The Keyblade War Chapter III: Beauty Of Apocalypse

Chapter Four: Escape Plan

 It wasn't a short while after when Dawn, Kairi and the others had been thrown to their cells, by order of the Red Queen. They probably had a worse fate in store, so they were grateful that Hatter was able to provide a diversion, so they could be able to come with up an escape plan. Unfortunately, they weren't able to hold any group conferences together since two Card Soldiers had taken their post and were standing just a few feet away from their cells. If they were to think of anything, they'd have to keep it to themselves. Vanitas was bored out of his mind, as he took a piece of metal he found on the floor to scrape on his cell wall and drew random things. Dexeres, who was beside him, was deep in thought. They couldn't use their Keyblades to get out of their cells, since he was sure this would end up making a mess of things, sending the castle into an uproar. As long as the Card Soldiers remained, none of the Keyblade Wielders could even think of summoning their Keyblades to escape.

"This reminds me of something from a long time back..." Gilgamesh suddenly said. Dawn, who was right beside him, tilted her head.

"Of what, if I may ask?" she asked.

"Oh, well, it was the time when I first laid eyes on my most legendary of swords, Excalibur! I was a younger warrior back then, and I had just started my weapons collection, and as I roamed the land to find another perfect specimen to add to my collection, I had been imprisoned by a greedy king! I was locked in prison for quite a while, and every time the king would come to check on me, I would always admire his marvelous sword! One day, I proposed a deal to him! The deal was that we were to participate in a duel, and if I won, I'd get to have his sword, but if he won, he would be allowed to kill me! And so, he accepted those terms, and when we dueled, ha, I outsmarted him, and while he was quite the fine swordsman, I prevailed in the end and earned Excalibur, which I now proudly possess!" he explained, and Dawn looked at him questioningly.

"And, um...other than the whole being imprisoned part...how does this moment right now remind you of back then?" she asked.

"Well, it reminds me that now we are in the house of royalty! And as such, royals always put their pride above all else, so I reckon that if you challenged the Red Queen, we could be freed!" he suggested, and Dawn actually considered the idea, but one of the Card Soldiers laughed.

"Ha, the Queen will never accept a match with you in a million years!" the Card Soldier said.

"Oh, we'll see about that..." Gilgamesh whispered mischievously. Dawn smirked and knew that this would be a good idea. Then she looked over to Riku, who was on the cell right across from hers. He was wincing in pain, and Dawn felt horrible seeing him like this. Riku noticed Dawn's concerned face, and that's when he decided to suck up the pain.

"Oh, don't worry about me, I'm fine! I'm actually healing quite better than I expected! I'm at least able to fight, so that's good..." he said, but Dawn shook her head.

"Are you crazy!? If the Queen hadn't opened her mouth that moment, I'd have slapped you! You could've gotten hurt!" she exclaimed, and at that, Riku smiled.

"Dawn...I know that you're worried, but really, I'm fine...I just need a little more time to recover, that's all..." he said.