Chapter 13: The Dungeon and the Undercroft

Sora had to carefully push the wardrobe out of the way without waking her. It took a few moments for him to carefully figure out a strategy, as when he tried to just shove her to the other side like he did originally, she whacked him back hard. With patience, the wardrobe was moved.

She disliked the fact she was moved, though she dealt with it. Sighing, the Wardrobe complained, "And I was just stating to get comfortable… May I help you?" She didn't get why exactly she had to be moved right at this moment, though there was only so much a wardrobe like herself could do at this time.

Sora raised a brow at this. It took a moment to process how to answer her question. "Huh? What? Oh, right— Belle needs us to go to the dungeon." He explained to her quickly.

The Wardrobe's eyes widened when Sora mentioned Belle. "Goodness! You're here to help my friends? Well, why didn't you just say so?" she asked, her mood completely flipping. Sora didn't exactly know how to answer the question. He was mostly at a loss for words about what the heck had just happened.

"I'm sorry I startled you," the Wardrobe continued to chat. "Oh, I used to be human, you know—until the enchantress cast her spell. I was turned into a wardrobe when the prince was turned into a beast."

Penelope didn't exactly know why she was the only one who didn't seem to be surprised by this news as she continued to listen to the conversation and keep an eye on her surroundings.

Donald and Goofy were the most surprised, though Donald emphasized the part about the prince being turned into the Beast while Goofy emphasized the opposite. Perhaps Penelope's surprise had been suppressed by the times she had come to the castle and what knowledge she had been able to pick up on during her trips.

She didn't want to be insensitive and ruin the experience, so she didn't say anything. She quietly continued to listen from the sidelines.

The wardrobe reaffirmed the point she made about the Beast, noting the surprise of the Knight and the Mage. "That's right. Although his behavior was far from princely at the time."

"What's this… about a spell?" Sora asked.

The Wardrobe narrowed her brow at this to add theatrics. "Well… it was a cold winter night…" She began the story. Sora, Donald and Goofy leaned in to listen to the story, only for the Wardrobe to stop. Penelope wondered if this was some kind of troll move by an enchanted piece of furniture considering the disappointment that washed across her teammates. "That's enough for now. You can hear the rest when you've rescued the others. It'll give you something to look forward to."

Donald sighed, looking down at the ground. The Wardrobe ushered them to move forward. "Hurry now, the dungeon is damp and chilly. Certainly no place for a clock!"

"A clock?" Goofy asked in reply. Penelope found this bit of information familiar. She had recalled seeing some of the servants before at one point. However, she didn't want to interrupt, so she didn't vocalize this tidbit, so she decided to wait on it.

"You'll find out soon enough." The Wardrobe answered vaguely. Now was as good of a time as any to finally get going despite the blockage in the road that had just taken away some progress for a bit.

The way to the dungeon wasn't too far ahead through the door. It was just down the hall and past a large stone door. Penelope paused when she sensed something off about it. Although the door was clearly locked, she sensed an immense amount of darkness from it. It looked like two wingless gargoyle creatures were carved into the door. The feeling that came from it felt oddly familiar, like she knew what would happen if they proceeded.

Sora frowned upon noticing Penelope staring at the door with a puzzled expression. "Is everything okay Penelope? You look worried about something." he asked, readying his Keyblade to unlock the door.

"Something feels… off about this door. I can't exactly place it. I'm picking up an oppressive darkness from it." she answered, fixating on the door and trying to figure out what was wrong. Was the door a strange mimic? Was it possessed? Cursed? She didn't know.

"Still, we need to rescue the servants. I think they're locked behind this door if we're getting the directions right."

"No, we are in the right spot. The dungeon is past here. I've been in this area a few times." Penelope answered, crossing her arms and tapping her foot. "There might be a dangerous foe. Perhaps I should use Valor Form?"

Sora shook his head. "You always get hurt when you use it. I don't want you to harm yourself activating it." He quickly advised. Penelope furrowed her brow at this and was about to object. Donald, who was growing a little impatient, decided to check the door out.

"Donald, wait!" The guardian proceeded to call after him, only for the eyes on the door to flash. Donald began to back up from the door when a pair of heartless had awakened. Statues came to life and were revealed to be heartless. Penelope wasn't too surprised by this. However, this opportunity gave her an idea.

"Sora, let's sync up!" Penelope suggested. As Sora was hitting the door, he briefly looked back at her, looking very confused and forgetting what she was talking about.

"I think it's a little early to be using our limit attack, Penelope. I don't even know what it is or if we can do it yet?" Sora called as he directed his focus onto other heartless. Penelope shook her head, eying Sora's movements as he attacked and getting the timing down to move in unison. Since they were basically in a mini boss fight, now wasn't the time to repeat lectures.

"Remember the thing I mentioned right before we left the Land of Dragons? Y'know—the sync dance combo thing Maria wanted me to pass down? The thing that will be helpful for stringing combos and unleashing strong attacks?" she asked, getting mildly frustrated.

"Sort of?" Sora asked back, trying to think about it. His mind was currently focused on other things, like dealing with the boss. Penelope briefly smacked her face with her hand and paused for a second, only to refocus.

Under her breath as she was finishing an air combo against a few bat-like heartless, Penelope muttered something, wondering if things she said stuck with this group. Sometimes she wondered if anything she said really mattered or not in the long scheme of things.

When enough damage was taken off the door, a possessor heartless emerged from it. Penelope recognized it. The possessors were annoying, and yet, she was surprised that they weren't as common as of now. She could've sworn she had seen more of them during the past year.

Sora proceeded to target it, and Penelope did as well, emphasizing syncing up her attacks with Sora's and moving in rhythm with him essentially. She had a feeling it was going to be a bit more complicated than she would've liked to start working on figuring out how to perform what Maria had showed her with Sora, so reading his attacks and picking up on his movements would help her figure something out.

Sora, Donald and Goofy had no idea what the Guardian was doing. She was helping Sora deal more damage and take the heartless that was possessing the door out quicker, though she didn't typically mimic and emphasize lining up her attacks with Sora like she was now. It was like she was trying to implicate herself as a guide or tutorial for Sora so he could learn the moves.

Penelope also didn't recall possessor heartless being this annoying or difficult to take out. It was probably because the thing kept going into the door when it wasn't taken out fast enough. Sora was the one who eventually ended up taking the possessor out. When the heartless guardians crumbled, however, the possessor wasn't entirely vanquished. The quartet couldn't stop it when it floated by and phased through the wall.

It wasn't a threat now, but it could be later. The main concern was the prisoners. Donald glanced over at the door as the group was taking a quick breather after that miniboss fight.

"You think that the dungeon's past this door?" He asked.

Penelope nodded, crossing her arms. "It should be. I think we're going the right way if my memory is serving us correctly."

"C'mon then, we gotta set those servants free!" Goofy insisted, not wanting to waste any more time. Sora agreed, feeling ready to move on.

When they went through the door, they just saw a chest and a bunch of old antiques sitting on crates in the darkness. There was a teapot and teacup, a small candelabra, and an old clock. Sora seemed disappointed. "There's nobody here?" He asked, his blue eyes wide.

Donald was equally confused, looking concerned. "You mean there's nobody to rescue?"

Penelope blinked, crossing her arms and leaning her back up against the door. She stared at the antiques, waiting for something to happen. She was surprised that the boys hadn't learned to expect the unexpected by now—especially since they already had to deal with a talking wardrobe.

As Sora was amidst in thought, wondering what to do and if they really were at a dead end, an unknown voice spoke from in front of them. They had quite a heavy French-sounding accent. "Did someone say 'rescue'?" They asked, only to be shushed by another, meeker sounding voice.

"Keep quiet. It might be THEM." The other voice said quickly. The boys looked confused as they were glancing around, trying to figure out where the voices were coming from.

A grin was slowly cracking on Penelope's face as she sighed and shook her head. It was their first time in Beast's Castle. She knew this. Something about seeing their reaction for the first time was priceless, especially as a third, unknown feminine voice chimed in.

"Oh, they look like nice boys to me. That girl in the back seems familiar, even if they're not." They said, continuing to observe the unknown faces.

Goofy, who was still trying to figure out what was going on, tried to speak out to the voices. They had to be in the room somewhere. "We are nice. We're your friends."

Sora nodded, chiming in and hoping it would help. Still, the servants did not show their faces. Penelope was expecting this.

Penelope face palmed, proceeding to speak up this time. "Goofy, you can't just befriend scared unknown people like that—especially when they're hiding and suspicious. Come on."

Donald pondered briefly for a moment until he realized what they should have said in the first place. With a quack, he spoke, "Belle sent us to find you." This finally got the servants to come out of hiding, but. Well, they weren't what the boys expected. Especially not when the clock opened their eyes and began moving. The rest of the antiques followed in suit, gently hopping off the crates.

The boys were impressed, kneeling down to their level. Sora did the typical group introduction, starting with himself, then Donald, and Goofy. He looked back to Penelope to introduce her, only for Donald to suddenly grab the clock. This startled the servants and made them jump backward and caused Goofy and Sora to stumble.

Donald had ONE job, and he acted too rashly. Typical Donald Duck behavior.

The clock stammered out in defiance as Penelope was judgmentally eyeing Donald from her place at the door. "…Don't touch! I-I am self-winding, sir!" He exclaimed, as Goofy came over, and for whatever brilliant reason, the duck began to shake the clock.

Penelope put her hands to her temples. "Donald! Knock that off! Why are you manhandling the poor servants like that?!" she asked, trying to figure out how to stop him.

Sora, whose brain cells were still working, still understood to be gentle. Relieved, he said, "I'm glad you're okay" to the candelabra. The candelabra smiled and hopped up to the chair, looking at the group.

"It is we who are overjoyed to see you!" They exclaimed. Penelope glanced over, relieved, though Donald was still distracted by the clock and messing with his arms.

"Did someone put a spell on you guys, too?" Goofy asked.

"Yes, that's right," the clock said, snapping away from Donald. "You've heard! It was the enchantress."

The candelabra crossed their arms, thinking back to the time. "It seems so long ago…" they explained in remorse. The one who gave them the rundown of the story was the teapot and the clock. It was a cold winter's night when they were turned, after an old woman came to Beast's Castle to ask for shelter. However, the master, in his selfishness, turned her away. The master was a spoiled, selfish sort of person in his past, and despite the woman insisting to not be deceived by appearances, he still turned her away. When the enchantress revealed her true form, she turned the master into a reflection of his cold heart and punished the servants as well, turning them into antiques.

It was a tale as old as time to them, especially on account of how long they had been stuck in these forms. It didn't explain why they were trapped though.

As the boys discussed with the servants as to what to do and how to help, Penelope looked around to see if there was a way through to get the servants out of here discreetly. Fortunately, the candelabra was the one who opened the way for them.

She sighed. "It's crazy how the Beast just flipped a switch despite everything that happened in Hollow Bastion. You'd think he'd know better than to act so cruelly."

"He could have turned into a heartless," the clock pointed out as he was helping lead the group down the hall along with the other servants.

Penelope shook her head. "He'd appear a lot different if he were a Heartless. We've all dealt with enough of those, especially around here. There's probably something else going on…" she mused, eying the walls of the stony dungeon around them.

However, the group was quickly brought to a halt. They couldn't just leave this portion of the castle easily per the servants. They'd need to use the power of light to relight the lanterns and remove the darkness from them. However, the clock, soon introduced to them as Cogsworth, had to hold the latch for them as they quickly lit up the lanterns. Mrs. Potts was the teapot, the teacup Chip was her son, and the candelabra was Lumiere.

Penelope sighed as she aided Sora with quickly getting the lanterns lit up. It seemed convoluted for them to have to wait for Mrs. Potts and Lumiere to help them light the lanterns while Cogsworth held down the switch. Donald easily lifted Lumiere up, so she didn't know why he or Goofy couldn't just lift them to make the process go faster. Especially as it would help relieve the strain on Cogsworth regarding opening the secret door.

She should have known better than to question this, however. This universe was unfortunately convoluted. She shouldn't have been surprised that the castle was going to be gimmicky in regard to passing through secret areas.

Still, the group was able to quickly get out once that puzzle was said and done, though the threat of Heartless remained. The worst thing was the statues suddenly jumping out at them and attacking them. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were more than capable of handling them, especially with Sora mowing them down in his Valor Form.

However, they also needed to find Beast promptly. They had to figure out what was going on, whether Beast liked it or not. It clearly had a toll on Belle and the servants after all.

XxXxX

(Beast's Castle- ?)

In a different wing of the castle, the Beast stood in a ruined room. A mysterious man in a black cloak spoke from beside him as he fixated on the enchanted rose, which was framed by the darkness of the night sky behind it.

"It's time you dealt with Belle," the man said. "She's scheming to take everything you have. This castle, your precious rose. And then—your life. Trust no one. Feed your anger. Only your anger will keep you strong." He paced around the room as his spoke.

Beast shook his head sadly, glancing back to the man through his peripherals as he looked down at the rose. "I've had enough of strength. There's only one thing I want..." he began to stay, only for the man in black to interrupt him.

"What? To love, and to be loved in return? Who could ever love a beast?"

Beast roared at the mysterious man in response, his purple cape whipping around him as he glared at the man in fury. This was around when Sora, Donald, and Goofy, along with Penelope, crept into the room. They were in the west wing.

Penelope recognized the voice that was speaking to Beast, although she was uncertain of their face. "See? She has accomplices." He said, motioning toward the four.

One thing that Penelope recalled from her many visits to Beast's Castle with Riku was that there was a certain Organization XIII member fixated on Belle and Beast. The King frequented this area as well to keep watch. Penelope could've sworn that she faintly picked up on Mickey nearby, if he were here, but now wasn't the time to worry about that. Although she didn't know why the organization member was fascinated by Belle and Beast, she wondered if he was contributing to his growing trust issues and how his character was dialing back to before.

And it seemed that way based on what he was saying. The man edged back, setting up a glowing wall right in front of the rose. He was preparing for the team to fight the Beast, much to Penelope's dismay. Beast HAD to remember what happened in Hollow Bastion, right? Unless this organization member was gaslighting him into believing none of that had happened, she was fairly certain that Beast wouldn't forget that so soon.

She watched as Sora tried to be gentle and amicable with the Beast, smiling as he greeted him with "Hey, Prince." That didn't go well. The Beast was still in a stir, and his roar shook the room, startling the servants and the boys. Penelope flinched at the noise as the Beast was sent in a rage, clawing at Donald while Cogsworth was asking for Beast to calm down. Penelope tried to remain back in a support role while Sora and Cogsworth handled trying to calm Beast down.

The Organization XIII member's words clearly had a toll on Beast, as the master of the castle was in a confused stir once he calmed down and processed what happened. Although Cogsworth stuttered an absurd amount while trying to figure out how to phrase his wording—mainly as to not enrage the Beast again—Donald told it to him straight. Beast put his servants in the dungeon, and he did not remember doing that.

He looked at Cogsworth and the group in disbelief. Penelope edged closer to Sora as he began asking questions, looking concerned. "Who was that guy you were talking to? The one in black?"

Beast was trying to figure out the name, before it quickly came back to him. "Xaldin… that's his name. He came from the darkness… He… used my anger to control me. He took all my sorrow, my sadness, my pain—and turned it all into rage."

Yep. That seemed about right from what Penelope was deducing. Especially as Beast seemed quite pissed (understandably so), and rather shaken that Xaldin had used this against him. The name Xaldin rung bells in Penelope's head, although she wasn't entirely sure at the moment if she had seen him. Perhaps she did with Roxas on a few occasions before.

"There was nothing I could do… I could no longer see the truth." Beast continued to explain.

Penelope crossed her arms, speaking rather bluntly. "Well damn, that's some Organization XIII patented gaslighting and manipulation right there. Especially if he got into your head and filtered your emotions and thoughts that bad."

"That must be why you threw all of your friends down there into the dungeon." Goofy added, trying to consider a reason why. "You wanted to make sure that you didn't hurt 'em, right?"

Beast wasn't entirely sure, trying to find any reason if he could. "Was that it? Was it to protect them?" He asked.

Well, Goofy sure thought so. "Sure. We know you're good inside."

Penelope raised an eyebrow at Goofy jumping the gun again. "Goofy, he was clearly manipulated to the point of memory suppression? I mean, it's good you're giving him the benefit of the doubt, but shouldn't we…"

Cogsworth cut her off, trying to go back to Goofy's point of reassuring Beast's intentions rather than trying to overthink things. The clock glanced back at her for a moment as he interrupted, reiterating what Goofy said with, "He's right, Master. We've all seen how kind you can be. After all, Belle can see the goodness in your heart, but I'm afraid you've yet to…"

Beast pondered before remembering Belle. Xaldin was trying to turn Beast against her. He didn't know if Xaldin could have gone to hurt Belle, or worse, he could have hurt her while he was thrown deep into his rage. "Belle! I've mistreated her… I've mistreated her and been so selfish."

Sora disagreed, based on what he remembered Belle saying. "She didn't say anything about that."

Beast sighed, shaking his head. His words rang some red flags, if not deep concerns to Penelope, while he mused to himself. "She'd never tell anyone of my cruelty… She's too good."

Penelope furrowed her brow, staring at Beast and then the others in alarm. Cogsworth spoke quietly, looking back at them. "You see, I'm afraid he judges himself far too harshly."

"Why don't you just talk to her?" Sora asked, catching onto Penelope's worried look. As Beast objected, Sora stopped him. "No excuses! C'mon, we'll go with you!"

Penelope firmly nodded. "Um. Yeah. No guilt-tripping yourself over something that wasn't your fault. Xaldin was the one who got into your head and used you, right? 'Specially making you think that Belle was out to get you and would send people to hurt you? We saw how much you cared about Belle and wanted to protect her a year ago at Hollow Bastion. You better have not weakened your convictions and harmed her behind closed doors." she said, puffing up her chest.

Sora agreed with her, smiling. "Yeah! What she said. Don't be so harsh on yourself. We'll get this settled as soon as we get you to Belle."

From there, Beast joined the party. This WAS his Castle after all, and it did make sense for him to do so in accordance with the world and the routine. The team traversed back through the West Wing of the castle at a brisk pace. Beast's powerful attacks made it easy to rip through the Heartless invading the castle as if they were almost nothing.

Penelope pondered on how to better work on her syncing with Sora as she saw him use limit attacks with Beast and the other party members while in combat. They did line up in some rhythm and unison, and Penelope recalled that Donald and Goofy also used limit attacks in the past. Getting to the Entrance Hall was an ease despite the waves of Heartless they were confronted with.

"Hey Sora, I had a thought about the sync dance technique that Maria has been tutoring me on. I know I gave a brief exposition dump on it already before we got here. And I could use a cue when it's a good time to use it." Penelope began to suggest, as the group was taking a moment to breathe.

Sora looked back at her, stretching his arms and resting his hands behind his head. "Maybe. It would make it easier to figure out what you're doing, too. I'm still not sure why it's a 'dance' though. It looks more like a limit attack or battle combo to me."

Penelope pondered, crossing her arms and tapping her foot. Her eyes gazed up to the tall ceiling of the entrance hall as she pondered on what to say. Sora shook his head. "We could probably talk about it later once we meet back up with Belle. Does that sound okay to you?"

"Sure. It gives me more time to process on a gameplan." Penelope replied with a quick nod. She knew that this probably wouldn't be something to work with on Sora exclusively. There was probably a way to apply this to the whole team as well.

All the team could hope for right now was that something didn't happen to Belle. Especially if Xaldin was trying to manipulate Beast against her.

There seemed to be something larger at play here, whether the team knew it or not.

-o-o-o-o-

Arika 2023 (Guest): Hello again! For your first question about Axel and Roxas. With Roxas, from what I understand, he left Organization XIII as he did because he wasn't getting any answers. This was also coming off the fight with Xion and her subsequently fading away and giving him one last request before realizing Roxas couldn't take the rest of the Organization on his own. It was a mix of things that caused Roxas to leave Axel and Organization XIII behind. As for your second question, I'd say it would probably be a PG-13 film. Penelope does tend to have quite a mouth compared to the rest of the characters.

I've been in and out of travel for a bit besides generally being busy with work the past few weeks. Hopefully I'll get back into the flow of writing again. Since I'm starting up working on Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix again, I'm realizing just how long this may take me to work on. Then again, I had a similar struggle when writing Re: Kingdom Hearts, so I'll get there eventually.

I'll see you all in the next chapter!

Ciao!