Chapter 94
Brimstone and Snow
The night waned down as the sun began to peek over the horizon. The town's denizens had begun to wake up and bundle up to go about their business. Following breakfast, groups of children had started to go outside to get a head start on the snowball-fighting fun.
The morning was still quiet when a Corridor of Darkness materialized at the end of the street. Its conjurer stepped out into the snow, which turned to water and steam at his feet, though it was hard to see this as a wine-red robe brushed across the ground as he moved. The horned figure, with his hood lifted to shield his desiccated face from the emerging sun beams, glanced around at the houses flanking his path as he tried to locate his destination. After a minute, he groaned angrily and stomped angrily into the snow. He could not stand the refreshing cool of the weather, nor the ambient feelings of cheer and love that were omnipresent around him. Even for a skeletal being of the undead, so many good feelings almost made him physically sick; such was his disdain for life and light.
He stopped when he felt something hit him in the side. He looked down and saw a clump of white snow rolling down his robe. He turned to see where the snowball had come from and saw a giggling child, who had assumed that the newcomer was another one of Halloween Town's spooky but lovable denizens. The Horned King glared in displeasure.
Sora, Aqua, Jack, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Santa stood on a balcony looking over the shipping and receiving wing of the factory. There were three systems with a covered lift which delivered toys and parts from the manufacturing room downstairs, wide conveyor belt where elves assemble the toys and systems on both sides, and a square hole in the wall where the conveyor belt continues to deliver the toys to the wrapping room. The elves were hard at work, putting the pieces together so that, months down the line, toys could be delivered to millions of children across the worlds.
"So, this is what this place looks like when Oogie Boogie isn't building death traps around the place," Sora commented.
Santa nodded. "Yes. Putting everything back set us back quite a bit, but we were able to catch up and finish on time, even with that automaton stealing toys a few weeks later," he said.
Aqua blinked. "Hang on, what?" she asked.
"Well, Dr. Finkelstein built a robot for…" Donald began to explain. However, he was interrupted by the sound of screaming. The elves immediately stopped what they were doing. One of them hit a button that turned the conveyor belts off when he realized that the unassembled toys were being carried past them.
The party all turned their heads toward the windows facing out toward the town. "Outside!" Riku said, confirming everyone's suspicions as to where the noise came from. Without hesitation, they turned around and ran down the hall and made their way outside, though their swift pace left Santa trailing behind.
As they ran outside, they saw a crowd of concerned parents holding their cowering children. As they drew closer to the scene, Mickey noticed that they were all standing at least twenty feet around a six-foot-wide puddle in the snow, with only a few police officers daring to go any closer.
Sora tapped one of the onlookers on the shoulder and the group shuffled around to let him and his friends pass. Riku sniffed the air and detected traces of dark magic. He approached one of the cops. "What happened?" he asked.
The cop shook his head. "I'm not sure. One witness said that she saw an orange flash before hearing the scream, and one of the kids said something about a fire," he explained.
Riku blinked, looked down at the puddle, which seemed to be filled with white-and-black ash, and gulped.
Sora glanced around at the kids. Most of them were staring in shock, sniffling sadly, while two others were enveloped in their mothers' arms, weeping, and a few were simply confused but agitated from the fear and sadness around them. He approached one of the staring children and knelt down to his level. "Hi. I'm sorry, but can you tell me what happened?" he asked.
The child sniffed, a bead of snot running out of his nose. "T-Timmy threw a s-snowball at a man with big h-horns on his head," he said nervously. "The man looked at him, and…" The child let out an anguished whine. Sora's eyes widened in horror. He turned to the puddle, putting together what had happened.
Two of the cops and three of the other adults glared at Jack accusingly. The skeleton threw his hands up. "I can assure you that, whoever he was, he wasn't one of my people," he claimed defensively.
Aqua shook her head. "Who, or what, could have done such a thing?" she muttered.
Kairi looked around, seeing the horrified eyes of the traumatized kids. She felt what seemed to be a nudging in the back of her mind, so she closed her eyes to focus on it. "What's that?" she said, confusing those around her. "You can do that? Okay." She opened her eyes and approached a mother and father holding their shocked son. "I'm so sorry about what happened."
The mother nodded. "Ben and Timmy were friends. Our little boy just watched his friend…"
Kairi nodded sympathetically. "If you want, my… ahem, I can reach into his memory and take that link out," she said. The parents gave her a weird look. "He won't remember seeing that, but he'll still be left knowing that his friend is gone."
The parents looked at each other, silently debating Kairi's offer. After a moment, they turned back to her. "Do it, please," the mother said.
Kairi nodded. She knelt down and put her hand over Ben's heart. Her hand glowed, and for a second her form appeared to shimmer, long blonde hair flashing in place of her red hair. Ben's face relaxed, though it was still filled with sorrow. She stood up and looked the parents in the eyes. "Who else saw what happened?" she asked.
As Kairi went around to relieve the children of their trauma, Sora turned back to the boy he was questioning. "Did you see where the horned man went?" he asked. In response, the boy pointed past him. He turned to face the indicated direction and saw a light trail leading down Candy Cane Lane and up to the Christmas Tree Plaza, whose large green doors were slightly ajar. Dark smoke rose above the walls.
Sora turned back to the boy. "Thank you," he said. He stood up and started following the trail. "Let's go," he shouted. Riku, Mickey, Jack, Aqua, Donald, and Goofy stepped away from the crime scene to follow after him. Kairi/Naminé finished removing the traumatic memory from the young witnesses and stood up to join them.
"What are you doing?" one of the cops asked.
Sora glanced back at him and summoned his Keyblade to his hand. "We're going to find who's responsible and stop him before he can hurt anyone else," he replied. In turn, Riku, Mickey, Aqua, and Kairi summoned their Keyblades as well, and Donald and Goofy summoned their staff and shield.
The officers were left with no room to argue as Santa passed the party on his way to the scene. Santa turned to watch the party go in confusion, but he decided to ask the people at the scene of the panic. Armed for battle, the party ran through the center of town and stopped before the doors leading to the enclosed plaza. Mickey held up his hand, signaling them to wait. He crept forward and cautiously stepped up toward the somewhat-open door. He snuck forward and stuck his head out through the opening. After a moment, he pulled back and turned to his friends.
"Someone's working up some dark magic and summoning Heartless," he said. "I'd say that's our guy."
Riku crossed his arms. "What's the threat level?" he asked.
Mickey shook his head. "He didn't seem to be paying attention to his surroundings. It actually looked like the Heartless were messing around behind his back," he stated. "It didn't look like he was using spells that were too exotic. It just looked like a conjuring spell and fusions of Black Magic with dark power."
Goofy peeked through the doorway, noticing that props were still spread around the perimeter. "We should hide and watch him, and see what we're dealing with before we jump into anything," he suggested.
Aqua nodded. "Good idea. Let's go in one at a time," she said.
Everyone nodded. Goofy went in first, and he ran to the side undetected. Mickey went next, followed by Sora, Riku, Donald, Aqua, Kairi, and Jack. True to form, the fiend did not notice anything amiss. A few Heartless turned around as if reacting to their presence, but they all seemed more curious as to what the horned figure was doing.
The skeletal sorcerer conjured a pair of floating fireballs, and with a wave of his bony hands infused them with black fire, causing the orbs to shift, contract and expand with the dark power. Donald could see the edge of his face, and shivered with fear and disgust when he saw the fiend's skeletal green face and empty eye sockets. Aqua studied the Heartless' reactions, and determined that they were not quite awed by the figure's display of power. This was also noticed by Sora, who was encouraged by the fact that the power on display did not seem to be any more dangerous than the spells he had seen in the past.
Mickey made eye contact with the others and made a series of hand signals to direct a plan of attack. However, Sora, Kairi, Aqua, and Jack all looked at him, confused. Only Donald, Goofy and Riku seemed to have any idea what he was trying to tell them, but the others lacked the familiarity with the king's silent strategies to follow his suggestions. Realizing this, Mickey facepalmed. He looked at Aqua and held his Keyblade out while closing one eye to mimic aiming a spell, and pointed at the dark fire orbs. Aqua nodded, understanding what he wanted her to do. He pointed at Kairi, Donald and Goofy and then gestured out to the Heartless spread around the plaza. Kairi mouthed a silent Ah and nodded. Mickey locked eyes with Sora, Riku and Jack, and pointed directly at the sorcerer. They nodded, understanding exactly what they were supposed to do. Once everyone had been given their tasks, Mickey counted to three with his fingers. At the same time, Aqua raised her Keyblade and pointed it toward the dark fire orbs, visibly charging energy up in the weapon.
When Mickey counted three, everyone leapt into action. Kairi, Donald and Goofy spread out and cut down the surrounding Heartless. Sora, Riku and Jack charged through the arena toward the sorcerer. As they drew near, the fiend finally noticed them and growled in surprise. Sora cast Blizzard at the undead foe, which the fiend countered with a Fire spell. In the meantime, Aqua unleashed a volley of light-magic lasers at the darkness-infused fire orbs while Mickey unleashed his own beams of light into one of them. As Sora, Riku and Jack came at him from all angles, the fiend was forced to duck out of the way of each attack and run. He tried to call his Heartless minions to defend him, but Kairi, Donald and Goofy had already defeated half of them.
When Aqua and Mickey had finished their magic volleys, the fire orbs shook and rippled as the dark and light magic within them wrapped through and clashed within them. Moments later, the conflicting power elements completely destabilized the orbs. They compressed into tiny balls, then exploded in a fiery blast. The party managed to get out of range or raise barriers to shield against the heat, while the fiend was sent sprawling.
The fiend pushed himself to his feet indignantly, gritting his teeth as he put his hands into the snow. "You dare attack me, the Horned King of Annuvin, successor of Arawn, and Lord of Death?" he shouted.
Sora and Riku traded glances. "Are we supposed to know what that means?" Sora asked.
The Horned King spat. "The insects with the key-like swords. The Faerie told me about you," he said.
Riku raised an eyebrow. "So, you're part of Maleficent's club?" he realized.
Sora crossed his arms. "Wait… Maleficent's a fairy?" he asked, confused.
"Not the same Court as Flora, Fauna and Merryweather," Mickey clarified.
"Court? How do fairy politics work?" Aqua asked.
The Horned King threw a pair of small fireballs through the group, calling them to turn their attention back to him. "Insolent fools. None shall challenge my power and live!"
The heroes readied their weapons. "Hit us with your best shot, Skully," Riku dared.
The lich studied his enemies and, although he would never deign to admit it, realized he was outnumbered and outmatched. He had seen their power when only two of them managed to destroy his dark fire orbs and three of them ganged up on him. While reluctant to admit defeat, he knew that he had to escape his enemies so that he may carry out his business in full. Besides, his objective was not in the walled-off gathering place, as he had finally realized that there was no significant power to be detected in this field before the wielders of the light made their appearance.
"I shall not have you interfere with my goals. Heartless slaves, arise and destroy them!" the Horned King commanded. Around them, six red-and-gray boxes appeared, which popped off their Heartless emblem-shaped latches and opened to allow humanoid Heartless dressed like beefeaters to pop out and aim their blunderbusses at the party. Eight more Heartless appeared, tiny armless creatures wearing pointed teal hats marked with yellow spiral-square designs over the eyes and limp sleeves attached, at the ends of which were yellow cuffs and weighted black gloves. Last to appear were four Heartless of a new variety, small black humanoids wearing brown glasses that lacked temples in the frame as well as striped blue-and-yellow pajamas. A red box with wide yellow ribbon appeared in front of each creature, which the creatures excitedly opened to reveal bubbling masses of dark matter. While the party was focused on the new arrivals, the Horned King vanished into a Corridor of Darkness.
Kairi stared at the childlike Heartless in disapproval. "Isn't it a little early to be peeking?" she teased. A few seconds later, the Heartless emerged from the box, holding a clump of dark matter in its hand. It tossed it in the air a few times before throwing it at Kairi. She quickly batted it away with her Keyblade and it exploded on one of the Toy Soldier Heartless, sending it flying backward.
"Whoa!" she shouted. "I guess he didn't ask for a toy train!" She raised her Keyblade and cast Aero, launching child-figure and box through the air. She then jumped after it and dealt a string of slashes and stabs before she landed. A second after she did, she gasped in pain and dropped her weapon as she felt something shoot her in the upper arm.
Sora threw himself at the Toy Soldier that had just shot Kairi and dealt a fierce combo at it. When they both landed, the box closed up, and a few seconds later a new form popped out: an angry jack-o-lantern on a spring with two skinny arms attached to the sides holding a knife and an ax. It swung its arms at Sora, which for the most part he dodged or blocked while he dealt even more damage to the Heartless until it dissipated. A Tornado Step spun through the air toward him, but he grabbed it by the sleeve and, spinning around, hurled it toward another Toy Soldier, and then followed up on that attack with a Blizzara spell.
Donald and Jack used their magic to defeat the Peekers before they could cause too much harm with their dark matter blobs. After they had each defeated one, Jack picked up a rock and threw it at the fourth, blasting it to smoke with one solid hit, at the same time that Kairi defeated the one she had been fighting. "Nice children get presents, but naughty ones get coal," the skeleton quipped.
Goofy used his shield to defend against the Toy Soldiers' gunshots while Riku and Aqua attacked them. Mickey, and soon after Sora and Kairi, fought the Tornado Steps.
It was not long before the last of the Heartless had been defeated. Aqua spun around to try to find any sign of the Horned King, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Where'd he go?" she asked.
Goofy looked up and saw smoke rising above the wall. He pointed up to the sight, and everyone turned to see it. At that instant, they understood what was going on.
"Santa's Workshop!" Jack declared. "Come on!"
Without wasting a moment, the party ran out of the plaza and stopped in front of Santa's house. They could see fire pouring out of the workshop's windows and black smoke ascending from the roof. Elves were running out from the door in a panic.
"I'm going to guess he's in there," Riku said sarcastically. The party ran into the building, and they made their way through the halls until they came upon the Shipping and Receiving room, which was swarming with Heartless of many different shapes, including the standard Halloween Town variety as well as Soldiers, Hook Bats, and Wyverns. The machinery was on fire, and a few elves were cramped in a corner, surrounded by Heartless.
"Yes! Let the flames consume all! Let all be swallowed by the overwhelming dark power!" a raspy voice shouted. The party turned around and looked up at the balcony above, and they saw the Horned King watching for above and issuing orders to the Heartless. "Their hearth and heart shall roast in the fires of death!"
Jack clenched his bony fist. "Enough is enough! Your sadistic games end now!" he yelled.
"You will die by my might," the Horned King growled back before firing a bolt of lightning from his finger, which Jack jumped aside to avoid.
Jack looked around as he heard elves screaming as Heartless moved in for the attack, which Aqua stunned with a Shotlock. This opening allowed the elves to make a run for it, but more Heartless jumped in their path. The elves fell down and quaked in fear.
"I'm always one for fun frights and surprises…" Jack sighed, then turned to glare back up at the lich. "But this is horrific!" he shouted. "You'll pay for this!"
"And your insolence shall be paid for as you face the burning torture of the searing of souls. Your parlor tricks are nothing compared to my cursed might, and all who dare to defy me shall suffer my immortal wrath from which not even death can offer any refuge!"
Sora groaned. "Does he ever shut up?" he asked aloud.
"We'll just have to make him!" Mickey said. With that, he shot a Pearl spell up at the Lich. The Horned King saw the orb of light magic and screamed, jumping out of the sphere's path in the least graceful way the robed corpse could manage.
"I guess the undead warlock doesn't like light magic," Aqua observed.
Jack's eye sockets widened. "So, a dark fiend born of poisoned earth, huh?" he mused. Grinning wickedly, he flicked his wrist. On that cue, an amorphous green blob slid out of his sleeve and wrapped itself around his wrist.
Sora, Donald and Goofy stared at the unfamiliar substance in wonder. "What's that?" Goofy asked.
"A little something the Doctor cooked up while studying the Heartless," Jack answered. "This little guy can burn right through the Heartless' essence, and works quite well against other entities of powerful dark magic." He swung his arm and demonstrated the goo's power by aiming it toward a Gargoyle, whereupon it stretched and stabbed straight through the Heartless' back, destroying it. The elf it was terrorizing promptly ran for the exit.
The Horned King snarled in irritation. "Heartless slaves, destroy these fools!" he barked. On his order, most of the Heartless turned their attention to the heroes, although a few continued to pester the elves that remained, and moved in for the attack.
The party huddled up to discuss a plan of attack. "We'll take care of the Heartless," Sora said. "Your Majesty, Kairi, you get to Pointy and hit him with light magic."
"And maybe give him a lozenge," Riku joked.
Sora nodded. "Jack, you help them with your goo-thingy," he continued.
"I'll help," Aqua said. "I have my own light spells as well."
Mickey nodded. "Alright. Let's stop this guy," he said.
The huddle broke up, and everyone turned to see Heartless heading straight toward them. Sora, Riku, Goofy, and Aqua pushed back against them with strong blows, while Mickey, Kairi and Donald used their magic. The green substance stretched and took on the shape of a scythe, which he used to cleave through a Wyvern, destroying it.
Sora, Riku, Donald, and Goofy spread out to fight the remaining Heartless while Jack, Mickey, Aqua, and Kairi looked for a way to get up to the balcony. In the meantime, a Search Ghost appeared a few feet behind them and tried to lash its hands out at Aqua, but Jack felt it materialize and turned around to face it.
"Not today, spooky. Soul Robber!" Jack shouted. He lashed the Soul Robber out like a whip, snaring the Search Ghost around the neck, and then pulled his prey in, whereupon he blasted it to smoke with a Blazing Fury spell exploding out of his unarmed hand.
Within a minute, the experienced fighters vanquished the Heartless terrorizing the floor, allowing the elves to run to safety. Sora, Riku and Donald began dousing the fires with Agua.
The Horned King growled in anger as he saw his chaos quelled so easily. "Worthless bugs! I said 'Destroy them'!" With that, he conjured more Heartless, but as they proved to be no more threatening than the earlier batch, he decided to pitch in by lobbing fireballs and shooting lightning, particularly as Mickey and Aqua began to make their way up the wall by jumping on the wall and using Doubleflight, respectively. Jack slung the Soul Robber so that it attached to the ceiling, and he and Kairi used it as a rope to climb up. The Horned King tried to stop them from ascending, but Mickey and Aqua blocked his attacks. They managed to reach the balcony and climb up, so they started to charge up light spells to attack him.
After a moment, Kairi and Jack joined them on the balcony, and Kairi pointed her Keyblade toward the lich. She willed herself to glow with the power of light within, and the Horned King raised his arms to shield himself from her radiance.
Down below, Sora, Riku, Donald, and Goofy remembered that other parts of the factory were under attack, and ran off to find the threats in the other rooms. Fortunately, they had just had a tour through the building and knew how to get around.
The Horned King tried to flee from Kairi's light, but Aqua jumped past him and blocked the doorway, raising a spiraling blast of magic around herself to deter him. Irritated, the lich threw a fireball her way, but she called up her barrier to defend against it. Mickey struck him in the leg with his Keyblade and called a light sphere to fall onto him. The Horned King wailed in pain and thrashed his arms around, dragging fire with his fingers which forced Mickey to back up to a safe distance. As he pushed himself to his feet, Kairi slashed at his arm, leaving glowing cuts in the sleeve of his robe. The lich launched a fireball in her direction, hitting her in the chest and knocking her back. Aqua slashed her Keyblade across his back, letting lavender-colored magic swirls float about the tip. The fiend spun around and shot lightning at her, zapping her shoulder, but Mickey launched a Pearl spell into his face.
The Horned King roared in anger and raised his arms. Pillars of fire shot up around him, forcing his attackers to fall back. He grabbed Mickey by the neck and lifted him up above his head. "A pathetic rodent challenges the power of he who will be your god?" he spat. "The light upon which you thrive fades here."
However, as he was about to squeeze, the Soul Robber lashed out and became wrapped around his wrist. The flubbery substance tightened its grip and the lich screamed in pain, releasing his grip and dropping Mickey.
"It doesn't appear the little guy has a fondness for bullies who kill senselessly," Jack asserted. He flicked his wrist and the Soul Robber returned to his hand, then wrapped itself around his fingers to form a gauntlet. He ran toward the fiend and punched him in the face.
The Horned King stumbled back into a corner. Using the wall to support himself, he grabbed his jaw and shifted it back into place. It began to dawn on him that he had been bested. Noticing a Shadow standing and watching a few feet away, he picked it up and began to wring its neck, screaming as he venting his rage upon the small Heartless. When he had choked the life out of it and squeezed it into nothingness, he turned to glare at his enemies. "You shall all burn," he growled as he allowed himself to drop through a Corridor of Darkness.
Mickey, Aqua, Kairi, and Jack took a minute to catch their breath. A few minutes after the lich vanished, Sora, Riku, Donald, and Goofy ran through the doorway, their weapons raised. They glanced about before realizing that the fiend was nowhere to be seen.
"He got away?" Donald asked, disappointed and annoyed.
Aqua nodded. "But he didn't put up too much of a fight," she said, much to the returning group's surprise.
"He had a really nasty reaction to light magic, and Jack's Soul Robber was what ultimately forced him to flee," Mickey clarified.
Riku smirked. "Then I guess he won't be coming here again," he said.