Castle of Dreams
First Appearance: KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep (2010)
Origin: Cinderella (1950)
As Ventus has found out, venturing too soon into the outside world has its repercussions, especially when one has limited knowledge of interworld travel. Arriving at the Castle of Dreams the size of a mouse, Ven is rescued from a mouse trap by Cinderella, a scullery maid who is frequently bullied by her stepfamily, Lady Tremaine and her daughters, Drizella and Anastasia. It is Cinderella's dream to attend a royal ball that is being held in the kingdom's castle that very night, but her stepfamily's endless demands are keeping Cinderella from getting a dress.
Despite interference from Lady Tremaine's cat, Lucifer, Ven and Jaq manage to sew together a dress for Cinderella. Surprised and delighted, Cinderella sets off for the ball to live her dream, while Ven, upon reflection, decides that his dream is to be a Keyblade Master alongside Terra and Aqua.
Terra arrives to a courtyard at the edge of Lady Tremaine's estate, where he stumbles upon a crying Cinderella, whose dress has been torn to shreds by her jealous stepsisters and whose negative emotions resulting from that tragedy has called forth the Unversed. Terra attempts to get Cinderella to believe in the strength of her heart, but the maiden's grief is only consoled when her Fairy Godmother appears. The Fairy Godmother appears only to those who has an everlasting faith in their dream, and to retain that faith in Cinderella, she conjures a carriage, a ballgown and glass slippers, all of which will be undone by the stroke of midnight. As an excited Cinderella heads towards the castle, Terra senses a strong light within her, a light which was only recently ignited when Cinderella's faith in her dream is reaffirmed. Intrigued, Terra too journeys towards the castle.
With swarms of Unversed impeding the guests' arrival to the royal ball, Terra escorts Cinderella to the ballroom, where she meets and falls in love with Prince Charming. The ball is interrupted by the Symphony Master Unversed, but order is quickly restored once Terra takes care of it. The Grand Duke reveals that the Unversed problem has only arisen after a boy in a mask was seen in the kingdom. Armed with this new information, and satisfied that Cinderella's dream has come true, Terra takes his leave.
As the clock strikes midnight, Terra meets Aqua on the steps to the ballroom. He informs her that Master Xehanort is searching of pure hearts filled with light, but apparently his search has not taken him here. Inspired by Cinderella's belief in her dreams, and vowing to do the same, he asks Aqua to thank Cinderella for him when she gets the chance.
Relieved that Terra is still holding onto his dreams and is still on good terms with her, Aqua turns her attention to more immediate matters. Shortly before her brief reunion with her friend, she sees Cinderella fleeing the ballroom at the stroke of midnight, and in her haste, she has left behind a glass slipper. The Grand Duke announces that there will be a kingdom-wide search for the girl whose foot is able to fit the slipper.
Sensing negativity from the Tremaines, Aqua follows them back to the chateau with the intention of killing them before their darkness harms anyone else. Aqua's actions however are ill-advised by the Fairy Godmother. Light and darkness must co-exist, a philosophy Master Eraqus seems to not have a grasp on. Instead of outright confronting the Tremaines, the Fairy Godmother suggests that Aqua should help preserve Cinderella's light instead, in this case, by helping Jaq free the maiden from her imprisonment at the hands of Lady Tremaine. With the Tremaines being distracted by the Grand Duke's arrival, Aqua protects Jaq as he sneaks the key from Lady Tremaine's pocket and delivers it to Cinderella.
Once Cinderella is freed, a furious Lady Tremaine craftily breaks the glass slipper, but thankfully, the Fairy Godmother has left Cinderella with the other pair, thereby deeming her to be the one the Prince fell in love with at the ball. The negativity that have been building up in the Tremaines eventually mainfests as an Unversed attack upon Cinderella, but it backfires and they are consumed by their own darkness. Aqua defeats the Cursed Carriage Unversed, and reunites Cinderella with her prince, but not before thanking her for teaching Terra about the importance of believing.
If darkness cannot be destroyed by light, then how can it be defeated? And what of Master Eraqus's teachings? The Fairy Godmother assures Aqua that as she gains experience from this journey, she will find the answer as long as she trusts in her dreams.
