Chapter 36
The Cursed Prince
The next world that the Gummi Ship arrived at appeared to have a prominent Gothic castle, separated from a provincial town by a dark forest. Sora, Donald and Goofy smiled on seeing this world, as it was one that they knew quite well.
Kairi noticed this. "So, who's the master of this house?" she asked.
"The Beast," Sora answered.
This confused Riku and Kairi, but they felt that he was sure this 'Beast' was someone they would be familiar with. Then, Kairi remembered something. "Was he the hairy animal guy who covered our escape from Hollow Bastion?" she asked, remembering the noble monster who fended off the Heartless to allow her, Sora, Donald, and Goofy to flee the flood of darkness.
"That's him," Sora answered. Mickey selected the DISEMBARK command. Everyone climbed out of their chairs and walked over to the circle of light.
Riku quickly remembered something as well. "Hold on… When you first got there, he was there demanding that I return someone named 'Belle', one of the Princesses, I presume, to him. Oh, man. He is not going to be happy to see me…"
They beamed down and appeared in a parlor with a lit fireplace. They stepped out through an already-open door and into the vast entrance hall. Riku, Kairi and Mickey stared in wonder at the architecture, which had an elegant but haunting feel.
"So, where do you think we'll find him?" Mickey asked.
"Well, if they're doing their own thing, Beast would probably be in his room in the West Wing and Belle would be in the East Wing," Goofy explained. "Together, they could be in the ballroom or the dining room, though I don't know where the dining room is... Hmm…"
"We could just ask them," Donald interjected, pointing toward the stairs.
"Who?" Kairi asked.
"Them," Donald repeated. His companions squinted as they looked in the direction he was pointing. Two small white items hopped from one stair to the next. As they drew closer, the party could identify them as a teapot and a teacup.
"What in the world?" Riku wondered, utterly bemused at the sight.
"They were human," Sora explained. "An enchantress cursed the prince for his selfishness and turned him into the Beast while turning the servants into appliances and ornaments. There's a wardrobe with a face and a talking clock. Those two over there are Mrs. Potts and her son Chip."
Riku and Kairi simply looked at each other, simultaneously mouthing Wow. Sora smiled to himself as he saw their reaction. He remembered his utter surprise when he first met the cursed servants; he was only able to wrap his head around it once he learned how they came to be that way.
He walked over to the teapot and teacup. "Hey, there," he greeted.
Mrs. Potts and Chip turned to see where the familiar voice came from. "Hi, Sora!" Chip greeted back cheerfully.
"My, it's nice to see you, Sora," Mrs. Potts said. Sora crouched when he reached the two. Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Riku, and Kairi joined him seconds later. "Oh, and who are these dears?" she asked.
"Well, you know Donald and Goofy. And these are our friends, Riku, Kairi, and K—Mickey," Sora introduced them, gesturing to each one as he said their names.
"Gosh, it's a pleasure to meet you," Mickey said politely, holding his hand out. He pulled it back awkwardly when he remembered that they lacked the hands with which to shake.
Chip giggled at this. "It's nice to meet you, too," he said.
"How are things here?" Goofy asked.
"Quite well, thank you. The master's behavior is certainly turning for the better, and he and Belle are growing closer by the day," Mrs. Potts explained.
"Hey, that's great! Where can we find them?" Sora asked.
"Well, the master is showing Belle around the library," Mrs. Potts explained. "He decided to give it to her just yesterday."
"Oh, that's so romantic," Kairi commented. Donald and Goofy chuckled.
"Yes, it certainly is," Mrs. Potts agreed. "How about we take you there? I'm sure that they would be delighted to see you!"
Sora grinned. "That would be great!" he told them. Riku still looked somewhat nervous.
"Follow us, then!" Chip ordered. The sentient pieces of chinaware turned and hopped up the stairs. Sora grinned back at his friends and the party began following their guides.
The six visitors followed their guides through a door into a vast room. They all marveled at the size and contents, as the room was lined wall-to-wall with tall and vast shelves filled with books. There were even spiraling staircases all over the place leading up to another level to access even more books. To the left, there was a desk with a row of books lined up between bookends and a cup of ink with a writing quill. To the right, there was a globe set on a stand where it could be rotated to see the whole representation of the World. Mickey found this to be curious, as, while he had a similar globe in his castle, the layout of the worlds did not fit the globe format. Perhaps the globes remained from before the worlds became divided. Against the back wall, the endless bookcases were separated by two tall, thin windows with green curtains as well as a fireplace mantel that was nearly half the height of the room.
Two figures stood in between the two chairs in front of the fireplace. One was a slender brunette woman with hazel eyes. Her hair was tied into a low ponytail with a blue ribbon. She wore a medium-length sleeveless blue dress with a white long-sleeved button-up shirt underneath, a white apron on her waist, and brown ballet flats. The other one was a hulking creature whose body was covered in brown fur. He had the head shape and horns of a buffalo, the arms and body of a bear, the jaws and mane of a lion, legs and tail of a wolf, and the tusks of a wild boar. The only part of him that looked at all human-like were his blue eyes. He wore dark gray breeches, a white undershirt, and a purple cape with a golden circular clasp. He stood upright rather than hunched over as he had before, giving the appearance of being more refined than animalistic.
Belle stood next to the Beast, the bookworm holding a book open so that both she and the cursed prince could read. She read the words aloud, slowly, but at certain intervals he joined in, as if she were helping him learn, or relearn. A mantel clock and a candelabra with a golden body and three wax candles stood on a nearby staircase, watching them bond over their reading. The candelabra looked up for a moment and grinned with surprise, the lip of the center candle holder which made up his lower lip curling upward around the sides.
"Look, mon ami, what a splendid sight," the candelabra, Lumière, whispered, nudging the clock, Cogsworth, with his "arm".
"I can see it, Lumière. I can see the petals of romance blossoming," Cogsworth retorted, annoyed. The candelabra pointed his candle "hand" in the direction that he was referring to, so Cogsworth looked in that direction. He smiled when he saw who had arrived. "Oh, this is a wondrous turn of events!"
Beast and Belle heard them talking and turned around to see what they were talking about. They each broke into a smile when they recognized Sora, Donald and Goofy. "Sora, Donald, Goofy, it's so good to see you," Belle greeted them warmly. Beast nodded in agreement. However, his expression turned sour when he saw a familiar head of silver hair.
"You!" he snarled. Angrily, he charged at Riku and swiped at him, forcing him and his friends to scatter. "Have you come to take everything away from me again? You and the Heartless are not welcome here!"
"Beast, wait!" Sora tried to reason with him, but the Beast would not hear reason. Not wanting any collateral damage in the library, they ran out into the hallway, where the Beast pursued them. He nearly took Riku's head off with a swipe, but Riku teleported out of reach, landing right next to Kairi.
"So, what happened between you two?" Kairi asked.
Riku scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Well, when he tried to fight me to try to rescue Belle, I sort of… stabbed him," he admitted.
"I guess he never found out that you're not a bad guy anymore," Mickey said. He gasped when he saw Beast barreling toward them, and he and Kairi dove out of the way, though Riku was not fast enough. Beast grabbed him by the neck and pinned him against the wall.
"I'm sorry," Riku croaked. But Beast did not seem to hear him; he only began to tighten his grip. However, his hold on him broke when he felt a blunt force hit him in the back.
Beast whirled around and glared at Sora, who was holding his Keyblade in a battle-ready stance, though his face indicated that he did not want to fight. "What are you doing? He hurt you too!" Beast reminded him.
"He's my friend! And he's not like that anymore!" Sora countered.
Beast roared. Sora sighed and rolled his eyes. He knew that once he got worked up, it was not easy to calm him down. He nodded toward Donald and Goofy.
Goofy kicked his shield under Beast's feet, causing him to stumble and fall to the ground. Donald cast Graviga, holding Beast to the floor. Beast struggled in an attempt to bring himself to his feet, but Mickey and Kairi cast their own Gravity spells.
Riku drank a Potion and stood back up. Cogsworth ran up until he was standing face-to-face with Beast. "Master, please! Compose yourself," he pleaded, soothingly. Sora and Riku crouched in front of Beast, having dismissed their weapons and making sure their body language indicated that they had no desire to fight.
"Riku's on the right side now," Sora explained. "He saw the error of his ways and helped us stop the Heartless from flooding the worlds. He's been fighting his own inner darkness and now he's helping to protect the worlds. He's not an enemy anymore."
Beast finally relaxed on hearing his words. He looked at Riku suspiciously, as if wanting to make sure that what Sora had said was true. He saw the sincerity in Riku's eyes, and nodded himself. Donald, Mickey and Kairi lifted their Gravity spells so Beast could stand up.
"I'm… sorry. I should have heard you out. I have been trying to keep my temper in check," Beast said nervously.
"Well, your anger wasn't exactly unjustified," Riku said, shrugging. "I'm sorry I stabbed you."
"You what?" Belle asked, shocked.
Riku chuckled nervously. "He healed," he joked.
"Too soon," Sora whispered, his mind heading back to the events in the Kingdom of Corona.
Kairi walked up to greet Belle. "You must be Belle. I'm Kairi," she said.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm sorry we didn't get the chance to meet back at Hollow Bastion," Belle lamented. "But I'm glad you managed to get to safety before the darkness began to flood out."
Beast noticed Mickey and politely bowed before him. "It is an honor to meet again, your Majesty," he said respectfully.
"Gosh, there's no need for that. We're both royalty. And I'm the one visiting your castle. You can just call me Mickey," the mouse king held out his hand to shake.
"Huh?" Beast gasped in confusion, before standing up and shaking Mickey's hand. "Very well, Mickey."
"I mean, it wouldn't really be right if you called me 'your Majesty' and I just called you 'Beast', especially since I don't know your actual name," Mickey added.
Sora blinked, realizing that he never even considered finding out Beast's real name. He looked over to Belle, who simply shrugged in embarrassment.
Beast hesitated, struggling with his memories of his human persona, who one could say was more beastly than he was now. "Adam. My name is… Adam," he finally responded.
Mickey smiled. "Well, it is nice to meet once again, Prince Adam."
"So, Sora, how did your quarrel with Xaldin's Organization conduct?" Cogsworth asked, turning back to Sora.
"We beat the Organization and released the hearts they had gathered," Sora recounted. "Leon and the gang are investigating to see if there are still any remnants of their plans, but right now we're looking into something else."
"Oh? And what pray tell is that?" Mrs. Potts inquired. She, Chip and Lumière had joined the group in the conversation.
"Well, first off, Maleficent's back," Sora began. Beast and Belle flinched in surprise. "She's actually been back for several months, but for a while the Organization and the Nobodies were more of a priority. But now, she and several other villains have banded together, Maleficent's regained control of the Heartless, and they're up to some serious trouble now."
Beast paused for a moment, thinking of what he had just been told. Belle sighed and held her head in one hand, apparently having trouble taking in the fact that the witch who had taken her captive and allowed her heart to be removed from her body was alive once again.
"Actually, things have been quiet lately," Beast told Sora. "The Heartless have stopped coming here shortly after Xaldin was slain. There are no other monsters here."
Belle swooned, losing her footing and falling, but Kairi caught her. Kairi helped her to her feet, but immediately after began to feel a migraine. Her Keyblade materialized in her hand.
"What's the matter?" Goofy asked, noticing this.
"There's something… here… in the castle," Belle answered faintly. "A… strong darkness."
Everyone tensed up. Cogsworth screamed when he saw the eyes of a gargoyle statue turn yellow and the head shift. Six statues gained a life of their own and broke off of the floor on which they had been mounted. All six statues had a tall square pedestal for the lower half. The three Gargoyle Knights had the upper bodies of monsters on top of the pedestals. They each had a pair of wings growing out of their backs and square curled horns on their heads, and each one carried a sword. The three Gargoyle Warriors appeared to be wearing heavy armor, though it was all the same stone from which they were carved, and they each carried a double-bladed axe. Clouds of darkness shimmered around the bodies.
Out of the corner of his eye, Mickey saw a glint of metal. He turned to the right and saw a razor-sharp foe charging toward them in a flash.