Chapter VIII: The end of a dream
Sora's POV:
We were about to land on Beast's Castle when Juno's emblem formed on the floor and brilliant blue orbs formed a small body. Von was there in front of us and Roxas didn't seem happy.
"You again?" he said
"Hi" the boy said dispelling his staff.
"Had enough rest?" I ask. He did save Radiant Garden, so he deserved my respect.
"Sure did." came his reply. Roxas was growling at a corner.
"Look, I'm sorry for the bad start. Forgive me now? I did save your butt after all" he said, Roxas just mumbled. I looked at him and he looked adorable when he's angry.
-+-
Von's POV:
...? I stole a look at Sora and he was looking at Roxas, smiling... I couldn't help but notice the slight pink tint on his tanned cheeks. Oh boy... Neh, never mind. I didn't have the right to interfere anyway. We were beamed down at the entrance of a white castle with pink tiled roofs, not a bad combination.
"Our friends, Beast and Belle live here" Sora said, he opened the door and it was dark inside. The place seemed empty.
"Where are they?" I asked. The place gave me the creeps.
"Belle?" Sora's voice echoed throughout the place
"Beast?" so did Roxas', but no reply came. I walked around the place a bit.. til i tripped. Sora helped me up
"You okay?" he asked
"Yeah, I just tripped on this... BONE!" I squeaked. There were other bones scattered about. They started moving forming full skeletal systems that held large swords. Sora and Roxas summoned their Keyblades and started fighting off the skeletons, but when the bones fell to the ground, they just formed full skeletons again. Sora cast a spell called Firaga which I knew well. It was an ancient fire spell that was used by the ancients of Juno. It led to the later spells Fire Ivy, Fire Ball, Fire Bolt and many more. The bones turned into ash and never moved again.
"Magic works on them!" Oops, My cue! I summoned my staff
"Fire Bolt!!" Ten lances of fire revolved around me and each found their targets. God, I was such a show off! And I liked it. I kept on summoning fire bolts until all skeletons were gone. But some things flying on books came about.
"Heartless?! I though Maleficent was on our side?!" Roxas was obviously angry.
"Saix said that they sided with whoever was stronger." Sora said, slashing one of the buggers. I summoned fire lances again and sent them to the flying idiots, that used such precious books as flying saucers They bolts just... went boom and didn't do the slightest damage. Eh...?
"They're immune to magic" said Sora. I just watched them do their jobs for my part was done. When the battle was over, Sora pushed me into a room he called the parlor where there was a cozy fire. It was the only room that I've seen that felt nice in this castle. They left me there. They were really gullible. They never knew about the saying that there are always ears at the other side of the wall. Their voices were muffled but I could hear them clearly.
"Why do you hate Von so much?" came Sora's voice
"It's just because he kept me inside a block of ice" he said dryly
"And you forgave him for that, didn't you?"
"Yeah…"
"Then what's your problem?"
"It's just… I'm afraid to be myself around him. I'm not comfortable. I can't tease you, I can't-"
"Awww! My Roxie poo is shy!" OK! MY Roxie poo?? There's DEFINITELY something in between! I will find out… hehehe
"Ow! Enough with the pinching!"
"Aw… just a bit more! There!"
"I'll go get him" seconds later, Roxas entered the parlor.
"Hey, c'mon kid, we still got a beauty and a beast to find" his voice was a bit warmed now. I nodded and followed. We proceeded to the west wing and went through dark halls that were lit by nothing but moonlight. Ugly statues were aligned along the way. The scenery was silent… too silent for my liking. I heard shattering rock. A statue had severed itself from the walls and screeched.
"OKAY! I could have settled for silence!" I summoned my staff and Sora cast an unfamiliar spell. A portal opened above the beast and it got sucked in. Sora and Roxas walked ahead of me… and they were walking close to each other. Lightning flashed from the windows and Roxas grabbed on to Sora's hand… Alright! This was just too much! I used Heaven's Drive and stone spikes erupted from the ground.
"What was that for?!" asked Roxas, his anger coming back. I used Frost Driver and icy spears came to them and encased their feet in ice, making them unable to move.
"What's this for?!" Sora was getting scared. I looooove being scary. I circled them.
"You two a couple aren't you?" I asked them, straight to the point
"Uh… no" they were blushing. I slapped myself on the forehead. They were in love with each other and didn't even notice… how stupid could one get. I walked on without them.
"HEY! You're not leaving us? Aren't you?" whined Sora
"I only froze you feet. Incase you guys forgot, you people are holding keyblades on you HANDS, not your feet. So you could have broken the ice the moment I set it. Or were you two too busy looking at each others asses to notice?" I sighed. Here they go with the blushing again! I went on and they caught up with me. We arrived at what seemed the master's bedroom. It was completely empty. Sora went to the balcony as Roxas and I looked around for clues or traces. But we were interrupted when we heard Sora scream. We went the roomy balcony and a large hand was floating in midair, and it was gripping Sora's body as the keyblade was on the balcony. Roxas looked at me and nodded. I got what he meant. I created a barrier under the large hand and Roxas threw a black keyblade at it. It let go of Sora and he dropped on the barrier. He summoned his kayblade to his hand and sliced the hand until it was like minced meat.
"NEVER! GROPE MY BODY AGAIN!" I was used to seeing Sora always smiling but this was a new sight to behold.
"Yeah, Coz it's reserved for Roxas" I said and both turned red again.
-+-
We went the dungeons and a blond man and some other people were there.
"Beast?!" said Sora, looking as though he'd seen a ghost. He went on to removing the cloth covering the man's mouth as Roxas helped the others.
"HE TOOK BELLE!" the blonde man was really angry that it made dust caught between the bricks fall out. As soon as they were all untied, we followed the blonde to the ballroom, one of the places we didn't look. Once inside, the giant torso of a skeleton was floating GEEZ! It was huge! It took almost the whole large ballroom for Juno's sake! It's left arm was missing but it's right carried an unconscious girl.
"BELLE!" the man roared so loud, that I was forced to cover my ears and close my eyes. As soon as the roar died down, I opened my eyes and saw that the blond man was no longer a man, but a brown beast. I took a stance but some invisible force hit me, it was so strong, I flew out the ballroom doors that closed as soon as I was out. The force blew me away along with the other people except Sora, Roxas and the beast. I tried setting the doors on fire but my magic didn't work. I heard crashing, roaring, clanging and banging. There was obviously a battle inside. I waited anxiously for the battle to finish, something was telling me things won't go all right. Finally, the noise died down and I felt the magic protecting the doors vanished and we rushed in…
Sora, Roxas and the blonde man, whose clothes were torn were huddled around something.I went closer. A girl wearing some kind of maid's uniform was bleeding. Sora tried to heal her but to no avail, so he began crying too, Roxas was comforting him. This scene was all too familiar…
-/\-
"Grandma!" a little boy was crying as he knelt on the side of a bed where an old lady was lying, obviously in bad shape. The boy's mother was hugging him with tears in her eyes too.
"There, there honey. I won't be gone forever" the old lady patted her grandson's head. The boy was smart and he knew his granny would never come back.
"But Grandma, they said you were gonna die!" he cried more
"Yes, I am, honey. But don't worry, someday, long from now, you will too and we'll meet in a place called heaven. Come here and give grandma one last hug." The boy climbed the bed and hugged his granny. She smiled at the tiny boy and closed her eyes. Her body went limp and she stopped breathing…
"Grandma…? Grandma?" the boy's tears were starting to flow again…
-/\-
"Belle…" the blond man said.
"Hey…" the woman said.
"Looks like I'll be leaving soon" she said
"No… you won't… I'll find a way to-" the woman put a finger to the man's lips
"You don't have to." She laughed and coughed a bit of blood
"Remember that I love you and we'll see each other again" she said and the man started crying, his mask of false bravery falling off. She placed a tender hand on his cheek, which soon fell and went limp. Just then, the castle started shaking violently.
"We've gotta get out of here!" I said. Sora wiped away his tears and Roxas stood up and placed a hand on the man's shoulder. He didn't react at all.
"You should go" said a chubby man
"But what about-" Sora started but a tall skinny man interrupted him
"No, we are staying here, with our master"
"We'll always follow our master, even to his grave. Now you should go dears." said an small plump woman. Sora tried to talked again but Roxas stopped him.
"Their minds are made up. Let's go" Sora wouldn't so he carried him bridal style and I led the way to the Gummi ship.
-+-
Once we were on the Gummi ship, we watched as the castle started to crumble and the forests surrounding it fade away. Sora fell to his knees and started crying. Roxas embraced him tightly as he shook and sobbed. I couldn't say anything, I didn't mind. I would need someone like Roxas if I was in Sora's place right now. I was the only one looking at the windows now… I clutched my staff and started crying silent tears of my own. They say that someday, all dreams will end.
This was the end of this dream… a wonderful dream that we couldn't save…