The stranger swiftly drew closer, their shoes noisily kicking up gravel as they ran, their winged blade gleaming a dull, blood red in the sunlight.
Sora stared down at his bracer, eyes wide and mouth agape. The sigils on it weren't lighting up. There was no shield. It wasn't doing anything. He gave his wrist a few flicks, trying to shake the device into activity. Still his brace remained dead. What, had the stupid thing's batteries ran out?
...did it even have batteries?
He looked up to see that the hooded figure was almost on top of him. With no time, he shielded himself with his arm, hoping the metal of the bracer would be enough to parry the attack.
But the attack never came.
At the last second the figure leapt, sailing over Sora's head and landing behind him. Blinking, Sora flailed on the ground like an overturned tortoise, trying to spin around. He turned just in time to watch as the stranger swung their weapon, slicing a Heartless clear in half and dispersing into a puff of dingy smoke.
That's when it clicked. The person hadn't been attacking him. They had been protecting him.
That'd also explain why his shield hadn't work. It only activated when he was the target of a strike. He thought the stranger had been aiming for him, but they had instead been aiming for a Heartless that had appeared behind him.
Sora watched as the person smoothly readjusted their stance to skewer their sword through a second Heartless that had been leaping through the air towards them. It too exploded into nothing more than mere shadows. It was then that Sora realized that he and his new "friend" were surrounded. A small horde of Heartless had gathered around them, forming a ring, caging them in.
The hooded figure had their back to Sora, sword poised in one hand before them, the other hand behind as they waved it hastily in his direction. Their message was clear.
Stay down. Leave this to me.
Sora snorted with a smirk.
Fat chance.
He called forth his Keyblade in a blast of pure light and hopped up onto his feet. Blue eyes calculating, he scanned the enemies around them. Then the corner of his eyes crinkled as an idea came to him. He began to concentrate and without a word, his Keyblade started to glow. It was dull at first, but it steadily grew brighter and brighter. Soon it was so brilliant that it seemed to dim everything around it by comparison, as if it was sucking the light right out of its very surroundings. Slowly, Sora drew his weapon back over his shoulder.
The stranger hadn't noticed what was occurring, their full attention still on their foes as the shadow monsters crept in closer. Every muscle in their body was rigid and it was clear they were about to release an onslaught of attacks. They only managed to move one step however before Sora threw his arm forward with all his might and let the Keyblade soar.
It spun rapidly as it flew over the other person's right shoulder, bright and fast, a streak of blinding light tearing through space. It struck the first Heartless and the creature erupted into black mist instantaneously. The blazing white Keyblade then bounced to the right, perfectly aimed for another Heartless, ending in the same result. It continued on its path of destruction, ricocheting from one shadow to the next, obliterating every single one it came into contact with. The stranger's hood shifted back and forth in stunned silence as they tried to keep track of the weapon's erratic movements.
Finally there were no Heartless left. Having left a scattered trail of smoke in its wake, the Keyblade redirected its course once again, this time shooting straight for the person in Riku's jacket. They barely ducked down in time, twisting around to see Sora catch it in his hand.
No longer in motion, the light died down and Sora slung the humongous key over his shoulder, a smug grin on his face as he swiped a thumb over his nose.
Heh. Leave it to who?
He watched as the hood tipped to the left in curiousity.
"Oh this? This is the Keyblade," he explained, puffing up his chest as he answered the unvoiced question. Then he eyed the stranger's batwinged blade with a frown. "I see you have a strange weapon yourself."
Their shoulders went stiff as they looked down at the sword they carried. With a flick of their wrist, the weapon disappeared in the same fashion as it had materialized in. Sora furrowed his brow. It was hard to tell without being able to see their face, but with the haste behind the gesture, it almost felt like they were… ashamed?
The person hesitated after that, then began to approach him, reaching a hand tentatively towards Sora's weapon. Sora asked, "You want to know more about it? Well, it's basically Heartless kryptonite. Heartless are those things we just wailed on, but maybe you already knew that. It can also open or seal anything, like locked doors and containers and-"
He abruptly clamped his mouth shut. He had been about to tell them about the Keyholes. However for some reason he couldn't explain even to himself, something was telling him not to share that bit of information with this stranger. Even though part of him felt that holding back that little tidbit was the right call, it didn't sit well with him.
The hooded figure stared up at him, waiting patiently for him to continue. Sora cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head. "And… you know, just other stuff… like that," he finished lamely.
The stranger continued to watch him a few seconds, not saying anything. It was a struggle for Sora not to fidget under the scrutiny. Then the hood abruptly turned to the left, as if something behind them had caught their attention. Raising an eyebrow, Sora looked passed them, but nothing was there. The person grew very still as the silence stretched on.
Just as Sora was about to say something, they suddenly stumbled backwards and their whole body quivered. Their hands flew up to cover the sides of their head, covering where their ears would be under the hood, as if they were trying to block out sounds. But there were none.
"Woah, what's wrong?" Sora asked in concern. The person stamped a foot and gripped their head tighter as they began to shake it from side to side. "Are you okay? Is there something I can do?"
He began to raise a hand towards them, but they swatted it away, their knuckles colliding with his bracer. As quickly as it had started, it was over - whatever it was. The stranger's violent tremors stilled and their hands fell to their sides. And just like that, they had a new interest. They reached a hand out once more, this time pointing at his brace.
"Huh?" he asked, both eyebrows shooting up his forehead.
What had that been about?
And how had the person seemed to forget about it so easily?
They pointed at his armguard again, and he lifted his arm so they could get a better look at it. "...you want to know what this is? Well… it's actually kind of neat. It was given to me by some people who helped me after I was separated from my friends. See the different sigils on it? They all do cool things. This one projects this awesome green shield made of light." He pointed at a symbol that resembled a dog. Seemingly intrigued, the hooded figure began to reach out to touch the bracer. "And this other one-"
As soon as the stranger's fingers brushed the metal of the brace, the very symbol Sora had been pointing at, depicting a duck, flared up a brilliant, piercing blue. The armguard emitted loud, angry sounds of static and sparks flew from it. Sora didn't feel a thing, but the other person clearly did. They whipped their hand back as if burned.
Sora's eyes widened. "Wha- Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I don't know what happened. When I showed it to Elsa and Axel, it didn't- oh! That's right, you don't know who they are. They're my friends. They helped me out a few days back and now we're all traveling together."
He paused briefly as an idea began to form and his face brightened. "Why don't you come with us? I think you'll like them if you meet them! You'll never believe it, they've got, like… badass superpowers. Elsa controls ice and blizzards and stuff, while Axel flings fire from his fingertips all pew, pew, pew!" He made finger guns and mimed shooting them off with his improvised sound effects. His bracer caught his eye again and he frowned thoughtfully at it.
"One sec," he muttered before turning his back to the person and walking over to the forklift. "This thing is ancient and probably just going haywire. It probably just needs a good-" Rather than continuing his explanation, he decided to show instead of tell as he banged the armband against the hard surface of the construction vehicle. The bracer sparked and buzzed some more in protest before settling down again. "There! That should do it. No more zapping my new buddy. Anyway, follow me and I'll-"
His words died in his throat as he turned back around to discover he was now alone. He blinked. "Eh? Where'd you go?" The only answer he received was silence.
He spent the next several minutes calling out and searching the construction site, but the person in Riku's jacket was nowhere to be seen. It was if they had simply vanished.
Sora finally came to a stop as he gave up with a huff. It was no use, they were long gone.
He didn't know who this person was or what they wanted. What he did know was that they had fought the Heartless with him, so they couldn't be all bad. And he was sure there was no shortage of Heartless to be found in this city, so chances were good he'd run into them again.
Maybe then he could get some real answers.
Sneakers pounded hard against the sidewalk as the person in Riku's hoodie ran. They hardly paid any attention to where they were going, and it was up to other people to get out of the way if they didn't want to be knocked off their feet.
It had not been part of the plan to split on Sora without warning like that. But then, it also had not been part of the plan for Sora to become some sort of... Chosen One or whatever. The Keyblade? That strange gadget on his wrist? Even those strangers he had mentioned he was now traveling with… his...
...friends...
You mean his new friends, a voice that was not their own tickled the back of their mind.
Their only reaction was to run faster.
Oh, come now, there's no need to sulk. Just because he has... replaced you...
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" they spat as they skidded to a stop, clasping their hands over their ears once more. The flow of the crowd on the busy sidewalk quickly adjusted, giving the person a wide berth. "I haven't been replaced!"
You don't need that wretched boy anyway. The voice was soft and like honey. Not when you have me now…
They snorted as they dropped their hands and balled them into fists. "You… I don't even know what you are!" they snarled. Several people began crossing the street to avoid the weirdo yelling at a voice no one else could hear. The person in Riku's hoodie didn't notice. "I seriously doubt you're a friend though."
At least I've never lied to you.
They went rigid. "That… Sora didn't-"
He did. He tried to deceive you. But we know better, don't we? We know all about the Keyholes… A chorus of echoes accompanied the last word, reverberating throughout their mind.
"...I'm sure he had his reasons."
Who are you trying to convince? Me? Or yourself? Hidden within the confines of the hood, the person's face twisted into a petulant scowl, and the voice laughed. It was dry and throaty and wholly terrible to hear. No matter. On to other topics. Would it please you to know that your search is almost over? The other person you have been seeking is close… I can sense him.
That caught their attention. "Where?" There was a determined edge to their voice as they demanded, "Take me to him."
As the lightning coursed and writhed along Larxene's form, some of it began to gather around her finger tips. Thorned, black wisps appeared and swirled around her hands. The current crackled and danced angrily in her palms, a chaotic, ever changing web of light growing brighter until in a blinding flash, it was suddenly gone. In its place, resting between her fingers that had curled into fists, were now several knives. They each had a blue handle in the shape of a cross and a yellow blade that was small, but lethal looking.
Elsa gulped.
Larxene arms slashed the air, one after the other, as she let loose all her knives. As Elsa scrambled to dodge the first volley of yellow streaks, one blurred passed her face and left her cheek with a stinging sensation. She couldn't dwell on it as the next wave of daggers were a split second behind the first. She barely had time to duck beneath them, eyes wide and heart racing as she heard the knives sink into the wall behind her with loud thunks. She looked to her left to check on Axel and found him crouched low beside her.
They had a beat to exchange glances before a behemoth lightning bolt tore through the air towards them. They leapt apart to opposite sides of the alley just as it struck the ground between them, bursting the asphalt into smoking rubble.
Scarcely having landed, Axel whipped a hand to one side and it was immediately enveloped with fire. It churned and condensed into a blazing ball that he hurled as Larxene.
She gracefully sidestepped the projectile and it sailed harmlessly past her, exploding against a wall and leaving it charred. With a cruel smirk that sent a chill down Elsa's spine, Larxene flung one arm in an arc, unleashing another bolt of lightning.
Elsa had seen Sora cast lightning spells before, but what Larxene could do put that to shame.
The devastating thunderstroke hurtled towards Axel as he threw both his hands up in front of him. Again, flames burst into existence in his palms, flaring out wide and spinning around white hot cores. The electricity collided with the swirling, fiery disks and dispersed wildly in all directions, scorching the walls and floor. As the last of the lightning was grounded, the fire wheels flickered out to be replaced with Axel's chakrams. He folded his fingers around the handles in the center of each and then, without hesitation, he charged at Larxene.
Every bone in Elsa's body screamed at her to help him. Without a thought, she swept an arm back and in her arced fingers, an ice shard began rapidly forming. The temperature in her palm was subarctic as the air crystallized. However the icicle, barely having begun to take shape, shattered when something suddenly wrapped tightly around her wrist, breaking her concentration. She swallowed a yelp as she looked down to find a-
What... the hell is that?!
Some sort of pure white, vaguely human-shaped creature had latched its hand onto her. Well, if one could call it a hand, as it was more of a fingerless, palmless arm - a tentacle really. The thing was slightly shorter than her, with a lithe and stick-like body. It swayed from side to side, its limbs relaxed and seemingly boneless. It had no eyes, no nose, nothing but a mouth that was zipped tight. Literally, a zipper fastened it shut. The crown of its head was flat with some strange emblem printed upon it.
Taking a step back, Elsa tried to yank her wrist free. To her surprise, its arm stretched like elastic and snapped back, its grip holding firm. She blinked, then gave it another tug, only for it to bounce back again. The creature cocked its head to the side as if to say, Bring it, I could do this all day.
She swung her free arm, preparing to give the thing a face full of ice. Unfortunately, she did not get very far as she felt something suddenly fasten around her other wrist. With a groan, she turned her head to find a second creature exactly like the first, her wrist held in its clutches. Both her arms were now restrained.
The creature on the right, the new one, gave her arm a downward jerk, forcing her to hunch forward and bring her face to face with it. She grit her teeth, trying to pull back as the thing's mouth began to unzip of its own accord. It slowly opened to reveal a set of slate black, saw-like teeth that were grinning at her in a most unsettling fashion. The teeth parted unhurriedly before snapping shut again with a loud chomp!
A noise emitted from Elsa's throat that was something akin to a squeak as one thought crossed her mind. Screw this! She clenched her right fist and focused her will into it. Flecks of snow began to swirl around it and frost started forming on the creature's arm. Sparse and fragile at first, it swiftly expanded and hardened, coating the appendage in a thick layer of ice. The monster looked from her to its hand, now appearing to be less confident in the situation.
When its arm was completely frozen over, Elsa wrenched her own arm upward with all her might. The ice fractured, then shattered into thousands of tiny pieces as the creature fell flailing backwards. Not wasting a second, she enveloped her now free hand in a fresh layer of hard ice and expanded it out, forming a gleaming, two foot long spike of ice at the end of her arm. She stabbed it down into the monster that still held her other hand in its vice-like grip. The thing vanished in a burst of hundreds of tiny lights that scattered and flickered out.
She turned to deal with the other one and her head shot up. It was no longer alone. There were now several more behind it, walking towards her in the same boneless swagger the first two had had. She did not know what these things wanted, but they were most likely with Larxene, so it probably wasn't good. She raised her left arm and from it grew another sharp icicle identical to the one on her other hand. With a snarl, she prepared to face them head on.
Her snarl drew Axel's attention and he started to turn his head to check on her. He did not get a chance however as Larxene attempted to take advantage his distraction. Her daggers had returned to her by now and were once again nestled between her curled fingers as she tried to rake the blades across Axel's chest. He was forced to raise a chakram in a hasty block.
Their weapons momentarily locked, Larxene leaned in closer to him, favoring him with a nasty smile. "She is not your concern at the moment. I am."
He returned the smile with an equal amount of nastiness. "But Larxene, I'm always concerned about you. After all, weren't you dropped on the head as a baby or something?"
"You're one to talk," she said flatly, suddenly crouching down and sweeping a leg out, trying to knock his feet out from under him. He leapt out of the way just in time, his legs folding up into him, his knees against his chest. As he landed, he raised one arm over his head and it, along with his chakram, ignited in an inferno before he slashed it horizontally through the air. The flames were flung from his arm, swirling in on themselves and growing, until a cyclone of fire surged towards Larxene.
She cartwheeled out of the way, propelling herself on one hand. As soon as she regained her footing, she flung a handful of her daggers at him. He swatted the first few away with his chakrams and dodged the last couple. The crackling sound of thunder abruptly came from overhead, and Axel just managed to skid to a stop in time as a bolt of lightning struck the ground right in front of him. He altered his course to close the distance between him and Larxene, zigzagging to avoid being electrocuted as more bolts rained down from the sky in his wake. His chakrams began to spin his hands like buzzsaws and he held them in front of him as he sprung at her.
She struck forward the hand that still held knives, catching the spikes of the chakrams between her weapons and bringing the spinning to a grinding halt, proving just how strong she and her daggers were. The fight came to a brief standstill once again. He was panting. Her breathing was heavy.
"Brings back memories, doesn't it?" Larxene asked between breaths. "Late night training and sparring… sweating… tension rising… and… unwinding afterwards…"
He harrumphed. "Violence is foreplay for you. It never was for me."
She raised a thin eyebrow at him. "I never heard any complaints from you."
"Hey, girls have needs, even psychopaths like you. Who was I to deny them?"
"Pig." She threw a punch at him, her fist crackling with energy. He ducked, narrowly avoiding the hit. As he straightened up once more, he flashed her a shit-eating grin.
"Ha! Ya missed!" He didn't see her arm coming back from the other direction with just as much force. The back of her fist slammed him square in the jaw and electricity pulsed painfully through his flesh. Dazed, he bounced backwards to put some space between them as he tried to see straight again. He blinked a few times and worked his jaw. It felt like it had gotten into a fight with an electric toaster and lost, but at least nothing seemed to be broken. Still, it would leave a mark.
"You hit like a girl," he said, his words slurring together a bit.
As his vision snapped back into focus, he saw her shaking her head. She demanded, "Why?"
"Maybe because you have lady parts?"
"Not that," she snapped before letting out a sigh. "If you were any dumber, you'd be a friggin' sea cucumber. No, why have you turned your back on the Organization? Why have you gone rogue? Why are you doing all of this?"
One corner of his mouth upturned. "Turned my back? Gone rogue? Who said I was doing any of that stuff? I think there's been a major misunderstanding here."
She stuck her hip out to one side, resting a hand on it. "You could see where I'd get confused, you know, the way you've been attacking me for the past several minutes."
"To be fair, you threw the first punch," he shrugged.
"Well if somebody hadn't fried my phone… Now who was that? Oh right. That was you."
"Oh that? I was just messing with ya. Didn't think you'd get all bent out of shape about it. You were due for an upgrade anyway."
"And her?" Larxene looked passed him. She was watching Elsa.
His face was blank as he asked, "What about her?"
"Don't think I haven't noticed the way she's throwing ice and snow around."
His head turned to one side as he said, "She hasn't exactly been hiding it, so you'd have to be pretty dense to miss it. But well done, Captain Obvious. You expecting a gold star for your observation?"
"The point is you did make a little stop in Arendelle," she said, her tone sickenly sweet. "So if you're not a turncoat, why is she here and not already delivered to headquarters?"
"Oh, you thought she was that girl?" Axel laughed, placing his hands on his hips, the flats of his chakrams resting against his sides. "No, the Arendelle girl was already dropped off at HQ days ago. This is a different girl. You'd be surprised how many people have freeze powers nowadays. They're a dime a dozen. Like weeds, really."
"Is that so?" She giggled into her hand. "Well, if people with her power are so common, why do we need another? After all, what do you do with a weed besides…" she pointed her hand at Elsa, golden sparks flying around her fingers, "...pluck it? That is, unless that would bother you?"
He lazily raised an eyebrow. "Bother? Why would I be bothered?"
"Oh, I don't know…maybe you got attached to your shiny new toy? But that would be silly, wouldn't it?"
"Pfft. Me? Attached? Please." He gave her a mocking half bow with a sweep of the hand. "Be my guest."
"With pleasure," she purred. The static circling her hand intensified into lightning as she prepared to release a fatal strike.
"Just one thing," Axel piped up. "One tiny little detail you should know."
Larxene asked impatiently, "And that would be?"
In the blink of an eye, Axel had chucked both his chakrams at her. The whirling wheels of fire and metal blurred towards her and she barely dodged out of the way in time. She moved to retaliate, fist still electrically charged, ready to light Axel up like a neon sign.
But he was no longer standing before her. He was nowhere to be seen.
"She is not your concern," his voice growled from behind her, echoing her earlier words. She turned and was met with Axel's knee striking her hard in the gut. She grunted, doubled over in pain and staggered back a few steps.
It was time to go. Like, right now. Larxene was stunned, but Axel knew it wouldn't last long. He had only bought them a few seconds at best. He rushed past Larxene so he could grab Elsa and split. Elsa's back was to the Nobodies, oblivious to all that had just occurred as she cleaved a group of her opponents with one of her ice blades. Just as he was about to reach her, he heard that tell-tale sound of crackling behind him. Too soon, his mind raced.
He spun around on his heel, the sole of his Converse scraping against the ground, and threw out both hands in front of him as intertwined, jagged bolts of lightning flew towards him.
Elsa felt something brush against her back. Thinking it was another of these strange monsters trying to sneak up behind her, she whipped around and raised one of her icicles overhead, ready to impale it. Instead she was faced with Axel's back, arms stretched out before him and at his fingertips, a giant, swirling dark portal. He was using a Corridor of Darkness as a shield against Larxene's assault, a monstrous stream of lightning that seemed to flow unending from her hand and into the void.
Larxene showed no signs of running out of energy any time soon. She seemed at ease, in fact, as she took one step forward. Then another. She was closing the distance between her and them.
Elsa did not know if holding open the dark portal was taxing on Axel. At least he showed no hint of tiring. But exhaustion was not the issue here. What was was the fact that Axel could not move or stop concentrating on the portal, not unless he wanted to drop it and allow the both of them to be electrocuted. And with Larxene moving closer, what would happen to them when she got within arm's reach?
She turned back around. Though she had managed to destroy several of the weird creatures, still more remained, with new ones appearing every second. Their numbers seemed to be without limits.
They were blocked on both sides, trapped in the middle of the alley. Running wasn't an option. But there had to be some way to escape. She glanced over her shoulder at Axel again, then was struck with a thought.
"Axel!" she called.
His eyes remained focused on his task. "Little busy here."
"If we used a Corridor of Darkness to get out of here, would Larxene be able to track where we came out?"
He looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. "Don't you think I considered that already? The darkness will hurt you and-"
She cut him off. "But will she be able to follow us?"
Axel was silent for a second. Finally, he said, "Unlikely. But the darkness-"
"It doesn't matter. Do it," she snapped as she banged the two frozen spikes that encased her hands together, letting them shatter and melt away. She then swept her arm wide, releasing a powerful, wintry gust of air that knocked the closest wave of monsters several yards back, giving herself and Axel some much needed space. "Do it now!"
There was no further argument. Elsa suddenly felt Axel's arm wrap around her waist as he yanked her off her feet. Then everything went black.
Author's Note: Wooooooow, can you say intense?! And yessss, if you couldn't tell by now, I do love my little cliffhangers in this series xD This is definitely not the first, and trust me when I say this is far from the last.
If you squint, you can see some parallels between the first scene this chapter and the first reunion between Sora and Riku in KH1. I've had some interesting guesses so far on who the person in Riku's hoodie might be :3 Again, not gonna say before it is revealed in the story… just gonna keep dropping hints that will point all over the place and keep you guys guessing xD I'm sure this chapter didn't help at all, but boy, do I love the intrigue.
And hoped you liked the battle in the second half of the chapter! Larxene is a lot of fun to write, and Axel and Larxene sassing each other is HELLA fun to write!
What's gonna happen to our intrepid heroes next? You're gonna have to wait to find out, because next update we peek in on Punzie again, since it's been a couple chapters since we've seen her!
Fun Fact - One year (and 5 days) ago today I started posting my fanfictions for my silly little crack pairing! That's right, on 2/13/2016 I posted the first chapter of Ice Breaker! I have been writing for this pairing a LOT longer than 1 year, but Feb 13th marks the anniversary of the day that I actually had the guts to start posting those stories that had been gathering dust on my computer xD Wow, I can't believe a year has already gone by. Thank you so much for sticking around and enjoying my stories, your support has been greatly appreciated and very helpful in keeping me motivated! I hope you continue to enjoy my writing and heres to many more years!
Special thanks and much love to everyone who reviewed, faved and followed this quirky little story! Thank you all for reading, hoped you liked it, please leave a review and let me know what you think! Until next time, hope you all have a wonderful week!