[IC] Kingdom Hearts: Darkness Reborn

[Renose]

Snow... man? Sounded like some type of frost golem if one would ask Elim. A man made out of snow? Seemed like a completely childish name. Frost Elemental or even Frost or Snow Golem sounded alot more probable than a human being made out of snow. Perhaps though this Kasus, not that he had said his name yet unless Elim hadn't been paying attention, was either more of a fool or more well knowledgeable than he thought. "If you're referring to Frost Elementals or even Frost Golems when you say..." Elim paused for a moment, the term itself sounding ridiculous. "Snow man... then yes, that is exactly what I mean." Others may have thought of the snowman thing as a joke, but the blue haired adventurer was not one for jokes.

"If we do face one, I hope you all know how to conjure Fire. Otherwise, you'll all be dead." That was the last Elim said on that matter before taking the lead, walking ahead of the rest a few yards, sword always at the ready as they trekked. Even if Jared was their "leader" because of his powerful Keyblade, Elim still decided that it would be best if he take lead, or didn't really decide but just did so naturally, knowing how to move more quickly in this snowy environment since it was just like home to him, or more accurately far north of his home where he spent several very long years of his life chasing after people whose carcasses he wanted to feed to bears. But still... "home" nonetheless.

[Double]

"Er, that's not exactly what he meant..." Jared said to Elim, grinning despite himself at the boy's apparent lack of knowledge of snowmen, "Snowmen are... well, kids sort of build them out of snow, then use coal and carrots to give it a face, then finally giving it a scarf and hat so it appears more human. It's just harmless fun, really. No danger or fighting involved." his explanation of snowmen was basic as can be, but still served its purpose. He was walking by this point, watching Elim move further ahead. Why was he even acting as the de facto leader? Was it the Keyblade? His ability to fly the ship? He didn't really know, but somehow he just ended up in the role, and for now just went with it.

He had to admit that Serene made a good point. Here they were, thrust together into a perilous situation by the hand of fate, and they hadn't really introduced themselves yet. Fortunately, Simo and Kasus were quick to agree and remedied that by introducing themselves, while Elim did so with what Jared believed to be hesitation or reluctance. Still, it seemed he was the only one now who had to talk about himself, "I'm Jared," he finally said, "and the old man who saved us back in Lunaris was Dion, he's my... well, I guess you could say he's like a foster father. He took me in after all, gave me a home when no one else would..." his voice trailed slightly when he started thinking of the old man. How was he anyway? He'd said something about buying the others time to escape... did that mean he actually tried to fight those Judges?

Jared shook his head, wishing not to think about it decided instead to focus on finding that princess and queen, "Well, according to Hans the princess went toward the mountains when she went after her sister, so I would think that's as good a place as any to start. I just hope those Heartless haven't got to her already." having said that, he picked up the pace, starting to realize that both their targets may very well have fallen prey to the Heartless as the Prince nearly did, in which case he wanted to find them all the sooner. For now, the travel was uneventful, but by sundown the intrepid adventurers found themselves staring up at the frost covered mountain that overlooked the now-distant Arendelle.

"Well, no place to go but up, right?" asked Jared, beginning to look around for some kind of path or at the very least a spot suitable for climbing. He hadn't elaborated about his past to the others, but back home he was quite an accomplished swimmer and climber, so finding a way to get up this blasted mountain would have to fall to his shoulders as he assumed he was the one with the most climbing experience.

[Renose]

Elim didn't really get the point of spilling each others' pasts to one another. A name was all that was necessary. There was no need to be friends, Elim didn't really care much about this whole judge predicament or whatever else was going on. He was only here because he got dragged into this, and the only reason he is sticking around these people is because they seem to know much more about world travel than he did. Still, despite them knowing more about world travel, they sure didn't know much about wilderness travel. Just what was this world like where these people grew up to the point where they could be so decadent?

Elim heaved a heavy shy and shook his head. "I hate to be the one to get us off track, but as we are now we will die if we go up there. We need food, water, and other such things. While water may be accessible from melting snow or the usage of Ice magic, we still need food. We should either find a town or start hunting for whatever sort of creatures that are around here. We'll just be heading straight into death's maw if we try to climb a mountain with no food in our system. As urgent as it is to complete our goal, we won't even be able to save the snow at our feet if we walk up there unprepared".

Elim had a couple days rations in his pack upon his back, but they were small, and split among four people would maybe last a single day, if they ate smaller portions even. That wasn't necessarily helpful. "I have a little food with me, but it's barely anything. We'll need more if we want to survive up there. If we could get some horses as well that could help, assuming that they even have such creatures in this world..." Elim just shook his head, wondering why they were even doing this again, or at least why the Prince didn't give them more to help them on their quest. Not that Elim would ask lest be rude to royalty and be executed for it, but still, according to his own assumptions, they were woefully unprepared for a snowy mountain climb.

[Thundercat]

Elementals? Golems? Kasus was either in over his head when it came to snow and forests or Elim came from a world more interesting than he had previously thought. Even with a substantial knowledge of different winter creatures and such, the boy's reaction to the word snowman was surprising. He almost appeared baffled. Kasus grinned slightly as Jared spoke up on the matter. He looked back and forth between Jared and Elim, watching with delight as an actual explanation of a snowman was unfolding. Than again, he didn't know what elementals or golems were, so maybe lacking knowledge in snowmen wasn't too surprising. Elim declared that the ability to conjure fire would be mandatory, then walked off ahead of the group. Kasus gripped his halberd, placing the weapon behind his back as he grasped it from behind with both hands before squinting his eyes at the blue haired warrior, curious as to why he seemed so serious.

Jared began to introduce himself. Kasus listened curiously and was glad to hear he wasn't the only one in the group from Lunaris. Even so he kept quiet. He purposely avoided introducing himself and it seemed that went by unnoticed. The others had such interesting backgrounds. Jared was raised by that old man that fought off the heartless so easily and saved Kasus', Elim was...well, he didn't know anything. But that in it's own way was interesting, it made him appear mysterious, a rouge warrior or something. Simo lived in the forest which was by far the funnest thing he could comprehend and Serene was in search of a lost loved one. Kasus almost felt out of place. What could he say to the others? "Hello, I was born on Lunaris and one day i'm going to inherit a general store,"

How boring.

Jared brought up Hans' instructions, they were to head towards the mountains. Not much to go off of, but there weren't many options. The excitement of exploring a new world was slowly being numbed by the blistering cold of Arendelle. Kasus wrapped his halberd around himself using a strap and zipped his coat up. He breathed out slowly and his eyes shot open at the sight of his own breath. He wasn't aware at certain temperatures one could see there own breathing and was somewhat fascinated at the sight of it. This kept him entertained briefly but soon the cold became a burden once more. As beautiful and interesting winter is, it would take some getting used too. Kasus walked beside Jared as the group progressed.

Eventually, a frost covered mountain towered over them. To his dismay Jared recommended going straight up. Thankfully, Elim proposed that they gather supplies beforehand.
"Horses would be neat," Kasus exclaimed, "But, wouldn't we have to buy them or something? Do we have money for that? Or even anything to trade," Kasus gave a look of disappointment, if he had a chance to pack some belongings on Lunaris before being rushed into space, he'd have plenty of odds and trinkets that could be traded. He knew some salesmen even accepted hanging onto collateral, but he would have nothing to give. Sadly all he has are the clothes on his back.

Kasus' stomach unfortunately began to rumble, he hadn't a chance to eat breakfast this morning, with all the heartless and all. "Food isn't a bad idea either," he muttered, clutching his belly.

[Sezir]

Serene listened to everyone as they spoke and started to travel up the mountain. She stayed quite until they had some how come upon the subject of snowmen. She had never heard of that word. She tried to wrap her head around it. S.. N... O.. W.. Man? What a peculiar name. She though to her self as the began to speak. As Serene's head began to bang loud thunderous bangs she looked around and nothing was amiss. They where talking about stuff to trade. The banging became louder and before she knew it she was having another memory. There she was in a desert land. There in front of her was a giantict cloud of sand. She started to run but it was difficult to move almost as if it was heavy. She looked down in her hands and there was a ruby the size of a flat baseball. She quickly came to the present. She fell to the ground and knew where she had put the ruby. She emptied the continents of her out bag and tore open the seems there in the bottom of her bag was the ruby in all it's shiny glory. She said pleased with her self I don't think that will be a problem.

[Card Captor]

"I can go hunting if we need" Simo offered "that's kind of how I provided for myself back home. Of course I'm used to hunting and tracking in a forest...but I'm sure that doing it in a snowy landscape won't take too much adjusting to". So far, the biggest change that he had to deal with was the cold. However Simo was already so energetic that he was able to stave off the chilling winds. "I wouldn't even mind doing it either; It'll give me an excuse to explore this place a little. I wonder what kind of creatures are in this place, and what they taste like" he mused. "Maybe I could even find something big enough that we could we could make some climbing gear out of it's bones. I'll admit, I've never made something designed to help climb a mountain, but I can't imagine that it would be too different from tree climbing equipment"

[Double]

"Good point," started Jared, but followed up with an argument of his own, "but the more time we spend doing this other stuff, the more likely it is the Princess will die herself. So that leaves us with the million munny question. How should we manage what little time we can spare?" he scratched his head a bit in thought, it was quite a conundrum and such things were not exactly his strong point. Still, both he and Elim made valid points which meant they had to be smart about how to use their time. Simo offered to do some hunting and in response Jared shrugged, "I guess that's a start, though I'd feel better if you took someone with you so you're not completely alone out there."

Suddenly a scream could be heard coming from down the mountain, followed by barks that sounded like they were getting closer.

Jared whirled around to face where the sound came from, now hearing the sound of things running through the snow. Then, all at once, a reindeer sped past, pulling a sled behind him. The sled had riders; a young man, a young woman, and a... snowman? In any case, Jared had to dive to side to avoid being run over. The guy driving the sled only saw him at the last moment, and tried in vain to yank on the reins, causing the reindeer to veer sharply off course, the sled sharply turning with it and then rolling over in the snow. But that was the least of everyone's problems. The sled was currently being chased, and its pursuers had now caught up and surround everyone. They looked like wolves with pitch black fur. Jared staggered to his feet and finally noticed the creatures himself. Something was... off about these wolves. They didn't seem... natural. Of course, when they got closer and revealed their glowing yellow eyes, Jared nearly jumped, calling the Keyblade to his hand in sharp alarm.

"Heartless!" he exclaimed sharply, barking a warning to his friends. Seemed it was time for yet another battle. No rest for the wicked, as they say.

Cue Music

[Renose]

It seemed like Jared agreed with the fact that they should prepare. Of course, they would have to be swift in their preparations or the Princess could die before they got there. Before Elim could interject though, barking could be heard. Very familiar barking. Elim had heard the sound of that form of barking before. Wolves. Or so Elim assumed anyway. Regardless of what they were, Elim was quick to draw his blade, focusing for just a moment before, in a small blue flash of light, the sword was now a short spear, Elim holding the weapon at the ready. "Wolves most likely... ready yourselves..."

Then a sled came by, Elim recognizing this type of vehicle. The young man and woman, both normal humans. The third passenger of the sleigh made Elim raise an eyebrow and stare for a moment. An Ice Elemental or Construct of some sort? Here? Still, its small size and somewhat... strange appearance made Elim ignore it for now. He could investigate it later, for now they had some wolves to worry about. "Heartless that take the form of wolves? These creatures are full of surprises...still, it should make a decent warm up."

With that, Elim charged forward, spear in hand. Swords were good weapons, but the best type of weapon against most four legged beasts was a spear, something that could be used to keep the sharp fangs and talons at a distance. First, with a single arcane word, he let out a burst of flame from his palm towards the group of wolves, aiming for the one in the front. After the burst he lunged forward, gritting his teeth and planting his feet down as he aimed to plant his spear into the wolf with as much force as he could muster to try and destroy the beast.

[Thundercat]

"I'll go with him!" Kasus exclaimed regarding Simo's hunting partner. He had never hunted anything in his life and wanted to see as much of the forest as possible, despite the freezing temperature. "What kind of animals can we hunt? Squirrels? Deer?" The idea of hunting was exciting for Kasus. He had only seen wildlife in books and photographs given to him by traveling merchants that would visit the shop. He longed to feel the touch of an animals fur, however it hadn't really occurred to him that they would be killing any wildlife they found so they wouldn't starve.

There was no time for anyone to reply to the question. A scream could suddenly be heard in the distance, along with some kind of indistinguishable yet aggressive sound. Elim claimed it was wolves, which was the moment Kasus pieced together the fact that the sound was barking. Something he had never heard before. Part of him was excited to meet the furry creatures, but the look on Elim's face made him think otherwise. Kasus opened his mouth to ask a question when almost immediately a sled came from practically nowhere, almost running the group over in it's path. Kasus dove for the snow for the second time today, regretting his decision as his face and chest stung from the cold. The sound of the sled crashing could be heard along with the wolves that were now surrounding the group. Kasus picked his head up from the snow, appalled at the sight of the not so furry and friendly creatures.

"Heartless!" Jared shouted, and almost on instinct Kasus grabbed his weapon from the snow and jumped to his feet, taking a moment to balance himself before holding a defensive stance. He was barely used to combat at all, not to mention he had zero experience with his current weapon and he was freezing cold.

During the commotion Elim had garnered some of the wolves attention with his attack and Kasus quickly tried to take advantage of the distraction, sprinting towards a heartless before swinging his halberd at the creature. Unfortunately, his attack was too slow, and the wolf too quick. The monster hopped away from Kasus and immediately leaped back towards him, tackling the boy to the ground followed with a ferocious growl. It was quickly going for the kill. The only thing keeping the wolves teeth from ripping a chunk from Kasus' neck was the halberd that he gripped onto for dear life, he had managed to lodge the weapon into the wolves mouth while being tackled. Saliva dripped from the creature's teeth, he could feel it's hot breath inches from his face and grimaced in disgust. This wasn't how he pictured meeting wildlife would be like at all.

Pulling his legs inwards, he shoved his shoes into the wolves stomach, kicking the heartless off of himself before jumping to his feet. During the scuffle his jacket had been ripped off, the only winter attire he had with him now lay on the floor and there was no time to put it back on. The boy was already fatigued and began to catch his breath, his body and mind couldn't handle the weather, nor the vicious creature before him that now began to circle around his position ready to finish the boy off. Kasus had never experienced anything like this. To his dismay another wolf decided to join in on the meal and began to circle Kasus as well. He gripped his halberd, taking a defensive once more, preparing himself for the onslaught.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god!"

The two heartless sprinted at the boy simultaneously. Kasus quickly made the decision to focus his counter attack on one enemy, rather than trying to take them both out at the same time. He sprinted towards the heartless that had initially attacked him and leaped into the air. Halberd in both hands Kasus slammed the weapon down onto the creatures head, sending it face-first into the snow. Immediately after this attack the other wolf collided into Kasus from behind. He and the wolf spun midair before landing in the snow. By chance Kasus landed on top of the wolf which was disoriented from the collision leaving it wide open for the killing blow.

It took almost all of Kasus' energy to lift his halberd into the air and plunge it directly into the wolf's side, causing the creature to combust into darkness. The halberd remained stuck in the snow. Kasus sat on his knees, gripping the weapon for support as the rest of his allies continued to fight around him. He was breathing heavily, a sharp pain could be felt throughout his right shoulder. It was hard to see with all the snow, he could hardly breath, he was shivering violently and his shoulder ached in pain, not to mention the battle raging on in front of him. Kasus had never so badly wished to be home.

For the first time in his life, he was afraid to die.

His stomach twisted in fear as the heartless from earlier recovered from it's attack and rose from the snow, growling in anger, it's shiny yellow eyes set on Kasus. The animal sprinted towards Kasus who began to pull himself up using his weapon as support, watching his inevitable death sprint towards him. His mind was racing and he wanted to collapse, he couldn't find the energy to defend himself anymore. In desperation, Kasus shouted,

"Jared! Elim! Simo! Serene! Help! Please help me!"

[Sezir]

Serene knelt on the snow where her belongings where putting them back in the bag. Before Serene could speak aloud about the good news Jared and Elim where arguing about wasting time. But in fact standing here fusing about it was wasting time. At least thats how Serene though about it. She was quickly reminded about home. Her brothers would fight and argue all the time. She was comforted at the thought and smiled as pain for home was brought to her. She laughed that she was happy to be home sick. She was remembering more and more. It brought peace to her.
While she listed to the group the thought came to her that must have been taught by her two brothers to fight. Ha ha. She was so happy right now! But that did not last long. As she looked down the hill there was a something coming up it. She though to her self why didn't we get on of those? As it came quickly up the mountain she saw three passengers aboard a man, a girl and what she presumed to be a snow man. Then what followed them were there new worst enemies the heartless. She quickly got up. Fists ready. Her weapon was out of the question. She lost them in the snow earlier.
Serene was quickly surrounded. Flame came off of her hands and up her arms. She felt stronger from the last battle but not strong enough to fight them. Each hit took a lot out of her. But these new found memories brought her anew and she had a new family to fight for. She looked around her as she fought and saw Kasus struggling. She was surrounded also. She quickly fought with more power.
These creatures where tough. She finally knocked one out with what felt like the hundredth blow and created an opening for her to escape. It took longer than she had hope but she quickly ran to Kasus. As she did he yelled out for the group. She was the first to arrive. She Ariel jumped the one closet to him taking the attention off him and on to her.

[Card Captor]

When the monsters came, Simo readied his gun, waiting for his shot. A few of the monster wolfs were off to the side of the pack, allowing him to take easy shots at them without worry of hitting anyone else. While one managed to survive a shot to the head, a quick Gravity spell crushed it, already weakened from the bullet to the skull. As he looked for his next target he heard one of his companions cry out for help, Kasus if he remembered correctly. Taking aim, he shot one of the heartless attacking him in the side of the head, and pinned the other down with Gravity. Neither died, but it left Kasus free(er) to move "get out of there!"

[Double]

Elim, to no one's surprise, attacked first. His Fire Spell keeping at least one of the beasts from lunging before lunging at it himself with a spear, killing it with a single skewer. Serene and Simo seemed to fare well more or less, Simo managing to kill one at about the same time Elim killed his first opponent. Kasus, though, was another story. After struggling with a single beast he was suddenly being stalked by two of them and cried out for help as he attacked one of them. Jared wanted to help, but had problems of his own. Ten of these beasts had appeared in total, and with two of them now dead that left eight. Two of those were now focusing on Elim, while another two of them were the ones now surrounding Kasus. Serene had managed to kill one attacking her before going to help Kasus, all in all that left three that had yet to act.

Those three were circling in on Jared, having singled him out as the Keybearer and, as such, the largest threat to their existence. Jared could fight off single opponents well enough, but three at once was like an entirely different thing altogether. One of the beasts moved to pounce Jared, him managing to step aside enough to avoid the fangs and swing his blade through the beast's torso. The attack sent it back a bit and it reeled from being struck by the Keyblade, but it wasn't dead yet. The other two chose that time to strike, one lunging high for Jared's neck while the other went low, for his legs at a separate angle. Knowing it was impossible to counter both Heartless, Jared brought his weapon to bare against the one going for his neck, the beast instead biting the blade of his weapon. As quickly as possible, Jared pushed forward as hard as he could, hoping to push back his attacker while simultaneously moving out of the way of the other. It succeeded... somewhat. Jared wasn't able to completely avoid the second Heartless, and it was able to catch his leg with it's claw as he pushed forward into the other, which was successfully thrown back to the ground. The beast that pounced first had now regained composure and made to attack again, but would never reach its intended target.

"Hyaaah!" came a shout as the beast found itself sent crashing back into the snow. The man who was driving the sled was standing there with a pickaxe normally used for mining ice, but at that moment was used as a makeshift weapon. Caught completely by surprise, the beast was slain by that attack, leaving the other two facing a now-more-confident Jared.

Keyblade in hand, he lunged forth with great speed, with his weapon thrust forward in the process. This attack cut through one of the Heartless, but he was not finished. He repeated this attack four more times, twice on each creature, slaying them both with his newly learned Sonic Blade technique. The girl by that point had unhitched the reindeer from the sled, allowing to run forward in a charge against the nearest Heartless in an attempt to gore them on his antlers or at least trample them with its hooves. Even the funny-looking snowman decided to try helping, though admittedly the best he could do was continuously lob snowballs at Heartless, though he did at least aim for the eyes to try and blind them momentarily for others come in and attack them.

[Renose]

Two of them for him to deal with huh? This wasn't looking good. Four were fighting with Kasus and Serene and three were on Jared. This wasn't looking good at all. Sure Elim could handle himself, but the others maybe not so much. Well, maybe not Kasus anyway. As Jared fought his three, getting aid from a reindeer, a man with a pick axe, and the small Frost Golem Elim was fighting two of them by himself. The Spear did indeed seem to be the best weapon to use on four legged beasts, but now two were around him, one behind and one in front.

It took a couple of moments to transform his weapon as he thought of trying for a weapon that could deal with flanking opponents, precious moments he didn't want to waste whilst surrounded by two opponents, wolves especially. So instead he tried for a different approach. With an arcane word chanted, flames suddenly burst to life around his spear, licking and moving about the surface. After that, Elim began to spin the spear quickly, in a few moments having what appeared to be a ring of fire in his hands as he span the spear quickly, the wolves seemed to back up at first.

Unfortunately these were not normal beasts and thus not afraid of fire. They were more likely just looking for an opening as soon both of them lunged. Just what Elim was waiting for. He ducked low, spinning the spear above his head. The flame covered spear-head slashed one wolf as the other was slammed by the end of it as he ducked beneath their lunges, essentially focusing on counterattacks for now as both wolves fell backwards. He took this moment and, with his own lunge, stabbed the wolf that got slashed by the flaming spear head first, plunging the spear deep in as it vanished in the same eldritch, as Elim didn't know what it was, mist that the other Heartless vanished in.

There was a neat benefit to not having to worry about a corpse. While yes, no meat or pelts could be salvaged, in combat he didn't have to worry about pulling his spear from the carcass, which was useful as the other wolf had quickly regained its balance and tried to lunge for Elim's throat now. Unfortunately it did not work. Elim held up his spear to parry, the creature biting upon it now, but being forced back as the fire on his spear burned the creature when it bit. A swift kick to the side of its head knocked it backwards a small bit and let Elim use the momentum of the kick to spin and plant the kicking foot on the ground behind him.

This gave the blue magus enough distance that, with a shout, allowed him to plunge the spear straight into the creature's head at a diagonal angle, the spear sticking right through it and into the ground. It had been a close call, Elim nearly getting hit, but he had a good amount of experience fighting wolves before, as they were pretty common in the wilds of his world. He wondered though, if they went to other worlds, how long he could use that card with things being like his own world. Well... he could cross that bridge when they came to it. For now, there were six more wolves to deal with.

[Thundercat]

Kasus' eyes were sealed shut as he stood in the snow holding onto his weapon for support and shaking helplessly. He was waiting for death, but Serene came in it's place, attacking the heartless that was charging towards him and gaining it's attention. The sound of a gunshot snapped Kasus out of his helpless state. His eyes shot open, revealing a heartless being pinned down by Simo's Gravity. "Get out of there!" he shouted. Every part of Kasus was screaming for him to run away, but he couldn't. Well, he could, but he refused too. They were still outnumbered, if he made for the hills now it would only benefit their enemy. Instead of running away from the heartless in front of him Kasus forced his weak limbs to sprint towards the wolf. However it wasn't really sprint, more of an awkward jog.

Thanks to Simo's bullet as well as his Gravity spell, the heartless was pinned down and even more helpless than Kasus at the moment, who took full advantage of the situation by stomping on the beasts neck and impaling it's neck with his halberd, causing the creature to combust into a dark essence before fading into nothing. The only reason was able to take out that heartless was with Simo's help, no doubt if he faced one head on by himself, the creature would pick the boy off with ease. Kasus made for the crashed sled, limping in his sprint. He had managed to catch the eye of what appeared to be a snowman. In any other context he would've laughed and imagined Elim's reaction to the thing. The irony was very humorous, but now wasn't at all the time for laughter or jokes.

Kasus dove behind the sled regrettably into the snow once more. He landed on his aching shoulder which seemed to be injured, thankfully it was his left arm and not his right. He took a brief moment to collect his bearings as he lay behind cover, grunting as his breathing was heavy and his lungs ice cold. Eventually he grabbed onto the sled and pulled himself up, observing the battlefield. The wolf Serene attacked, thus saving Kasus, was now circling the girl attempting to attack. The boy climbed onto the sled, holding his weapon in his left hand. "Fire!" he shouted as he slammed his left and right hands together, engulfing his weapon into flames.

Briefly he took a moment to remember the days on Lunaris he spent learning this magic spell. He was suddenly grateful for the wizard that visited his shop and gifted him the spell-book for free. Never could he have imagined this was how he'd be using that knowledge. Kasus gripped his fire weapon in his right hand, using all of his strength to launch it into the air as if it were a javelin. The halberd was designed to be a two-handed weapon but Kasus was using it as if it were a spear. A grin of accomplishment overcame the boy's face as the makeshift spear plunged into the heartless that had been circling Serene.

Four more to go.

[Sezir]

Serene had managed to take one of the heartless down while Simo shoot another. Serene jumped into the air the fire from her hands had helped in the fight. Each time she fought she felt stronger. Serene had pinned another one down getting ready to strike at its heart as the pain of another memory came back. She was in a elaborate room and there a the center stood the ruby she had seen earlier. She picked it up and as she did she could see guards coming her way as the yelled "Capture her." She ran with ruby in hand and jumped out the window weaving through the crowd. She had taken a turn and lost them. She carefully sat the jewel in her bag and quickly changed her clothes and to blended into the crowd but as she was about to walk out in to the crowd a voice said. "Well aren't you a sight to see." Serene quickly looked around and saw a man standing there. She came to the present. It was always so abrupt and took her off guard. The heartless had end up on top of her this time. Its teeth growling at her. She closed her eyes and was about to kick it off when the man with the pick came and hit it dead center. Serene sighed in relief. Serene had gotten up with help from the man. She thanked him and went to go help her comrades. There was only two now.

[Card Captor]

Two left. Simo had been watching them carefully this entire battle, trying to get a feel for how they fought, and how to fight them. While he was admittedly far more used to hunting things several times his size, he felt that he could adjust to the huge (ha! Bad pun) change in size. The last two were staring down the group, with one behind the other. It was at that point, that Simo got a wonderful idea. Casting Gravity on both of them, he dropped to a kneeling position.

One thing that Simo noticed is that they were surprisingly fragile; not every attack he saw them hit with looked like it it would outright kill a normal creature. Sure, most of those attacks would maim or cripple them...but they shouldn't have been killed so fast. Not only that, but the way they just disintegrated...it was almost like they were just some weirdly shaped bubbles, and if that was the case, then a clean hit anywhere would be enough to destroy them (since the word 'kill' didn't feel quite right in this case). As his spell wore off, the two heartless began to get back up, and the first things to rise were their heads...which is just what Simo was counting on. Having already aimed at the spot they were most likely to reach, he was all ready to fire. Pulling the trigger, the bullet shot out of the gun and into the very top of the first heartless' skull, where it met very little resistance. Normally the rest of the body would slow it down, however the heartless quickly popped, leaving the bullet impeded as it made it's way to it's final target. The bullet impacted and entered the skull of the second heartless, delivering another fatal blow. After they had both been dealt with, Simo got back to his feet and wooped "awesome! Double kill!"

[Double]

With the fight now basically over, Jared relaxed a bit, first breathing a sigh of relief, "Okay, is anyone else starting to think we're attracting those things like a magnet?" he asked, making the suggestion sarcastically but not actually realizing how accurate the assumption really was. Heartless had always been attracted to the strong of heart, and it was those with the strongest hearts who were oft chosen to wield the Keyblade. So Jared's joking remark was shockingly on the mark without his knowing it at the time.

"Um..." started an unfamiliar voice. It was the girl who had been riding in the sled, "...who exactly are you guys?" she had a curious, but skeptical tone about her.

"We're no one... really," answered Jared, now approaching the sandy-haired redhead, "you know... just passing through and all that, and thought we'd offer to help find you... Your Highness." at the last part he gave a quick bow to the girl he was now certain was the lost Princess Anna.

"How did you-?" the Princess began to ask, but she was cut off by the blond man who had driven their sled.

"Uh huh..." he said skeptically, "...'Just passing through'? Yeah, right. How do I know you're not some kind of bandit gang looking to make quick money on a ransom or something?" as he talked, he was quick to put himself between the Princess and their others as if he were some kind of bodyguard.

"Kristoff!" snapped the Princess, very quickly coming out from behind him and having no intention of playing damsel in distress, "They just saved us from those... things, and your way of thanking them is by accusing them of being bandits? Geez, did you have to practice to attain such rudeness or does it just come naturally to you?"

"Hey, I was just-"

"Actually," Jared said, "we're here because Prince Hans requested it."

"There, see?" said Anna to Kristoff with a huff, "They're here because my beloved Hans was worried about me and sent a search party. I told you he loves me!"

"Again with that?" protested Kristoff, "Look, all I said was I thought it was kind of silly to want to marry a guy you just met. Would you let it go already?"

"Er, anyway," Jared said, desperate to change the subject, "I'm Jared. This is Elim, Kasus, Serene, and Simo." he gestured to each of his friends as he introduced them, "Since we found you, Your Majesty, I must insist that you come with us. I promised to bring you home safely after all."

"Not without my sister." Anna replied quickly, "I'm not going home without her, and you can't make me."

"I never said that, Your Majesty, I simply said I wished for you to stay with us... so we could find her together."

"Oh, in that case, Kristoff and I were just about to head up this mountain. We'd be delighted if you came with us. Right?" she elbowed Kristoff in his side as she said the last part.

"Uh... right. Sure. Why not?" he said with a shrug and started digging various things out of the sled, "Here, we'll need some of this stuff to make it up. I've got a climbing kit and some rations on me, let's just hope that'll be enough. Now, if everyone could just follow me, we've got a mountain to climb."

---

Meanwhile, back in Arendelle, Hans was sitting at the table, about to partake in a bowl of stew when a servant came bursting in, "M'lord, something's happened!" he announced, urgency in his tone. Hans put down his spoon and looked expectantly at the servant.

"Well, what is it?" he asked, trying to keep composed but a small bit of impatience trickled through.

"It's Weselton, sir. He's gone! His men, too!"

"What? When?" asked the Prince, genuinely surprised by this news.

"Hard to say. Their rooms appear to have not been slept in, though. And a few horses from the stable are also missing."

"I only spoke to Weselton last night after the incident, he must have departed during the night while we slept." deduced the Prince, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. The Duke of Weselton had acted most alarmed at the Queen's show of... power... at the incident. As Hans recalled, he insisted that she must be an evil witch and that they should hunt her down before she could cause any more damage. Hans had tried to reason with the man, but it seemed diplomacy was not enough to sway him from his intentions.

"Should I raise the alarm, sir? Shouldn't we go after him?" asked the Servant.

"No." said Hans coldly, "If Weselton is truly hellbent on going through with his foolish plan, then he should suffer the consequences for it."

"M'lord, what of the party you sent? Should they encounter Weselton there could be-" he was stopped by Hans raising a hand.

"There will be no need. If Thatch and his group encounter Weselton then chances are good they will set him straight... or at the very least stop him."

"Then... what should we do, sir?"

Hans shook his head, "What we've done from the start. We wait." and with that, he sent the servant away with a wave of his hand.

No alarms were sounded, no news or word spread about what had happened. As far as Arendelle was concerned, the Queen and Princess were still missing, and Hans would be the one they would have to turn to in their absence.

[Renose]

Its a good thing that the girl had immediately reprimanded the man apparently named Kristoff for calling them bandits, for the main reason that upon being called as such Elim's hand clenched incredibly tightly around his spear and a glare of pure hatred formed on his face towards him. That spear he was clenching with a vice like grip in his hands would have moved towards Kristoff, had the girl he tried to shield came forward and reprimand him for calling them bandits. Elim just said nothing and turned away even as Jared introduced them all, still pissed off at Kristoff for calling them bandits, something that was definitely a way to get on Elim's despite list.

First the blue mage transformed his spear back into a sword, the weapon glowing as he did so, before putting it back in its sheath and then walking over to Kasus. After looking up at him, as Elim was kinda short due to both his age and... well... another reason, for a few moments suddenly he would slap Kasus right across the face, hard enough to leave a mark. It wasn't one of anger, but more like one to get the next thing across that Elim had to say. "If you're gonna act weak and hold us all back, then go back to the ship before one of us who can actually fight gets killed trying to protect you. And let me tell you something...", his eyes narrowed a little bit as he said this before paused, his tone growing a bit quieter as he continued to speak "that person definitely won't be me."

Elim had his own problems, his own worries to deal with. He wasn't going to waste time babysitting those who couldn't fight, those who would be better off staying as civilians. Those whose weaknesses would get them killed. After that rather very cold and harsh remark, Elim turned away from Kasus and walked a small bit away from the group and began to scan for a way up the mountain, deciding to leave the rest of the conversing to the others for now, Elim clearly not a people person what-so-ever.

[Thundercat]

As the palpable tension of battle began to dwindle, Kasus slowly climbed off of the flipped sled, clutching his right shoulder. Even though the area seemed to be clear of heartless he couldn't help but feel worrisome being in the forest. He quickly moved towards his friends, specifically Jared due to the fact that he was not only their leader but also wielded the keyblade. Simply being near someone who was worthy of the weapon eased the boy's cautious mind. By now the man and woman that had nearly plowed into the group began to speak up, Kasus breathed heavy as they began to exchange words with Jared.

"We're no one... really, you know... just passing through and all that, and thought we'd offer to help find you... Your Highness."

"Wha..?" Kasus was confused with his leaders words and thought it was silly to claim the first girl they met in the wilderness would be the princess. However the surprised expression on her face was proof enough that the assumption was correct. If it was even an assumption at all. Kasus laid his eyes on their leader, curious as to how he had figured it out so quickly. Maybe Hans had provided a description that flew over the boy's head, or maybe it was just a keen intuition. Either way their job was thankfully halfway done.

Fatigue from the battle quickly came over Kasus as a chill breeze reminded him how very cold he was. Briefly he searched for the jacket gifted to him by Hans, eventually spotting it lying in the snow. Slowly the boy made his way towards the clothing, flinching as he placed his arms through the freezing sleeves, even so he preferred cold clothing instead of none. He pondered casting his fire spell on the jacket to maybe warm it up some, however he didn't have the energy to cast magic at the moment, not to mention the fact he could risk destroying his only winter clothes.

As Kasus zipped up the coat he noticed Elim approaching him. At first glance he assumed the warrior was merely looking in his direction considering the fact they had never spoken a word to eachother directly, but as he came closer and closer the boy realized she was looking directly at him. "Uh" Was all he muttered before being struck by his comrade. The pain from the slap was hurt significantly more due to the cold, that combined with the fatigue of battle caused Kasus to reel back slightly, his eyes wide as saucers as he listened to Elim's words.

Discipline wasn't a feeling Kasus was familiar with, along with the fear of death and the longing for home. In less than an hour he had experienced all three of these feelings. As Elim turned and walked off and up the mountain Kasus plopped down onto the snow in disbelief. This was not the adventure he spent years dreaming for. Going back to the Gummi Ship sounded quite convincing. However, as the boy contemplated the idea he suddenly came to the dreadful realization that he could not return home. In the eyes of the Lunaris citizens, he was an outlaw. He had no home.

Kasus' cheek stung with a sharp pain, as did his heart.

[Card Captor]

'Well we found the princess, that was easy enough' Simo thought to himself. While he had no way of knowing it, countless hero's across the many worlds suddenly felt a strange urge to scream out in frustration. 'However it seems that our work here isn't done yet. Now we have to find her sister...whoever that is.' It was just then that a thought occurred to him "wait...is it really crazy to marry someone you just met?" As he pondered this, he took note Elim slapping Kasus. While he felt that it was pretty harsh, he didn't want to feed the fire, so to speak. So he kept his thoughts to himself for the time being. He decided that he would address that problem at a later time, after everyone was calmer