Chapter 18: The Queen and the Castle

The team took some time to rest on the ship before embarking to their next destination. Donald and Goofy noticed that they had a ping from Chip and Dale. Apparently, they had been summoned by the Queen to head to the Castle ASAP.

So, the Castle was their next destination. Sora seemed excited by this, as he hadn't been there before. Donald and Goofy had spoken of it, as well as their duties at the castle. Though he also remembered the other matter that came up.

Donald and Goofy handled flying the Gummi Ship towards Disney Castle. Sora took the time to meet with Penelope, who was sitting back in her seat and trying to relax.

"Hey, Penelope. Your knowledge of the hydra sure helped back there, even if it was hectic." Sora noted, only for her to raise a brow.

"Did it? You guys still went gung-ho anyway, especially as you went and cut its heads. I'm not sure if that thing even had virulent blood like the one, I read about…" she replied doubtfully.

Goofy shook his head in disagreement, and Sora added on to what he said. "I remember you've talked before about what you've read in books. And didn't Maria want you to work on synchronization? Maybe this could help!" Sora explained.

"Help with what? You all know I'm just the spare tire to the group." Penelope answered.

The boys sighed at this. Donald brought up the matter of magic. "What are you talking about? You had more on hand than we thought! You also managed to conjure a healing Curaga field on the ground! Did you pick that up from your teachers?"

Penelope frowned. "No, I've sort of just figured out ways to change my magic application through observation and practice. Maria only came in as a teacher recently, and Zia's grown weaker as of late. I haven't had as much time to go in and see Merlin and practice either." She answered nonchalantly.

Sora crossed his arms in thought. "I know that you tend to be pushed to the back and tend to not feel included. If our last adventure proved anything, it's that. You're a part of the team too! You're good at seeing things we may not and finding openings. So that got me thinking."

The girl straightened up, crossing one leg over the other. "About…?"

"I know I'm good at finding windows to react. I know that when I get focused in the heat of battle, I may not entirely think unless I step back and get to. What if you handle tactics and calling out windows to sync up or use limits?" Sora suggested, grinning.

Penelope furrowed her brow. "Are you sure you'd want me to do that…? You're more of the leader. When we walk in, everyone pays more attention to you. I feel like I just carry everyone down."

Sora put his head in his hands, trying to figure out how to rephrase things. Goofy stepped in around this time, deciding to be firmer.

"Ya know, Penelope. This ship runs on happy faces. I know ya mean well and are just worried, but we can't work together if ya let your head get in the way," he explained. "I've gone through this with my Maxie."

Penelope raised a brow at the unfamiliar name at the last part. "So. When ya get down like that, we gotta figure out a better solution. We wanna make sure that you know we're all in this together."

The girl rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "Are you sure you guys aren't just saying that? I hate to be a sourpuss, but you really don't have to feel obligated to-!"

Penelope was cut off when Goofy was out of his seat. He met her at eye level, and his gloved hands were squishing her face. Gently, he shushed her. Donald raised a brow at whatever was going on, and Sora was looking back over in utter confusion.

The girl slowly blinked, processing what had just happened. She was feeling stunned… awkward and embarrassed too. It was almost like she was being treated like a little kid. Not necessarily in a condescending way—she was pretty sure that wasn't what Goofy intended. She was just confused.

"Don't beat yourself up. We're in on this together, okay?" Goofy reminded her, maintaining a calm but firm tone.

Penelope opened her mouth as if to say something, but she couldn't muster any words.

And then, another thought came to Sora. "Whoa. Maybe we should do that whenever she starts beating herself up."

"Hey! That's a good idea Sora!" Goofy explained.

Penelope flustered up, pulling away when Goofy finally stopped squishing her face. "Hey! Are you trying to make me die of embarrassment? Why do that?" She asked.

"It definitely got you out of your head." Sora pointed out as Goofy sat back down.

"Uh? Because it took me off guard? Also, who the heck is Maxie?" Penelope asked.

"Oh, Max is my son." Goofy answered. Donald nodded, and for some reason, the two didn't elaborate on this. This took Sora off guard as well. The teenagers looked at each other in surprise. "We don't get to see each other as much, with Maxie doin' his own thing and me being the captain of the guard."

That made sense, but it didn't make it less surprising.

"Does Donald have kids we don't know about too? The King?" Penelope asked.

"You've met my nephews before," Donald answered. "Huey, Dewey, and Louie. They're running some shops in Radiant Garden."

Oh. Donald had probably mentioned this before, especially as he had a great uncle. Jiminy also had probably known about this considering he was the chronicler.

"The King has a half-brother named Oswald. Oswald has other duties to worry about in his own world of the forgotten, so I don't think you'll be able to meet him." Goofy replied.

"The king has a brother?!" Sora and Penelope asked in unison.

Well, wait. They hadn't had a chance to talk to Mickey as much. Hell, Mickey was doing his own thing and Penelope didn't have a chance to ask. She didn't even know it was a thing.

Penelope then vaguely recalled that book Yen Sid had. She didn't ask about it, but she saw he had a record of Mickey's history of mischief.

"Does that relate to that one book Master Yen Sid had? About the king's past mischief?" Penelope suddenly asked. Sora's eyes grew wide.

"His book of what?"

Donald's eyes shifted around, and he nodded. "Back in the day, the King had all sorts of adventures. Sometimes we'd go with him, sometimes we wouldn't. Don't tell him we told you though."

Penelope giggled. "Oh, don't worry. I'll have more than enough time to ask once this adventure is over." She replied.

Sora raised a brow, about to ask why. But this was around when they had finally made it to Disney Castle and were about to disembark.

Yet another thing to bring up later…

XxXxX

(Disney Castle- Ship Bay)

Sora's eyes were wide in curiosity after they landed on the ship. During their first adventure, they had seen the world where Donald and Goofy came from. But they were never able to really land there—only see it. He looked around the dimly lit area where they had landed.

"So, this is your castle…" he mused, before turning around and smiling. "Must be nice to be home, huh?"

Donald and Goofy were notably distracted, looking around in concern for something. They… could sense that there was something strange about the castle.

"Ya know, somethin' just don't feel quite right…" Goofy spoke up, looking back over at Sora and Penelope. Donald had his arms crossed, appearing suspicious about the energy as well and nodding. From higher up, Chip and Dale appeared in the flesh, sliding down the stair banister.

The two tiny chipmunks had a sense of urgency to them, which… also seemed odd. Over video call on the Gummi Ship, the two of them didn't tend to act that way.

"You're back!" began Chip, who was followed up by Dale. "Move it! Let's go!"

"Queen Minnie needs to see you!" Chip added urgently. "The castle's in danger! Hurry! To the library!" continued Dale.

Penelope raised a brow, finally broken out of her own observations as she joined back up with the other three. Upon being tuned in, she was able to pick up on something strange. She began scratching a little at her arms. "I'm… not sure how to word this. Does the energy of the castle normally feel prickly? Or is it from nerves of finally getting to see this place?"

Donald and Goofy were more in a hurry to get up the stairs, following Chip and Dale. Sora had little clue what was happening. It would probably make the most sense to wait on that question until they got to the library to see the Queen. Or, nobody would answer. Quite frankly, the brunette wouldn't be surprised if that were the case at this point.

From the ship bay, the quartet exited into a beautiful courtyard garden. It was surrounded by the tall, castle walls, and they could see the high towers of the building further up in the distance. The courtyard bustled with greenery, with many yellow flowers and plenty of grass paths and shrubbery. The symphonic-cut topiaries of anthropomorphic animals were incredibly charming.

But the group was met by Heartless. Which… didn't seem quite right. Like, at all. Sora and Penelope never had to go there to seal a Keyhole to fend off the Heartless pandemic from their first adventure. Donald and Goofy were alarmed to see Heartless there as well. It didn't take them long at all to clear the multitude of them out from the Courtyard.

The nice thing was that hidden amongst the topiaries and shrubberies, there were plenty of natural platforms with chests. It clearly wasn't the time to take a nice stroll around the garden, which was fairly disappointed.

There were also plenty of Minute Bomb heartless in the garden. Sora, Donald, and Goofy weren't familiar, but Penelope was. Donald was unfortunately prone to shoot them with fire, which would lead to a countdown that would cause them to explode. And said explosions hurt when they made impact.

Penelope wondered if it would be a good time to give intel on the Heartless when they got to the library. The dark reception continued when they continued into the colonnade from the courtyard, and unfortunately, there were waves upon waves of Heartless still in their path. The group was able to continue powering through the threat fine, but it was still a continual uphill battle.

Sora and Penelope took the opportunity to try and level up their Valor forms as they headed through the hall. With as many shadows and general Heartless they were facing that presently flooded the colonnade, it seemed like a good time. Penelope's Valor form was hurting her less the more she leveled up the form and used it. The two Keyblade wielders danced through the onslaught, leaving a massacre of the remaining Heartless in their wake.

Finally, they got to the library where Queen Minnie was waiting. She had some similarities to Mickey with the big round ears, though her face looked softer. She had a golden tiara on her head, and a voluminously frilly pink dress on that shrouded her small figure.

Donald saluted upon seeing the Queen. "Your Majesty! Queen Minnie! We're back!"

Minnie smiled and clasped her hands, looking relieved. "You're here…"

Goofy straightened up and saluted her as well, his face shifting to a serious look. "Your Royal Highness, did you happen to summon us?"

Minnie nodded with a simple "yes". Sora, unlike Donald and Goofy, put his hands on their head and shoulders respectively, looked around appearing confused. He… didn't have much tact addressing the situation, only asking "Where's the king?".

Donald looked exceptionally unimpressed with Sora when he did this. The Queen looked up at Sora surprised, fluttering her eyelashes and tilting her head. Penelope joined the group, trying to hold back her excitement. She wanted to go through and start reading all the books that were in the small library that she could. But she knew it probably wouldn't be the best time. She politely curtsied while Donald pulled Sora down and sternly took him down a peg.

"Excuse him. This is our friend, Sora. The other one is Penelope." Donald introduced, calming his voice.

Minnie seemed excited to finally meet the two. "Oh, Sora! And Guardian Penelope. The King told me all about you both in his letters. He said you were a very brave young man, Sora. And of you, a capable young woman, Penelope."

Sora smiled as this, brushing against his nose with his hand. Despite this, he… still had very little tact. "So, do you know where he is?"

Minnie crossed her arms, shaking her head. Sora, Donald, and Goofy sighed at this while Penelope remained quiet. Donald finally brought up the main point of concern now that they were finally here. "Your Majesty, what are Heartless doing in your castle?"

The Queen turned away, starting to process more of the situation. "Oh my… So those are the Heartless." She sighed, shuddering. It seemed to be her first time seeing them, which further clarified the fact they never needed to come here before.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of 'em!" Sora answered, taking it in stride. Penelope simply nodded, continuing to wait a minute to speak.

"I know I can count on you both. Now, there's something I'd like all of you to come and see. Would you please escort me to the audience chamber?"

The four saluted the Queen in response, respecting her order. However, Minnie suddenly gasped upon realizing something crucial. "I forgot to warn everyone else in the castle about the danger! We must be sure they're hidden somewhere safe!"

From there, the four began to delegate. Sora was the one who took most of the initiative here. They decided that Donald and Goofy would split up to go find the others in the castle. Sora did try to be the one to handle finding people and warning them. However, he didn't know the layout of the castle. Neither did Penelope, who also considered helping with finding everyone. Penelope and Sora were tasked with staying with Minnie and protecting her while Donald and Goofy handled taking care of the rest.

The Queen had been listening intently to how they managed delegating the tasks, smiling and giggling to herself as she watched them handle it. Eventually, Donald and Goofy left the library to begin their side of the job, while Penelope and Sora stayed back with the Queen. Finally, Sora figured out how to be formal about the matter. "The audience chamber, right ma'am?"

"Yes Sora, let's be on our way."

Penelope took a moment to finally speak up. "Pardon me, Your Majesty. Before we leave, may I speak to you? It's not important for right now, but for later." She calmly explained. Minnie's ears perked up, and Penelope proceeded to whisper something to her.

Sora didn't really pick up on what Penelope was whispering at all. She managed to stay very quiet and discreet. Queen Minnie also didn't seem to give any hints about the conversation at all, listening alertly to Penelope.

"Of course, Guardian Penelope. Once we get matters settled here, you are fine to access the library. Whenever the King gets back, we will find a good time for you to tour the castle and the town around it. That likely won't be until the end of your adventure."

Penelope smiled and nodded. "Thank you so much, Your Majesty. I'm looking forward to it after everything is finished up." Sora furrowed his brow, gazing curiously at the Queen and Penelope.

Was there something going on after they defeated Organization XIII and found Riku? Was it a party or something that was still being planned? Or was it something else? Penelope hadn't peeped a word about what she planned to do. He just thought they were going to go back home to the islands after everything was said and done.

The guardian caught onto Sora's look quickly, only waving her hand quickly and dismissively. It was like she was telling him either "we'll talk later" or "don't worry about it", but it was hard to tell. After all, they had a job to do with escorting the Queen.

And so, the two Keyblade wielders headed out the library door, with Queen Minnie following close behind.

XxXxX

As soon as the trio came out, they quickly found there were Heartless teeming everywhere down the hall. The shift from their absence to their sudden presence startled Penelope in particular, who had to adjust to the imbalance. Sora handled the ones in the front, while Penelope took the ones in the front.

Sora was quick to mow down any Shadows and Minute Bombs in the front with strikes and swipes of his blade. When he called the Queen over, they were able to work together to use a strong, light based attack called "Faith". Honestly, they made a really good team.

Penelope fired off at any Heartless attempting to come in through the back with Radiance. The attack currently came more natural to her, especially with the imbalanced overload present in the Castle right now. She also sniped at any Bolt Towers that tried to hit Minnie and Sora with her magic as well.

However, they were quick to find that the Heartless coming out were probably some leftover overflow from the Audience Chamber. Minnie had a purple magic seal on the door of light, which she took time to begin to remove.

"As soon as the trouble started, I made sure to seal off this room." Minnie explained, focusing her magic power. A mere second or two later, the seal released in a burst of light. Penelope was about to ask how they were supposed to push open such huge doors (as that seemed like a major task with just two. Closing the Door to Darkness took 3-4 people on one side and two on the other.

Except then, a smaller door they could walk through opened up from the large one. Perhaps now wasn't the time to overthink little things like doors.

"Now then, shall we?" the Queen asked. No objections from the assisting parties. Sora and Penelope had to slightly duck down through the door as they followed Queen Minnie in.

For a moment, the room seemed completely devoid of Heartless. But it was too quiet. Sora and Penelope could tell. The girl in particular could feel an aching tightness in her chest. There was a great source of abnormal darkness in the area, and they were this close to uncovering it.

And then, the many a Bolt Tower heartless came all at once. Minnie was astonished that they had gotten in, but Sora and Penelope were on it. The room was filled almost to the brim with all these tall lightning spewers. Penelope went into Valor Form, taking some damage but amplifying her attack and fire magic.

Penelope focused on the perimeter of the room to distract the Heartless away from Sora and Minnie. The latter took the middle, striking whatever was in their way with Faith and a healthy dose of Keyblade combos from Sora. But they kept coming and coming, much to Sora's chagrin as he guarded Minnie when they finally got across the room to the throne. It took Minnie a moment to find a switch on the underside of the arm rest to activate a secret chamber.

The moving floor revealed blinding light which filled the room and eradicated the very unwelcome party on sight. For now, it eased some of the aching tightness in Penelope's chest, but she didn't understand why it was still present. Sora scanned the room for any more heartless, relieved to see no more.

Minnie took a breath. "The room below is called the 'Hall of the Cornerstone.' Our castle has always been safe from worlds that are evil… thanks to the Cornerstone of Light that we keep down there." She explained. Sora and Penelope came back together and looked down the wide flight of stairs leading to the chamber below.

"The Cornerstone… of Light?" He asked, only to see Minnie was headed downstairs to check in on the chamber. Sora followed Minnie in a rush upon realizing he was slacking behind. Penelope was last to follow, examining the sensations and feeling the darkness creep in ever closer.

The first thing of note when it came to the Hall of the Cornerstone was that the room was probably larger than it appeared. It was strangely dark, mainly because it was strangely cramped.

Why? Well, there was a large amount of thorny, charcoal-hued roots overtaking the room. The only source of light was a large ball on the pedestal, which Sora and Penelope assumed was the Cornerstone. It… seemed less stone-like and more like a massive glass crystal sphere, but that was beside the point.

The Queen had deep, astonished sorrow in her voice as she showed Sora and Penelope the Cornerstone. "This is the Castle's cherished cornerstone… But look! The thorns… they must be the work of someone very evil. I wonder what this could mean…"

Penelope noticed that Donald and Goofy had beat them to the chamber. They were at a loss as to what was going on as well. Sora came over to comfort Minnie, but also to take a closer look as to what could have happened.

Thorns… The Queen was right when she said these thorns were likely the work of someone very evil. But the sensation Penelope was feeling didn't make sense. She took a deep breath, feeling the choking weight of a smoky yet charred wood scent.

That dark essence reminded Penelope of one person in particular. Unless it was some remaining fragment of them though, it was nigh impossible.

Because this figure was someone the group defeated for good. They should have long made their trip down to the Underworld by now.

A spark of green flames caught the corner of Penelope's eye, her head sharply turning left to look and see what it was. The flames grew larger, revealing…?

"Maleficent!" Donald shouted in a panic.

"No way!" Sora exclaimed, baffled at what he was looking at. Still… this Maleficent didn't look right. It was her—they all knew it was her. But. It looked like more of a projection. Penelope, Donald, and Goofy promptly came over by Sora and the Queen.

"Well, well, well. What have we here…?" Sneered the evil fairy, as she eyed the group before her. "If it isn't the wretched Keyblade holder, his pitiful lackeys, and that miserable little Guardian!"

Donald naturally didn't take that well. He grasped his staff, threatening, "What!? Now you're gonna deal with me!" before charging in, diving, and hitting the Cornerstone. Yep, this was definitely some kind of astral projection of Maleficent from… somewhere.

"All in good time. I promise you'll be able to partake in your vengeance. But you must be patient."

Minnie narrowed her eyes, knowing something wasn't right. "Just what are you doing here, Maleficent!?" She questioned, staying on her guard.

"Ah, Queen Minnie. Radiant, as always." Maleficent said with a bow. "I'm here on a property venture. I want this castle for my own. However, it's a bit too 'bright' for what I have in mind. I suppose I'll have to fill every room with my personal touch of darkness."

Penelope butted in with a snarky comment. "If you want darkness, I'm pretty sure blackout curtains and a trip to the hardware store for some paint would do the trick. I don't think this kind of property would fit your needs."

Maleficent shot Penelope a look of side-eye, focusing her yellow-green gaze on the Cornerstone and touching it. However, she was irritated by the sparks of light that zapped her hand when she tried. Sora summoned his Keyblade in response to this.

Minnie gave the Mistress of All Evil a frank but stern warning. "You'd better stop right now if you know what's good for you!"

"Ooh, how frightening!" Maleficent replied with a hearty dose of sarcasm in her voice. "Very well. I'll stop… just as soon as the castle belongs to me!"

With a cackle, she disappeared in green flames just as she appeared. Her laughter echoed and filled the room.

"Sheesh. Someone was rehearsing that evil laugh from beyond the grave." Penelope remarked.

"What a hag…" Sora huffed.

Minnie clasped her hands together, shaking her head. She uncertainly looked around again, still in the dark as to what had happened here. "Nothing like this has ever happened before… I looked through all the records in the library, but I couldn't find a single clue." She explained, as Donald regrouped from his blunder with the rest.

Goofy tried to come up with an idea on the fly upon hearing this. "Ohhh! We should go ask somebody who knows lotsa stuff that ain't in any book!" He exclaimed.

"Merlin the Wizard!" Donald exclaimed.

Minnie approved of this. "Yes, that's a great idea! Merlin just might know something about this mess. Let's ask his advice."

Well, the group had last seen him in Hollow Bastion. Penelope was skeptical of the idea, as even if Merlin had an inkling of the problem, it was hard to know if he had been to the Castle before.

And even if he had been there before, it would be hard to know how long. Regardless, it was worth a shot.

So, the quartet headed back to the Gummi Ship and flew back to Hollow Bastion.

XxXxX

Sora, Donald, and Goofy called for Merlin when they arrived. However, he didn't appear to be home right now. As they made a racket, the wizard appeared in a puff of magical smoke behind them. "What is all the racket?" he asked, before it occurred to him. "Ho-ho! I thought—oh, it's you!"

The four drew closer, and Merlin saw them briefly. "It looks like you've learned a bit since the last time I saw you."

Sora's eyes lit up at this, amazed that Merlin could see this at a glance. But it wasn't the matter at hand. In fact, Donald was the one who frantically shot down the discussion before it could even start. "Wait a minute! Let's talk about the problem!" Donald shouted, his feathers ruffled. "It's Maleficent! She's back!"

"Where? Inside the castle!?" Merlin asked.

"Yep! And Heartless, too." Goofy replied.

"Oh dear…" Donald went ahead to speak quickly, going off on a fast exposition dump to Merlin that was hard to follow from there…

But. It didn't matter. In fact, while Donald was summarizing, Merlin used his magic to take them back to the problem—which meant they were back at square one in the Hall of the Cornerstone. It surprised Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

Considering how fast Donald was talking though, it made some sense why they'd just go back to the problem. Donald wasn't impressed by this. "Perhaps, I'd better just see for myself."

The old wizard went to examine the Cornerstone to see the issue. His face flushed pale the longer he looked. Minnie didn't take this as a good sign. "What's happening, Merlin?"

"This is not good. In fact, I'm afraid it's quite serious." He cleared his throat, casting a spell and conjuring a crown shaped door. It… didn't explain anything though.

Sora furrowed his brow, tilting his head to the side. "What's that?" the young Keyblade wielder asked, motioning to the new door before them.

"My boy, that is a gateway to a special world. Someone in that world is responsible for what's going on in this castle. Of that, I'm certain."

"Oh boy!" exclaimed Donald.

"We knew we could count on you, Merlin!" Goofy added, grinning.

Sora went over to open the door, touching the handle. "Then we should go get him!"

Merlin stopped Sora before he could open it, reaching his hand out to beckon him over. "Wait a moment. The perpetrators must be stopped, of course. But there's something else to do first. Somewhere in that world, there should be another door that's identical to this one. I believe our enemies are utilizing that door. As long as it remains open, the castle will be in grave danger."

That did make sense. It would sort of explain how the other party got in to damage the Castle's magical light defense system from the inside like this.

"Listen carefully, Sora. You as well, Guardian Penelope. You must find that door. And when you do—lock it with your Keyblade." Merlin instructed. The quartet took on the mission, though Penelope seemed to be pondering something. "Now one more thing," Merlin quickly added. "You're heading into a very special world. While you're there, the nature of that world may tempt you to do something dark. You must resist that temptation at all costs!"

Sora paused, still not getting it. "What do you mean?"

Penelope wondered if they were going in some kind of hell. Or if this was some kind of practical joke, he was pulling on them.

"You'll know soon enough. I have in faith in you, my lads and lass!"

That… didn't help.

What kind of world was behind that door? They'd see soon enough.

-o-o-o-o-

Sorry this chapter took so long! I still plan on continuing this and I hope to finish this by the end of the year if I can. The last few months have been very hectic for me. Besides my main job, I've had physical health issues and family obligations I've had to worry about. It's been very draining on me, especially with motivation, and it's made it very hard for me to sit down at my computer. I'm hoping that I'll have an easier time now that I'm starting to get back into writing again.

Timeless River is one of my favorite worlds. I'm looking forward to writing it, as there's unfortunately something I'd had in mind for Penelope. You'll see soon enough!

I'll see you all in the next chapter.

Ciao!