Chapter 37
Castle Invaders
Mickey blocked the sword strike from the Heartless that was dressed in silver and blue armor. A two-foot-long sword extended from each of its wrists, completely replacing its hands. The Zip Slasher swung its other bladed arm at Mickey, but Sora blocked that. Both Keyblade wielders pushed back, throwing the Heartless off-balance. Sora slashed at it and sent it across the hall.
The servants, being ordinary appliances, wisely fled back into the safety of the library. Belle followed them, with Kairi covering them and blocking a strike from a Gargoyle Knight. She stabbed at the chest and managed to make a crack that was an inch deep in the stone. Smirking, she stepped back and cast Blizzard right at its chest. Ice formed in the crack and expanded, creating a wider crack. She dodged a few strikes, though a few managed to connect. She retaliated by stabbing her Keyblade back into the statue's chest, taking advantage of the enlarged split to make the Keyblade push everything around it apart, blasting it to pieces.
A Gargoyle Warrior spun around, swinging its axe with it as it struck out at Goofy. The canine knight blocked its attack, however, and punched back with his shield. Several punches later, the stone broke apart and collapsed in a pile of rocks. A cloud of black smoke with a red mouth and white eyes floated up and dissipated.
Riku looked up at the vanishing cloud in confusion. Jiminy hopped out of Sora's pocket and jumped onto Riku's shoulder. "Possessors. Looks like they've mixed in with the enchantment on the castle and gained the power to take command of statues and effigies," the cricket explained. "Behind you!"
A Gargoyle Knight jumped into the air and dove at Riku, its wings helping it glide somehow and its sword pointed right at him. However, Riku struck the sword with his Keyblade, breaking the tip off and disrupting its aerial balance. It landed on the ground and the Possessor within it poked out, losing its hold on the statue.
"So if I just use the Keyblade's magic to make the Possessor release its hold…" Riku considered as he pointed his Keyblade at the statue. A white light shot from the weapon into the statue's chest, and the Possessor was launched out of it. As an effect from the whiplash of dark and light energy, the statue exploded into dust. Riku covered Jiminy with his hand to protect him from the debris.
Beast stood against two Gargoyle Warriors. The animated statues hefted their weapons, but Beast simply brought his hands against the sides of their heads, throwing them into each other and causing them to break into pieces. Donald jumped on Beast's back and vaulted off of him, much to the latter's annoyance, and leapt over the third Gargoyle Knight, then cast Fire at it from above. When he landed, he hit it over the head while it was recoiling from the blast, then cast Blizzard, freezing the wings. Mickey joined in and struck it right where the frozen wings met the body, shattering the wings and breaking the body to pieces, forcing the Possessor to flee.
The Zip Slasher returned, performing a lunging slash which Sora blocked. Before the Heartless could counter, Sora struck out at it. It hopped backward and delivered a spinning attack which knocked Sora back. In its brief pause after the attack, Riku teleported behind it and struck out. His attacks caused it to falter, and he followed his attack up with a Fire spell. However, the spell had absolutely no effect, and the Zip Slasher regained its footing and struck back at him.
Beast ran up and grabbed the Heartless from behind before it could hit Riku and lifted it above his head. He spun around and threw it to Mickey, who swatted it in the chest with his Keyblade, knocking it to the ground. It picked itself up and made efforts to block and counterattack strikes from Keyblade wielders on all sides. Eventually, it fell from the barrage of attacks and dissipated into black smoke, releasing a crystal-like heart.
After taking a moment to relax, in which Kairi cast Cure to heal any injuries, Donald and Goofy walked along the hall to check and make sure there were no other possessed statues in the area. They returned and reported that those were the only ones there. By then, Belle, Cogsworth, Lumière, Mrs. Potts, and Chip had finally come out of the library to rejoin those who had fought off the Heartless. Jiminy finished writing his dossier on the Zip Slasher and returned to Sora's pocket.
"Is everyone alright?" Mickey asked. Everyone nodded an affirmative.
Beast, however, was livid. "Heartless? In my castle?! I will show those creatures that they are NOT welcome here!" he shouted.
"So, I guess that if the mid-class ones are the starter pack, someone must have come here and brought them along," Riku surmised.
"It looks like it," Sora agreed.
"But where could they be?" Goofy wondered aloud. "This is a big castle. They could be anywhere."
"Gosh, then I guess we'll just have to split up," Mickey suggested. "Sora, Kairi, Belle, you three search the East Wing. Donald, Goofy, you and I will check the courtyard, and—"
"Riku's with me," Beast interjected in an affirming tone. Sora, Riku and Mickey looked at him in surprise. "We shall search the West Wing for the intruders."
After a brief silence, Cogsworth chimed in. "Very well, then. We shall wander the hidden tunnels. The Heartless should be unfamiliar with those crawlspaces," he said.
"You sure you'll be alright?" Belle asked.
"But of course. We ought to be beneath the notice of the invaders. If we find them, we will find the nearest group and let you know," Lumière assured her.
"Okay, then, fellas. Let's go!" Mickey directed. The groups each went their own way, with Sora and Mickey's trios heading down one path while Riku, Beast, and the servants went the other way. Sora and Mickey's groups diverged when they reached the stairwell at the entrance hall; Sora, Kairi and Belle went up the stairs to the opposite end while Mickey, Donald and Goofy went down the stairs and out to the door leading outside.
As they walked through the hall, Goofy realized something. "So, uh, your Majesty, how is it that you know the Beast… er, Prince Adam?"
Mickey stopped, realizing that he had not told of everything he had done during the last year. "Well, it was actually the last time you were here," he admitted. Donald and Goofy each raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You see, after you guys woke up from your year-long sleep, I took to watching over you, making sure you stayed safe. Whenever you got yourselves into a jam, I was ready to help you out. I didn't have to directly jump in very often. There was that time I saved you from the Nobodies in Twilight Town, but I was going to give you the Munny and the crystal orb anyway. The most I did aside from that and fighting in the Showdown at Hollow Bastion was when you were fighting Xaldin.
"His berserker rage proved to be too powerful even for you, and you guys barely held on. When he turned his lances into that dragon thing and hit you with the wind blast, you all were knocked into the side of the bridge, and Sora was knocked off. I grabbed him before he fell and threw him back up, but he was hurt pretty bad. You were all barely conscious. I fought Xaldin off and, in between hits, I gathered energy until I could heal you all to full health.
"After you guys beat Xaldin, I stuck around until after you were gone. Before I left, however, Adam stopped me. He saw me helping out during the fight, and wanted to know what I was doing there. So, I explained myself. I told him what I knew about him, how he helped you guys out at Hollow Bastion the year before. We developed a kind of respect for each other."
Donald and Goofy remained silent for a moment. All that time, the King had been watching over them, and he even saved their lives at least once. "Gawrsh, we had no idea," Goofy said. "Thanks, your Majesty." Donald smiled and nodded.
"Just, could you please not tell Sora or Riku about that?" Mickey requested. The duck and dog nodded.
They continued their search, scanning around the hall and searching each room. On one side of the hall there was the parlor in which they landed as well as a lavatory and a kitchen, while on the other side the three doors led into the dining room. There was not a soul in any of the rooms, though they did fight off a few Shadows and Soldiers. Bizarrely, they found a Shadow on the toilet, which they were relieved to find was not also an enchanted servant.
"Well, I guess we ought to check outside," Mickey decided. They walked through the large double doors, which had opened on their own accord for them. They paused for a moment before proceeding, wondering how far the castle's enchantment actually went.
They stepped out into a vast courtyard surrounded by high stone walls. On the far wall, Mickey, Donald and Goofy could see an enormous door which they knew would lead out to the bridge from which they could leave the premises of the castle. As they stepped out into the middle of the area, they took notice of gargoyle statues placed around the courtyard. Donald and Goofy were not sure if those statues had been there previously; the first time they had been in the courtyard, they ignored the scenery as they were in a hurry to stop Xaldin from fleeing with the Beast's rose and Belle, and afterward they were focused more on Beast and Belle sharing a dance.
They scanned the area for anything suspicious, but there was nobody in sight. While Mickey and Donald wondered where the intruders could be, Goofy turned around and looked up at the front face of the castle. "Huh?" he muttered when he saw a strange man dressed in colorful clothing dancing around on the balcony of Beast's room. Mickey looked up in the same direction as Goofy, but before he could register the sight, he heard Donald shriek in fright.
Mickey and Goofy turned their focus to what had drawn Donald's attention, Keyblade and shield respectively in hand, and they found themselves surrounded by animated Gargoyle statues.
Riku and Beast crept into the West Hall, which had a much brighter ambient feel than the rest of the castle, with the tan walls and dark red carpets. Riku noticed two rows of knight's armor in front of him and worried that the setups would be possessed by Heartless and come to life.
Beast saw his concern. "Don't be afraid of the armor. They wouldn't stay together if something tried to control them. And besides, they are Cogsworth's domain, rather than decorations," he assured Riku. This caused the young man to relax, though he continued to keep an eye out.
They continued down the hallway and turned right into the wide-open room. Farther along the left wall was a green door which led to the undercroft. To the right, there was a wide stairway flanked by two statues of muscular satyrs holding up green columns.
Riku and Beast stopped in front of the stairs, and Riku admired the statues. He looked over at Beast, his guilt of his previous behavior and actions rising up again. "Look, I'm sorry for what I did back at Hollow Bastion," he said solemnly. "I was trying to protect someone, too. But I let my arrogance and jealousy cloud my judgment and I hurt people, including my best friend… and you. I let my darkness consume me, and allowed a psychopath to possess my body. But Sora continued fighting to save me, and he eventually managed to free my body. Since then, I've been fighting my inner darkness, helping Sora from the shadows, but ashamed to let him see my face. I thought he would never forgive me for what I've done… I couldn't even forgive myself. But he did, and he, Kairi, and Mickey encouraged me to do the same."
Beast nodded. "I know how you felt," he replied. "As a boy, I was selfish and cold. When the enchantress trapped me in this form, I was ashamed of myself. I threw tantrums, but that settled nothing and gave me no satisfaction. I fell into self-loathing, hating myself for the way I had been and feeling that my new face truly did fit who I was. The condition that the enchantress placed to lift the curse tortured me the most. 'To love and be loved in return.' But who could ever learn to love a beast?"
He sighed. "Belle was the only light in the darkness. I acted monstrously to her, but she came to see… something within me that I was sure did not exist. She helped me believe that I could be something more than just a horrible, monstrous beast. And she gave me hope… that I could be human again."
Riku smiled, feeling a kindred spirit within the enchanted prince. "If it counts, I think that day won't be far off, Prince Adam," he assured the Beast.
"Thank you," Beast said back. He breathed in, then his eyes widened as he smelled something. He sniffed further and his eyes narrowed. "This way!" he told Riku before running up the stairs, turning left to run up another set of stairs, and into the West Wing corridor. Riku quickly followed him.
They ran through the corridor, blasting aside any possessed statues that tried to attack them, and entered the Beast's room. Riku looked around in surprise. The bedroom was a wreck; furniture was broken and split, wallpaper and sheets were torn and shredded, and books and debris were strewn all over the place. Riku saw a painting of a young prince's face, but there were enormous claw marks that ripped through the image; he surmised that the Beast had damaged it himself out of shame.
His attention was drawn to the window, where, mounted on a small table, he saw a glass jar containing a glowing rose that floated in midair. The base of the jar was covered in dull petals, which appeared to have lost their magic, and the rose only had a few petals left. As soon as he had taken that in, Riku noticed two flamboyantly-dressed men standing to either side of the rose. One wore a slim suit and a top hat while the other was dressed like a court jester.
"Well, what do we have here? The Magician and the High Priestess," Doctor Facilier said. "It is an honor to stand before the ruler of this domain."
"Who are you?" Riku asked sternly, giving the two intruders a fierce glare.
"And what are you doing in my castle?" Beast added, his voice filled with rage.
Kefka Palazzo laughed. "Now, now. Is that any way to treat your guests?" he teased.
"Maybe if you hadn't broken in and sent Heartless to attack us, we might be a tad bit more receptive," Riku snarked.
"I suppose so, but would you have accepted our company anyway?" Facilier countered.
Beast growled. Riku scowled. "Depends. Are you with Maleficent and Zeromast?" Riku interrogated.
Facilier shrugged. "I'm impressed. You know who our ally is. Then I suppose that you know what our goals are?"
Kefka clapped to distract him from divulging too much. "Eh, there's no need to concern him with that. They're lower than the dirt on the bottom of my boot. Or perhaps the dirt on the bottom of that dirt!" He let out a chortle, one of such distinction that Riku and Beast were both taken aback by the strangeness of it. He turned a sly glance to his left and grabbed the jar containing the enchanted rose. Beast let out a gasp in horror, which transformed into a snarl of rage. "But this is something. I could just suck its magic dry. Oh? Are you fond of it? Yuck! Oh, well. Might as well burn it. No point in keeping it around. It's not what we're looking for, anyway."
Facilier slipped the jar out of his hands and slid it back onto the table. "Now, now. No need for that," he scolded the clown. "Like you said, what we're looking for is not here, so let us conduct our business elsewhere. In the meantime, let us leave these two to our friends on the other side."
"No!" Beast roared, lunging at the two villains, but Doctor Facilier and Kefka vanished through a Corridor of Darkness. Several Heartless materialized around Beast and Riku. The Heartless resembled blue bats, but instead of feet they had red hooks hanging from their bodies.
"Tch," Riku grunted, summoning his Keyblade as he and Beast stood back-to-back against the Hook Bats.
"So, wait, you traded your freedom for your father's?" Kairi asked for clarification. Belle had just told her and Sora how she had come to live in the castle.
Belle nodded. "When Beast refused to let him go, I offered to take his place. He agreed. Though at first he left me in the tower, he changed his mind and brought me to a room in the East Wing." She chuckled. "I think Lumière convinced him to offer me more suitable accommodations."
"It can't have been easy," Kairi commented, amazed at the ordeal she had gone through.
Belle shook her head. "For a while, I was terrified. And I was miserable, since I had signed my life away to save my father. The Beast appeared cold and unforgiving. I didn't come out of my depression until Cogsworth, Lumière and the others invited me to dinner and put on a show to make me feel welcome. After that… I may have gotten a little confident, and a few days later I asked them to give me a tour of the castle. And later, in spite their warnings and the fact that the Beast had previously told me it was forbidden, I went into the West Wing."
"So he gave a bookworm an open-world experience of the castle but specifically said 'don't go in this one place' without explanation. Wise," Kairi joked.
"Specifically his room," Belle added.
"I see where this is going," Sora said. "You find the rose, he roars at you and thrashes about, scaring you off. Is that right?"
Belle nodded. "I ran. I fled the castle, not caring what I promised. I climbed onto Philippe and rode into the woods. But then we were cornered by a pack of wolves. That would have been it, but then, he appeared. He fought the wolves to save me, but he got hurt. I was getting ready to get back on Philippe and head home, but…"
"You couldn't leave him," Sora finished. "Even after everything he'd done, you couldn't let him die."
Belle shook her head. "I brought him back to the castle, and Mrs. Potts helped me nurse him back to health." She stopped walking and held her hand up, indicating for Sora and Kairi to stop as well. They turned their gaze to the right and realized that they were standing at the door to Belle's room. They had been so engrossed in Belle's story that they had not been watching where they were going; in fact, at an earlier part of her tale, Sora had nearly walked into the wall before Kairi reminded him to turn left.
"Well, I suppose I'll finish that story another time," Belle said. "Now, if you would follow me…" She opened the door and led Sora and Kairi inside.
Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Nothing was out of place, and there did not appear to be anyone who did not belong. The only other person in the room was the Wardrobe, who was previously the lady-in-waiting before the enchantment was placed.
Sora sighed, disappointed that their search of the East Wing had turned up empty. However, he quickly noticed something off about the Wardrobe. She appeared to be rather sullen, but her eyes held a sense of distress within them.
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked. Kairi and Belle quickly noticed her condition as well and looked at her with concern.
The Wardrobe did not answer, her expression unchanging. Instead, her doors opened up. Sora, Kairi and Belle gasped in shock and horror when they saw that instead of clothing, there were four white creatures hanging from her coatrack. The creatures were of a silvery off-white color with purple lines going down their sides. Their arms and legs narrowed into points. Their mouths appeared to be composed of zippers, and they lacked eyes, ears or noses. Each one had a flat forehead with a peculiar insignia printed on it, one resembling an upside-down white heart with two circles cut out of the sides and a cross-shape attached to the tip. The three of them were all too familiar with those creatures.
"Nobodies?" Sora exclaimed in confusion. Before he could question further, the Dusks slithered out of the Wardrobe and stood on their pointed feet. The Wardrobe gasped and slunk back into the wall next to Belle's bed.
Sora and Kairi summoned their Keyblades. "Belle, get back!" Sora ordered. Belle nodded and ran to the balcony. The Dusks took long steps toward their quarry, moving as if they had no bone structure whatsoever. They started to slither around Sora and Kairi, preparing for an attack. However, Sora slid his way around to behind the Dusks. They were confused, wondering where he had gone. They shrugged it off and moved toward Kairi. She did the same thing as Sora, and the sudden reversal confused the Nobodies further. Sora and Kairi took advantage of this opening and attacked from behind. Pretty quickly, the Dusks exploded into white and grey flecks.
Sora traded a confused glance with Kairi. "What gives? I thought the Heartless and Nobodies hated each other," Kairi asked.
Sora shrugged. "And I'm pretty sure that Maleficent isn't a huge fan of the Nobodies, considering the whole Organization XIII situation."
Before they could consider the matter further, Kairi's eyes widened in terror. "Sora… Behind you!" she warned.
Sora was about to turn around and see what she meant when he felt a hand covering his mouth and nose and an arm wrap around his neck. He struggled against his assailant, but his eyes grew as wide as Kairi's when he saw a Neoshadow rise up behind her and swipe her on the back of the head, causing her to fall to her knees. Sora tried to fight off the Neoshadow holding him, but two more and held his arms down. Due to the Heartless blocking his breathing, Sora's vision turned fuzzy and he soon lost consciousness. The last thing he saw was one of the Neoshadows picking Kairi up and hoisting her over its shoulder.
A/N: By the way, I looked up the tarot cards online to find a good reference for Facilier to make, so the ones I alluded to might not be best suited toward Riku and Beast's circumstances. If anyone finds something that fits better, please let me know. Thanks. Hope you're enjoying this.