Winter Can Be Deadly. Winter Can Be Friendly.
Queen Elsa of Arendelle looked out the window in her tower, overlooking her country.
Small, quaint cottages covered the surface of the mainland, just across the brick path that connected the castle to civilization. The rooms were lit with lanterns that hung in the windows and fires roared with life to keep the chilly night air out of their bones. A small orange glow escaped tightly shut windows and shone through the drawn curtains.
The air smelt of the forest surrounded the country. If the white-haired queen closed her eyes and focused, she could hear the distant sounds of the waves crashing into the walls that enclosed the castle. These sounds were supposed to be soothing, but they weren't.
They most definitely were not helping anything.
She stared desperately at them, her eyes pleading. The tide pushed through the water and crashed against the wall over and over. If the tide could push the water out of the way, why couldn't it push her thoughts away?
Elsa sighed and slouched in her chair, her gloveless hand holding up her head. Her azure eyes drifted up into the dark night sky, tracing the constellations and old Arendelle stories coming to life in her head.
Not even the glowing stars could bring her any joy tonight. They had never failed to work before, not even during her most depressing days when she locked herself away from the world to protect her people.
No, they hadn't worked for her several days now.
They had always brought her company; they had always brought her companionship. She was never alone when she was locked away. No. She always had the stars there beside her.
Now that she was free and was able to socialize with other people, she never felt more alone.
Taunting words crept up on her like a dark shadow and she slunk away from the window.
"Witch."
"Cursed."
"Danger."
"Monster."
The words stung her like whipping snowflakes in a strong blizzard wind and tears filled her eyes as she remembered.
"You will never be our queen."
"You're a disgrace to Arendelle."
"You will destroy our country."
Elsa stood up from her chair by the window abruptly, throwing it to the ground. It landed behind her with a loud clatter, making her jump with fright and her heart race. Her hand flung towards the wall to help her gain balance, her fingertips grazing the window. Crackles filled the air, making Elsa jump.
The young queen spun around and saw that her window was covered with a thick layer of frost.
She stumbled back, shock clearly etched on her face.
I hate this curse, Elsa told herself, her hands clenched in fists and pressed to her middle tightly to keep herself from freezing anything else. I hate this curse.
Her legs hit the edge of her bed, sending her sprawling onto the mattress. Her hand clutched the frame to keep her balance, sending another splintering sound into the otherwise silent night.
Elsa's breath caught in her throat and she leapt up.
How could she be queen of a country if she couldn't even control her own abilities? How could she lead a country if the people feared her? How could she give people confidence in her abilities when she wasn't confident with herself? How could she do anything with this cursed life of hers?
She looked down at her hands hatefully.
Why did they have to hold this curse!? Why did they decide to bring so much misery to her life!? Why did they have to? Why… Why… Why… Why?!
Elsa brought her hands together and swung them across her body, pointing her palms towards the room.
A great blast of harsh winter wind snapped out of her body and flew across the room, blasting painting off the walls and objects off her desk, causing shattering and smashing to fill the room. The wind burst against the wall, patterns of the icy disaster exploding across, high pitched popping filling the air.
Elsa spun and swung her arm, sending a blast of frigid air towards the wooden chair. It smashed against it, forming jagged ice crystals that pointed threateningly in all directions.
Her foot stomped against the ground, sending a wave across the floor. The ice spread across her room like a spilled glass of water; quickly and without forgiveness. The ice raced up the walls, only slowing to a crawl once it reached her window frame.
Elsa's hand flung against her bedside table, picking up a candle. She whipped it across the room, the wax exploding into a billion ice shards with contact to the stone.
She swept the rest of the contents of her table onto the floor, covering the wood with ice. It felt like her whole room was turning into what she felt like inside – damaged, cursed, and dangerous.
Another blast followed by another and another of the curse exploded out of her until she fell to her knees with exhaustion, tears spilling out of her eyes.
"I… I ha-hate this curse!" Elsa sobbed. "Why!? Why me!? Why was I the one cursed to hold this burden!? Why was I chosen to hold this curse!?" Her forehead touched the ground as her body curled in on itself, her stomach feeling hollow with sorrow. "I hate this! I hate this! I-"
"Elsa?" a soft voice questioned from the other side of Elsa's door. A light tap on the door followed. Elsa clamped her mouth shut and franticly wiped the tears away from her face. "El, is everything alright? I heard screams?"
"Go away, Anna," Elsa choked out, her head hanging with shame. She said she would never do this again. She said she would never close out her sister, but here she was.
"Elsa…" Anna pleaded. "Please don't shut me out again. Just let me in."
"I can't," the white-haired girl sobbed, "you wouldn't understand."
"Try me," Anna said. She pushed on the door, but the locks held. "Elsa, please."
Elsa pulled herself up from the ground and picked her gloves up from the floor from the wreckage her outburst created. She opened the door and came face to face with her younger sister.
"Oh! You… You opened the door." She pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I'm… I mean… Err.. Hi. No, that's not what I mean. I meant to ask… Umm… What's wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong, Anna," Elsa said tiredly. "I just need to be alone for a bit. Please."
"You've been alone all your life, though! You should be with people now that your gift is known!" Anna encouraged her sister. Elsa shook her head.
"I told you that you wouldn't understand."
"Okay, I'm sorry, Elsa," Anna said quickly, her hand flying out to prevent the door from shutting. "Please, let me in." Elsa looked across at the red-haired princess. At that moment, she couldn't see the red flush in her cheeks nor the sparkle of like in her eyes; all she could see the frozen statue after her heart was frozen. The pain Elsa experienced when she saw the frozen body of her sister was unimaginable, she didn't want to think of living without her sister again.
She couldn't risk it.
She couldn't lose her again.
"I can't."
"Elsa-"
"No, I'm sorry!" With that Elsa closed the door and slid to the floor, a fresh set of tears building up in her eyes.
"Murdered your sister."
Her head fell into her hands and her back slid down the door.
"I'm only a killer," she whispered to herself, sobs bubbling out of her chest. "I can only cause harm. I should be dead! These powers of mine can either be stripped or I can be killed, either way, I won't hurt her again. I won't hurt anyone again." She thrust her hands to the floor, her head resting on her knees.
If there was a way to be cursed with them, there had to be a way to undo them. Elsa mused miserably in her head.
"This burden isn't fair! It shouldn't be given out! This shouldn't be cursed upon anyone, not even the worst people that walked this Earth! Why am I cursed with this!? What did I do to deserve this!?"
A small creak sounded by her window and her head whipped around to see what made the noise.
Drawings filled the window that she covered with frost only minutes before. Two snowflakes were etched perfectly on the window with such precision and beauty. With a small burst of blue, the two snowflakes came to life and started floating around the room.
Elsa followed them with her eyes until one of them began to drift dangerously close to the floor. With a small burst of a much gentler wind than she used moments before, the snowflake with dancing around the room once again.
There was a bang from her window and words were drawn into the frost.
There you go.
Elsa jolted, her frightened eyes searching her room for the source of the printing.
"Who… Who's there?" she questioned, her voice somehow getting lost in her throat.
There was no response.
"I asked who is here," Elsa said stronger, standing up from the ground. Her hand swiped the tears away from under her eyes as she scanned the square room.
Printing quickly began to form on the window.
Don't be afraid. I just came since you were upset. I'm a friend. I promise.
Elsa just stared at the window with narrowed eyes.
You are not alone, Elsa. Remember that there is always one person out there like you, no matter what you think.
"No, I am alone, you don't understand," Elsa muttered. She stared at the window intently, where the printing was coming from. "Why can't you talk?" she wondered.
I can.
"Then talk to me."
But I can't.
Elsa frowned further and crossed her arms over her chest.
"How do I know you're real and I'm not just imagining this?"
How do you know anything's real? How do you know you aren't always imagining everything going on?
Elsa said nothing.
Exactly.
"Listen, whoever you are, if you came here to frustrate me, it worked. Now leave," she ordered, taking a step forward.
You weren't happy with who you are. You weren't happy with your great abilities. I came here to help you.
"Ha!" Elsa snorted, walking around to the other side of her bed, pulling out a robe. If he insisted on staying, she was just going to leave. "That's where you're wrong. Again. I have a curse, not an ability."
You're looking at it in the wrong light, Elsa. We are not cursed with anything. We are gifted with an ability to change the world around us.
"But we are cursed," Elsa told him quickly, using his words. "We are either born with this or it's cursed upon us during our lives. Either way, it doesn't make a difference. We're cursed with having the burden of having this deadly winter in our hands."
Winter isn't deadly. Not all the time.
"Winter can be deadly."
Winter can be friendly.
"Listen, I don't know who you think you are, but if you don't leave, I will," Elsa told him stiffly. There was no response. She let the breath go out of her chest.
He must have left.
She put the cloak back into the bedside table and sat down on her bed, her head falling into her hands.
Who was that man that thought it was ok to saunter into her room like that? She could have called her guards to kill him. She could have very well killed him! Whoeve-
A burst of blue magic lit up her room, and a scream escaped her lips as she jumped from her bed. Small snowflakes filled the air, quickly falling and covering the ground with the white beauty. They were floating around Elsa in a matter that held love and peace, not danger and death like her storms.
You have to look at it in a different way, Elsa. This is a friendly winter. This is what we're here to do, not to cause fear. This is why we have our gift. It's to keep away bad storms and bring out the best in things. It's to bring joy and happiness to the early darkness winter holds.
"You know my name, but I don't know yours. That's hardly unfair."
But you do know my name already. You just don't know it's me. You don't know I exist. Nobody does.
"I'm sure that's untrue, so-"
No. Now it's you who doesn't understand. I was created to be here, but never to be seen. I don't really have a purpose. I'm just here.
"That's absurd! Everyone has a purpose!"
The only difference about you and I is that people believe in you, but nobody believes in me.
The snowflakes still drifted leisurely around the room.
"I'm imagining this. I can't be talking to an invisible person! It's impossible!" Elsa snorted.
You aren't imagining this. You've been enlightened, hopefully, about your abilities. Enlightened about the wonders of our magic. We're the only two out there, we have to know what we're doing. We both have to know that this is a wonderful gift of magic, not a curse.
"How could this not be a curse?" she held up her hands. "I froze my whole country! I almost killed my sister twice and I could have killed many other people."
There was no reply.
"Talk to me. Please! A… Are you actually there?" Elsa walked over to the window and noticed the frost was quickly melting away. Her finger tapped it, covering it in a layer of frost again. Not a second later, writing was quickly being scrawled onto the window.
Not everything you do with your gift is a bad thing. Look at this, for example. You just gave me the ability to speak.
The window covered in a layer of frost again, erasing the message.
Elsa looked down at her hands which were hanging at her sides. Confused, she looked at the window. How did…
"Hey! You could have frosted the window up when it was melting!" Elsa pointed out.
Forgot, sorry.
Elsa rolled her eyes but a smile grew on her lips.
Your gift had to help me speak. Your gift helped.
"Yeah, bu-"
It helped.
"Maybe without it I could be more help. Maybe my parents wouldn't be dead. Maybe I could lead my country. Maybe my people wouldn't flinch away from me with fear," Elsa said sadly. Her life would be so much simpler without her powers.
It makes you, you. Without these powers, you wouldn't be the same. You wouldn't be Elsa.
"Who are you?" Elsa questioned softly. "I don't know you but yet you know me."
You know who I am. You have since you were a little girl, El.
"You keep telling me that, but when will I meet you? When will I see your face?"
You will meet me soon enough. We are meant to spend the rest of our existence making this world friendlier. If we're meant to bring happiness to this world together, we're meant to meet sometime, whether it's in this life or another.
"How do you know that we'll meet? How do you know we're meant to do this? How do you know it's me?"
How do I know? The Man in the Moon told me. And when He tells you something, you listen.
"When He tells you something, you listen…" Elsa quoted, her eyes closing for a brief moment. "The Snow Protector," Elsa stated, her eyes reopening. "That's your story."
The Snow Protector was Elsa's favourite constellation as a child and her favourite Arendelle story. It still was. It was a story she remembered her father telling her as a young child when she was locked up. The boy in the story was born with the same curse as Elsa. It brought her comfort that she wasn't the only one to be born with this curse and this burden.
View your powers as a gift, not a curse.
There was a pause where they both didn't say anything.
You know, there's a thin line in the sky. This thin line separates love and hate in the world; it separates good and evil. Your mind and heart don't always agree with each other, and you always end up having to choose a side. Sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's easy. It's easy for you, Elsa; your mind is good and your heart is good. They're pure as snow.
Elsa smiled slightly.
You're a good person, Elsa. You're on the good side of this line, all parts of you. Your gift can't be evil, it can't be a curse; it isn't possible with you having control over it.
Once again, they didn't say anything.
I need to go, but remember this. Remember you aren't alone, even if you feel like it. There is always someone out there that has the same problems as you.
"Thank you, for everything," Elsa whispered softly, leaning up against the wall beside the window.
We may be different in some ways, but we are the same in some.
"I believe in you." Elsa said quietly, remembering how he said nobody believed in him earlier. "You have to be real to make something as beautiful as this," she said referring to the fluffy snow on the ground, "you have to be a good person to come here and try to teach me about our gift."
Goodnight, Elsa.
"Hey! I still don't know your name!" Elsa called, but the window was already thawing. She pushed it open and looked out into the night sky. The stars were twinkling, the moon was full and glowing, and the sea was calling. In the distance, a young man with snow white hair, glowing pale skin and brown pants was flying away, a brown cloak billowing out behind him.
Jack, something told Elsa, Jack Frost. You will see him again soon.
The ends of her lips quirked up into a smile and her eyes flicked up to the moon.
When He tells you something, you listen.
"Goodnight, Jack."
Thanks for reading! Leave a review to let me know what you thought!
Paw