Chapter 1
Elsa wasn't the only elemental in Arendelle that fateful summer.
Nor was she the only one letting go of something. But to explain this slightly confusing statement, we must go back to that day, before the night that Anna was struck in the head with ice magic and forgot everything...
Unbeknownst to most, Elsa and Anna had a younger brother. His name was Darren, and he blew stuff up. When their parents weren't around (which admittedly was quite often), he would play games with his older sister, Anna. (Elsa was too smart to trust Darren after the first incident he caused.) These games usually consisted of Darren and Anna starting off with a regular children's game, Darren turning it dark and twisted, and Anna telling him to stop.
And then he would make her explode.
There's something you must understand now: Anna is resistant to fire, heat, and all related things, for reasons that will be explained. So you will see, when Darren would make her clothes burst into flame, she would just be rather angry and generally dangerous to have around. In more than one way.
On one of these afternoons, Darren and Anna played in the Great Hall of their parents' castle. Anna ended up with her favorite outfit in flames, and she was therefore considerably upset, chasing after her crackling, popping brother and setting things on fire.
Two strange men watched the scene from the darkness of the rafters. The one on the left watched the exploding Darren, while the eyes of the one on the right never left the princess. "They're it," they said simultaneously, and finally looked away, turning to each other. "The boy could be a secondary red," the left one said. "The girl's primary," the right replied.
In a crack of thunder and a flash of lightning, both had gone.
"Welcome home, sir," the butler said to the King of Arendelle. "May I take your cloak?"
"Very well," the king said wearily, handing it over. "Any news of the surrounding areas?"
"Well," the butler said, "Nothing yet. But you may learn something... you have guests, you see."
"What?" the king said, not quite understanding what the butler had said. "I don't have an appointment... maybe later..."
"They insist upon seeing you now, sir."
"Oh, very well, very well!" The king walked into the dining hall and slammed the door behind him, turning to face his two hooded guests.
"Who are you and what do you want?" the king said bluntly. "I'm very tired and rather busy as it is-"
"Anything can wait for this," one of the visitors interrupted, rising from his seat.
"Indeed," said the other, also getting up. "I take it that you don't know us?"
"Should I?"
"Let me put it frankly," the second one continued. "You know how your eldest daughter has Ice magic?"
"What about it?" the king asked suspiciously. "Wait a moment, how do you even know about-"
"We've been keeping tabs on your family for quite some time now," the first one said, interrupting again.
"Anyway," the second jumped in, "we witnessed an event earlier today that confirms both of our suspicions. Both of your other children are elementals too."
There was a heavy silence.
"Elementals?" the king asked. "I've never heard it called that before."
"It is the official term for beings like us, who are born with powers of control over nature itself," the second stranger explained. "Your daughter Anna appears to control Fire, and Darren, your son, has Combustion powers."
"We've noticed," the king said bitterly.
"And so you leave him to his own devices, locked away inside his own twisted mind?" The first stranger towered over the king, who cowered before him.
"We know what it's like," the second one said, bowing his head. "It only makes things worse. Let him be free!"
The first stranger's head suddenly snapped straight up. "Did you feel that?" he asked the second man.
"A mood fluctuation," breathed the other. "If we can actually feel it at this distance-"
"It's too late," the first stranger said, hanging his head. "Your son has run away."
Later that night, Elsa and Anna snuck into the Great Hall to play and Anna was struck down. Their parents, already distressed from the morning's events, pulled out all the stops and went to the trolls. There Anna's memory was forever wiped of magic, including Darren. This caused her manifesting powers to become dormant, meaning she would be unable to protect against future ice. But one day, her powers were bound to awaken...
In his cabin on the ship sailing to the wedding of an old family friend, the king of Arendelle was once again greeted by two unwelcome surprises. Well, three, actually.
"Surprise," the first stranger said.
"Bet you thought you'd never see us again," said the other.
The king gaped. "How did you-"
"Get on board?" the two strangers finished together. "Well, it's not exactly difficult when you have powers like ours," said the first one.
"Indeed," said the second. "I, for example, am a major Thunder elemental. I can control the weather to a point, and I can also channel lightning."
And I," the first added, "am a major Water elemental. I control the ebb and flow of the tides, and when in conjunction with my companion, we make a formidable typhoon."
"Why are you telling me all this?" the weary king asked. "Last time we met you wouldn't tell me anything but information about my own family."
"Oh, but don't you realize?" the second stranger said. "We are family." With that, both men removed their hoods.
"Corona!" The king stared, white-faced, at the second man, who had red hair with blond streaks in it. "Corona of Corona, father of kings across the sea. Sorcery!"
"No, indeed," Corona said, straightening up with a thin smile. "Simply a prestigious place in the local community."
"What job would merit such extensive life?" the king replied angrily.
"That is what we are here to tell you, dolt," said the first stranger. He was taller than Corona, with more bulk (whether from his clothing or naturally was hard to tell). His face was sharp, and his hair was a sea green, windswept and messy. "We've come to tell you that your children are to be Guardians of Force. They shall live until they find one to replace them in their post, and until then they shall wield one of the Divine Channelers and protect this world from Chaos."
"I can't be sure, but it sounded like there were a lot of unknown proper nouns in that sentence," the king said. "And you think you can just recruit them because you have powers? I am still the king of Arendelle. You can be stopped. Everything can."
"With the exception of the Lord above," Corona said, "to be sure, we cannot be indestructible. But hear this: No feeble human guards will pose the slightest threat to us."
"We shall see," the king sneered. "GUARDS! Apprehend these madmen and throw them belowdecks!"
All three of the men in the cabin heard the thunder of feet pounding on the deck. "We warned you," the first man said, as they were dragged out the door onto the deck.
"Now," the king said, stepping out after them, "I don't know what you want, but I grow tired of your continued annoyance. Rid me of yourselves!"
"Very well," said the first stranger nonchalantly, stepping through the grip of the guards holding him as if he were made of mist.
"You will regret that wording in a moment," Corona said. There was a brilliant flash of light, and the guards holding him all flew ten feet back from him in a shower of sparks.
"What do you mean by that?" The king looked nervously around at the startled and unconscious guards.
The two elementals stood silent and still, side by side. Clouds rolled across the sky, blotting out the light and turning the scene on the deck eerie. Then the two men clasped right hands and shouted, "VAPOR LIGHTNING STRIKE!"
A blue fork of lightning came searing out of the sky and smashed into the king, traveling through him and into the ship, scorching and splitting the boards. Water gushed onto the deck from below, where the thunderbolt had made holes in the hull.
The queen rushed up to the main deck to see two strange men standing over many unconscious soldiers and her scorched husband. She gasped and rushed over to the king, who was stirring. "What have you done?" she whispered, turning to the two men standing, motionless, a look of pure hatred on her face.
"You should be asking what your husband has done," the first stranger said, stepping forward.
"Who are you?" the queen said, her voice still nothing but a hoarse whisper. "What do you want?"
"We are Corona and Vaan of the Guardians of Force," the man said, as he and his companion stepped closer. "And we want peace."
"Eternal peace," hissed Corona.
A great wave came over the ship. The queen looked into the eyes of her murderers with terror in her heart. They betrayed not a flicker of emotion as the ship tilted and was submerged. The last thing she saw was the deadened eyes and thin smile of her ancestor, Corona, as she went under.
Once the ship had been properly submerged, the two Guardians stopped treading water and threw their heads back, channeling their powers. Vaan, the green-haired man, changed to water vapor and was quickly assimilated into Corona's thundercloud. Corona himself was struck by lightning, and in that split second, he transformed from a man into a mass of sentient photons and plasma, surging back into the heavens and traveling through the sky like a writhing electric serpent. Together, the two Forces traveled oversea by cloud, moving back towards Arendelle. They had an appointment to keep.