Kingdom Hearts ~another side~ Ch. 6

[Hayate]

Deceived by your own cold heart... A curse upon your house and all within it...

Kingdom Hearts ~another side~

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~ Report 6: His First Roar ~[/b][/u]

A great castle, not unlike Princess Aurora’s own, in old France. Lush, green woodland surrounds it on all sides. The center tower reaches toward the clouds. Different from Aurora’s bright home, however, the atmosphere here was considerably dismal. As if the world were trapped in eternal night, no light source would bless the castle with illumination except for the crescent moon and a small handful of candles and lanterns.

It is within this bleak manor, in a parlor with a fireplace, that the other end of Roche’s Corridor of Light finally opens. As the 13-year-old boy enters, the Corridor closes behind him like before. Within seconds, Roche is hit by a sudden chill that forces him to wrap himself in his own arms. “Ohhh! S-So cold!”, Roche comments, jumping in front of the burning fire to warm himself up. “Great… Of all the Keyblades out there, I get the one with no sense of direction…”, he continues while rubbing his palms together.

Once he was warmed up enough and adjusted to the castle’s temperature to some degree, Roche goes on his way, leaving the comfort of the parlor and entering the entrance hall.

A lengthy red carpet extended from one end of the hall -- the castle’s front entrance -- to the top of some stairs at the foot of a large green doorway. Two stairways branched out from that end of the carpet and led further up the castle’s levels. One stairway led to the west, the other east. Two short rows of stone columns also lined the hall, each bearing a candelabrum of lit candles. Aside from these, the hall was entirely a dark shade of blue.

Roche exercises the utmost caution as he explores the interior of the castle. “I wonder who lives here… Prob’ly a king and queen or something…”, he innocently speculates. “Hello…? Anybody home…?” At first, Roche’s cry into the darkness would be met with the typical silence. But after several moments, a silhouette hurriedly scurries across a lit portion of the floor -- a shape Roche knew all too well. He chases the silhouette into the shadows where it and a number of new faces reveal themselves to him. “Hmph!” In a flash of amber light, the Superquake appears in Roche’s hand, and he’s thrust into battle.

Meanwhile, on an upper level, a violent clamor fills the west wing with horrible sound. Objects break, vases shatter, fabrics are torn to shreds, and a sorrowful roar echoes. Inside a room at the far end of the wing, a hulking figure is seen darting about and destroying anything it could wrap its clawed fingers around, exhaling short growls and gasps while doing so. It throws armchairs against walls, rips up the window curtains, and the like. At some point during this, its eyes fall upon a lopsided painting on the wall.

The portrait was of a young man, copper hair reaching just below the shoulder line and eyes of intense azure.

The creature looks into the portrait as if looking into a mirror. It stares in sorrow, but that sorrow shortly degenerates into seething anger, and it reaches out to rip the portrait up.

Perhaps the only item in the room untouched by the creature’s rampage was a bell jar sitting atop a small ornate stool. Inside the jar was a flower -- a rose in full bloom -- standing upright, almost appearing to float, and emitting a soft pink glow.

As its chambers lie in utter ruin, the creature shrinks away, hiding its face beneath its large, hairy hands like a turtle retreating into its shell.

“The poor ill-fated prince… Reduced to a hideous shell of his former self… Only now does he realize the sheer consequences of his hubris… Blah-blah-blah.”

“Who’s there…?”, asks the creature in a deep, gravelly voice.

A few feet away from where it was sulking, a portal of bubbling black and purple appears, and Relena steps through. “…Hello, prince.”

The creature rises to confront the trespasser, roaring mightily in her face. “Who are you!? What are you doing in my castle!?”

“Hey, hey. No need for that. Inside voice.”

“Leave here now!”, says the beastly master of the castle, leaping up to pounce on the trespasser.

Exercising her mastery over the darkness, Relena makes herself intangible, allowing the prince’s pounce to pass through. “Slow your roll there, ‘Princey’. I don’t wanna have to get physical. You won’t like me when I get physical.”

The prince quickly turns back around to confront Relena up-close. “I won’t say it again.”

Then, as out of character as it was, Relena looks into the prince’s eyes with a gaze of sympathy. “…Your eyes… They have such a sadness to them…”

“…”

Reaching out her hands, the Heartless woman takes the prince’s hand into hers. “Tell me… How long ago was it…?”

“…It’s been three days.”

“We’re exactly the same, you and me. Cursed to be different than those around us, forced to hide away in the cover of night, keeping our faces perpetually hidden for fear of being rejected. Being cast aside like trash. Being labeled…a demon.”

“…” The beastly prince falls silent. It had been too long since he felt the warmth of another. He closes his eyes and simply lets Relena stroke his hand.

As the moonlight shines through the balcony window and sets the room aglow, a piece of shade conceals Relena’s face…

…and her conniving grin.

Back in the entrance hall, the last of the Heartless falls to Roche’s Keyblade, and he’s able to rest for a moment. It’s during this silent pause that a sound directly above him makes itself known: a succession of faint thuds, like sluggish footsteps. Roche’s investigative impulses take over, and he hurries up the stairs toward the west wing.

The first thing Roche is greeted by as he enters the upper level is parallel rows of axe-wielding suits of armor and even more red carpeting. As he comes to a right turn, he stops upon hearing the same slow-paced footsteps he heard while downstairs and ducks behind the corner. He leans forward to sneak a peek.

Much to the boy’s surprise, the footsteps belong to a foursome of walking household items: a candelabrum, a clock, a teapot, and a teacup.

“Argh! Confound this burdensome form!”, the living clock grumbles. “I mean, really now! Four legs!? I feel a newborn learning how to walk!”

Even more to Roche’s surprise, the housewares were capable of speech. ‘Whoa…’, he marvels under his breath.

“Here’s a wild idea…”, the candelabrum starts. “…But have you tried moving two at a time, my tightly wound friend?”

Standing as stably as it could, the walking, talking clock finds it’s able to walk straight by doing as its one-legged companion suggests. “Hmm. Yes, well… I might’ve thought of that were I so inclined.”

“But of course.”, says the candelabrum, indulging the egotistical clock.

The little teacup innocently chuckles at this.

Here, the gentle-toned teapot chimes in. “The enchantress’s spell has made it hard on everyone, Cogsworth, especially the master. Lately, it’s become a bother just to convince him to leave his chambers. All he does is stare intently at that rose. Such a miserable sight.”

“Oui.”, the candelabrum adds. “It pains me to see him like this.”

Enchantress? Spell? Rose? The situation in this world was apparently of greater scale than Roche had imagined. Having had his fill of spying, he prepares to move on, but as he moves away from the corner, the boy backs into a suit of armor, causing it to tilt. ‘Uh-oh!’ The armor tilts away for a moment, then tilts back toward Roche at a steeper slope until… “Aah!” …gravity does the rest.

The loud clatter around the corner catches the attention of the walking housewares. “What in the world!?”, the clock panics.

The four hurry over to find a dazed teenage boy wearing a knight’s close helm. They could only stand there in bewilderment.

Roche lifts up the visor and gives a look of childlike embarrassment. “Hehehe… Hi.”

Upon the armor’s reassembly, greetings are exchanged amongst the group. The smooth-talking candelabrum introduces himself as Lumiere, the cranky clock as Cogsworth, the kindly teapot as Mrs. Potts, and the cheerful teacup as Chip. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, mon ami.”, Lumiere says. “Welcome to our humble abode.”

“Were it only under different circumstances than this…”, adds Mrs. Potts.

“Oh! How can you all be so casual!?”, interjects Cogsworth. “Need I remind you that the master doesn’t tolerate uninvited guests!? He’ll dismantle us all if he finds out!”

“Who is this master of yours anyway?”, Roche inquires. “On top of that, how are you all alive?” Kneeling down, he picks up little Chip. “Is it ‘cuz of that spell you were talking about just now?”

“Uh-huh. The enchantress’ spell.”, Chip answers. “A few nights ago, this poor old woman came to the castle and asked to come in out of the cold. But the master said no. Then she turned into a real pretty lady and cast a spell on the whole castle as punishment.”

“While all of us, the master’s servants, were turned into household wares…”, Lumiere continues, “…the master himself was turned into a monstrous beast.”

“What’s more…”, the story continues with Mrs. Potts, “…the rose the enchantress had offered in return for shelter was truly an enchanted rose, which is to bloom until his 21st birthday. If within that time the master can learn to love and be loved in return, the spell will be broken. But should the last rose petal fall before he can do so…”

“…We shall remain like this forever.”, Cogsworth concludes.

“Oh, wow…”

“Yeah!”, Chip exclaims, hopping up and down in Roche’s palm. “Not to mention we have those scary monsters to deal with now!”

“Yeah, the Heartless. I bet I know what’s drawing them out.” Upon setting Chip down at Mrs. Potts’ side, Roche stands up. “How about I go talk to your master? I may not be able to help with his ‘love and be loved’ thing, but if I can get him to cheer up, it might prevent so many Heartless from showing up.”

The boy lost the group at ‘talk to your master’. Already, it was a fool’s errand. “I’m not so sure that’s such a good idea, my boy.”, warns Lumiere. “The master is not the most gracious of hosts -- even less so when he’s rudely disturbed.”

“Don’t worry.”, Roche assures with a wink. “I can be pretty convincing when I need to be.” With that, he wanders further into the castle wing.

“Oh, do be careful, dearest.”, Mrs. Potts whispers.

Cogsworth, however, wasn’t as hopeful. “…It was nice knowing him…”

Cut to the prince’s quarters once again, where Relena detects the presence of one touched by the light. It felt similar to Marin’s light, yet also different. “…Hmm…”

Turning away from the rose, the prince faces her. “What is it?”

“…There’s someone inside the castle… One of malicious intent…”

“What!? An intruder!?”

“Yes.”, she affirms through her soft voice. “I know their evil firsthand. Left to their own devices, they will eventually destroy all you hold dear, my prince… Your beautiful castle…your devoted servants…and your precious rose…”

“The rose…!”

“This is your home… You must defend it…”

With an incensed roar, the prince-turned-beast bursts through the bedroom doors, nearly ripping them off the hinges in the process, and goes to face the intruder.

Left alone in his shambles of a room, Relena approaches the rose, giving a sinister smirk. “This is way too easy…”

As he navigates the castle’s various twists and turns and fights through waves of Heartless, the young Keyblade master eventually finds his way to the very end of the west wing, where through a half-open door he arrives in the prince’s chambers. “Jeez! It looks like a tornado blew through here!” Everything about the room -- the tattered curtains, the shattered glass, the crooked picture frame with the almost unidentifiable painting -- seemed to shout ‘Heartless attack’.

“…The master himself was turned into a monstrous beast…”

Could it have been the master of the castle himself who trashed the room?, thought Roche. If so, this was one individual he’d rather not run into. At the far side of the room, near the balcony window, Roche finds a bell jar sitting on top of a stool. Inside the jar was…nothing. “Huh…?”

Just then, the bedroom door slams open. “You!!!”, snaps an enraged voice.

“!!!” Spinning around, Roche comes face-to-face with a most frightening entity: a hideous fiend with brown fur, bent black horns, clawed hands, a bushy tail, and wearing only a ragged purple cape and midnight-blue pants.

The Beast looks upon the boy with intense anger. “What have you done with the rose!?”

Roche’s hands and knees quiver with fear. “I-I was… I didn’t…!”

“ANSWER ME!!!”

“N-N-Nothing! I didn’t touch it, I swear!”

“Grrrr… You’re lying!”, howls the Beast, proceeding to pounce on the child.

“AAH!” Rolling out of the way of his sudden attack, Roche bolts out through the bedroom door and sprints madly away down the hallway. “Crap, crap, crap, CRAP!”

The furious prince appears in the hallway just seconds later, giving chase on all fours. “Get back here!!!”

Drawing the Superquake as he ran, Roche attempts to slow the Beast down by throwing out large spires of rock to obstruct his path.

Unfortunately, the Beast’s brute strength is able to break through these obstructions with ease.

The chase leads the two into the hallway with the all-floor carpeting and suits of armor, and it takes the feral prince no time at all to catch up. “Where…is…my rose?”, he growls through his fangs.

Overcome by fright, Roche falls back onto the carpeted floor, looking as though he were going to wet himself. Unable to speak, he simply exhales soft whimpers.

“What are you staring at!?”

“I-I wasn’t staring! I--!”

“Tell me where the rose is! NOW!!!”

“I… I don’t…”

“Nothing to say? Fine.” Stomping around to Roche’s backside, the Beast takes him by the collar and drags him away. “Then you can just rot away in a dungeon cell until you’re ready to talk!”

“N-No, wait! Please! I haven’t done anything, really! NO!”

The boy’s wails echo across the west wing. Just around the corner, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and Chip watch helplessly as their guest is hauled off to the undercroft. “Ohhh… The poor lad…”, Mrs. Potts sighs.

“Can’t we do something, mama?”, Chip asks.

“I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do, child.”, says Cogsworth. “To defy the master is folly.”

Lumiere, however, wasn’t as compliant. “Folly or no, I cannot sit by while the master’s cruelty ruins another’s innocence! No child deserves to be locked up! Come, mes amis!”, he exclaims, leading the group to pursue.

The stuffy clock heaves an exasperated sigh. “Are rules and order so ineffectual a concept…?”

…Some fifteen minutes later, Roche is seen on the frigid dungeon floor, sitting up and hugging his legs. With his face buried in his sleeves, his muffled sobs echo weakly off the stone walls. “Ciel… Sis… Where are you…? I’m too scared to do this on my own… I need your help…”

“Roche?”, a voice calls out from out from beyond the dungeon door.

“Mrs. Potts…?”, Roche calls back, crawling over to the door. Through the openings between the iron bars, he sees his houseware friends standing outside. “Guys…! What are you doing here?”

“To break you out, of course!”

“Really…? But your master--”

“Oh, pish-tosh. We understand the prince’s aversion to the unwelcomed, but you’re but a child -- not even much older than my Chip. There’s far too much life for you to live to be cooped up in a dingy old cell.”

“But if he finds out you’re helping me, he might throw you all in here too! I can’t let you risk your freedom for my sake!”

“Well! That settles that then! If he doesn’t require our help, there’s no need for us to go to the trouble of offering it, is there? Let’s be on our way!”, Cogsworth directs before tripping over his own feet again. “Oof! Oh, blast it!”

Ignoring his clumsy friend, Lumiere looks up at Roche through the bars. “Forgive my listening in, but I heard you say ‘Sis’ before. You have a sibling, I take it?”

“…My big sister. Marin.”

“And this mademoiselle, this ‘Marin’ -- she awaits your return home, non?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“It is up to you, mon petit. Go home to where family waits for you…or forever remain a prisoner of the master.”

Roche’s gaze shifts down to the ground. He felt almost ashamed of giving up. What would Marin say if she saw him now?, he wondered.

“C’mon, look sharp! You’re a Keyblade master! Keyblade masters are supposed to be tough! No more crying, ‘kay?”

The boy wipes his tears away and hardens his gaze, having found his second wind. “A prisoner forever? I don’t think so!”, he declares.

“Hah! Splendid! We’ll have you out of here in just a moment!”

As they gather underneath the door latch, Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts attempt to free Roche by forming a ladder, with Mrs. Potts at the bottom and Cogsworth at the top. Cogsworth uses his ‘clock handle’ hands to pick the lock. “Hmph! I still can’t believe I let you talk me into this!”, gripes the ornery clock. “I’m an accessory now! An accomplice!”

“Less nitpicking, more lock-picking!”, Lumiere snaps from below.

The ladder they formed was far from steady, however, as it doesn’t take long for Lumiere to lose his footing on Mrs. Potts’ head, and the whole ‘structure’ comes crashing down.

“Ohhhh… I think I bent my pendulum…”, Cogsworth moans.

Not that he wasn’t appreciative of the effort, Roche decides to take over. “Heh… Thanks, guys, but I’ll take it from here…” He rises to his feet and draws the Keyblade. He points it at the door and turns it 90 degrees.

A glitter of silvery-white briefly blankets the padlock, and it unlocks…!

Meanwhile, the Beast races into the entrance hall, still conducting his search for the rose. As he enters, his eyes fall upon a figure in the pale candlelight. “You…!”

At the bottom of the stairs, leaning against a column, was the always pleasant Relena. “…Hey.”, she greets plainly. Lifting up her right arm, she’s seen holding something giving off a pink glow.

“!!!”

“…Looking for this?”, she asks as she holds up the enchanted rose.

The Beast clenches his claws into tight fists. “You…deceitful little…!!!”

“You want it…?”, Relena whispers, slipping rearward into the shadows. “…Come and get it, big boy…”

The deluded prince lets out a great roar of anger.

“See!? I told you I didn’t take your stupid rose!”

The Beast faces his right to see Roche descending the stairs from the west hall. “Child! How did you escape your cell!?”

“Does that really matter right now!? You need help getting your rose back, right?”

“I need no one’s help! Especially not yours! This is my castle!”

A thunderous rumble from outside the castle signals the arrival of a massive force of darkness.

“…The Heartless sure don’t think so. They made themselves right at home here.”

The Beast bares his fangs once more. “Do not test my patience, boy.”

Roche gulps. Sure, the Beast was just as frightening as ever, but now was no time to exhibit fear. “Look!”, he begins. “I know you don’t like me, and I know you don’t want me here! And believe me, I don’t wanna be here either! But as a Keyblade master, it’s my job to destroy the Heartless wherever they appear! So I’m going out there to get rid of whatever it is that just showed up, and I’ll do it with or without your help!”

The Key-bearing teen’s outburst catches the beastly prince off-guard. He stands there in surprise while the boy dashes down the stairs and out the front entrance into the courtyard. “…”

Once outside, Roche encounters a large (but not necessarily gigantic) Heartless. Aesthetically, it resembled an armoire, with an overall wheat color scheme. It had two large chartreuse doors and two small drawers on the front, with five additional drawers lining its interior. It walked on four short legs, and the Heartless emblem adorned its back.

Roche readies the Superquake and prepares to do battle with the Wicked Wardrobe. “En garde!”

[BGM: Fight and Away]

The Wardrobe’s front drawers slide open, and a number of Soldiers and Hook Bats jump out. While its Heartless legion fights, the Wardrobe wanders aimlessly about the battlefield. Roche rushes in, easily dispatching the army of humanoids and flutterers, and makes his way toward the Wardrobe. As he draws close, the Wardrobe opens up its doors and the top interior drawer slides out to strike. The drawer impacts Roche, sending him flying a short distance back. He prepares to try again, but the enemy preempts this by summoning an army of Neoshadows and Gargoyle Knights. Roche grits his teeth at the annoying tactic, but pushes through. Drawing the Keyblade back, he launches forth and blasts through the horde with a show of Ars Arcanum. After clearing a path, he saves the final strike of the Arcanum for the Wardrobe. The odd Heartless proves to be a slippery one, however, as it leaps out of the way of the attack. “Tch!” Roche points his weapon up and conjures a large sphere of fire at its tip. “Firaga Burst!” The fireball releases a collection of smaller ones that rain down upon the courtyard. Any Heartless left standing would burn to a crisp. But even on its stubby legs, the Wicked Wardrobe was considerably nimble, able to evade many of the raining fireballs. As the fiery rain subsides, it summons even more Heartless to serve as cannon fodder, causing Roche further frustration. “Aw, come on already!”

All of a sudden, with a leap and a roar, the Beast jumps into the fray, mowing down a portion of the crowd in an instant. The sheer force of its bellow blows away the rest.

Taken aback by the display, Roche stammers, “P-Prince!”

“Not a word!”, the Beast barks. “I do this not for your sake, but for the sake of my castle! Are we clear!?”

“…Heh. Whatever you say.”

In the face of the Beast’s arrival, the Wardrobe hops up and down in a craze, seeming panicked. Opening up several of its drawers, it fires upon the two with a hailstorm of the elements, such as fire, wind, and water. The Beast defends himself with his bulky arms as the projectiles pelt him relentlessly. A few seconds into the barrage, Roche jumps in front and thrusts the Keyblade into the ground at his feet, and a wall of earth rises from below to absorb the assault. The Beast claws his way to the top of the wall and over the range of the projectiles, propelling himself into the air and above the Wardrobe. He drops down onto the Heartless with a vicious claw slash that severs two of its open drawers. As the enemy recoils, Roche pops out from behind the Beast to cut at a third drawer with an upward-arcing strike. The Wardrobe quickly distances itself from the two and uses its remaining drawers to summon a vast legion of Crimson Jazzes, Morning Stars, and Hammer Frames. The Beast immediately goes to work on the Heartless, while Roche makes for the Wardrobe. The edgy Heartless stomps from side to side, preparing to dodge the boy’s next attack. But as swift as the Wardrobe’s feet were, not even they were fast enough for Roche’s six-stage Sonic Blade. The enemy briefly wobbles before launching a counterattack. Balancing itself upon a single leg, it attacks Roche with a whirling pirouette. Roche suffers a few hits from the unorthodox attack, but refuses to yield. During the Wardrobe’s gyration, he reaches out to grab the handle on one of its doors and is consequently pulled along for the ride. He then shoots off a series of Fire spells straight up. Having nowhere to go but down, the fireballs change direction and do just that, falling from the sky and pelting the Wardrobe’s head. Unable to maintain its spin, the Heartless stops and staggers back and forth from dizziness. During this, Roche gets into position in front and lays into it with the Keyblade, disabling the rest of its drawers. Coinciding with this, the Beast eliminates the last of the Wardrobe’s meat shields. The enemy takes a minute to assess the situation: it had no means of summoning additional Heartless, virtually no means of attacking, and was otherwise powerless. Its only fallback plan? Retreat!

“Oh, no, you don’t!”, Roche shouts defiantly. He takes aim with the Superquake and focuses on the fleeing Heartless’ emblem, firing upon it with a beam of white light.

The beam travels straight through the Wicked Wardrobe’s body, and it’s reduced to nothingness from the emblem out. Its released heart floats up to the night sky.

A short-lived silence befalls the courtyard, and someone nearby is heard clapping. Roche turns to its source.

Approaching with a slow walk, Relena applauds the two’s efforts. “Bravo! This turned out to be just a banner evening, didn’t it? Had myself a bit of fun, got a great show out of it, and on top of everything, the lead performer turns out to be the small fry! I’m not gonna lie -- I did not see this coming!”

“Uh… And you are?”

“Oh, come on, not this bit again. Is my face really that forgettable? Give it a minute, it’ll come to ya…”

As with Ciel, it takes a few moments for the woman’s face to register in Roche’s memory banks. His reaction was practically identical. “R-Relena…!?”

“There it is! …Man, just look at you. You shot up like a weed, kid. Seems like just the other day you were drying your eyes on your sister’s sleeve every 5 seconds.”

The remark brings tinges of red to Roche’s cheeks. “I-I’m not the little kid I was three years ago, Relena!”, he yelps defensively.

“ENOUGH!”, roars the Beast. “The rose! Now!”

“What, this thing?” Reaching behind her, Relena presents the Beast’s enchanted rose and flings it at him. “Take it. I have no use for it. Worthless thing doesn’t even smell like a real rose.”

The Beast catches the magical flower gently in his palms and continues to give Relena the evil eye. “If you’ve done anything to it, I swear I’ll…!”

“Oh, don’t get your horns in a knot, ‘Princey’. If I was gonna do something, I’d have done it by now. And poof. Your dreams of becoming human again -- up in smoke.”

“Why are you doing this, Relena!?”, Roche cries. “This isn’t like you! I know you liked to tease people, but this… This is just…! You’re acting as bad as the Heartless!”

“…Hah. Funny you should say that.” Relena turns her back to Roche…

…revealing the Heartless emblem she now bore. “!!!”

“…‘Big Sis’ sends her love, by the way.”, is the last to escape her lips before departing through a Dark Corridor.

“W-Wait! You saw Marin!? Where is she!? Relena, come back!” Roche’s arms fall helplessly to his sides, his words failing to reach.

The Beast could care less that the sadistic blonde was gone. With rose in hand, he turns toward the castle doors. “Good. Now that she’s gone, you can join her. Leave at once.”, he demands.

“What? Not even a ‘thank you’ for helping protect your home?”

“I’m allowing you to leave here with your life!”, the prince retorts. “I owe you nothing else!”

The Beast takes his leave of the courtyard and returns inside, parting ways with the Key-wielding child. “…You don’t have to be a jerk about it…”, he gripes under his breath. Facing away and holding out the Superquake, Roche envisions home and family in his mind, and the blade reacts by opening a Light Corridor. “Well, this was a tiring detour… I didn’t even get to--”

“HEY! ROCHE!”

Roche turns back to the castle one last time and looks up toward the balcony…

…where Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and Chip wave goodbye to him. “Come back and play sometime, okay?”, Chip cries out.

Roche gives a moved smile and waves back to this world’s one redeeming aspect. “Heh. I’ll try my best, Chip! Maybe when your master’s learned to cheer up a little! Hahahaha!”

~ Next Report: The Halloween Queen ~