Chapter 2: Poisoned Seaweed and Deja-vu

I will tell you right here and now that I'm terrified of writing sequels. It's really challenging to write something that is even better than the first one.

On the other hand, this chapter is filler, and will lead up to something exciting, but this one is not particularly interesting…

Happy Reading, and make sure to review, Favourite and Follow!

Elsa's POV

It hurts, everything hurts.

The cut on my wrist was infected with Pitch's serum, and it hurts like fire (since she's ice, and fire like melts ice... lol I don't know what I'm doing). I blank out whenever it hurts too much, and I never know what happens. I'm scared. This wasn't supposed to happen anymore. I was supposed to be free.

I told North and he tried to help, but after many samples of my blood, DNA, and the works, I always get the same look. All the tests still confirm that I'm not infected and completely normal. He knows it's not true, and so do I, but he wears the same sad smile every time he sees me, like a zookeeper looking at the caged animal. Pity. It kills like a thousand daggers inside.

Since Prof. North couldn't help me, I've decided to help myself. Recently, I noticed that my condition happens as the moon changes. When the days inch closer to the full moon, I hurt more, but since we were only out for about a month, there has only been once that the full cycle happened.

That time, I remember blanking out, and I see the world tinged in red. I feel wisps of black sand swirling around me, and a low, slightly seductive voice calling out to me. I never know what it says. I always wake up, but I wake up in a strange place, in the ground of the forest, on the tip-top of a pine tree, or even in the streams (that haven't been polluted yet)

I also told Anna. She hugs me, and we spend most of our time in the tent together. Her trying to keep my head off of my… uhh… condition. She brings me tea, or more like leaves boiled in water, and we read books (I had a few packed away in my suitcase when we rushed into the dorms to pack). It's rather nice.

I never make her stay more than an hour with me, since I don't know if this is contagious. I would rather die than see my sister crumble with the weight of the world on her tiny shoulders. I stopped talking to Jack and Kris and Punz as well. Thank god for Anna, she covers for me and says I'm just in shock from the experience.

I try not to think too much, since thinking was what got me in trouble last time. The problem is, with Anna gone; it leaves me a long time to think. It's not great. I'm plagued my nightmares and it's horrible, like the replay of all the worst memories in my entire life. I always wake up sweating. It's gone to the point that I would sleep face-down so when I scream, I scream into the pillow (or the pile of leaves stuffed into a comforter sack). It's the best we could do.

I honestly wish that Anna and Punz are better off than I am, though I know that's not true. I know Rapunzel blames herself for Mer's sacrifice. She's beating herself up again. It's major Deja-vu.

Again….

Rapunzel's POV

I feel broken inside, like someone took my heart out, cut it in half, gave one half to me, and threw another into the mouth of a radioactive Power Plant.

Merida is missing because of me. She could be dead, and it's killing me that I don't know. I hate not knowing. However, I do have a ray of hope. The boy went in to save her, and he had a helicopter, and with that Flynn and Jack says, he's a good pilot. I hope he got Merida, and they're fine.

I could've been me there. I should've been me.

"Punz?" asked a voice above me, tearing me away from my thoughts. I look up at Flynn

"Whatever you're thinking, stop thinking, we need to go FISHING" he jumps in unnecessary eagerness at the word 'fishing'

I slowly get up, and I see a sponge draining away at Flynn's energy. That's who I am, a drain.

"Punz, whatever's going on, you can tell me" He walks with me to the treaded path towards the river.

I look around. We were in the forest, but this forest was not like the pictures of forests. The ground was covered with black dust and green plants. The black dust came from plants, so it wasn't harmful (it was only the dust from humans, which glows golden you have to worry about… PS. Read Jack's news articles) but it was a constant reminder of what is happening.

"Flynn. I just feel so hollow"

He hesitates so I keep talking

"Mer was my cousin. We got into Disney University together, we opened our letters together. We were practically sisters. When she saved me and sacrificed herself, it was like part of me died with her"

Flynn looped his hand around my waist, pulling me towards him as we walked alone, the moon (quarter moon tonight) shone brightly. He sighed and spoke

"Punz, for the last time, they most likely aren't dead. I spoke with Hiccup, and I know him, unlike you, and know. He's a fighter, and so is Merida, they aren't going to give up so easily"

I snuggled against him, tears silently dripping down my face. I wished that was true. How I wished that was true.

When we got to the river, we went and checked out nets. As usual, nothing came up. The fish's migration patterns were screwed up since of all the radioactive water, and there was nothing we could do about it. Unfortunately, we needed to get food somehow. Flynn set up his makeshift fishing line, while I searched for anything that looked edible.

The world's food supplies were terrible right now. The serum destroyed everything in its path, and that included even processed foods. The serum would eat through any sort of wrapping and destroy the food inside. It also destroyed a lot of the habitats, so the stupid animals were either dead, turned into killing machines by the serum, or some of the smarter animals hid in the trees and survived off bark or whatever they had. We could eat them, but in the camp, no one is efficient at hunting.

"Punz, could you find anything? Anything at all?" I looked into the water. I noticed that there was a clump of seaweed close to the edge of the river.

Should we eat it? We were all staved, but eating something that has been soaking in potentially toxic water was more than dangerous. Fish was a different story, it swam in potentially toxic water, but seaweed lived in it. I took a gamble and jerked some out of the sand and rinsed it, we had to eat something right? Flynn followed my lead, and soon we had a batch of seaweed, ready for cooking.

I took it to the camp cooks, Anna and Kristoff.

"Punz, what gourmet ingredients have you brought us today?" asked a peppy Anna.

I don't know how she does it, she's optimistic all the time, even when her boyfriend suffered a traumatic head injury, her sister's having PTS (post-traumatic stress) over what happened, and another of her friends is missing. Whatever she does, I wish it would rub off on me. Anna never fails to lighten up the mood

"Mon chere! We have les beautiful… uhh… grasse d'eau pour vous »

I laughed. My French sucked. I remember I was bad at French since grade 5, now, I was getting continually worse. Still, it was funny.

Anna winked at me, and she grabbed the plants from my hand and began inspection. Safety standards have been through the roof ever since the infection started. Any sign of the serum, the food would be burned.

I sighed. Flynn saw me and scooped me up, bridal style. I giggled. I had at least one ray of sunshine in my life.

We walked over to the small fire. He sat me down on a log. We watched the fire crackle, and for the first time in forever, time stood still. It was perfect.

I remember that moment. It was a while before anything was perfect again.

HI! Welcome to the second chapter of Complications, and I will tell you, things are about to get incredibly complicated! Honestly, I have so much to fit into this story… GAH! Overall this story will have a strong Jack and Elsa coverage, but it has lots of side stories, much like my other story, Distractions (if you haven't read that one, I strongly suggest you)

Next chapter is a bit on Hiccup and Merida... Their situation is complicated…

So do you like what happened to Elsa? I'm not going to give it away, but I've been rereading Harry Potter for like the millionth time, I love Remus, as a character, so what happens to Elsa is inspired by that (I WILL TELL YOU RIGHT NOW SHE IS NOT GOING TO TURN INTO A WEREWOLF)

Please Review, Follow, and Favourite!

Love, PomPom