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Icicle Inn: Part Two

Donald wasn’t amused.

Goofy, however, was clutching his belly and laughing like a maniac.

“Goofy…”

The laughter went up another notch on the hysterical scale.

“Goofy!”

Said Knight was now rolling around in the snow. Donald’s patience (cough) wore out.

“Goofy get me out of this snow right now!”

…Because Donald, upon awakening, had found himself stuck through the middle of a snowman. Goofy, who had come out of the ski jump unscathed, was still laughing but he seemed to be finally regaining some control.

“It’s not funny!”

Goofy disagreed.

“Stop laughing! We’ve got to find Sora!”

That finally calmed Goofy down. A few minutes later Donald was freed.

“Got any magic you can use?” Goofy asked.

Donald nodded. He muttered some words in a language Goofy couldn’t place. Shortly afterwards blue lights were gathering, sprinkling leftovers that formed a map of the local area.

“Aw we sure didn’t get too far,” Goofy commented as his and Donald’s position marked itself on the map. “We’re right near the town. We musta doubled back on ourselves.”

“That explains the snowman,” Donald grumbled.

“Can that doohickey show us where Sora is?”

“There.” Donald pointed at an area not too far away. “He’s the red dot.”

“He’s not movin’.”

Something else was appearing, numerous black dots starting to swell in numbers. Donald quickly committed the path to memory, dispelling the magic soon after. Goofy hurried after him.

The Heartless were closing in.

---

He woke up, cold, shivering and very uncomfortable. Stiff and sore, Sora slowly pushed himself up on his hands. He winced as his knees cracked. Thanks to the snowboard still attached to his feet, Sora’s legs had been left at an uncomfortable angle for as long as he’d been out. He carefully stood up, relieved to find his body free of broken bones. But it felt like every single joint was having a good pop and crack as he began to move again.

“Ow.”

He detached himself from the snowboard and stamped his feet on the ground to get the blood flowing. He left the board in the snow. He didn’t need it now. He was standing in a rocky clearing, three paths open to him. He reached into a pocket and pulled the map out, matching his location to one of the landmarks. He quickly mapped out a route to the cliffs. But should he go on alone or try and find his friends?

Sora had to get moving one way or another. If he didn’t he knew he would freeze. Snow was billowing in huge, white chunks. Sora pulled his hoods up, still cheerful despite his uncomfortable situation. He stuck his tongue out and caught a few flakes.

The wind masked the sounds creeping up on him.

Sora decided he had to hope Donald and Goofy would make it to the cliffs. He had no chance of finding them if he just started walking to random places. It was more likely if he did that he’d wind up frozen to death.

Sora didn’t yet realise there was something walking around behind him.

Besides, he knew his friends would think to head to the cliffs as well. Maybe they’d even head back to the town… although he sort of hoped they wouldn’t leave him out here in the cold. That wasn’t fair at all. He just had to hope Donald and Goofy hadn’t been hurt. Sora shook himself. That was enough worrying! He had to get on.

Sora stepped forward. Something crunched out of time with his own feet.

The Keyblade appeared. He turned around as fast as his cold body would allow. Sora’s eyebrows disappeared behind his bangs. He’d read about Yetis in books. This one was as large as he had imagined, and covered in white fur.

It was also a Heartless.

Sora ran at the shaggy Heartless. Shadows, their bodies tinged frosty blue, appeared out the snow. Fighting them all, Sora was soon feeling warmer. The Shadows kept ducking up and down, too fast for him to finish off. The Yeti kept throwing snowballs at Sora. However, they weren’t cute little ones. These were the size of boulders. Dodging them was hard, the Shadows keeping Sora distracted. Sora jumped over a massive ton of snow, landing on top of a Shadow as it pulled itself out of the ground. The Heartless was soon a mere puff of smoke. It never stood a chance of dodging Sora’s feet. Now there were three Shadows left, plus the powerful Yeti. The Shadows seemed faster than usual, but that was probably because Sora’s body was struggling to move in the subzero conditions.

A snow boulder slammed into him. He fell with a cry, pinned beneath a blanket of snow. He winced as the cold pressed into his body, dampening his clothes. He struggled to move his arm up, pulling the Keyblade free in time to set off a few rounds of Fira. The magic finally took the last three Shadows down but the Yeti remained. The magic had melted the snow so Sora could get up, albeit chilled to the bone. He stood ready to attack, the Yeti coming at him from above with its hands clasped to deliver a hammering blow. Sora jumped out the way, spinning around and digging the Keyblade deep into the Yeti’s side. It roared painfully, one giant hand swooping out. Sora didn’t move in time and was thrown against a rock. The snow clinging to stones kept him from being seriously hurt but now he was cold, scratched and on the defensive. He ducked two punches, snow tumbling onto him as the Yeti knocked it loose. Sora went for the face, where two bulging black eyes glared at him. The Keyblade drew a long line across the Yeti’s forehead. The Heartless stumbled back with a growl. Sora pressed his advantage, quickly catching two blind punches before jumping and spinning around in midair, his weapon lashing out. The Heartless fell to the snow, bursting into clouds of smoke. Sora breathed a sigh of relief. But the chill was already returning to his body.

“Brrr…”

Making sure the Heartless were gone, Sora headed off up his path. He went at a cautious jog, squinting into the snow. His next encounter with the Heartless was on the shores of a frozen lake. There was another Yeti-type as well as, and here Sora rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating, Heartless the size of Shadows but appeared to be snowmen, their arms made of sticks and their eyes like black stones.

There was no more time for disbelief. The numerous Snowmen were bounding forwards, pushing themselves forwards with their arms. They wielded ice-based spells, hitting Sora and numbing his already cold body. He melted their next attacks with Fira. The steam obscured his vision. Unable to see, he didn’t react fast enough to the Snowmen coming at him, their fists small but surprisingly powerful. Three clung to him while another pair gathered snowballs. Blocking Sora’s path was the Yeti, ready to attack if the Snowmen fell.

“Get off!”

Sora’s body seemed to creak as he threw the Heartless off him. Then he was being pelted with snowballs, each one containing a Blizzara spell. Sora knew movement was the best way to fight off the cold so he opted for Sonic Blade, snow spiralling in the air as he skidded back and forth. He managed to hit all the Snowmen, taking down the three that had previously used him as a climbing frame. The other two, the snowball pair, were still alive.

And now the Yeti was coming up to join the fight. Perfect.

---

“Gwarsh an’ I thought Snowmen were s’posed to be fun!”

Donald and Goofy had also come under attack from the Heartless Snowmen, the pair fighting through a barrage of snowballs. Goofy covered Donald so the magician could drink an Ether and replenish his energy. Goofy had to keep shaking the snow off his shield, the gathering white powder making it too heavy to hold. The Snowmen were starting to lessen in number and now Donald was ready with some more Fira spells.

A screeching from the air led Donald’s eyes upwards. He saw birds flying above, a formation of three eagle-like birds but with white feathers that filtered into ice-blue at their tips. They had the Heartless symbol emblazoned on their bellies. Donald belatedly wished Jiminy had accompanied them, because the journal keeper had a knack for naming the Heartless, but the cricket had opted to remain in Traverse Town a while ago to interview Leon and the others. Oh well. Donald went for the obvious and named them Ice Eagles, hopping out the way just in time to avoid being stabbed with fiercely sharp chunks of ice.

“That does it!” Donald aimed his staff. “FIRA!”

Donald’s magic, burning orange and red clouds, encompassed the whole area. Goofy’s Snowmen were soon taken care of. The Ice Eagles, while weakened, remained and began to dive bomb out the sky.

Goofy grinned at Donald. “Same tactic?”

Donald nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go!”

Goofy jumped, spinning around and knocking the birds back. The Heartless’ concentration broke and all three broke out of formation. Donald aimed again, this time using Thunder to further disorient the Heartless. He quickly switched to Fira, using individual bursts to attack each Ice Eagle. The three fell. Donald and Goofy were alone again.

“Let’s keep moving,” Donald said, shivering even as he started running. “It’s too cold to stand still.”

Goofy followed, the pair jogging to keep warm. The snow was gently drifting out the sky but with the wind occasionally blowing it around, Donald and Goofy had to shield their eyes from the stinging flakes. Soon they reached the place where, according to Donald’s map, Sora had been. All they found was his snowboard.

“I can’t see any footprints,” Goofy commented. “But I’m sure it’s just the snow that’s covered ‘em up.” He rubbed his arms. “I feel like I’m gonna turn into a Popsicle!” Goofy began hopping up and down on the spot. “I ain’t never been this cold in my life.”

“Stop c-c-c-complaining!”

Donald, hopping about to stay warm, quickly cast another map. It located Sora not too far ahead by a lake, once again accompanied by the dots of Heartless.

“Sora’s good at finding trouble,” Goofy commented.

“S-s-s-sure is.”

Goofy peered down at his friend. “You okay?”

Donald, being so small, was already up to his waist in snow. Still, it seemed his fiery temper was enough to warm him through. ”I’m FREEZING!” Donald declared, jumping up and down. “Stupid snow!”

Goofy chuckled. “Well, let’s get going then!” And he took the lead, Donald following behind.

---

Sora jumped over the Yeti, attacking it so fast from behind that it tripped over and landed on the two Snowmen. Subsequently squashed, the Snowmen disappeared. Sora’s only trouble now came from the Yeti, who was hefting a huge pile of snow up as it stood on its feet. Sora jumped backwards, avoiding the attack. He held the Keyblade out, ready to cast Fira and…

…nothing. Zilch. Nada.

He’d run out of magical energy.

Uttering a word Donald would not have approved of, Sora landed and sliced through the next boulder with his weapon instead. The Yeti was close behind, both its arms sweeping to crush Sora between them. Sora lunged forward, the Keyblade piercing the Heartless through the chest. It fell backwards, turning into smoke before it even hit the floor.

Amazed he’d managed to work up a sweat, Sora dismissed the Keyblade and carried on up the path that, if memory served, should lead to another pond-like area. It was a little hard to tell what each place would actually be like when all he had to go on was a hand-drawn map.

Sora’s route became more problematic as the snow grew steadily deeper. Soon he had to wade through it. Unlike the sea he had pushed through back home, the snow was resistant to his body and much colder. Sora’s teeth clattered against each other. His clothes seemed to offer less and less protection. He wanted to stop but he didn’t dare. Besides, if he was already cold while moving, Sora didn’t want to know how subzero he would feel if he stood still.

Shadows accompanied Sora as he reached a trio of pathways set in a cliff. They stopped him from backing up. His route forward was also cut off thanks to a gathering of Snowmen.

Sora sighed and crouched, ready to fight. He managed to clasp the Keyblade in his stiffened hands, his gloves alternating between soaking wet and almost frozen solid depending on whether he was fighting or whether he was walking through the snow. He’d forgotten how tiring it was to fight alone. He hadn’t had to do it since he’d first left his world, and he remembered how embarrassingly it had all ended in Traverse Town.

“Yeah, but I’d had a really bad night back then and… uh…” Sora blushed. He was talking to himself. Or maybe he was talking at the Heartless preparing to attack him. Either way he was going mad.

Sora threw himself into the fight, pushing the Snowmen back before swinging around and keeping the Shadows off his back. He dodged the magic the Snowmen threw at him, some of it hitting the Shadows. Because the Heartless were all so small, Sora had to jump rather than duck their assaults. It was tiring and his attacks were getting sloppy. The Shadows were relatively easy to deal with, their attacks short-ranged unless they decided to leap at him. But even then dodging such attacks was easy, because it gave Sora time to either move out the way or a chance to realise what was coming so he could fight back. One Shadow leapt up, intent on clawing Sora’s heart out from above. Spreading his legs, Sora swung the Keyblade up, taking the Heartless down with the blow. He spun around, knocking a snowball off course and into another Shadow. There was now only a single Shadow left whereas the Snowmen numbered five. Every time an ice spell hit him, Sora gasped at the sudden chill flooding through him. The snow was becoming less and less romantic, all the childhood daydreams he’d had on constantly summertime islands seeming a little silly. Snow was cold and he had now had quite enough.

Oh, except for making snowmen of a non-Heartless variety. He had to do that. He’d be able to tell Riku and Kairi and then…

…well, he’d be able to tell Kairi at least…

…he had to find her first…

“Whoa!”

He groaned as several snowballs hit him at once, the ice magic numbing him. He had to stop his mind from wandering so much.

Pushing himself through the snow, Sora dodged another salvo and cut across the Heartless with the Keyblade, two of them disappearing. The Shadow chose this moment to attack from behind. Sora winced as the creature’s claws dug into his back, somehow cutting him without tearing his clothes. Nevertheless, the grazes stung in the cold. Sora swung around, the Keyblade knocking the Heartless sideways before Sora switched directions and cut the Shadow down with a diagonal slash. Warmed by the blood oozing beneath his clothes, Sora moved a little faster. He knocked back all the snowballs that came at him and attacked the three remaining Snowmen, taking the one in the centre down first before knocking the other two down. A series of rapid blows, too fast for the diminutive Heartless’ to dodge, soon sorted them. Sora was alone again, out of breath but warm thanks to a post-battle adrenaline rush. With his path clear, Sora sweated on his way.

---

Goofy realised Donald was lagging further and further behind. They had reached the lake and not found Sora, having to rely once again on Donald’s magic to apprise them of the teenager’s position. It took Donald longer this time to focus. The cold was getting to him, his smaller body unable to tackle the snow as well as Goofy.

Matters only got worse when the snowfall became a blizzard.

Goofy grabbed hold of Donald, tugging his tired friend on. Both were too busy trying to move on to notice the shadow of someone standing on the rocky hills above them. It was only when Donald sensed the use of magic, and alerted Goofy, that the pair realised they weren’t alone.

The figure jumped down, coming to stand in front of Donald and Goofy. The person was a woman, dressed in thick winter garments that were untouched by the weather. The wind and snow seemed incapable of ruffling her. And yet despite all the warm clothing, her skin appeared to be blue. How odd. Donald didn’t think the woman was a Heartless, but she was radiating some pretty dodgy power.

“What do you think you are doing?” she demanded in a high, imperial voice. “How dare you tread on my snow?”

Donald and Goofy shared a look.

“Uh, your snow ma’am?” Goofy asked politely.

The woman let out a roar of rage. The blizzard’s power got so strong Donald was sent flying. Goofy managed to stay standing but it was close. He could feel his body being tugged upwards.

“No one may dirty my snow! No one but I may walk these paths!”

“Now isn’t that just a little rude?” Goofy asked innocently.

The woman fairly screamed with fury. “How dare you!”

Goofy, finding his body trapped under a growing mound of snow, was still at a loss as to what he was daring to do. “Um… beggin’ your pardon ma’am but I…”

“I will kill you! And your friend! You filthy trespassers! I… I’ll…!” The woman broke off, her words melting into a gasp. “There’s another one? And he’s at my hot springs? What the…? HOW DARE HE! FILTHY BRAT!”

The spectacularly strange woman took off as suddenly as she had come. The snow lessened in its dramatic rush to reach the ground but it continued to steam heavily. He couldn’t move and had no way to see if Donald was all right. The snow kept falling. He was almost completely buried.

“Hello down there!” This time the unfamiliar voice was male. “Can you hear me?”

Goofy tried to reply but instead only got a mouthful of snow.

“Hang on! I’m coming!”

Goofy closed his eyes. Getting snow in them stung like crazy, and he couldn’t move his hands to rub them clear. He just had to hope that Donald and Sora were okay, and that whoever this newest stranger was he wasn’t totally insane like the last one.

---

The downside of working up a sweat in the snow was, as your body started to chill, you would find said sweat turning into a fine sheen of ice over your skin. Shivering badly, Sora began seriously wishing he’d been able to bring some of the soup from the inn with him. He began thinking of lots of warm things. Thoughts of blankets made him sleepy. The temptation to lie down was suddenly strong, sleep pushing down on him like a monumental weight.

He didn’t even realise he was tipping over, hitting the soft snow and rolling forward.

Drifting, drifting, oh so tiredly, right into…

…hot water?

Spluttering, Sora sat up and opened his eyes. He couldn’t believe it. He was sitting, utterly drenched, in a hot spring. Steam rose, the snow melting wherever it touched the lake’s edges. Sora sighed joyfully. The water felt so good! He floated on his back, the warmth of the water eating through every chill. It felt like home.

There was just one not so tiny problem.

When he got out, dripping wet, everything was going to freeze.

Oh, and now the map was soaking wet.

Darn.

He felt like dozing off in the warmth. It was the best bath he’d ever had. He stood up though, making sure he kept his shoulders below the water. He was preparing himself for the cold. He had to get on. Donald and Goofy could already be waiting for him at the cliff… and Donald was surely the only person who’d have the magical capabilities to dry Sora out.

Sora suddenly found himself being lifted from the water, wind screaming past his ears. His vision threatened to go whiteout thanks to the snow wrapping around him. Colder than he had been before, Sora squinted through the sudden onslaught.

“How could you touch my hot springs with your dirty body? Disgusting boy! Be gone!”

“Who are you?” Sora demanded. “I didn’t mean any harm. I just sorta…fell in…”

The woman stood out against the snow, as blue as it was white. “I am the Lady of the Inn, keeper of these lands. You have no business being here!”

Sora could feel his clothes freezing. His whole body began to seize up as it had before, the cold seemingly turning him to stone. “I-I just c-came to stop the Heartless. I’m not…”

“The Heartless? Oh, is that what they are? They’re good little pets.”

Sora couldn’t believe his eyes. Shadows were appearing, all of them focused on him and ignoring the woman in blue.

“Sora!”

He barely caught the sound of the voice. Was it Goofy? It was hard to tell, the wind playing havoc with noise beyond its own shrieking gusts.

Before he was ready, the Heartless were attacking. He tried to move but found his movements were painfully slow, his body too cold and the wind too strong for his normal speed. Falling into the hot spring really hadn’t been a good idea. Gritting his teeth, Sora focused and managed to call the Keyblade out. He held it in both hands. The Heartless flocked to him. He managed a few parries but moving seemed to make him colder, exposing more of his body to the freezing wind. Before he knew it, he had fallen to his knees. Only by leaning on the Keyblade did he keep himself from collapsing completely. And now the snow was gathering around him, the Lady of the Inn manipulating it.

“Sora! Hold on!”

It was Goofy! His friend crashed into the Lady of the Inn, his shield knocking her forward. The snow fell out of her control. Sora stumbled to his feet, knocking back the Shadows that had come too close. That, however, was the end of his energy. Soaked, his body shivering so much he thought it would shake apart, Sora slumped back to his knees. His weapon faded.

The Lady of the Inn screamed in disgust and disappeared in a plume of snow, promising she would return to exact revenge.

“Goofy! I’m glad you’re okay!” Sora looked up hazily, his hair actually bearing frost as he peered through it. He spotted an unfamiliar figure. “Whoa.” His vision was doing very odd things, things racing towards him before fleeing again. “I…I…” He tipped forwards. Goofy caught him. “Uh, thanks.”

“Think you can stand? Mr Holzoff here says we can stop off at his place.”

“M-M-M-Mister who?”

Goofy lifted Sora to his feet. The boy clutched him tightly. “Mr Holzoff lives round these parts. Don’t worry, he ain’t crazy. Donald’s with him.”

“D-Donald! I forgot. I-I-is he okay?”

“Just a little knocked out from the snow. Don’t worry. C’mon, let’s go Sora.”

Sora allowed Goofy to lead him forward. The boy didn’t pay attention to anything except his feet, putting on in front of the other as best he could. He didn’t talk to Goofy, didn’t see if Donald was okay and didn’t greet the stranger. All of those things took too much effort and he had to focus solely on walking if he was going to make it to wherever they were going. He was too cold to think about anything else. How he wished he could jump back in that pool and not come out only to freeze. It was warm like home, comfortable and…

“Here we are.”

The snow was suddenly gone from in front of Sora, replaced by a wooden hut. The door opened onto a brightly lit lounge, animal furs and maps on the wall, along with winter weather clothing and hunting gear. A moment after he stepped over the threshold, heat slapped Sora in the face like a physical force. The sudden change in temperature knocked Sora back, his head reeling. Everything swam, his legs forgetting how to hold him up.

Luckily Goofy was there to take care of him. “Let’s sit you down before you fall down!”

Sora was planted on a brown plush sofa. He watched the still unknown man, who had Donald on his back, stroll through to another part of the house. Goofy smiled down at Sora, who had apparently fallen onto his side. “You shouldn’t sleep before gettin’ changed Sora.”

“Mm.”

“Fought the Heartless huh?”

“It’s harder in the snow.”

“That’s ‘cause ya gotta use more energy. Ya hafta stay warm as well as fight.”

“Sure do.” Sora yawned, attempted to sit up, failed and proceeded to curl up in his soaking clothes. “Wake me up next week.”

A second later, Sora had nodded off.

To Be Concluded…