Raise your hand if you hate any form of math class!

(hands slowly rise into the air)

Alright, we're good. Anyway, here's the last chapter of Beast's Castle. Not quite sure why I finished it the way I did, but it's there now.

Sora: "Trust me, Darth. Everybody probably saw it coming."

…yeah.

Sora: "DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else."

!

Chapter 84: The Lancer's Comeback

Xaldin paced back and forth calmly across the path of his prisoners, his arms folded behind his back. He had relocated to the ballroom, and now stood on the landing over the door that ringed the entire room.

Belle and the four captured servants never stopped glaring at him. Chip was straining against his dark chains, even though he was floating about six inches above the ground. Xaldin grabbed a handful of his straw-colored hair, and pulled him up to where his now terrified face was level with his.

"Stop struggling, teacup. You're not going anywhere."

Mrs. Potts looked like he was about to tear him apart just for touching her son.

"And you may as well save your breath, old woman." Xaldin added. He walked over to her (leaving Chip now floating a tad higher than before) and pulled her bonnet down over her eyes. "The chains binding you all will stay until I desire them gone."

The ballroom doors creaked open below them. When Xaldin heard the familiar voices floating up to him, he smiled.

"It's time to start the party."

!

"Would either of them actually be in here?" Sora asked.

"We've checked everywhere else, Sora." Kairi reminded him. "This is all we have left."

Beast went inside first out of the three of them. He had removed the shreds of his suit, and had put on a long red cape that had been in his room. He lifted his shaggy head, and sniffed the air for a second. Then, his eyes widened. "Belle?"

He ran into the ballroom, and stopped near its center. Sora and Kairi ran in after him.

"Well Beast, you finally found me." came a voice from the landing behind them over the door. They twisted around and saw the incredibly smug Xaldin. "I was starting to grow impatient."

Beast growled, and his eyes settled on Belle and the servants bound in chains behind him. His growl became a roar. "Let them GO!"

"With pleasure." He answered. "But you should probably choose your words with greater care, next time."

Xaldin raised his hand, and the far glass doors that led out to a large balcony flew open with a gust of wind. The wind was almost enough to knock Sora and Kairi off their feet. The glass doors cracked from the force of it.

Xaldin moved his hand forward, and his five prisoners floated out of the door. He chuckled to himself, and dropped them over the edge of the balcony.

"BELLE!" Beast shouted in terror.

"I've got it!" Kairi twisted around, and ran full break toward the doors, leaping over the edge of the balcony after them.

Sora began to follow her, when the doors slammed shut, shaking huge shards of broken glass loose from their panes. Three grey and violet six-foot long lances speared the ground directly in front of him, cracking the smooth tile.

Xaldin leapt from the railing of the landing. He used the air currents in the room to soar across the room, and land easily on the floor on the other side of the lances. "Beware the winds of despair."(1)

He summoned another three lances, and called the others back to him. He held three of the weapons in his hands, while the others hovered near him in the air. He stood totally still, with the wind around him tossing his hair about, and causing his coat to billow around him.

Then, without warning, the three lances hovering around him shot directly at Sora and Beast (who was now standing right next to him). Sora threw himself to the side of the blades, successfully avoiding them. Beast moved in the other direction.

Xaldin made a sweeping gesture with his arm, and the three lances suddenly swung at Beast, sending him flying across the ballroom.

Sora leapt at Xaldin as he did this, with Oblivion held high. He brought it down on the Nobody's head, only for the strike to be blocked by two lances held in his hand. His free hand shot out, and he almost impaled Sora with the other lance.

The Keybearer dropped low to the ground, and struck upward at the lance, sending it skewing far off-target. Xaldin stabbed forward with the other two lances, and Sora had to throw himself backwards several feet to avoid them.

The Beast charged from the other side of the Nobody, clutching one of his other three lances in his hand. At the last moment, Xaldin spun around, and swiped the weapon from his hand. Now holding four lances, he stabbed at Beast.

He was able to move far enough out of the way of the attack to avoid a fatal blow, but was slashed in the shoulder by the four weapons. He let out a howl of pain and clutched his shoulder, as blood splattered to the tiled floor.

Behind him, the other two lances appeared. Both shot at him point first, intent on running through his back.

Sora seemed to come out of nowhere, leaping over Xaldin and his lances, and smacking the two floating ones away with a wide slash of the Keyblade. He landed next to Beast and performed a quick Cure spell for his shoulder.

Xaldin called all six lances back to him, smiling. "This is simply too fun."

!

Kairi shot straight down over the balcony. Far, far below her she could make out the shapes of the rapidly falling Belle, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and Chip.

The Keybearer increased her speed, aiming directly for them. She was about level with them in a few seconds, and they were about half-way down the mountain that Adam's Castle stood on.

She was briefly able to make eye contact with Belle, and then conjured a platform of Light for her to land on, just beneath her. When she came to a stop on the Light, Kairi shot down a bit farther, and grabbed Chip around his waist.

She kept shooting down, and summoned a Light platform like she had with Belle to catch Lumiere and Cogsworth. To her horror, Mrs. Potts looked as if she were about to bash herself against the mountain-face. And at the speed that she was going, that wouldn't end well.

Kairi moved over to her (while still holding the woman's son beneath her arm), and gripped the dark chains bound around her wrists, trying to stabilize her in midair. But she instinctively jerked her hand away, when she realized that the chains burned.

Mrs. Potts fell a bit further down, and Kairi (though already expanding a large amount of energy maintaining the others) conjured up another Light platform beneath her.

Trying to maintain her concentration, she gently lowered all of them down to the ground. They were so high up that it took nearly five minutes to do it safely. About two feet above the ground in the forest, Kairi dispersed the platforms on which Belle and the servants lay.

She set Chip down against a tree, and tried to remove the chains wrapping around his head to cover his mouth. Unfortunately, these chains burned her, too. She let out a hiss of pain, and summoned Destiny's Light to her other hand.

Chip's eyes bulged, and Kairi couldn't help but laugh just a little. "Don't worry, Chip. Just hold still."

She gently touched the tip of the blade to the chains on his ankles. But to her continued surprise, the blade shot backwards as if the Darkness of those chains was repelling it.

Kairi dismissed the blade, and gazed at the chains for a moment, perplexed. Then, an idea came to her. She raised both hands slightly, and enveloped them in soft glowing Light. Her eyes began to glow with that same light.

Slowly, carefully, she placed her hands on the chains around his head. This time, they didn't burn her skin, and dark smoke seeped up from the chains between her fingers. She tightened her grip, and the chains melted away completely, dissolving into black smoke.

Chip coughed a few times, as if the dark chains had left a bad taste in his mouth. Then he smiled at Kairi, "Thanks!"

She smiled back, but looked a bit creepy with her eyes still glowing silver. "No problem." She pulled away the chains around his wrist and ankles, before moving on to the rest of them.

In a few minutes, they were all back on their feet, and free of the dark chains Xaldin and the Horned King had bound them in.

"Mademoiselle," Lumiere said, kissing her hand repeatedly, "Thank you! We are now forever in your debt."

"Uh, yes. Anytime." She replied, slightly embarrassed. There was a loud crashing noise coming from the general direction of the castle. And they were a few miles below it, so if it was that loud, it wasn't a good sign.

"Okay, listen closely." She said to those assembled. "You guys have to stay away from the fighting at all costs. Try and find some of the others if you can, but just let us handle things."

Without waiting for a response, she shot up into the sky, back toward the castle.

!

The crash that Kairi had heard was the sound of the ballroom doors being bashed open. Xaldin had tossed Beast through the doors with enough force to knock them open, and send him flying into the main hall.

He bounced once, twice, three times, and skidded to a stop.

Xaldin rushed through the ballroom doors, intent on delivering a killing blow while he was still down. But Sora was right behind him, sprinting at his back with Keyblade poised to strike.

When Xaldin was about half-way to Beast, Sora leapt, and aimed his blade at his back. But the Silhouette twisted about, and blocked the strike with two lances. Using the other four that were floating around him, he stabbed up at Sora.

The Keybearer was just barely able to keep away from the sharp blades, and land on Xaldin's other side, where the winded Beast was just getting to his feet.

All six of Xaldin's lances shot at them with enough force to pierce their bodies completely if they had struck home. Beast had grabbed Sora roughly by his arm, and yanked them both backwards, avoiding the very tips of the lances by a matter of centimeters.

Still holding Sora by the arm, Beast swung him around, gathering force. He released him after the third spin directly at Xaldin, who had let his guard down. Sora smashed into him, slashing horizontally across his chest as he made impact.

Xaldin flew backwards, and Sora landed directly in front of him. He slashed upward, hitting him beneath the chin, and knocking him onto his back.

He raised his blade to deliver a final blow, but he was shot backwards by a powerful blast of wind. It was so strong, that he was blown off his feet towards the ceiling. His back collided with it with a thud, and he came crashing down. The Keyblade fell from his grasp, and he began to fade into unconsciousness.

Luckily for him, he landed in Beast's arms. He set him down carefully, and charged at Xaldin on all fours. He called his lances back to him, and took hold of one of them with both hands.

Beast grabbed hold of it when he reached him, and snarled at Xaldin past it.

"Whether or not you can actually defeat me, Beast," Xaldin muttered, looking at him with a slightly manic gleam in his eye. "know that you will always be a beast. And no magic in the worlds will ever change it."

He'd finally pushed it a bit too far. Beast let out the loudest, most ferocious roar ever heard, and ripped the lance free of Xaldin's grip. Using it like a club, he smashed it into the side of Xaldin's head, sending him flying into one of the hall's pillars.

But amazingly, Xaldin got back to his feet, smirking. "It seems I've touched a nerve."

"He's not the beast here, Xaldin." The slightly dazed Sora got back to his feet. He rubbed the sizable lump on his head, and summoned Oblivion back to him. "You are."

Xaldin chuckled as he brandished all his lances. "Well, you're right about one thing."

He launched one lance at Sora. The Keybearer sidestepped it almost casually, and began to run toward the Nobody. Another lance shot at him, and he jumped over it. For one almost comical instant, he seemed to run across the weapon at Xaldin.

The lancer fired his third weapon, starting to look a little worried. Sora rolled under it, and swiped up at the lance as he passed. It went up into the air, and Beast came out of nowhere, grabbing he center of the weapon, and running at Xaldin with it. Sora fell into step beside him.

Xaldin shot the fourth lance at Beast, who smacked it aside with the lance he had snatched out of the air. Another lance flew just past Sora's head (taking off the very tip of one of his hair spikes).

With only one lance left, Xaldin took careful aim in between Beast's eyes, and fired.

Unfortunately for him, Sora intervened. He pointed his blade at the speeding lance, and shouted, "Blizzaga!"

Icy wind blasted from the tip of the blade, immediately freezing the water in the air around it. The icy chunk shot at the lance, and practically exploded against it, shattering into tiny shards on impact. But it still threw it far enough off course to miss Beast entirely.

Sora sliced the now weaponless Xaldin across the leg, while Beast smacked the side of the stolen lance into his face. Sora delivered an upward slash into the Silhouette's chin, sending him high into the air.

"Adam!"

Beast growled, and stood behind Sora, holding one end of his cape around the both of them. "Get OUT!" He shouted at the airbourne Xaldin.

He let go of the cape, and raised his head. He opened his mouth, roared. Silvery light shot from his toothy mouth, and exploded around them, scarring the pillars, the floor, and Xaldin, who had just landed on all fours on the ground in front of them. The energy from the Beast's roar threw him spinning backwards.

Sora rushed toward Xaldin, holding Oblivion in one hand. Rather than striking Xaldin directly, he buried the head of the Keyblade into the ground not one inch from his head (removing one of his dreadlocks). Pure energy exploded from that spot, tossing Xaldin back with a smoldering coat.

Beast came right after him, leaping into the air, and then smashing both claws into the ground. The resulting shockwave threw him back still farther, and cracked the pillar nearest them.

Sora and Beast repeated this process of smashing the ground with explosive energy four more times, until finally Xaldin was knocked back into the ballroom.

The two ran into the room after him. Sora was the first one to stop, just a few feet away from him. Beast stopped with his back to him. He seemed to dwarf the young Keybearer, who then shouted, "Give me strength!"

He placed one large, fur-covered arm on his relatively scrawny shoulder. They nodded to each other over their shoulders.

Then, they raised their faces to the sky, and roared. It shook the massive chandelier, rattles the glass panes in the windows, and cracked tiles. The earth itself seemed to shake. Xaldin was thrown to the ceiling with such force that he left an imprint.

He fell over fifty feet to the ground, and was still.

"We did it!" Sora said, panting.

"So you may think." came a voice that was horribly familiar by now.

The Horned King appeared by Xaldin's inert form in a burst of flames. He looked slightly bruised, as if he had recently taken a beating.

Almost pitifully, Xaldin reached up with one arm, and clutched at the end of the sorcerer's crimson robe.

The Horned King looked down at the dying Nobody without an ounce of pity in his dark 'eyes.' He knelt down, and did something that seemed even to Beast and Sora to be unnaturally cruel.

He plunged his hand into Xaldin's chest. A large plume of black smoke emerged, and Xaldin was completely still. Slowly, the Horned King pulled out the dead stem of the enchanted rose. Xaldin faded away all at once as it was pulled from him.

The Horned King held the stem in his flat palm for a moment. It was enveloped in a reddish smoke, and seemed to sink into his skin.

"What are you doing!" Beast shouted. The curse should have been newly lifted.

"Changing the rules of the game." He replied. "I do believe that I'll be your new target now, Beast."

Wordlessly, Beast charged at the creature, only for him to vanish at the last moment.

"But not today!" Came his voice. And everything was finally still.

Beast let out a weak howl of anguish, and sank to his knees. He bashed his fist into the ground a few times, and was totally still.

Sora had hardly ever seen a more pathetic sight. He walked toward him, and placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. Beast made a small grunt that might have been appreciative. It was hard to tell.

"We'll find him, Adam."

He thought for a moment that he wouldn't reply, but then, "I'm sure you will... Just... make it fast, could you?"

Sora smiled, and patted his shoulder.

Behind him, there was the sound of soft, tentative footsteps. They both turned, and saw their entire party approaching them from across the damaged ballroom. Belle was at their head, and Beast immediately ran to her.

He took her hands, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, thanks to Kairi." She answered with a smile.

"Sora? What happened?" Mickey asked quietly.

"We beat Xaldin, but I think the Horned King took the curse into him. He got away."

Mickey looked sympathetically at Beast in much the same way that Sora had. "I promise, Adam, we'll find him."

"Thank you." He turned his attention back to Belle. "But, Belle-"

She put a finger to his lips. "How many times do I have to say this? This doesn't change anything."

A tiny smile came to Beast's face. And strangely, for that moment, he looked more like Prince Adam.

A light came to Belle's face, and she let go of him for a moment. She took Mrs. Potts by the hand, and whispered something into her ear that nobody else could make out. The older woman suddenly grinned.

"You are a clever girl, dearie." She patted her face, and walked over to the piano still sitting at the other end of the room. She flexed her fingers, and began to play.

The tune was slow, and sweet, and Sora thought for just a moment that he recognized it from somewhere. But, looking around, he knew for sure that Belle and Adam knew it. He was beaming at her.

Nehrut and Bariss apparently knew it, as well. The telepath nudged her a little bit, and whispered something. She blushed, and shook her head. But, after a little prompting, she sang the first verse to the song. Sora was right, he had recognized it. He chuckled, and offered his hand to Kairi as Bariss began.

"Tale as old as time,

True as it can be,

Barely even friends,

Then somebody bends,

Unexpectedly."

Belle smiled at Adam (for indeed, that was who he was now) and led him toward the center of the dance floor. The two slowly began their dance, as Nehrut began the next verse:

"Just a little change,

Small to say the least,

Both a little scared,

Neither one prepared,

Beauty and the Beast."

Lumiere nudged Cogsworth in a brotherly manner, as Sora and Kairi walked onto the dance floor together to join Adam and Belle. Both Nehrut and Bariss sang the next verse.

"Ever just the same,

Ever a surprise,

Ever as before,

Never just as sure,

As the sun will rise."

Now Riku and Yuffie were dancing as well. Nehrut smiled at Bariss. She leaned toward him and whispered, "If you ever make me sing again, I'll kill you."

Nehrut had enough time to chuckle at her before the next verse came.

"Tale as old as time,

Tune as old as song,

Bittersweet and strange,

Finding you can change,

Learning you were wrong."

They alternated lines for the rest of the song.

Nobody but Mickey noticed, but the world's Keyhole had appeared below the magnificent chandelier. He summoned Kingdom Crown, and closed the opening as quickly and subtly as possible, hoping not to ruin the moment. But if anything, it only aided the ambiance. What looked like glowing, golden dust drifted down from the chandelier, and spread across the room, making it glow.

"Certain as the sun,

Rising in the east,

Tale as old as time,

Song as old as rhyme,

Beauty and the Beast."

With the end of the song coming, the music softened, as well as their voices. They smiled at the dancing couples.

"Tale as old as time,"

"Song as old as rhyme,

"Beauty and the Beast."

!

Aww….. Well, my sappy impulses got the better of me. And this is the best song in any animated movie.

1) I later learned that the actual quote from the boss battle was, 'You'll wear the face of despair.' … Annunciate, Xaldin!

Please review!