It's been a while since I updated, and a lot sure has happened since. I played Melody of Memory and experienced the great gameplay and plot developments. It became a new year, which will hopefully be an improvement over 2020. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were inaugurated as President and Vice President, which is automatically an improvement over the last guys. Here's to a more hopeful new year.
I wanted to only post this after I finished writing my next chapter, wanting to stay a good bit ahead of what I had uploaded. But I won't really be able to write that chapter until I watch a particular movie (due to me not being familiar with the characters and setting of that film that will be featured in the chapter), and I have not yet watched the movie, so that's still delayed. And I kinda left you guys hanging with that last chapter, which I posted over a month ago, so I thought I'd throw you a bone here. While I put off watching that movie (Tinker Bell, if you're curious), I'll switch over to my other story, Heart of Steel, for a bit.
Read on, and please let me know what you think in a review.
Chapter 133
Blizzagun
As everyone had moved to the council chamber, the party gathered in a corner to discuss the recent turn of events. Mickey had also joined them after they had brought Anna back to the castle. They swapped notes and explained the situation to one another.
"So, if we don't end this winter, the space beyond this world will freeze, and with it every world?" Riku recapped.
"Sure sounds like it," Mickey confirmed.
"What are we supposed to do? Elsa's the only one with the power to undo this, and she doesn't even think she can reverse what she did," Kairi lamented.
"I tried contacting Merlin with a Rainbow Message, but it's too cold to properly generate the mist needed for the spell," Mickey said.
"We'll take it one thing at a time," Sora said. "A kiss from Hans should heal Anna, and then we can try to ease Elsa's mind."
As if on cue, Hans appeared, but something was wrong. He was alone, and he stumbled up with a lurch and broken expression as if his world had come crashing down around him. Everyone present took notice and had a sinking feeling in their guts as they gathered around him.
"Hans, what's wrong?" Mickey asked, concerned.
"Princess Anna is… dead," Hans said.
Everyone present gasped and let out various expressions of shock and disbelief. Sora and company were at a loss for words. This can't be happening. This wasn't supposed to happen. True Love's Kiss was supposed to save Anna. Why didn't it work? Sora wondered. Could Anna really be dead?
Hans stumbled forward, so the dignitaries helped Hans into a chair. "What happened to her?" the Duke of Weselton asked.
"She was killed… by Queen Elsa," Hans told them.
The dignitaries gasped. "Her own sister?" the Duke muttered in disbelief.
"At least we got to say our marriage vows… before she died in my arms," Hans added, sounding truly devastated.
Horrified by the claim, Sora sprinted out of the room and down the hall. Kairi and Goofy promptly followed after him, while Riku, Mickey, Aqua, and Donald hesitated for a moment.
The Duke stood up straight and clenched his fists. "There can be no doubt now," he said, turning to the other dignitaries. "Queen Elsa is a monster, and we are all in grave danger."
"Prince Hans, Arendelle looks to you," one of the other dignitaries said.
Hans nodded. This was his pivotal moment. "With a heavy heart, I charge Queen Elsa of Arendelle with treason and sentence her to death," he declared.
Riku, Mickey, Aqua, and Donald looked at each other, then stepped out of the council chamber. "I'll follow Sora. You go keep Queen Elsa safe," Mickey said once they were out of earshot. The other three nodded, then they split up to undertake their tasks.
Elsa began to panic as she watched the snowstorm outside grow fiercer. Hearing ice cracking, she turned to see the walls and ceiling of her cell icing over. Seeing that her shackles had frozen over completely, she tugged as hard as she could, feeling that she had to escape and get far away from Arendelle.
Having tugged until she had exhausted herself, Elsa stopped to catch her breath for a moment. In that moment, she saw a green glow appear in front of her. Curious, she became transfixed on the eerie glow.
"Poor child. Such great magic, and yet you fear it," a voice said, speaking with a tone of elegance and reverberating with power and authority. A column of green and black flames appeared in the glow, and a tall figure materialized. The green-skinned woman smiled at the confused queen.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Elsa asked. Few things scared her aside from her powers, and those that did generally did so by tapping into her concern for the well-being of others. But the witch before her genuinely intimidated her on a basic level.
"I simply wish to help you, child," Maleficent said, somehow making a soothing tone sound menacing, "by releasing your true potential. Your magic is not something that you should fear. It should be yours to control. It should be yours to give you control." She opened her palm, and a dark blue stone appeared in green flame, floating above her hand. A symbol glowed on the crystal, resembling a horizontal line with two outward-facing curved lines—the symbol for Pisces. "Let me show you." The Auracite began to glow, its blue light reflected in Elsa's pupils. A shadow spread through the cell as ice spread across all surfaces, expanding and pushing the stones and iron apart.
Riku, Aqua and Donald approached the cell, at which point Riku stopped dead in his tracks. "That smell," he gasped. A scent of copper sulfate burned in only one person's dark aura to distinguish its flavor. "Maleficent."
"What? What does she want?" Aqua asked, concerned that things had just become more complicated (and they were already far more complicated than they would have liked).
They reached the cell door and saw a green glow through the window. Riku tried to open the door, but it would not budge, and he was not sure if the lock had even clicked open when he used his Keyblade.
Four guards, accompanied by Hans, came down the hall. "You there! What are you doing?" one of the guards demanded.
Riku, Aqua and Donald stepped back, not wanting to get into a fight right then. Another guard tried to open the door, but it still did not budge. "It's frozen shut!" he exclaimed.
"On three," another guard suggested. Seeing that they were going to try to break the door down, Donald hid behind Riku, not wanting to be caught in the blast when Maleficent would surely retaliate. Fortunately for them, the glow faded, as did the scent of Maleficent's darkness, but the ever-expanding ice caused the bricks to fall out and collapse the ceiling and walls. The guards charged at the door, breaking it down, and stared in shock at what lay before them. Hans shoved past them and scowled. Riku smelled a new odor of darkness for a moment, and realized that it was Hans'. Electing to worry about that later, he squeezed past the guards to see what they were looking at, and blinked in surprise.
The back wall of the cell had collapsed completely, leading out into the blizzard. Snow blew in through the newly-made hole. Elsa's shackles lay on the floor, frozen and broken open. The queen herself was nowhere to be seen.
Kristoff and Sven walked up the mountain. Kristoff's mind was still on Anna, but he believed that it was for the best that he left things as he did. Sven stopped and looked back longingly at Arendelle, then let out a sigh. He looked back up at Kristoff, recalling how happy he was around Anna, and shook his head, steeling with resolve. He ran up in front of Kristoff and faced his friend, standing his ground. He let out a series of pleading grunts.
"What is it, buddy?" Kristoff asked, somewhat disinterested. Sven waved his antlers and marched toward him, forcing him to step backwards. "Hey, watch it! What's gotten into you?" Sven grunted and brayed with imploring force, but Kristoff was confused. "I don't understand you when you talk like that." Kristoff tried to walk past Sven, but the reindeer scooped him up with his antlers and took a few steps in the direction they had come. "Ah! Stop it! Put me down!" Sven obliged, throwing him onto the ground, then let out another grumpy, insisting grunt.
"No, Sven! We are not going back!" Kristoff protested once he was back on his feet. "She's with her true love." Sven gave him a "Really?" look. Kristoff sighed, admitting to himself that Sven was right.
Before he could say anything further, however, they felt the wind pick up with great force. Bracing himself against the wind, Kristoff turned around and saw, to his shock, a massive snow cloud forming and swirling around Arendelle castle.
"Anna!" he gasped. Fearing that she was in danger, he started running down the mountain. Sven caught up to him, and he climbed onto the reindeer's back as they sped toward the kingdom.
Sora ran to the parlor and fiddled with the doorknobs, but found that the doors would not open. Locked? Why would Hans lock the door? he wondered. He put his hand against the doors and, lowering himself to a crouch, felt that the left door was colder than the right. "Anna? Anna, can you hear me?" he asked.
"Sora…" he heard a weak whisper from the other side. "Help…"
Kairi and Goofy caught up with him, accompanied by Olaf, who had finally made his way to the castle. "Oh, hi, Sora!" the snowman greeted. "How's Anna? Did Hans' kiss work?"
"She's locked in here," Sora told his friends.
Kairi tilted her head in confusion, then decided to worry about the "why" when they were inside. "Well, you can just—" Before she could finish, Sora kicked the right door with all of his might, blasting it off of the hinges and sending it flying across the room, while holding the handle of the other door to keep it steady. "...Do that…" Kairi said, bemused by the action that Sora had taken.
Sora stepped into the parlor, looked around to see that the fireplace and candle had been extinguished, and saw Anna curled up against the door. Her hair was entirely white, her skin was pale, and her internal body temperature was so low that her breath did not condense when she exhaled. "Anna!" he gasped. He scooped her up in his arms, feeling just how cold she had become, and set her down in front of the fireplace. Taking a step back, he summoned his Keyblade and pointed it at the logs. "Fire!" he shouted, igniting a flame with the spell. Since he still had plenty of mana, he expended it to transfer heat from himself to Anna. Goofy threw some fresh firewood into the fireplace. Kairi lit the candle.
Olaf approached the fire, transfixed. "Whoa! So this is heat… I love it!" he mused.
"Olaf, get away from there!" Anna pleaded, concerned for him.
Olaf reached out to feel the heat source, only for the tip of his arm to catch fire. "Ooh! But don't touch!" He shook his hand until the small fire went out. He turned to Anna and frowned, worried to see that she was still freezing. "So, where's Hans? What happened to your kiss?" he asked.
"I was wrong about him. It wasn't true love," Anna replied.
"But we ran all the way here," Olaf said, dismayed that their efforts had not panned out.
"Please, Olaf, you can't stay here. You'll melt," Anna warned.
"I am not leaving here until we find some other act of true love to save you," Olaf asserted stubbornly, sitting down behind Anna.
Mickey ran in and blinked in surprise when he saw Anna huddled in front of the fireplace. "Anna!" He ran over to check on her. "Hans said you were dead."
Sora shook his head. "He locked her in here and left her to die," he told the mouse. Clenched his fists in a cold rage, he stood up and made his way to the door, summoning his Keyblade.
"Sora, where are you going?" Mickey asked.
"I'm going to cut off Hans' head," Sora answered, seething.
Mickey, Kairi and Goofy flinched in surprise. That was a dark intention, particularly for Sora. Mickey wondered how he could have gotten to that point. However, Kairi and Goofy, while still shocked that he would ever consider it, understood; they both knew full well how protective of his friends he could get; they had seen how incensed he was when Mother Gothel had stabbed Eugene, and how fiercely he had fought against Saïx, who had held Kairi captive for weeks. Goofy also knew full well that there was a lot of darkness in Sora, which he saw on the occasions when his use of Drive power backfired and put him in Anti-Form. They supposed that he did have it in him to become angry like this, and they were concerned for him.
Goofy ran to him and grabbed him by the arm. "Sora, you can't go and do that!" he protested.
"He's right," Kairi agreed. "No matter what Hans did, killing him won't do you any good. Besides, we need to worry more about saving Anna."
"It wouldn't be a good idea anyway. Hans has the other dignitaries deferring to him for leadership. If you attack him, everyone will turn on you," Mickey warned. Sora sighed, frustrated. "Sora, listen to me. I know that sometimes you get the urge to get revenge, and sometimes the guy might really deserve it. But you need to be able to keep a cool head. We need to focus on what good we can do now, and deal with the bad guys later when we can think clearly about the situation."
Sora stood unmoving for several seconds, leaving his friends unsure of what he would do. Finally, he let out a sigh and dismissed his Keyblade. He turned to face his friends. "You're right. We should help Anna first. Then we can help Elsa, and then we can stop whatever Hans is trying to do," he said.
Mickey, Kairi, Goofy, and Anna each breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he had calmed down and dialed back his plans of retribution to merely stopping him. "Okay. The only way to lift the frozen heart curse is an act of true love, and since True Love's Kiss has been ruled out, we need to figure something else out," Kairi said.
"We can do it!" Olaf declared confidently. He considered possibilities for a few seconds, but came up empty. "Do you happen to have any ideas?" he asked Anna.
Anna sighed. "I don't even know what love is," she lamented.
Sympathizing with her, Kairi sat down and hugged Anna. "That's okay. We do," she said. She stroked her hand through Anna's hair. "Love is wanting what's best for someone, and wanting them to be happy and healthy. It's putting someone else's needs before your own."
"Yeah," Olaf agreed, putting a soothing hand on Anna's shoulder, "like how Kristoff brought you back here to Hans and left you forever." Sora could not help but chuckle at the unfortunate way Olaf had worded it.
Anna blinked as she came to a realization. "Kristoff… loves me?" she asked, turning to Olaf.
"Wow. You really don't know anything about love, do you?" Olaf said bluntly.
His face began to sag as he started to be affected by the flame's heat. His nose slid down his lip, but he pushed it back into place without paying attention. "Olaf, you're melting," Anna told him.
"Some people are worth melting for," Olaf said empathetically. Anna smiled sweetly in response. Olaf's structure collapsed further, and he realized that he actually was starting to dissolve. He quickly held his cheeks up to keep his head from falling off. "Just maybe not right this second."
He let out a yelp as a strong gust of wind blew the window open, letting cold air into the parlor. Anna shivered, so Sora, who had recharged his mana, began to transfer heat into her again. "Don't worry. I've got it," Olaf assured her. He and Goofy ran over to the window and grabbed the panes to close it, before stopping as they noticed something. "Oh, wait. Hang on. Getting something."
Olaf broke off a piece of an icicle and bit the tip off to make a flat end, then peered through the icicle as if it were a telescope. Goofy squinted and perked an ear up to make out what they had seen in the distance. Noticing that it was too far off, he pulled a pair of binoculars out of his pocket and looked through them. When they did so, they gasped in delight. "A-hyuck! It's Kristoff and Sven!" Goofy announced.
"They're coming this way!" Olaf cheered.
"Th-They are?" Anna asked.
"Wow. He's really moving fast." Olaf lowered his makeshift telescope and turned to Anna. "I guess I was wrong. I guess Kristoff doesn't love you to leave you behind."
Olaf's words registered, and Anna knew what she needed to do. "Sora, Kairi, help me up, please," she said. They obliged and wrapped their arms around her back to support her.
Olaf saw that they were trying to move Anna and ran over, repeating "No" in protest. "You need to stay by the fire and keep warm!" he insisted.
"I need to get to Kristoff," Anna said.
"Why?" Olaf asked, clueless. Anna and Sora each gave him a look that said Use your brain. He did so and did a happy dance as he figured it out. "Oh, I know why! There's your act of true love right there, riding across the fjord like a valiant, pungent reindeer king! Come on!"
They heard the crack of ice and looked up to see that the walls and ceiling were freezing over, icicles growing out of certain points.
"This way!" Sora called. He and Kairi led Anna out of the parlor, with Mickey, Olaf and Goofy right behind them. They ran down the hallway, but came to a stop as ice spread around the walls and expanded into massive icicles that blocked the way in front of them. They turned around, but saw that icicles blocked the way they had come as well.
"W-What's going on?" Anna asked. "W-Why is Elsa's m-magic growing icicles?"
"Well, Hans just ordered her execution. Riku, Aqua and Donald went to keep her safe, but she's probably terrified," Mickey explained.
"HANS WHAT?!" Sora and Kairi blurted.
"Later. We need to get out of here!" Mickey scanned around and saw that they were in front of a window. "This way!" He pointed his Keyblade and fired a beam at it, causing the window to open up. The strong winds caused the panes to break right off, but he was not in a position to complain.
"It'd be faster if I carried you," Sora suggested. Anna nodded, giving him the go-ahead. Sora pulled his hat on and his balaclava up and scooped her up in his arms. He leapt through the window and slid down the roof just outside, with Mickey, Kairi, and Olaf right behind them. They dropped off onto the ground and ran out to the edge of the icy fjord, stopping to brace themselves as strong winds blew biting snow into their faces.
"I'm going to use my old Aero spell to shield against the blizzard," Sora told his companions. They nodded, though Anna and Olaf did not know what he was talking about. "Wind!" he shouted. The force of the wind eased on them, as a miniature tornado swirled around each of them, though some wind and snow still broke through. The burden eased, they trudged forward, squinting to make anything out in front of them, as the thick snow beyond their funnels was still blinding.
"Queen Elsa must be found!" Hans shouted over the roar of the wind. He stepped through the hole and out into the storm, followed by his retinue of soldiers. Riku ran out after him, bracing himself against the wind and snow. Aqua hoisted Donald up and threw him over her shoulders before following them out.
Riku warped in front of Hans, catching the prince by surprise. "What do you plan to do once you find her?" he asked.
"It has become clear that she cannot stop the winter herself. In order to end her curse, I fear she must be slain," Hans told him.
"What if you're wrong?" Riku challenged.
Hans shook his head. "I wish there were a better way, but there are no other options."
Riku would have accepted that he truly did believe that, but he had sensed his aura of darkness in that earlier instant. Plus, the circumstances surrounding his claim of Anna's death were suspicious, given what Sora and Kairi had told him about her condition. He could not determine his intentions, but he was smart enough to tell that Hans was not being honest.
"I can't let you hurt her," Riku declared.
Hans became agitated. He had tried encouraging cooperation as he had done for his entire time in Arendelle, but this time Riku was not budging, and he really did not have the time to be patient with this. "Get out of my way!" he demanded.
Riku summoned his Keyblade and brandished it defiantly. Hans glared at him and gripped his sword tightly. Riku caught a whiff of dark aura. There's his darkness. He can't hide his true colors forever. The soldiers took a step forward to support Hans, while Aqua and Donald came up to support Riku.
Before anything could come of the confrontation, however, a pillar of black mass shot up between them, causing them to stumble back. Aqua stared up at the writhing pillar, her eyes wide with horror. "It… can't be!" she gasped. The pillar was formed of several small creatures, their solid black skin and glowing yellow eyes identifying them as Shadow Heartless. The tower of Shadows spun around wildly, occasionally dropping Shadows which quickly crawled back up into the tower. Hans, perceiving the mass as a threat, slashed at it a few times before he elected to flee. Just as quickly as it had appeared, the tower of Shadows vanished into the ground.
Riku scanned the area for Hans, seeing him run off into the storm. He turned back to the soldiers, who stood in shock and shivered with cold and fear. "Go back into the castle!" he advised. Accepting that they were in over their heads, they turned and stepped back through the hole in the cell wall, deciding that they would do their part by ensuring that everyone inside stayed safe.
When the soldiers were gone, Riku turned to convene with Aqua and Donald. "What in the worlds was that?" he asked.
Aqua steadied her breathing, coming down from a traumatic flashback. "A tower of Heartless. I faced several of those when I was in the Realm of Darkness," she explained. "The demons were more powerful than the ones that appeared up here, and they were mobilized."
"We completely missed them when we went to rescue you," Donald remarked. "And they don't really cooperate like that up here."
"Something's gotten their attention," Riku surmised. "We'll worry about why they're acting like that later. We need to find Elsa and stop Hans."
Aqua and Donald nodded in agreement. Donald waved his vegvisir-tipped staff and aimed it in the right direction. "This way!" he announced. Turning to face in the direction that the staff pointed, they pressed on.
"Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" Kairi asked.
"We're going in the direction that we saw Kristoff and Sven coming from. I think," Olaf replied.
"We have to follow our hearts. Mine's saying we're going the right way," Sora said. He had remained quiet up to that point, focusing on maintaining the Aero protective spell and generating heat for Anna.
They pressed on, figuring that they had no better way to be sure, but stopped when they heard a deep roar rumble in the distance. Sensing that something was ahead, Sora squinted and Goofy pulled out his binoculars. While the snow still obscured anything in the distance, a large shape slowly became visible a few hundred feet away. They watched the shape draw closer, and soon saw a faint glow of yellow, surrounded by glowing points of purple. Soon, the shape became clearer, and they felt a mixture of fear and confusion, as they thought they recognized the figure.
"Is that Elsa's snow bouncer?" Sora asked. True enough, the creature approaching them looked exactly like Marshmallow, save for some noticeable differences: its eyes glowed yellow and some of its icy protrusions were purple rather than a pale blue. It seemed to have a darker air surrounding it, enough so that Olaf, who had briefly become cheerful at the sight of his "little brother", lost his smile. Sora set Anna down and took a defensive position in front of her.
Goofy marched toward the snow creature, the knight and guardian stepping forward to engage and gauge the possible threat ahead of his companions. When they were ten feet apart, they stopped and stared each other down. Then, the monster let out a frost-breathed roar and grew spikes in the same manner that Marshmallow had done, except some of the teeth and back spikes were what was now clearly a darkness-infused purple rather than blue. It swiped its arm at Goofy, who tanked the blow with his shield and the degree of protection granted by the Aero spell. He rolled out of the way as the giant tried to stomp on him and pushed himself to his feet.
Sora, Kairi and Mickey summoned their Keyblades. "We'll handle this thing," Mickey said, stepping up with Kairi to join Goofy in front of the monster. "You get Anna to Kristoff."
"Got it," Sora confirmed. He scooped Anna back up and ran around the Dark Marshmallow, followed by Olaf. Kairi blocked an ice-clawed swipe with her Keyblade, ducked under its arm, and slashed at its leg.
"Let's go, Sora!" Olaf cheered. He waved good-bye to Kairi and Goofy. Kairi cast Fira at the monster's face and Goofy pushed against its foot to disrupt its balance. The monster swiped its arm, but Mickey jumped up onto it and leapt over the creature, swinging his Keyblade and breaking some of the spikes.
Sora, Anna and Olaf continued running through the blizzard until they heard a louder, deeper version of Olaf's chuckle. Sora and Anna looked down at Olaf in confusion, but the snowman shrugged. They walked forward nervously, waiting for the next roadblock to make itself known. When a shape appeared and became clearer to see, they were not sure what to make of it. The monster was another snowy construct with yellow eyes, but this time it resembled a giant clone of Olaf, with hexagonal blocks of purple ice in place of buttons, arms made of ice rather than wood, a jagged ice block in place of the snow tooth, and bent pieces of ice in place of the twig hair (two of them being a darkness-infused purple). It also lacked a nose, which made sense as it was only something that Anna added after the original was created. The dark giant version of Olaf smiled sadistically and chuckled as it approached them.
Sora set Anna down and summoned his Keyblade. "Well, I guess there's no getting around this. What is this even supposed to be?" he asked, bewildered.
"This one looks like me, and the last one looks like the big guy, but they both remind me of the Heartless things that you had been fighting," Olaf mused.
Sora's eyes widened in horror as he realized the one thing that could mean. "The darkness got ahold of Elsa," he muttered. "I don't know how bad it is. I hope Riku can get to her before it's too late." Staring up at the Olaf clone, he stepped forward and put an arm in front of Anna. "Anna, get behind me. Olaf, watch our six."
"Watch your what?" Olaf asked, confused.
"I mean protect us from behind," Sora explained. Olaf jumped up happily and took a position behind Anna.
"What's he going to do?" Anna asked.
"I just wanted him to feel like he's helping," Sora admitted. He ran up to engage Dark Olaf. It tried to slam its clawed ice hand down on him, but he rolled out of the way, then slashed at its arm as he came back up. It used its hand as a pivot to hoist its upper body up and let its "butt" and feet charge into Sora, knocking him down, then dropped its upper part back onto its butt.
"You want to play it that way, huh?" Sora remarked as he picked himself back up. He cast a Firaga spell up at Dark Olaf's face and threw himself at its torso, bashing at its dark ice buttons.
"The signal's getting stronger, like when we got to the ice castle," Donald said. "We must be close."
"I can still see Hans. I can't smell his darkness, but I smell something else. It's like… fish?" Riku mused.
Aqua gasped and pointed at something in the air. "What is that?" Riku and Donald looked up to see what appeared to be a large Heartless floating fifty feet off of the ground. The most eye-catching part was a large shield made of blue ice, which the Heartless symbol seemed to be etched into in a paler shade of blue. A dark blue torso sprouted out of the back of the shield. The torso had noodly arms that led into enormous sleeves that came into points far above where the arms connected. Four-fingered hands that seemed to be made of ice with cracks at the joints floated in front of the open ends of the sleeves. In its right hand it held a metal rod with a round ice crystal on the bottom and a larger metal ball on top, out of which four ice spikes sprouted on the sides and a part of a stylized snowflake stuck out of the top. It had a large pair of simple blue-gray pauldrons on its shoulders. Wrapped over its solid black head with glowing yellow eyes, it wore a blue parka hood with ice crystals lining the opening rather than fur. On its torso, the Pisces symbol glowed pale blue.
"There's something different about this one," Donald said. "Isn't that one of the Zodiac symbols on its chest?"
"Something's… off." Riku closed his eyes, opening himself to see on the plane of dark energy like he had when he operated with a blindfold. He sensed a trail of energy—not just darkness, but something else—streaming from the Heartless to…
"That thing's connected to Elsa!" Riku told his companions. "We need to help her."
The Heartless waved its scepter, casting a Blizzard spell at them. Riku and Aqua jumped back to avoid the spell as it hit the ground and burst into spikes radiating out of the point of impact, which dissipated after a moment. Donald looked down to see that Aqua's feet were not deep in the snow, so he had her put him down, since he would not get stuck.
"We'll have to take care of that thing first," Donald said. He followed that statement up by casting Firaga at it.
Riku looked around, hoping to locate Elsa. He saw her a ways off, and he also saw Hans making his way toward her. "Keep it busy," he ordered. Aqua jumped up to clash her Keyblade with the Frostking's scepter while Riku ran past it.
Elsa stumbled around, unaffected by the blizzard and its ferocity but blinded by the whirling snow. Not only did she have no idea where she was going, but she was disoriented by the spell that the witch had cast with the Pisces Auracite. She felt as though she was being smothered. All of her fear was crashing down on her, and she had to escape. She had no idea that this was because the Frostking was fueling and feeding on her darkness and magic.
"Elsa!" Hans called out to her. He struggled to press on as he pushed his way through the storm. As he was a normal human who had never faced the conditions that Riku and the others were familiar with, he was having a more difficult time withstanding the elements.
Elsa spun around to face him. "You shouldn't be out here. It's not safe," she warned.
Hans gestured about. "Nowhere is safe! Look at what you've done. This has to come to an end."
"I-I can't…" Elsa stammered. She backed away, wanting to put as much distance between him and herself as possible. The ice beneath her feet darkened, her footsteps marked with the transformation that had illustrated her turmoil in her ice castle.
"Elsa!" Riku called as he caught up with them. "This storm can stop, but only if you take control of it and yourself. It's your power, and even if it might be darkness, it's still your darkness. Don't let it consume you. Take charge, and let it know that enough is enough!"
"Take charge?" Hans scoffed. "You think this storm would be here if she wanted it? There's only one way this can stop."
"Leave her alone!" Riku charged at Hans, but before he could tackle him, the Demon Tower shot up and knocked him down. Still unaware that it was actually trying to keep him from harm, Hans drew his sword and attacked the tower.
Aqua blasted the Frostking with a Flame Salvo Shotlock when she saw the Demon Tower appear. "Riku!" she gasped. She ran to assist him, but something massive barreled into her, slugging her and sending her flying. When she regained her bearings, she looked up and saw a darkness-infused facsimile of Marshmallow, separate from the one that Kairi, Mickey and Goofy were fighting, glaring down at her. It tried to stomp on her, but she rolled aside, picked herself up, and jumped back.
"Conjuring corrupted versions of Elsa's creations to spread your evil? You will release her and end your terror," she declared. She flicked her Keyblade out to her side as she stared the Dark Marshmallow down. The monster roared and ran toward her. She blasted a string of Firaga spells at it. When it closed the distance, it tried to swat at her, but she double-jumped above it and landed behind it. Charged up, she cast Firaza at its back, destroying the ice spikes and knocking it flat. It pushed itself to its feet and let out a frost-breathed roar at her as she closed in for a close-range attack. The frost enveloped her and knitted together over her skin and winter clothes. To her surprise, she was immobilized. She struggled to break free, but Dark Marshmallow swatted her aside, sending her tumbling away while breaking the frost at the same time.
Donald ran around to avoid Frostking's ice spells, casting Fire magic all the while. He quickly determined that the shield protected it from damage, even from its elemental opposite, so he focused on targeting its head and arms. He grumbled as he realized that he would have to be mindful of his mana, as he was sure that it was well below the freezing point for his Ethers and Elixirs. If he used it all up, he would have to avoid the Heartless' attacks and wait until it recharged.
Frustrated at the idea, he shot a Firaga spell at the Frostking's face, chuckling to himself when he hit a bullseye.
Riku quickly recovered, having expected the Demon Tower to make an appearance. He summoned his Keyblade and cast a volley of Dark Fire at the swarm of Shadows. "Got you now. You're not going anywhere," he taunted.
As Riku engaged in fighting the Heartless pillar, Hans backed away, not wanting to be hurt by the Heartless or any of Riku's stray spells (with good reason, as Riku would not complain if he were to suffer collateral damage). He then set back to locating Elsa, who had run off in the confusion. Fortunately, Riku would not lose his trail, as the Shadows, in their curiosity regarding his ability to hide his darkness from them, followed after him, even while fending Riku off.
Kairi ignited her Keyblade with fire like she had seen Sora do and threw it at her Dark Marshmallow, aiming for its joints. Her Fire Raid carved and melted through its upper arms, severing them and leaving them to fall. With the final throw in the raid, she lobbed the spinning Keyblade through the snow monster's mouth. The head lost its shape, many of its spikes had either melted away or collapsed off of the body, and it looked as though the monster could not take much more.
"Go help Sora and Anna," she told Mickey and Goofy. "I'll finish this thing off." They nodded and obligingly ran in the direction that Sora, Anna, and Olaf had gone.
When they were out of sight, Kairi took a deep breath. I'm ready this time. I can feel it, she thought. She pointed her Keyblade forward as Dark Marshmallow began to march toward her, aiming to tackle her. She would not give it the chance.
"Firaga!" she shouted. A large ball of fire shot out of the tip of her weapon, larger than the Fire spells that she had been using previously. Snow vaporized on contact with the fireball, which flew through the air and collided with Dark Marshmallow, exploding on contact. When the flames died down, Kairi saw that she had obliterated much of the monster's upper body. It did not even have a face anymore. Dark smoke melted off of it, and Kairi knew that it was just about finished. Smiling with pride, she considered the means by which she would finish the job, before she settled on gloating about her growth in ability by repeating the attack. "Firaga! Flame on! Burn!" Three Firaga spells hit the remains of Dark Marshmallow head-on, blasting more pieces off of it until there was nothing left save for some stray snow blobs and ice shards, water puddles that quickly froze to ice after the spell dissipated, water vapor, and dark smoke. The severed arms dissolved into water particles as well, snow blown into the wind.
She giggled as she wiped melted snow off of her face and ran to rejoin Sora, Anna and Goofy. As she caught up to where they were, she saw Olaf blowing away in pieces. The Aero spell had worn off on him, and the storm's growing winds were carrying him away. She jumped into the air and used Magnet to pull his pieces toward her. She caught him in her arms and dispersed the spell, dropped to the ground, and put him back together, creating a new protective wind funnel around him.
"Thanks, Kairi," Olaf said. "But the big me is keeping Anna from getting to Kristoff!"
Kairi turned to see the Dark Olaf that was fighting Sora, Mickey and Goofy. They had managed to destroy one of the ice buttons and break off a few of its fingers, but it was still putting up a fight while Anna stood several feet away, shivering.
Beckoning Olaf to follow her, Kairi went over to Anna and threw her arm over her shoulders. "I'm going to get her to Kristoff!" she shouted to her friends.
Sora parried a strike and sliced between Dark Olaf's foot and its butt. Mickey cast a Fire spell at the gash, melting a larger split when it burst on impact. With their opponent off-balance, Mickey turned to Goofy. "You go with them. We can take this thing," he told him. Goofy nodded and joined Kairi, Anna and Olaf as they shuffled past the fight. Dark Olaf tried to turn to chase after Anna, but Sora shot a Fire spell up at its face, and he and Mickey continued their attack to get it to focus solely on them.
Kairi, Anna, Goofy, and Olaf trudged on, the wind pushing them around and making them stumble. Kairi cast a protective Aero spell over the four of them so they could at least walk straight. Unfortunately, Anna grew weaker by the second; she had become so cold that her hands were frosting over.
Seeing this, Kairi squeezed Anna's hand. "Sorry. I can't do what Sora can. But we'll get you to Kristoff," she assured her.
It occurred to Anna that Kristoff would not know that she is out in the storm, nor how to locate her. "Kristoff!" she called out to him.
A few seconds later, they heard a reply. "Anna!" Kristoff had heard her. But a moment later, they heard a grunt from what sounded like Sven, followed by a loud, reverberating whinney.
Confused by the noise, Kairi and Goofy traded questioning glances. "I'll check up ahead," Goofy said. He broke off from the group and marched ahead. Kairi made sure that the Aero magic split off and enveloped him separately.
Goofy ran as best he could in the weather conditions and soon came across Kristoff, who was marching across the ice on his own. Several feet behind him, atop a section of broken ice, Sven appeared to be fighting a blue horse with darker blue markings and an icy mane, tail, and hooves. The horse had solid yellow eyes and a Heartless emblem on its face, between its eyes. The horse shoved at Sven, but Sven pushed it back with his antlers. It generated ice crystals to fire at him, but he swatted them aside with his antlers as well and continued to push against the Heartless.
Kristoff blinked in surprise when he registered the knight's appearance. "Goofy? Where's Anna?" he asked.
Goofy pointed back the way he had come. "That way! She needs your act of true love!"
Kristoff would have wondered what had happened to their original plan, but he was too concerned that Anna was in danger to focus on that, so he set off in the direction that Goofy had pointed.
The Heartless horse noticed his march and broke away from its fight with Sven to try to pursue him. However, Sven was not having it. He galloped after the Heartless, jumping between pieces of ice. He came up beside the horse and shoved against its flank. As the Heartless stumbled, Sven reached the edge of the ice and leapt across to join Goofy on solid ground.
Regaining its footing, the Frostmane let out an angry whinney and exhaled a jet of icy air from its nostrils. Goofy threw his shield at it, only for the strong wind to carry it away. He gave an aside to Sven and shrugged, then summoned it back to his hand. Adjusting his aim, he threw it against the wind and watched as it sailed back and successfully hit the Heartless in the head. Enraged, the Frostmane leapt over to their position and lashed out, thrashing, kicking, and generating icicles to fly at them. Goofy and Sven closed in on the horse. Sven shoved against it and locked its head in place with his antlers while Goofy delivered precise and powerful blows with his shield. The Frostmane was trapped and unable to properly retaliate; it could not angle its head to breathe any frost mist, it could not escape and thrash to the side or aim its kicks properly, and its attempts to use icicle projectiles were easily blocked. With the Heartless helpless, Goofy continued to bash it until it finally began to dissolve into dark smoke and water vapor. Sven stepped back, and they watched as the Frostmane buckled and collapsed. It let out a final choked whinney before it faded into snow that blew away in the wind. Its captive heart floated into the sky, then vanished back into the darkness.
With that fight over, Goofy and Sven turned to head back and help Kristoff get to Anna.
"Sora!" Mickey called out. Orbs of light from a Faith spell floated around Mickey. Sora ran over to join him and they began swatting the orbs like baseballs at Dark Olaf. The orbs exploded on impact, one of them shattering the ice tooth.
"Like this, your Majesty!" Sora shouted as he stabbed his Keyblade at an orb and shot a beam of light through it. The orb exploded into smaller orbs that flew around and homed in on Dark Olaf.
The light show and energy bursts stunned Dark Olaf, so Sora and Mickey charged in to take it down a peg. Sora struck the left arm, causing the hand to break off. Mickey attacked the torso, breaking an ice button into pieces with a combo finisher.
Once it regained its bearings, the snow monster kicked Mickey away and picked Sora up by his coat with its remaining hand. Sora struggled to get free, but he could not escape its grip. Dark Olaf chuckled at his predicament as it held him above its head. Reminded of the original Olaf's own whimsical chuckle, Sora had an idea.
"I bet you like warm hugs," he said. He wrapped his hand around Dark Olaf's wrist and transferred heat into the icy limb. The outer layer began to melt and the ice softened. The creature's sadistic smile faded as it felt a part of itself melting away. Letting go, Sora brought his Keyblade up and down on the wrist, breaking it clean off. Free, as the hand lost its hold on him, he threw himself at the creature's face and shoved his hands into its mouth. Burying them in its snowy jaw, he cast Fire through them, causing its head to begin to melt. At that time, Mickey recovered and leapt at Dark Olaf, shoving his Keyblade into its chest, straight through the remains of a shattered button. Sora smirked as he remembered an amusing incident that had befallen Olaf on the way up the mountain. "Oh, look at that. You've been impaled," he taunted. Mickey cast Firaga, blasting the snow monster to pieces.
Sora dropped to the ground next to Mickey. "Nice work," the mouse commended. Sora grinned behind his balaclava and crossed his hands behind his head. They did not notice a piece of Dark Olaf's blasted body shoot up into the air, then fall back down. Before they knew it, they had been buried in a pile of snow.
Aqua performed a backflip as she rolled with the Dark Marshmallow's punch. The snow monster roared. Over the course of the fight, Aqua had chopped off most of the fingers on its left hand and melted a significant portion of its right foot. On the other hand, it had smacked her around and thrown her about several times.
Looking around, Aqua saw that no one else was within visible range; Dark Marshmallow had carried both of them away from her allies. "Looks like you've got us all alone," she remarked. Dark Marshmallow let out a low growl and marched toward her. She smiled and shot it a confident glare. "Right where I want you," she added. She took a deep breath and gathered a significant amount of her energy together, pointed her Keyblade at the monster, and released her magic. "Mega Flare!"
A ball of fiery energy shot out of the tip of Master's Defender straight toward Dark Marshmallow. Before it could process what was happening, the ball burned into its chest and burst in a massive explosion. Aqua was unaffected despite being caught in the blast, although she was temporarily blinded by the flare's brilliant light, and she felt the warmth of superheated water vapor on her skin. When the flare faded, she saw that the darkness-infused snow creature was no more, a crater had been blasted out of the frozen surface of the fjord, and the area that the explosion had encompassed was filled with steam.
She took a few deep breaths as she began to recover the energy that she had turned into that spell, one of the most powerful that she knew, and she enjoyed the reprieve from the raging blizzard. She had no time to bask in her victory, though; Riku, Donald and Elsa still needed her help. She ran through the steam bubble, through a transitional area of rain, and back into the storm.
Riku carved through several Shadows with each hit. He was surprised at how ferocious the creatures were when they were mobilized into a single unit. The pillar had gotten several good hits in, but he had returned in kind with his own devastating attacks. This time, the tower leapt up and dove top-first into the ground, bursting into a radial wave of scampering Shadows that tripped and scratched at Riku. The tower reformed, and before Riku could recover, it dove straight at him and caught him in its funnel.
Elsa glanced back and saw the Demon Tower snare Riku. She gasped, horrified at his predicament. Just then, the strong winds swirled around the pillar, wrapping the Heartless swarm in a tornado of snow. Frost formed on the Shadows, and their movements slowed as they became encased in a thin layer of ice. Riku was able to get room to breathe and find solid footing as the revolving assault slowed to a crawl. He twisted, pushed off of the ground, and spun as he leapt into the air, firing dozens of Dark Fire blasts. The fireballs exploded against and pushed through the immobilized Shadows, and the entire funnel burst into dark smoke and ice shards as he shot out of the tower's apex. He landed as the last remnants of the Demon Tower faded into the aether, but dropped to his knees in exhaustion.
Donald timed his spell so that he hit the Frostking in the face just as it was casting a spell of its own so that it misfired. He continued casting Firaga, channeling his rage into power. Finally, he reached the tipping point. He pointed his staff at the Frostking's head and invoked Grand Magic. "Firaza!"
The Frostking was stunned by the powerful blast of fourth-tier Fire magic. The stream of energy linking it to Elsa weakened as it lost focus.
"Great job, Donald!" Aqua commended as she ran up beside him. Not wasting a second, she leapt up over the Heartless' head and unleashed a Flame Salvo at its back, then sliced down through it. With that mortal blow, the Frostking convulsed. The ice shapes on its scepter shattered, and it dropped the rod, which faded into nothing. Its connection to Elsa dissolved, and the glowing Pisces symbol on its chest turned dull. It shimmered and faded as its body turned into snow and dark smoke. Soon, it dissolved completely, its captive heart floating off and vanishing.
Elsa stopped and looked around, regaining her bearings. The crushing panic subsided, and she no longer felt an overwhelming fear for herself. She was relieved to see that Riku was safe, but she then remembered that she had created a devastating blizzard, so she felt that she had to get away from everyone.
"Elsa! You can't run from this!" Hans told her, shouting over the roar of the wind.
Elsa sighed and turned to face him. "Just take care of my sister," she pleaded, backing away from him.
"Your sister? She returned from the mountain weak and cold. She said you froze her heart."
"No…" Elsa gasped. She flashed back to the moment when, in her turmoil, she blasted Anna in the heart with her magic. She remembered freezing the Crimson Jazz and seeing its frozen body crumble to pieces, leaving only a heart that had been turned to ice.
"I tried to save her, but it was too late. Her skin was ice, her hair was white," Hans continued. "Your sister is dead… because of you."
The fateful night from her childhood flashed before Elsa's eyes, when she accidentally blasted Anna in the head, then once again saw present-day Anna keel over after being blasted in the heart. Devastated, she turned to Riku. "Is it true? Is Anna… dead?" she asked, silently begging for it to be anything but.
Riku believed that Hans was not being honest, and he wanted to have faith. But Anna had not looked good when he had seen her, and the situation as described by Sora and Kairi seemed dire. Even if she had not died when Hans had left her, he had no way of knowing if the situation had changed. Also, it was possible that, as far as anyone present knew, the only part that Hans had lied about was trying to help Anna.
Riku sighed. "I don't know," he answered truthfully.
No… Even after everything… I still killed her. Elsa broke down, dropping to her knees in tears. The snowstorm responded to her despair radiating out across the fjord, coming to a dead halt. The wind ceased, and the snow hung still in midair. Further away, the wind died down more slowly around the castle. As the storm calmed, the dignitaries, as well as Rapunzel, Eugene, and some guards and servants, stepped out onto the balcony outside of the council chamber, gaping in awe as the snow flurried about until it fell motionless, floating in the air.
The group looked down at the scene on the fjord, squinting to make out the figures on the ice. "There's Queen Elsa. And Prince Hans," one of the dignitaries called out, pointing to them.
"It just… stopped…" the Duke of Weselton muttered, shocked. "She just… stopped the storm."
"Riku's down there, too," Rapunzel added. She peered about and saw some more familiar faces. "And there's Kairi. Where's Sora, though?"
His attention drawn, one of the dignitaries studied the gathering to the left. "Wait, that cloak. That's Princess Anna!" he noted.
"Hoho! She's alive!" Eugene cheered. "But geez, is everyone changing their hair?"
"But wait. Prince Hans said that she was dead," another dignitary said, musing about the discrepancy.
With the snow immobile, Anna was able to see far ahead of her. "Kristoff…" she whispered as she saw him a few hundred feet away.
"Anna!" Kristoff called. He broke into a sprint. At the same time, with Kairi's help, Anna shuffled toward him. This was it. They would meet, and then an Act of True Love would save her.
Anna stopped dead when she heard the sound of a sword being drawn. "No!" Riku cried out, getting Kairi's attention as well. They turned to see Hans approach the kneeling Elsa, his sword in hand. Riku wanted to intervene, but he could barely hold himself up with his Keyblade.
"Elsa?" Anna gasped. She turned uncertainly back to Kristoff. He could reach her and save her, but then Elsa would…
She broke out of Kairi's hold and ran to Elsa. Kristoff stopped, confused, and watched her go. Hans raised his sword and swung it down at Elsa. Anna arrived just in time and put herself between the sword and her sister, letting out a cry of "No!" as she held her hand out to block the blade.
At that instant, her body turned to ice, spreading from her chest and out to her extremities. Even her clothes were petrified. Hans' sword fell on her outstretched hand just after it was frozen, and the steel blade shattered. A force blast sent Hans flying back. He hit his head as he landed and was knocked out. Anna's body exhaled a final frosty breath.
Elsa looked up, wondering what had just happened, and cried out her name in horror as she saw her frozen sister. She stood in front of her, crying, and reached out to touch her icy face.
Sora dug himself out of the snow pile and reached back in to pull Mickey out by the scruff of his cloak. Realizing that the storm had halted, he looked around to see what was going on. He gasped when he saw Elsa and her frozen sister. "Anna!" he cried out. Clambering out of the snow, he sprinted over to them. As he drew near, he was joined by Mickey, Kairi, Goofy, Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven.
Welling with guilt over what she had done but mainly sorrow for her sister's fate, Elsa hugged Anna's frozen body, crying as she wrapped herself around her.
Aqua and Donald caught up to Riku. Aqua cast Curaga on him and helped him to his feet. Everyone present looked upon the scene sorrowfully. Up on the balcony, the guests and staff bowed their heads in mourning. All was silent, save for the sound of Elsa's weeping.
There was a shimmer on Anna's chest, and it expanded outward, pulling the ice back with it. Her clothes regained their normal color rather than the crystalline blue that they had become just moments before. The shimmer moved away from her chest, going up her arm and face and down her torso and cape. Her clothes became fabric and her body became flesh. Goofy and Olaf were the first to notice, and they gasped in delight as they saw the transformation take place. Sora, Kairi, Mickey, Riku, Aqua, and Donald registered the change as well and smiled, relieved. Kristoff's gaze was downcast, so he did not see at first. Sven nudged against him to attract his attention, and he gasped when he saw what was happening. The shimmer reached Anna's extremities, and her body finally returned to normal, no longer frozen. As the last of the ice left her fingertips and feet, she took a breath and relaxed.
Feeling her body move and realizing that it was no longer ice, Elsa looked up and saw her sister smile down at her. "Anna?" She shot back up and hugged her sister tightly, who embraced her in kind. They were glad to have each other back.
"Oh, Elsa," Anna said.
They pulled apart, though still held each other's hands. "You sacrificed yourself for me?" Elsa asked.
Anna nodded. "I love you," she affirmed.
Olaf gasped as he understood what had just happened. "'An act of True Love will thaw a frozen heart'!" he recited.
"Love will thaw," Elsa mused. She considered his words and had an epiphany. "Love! Of course!" She took a step back and spread her hands, finally understanding what she had to do.
"Elsa?" Anna said in an inquisitive tone, wondering what she was doing.
"Love!" Elsa repeated. She waved her hands, and a six-pointed sigil lit up beneath her. As she worked her magic, she thought back to her childhood and how she would use her powers playfully with Anna. She remembered creating sledding mounds and snowball fights, how she and her sister laughed as they had fun together, how she used her budding abilities to cheer her parents up with a snow flurry, and how she got rid of all of the snow so that she and Anna could go to bed and continue their wintry misadventures in their dreams. The troll was right: fear had been her enemy—her own fear. Trying to restrain her powers out of fear only let the darkness in and caused her to lose faith in herself in the first place. The way to control them was the same way she had controlled them when she was a kid: with love. Love for her family, her friends, her kingdom, and her sister.
Snowflakes floated up from the ground. All of the ice magic rose into the air, separating itself from the fjord, the barges, and everything around them. The fjord turned back into seawater, and a submerged barge floated back up from beneath them. Sora was silently thankful that the barge just happened to be there. The dignitaries and townsfolk looked on in wonder as the magic carried the snow away, melted the ice, thawed the fountains, and carried away all evidence of the winter that had smothered Arendelle for the past few days. The temperature rose in the air, and everyone basked, but also began to sweat, in the warmth. Sora's clothes reverted from heavy winter layers to their usual state, much to Kristoff's bafflement. Mickey noticed that magic snow was pulled from the sky and he knew that the Lanes Between had to have also been unfrozen. Elsa gathered all of the magic snow into an enormous snowflake sigil high in the air, then spread her hands back out to disperse it.
Anna smiled at Elsa and put a hand on her shoulder. "I knew you could do it," she said proudly.
"You always had it in you," Riku agreed. Elsa smiled at him over her shoulder.
"Hands down, this is the best day of my life!" Olaf cheered. He quickly realized that he was melting in the summer heat, his snow constitution liquefying and his arms and nose falling out. "And quite possibly the last."
"Olaf! Hang on, little guy," Elsa chuckled. She waved her hand, and magic snowflakes swirled around Olaf, gathering his body up and solidifying it into a construct of frozen snow, even lifting the carrot nose and stick arm back into place. A cloud popped into existence above his head, snow falling over him in a localized area that stayed cold for him.
Olaf looked up and gasped in delight, enjoying the cloud and snowfall. "Oh, my own personal flurry!" He let out a joyous chuckle. Anna, Kairi and Goofy giggled as well.
Hearing groans, they turned to see Hans use the side of the ship to bring himself to his feet. Clenching their fists, Sora and Kristoff moved to lay into him, but Anna held her hand in front of them to stop them while Riku and Kairi restrained Sora. She smiled at them to let them know that she would handle it. Standing up straight, she marched over to confront him.
Hans looked up at her in surprise. "Anna? But… she froze your heart," he said, confused as to how she was still alive.
"The only frozen heart around here is yours," she calmly retorted. She turned around, as if to leave him there, but then whirled around and punched him in the face hard enough to send him tumbling over the side of the ship and into the water.
The dignitaries and staff on the balcony cheered as they saw Hans meet his comeuppance. "Boom! Had that coming!" Eugene remarked. He paused and looked at the others uncertainly. "Did he have that coming? I might have missed something."
Sora, Riku and Donald laughed at Hans' predicament, then watched happily as Anna and Elsa hugged once again.