A Tale of Ghosts and Ice

Hey-o, everyone. I know that it's been a while since you've heard from me, but I've been having a bit of trouble with writers block and personal matters. I've also got kind of caught up with being a beta reader, so there's that, too. So I've decided to give another crossover a shot. After working with FrozenLantern's story, The Princess and Me, I thought that I might try my hand at a DANNY PHANTOM and FROZEN crossover, too. Unlike the one I've co-written, this story will take place in the FROZEN setting. Like all my other stories, I own nothing!

Chapter 1: The Stage Is Set

Arendelle. A beautiful coastal kingdom that was known for a great deal of things, both good and bad. It had the most beautiful summers imaginable, yet had to endure the most trying of winters. Its population were made up of kind and welcoming people, but also had the unfortunate tendency to let their fear of the unknown sway them into acting rashly. Even the royal family was not excluded from these supposed contradicting attributes. Although the incumbent king and queen were fair and gracious rulers that were loved by all, their sudden reclusive behavior had left everyone puzzled and confused; the palace gates were just suddenly closed to the public. That wasn't to say that the king and queen completely isolated themselves from their subjects, as they still made the occasional public appearance for certain events and took an active role in ruling their kingdom, but they were especially tight-lipped about their family and what went on in the palace. As a result, many rumors about the royal family began floating around Arendelle, ranging from outrageous tales of scandals to absurd claims that they were hiding someone cursed by powerful sorcery within their walls. Although the monarchs never reacted to such gossip while under the scrutiny of the people, the two couldn't help but feel slightly unnerved at how unintentionally close some of those speculations hit the figurative nail on the head.

Their eldest daughter, Elsa, wasn'texactly cursed per say, rather she was gifted with mysterious powers that allowed her to manipulate ice and snow. These same powers emerged a year after she was born, much to the surprise of her parents. Despite their initial shock from such a discovery, Agnarr and Iduna truly loved their daughter and did everything they could to help Elsa with her powers. For a while there hadn't been any major mishaps aside from a few walls being flash frozen, and the platinum blonde managed to interact with her parents and her little sister, Anna, without any major difficulty; the girl even used her powers to play with her younger sibling. It was shortly after Elsa turned eight, however, that things took a turn for the worst.

It had started off as something innocent enough: Anna woke up before Elsa and wanted to play with her sister, just like they had periodically done in the past. But in the midst of their games, the platinum blonde accidentally struck her sister in the face with her ice powers, rendering her unconscious and cold to the touch. Hearing the disturbance, the king and queen quickly gathered their children and raced to the Valley of the Living Rock to get help from the area's inhabitants: a colony of benevolent mountain trolls. Luckily for the royal family, the troll king Pabbie was able to reverse the damage done to Anna, with only a single white streak in her hair remaining to show for her previous plight. Unfortunately, part of Pabbie's treatment included removing all traces of magic from her body, including the memories of her older sister having powers. Fortunately, he was able to leave all of the fun times that they'd shared, albeit they had to be heavily altered. The wise king troll then imparted some advice to the elder princess about her future. He told her of how her powers would become stronger as she grew older, and that she would need to learn how to properly control them. Although the troll king mentioned how there would be both beauty and danger regarding her cyrokinetic abilities, he also emphasized that fear would be her greatest enemy.

Figuring that the troll was referring to the fear of his subjects, King Agnarr took extreme measures to keep his family safe. He closed the palace gates to the public (except for cases of great importance, but even then the visitors were sworn to secrecy), heavily reduced the attending staff, and moved Anna into a separate bedroom away from her sister. To help Elsa better rein in her powers, the king assisted the girl in changing her lifestyle to center around three principles: Conceal it. Don't feel it. Don't let it show. He'd even gotten her into the habit of wearing gloves so that she could come in contact with objects and people without accidentally coating them with frost.

In the beginning he'd thought that his precautions were working, but as time moved on and Elsa grew older, Agnarr saw that this wasn't the case. His daughter spent most of her time secluded in her room and focusing on keeping her powers contained, with Pabbie's vision of her possible future at the forefront of her mind. There were still some instances when she unintentionally froze things, which only worsened her already frazzled nerves. By the time she turned eleven, the girl's anxieties had gotten so severe that she'd refrained from interacting with anyone to prevent any more incidents like the one she had with Anna. It had gotten to the point that he and Iduna couldn't even hug her anymore; she just wouldn't let them anywhere near them.

It tore Agnarr and Iduna apart to see their eldest child in such a state: keeping everything and everyone at arm's length, and resigning herself to a restrictive lifestyle in order to prevent her secret from being revealed. It was especially hard for the former considering that it was through his advice that Elsa was still facing so many difficulties with her powers. He wanted to do something to help reverse the possible damage he may have unintentionally inflicted; to bring back his daughter's more lively self. The only problem was that he didn't know how to best approach the problem. Fortunately, as if by some stroke of luck, an ideal opportunity presented itself to him, which was why he found himself standing before his daughter's bedroom door; Agnarr only hoped that she would be willing to at least consider his proposition. He knocked on the closed door three times, and waited patiently. Once he heard Elsa's voice granting him passage into her personal quarters, he quickly entered and carefully shut the door behind him.

Elsa's room, which was the one that she and Anna had originally shared, hadn't gone through many alterations in the past six years. The wallpaper still had the pale purple and white "snowflakes" design, and her canopy bed was still near the large window so that she could have an excellent view of the kingdom beyond the palace gates. Off to a corner on the right side of the room lay a fireplace that was lit during the cold winter nights. Despite these similarities, there were still several noticeable changes that showcased the differing personalities between the two sisters. Whereas Anna's room was messy and looked as if a typhoon had ransacked it, Elsa kept her room neat and tidy. In addition to her bedroom's cleanliness, there were more intellectually-stimulating items such as a chess set, a large model of an ancient Greek ship, and a decent sized collection of books stored in the shelves along the walls

The king easily found his eldest daughter sitting on the edge of her bed, with a book in her gloved hands. The fourteen-year-old princess was dressed in an aquamarine blouse adorned with black embroidery designs. On top of it was a lightweight blue jacket that had thin black bands at the ends of the sleeves. Completing her outfit was a long blue skirt that reached down to her ankles, turquoise stockings, and fancy black loafers. Her platinum blonde hair was tied in a simple French braid and casually draped over her right shoulder. A black hair band was on top of her head, holding her bangs out of her eyes. Hearing the door close, the girl's glacial blue eyes darted to where he was standing, alert yet nervous.

"Father, is there something wrong?" asked Elsa in a quiet and polite tone.

Agnarr took a few steps closer to the girl, but made sure that he kept his distance so as not to unnerve her. "Nothing of the sort, Elsa, but there is something that I'd like to discuss with you." he said, garnering her full attention. "In two days' time, my personal advisors and I are going to witness a private scientific demonstration that's going going to be held in the kingdom. I was wondering if you would be interested in attending the event with me."

Elsa's eyes widened at the offer. Ever since adopting her more withdrawn lifestyle, she'd quickly taken up reading as one of her new hobbies. It didn't matter if the subject matter was fictional of factual, she was interested in reading just about any book that she could get her hands on. It was through her reading that the platinum blonde princess developed an interest in history and science, which made the king's invitation all the more tempting. Bearing witness to a new marvel of science was something that she'd dreamed of seeing, and having such an opportunity being presented to her almost seemed too surreal to believe.

Unfortunately, her budding enthusiasm was subsequently followed by the familiar, overbearing stressful feelings that she'd grown all too accustomed to ever since her accident with Anna. Accepting her father's invitation meant that she'd have to leave the sanctity of the palace, and possibly be seen by strangers. While she did long to leave her home and be out in the open again, her terrifying anxieties often kept her from acting on those desires. The dreaded possibility of her losing control of her powers and exposing her secret to everyone quickly assailed her mind, followed swiftly by the potential ramifications that her accident would have on her family. Contemplating those dire outcomes caused Elsa to subconsciously coat her book's cover with a small amount of frost, before she became aware of her actions and quickly thawed the small ice particles. After calming herself down, she quickly realized one important detail that her father hadn't mentioned.

"What about Mother and Anna? What will they be doing during the presentation?" she asked.

If the king was caught off guard by her question, he didn't show it. "Actually, your mother and I have already discussed the matter, and made plans accordingly. If you did decide to attend the demonstration with me, your mother and your sister would spend the day out in the kingdom. By the time they arrive back home, the event will be over, and the scientists will be on their way back home. So, Elsa, what do you say?"

The teenage princess became silent once again as she took in her father's explanation. The major glaring problem that had been troubling her was the possibility of interacting with her sister. Despite all of the time that had passed since the incident, she was still extremely wary about being anywhere near Anna. Just thinking about interacting with her sibling was enough to bring up bad memories of that day. Of course, that would usually start a chain reaction: her powers would unexpectedly build, to which she would desperately try to repress it, resulting in the pent-up power building up until it became too much for her to control and she had no choice but to release it. Now that she knew that Anna would be thoroughly distracted with something else, the demonstration was looking more and more appealing. Yet despite her desire to attend, her years of being a shut-in had made her exceedingly hesitant about socializing with other people, and she figured that going to the event was too much of a risk to take. The cyrokinetic princess was determined to keep her powers hidden from the world, even if it meant passing up on things that she'd enjoy.

Turning her attention back to her father, she was about to politely decline his invitation when the platinum blonde caught sight of the look on his face. There was a small glimmer of hope in those green eyes, burning like a small ember. The refusal that Elsa wanted to say got caught up in her throat when her eyes met his. It was easy for the princess to see how much her male parent was really wishing that she would accept the offer, which made her contemplate about how many strings he had to pull in order to obtain this rare chance for her. If that were truly the case, then she just couldn't say no.

Regardless of her old fears gnawing at her resolve, she managed to keep herself calm and contemplate her situation. It had been six years since that horrid, life-changing day, and she had been extremely vigilant in keeping her cyrokinetic abilities under control ever since. While she did have a few mishaps in the past, she never had any major catastrophes, which meant that it was possible that she was finally getting better with her "problem". Plus, this demonstration could help ease herself back into the public eye. If she was able to participate in a social gathering without any mishaps, then perhaps her parents would be willing to ease off on the restrictions that they'd placed on her. After all, if she was going to be the next queen, she was going to have to get used to the responsibilities that came with the position, including all of the public proceedings.

Taking a deep breath, Elsa faced the king with a confident smile. "I would love to attend the demonstration, Father."

Almost immediately, she saw her father's expression brighten. "Excellent!" exclaimed Agnarr. "I'll make the proper arrangements, and let your mother know of our plans." Elsa could tell from the tone of his voice that her father was extremely happy with her decision, and began to feel excited once again about witnessing a possible revolutionary scientific breakthrough. Just as the king was about to leave, another question popped into Elsa's mind.

"Father, what exactly is this demonstration going to be about?"

Agnarr turned back to his daughter, and smiled. "That, my dear Elsa, is a surprise. You'll just have to wait and see." With that, the king quietly exited Elsa's room, leaving her to ponder about the possible subject that the visiting scientists were going to present.

Vennskapal.* A medium sized town located in a forested mountainous area that was officially know for two distinctive hallmarks. The first characteristic was the town's culturally diverse population. The citizens of Vennskapal all had ancestral roots that traced back to countries all over the world: China, Algeria, France, Germany, and countless others. Despite the fact that the entire population was well attuned with the world's modern times, they made sure to always keep their ancestrial heritage close to their hearts. It was because of this attribute that the town was nicknamed The Melting Pot. The town's second most defining quality was the countless technological advancements made by the denizens. With the all of brilliant minds that lived in the town, countless experiments were performed with the intent of improving the technology that was used in everyday life. Whether it was coming up with new designs to make ships faster, creating more effective weaponry for the military, or simply improving normal household tools, Vennskapal was the place to be for all of the latest revolutionary advancements in technology. Several other lands had often commissioned the town's scientists for their work, including notorious kingdoms such as Corona, which only helped spread their revolutionary ideas across the world.

What few people realized, however, was that these positive and endearing qualities only took root at the end of a dark and bloody series of events. While a majority of the world was clueless as to what was the catalyst to the unspeakable debacle that occurred twenty-five years ago, the horrid truth was known only by the more older inhabitants of the town and a select few individuals. As a result of this horrendous period of time, the civilians of Vennskapal had developed an enmity towards anything involving the supernatural, which was passed on to the younger generation. Anyone that showed even the slightest bit of interest towards the forbidden subject were looked down upon by their peers. Yet despite the majority of the population's avoidance of the town's taboo, one family was thoroughly involved with it.

"Everyone! Everyone, come quick! I have wonderful news!" exclaimed a man within the main dining area of his family's home. He was as bulky as a bear, and was rumored to be able to match the animal in terms of strength. The man had blue eyes and short black hair with white streaks running across the sides of his head. The strangest aspect of his appearance, however, was his attire. Instead of the more traditional style of clothing that men his age wore, he was dressed in a large orange outfit that covered his entire body. Although it looked like the entire outfit was just one single piece, it was actually similar to normal clothes, albeit made of some unusual yet durable material. This large, strange man was none other than Jack Fenton.

"Jack, what is it?" The first person to enter the dining area was a woman with brown hair cut in a short pixie style and amethyst eyes. She was by no means short even though she barely came up to Jack's shoulder, and had curves in all the right places, which was quite impressive for a woman in her forties. Like her husband, she too wore a peculiar outfit that covered her body from the neck down. It appeared to be made out of the same material that Jack's was, only hers was turquoise and seemed to accentuate her feminine figure as it stretched across her form.

Soon after the woman's arrival, two teenagers walked in. The tallest and oldest of the pair had teal eyes, and long bright orange hair that was held out of her eyes by an aquamarine cloth. She was dressed in a sleek black blouse and a long sea-green skirt that ended a little past her knees. Behind the girl stood a boy that was about an inch shorter than her. He had his black hair in a messy spiky style, and his eyes were a shade of pale blue. He wore a simple white long-sleeved shirt and blue pants. Both of the young adolescents simply glanced at each other, curious as to what the large man was talking about.

"It's our latest project, Maddie!" exclaimed Jack. "Someone has finally taken a personal interest in it!"

"Really?" asked the youngest out of the four gathered people, his surprise evident in his voice.

"You betcha, Danny, m'boy!" exclaimed Jack. "And get this: we've been invited to present our invention to a private viewing party. If we impress them, they'll further fund our research. We'll finally be able to put Fenton Works™ on the map!"

"Oh, Jack, that's wonderful!" exclaimed Maddie as she threw her arms around Jack in a loving embrace, before sealing his lips with a kiss. Even though Danny was a bit put-off by the sudden display of affection, he was still happy for his parents. Jack and Madeline Fenton (the latter usually going by her nickname, Maddie) were known all throughout Vennskapal as the residential paranormal experts. The married couple were intelligent scientists in their own right, but they preferred to focus their efforts on all matters involving ghosts. As such, they had developed several equipment and weapons specifically to combat and study ghosts. But since they had never had the chance to properly field test their creations on an actual ghost, however, they were left at the "prototype" stage.

Unfortunately, their fascination with the spirits of the deceased didn't exactly do the family many favors with the townspeople, and being the children of ghost hunters/specialists meant that Danny and his older sister received their fair share of heckling from their peers. Sadly for the former, he was the one who usually got the worst of the ridicule since he was more of an easier target in comparison to his prodigy of a sister. That wasn't to say that Danny was a loner; he had two best friends that he'd known since he was a child: a girl known as Samantha Manson (although she preferred to be called Sam), and a boy named Tucker Foley. The three of them got along swimmingly, but because they didn't exactly conform to the more commonly accepted ideals that everyone else had, they were considered to be the "bottom feeders" among their classmates in terms of social standing. Yet despite the seemingly endless taunts he'd endured throughout his life, Danny was pretty content with his life.

"And there's even better news: your mother and I are allowed to bring along one guest each for the demonstration, which is scheduled during you kids' spring break. I figured that all of us could go to this event together." added Jack.

"That's a wonderful idea, dear! It'll be like a family vacation!" agreed Maddie.

The two teens barely managed to hold back the cringes when they heard the idea. Even though they both loved their parents dearly, being involved with their line of work was always a touchy subject for the two Fenton children. It was especially difficult whenever Jack and Maddie gave lectures to the town's scientific board of directors about the developments and breakthroughs they made in their research. The jeering they received from the other kids always seemed to worsen after one of their parents' demonstrations, although the duo never actually told their parents about their situation.

"Um, when exactly is the demonstration scheduled to take place?" asked Danny's sister.

"The official date is this upcoming Sunday, Jazz. We would need to leave tomorrow, however, in order confirm our invitation, on top of making sure that all of the equipment is prepared and that the device is properly constructed."

Jasmine (or simply Jazz for short) drew in a sharp breath through her clenched teeth. "Oooh, talk about bad timing." the redhead said, her expression becoming remorseful. "Sorry, Dad, but I sort of already made plans this weekend. I'd promised the Turners and the Abramsens that I'd tutor their kids in arithmetic on Saturday, and that I'd help Dr. Foss at the office on Sunday."

Danny shot his older sister a subtle disappointed look as he saw his parents' euphoric mood falter. As they were growing up, Jazz had always shown a high sense of maturity for someone her age; she had often referred to herself as an adult in a teenager's body. She'd also stressed on numerous occasions how important it was for family members to support one another when he was still a young kid, but he'd recently started to notice a change in his sibling. Ever since she turned sixteen, Jazz had became more focused on her academic studies, which unintentionally caused the girl to distance herself from the family. When she developed a vested interest in psychology, she began to seek out ways that she could get a successful career in the field, and managed to obtain an internship with the town's top psychologist, Dr. Arn Foss. As a result of her accomplishments, Jazz began to spend even more time away from her family, and would almost always have some prior engagement that just happened to coincide with whatever public demonstration or family outing that had been planned. Although he and his parents were proud of Jazz's success, Danny couldn't help but think that the girl was using her extracurricular activities as a convenient excuse to avoid their folks and any possible embarrassment that their actions might cause.

"Oh...I see. That's a shame." said Jack, his expression becoming increasingly glum. His wife placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, although she too looked somewhat put down.

"I'm really sorry, Mom and Dad, I don't mean to keep-"

"No, no, it's alright, hon." assured Maddie. "Your father and I just got a little overexcited, that's all. We should have asked if you kids had made plans for the weekend first."

While Jazz was somewhat relieved by her mother's comforting words, she still felt somewhat guilty for raining on her parents' parade. Danny, however, was having conflicting feelings about the situation before him. On one hand, his parents were practically giving him a way out of having to attend another one of their "ghostly" demonstrations. That meant that he could avoid an further embarrassment, and begin his spring vacation properly: sleeping in and spending the day doing nothing. Yet at the same time, he hated seeing his parents look so disheartened. Their upcoming presentation was a huge breakthrough for them, and they simply wanted to share their happiness with the whole family; having to hear that their children couldn't (or didn't want to) attend really depressed them. Danny knew exactly what he had to do, even though he wasn't all too thrilled about it.

"Um, actually, I don't really have anything planned this weekend," he began, causing his parents' gaze to focus on him, "so if it's alright, I'd still like to come with you guys."

"That's very kind of you, sweetie, but you don't have to come with us if you don't want to." said Maddie with a gentle smile.

"Yeah, it wouldn't be fair for you to cancel any plans that you've already made with your friends just for our sake." added Jack.

"That's just it, I really don't have any plans. Tucker's going to some fair that's out of town on Saturday, and Sam's been roped into a weekend getaway with her family. Besides, I was just going to spend the weekend lazing around the house, so I figured that-" Danny was abruptly cut off as his father swept him up in a bone-crushing hug, nearly cutting off his air supply.

"Aw, thanks, Dan-o! Just you wait, this will be an experience that you'll never forget!" exclaimed Jack as he tightened his embrace.

"Urk! If you...say...so..., Dad." groaned the teen, trying his best to keep on breathing. The moment his male parent released him from his grip, the teen subtly made sure that none of his bones were broken.

Maddie smiled warmly at her youngest child. "Well, if you really don't mind, then you're more than welcome to come with us. But just to give you a fair warning, you might need to get your hands dirty and help us prepare our invention."

"No worries. I've watched you and Dad work on that machine from time to time, so I have a pretty decent idea on how the thing works."

"Great!" Suddenly, Jack's eyes widened in brief realization. "Oh! I almost forgot, we're going to have to leave bright and tomorrow early if we're to arrive at the checkpoint on time."

Danny mentally groaned at the thought of waking up early on a Saturday, when he realized that his father didn't mention one important detail.

"Er, Dad, where exactly is this demonstration taking place?" His mom and sister shot curious glances towards the man in question, which only seemed to make his grin stretch even wider.

"That's the best part. We've been invited, by King Agnarr himself, to present our invention in Arendelle!" he announced excitedly.

"What?!"

"You're kidding!"

"Arendelle?!" exclaimed Jazz in disbelief. "One of the most prestigious kingdoms in the entire world; the one whose royal family hasn't been seen in public for nearly six years since they closed the palace gates to the public? That's the Arendelle you're referring to?!" Danny couldn't help but find the irony of his sister's dilemma amusing. Jazz never bothered to hide her fascination of Arendelle, and would gladly share her interests in the kingdom to anyone that would listen (as well as those that wouldn't). To her, Arendelle was a place of refinement and sophistication; a place where the most highly intellectual scholars lived and worked. She'd always wanted to visit Arendelle, and yet her overachieving tendencies had cost her the chance to finally see the kingdom.

"The one in the same, Jazz!" boomed their father, oblivious to the girl's dismay. "That reminds me, Maddie, we'd better start packing and make sure that we don't leave any important equipment behind." With that, the two adults headed to their workshop located in the basement, leaving their two kids alone.

"Just my luck. The one time I can actually visit Arendelle is when I've got a full schedule on the weekend." groused Jazz.

Danny managed to stamp down his initial urge to gloat over his sister's misfortune once he saw how crestfallen she looked. "Don't worry about it, sis, I'm sure that there'll be other chances for you to visit Arendelle. Heck, you might be able to move there for your future career. All the same, I'll be sure to bring you back something special from the kingdom."

Jazz smiled. "Thanks, little brother. But just to give you a fair warning, I'm going to be expecting you tell me everything about Arendelle when you come back home, and I mean everything."

"Alright, alright, if you say so." chuckled Danny, as he walked out of the room. He had some packing to do after he told his friends about the day's most recent developments.

TO BE CONTINUED...

So here's the first chapter of a new story. Now before anyone says anything, let me set the record straight: NO, my other stories are NOT going to be abandoned, but they will be updated at a much slower pace. Writer's block is real pain in the ass, and real life isn't really helping things either. So I figured that some time away from my NARUTO-centered stories will help me get the creative juices flowing again.

*The name that I used for Danny's home town (Vennskapal) is based on the word 'Vennskap', which is Norwegian for 'friendship'. I tried find the translation for 'amity', but I couldn't find it.

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