Frozen With Fear
One sunny afternoon, Katie was walking her dog Bones down one of the streets of her neighborhood in Grass Valley. She had on a long pink dress and a silver necklace that shimmered and sparkled in the sunlight. Katie had to hurry home because she was expecting a friend to come visit her.
Katie and Bones had rounded a few more corners and were walking down their street when Katie noticed a change in the air around her.
"Oh, I'd better hurry, it's getting cold out." Then, she looked up at the sky and noticed that the sun had been blocked out by a thick layer of dark clouds… and it was snowing.
As Katie and her dog picked up their pace to take shelter from the rapidly dropping temperature, Katie thought to herself. "Hm, I wonder how Elsa is doing. I hope she is all right." Katie had made plans for Elsa to come over, and she would be arriving at any time now- that is if everything was going all right. She looked up at the sky again, knowing that the cold weather was not a good sign.
"I think something must have happened to Elsa." Katie concluded to herself after observing the changes in the weather around her.
Just then, Katie saw a dot of bright green light burst through the clouds. As the green light flew closer in their direction, Katie noticed that it was actually a life form inside a bubble of bright green energy.
Bones, who was shocked by the appearance of the otherworldly life-form, started barking and tugged on his leash, but Katie calmed him down. "It's okay, Bones." Katie reassured, almost positive she knew who this was.
The figure in the green energy sphere flew closer to Katie, landing a few feet away from her. A moment later, the bubble of green light disappeared, and the figure standing before Katie was none other than the current Green Lantern of space sector 1417, Soranik Natu.
"Katie," Soranik said urgently, but calmly.
"Hey, Soranik!" Katie greeted, smiling excitedly. "What's up?"
The Green Lantern spoke again, more directly this time. "Katie, your friend Elsa needs your help." Katie frowned. "What? What do you mean?" she asked with worry, glancing up at the dark sky. Snowflakes were swirling in the air now and the cold was beginning to sting.
Soranik, concerned that the storm would become more violent, used her power ring to conjure up a protective force field around Katie, Bones, and herself. Then she proceeded to explain something to Katie. "Elsa is in danger. Sinestro is after her and she needs your help."
Katie was about to open her mouth when Soranik's ring gave off a tiny flash of light and another green power ring appeared in her hand. "Here, you'll need this." Soranik said.
Before Katie could ask questions, the Green Lantern grabbed Katie's hand and quickly, but gently, placed the ring on her finger. "A… A power ring?" Katie asked, staring at the glowing green object in astonishment.
"This is a duplicate of my ring." Soranik explained once the ring was securely on Katie's finger. She then continued to elaborate on the situation at hand. "Somehow, Sinestro found out about Elsa's powers, and how they are affected by her fear. He is searching for her as we speak."
"Oh no!" Katie cried, her intensity rising. "Where is she now?"
"I've taken her to a safe place until I could find someone to help me face Sinestro." Soranik answered.
Katie's heart beat faster inside her chest. She had so many questions right now and didn't know where to start. "I don't get it!" she cried. "How did Sinestro find out about Elsa's powers? I mean, those two are from totally different worlds!"
But before Soranik Natu could open her mouth, Katie gasped in realization. "Oh no!" she said with concern. "Elsa was supposed to be coming over here. Maybe Sinestro found out that way! But, what would he have been doing here in the first place?"
"I don't know, but he must be stopped." Soranik said urgently.
Katie thought for a moment. "So, Elsa is here then, right?" She asked, still trying to take all of this in.
"Yes." Soranik confirmed, nodding her head. "She is already afraid because I left her to come find you. You must keep her safe from Sinestro."
"But, why can't you battle Sinestro?" Katie asked.
The Green Lantern seemed a little hesitant to answer this question. "Well, one reason is that I have matters to attend to on Korugar." Then she quickly spoke again. "Besides, I think Elsa might feel safer with you."
Katie, showing no fear, took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll do it." She said after one final moment of consideration. Then she looked down at the dog beside her. "Oh, what about Bones?" she asked, worried for her little companion. "I should really go take him inside…"
However, as she was about to go to her house with the dog, the Green Lantern power ring on Katie's finger flared with light, and Bones was transported safely inside Katie's house.
Soranik tried to give Katie some last minute information. "The ring I have given you is not at full power, so you must be very careful. Your ring will take you to where Elsa is hidden, and it will give you instruction on how to use the green light."
"Oh, the ring is fueled by my willpower!" Katie said knowingly. "I think I'll be all right." She reassured the Korugarian.
Soranik looked at the violent snow storm raging around them. It had gotten much worse since she had first arrived. "Please be careful." She warned. "Sinestro is a powerful adversary. And if things get desperate, you can call on me and I'll try to come to your assistance."
"Thank you, Soranik." Katie said. With a single thought, Soranik activated her own power ring, ejecting herself from the bubble of green light. Katie watched in amazement as Soranik rocketed through the blizzard and into outer space, destined for her home planet.
Katie was alone now, but she wouldn't let that stop her. She focused her thoughts on finding Elsa, and the green bubble that was protecting her slowly rose into the air, taking her towards the mountains in the distance.
As the power ring carried Katie through the air in the green sphere of light, Katie thought she saw something on the horizon. But the swirling snowflakes in the air blocked her vision.
"Oh, Elsa. It will be okay." She thought, wishing with all her might that she could send the frightened princess a message.
As if her wish had been heard, the raging winds seemed to quiet down and the snow became more settled on the landscape. Katie looked down at her power ring in amazement, her force field now removed. "Oh! I think I just sent Elsa a mind message!" Katie exclaimed to herself, amazed by the capabilities of the Green Lantern ring.
Katie looked ahead for a moment, blinking the snowflakes from her eyes. She breathed with wonder at what she saw! In the few moments of serenity and calmness from the blizzard, she gazed at one of the snow blanketed mountains on the horizon and saw a magnificent gleaming ice castle in the distance. Was this where Soranik's ring was taking her? She wondered.
"Come on, faster!" Katie urged the ring, and in a streak of bright green light, she rocketed like a shooting star across the sky towards the ice castle, trying to send calming mind messages to Elsa so she would not be afraid. Meanwhile, in the skies above, the clouds grew ever darker and colder than before.
It took a few minutes to figure it out, but Katie willed her power ring to land her in front of the door of the frozen castle. "Elsa? Are you in there?" Katie asked, knocking on the large ice doors with the hand that was protected by her Green Lantern ring.
A few moments passed, but there was no recognizable response from inside the shimmering ice fortress.
"That's not good." Katie whispered to herself. "Ugh, what if Sinestro already got to Elsa? What do I do then?" She just had to get in the castle somehow, but she certainly didn't want to force her way in, otherwise she would become the very thing Elsa feared.
"Elsa, please!" Katie cried within herself. "I was sent here by Soranik Natu to come help you and protect you from Sinestro! Please, let me in!"
There was a moment of silence as Katie stood in the cold. But, then the large double doors opened, granting entrance to the newly initiated Green Lantern.
Katie walked into the ice castle, taking in the elegant beauty of the palace. The halls were big and wide and a large, magnificent ice crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. Katie walked into another room and found a large spiral ice staircase.
"Elsa must be in the top tower of the castle." Katie said to herself. Katie hurried up the stairs, using her ring to keep her balance on the ice. The staircase led Katie to a spacious chamber. She peered around the door of the room, hoping to find Elsa.
Katie gasped at the horror she saw in the large room. She felt a powerful energy and noticed that many shards of ice stuck out from the walls and ceiling above her. Elsa stood in the middle of the room with a terrified expression on her face. Katie noticed that the ice princess was muttering something to herself. "Conceal, don't feel. Control it!" Elsa pleaded, trying to calm her inner storm.
"Elsa." She said softly, taking a step towards her. "It's me, Katie."
Elsa looked up and noticed her friend standing in front of her. "Katie?" she asked, calming down a little. "I-I was on my way to your house but then…"
"I know." Katie said, trying to save some time for them. "Soranik, the Green Lantern that saved you, told me everything."
"Katie, what should we do?" Elsa asked, totally terrified.
Katie put a hand on Elsa's shoulder, sending a calming energy to Arendelle's ruler. "It's okay." She reassured. "You don't have to live in fear. I know that Sinestro is after you, but if we work together, we can defeat him. You can use your powers to help."
But then, the ice princess became uneasy again, and a few more ice spikes shot out of the walls of the room. "But, I can't control my powers." She protested, motioning to the frozen ice spikes all around her.
"Yes you can." Katie said to her in a soft voice. "I mean, didn't you create this whole castle?"
"Well, yes." Elsa answered staring out the window at the storm her powers had caused. "But that was before Soranik left to find you. I felt safe with her."
"Well, you're not alone anymore." Katie reassured. "We can set up a defense, one so powerful that-"
"Your defenses mean nothing!" Katie and Elsa's conversation was interrupted by a fierce, evil voice from above them. Just then, a huge meteor hurdled through the walls of the ice castle and Sinestro burst into the room, glowing with a bright yellow light.
"Stay away!" Elsa cried, releasing a powerful blast of ice from her hand that hit Sinestro and sent him crashing into the wall. Just as quickly as he had been knocked down, Sinestro rose to his feet. He raised his hand and fired a blast of yellow energy from his power ring.
Elsa clasped her hands together in fear. Suddenly a wall of ice spikes shot up from the ground in front of her.
"You're no challenge!" Sinestro declared as the fear blast hit the structure of ice, destroying it and pushing Elsa back a few feet. "I know your fear! You cannot conceal it from me."
Katie rushed forward. "Sinestro! Leave her alone!" she ordered.
Sinestro looked over, noticing Katie for the first time. "A Green Lantern." He said, narrowing his eyes. "I'll deal with you first."
Sinestro shot a wave of yellow light energy at Katie. Katie closed her eyes and conjured up a green energy shield that blocked Sinestro's attack. "You can't defeat me. My willpower is too strong to be affected by fear."
Sinestro wasn't intimidated by this at all. "Aren't you forgetting something?" he asked the Green Lantern and ice princess.
The two girls glanced at each other, then looked around and noticed that all of the icicles embedded in the walls and ceiling shone with Sinestro's yellow light. The waves of light had circulated throughout the room and Sinestro had seized control of the ice spikes that Elsa created in her moments of fear. With a single motion of his arm, Sinestro used his ring to break the ice shards from the walls and launched them at Katie and Elsa.
"Katie!" Elsa shrieked with terror.
"Elsa, I've got you!" Katie cried, running to her and using her power ring to create a metal box around the two of them to repel the oncoming ice fragments.
However, Sinestro's power was too great for the green energy alone, and the steel box that protected Elsa and Katie was destroyed. Due to the severe force of Sinestro's attack, the two girls were sent flying against different walls of the room. Katie had taken the bigger hit, and was greatly weakened, but she didn't care how difficult this fight was. She would not give up no matter what.
"Are you okay?" Katie asked Elsa, more concerned for her fearful friend than she was for herself.
"K-Katie." Elsa said, her voice shaking.
Sinestro flashed an evil smile. "Your friend will prove your destruction, Green Lantern." He said to Katie. "My ring's power has improved greatly because of her."
Suddenly, a loud noise filled the air and the entire ice castle trembled. Katie knew that Elsa's fear was rising, increasing the intensity of the raging storm outside. She looked at Sinestro's brightly glowing yellow ring. Then she looked to Elsa, who was trembling on the ground.
"Conceal, don't feel. Don't feel." Elsa said to herself, slowly getting up. "Oh, Katie! What can we do?"
Katie looked back at Sinestro's blazing yellow ring again. "What cancels out fear?" she wondered for a moment. Then, she glanced at her ring. "Please Soranik, help me. Send me something that can help." Sinestro raised his hand, ready to fire another energy projectile at both of them.
Just then, out of the corner of her eye, Katie saw a glowing, blue light about the size of her ring. "Could it be? A blue lantern ring!" she whispered. She noticed that the ring was flying near Elsa, as if it was offering her its assistance.
Katie stood up again and noticed that her ring was flashing dimly. "Oh, are you kidding me?" she asked with dismay.
Sinestro, seeing this, smiled again. "You're done, Green lantern. The one who gave you her power ring failed to charge it. You've got no power left."
Meanwhile, the blue power ring flew closer to Elsa. She put out a trembling hand to receive the ring. Katie closed her eyes, trying to think of how to save her friend when, suddenly, a powerful surge of energy rushed through her and her green ring flared brightly, increasing in power.
Katie looked around in shock and amazement. "Elsa?" she asked, seeing a faint blue light surrounding the ruler of Arendelle. "Did you do that?"
"Yes," Elsa said. "It seems that hope counteracts the powers of fear." She said quietly.
Katie looked at her ring again. "You're right." She realized. "I think it is because you hope to control your powers!"
"Yes," Elsa said. "I do."
"Enough games!" Sinestro cried, firing the yellow energy blast he prepared. Elsa quickly fired an ice crystal to intercept the fear blast to protect Katie.
Katie used the remaining power in her ring to transport a power battery to her, something she had seen Soranik do once when she had visited Katie before. As she touched the ring to the center of the battery, Katie spoke. "In brightest day, in blackest night. No evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power… Green Lantern's light!"
As Katie finished reciting the Green lantern oath, her power ring blazed with light, and she fired a powerful beam of energy at Sinestro. Sinestro quickly prepared his energy beam to fire. "This is the power of fear!" he declared, nearly overpowering Katie's green light.
Katie concentrated hard, strengthening her green light. But, Sinestro had already absorbed enough power from Elsa's fear to pose an even match for the green ring's energy.
"Katie!" Elsa cried, shooting a bright blue beam of light at her, strengthening the force of her green power beam.
"Elsa?" Katie cried in a moment's shock when the blue light reached her. Then, with all her willpower focused on firing that one blast out of her ring, Katie released an incredibly devastating beam of green light.
The struggle between willpower and fear continued, both beams growing brighter and more intense, until they exploded into a violent force that knocked all three lanterns against different walls of the frozen room.
However, there was only one who could stand right away. The struggle between fear, willpower, and hope had finally ended, and Katie, the Green lantern, emerged as the victor. A few moments later, Elsa stood and stared intently at the blue ring on her finger.
Katie looked at Sinestro, who was now lying unconscious on the ground. "I guess that took the fight out of him." Katie said. Elsa walked up to her.
"So, what do we do with Sinestro?" Elsa asked.
"Oh, don't worry." Katie said with a smile. "I don't think he'll bother you anymore."
Suddenly, there was a flash of light and two other figures appeared in the frozen castle. Katie gasped. "Hal Jordan! Soranik Natu!" she exclaimed, delighted at the appearance of the two Green Lanterns.
"You did it!" Soranik exclaimed. "You beat Sinestro!" Soranik seemed to be the most relieved about this. She was really glad she didn't have to reveal the truth about her link with Sinestro, something she would have preferred to be kept a secret.
A flash of light came from Hal Jordan's ring, shining in Sinestro's eyes for an instant. "All right, I've erased Sinestro's memory of you, Your Majesty." He said to Elsa.
"Thank you." Elsa said. She watched as Hal Jordan imprisoned Sinestro in a green bubble and flew away with him, destined for Oa to ask the guardians of the universe what should be done with this adversary.
In the meantime, Soranik had escorted Elsa and Katie back to Katie's house, and was staying with them for a little bit.
"Thank you so much, both of you." Elsa said to Soranik and Katie.
Katie put a hand on Elsa's shoulder again. "No problem." She assured.
Then Katie turned to Soranik. "Wait, so I didn't know you had a blue lantern ring!" she said, her curiosity rising.
"Oh," Elsa said, removing the ring from her finger and holding her hand out to Soranik. "I meant to return this to you."
The Korugarian Green Lantern shook her head. "The blue ring doesn't belong to me; it was actually Razor's ring. He must have heard your communication as well and wanted to help."
Katie gasped. "Razor's a blue lantern?" "Yes, that's correct." Soranik said. Then Katie looked down at the power ring on her finger. "Oh, I guess I'd better give this back to you as well."
But, Soranik shook her head a second time. "That ring is not mine to take." She said again.
Katie blinked in confusion. "But, didn't you…?"
Before Katie could finish her question, Soranik spoke. "I made a duplicate of my ring, but along the way, the guardians replaced it with a real power ring."
Katie gasped in excitement. "Wait, does that mean…?"
"Yes, you are an official Green lantern!" Soranik confirmed with a smile, saluting the new defender of Guardian Space.
Katie thought she must be dreaming, but, one bright flash of light later, she was transported to Oa to begin her training as a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She knew that if Sinestro ever showed up again, she could overcome, and defeat him along with any other enemy of happiness.