Yuki pushed against the heavy doors the led into the familiar white halls of what she hoped was the now empty Castle Oblivion. She didn't have the slightest clue why the doors were so large, it really seemed more a hindrance than anything to her. Slowly entering the entryway she scanned the surrounding area. It seemed empty, but that was no guarantee.

Yuki glanced over her shoulder and out the door. She smiled softly and motioned toward Naminé, who nervously stood at the doorway. She slowly entered, her arms drawn close to her as she made her way to Yuki.

"Well, I'm not certain. But I'm pretty sure neither of the organizations have been here for a while. We should be safe." Yuki said. She gently placed a hand on Naminé's shoulder. Naminé jumped slightly turning to Yuki, her blue eyes wide with fear. She blinked a few times before nodding and looking around again. "You ok?" Yuki asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Fine, just nervous." Naminé answered without hesitation. Yuki frowned as she looked around again. She always hated hearing how scared Naminé sounded. She seemed afraid of everything. It was something Yuki wished she could stop.

"Right. They kept you prisoner here, didn't they?" Yuki asked quietly. Naminé nodded, her attention remaining on the world around her, rather than on Yuki. "Well, if you want we can find a different world. I'm sure the guys at Hollow Bastion wouldn't mind helping." Yuki suggested. Naminé quickly shook her head.

"No, here is probably better. I-I'm a Nobody anyway. They wouldn't help me." She insisted. Yuki frowned placing a hand on her hip.

"Yeah, I'm a Heartless and they don't a have a problem with me." She pointed out. Naminé only smiled softly, as if amused.

"You're special." She said softly.

"And so are you," Yuki said without a thought. She frowned looking down at the ground. Naminé hadn't been the only one to insist Yuki was something special. In fact, most of the other Heartless said similar things, at least the elite ones. Yuki hadn't met many of the Nobody's, but the few she had met seemed to have the same thought. Zexion had even said there was something odd about her. And of course DiZ, he always called her a monarch. That was probably the strangest of the things she had been called.

Yuki glanced up at Naminé once again. The blonde Nobody was still looking around, her fear less apparent now. She looked somewhat calm for the first time since they had left Twilight Town. She had been with DiZ for some time. Yuki wondered if he had ever explained himself to Naminé. Not likely, since he considered her nothing but a monster. But, it was worth asking.

"You know, that DiZ guy called me a monarch more than once," Yuki said. She paced away from Naminé going to the stairs. Naminé watched her, turning just slightly as she waited for Yuki to continue. "I didn't really think much of it at first. But now," Yuki trailed off. It seemed too strange, there was no reason for it.

"But now what?" Naminé asked curiously.

"Does that actually mean something?" Yuki asked looking up at Naminé. Naminé glanced away before nodding.

"Yes." She said quietly. Yuki blinked in surprise, her eyes widening. If that meant something if he hadn't been lying, did that mean she was something more than a simple elite?

"But, I thought I was the lowest ranking of the elites." Yuki said. Naminé shook her head.

"You were told that so you'd cooperate." She explained. "They really had no control over you. You can control them. You're, you're the queen." Naminé said. Yuki stared at Naminé in shock. She had never heard the term used, but it felt wrong. She didn't control anything, and she certainly didn't think she was a queen. She couldn't handle that sort of responsibility. Not with her mind being a mush of half forgotten memories.

"That is ridiculous. I can't control X, or Y." Yuki pointed out, hoping to prove herself to be something less. Naminé smiled softly, and Yuki had a feeling she had expected that sort of thing.

"Y is the princess and X, well he's almost like your knight." Naminé said simply. Yuki frowned yet again. What made them so powerful? Why these three in particular? "It takes a lot more to control higher ranks. So, you've never really been able to command them. But with enough time and practice,"

"I could." Yuki said cutting off Naminé.

"Yes." Naminé agreed with a nod. Yuki sighed heavily hanging her head.

"Well, that would've been nice to know a year ago." She complained. She heard Naminé laugh slightly, amused by her behavior. Yuki found herself smiling for no real reason. "Well, guess it's time to practice." She decided standing up.

*<3*

X was not a fan of the next world. It was always dark and gloomy, and just seemed heavy and confining. He had been here a few times when he had been with the organizations. Beast's Castle, a world that was occupied by some strange magic that no one had ever really found the source of.

"Hey, what is this place?" Sora asked as he looked around the entryway of the dark castle. X glanced around nervously. Rarely had the castle been empty. But it seemed it was this time. X wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

"It's huge!" Donald said in shock.

"And sorta gloomy, don't ya think?" Goofy said. X snickered, once again looking around.

"You're not wrong." He agreed. He glanced back at the group. They were all looking around in wonder. X followed their lead, just in case they decided to look and see what he was doing. He frowned. It was strange, the castle seemed so strangely empty. "Wonder when the last time someone was in here." X said. He was answered with a loud roar that sounded like some kind of animal. If X could remember correctly, it would belong to the Beast the castle was named for. Even so, it was a rather alarming sound. Especially since he sounded very very angry.

"Hey, does anybody else recognize that?" Goofy asked. He sounded a little too cheerful to X. That didn't sound like a good kind of roar. Before X could say anything another roar sounded through the castle halls.

"Hey! That's the Beast!" Sora said happily.

"Yeah." Donald agreed. X frowned. He had always just assumed that no one had found out the name of the castles master. He didn't think his name was actually Beast. He had a very strong urge to laugh, but he held it in.

"What an unfortunate name." X said offhandedly.

"Maybe we should check up on him." Goofy suggested. Before anyone could agree or disagree with him Sora cried out.

"Look!" He pointed to a Heartless slinking across the floor into a side room. It was only a Shadow, not a big threat on its own. But they rarely were alone.

"C'mon!" Donald called leading the chase after the Heartless. The group quickly went to the side door. Donald peeked around the door, taking in the room before the rest got the chance to see what there was. "Where did it go?" Donald asked. X guessed that meant the Shadow had escaped, which wasn't hard for them to do. Donald suddenly moved, entering the room and opening the door enough for the rest of the group to see the room. Like the rest of the castle, the room was dark. The strange thing about the room was the glowing rose in a glass case on the table.

Donald was slowly moving toward the rose almost in a trance. His eyes didn't leave the rose as he moved deeper into the room. X narrowed his eyes at the rose. There must have been something strange about it. He doubted Donald was just attracted to roses. Before Donald reached the rose the Shadow reappeared directly in front of him, rising out of the ground.

"Found it!" Donald cried out as he jumped back. The group drew their weapons entering the room. The Shadow was not alone this time. Several other Heartless were beginning to appear in the room. The Shadow they had originally followed into the room made a rude hand gesture that X had seen far more times than he would like to admit before it slipped back into the ground.

There was no time to worry about the Shadow that got away, however. They were soon surrounded by the remaining Heartless. They would kill one Heartless only for another three to appear. In the small room, maneuverability was soon lost. X couldn't use some of his more common attack patterns without worrying about landing a hit on Sora. X glanced over at Sora, ducking under a magic attack from one of the Heartless.

"Aw, c'mon! Enough already!" Sora complained as he took a moment to look around the room. He ducked an oncoming attack and swung his keyblade at the nearest Heartless releasing a crystalline heart.

"Somebody help us!" Donald called. As if hearing his call the door to the room was thrown open. A tall beast covered in brown fur entered the room. X had never seen the master of this castle before, only heard story from other members. But it was very clear this was the Beast as he threw a group of Heartless to the side as he entered the room.

"Just in time!" Sora said, raising an arm in greeting. The Beast ignored his greeting and threw him across the room with a sweep of his arm. Donald and Goofy were thrown as well. X narrowly avoided being thrown by ducking quickly, though he didn't need to duck very much. The Beast picked up the case and left without a word towards them. X straightened up as Donald sat up rubbing his head.

"Gee, do ya think he maybe forgot who we are?" Goofy asked.

"With this many Heartless around, something must be up," Sora said. He stared out the door where Beast had gone. X glanced around the room, all the Heartless had seemingly vanished. If he got a moment away from the trio maybe he could find a Heartless to ask what their purpose here was, but he'd have to avoid being seen.

"You're right, this isn't normal," X said looking back at Sora.

"Why'd he have to do that?" Donald asked, still sitting on the floor. X chuckled slightly and offered a hand to him. Donald took his hand and allowed X to pull him up. They left the room returning to the entrance hall. It was empty yet again, this time no sign of Heartless at all. Donald stopped, gapping up at the stairs. When X looked that way there was nothing.

"What is it?" Sora asked.

"I just know I saw a lady at the top of those stairs..." Donald said, trailing off as he continued to stare at the top of the stairs. X would have hoped they all would have seen something like that, but he supposed it was possible they had missed it. They could have been distracted by the Heartless.

"Well...If the Beast is here in the castle, that lady musta been Belle, right?" Goofy asked, turning to look at Sora and Donald. X frowned and glanced back to the stairs.

"The princess of heart?" X asked. He knew princesses of heart tended to be surrounded by darkness. The light from their hearts cast shadows on the hearts of those closest to them many times. But this was not the darkness X expected. It was different, it didn't feel the same. This darkness hadn't come from light.

It took X a moment to realize the group was staring at him. Sora was frowning, his eyebrows forming a shallow v.

"Yeah, how did you know that?" Sora asked. X quickly looked away and shrugged.

"I know a few things," X said, keeping his gaze on the marble tiles of the floor. He didn't want to explain he had to monitor Maleficent when she had been making her attempt to reach Kingdom Hearts. He couldn't explain that away. Not without telling Sora things he hoped the boy would never have to know. Sora looked away from X, frowning slightly as he looked back at the stairs.

"If that was Belle, she might know what's happened to the Beast," Sora said, returning to the previous topic.

"C'mon! Let's go find her!" Goofy said. Sora nodded and led the way up the stairs into the east wing of the castle. There wasn't much to see. Just more creepy statues and ornate fixtures. The castle must have once been a place of luxury.

There was only one door down the hallway they found. X assumed that there were other ways deeper into the castle where there would be more rooms. However, this seemed to be the right room as a murmur of voices could be heard on the other side. Sora shushed the others as they approached, bringing his finger to his lips. He pointed to the door, to which Donald and Goofy nodded. X looked between the three, unsure of what they were communicating. It seemed he was missing that bit of the group dynamic they had already developed during their first journey. He frowned as Donald stepped back from the door.

"Okay," Donald said preparing to run. Looking from Donald to the door X frowned. He was saved from speaking up by Sora.

"Donald!" Sora said as Donald ran at the door. Before he came in contact with the door it swung open, making Donald fall onto his back. Inside the room was a woman with brown hair tied back behind her head. She wore a simple blue dress with a white apron. Quite different from the last thing X had seen her wear, which had been a ball gown of sorts.

"Hey! Who opened the door?" Donald complained.

"Oh, I'm so happy you're here!" The woman said picking up Donald in a tight hug. She smiled brightly looking between the trio. "Donald! Sora! Goofy!" she said. Her eyes wandered until they landed on X. Quickly her face scrunched in thought. "I've seen you before," she said. X tilted his head to the side.

"Have you?" he asked. "I don't remember a meeting." Belle frowned looking away back to Sora. X let out a breath looking off to the side. He had never technically met the princesses of heart. But he was sure one or two of them had to have spotted him while he had been watching Maleficient.

"This is X, he's our guide," Sora said motioning over to X. 

"Put me down! Put me down!" Donald complained from where he was in Belles arms. X was glad for the outburst as it directed attention away from him. Belle heeded Donald's words and set him down. Donald brushed himself off and looked up at Belle. "Where's the Beast?" Donald asked.

"Oh, he must be in the west wing. We don't talk like we used to," Belle said looking off to the side, gripping at her upper arm with her other hand.

"Did something happen?" Sora asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Yes. Isn't that why you're here?" Belle asked. The group all looked to each other, the focus primarily going to Sora. Sora shrugged looking back to Belle.

"Not exactly. But we can still help!" Goofy said following Sora's lead. Donald nodded in agreement.

"Since we're here and all," Sora said. X had to fight his urge to step on Sora's foot. No need to make it sound like he didn't want to help.

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

"He's been acting strange lately. The only ones who might know are locked up in the dungeon. I want to help them, but," Belle trailed off, her brown eyes falling to the side. 

"Wait a second. Who locked who up?" Sora asked.

"The Beast locked up his servants," Belle said. X blinked in surprise.

"But why?" Donald asked.

"That's what I don't know," Belle admitted. Sora crossed his arms and tapped his chin.

"Hmm. Where's this dungeon?" he asked, glancing up at Belle.

"You can get to the undercroft from the west hall. The dungeon is down there," she answered. X thought it was strange she knew where the dungeon was so easily. He hoped it was just because of her natural curiosity and not because she herself had paid a visit to such an unpleasant place. X was fairly certain he had seen the dungeon while conducting missions in the castle, and he was certain he hadn't liked it.

"West hall. Got it," Sora said. He turned to exit the door, giving no indication the group was to follow. All the same Donald and Goofy turned as well.

"Be careful!" Belle said. Sora gave her a thumbs up before exiting the room, the other three following behind him.

It didn't take long to find their way into the west hall. It was just across the stairs from where they had been, and like before it seemed they didn't have very many opportunities to get lost. X glanced at the suits of armor on either side of the hall as they looked for the entrance Belle had promised.

"There should be a way into the undercroft around here," Sora said looking around the hall. X followed his gaze, stopping when he saw a wardrobe he had not seen in the hall before. It was positioned exactly where he thought the doors should be.

"There," X nodded toward the wardrobe. Sora, Donald, and Goofy all nodded heading towards the wardrobe. X had to admit, though being in the Organization had been one of his least favorite experiences it had its uses. And he was grateful for that.

X joined the group as Sora tried shoving the wardrobe aside. X was amazed someone as small as him could manage to push the wardrobe so far. He was no means as muscular as other wielders X had known, but it seemed he did have quite a bit of strength. X was startled from his thoughts when the wardrobe spoke.

"Do you mind!?" the wardrobe asked. Most of the group fell silent in surprise their mouths hung open. Luckily X was able to come to his senses quickly and stepped in front of the rest of the group.

"We apologize, Belle had asked us to get into the dungeon," X said. It appeared to be the right thing to say as the Wardrobe quickly calmed down.

"Goodness! You're here to help my friends? Well, why didn't you say so?" she asked. Sora looked at X raising an eyebrow.

"Er..." he said. X chuckled trying not to roll his eyes at his naiveness.

"We were in a hurry, Belle seemed rather frantic and we wanted to ease her mind quickly," X explained smoothly. The Wardrobe seemed to calm herself, shaking in way X imagined would look more normal on a human trying to settle themselves.

"I'm sorry to startle you. Oh, I used to be human, you know, until the enchantress cast her spell. I was turned into a wardrobe when the prince was turned into a beast," the Wardrobe said. X had to pause for a moment to realize what she had said.

"The prince is the Beast!?" Donald said in shock.

"The Beast is a prince!?" Goofy said in an equal amount of shock. Hearing it know X supposed he should have guessed. He knew there had been some spell that made all the inhabitants take on the appearance of objects. The Beast had always been the one to be in control as he had seen. They were just continuing their lives before as best they could.

"That's right. Although his behavior was far from princely at the time," the Wardrobe confirmed. Sora frowned tapping his chin.

"What's this about a...spell?" he asked.

"That's quite some magic," X said, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Well, it was a cold winter's night," the Wardrobe began. The trio leaned forward as if to get closer and better hear her story. X stayed back but kept his focus on the Wardrobe. This was information he had never heard while with the Organization.  "And that's enough for now. You can hear the rest when you've rescued the others. It'll give you something to look forward to," she said.

"Aww," Donald said his shoulders slumping. X chuckled at the reaction.

"Hurry, now. The dungeon is damp and chilly. Certainly no place for a clock!" the Wardrobe said, straightening herself so she stood even taller than before.

"A clock?" Sora echoed.

"You'll find out soon enough," the Wardrobe said.

They wasted no more time entering the undercroft. It was a small room with two doors in the back. Various materials were stacked on either wall. A stack of boxes looked to be enough to climb up to get to a higher platform with another set of doors. X didn't recall being in this room before, but if he had to guess the other doors led to some kind of tunnels for servants to use to get across the castle easily.

"This must be it," Sora said as they looked around. Donald approached the door on the other side of the room, placing his ear to it. X quickly drew his daggers as he saw the eyes on the two creatures attached to the door glow. Donald reacted without need of warning falling back from the doors as the Heartless' fist hit the ground where he had been not seconds before. The two Heartless on either side looked like some kind of gargoyles. They remained attached to the door on one side, with only one arm available to attack. Their eyes glowed and darkness rose off of them. 

It wasn't a hard fight. X found himself ducking under fists that came in contact with one or more party member behind him and scratching his daggers across the hard stone surface. Each slash left a shallow scratch that oozed a dark essence. It was the only sign any damage had been done, as the Heartless did not slow down in the least bit.

X kept a close eye on the others. All of them had been hit by the Heartless' attacks. He could see bruises on Sora and a few scrapes from the rough stone surface. Nothing looked too dangerous or life-threatening. He couldn't get a good read on Donald and Goofy's level of injury. Regardless, they kept fighting so it couldn't have been too bad. X dodged another punch, rolling to the side. While the Heartless was focusing on X Sora ran forward and with a final strike from his keyblade, the Heartless released their captive heart with a dying shriek.

X straightened up, casting cure on those around him as he looked up where the heart had vanished. He had seen many Heartless die. But he never got used to thinking that was the way he would lose his life. One heart and that was all that would be left.

"You think the dungeon's past this door?" Donald asked, pulling X from his thoughts.

"C'mon, we gotta set those servants free!" Goofy said.

"He's right. Let's go," Sora agreed. He pushed open the doors and found a small room with only a few scattered objects on chairs. X's first instinct was to brush off the room as empty. But thinking back to the Wardrobe and the other reports of objects moving he decided to wait and see.

"There's nobody here," Sora said. His voice had noticeably dropped, X guessed he had wanted to save the servants greatly, for whatever reason.

"You mean there's nobody to rescue," Donald said, sounding just as disappointed as Sora.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," X said as he watched the candelabra on one chair seem to twitch.

"Did someone say "rescue"?" A voice said.

"Shhh! Keep quiet. It might be them," another voice said.

"Oh, they look like nice boys to me," a female voice said. X smirked looking at the set of objects sitting on the chairs. There were four, the candelabra, an old clock, a teapot, and a small teacup with a chip in the side.

"We are nice. We're your friends," Goofy said looking around the room.

"Yeah, Belle sent us to find you," Sora said. After he spoke the four objects X had previously noted jumped down off the chairs to sit in front of them. Sora gasped in shock but quickly covered it. He crouched down to be closer to the level of the servants.

"I'm Sora. Donald. Goofy. X," Sora introduced, pointing to each in turn. Donald reached forward to pick up the clock, but X stepped in his way to prevent that. As these objects used to be human he doubted they would appreciate being held like that. "I'm glad you're ok," Sora said.

"It is we who are overjoyed to see you!" the candelabra said, spreading his arms wide.

"Did somebody put a spell on you guys too?" Goofy asked. X bit back a sarcastic comment. That was a rather stupid question, and if it had been anyone else, X most certainly would have been sarcastic with them.

"Yes, that's right! You've heard! It was the enchantress," the clock said. X quickly realized it would be a problem if they didn't learn the names of the servants.

"It seems so long ago," the candelabra said.

"It was a cold winter's night," the teapot said, "An old beggar woman came to the castle and asked for shelter."

"But the master of this castle, that is, of course, the prince turned her away. All because of her, ahem, meager appearance," the clock continued for her, not taking a moment to think about his response.

"That's awful!" Goofy said.

"Oui. He was a spoiled prince, so selfish and...how shall I say...cruel," the candelabra said, agreeing with Goofy.

"Lumiere!" the clock scolded. X took note of the name, so at least he knew one of them.

"The old woman warned our master not to be deceived by appearances. Still, he would not take her in," the teapot continued as if she hadn't heard the clock scolding Lumiere. the clock sighed before picking up where the teapot had left off once again.

"Then the old woman's ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress," he said.

"She turned the prince into a beast, a shape she thought fitting for his cold heart," the teapot said.

"And to further punish him, everyone in the castle was enchanted too," the clock finished. The group sat in silence for a moment processing what they had been told.

"Wow," Sora said. "That's quite a story."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Goofy asked.

"Oh no, dear," the teapot said with a smile.

"We already know what needs to be done, but with the master out of sorts," Lumiere said looking down. His arms moved as well, and X was grateful the area was mostly stone. It seemed a candelabra with lighted candles on his hand would set a lot of things on fire.

"He sure is acting weird," Sora said.

"It's almost as if he's forgotten how to trust others," the teapot said sadly, leaning onto the small little cup next to her. The teacup hadn't spoken, and X suspected he really didn't know much about was going on. Just based on size comparison (which wasn't much to go on really) he guessed the teacup was just a child.

"You don't suppose he's been turned into a Heartless, do you?" the clock asked looking amongst the group.

"Heartless!?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy all yelled jumping back. X started back from them blinking several times as he tried to adjust to the sudden noise.

"If they're a part of this, then it's a good thing we're here," Sora said, his face quickly turning serious, his eyes hardening and his mouth set in a thin line.

"Let's go find the Beast!" Donald said. Lumiere jumped toward the door, hopping along as he went.

"Follow me, Messieurs, I know a shortcut," he said, waving his arms.

The shortcut was as X expected the tunnel system that led through the castle from the undercroft. It wasn't exactly the easiest way to get through. It required holding down a lever to drop down lanterns that had to be relit by Lumiere after Sora put out a dark fire. X took over for the clock, who was named Cogsworth, holding down the lever so they didn't have to repeat the task so many times. After getting out of the tunnels they split up. Lumiere and Mrs. Potts and Chip (the teapot and the teacup as X managed to find out) all went on their way, leaving Cogsworth as their guide to the Beast's chamber.

The inside of the Beast's room was dark and gloomy like the rest of the castle. Furniture was destroyed with only a table with the rose sitting on it. The Beast stood beside the table with a hooded figure. X knew it was a member of the Organization, but which one he wasn't sure.

"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 hooded figure said. It took X a moment to place the voice. He wasn't as familiar with Organization XIII as he had led Yen Sid to believe. He knew their names, but past that he couldn't say he knew many of them.

"I've had enough of strength. There's only one thing I want-" the Beast said. He was cut off from finishing by the thought by the hooded figure laughing.

"What? To love, and be loved in return? Who could ever love a beast?" the hooded man asked. X frowned, searching his memory for the owner of the voice. He glanced up as the Beast roared looking at the coat. It was Xaldin who was here. He was the one usually in this world if X could remember correctly. Xaldin looked over to see the new arrivals. "See? She has accomplices," Xaldin said motioning to them. He put up a barrier to protect the rose before vanishing in a dark corridor.

"Hey, prince!" Sora greeted, taking a few steps towards the Beast. The Beast turned and roared at him, stopping him in his tracks.

"Apparently he didn't like that," X said summoning his daggers as the Beast charged at him.

This fight was a more difficult fight than X remembered in a while. Mostly because X couldn't harm the target. He coated his blades in a thin layer of darkness, dulling the blades so they wouldn't cause any lasting damage. He noticed the others similarly struggled, trying to knock sense into the Beast without actually harming him.

Sora jumped to the side, causing the Beast to run into a wall. The Beast stumbled back from the wall taking in his surroundings. X remained tensed, ready to move in an instant. The Beast looked around, his attention landing on Cogsworth.

"Cogsworth," the Beast said, blinking in surprise. "What happened?" he asked looking around.

"Well, Master..ah, you see...that is...How shall I say...ah, actually...mm," Cogsworth said, wringing his hands as he stumbled over his words. 

"Well, you put everybody down there in that dungeon!" Donald said explaining something that had happened. Beast turned his attention to Donald.

"I did what?" Beast asked.

"Ah, you did!" Cogsworth agreed. Beast looked down a look X was familiar with crossing his face. X had seen that look far too often in the mirror.

"It was Xaldins fault. He probably tricked you into letting your darkness control you," X said calmly. The room fell into silence as they waited for Beasts reply. X glanced at Sora, who was looking at X with narrowed eyes. X shrugged looking away. 

"Xaldin, that's 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 all into rage. There was nothing I could do. I could no longer see the truth,"  the Beast said. He looked down at his hands clenching them so his claws almost seemed to dig into his palms.

"Well, I'll be. That must be why you threw all of your friends down there into the dungeon. You wanted to make sure that you didn't hurt 'em, right?" Goofy said, looking at the Beast. 

"Was that it? Was it to protect them?"  the Beast asked.

"Sure. We know you're good inside," Goofy said.

"He's right, Master. We've all seen how kind you can be," Cogsworth said taking a few hops forward. "After all, Belle can see the goodness in your heart, but I'm afraid you've yet to-"

"Belle!" the Beast said cutting Cogsworth off. He looked to the side with a heavy sigh. "I've mistreated her. I've mistreated her and been so selfish."

"She didn't say anything about that," Sora said looking to the others for confirmation. They all nodded in agreement. Beast sighed once again.

"She'd never tell anyone of my cruelty. She's too good," he said simply.

"You see, I'm afraid he judges himself far too harshly," Cogsworth said leaning over towards Sora. X nodded glancing back at the Beast.

"Why don't you just go talk to her?" Sora suggested.

"But," the Beast began.

"No excuses! C'mon, we'll go with you," Sora insisted.

There wasn't much more argument as they went across the castle back to the east wing. They went to Belle's room and found the Wardrobe that had previously been blocking their way in the room.

"Master!" the Wardrobe said happily.

"Everybody's safe now," Donald said.

"Wonderful! Thank you!" the Wardrobe said.

"Where is Belle?" the Beast asked, ignoring the previous conversation.

"Why, she left in a hurry. Something about going after this, man in black," the Wardrobe explained. 

"What!? Why doesn't she do as she's told?" the Beast asked, his temper quickly rising.

"Temper, temper! Her spirit is what makes Belle so special," the Wardrobe chided.

"We'd better go find her!" Sora said.

They ran from the east wing into the entrance hall. There was nothing there and no indication of where they were supposed to go until they heard Belle yelling.

"I'm warning you! You'll be sorry!" Belle yelled though she was nowhere in sight.

"Belle! Where are you?" Beast yelled.

"Beast! Help! I'm in the ballroom!" Belle yelled. The group took off running towards the ballroom. They saw Belle running across the ballroom towards the doors to the balcony. X hardly had time to note this room was far brighter than the rest of the castle in comparison before people starting yelling.

"Belle!" the Beast yelled.

"I'm all right!" Belle yelled back as she escaped onto the balcony, locking the door behind her. As she escaped it became apparent what she was running from. A large Heartless that looked much like a ball and chain. 

X spent this fight protecting Sora yet again. It wasn't too difficult, almost like fighting a Darkball Heartless. Just larger and spikier. With its erratic movement, X was spending a lot of time rolling out of the way. Fortunately, it wasn't too long until they had defeated the Heartless with minor injuries.

"We did it!" Sora cheered.

"So you think," the voice of Xaldin said. They turned quickly to see Xaldin standing in front of the door back to the entrance hall.

"Xaldin!" the Beast yelled. He and Sora ran towards Xaldin, preparing for an attack. Before they could even get close Xaldin threw out his arm, sending out a wave of dark power.

"Farewell," Xaldin said as he vanished into the darkness. X sighed heavily looking around the room. 

"What does he want here?" the Beast asked turning to the world traveling group. X shrugged looking at Sora, Donald, and Goofy. He knew it had been a goal of the Organization to turn the Beast into a Heartless for some time.

"He must be with Organization XIII. Ever heard 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," Sora explained, trying to figure out the reason himself. 

"That's right," Goofy said with a nod. "And they were gonna make you into a Heartless. That way, they could get that Nobody of yours and have control over it." Sora pointed at Goofy agreeing with him.

"That wouldn't be a first. Attempts like that can be made pretty regularly," X admitted. Yen Sid had told them X knew about the Organization. He supposed there wasn't a problem admitting some things he knew.

"You're alright!" Belle said as she entered the room again.

"Belle!" the Beast called as he ran to her. The servants entered the room and lined up beside the world travelers. "Belle. I-I'm sorry--I wasn't myself. I hope I haven't done anything to hurt you. Forgive me," the Beast said Belle smiled at him softly and he smiled in return.

"I know you weren't yourself. You don't have to apologize. But I had hoped that you might have changed a little bit," she said with a wag of her finger in the Beast direction. He looked away from her sheepishly. "I wish you could start trusting me." She crossed her arms as the Beast continued to avoid eye contact.

"Oh, I am afraid time is running short," Lumiere said.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked looking down at Lumiere.

"Remeber the rose?" Lumiere asked. The group all nodded.

"From the Beast's room?" Donald asked, ensuring they were thinking of the same rose. Not that X could think of any other rose they had seen.

"Precisely. You see, if the master can learn to love, and earn love in return before the last petal falls," Cogsworth explained.

"The spell will be broken," Lumiere finished.

"Really? You think he's gonna make it?" Sora asked. He looked back up to the Beast and Belle who were in conversation. X smirked a little watching them. He didn't need to hear an answer to Sora's question.

"We think so," Mrs. Potts said as she rubbed up against Chip.

 "Yep, I think you're right," Goofy said with a chuckle. X smirked and nodded looking back to Sora.

"I hope you're right," he said. Very suddenly Sora seemed to be drawn into a trance as he had been previously in the worlds before. He locked the world with his keyblade, dropping it to his side as he looked up at the ceiling.

"What happened?" the Beast asked.

"The gate is open!" Donald explained.

"Do you have to go?" Belle asked, her head tilting to the side.

"Yeah," Sora said with a nod.

"Now, no more arguin', ok?" Goofy asked. The Beast and Belle both looked away from each other, Belle's face turned red. And X suspected under all the fur the Beast was red as well. 

"We'll see to it," Lumiere said with a bow.

"Take care, dears," Mrs. Potts said.

"You're welcome here anytime," Cogsworth said. X smirked and rolled his eyes. They said that now, but he doubted it would hold true.

"If you hear anything about Riku or the King, the Heartless, the Organization- anything at all- let us know!" Sora said as he turned away from them. "Ok, gotta go!" The group all waved goodbye. And left the world onto the next place in their journey.