After finishing their last bit of business and preparations, Sora, Ruby, and their friends made their way to the first district to depart for Hollow Bastion. Within Merlin's cottage, Kairi shared one last smile with Sora, both of them remembering the promise they made to one another as Sora clutched her lucky charm. "See you later." Sora said affectionately.
Kairi gave a small nod, knowing deep in her heart that Sora would keep his promise. He may have been lazy and practically unreliable with how often his head was in the clouds...but he was one of the most heartfelt, kind, supportive, and wonderful people she ever knew. And she wouldn't have him any other way. Flaws and all.
With their farewells said, the group exited Merlin's house, hopping across the shifting stones in the water making a gap to Traverse Town's third district. Sora glanced back to the window where he saw Kairi and Merlin conversing as they drank tea together. Despite their promise to see each other, he couldn't help feeling worried about her. He just got Kairi back. If anything happened to her...
"Don't worry kid," Qrow's voice caught Sora's attention as he turned to see Ruby and Yang's uncle leaning on the outer wall of Merlin's home. "She'll be safe. Me, Winter and Leon's group are all here. Even with those stronger Heartless showing up, it won't be a problem for us. You already sealed the Keyhole to this world anyway." A reminder he delivered to Sora as he ruffled the boy's spiky hair, much to his surprise and mild embarrassment.
"I know," Sora said to him with a grin as Qrow finished his ruffling. "I just hope this really does put everything back to normal for us all...Bye Qrow." With a wave farewell, Sora joined up with his friends so they could tell Cid they got the navigation-gummi. It was time to head back to Hollow Bastion.
As he met up with them, he noticed that...everyone was staring at him with big smiles on their faces. Even Blake, who was previously looking the most worried of the bunch was smiling at him. With the most mischievous looking smiles being from Yang, Nora, Donald, Goofy, and even Neptune who didn't even follow them down there. The most adoring pair of smiles came from Ruby and Pyrrha, because of what they witnessed that nobody else did. All of which simply added to Sora's confusion. "Uhh, guys? Why are you smiling at me like that?" he asked with a blink. "Oh, nothin'." Goofy said with a mutual shrug ad shake of the head from all the other grinning party members. By now, Sora was utterly befuddled.
"Come on, gang! Now that we've got the Navi-G, we can get back to Hollow Bastion, and kick some Heartless butt! Teams RWBY, SRDG, and JNPR, MOVE OUT!" Ruby cheered, attempting to harness the optimism and positive attitude toward their objective. A resounding "YEAH!" went across the group.
Well, except for the more serious members of the group who settled for simply smirking in Ren's case, sighing in Blake's case, and in Weiss's case...being Weiss. "...I don't even know where to begin with what's wrong with that statement." she muttered.
"The why're you smiling, Weiss?" Yang interjected teasingly as she leaned in and poked Weiss's cheek. Sure enough, despite her words, there was a, dare one say it...adoring smile on her face at her best friend's antics.
"I-I am not smiling!" Weiss protested, poorly trying to mask it. "L-Let's just get on the Gummi ship already! We're burning daylight, not that there's much in this world to begin with!" With that, she stormed ahead, soon followed by everyone else. Each with a varying degree of amusement, confusion, and adoration for the Schnee heiress.
Fortunately, Cid hadn't moved from his previous position as he greeted the group with a smile as he saw the gummi in Sora's hand. "Ya found it? Alright, I'll go fix up your ship." he said, walking off a moment later. As he departed, Sora and his friends were left alone with each other and their thoughts. And suffice it to say, their minds were filled with so many thoughts for what was on the horizon.
Pyrrha's gaze shifted over to Sora, thinking about the silent promise she made to make sure he would fulfill his promise to Kairi. More still, if Sora truly was able to restore their worlds...then she would make sure he survived this, no matter what. Laying a hand upon her heart, she sighed and walked over to him, clearing her throat as she said, "Sora...Thank you."
"Huh? For what?" Sora asked, turning toward Pyrrha with a look of confusion. She sounded quite serious all of a sudden.
The redheaded woman continued smiling warmly as she replied, "For helping me steel my resolve."
Sora cocked his head with an expression of befuddlement. He didn't have a clue what Pyrrha was talking about. He was about to ask what she meant, and why she sounded so serious, until Cid returned with a smile on his face. "All set! You can get goin' any time!" he announced.
Ruby gave a triumphant fist-pump in response to Cid's announcement. "Woohoo! Alright! Okay, Teams RWBY, SRDG, and JN-Mrmnmph!?"
"We are NOT doing that again!" Weiss exclaimed, clamping her hands over Ruby's mouth. They had a mission to complete, not antics to enact. Or reenact in this case.
As Weiss led the way, dragging a whining Ruby along the way, Cid lay a hand on Sora's shoulder as he was about to join them. Now with HIS face looking all somber and serious. "Kid, I gotta say. I wish you didn't have to face all this danger." he said sympathetically. Sora had done so much, yet...no child should have to bear the weight of the world, let alone many worlds, on their shoulders.
With a final reassuring pat, Cid walked back to his workshop, leaving Sora more than a little concerned. Why was everyone being so...serious all of a sudden? All they had to do was close the Keyhole then everything would be fine again, right?
"Sora, come on!" Goofy called out, snapping Sora out of his thoughts.
"Hurry up!" Donald ushered, not wanting to wait around any longer, lest the Heartless make their way here while they lollygagged.
"Coming!" Sora called back, running down after them. He could think about these serious things later. For now, they had a Keyhole to lock.
With the aid of the new Warp Gummi, they managed to reach Hollow Bastion without any incident. They all landed at the 'Rising Falls' as they dubbed it, which prompted Neptune to groan as he tried to stay as far from the edge as possible. "We needed to come to this spot again?"
Sun rolled his eyes before saying, "Maleficent might not be around anymore but there's plenty of danger in that castle. Besides, getting too close to the castle might alert the Heartless. And there were already a ton BEFORE the Keyhole opened." His attention shifted off of Neptune as suddenly, he noticed a familiar furry figure standing near the edge with his eyes on the castle. "Beast?"
Sure enough, it was the Beast, alive and well after his encounter with Adam. Sora followed his gaze, which remained fixed on the castle. "Where's Belle?" he asked.
"Still in the castle." Beast answered with a mix of relief and regret.
Goofy was a little surprised when asking his own question. "Against her will?"
"Oh no... are Cinder or Adam her hostage?" Ruby asked with worry. If they had Bell, or the other princesses...
"No," Beast assured them firmly. "I think she stayed for a reason. The other Princess' are inside as well."
Donald hummed curiously. "I wonder why?" Why would they risk losing their hearts again with so many Heartless within the castle?
Whatever their reasons, Sora was relieved to know they were all okay. While it was far from ideal to say the least, it seemed using the Keyblade of Hearts on himself let to something good in the end. "Let's go ask them." he said, earning a nod of agreement from everyone else.
"You may need my strength. I'll go with you." the Beast said firmly. They all helped him reach Belle to begin with. The least he could do was help them get back inside on the way to find her again.
Blake smiled to Beast in the wake of his offer. And in relief of his safety. She wasn't sure what might have happened after he stayed behind. "I'm glad you managed to escape Adam unscathed." she said
"He was very difficult to handle, even for me. But those Heartless were drawn to the anger and hatred burning in his heart. Had they not been so focused on him compared to me...I might not have survived." Beast said as they made it to the lift and began ascending to the castle. "I don't believe he's sane enough to be in control of them like Maleficent and her group was. I made my escape only because there were too many of them. All that matters to me now is getting Belle back. Will...Will you help me?"
Everyone was surprised by how uncertain he sounded with his request. As if he wasn't used to asking for such things. But regardless, he was met with smiles all around. "You bet, Beast." Ruby said with a unanimous nod from her friends.
"Yeah. We didn't come this far to back out now." Sora, looking back up to the castle. "Alright, everybody. This is it. Let's go close that Keyhole!" And with that, they climbed the floating frigid platforms, and ascended to the castle entrance once again.
Immediately, they were forced to fight as a several fivesomes of Red Nocturnes appeared along the entrance walkway with a Sorcerer leading each one. The huntsmen and huntresses immediately aimed their firearms at the Heartless, peppering them with bullets. Jaune, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Beast rushed forward with to attack the ones that had the foresight to attempt evasion, cutting them down one after the other. Though these were quite basic Heartless by now, there definitely were a lot of them. "Jeez! Right out of the gate, we practically get swarmed!" Jaune complained, slicing a Red Nocturne pair alongside Sora.
"Gawrsh, if there's this many outside, how many do ya think are inside?" Goofy asked before being forced to block a Sorcerer's Fira.
"Worry about that later, Goofy!" Donald exclaimed, launching a Blizzara at one of the Red Nocturnes.
Not willing to deal with this delay, beast suddenly rushed forward, bellowing, "Step ASIDE!" and in one sharp motion, mowed down every single Heartless in his path. Everyone immediately stopped fighting as they saw their quarry had been wiped out. "Keep moving. These things won't stop us now." Beast said, leading the way again.
Everyone else stared for a moment, awestruck at the sheer amount of strength Beast seemed to possess. While they'd seen it the first time they came to Hollow Bastion, they STILL hadn't gotten used to it. "Holy-" "-crap." Sun and Neptune said respectively. But there was time for awe-struck admiration later. For now, they were just grateful the Beast was on their side.
The group soon found themselves in the foyer, where they last saw Adam and previously fought Riku. Much to their chagrin, Wyverns filled the room and immediately went to divebomb the intruders. "Incoming!" Ruby exclaimed, switching Crescent Rose to rifle mode, with everyone else following suit. At least those who COULD transform their weapons or provide ranged support.
Fortunately, most of the Heartless were gunned down by the huntresses and huntsmen before Sora, Jaune, and Sora cut and smashed away any that avoided the bullets and tried to get closer to the ground. Beast grabbed one of the Darkballs once they emerged and threw it to a Defender, making a perfect opportunity for Weiss to impale it through the chest then freeze it using the collected ammunition within her weapon. Once frozen solid, Yang shattered it to pieces with one punch and knocked a Wizard back for Ren to slice through.
"There's more than last time. Way more." Blake said, narrowly avoiding the jaws of a Darkball before cutting it in half.
"So? We'll just barrel through them all!" Nora cheered, switching her hammer to grenade launcher mode, blasting and exploding any Heartless unfortunate enough to be caught in her sights. That strategy had worked for them so far, so why not keep it up?
It took roughly two minutes of continuous fighting without a moment's rest. Eventually all the Heartless were vanquished. Now everyone was tired, however. The Heartless weren't letting up, and they couldn't afford to keep fighting them like this without rest. Fortunately, they had a place to rest just nearby just up one set of the stairs to the left side door at the next level. "Come on, everyone. Let's rest in the library." Pyrrha suggested, taking a deep breath.
"Good idea, Pyrrha." Jaune said as he fixed his hair. "We're gonna need to be at our best against whatever's waiting for us further up." And so, they wasted no time rushing up the stairs and making the left to their hopefully still safe refuge.
As everyone piled into the library, Donald took one last glance around to be sure no enemies were watching them and closed the door behind him. Blake let out a sigh of cheerful relief as she looked around the library. Unsurprisingly, she was already feeling better. As the Beast walked toward the stairs, he paused when thought he saw somebody up top. Somebody...familiar. His heart throbbed powerfully in his chest as he rushed up the stairs, and stopped right in his tracks as he saw...standing right in front of the little table near the balcony..."Belle!"
The brown haired, radiant yellow ballgown clad woman he called out to turned with a joyful smile on her face. "Beast!" The two of them immediately closed the distance between each other with an embrace that left everyone watching awed by just how tender Beast was with her. None of them would ever expected such tenderness and affection from such a great, big, hulking creature like him upon first sight. It seemed behind that gruff, bitter, bestial exterior beat a truly gentle and loving heart. One they suspected Belle to be largely responsible for unearthing.
When they finished their embrace, Belle turned toward Sora and his friends with a much more serious expression. "You've come to seal the Keyhole, right?" she asked, getting right to the proverbial heart of the matter.
Sora nodded immediately in response. "How bad is it?" Ruby asked. From the way Belle shook her head, it was clear that it was REALLY bad. "The darkness is raging inside. We've been holding it back, but we can't hold out much longer." So the other princesses were at the location of the Keyhole. Belle looked back at the bookshelf she was looking through, softly muttering, "So many books, but not one on how to banish the darkness."
"I wouldn't be surprised if Ansem destroyed any that might have had such knowledge...Monster." Blake muttered to herself with a clench of her fist. He seemed like the sort who placed no value on genuine knowledge if he was willing to consort with such dark powers at the cost of his people and home.
A sentiment that Belle nodded in agreement with. "Destroying books in such a selfish and cruel manner is unforgivable." she said, earning a mutual nod from Blake. Both book lovers swore a silent oath that Ansem would not get away with it.
Beast and Ruby both blinked with surprise at their interaction. Of all the ways Beast expected Blake to bond with Belle over books...this wasn't quite what he had in mind. "Oh! Although, we did find something that could help you. We found them at the place where you defeated Maleficent." Belle said, gesturing to two items sitting upon the nearby desk.
Everyone gathered around, looking to the page as Sora picked it up then read it out loud.
"Ansem Report 5"
Immediately, everyone's attention was dead focused upon Sora with utmost intensity.
To study the Heartless behavior, I picked one out for observation. It wiggled it's antennae and, as if sensing a target, headed deep into the castle. In the deepest part of the castle, it's antennae began vibrating, as if searching for something. Suddenly, a strange door appeared. I'd never known of its existence.
It had a large keyhole, but didn't seem to be locked. So I opened the door. What I saw on the other side mystified me. What was that powerful mass of energy? That night I observed a great meteor shower in the sky. Could it be related to the door that I have opened?
"Wait. Remember the seventh Ansem Report we found in Halloween Town?" Weiss suddenly spoke up, drawing everyone's gazes. "Didn't it mention something about meteors and how they were apparently the same stuff our ship is made out of?"
Pyrrha tapped her chin, realizing that, even though they found them in a rather disjointed order, there was something of a pattern to these reports. "Which we learned the ninth report after defeating Hook." she said, compounding on Weiss's observation. "It said he found that out from meeting a King who was traveling in the same kind of ship."
Weiss nodded and spoke again. "Which actually makes me think: Did your King know Ansem?" she asked Donald and Goofy, who could only shrug in response.
"If he did, we've never heard of him until we first went to Traverse Town." Donald admitted.
"Yeah. First we ever heard the name was from Aerith and Ozpin." said Goofy, actually managing to get the Headmaster's name right. "The King never mentioned him before."
"Uhh, guys?" Jaune spoke up, clearing his throat awkwardly. "As much as I'd like to figure this mystery out, we've still got that Keyhole constantly releasing darkness in this castle."
"He's right. Figuring it out won't matter if we don't seal it. Let's focus on that for now." Ruby said as she got from her seat at a table.
"What about Belle?" Sora said, looking toward the aforementioned woman with concern. "Even if the Heartless aren't here now, they might show up later."
Beast glanced from Sora to Belle before putting a protective arm over her shoulder, bringing her closer to him. "I'll watch over her. I've been separated from her long enough. Don't worry. She'll be safe with me." he said, shifting his gaze fully to Belle with a tender smile.
A smile she returned as she shifted closer to Beast in kind. Everyone smiled and nodded, agreeing with the plan. As much as Beast had been useful in their endeavors in the castle, he deserved to remain with her after all they both went through. And so, grasping ahold of the gem and pocketing it, Sora turned to everyone else with a nod. It was time to move on. "Good luck, Sora. I know you and your friends will face the darkness, as Beast has, and win." Bell said with resolute certainty. With that, everyone bid the reunited couple farewell and departed.
Blake lagged behind for a moment, looking back at them as she said, "Belle...you and Beast take good care of each other. Okay?" Both of them smiled and nodded, clasping hands again. Blake couldn't help but feel wistful as she looked at them. She found herself wondering...if she had stayed with him...would she have been able to have helped Adam see the error of his ways? Or was that simply wishful thinking for someone who was too far gone already? She'd doubted so much, ever since they both started fighting together for the White Fang. She wanted to trust him. Wanted to believe in him. But now...no. She couldn't think about that. If she did find and fight him, she had to keep him away from her friends no matter what.