DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT MY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS!
A/N: Well, here it is! The FINAL/LAST Chapter for the world of CORONA/TANGLED.
I'm certain you're probably waiting rather... well... impatiently to read on. Yet, I have a few things still to say!
ONE: I'd like to thank all of you for giving SO FEW REVIEWS! C'MON! IT'S NOT THAT HARD TO POST A SIMPLE REVIEW! IF YOU REALLY WANT ME TO WRITE MORE QUICKLY, CONFIDENTLY, AND CHEERFULLY, THEN I AM GOING TO NEED MORE REVIEWS!
Sorry about the "raising my voice" segment, but by the time the story is finished, I'll be EXPECTING at least 50 or more REVIEWS!
IF the goal above is not met, I might just write my NEXT STORY ELSEWHERE!
Yeesh! I REALLY just had to get that out of my system! So, who's ready FOR READING?!
Have a GREAT time enjoying the story!
CHAPTER 7
"Hypocrite!"
Riku was shocked into total silence, unable to believe his ears. Sora had just finished explaining about how Rapunzel had stared curiously at the painted mural depicting the kingdom's 'lost princess'. When he heard how much Rapunzel resembled the young princess, and how the latter had been mysteriously abducted ironically at the same time Rapunzel had just arrived in the hidden tower, Riku was certain Sora's theory was more-than-likely accurate. Even though his best friend generally was considered to be the "lazy bum" by the other teenagers from the islands, Riku still knew such leisure-prominent behavior would not interfere whenever Sora needed to use his Keyblade for anything.
"So," Riku finally said after Sora had finished explaining. He noticed Violet was deep in thought as he continued to speak. "Rapunzel is the 'lost princess'?"
"I think that's right," Sora approved. He crossed his arms in serious contemplation. The two turned their eyes over to Violet. The angel's arms were crossed upon her chest as her wings seemed to give a gentle flap on a steady beat; her right foot was tapping on the same beat as her glowing wings. Even through the rays of the progressively-rising sun, both Riku and Sora could still visually detect her violet-colored glow, and they could still feel her radiation of Light.
At long last, Violet uncrossed her arms and looked at Sora and Riku directly; her wings and foot halted in their flapping and tapping respectively. With a clear voice, the angel concluded, "If Rapunzel happens to be the 'lost princess', than Mother Gothel must be a kidnapper."
"But… why?!" Sora questioned, hungrily searching for a direct explanation; it was also showing in his voice.
"Wait," Riku blurted before Violet could answer to Sora's query. "Those two thugs who tried to capture Rapunzel claimed her hair can keep someone living forever. If that's true, than Mother Gothel kidnapped her to ensure she'd live forever!"
"Of course!" Sora agreed, realizing what his friend was stating. "She kept Rapunzel in the tower so she could have Rapunzel's powers all to herself!"
Violet paused in consideration. After a minute, she gasped — now knowing the truth. "That means Rapunzel is in extreme danger!"
Riku noticed Sora gasping in astonishment alongside himself. If Rapunzel was ensnared in severe peril at the hands of her abductor, than there undoubtedly wasn't an instant to squander. All of a sudden, Sora exclaimed, "We need to save her! C'mon!"
Sora took off running for the town as fast as his feet would allow him to. "Wait!" Riku shouted back, causing the spikey-haired youth ahead to unexpectedly arrive at an abrupt stop in his footsteps. "We need Eugene's help!"
Sora whirled around in his place. "No time," he interjected. "Rapunzel needs our help — fast!"
"How will we locate the tower without him?!" Violet spoke up.
This enquiry brought out a sudden jolt of anxiety upon Sora's complexion. He placed his hands behind his head while his usual silly-looking grin formed upon his lips. Though his cheeks failed to redden, it was quite obvious — especially to Riku — how much humiliation Sora was undergoing. "Didn't think of that," he awkwardly muttered aloud. "We'll just have to save him, too."
Out of his peripheral vision, Riku thought he caught a glance of Maximus (one of the kingdom's horses) smiling upon them. He simply shook his head in response.
Deep within the castle's dungeons, a group of soldiers were securely escorting Eugene Fitzherbert (whom they still called Flynn Rider) along a corridor on their route to the courtyard and the infamous gallows. As they marched through a small vestibule, all the doorways unexpectedly slammed shut all around them. Shocked, the head guard pounded his fist against the door directly in front of the convoy. "What's this?!" he snapped in a fit of anger. "Open up!"
A panel in the door slid open and the sound of Sora's voice asked, "What's the 'pass… word'?"
The head guard might've felt baffled, but he showed no indication of such. Rather, he impatiently snarled, "Open this door! You have three seconds!"
As the head guard counted each second, the two soldiers behind him were snatched aside through a side doorway. Thus, when the head guard reached "three", he spun around, quickly noticing he was the only soldier remaining in the atrium. His eyes instinctively searched every-which-way around the apprehended convict. The door behind him opened without a sound. Sora stepped in and slapped an iron skillet against the soldier's helmet — knocking the head guard unconscious in an instant. All the teenage Keyblade wielder could say was, "How'd you like that?"
"Frying pans," Eugene exclaimed in realization, a giant smile forming upon his face at the sight of his ally, Sora. "Who knew, right?"
"Yeah!" Sora agreed with a nod of his own head. Their reunion was rapidly put on hold when the sounds of loud banging came from the old, wooden door behind Eugene. Within seconds, the door shattered into splinters as a surge of guards charged into the room — determined to capture the fleeing criminals.
"C'mon!" Sora announced as he swiftly led Eugene down a lengthy corridor and out into the castle's courtyard. Along the way, most of the guards in pursuit were sidetracked as Riku charged in, leading them all in a separate direction.
When Sora and Eugene arrived in the large, dirt field consisting the layout of the courtyard, they instantly halted in their places. Swarms upon swarms of soldiers were darting down a nearby staircase straight for them. At that moment, Violet swooped from high above, stirring up a cloud of dust and dirt. The soldiers were blinded momentarily — giving just enough time for Violet to grab Eugene and hastily toss him into the air.
When Eugene landed, he was speechless on top of astounded. He had inexplicably ended up on the saddle situated on the back of Maximus the horse. "Max," he exclaimed in surprise. A moment later, Sora, Riku, and Violet had reached them. Eugene was hardly able to speak. "Sora… Riku? Violet! You all came here?!"
"Yeah!" Sora acknowledged in an extraordinarily hasty reply. "We need your help!"
"Rapunzel's in danger," Riku explained as concise as he could. "We need to find that tower."
Violet nodded in agreement. She asked, "Do you know where it is located?"
In an instant, Eugene answered, "Yeah! We should go."
Sora and his two companions quickly climbed onto Maximus's back as a castle tower behind them flew open; a large group of soldiers began shooting at the heroes with crossbows. In turn, Maximus rapidly galloped as he headed along the castle walls before a dead end came into view.
"Slow down! We're never going to make it!" Sora yelled in alarm as another group of soldiers were almost at the same end.
To everyone's amazement and puzzlement, Maximus darted straight through the gathering soldiers and leaped into the air beyond. For a few moments, both Sora and Riku felt a sensation of weightlessness. It swiftly ended when Maximus's hooves slid down a roof beside the castle's walls — knocking off an entire section of shingles in the process. The horse then leapt from the roof and landed, unharmed, onto the streets of the town. Several townspeople abruptly halted in their footsteps as the horse with its four riders sped right through the town and reached the stone bridge leading towards the forest.
As Maximus was running across the bridge, Eugene looked the horse in the eye. "Okay Max," he announced. "Let's see how fast you can run."
In the blink of an eye, Maximus's galloping swiftly transitioned into a blurry sight of sprinting. Away the group flew through down the forested paths and straight for the hidden tower.
When Maximus finally arrived in the secluded valley, the sky had unknowingly converted from a sunny, cloudless expanse into a shadowy, cloud-filled view. Eugene refused to waste a single moment as he hopped onto his feet and rushed for the tower's base; Sora, Riku, and Violet were a short distance behind.
The first to reach the tower, Eugene frantically looked straight up to its sole chamber. With his hands cupped around his mouth, he called out, "Rapunzel! Let down your hair!"
Unfortunately, not a single response could be detected while Sora and the others caught up with Eugene. Riku lifted his eyes to the top of the tower, wondering if anyone was home. He had the feeling Mother Gothel was waiting up there to ambush the group. Chances were, she would have been aware of anyone drastically trying to retrieve Rapunzel from within the confinements of the lonely tower. Yet, before the Keyblader had the opportunity to reveal his sensation of dread, the doorway of the tower creaked open and an extensive patch of golden hair flew out and landed upon the tower's base. Believing Rapunzel had to inside, Eugene automatically began climbing to the chamber. Riku watched with anticipation as the young man entered the tower's doorway and disappeared from sight.
It was barely a minute before the trio gathered at the tower's base heard the sickening noise of somebody being pierced by a weapon. Violet let out an audible gasp. In a state of distress, Sora exclaimed, "Eugene!"
"It must have been an ambush!" Violet declared.
Riku's eyes instantly grew with a combination of fright, concern, and awareness appearing in them. This was exactly what he had dreaded would occur; Eugene had been injured by an unanticipated attack of Mother Gothel's design. He already knew what was required to be done. "C'mon," Riku ordered the other two. "He needs our help!"
"Yeah!" Sora agreed, summoning his Keyblade. At the same time, Riku did the same. Violet gave a nod of approval to them. With a pair of nods in reply, Sora and Riku both clutched the golden hair stretching for the ground and clambered up. Meanwhile, Violet was waiting as patiently as she could allow herself to.
When Sora finally stepped through the window for the tower's doorway, he heard a series loud CRUNCHES from underneath his shoes. He dared himself to look down at the floor, only to notice it was littered with shards of glass from the oval-shaped mirror the Keyblade wielder had seen his reflection inside of at the start of this adventure. His rapidly swept his eyes across the chamber, spotting Eugene collapsed in painful agony not three feet away. Next, the image of Mother Gothel frustratingly dragging a gagged and chained Rapunzel towards a nearby secret passage caught his eye. Rapunzel was squirming desperately when Sora shouted, "Rapunzel, we'll save you!"
Despite his hasty jog across the room, Sora came to a dead halt in his tracks; Mother Gothel had pulled out a small dagger. Since he had stopped a few feet short of the malevolent woman, Sora was able to safely position his Keyblade in his traditional fighting stance.
All the teenager could do was glare while Riku stepped into the room behind him. One look at the scene currently unfolding, and Riku's Keyblade was set for a battle. "Let her go, now!" Riku strongly commanded.
Mother Gothel glowered back. "You boys stay out of this," she retaliated. "It doesn't concern you!"
"Yes it does," Sora snarled in response. "She's our friend!"
Hearing these words of refusal, Mother Gothel raised her dagger to strike at Sora's body, which Sora took notice of and was prepared to block in less than a second. Still, before the villainess could attack, Rapunzel yelled, "No! Stop, you two!"
Everyone stared at Rapunzel in complete surprise. Just one glance at their reactions was enough to make Rapunzel speak all the more. "If you let me heal Eugene, I'll go with you!"
Sora was baffled. Why would Rapunzel choose to let her captor win out? Was she just wishing to save Eugene? Or was there another reason in mind? Either way, Sora suddenly was sensing a bright Light starting to emerge from within Rapunzel's heart. If that was the case, her heart was a prison no longer.
"I promise," Rapunzel pleaded, causing Sora to finally realize there was nothing more he could do. As far the teenager was able to comprehend, whenever someone ever made a promise, they meant it. Thus, Rapunzel was serious about giving up hope. She finished, "Just let me heal him!"
The reaction upon Mother Gothel's face made it obvious what was about to happen next.
It was approximately five minutes after Rapunzel's promise had been confirmed when Mother Gothel had put a chain on Eugene's right wrist, attaching the other end to a chair close by. She looked at the young man directly with a disapproving glare. "This is in case you get any ideas about following us!"
While Rapunzel got to work in order to save Eugene from certain death, Mother Gothel turned her attention towards both Riku and Sora. The latter two were still glaring with their Keyblades poised to battle within a minute's notice. With an evil smirk forming on her lips, Mother Gothel called out, "As for you two, here's something to keep you both occupied!"
As she raised her hands into the air above, a strange-looking dark portal formed in the room. To both Riku and Sora's astonishment, out hopped a frog with a crown upon his head and wielding a sword and shield. One look at it, and they immediately knew who it was — the Nightmare; Lord Kyroo.
In a frog-like manner, Lord Kyroo turned to face his opponents, raised his sword, and declared, "Ribbity-Ribbit! I challenge Thee!"
"Lord Kyroo," Riku recognized. "What's he doing here?"
"C'mon!" Sora instructed his friend. "We've got a job to do!"
Riku nodded before glaring back at the Nightmare standing before him. In return, Lord Kyroo charged at the two, swiping his sword horizontally to slice them in half. Fortunately, the duo Keybladers had leaped away just in the nick of time. Riku watched as Sora leapt forwards and smacked the enemy's face with two swings of the Keyblade. Rejoining the battle, Riku swiped at the monster's head, but Lord Kyroo was too quick and blocked with his shield. A moment later, both Riku and Sora were beginning to show signs of exhaustion. Sora gasped for breath, asking, "How will we beat this guy?! His shield's in the way!"
This instantly gave Riku an idea. He replied, "Aim for the shield. I'll hit him from behind."
Although Sora was confused, he already knew there was no point in having an extensive debate over this. He ran for the monster and swung his Keyblade for the enemy's shield. At the same time, Riku struck his weapon through the creature's back — mortally wounding it instantly.
As Lord Kyroo spun around the room in a state of disorientation, he tripped over Rapunzel's hair. His sword sliced straight through the golden strands as the Nightmare known as Lord Kyroo exploded into a shower of bubbles. At the same moment, Eugene unprecedentedly cut Rapunzel's golden hair straight through with a shard of glass from the mirror. Rapunzel was alarmed; her long, golden hair had been cut off entirely. The result was every strand of hair quickly transitioning from a golden color to a brownish color.
"No!" Mother Gothel exclaimed in a state of total panic and terror. "What have you done?!"
The villainess's attempt to desperately seize Rapunzel's hair ended in futile. Rather, as the hair in Mother Gothel's hands turned brown, her skin became so pale that Riku was positive it resembled what he had heard snow looks like. The woman's hair swiftly became grey before turning whiter than a sandy beach. Her whole complexion transformed, Mother Gothel desperately stared at her appearance in the remains of the broken mirror. Now in a state of complete aberration, she covered her head with a black blanket, though totally unaware of the fact she was currently stepping towards the tower's entrance.
Seeing an opportunity to end this turn-of-events justly, Riku quickly strode up to the window as Mother Gothel stood blindly in front of it. Acting as fast as he could, Riku jolted forwards and pushed Mother Gothel out the window. He peered out and watched as the form of Mother Gothel fell head-first down to the ground below. Within seconds, she had landed upon the grass, but there was nothing more than a cloud of dust rising from the blanket. All Riku could say was, "Good riddance!"
At that precise moment, Violet came flying up fast. She reached the window in a flash; Riku noticed her face was filled with bewilderment, shock, and horror. The angel was barely able to speak. "What was that?!" she sputtered out. "Someone… descended from the tower!"
"It was Mother Gothel," Riku explained as he gently helped Violet inside. "Rapunzel's hair has been cut. She must've aged to death or… "
He paused for a brief minute, thinking how to explain his conclusion as easy-to-understand as possible. He finally added, "…the Darkness in her heart consumed her."
Violet nodded in return. From what Riku could see, the angel was able to comprehend every word. No doubt they knew the selfish woman — or witch — had given into the Darkness and tried to keep everything her way by any means necessary. Unfortunately, she had become yet another victim of the depths of dangerous Darkness lurking within every living soul.
"No! Stay with me, Eugene!"
The voice automatically brought both Riku and Violet back to reality. They looked over to where Rapunzel was urgently attempting to revive Eugene with her hair — to no success. Her hair had been cut and all its power was lost forever. Nearby, Sora was watching with his arms crossed upon his chest.
"Rapunzel?" Eugene questioned with a weak voice.
"What?" a frantic and worried Rapunzel returned.
Eugene's eyes slowly sealed up. "You were my new dream."
Rapunzel smiled. "And you were mine!"
As he took his final breath, Eugene's entire figure went limp and turned pale. Rapunzel's eyes begun to swell with tears as Sora looked down with a sigh. "They were so close!" he muttered.
Riku sorrowfully turned his eyes away from the late Eugene Fitzherbert, not wishing to burst into tears himself. If there was anyone he knew would be crying at such a sight, it was Kairi. The very mention of someone dying at all was most-certainly too much for a Princess of Heart to handle. When it occurred to him about how much Kairi had missed both Sora and him during their previous quests, Riku knew he's postulation might be correct.
Riku was taken from his thoughts when he heard Rapunzel's voice, "Heal what has been hurt. Change the fate's design… "
In reaction, the Keyblade wielder turned his eyes over to where Rapunzel was still kneeling beside the body of what had once been Eugene Fitzherbert. Beside the two, Violet was kneeling on the floor — her eyes shedding a few tears. Rapunzel continued, "…Save what has been lost. Bring back what once was mine… "
Leaning over Eugene's head, Rapunzel finished, "…What once was mine!"
An instant later, a tear fell from her eye and landed upon Eugene's cheek. As he watched carefully, Riku spotted the tear absorbing into the cheek and flowing down his body. A glimmer of golden light forming on Eugene's stomach stole everyone's focus from mourning; Rapunzel's eyes grew in surprise. All at once, bright strands of golden light flooded the dark, shadow-infested room of the tower's solitary chamber. Sora exclaimed, "What's going on?!"
His query was immediately answered when the light became the shape of a flower over Eugene's body. It faded a moment later; Riku was baffled into silence. He watched as Rapunzel looked over to Eugene's head. It started to move as his eyes fluttered open and he took a gasp of fresh air. The first thing he did was say, "Rapunzel?"
Relief was starting to show upon Rapunzel's face. "Eugene?" she asked.
In turn, Eugene said, "Did I ever say you've got a thing for brunettes?"
"Eugene!" With a cry of glee and happiness, Rapunzel hugged Eugene as tightly as she could. When the two were at eye level, a sudden kiss occurred between them. The sight of this scene forced Sora to turn his head away; Riku nudged him a little with a wink of the eye. All this did was make Violet roll her eyes and give shake of her head.
Outside the tower, the cloudy sky had disappeared and the sun had come out. A rainbow shone down from the waterfall and down into valley below.
Violet watched with the others as the speechless guards hurried into the castle to fetch the king and queen. After Eugene had been healed, Sora had freed the former from the chain with his Keyblade. The entire group had slid down Rapunzel's hair, met up with the waiting Maximus, and rode the horse all the way back to the town and the awaiting palace.
All at once, the brown doors bearing the sun-shaped emblem of the kingdom opened and out stepped two people — the king and queen of the land. The king was tall and slender with blue eyes, and sporting a brown beard that matched his hair under a golden crown. The queen was tall and slender with green eyes, long, silky drown hair under a golden crown, and wearing a purple dress. One look at the queen, and Violet was certain Rapunzel resembled her in several ways.
This was confirmed when the queen stepped over to Rapunzel and placed her hand upon the latter's cheek. In an instant, she recognized her daughter (the 'lost princess') and hugged Rapunzel. A moment later, the king joined the hug, knowing his precious daughter had come home to stay.
The whole sight made Violet feel the warmth of radiant Light coming from the Royal Family. She smiled when the queen extended her hand for Eugene. In turn, Eugene accepted it, resulting in his addition to their group hug.
"Just the way it needs to be," Violet told herself. She was positive this was going to be a happy ending. "She was a princess worth waiting for!"
Sora nodded. "Yeah... "
Riku shook his head and punched Sora in the shoulder. The latter winced at the resulting pain. They smiled like two close friends.
Soon, Sora, Riku, and Violet were taking a stroll across the stone bridge connecting the town to the surrounding forests. As a gentle wind blew across, Sora's eyes caught the sight of a lantern still floating through the sky far up above. He smiled greatly before saying, "Hard to believe… all that time, Rapunzel let her heart be trapped inside the Nightmares Mother Gothel gave her."
"Yeah," Riku approved. "But Rapunzel's heart was still seeking freedom. It's like… Mother Gothel's Darkness was trying to keep her free will imprisoned."
"We fixed that," Violet stated. "Correct?"
"Yup," Sora agreed. "Her heart is no longer a prison!"
"Hypocrite!" a mysterious, deep voice declared. "You're the one whose heart has become a prison!"
Everyone halted in their places, spun around in the direction of where the castle was, and froze in both perplexity and disbelief. Walking straight for them was the young man wearing the same black-hooded coat of the late Organization XIII. Sora glared right into the stranger's golden eyes, exclaimed, "You again?! What're you talking about?!"
The stranger came to an abrupt stop in his footsteps. All at once, a dark portal appeared beside him, allowing him to leave through it while another figure came out of it.
Now Sora was awestruck; this stranger was wearing the exact, same coat as the young man, but his appearance was strongly similar to that of Sora himself. The figure's hair was black, his skin was slightly more pale than Sora's, and his eyes were golden-yellow. The only thing this stranger said was, "Even if you are not the prisoner!"
With that, the second figure vanished through the same dark portal. Sora charged at the portal with anticipation of seeking answers to his multitude of questions; he wasn't fast enough and the portal closed before him. Instead, Sora looked down in bewilderment.
"What does he want with you two?" Violet asked as she and Riku approached Sora.
"I think we'll find out soon," Riku admitted, though even he was feeling somewhat unsure.
At that exact moment, a bright light came shining down from above. As the three turned their eyes to see it, the shape of a transparent keyhole formed over the calm waves of the ocean. As if by instinct, Sora and Riku summoned their Keyblades at the keyhole. Like they had foreseen, a pair of beams of Light shone from the tips of their weapons, merged halfway to the keyhole, and struck the keyhole directly. A tunnel of Light formed as the keyhole unlocked.
While the Light headed for the group, Sora thought to himself,
My heart's a… prison?!
Less than an instant later, Sora, Riku, and Violet had dove into the tunnel of warm, soothing Light. They already knew they had just awakened the Sleeping World of Corona.
"Hey Axel… you didn't forget, did you?"
"Hmm? Forget what?"
"You made us a promise."
"I did?!"
"You said you'd always be there… to bring us back."
"Yeah… best friends forever… "
"Got it memorized?"
"What… what happened to me?" Lea questioned aloud as his eyes sluggishly opened. Yet, he had no recollection of falling asleep. As his vision came into focus, he realized his head was lying upon a hard, blue floor. He gradually clambered to his feet before sweeping his eyes across the room. He softly called out, "Roxas?"
The sounds of moans and yawning came from close by. In a state of confusion and inquisitiveness, Lea's field of vision turned to face a group of four people lying across the floor. Two of them were wearing purple, guard uniforms, white gloves, and black boots while the other two had white, laboratory coats for their outfits. Recognizing the four as familiar faces, Lea muttered aloud, "…Dilan… Aeleus… Even… Ienzo… "
As he stood upright upon the floor, Lea spotted his reflection in a nearby window above a very Hi-Tech computer. Seeing that he still had his fire-colored, spiked hair and his black-hooded coat on his body, he walked up to closely examine it. To his surprise and astonishment, the green triangles that had been located beneath his eyes were gone. He softly exclaimed, "Whoa… we're people again… the first several ranks of the Organization are here!"
As Aeleus and Ienzo rose from the floor, Lea noticed something seemed off. He added, "Still… where's Xehanort, Braig, and… "
His voice trailed off. Lea knew who else was unaccounted for. His friend he had always been with. "…Isa?!"
A/N: That's that! All's well that ENDS well! Or IS it?!
Either way, some (or many) of you might be disappointed that Sora and the others didn't actually FIGHT Mother Gothel. Rather, I personally feel like such an event might make her somewhat out-of-character. So, I decided to make a Nightmare that SHE summoned do the work instead!
Anyways, I decided to give another HINT at what the next world up ahead will be.
HINT: "It's located on 'THE SECOND STAR TO THE RIGHT AND STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING!'"
IF you believe you might know what world I'm referring to, please post your answer(s) in the REVIEWS for THIS Chapter!
Without further ado, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE WITHOUT REVIEWING! THE FATE OF THIS STORY DEPENDS ON IT!
This is SoraLego278 saying, "See Ya Later, Keybladers!"