Chapter 59
Cinderella
The guards led Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy into the ballroom. They could see four figures at the other end. Seated in a throne was a portly older man with white, balding hair, a thick moustache, and bushy eyebrows. He wore a white suit not unlike a military uniform with gold buttons and epaulets along with brown shoes. On his right stood the Grand Duke, a tall, skinny gentleman wearing a light blue suit with silver epaulets and a red sash, a silver belt, black shoes, and a monocle over his right eye. He had thinning black hair, thick mutton chops leading into a thin moustache, a slightly-long neck, and a large nose. To the left of the king stood his son. Prince Charming was taller and more physically fit than his father. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes, and wore a cream-colored royal jacket with gold epaulets, red pants with a gold stripe along either side, a golden belt, black boots, and opera gloves.
Cinderella stood next to her husband. She had her long blonde hair tied into a bun and held back with a white headband. She wore an elegant, shimmering white dress that had puffy disks decorating the shoulder straps, long white gloves that reached halfway up her upper arms, white pearl earrings, a black choker, and, hidden beneath her dress, a pair of perfectly-fitting glass slippers.
Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Riku, Kairi, and even Jaq dropped to one knee and bowed. Sora simply waved. "Hello." Mickey, Donald and Goofy groaned. Kairi giggled. The King and the Grand Duke recoiled indignantly. Prince Charming and Cinderella, however, laughed.
Sora realized what he had done and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Uh, sorry," he said sheepishly.
His friends stood up. "Don't mind him, your Highness," Mickey said defensively. "He still needs to work on his manners."
After a moment, the King chuckled. "Well, I presume that this impolite young man is the 'Sora' chap my daughter-in-law has told me about," he guessed. "I suppose I can let that slide, though I would advise you to mind yourself around persons of authority, particularly those who can have your head chopped off if they are in a bad mood." He winked mischievously.
"Uh, thank you," Sora stammered. He mentally chided himself for his inadvertent disrespect. He had been lucky that Yen Sid, Queen Minnie, and the Sultan of Agrabah had given him a pass without much of a thought, but he did not want to push his luck too often, in case certain figures took his casual reaction to meeting someone of such esteemed veneration a little too personally.
Cinderella clasped her hands together and smiled warmly. "It is so good to see you again," she said. She sized up each member of the party. She recognized Sora, Donald and Goofy, having met them before back at Hollow Bastion. She had not met the other three, but from what she had heard from conversation with the former trio, the other princesses who had worked alongside her in pushing the darkness back after the Keyhole had been opened, and the warriors who returned to the castle to reclaim their former home, she was able to guess who was who. "You must be… Kairi… Riku… and King Mickey," she guessed. Kairi, Riku and Mickey nodded in confirmation.
"It's a pleasure to finally get to meet you, Cinderella," Kairi greeted.
"Likewise."
"Just a heads-up," Sora chimed in, "your cat could learn to behave himself."
"Oh, I'm sorry about Lucifer. Actually, he was my stepmother's," Cinderella explained. "He was spoiled, and he could be quite troublesome for me and my friends. But after my stepmother and stepsisters passed, I was the only one left to take care of him."
"Ah. Sorry to hear about that," Sora said sympathetically. He had heard that Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters had been cruel and domineering toward her, but he could tell that she had cared about them at least to some degree.
"Oh! And I was worried that there was a serious matter that warranted the Keyblade Master to visit me personally," the King grumbled. "But it appears to just be a social visit with my daughter-in-law."
Prince Charming chuckled. "Lighten up, Dad," he said.
"Ahem. Actually, your Highness," Mickey addressed the King, "there has been a matter that we have been traveling around to explore."
The King raised an eyebrow. "You are their king?" he asked.
Mickey nodded. "Yes, sir. Mickey Mouse, king of Disney Castle," he replied.
The King chuckled. "Well, it is an honor to make your acquaintance. Now, tell me: what severe matter brings you to my kingdom?"
"We have come across an organization of evil characters who are using the Heartless to further their schemes," Mickey began.
Cinderella and the Grand Duke gasped in horror. Cinderella had seen the danger such entities posed firsthand, and while the Grand Duke possessed no recollection of the attack on his world, he knew from Cinderella's tale, as well as experience in the field of a different variety of demon, that this was indeed a severe matter.
"Have the Heartless been a problem lately?" Mickey asked.
"Oh, why, yes, they have," the Grand Duke answered. "You see, over the past few days, those creatures that you call 'Heartless' have been sighted all around the town, and these sightings have only become more frequent over time. However, they appear to be roaming about on their own, as no one has been seen controlling them. We can presume that their recent encroachment is a gradual process of their own curiosity and accord. Early on, they had either been too far away to notice the civilians, or the townsfolk have fled from the scene before the creatures could properly attack, but some guards have reported that the monsters have become more numerous and violent."
"That sounds like a problem," Riku commented. "Has anyone been hurt?"
"Fortunately, there have not been any severe injuries," one of the guards answered, "nor have there been fatalities, or whatever would occur once a Heartless has had its way with its victims. However, they become more vicious by the day, and that will surely change if they are allowed to—"
"Look out!" Prince Charming shouted. Everyone turned around and saw an Armored Knight sneaking up on the guard. It began to swing its sword, but Riku teleported between the guard and the Heartless and blocked the blow. He threw the Heartless off balance and sliced it in two.
Cinderella gasped and the King screamed in terror as more Heartless appeared by the droves. There were four Heartless shaped like giant brass bells, each with a shadowy face on top. Three Heartless had the shape of a Blue Rhapsody but were colored in stripes of different shades of blue. Some part of Sora identified them as "Turquoise March" types, though he could only guess why. Two more appeared, resembling six-foot-tall candelabras with high-collared coats, a single eye each, and bushy moustaches. The last two to materialize were a pair of Soldiers.
Sora, Mickey and Kairi summoned their Keyblades. Cinderella gasped, surprised to see that Kairi also held such a weapon. Donald and Goofy conjured their weapons as well.
The Turquoise Marches shot spheres of water at Donald and Goofy. Donald got out of the way, and the sphere exploded into a pillar of water when it hit the floor. Goofy was hit and engulfed in an explosion of water, blasting him across the room.
Sora's eyes widened as he felt a twinge of jealousy. Wait, there's water-based magic? he thought. Why can't I use water-based magic?
He rolled out of the way of a torch-tipped swipe from one of those Wicked Wicks (Jiminy had been in the process of trying to think of a better name, but the near-miss of the fire brushing near Sora's pocket forced him to mentally settle on something, and he went for an alliterative appellation). On his way to stand up, he shot a Blizzard spell at it, doing his best to aim for its head. The Wicked Wick was not only knocked back, but the freezing effect caused it to move more slowly. Sora considered whether to take advantage of it being a lesser threat to move on to more serious enemies, but ultimately decided to just cut it down.
Mickey threw himself at the giant bells, but when he hit one of the Ring-a-Dings with the rounded end of his Keyblade, which for the moment treated itself as a blunt object, the Heartless shook with a loud reverberation and reflected him back. Kairi watched this happen and, regarding the thinner blade of her Key, decided to give it a go. She ran at the Ring-a-Ding and thrust the point of her weapon into it, willing it to cut right through rather than bat it about. As she hoped, she pierced straight through it. She then pulled her Keyblade down, cutting a sizeable gash through the metal. Once her Keyblade had exited the metal, she brought it up and swung it horizontally, chopping the head off of the body and destroying it. One of the guards, inspired by this tactic, carved through one of the other Ring-a-Dings.
Riku fought with the second Wicked Wick, which deftly dodged his attacks and launched some fireballs out of its candle hands. Soldier Heartless sought to ambush Riku while he was busy and slashed him across the back. This allowed the Wicked Wick to swat him aside. Both Heartless converged on him when he was down, but Riku created a shield to block the Wick's fireballs while he slashed the Soldier into oblivion. He followed this up by leaping over his own shield and stabbing his weapon vertically down through the Wick.
Sora ran after a Turquoise March. Unsure of how water magic worked, he took a logical guess and shot a Fire spell after it. The spell hit and sent the Heartless spinning, but Sora noticed that it only did an average amount of damage. He decided to Scan the Heartless and figure out how it all worked. He saw that it possessed a pale blue aura, which suggested a water specialization. Looking more closely, he saw weak links of honeycombs for every known color, except one: yellow.
Thunder? Let's see… water shorts out electronic devices, and electricity conducts through water, sometimes with painful effects if it is not pure H2O… Worth a shot.
He cast a Thunder spell and a bolt of lightning struck the Turquoise March. The Heartless burst into spasms and was thrown back hard. He smiled triumphantly, then he ran after the Heartless and finished it off.
Donald cast Blizzard on one of the remaining Ring-a-Dings, immobilizing it, and Goofy shattered it with a well-placed strike from the edge of his shield. They watched one of the guards fight a Turquoise March.
A Soldier Heartless took notice of Cinderella and ran after her. She backed away and turned to start running, but she tripped and fell to the ground. As it drew near, she rolled over so she was facing up and brought her leg closer. When it was just about on top of her, she pulled her dress up and removed one of her slippers. It drew its arm back to swipe at her, but it was sent reeling back when she shoved her slipper heel-first into its eye. It stumbled backward in pain while Cinderella pulled her glass slipper, quite roughly, out of its head. Jaq jumped up and started tugging on the antenna of the Soldier's helmet, disrupting its balance even further and causing it to fall backward. Prince Charming ran in, sword in hand, and finished the fiend off.
"Are you alright?" Charming asked, offering her his hand. Cinderella nodded and, after putting her slipper back on, took his hand. He helped her to her feet and led her back to the throne with his father and the Grand Duke.
Mickey cast Thundara to eliminate the remaining Turquoise March while Riku and Kairi defeated the last Ring-a-Ding. Goofy vanquished the last Soldier Heartless.
After making sure that there were no more Heartless in the ballroom, everyone relaxed and dismissed their weapons.
"What?! What is the meaning of this?" the King asked furiously. "How did these Heartless creatures get into my castle?"
"They teleported," Riku explained dryly. "It's what they do. No amount of vigilance or locked doors will keep them from getting in."
"Your Highness," Sora addressed the king, "do you know if the Heartless have been swarming around a specific point, as if they were looking for something?"
The Grand Duke raised his eyebrow in nervous intrigue. The two guards traded uncertain glances. "No. Not from what we could see," one of them answered.
Before the matter could be discussed further, they heard the clank-clank-clank of metal footsteps running into the ballroom. All present turned around and saw a guard approaching them at full sprint, a panicked and worried expression plastered across his features. The two guards who were already present stood on guard.
"Y-Your Highness…" the newcomer panted, "the creatures… they are attacking the town! We cannot face them and defend the people on our own! We require reinforcements!"
The King nodded toward the other two guards, who marched over to join their comrade. "We shall lend the defense our blade," one of them said. The other nodded in agreement.
Riku nodded toward Sora. "We'll come with you," he said. Donald walked over to stand beside Sora and gave the guards a supportive nod. Mickey, Goofy and Kairi took a step forward, but Riku shook his head. "No. You guys stay here, in case more Heartless show up." Reluctantly, Mickey nodded.
Sora turned to the guards. "Okay. Lead the way," he directed. The guards nodded and led them out of the ballroom and out of the castle.
When the six of them had left, Mickey, Kairi and Goofy turned back to the King, Cinderella, Prince Charming, and the Grand Duke.
Charming gave them an approving nod. "Your friends are very brave, and dependable as well," he complimented.
"Thanks," Mickey replied. "They're good at what they do. I'm glad to be able to count on them."
"Kairi," Cinderella addressed the redhead, "you and your friends, and the way you use your Keyblades, you remind me of three people I knew a long time ago."
"Oh?" Kairi's interest was piqued.
"Now that I think about it, Sora looks a lot like a boy named Ventus. He was very small, and I never really saw him use his Key, but Jaq mentioned that he told him about his dream of being a Keyblade Master," Cinderella continued. Mickey turned his gaze down nervously, and with a hint of sorrow, but no one noticed save for the Grand Duke. Goofy also looked sad for some reason. "Ventus helped Jaq make me a wonderful dress for the ball."
"Yeah, Jaq told us about that. Would that be it?" Kairi asked, eyeing the dress Cinderella was wearing.
"Oh, no. Things… didn't go as expected," Cinderella admitted. Jaq growled in anger at this, apparently at a rotten memory, making Kairi wonder if that had something to do with her wicked stepfamily. "But my Fairy Godmother made me this new dress."
"Well, glad to hear things turned out all right. But what about the other two?"
"This man, Terra, he helped me get to the castle safely so I could join in."
"And he restored order when monsters attacked," Prince Charming added.
"And the third, a woman named Aqua, she helped me get down to meet the Grand Duke and try on the slipper when my stepmother tried to keep me from my prince," Cinderella continued. "Then she protected me from a horrible monster that was born from her jealousy and rage."
"Wow. They've been on adventures across the worlds just like us. I wonder where they've been all this time," Kairi mused, oblivious to the fact that Mickey had all but isolated himself, his eyes lowered in shame. Then she realized that one of the names sounded familiar. A flicker of a memory resurfaced, showing a woman with a unique hair color. "Aqua… Say, did that woman have blue hair?" she asked.
Cinderella nodded. Kairi gasped as the full memory formed. She was four at the time. She was picking flowers in the garden near the front gates of Radiant Garden's castle, when strange blue monsters appeared around her. The menacing creatures converged on her, and Kairi fled to the castle gate, hoping to get to safety. That was when a woman, who appeared to be at the edge of adulthood, appeared and fought the creatures off. The woman carried her to safety and proceeded to defeat the monsters that were threatening her. Kairi thanked the woman by giving her the flowers that she picked, and the woman placed some sort of spell on her, which she said would take her to someone who would protect her when she was in danger.
No… The blue-haired woman was not alone. The woman had been backed into a corner by the creatures, trying to fight them off while keeping her safe. Then someone came to help her fight. A funny-looking guy with a round head and two circles for ears…
Kairi turned to Mickey. "Your Majesty, did you know those three?" she asked.
Mickey flinched in surprise. It took him a moment to process Kairi's question. He realized that she must have remembered her childhood encounter with Aqua and himself, so the proverbial cat was out of the bag.
He sighed. He did not turn around. He did not dare to show the turmoil he was facing from old memories resurfacing. "I did," he answered. "I knew Aqua and Ventus, twelve years ago. I never got to meet Terra. But I made friends and fought side-by-side with the other two."
Mickey had done a poor job of concealing the sadness in his voice, and Kairi took notice. She hesitated for several seconds before voicing her next question, afraid of the answer. "So, what happened to them?"