Chapter 7: Your Heart Will Lead You Home

"…And then he went off into the woods on his own, leaving us behind."

Lea's words brought down the already somber mood even further. The weather outside had been bad enough, with the snow blowing around; not quite a blizzard, but Lea would have called it one anyway. The blurs of white contrasted heavily against the darkness of the Hundred Acre Wood as it approached midnight, at least according to Pooh's clock. Lea turned away from the window to look at the others. Sora was staring into an untouched and lukewarm mug of hot chocolate. Kairi gnawed on her lower lip, with Pooh sitting on her lap and her arms hugging him tightly more for her sake than his. Pooh himself had abandoned his blissfully unaware norm, and was now tapping his head and muttering to himself as if to motivate thoughts to come.

"Poor Tigger," Sora said sadly as he set the mug down on Pooh's table. "I can't believe it came to this."

"All alone in the cold," Pooh said from his spot on Kairi's lap. "He must be very sad…and perhaps lost. And maybe even a bit hungry." If Lea didn't know any better, he could swear the bear was guilt tripping him.

"You didn't even try to go after him?" Kairi asked.

Lea flinched, even if her tone wasn't a hurtful one. Of course he was going to, but the fact of the matter was he wouldn't have gotten far if he had. Still, it hurt to have his inaction put into words like that. "In this weather? Not to mention I don't know these woods. I wasn't about to chase after him practically alone." He sighed and rested his hands on Pooh's counter. "No offense to the little guy, but Roo isn't exactly helpful in this situation. There's not a lot he could have done."

"I guess so…"

"So what now?" Sora asked. "I'm not going to just leave while he's out there in the cold."

"No one is saying that," Lea replied quickly, almost snapped. He really wasn't. He could have done something to stop all of this, but didn't despite his worries. Now he had to make it right, even if it wasn't really his fault. Having a heart again meant Lea had to deal with the weight it brought just as much as the good times. "Really. No one is saying we just up and leave. But I don't know those woods, Kairi doesn't either, and something tells me you haven't exactly gone far past the area everyone lives."

"…Not especially," Sora admitted with a sigh.

Lea crossed his arms. "We need a guide. Someone who knows this forest inside and out…"

Kairi leaned forward, resting her chin on Pooh's head.

"…And who is competent enough to lead us as a group," Lea finished.

Kairi frowned, but Pooh simply smiled. Keeping her chin on Pooh's head, Kairi asked, "Who are you thinking?"

"Sora knows these guys better than me, but Owl maybe? Not to mention he could keep an eye on things from above. That'd give us a much better vantage point, especially in this weather."

Sora shrugged. "Owl likes to talk big, but he's not really leadership material. He can be kind of absentminded."

"Look who's talking." Lea smiled; he couldn't resist. "Well like I said, you know everyone here more than I do. Does anyone come to mind? Kanga, maybe? She seems pretty reliable."

"Kanga might work…"

Knock knock knocknocknocknock!

Frantic but light pounding at Pooh's door overtook the sound of the wind howling outside, turning the attention of all four of them toward the front of the house. Pooh slipped off of Kairi's lap and plopped down onto the ground with an inquisitive look. "Now I wonder who that could be?"

Kairi stood up. "Tigger, you think?" But Lea doubted it, and even she didn't sound convinced.

Pooh made his way over to the door, moving aside empty honey pots along the way. He lifted the heavy latch to unlock the door, but only got that far before the door swung open of its own accord and the cold wind flowed into the house, bringing snow with it. Kairi visibly shivered, while Lea reacted to the drop in temperature by heating up the air around him without outright conjuring flames. The resulting melted snow got Pooh's carpet wet, but at least they weren't buried alive.

"Pooh! Sora!" Roo held onto the frame of the door, eyes wide, ears and purple scarf flapping in the wind. Tears were streaming down his face and freezing before they even hit the ground. "You gotta help me find Tigger! It's all my fault!"

As Roo came inside, Pooh struggled to close the door back up. Lea moved to give the bear a hand while Sora and Kairi tended to Roo, taking his scarf and brushing the snow off his back and shoulders. When the door shut tightly and the latch was back in place, Pooh hurried over to Roo as fast as his stubby legs allowed him. Roo hugged Pooh tightly around the belly, his cheek pressed against him and his tears wetting Pooh's fur.

"He never would've left if it wasn't 'cause of me!" Roo sobbed. "I didn't mean to make him feel bad, I just wanted him to be my big brother!"

"Oh, Roo…" Kairi crouched down and patted him on the head, while Pooh seemed on the verge of tears himself but—and this both surprised Lea and warmed his heart—was also clearly staying strong and keeping that from happening for Roo's sake.

Lea rubbed the back of his neck. "Roo, this isn't your fault. You can't be so hard on yourself for this. We all share the blame, we all could have stopped this at any moment; if anything, it's on me for telling everyone it was a bad idea but not stopping it."

"We'll find him, Roo," Sora said as he moved beside Kairi. "Don't worry. We were just talking about going out to search before you got here."

Roo sniffed and rubbed his nose with his arm. "R-Really?"

Pooh began to tap his head again. "What we need is an expotition to the place where Tigger is. Or…will be?" Pooh grabbed his own scarf and wrapped it around his neck. And I know just the person to lead us!"

"You do?" Lea and Sora asked at the same time.

Pooh chuckled. "Why, it should be Rabbit, of course! He's the only one who ever says he knows what he's doing."

Lea let out a breath. He had completely forgotten about Rabbit, and that wasn't half bad of an idea. If Rabbit was able to put together that huge contraption to move the rock over Eeyore's house and get everyone to work together on it, then he was the perfect person to wrangle this group of well-meaning weirdos and lead them all on the hunt for Tigger. Not to mention, as a native of this world he'd have to know the forest like the back of his hand…or at least more than Sora, Kairi, and Lea.

Lea lifted the heavy latch, allowing the wind to swing Pooh's door wide open once more. But he was prepared for it this time, holding both hands out and sending out a wave of heat that both kept the snow from entering and melted the snow in Pooh's front yard. He turned around with a smile and held his hand out to Roo. "Lead the way, kiddo."

x-x-x

The walk to Rabbit's house was more of a trek due to the weather, even with Lea keeping the worst of it at bay. Part of the way there they found Eeyore half buried in the snow, and after digging him out he came along with the dull statement that he had nothing better to do. As for Rabbit's house, Lea couldn't tell it apart from a particularly large tree and didn't even realize they had reached it until the group rounded the corner and found gardens covered by tarps which were in turn weighed down by snow. Rabbit had spared no expense in defending his home from the winter; there were even tarps hanging in the branches up above! Not that it did much help, though. When Pooh made his way to a hole in the dirt wall of Rabbit's house, Sora took him by the shoulders and directed him to the front door.

As for the inside, it was significantly less…'planned' was probably a good word. Rabbit was frantically running back and forth with countless knickknacks and trinkets in his hands, and didn't even notice as everyone slipped inside. It was poorly lit, with only a single oil lantern on the counter keeping things brightly. Under less frantic circumstances, Lea'd consider the way the flame cast shadows on the walls cozy.

Rabbit continued to work unaware of his visitors, moving this way and that, until he tripped over Eeyore and nearly dropped a potted plant before Kairi caught it just in time. As Kairi set the pot down on the floor, Rabbit whirled on his guests. "What are you all doing at my house?! Winter is here! You should all be at your own homes getting ready!"

"That's why we're here," Roo explained as he hopped up onto a nearby stool to get up closer to Rabbit's eye level. "Tigger ran out into the winter, and it's cold and dark! Rabbit, you need to help us find him, you just gotta!"

"Tigger…ran away?" Rabbit looked out the nearest window, his eyelids lowering in concern. "Why, what on earth did you do to…?" He shook his head, clapped his hands against his cheeks, and then picked up a notepad from a nearby table. "Absolutely not!"

Sora crossed his arms. "Rabbit, come on."

Rabbit's gaze shifted from him, to Pooh, Kairi, and Eeyore, then to Roo. "Well I mean, after all, it was—I mean, he—I wasn't…" He stumbled over his words, then clenched the pencil in his hand tight. "He wanted to leave, didn't he?"

Pooh deflated. "Only because we hurt him. And besides, Rabbit—" Howling wind drowned out Pooh's words and the window flew open, sending a flurry of snow into Rabbit's home and putting out the light. Lea reacted immediately, conjuring a flame in his upturned palm that lit up the room just as much as the lantern had. Still, he hadn't moved fast enough to stop a bit of chaos. Rabbit had darted for the window as soon as it had opened up, and in the darkness knocked over both Pooh and Sora, which in turn toppled the stool Roo had been standing on. The four of them now lay in a crumpled heap with Eeyore, Kairi, and Lea looking on.

Kairi moved to the window and shut it while they all climbed up. "I didn't know him for long, but he sure seemed to warm up the room when he was around."

"And he always gave you a little helping hand when you needed it," Sora added as he pulled Rabbit up to his feet.

Rabbit sighed and stared down at the notepad he now held in two quivering hands. Lea watched him out of the corner of his eye as he moved over to the lantern and slid his conjured flame inside of it, while down in the corner of the room by Eeyore Roo looked positively heartbroken.

Rabbit seemed to feel Roo's gaze on him, as he looked up from his notepad and then glanced over his shoulder at the poor boy. "Well, uh…" He cleared his throat and then swallowed as he again began to trip over his own words. "What do you need me for? Why don't you go find him yourselves? Or Owl would be happy to—"

"But we're just not clever enough, Rabbit," Pooh said simply. Lea stared at him for a moment, dumbfounded. Was Pooh intentionally buttering him up, or just stating facts? He could not get a read on whether this bear was actually as slow as he let on. Still, the buttering up part seemed to be working.

Lea put his hands on his hips. "Surely you know these woods better than anyone? Sora, Kairi, and I sure don't know where to find him out in the wilderness."

"Rabbit…" Roo's tiny voice came up from their feet, and he stared at Rabbit with tearful eyes. "I miss him."

"Well, I…" Rabbit looked around, as if desperately searching for something that could prove as a distraction to get him out of this, but eventually his shoulders droops and he sighed. "Oh, very well." Roo sniffled and rubbed his eyes, then allowed a grateful smile to show on his face. Rabbit returned a weary one of his own. "I'll lead us through the deeper parts of the Hundred Acre Wood, but there's only so much I can do against the weather." Rabbit opened his closet and grabbed a heavy coat. As he put it on, he turned to the tallest of his guests. "Sora, Kairi, Lea—you three have to keep us safe. There's no telling how this storm might put us in danger."

"We're on it, Rabbit." Sora held his hand out and called on the Kingdom Key in a flash of light, while Kairi summoned Destiny's Embrace beside him. Sora grinned and held the Keyblade over his shoulder. "There's no need to worry about that with us around."

"Alright then, I want all of you to be absolutely prepared. It's windy out there, and the snow won't let us see far. Be sure we stay together."

Sora looked over at Pooh. "You got that, Pooh? Stick together."

As soon as Rabbit opened the door, the wind met them as if it had been waiting. Most held their ground, but the wind sent Pooh tumbling back and into Sora, knocking him to his feet. Sora laughed softly and patted Pooh on the head. "Not that together."

Lea reached down to help Sora up, and without another word the group let as soon as he was back on his feet, Rabbit blowing out the light and locking the door behind them.

"Tigger! Tiiiggerrrr!"

And so they marched off into the snow, the blizzard chilling their bones and freezing their veins, but their own action—or inaction, as the case may be—wrapping ice around their hearts.

x-x-x

"Tiggers!"

Far away from the more well-traveled reaches of the Hundred Acre Wood, a lone spot of orange and black was visible against the endless white. Tigger trudged through the snow with his arms wrapped tightly around his body and his voice hoarse from calling out to his family. His right hand clutched tightly on the rolled-up letter as the wind threatened to blow it away, while his left held onto the empty locket around his neck as if it was his lifeline.

"Where are ya, Tiggers?!"

Tigger squeezed his eyes shut as the razor winds buffeted him. Every step he took through the thick, heavy snow felt like he was putting in the effort of a sprint. With his body growing tired and his mind starting to grow foggy, Tigger rubbed his arms for as much warmth as he could manage in the storm. Then, through the blurry wall of white, he saw something not too far from him, so miraculous he'd have thought it was a mirage had he been in the desert. A rocky outcropping in a clearing provided brief respite from the blizzard, though not from the bitter cold.

Tigger leaned against the wall, but dared not sit down in the snow. He rubbed his hands together and breathed into them, watching the mist formed by his breath. Coming out here had been a mistake, even Tigger could see that clearly. It was dangerous and stupid. But he had to. The others had hurt him, and he had to find his family that he knew—he knew—was out there waiting for him. "I hope they're all okay…" With a glance at the locket, Tigger took a breath and once again began marching forward into the snow. "Tiiiiggers!"

But in this weather, he couldn't see where he was going very well at all. What Tigger thought to be a solid foothold was revealed to be nothing but snow and gave way beneath him, sending him tumbling down the hillside; not a far fall, but one that would prove to be life-changing. At the bottom of the hill was a frozen lake that Tigger slid across helplessly as he attempted to climb back to his feet, his arms and legs waving wildly this way and that. He leaned back and, in an attempt to right himself up, over anticipated how much force to put into his swing forward. Toppling down onto his face caused the locket to slip from around his neck and slide ahead of him on the ice. Gasping desperately, Tigger clawed after it on all fours.

Unfortunately for Tigger, the frozen water ended at a sheer cliff. While the locket did not fall over, Tigger's momentum tried to make it so that he almost did. Catching himself on a fallen tree at the last second and grabbing onto the locket, Tigger held for dear life as he dangled over the edge of the cliff. "J-Just don't look d-down, Tigger…" he murmured, reminding himself of Piglet.

Wrapping his limbs around the fallen tree, Tigger began to slowly inch his way back toward solid ground. But the tree was not a sturdy one. Mere feet from safety, Tigger's stomach lurched as he heard a horrifying crack and the tree shuddered. Eyes wide as saucers, he gazed at the spot where the tree met the open air at the very edge of the cliff, a fault steadily growing along its width. No, no, nono… The wood splintered and fell, taking Tigger with it, his cried echoing around him.

Tigger slammed onto a smaller cliff halfway down, then tumbled off it and rolled down another hill. Though painful, it did save him from a far more permanent fate. Still, he was now not only freezing but more lost than ever before, the fall having gotten him all turned around. There'd be no turning back now, no way to know which way was home.

But…

As Tigger poked his head out of the snow and slid the locket back over his neck, something caught his attention beyond the veil of snow. Squinting to see more clearly, he pulled himself up to his feet and crept forward inch by inch, wary of it being another accident waiting to happen. But as it came into view, Tigger knew there'd be no incident here. He let out an awed gasp as the full realization of what he saw struck him.

Sitting on the edge of another cliff was a large tree covered from bottom to top in great white stripes formed of snow. The biggest, hugest, and most gigantical stripedy tree in all the entire Hundred Acre Wood. Was it? Could it be? "My family tree! I found it!"

Laughing and crying tears of both relief and joy, Tigger hurried the rest of the way to the tree and bounded up it in one swift motion, climbing from the roots to the trunk to the highest branches. "Hello! Hellooooo up there! Where are ya, Tiggers? It's me, Tigger!" He landed on a particularly large branch and held the letter up high, waving it above his head. "I got your letter and came all the way out here to see ya! Helloooo?"

No response.

"…Hello…?" Tigger stared up at the canopy of the tree, searching desperately for some sign, any sign, of life. Nothing. Had they forgotten he was coming? Tigger stared down at the letter, running its words through his mind again and again, watching the ink get stained by his tears falling onto the paper. "But, I thought… I thought you were always there for me…" Tigger's legs gave out beneath him and he fell to the snow, the letter forgotten as the swept it up from his limp grasp and carried it away.

He was an idiot. He had gone on this trip to find his family, but he saw now how foolish that was. He was lost, cold, and alone. He had gone looking for someone who didn't exist, and probably never had. That's what Tigger had always prided himself on, wasn't it? That he was special? Unique? The only Tigger out there in the whole world? And now, only now, had he realized the full extent of what that meant.

The only one.

But Tigger's letter did not go far. Along a mountain path that wove down that very same cliff, Rabbit led the Roo, Eeyore, Pooh, Sora, Kairi, and Lea through the snow. The letter collided with their group—quite literally—when the wind brought it right into Lea's face. Lea grunted and tugged the paper off with his not-on-fire hand, just about ready to burn it with how agitated the cold weather had burned it. It wasn't until he saw the first few words that he quickly reversed the way his fingers were already beginning to heat up.

"Roo." Roo stopped and turned back to Lea, teeth chattering. Lea crouched down, handed the paper to the poor kid, and held his conjured flame close. "Look at this."

Roo held the letter in shivering hands and began to read it in the firelight. "'D-Dear Tigger'…" A gasp. "Tigger?!" He whipped his head around frantically, desperately searching for where the wind had carried the letter from, until finally his gaze caught on a small, sad spot of orange high up in a tree on the edge of a cliff. "Tigger! Is that you?! TIGGER! DOWN HEEERE!"

"Tigger!" Sora ran toward the tree at full speed, kicking up snow as he went. The others weren't far behind, with Kairi scooping up Roo to help him along. Even Eeyore moved as quickly as he could manage, though he still lingered at the back of the group. As they called him and their voices echoed around the snow-covered mountains, Tigger's ears perked up and he shifted from his pitiful, slouched position. Staring down at the group, tiredness and depression keeping him from registering the sight initially, he finally gasped as he recognized what was happening.

Tigger bounced down the tree, landing in front of the group. "Hey, you're not Tiggers… What're you guys doin' here?"

"'Doing'? What are we doing?!" Rabbit repeated incredulously. He marched forward, moving past Roo, and poked Tigger in the chest. "We came all this way to look for you! Now forget about this nonsense and come home!"

Tigger's heart fell. "Nonsense? Is that what you really think of me…?" He clutched his locket tight and curled his other hand into a fist. "NO!" he shouted, shocking the group, freezing Rabbit in place, and causing his voice to echo loudly through the mountains.

Lea stepped forward. "Tigger, are you nuts? Do you not realize how dangerous it is out here?"

Kairi nodded. "Tigger, come on. You need to get where it's nice and warm, and not stay out in the middle of a snowstorm."

"Exacticly!" Tigger snapped, waving his arms in the air. "That's why you should all go home, where it is safe." He sniffed and shook his head as his eyes began to water. "But I've gotta wait here, in my family tree, for my REAL FAMILY!"

FAMILY

FAMILY

FAMILY

Tigger's echoing shouts shook the entire mountain and hushed the group into a nervous silence. Eeyore turned to Pooh. "Is that a rumbly in your tumbly, Pooh?"

Pooh took a step back. "I don't think so…"

Lea knew where this was going. He quickly spun toward the mountainside and thrust his arms out, conjuring a wall of fire between them and the cliff. Beyond the flames, he could already see a large mass of snow coming their way. The cries and shouts from the group had destabilized the snow, sending an avalanche tumbling down the mountains. Great. As if things couldn't have possibly gotten any worse than they already were.

But while fire may melt snow, there was just so much of it. The daunting whiteness quickly doused Lea's barrier, forcing him to whirl around to the others. "Run!" Roo, Tigger, and Rabbit took off, with Sora and Kairi quickly scooping up Eeyore and Pooh. There was nowhere really to run, however. Not here on this cliff. With little other options, they moved up onto the upper branches of the large snow-striped tree as the avalanche continued to storm down toward them.

Lea himself didn't have much time, though. At the back of the group, he nearly got swept up in the snow himself before a barrier of interlocking hexagons saved him at the last second. On a tree overlooking him, Kairi held out her Keyblade and channeled a Reflect spell. When it shattered, Lea quickly leaped up to join her and Sora, who was already sending fireballs out into the snow. It wasn't doing much at all.

"Any ideas?"

"What if we try freezing it?" Sora asked. "When I fought a snow monster in Arendelle, I froze it solid since I couldn't get good blows on snow."

"A snow mons-?" Lea shook his head. That could wait for another day. "You expect to fight this?"

"Well, it'll stop the snow from flowing. Watch!" Sora held his Keyblade out and it began to glow blue. "Blizzag-AAAH!" Though the bolt of ice magic flew from his Keyblade and froze a chunk of the avalanche, it did little to stop the flow; in fact, all it accomplished was managing to send a chunk of ice down the mountainside, digging up rocks and trees and sending the whole thing coming their way. A boulder flew right toward Kairi and the nearby Pooh, and so Sora quickly dived toward them with his arms outstretched, painfully knocking all three of them onto their faces but avoiding the heavy rock.

Roo and Tigger weren't so lucky. The boulder grazed them, not hurting them but causing them to tumble off the branches and into the flowing snow, right over the cliff. As they tumbled, falling among the debris of splintered trees, unearthed rocks, and giant sundered icicles, Roo cried out and grabbed fearfully onto Tigger.

"I'm sorry!" he screamed.

"No, Roo. I am. I'm sorry I never bounced with you, who was always askin'."

Roo's eyes widened. "Bounce…" As the two fell toward certain demise, that word clicked in their minds. Bounce! Tigger took Roo in one hand and then reached out toward a large boulder falling beside them. The two stood as stably as they could on the falling debris and moved without a word. They stood on one leg, their bodies contorting, their tails winding tight and bodies twisting like corkscrews. With twin bouts of hollering laughter, Roo and Tigger let it all loose and launched up, bouncing this way and that as they spun through the air and rebounded across trees and icicles back, climbing back to the safety of the tree.

But the danger had not passed yet. As Tigger and Roo crashed into the tree, Lea stood his ground and stared up at the ice caused by Sora's Blizzaga that was coming their way. It looked a lot bigger this close. Summoning his chakrams in a flurry of flames, Lea planted his feet firmly on the branch and spun his weapons around in his hands. Fire erupted at his feet, scorching the bark and melting the snow beneath him, though it was quickly replaced by new snow from the avalanche. The ice sheet grew closer and closer. His chakrams growing red hot, Lea let out a roar and sent them flying, the burning wheels igniting and charging head-on toward the ice.

When at last the avalanche had calmed, and the snow now piled twice as high around the tree, Sora, Kairi, and Pooh slowly climbed to their knees and looked around at the aftermath. Tigger held Roo tight, and Roo held him tighter still. Rabbit and Eeyore were at the base of the tree, the former clinging to the trunk for dear life and the latter half-buried in snow. Lea stood in front of them all, hands outstretched and smoking, the wood of the branch at his feet charred black.

"Tigger…" Roo started.

Tigger looked down at the kid and grinned. "What a whoop-de-doopin', loop-de-loopin', ali-oopin' bounce that was! Why, that bounce was just as good as any ol' Tig-" Tigger stopped, his tail drooped, and he looked up to the tree. "Tigger…family member…"

"Tigger… Please don't go." Tigger looked down at Roo, who was holding his hand and well on the way to crying.

"But, Roo, I… I got a letter. A letter that, you know, I uh…" Tigger turned around this way and that, searching for it, but he couldn't find the paper anywhere. "I musta lost it in the avalanche. I can't even remember the words now…"

"It doesn't matter, Tigger," Kairi said. "Because they're thinking of you wherever you are."

"And always there for you," Roo added.

Tigger perked up at the familiar words. "You mean you all wrote that? You're my family in that letter?"

"I'm afraid we don't have much better to offer," Pooh said.

"Of course not." Tigger shook his head and clutched his locket. "Because there's nothing better than the best."

x-x-x

The mood in Tigger's house was much more genuinely warm than it had been several hours prior. But despite that, it also felt much more somber. There were no party favors, no drinks, no cake or games. The decorations lay unnoticed and unmentioned by everyone there. But it was a far happier experience nonetheless, as everyone had returned to apologize and to revel in Tigger's safe return. The fire that Lea had lit seemed especially bright as it cast a glow over everyone in the room, especially Tigger and Roo sitting together with blankets wrapped around them and mugs of steaming hot chocolate courtesy of Kanga.

Sora, Kairi, and Lea stood in the back of the crowd as everyone else, even Rabbit, fussed over those two and praised Roo's bravery. They didn't need any time in the spotlight, they were just happy to have everyone safe and sound. Beside Lea, Sora rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, Lea. I dragged you here to cheer you up, but we ended up getting into a big mess because of it."

Lea let out a breath and slapped a hand down on Sora's shoulder. "You kidding? You helped me out, kid. Trust me." Smiling, Lea looked back over to Tigger chatting with everyone else. "If Tigger found who he's looking for, then I know that I'll find who I'm looking for."

"Who are you looking for?" Kairi asked.

"Something we're both asking," Lea replied. "I don't got a clue. But I feel like someone out there is missing, waiting for me to find them." Sora and Kairi glanced at each other, something unsaid passing between them. Lea crossed his arms. "What is it?"

Both teens turned to Lea, and while Kairi looked at him with worry there was something more in Sora's eyes. Loss. The same sense of emptiness that Lea had seen in his own eyes whenever he looked in a mirror these last few weeks. "Ven told us you had a nightmare. The truth is…I've been having them too. It starts in Twilight Town, but goes somewhere else. Somewhere dark. And there's always someone just out of sight, just beyond my reach. Someone I feel like I should know but don't." He clutched at his shirt, grabbing the fabric tightly over his heart. "It's really tough…when you lose someone precious and there's a great big hole in your heart. It's familiar, too… I think I must have felt like this in Castle Oblivion."

"Sora…" Kairi rested a hand on his arm.

Lea lowered his arms. "Yeah… I think I know just what you mean, Sora."

"Who is it, Lea?"

"I don't know. I don't know who it is that we're missing, or where it is that they've gone, but I'm going to find them." Lea stared down at his hand, clenched it into a fist, and rested it against his forehead. "I'm going to bring them home and get rid of the hurt."

At the front of the house, Tigger cleared his throat and stood up on the chair, standing above everyone else. "Everyone, I uh, I just wanted to say—I'm sorry. I went off searchin' for my family, but I know now I didn't need to go lookin' far aways at all. And well, for Roo here for stickin' by me for thickest and thinnerest…" Tigger's hands went to his neck and he slipped the locket off his person then dangled it in front of Roo's face.

Roo stared at his reflection in the polished surface. "For me…?"

Tigger spread the chain open and slid it over Roo's head. "Only the best for my bestest little brother."

As Roo stared down at the empty locket's insides, Kairi moved forward and reached into her pocket to pull out a digital camera. "You'll need a picture for that, Roo!"

"A family portrait!" Tigger agreed. He scooped up Roo and rounded up everyone else, while Kairi fiddled with the options on the camera and set up the timer. She set it down on the table and then ran over to grab Sora.

Lea looked down in surprise when he felt Sora take him by the wrist. "Oh no, I don't think I'd quite fit in."

"Lea, come on!"

"Yeah, come on!" Tigger bounced over to the two of them and took Lea's other wrist in both hands. "I am insistinating!"

Lea tripped over his own two feet as Tigger pulled him into the group, but he was quickly pushed upright and Tigger wrapped his shoulder around the redhead while sitting on a stool to stay at eye level. Roo bounced up between the two of them and landed in Tigger's grip. Kairi once more checked the timer, then ran over to Sora's side.

"Okay, everyone. Smile!"