Frozen: A Tale of Two Seasons
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Frozen
The three stood silently in the cabinet chambers, the sound of the heavy oak door closing echoed throughout the room, with the King being the fourth to enter. Agnarr looked at the three figures standing around the King's Table: the first was Dr. Söderström who was waiting with his arms relaxed behind his back, next to him was Kai, who had been the third to enter the room and much like the King had little knowledge for the purpose of the congregation. The last and the one who had summoned him was his beautiful wife, and the Queen, Iduna. Her normal loving smile that was the warmth of Arendelle had, albeit present upon her face, sunk considerably low.
Agnarr had only ever a few times seen his wife in such a way. Iduna was always a gruntled and graceful person since the moment they had met; the perfect woman in his eyes. She was a loving mother two their two beautiful daughters and considered a gracious sovereign by her subjects. Such a display of compassion and sorrow ever present behind the blue eyes of the Queen was far and few between, nonetheless concerning to the King.
"Iduna, what's wrong?" The concerned King rushed to the Queen's side. He gathered both of her hands into his and squeezed them gently. Iduna smiled at her husband, grateful for his worry. "Why have you called this sudden meeting?"
"Your Majesty," Agnarr looked towards the physician with a curious eye. "I called this meeting, this is a matter requiring such urgency."
"What is so concerning?" The King asked.
Iduna shared a glance with Dr. Söderström before she tightened her hold on Agnarr's hands. Agnarr was beginning to think that something was wrong, specifically with the boy. The physician could not call meetings with the King unless it had to do with the health of a member of the Royal Family or, he could request audience pertaining to an epidemic within the kingdom. For Dr. Söderström to be the one to have the meeting only could mean that something dire had occurred with their guest.
"It's Luffy…" Iduna said.
"Did his condition worsen? Is the boy going to be okay?" Agnarr feared the worst for the boy, for his life to already be held by death was nothing but atrocious. He wished he could do more for the boy, maybe he should allow Elsa to meet him and have him interact with someone near his age. Whatever he chose to do, he is for sure to have the man or men responsible brought to justice.
"It's not as you think, Your Majesty. Luffy only has a few torn stitches resulting in previous cuts reopening; I had him taken back to the infirmary before requesting we have this meeting." Dr. Söderström said, calming the King's nerves. "But…"
"But what?" The King inquired, "Dr. Söderström, what are you withholding from your King?"
"Agnarr, dear," Iduna's quiet call brought him back to her. The Queen's warm smile and gaze enough to calm him. They looked into each other's eyes, Iduna finding a way to tell her husband the news. "He is like her. My dear, Luffy is the same as Elsa."
Agnarr was surprised, he had initially thought that Luffy might have been similar to his daughter, the basis is his arrival at the castle. But after three days with no report on any queer occurrences or behavior the King had set aside the idea and had mainly focussed on the recovery that the boy needed. With the information that his wife has given him, it opened up a myriad of possibilities concerning who he was and where he came from.
"He is the same as Elsa," He tested how it felt and how it sounded before giving the statement a second go. "He is the same as Elsa," The King's voice grew in volume and his delight filled his person, the news was grand. No longer would he have to fear the day that Elsa would feel alone because of her powers. From the moment that Elsa discovered her powers, Agnarr and Iduna had feared that she would feel like a pariah but with someone like him, she could live with being different. "Luffy is the same as Elsa!"
"Well," The physician interjected, drawing the looks of both the King and Kai. "Not exactly the same, Your Majesty."
"What do you mean, Dr. Söderström?" Kai asked on the King's behalf and was getting quite tired of remaining on the sidelines of the conversation. Being the one to find the boy Luffy he felt the most responsible for the child and his health. He had spent the time since he found Luffy to go over the events of that night. That powerful force was something he had never felt before in his life, and that darkness. It was unheard of and he doubts that there was any other place in the world that held such depth, there was a constant fear that he would be pulled in and consumed by the darkness, never to see the light again. That left Kai wondering if Luffy really was gifted with powers.
"Allow me to explain," Dr. Söderström began, clearing his throat for the speech he was going to give. "Princess Elsa and Luffy do share traits that for any normal person would be considered impossible; the princess may be looked at as a witch given that she controls an element of nature itself. Luffy is a different and a far more confusing case; if this is not handled carefully, he may be looked at as a monstrosity."
"How do you mean?" Agnarr asked. He was displeased by the idea that people would look at Elsa as a witch but had to agree with the physician, when faced with any form of magic or something people don't understand they associate it with witchcraft. But what was it about Luffy that would make others think of him as a monster?
"To explain; Princess Elsa from what she has shown can create, control, and form anything within the realm of her own imagination from ice or snow. Her powers conjure through a means that medical science cannot truly explain, the princess seems to like using her hands, preferably her left, when using her powers." Dr. Söderström explained to the small group, a knowledge that was already known to the King and Queen and to most of the subjects that worked closely with the royal family.
"Luffy, on the other hand, has not exhibited any signs that he can control an element of nature or a substance that he himself can create," Dr. Söderström paused for a moment to allow the bit of information to sink in. Kai thought to himself that the force that had expelled the darkness that night could have come from Luffy, but remained silent on the matter. "Instead he himself is the substance and the final expression of the power that he shows."
"He himself is the power?" Agnarr asked uncertainty.
"It is true, dear." Iduna supported the physician's claim. "I witnessed Luffy's power for myself and was floored by the sight."
"What is the boy made of?" Kai asked. "When I found him he looked the same as any of us - human."
"When he used his powers he shared the qualities of something we all use on a daily basis," Dr. Söderström pulled a small bar from his pocket, the object no bigger than his thumb, and placed it on the King's Table. "A rubber. Luffy's power exhibited the same properties that this writing implement has."
"Dr. Söderström, are you implying that Luffy's power is the power to erase writing?" He knew it was a doltish question but Agnarr had trouble understanding what the physician was telling him. How could a human body be made of rubber?
"I never got the chance to test that, Your Majesty," He responded to the King. "But I do know that Luffy does share the same properties as the rubber. His body is extremely resistant to impact trauma and is capable of amazing flexibility and elasticity."
"Elasticity?" Kai repeated. "As in he can stretch?"
Agnarr looked to Iduna for confirmation, having proven that she knew as much or almost the same as Dr. Söderström knew. The Queen nodded in confirmation; she had been front and center when Luffy had demonstrated a power that was strange if anything.
"I was there to witness it, along with Dr. Söderström and the two men placed on watch there." Iduna stated. "It was truly something you'd need to see to believe; when the guard grabbed his arm Luffy continued as if nothing had stopped him, his arm stretching the length of the hall."
The room fell silent as they waited for Agnarr to come to a decision. The King was processing all the new information he had on their guest; he knew that neither he nor his wife would want to throw the kid out of the castle, they wanted to help him. With the revelation that Luffy was, in fact, special like his daughter then it was a greater reason for him to help, but with the power affecting his body rather than the environment around him he was faced with a serious dilemma: he could allow Luffy to live with his powers and wait to see if there are any serious impacts on his health, or he could take him to see the trolls and avoid having to take the trip in the future.
In the end, there was only one option he could ever really go with.
"Kai," Agnarr spoke.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Find the men stationed at the infirmary during the time of this incident," Kai bowed to the King before making his way towards the doors of the chamber. Just as he reached for the handle the King spoke once more. "Take Dr. Söderström with you as well, I'm sure that he could be of some assistance. And make sure to keep this under wraps, it's best if we don't allow any more people know of this."
"Of course, Your Majesty," Kai said as he and Dr. Söderström bowed to the King and Queen before leaving the chambers and heading off to find the guards that were present during the incident. The King and Queen were the last two remaining in the cabinet chambers, a solemn silence falling between them.
"What are we to do, dear?" Iduna was the first to break the silence.
"I will wait for nightfall and take Luffy to the Valley of the Living Stone after I return we shall discuss where he will stay," Agnarr told the woman who breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Thank you," She whispered; Iduna was praying that the boy would be allowed to stay in the castle, to be a companion alongside Elsa and Anna. The smile she wore fell at a distant thought, something that she had not taken into account until now. "What about the Ministers? Do we tell them of Luffy."
Agnarr took a moment to think. He placed his hands on the King's Table in deep thought, he hadn't even considered what the Ministers would think of the situation, and with their weekly congregation tonight it made things more difficult.
"We only tell them that we'll be taking him in and we won't give them anything more, especially not about his powers," Agnarr stated his position on the matter. "Iduna, I'll need you to stall them in the event that I return late."
"I'll try my best, dear." Iduna replied. "But you know how they are."
"I do." The King nodded in understanding. "I'll make hast and return as soon as I can."
"Please,"
~.:.*.:.~.:.*.:.~.:.*.:.~
The ride was tedious; Agnarr had set off as soon as the sun set, giving him three hours to return back to the castle before the meeting with the Ministers. His ride through Arendelle was simple, the cobblestone paths void of any snow thanks to the hard work of Arendelle's people. It wasn't until the King had left the walls of the kingdom that it became much more challenging. The three feet of snow making it difficult for his riding horse to travel.
The normal hour-long ride lasting an extra hour more. The full moon was at its highest point when he arrived - the snow was no more than a couple inches in the valley. The heat and steam that was generated by a local geyser keeping the valley warm in the cold winter months. His horse trotted into the valley, the lush vegetation that had died during the winter thriving in the heart of the valley.
As Agnarr's steed approached the center of the valley, a rumbling was heard. The King dismounted from the horse with Luffy, wrapped up in cloth and resting in his arms. He paced head of his ride and stood out in the open. The earth beneath his feet began to shake and knocked small pebbles around.
The rumbling got louder and the King was witness to a large group of small boulders rolling over the hill, moving to surround him. The rocks popped up, revealing the forms of small grey creatures with leaves mended together for clothes. Agnarr listened as the group began to mumble and whisper "the kings", and many staring up in awe.
The group of trolls parted for a much larger being - a boulder larger than the rest rolled up just feet before him. This one opened up slower and with more grace than the others, revealing an elderly troll with the same leaf mended clothing but with blades of grass worn around his neck.
"The coming of two kings," The troll spoke moving before Agnarr. The King stared at the eldest troll in confusion at the mention of two but remained quiet as he lowered to a knee and presented the sleeping boy. "What brings you to the valley, Your Highness?"
"The boy, Luffy." Pabbie fixated his gaze on the sleeping boy and withdrew from him. "He has powers, I-I need to know if they will be a problem for him."
Pabbie moved back to the boy, a look of pity adorning his stone features. He raised a hand and rubbed it on the boy's forehead, noticing the skin pull along with no resistance before settling back to its previous position. "Was he born with this power?"
"I… I wouldn't know," Agnarr replied.
"Then the boy is in extreme danger," Pabbie said to the shock of the King. "A curse has been placed deep within him, latching onto his soul."
"He's been cursed?" Agnarr was appalled by the news. "Is there any way you can help him?"
"That depends on what you desire, Your Majesty," Pabbie told him, drawing confusion from the King.
"I wish to help him."
"Then you must know who you have taken in." A soft blue light filled his hands - he threw it to the air. A dark blue silhouette of who Agnarr assumed to be an older Luffy stood triumphantly over the fallen figures of other silhouettes, many laying on the ground, others bowing to him. "Deeper within the boy he holds a power far greater than a curse, something that hasn't been seen for hundreds of years. He holds the Color of the Conquering King."
"The Color of the King." The trolls surrounding him spoke.
"What is that? What is this Color of the King?" Agnarr asked as he looked down at the sleeping form of the boy.
"The boy holds within him, a power that can bend the will of others," Pabbie explained. "Those before have used this gift to conquer lands and reign themselves as kings. If the child so wishes he could choose to rule over the world itself."
"But that's only if he wishes too," He replied back. "You can't just assume that Luffy would want to conquer only because he has that power."
Pabbie took a longer look at the boy who was sleeping peacefully wrapped in the fabric. The troll was an amazing judge of character and could simply tell by looking at the scarred face of the boy that he wouldn't be the type to go after control, but the child's upbringing could drastically change that.
"If His Majesty's choice is to help the child, then I will help him as well." Pabbie placed a stone hand on the boy's chest. What followed was a display of vibrant colors; a beautiful sapphire light left the troll's hand and surrounded the boy, from Luffy streaks of dark bolts of black pushed against the magic the troll was using. Pabbie manipulated the lights till they concentrated around the boy's upper torso - just under his hand.
Agnarr watched the elder work and looked on amazed by the lights, the lights began to recede into Luffy's chest before it vanished completely. Pabbie removed his hand, breathing heavily from the exertion. The King waited for the troll to catch his breath before he asked, "What did you do to him?"
"What I have done…" Pabbie took another deep breath as he recuperated. "Sorry, Your Majesty. What I have done is I have locked the curse away, dampening its effects on the boy."
"The lights?"
"It was the magic I used to create the seal; I had used the boy's own will to seal the curse within him." The elder troll explained.
"Is that easier than removing the curse altogether," Agnarr asked curiously.
"No, to remove the curse would ultimately end in the child's death." Agnarr grimaced at the thought of a curse that was not able to be removed, though he now had small hopes that Luffy might lead a semi-normal life. "Sealing this curse deep within him was the only option there was."
"Allowing him to live with it wasn't an option?"
"Would you allow a child to live with such a burden?" Pabbie asked. Agnarr had to stop and think for a time, could he allow a child to live like that? What about Elsa, was her power that both amazed and frightened him a curse that needed to be locked away? Or was it a gift? Agnarr looked down at the boy in his arms and came to a conclusion that he couldn't allow the child to live as a monster cursed by fate.
"Are his powers, the curse, gone?" He asked after a time.
"No. The seal I have placed was forged from his own will, as long as he doesn't stretch it to force it upon others, the seal will stay as it is and the curse will remain locked inside him."
"What could cause him to stretch is will?"
"Your Majesty, as difficult a task it is, you must not allow the boy to experience any great traumatic stress," Pabbie warned the King.
"And if he experiences such?"
"Then the seal will shatter."
The elder troll's warning echoed inside his mind as he rode back to the castle, the boy had slept the entire time. The trip back was shorter, taking him the normal riding time of an hour. When he made it back to the castle he made towards where he knew that Iduna would be - the cabinet chambers. He had returned in time, hopefully, the Ministers not all have arrived yet.
Agnarr carried Luffy to the chambers intent on telling his wife of what had transpired in the valley. His steps were quick as he approached the chamber doors - a door opened with Kai emerging from the chamber. Kai saw the King approach with Luffy in his arms and bowed to him.
"Your Majesty." Kai addressed.
"Kai, I need you to take the boy and situate him in one of the castle's empty rooms." Agnarr handed Luffy over to the servant who nodded and made for one of the many unoccupied rooms. The King entered the chambers and saw the only occupants of the room be Iduna and the physician.
"Agnarr," Iduna turned to see the King entered. "You've returned."
"Your Majesty." Dr. Söderström bowed.
"What did the troll's have to tell you?" The queen asked.
Agnarr thought over what to tell the Queen and the physician. He figured that the Ministers would arrive within the next few minutes and knew that he could only tell them so much in so little time. The King began to tell them everything he could in the time that he had, driving the point that Luffy will be staying with them in the castle. The last thing he spoke before the arrival of the seven was the curse that was sealed within the boy. Locked inside him by his own will.
Next chapter we'll be getting a time skip and truly begin this story.