Teal eyes slowly opened to realize he'd been moved. The air still felt warm but it was an improvement to the dry heat outside, for he could tell he was inside now, and there was a cool wet cloth on his forehead.
"Hey, you're awake!"
Toshiro looked to see Sora sitting nearby where he was laying with a relieved expression, Donald with him as well as a pretty lady he didn't recognize. The room around them was large, clearly not one of the dusty houses he'd seen before. Judging by how the woman was dressed in rather rich looking fabric he guessed this was possibly the palace he'd caught a glimpse of upon their arrival. So they were friends with a princess here too, interesting. How many did that make now?
"Are you alright?" The princess asked him in a gentle tone, taking the cloth. She had a similar Spiritual Pressure as Belle, so he assumed she was maybe another Princess of Heart.
"I've been better." Toshiro answered, sitting up with more effort than he should have needed. "This place doesn't suit me very well."
"Sora told me you come from a very cold country." She said.
Glancing at the Keybearer, the Soul Reaper decided to play along for now and just nodded, not saying anything.
"I'm sorry I can't help much, I can't change the weather." She sighed, putting more cold water on the cloth and handing it back to him. He took it gratefully and leaned back, placing it once more on his forehead. With the sun blocked from view and a soft breeze blowing past, it definitely felt cooler and was helping him to recover.
"Thanks Jasmine." Sora said to the woman. "We were worried he wouldn't make it."
"Of course." Jasmine smiled. "I'll be right back. Let one of the servants know if you need anything."
"Okay."
The desert princess walked off into the palace, leaving just the three of them.
"Where's Goofy?" Toshiro questioned upon noticing the missing dog.
"He went out with Iago to find Aladdin."
"Iago?" Toshiro looked further confused.
"Oh, right." Sora scratched his head. "There was this really bad sorcerer called Jafar, and Iago was his pet bird. Iago helped Jafar do some pretty nasty stuff but he was really a coward. When Jafar got himself turned into a Genie by forcing Aladdin's friend Genie to make him one, Iago got stuck in the lamp with him. Somehow he got out and now he wants to apologize to Aladdin and Jasmine. So he went with Goofy to help find him."
"I see. I'm assuming this bird can talk, then?"
"Yeah. But he's the only animal here that can."
"I've gotten used to talking animals by now."
Donald huffed indignantly.
"Anyway, if Goofy can find Aladdin we can probably get Genie to come by and help. Genie is free from the lamp now since Aladdin used his third wish to free him…so finding him is kinda hard."
"Most would think it unwise to free such a powerful spirit." Toshiro frowned.
"But Genie's really cool. He helps out a lot!" Sora argued.
"I believe you." Toshiro moved the cloth away, most of the water already absorbed to cool himself off, and made to stand.
"Whoa, easy." Sora stood and helped balance the Reaper as he stumbled. "It's a little early to go back outside, Captain."
"Damn this heat."
He reluctantly sat back down, running a hand through his hair. Thankfully he wasn't sweating; he couldn't lose too much water. By the looks of things he'd be staying in the palace for the duration of the mission. He didn't like this one bit.
He looked up as footsteps approached, the owner being none other than Goofy, a bird, no doubt Iago, looking a little spooked on his shoulder.
"Hey guys, we've got good news and bad news." Goofy reported.
"Good news first." Sora said.
"Okay. We found Aladdin."
"Really?" Donald quacked. "Was Genie with him?"
"That's the bad news. Genie's explorin' the world." Goofy frowned. "And something else, too. A peddler got Jafar's lamp."
"No way!" Sora was on his feet in seconds.
"Jafar as in that evil sorcerer you just told me about?" Toshiro asked the Keybearer.
"Of course! Where've you been!?" Iago snapped, fluttering over to hover in front of the Reaper.
Cold teal eyes shot a glare at him and the bird gulped.
"In case you haven't noticed I'm new here." Toshiro growled, flicking the bird away. "Considering your reaction I guess that means I'm right." He turned to Goofy. "Where's Aladdin now?"
"Went to get the lamp from the peddler." Goofy replied. "But he won't steal it."
"Then I suppose we wait."
He leaned back, hiding the fact that he wanted more than anything to just fall asleep , possibly with something cold over him. Perhaps Donald's Blizzard spell would last longer inside, that would be helpful. He could recover his Spirit Energy. Now if he could find a way to keep cold outside. Probably impossible without a genie.
"Hey kid, you don't look too good." Iago said landing on the bed next to the Reaper.
"Um, Iago." Sora attempted to warn.
Too late. His mood offset by the heat, Toshiro was quick to anger and scowled at the bird before once more flicking him away. In a flurry of feathers Iago stumbled several feet away and hit a wall, laying there for a moment in a daze.
"I'm not a kid." The Ice Captain growled. He put his head in his hands. "Ugh, I have a headache."
Sora and Goofy shared a glance before the former went over and picked up the semi-dazed bird. Hoping to help, Donald manipulated his ice spell to lightly coat the bed, which the Reaper was quick to lay down on. It helped a lot, Toshiro looking much more relaxed now.
"What did he have to go and do that for?" Iago grumbled once he could think straight.
"You called him a kid." Sora snickered. "He's actually a lot older than me."
"So he's just short?"
"I am not." Came an icy growl and Iago silenced, shivering.
They decided to remain silent then while Toshiro rested to allow his headache to go away. Donald made sure to keep the general area around the tiny Captain cold to help things along, for which Toshiro was grateful, very grateful.
Someone whistled to them and they looked around, confused. Frowning, Toshiro picked his head up and looked right at who had made the noise. What now?
"Oh, Aladdin!" Sora waved to the man once he'd spotted him.
Aladdin made a shushing motion before creeping over to them.
"I don't want Jasmine to know I'm here." He said in a low tone. He looked at the white haired boy lying upon a layer of frost. "Isn't that cold?"
"It's not cold enough." Was his grumbled reply.
"This is Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya." Sora introduced.
"Oh, the guy Goofy told me about." Aladdin scratched his head. "You do look a little out of it. Name's Aladdin."
A simple nod was all he got. It was clear the newcomer was too tired at the moment for words.
"Anyway, guys." Aladdin turned to make sure they were all listening. "We've got a little trouble. The peddler wants a pretty hefty price for that lamp; says he wants treasure."
"There's plenty here in the palace." Donald suggested.
"But it's not mine to take, and I can't just ask. I don't want to worry Jasmine or the sultan."
"I know!" Iago piped up. "What about the Cave of Wonders? There's plenty of treasure in there."
"We'll have to go across the desert for that, but it could work." Aladdin mused.
They heard a groan and turned to Toshiro, his back now to them. Right, the Ice Captain couldn't take the desert heat.
"You can stay here, Captain." Sora suggested.
"No, I'm going." Despite the comforting coolness of the frost layer, Toshiro sat up and turned to face them. "I just need to figure out how."
"Are you sure?" Sora's brows were furrowed in worry.
His answer was a cold glance that said 'I'm going whether you like it or not.' Grabbing his zanpaktou, Toshiro stood, the rest having helped him quite a bit. With Donald's cooling spells still active, he was more prepared to last against the harsh heat, and the sun was beginning to set, meaning it wouldn't be as hot as before.
"Okay, better get there quick." Aladdin nodded to them. "Lead the way Iago. Do this and I might believe your apology."
"Leave it to me!" Iago chirped happily, flying immediately out the doors.
The five of them followed after the bird quickly, heading through the streets. Heartless attempted to stall them, but even weakened by the heat Toshiro was not about to be defeated. Needless to say Aladdin was impressed by the boy's swordsmanship. Feeling challenged, he stepped up his game and attacked faster than ever, making sure to hit a little harder. Being a thief outright combat wasn't his strong suit, but having two kids show him up made him look bad.
They made it outside where they paused to rest, sheltered by a few trees. In the distance they could see an area covered by sinister looking darkness.
"The Cave of Wonders is over there." Aladdin pointed to the dark area.
"No heat." Sora grinned. "That's a plus."
"I have to get there first." Toshiro replied as he looked out at the large expanse of sand. He was currently leaned up against the wall in the shade.
"We'll run fast."
They agreed that was the only way to avoid Hitsugaya collapsing again and all took off at a sprint for the darkened area, Iago having to perch on Aladdin's shoulder both to rest and not fall behind. Thankfully they were all fit and made it into the cool shade, a major improvement to the hot desert, and only had to take a few minutes of rest. The most exhausted out of all of them was Toshiro, and only because of how much energy the heat had taken out of him.
"There it is." The macaw reported, flying once more and pointing out a giant feline head made of the sand, jaws open wide as the literal mouth to a cave, stairs leading downwards. Light shined from inside, but it wasn't hot.
"Let's see what we can find." Aladdin took a deep breath to prepare himself before stepping inside.
The others followed him down the long winding steps. It definitely was a lot cooler compared to outside, but still a little warm for Toshiro's liking. At least this was manageable.
They came out of the stairs at a long path with large stones jutting from the earth in perfect geometric shapes, suggesting contact with people. Outside the path was simply an enormous cavern covered in darkness due to little light, though the sand seemed to give off a slight glow. Looking closer they realized it was actually sand made from gems, reflecting the sparse light and amplifying it many times.
They didn't have time to marvel for long as Heartless shot towards them, hungry for hearts. Looks like they weren't alone in this cave.
'Master, there's water far below, and lots of it.' Hyorinmaru reported.
'Perfect.'
Ahead of him, Sora cut down two purple Heartless that hovered above spheres, spheres they used to cast spells at the group. With Hero's Crest being a strength based Keyblade, it was easy to take down the magic users. The entrance leading further into the cave was blocked by two of the heavy Heartless, fire shooting out of their mouths.
Just then the air grew cold.
"Whoa, what's goin on?" Iago shivered, not used to such temperatures.
"The Captain found water." Sora beamed at the bird on his shoulder before turning around in time to spot an ice-water dragon plowing through the Heartless around Toshiro. "And lots of it."
"Wow." Aladdin's eyes were wide with surprise. So this was why the boy hated the heat, he was an ice spirit of some kind. Perhaps Sora could explain what he was.
He jumped as the figure he'd been watching from a distance suddenly appeared beside him. A chain-blade not previously seen was thrown forward and wrapped around one of the fire-breathing Heartless, quickly encasing it in ice before shattering. The second was slain by Sora's Keyblade.
"Feeling better, Captain?" Goofy grinned.
"Much better." One of those rare smiles broke through as Toshiro's return of energy put him in a good mood.
"I'm not, it's freezing." Iago grumbled shivering.
"This is normal for me."
"You're crazy."
"Leave him alone, Iago, he doesn't live in the desert like we do, and even we get hot." Aladdin hushed the bird.
"Come on, let's go!" Sora called out, running into the tunnel.
The others wasted no time following.
They came into a small chamber with water on the floor and running in a thick wall down the sides, hiding something from view. At the opposite end was a large golden statue sitting behind a pedestal with a hole in it, which happened to be the same shape as the large pink gem floating just in front of them. Easy enough.
"Careful." Toshiro warned as Goofy reached for it. "It won't be as simple as it looks."
"Yeah, something's bound to happen when we grab it." Aladdin nodded, getting closer to figure out what to do to avoid painful deaths.
A monkey appeared on his shoulder, having been stashed away in his shirt, surprising Toshiro.
"Abu!" Aladdin yelled as the monkey launched forward and grabbed the gem, landing lightly on the floor. Abu chattered back snappily, keeping a firm grip on it.
The room around them shook and the water falling down the sides stopped falling, revealing a row of angry statues on either side. Their eyes glowed and chunks of ice formed above Abu before falling to crush him. Light on his feet, the monkey avoided getting crushed by ice.
"Two can play at that game." Toshiro touched his blade to the water and it became under his command, moving aside and rising up in front of the statues before freezing.
Their source of water gone, the statues changed their game up, attempting to melt the ice back down.
"Abu, go put it in the slot, quick." Sora said to the monkey, most of his attention on the fire spouting out of the statues' mouths.
Not needing to be told twice, Abu raced over, chattering loudly, and inserted the gem into the slot. It fit perfectly, as they knew it would, and the statues stopped their assault, most of the ice melted anyway. The golden statue behind the pedestal glowed brightly before dissolving into dust and revealing a pathway further into the caves.
"What kind of treasure are we looking for?" Toshiro asked. He didn't want to be here longer than needed despite the much cooler temperatures. It was surely night by now and deserts were quite cold at night, just dry.
"We'll know it when we see it." Aladdin shrugged, leading the way further in.
The Reaper frowned at the vague answer but followed nonetheless. If this was as cliché as he thought it was, the treasure they wanted was guarded by a big Heartless. If only he could bet someone on that, he'd probably earn a lot.
No time for that. They were heading deeper in, and as long as there was water around he could handle whatever came their way.
More desert. Fun. Into the Cave of Wonders! At least here there's water! (the water in that one scene had to come from somewhere, right?) Enjoy!
