It was early morning when the gps started to go off. Xion was the first to notice, quickly she ran to notify the others. A few moments later, all three of them stood outside the small house watching as the gummi ship rose higher and higher into the sky before leaving the world. They waited until the spacecraft became nothing but a speck against the rosy sky as it vanished. With that they waited until the gps informed them to which world Sora would land in.

They waited and waited.

Until half an hour later when the gps went off again. Roxas grinned, he once had plenty of memories from previous worlds Sora as visited. But this world was not one of them. This one he explored on his own. He showed the map to Axel, who promptly proceeded to make a dark corridor. He peeked into the corridor and gave them the all clear.

Roxas and Xion walked through the corridor first. Axel gave Hollow Bastion one last look before giving his home world a proper goodbye.

There was a slight chill in the air. A dark castle was hidden away by never ending forest. The light from the stars hardly light up the night sky, and the moon was nowhere to be found.

A small shout was heard from within the castle. It was obvious that Sora and his friends were already in battle.

Xion sighed. She knew her way around the Beast's Castle. Most Organization members did. In fact, the primary objective in the Beast's Castle was to avoid the Castle's master, The Beast. The Beast was a terrifying creature, however Xion didn't think he was necessarily bad. But he certainly did not like visitors. Clearly, she wasn't the only one who thought so.

"You know, I'm glad Roxas joined the Organization. I don't think Sora would have lasted a day, at least Roxas was quiet during his missions." Axel mentioned out loud.

Roxas nodded in agreement, "Yeah, luckily this castle has plenty of places for us to hide. But the passage that was here before, it's gone."

Axel looked around the courtyard. There was a secret entrance that lead to the main hall, but it was sealed off. There was an uneasy feeling near the back of neck. While Roxas and Xion worked on opening the hidden entrance, Axel studied the outside of the castle. He could see where the master bedroom was, presumably the Beast's were two shadowy figures coming from the balcony. One of them he clearly recognized.

"Hey Axel."

His attention was shifted to the two keyblade wielders who already opened the hidden entrance own their own. Roxas and Xion gave him a strange look, they must have noticed something was off. Axel gave the Beast's balcony one last look before ushering everyone to the passageway.

"I'll tell you once we're out of sight."

•••

"Xaldin?!" Xion whispered loudly as they traversed the hidden passageway.

Axel huffed a bit, "No doubt about it. Xaldin was talking to Beast just now. Heck he still may be in the Castle."

Roxas thought for a moment, "But why would Xaldin be here? He doesn't even like the Beast. Always calls the Beast a monster. Actually... now that I think about it. I used to see Xaldin here a lot even when he didn't have a mission here."

Axel sighed in frustration, "Well with you two brats "gone'" He said gone with air quotes, "The Organization are missing their personal heartless collectors. My guess is the Beast has a strong enough heart to make a nice addition to Kingdom Hearts. Who knows, maybe he might be make a nice Nobody to join the ranks."

Moments later they saw as the Beast walked out with a very familiar rose. The Beast left the parlor without saying a word. Sora and company quickly followed. Donald rubbed his cheek, he looked angry. But that wasn't what the trio was looking at. As the Beast left for the West wing a woman watched him from the entrance to the East wing. There was a sad look in her eyes, a look Roxas a very familiar with. But he couldn't quiet place where. They weren't the only ones to see her. Donald clearly watched as the woman shook her head sadly before going back into the East wing.

"Belle." The name slipped from Roxas's tongue automatically.

"She's pretty." Xion whispered as Sora, Donald and Goofy followed her into the East wing. They had heard about Belle before, but for Xion, it was her first time actually seeing the woman.

"Well she is a Princess of Heart, not sure what she's doing in a dark place like this though." Axel mumbled to himself. He nudged Roxas and Xion, "Come on let's tail them"

"The Beast won't talk to you?" Donald asked.

Belle shook her head, "He's been acting strange lately. The only ones who might know why are locked up in the dungeon. I want to help them but..."

Sora looked outraged, "Wait a second. Who locked who up?!"

"The Beast locked up his servants." Belle said with a sigh.

Donald scratched his head, "But why?"

Belle just looked down. "That's what I don't know."

Sora frowned for a moment. "Where's the dungeon?"

Belle perked up a bit. "You can get to the undercroft from the West hall. The dungeon is down there."

Sora gave her a thumbs up, "Leave it to us! We'll save them."

•••

Goofy couldn't help but to be slightly confused as Sora struggled to move the wardrobe. They had made to the West hall just fine, especially with Sora leading the way. But something didn't sit right with the knight. How did Sora know where the west wing was in the first place? The Beast's Castle was destroyed by the Heartless over a year ago. Sora has never been to this world, yet not only did he know where the west wing was. He also knew where the undercroft was. Something was different about Sora.

Goofy gave Donald a worried glance. But the duck just watched as Sora pushed the wardrobe. Still he worried about the boy. He was too stubborn for his own good, too selfless to ask for help, too afraid of looking weak. As much as Goofy wanted to deny it, Sora reminded him of his own son, Max. Maybe that's why he was so worried over Sora's new strange behavior. And not to mention being in this creepy old castle was not help at all. Goofy could have sworn there were shadows following them all over the place, and he wasn't referring to the heartless kind. He looked over his shoulder just in case.

"That was close." Roxas breathed out as he ducked behind staircase.

Xion frowned as she held Axel's head down. "At least you're easy to hide. This one the other hand. Does your hair have to be so spiky? You're already tall enough as it is Axel."

Axel quickly flipped his hood over his head defensively. "Okay, okay. Now you know why I'm not the one that gets sent to stealth missions. And if you're so sneaky why don't you peak over and see what they're talking about."

Xion puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, "Fine." She peeked over the stair railing and leaned in closer. Luckily both Donald and Goofy kept their backs turned towards her. She listened for a moment before ducking again.

"So?"

She glared at Axel before turning to Roxas, excluding the red-head entirely. "They're talking about the curse."

Roxas frowned "The one that turned the people into furniture?" he offered.

She nodded, "Yep that one. Apparently, the rest of the servants will tell them the whole story once Sora rescues them. Still..." Xion mumbled to herself, "Why would the Beast lock up his own servants? He seemed so determined to protect the castle last time we were here."

"I think this might have to do with a certain Nobody lurking around the castle. If so we should be more careful, Xaldin isn't someone to be underestimated. Sora will have a long way to go before he can even go anywhere near Xaldin's level. That goes for you two as well twerps."

"So now what do we do now?" Roxas asked.

Axel gave him a glance. "Now we wait until Sora exits the secret passage. Can't risk getting caught."

And so they waited, and waited. And some more. They could have gone through the other entrance, but they have risked Sora going in a different direction. So they told tales to pass the time.

"- and so Xaldin got annoyed because I pointed out the couch. A couch! I wasn't even going to sit down. Who puts a whole couch in the hallway anyways?!" Roxas recalled while Axel and Xion laughed. Roxas still wasn't over the fact how the wind-user treated him on missions.

It wasn't long until the door near the stairway opened up to reveal Sora, Donald, Goofy and.,. a clock?

"The Master's room is at the very end of the west wing." The clock said. Sora and his friends nodded, then followed the talking clock to the Beast's room.

Roxas narrowed his eyes as Sora turned the corner out of his sights. "Let's go."

"It's time you dealt with Belle. She's scheming to take everything you have. This castle, your precious rose And then your life. Trust no one. Feed your anger! Only anger will keep you strong."

The Beast's shoulder sagged; he gave out a heavy sigh. "I've had enough of strength." He admitted, "There's only one thing I-"

The other figure scoffed in amusement, "What? To love and be loved in return? Who could ever love a beast?"

The Beast's eye shot back at the hooded figure, he roared out in anger. Behind him the door swung open. The figure watched as the keyblade's chosen walked right into the room with his friends. The light that trickled into the room reflected off the hilt of the keyblade.

The hooded figure smirked at Sora's arrival. "See? She has accomplices." He lifted his arms and raises a barrier within the room and disappeared.

Sora waved at the Beast, "Hey Prince."

The Beast's eyes set on Sora. He had a new target.

Xaldin made sure the barrier would hold until he reached the other side of the castle. Now he had the other problem to deal with. He teleported just outside the Beast's room; he could hear the Beast roar as he attacked Sora.

"Hmpf, it's not like you to get attached like this, Axel."

Halfway down the hallway Axel smirked, "What can I say, I'm fond of the kid."

Xaldin's eye narrowed, "What's your game Number VIII? Chasing after Sora will not return Roxas to you. You failed Axel, Roxas is gone. Lord Xemnas now has a bounty over your head."

Axel rolled his eyes, "Of course he does. So? You gonna collect your prize?" He gestured at himself suggestively.

Xaldin just walked past him, "Dealing with you isn't worth the bounty. But Saix might think otherwise, and I'd hate to deprive him of the pleasure." With he disappeared in a corridor of darkness.

Axel looked over his shoulder to find no one with him. "You two can come out now."

Two suits of armor shook as two pair of blue eyes peeked from the helmet. Roxas and Xion revealed themselves from their hiding spot.

Xion's eyes lingered at where Xaldin once was. 'He didn't even mention me.' She thought. There was a irk of disappoint to having her existence invalidated. Xaldin's comment not only reaffirmed her belief that not only did Organization believe that Roxas had returned to Sora. But that they had completely forgotten her completely. It upset her, but she could not pinpoint why. She felt a tugging on her sleeve.

Roxas pulled her away from the hall. "Come on we have to check on Sora."

She took one more look to where Xaldin was.

She hoped they wouldn't run into him again.

A/N: Originally, I was going to make each world visit one chapter, but then it was getting too long. Also a quick update. I'm on AO3! Still the same username but FF will still be my main website, however. Anyways like, comment, favorite, ask questions and I'll do my best to answer them. Until next time.

~Ink.