Kingdom Hearts: The Girl Who Stole the Star Chapter 13: Sending Ripples Surging Throughout the S, a kingdom hearts fanfic

CHAPTER 12:

SENDING RIPPLES SURGING THROUGHOUT THE STARS

Author's Notes: The pieces for this Chapter are, in order of scene: 'Junior 2,' from the XENOSAGA Episode Two Movie Scene Soundtrack, Disc One; and then 'Holy Angela's Theme Deluxe,' from the FINAL FANTASY TACTICS Original Soundtrack, Disc Two; and then 'Eternal Blue Instrumental,' from the LUNAR TWO: ETERNAL BLUE: COMPLETE Original Soundtrack. The second song cannot be found on KINGDOM HEARTS Insider's MP3 section, however.

Roxas stepped out of the portal of The Lanes Between to see what he'd believed that he would see, though he still extremely highly doubted that anyone else, even Lea and Isa, had been willing to confront it.

An uncountable number of igloos the size of houses were spread over the wasteland that had once been the city of Arendelle, the castle, and the North Mountain, and people of all walks of life were moving among them, some moving themselves, some directed by castle guards, police officers, and soldiers.

Roxas didn't smile at the sight of the people of Arendelle partially getting back on their feet, though, as good as it was to see.

That they'd been restored to their bodies this quickly could mean only one thing.

Riku had harnessed the power of waking and had died and vanished.

It wasn't just Riku's temporary disappearance that kept Roxas from smiling, however.

Roxas didn't know how he was still capable of walking, as much as he needed to recover Oathkeeper, and he was ready for his legs to collapse beneath him at any second.

Tidus would have remembered Xion.

That had been the final straw.

Hearing that the Foretellers wanted Sora to do to Anna what he had done to Xion had been horrific enough, bringing back all of the memories of, and the vortex itself, the collapsing maelstrom vortex of ebony incandescent horror and guilt and despair and self-hatred no language or expression, or lack of language or expression, could even comprehend the concept of, directly or by negatively saying that it couldn't be comprehended, that had washed clean away all existence as though it had never existed in the first place, when all of his memories had at last been restored and he'd realized that he had murdered Xion and had forced her to die weak and broken into the darkness forgotten, where she would be alone. As well as all of the memories of the whirlpool of hate and fury and despair that had consumed him even when his memories of Xion had been scant and he hadn't been sure who had killed her, that had driven him to assault The Castle That Never Was and free Kingdom Hearts head on, and attempt to commit suicide at Xemnas', or one of the other members of Organization Thirteen's, hands.

That Zack had remembered all of his time as the Angel of Sin and, when he woke up, had told them that the still unconscious Kairi, resting in the Olympus Coliseum on Olympus with Lea, the other guardians, Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie watching over her, hadn't made much of an effort to defend herself when she'd dueled him by herself, made matters even worse.

Lea had attempted to convince Roxas to let him accompany Roxas to recover Oathkeeper, but Roxas had talked him into remaining with Xion, who was in no condition to be around Sora after what Kairi had said that the Foretellers wanted him to do.

She had Tidus, but Roxas knew that wouldn't be enough.

Yet.

Before Roxas died for good, he was going to be certain that Xion was safe and cared for in Tidus' arms, where Tidus could care for her far better than he'd been able to.

That was one of the few reasons that he hadn't asked Hades how to uncreate himself from an afterlife and all creation so he was wholly gone after dying, once he'd left the others, and then ended it himself.

He wasn't sure that the Death God would have told him, since he'd surrendered and was going to head up Mount Olympus soon to discuss his surrender with Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon, or whether Hades would have told Roxas even if he hadn't, because Hades hated the concept of complete death from which there was no return, but Roxas might have been able to convince the Death God to tell him how to do it.

Roxas couldn't afford to die totally yet, though.

Xion and Lea still needed him, for now, and just as much, he needed to live until the Foretellers were done with Roxas so he could suffer as much as Sora and Kairi were.

He located the vaguely remembered blonde and brown heads of Elsa and Anna through the crowd, who he could slightly recall from his time in Sora's heart, and he was further relieved to see Marshmallow was hovering protectively at Elsa's side with Olaf on the other and Sven was standing next to Kristoff.

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey weren't there.

Sora most likely wanted to be by himself now, and the other four were most likely trying to comfort him.

A fat male townsperson dressed in finery was yelling at Elsa.

When Roxas became close enough, he could hear the exchange.

"I could care less how many children and elderly are still roofless, or sick!" the male was yelling. "I'm starving! I wasn't able to have all six of my breakfasts this morning, or all six of my lunches at Noon, because my servants were too lazy to quit misinterpreting your idiotic law that says they get off days if too many of the horses and hounds are tired from a recent hunt and they're worried about them! I couldn't have any of my snacks this afternoon, too, because of the attack by this Freaktellers or whatever! Stop throwing away food that could be better spent in my stomach and fork over my first early dinner cocktail!"

Roxas suppressed the urge to frown.

Typical people.

Although the times when they were experiencing hardship were the times that they should most connect and support each other, they continued to fight among themselves and reject each other anyway, and suffering just caused them to discount each other's feelings and sever their connections even more.

Roxas didn't like thinking it, but witnessing things like these caused him to feel glad that he was a Nobody, and not a regular person.

Elsa's face was composed. "Is that your full complaint, then?" she questioned politely.

"What do you think!?" the obvious noble roared angrily.

"In that case," Elsa answered, still politely, "Your petition has been reviewed and denied. That will be all."

She gestured slightly with head for the noble to leave.

He didn't, however, and clenched his fist, and Anna and Kristoff tensed, shared a glance that told Roxas they'd been through this a number of times already today, and Kristoff looked at Sven, who was now alert.

Roxas assumed that Sven was one of their methods for convincing self-absorbed buffoons who were unwilling to stop causing trouble when their Queen told them to to rethink their refusal to pipe down.

"So you're going to let one of your subjects wallow in misery again like you did when you froze Arendelle, is that what you're saying!?" the buffoon yelled even louder, and a number of people began looking in his direction.

A little girl with bandages on her legs who was holding hands with a soldier who was helping her walk unsteadily looked at the noble, missed her step, toppled forwards, and began crying.

Roxas could tell that Elsa's lips were attempting to move a little in the start of a frown.

Elsa gestured sharply with her head, and two nearby guards snapped to attention while Sven became less alert.

"You're causing a disturbance and making things harder for your struggling fellows," Elsa informed the buffoon. "Cease doing so this second, or you will be escorted to prison and kept there until matters settle down."

The noble clenched his other fist and started shaking with fury.

"I'd like to see you try!" he yelled. "In case you've forgotten, my family is one of the most prestigious in Arendelle! You wouldn't be on your throne if we weren't backing you up! If your guards, your abominable hulk, or the beast of burden of the bootlicker serf of your fawning leech of a sister," Elsa's lips pressed together tightly, but Anna and Kristoff didn't react at all, "So much as lay a single finger on me, we'll see you dethroned!"

"Is that your decision, then?" Elsa asked the noble politely.

"You bet it is!" the noble yelled. "I'm not going to shut up until I'm fed up!"

Roxas suppressed the urge to smirk when Elsa gestured sharply with her head once more and the two guards walked over to the noble and took him by the shoulders.

The noble jolted violently and began to try to pull free, but the guards kept their hold on him.

"How dare you!" he roared as the guards started marching him away. "You're not our Queen! The real powers in Arendelle heard all about what happened with Hans! You wouldn't be alive today if not for your lickfroth toady of a sister! Hans would have given you what you deserved for freezing Arendelle, and he'd have given us nobles the privileges that we deserve, without moronic laws like off days for our servants!

"That's right! I forgot! You're the toady! You do everything your locust of a sister wants you to, so she's the real ruler! She's the power behind the throne, and she's exploiting you to ruin you because you almost froze her to death," The blood drained from Elsa's face, Anna started walking in her direction, and anger surged through Roxas. Lea had told Roxas a long time ago what Elsa had gone through, "But you're too blind to see it! She's turning you against your own loyal subjects! She's the one who you should be throwing in prison, not me, and you should torture her and execute her yourself!"

That was too much.

Roxas needed to get involved in this.

He picked up his pace in their direction as Anna reached Elsa, put a hand on her shoulder, and squeezed it.

"That's right, just abandon your people and let them suffer while you flee crying back to your sister's lap and slurp up the milk that she lays down before your groveling face in your dish like the good little doggie coward that you are!" the noble yelled. "You're not a Queen, to your subjects or even your sister! What you are to her and them is an ice cold and cruelly apathetic mass murderer of a puppet!"

Roxas stopped moving and went stiff.

Almost before he was aware that he was doing it, Oblivion was in his hand in coiling black and he was throwing it in a light Strike Raid without any energy surrounding it at the back of the noble's head.

Oblivion struck the noble and he slumped, unconscious, and Oblivion spun back to Roxas' hand and he dismissed it in further coiling black.

Anna's eyes found him from across the crowd from where she was now rubbing Elsa's back and she gave him an uncertain smile of thanks.

Roxas nodded back, forced down the fury and self-hatred and despair and anguish and the countless other emotions howling within him and resumed heading in their direction.

One of the guards dragging the now unconscious buffoon gave Roxas a nod and a smile of thanks as Roxas passed them from a distance, but the other guard didn't look at him.

Elsa set her face as Roxas neared and gave him a welcoming smile that was clearly forced.

"I'm sorry that you had to see that," she greeted him. "Roxas, am I correct? King Mickey told me about you."

Roxas forced himself to smile back. "It's okay," he reassured her. "I just wish that I could have gotten here sooner. Then maybe that buffoon wouldn't have had a chance to make a scene."

Anna gave Roxas a genuine smile. "You are definitely Sora's Nobody."

"You're here for Oathkeeper, right?" Kristoff asked. "It's in one of the rearmost igloos with Sora. And if you're looking for him, he's resting. Anna sung him to sleep and he hasn't woken up yet."

Relief filled Roxas at that.

"Yes," he said. "I'm here for Oathkeeper. Then I'll be on my way."

To his surprise, a pang of sadness that he had no justification whatsoever to feel rose.

The igloos were the first time that he'd seen a lot of ice at once. He hadn't spent much time yet with Even when he'd been Vexen or after he'd been recompleted, and the ice was enchanting.

Elsa needed to know that.

He looked at Elsa and forced another smile.

"I wouldn't be ashamed of your ice magic," he tried to reassure her. "Ice and snow are wonderful. They cover up all the pain and sorrow of reality and replace them with a simple and clean purity that causes everything to be crystal clear and make sense when nothing else does, revitalizing people and giving them the spirit to make it through the day and the night; while at the same time mirroring their wishes and dreams, showing them their truest hopes and enabling them to understand who they are, what they want in life, and how to search for it, so they can obtain a happy tomorrow. I've wanted to have another summer vacation, but after seeing your magic, I'd much rather take a winter vacation here in Arendelle. Combined with all the rest of what I've heard about you, I can tell. You're not a cold and apathetic puppet, you're a warm refuge and a sanctuary for people lost in the loneliness and the suffering of reality who have nowhere else to stay and feel safe, and the most loving sister and ruler who I've met in my life."

Elsa's eyes flew wide and her mouth dropped open, and Anna was grinning widely now.

"You're Sora's Nobody, all right," Anna commented. "Feel free to stay as long as you want, if it's okay with Elsa. Would that be all right?"

Elsa, looking stunned and taken out of herself, nodded, though she kept her eyes away from Roxas as though she was uncomfortable looking at him.

Roxas sighed.

He understood why.

Elsa was, in many ways, more of a victim than Xion and Lea and he himself were.

Anna was looking at Elsa carefully to see where she was paying attention, and when she was reasonably sure that Elsa wouldn't see it, she looked at Roxas and quietly mouthed, 'Tell her the words, "If anyone can give me and her people a safe home and country where we feel loved and protected, it's you." And don't gather yourself, just say it, and be as heartfelt as possible about it.'

Roxas blinked.

There was something unusual in her eyes and expression, and Kristoff was looking between Anna and him with a knowing look on his face that was just as unusual.

He shrugged, though.

Whatever was going through their hearts and heads, it couldn't be anything bad, and Elsa needed to hear it, so he'd say and do as Anna requested.

Roxas was very familiar with the kind of pain Elsa was in, though, he had something important to tell her that he might as well address now, and he didn't care for the concept of someone dictating his speech, so he'd say and do it in his own way.

He looked back at Elsa, directly into her eyes, and he didn't need to force the smile this time.

"I know how you much you're hurting," he said. "I've been there. I'm still there. When I was born from Sora, all I knew was a life as a cold and unfeeling weapon of mass murder for killing Heartless and creating an artificial Kingdom Hearts for Kairi's father so that he could split fragments of his heart among us and turn us into worse weapons for opening the true Kingdom Hearts and killing everyone in the realm of light." Elsa's gaze was now fully focused on Roxas, when it had no justification whatsoever to be, but this wasn't about him, it was about Elsa, so he forced himself to keep looking directly into her eyes, now that she was willing to look at him, and not stop smiling the tiniest amount. "But I didn't know that. A portion of Kairi's father who had already separated from him, her father's Nobody, Xemnas, lied to us and told us that we had no hearts and that we were incapable of love and warmth, so we needed to assist him in forging the artificial Kingdom Hearts so we could gain hearts and come home from the cold.

"So I spent most of my first year alive knowing nothing but death and pain and emptiness, though I did make two best friends, Xion and Lea, who you've probably heard about." Elsa nodded, but she didn't look away. "But that just made things worse. Xemnas and my conclave, Organization Thirteen, saw Xion as a more effective weapon than me." Roxas refused to let any of his emotions and thoughts about that, and about where it had led, into his voice while he was attempting to cherish and protect and be there for and connect with Elsa. "So, though Lea tried to stop it, they attempted to turn Xion and I against each other and force us to kill each other so that one of us could take one or the other's power and become an even better cold and unfeeling weapon of murder. They threatened to turn Lea into a worse slave or kill him if he sided with us, as well, and he'd believed their lies that he had no heart and needed one, so he was in a very difficult position, he felt that his hands were tied, and he was unwilling to do as much as he could have to keep Xemnas' and his colleagues' claws out of us.

"Xion wasn't a Nobody herself, but a replica of a human created to copy my powers, so she ended up draining my life and energy against her will no matter what she did," Anna cringed, and Elsa's mouth opened, and Roxas looked away from both of them and just back into Elsa's eyes, "And this made the situation even worse.

"Xion and I finally got sick and tired of what was happening to us and deserted, though Lea was too conflicted to go with us, but Xion herself believed that she was such a danger to me at that point that she attacked me anyway to force me to defend myself or kill her, thus dying and no longer being a danger, even though that meant that, due to how she'd been created, almost everyone who had so much as seen her in passing on a public street, to say nothing of Lea and I, would forget her."

"Is that all you've got? Stop holding back! Get ready, Roxas!"

Roxas pushed the memory out of his vision as best as he could, and Elsa and Anna both had tears in their eyes and on their faces now. Kristoff's mouth was closed tightly, and Olaf looked partially confused, partially worried.

Roxas met Elsa's gaze for the third time.

"Xion pretended that Xemnas was forcing her to do it to trick me into battling back, so I did defend myself and fight back, hoping that I could just disable her and then convince her to stop listening to Xemnas. But I'd lost so much of my power at that point," Was that the truth? Or had he just been so selfishly concerned with being his own person that he'd been willing to even murder Xion to preserve his identity? It was almost certainly the latter, "That I wasn't able to fight as effectively as I wanted to, and this is the largest reason that I understand your pain.

"Where you endangered Anna badly twice, and the second time because you believed that you were cold and unfeeling when you were wrong, I actually did it."

Elsa's eyes widened, Anna's mouth dropped open, and even Kristoff looked horrified and Olaf recoiled back a pace.

Roxas looked back at Elsa's gaze.

"I did what the Foretellers want Sora to do to you or Anna, struck Xion down fatally, and murdered her to die broken and forgotten by everyone, including Lea and myself, the sole two people in her life who had given her love and warmth and who she loved in return."

Elsa's mouth moved a number of times as though she was trying and failing to speak, until at last she said, "You can stay in Arendelle for however long you wish. I and Arendelle are completely at your service."

"Me, too," Anna said, her hands opening and closing as though she wanted to reach out to Roxas, pull him close, and hug him.

Roxas forced himself not to recoil, and went back to looking into Elsa's eyes.

There was an understanding and an empathy and a sympathy and a concern in them that, against what Roxas preferred, was surprisingly reassuring, but he pushed it away and went on.

"I'm not done," he spoke, and Elsa pressed her lips together tightly and nodded, while Anna sighed exhaustedly in resignation.

Roxas met Elsa's eyes for the sixth time.

"When Xion died, I couldn't remember that it was my fault, but I remembered enough of her, and losing her hurt so much, that I did something stupid myself then. One of the last things she said to me as she died in my arms was that she wanted me to set the hearts in the artificial Kingdom Hearts free. She was trying to give me a new purpose once she was gone and couldn't be there for me to give me a reason to live, but I took it the wrong way.

"I went head on at Organization Thirteen, hoping to commit suicide by dying in the process of freeing Kingdom Hearts. Riku stopped me and disabled me before I could, partially to protect me, partially because I had a number of Sora's memories, he was asleep, and he needed them to wake up sooner. Riku and Namine and someone working with them placed me in protective custody, but once I realized what had happened, even though I'd forgotten Xion entirely by then, everything still hurt terribly.

"Lea was being threatened by that point; return me to Organization Thirteen whether I wanted to go back or not, or pay for it very badly, so I needed to fight him twice, too, though I was able to win both battles by disabling him, not killing him.

"Partially because of that, I couldn't take it anymore.

"Riku and Namine were on the fence about what the right thing to do in the horrible situation was, but I believed I just had one choice left.

"I committed suicide anyway and gave Sora back his memories, and woke him up by returning to his heart, as Xion now had, at the cost of my life and freedom."

Anna went white.

"Does Sora know about this?" she asked in terror.

"He's known for a long time," Roxas confirmed. "Though he's known about Xion for a relatively shorter period of time."

Anna sagged slightly.

Roxas met Elsa's eyes once more.

"I wasn't fully awake inside Sora's heart, and I couldn't even tell that Xion was there with me since I'd forgotten her, but I could tell some things and there were times when I was able to separate from Sora a limited amount, for a limited time.

"Sora at first believed, partially due to things that I myself said one of the times I separated from Sora and talked to him, that I actually was happy inside his heart and that it was best if I stayed there, but after a while, he realized that he'd been wrong, so he started looking into ways to get me out and give me a new body. He still didn't know about Xion, but he did want to love and protect me.

"He realized he needed to follow my feelings to find a way, so he went on a new journey, following my heart's guidance to take him to a number of worlds.

"Additionally, though I wasn't consciously aware of it, I did remember Xion on some level, so I guided him to try to give her a new body and freedom, too."

Was that the truth, or had he just been worried about himself?

It was almost certainly that he himself had just wanted to truly live freely once more.

He couldn't have remembered Xion at all.

All he could have known was the pain left behind because she wasn't there and he couldn't remember her.

"This was the journey where he met you."

Anna's mouth opened, but she didn't say anything, so Roxas looked back into Elsa's eyes for the eighth time.

"I guided Sora back to Twilight Town, where I'd spent much of my time serving the initial Organization Thirteen – Kairi's father had established a second, better one by this time – so that Sora would learn more about what I'd felt while I was there. I guided Sora to a world named Toy Box so that he'd learn about what it was like to be deeply devoted to serving others. I guided Sora to a world named the Kingdom of Corona so that he'd learn about what it was like to live isolated from most people. I guided Sora to a world named Monstropolis so that he'd learn about what it was like to live as a monster compared to most people. I guided Sora to a world that he'd been to before, with the name of The Hundred Acre Wood, so that he'd learn about what it was like for connections to be severed and forgotten. I guided Sora to another world that he'd been to before, with the shared names of Port Royal and The Caribbean, so that he'd learn about what it was like to want to live freely. I guided Sora to a world named San Fransokyo so that he'd learn about what it was like to work with a larger set of friends than he was used to working with to protect and to cherish others.

"I guided Sora to Arendelle because, though I didn't know who you or Anna were, I could tell that there were two people there who were in the same situation that Xion, Lea, and I had been in and were in, and I wanted to teach Sora about it.

"As a result of all this, Sora was able to connect with Xion's heart, and my heart, both of us who now knew that we did have hearts and were capable of love and warmth, and return us to life and to being remembered and to being people of our own and to freedom, and to Lea as well, who had finally deserted Kairi's father a while ago, regained his own heart, and was now one of Sora's friends.

"If not for you, Your Majesty, Xion and Lea and I would never have come home sweet home to love and warmth.

"You don't bring pain and ice and despair and death to others, you bring love and warmth and hope and life to them.

"I believe in you and your ability to do so with all my heart.

"And, with all my heart, thank you very, very much, for everything that you did for Xion and for Lea and for I myself."

At last, he broke eye contact with Elsa, dropped to his knees, and bowed his head.

"If you will have me, I offer you my service as one of your knights, and I will serve you with all my heart with as much devotion as I served the first Organization Thirteen and I now serve Xion and Lea and Sora and the other people who I love; not to bring cold death but to protect warm life; in payment of this debt."

Roxas waited, and to his surprise, he discovered that he genuinely hoped that Elsa would accept the offer.

Why, he didn't know.

Elsa could bring people home sweet home to love and warmth and safety and dreams.

All he had been capable of since he'd begun existing, and would be capable of until he could at last unmake himself from all existence and prevent himself from murdering or hurting or endangering Xion or Lea or Sora or anyone else any longer, was bringing death and torture and despair and pain.

He wasn't Sora or Kairi.

He'd already done it.

He had proof that that was all that he could accomplish.

Now that he knew that Xion had Tidus, and Lea had another best friend in the form of Xion, he could at last be assured that, sooner or later, he could wipe himself out fully and never murder or hurt Xion or Lea or anyone again, but he shouldn't wait that long.

He had no choice, though, whatever Xion believed about the issue of choices and regret.

What he regretted was that he couldn't end it and unmake himself from all existence forever right here and right now.

A number of second passed, and then Roxas felt Elsa's hand on his left shoulder.

It was terrified now.

Unimaginably incomprehensibly uncertain.

Trembling.

Broken and horrifically, horrifically, horrifically, horrifically vulnerable, as much as Xion's body language conveyed when she was being tortured by her own self-hatred and guilt and despair and suffering the most.

Roxas wanted to clench his teeth, but he didn't, terrified that Elsa would feel the shift in his position and believe that it was due to her.

Maybe he couldn't die and be erased for good that soon.

Elsa clearly needed him as much as Xion and Lea did.

"Your offer was well made and we accept," Elsa spoke formally, but the same terror and uncertainty and trembling and brokenness and vulnerability was in her voice, as well. "You may rise, Sir Roxas of Arendelle."

She removed her hand, feeling as though she wanted to snatch it back as though she'd been burned.

Roxas stood up, and he gave Elsa another genuine smile, but he knew better than to meet her eyes this time.

Elsa was now looking to the side, as though she wanted to be anywhere but near him or looking at him.

Anna was watching Elsa closely, and after several seconds a relieved, reassured, pleased, accomplished smile appeared on her face.

Roxas scowled.

Anna was working around him without his knowledge, and he didn't like it.

Roxas waited until he was as sure as he could be that Elsa wasn't going to go back to paying attention to him, and then returned Anna's tactic.

'What are you trying to pull?' he mouthed at her as she had mouthed at him.

Anna cringed, and she gave Roxas a sheepish smile.

'As you said, she's in the same situation that Xion and you were,' she mouthed back. 'Think about what that meant to Xion, and what it means to Elsa.'

A violent chill ripped up Roxas' spine.

He didn't need to think about it.

Fury consumed him.

'You were just trying to play matchmaker, weren't you?' he mouthed. 'I understand how important Elsa is to you, but you had no justification whatsoever to try to do that without Elsa's, Xion's, or my consent. Especially not when Xion is in enough pain as it is.'

Anna's eyes widened as she obviously saw his point, and she paled.

'I'm not trying to come between you and Xion,' she assured him silently. 'I'm just trying to be there for Elsa. I'm not going to try to force you to choose Elsa or Xion.'

'You really are as naïve as Donald and Goofy told me that you act at times,' Roxas responded quietly and furiously, and Anna paled further and cringed. 'If it's even begun to work the smallest amount, you're just going to end up hurting Elsa further if you don't cut it out right now.' Anna looked as though she wanted to step back as though she'd been struck. I wouldn't have said anything different to her just now, or done anything different, if I'd known what you were up to, because Elsa needed to hear and know all of what I just said and did, but if you don't cut it out this second you'll make things a lot worse.'

Anna nodded rapidly.

Roxas pushed the anger down.

Anna was in a terrible situation of her own. She had very good reasons to not be feeling and thinking as sharply as she could be.

Roxas sighed heavily. 'I'm sorry,' he said silently. 'I should have been kinder about what I just brought up.'

'It's okay,' Anna mouthed in return. 'I deserved it.'

Roxas disagreed, but there was no point in continuing this track of the discussion.

As he'd said, he wouldn't have said or done anything different if he'd known that Anna was trying to set Elsa and him up, so he needed to move on to the important matter.

'Do you believe that it's started to work, even if just a little?' he questioned.

'Elsa still conceals, rather than feels, far more than I'd prefer, so I can't be certain,' Anna responded. 'But she has connected with you a lot more deeply than she does with most people this quickly.' Roxas wanted to retch. 'I don't know how far it goes, but it's possible.'

Roxas hoped that Anna was wrong.

But whether she was or wasn't, Elsa had connected with him deeper than she usually bonded with people, so that meant that Roxas needed to be as cautious about Elsa's feelings, and not murdering her or hurting her, as he was with Xion and Lea and Sora.

Suddenly, Roxas was so exhausted that he didn't know how he was still able to stand.

He just wanted to fade away into the darkness completely and for good, this time, so he'd never need to feel anything or think about this once again.

"It appears that the Queen has her knight," a female voice that Roxas had never heard before himself but that he'd seen in Sora's memories spoke. "Excellent. Very well, then, Pete. Let us congratulate the Princesses and the newest member of their entourage ourselves, and join in the celebration of this momentous occasion."

"Maleficent," Roxas hissed between clenched teeth, summoning Oblivion in spiraling black energies and whirling in the direction of her voice.

"What do you want?"

"The Door to the Never Beginning of Imaginary Time," Maleficent's disembodied voice responded as a curtain of rising green flames flared in the air before them and separated, and Maleficent dropped to the cracked dirt ground, with Pete to her left.

Roxas moved so that he was interposed between Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Marshmallow, Olaf, Sven, and Maleficent and Pete, Oblivion held defensively in front of him.

"So that you can gain better access to the past and keep your daughter from dying?" Roxas challenged.

Roxas was as guarded and alert as possible.

Maleficent hadn't made the effort to improve her talent, skill, and power between her defeat at Sora's hands when Radiant Garden had been Hollow Bastion and when she'd confronted Data-Sora, Data-Riku, and Data-Kairi, but even as arrogant as she was, she knew far better than to face him directly after all that he'd improved over the past over a year.

So she must have made the effort to improve herself this time, or acquired an external source of new skill and power, if not both.

Perhaps Pete, as well.

Maleficent's face betrayed nothing. "Of course not. Borealis is safer dead. Should I protect her, she will but suffer further.

"What I seek is to ensure that the World was darkness from the instant of its beginning, so that all was slumber at peace even from dreams themselves from its inception, and no suffering will have occurred at all."

Why was Roxas not surprised?

Merely plunging all of the realm of light into darkness wouldn't satisfy the Mistress of All Evil.

Roxas wasn't aware if Maleficent knew about the other worldlines, or Gaes, or Domain of Tales, but if she didn't, he sure as heck wasn't going to tell her, or she'd strive to cast them into obliteration as well.

"Rather," Roxas replied, not buying it for a second. "What you seek is to ensure that everyone and everything else, save for you yourself, was the oblivion of night and never lived in the first place, so you can become completely alone, and so you were always completely alone, and thus torture yourself as much as possible for all eternal time for Borealis' death."

Maleficent's eyebrow rose, but that was all the emotion that she displayed.

"You dare much to presume to tell me what lies in my own heart," she said.

Roxas doubted that trying to reach Maleficent would get anywhere, so he turned to Pete.

"Is this what you want?" he questioned.

Pete shrugged. "I tried to call the shots three times, first as the Captain of Steamboat Willie, then in the real Country of the Musketeers, and then in Disney Town, and all three tries were big ol' blunders. Mickey ruined Steamboat Willie's business because he preferred to laze around and dream of fairies, so I figured out from that that it doesn't pay to have dreams. Then, when I refused to even give him the chance to ruin my life again when he came to the Country of the Musketeers, and I took the liberty of taking away Minnie's liberty to keep her from siding with him and humiliating me once more, he did it again. I figured out from that that no one was going to have faith that I knew what I was about no matter what I did, so the next time I tried to acquire something for myself, I didn't even bother doing it as myself.

"But even that didn't work, and Minnie herself tossed me into another dimension.

"So, as long as I can command an army of Heartless and bring chaos, that's good enough for me. It doesn't matter what happens to me at the end of it all. This's where I belong.

"Any blockhead can see, from what happened to me, is that taking orders about how to cause havoc, and conveying them down the food chain, is all that I'm good at."

Roxas recoiled and staggered back so violently that he almost couldn't catch his balance before he fell.

"Is that all you've got? Stop holding back! Get ready, Roxas!"

"You can consider yourself enemies of Arendelle as well," Elsa interjected, a deadly fury in her voice. "You haven't given us reason to declare war on you, but we have no patience for unprovoked endeavors to torture our friends. Leave at once, be cut down, or we will deal with you ourselves."

Maleficent smiled smugly and confidently. "Now, why ever would I do that, my dear? I didn't go to all the trouble to learn how you wield magic on the scale that you do, and teach it to myself," Roxas stiffened, "To forsake this chance to thank you for your example; that inspired the Mistress of All Evil to learn how to unleash all the powers of h-ll upon the World at their fullest extent."

Roxas felt the blood drain from his face and risked a look back to see Elsa stagger back violently herself, and she did fall backwards, and Anna needed to catch her from behind before she landed on her back.

Roxas whipped his head back in Maleficent's direction and clenched his teeth so tightly they felt as though they would chip.

"Is that why you're here?" he asked. "To follow the example of the Foretellers, too, and guilt trip people who already carry around a lot of guilt?"

"I know of no Foretellers," Maleficent replied, but Roxas was too terrified for Elsa and worried about her to feel relieved. "I am here to ensure that you do not reacquire Oathkeeper. The World of Everlasting Slumber hinges upon that Keyblade."

"You're about to meet one," Luxu's voice broke in, and a corridor of darkness grew from the surface of the dirt wasteland.

"You," Elsa hissed with hateful fury.

Roxas paled as the other four Foretellers followed Luxu through the corridor of darkness, and all five assumed a position between Roxas and Maleficent as it closed, sank into the surface, and disappeared.

Ira faced Maleficent directly, though none of the Foretellers summoned their Keyblades.

"Your role is not to confront Roxas at this time," he informed her. "I believe that you should leave, before we're required to remove you ourselves."

Maleficent raised both eyebrows this time. "I beg your pardon?"

"You heard him," Aced walked to Ira's side, and he lifted his hand in preparation to call his own Keyblade. "You have a fate to fulfill as much as any of us. I will not forgive anyone who betrays Master Yozora's destiny."

"My destiny is mine to determine or reverse," Maleficent responded with a contained anger.

Gula turned in Roxas' direction, though his words were clearly directed at Maleficent. "I have to admit, I admire how clever you are," he said with that admiration in his tone. "But while I love using people, I hate it when they think that they can use my script for their own purposes."

"I'm being told what to do by someone other than Maleficent, like when Xehanort was around," Pete commented. "I gotta' admit, just being bossed around by one person feels a little lonely, so it's kinda' nice to hear about this Yozora fella'. Thanks a bunch."

Gula inclined his head. "You're very welcome. It was my pleasure."

"I have no interest in whether or not you're lonely," Invi was also looking at Roxas, while Luxu stood in the middle of the five, looking sideways at both lines. Pete jerked and bristled. "Actors must stick to the roles that fate has assigned them. That is the nature of destiny."

"You might be able to beat one of us with your new power," Luxu spoke to Maleficent, "But are you willing to risk taking on all five of us at the same time? We will kill you if we need to. Master Yozora's script will be less damaged if you're stricken from it than if you're still around to try to edit it."

"That won't happen," Ira snarled. "Scripts aren't supposed to fall apart."

Roxas heard three footsteps run up behind him, and he knew that Mickey, Donald, and Goofy had arrived.

Pete turned his head to the side to avoid looking at Mickey, but Maleficent looked over the odds against her a few times, and then she gave a smile that she obviously didn't mean.

"So be it," she said. "Oathkeeper can wait until more of the pieces are in place."

Green sheets of flaming tongues rose out of the ground to both sides of her and Pete and roared in their direction, the closer flames of both walls rising higher and higher they nearer they reached Maleficent and Pete in two descending staircases, and then they intersected and the two were gone.

Luxu snorted. "As if," he remarked. "The pieces need to stay in place."

He turned to look at Roxas and grinned viciously and savagely.

Roxas made his face a mask.

"It's been a long time, kiddo'," Luxu said. "I'd love to inquire about how well you and Poppet are adjusting to your new replica bodies, but time's a wasting."

"As though you don't already know," Roxas replied.

Luxu snorted a second time. "Just stick to your roles. That's all that we require. If Maleficent stops ad libbing, all of our pieces are now in place.

"That means that the singular confluence that will conduct Synchronicity Perceptual to begin to play has at last begun to surge to the gathering of destiny.

"So choose.

"Will you change the World, or will you change yourselves?

"Will you leave this broken World as it is?

"Or will you set all hearts, living or dead, free from the unending vortex of hate and despair and rejection and death that has engulfed all of existence, even Domain of Tales Himself and Gaes, as it is, as it was, as it always will be?

"After untold millennia, the stage is at last set. Let the performance commence."

The dark corridor grew back, and Luxu whirled with a theatrical performance and led the other Foretellers into it.

The new dark corridor shrank into the ground and disappeared, too.

Mickey looked at Roxas worriedly.

"Did you buy anything that they said about how you're supposedly still a puppet?" he questioned. "Because we both know that it isn't true."

"You don't need to worry about me," Roxas assured him. "I'll never believe that garbage again."

It didn't make the most miniscule, most infinitesimal bit of difference, though.

Whether he was a puppet or not, that didn't change the completely and totally incontrovertible and undeniable truth that he'd never be anything more than a serial genocidal mass murder and sadistic torturer.

Mickey sighed uncertainly.

"How's Sora?" Roxas asked.

"We don't know," Goofy replied. "He hasn't woken up yet."

"How is Kairi doing?" Donald questioned.

"She's asleep, too," Roxas told him. "She's on Olympus, in a rebuilt Olympus Coliseum, with the rest of the guardians." He saw no reason to say that Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie were there, too. He wasn't in the mood to argue with Donald about the world order at the present. "We had another run in with Hades, and though we finally convinced him to surrender the war," Donald looked very skeptical, "In a way that we could be sure that he meant it," Donald's face didn't lose any of its skepticism, "Things could have gone better.

"She's willing to return to Sora, though."

Anna looked like she was having trouble keeping her legs giving out, so powerful was her relief, and Donald and Goofy both smiled.

"Do you believe that we should wake up Sora and tell him now, or let him sleep?" Roxas queried.

"He's lost Riku for the fourth time, and he's learned a lot today, and been through a lot, that hurt him very badly, but this might cheer him up, at least a little," Goofy answered. "I recommend we wake him up and tell him."

"No time like the present, then," Roxas said.

"And hopefully, that will create a ripple that can wash at least a small portion of the Foretellers' pain and script away," Mickey spoke, and he turned to include Anna and Elsa in his gaze.

"That's something that the two of you need to keep in mind," Mickey went on.

"As Lauriam and Elrena themselves said, Kingdom Hearts is an infinite potential perceptual phenomenon.

"The future that Yozora and the Foretellers have written is just one destiny amongst that tapestry of infinite potential phenomena. No current flows to a single point; it flows wherever we direct it with our hearts. A single feeling can shape all of the space and time that surrounds every heart.

"As long as we keep each other in our hearts, our feelings, our thoughts, our memories, and our dreams, never forget each other, and continue to dream of tomorrow, the ripples our feelings and thoughts and memories and dreams set sailing into the ocean of stars will spread until they into an immense, surging wave, and flood all of the cosmos, and us ourselves, until it's awash with love and warmth and hope and light.

"Don't give up. Though there are times when the darkness does prevail, no matter how deep or painful that darkness is, or how wide it has spread, for how long it has spread, or how intimidating it is, if we stay connected and stand together against the darkness, the light will avail."

Roxas sagged a little as Elsa nodded uncertainly, but it took a few seconds for Anna to nod herself.

Elsa looked at Anna worriedly.

Feeling the need to attempt to raise all of their spirits himself, including Mickey's, Roxas remarked, "The good parts of today were still a great winter vacation, though."

BOOK ONE: ARENDELLE WINTER VACATION

Fin

KINGDOM HEARTS:

THE GIRL WHO STOLE THE STAR

Begin

BOOK TWO: THE SUNNY SIDE OF TOY BOX

"The reason I want to sp-t these creaky old memories out

Is because I don't have any other proof of my existence.

The future that I thought I had grabbed hold of

Is a contradiction of dignity and freedom.

"The reason I want to wipe away this distorted afterimage

Is because I see my own limitations within it.

In the window of my overly self-conscious self

Is last year's calendar, without any dates written in.

"I'll erase it, and rewrite it,

With nonsensical surrealism and an unforgettable sense of presence.

Return from the brink, and rewrite it.

"Even meaningless figments of imagination

Can be the driving force that gives you form.

Give your whole body and soul to me."

'Rewrite'

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST