Chapter 20: Identity (doubleux3 . youtube . com/watch?v=YxQVaYnJQuA --This song's translation is so fitting~!!)

Memo: This is where it gets really good. :) God love ya, Ayu, your music inspired everything. Thank you for reading~!!! :D

*~*~*

Sora wasn't surprised at all to see the Beast in the main hallway when he walked through the front door. He was a little stunned, however, to see him in a nice suit and looking as handsome as he possibly could've looked being a monster.

"Hey there!" Sora exclaimed when they reached him. He didn't even turn around.

"No Heartless and no Nobodies!" Donald added, looking around.

"I think they're close, though..." Goofy said.

"Better watch out!" Sora told the Beast. Nexus rolled her eyes, and the Beast sighed in frustration.

"What are you so mad about?" Donald asked.

"Why are you here?" the Beast grunted.

"I'm beginning to wonder the same thing," Nexus muttered in reply. Sora nudged her, but she only rolled her eyes again.

"The Nobodies' world has to be out there somewhere," he instead said. "We're looking for a way in."

"Hmph."

Suddenly, appearing at the East Wing staircase, Belle started down toward the Beast, practically floating, dressed in a beautiful yellow ballgown. The Beast looked over his shoulder at the four.

"Tonight is," he explained, "very important."

And without another word, the Beast walked up the stairs to meet Belle. She took his arm, and together they walked into the ballroom.

"Uh, maybe we came at a bad time," Goofy said.

"Ya think?" Nexus snapped.

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Donald said, bolting up the stairs.

"Donald!" Sora shouted, and with no other choice he followed him into the ballroom. When they stopped, Belle and the Beast were looking deep into each other's eyes, and the castle servants were watching.

"Now then, Monsieur, Mademoiselle," Lumiere said, waving one of his candlestick arms. "Please, enjoy the evening."

Sora cleared his throat quietly, but the servants noticed anyway. Fortunately, they seemed happy to see them.

"And of course, our honored guests are welcome, too," Lumiere added.

"A welcome indeed."

Belle, startled, held the Beast close as everyone looked around. The Beast saw him first, up on the balcony. Sora, running farther in the center of the room, looked up as well and jumped.

"The Organization!" he shouted.

"You don't know when to quit," Xaldin said. Nexus sighed, running to Sora's side.

"Now that's a hypocritical statement if I ever heard one," she snapped.

"We'll show you!" Donald quacked angrily.

"Get out!" the Beast suddenly roared, pushing Belle away and running toward Xaldin. Belle glared angrily.

"Not tonight!" she cried. Xaldin ignored her, and when he snapped his fingers, Nobodies appeared.

"I've come to take something you hold very dear," he said. The Beast roared again.

"Not Belle," Nexus mouthed, looking at the beautiful young woman who was standing behind her, aghast.

"Yes. Let your anger grow..."

Ditching them, Xaldin left through a portal like the coward he was, leaving the others to fight the Nobodies.

"Beast!" Sora shouted, his keyblade appearing. "We have to get rid of these guys first!"

Nexus' PoV

The Nobodies were no match for us, as I figured. What I really wanted was to get to the big guy, Xaldin. He would be one more check-mark on my to-do list, and the sooner that was done, the sooner I could help Axel. Not that I really wanted to leave Sora and the others, but I knew they could handle it.

Anyway, while I was considering this, Sora said something to the Beast about Belle not being taken, and the dude roared and took off anyway. None of us could figure out why, so we followed him to his chambers, which were still a wreck from last time.

"What's wrong?" Belle asked when the Beast roared and slammed the floor. She tried to get closer to him. "Please, calm down!"

The Beast swung around to face her, looking incredibly angry.

"Calm down!?" he bellowed. "You just had to have a party, didn't you? Don't you see what's happened?"

"Hey," Sora snapped. "What's with you?"

"The rose..." he groaned, bowing his head. "My rose..."

"What, that? He took it?"

"But surely, you can find another rose..." Belle began hopefully.

"Silence! You don't know anything!" He started to swipe at her, but Sora blocked him, standing in front of Belle. Damn. Whatever the rose was, it was obviously vital.

"That's not fair, Beast," Sora cried. "Don't take it out on Belle. It's not like she stole it!"

"I'm sorry," Belle murmured.

"You don't have to apologize."

"But..."

Suddenly the Beast got quiet, and he looked away from us. I was beginning to wonder if he wasn't bipolar or something.

"Belle... Sora... I want you to leave the castle," he said. Well, damn! What are we supposed to say to that? Even Belle didn't say anything. "Look at me. Look. This is what I am. When you first got here, I tried to change." I assumed at that point he was talking about Belle, and he looked at his hands remorsefully. "But I was only fooling myself. I can't be any different. I'll always be a beast. So, I should live like a beast. With no one, alone." He paused. "Goodbye, Belle."

"You can't mean that..." Belle gasped, reaching out to him.

"I think his mind's all made up," Goofy said to us. Sora nodded.

"Yeah."

Belle, near tears, turned away and took a few hesitant steps toward the door.

Don't do it! I wanted to say. Don't listen to him. But something stopped me.

"Look, Belle," Sora said quickly, stopping her. "Leave this to us. If we can get the Beast's rose back, he'll calm down."

She nodded, looked back at the Beast one more time, then left the room with us. When we reached the small set of stairs leading to the main hall, Belle gave a little solemn wave to the servants and to us, and she left without a word.

"Poor child..." Mrs. Potts said, looking as forlorn as I felt.

"How could it have come to this?" Cogsworth sighed.

"And they were so looking forward to this evening..." Lumiere added.

"Now, now--no need to be so sad. Once the rose is back safely, this will all be over," Mrs. Potts told us.

"What's so special about one rose, anyway?" Sora asked.

"If the master can love and be loved in return, the spell will be broken," Cogsworth explained. "We'll all be human again."

"So?" I said, crossing my arms.

"But there is a time limit," Lumiere said. Ah. Well, that definitely complicates things. "He must find his true love before the last petal falls from that rose."

"Ah, but that is not all... Over time, caring for that rose has become a cherished part of the master's daily life," Cogsworth added.

"It's as though all his hopes and dreams are tied to that single bloom..." Mrs. Potts said. I glanced at her son, and he gave me a cute smile. I smiled back. I think he would be a really adorable human kid.

"Poor Beast!" Sora exclaimed, frowning. "Then we have to get it back."

"Please do!" Mrs. Potts cried, looking a little more hopeful.

"We can't without the Beast, though. If it's that important to him, he's got to do it himself."

I nodded in agreement, as did the other two stooges.

"Then let's go back to talk to him," I suggested, and so we did. He was still standing in the same position as we left him. Though he had sounded really mad earlier, he looked beyond melancholy now, staring at the ground. He didn't even bother to look at us when we came in.

"Hey, Beast," Sora said in a loud, forceful tone.

"Leave me alone," the Beast said, sighing.

"C'mon, you need to hear this," Sora insisted. "You used to be fearless. You would have given your life to save Belle. Don't you know what that meant to us? You gave us all courage." This was new. Since when was Sora so...good with words? "Hmph, maybe you should have kept some for yourself. I mean, are you really gonna throw your happiness away? The rose is your only hope, isn't it? Well, it's the only hope for Cogsworth and the others, too. So, don't throw away your last chance. Remember what it was like before Belle lived here?"

If nothing else Sora had said had worked, that last statement did. I watched the Beast's ugly face soften at the memory. We had him.

"See?" Sora insisted, his voice lightening up. "You can't give up. Not now."

"I know one thing," the Beast suddenly growled.

"What?"

He turned to us at last, and I could tell by his eyes that his spirits were back.

"This castle belongs to me. Xaldin will never be welcome here."

We nodded, and the Beast stood up to join us.

"Let's get Belle back," Sora said. The Beast nodded. I wish I had known his real name. Random, sorry.

As we walked out of the West Wing, I turned to Sora and murmured, "Wow, where did THAT speech come from?"

"From the heart," he replied, winking. I lowered my eyelids, unamused.

"Ha ha."

*~*~*

When the five reached the main hallway, heading toward Belle's chambers, they somehow sensed that they weren't alone, and Sora happened to look up just as Xaldin spoke.

"So, Beast...you came after all," he said in a growly voice. He was holding the Beast's rose, confirming their suspicions. "You had me worried. I was afraid you'd given up for good."

"What do you guys really want?" Sora shouted, his nose scrunching, a sure sign he was pissed.

"...Kingdom Hearts." Xaldin threw back his hood, revealing long, black, dreaded hair and surprisingly striking blue eyes. "When Kingdom Hearts is ours, we can exist fully and completely. So you see, Beast--that's why we need your Heartless AND your Nobody!"

With a wave of his gloved hand, Xaldin summoned more Nobodies as a distraction.

"And there he goes again," Nexus growled through clenched teeth as she watched Xaldin walk right out the front door. She felt something worse than anger well up deep inside her, and, knowing it was Sune, she mouthed, "Soon."

Even though they came in great numbers, the Nobodies were an easy match, and soon the five had followed Xaldin outside into the courtyard. There was no trace of him.

What if he left? Sora thought, looking all around him. Then what do we do?

"Huh?" Goofy said, looking up at the manor. He could see Belle leaning on the balcony's edge, sitting outside of her room. She saw him when he waved, and she gasped, then smiled brightly at them. It was too bad she might never see them again. But she decided this was her chance to talk about it, and so she began to head back inside.

"Is that..."

Blocking her way in was nothing other than the rose. Her hopes rising, Belle picked it up and called down to her friends.

"Look! It's the rose!" she cried, holding it up for them all to see. Just as the Beast looked at her, she felt a glove come down over her mouth.

"Belle!" she heard the Beast shout, then suddenly her feet weren't touching the balcony anymore. This man, Xaldin, was jumping over the courtyard, nearly flying.

"Hurry!" Sora shouted from down below, leading the way to the bridge. The Beast quickly passed him and busted the door open with his shoulder, his large paws pounding against the cold stone as he ran to Xaldin and Belle.

"You!" the Beast roared, stopping near them. "Get out of my castle, now!"

"With pleasure, but I'd rather travel light..." Xaldin said, looking at the rose and Belle, who shrank back with fear. "What shall I leave behind? Belle? Or the rose?"

"Say both," Nexus mouthed, but the Beast didn't notice her.

"Belle!" he cried.

Just as he shouted that, Belle, catching Xaldin off-guard, elbowed the Organization member in the gut, causing him to let go of both her and the rose. She snatched it out of his arms and ran.

"Good one, Belle!" Sora cried, laughing as she ran past.

"I like you!" Nexus agreed, also laughing. It was true; Belle was definitely different from the other typical princesses.

When they had all turned back around, Xaldin had summoned six long lances and was surrounded by gusts of wind. He was no longer standing on the ground, but floating instead. He looked a lot more powerful than any of the other Organization members they had fought so far. Although...they hadn't really fought any that they remembered...except Nexus.

"Where's the fun in this?" he asked.

Nexus grinned, pulling out her gun.

"Are you kidding?" she said. "This is what I live for."

Nexus' PoV

I can't even explain how happy I was when Sora let Xaldin have that final smack in the face. I never did like him, even when he wasn't a Nobody. He and Elaeus just needed to die. And I had succeeded in making them! Hah!

"You..." he growled, looking right at me. I danced a little, twirling my gun.

"Yeeees?" I grinned at him. He was annoyed, I was happy, what was there to complain about?

"You have no right destroying us for being incomplete," he said, smirking, "when you are but a doll yourself!"

"Please," I sighed, frowning. "If you want to talk to her, just say so."

"I wouldn't mind it."

"Neither would she. Just give me a moment."

I whirled around to face Sora and the others, who looked completely lost and obviously had no idea who "she" was, which made me happy. All the more reason to instruct them.

"Guys, please," I begged them. "Please, don't question me when I say this: close your eyes, cover your ears, and please don't look at me, whatever you do."

"...?" Sora cocked his head, raising an eyebrow at me. I pouted, and he sighed.

"Okay," he said, doing exactly as I had told him, and the others followed suit, even the Beast and Belle.

Turning back to Xaldin, I closed my eyes for a moment.

"Yes," Sune said through me, her higher-pitched voice tickling my throat. "Dilan."

"Sune," Xaldin murmured. "It's been a while."

"It's your fault." I opened my eyes, and everything looked different to me. That always happened. It really is all a matter of perspective.

"I know."

"What did you want to tell me?" Sune asked, pouting more than frowning.

"Nothing except I pity you."

"Tch. Don't. You're worse off than me," she snapped. "Right, Nexus?"

"Yeah," I said, my own voice returning.

Then I tried to tell him something else, but suddenly my words caught in my throat, and for a moment I couldn't even breathe.

"What's the matter, Nexus? Cat got your tongue?" Xaldin said with a raspy laugh.

"Hardly," Sune said.

Oh no, I thought, still choking. She's trying to come back.

My muscles tensed up, not doing what I was wanting them to do. Somewhere inside me, Sune was lurking, and now she was trying to take over again. I knew the feeling, like my body was trying to turn itself inside-out.

My time's not up! I told her, my hand holding up my head.

"You should've never had time from the beginning," she pointed out.

"I..." For a moment, my voice returned, and I felt her prescense start to receed back into me. "I...am me."

But you always forget! she laughed. So am I.

"Damn..." I murmured, one of my knees buckling from the pressure. I had to stay calm, otherwise I'd be screaming and writhing on the ground in front of my not-yet-faded enemy. And that would not be the way to look.

But I knew when my other knee hit the ground that I wasn't going to stay concious for much longer.

"I really do pity you," Xaldin said. "At least I knew what I was!"

He started to laugh, and my vision fuzzed.

*~*~*

Sora already knew he was too curious for his own good; nobody at all needed to point that out to him. But this time he had a real reason to be curious: Nexus was just plain weird. Okay, that was blunt, but that was all he could think as he barely made out voices through his ears.

I want to look, he thought, pouting. What's the big deal, anyway? What's so strange that I can't see?

For a while he was pretty obedient, but after a minute or two, he was really starting to wonder.

Okay, fine. In three, they're open. One...two...three!

His eyes took a while to adjust, but when he finally could see again, Nexus didn't look any different, other than the fact that she was falling from her knees onto the ground, and Xaldin was finally fading away.

"Nexus!?" Sora shouted, running over to her. He caught her just before she hit the cold stone bridge. Her eyes were closed tight. She looked fine, except for a few scratches here and there from their battle with Xaldin.

Glancing over at the Beast, he saw that Belle was about to talk to him.

Maybe she'll come to in a minute, he thought, and gently putting her back on the ground, Sora rushed over to his other friends.

"Here," Belle said, holding out the rose. "It's yours again."

The Beast took it, but he still looked guilty.

"Belle..." he began.

"I know. You want me to leave the castle," she finished for him.

"What matters is..." The Beast hesitated, then continued, obviously sincere. "You weren't hurt by Xaldin... You're safe. And... I'm very grateful to you...for bringing the rose back to me. Thank you."

Belle smiled. "It's the least I could do. You've been good to me. And you didn't have to be."

That's not what I would've said if I were her, Sora thought with a smirk.

"Listen, Belle..." the Beast said, placing the rose on the ground.

"Yes?" Belle murmured, still smiling.

The Beast tried to say something, but it was obvious that he was being bashful and timid.

"Say it!" Sora insisted.

"Go on!" Lumiere agreed.

Shouts of encouragement came from the others, and finally the Beast sighed, giving in.

"Belle, I'd like you to stay..." he said at last. "With me... Please?"

To Sora's relief, Belle held out her hand, and the Beast understood, taking her hand and putting his other around her waist.

"I will," she replied.

"Maestro--music!" Lumiere said, and the two lovebirds started to dance.

"Hey, did you see the look on Belle's face when she grabbed that rose?" Sora asked, grinning as he watched them.

"Yep, she sure was havin' fun, all right," Goofy said, laughing.

"She is rather unique, isn't she?" Lumiere asked. Sora nodded, then jumped.

"Unique!" he mouthed, and he looked over at Nexus quickly. She hadn't moved.

"Sorry guys, we've gotta go!" Sora whispered to the servants. They smiled understandingly, nodding.

Without another word, Sora grabbed Donald and Goofy and dragged them over to where Nexus was.

"What happened to her?" Goofy asked.

"No idea, but she seems to be breathing fine," Sora replied, picking her up. She was surprisingly light.

"We should take her back, so she doesn't get sick," Donald suggested.

"Yeah."

Smirking, Sora looked down at Nexus' still face.

Guess this is payback for yesterday, huh? he thought, trying not to laugh. Oh well. It's the least I can do.