CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I headed back into the forest towards the dwarves' house. I would resort to knocking them senseless if it means they would finally stop accusing me of being a thief. That angry dwarf's harsh attitude was contagious.

"Hallie." a voice said. I turned around as Aqua approached me.

"Aqua, hi." I said.

We paused when we heard sniffling. We cast our eyes to the dwarves standing around a glass coffin. We approached them as they wept next to the coffin.

"What happened here?" Aqua said.

One of the dwarves, the only one wearing glasses, turned to us. "Poor Snow White..." He whimpered.

"What?!" I said. Aqua and I approached the coffin. We peeked inside and gasped at the sight of Snow White laying inside the coffin. "No... Snow White... Is she... dead?"

"She was just as sweet as could be." the glasses-wearing dwarf said.

"She sang us purty songs..." another dwarf said. The other men reminisced sadly.

"And made us smile..."

"At bedtime, she told us wonderful stories..."

"About falling in love, an' the Prince she'd met."

"An' when we went to work, she gave us all a kiss..."

"She was so full of kindness. Why, she made better folk of all of us."

"From what you've said, she must have been very loved." Aqua said, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"How could this have happened to her?" I said.

"The wicked Queen was horribly jealous of our dear Snow White's beauty. So she used her evil magic to change into an old hag, and then she gave Snow White a poisoned apple." the first dwarf said.

I gasped. An apple? As in, the red, scrumptious-looking apple Ventus returned to the old lady, the bloodthirsty Queen in disguise, just moments before? It was poisoned? Ventus and I helped a woman commit murder?!

"An' by the time we got here... Well, it was just too late." another dwarf said. "We found the princess as still as can be... Nothing we could do would wake her."

"Isn't there some way we can help her?" Aqua said.

"Well, not unless somebody craves the bastle- uh, braves the castle."

The angry dwarf stood and scowled. "All you fools can stay here doin' nothin'. But I'm not afeard a goin', not even to that witch's lair!"

"You'll never make it! The castle's supposed to be guarded by magic, an' crawling with monsters."

"Hallie and I will go." Aqua said.

"You will?" one of the dwarves said.

"Yes. Leave this to us." I said. "We'll save Snow White, promise."

"Well, all right, my dear. We'd be much obliged." the glasses-wearing dwarf said.


Aqua and I headed out of the forest, through the grassy plains, and to the bridge leading to the castle. When we arrived in the courtyard, we saw a man standing by a well. He wore a white long-sleeved shirt, a blue tunic cinched with a belt, blue pants, and brown boots. A red cape hung over his shoulders and a blue cap rested on his head.

"Is something wrong?" Aqua said as we approached the man.

"This castle... it's different somehow." the man said. "And I can't find the princess or hear her beautiful voice. Was it all a dream?"

"Princess? You must mean Snow White." I said.

"Oh yes, we met once. It was a song that drew us together... Has something happened to the princess?"

Aqua bowed her head. "The wicked Queen tricked her into eating a poisoned apple."

The man gasped. "I must go to her! Where is she?"

"In the woods, guarded by seven kind dwarves."

"Well, I wouldn't say kind, exactly..." I said.

"I will find her. Perhaps there is a way I can help." the man said. He ran out of the courtyard.

Aqua and I focused back on our mission. The direct entrance into the castle was locked, so we found an entrance into its underground tunnels. Fighting off Unversed on the way, we reached the Queen's chambers. What caught our attention was a giant mirror surrounded by an arc of tablets with animals carved on them. We approached the mirror and stared at our reflections. Purple lightning ignited in the mirror and darkened the glass. A white mask appeared and smiled at us. We jumped back, and the mirror filled with blinding light. We opened our eyes and looked around the area. Instead of the Queen's chambers, we stood in a swirling void of purple and black. The background glowed with purple flames.

"Are we... inside the mirror?" Aqua said.

The white mask appeared, and Aqua and I summoned our Keyblades. The mask dissolved into the ground and two rows of masks appeared and laughed in unison.

"This thing is creepy times ten." I mumbled.

Masks from both sides spat balls of fire at us. Aqua and I gasped and jumped out of the way. We ran down the never-ending path as fireballs blew up behind us. Finally, the masks disappeared, leaving just the one. We charged and attacked it. The mask swayed side to side in a way that made my head dizzy. The mask dove into the ground once again, creating more copies of itself and surrounding us in a circle, spewing fireballs at us.

"Hold still so I can hit you!" I cried in frustration. We identified the real mask and attacked it.

There was a flash of light, and Aqua and I returned to the Queen's chambers.

"The Queen is gone, my service done." the mask in the mirror said. "Adieu, O victorious ones."

The mask disappeared, and the mirror returned to normal Aqua approached the mirror, placed her hand on the glass, and sighed.

"Snow White!" I said. "We gotta go check on her!"

"Right." Aqua nodded.


We returned to the dwarves' house. They and the man surrounded Snow White, who continued to rest. The glass cover had been removed. The man approached Snow White and knelt at her side while the dwarves wept. He leaned over and softly kissed her lips. He bowed her head in despair.

"Come on, Snow..." I whispered.

Aqua gasped. "Princess!"

Snow White's eyes fluttered open. She rubbed her eyes and sat up. Her dwarf friends all smiled. The man stood up and swept Snow White into his arms bridal-style while the dwarves danced and celebrated.

"That's so sweet." Aqua said, smiling dreamily. She laid her hands over her heart. "It's just like a miracle."

Snow White kissed the top of each of the dwarves' heads before she was carried away by her Prince Charming.

"True love. It's stronger than the deepest darkness." I said, clutching my crown necklace. I brought my voice to a low whisper. "Sora... I'll make it back to you... someday."