Let it snow...(Nami, Keldric, open)

Cold. White, frosty cold.

The dark keyblader had just arrived in the area, startled that he had arrived in a new world he had never been to. And this one was colder than he had ever imagined.

He had never seen snow before in his life.

As he looked up into the sky, he could see the white flakes falling, coating everything on his clothes, his hair and his face. It was like rain, but didn't melt into water until his hit the heat of his skin, the rest becoming an amazing white blanket that coated everything in sight. He had always lived in the tropical climate between the ocean and the jungle forests, so he had never experience an enviroment like this before in his life. But it was a nice, crisp, clean enviroment he enjoyed exploring.

Until that is, when it started to get colder.

His clothes were used to travelling in warmer weather, not colder, and soon he found himself shivering. Goosebumps appeared on his skin around the light hairs on his arms, trying to condense as much heat in as possible. He found the more he stepped through the snow, the wetter the clothing around his ankles became until they got damp, which only make him shiver more. He wrapped his arms around him as he found he was finally coming to the end of the pass, walking across the mountain through the new soft falling snow, which had already covered over his own tracks.

As he got closer, he heard the sounds of battle, and the sound of Heartless being purged back into nothingness. He had bowed his head to push through the cold weather and looked up as he began to run, finally noticing the two females in the area. One was a dark-haired woman dressed in black that reminded him of Lulu at first, except she had a different hairstyle and wielded a katana. The other - light golden hair, and sky blue eyes, just like his. White dress, sandals, and a sketchbook in her arms as she always carried. It could have only been one girl, and his steady heart skipped a beat.

In reaction to his realization of who it was, he burst forward in an increase in speed, Sacred Dusk appearing in a flash of light in his hand a fraction of a second before he threw it into the air like a boomerang. He heard her respond in a shrill scream of fright, cutting down the Hook Bat Heartless before the nasty steel hook could finish it's original intention of piercing the girl's lovely pale skin, the Hook Bat Heartless releasing a lone heart which floated up amongst the fragile crystaline snowflakes falling from the cloudy sky.

He jumped into the air and caught his weapon, landing swiftly by Naminé's side, his back to her. He remained silent for a moment as he side-stepped in a protective circle around her, his azure blue eyes checking the surrounding area for any more signs of immediate danger around the girl, before he turned to her. His hardened, instense expression turned immediately into a confident and happy lop-sided grin as his blue eyes met hers, winking at her, before he was off again into a run.

He took a few steps in his quickened pace over to the new mysterious woman, jumping into the fray, slashing at another Hook Bat that came from above that ambushed the woman and also released it's heart back into nothingness. In the meantime, he kept an observant eye on Naminé, but he mainly focused on the immediate dangers from above, focusing on the aerial assualt from the Hook Bats. He swiped his keyblade up into another Hook Bat Heartless, the tip of his keyblade becoming caught in the bat's hook, immediately using the keyblader reaction command Bat Battery as he used the Heartless as a weapon to rapidly whip around and destroy the other Heartless in intense streaks of light and darkness. His keyblade was released from the Heartless and destroyed it in a single swipe, before he landed back on the ground with his back to Sera's, alert for any signs off further attack that came from behind or above them.

His mind finally caught up to him in the blur that had become the battle as he fought the Heartless alongside Sera without question, returning to his earlier thought before it had been interupted.

Naminé.

She was here, and it surprised him. Because he had just left her a short while ago, content with the knowledge she was safe and could look out for herself. And yet everybody needed help every now and then, and while he was worried with the fact that Naminé had not been safe in this instance, he was glad he had been there at the right place at the right time to keep her out of harm's way.

Not that he thought she was a hinderence, that she couldn't take care of herself in a fight, he wanted to give her that option to be a part of the battle if she wanted. His eyes glanced across to her every now and then as she stood a distance away, watching over her, looking out for any other Heartless that may appear out of nowhere to attack her. She was safe for now, and that was all that mattered. He only wished he could say the same for himself, and this mystery woman...

Naminé thought it was going to be all over, when suddenly a different hovering sound swooped above her. It sounded vaguely familiar, and almost like the blades of a helicopter rotor spinning. Then she heard the darkness from the Heartless disperse into black mist and she dared to look up as a single heart floated up, followed closely by a heroic figure catching a familiar-looking keyblade with ease and skidding to a stop in the snow beside her. She turned her head to look at him as he skirted round her to inspect the area with his eyes, her own watching the back of his head dazedly since she could have sworn she should have been dead by now. When the keyblader turned to her she blinked in surprise, mouth parted in a sort of speechless trance as she met his blue eyes with her own. Then he grinned, winked, and he was off.

And her face flooded with colour.

She finally let out an icy breath that she didn't realize she'd been holding when Keldric fled from her to battle, the small white wisps drifting up after the blackened ones of the Heartless and very, very slowly, a smile crept onto her face as she watched the keybearer join the battle. How did he do that? The boy always seemed to appear when she was in the most trouble. She wondered vaguely if he had some sort of hero-sense that told him when danger was around. Shaking her head slightly she watched the battle ensue, unable to suppress a smile at the display of fighting skills he showed when using a move she distinctly remembered from Sora's memories. Though it was different seeing it first hand, she could actually hear the different beams shooting out and almost feel the electricity pulsing in the air around them from battle.

When she took a closer look at who Keldric was fighting with, her eyes widened in recognition. Long raven hair and violet eyes tipped her off, since in Halloween Town the colour scheme of the woman's clothes was similar too. And the graceful way she moved with that katana confirmed it- it was the dark angel! Seraphina Grace, she recalled. Naminé watched them both clear out the Heartless creatures like spilled ink on a blank canvas and couldn't help but feel a little useless. She only stood there again, but at least she wasn't too much of a distraction this time, blending into the snowy backdrop. No other Heartless had come at her yet, but it worried her that Keldric and Seraphina might be struggling to keep an eye on her since she hid so well. She didn't want them to lose their concentration.

Minutes passed with her standing silently, arms wrapped around herself, sketchbook held close as though that would warm her. She was shivering now, scolding herself internally for coming here and forgetting about the intense old. Just because she couldn't feel the cold in Sora's memories, didn't mean the place wasn't cold in actuality. She shook her head at her stupidity.

Then again it's not like I have any other clothes anyway… just my white dress, which was always made for indoors anyway, since I was never let out. Then again, Castle Oblivion was never warm either…

Naminé twitched her frozen fingers so they would feel a little more life-like again and looked up when the battle had ended, carefully kicking her way through the mound of snow to reach the two blade-wielders. A smile ghosted past her lips as she lowered her lashes in slight shame, knowing she hadn't really been much help to the two and that Keldric had yet again saved her life.

"H-hello," she greeted, trying to keep her teeth from chattering. "I'm okay. H-how about you t-two?"

When she finally looked up at them, snowflakes had gathered on her eyelashes and she blinked as a small pile of snow toppled off the end of the low cliffs, and straight onto her head.

"Um, ow?" she dusted it off of her head and looked to Sera with a renewed smile, and then to Keldric. "I thought t-that keyblade hovering above my head s-sounded familiar." she shook her head, meeting his bright blue eyes with her own smiling ones. "T-thank you, for saving me… again." She laughed softly, releasing yet another shuddering breath.

W-why was it so cold?

Sera only shrugged as her own question was thrown back at her but watched the two blondes without interest. They seem to know each other and the keybearer must have saved her many times in the past if Keldric has lost count of them.

The crisp scent of smoke soon reached her and she glanced at the now burning foliage. How it started to burn, the witch had no idea but presumed it was the Keybearer's doing.

"Hey, you're a really good fighter with that sword. I don't think we've been introduced...My name is Keldric but you may call me Keldy, if you like."[/i]

The shapeshifter hesitated before slowly taking Keldric's hand and shaked it lightly before pulling her hand away. She wasn't used to socializing and normally doesn't allow anyone to get close to her.

"Sera..."

"Sera, h-huh? N-nice to meet you." Keldric said, shaking her hand as the cold around them settled into his skin, and started to make his teeth chatter uncontrolably.

She took her hand away from Keldric before he could do much else with it. Which was understandable, because from the way she was speaking and acting she wasn't much of a people person, and him doing his respectful greeting of kissing new girls on the knuckles might not have gone down with her so well. Maybe even to the point where she used her katana on him. He hadn't done it to Naminé when he met her because he had been admiring her simular appearence to his too much to have remembered it, and was glad he hadn't done it, as he didn't want to make her feel bad why he hadn't paid her the same respects. He might have scared her off with it, too - maybe it was time to give up the custom, remembering how Dagger had reacted to him afterwards.

He had laughed at how Naminé had gone cross-eyed, and replied as he continued to shudder, "Y-you're w-welcome, an-nytime.", noticing how adorable Naminé had looked when she did so. He noticed she did look slightly embarassed, and held in the sensation he felt compelled to utter in calling her cute. That wouldn't have made the situation any less awkward. But it still left a wonderful smile on his face as he looked at her.

He continued to smile, perhaps a little more faintly, and nodded as she explained how she recognised him through his keyblade. "Y-you must have a good memory. Nice work." he complimented, rubbing his hands together as he held his arms outward to warm them over the fire. "S-sorry if I st-tartled you, I wouldn't-t intent-tionally set someon-ne else on f-fire. That might-t be a little t-too warm-m." he laughed, noticing how Naminé had jumped, and laughed again warmly when she thanked him again. "I'm g-going to have t-to give you s-some m-munny for every t-time you thank-k me so you c-can buy yourself-f some warm-mer clothes-s. But, it-t's welcom-me, as-s alw-ways." he settled on a bright smile, his blue sheer eyes drawn towards Naminé.

She turned her attention on Sera, and so did Keldric, as Naminé mentioned she had met her previously in Halloween Town. "You g-girls m-met in H-halloween Town-n? W-were you an ang-gel?" he guessed, having heard she had a dress and wings, and how angels always seemed to be adored by women.

As he waited for his question to be answered, he felt Naminé smile at him warmly, looking at her as she looked at Sera, filled with a warmth that did not come from the fire.

After Keldric and Sera were done exchanging both verbal and non-verbal greetings, Naminé couldn’t help but noticed Sera's silence in comparison to Keldric's open gestures. Though Sera didn't seem to lack confidence in any way during her meetings with the woman, Naminé couldn't help but be reminded of herself a few years back, when she had been held captive.

She recalled hardly ever talking to anyone, waiting quietly on orders always. Even Axel, one of the most mischievous of the group that held her prisoner never bothered her much, as she wouldn't really respond to his taunts or jokes- unless shrinking further into her seat counted. But now she questioned Axel freely, she found it easier than before to speak her mind to people and actually tried to make a difference if she could, instead of sitting passively as things turned sour. With a warm little glow inside, she realized, maybe she wasn't so hopeless after all. She'd opened up, maybe Sera would too?

She watched as Keldric offered her a brilliant smile after she had thanked him, wondering if anything could ever dim that brightness he held and hoped the answer was no. Maybe it had something to do with being a keyblader? That made one pull the light out from within themselves so that they showed it to the world proudly for everyone to see. Then again, she thought with a crooked smile, Roxas wasn't exactly always happy-go-lucky, nor was Riku, and they were both keybladers. She hadn't even considered that is was her own silly antics that were making Keldric smile so extensively.

Sighing blissfully at the warmth of the fire now unfreezing her fingertips at least, Naminé rubbed her warm hands over her shoulders and down her arms to pass on the warmth. Though it only worked for a few seconds before she was shuddering again and had to repeat the process. Small, puffy clouds of white escaped her becoming chapped lips as she laughed lightly at Keldric's apology for starting a fire so suddenly. Lungs taking in the fresh, icy air, she breathed out again, leaving a trail of white wisps before answering him with her own smile.

"T-that's good to know. I already know one f-fire-st-tarter who never seems to stop b-burning things." She laughed, thinking of Axel again. "I'll never trust him w-with food."

She shook her head at the boy's next comment, soppy bangs flopping over forehead now due to the snow having melted into them.

"I'm afraid y-you'd have no munny left," she countered, smiling warily, "b-besides, I don't plan to s-stay somewhere s-so cold for too long. You don't sound too used-d to the cold either," she noted, judging by the way he was shivering violently.

As Sera placed her jacket over Keldric's shoulders and apologised for not having more than one, Naminé only laughed lightly.

"That's o-okay. No one's expecting you to carry t-two around anyway. Besides, I s-should've thought about getting a j-jacket before coming here."

She supposed she could always bunch some snow together and draw a warm coat for herself, transforming the ice into something useful- but there was no way she was going to do that in front of these two. She'd rather freeze.

"Naminé." the girl finished for Sera, smiling faintly.

Sera only nods as her sentence had become finished and closes her eyes for a moment as a cold wind made her midnight black hair flew wildly. The witch glanced at the horizon to check for the time for she didn't have a watch. She didn't need one when she had the sky to tell her.



But her gazed was turned from the sky when the Keybearer, Keldric, had placed the jacket on Namine's shivering form saying that she needed it more than he did. Then he started doing squats which had placed a amused smile on the shapeshifter's face.

"We won't have a chance against the cold if we stay here overnight. The temperture will likely drop below zero."