Elsa slowly opened her eyes, her vision swimming. She was sitting in-no, tied to a chair. She tasted blood and metal in her mouth. She looked in a mirror on a nearby wall and saw that an elaborate metal device was attached to her head. Just then, an old TV flickered to life. On the screen was what appeared to be a puppet; it had black hair, white skin, red eyes and lips, and red spirals on its cheeks. It turned to look at her. "Hello, Your Majesty," it said in a deep, raspy voice. "I want to play a game."
Elsa tried to pull away from the chair. "Where am I?! Where's Anna?!" were the words she wanted to say, but all that came out were unintelligible noises that sounded vaguely like her voice.
"You've spent your entire life in fear of your powers. You allowed that fear to rule you. It cost you your freedom, and your relationship with your sister, Princess Anna. Now we will see if you can overcome your fears."
Elsa growled fiercely at the puppet on the screen.
The puppet gave no indication that it had heard her. "The device you're wearing is hooked into your upper and lower jaws. When the timer goes off, your mouth will be permanently ripped open. Think of it like a reverse bear trap."
Elsa's blood ran colder than usual. She knew she had to escape this trap somehow.
"There is only one key to open the device. It's in the stomach of your dead cellmate. In order to get to it, you will have to use your powers to create a weapon."
Elsa then noticed a dead man in the corner of the room.
She used her powers to free her hands from the restraints and crawled over to the man. As she turned him over, a look of horror appeared on her face as she saw that it was Kristoff, who was missing his arms and legs.
"The clock is ticking, Your Majesty," the puppet said. "If you wish to save your sister, you must first save yourself. Live or die. Make your choice."
Elsa shed a tear.
"I'm sorry, Kristoff" Elsa thought.
Kristoff looked up at her. "Mmm...?" The ice harvester then closed his eyes, silently saying, "Do it."
Elsa created an ice dagger, plunging it into Kristoff's chest, ignoring the man's screams of agony
as she tore his stomach open, she found the golden, but slightly rusted key. She quickly used it on the lock on the side of her head.
Elsa then ripped the device from her head, throwing it aside mere seconds before it snapped open.
She looked at the puppet on the screen, "I don't know who the fuck you are, monster, but you just forced me to kill one of my best friends. I swear that when I find you, I will tear your heart out."
The puppet did not do anything. Instead, a light flickered on, revealing a red arrow painted on the floor. It pointed down a narrow hallway, where a small box sat on a table. Inside the box was a handheld cassette player.
Elsa looked at the cassette player, touching it gently. "I sincerely hope this isn't a transformer."
She pressed play, and the puppet's voice sounded. "If you're hearing this, you managed to survive the first test. I would congratulate you, but you haven't earned that yet. Follow the arrows to your next test."
Elsa began to follow the arrows and found herself looking at what looked like a hellish playground carousel, with six people tied to it. "These six people are your advisors, Your Majesty. However, in order for you to proceed, you will have to kill two of them. Whose lives will you end in order to save Anna?"
All of the advisors started shouting at once, begging Elsa to spare their lives.
"Please!" one screamed. "I'll never call you Ice Cream Head again! Just don't kill me!"
"No don't kill me!" Another cried, "Who will let you know of the people's problems if I'm gone!"
Elsa looked down. She had to make some kind of choice "My loyal advisors, I am truly sorry for what I must do."
She charged up a massive ice blast, her eyes closed tight. Elsa then fired the blast at the advisors, turning their very bodies into a mess of ice, blood and guts.
As their blood dripped from the carousel, another arrow directed her to another cassette player.
Elsa walked over to the cassette player, turning it on.
"Only one final test remains. Succeed, and you and your sister will be set free. Fail...and you both will die." The puppet explained.
Elsa wiped the blood stains from her ice dress and hair and followed the arrows.
Elsa found Anna strapped to a table. Standing on a balcony nearby was a man in a hooded black cloak.
"Welcome to the final test, Your Majesty." The man said in a deep, modulated voice.
"Where's Anna?!" Elsa demanded.
"Right in front of you. With a slow-acting poison coursing through her veins."
Elsa then saw her sister tied to the table and rushed to her side.
"Anna?" She said to her sister.
"Elsa...?" Anna responded weakly, her skin turning pale.
"You once froze your sister's heart. You could have killed her. Now you'll have to do it again to save her life."
Elsa looked at the puppet, "No, I won't do that."
"I already let Anna die from that once, I won't let it happen again."
"Then she will die here as well."
"Elsa, please help me," Anna begged. "I wanna go home."
"I can't just let you die again Anna!"
"Do the magic." Anna said, in a voice that eerily sounded like her four-year old self.
Elsa sighed, "Alright, I'll freeze your heart, but only enough so that poison won't have an effect on you."
She pressed her hand over Anna's heart and mostly froze it over.
Anna looked at her sister. "S-s-save me..."
"Have you overcome your fears, Your Majesty?" the man asked.
"Yes I have," Elsa said, "now give me the antidote."
"Oh really? Then show me."
"What do you mean, show you, I froze Anna's heart just like you said, what more do you want!"
"Prove to me that you no longer fear your powers. That you no longer fear yourself. That you have learned to appreciate your blessings."
"How am I supposed to do that. I no longer fear my powers anyway. Ive done good for Arendelle with my powers now!"
"But you still fear losing control."
"Yes I do. but it is a fear that I can manage"
"Very well." He held up a syringe. "Here is the antidote. All you have to do is come up here and get it."
Elsa's used her ice blasts like a jet pack and flew up to the balcony, taking the syringe, "This better be the end of this."
"It is, I assure you. The game is over; you've won."
Elsa flew back down to Anna and injected her with the syringe, the antidote flowing through her sister's veins.
"Now all you have to do is thaw her heart, and I'll give you the key to the exit." The man informed her.
Elsa thawed the ice away from Anna's heart.
"Elsa?" Anna said, her voice and skin colour returning to normal.
"It's alright Anna, I gave you the antidote, you're gonna be okay now"
The man dropped a key onto the floor near them. "Congratulations, Your Majesty. You have overcome your fears. Most people are so ungrateful to be alive, but not you. Not anymore."
"I am ungrateful, because you forced me to murder several of my citizens!" Elsa argued.
He simply laughed. "I've taught you the value of human life."
Elsa took the key, "Then maybe your value of human life is flawed."
"You can't even begin to understand me. Now go, before I change my mind."
Elsa then saw a large door open next to her, light pouring from it into the large chamber.
As Elsa was about to pick Anna up, she heard what sounded like giggling behind her. Elsa turned around to see if anything was there. All she saw was the puppet from before sitting on a red tricycle. The giggling seemed to be coming from it.
Elsa quickly picked Anna up and headed into the light wanting to get away from this place.
xXx
Elsa then found herself lying in her bed, screaming loudly.
"Elsa! It's okay." Anna said, comforting her. "You were just having a nightmare."
"Anna?" Elsa responded, breathing heavily. "Where are we?"
"Home, in Arendelle."
"Where's the puppet?"
"What puppet?"
"The one that poisoned you and forced me to kill Kristoff!"
"Elsa, it was just a dream. Kristoff is fine and so am I."
Elsa looked at her hands. "But it seemed so real."
"Dreams can be like that. Do you want a glass of water?"
Elsa nodded. "Please."
As Anna left the room to get Elsa a drink, Elsa sat on the side of her bed, looking out of the window at the Fjord in front of her. As she stared at the stars, Elsa then heard the giggling from her turned around, panicked, but thankfully there was no scary puppet on a tricycle. However, Elsa did notice a strange doll on top of her wardrobe that suspiciously looked like the puppet from her dream.
"No it wasn't real." Elsa told herself. "It wasn't real."
xXx
Author's note: I hope you really enjoy this story. Give all your reviews and ideas to Matt, as he is the brilliant genius who came up with this idea.