Chapter 14: Belle and the Dark Thorn

After taking a moment to breathe, the team headed up the central staircase off to their right to head to the East Wing, where Belle's room was. There were still Heartless amok in the castle, but it didn't take too long for them to head to the end of the hall.

However, Belle wasn't in her room when they got there. The Wardrobe, who had blocked their way earlier, was in her place. One could only wonder how she got up there so fast, but now probably wasn't the time to worry about it. If anything, the Wardrobe was surprised to see the Beast.

Donald spoke up first, informing her that the other servants were out of the dungeon and to safety now, much to her relief. However, Beast was the one who cut to the chase as his blue eyes glanced around the room. "Where is Belle?" he asked, his grumbly voice calm but laced with concern.

The Wardrobe responded promptly. "Why, she left in a hurry. Something about going after this… man in black." Penelope and Sora glanced at each other, knowing that this probably wasn't a good sign. After all, Xaldin was trying to turn Belle and Beast against each other for whatever reason, and clearly, this could have been part of his master plan.

Naturally, Beast didn't respond well to this. "WHAT?! Why doesn't she do as she's told?" He roared, his voice shaking the room. Donald and Goofy were trembling, holding each other in fear, while Sora was taken aback.

The Wardrobe shook off his rage rather nonchalantly, smirking and turning away. "Temper, temper! Her spirit is what makes Belle so special." She pointed out.

"We better go find her!" Sora said quickly to Beast.

Penelope shrugged, considering what was said. She would probably do something similar if she were in Belle's boat, especially considering the past year. If anything, the main concern was if Xaldin had done something to her. Quite frankly, the Princesses of Heart didn't need to go through any nonsense like this again, especially not after what happened with Ansem.

They turned back around from whence they came back down the East Wing and down the stairwells, only to suddenly hear Belle's muffled voice nearby.

"I'm warning you! You'll be sorry!" She said, seeming to be talking to someone in another room.

Beast looked around, trying to figure out where her voice was coming from, calling out to her. "Belle! Where are you?" He asked. Belle seemed to have heard him from where she was, and it appeared that she was in the one room they hadn't been in yet.

"Beast! Help! I'm in the ballroom!" She exclaimed.

Penelope paused, feeling a twinge of darkness in her heart besides sensing the light emanating from Belle's nearby presence. She glanced over to Sora, biting her lip. "I'm not sure what else is there, but it doesn't feel good. I have a feeling we may have another boss coming, so we should be careful." She advised.

Sora furrowed his brow before focusing his gaze on the ballroom door. "Whatever it is, we can take it."

"Still, are we even stocked up? We might be low on potions. Plus, with how we've been running around, I don't know if we all have armor equipped. Granted, Goofy can take plenty of hits, and Beast is… well, look at him. But what about Donald?" Penelope asked.

Donald huffed at the notion he couldn't take a hit. He could, but Donald was a mage. Mages were usually squishy.

Sora paused. "You know. I didn't think about that. We should be okay with what we have, though. What about you? Are you okay?"

Penelope blinked, tilting her head to the side. "Huh? Oh, I'm fine. I have a lot more up my sleeve than I look. I wasn't asleep like you for a year, you know!"

Sora furrowed his brow, not seeming entirely convinced. Penelope sighed, shaking her head. "Look, if we're ready to go, then let's! We probably shouldn't keep Beast waiting. Or, alternatively, not leave Belle in the same room as an Organization XIII member for too much longer?"

Sora nodded, and they threw the doors open to see Belle darting from something. She was at the other end of the large ballroom by the time they came in, though the man in black was nowhere to be seen. Belle, however, seemed to know something they didn't, especially considering how she was headed to the balcony.

"Belle?!" Beast called, as she went through the door.

"I'm all right!" She called back. A large, Darkball-like Heartless slammed into the glass doors as Belle closed it in the nick of time. Penelope looked up at it pointedly, strongly sensing the presence of darkness. Still, this didn't look like a regular Darkball. It was glowing with a blue aura that looked similar to blue flames. It also had large chains on top of it, though it was hard to say if it weighed the Heartless down at all. It roared as it turned to face it's new targets, diving into the floor and changing the environment around them.

Penelope and Sora were quick to summon their Keyblades when the Heartless manipulated the arena. Penelope crinkled her nose and cringed at the uncomfortable sensations the Heartless and the surroundings gave her, but she knew better than to lose her composure at something like this. Now also wasn't the time to waste MP on misfired Radiance spells if Penelope got too overwhelmed. Sora, nor the rest of the team, needed to deal with that.

First, the Heartless occupied the windows and turned them pitch black. It sent rays of energy towards the team's way, which Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Beast dodged by jumping or quickly walking between them. Penelope took a moment to absorb some of these attacks while the foe was occupied with the rest of the group.

Charged by the darkness, Penelope sent back the attack through her radiance spells to refocus the boss's attention on her. Although it worked briefly, the fiend moved from the window up to the chandelier. It was hard to entirely piece together what the Heartless was doing, but so far, it seemed like it was trying to use the objects in the room to it's advantage. It did change how the ballroom looked, after all, so it was likely doing so to get an upper hand.

The possessed chandelier began to shoot rays of energy, though Sora was quick to respond, using a reaction to strike and get the Heartless out of the chandelier. Penelope joined Sora to smack it in twain while it was stunned, though they both knew that this wouldn't last forever.

Once the Heartless was out of its daze, it went into a gaseous form to mitigate receiving any more damage from the opposing forces. It floated around to find something else to use to it's advantage, quickly seizing the opportunity to possess the columns in the room. Due to the change in the ballroom, the columns were pointed at the bottom instead of flatly connected to the floor. The columns raised and lowered, gnashing like teeth to hit the opposition and to pierce them.

However, the Keyblade wielders knew better than to get caught into range. Sora targeted and went for the columns, dealing damage once more and releasing the Heartless yet again. This gave the team another window of opportunity to strike. Sora and Penelope, however, were faster at getting to the boss first compared to the others.

It was quickly found that yes, the main strategy the Heartless was using was to possess objects in the field to deal more damage to the team that way. However, they didn't let this strategy last long, as Sora and Penelope were keen on what it was doing. It didn't take them much longer to stay on the upper edge of the battle, and overpower the foe.

Still, the beast wasn't going down that easily. The heartless stared at the team, shaking it's chains and consuming itself into an orb of darkness. It changed from a Darkball, perhaps possessor-like Heartless into a larger beast. It vaguely reminded Sora and Penelope of a Behemoth heartless that they faced many of in the End of the World a year back. However, the Stealth Sneak from the Deep Jungle was the next to come to mind, especially when the thing turned invisible.

When it turned invisible, it was able to summon possessor heartless. Sora took this opportunity to use his limit with Beast, and the duo attacked the invisible fiend while Penelope briefly took a support role as to stay out of their way. Donald and Goofy did the same, trying their best to fend off against the possessors.

A thought quickly crossed Sora's mind when he finished the joint attack with Beast, mainly as he looked up to the chandelier. He realized that he could use this to his advantage. "Penelope! Come on! Everyone else, look out!" He called.

Penelope wasn't sure what she was being called over for, but hey. It was worth a shot. Penelope hopped on top of the chandelier by the chain with Sora, and the two spun around to bring the chandelier down to the floor and grind the Heartless against the columns. It was thrown back into the wall as they finished the attack.

A grin appeared on Penelope's face. "Damn! Nice idea, Sora! Up for another one?" She asked. Sora raised an eyebrow, though he and Penelope were quick to react to another swipe by the Heartless with a block. He nodded, only to be dismayed to see Penelope flinch as she activated her Valor Form.

"Penelope, you really shouldn't do that-!" He began, only for Penelope to cut him off.

"Use yours! It's time to sync up!" Penelope quickly ordered. Since Penelope was in the form, Sora was pretty sure he wasn't going to get her out of it. She did tend to be stubborn, after all, and it was highly likely she was going to stay in t until her Drive Gauge ran out. So, Sora used the power of his link with Goofy to activate his own Valor Form.

"Okay! On my lead! One, two, go!" Penelope commanded, throwing some slashes with her dual Keyblades at the boss. Sora followed along, striking in a similar rhythm. To him, the way they glided across the floor and knocked back their enemy reminded him of a limit. It did manage to escape them briefly as it weaved around the ballroom floor and the columns, but Beast, joined by Donald and Goofy managed to corral it at it's sides.

This gave Penelope and Sora another opportunity to use the chandelier to their advantage before they darted off to the sides and swung around the columns in a slingshot attack. They roared in a battle cry, striking both sides of the heartless in a pincer before it exploded into light. A large heart floated up in the air, and the ballroom went back to normal.

A grin appeared on Sora's face when they landed, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy raised their weapons in victory. "We did it!" Sora shouted, though they heard a somewhat familiar voice behind them. It was that man in black, or Xaldin, who was by the entrance of the ballroom door.

Ominously, as he held his hands behind his back, he chided, "So you think." Beast, who was still pained by the emotional damage Xaldin had done, called out his name in a roar, charging. Sora, Donald, and Goofy tried to follow along, though Xaldin was too fast for all of them. He vanished in a corridor of darkness just as quickly as he appeared. Penelope figured this would happen, considering how Organization XIII seemed to be able to call corridors of darkness on command.

Beast shook his head, straightening up and balling his large hands up in a growl. "What does he want here?" He asked, still not understanding what was going on.

Sora took the opportunity to respond, calling back to what they saw in Hollow Bastion besides the brief that Master Yen Sid gave them in the Mysterious Tower. "He must be with Organization XIII," Sora began, prompting Beast to turn around. "Have you ever heard of the Nobodies?"

Beast didn't seem to know, so Sora tried his best to explain. "When a strong-hearted person turns into a Heartless, a Nobody's created, too," he began. Donald and Goofy had caught up around this time, while Penelope stayed back to listen. "See, the Organization… they've got control of all the Nobodies."

Goofy added on as well. "That's right. And they were gonna make you into a Heartless. That way, they could get that Nobody of yours and have control over it." With that insightful comment from Goofy, Sora grinned and nodded, pointing at him. He was in the right ballpark, and he got a home run.

Belle opened the doors from the balcony, coming back in to check on Beast. She was relieved to see he was alright, likewise on Beast's end as he reunited with her. As the servants came in, he took this time to properly apologize. "Belle… I-I'm sorry—I… wasn't myself. I hope I haven't done anything to hurt you." A warm smile appeared on the Princess of Heart's face as she shook her head in disagreement, giving Beast much relief. "Forgive me."

"I know you weren't yourself. You don't have to apologize," Belle began. However, she wasn't done, and she was mildly disappointed in him. "But I had hoped… that you might have changed a little bit. I wish you could start trusting me."

Ouch. Beast looked down, as if he were a scolded child. He tried to say something, anything, but Belle crossed her arms and looked away. The servants were worried by this.

"Oh, I'm afraid time is running short." Lumiere sighed, as Sora, Donald, and Goofy had come over by the servants to listen in.

Sora frowned, looking down at the candelabra. "What do you mean?" He asked. Penelope slowly strolled over at this time, furrowing her brow.

"Remember the rose?" Lumiere asked. Donald recalled the one from the Beast's room, which he inquired about. It was the only one they had seen, so it was the only one that they could have been talking about.

"Precisely. You see, if the master can learn to love, and earn love in return, before the last petal falls…" Cogsworth began, only for Lumiere to finish his sentence. "…The spell will be broken."

Sora put a hand on his hips, glancing over at Belle and Beast. "Really? You think he's gonna make it?" He asked.

Mrs. Potts nodded, nuzzling against Chip. "We think so."

"Yep, I think you're right." Goofy agreed, though Sora worriedly shrugged and shook his head.

"I HOPE you're right…"

Penelope joined in around this time, crossing her arms. "Well, considering how the worlds fell into darkness, that probably gave him a bit of an extension. If anything, that rose sure has been taking it's sweet time for those petals to fall. The best thing we can do is wait and see, though it's probably a symbiotic effort on their part. They both seem to care about each other."

Sora nodded. "Yeah…" he began, only for his and Penelope's Keyblades to appear. It looked like the Keyhole they needed for the path was nearby.

Sora looked up and around, as did Penelope. It felt like something went off somewhere, though it wasn't in the room, and their Keyblades began to glow. Sora and Penelope stood in the crown of light, and as a bright vortex appeared around them, they saw that the rose was what they needed.

…Wait, wasn't the rose in the other room? Like, way in the Beast's room all the way at the end of the West Wing?

Well, it was what they needed. Sora and Penelope didn't entirely get it, but they needed to open the path, and they did so.

Beast frowned. "What happened?" He asked, as he and Belle came over.

Donald was the one who replied with a cheer. "The gate is open!"

"Do you have to go?" Belle asked.

Sora nodded. "Yeah."

The team nodded. Goofy looked at Belle and Beast. "Now, no more arguin', okay?" The pair looked at each other, smiling. Beast seemed more embarrassed than Belle. The servants started to wave them off, with Lumiere promising that they would make sure no more fights would break out and the group promising that they were welcome.

Penelope supposed now would be the best time to bring some of what she knew up. "By the way… keep your wits about you. I'm not sure how long Organization XIII has been lurking around here, but at least from what I know, they have frequented this place from time to time," she noted, much to the worry of Belle and the anger of Beast. "I know you're capable of keeping the fort locked down. Just don't let Xaldin get into your head and keep an eye on things. Hopefully, we'll be back again to visit soon."

Sora remembered another thing. "If you hear anything about Riku or the King, the Heartless, the Organization-anything at all-let us know!"

It was a lot to take in, but they did what they could to nod and listen. From there, Sora gained the Cure spell back before they headed back off to their Gummi ship.

XxXxX

When the team got back on the Gummi Ship, it was moving back to Hollow Bastion on it's own. It looked like they weren't going to have much of a choice as to where they were going, much to the confusion of the group.

"Jeez. Back to Hollow Bastion already? We go to two worlds, and we're back on our way already." Penelope sighed.

"Hopefully everyone's okay back there." Sora spoke worriedly as the ship continued to drive in autopilot. He looked back at Penelope as Goofy and Donald carefully eyed the controls. "By the way, you mentioned that sync thing again earlier. And we used it together in our Valor forms."

"Oh! Yeah! I'm… honestly still not sure what Maria wants me to do with it." Penelope shrugged. Sora pondered for a second.

"It doesn't seem to be just like a limit. Maybe we should call it like… a sync combo! We could probably figure out how to do a team attack altogether like it one day." Sora suggested.

Penelope smacked her fist against the palm of her other hand. "A sync combo rolls off the tongue better. I'm looking forward to seeing how we develop it." She grinned.

Goofy looked back, grinning. "Gee, Penelope! You've opened up more since we saw you last. It's a big relief."

She furrowed her brow, tilting her head to the side. "I have had to leave a few times. And besides—I really haven't. I'm just here with you guys again on your adventure."

Donald raised a brow. "Really? You have gotten nicer compared to last time."

Penelope rolled her eyes. "I think that's for the best for all of us. I'd… rather not go back to the person I was if I don't have to. Even if I don't think I've become all that better."

Sora playfully elbowed Penelope. His signature stupid smile appeared on his face. "Hey, hey! Don't be so hard on yourself. I'm just glad that you're okay. It's nice to talk to you more instead of seeing you sit back in the shadows. You're part of this team too, you know. You always have been."

She raised an eyebrow and smirked back. "Sora, Donald, and Goofy rolls off the tongue better than Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Penelope. You guys are more of an established unit. I'm just the spare tire."

The boys pouted at her typical stubbornness. This was going to take time to work into her, and they knew it. Sora paused when another thought came into his head.

"Actually, Penelope… about Organization XIII…"

"I can't disclose everything I know about them, Sora. It's not… tons. But the time will come when I can talk more about them."

"Oh no, it's not just about Organization XIII. It was about Nobodies."

Penelope's lip stiffened into a straight line. If it was about them, she didn't know if she could bear to talk about them right now. Even if the pain was from a while ago, it felt too recent.

Sora continued. "See, I know you weren't asleep from what you said. And nobodies like Organization XIII come from people with strong hearts. So…"

Penelope was quick to finish Sora's thought. "You were wondering if I had a nobody? Or could have one?"

Sora nodded. "I know you're unique as the Guardian of Light and Darkness. I don't know if someone like Kairi could ever have a Heartless, but maybe you could have a Heartless and a Nobody?"

Penelope frowned. This had never passed through her mind before. Due to her heart being in equilibrium, she didn't know if she could become a Heartless. After all, Kairi didn't seem to be able to. She was pretty sure Princesses of Heart—those with hearts of pure light—could never be split into halves of darkness and the shell that was left.

But what about her? Maybe it was the same as everyone else…

She paused when she heard Maria's voice beside her for the first time in a bit. "You can't. The state of your heart would never allow it."

Penelope paused, though disappointment was present on her face. Now didn't seem to be the best time to ask Maria why that was, though she answered Sora not too long after. They were close to Hollow Bastion, so she'd have to keep it brief.

"Um. I'm not sure. I know I'm in a pickle. It's… weird. I'd want to think that I would be able to have a Nobody too, but I'd probably just turn into a Dusk. I don't think I'd have a strong enough heart for that." She spoke uncertainly.

Sora gave her a look that reminded her of Roxas. The eyebrow raise and the questioning pout just screamed of him. Penelope did what she could to keep her composure. She had to get over it eventually, even though she knew Sora and Roxas were different despite being of the same whole.

"Penelope, you can shoot rays of light at Heartless if there's too much darkness in the area. We all know you have a strong heart." Sora replied back.

It was around then when they landed, and they had to go.

Penelope couldn't help but wonder if Maria was just talking about the Heartless part.

-o-o-o-o-

Sorry this part took a bit to upload! I've had a lot going on in my personal life this last month besides me working on my Drawtober and Mermakeup challenge. Both aren't done and I haven't gotten that backlog uploaded yet, but I'm close to having that done.

As for the reviews:

Arika: Sorry it took me a bit to respond! I didn't see the notification for your first review. From my understanding with Roxas, he's generally a lot more aggressive and brash than Sora. Not entirely, but he's generally a lot more serious. At this point in the story, everyone has forgotten Xion due to the circumstances of her creation and her memory. With the games, I don't think she's properly remembered until 3. That isn't to say Xion didn't leave an impact on Roxas. She did. I'm guessing a lot of it is anger issues. Mainly from unanswered questions and being denied a sense of his own identity and autonomy as Sora's nobody.

With the chapters, I've started on Olympus Coliseum's first visit. However, the chapters are still rough and I need to go back through with NPC scenes. I forgot if I had the pieces with the villains, and at least from what I saw with earlier chapters, I did. I know I'm not even close through getting through this, unfortunately, but I'm hoping I can work on powering through again soon. I've been working on some application requirements for the masters degree program I'm planning on applying for, and that's due in January, so it's taken more of a priority.

I do hope that I'll get back to being more consistent and writing again though! I've missed it.

I'll see you all in the next chapter!

Ciao!