Chapter 146

Sleeping Beauty

As the knight led the party through the castle town that served as the capital of the kingdom of Sasune, they noticed that guards were posted all over the place. They all seemed to be on high alert, prepared to intercept potential intruders. A few times, a guard stopped the group and questioned them, not willing to take their escort's presence at face value in case he was either a Saronian knight in disguise or bewitched by dark magic. They were put at ease when Aqua, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were identified, and so the party was allowed to proceed.

"Gawrsh. I guess we're famous here," Goofy remarked.

"And none of us have even been here before," Aqua added. "When I was on this world, I never went past the bridge."

"Well, you did save the princess and defeat Maleficent," Kairi noted.

"Well, this should make getting an audience with the king easier," Mickey said.

Their guide led them to the castle gates and spoke to the guards posted outside. One of them went inside to inform the royal family. After some time, he returned and beckoned them inside. The party was led through the halls and into the audience chamber.

The audience chamber was vast, large enough to hold hundreds of people. The walls were made with the same bricks that formed the rest of the castle, and there were stone support pillars along the front and back ends, leaving plenty of space open in the middle. The floor was brick-red and had a pattern of squares, and the same held true for the slightly-elevated platform where the thrones were situated save for the blue sideways hourglass design that was set in each square. Banners bordered the pair of cushioned bronze thrones, and several shields were mounted above the thrones. A spiral staircase could be seen to the right.

The large room would have been an impressive sight on an ordinary day, but it appeared to have sustained quite a bit of damage. Banners were sliced and burned. Two of the support pillars had large chunks blasted out of them; there were still some pebbles from the debris. One of the thrones had a post from the back broken off, which was nowhere to be seen. Several guards were stationed all around the chamber, with twelve surrounding the royal family at the throne.

The royals ceased their discussion as they noticed the party enter. King Stefan was a tall, slender man with green eyes and long black hair with a moustache and a pointed beard. He was dressed in a black and gold cloak with a coral-red collar and a long-sleeved undershirt of a similar color as well as a large golden crown, although the gold of his robe appeared to have become tarnished and there were some stitches, as if it had been damaged and repaired recently.

Queen Leah was a lovely woman with violet eyes and long golden blonde hair that was covered from behind with a veil. She wore a purple and magenta long-sleeved dress, a wine red cape, and a golden crown whose points splayed outward.

Their daughter, Princess Aurora, was the spitting image of her mother, minus a couple decades. The eighteen-year-old maiden was tall, slender, and very beautiful and mature-looking. Her wavy, golden blonde hair went down to her waist and was adorned with a golden tiara. She wore a pink ball gown with a petaled overskirt, a ruffled white petticoat, and long triangular sleeves, as well as matching pink shoes.

Next to Aurora was her husband, Prince Phillip. He was an athletic man in his mid-twenties with brown eyes and brown hair. He wore a sleeveless grayish-tan tunic over a black turtleneck shirt, dark brown pants, a red cape with a raised collar pinned to the front of his collar, and a red bycocket hat. A sword and a dagger were sheathed at his left hip.

Last was King Hubert, Phillip's father and King Stefan's closest friend. He was an older, obese man with brown eyes and grey hair, bald on top and with mutton chops and a small beard. He wore a red puffy-sleeved robe with a black shawl collar over a blue and yellow tunic with a brown stripe, a blue diamond-shaped necklace, and a blue crown with a gold circlet.

Once the party was in front of the royals, they all bowed. King Stefan nodded and bade them to rise. "Welcome, protectors of the worlds and the Light," he greeted. The five royals introduced themselves one after the other. "I will admit, we were surprised to hear of your arrival. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

Aqua stepped forward to answer. "Your majesty, we were out in the field a few miles away," she began, deciding not to address the anomaly with the Duat unless it became relevant, "when we came across a battle between your kingdom's soldiers and another's. We stopped the fighting and asked everyone why they were at war, but we couldn't get a clear answer. We were wondering if you would be able to tell us what's going on."

The smiles faded away from the royals' faces, and King Stefan sighed. "I wish I knew for certain as well," he admitted. "Our kingdoms, Sasune and Argass, had always maintained good relations with Saronia, and we considered Saronia's king, Gorn, to be a good friend. Then, only a few weeks ago, he sent his soldiers to invade a town at our border and more forces to strike here, in my own castle, in a plot to assassinate me and my family."

One of the bodyguards nodded grimly. "We were taken by surprise, and the demon that was sent with them caused a lot of damage, but we were able to vanquish them before any harm could come to the royal family," he said.

"Oh. So that's what happened here," Goofy noted, looking around at the signs of damage.

"The demon? Wait, like those things with the Heartless faces and the witch hats?" Sora realized. "What were they called?"

"Black Mages," Donald answered, pointing a finger up to interject.

"Right. We ran into some of those when we got involved. I don't think some of the Saronians were big fans of them."

"So you don't know why Saronia turned against you?" Mickey asked the king.

King Stefan shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

"One of the Saronian knights told us that their king said that your 'sins shall not be forgiven'," Mickey reported. "Do you know what that might mean?"

King Stefan and King Hubert blinked in surprise. "Sins? You've never done anything that would offend Gorn! Have you?" Hubert argued. Stefan shook his head.

"I can't imagine what would have earned Gorn's wrath," Queen Leah mused. "He always valued peace and the well-being of everyone, be they in his kingdom or out."

"So you don't have any idea?" Sora asked, dismay evident in his tone.

King Stefan shook his head. "Now, I apologize, but we must resume our strategy meeting."

Mickey nodded. "We understand. Thank you for the insight." He and the other bowed, then turned and started to leave, wondering what they should try next to find answers.

"Wait!" They stopped and turned around to see Aurora approaching them. "Since you're here, why don't I show you around the castle?" She turned to her parents. "Would that be alright?"

King Stefan nodded. "Yes, of course."

Aurora nodded in thanks, then turned back to the guests. "Well, shall we?" she said, beckoning them to follow her.

Sora smiled and nodded. As she turned to lead them, he felt himself blushing. Kairi lightly jabbed him with her elbow when she noticed this and he snapped back to his senses. He wondered what had come over him, remembering that he had not felt any sort of infatuation when they had met in Hollow Bastion. He mentally shrugged and followed Aurora along with his friends. One of the guards accompanied them as they made their way to a door on the side, walking even with the princess.

"Sora, Donald, Goofy, it truly is good to see you again," Aurora said when they were in the hallway, with the door closed behind them. "And it is wonderful to meet your friends." She regarded each unfamiliar face in turn. "You must be Aqua. Thank you for helping Phillip to escape Maleficent and reach me."

"I'm glad I could be of assistance," Aqua replied.

Aurora's gaze fell on the redhead, and she raised an eyebrow curiously. "I can sense a strong light within you… You must be Kairi! Oh, it's so nice to finally meet you."

Kairi smiled. "Likewise. I didn't get to be around when you and the others were together. I'm glad we get to meet now."

"Since I got back, I hoped that I would be able to show you and the other girls around here," Aurora said.

The princess led them around the castle, showing them the dining room and kitchen, then going upstairs and exploring the various rooms and halls of the castle: the bedrooms for the caretakers and guests; the room where seamstresses sew and repair clothes; the garden, the solarium, the library, the master bedroom, and, her own bedroom. As they toured the castle, they talked about life and recent events.

"This castle is gorgeous," Kairi said as they traversed the hallway to Aurora's bedroom.

"Thank you. I just wish that your visit was during better circumstances." The princess sighed. "I haven't had the chance to get to know King Gorn very well, but Father says he was always a good man. What could have changed him? Do you think Maleficent might have something to do with it?"

"It's possible," Sora replied. He stopped as he evaluated what she had said. "Wait. You know that Maleficent is alive?" He recalled that he had met Aurora after he had vanquished Maleficent, and he had not heard anything about the witch attacking this world. (In fact, considering how she was still holed up in the crumbling fortress in the vale away from Radiant Garden, along with her efforts to conquer a new castle as her base of operations, he had reason to assume that she had all but abandoned her former home world.)

"Yes, I do. My aunts warned us shortly after she was resurrected," Aurora answered.

"Your aunts?" Donald parroted, confused and curious.

"The three good fairies who raised me in the forest to keep me safe from Maleficent. Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather."

"Oh! We know them," Goofy said.

"Although, I actually knew before they came. I saw it happen."

The others looked at each other in bewilderment. "How? You weren't there, were you?" Sora asked.

Aurora hesitated for a moment. "It's rather hard to explain."

"Try us," Sora and Donald muttered in unison. Aurora giggled.

"Well, I've been having all sorts of strange dreams, although they seem to present themselves more like visions. I see different people in different places, and it feels like I'm there with them, but I'm just an observer. It started shortly after I woke up from the curse. At first, I only saw what was happening in the castle or in nearby towns. I thought they were just dreams, until I heard people discuss things that happened over the previous nights, which I had seen and heard in my dreams. Fauna said that it is a side effect of the sleeping curse: I can see events that are happening in other places and even other worlds in my dreams." As she spoke, she led the party into her bedroom.

"Gosh, I guess that would explain the spike in the Duat connecting to this world," Mickey surmised. "It's been drawn to you."

"Oh. Wait. The what?" Aurora asked.

"It's this spiritual river that flows through the worlds and connects hearts to the Realm of Sleep as they dream," Aqua explained. "That's actually what brought us here to begin with. You see, my friend, Ventus, his heart was damaged and he fell into a slumber that he still hasn't woken up from. So we're following the Duat to find a way to gain access to a power that will let us restore his heart and wake him up."

Aurora brought a hand to her mouth in surprise. "Oh. Poor thing. I wish I could do something to help. Hang on. Flora! Fauna! Merryweather!" Several seconds after her shout, three balls of light, one red, another green, and the third blue, floated in through the window. The lights swirled around the party before stopping, causing everyone to turn to face them. The lights expanded until they were almost blinding, then faded to reveal Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather standing before them.

"Why, hello there, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Aqua, King Mickey, Kairi," Flora greeted.

"It's good to see you again," Fauna said, curtsying.

"Is something the matter?" Merryweather asked, wondering why Aurora shouted for them.

The party repeated what they told Aurora.

"Oh, poor thing," Fauna lamented.

"Say, I remember Ventus," Merryweather said. "He was the bush-haired boy who got Rose's heart back from Maleficent!"

Everyone looked confused for one reason or another. "Wasn't that Sora?" Aurora asked.

Flora shook her head. "No, dear. This was when you were under the cursed sleep. I… I don't think that ever came up, so that's why you didn't know. No matter. Merryweather's right. We know who you're talking about."

"Sorry, but… Rose?" Sora interrupted, perplexed about what Merryweather had called the princess.

"Oh, of course. Briar Rose was the name they gave me when raising me away from the castle and anywhere Maleficent could find me," Aurora explained. "I will admit, it took me quite a while to get used to being called 'Aurora'. I still find it a bit strange."

"Oh. Got it," Sora replied.

"So, you're following the River of Dreams. I suppose this power you are referring to is the Power of Waking," Flora surmised. "We would be happy to help you find a clue to unlock it." Her sisters nodded in agreement.

"We'll do everything we can," Merryweather promised. "Of course, we're currently preoccupied keeping up our protections around the castle. We're putting a lot of energy in keeping those Black Mages out of the castle town."

"Then we should do what we can to help," Donald said. "I might be able to help bolster your wards."

"Thank you," Aqua said with a quick bow.

"Alright, then. Let me know if you need anything," Aurora said.