Chapter 6: The Only One

"Dear Tigger,
"Just a note to say: Dress warmly, eat well, stay safe and sound, and keep smiling.

"We're always there for you.

"Thinking of you wherever you are.
"Signed, your family."

That evening found Tigger and Roo deep in the Hundred Acre Wood. Roo had tracked Tigger down after the incident with Eeyore's house to find Tigger in a rut, moping about the family he never knew he had. They had spent the better part of the evening searching the forest for any sign of them, had turned Tigger's house upside-down and inside-out as they bounced and dug their way through his belongings to find some sort of heirloom or memento from them. And then, just as Tigger had given up hope, a letter came in on the autumn winds.

Roo wrung his hands nervously as Tigger read the letter quietly to himself. He didn't need Tigger to read it out loud, he knew what it said. That had been Kairi's idea, the one she had needed a pen and paper for. Everyone but Rabbit had gathered at Owl's house to write a letter to Tigger from 'his family' to cheer up his spirits, penned by Kairi so he wouldn't recognize the handwriting. They had sent it away on the wind, and it found Tigger several hours later, gently floating down onto his head like a message from above.

A speck of white fell on Roo's head, and he looked up to see that the first snow of the season had begun. At that moment, Tigger let out a loud gasp and rolled up the letter. Then, without warning, Tigger let out a round of hooting laughter and took off bouncing into the woods, his tail leaving circular tracks in the forming snow.

Roo stared after him with a bewildered expression, as he continued to bounce off into the distance without a single glance over his shoulder. With a shake of his head, Roo quickly bounded after him. "Tigger! Wait for me!"

Under the blanket of freshly fallen snow the Hundred Acre Wood transformed into another world entirely, especially for someone as small as Roo. The increasing depth of the stuff made it tougher for Roo to move forward, but he bounced his hardest and pressed on, even with more falling atop his head. Up above, forming icicles hanging from bare tree branches began to sparkle in the fading sunlight, and all around the winds had calmed down so the snow fell vertically.

Roo caught up to Tigger as Tigger stopped at every single house he could, calling on the folks inside. He came bounding up to Roo's own home first, shouting excitedly to Kanga who was sweeping the front porch. "Kanga! Kanga, Kanga, Kanga!"

Kanga greeted him with a gentle smile and a quick look over at Roo. "What is it, Tigger dear?"

"She called me dear," Tigger said with a bashful giggle as he wrung his tail.

"Mama, Tigger got a letter!" Roo said happily, waving his hands in the air.

Kanga hid a smile behind her gasp. "A letter! Well who is it from?"

Tigger stood straight and titled his chin up. "Why, only the most Tiggerific of Tigger families, of course. My family, that is! They wrote to me all the way from our family tree!"

"My, my! Well, what does the letter say?"

With a smug grin, Tigger held the paper up in front of him…and then rolled it up. "Tut-tut-tut! Sorry, but I gotta tell it to everyone all at once-like. Let's all meet up! TTFN!"

Roo spun around to watch Tigger as he bounded off again, then quickly waved goodbye to his mother and hurried up after him. The two of them took off down the bleached white path, the dirt road invisible now under inches of fluffy snow. But to those who had spent their whole lives in these woods, they didn't need it. With Tigger in the lead, he and Roo wove their way through the trees until they arrived at another large tree home with a very small door. Tigger landed in a crouch in front of the door, opened it in one swift motion, and shoved his head inside.

"Yoohoo, Piiiiigleeeet!"

Several long moments passed without a reaction, with Tigger sitting there on all fours, head inside Piglet's house and tail wagging back and forth. Roo moved out from behind Tigger and walked up to the door, gazing inside through the small gap between Tigger's head and the top of the doorway. He peered into the dim house, seeing no sign of life or light. Where was Piglet?

"T-Tigger? What are you doing at my house?"

The voice came from behind—and above! Roo turned around just as Tigger jumped up and out, slamming his head on the frame of Piglet's front door before whirling around on one foot to see Piglet standing behind the two of them, waist-deep in snow and with a green scarf around his neck. He wasn't alone either, with Owl standing behind him and looking rather confused.

"Why hello there, Piglet! Glad to see ya!" Tigger bounded over and shook Piglet's little hand with his own, flinging the poor dear up and down. "And you too, Owl! Though what're you doin' here?"

Owl puffed out his chest proudly. "Piglet asked me to write a letter. I say Tigger, if anything that question is better directed toward yourself."

Tigger took Owl by the shoulders and shook him. "Never mind that, bird boy! I got somethin' way more important that that! Meet up at Eeyore's place while I go get Pooh!"

"I beg your pardon?"

Owl didn't get an answer. Tigger was already out of there, bounding through the snow on all fours in the direction of Pooh's house. Roo glanced at Owl and Piglet apologetically, then simply shrugged and said, "He got the letter," before chasing off after Tigger and leaving Piglet and Owl behind, glancing at each other worriedly.

Not far at all from Piglet's house was the tree where a little bear lived under the name of Sanders. Pooh wasn't actually inside though, even with the weather. He sat on the log just outside his front door, a twig in his hand poking the small fire that had melted some of the snow around it. Pooh set the twig down with a smile and adjusted his scarf before holding his hands out toward the fire…and then turning to his side and digging into a bag of marshmallows that sat on the log beside him.

Pooh's guests, Sora and his new friends, were still visiting. They had marshmallows too, though weren't eating them right out of the bag like Pooh was. Sora and Kairi, sitting next to each other on the log, held their skewered marshmallows over the fire with sticks like the one Pooh had held moments ago. The tall one—Lea?—leaned against Pooh's house as there was no room on the log for a fourth person. He held his marshmallow and stick above his open palm, within which a small flame burned. Roo came to a stop at the sight, his eyes bugging out and his jaw dropping open. "Wow…"

As Tigger and Roo approached the four of them, Roo caught wind of the last bits of conversation between Sora, Kairi, and Lea.

"…been nice, but we should really be heading back," Lea said with his eyes on the cooking marshmallow.

"Aww, really?" Kairi brought her own treat up close to examined, then put it back against the fire. "But it's been so much fun! You've definitely cheered up too, Lea."

"I think Lea kind of has a point, actually." Sora bit down on his own marshmallow, strings of melting fluff stretching from his mouth as he pulled the treat away. "It'll be dark soon, and as fun as it's been we probably shouldn't stay the night."

Kairi pouted, but she said nothing more at that. Pooh ate another handful of marshmallows and spoke up with his mouth full. "Are you quite sure of that, Sora?"

Sora smiled and rubbed Pooh's head while the little bear swallowed. "I am, Pooh. Just remember what I said last time, alright? I'm never far."

Pooh halted eating for a second to look down at his chest and place a sticky paw over it. "I remember, Sora."

"Great." Lea popped the marshmallow into his mouth. "So how do we do this anyway, Sora? Do you need to use your Keyblade or something?"

Sora shook his head. "Northeast of Pooh's house is a portal back outside. The map when you're reading the book shows it as a compass."

"That's neat," Kairi chimed in.

Lea nodded. "Sure. So we'll head outt hat way before it gets too dark and—"

Bounce!

Lea had no warning and no time to finish before an orange and black streak slammed right into him, sending him tumbling onto the ground. Tigger growled playfully and stared right into his eyes while wagging his tail. "Hey there, bucko! Glad to see ya again! You ain't headin' out without hearin' my news, are ya?"

"Hello to you Tigger," Lea said with a pained grunt while pushing himself up on his arms.

"What news is that, Tigger?" Pooh asked.

"Ah-ah-ah." Tigger wagged his finger at Pooh and then made a zipping motion across his lips. "My lips are sealeded! If you wanna know what the letter from my Tigger family says, you gotta come meet up with everyone at Eeyore's place!"

Kairi clapped her hands together once, a bright smile on her face. "A letter from your family? Tigger, that's great!"

Tigger laughed it off. "Aw, shucks… Well, come on! No time for dawdlin', everyone is headin' up to Eeyore's place!" He let out a round of laughter and then took off without a glance back over his shoulder.

Pooh smiled warmly. "Oh, I'm so happy for Tigger. He found his family after all!"

Sora gently nudged Pooh with his elbow. "Pooh, that's the letter we wrote. Remember? It was Kairi's idea."

"Oh, yes. Of course."

Kairi nodded, more to herself than anything. "I really am happy for him, after how sad he was earlier."

Roo bounced up and down happily. "It was a great idea, Kairi! Tigger's so excited now!"

"I'm not sure it was." Lea climbed up to his feet and brushed the snow off of his back, his eyes focused on the path Tigger took off into the woods. "That letter was pretty basic, and as nice as it is he seems too excited for just getting something that amounts to 'Thinking of you wherever you are'." Kairi stuck her tongue out at Lea, but he didn't turn back to look at her. His brow furrowed in concern, and then he moved to follow Trigger's tracks in the snow. "Come on. Let's go see what he has to say."

With a shared glance between Roo, Sora, and Kairi, they moved after him…and then Sora ran back and grabbed Pooh, who had gone back to eating marshmallows.

Eeyore has returned to the hilltop at the base of the cliff where everything had gone wrong earlier that day, gathering sticks in the last few hours to build up a new house. It was…quaint. It was small and didn't cover a whole lot when the weather got bad, but Eeyore like it that way. He shuffled into the small pyramid of twigs and let out a rare, content sigh. And then Tigger came storming through, knocking it all to the ground and picking up Eeyore into a big bear hug. He spun the stupefied donkey around in a circle while Owl fluttered down behind him, followed soon after by everyone else catching up on foot.

"Tigger! I say, just what is this commotion about?"

Tigger set Eeyore down and thrust his fist triumphantly into the sky, the letter clutched tightly. "Why this of course! A letter! A letter for me, that's who!" Eeyore groaned as Tigger continued to spin around, now holding the letter out in front of him with both hands. "T-I-double-guh-RR spells Tigger!"

As Tigger continued to celebrate, Piglet chuckled. "I, uh, wonder who it might be from."

"From my very own family! I knew I had one! A great big family, fulla uncles and aunties! And grandtiggers! And second cousin Tiggers! And they're all just like me, all bouncin' around up there in our huge, gigantical family tree!" Tigger was bouncing in place on his tail now, his laughter and grin infectious—though Lea winced at the 'all just like me' comment. As everyone smiled happily at Tigger, Kairi and Roo most of all, Tigger suddenly stopped bounding. "AND—I'm especially excited about this part—they miss me somethin' awful, and they're comin' to see me tonight!"

Roo's face fell, and he felt his stomach go with it. "T-Tonight…?" Around him everyone gasped, or at least had expressions matching his own, but Tigger was too caught up in his excitement to notice. And Pooh, who smiled happily and clapped his hands.

"That's right, Roo-boy! Oh, we'll all go to our family tree, and we'll take a great bit picture to put in that locket you an' me found!"

Sora stepped forward with an awkward smile on his face. "Uh, Tigger, where did it say that, exactly?"

"Exacticaly nowhere, per se," Tigger replied after jumping up into Sora's face. "'Cause with us Tiggers, you gotta read betwixt the lines. I'm gonna see my whole family, 'cause my whole family is all comin' to see you-know-who-hoohoohoo!" And then he bounded away into the snow, the letter hugged tightly to his chest, leaving a very nervous and dumbfounded group behind.

"Oh boy," Eeyore groaned out after several silent moments.

Kairi bit her lip and rubbed her arm. "Sorry, everyone. This wasn't what I expected to happen."

Kanga shook her head. "It's okay, dear. None of us thought things would turn out this way, either. Even if Tigger is rather…eccentric at times."

"That's one way to put it," Lea said with another rub of his sore back.

Owl ruffled his feathers, puffing them out in an agitated gesture. "Well, clearly, someone has to tell him!"

"Are you nuts?" Sora asked. "You guys saw how excited he was. Telling him we wrote that letter would break Tigger's heart." Kairi and Kanga were nodding beside him, which caused Lea to grimace.

"And what happens tonight when they never show up? Tigger is going to find out sooner or later that it isn't a real letter. It's better to fess up now than string him along on false promises about finding someone who doesn't exist!"

Roo gazed up at Lea in confusion, as he had practically shouted the last few words. While the rest of the Hundred Acre Wood's inhabitants watched on, Sora and Kairi directed their somber expressions toward him instead of Tigger. "Lea…"

"This stuff is hitting just a little too close to home, Sora. I don't want a repeat of the lies I told Roxas when he was searching for you. No one here should want that."

Sora let out a long sigh and rubbed his face. Roo could see a lot of conflict on his face, which made the little kangaroo nervously wring his shirt. Something was going on with Sora and his taller friend, though just what that something was Roo had no idea. Finally, the stress in the air building between the two of them was broken by a silly old bear's light voice.

"Perhaps his family will come, and everything will be fine."

Lea let out a low groan and buried his face in his palm, while Piglet stepped over to Pooh. "Um, Pooh…"

"No, wait." Kairi cupped her chin in her hand and nodded. "What if they do?"

Sora raised an eyebrow. "How would they?"

Something inside Roo clicked, and he realized now where Kairi was going with this. Roo took a deep breath and tightened his fists, then looked up at everyone with determination. "I have an idea."

x-x-x

"Sorry, but this is an awful idea."

Lea leaned against a wall in Tigger's home, currently occupied by everyone in the Hundred Acre Wood except for Rabbit and Tigger himself. Roo had convinced Tigger to head off into the forest to find more decorations for the party…not that he really needed more, in Lea's opinion. Banners and streamers hung from every possible corner, covering the ceiling in a blanket of colored cloth. What little space wasn't taken up by them was instead filled by Tigger-print balloons that would occasionally float on down to floor level, where Pooh would proceed to get distracted by them. The walls were decorated with hand-drawn pictures by Tigger of his relatives, as well as a large poster exclaiming 'Welcome Tigger family!' And in the center of all the chaos a giant multi-layered cake was practically collapsing under its own weight while simultaneously melting from the heat all of its candles gave off.

As for the bad idea, that would have to be Roo's plan. Lea watched as Kairi cut out pieces of orange fabric and Kanga hurriedly sewed them together into costumes, where Sora and Owl would use Eeyore's tail to paint stripes onto them. If Tigger's family wasn't going to show up, Roo insisted that they play the part instead, which Lea just couldn't approve of. Sora and Kairi, wearing cardboard masks made by Pooh, walked up to Lea with one for him. His expression said it all, clearly.

"Do it for Tigger," Kairi said as she pulled up her own mask and rested it on top of her head.

"I like the guy well enough not to lie to him, Kairi."

"Lea…" Sora began.

Kanga spoke up before he could continue. "It's alright, Sora. Lea doesn't have to dress up if he doesn't want to. Besides, he may be a bit too tall to pass for a Tigger." She finished Roo's costumes by putting a hood-like mask over his face, and Roo bounced around happily. Then Kanga turned to the three humans. "All of you might be, in fact."

Kairi looked over at the pile of fabrics being made into costumes and laughed softly. "Kanga has a point."

Sora grinned and shrugged. "We'll just say we're here to see Tigger's family! Right, Lea?"

Lea groaned once again. "I won't tell Tigger the truth, I don't want to be the one to break his heart. But I still don't approve of this." He paused, and then added, "…And I kind of want a piece of that cake."

And then, from across the room, Piglet hollered. "Tigger's coming!"

All chaos exploded around Lea, Sora, and Kairi as the others struggled to get their costumes on, with more than one putting theirs on upside-down or inside-out. But after much grunting and banging around, not to mention a few smacks to the head, they had all gathered in their homemade Tigger costumes in front of the door as Tigger returned home.

"Surprise!"

Tigger dropped everything he held, letting the massive pile of decorations to fall to the ground far below his treehouse. "Is it… Is it…really you? My very own one and only family?!" Lea watched with a mixture of amusement and concern as Tigger reached around to pull all of them into a warm embrace. He only set them down after walking into his house while carrying the group in his hug, at which point he turned to his other three visitors. "Sora! Kairi! Lea, ol' buddy ol' pal! Glad you could make it. Let me introduce you to…" Tigger paused and smiled what was quite possibly the brightest, happiest smile Lea had ever seen. "My family!"

Sora chuckled. "We're glad to meet them, Tigger."

"Yeah, we haven't seen each other in… We haven't seen each other!" Tigger's smile had given way to a bewildered, perhaps even overwhelmed, expression. He looked around at the party decorations as if feeling that perhaps it wasn't enough.

At that point, Roo cleared his throat and looked around while lowering his voice as much as a kid as young as him could. "It's nice to have all us Tiggers getting together like this!" The others nodded beside him, but perhaps they didn't trust their voices not to give them away as much as Roo did as they didn't really speak up.

Kairi clapped her hands together once. "So! How about we get this party started then, huh?" She moved over to the table where Tigger had left a pitcher of lemonade.

Tigger gasped at her words and slapped himself on the head. "Where the heck are my mannerisms?! I'll get right on that, Kairi, don't worry!" He rushed past her and grabbed the pitcher in one swift motion, while also grabbing a nearby pot of flowers in his flustered rush. "Refreshaments for all, comin' right up!" Pouring lemonade into half the Tigger-print glasses and water into the other, he picked up the tray and hurriedly brought it over to the group. Lea coughed awkwardly and picked up one of the lemonade cups. Beside him, Pooh happily began to drink his cup of water…before remembering that his mask couldn't open up and getting his costume all wet.

"What a nice home you have," Piglet said as strongly as he could manage while drying off some of the spilled water on his own costume.

Kanga subtly picked out the flower petals from her drink and slipped them back into the pot. "Yes, and what lovely decorations."

Sora looked down at Eeyore. "Nice weather, huh?"

"Could be better," he responded without bothering to hide his voice. The snow had picked up almost as soon as night fell, it really couldn't be called autumn in the Hundred Acre Wood anymore.

A loud noise suddenly rang throughout the house, causing everyone to jump and Lea to drop his drink. Tigger blew into a horn excitedly and bounced around to slap a party hat on the heads of Eeyore, Kanga, and Owl. "Now this party's really startin' to pick up!" He grinned down at Piglet beside him. "So, whatcha been up to, cousin?"

A little frightened by Tigger looming over him, Piglet backed up. "I-I've been, uh—" He slipped over Lea's spilled lemonade, causing his costume to fall right off of him. With a hurried gasp, Sora quickly stepped between Piglet and Tigger.

"Tigger! Why do you have to ask what you're family's been up to, huh? You of all people know what Tiggers do best." He quickly spared a glance behind him, where Piglet slipped back into his costume.

"Bouncin'!" Roo cried happily from behind Tigger. "Bouncin' mornin' and noon and night!"

Tigger turned around with stars in his eyes. "Why, that's what I been doin' too!" He gasped and began gently bouncing up and down on his tail in the middle of the room. "Then there's only one thing we can do here to get this party goin'. Who's up for some family type bouncin'?"

Nervous sounds of agreement rang up among the guests, save for Roo's entirely genuine excitement. Lea groaned loudly and backed up against a wall. He couldn't be bounced if he couldn't be knocked over. Tigger dug through a chest in the corner of the room and pulled out a vinyl record, then tossed it onto a nearby player and laughed as the music began to play. He once more started to bounce around on his tail, while the others started awkwardly jumping up and down; except for Eeyore, who simply raised his legs while repeating "Bounce, bounce," over and over. Sora, Kairi, and Lea watched it all from the far wall, nervousness and excitement mixing in all of them.

"It seems to be going really well," Kairi whispered among the three of them.

Lea nodded. "I have to admit, this may go off without any problems."

Sora jabbed him with his elbow. "See? You worried over nothing. Roo's idea was great."

"Well, we're not out of the woods yet."

Tigger bounced up and down on the table with Roo, knocking the cake over without a care. He jumped off the walls and onto the floor, where he grabbed Pooh by the hands and spun him around while continuing to go up and down. Pooh laughed. "You certainly have a wonderful family, Tigger!"

Roo bounded up onto the top of Tigger's recliner chair. "Wait a sec! We gotta bounce the whoopdie-dooper, uh, super…"

Tigger gasped and let go of Pooh mid-spin, sending him flying into Owl. "Whoop-de-Dooper Loop-de-Looper Alley-Ooper Bounce?!"

Lea shuddered and looked over to Sora. "The what?" He got only a shrug in return.

Tigger laughed and clapped his hands before joining Roo up in front of everyone. "Remember everyone, half this bounce is ninety percent mental!" He bowed before Roo and gestured to the middle of the room. "Guests first."

Roo marched forward proudly to the middle of the room as everyone else formed a circle around him. He took on a familiar stance, standing on one leg and twisting his tail like a corkscrew. Lea recognized it now, if not by name. This was what Tigger had done to remove that boulder. "Ya gotta swing your legs up high, and ya twist your tail in tight! Wind up all your springs, and with your eyes fixated straight ahead..." He inhaled and exhaled slowly. "Ya let it all loose."

As Tigger had then, Roo turned into a living whirlwind and shot through the air, bouncing this way and that against the ceiling, walls, and floor. Kanga let out a worried cry, but it was too late now to stop him if she tried. Roo spun around Tigger's hammock hanging from the ceiling and bounced against the balloons on the walls, flying fast until he crashed head-first into Tigger's open closet, his fall cushioned by all the junk heaped up inside. It still sounded rather painful, however.

As Roo tumbled out of the mess, he shook his head and grimaced. Lea frowned. Something about this was…off. A light gasp beside him, and Lea looked to see Kairi with her eyes wide and her hands over her mouth. Only now did it click what the problem was: Lea had been able to see Roo's grimace. His mask had fallen off! Sora moved to intervene, but Lea held him back. It was too late, Tigger had seen it. He crept forward with a confused look on his face and leaned down to see the dizzy little boy up close.

"Roo…?" A brief look of hurt passed over his face before his face grew hard and he put his hands on his hips. "What are you doin' impersonatin' a Tigger?" Then his face softened once more and he looked back over his shoulder, knowing evident in his eyes. The jig was up. He slowly walked over to the rest of the 'Tiggers' and removed their masks one by one. "Piglet? Kanga? Owl, Eeyore…"

Pooh removed his own mask before Tigger got to him. "We only wanted to help, Tigger."

"Oh." That single word crushed Lea's heart, even if he hadn't known Tigger long at all. The worst case scenario had come true, and they had been found out. The look on Tigger's face, the expression of not only hurt but betrayal, was enough to almost make Lea wish he didn't have a heart again so he could ignore the guilt it left him with. He should have intervened before things got this far.

"Now I understand," Tigger continued. "It was all a big joke." He reached for a locket sitting on a nearby dresser and looped it around his neck, then picked up the letter that they had written earlier that day. "Well, that's alright." He swung the door open and glared at everyone as the cold wind blew into his home.

Roo crept forward. "Tigger?"

"Don't follow me!" Tigger snapped without looking back. He slammed the door behind him and marched off, but Roo wasn't having any of that and took off after him. Lea wasn't about to leave things this way, either. He chased after Roo and followed the little kid out into the snow.

"How did I let it get this far?" he hissed to himself as he fought against the roaring winds and falling snow.

"T-This isn't your fault, Lea."

"It absolutely is, kid. I could have stopped this at any point and I never did." Lea heated up his hands, not quite conjuring a flame but making them glow red. The snow immediately around them melted, and Lea sighed. "The truth is, I know what Tigger is going through."

"You do?"

"There's someone I miss, but the worst of it is that unlike him I don't even know who that person is."

Roo twisted his shirt nervously. "Well, Tigger doesn't know his family either…"

"That's a load of bull, kid." Lea looked down at Roo and shook his head. "Tigger absolutely has a family who cares for him, and they're all right up there in that house and out here looking for him. They may not be Tiggers, but that doesn't make things any different. Family's not about how you look."

Roo stared down at his feet, then looked off into the blizzard with determination. "We gotta find him!"

Lea grinned. "Right. He can't have gotten far. Come on!" He knelt down and scooped up Roo in his hands, then marched through the snow with renewed vigor. Soon enough they found a lone figure standing in the middle of the woods, his fur whipping back and forth in the wind as he held tightly onto a letter that threatened to be torn from his grasp at any moment.

"Tigger!" Roo cried.

"I said not to follow me!"

"Tigger, you're acting crazy!" Lea snapped right back at him. "I know you're hurt, but it's the middle of a snowstorm! You can't do this now, you'll get hurt!"

"I can't be hurt more than I already am!" Tigger shouted, his voice echoing around them. Lea snapped his mouth shut, and Roo sniffled. Tigger glared at the two of them with tears streaming down his face.

"Somewhere out there, there's a Tigger family tree full o' my real Tigger family! And I got a letter to prove it!" He held the locket in his hands and glanced down at it, opening it up to stare at the empty contents. Then, clutching his hand into a fist, he held it to his chest. "And I'm gonna find 'em."

"Tigger!"

"TTFE!" Tigger shouted as he stomped away through the snow, hugging himself tightly. "Ta-ta forever!"