did," Cogsworth said, in an anxious tone.
"It wasn't your fault beast. It was Xaldin!" Roxas told the beast.
"No. I let him use my emotions against me. I let him take control of me, I allowed him to put my sorrow, sadness, and pain into rage." The beast said. It's clear that this is definitely the real beast. "I've wronged everyone. Even Belle." the beast said, becoming sadder and sadder, like an endless cycle of sadness.
"Well, let's go talk to her. She's been worried about you." Xion says
"But-" the beast says before being interrupted
"No buts! We'll go with you if it makes you feel better."
"All right. . ." The beast says before he perks up and asks a question "By the way, who are you two?"
"I'm Xion, and he's Roxas," Xion says. "We're friends of Sora."
"Well, a friend of Sora is a friend of mine. Let's go." and they set off to visit Belle. They make it to Belles room after slaying so heartless in the halls, but all they find is a sentient wardrobe
"Where is Belle?" the beast asked
"She left in a hurry. Something about a man in black" The three stare in silence and in horror as they realize what happened, and they spring into action, realizing how much danger Belle may be in. As they enter the main entrance to the castle they hear Belle's voice in the ballroom
"I'm warning you! Stay back or you'll be sorry!" Belle says. The three enter the ballroom in time to see Belle close a door in the face of a massive heartless. It resembles the possessor that took over the door, but larger, and wrapped in chains. It turns around and sees the Beast and keyblade bearers, it rises into the air before slamming into the ground. The room shakes and turns a deep dark purple.
"The heartless, it's possessing the entire room!" Xion says, mortified at what it could have at its disposal with complete control of the area.
Large beams of darkness spout from the ground, creating shockwaves as the three heroes attempt to slay the heartless. The heartless rises into the air and posses the chandelier, dropping to the ground and spinning rapidly as it spews fire everywhere. Xion dashes in between the fire and slashes at the chandelier stopping its spinning, before shooting a beam of light into heartless, forcing it out of the chandelier.
The three hack and slash until the heartless runs into a pillar and posses it, as well as the nearby pillars, forming tentacle-like teeth that scratch and slash at the ground wildly Xion Boosts Roxas into the air, giving him the height needed to strike the pillar the heartless possessed. Roxas shoots a beam of light at the pillar, forcing the heartless out. It attempts to flee but the beast grabs it and forces it onto the ground, creating an opening for Roxas and Xion to slash straight through the heartless.
The heartless phases through the beast and floats slowly into the air. Suddenly it spews out mass amounts of darkness around itself. The darkness explodes revealing the heartless but in a new form. It resembles a beast, even larger than THE beast. With massive claws and thorns coming out of its chest, its long red hair connects to its orange devilish horns. It releases a great roar and the true battle begins.
The heartless turn invisible the group is barely able to tell where it is by the shockwaves released by its large feet when it stomps around. Xion has an idea.
"Roxas, help me out!" She says, pointing towards the chandelier. She jumps and Roxas dives underneath her, she lands on his keyblade and he thrusts her high into the air. Xion grabs onto and spins around the chandelier before striking it with her keyblade, launching it towards the ground and landing on the heartless, making it visible. The three try their best to take it down but the heartless turn invisible yet again, and Roxas doesn't think the same trick will work twice, he has his own plan.
"All right, try this on for size heartless!" Roxas says as he begins to get enveloped in a red aura, before suddenly stopping
"Roxas?" Xion feels that something is wrong. The red around him turns dark and black, swarming around him like a shrouding dark cloud. "ROXAS!?" Xion runs to his aide
"Xion. . I can't . . .breath. . . It burns . . . " Roxas says, barely able to talk as the cloud begins to consume him.
"ROXAS!" Xion almost reaches him but suddenly, a blast of darkness bushes her back. As the dust settles Xion sees what has happened. Roxas Is no longer himself, but a shadow of his former self. His clothes, no, he became a black and blue color, with wisps of smoke coming off of him as if he were a fire. The only light visible in him being that of his white soulless eyes.
Suddenly, Roxas charges at the heartless, Screaming like some sort of animal. Foregoing the use of his keyblade, he punches and scratches at the heartless. The heartless roars in pain but Roxas keeps on attacking, unmoved by it's retaliations. Roxas claws through the heartless and destroys it. This would normally be the cause of a celebration, but not now.
The darkness within Roxas' heart has consumed him, and he turns to face Xion and the beast, and charges. Xion tries to block the oncoming attack, not wanting to harm Roxas, but Roxas has no such feelings stopping him from raining an onslaught of darkness upon his foes.
"Namine! What should I do!?"
"I don't know! I've never seen anything like this before!" Namine replies.
Xion blocks a blow from Roxas the two are in an almost blade-locked state, one trying to throw off the balance of the other
"Roxas, please! I know you in there somewhere! Please wake up!" Xion says, attempting to shake her friend out of his darkened state, but is only met with the animalistic sounds of Roxas fighting to kill, Xion gets an update from Namine
"Hold on, you just gave me an idea! Just wait a little longer!" But can she last any longer, Roxas nearly throws Xion off balance when the beast strikes at him and launching him into a pillar.
Roxas gets up almost immediately, unphased by such an attack, and charges yet again. Roxas and the beast meet, and the beast slashes at Roxas, but he ducks and punches him in the gut with surprising amounts of force, knocking the beast back. Roxas turns to Xion and charges at her, and she does the same to him. Roxas slashes at Xion but she ducks and. . . Hugs him.
"Roxas please, stop it's me!" Xion hoped This would finally snap Roxas out of his darkened state, but instead of meeting his warm embrace, she meets the cold hard fists of reality, as the shadowy Roxas knocks her into a pillar. Xion gets up, but Roxas is already running straight to her. Suddenly a new voice is heard in the room
"Roxas!" It's Namine, and she's running straight towards Roxas! Roxas turns and charges at her with full force.
"Namine! NO!" Xion says summoning her keyblade and running to try and stop Roxas, but suddenly Namine raises her hand to meet Roxas's head, and a flash of light fills the room, once the light dims down, Roxas can be seen emitting dark wisps of smoke, but no longer in the shadowy form. He falls to the ground, unmoving.
"Namine!?" Xion is glad she's safe but can't comprehend what just happened
"It's okay, he's fine. I was able to put him to sleep. It won't last too long though, without a stasis pod-like Sora's he'll wake up eventually. We need to take him to Master Yen Sid!" Namine says Xion nods in agreement. At the top of the ballroom ceiling, a large keyhole appears.
"Well, there's our way out," Xion says. She turns to face the beast "Sorry to leave so soon, but we're in a hurry" The beast nods in understanding, and Xion summons her keyblade and points it at the keyhole, Unlocking a new path to a new world, but first, Master Yen Sid awaits.
Roxas slowly opens his eyes as he hears the sound of rain all around him. He gets up from the ground and takes a look at his surroundings. He's in a familiar world, known as "The World that Never Was". The homeworld of organization XIII. the tall black buildings beat in height by the floating white castle in the distance. Roxas looks around in confusion, before something catches his eyes, A person in an organization coat, walking away into an alley.
"Xion. . . ?" Roxas says, the tired feeling within him still not disappearing. The figure keeps on walking, not acknowledging Roxas' presence. Roxas chooses to follow the figure. The figure takes a sharp turn into a branching part of the alley, and Roxas chases after them. As he enters the branching path he hears the clanging sound of metal falling on the ground, and wisps of dark smoke floating into the sky. Roxas goes to see what the object was, As Roxas reaches out to it he finally comprehends what the object is.
"The keyblade?" Roxas says in confusion. He reaches for the keyblade when it disappears, almost fading out of existence. Roxas barely has time to comprehend what just happened as he hears the sound of movement behind him. He turns to face it and finds the alley is a lot longer than it was when he entered it. But more concerningly, a new figure was at the end of the alley.
The figure wears a strange skin-tight suit, with red streaks on it and some gold and platinum plates of armor worn over it. The figure has a strange black dome-like helmet, with the only bright part on it being a platinum jaw plate.
"Xion. . .?" Roxas approaches with caution, not really recognizing the figure as anyone he's seen before. "Riku-?" Before Roxas could finish speaking, the figure charged at him with incredible speed, drawing a keyblade. The same keyblade he and Xion wield. Roxas attempts to summon his own keyblade but it doesn't appear, and Roxas is pierced by the stranger's keyblade. There's a moment of shock Roxas experiences before the keyblade is pulled from out of his body and he falls to the ground. He feels himself slowly fading away, his nonexistence almost slips away, and his eyes shut. "Is this it. . . ?" Roxas says surrounded by darkness, when suddenly, he sees a light.
Xion and Namine watch nervously as Master Yen Sid casts strong light magic, repelling the darkness within Roxas. When he's done, Roxas awakes.
"What the- Master Yen Sid?" Roxas says confused. He remembered the dream and beast's castle so vividly, he could barely tell the difference between the dream and reality. But before he could ask any more questions, Yen sid motioned Roxas towards the chair on the opposite side of the table, and Roxas, putting everything that just happened in the back of his mind, went and took a seat.
"Roxas, Xion. It seems there's been a complication between you and the drive forms." Yen Sid says. "Even with your black coats, your time in the organization has corroded you with darkness, little by little. If you use the power of the Drive Forms too much, the darkness will consume you and force you to enter a darkness-powered form known as Anti-Form." Yen Sid explains. "If you two wish to grow stronger in your journey, you will need to use your drive forms much more carefully from now on."
"Yes, Master," Roxas says.
"All right. Now go. Other worlds call." Master Yen Sid says, dismissing them from the tower.
The three make it to the gummi ship and set sail
"Everyone ready?" Namine asks, before setting sail.
"Ready!" Xion exclaims
"Ready. . ." Roxas mutters. Xion turns to Roxas with concern
"Roxas, are you okay?"
"Yeah. . . I'm fine." Xion can tell he's obviously not fine, it sounds like he's trying to convince himself more than he is trying to convince her, but she chooses not to force him to talk about what happened. The darkness truly does take a hold of people with their rage.