Chapter 38: Heart of Ice Pt 2
Within the mountains that overlooks the capital of Arendelle as the shadow stares at the castle where Kairi and her team befriended Princess Anna. "So, a ghost from the past, that girl," the shadow said as both Xion and Vanitas appears behind him.
"Indeed Shadow, she is important to the master's plans. Even now, she is falling into line with making her light stronger," Xion said.
"Yeah, the master really likes playing the long game huh," Vanitas said.
"Indeed, but we are getting closer to the finish line with this conflict. Once Kairi and her friends deal with Drake and his cabal. Our master will strike and they will never see it coming," Shadow said. "Guess I will show myself soon enough," Shadow said as the three disappear into the shadows.
Meanwhile Drake is within his personal chambers to see the two Magicite crystals on his desk for Ophelia is clad in a red nightgown to be by her master's door. "May I come in?" she asked.
"Yes, please come in," he said as she comes in to see her master is overlooking the crystals.
"So, you manage to revive their power?" she asked.
"Yes, when I found them in the world of Arendelle, there were quite in deep slumber. Using my Keyblade, I manage to revive them and they serve me now. Fenrir, the great white wolf for he is as big as a mountain and Midgardsormr, the giant dragon serpent who is so long he can encircle an entire world," Drake said as Ophelia seemed very impressed by this.
"They seem pretty powerful," she said.
"Indeed, they make perfect summons. My sister has the legendary dragon Bahamut as a summon and her source of power. Its funny, Arendelle has legends based in Norse Mythology from a long time ago. They speak of three beings who help unleash the fires of Ragnarök. Fenrir and Midgardsormr feel very similar to the Fenrir and the World Serpent in the legends," Drake said.
"How do I fit into this?" she asked as he place his hand on her head to stroke the ash white hair on her undead side of her body.
"You would be my Hel, the Goddess of the dead. One side of beauty and the other side of death. You along with the other two will be my ultimate defense for me to gain Ragnarök's power and change the worlds forever," he said as Ophelia bows her head.
"I will not fail you master," Ophelia said.
"I know, you haven't failed me yet," Drake said as he kisses her on the cheek to make her blush even her rotting flesh on her cheek is getting redder. "Should you be resting now?" he asked.
"Oh yes but I wanted to spend some time with you master, it makes me feel better," she said as the dark elf looks on with a smile.
"You know despite having two students. You are my favorite, Nazo is great but he is quite…" Drake is about to say but Ophelia finished the sentence for him.
"He is dense, he has good combat ability but doesn't care for the grander plans. He's in his little world," she said.
"He is useful along with Yagi, he should keep Nazo focus on the task at hand," Drake said.
"Well that dragon boy is always on point, a little too much but I see what you mean. I will be going on," Ophelia said as she retires to her room to recover her strength. "Hel, the Goddess of Death huh. I guess its fits for me. I am his Grim Reaper, bringing death to those who threaten my master," she thought as she closes the door.
Meanwhile Kairi and the others were staying at Anna's castle for the night as the capital city rebuilt from the Heartless invasion. Kairi is in the guest to be half naked in her warm bed as Prishe burst through the door.
"Morning Kairi," Prishe said as she sees Kairi still fast sleep with her body tossing and turning to be out of her sheets to be only in her bra and panties and long red hair covering most of her face. "Damn, she got a hell of a figure," Prishe thought with jealous to see short curvaceous figure filing out her underwear.
"Hey Sora; stop it, it tickles," Kairi mumbled in her pillow for Prishe give her a slap on the rear end to see her big rear shaking under in her panties.
"Morning bubble butt, rise and shine," Prishe said. "Wow, her ass is jiggling like jelly. It's making me hungry," Prishe thought as she is seeing the redhead is struggling out the sheets with her long hair untidy.
"Oh, morning Prishe," Kairi pulls herself up for she utters a big yawn. "Gee, its morning already," Kairi said.
"Yep it is, cute undies Kairi," Prishe said as Kairi is wearing a pink sport bra and white and pink lacy panties.
"Thanks, yours are cute too," Kairi said as Prishe is wearing a blue bra and blue boyshorts which fitted her thin body.
"Kairi wears her undies like she is an underwear model. Gee, why do Tifa and Kairi have such sexy curves, its not fair," Prishe thought with her making a pout as Kairi looks confused by this.
"Hey, you okay there Prishe?" she asked as the dark elf shakes her head.
"Yeah but I got to say, your tits are amazing," Prishe blurted out to see Kairi's bra is showing a good amount of cleavage of her 34E Cup breasts.
Kairi looks on more confused but gracefully takes the compliment. "Oh, thank you, where did that come from?" she asked.
"It's not like I'm jealous or anything," Prishe said as she touches the dark gem on her chest for Kairi sees where this is going.
"Don't worry, you will regain your age. I am working on it," Kairi said to place her hand on the gem embedded into the dark elf's chest.
"I know, I don't want to be stuck like this forever. I want to grow up like Ulmia and be a beautiful elven woman like her," Prishe said.
"You will, I swear to that. Getting this Lux crystal will help me greatly in that," Kairi said as she goes take her pink magical sailor dress to slip it on along with her other things like her boots and fingerless gloves.
"Yeah, I need to put my travel gear now," Prishe rushes back to her room nearby to get into her clothing.
Kairi gets out of her room to see Aerith and Lightning waiting outside alright dressed up. "Anna has breakfast set up in the dining room," Lightning said as the four women go into the spacious dining room as the young princess is very eager to see them.
"Oh; good morning ladies, how was your sleep?" Anna asked as she is in a simple white gown fitting her slender form and her hair long and loose across her back.
"Pretty good, its so cozy here," Kairi said.
"Oh yes, this castle is quite well built to keep the cold out," Anna said as she shows them a great amount of food on display. "It will be a long journey through the mountain, so dig in," Anna said as Prishe's eyes widen with delight.
"Don't mind if I do pigtails," Prishe said as she begins to eat through the plates for Anna laughs at this.
"I am sorry Anna, my comrade isn't what I call house trained," Lightning said in a dry tone as Prishe's long elven ears peaked up from her sly insult.
"Hey, I heard that ice queen," Prishe said as Lightning ignores her to focus on Anna.
"Well we used to be Vikings, so its kind of fitting," Anna said as she sits at her chair along with the other women. "Man, this is great. I haven't had guests in never," Anna said.
"Really? No friends?" Aerith asked as Anna lowers her head.
"Nope, I almost never leave this palace most of my life. I only have my sister as my one and true friend," Anna said as Lightning is interested by this.
"Really, what happened to her?" Light asked.
"Well recently she was made Queen of Arendelle but something awful happened. She lose control of her ice magic and cause quite a fright among the people. They say she is an ice demon, she can't take it and run away into the mountains over a month ago," Anna said.
"Were you two close?" Light asked.
"Oh yes when we were kids. She and I would play with her ice magic to build snowmen, it was wonderful but suddenly everything changed. Me and Elsa would be separated by my parents and I barely seen her until recently over a month ago," Anna said as the girls were feeling sorry for Anna especially Lightning to place on her tiny hand to hold it tightly.
"Why did this happen?" Lightning asked as she knew where this is going.
"Mostly her ice powers and her insecurities drift us apart. After our parents died in a ship crash in the ocean, it was terrible. I wanted to talk her about our parents but we both grieve alone," Anna said as her emotions were pouring out like an overflowing river. "I am sorry, I didn't mean to spit out my life story. Its been so long when I have people I can talk to," Anna said as the tears are coming out.
In pure reflex Lightning goes into hug Anna in a warm sisterly embrace to comfort her. "Its okay Anna, just let it out," Lightning said as Anna buries her face into her chest.
"Why, did she leave me. Does she hate me?" Anna asked with her face covered in tears.
"I know why, Elsa wanted to protect you from her uncontrollable magic. She doesn't hate you; she loves you still even now," Lightning said as her normally calm voice is filled with warmth and energy empowering Anna's very being.
"How do you know that?" Anna asked as Lightning gives her a rare smile.
"We big sisters can be stern but we mean well," Light said as she wipes the tears off Anna's face.
"Right, well once we are done. We can get moving, I hired a man who is well traversed to the northern mountains," Anna said.
"Who is it?" Aerith asked.
"His name is Kristoff, he will help us guide through the mountains," Anna said.
"He is your boyfriend?" Prishe asked as Anna flush in the face.
"No, he not but he is pretty handsome in the rugged sense," Anna blurted as she blush even further. "Oh; why do I say things like that," Anna said as Lightning patting her on the back.
"Don't worry little sisters say silly things at times," Lightning said.
"I am very happy you girls came, its nice to have real friends. We are friends right?" Anna asked as Kairi goes up to hug her.
"Oh, course we are,"" Kairi said.
"Yeah we are Anna, don't worry about it," Aerith said sounding playful.
"Yeah Anna, we are. Kind of hard not to be with your cry fit," Prishe said as she can relate to her loneliness to touch the gem under her tank top.
"I am not a baby," Anna said to wipe away the tears.
"You are the baby sister here, my sister does that too," Lightning said.
"You have a little sister too," she asked.
"Yeah, don't worry Anna. I am going to toughen you up," Lightning said to gently place her hand on her head.
"Oh Lightning," Anna said for her admiration for Lightning is beginning to sing higher than before. "Well let's get going. Can't let Kristoff waiting too long, he is at the tavern nearby the gates," Anna said as they finish their meal to get ready for the long journey into the mountains.
Elsewhere Sora and gang manage to get back to Traverse Town. "Well guys, we will set off. I need to repair the Gummi Ships, Wedge, Biggs and Jessie. Let's go," Cid said.
"Thanks Cid, you were pretty useful," Sora said as the older man brush it off.
"Don't mention it, doing my job. See you later," Cid said as Jessie winks at Cloud to go away leaving Nanaki and Yuffie with the others.
The two androids look round to be amazed by the wealth of different species walking around and the modest looking buildings.
"So, this is a new world huh?" Brina wondered.
"Indeed," Calca said.
"Don't worry, we can guide you into this place," Sora said to get back into Tifa's bar 7th Heaven for the 13 year old Marlene goes up to Cloud and the others. "Welcome back, you got the keystone?" she asked.
"Sorry kiddo, we didn't get it," Cloud said as Marlene looks sad.
"That's too bad, I got some hot chocolate ready out of the pot," Marlene said as she looks at the two new people. "Who are you two?" she asked.
"My name is Brina and this is my brother Calca. We are androids," she said.
"Oh, you are robots?" Marlene asked.
"Yes, Sora and the others picked us up from Futurepolis. We are working with you now," Calca said.
"Cool, the more friends the better. Hot Chocolate," she hands them mugs of the warm brown liquid.
"Thank you," the two androids grab seats to enjoy their new home as Terra is talking with two other people which is a young man with a bandanna on his head and a young tall woman with long blond hair.
"Riku, you are back," Terra said as he goes up to him to hug him in a soft embrace. "Are you okay?" she asked to sense he felt worn out.
"Sort of, we had a massive battle but we managed," Riku said as he lets go out of the hug to sit on a stair to get his own cup of hot chocolate. He takes a sip and his taste buds were overwhelmed. "Oh boy, that takes me back home," Riku said to enjoy his cup of hot chocolate as Cloud, Tifa, Sora, Yuffie, Nanaki and the twin androids are enjoying their own cup.
"Hey Terra, is this your boyfriend?" the young man asked in a joking tone as this made both Riku and Terra blush from this.
"Oh no, he is my friend Riku," Terra said in denial but the young man can see through Terra that there is something going on between them.
"I see, good to meet you Riku. My name is Locke Cole, good to hear about you. Terra talks about you a lot," Locke said to see Terra pouting at him.
"Locke," Terra protested as Locke thinks Terra looks adorable like that.
"I am glad she thinks of me so highly," Riku said to also sound awkward as well.
"Come on Locke, lay off," the woman said to have a calm yet professional tone to her voice.
"You need to grow a sense of humor Celes," Locke said as the blond woman goes up to Riku to shake his hand.
"I am Celes Chere, happy to see Terra's 'personal friend'," Celes said to have a sly smile as she sees Terra flush again.
"Oh, you did gain a sense of humor huh?" Locke joked.
"You didn't notice," Celes said in a cool tone of voice.
"Always the ice queen, you and Lightning have something in common," Locke joked.
"Well we need to keep some of you lot in check," Celes looks at Yuffie for the little ninja spits her drink onto the table.
"I heard that blondie," Yuffie said.
"Gee Yuffie so much noise," a low male voice said as Cloud looks at the door to see tall pale skinned man clad in red and black with a metal arm along with a triple shotgun on his hip.
"Hey Vincent, you came back from your recon," Cloud said.
"Yeah, looking for more Magicites and Sephiroth's whereabouts. He is looking for Magicites to absorb their powers, its very strange," Vincent said as he sits beside Cloud and Tifa for Marlene hands him the hot chocolate.
"It is strange, why is he going after them?" Nanaki wondered to drink up the hot chocolate in his bowl to lick it into his mouth.
"This is madness. Sephiroth on the run looking for Espers. Rouge Keyblade wielders on Drake side or on their own," Cloud said as Tifa drinks her hot chocolate.
"Seems crazy but we will manage," Tifa said sounding hopefully.
"I hope you are right," Vincent said as Terra and Riku are talking about what recently happened.
"Wow, you went to a world filled with machines," Terra said.
"Yeah, a technological wonderland that is now a graveyard," Riku said.
"I see, its very crazy there are so many worlds with lots of environments. I never thought I would be able to do these things, all thanks to you and Sora," Terra said.
"Its nothing," Riku said but Terra goes up to him and lay her head on his broad shoulder with her mint green hair in his hair smelling like flowers.
"No, it is a big deal. I was once enslaved by Drake and be his slave acting on his wishes. You freed me from that madness and I am forever grateful to you along with everyone else who has been so nice to me. I once only knew pain and suffering but now I have warmth and friendship or…" Terra grabs Riku's hand. "Maybe more," Terra said to look into his green eyes to meet her now deep purple eyes.
"Oh, so bold Terra," Yuffie said.
"Oh yeah, I am rooting for you Terra," Locke said as the duo were embarrassment.
"Oh no, I wasn't going to kiss him or anything," Terra said to wave her arms dismissively with her blush betraying her intentions.
"Sure, you do Terra," Celes said dryly.
"Not you two Celes," Terra said as Riku laughs at this to ease the tension.
"Well, lets us enjoy this hot chocolate Marlene made for us," Riku said as everyone agrees to drink up.
"Right, despite Riku looking serious. He can be sweet when he can be," Terra thought to drink up her mug of chocolate to resume the day enjoying their company.
Back with Kairi and gang along with Anna who are within the capital city's entrance to meet up with Kristoff who is waiting outside. "So Princess Anna, you finally made it. Who are these girls?" he asked being suspicious of them.
"They are my bodyguards, this is Kairi, Lightning, Aerith and Prishe. They will be aiding us on this journey," Anna said.
"Okay hope they are a better fit than Hans. On a personal note, you marrying that weirdo was a bad move," Kristoff said sounding blunt about it.
"Yeah in hindsight I was so alone. I wanted to fall for someone but he was a total dirtbag. Good thing he is dead now," Anna said feeling foolish about it.
"Yeah, come on. I have a sled that I can use to take us to the northern mountains," Kristoff said as he leads them to a big sled and a reindeer at the helm. "Okay Sven, time to pull the princess to her location," he said as the reindeer nods his head as they get into the big sled to go outside the gate to the capital to go towards the mountains.
Cindy looks on to see the princess and her bodyguards from a distance. "Okay, time to conjure some Heartless to stop them," Cindy said as a pack of wolf like Heartless to swarm towards the sled.
Lightning is beside Anne wanting to learn more about the young princess. "So, who raised you with your parents died?" she asked.
"The servants raised us until we became old enough to marry. Its been so long since I last saw their faces," Anna said.
"You know my parents died when I was only 15 years old and my little sister was only 12 years old. I had to toughen up and raise her like a mother," Lightning said as Anna felt sympathy for the older woman.
"Oh; I am sorry, that must be tough," Anna said.
"It was, I did to deal with my parents' deaths and raise my baby sister. I had to overcome my sadness for my parents and harden my personality to change my name to Lightning to make my change a reality," Light said.
"Wow, you are strong Lightning," Anna said as Light has a frown on her face.
"No, its not strength. I was delusional, after I finished schooling I went into the defense forces to make a living for both us. I got too much into work and I neglected her which made her very lonely," Lightning said as Anna felt deep kinship between her and Lightning.
"Oh gee, seems similar with me and my sister," Anna said.
"Indeed, that is why I am so invested in helping you. I don't want to see sisters suffer like we did," Lightning said.
"Thank you Light," Anna said as Kairi and Aerith looks out onto the forest to see nothing but snow.
"Wow, it's like a winter wonderland," Aerith said.
"It wasn't always like this, it has beautiful seasons here but the Queen manage to curse our land and turn it into an endless ice prison," Kristoff said.
"I see," Kairi said.
"Hey beefcake, what do you do for a living?" Prishe asked for he was bother by Prishe's rude attitude.
"Sorry Krissoff, Prishe is rough around the edges. Don't mind her," Kairi said.
"Fine, I am an Ice Harvester. I collect ice for the townsfolk in the capital city," Kristoff said as the dark elf is beginning to laugh at her which made him quite angry. "What is so funny?" he demanded.
"Oh; my fucking stars, you collect ice as a job. There is ice everywhere," Prishe said as Aerith whacks the dark elf on the head with her staff.
"That is uncalled for Prishe," Aerith said sounding upset with the little elf.
"Come on it is kind of weird," Prishe said.
"Well it's a tradition around these parts, I always wanted to be an Ice Harvester. It doesn't pay well but its about the pride and joy of it, not the money," Kristoff said as his normally guarded tone is replaced with joy which Anna did find likable about Kristoff,
"Wow, you got your dreams and living it with pride and joy. I wish I had something like that," Anna said.
"What living the good life in the palace isn't enough for you?" Kristoff asked sounding guarded again.
"No, I don't care about that. Without my sister, everything seems so empty," Anna said as Kristoff felt hurt in the young princess's voice for he can relate with that pain.
"I know that feeling well enough," he said as they go through the frozen forest as a pair of glowing yellow eyes within the bushes.
"We got company," Kairi said as they summon their weapons with wolf like Heartless chasing after their sled.
"Go away, you furballs," Anna grabs some crates and toss them at the incoming Heartless to knock them away.
"Hey that is my stuff," Kristoff complained as Anna finished tossing his crates for Kairi uses a barrier to cover the sled from the wolves' tackles.
"Let us handle this Anna," Kairi said to wield her Keyblade.
"Yeah pigtails, killing Heartless is our specialty," Prishe said to bare out her fists for a larger wolf Heartless is in front of them as Sven backs away but the monster shoots a beam of ice to explode nearby to knock them off the sled.
Kairi gets back onto her feet to protect Anna, Sven and Kristoff with a magic barrier. "Guys hide, we will handle this," Kairi said as they go away with the four women ready to fight off the Heartless.
"Hush puppies," Prishe said to punch a wolf Heartless into a tree to see it turn into black mist. Aerith cast Pearl to blast a Heartless into dust.
Kairi bats a Heartless away but she fires a Firaga to destroy it with Lightning using Gravity to trap several Heartless in a gravity well. Lightning lobs an orb of fire to destroy them with ease.
Then a mysterious shadow is on top of a tree wielding a Keyblade. "Shadow Flare," the shadow shoots a ball of dark fire to slam into the Heartless to destroy them from the snowy field.
"Who the hell was that?" Prishe asked as Kristoff's sled was turned to dust by the magic spell.
"There goes my ride," he complained as a shadow leaps down and locks eyes with Kairi.
"Hello Kairi, you want to talk with an old friend?" the shadow asked as his voice send chills down Kairi's spine to see a dark figure with Riku's face.
"Riku, no you are not Riku," Kairi said as she remembers Riku talking about a dark replica he fought two years ago.
"You got that right, he thought he destroyed me over two years ago but he was mistaken," the Dark Riku said as he draws his Keyblade Oblivion. "I will not be forgotten, I will test you Kairi and see if our master deems you worthy of the task ahead," Dark Riku said to get into combat stance.
"What is going on Kairi, why is Riku here?" Aerith asked as she blocks his sword strike with her energy shield.
"He is not my friend; he is a dark replica of him that he thought he defeated two years ago. Now he is back," Kairi said as she is firing fireballs with Dark Riku evading her spells. He swiftly goes in to smash through Kairi's barrier and grab her arm to toss her into a tree.
"Abyss," Dark Riku summons a big ball to darkness to head for Kairi with Prishe knocking the dark ball away with her fist.
"Banishga," Prishe is lobbing several light blasts with Dark Riku launching up the trees to avoid her spells.
"Sleep," Dark Riku cast a wave of energy to hit Prishe to make her fall asleep. Riku swept in and kick the dark elf to launch her into a tree to smash into it to break it on contact.
"Prishe," Kairi said as Lightning blocks Dark Riku's strikes.
"Beat it kid," Light is engaging the clone with them both getting into a sword clash.
"Shadow, the name is Shadow," he said as Lightning pushes him back with a gust of wind.
"I can careless who you are, Sun Dive," Lightning leaps into the air and slams her Gunblade into the snow to unleash pillars of flames to shoot out of the snow.
Shadow is dodging the incoming pillars with Aerith trapping him in a sphere of light. One of the pillars catches him to engulf him in flames to superheat the energy sphere and with him still inside. Tons of snow were turned into water as Lighting gathers all of it into the front of her Gun blade's rifle form.
"Take this, Aqua Laser," Lightning fires a big high pressure beam of water to go towards Dark Riku aka Shadow.
Shadow empowers his body with darkness to heal his wounds as he catches the water beam with his Keyblade but gets pushed back by the intense ray of water. He teleports out of the way as he appears behind Lightning to drop kick her in the back to knock her away.
Lightning regains her balance to catch herself as she fires more magic bullets. Dark Riku is deflecting her bullets with his Oblivion Keyblade to charge up his weapon. "Ars Solum," Shadow is unleashing a powerful barrage of sword slashes.
Lightning meets his strikes with her own head on as they were evenly matched. They clash blades to knock each other away with Kairi casting Aeroga to send a twister at the dark clone.
"Dark Reflect," Shadow makes a barrier made of darkness to deflect it back at the group. Aerith blocks the reflected spell with her defensive barrier to negated it. "Abyss," Dark Riku gathers dark power into his black Keyblade and fires it at the four women.
Both Kairi and Aerith combined their magic to use barrier to protect from the large explosion to be left untouched.
"Good Kairi, you are getting stronger. We will need that," Shadow said.
"What are you talking about, stop talking nonsense," Kairi said.
"Oh; if you knew Kairi, what you are is very important to a lot of people especially our master. Me and Xion were testing you along with my friend Vanitas testing Sora and my lesser half Riku," Shadow said with a smirk on his face for this creeps Kairi out.
"Why?" Kairi asked.
"Oh, it's all part of our master's plan. The Princess of Light and the Maiden of Darkness will clash with a new realm being made in the process, farewell," Shadow said as he disappears into a portal to vanish from sight.
"Do all Keyblade wielders say crazy bullshit like that," Prishe said.
"Indeed, this is crazy," Aerith said as Lightning checks up on Anna, Kristoff and Sven to see if they are okay.
"Are you okay?" Lighting asked to help Anna up.
"Yes, that was crazy like something out of the Norse myths. You were amazing Lightning," Anna said starting to fangirl out again for Lightning finds her budding admiration cute.
"How about my sled, its ruined," Kristoff said.
"Hey, you should be grateful you are not dead," Prishe said bluntly.
"I am sorry, I will pay you back. You can go if you want. We can take it from here," Anna said as Kristoff wants to go off to do something else but his reindeer Sven shakes his head no.
"Yeah your right Sven," Kristoff sighs as he goes up to Anna. "Despite what happened to my sled, I will still guide you in the mountains by foot," he said as the young princess's face bright up with a beautiful smile.
"Thank you so much," Anna said as her warm smile made the young man feel funny in his chest.
"Wow, she got a pretty smile," Kristoff thought for he shakes his head. "Come on, get real someone like me has no chance with a princess," he thought "Come on Sven, let's guide these ladies through the mountains," Kristoff said
Kairi ponders onto the dark clone's words. "Princess of Light and the Maiden of Darkness, reshaping the world. This is getting more serious by the minute," Kairi thought as their journey begins to save Anna's sister from her grim fate.
A/N: Dark Riku aka Shadow is based on Dark Riku from KH3. Also, FYI both Celes and Locke are characters from FF6 and Vincent is from FF7.
Also, Lightning will play a big role in this Frozen arc.