Beast's Castle, Second Visit:
In Which A Princess Is Useful
He moved so quick, like the air could offer him no resistance, like his boots didn't have to touch the ground. They entered the foyer of the castle, Namine traveling in his wake and Axel bringing up the rear -- as slowed down as Roxas was dizzyingly sped up -- and the moment the heavy doors slammed shut behind them, a half dozen Heartless emerged from the darkness, high-level Morning Stars and Gargoyles with two of Xaldin's Lancers behind them. Namine hesitated when she saw them, thinking, What will Xaldin think; are we making the wrong choice in pursuing this place? but Roxas was already diving into the center of the room. He swung Oblivion wide, and flames spun out from around him as if he had become explosive.
It was incredible to watch, but she still found herself looking at Axel, and the sight of him took her out of the excitement. The normally vibrant redhead seemed so vacant and unresponsive, pale as if all the color had been drained out of him and instead darkened Roxas, turning his clothes soot-gray and black. His movements were slow, and he seemed incapable of looking away from the magnetic presence dancing in flame on the battlefield. The Assassins moved in slow circuits around him, something concerned in the curl and sway of their movements.
What happened to them? she wondered, her fingers tight on the haft of her spear. How did this happen?
In what seemed like no more than seconds, Roxas had emptied the battlefield. He was saying, "Hurry!" when a clattering made him spin, a heartbeat before Namine even jumped.
An animated candelabra hopped out from behind the door to the lit foyer adjoining the entrance hall. He cried, "Oh, thank the heavens! The master, he is in there--" He pointed at the ballroom with one flaming candle. "He went after Belle!"
"Then we're just in time," Roxas said, and broke into a dead run.
Namine sucked in a breath, taken aback by this sort of rushed, impulsive behavior. She started after him, only half-hearing a matronly voice call after them, "Be careful, dears! That man is dangerous!"
Roxas burst through the doors to the ballroom. Namine had never been to this world before, but she knew the room through the memories of the others: its elegant golden expanse was no surprise to her, and so she could recognize all of what was out of place almost as fast as Roxas, with his seemingly-enhanced reflexes.
"What's going on, Xaldin?" Roxas asked casually.
There were signs of a fight everywhere; deep claw marks in the floor and cracked pillars surrounding the grand chandelier that should've been high in the air. It had been lowered until the dangling crystals nearly touched the floor, and the Beast was bound to its thick gold frame, limp and unmoving. A broad-shouldered figure stood before him, and turned slowly at Roxas's call. Namine nervously thought that it seemed like the room's temperature plummeted, despite the heat that Roxas now held at his command.
Xaldin reached up, pulling his hood down, and for a fleeting instant as he looked at Roxas -- the air around him crackling tangibly, something Namine imagined the man could feel all the way across the room -- he looked surprised. Then his expression cleared, settled into the stern distance that was all she'd ever seen him wear. He said coolly, "I am freeing this creature's heart. He should make a formidable Nobody."
A small shock went through Namine at the words, even though it was fairly obvious what the Organization was after here. Where's Belle? she thought anxiously, looking around for any trace of the princess.
"I thought the harvest was about giving Nobodies back their hearts, not creating new ones," Roxas observed. He sounded unconcerned, and spun his keyblades over the back of his hands, first one and then the other. "Let him go."
"We need an army, do we not? His Nobody and Heartless will make nice contributions to the cause," Xaldin said, implacable, but something in his features shifted, watching Roxas. "...What's wrong with you, XIII?"
Abruptly Roxas tossed Oblivion overhand and Xaldin vanished, but the keyblade wasn't aimed at him -- it connected with one of the Beast's chains, and the links broke apart with a loud metallic crack that made Namine jump in spite of herself. He sagged a foot lower, but didn't fall. Oblivion reappeared in Roxas's hand, and he announced to the air, "Who said anything was wrong with me? I'm F-I-N-E."
"You're what?" Namine said, turning to stare at Axel over her shoulder. The redhead was lingering in the doorway, apparently unsurprised by the comment, and definitely not having somehow thrown his voice to talk for Roxas. But spelling was his trick, not Roxas's.
When she turned back around, she nearly collided into Xaldin. "I see," he said, thoughtful. "There's some connection here. It's as if XIII has taken VIII into his--"
Heart, she thought.
But Xaldin vanished again before he could say the last words, this time a dark corridor tearing open and dissipating again in a heartbeat, and Roxas slid through the cloud with a keyblade brandished. Namine ducked and he skidded to a halt, so low to the ground that he flung out a hand for balance.
"Damn, he's gone," Roxas muttered, back on his feet in a whirl of improbably energy. "I didn't get to ask him about the Assassins--"
"Behind you!" Namine cried, bringing her spear up and summoning wind to shield him.
The chandelier began to spin, glowing brighter than could be accounted for with candles alone. From somewhere in the midst of the motion, the Beast roared in pain, apparently stirring, but Namine had no time to wonder what was happening. She and Roxas both dove out of the path of the chandelier as it tumbled past them towards the door, leaving a trace of seething darkness in its wake.
"Axel--" she started in a hushed voice.
"It can't hurt him now," Roxas said confidently, and then he shot away.
Namine shook herself. With Axel incapacitated, she was the only backup that Roxas had, and although that was a heavy responsibility -- one she wasn't nearly experienced enough to live up to -- the thought filled her with determination. She ran back into the fight, watching Roxas move, jump up and bring his keyblades down on the chandelier's sturdy frame. Another roar stopped her in her tracks before she could begin casting a thunder spell; magic might stop the chandelier, but it would hurt the Beast, and that was definitely not their goal.
Nervous, she licked her lips and then propelled herself forward at the wheeling chandelier. She held down her skirt self-consciously and slid against the floor, letting her boots collide with no small amount of force into the base of it, and then before it could get away she jammed her spear into the frame. It started to wobble in its course and then crashed over onto its side, pinning the Beast to the floor and revealing a squirming Heartless on the opposite side.
"Nice," Roxas said admiringly, and hopped up onto the rim to pound the black creature with his keyblades, bursts of flame on each connection, and flip in midair to bring both down hard in the same instant. From beneath the floor spun one, then three of the Assassins, their bladed wings joining Roxas's weapons to attack the Heartless. It let out a high-pitched noise, spasms as it sought to escape, but it seemed trapped, and couldn't remove its thin arms from the edges of the frame, even when Roxas shoved back and brought the keys together to shoot out an intense surge of fire, so searingly hot that it generated its own wild winds.
Namine lifted an arm to shield her eyes from the hot wind. Incredible, she thought in spite of herself, watching. It was like Roxas had been in command of flames for years and not a matter of minutes; he knew all the right tricks and techniques to wield the flame with his unique weapons using a lethal force.
The Heartless was powerful enough to survive the onslaught, and began to right itself, wailing again. It began to twirl tightly in a circle, and a fierce whirlwind of darkness surrounded it; it made her skin tingle and feel numb where it touched, and she knew that the it was far more dangerous than the dark that she was familiar with, from corridors and Castle Oblivion.
Roxas wouldn't be able to get close enough to finish it off with that deadly tornado between him and it. Namine lifted her spear, calling on all the wind at her command and sparing a moment to be grateful that Xaldin had left -- her magic was nothing to scoff at, but she could never wrest an element from an Organization member. The buffeting winds drew out, pulling to the edge of the room, weakening the Heartless's protective shield. Roxas threw himself into the air, jumping incredibly high to get inside the cyclone, and then Namine could only hear the brutal staccato of his keyblades.
Seconds before it gave up with a fierce death call, there was a flash of light that illuminated the room painfully; Namine scrubbed at her eyes and looked around for its source. Axel's color had returned, and when the darkness cleared, Roxas was standing by the fallen chandelier with the extra black drained from his clothes; normal, again, at least inasmuch as he'd ever been normal.
"Wow," Axel said, mutedly. He looked like he was still recovering the use of his extremities, blinking and lifting his hands slowly to look down at them. An Assassin stood on its legs behind him, head tilted quizzically. "Good timing."
Namine wished they'd let her think they'd timed it that way on purpose. "What happened?" she asked him, catching her breath.
"A Drive... I guess."
The Beast roared suddenly, his movements making the chandelier buck and twist on the marble floor, and they all turned to the chandelier, surprised. Namine hurried up beside Roxas and one of the Assassins, starting to work apart his chains; he didn't seem to recognize Roxas, thrashing impatiently and not helping at all. His teeth clacked together viciously inches from the Assassin, and it swirled away, disapproving.
"Beast!" Roxas snapped. "Cut it out! Damnit."
"Don't--" the Beast growled, sagging slightly against the chains. "Don't... free me."
Namine bit her lip. He was probably afraid of the same thing they were -- that he would be wild when they released him, maybe even attack them. She said softly, "Do you know where Belle is?"
"She's... outside. Safe, I think..." The ragged tone of his voice smoothed out into an almost gentle rumbling.
Roxas glanced at Namine and nodded toward the veranda doors. She offered him a smile and took off for the doors at a quick trot, pushing them open and peering out into the dying light. "Belle...?"
A rustle of fabric, and then the princess emerged, clad in her gold dress and cradling in her arms a large glass case with a glowing rose inside it. "Yes...?" Belle asked, wary if not quite suspicious. Namine knew that she wasn't exactly the most imposing figure. "Who are you?"
"My name is Namine," she introduced herself. "I'm friends with Roxas and Axel -- and I think we need your help. The Beast has been chained up and he won't let Roxas untie him."
Belle sucked in a breath and lifted the edge of her skirt to rush past Namine into the ballroom. Namine followed the older woman over to where Roxas and Axel stood beside the Beast. "What's wrong with him?" Belle demanded, and his head lifted at the sound of her voice. She dropped to her knees on the floor next to him and reached out a hand, stroking the fur of his neck. He turned his head slightly into the touch, and she looked up with alarm. "He's blind!"
"No, he's dark," Axel suggested. He seemed much better now, more together -- more real -- than he'd been since before he called the Assassins. His servants were nowhere to be seen. "The darkness in his heart is stronger than before, and it's clouding his senses. He'll get better. Maybe."
It seemed like he couldn't resist adding that, and Namine frowned at him, but Belle was unfazed by his pessimism. She threw her arms around the Beast's neck, breathing, "Thank goodness!" and he went still, almost paralyzed by the embrace.
"Y... You're touching me," he said, sounding stunned.
"Well, yes, silly. Hugs involve that," Belle said fondly.
"...willingly."
Belle laughed slightly. "I wouldn't do it if I didn't want to." She looked up at the trio around them, smiling. "Can we let him down now?"
Roxas grinned, reaching up to help. This time the Beast didn't resist, and he seemed to be able to control his actions now. Namine felt like she could practically see the darkness receding in him, as if Belle's light chased it away, brought out the light that already existed in himself, hidden beneath the cloud that Xaldin had raised.
This is what it means to be a Princess of Heart, she thought. This is how Sora returned to himself after becoming a Heartless.
It felt like looking at what she would always lack.
The Beast climbed slowly upright, and Belle rose as well, holding her arm out for him to lean on even though he seemed to be recovering his sight already. She smiled warmly at the others. "Thank you, all of you. You've done so much for us."
"It was our pleasure," Namine assured her.
"Keep your thing on a tighter leash," was all Axel had to say.
Belle and the Beast both stared at him, and Roxas excused, "He's had a rough day. Anyway, we're glad we could help."
The words were right, but they rang slightly hollow; the events of the day had sucked all the motivation out of all of them, and King Mickey's message seemed very far away and unimportant. Maybe hearing that, Belle stepped forward, reaching into a discreet pocket somewhere on her gown. "Here-- This might come in handy."
She pressed a small golden mirror into Roxas's hand, and when he shifted it to look Namine could see that it was a keychain. "Thank you," he said, looking up at her, and smiling somewhat more genuinely.
"We should go back," Namine murmured, glancing at Axel sidelong. He looked as bland as ever, but she thought the expression looked strained around the edges, as if the tall Nobody were having difficulty maintaining his usual appearance. As the only human-formed Nobody who had never had servants -- the only one who had hardly even spoken to servants, since they had refused to go anywhere near Castle Oblivion -- Namine knew that she had no idea what he was going through.
She only knew that the servant Nobodies were people: living, thinking, perhaps unfeeling, but real people. And she knew that they would have died for Axel... and that they had, for all the wrong reasons.
Axel caught her glance, and dropped his voice a notch, saying mildly, "I thought maybe our little princess would be more comfortable without monsters around. I mean, they're no worse than her boyfriend, but the monster you know always seems friendlier than the monsters you don't." He rubbed the side of his nose. "I told them to wait for us at Hollow Bastion."
Roxas nodded to himself. "Then we're going to Hollow Bastion." He glanced back over his shoulder at the Beast and Belle, still standing close together and talking in low voices. They were being joined by their enchanted household, and the Beast seemed fully recovered, talking and moving with animation and apparently much chastised. "...I think Xaldin's lost his hold on him."
Namine reached behind her, summoning up a corridor to hide her small smile. It wasn't appropriate, considering the moment, but she had the same feeling that they wouldn't be needed here again, and it felt unexpectedly pleasant. Strange. She'd spent all her existence longing to be needed, to be wanted, and somehow, even though she was no longer needed here, she felt good about it.
Maybe it was the feeling of having accomplished something worthwhile, and going... home.
NEXT >>> Hollow Bastion, Third Visit (Part 1)