Book I: Serial Dilution
Chapter XIII: Black Ice
In the Castle Stables of Corona, the doors rattled and banged loudly as the wind buffeted against them. The scream of the icy gale even put the hardy guardsmen's horses ill at ease, the equines fidgeting on their hooves and whickering with worry. Flynn Rider swung himself up into the saddle on the back of Maximus. The white stallion had a solemn sort of look on his face as Rapunzel petted his muzzle.
"Both of you need to be careful," she almost pleaded.
The ivory steed let out a snort and nodded.
"We'll do our best, Sunshine," Eugene Fitzherbert smiled, then looked over his shoulders as Sora, Donald, and Goofy entered the stables.
"Do ya remember where ya lost the carriage, Max?" Goofy asked.
The horse nodded again.
"Well, then this should be a piece of cake!" Eugene grinned, sounding more confident than he perhaps truly felt. "We'll head out and bring them home in time for cake and ice cream!"
Sora raised an eyebrow and gestured towards the rattling stable door.
"I think ice cream is the last thing anyone will want in weather like-"
BANG!
Max reared up in surprise, nearly throwing Flynn off, but the ex-thief was able to get the horse under control. Several other horses neighed loudly in surprise and jumped in their stable pens as the doors were blown open by the force of the blizzard, snow swirling into the stables as the wind doused many of the torches that kept them lit.
Donald and Goofy yelped, with the duck leaping into Goofy's arms in surprise; Rapunzel and Sora each lifted their arms to guard their faces, squinting through the snow.
"Gosh," Sora murmured, as the wind settled just enough for him to speak, "We…w-we let the guards send Varian out into…?"
"Varian can take care of himself," Rapunzel said, but she didn't sound even halfway certain about that fact. "We'll worry about him later. Right now, the whole kingdom could be at stake."
"Right," Flynn Rider nodded, putting on his most serious face as he addressed Sora and the team. "Loyal Sidekicks! Our next adventure is about to begin! Hop on, and-"
Max let out a complaining whinny. Flynn rolled his eyes and patted the horse's neck.
"Look, big guy, I know it's gonna be heavy with all four of us up here, but we're gonna need all the help we can get. Just bear with it for my sake?"
Max looked at Flynn boredly.
"Okay, fine, if not for me, then for the King and Queen."
Max's let out a sound and made a face more like an oversized guard dog than a horse, and lowered himself, putting his head near the ground, as if ordering the trio to get on.
Goofy clumsily climbed aboard first; Donald helped to make sure the bipedal canine didn't flop over like a fish, and then bounced onto the horse's back, as well.
Sora climbed on last of all. Max groaned and struggled, but managed to stand.
"Pascal!" Sora called.
The little chameleon, who was seated on Rapunzel's shoulder, as usual, blinked up at the teenager and squeaked.
"Take good care of that princess of ours, right?" Sora smirked.
Pascal smirked back and gave a salute.
Rapunzel giggled softly…but any levity the moment might have brought was soon destroyed when a commotion was suddenly heard outside. The group was alarmed by what sounded like loud scratching and scraping noises, and the muffled shouts of the Captain and the Guards, along with frightened cries from the villagers.
"Something's wrong!" Donald quacked.
"Oh, gee, ya think?" Flynn snorted, and flicked Max's reins. The horse bounded out of the stables, with Rapunzel and Pascal following as fast as they could.
The white wind had grown bolder yet; the sky was a dismal shade of dark gray as the snow curled and whistled through the dark air around them. The lanterns in the courtyard swung back and forth like overactive pendulums at its force…and in their light, the shadows were visible.
The shadows, in question, being…well…Shadows. The most common form of Heartless: small, black imps with crooked claws and long, insectoid antennae, along with the typical glowing yellow eyes – the only spot of color one could find. They were relatively harmless one at a time, or even in small groups…but as more of them gathered and swarmed, they became more deadly.
A swarm was exactly what seemed to have arrived: a gathering of no less than two dozen Shadows were clawing at the Palace doors, having broken through the gates.
"The Black Creatures," gasped Rapunzel.
"If they get into the Palace, everyone will be…well…it won't be pretty," Flynn shuddered.
Almost without thinking, Sora suddenly leapt back off of Maximus. The white horse, feeling the weight lessen, let out a confused, surprised neigh.
"Sora!" squawked Donald.
"What're ya doin'?!" Goofy yelled.
"I'm staying here," Sora declared, as he summoned the Kingdom Key into his right hand. "Someone's gotta make sure those things don't get inside."
The dog and the duck looked ready to argue, but Eugene stopped them with a wave of one hand.
"We'll take care of Rapunzel's mom and dad," he said, gravely, then looked to Rapunzel.
"Make sure the kid doesn't work too hard," he said, with a slight smirk.
Rapunzel didn't smile back.
"Let's go, Max!" Flynn shouted, flicking the reins once more. Max let out a loud call of determination, and Donald and Goofy held on as tight as they could as the noble steed galloped off. The equine loped out through the broken gates of the castle courtyard, and disappeared into the snowstorm beyond.
Sora took a moment to watch the four leave, then turned to Rapunzel.
"I can hold them," he said, grimly. "You should go inside and make sure-"
He was stopped as he noticed Rapunzel had undone her hair, the golden locks flowing freely to the ground. The Princess brushed some stray strands out of her face…then reached into her thick winter coat, and pulled out a medium-sized frying pan.
"If you think I'm letting you have all the fun," she smirked, twirling the frying pan in her hand, "You've got another thing coming."
Sora blinked.
"…How did you even…?"
Pascal let out an alerted squeal as, suddenly, a couple of Shadows punched a hole through the palace door.
"Okay! Got it!" Sora exclaimed, and held his keyblade ready. "Stop the monsters first, ask the impossible questions later!"
Without another word, the Princess and the Keybearer charged towards the two dozen Shadows. Rapunzel's hair whipped about in the wind like the wings of a golden eagle, and Pascal let out a shrill squeak that was probably meant to be some sort of battle cry.
Four of the four-and-twenty Heartless were startled by the approach, and turned to face the oncoming fighters. Sora leapt forward and swung out his keyblade…and with a single slash, sliced through both of the Shadows. The minor Heartless were easily felled with the blow, each convulsing briefly before disappearing in a puff of black smoke.
As for the other two Heartless, Rapunzel took hold of a long, flowing "bundle" of her own hair, and swung it out like a bullwhip. The golden strands lashed about one of the Shadow's ankles, and with a jerk, she snapped it back towards her and then swung with her frying pan as hard as she could.
Frying pans are great, but they aren't the Keyblade – a weapon designed to deal with such dark forces. The Shadow did not fall instantly, but its vacant golden eyes seemed to flicker, as if a sign it was fading into unconsciousness. It dropped onto its back, and Rapunzel swung the frying pan again, towards the center of its face in a sort of chopping motion.
CLANG!
The pan struck the cobblestones of the courtyard as the Shadow was defeated, and faded into mist. The fourth of the first quartet lunged at Rapunzel, it's jagged talons outspread. The Princess of Corona reeled back with her frying pan like it was a bat, biting her lip and gauging her opportunity…then, once the Heartless was close enough, swung the pan about so hard, the fourth of these Shadows was sent flying backwards. Sora saw the Heartless careening towards him like a rocket, and thrust out his keyblade…
SCHWOOMPH!
A short sound of metal on something like flesh was interrupted as the minor Heartless collided neck-first with the Keyblade, and faded back into the darkness instantly.
With four of their number quickly beaten the remaining twenty Heartless had taken notice. Their attention had been drawn away from the door, and they now began to skitter across the ground in a spidery sort of way, rushing to surround and engulf their attackers. Sora and the Princess stood side by side as the Heartless formed a circle around them, scraping their claws against the ground the way a bull might scrape its hooves through the dirt before plunging its horns into the matador.
The pair lifted their weapons of choice threateningly – pan and blade alike – and smirke challengingly at the dark imps. Pascal smirked and lifted one scaly mitt in a beckoning, "Come and get it!" gesture.
"Bring it on!" both humans snapped.
That is exactly what the Heartless did, as all twenty – ten to each bipedal combatant –virtually pounced upon them. Sora swung his keyblade about his head three times fast; each strike met its mark, and three of the Shadows were banished to the darkness at once. This, of course, meant there were still seven more to deal with.
Two of the Shadows lunged at Sora, swiping at him with their claws. Sora backpedaled fast, and swiped back in retaliation with his keyblade. He missed, as the Heartless skipped out of the way…only for a third to leap at him, like a cat upon a mouse. The Heartless tackled Sora to the ground, but the keyblade wielder was quick to react, as he banged it over the head with the hilt of his weapon. The Heartless stumbled off of him, clutching its skull…and Sora thrust the point of the Kingdom Key through its midsection. The black imp twitched, fell limp, and then faded into vapor, all in the span of four seconds.
The two from before clumsily tried to rush Sora, moving in their herky-jerky sort of way, but Sora managed to kick one aside, then stood and slashed the keyblade clean through the other. Before that one had even finished evaporating, and before its partner could get back up, Sora brought the keyblade down, plunging it into the ground, and that was the end of the second.
The keyblade master smirked as he faced the remaining four fiends, who fidgeted and twitched in their unhinged, alien way.
"That's keyblade hero six, you guys zero," he teased. "Who wants to go next?"
While Sora dealt with his ten, Rapunzel did not stand idle. The Princess whipped out her hair in two long, thick "ropes," and lashed them about the waistlines of two of the Shadows. The Shadows rather cartoonishly glanced down at their bound waists, then at each other…and a split second later, Rapunzel leapt into the air, taking them with her. The Heartless flew into the air, went somersaulting through space, and then SLAMMED back down…right onto the pointed tops of a pair of flagpoles.
Rapunzel winced as they vanished into darkness.
"Yikes," she murmured. "Don't know my own strength sometimes-AH!"
She cried out in surprise as another one of the "Dark Creatures" swung its claws at her, and blocked the strike with her frying pan. She then swung the pan hard, smacking the beast once across the right side of the head, then allowed gravity to bring the pan back down and around, cracking it across the left. The Heartless klutzily fumbled back and flopped over, and lay still for precisely six and a half seconds before vanishing into mist.
Another Shadow came at the Princess, but this time, she wasn't taken off guard. She gripped her hair tightly between her two hands, and used the unbreakable blonde stuff to parry away the talons of her attacker, which twitched and clutched its wrist, clearly startled by the strength of her hair. Rapunzel grinned and then held the hair in just one hand, before lashing it about the Heartless' legs, and then flinging it behind her.
Once again, the Shadow flew straight into the path of Sora's keyblade. Sora grinned and laughed as he spun back around and swiped at one of the four remaining Heartless on his side.
"Ha Ha! Nice moves!" he cheered.
"I told you!" Rapunzel sang out. "Unbreakable now!"
Pascal wasn't going to let the humans have all the fun of course. He let out a chirping sound as two more Heartless came bounding towards Rapunzel. Rapunzel turned back around, and the chameleon jumped off her shoulder…and landed on the head of one of the Shadows. The small black beast spun around and around, flailing its arms comically as it tried to peel Pascal off, but the chameleon used his powers to blend in, seemingly invisible to the Heartless' unblinking eyes, as he bit its antennae.
As for the second Heartless, it ran at Rapunzel, claws twitching eagerly, only for the Princess to once again whip her hair out. The golden locks bound the Heartless tightly, almost like a mummy. Rapunzel smirked and then tugged back hard, and the Heartless spun like a top towards the one Pascal was annoying.
The lizard reappeared just long enough to stick his long, sticky tongue directly in the Shadow's golden eye. The creature slapped a clawed palm over the eye that had been struck as Pascal jumped off its head…and its partner collided with it. Both fiends thudded to the ground.
Sora, seeing the downed demons, first struck down one of the four remaining on his side with a fast and ferocious stab, then held his keyblade out before him.
"Fire," he intoned, and a ball of flame suddenly shot out of the blade's point like a bullet from a gun. The fire engulfed the two defeated Heartless instantly, and that was the end of them; they were mist before the frosty wind even put the fire out.
Pascal scrambled back up onto Rapunzel's shoulder, and gave one of her fingers a high-five, while the Princess smiled proudly. Another Shadow started to sneak up on the two from behind…
CLANG!
One VERY hard swing from the frying pan, straight to the Shadow's face, finished them off. Neither the princess nor the reptile even looked at them.
What had started as a sizeable gathering of two-dozen Heartless had been reduced to only six. Sora smirked; a group of Shadow Heartless this puny was no match at all. It was time to finish the battle.
"Stand back," he said to Rapunzel, who quickly conceded. The teenaged warrior took a deep breath, inclining his head for a moment…then looked to the snow-smothered sky as he lifted the Kingdom Key high.
"THUNDER!" Sora thundered, and a ball of yellow-white light built up at the end of the Kingdom Key's blade…and from the ball, six bolts of white-hot lightning flashed forth, and struck each of the remaining half-dozen Heartless. The twitching Shadows seemed to seize up as the electricity blasted them…then, one by one, vaporized.
And so the battle was won, and Sora exhaled deeply as he lowered the Kingdom Key…then grinned as he turned on his heel to face Rapunzel.
"Well!" he chirruped. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"
His smile fell as he noticed the look on Rapunzel's face, and watched as Pascal nervously tried to hide himself with his owner's long hair.
"Uhhhh, yeah," Rapunzel said, and chuckled nervously, pointing upwards and behind Sora. "But…it seems like those little creeps had friends in high places…"
Sora turned in confusion…and beheld a massive silhouette in the sky. The silhouette grew clearer and clearer as it came flying down meteorically…and then…
BOOM!
The stones of the courtyard cracked and some of the flowering bushes were crushed as the creature crashed down. The two humans yelped and nearly lost their balance, as Pascal whimpered, and all three looked up at the monster that had now arrived: the Bringer of the Storm.
The beast somewhat resembled a bear…but far larger than any ursine the world had ever seen, being closer in size to an elephant. Its white fur was covered in black, streaking stripes, almost like that of a zebra, and its huge eyes were the yellow, unblinking eyes of a Heartless. Most bears have no tail, but this one had a long, fur-colored one, with spikes on the end like that of a stegosaurus. Two huge wings, like those of a bat, covered in a fine layer of black fur, with silver-white membranes, stretched from its broad back, and from the tip of the bear's snout protruded a short, black-and-white-striped horn; the overall appearance of the huge abomination reminded one of some sort of bizarre hybrid of a polar bear and an ice dragon.
The beast roared, blue-white mist rushing from its jaws, snow carried on its icy breath…and Sora sighed, a weary sort of look on his face as he stared up at the giant Heartless.
"Oh, come on," he muttered. "That is SO unfair."
As the Stormbringer made its entrance at Corona Castle, and while Flynn Rider and his crew rode to find King Frederic and Queen Arianna…a small, lonely figure tromped through the snow miles away, approaching the old castle of Old Corona.
Varian's teeth chattered and he whimpered from the chill; his nose felt stuffed up, and he was almost certain he was catching a cold. He shivered as he brushed some of the flecks of icy crystals from his face; a sigh of relief became a wisping puff of pale gray mist as he finally got closer to home.
He'd finally made it. Made it to the Castle and then back again…with no help at all.
He normally would have felt proud of himself, but…under the circumstances, all that filled his heart was a sense of bitter anxiety. No thanks to the Princess or the Keybearer…
The young alchemist shook his head fast; he'd worry about them later. He had to help his dad. If no one else would do it, he had to work it out himself. Before it was too late.
"Dad!" Varian called out, nearly tripping on the frosted steps that led to his laboratory. He received no answer, but this didn't bother him too much; the wind probably muffled his voice. He had to move quickly; who knew how far the Soranium had spread? If he wasn't fast…
Varian gulped nervously, and after pausing to avoid being blown away by a gust of particularly strong wind, managed to open the door to his lab. He swung inside and quickly closed it behind himself, then locked it fast – DOUBLE-locked it, in fact - partially out of habit, and partially to keep as much of the cold out as possible.
"Dad, I'm back!" he called out, gasping as the warmth of the laboratory replaced the frozen atmosphere without. "Dad, th-the princess refused to help! B-But don't worry, I…it's gonna-!"
Varian turned…and even though the workshop was warm…he felt the blood freeze in his veins, as his heart began to sink into his stomach.
Quirin stood in the center of the laboratory, one arm held high, his face twisted in a strained expression, as if he had tried his hardest to escape, or keep something safe…the evidence of what that could be was clear when one noticed the piece of parchment in his hand.
But there was no way to tell what the parchment said. No way to ease his strain.
Quirin was completely encased – from head to foot – in a glistening coat of unbreakable Amber.
Varian remained still and silent for a moment…he wasn't even aware of the moment when his voice, shaky and wet, broke the silence.
"…Dad…?"
Quirin didn't answer. He didn't move. It was impossible to tell if he was even alive inside his crystalline prison.
"…Oh, no…"
Varian sprinted towards the amber. He looked for a chink in the coating, a weakness to exploit; he found nothing.
"No, no…"
He banged his fist against the amber; it didn't budge or show any strain. All he did was hurt his hand. His father still didn't budge an inch, encased in the amber as if he were an insect.
"No! NO!" Varian almost screamed, and began to hyperventilate. He gasped twice, trying to keep his composure…but how could he?
All he had to do was look up…up at the face of his father…turned away forever…scowling with frustration…unmoving. Unblinking.
Lifeless.
He slapped his palms against the amber, as if to try and touch that face…to try and wake his father up…but still, there was nothing. His dad was right here…right here in the same room…inches away…yet it was as if they were worlds apart. It was as if there was nothing there at all.
Nothing but a statue.
The tears fell.
"DAD! DADDY! NO!" the boy wailed, his voice cracking…then began to sob openly, shoulders shaking as his hands slid across the smooth, shining surface of the Soranium, steadily slumping to the floor. "No, no, no, no…no…!"
The alchemist continued to cry, for all the world like a lost child, a broken soul. He never even realized the moment when a small raccoon – its expression sad and scared – came quietly creeping out from under a table, nudged his cheek…and gently tried lapping away his tears.
All Varian could think of, even in that moment, were two words. They were words that seemed to grow louder and louder in his skull, till he covered his ears, trying to block them out. But there was no way to make the words stop; no way to quiet the voices in his own head. They seemed to be carried on the wind itself…through every crack and crevice in the now silent castle…through the abandoned village and its ruined houses…through the freezing fields, from the Castle where others fought side by side.
The boy curled up on the ground, his own tears flooding the floor beneath him, as these two words continued to repeat themselves, while the Amber shimmered over his head.
Alone. Failure. Alone. Failure. Alone. Failure.