"A half moon...a bright half and a dark half...just like ME." ~Yuno Gasai (Future Dairy)
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We entered Beast's Castle. "So, is this where he lives?" I asked.
"Looks gloomy," Sora commented. A loud roar echoed through the castle.
"Let's investigate that," Donald said.
We walked around until we entered a living room. It had two chairs, a fireplace, and a coffee table with a sparkling pink rose that petals were falling down slowly in a glass container. The Heartless appeared and surrounded the rose. We drew out our weapons and began to fight them. For every one Heartless that was defeated, three more took its place. Soon, they were multiplying to the point where it was out of control. "SOMEBODY HELP US!!!" Donald shouted.
Then, Beast appeared, slamming the door open. He gave a loud roar and knocked a Heartless away. The rest disappeared in fear that they will suffer under his wrath. "Hey, Beast!" Sora waved. "It's good to see you again!"
Beast ignored Sora and swiped him and I. We flew across the living room and hit one side of the wall. Donald and Goofy screamed and they were also knocked in one side of the wall. Beast picked up the glass container, held it protectively to himself, and left the living room. "What's up with him?" I demanded. "It seems like he had a bad day."
"Must be," Donald muttered. "A really bad day." He rubbed his cheek where Beast had hit him.
We left the living room and went up the stairs into one of the wings of the castle. At the end of the wing, there was a huge door. Sora shushed us. We crept over to the entrance of the door. Inside, there was mumbling. It sounded female. Donald ran back a little and charged towards the door. "Donald--" I cried as he smashed through the door. Well, more like the door opened before he hit it.
"Hey," Donald squinted. "Who opened the door?"
There was a girl with brown hair, a white dress, a baby blue apron, and black flats was at the door. "Oh, I'm so glad you're here!" She gushed, picking up Donald and crushing him in a hug. "Donald!" She saw us. "Sora! Goofy! And...who are you?"
"Sakura," I waved.
"Hi Belle!" Sora said.
"Put me down!" Donald yelled. "Put me down!"
Belle gasped and set Donald down. He shook his head and got up. "What's up with Beast?" I asked.
"I don't know," she sighed. "He always locks himself in the West Wing. We don't talk like usual. He's been acting strange, and I don't know why. The people who would most likely would know why he's acting like this are the staff, who he had locked up in the dungeon. I want to help but--"
"Wait, who locked who up?" Sora asked.
"Beast locked up his servants in the dungeon," Belle explained.
"But why?" Donald said.
"That's what I don't know," she replied.
"Hmmm..." Sora pondered. "Where's this dungeon?"
"You can get to the undercroft from the west hall. The dungeon is down there."
"Thanks."
"Be careful!"
Sora gave her a thumbs up and we left Belle's bedroom. Following her directions, we came down where the dungeon was. In front on the entrance was a wardrobe. I leaned against it and pushed it. It barely budged. "Sora!" I cried. "Donald! Goofy! Give me a hand here!"
Sora ran over, out his back against the wardrobe, and pushed it with me. It moved some more and the dungeon door became visible and we were able to open it. "Success!" I cheered.
"Just when I was getting comfortable..." The wardrobe yawned.
"Right. We need to get to the dungeon--"
"Well, why didn't you say so before?"
"YOU CAN TALK?!"
"What's with the sudden outburst? Yes, I can talk! I used to be human, you know!"
"Human?" Sora asked.
"Yes," Wardrobe replied. "We all used to be human. Even Beast. It all changed when one stormy night, an old woman came and asked for shelter. The Beast, who was a prince around that time, said no and told her to go away. The old woman came back and revealed herself as a enchantress. The Beast begged for mercy, but she didn't forgive him. She cursed him to look like who he was on the inside and cursed all of us."
"And how do we reverse the spell?"
"The others will tell you. I've said enough."
"Aw..."
"Hurry up and get int the dungeon and rescue the others! It's no place for a clock!"
"What?"
"You'll find out...."
We opened the old, heavy doors that led us to the dungeon. There was a huge stone statue gargoyles bent to be of the shape of a heart. Donald went up to examine it. The stone shell from the statue broke off and a huge fist smashed down onto Donald. "Uh-oh!" He yelled as he dashed away before he was flattened.
The creatures were the Heartless. They extended their arms and smashed them down onto us. A big shock wave came from their fists and knocked us back. They sent out dark balls which followed us around until they disappeared. I whacked the middle of the Heartless statue and it roared in pain. Sora ran up to the Heartless and pointed his Keyblade at it. The Heartless on the statue turned back to stone and a smaller Heartless came out. It was just a dark cloud with a face. I casted Fire on it and it disappeared in a puff of smoke. The stayed Heartless crumbled away and a big door appeared.
We pushed open the huge door which led to the real dungeon. It had three chairs. A teapot and teacup sat in one, a small grandfather clock sat in another, and a candlestick sat in the last one. "I don't see anyone down here." Sora sighed.
Wardrobe mentioned something about a clock, so I went up and picked up the small grandfather clock. I opened it up and been to fiddle with the gears. "Hey, don't touch that!" The clock laughed. "T-That tickles!"
"Whoa!" I dropped the clock in shock. "It talks!"
"Yes, we all do. I'm Cogsworth, the candelabra is Lumiere, the teapot is Mrs. Potts and the teacup is Chip." Cogsworth introduced himself and the rest of the servants to us.
"Yes, we are all delighted to see you!" Lumiere cried.
"I'm Sakura," I pointed to myself then spread my arms out. "This is Sora, Donald, and Goofy."
"We heard how you guys turned into household items," Sora said. "Can you tell us about the spell?"
"Oh, yes, the spell," Cogsworth cleared his throat. "Ahem. The enchantress who put all of us under the spell left behind a magical rose. She said if the Beast doesn't find love by the time the last petal of the rose falls, we will be cursed forever."
"Is that why Belle is here?"
"Yes! Unfortunately, Master has started to act weird, so they haven't been talking much."
"I can see that. Now let's go!"
We walked out if the dungeon they were in, but it led to another corridor. "Okay, how do we get out of here?" I asked.
"Well, we won't be able to get out very easily," Mrs. Potts replied. "This dungeon runs of some sort of contraption."
"What kind?" Donald said.
"Observe," Cogsworth gripped a handle and pulled it down. A lantern with some sort of darkness on it came down.
"The only way to get out of here is to light every lantern here," Lumiere explained "but, as you can see, they're already lit-with an enchanted flame. You must put out the enchanted flame before I can light it."
"Can't you just throw some water on it?" Goofy pointed out.
"I'm afraid it's going to take a little more than that to put it out," Mrs. Potts laughed. "We need some sort of light to put it out..."
"How about the Keyblade?" Sora suggested. He and I put our Keyblades on the lantern. The enchanted flame went out. Lumiere used some of his fire to light a new flame.
"Good job!" He smiled. "Three more to go!"
"This seems easy," I shrugged.
"It's a bit harder than you think it is. See Cogsworth over there? In order for all the lanterns to be down so we can out out the flame, he has to hold down that lever. If he gets tired and let's go, all the enchanted lanterns will go back up into the ceiling."
"Oh, I see."
We all ran down deeper into the corridor and I spotted another lantern. Sora and I put out the flame with our Keyblades and Luminere relit the lantern. We did the same thing with the next one we found. When we reached the forth one, it retracted back to the ceiling. "Cogsworth just let go of the lever!" Mrs. Potts cried.
We ran back to the beginning of the dungeon. Cogsworth was on the ground, panting. Mrs. Potts gave him some water and he jumped back up and held onto the lever. We ran back to the fourth lantern. Sora and I put out the flame while Lumiere relit it. We saw the end of the corridor, but no door. "Where's the door?" I asked.
"Ah, don't worry about that," Mrs. Potts replied. "See that piece of stone that's sticking out? Push it in and the door will open."
I saw the stone slab that was sticking out. Walking up to it, I pushed it in so it was even with the rest of the stone. The walls shook and an exit appeared. "I must check the castle," Mrs. Potts said. "I'm afraid the castle has fallen into a pitiful state since my absence."
"Same here," Lumiere added.
"Watch out for the Heartless!" Sora warned as Mrs. Potts and Lumiere hopped away.
"The Beast's room is the farthest room in the West Wing," Cogsworth said. "Now let's go!"
Cogsworth led us up to the West Wing. Sora turned the knob to the farthest room in there, like Cogworth instructed. There was the Beast, a man in an Organization cloak, and the rose. The cloaked man summoned up an invisible barrier so none of us could get out and he teleported away in a Corridor of Darkness. "Uh...Beast?" I stammered.
Beast roared at us and began to attack us. We screamed and jumped to one side of the room. "Master, please!" Cogworth begged.
Beast roared and a dark aura surrounded him. "He's not himself!" Sora cried. "We need to knock him good!"
Sora, Donald, Goofy, and I began to attack him. He kept on dodging and countering our attacks. Cogsworth then grabbed onto Beast and cried, "Master! Please! It's me!"
Beast's aura disappeared and he collapsed. "Cogsworth...what happened?" He asked, panting.
"Well...um...you see here...ah...how do I say this?" Cogworth sputtered.
"You locked everyone in the dungeon," I explained.
"I...what?" Beast looked confused.
"Well, you did," Sora informed. "It looked like you were under control or something. Who was that guy you were talking to earlier? The one in the black coat?"
"Xaldin," Beast told us. "That was his name. He came from the darkness. He...used my anger to control me. He took all my sorrow, my sadness, my pain-and turned it in into rage. There was nothing I could do...I could no longer see the truth."
"Well I'll be," Goofy said. "That's why you threw all your friends into that dungeon. You know, to protect them!"
"Was that it? There's no way to be sure..."
"Sure it is! We know you're good on the inside!"
"He's right Master," Cogworth added. "We've all seen how kind you can be. After all...Belle could see the kindness in your heart, but I'm afraid you-"
"Belle!" Beast cried. "I...I mistreated her. I mistreated her and acted so selfish."
"She didn't say anything about that," Sora mentioned.
"She could never tell anyone of my cruelty. She's too good." Beast sighed.
"Master, you judge yourself too harshly." Cogworth sighed
"Why don't you just go and talk to her?" Sora asked.
"But..." Beast started.
"No buts!" Sora interrupted. "We'll come with you and defend for you!"
Beast nodded, agreeing with us. We returned back to the East Wing. There, was Wardrobe. "Master!" She cried.
"Don't worry," he replied. "Everybody is safe now."
"Oh, thank you!"
"Where's Belle?"
"She left in a hurry. Something about...chasing down a man in black."
"WHAT?! WHY DOESN'T SHE EVER DO WHAT SHE IS TOLD?!"
"Temper, temper! Her spirit is what makes Belle so special."
"In that case, we'd better go find her!" Sora said.
Beast immediately took off as soon as Sora said that. We yelped as we followed close behind, yelling and begging for Beast to slow down. Beast didn't listen as he skidded to a stop in front of two large doorways on top of the two stairways that lead to the East and West wings of the castle, throwing it open. There, we saw Belle sprinting into the direction of the balcony. "Belle!" Beast shouted.
"I'm all right!" She assured as she pulled the door to the balcony open and went onto the other side, closing it behind her. As soon as she did that, a Darkball Heartless covered in chains appeared as it hovered outside the balcony door that Belle went through. It then plunged itself into the ground, covering the entire room in its darkness. Sora, Donald, goofy and I drew our weapons and Beast roared, getting ready to fight the Heartless.
The Heartless swayed in the air before turning into a ball of dark fire and flying into the darkness-consumed window, making a cross-cross pattern of chains to appear. The windows then shot rows of dark fire and I rolled away from the onslaught, waiting as the Heartless emerged from the window and flew up to the ceiling, taking possession of the chandelier and bringing it down into the center of the ballroom, causing a shock wave that blew us all back. Poles that weren't originally on the chandler stuck and were covered in blue lightening as the poles rotated around the chandelier. All of us stayed away from the chandelier as the lightning rods were out and rotating.
Then, the lightning stopped sparking on the poles and Sora ran up to it and jumped up, striking down on the chandelier with his Keyblade, causing the Heartless to break free of the chandelier and fly back into the air. I casted Thunder on the darn Heartless, shocking it and making it turn back into that ball of dark fire as it flew to the columns in the ballroom, taking possession of one of them but controlling all of them as the columns rose up and struck the ground, dragging its sharped bottom across the floor. Beast clawed the column that the Heartless took possession of, making it fly out once again. Sora and I jumped up and landed a strike on the Heartless, finishing it off.
Or so we thought.
The Heartless trembled in the air before opening its mouth, unleashing the darkness from within and consuming its whole body with it. It was a ball of swirling darkness. Then, the ball grew larger until it exploded, revealing a Heartless that resembled a chimera. It had bright blue veins highlighted on its limbs with long red hair and extremely long nails.
The Heartless roared as it landed on the ground. It wasted no time on us and began to spin around on the ground, arms extended and claws out, trying to scratch us. Goofy held his shield up to block the oncoming attack, but it could only do so much. We were blown back by the attack and sent sliding across the ballroom floor. Donald quickly casted Cure on all of us, helping us get back on our feet.
The Heartless jumped back into the air and took the chandelier instead of possessing it, it brought it down of the ground and began to drag it in a circle on the ground. We rolled away from the oncoming attack as the Chimera Heartless hopped off the chandelier, allowing it to go back up into the ceiling and it turned itself invisible.
All of us began to search the ballroom for any movement of some sort. We saw nothing, but we did hear it stomp around on the ballroom floor. It began to summon up dark blobs of darkness and sent them t us, which was our only clue to where the Heartless was.
Sora, getting an idea, jumped up and caught onto the chandelier as he swung himself up on top of it and brought it down, dragging it and circling the perimeter of the ballroom floor. Sora caught the Heartless as it revealed itself and Sora dragged it along the floor with the chandelier before stopping the chandelier suddenly, causing the Heartless to fly off of it and slam into the wall.
The Heartless rose up unsteadily as it shrieked, its cry cut short as it froze in place. Light shone through its body as it began to crack before it was consumed by the light, disappearing entirely within seconds.
"We did it!" Sora cheered as we all raised our weapons in the air in victory, exhausted from the intense Heartless battle.
"So you think," A voice snickered. We turned around to see a cloaked figure standing at the entrance of the ballroom, arms behind their back. That must of been Xaldin, who Beast was referring to earlier.
"Xaldin!" Beast shouted as we ran towards the cloaked figure.
"Farewell," Xaldin quickly summoned up a Corridor of Darkness, disappearing within the portal by the time we reached him.
"What does he want here?!" Beast snapped.
"He must be with Organization XIII," Sora informed. "Ever herd of the Nobodies? When a strong-hearted person turns into a Heartless, a Nobody's created, too. See, the Organization...they've got control of all the Nobodies."
"That's right," Goofy added. "And they were going to make you into a Heartless. That way, they could get that Nobody of yours and have control of it."
"You're all right!" Belle gasped as she entered the ballroom after waiting outside on the balcony.
"Belle!" Beast grinned as he approached her. Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts and Chip approached the two as well. "Belle...I-I'm sorry-I...wasn't myself," Beast stammered an apology. "I hope I haven't done anything to hurt you."
Belle smiled softly and shook her head no, which made Beast smile with relief. "Forgive me," he sighed.
"I know you weren't yourself," Belle assured. "You don't have to apologize. But I had hoped...that you might have changed a bit. I wish you could start trusting me."
Beast dropped his head in guilt as Belle crossed her arms and looked away, frustrated. "Oh, I am afraid time is running short," Lumiere fretted.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Remember the rose?' he replied.
"From the Beast's room?" Donald recalled.
"Precisely," Cogsworth nodded. "You see, if the master can learn to love, and earn love in return, before the last petal falls..."
"The spell will be broken," Lumiere finished.
"Really?" Sora raised a brow. "You think he's gonna make it?"
"I think so," Mrs. Potts nodded as she nuzzled Chip.
"Yep, I think you're right," Goofy said.
"Well, I HOPE you're right," Sora pointed out.
An outline of a crown appeared below us. Sora and I looked around in bewilderment-nothing in the room was triggering this to happen, so what's causing it? Our Keyblades appeared in hand and we shrugged at each other, doing what we always do. We held out our Keyblades and we were transported to another dimension. There was the rose. Sora and I held our Keyblades towards it. Two beams of light came out and hit the rose. There, I was pulled into a trance. A huge weaving was in front of me. I pointed my Keyblade at it. All the dark weaving wove itself out and new, colorful thread wove in it place. Once we were pulled back to the present, Beast and Belle approached us. "What happened?" Beast asked.
"The gate is open!" Donald explained.
"Do you have to go?" Belle asked.
"Yeah," Sora and I nodded.
"Now, no more arguin', okay?" Goofy reminded.
Beast and Belle awkwardly made eye contact before looking away from each other. "We'll see to it," Lumiere promised.
"Take care, dears," Mrs. Pott's bidded us farewell.
"You're welcome here anytime!" Cogsworth said.
"If you ever hear about the Riku, or the King, the Heartless, the Organization-anything at all-let us know!" Sora said.
Beast and Belle nodded as everyone smiled and waved goodbye. "Okay, gotta go!" We waved goodbye back and left for our Gummi Ship.