Snow floated midair, never touching the ground, the air was stiff and dead. If one had been looking up at the north mountain they would've seen three figures making their way to the top. But there was no one left in Arendelle to see them. Elsa led the small ceremony up the slopes of the towering mountain, behind her two of her Ice Guardians trudged through the now carrying a large ice coffin.
The Queen tears froze the moment they left her eyes, none of it seemed real to her. How could she have lost her sister again for the second time? But this time it was for good and all the magic in the world couldn't change that.
The trio was fast approaching the only standing structure left in Arendelle, Elsa's magnificent ice castle. The blonde looked behind her at the two giant snowmen that were carrying her sister. Anna's body was incased in a large translucent coffin made of ice. After hours of trying every possible combination of her powers to heal Anna the most she had managed to do was close up and heal the stab wounds that had riddled her sisters stomach, but she could not bring her sister and niece back.
The sun was completely blotted out by ominous winter clouds but somehow Anna's coffin managed to shimmer and sparkle, almost magically. Elsa waved her hand and the large ice doors swung open. She paused for a moment, "So this is what I must have been like for her..."
She motioned for the two hulking giants to set the heavy coffin down in the center of the room. Elsa watched as both her little sister and her unborn baby niece were laid to rest.
"Stay here and guard her, forever." The Snow Queen instructed her two monstrous creations. She knew that Anna's body would be safe with her two Guardians watching over her. The temperature had now dropped to unnaturally cold levels as the Queen walked along the top of the North Mountain.
"Why couldn't I save her? I didn't even try using my powers! What good is having them if they cant save the one person I care most about?!"The blonde walked closer to the edge of the mountain and looked down. On the other side of this mountain was a deep and dark chasm that on one had ever dared explore.
"Maybe no one will ever find me down there..." she whispered as she stepped closer. "Then maybe people will just forget about me, and what I've done." The Queen was now standing on the very edge of the cliff, "I truly am a monster..." and with that fell.
The wind rippled through Elsa's hair, "So this is what it feels like to be completely free", she thought before she hit the bottom. Elsa slowly opened her eyes, brushing the snow out of them. She was alive. But how? The fall must have been thousands of feet! Then she looked around her, she was surrounded by an enormous pile of snow!
"Hmmmm, I guess my powers just won't let me die", she said, standing up and taking in her surroundings. It was nearly completely dark with exception of a dim pulsing light that seemed to be coming for inside of a cave at the base of the mountain. Curious the snow queen walked hesitantly toward it.
Inside she found a large cavern that seemed to go on forever and in the center there was a large block of ice. Much like the coffin she had made for her sister only this one was vertical. Elsa approached the large frozen block and noticed something very odd. Instead of being perfect and clear this icy coffin was jagged with black clouds swirling with in it making it impossible to see its contents.
But what was even more intriguing was what was in front of it, a large glowing crystal of ice. Elsa stood and stared at it in awe. She had never seen something so beautiful in her life. The crystal was a bright blue much like her eyes and it was set on a small podium made of ice. As Elsa walked closer to it, the crystal suddenly began to shine as brightly as the sun and yet she couldn't take her eyes off of it. Within the crystal the Queen could see strange people and lands. The images were continuously shifting, never staying on one place for long. Elsa saw strange metal ships that flew through the sky and beyond. Men dressed in robes and carrying beams of light instead of swords. She saw a large castle filled with children, children who seemed to have magical powers much like herself. The images soon shifted from intriguing and marvelous places and events to dark and violent. She saw a man stabbing another man through the heart and then collecting his blood in a glass tube. The warriors with the beams of light were slain as were the magical children.
The Queen forced herself to look away, "What is this?" she wondered aloud. Her gazed fell back on the large block of ice. The dark swirling clouds inside it had picked up their pace as if sensing her presents. Elsa began to feel the urge to touch it, the dark clouds seemed to be calling her toward them. Shaking her head to rid the whispers of the darkness turned to leave, but stopped. Where did she even have to go? Turning back around she made up her mind. She was going to touch the large block of black ice, otherwise she would wonder about it for the rest of her life.
Carefully she place her hand on it and quickly withdrew it. The icy coffin was cold! But...but, she couldn't even feel cold! Intrigued the place her hand back on its dark surface and focused on swirling voices. Suddenly she was blown back and hit the side of the cavern, hard. When she managed to struggle to her feet she looked at where the block of ice had previously been. In its place there was a body, upon closer inspection she discover that he was alive. Cautiously she approached the man. He was tall and clad in a strange all black armor and was lightly breathing. The Queen slowly bent down and places her hand on his shoulder, "Hello? Are you okay?"
The man stirred and rolled onto his back, Elsa studied his face. He had slightly pointed ears, long flowing black hair, and a long scar that stretched from his ear to his neck. It was a jagged and dark scar and Elsa couldn't imagine what weapons could've possibly caused it.
The strange man's eyes suddenly shot open causing Elsa to fall back in surprise. He sat up and frantically looked around him in a panic but when he noticed the woman in front of him he seemed to calm down.
"Who are you and where am I? he asked suspiciously.
"You are in Arendelle", the Queen said gently, "or at least the ruins of it."
At her last statement the man's eyes shot open in fear, "Oh god! Please don't kill me. I didn't mean to I didn't mean to destroy everything!"
Elsa looked at the man confused, "What? No! I'm not going to kill you? Whatever would make you think that?" She continued to look at the strange man or rather boy in front of her. Actually she couldn't quite decide what age he was, he could've been anywhere from his mid-teens to mid-twenties. There was an odd dark mist that surrounded him and a the strangest sensation of cold. Then the answer hit her like a snowball.
"Wait a minute! You're like me aren't you! You have magic powers just like me!" she jumped up and down excitedly and clapped her hands in a very unqueenly manner.
The stranger looked at her twice as scared and confused, "What do you mean?" I-I can do m-magic."
Elsa sighed exasperated, "Here why don't I just show you..." the strange man looked on in silence as Elsa formed a snowball in her hands and launched it in the air causing a steady snow fall. "Magic".
The stranger slowly nodded his head, stood up and formed a magnificent black shield on his arm. "So you have power over snow then. Interesting." He said with a slight smile.
"Well it's more like power of winter and everything that goes with it, I guess." The Queen said excitedly. "But what exactly is your magic?"
The man's shield suddenly burst into flame, "I'm not quite sure myself, as far as I can tell I can control shadows, fire and variations thereof." His smile fell, "But if you're like me then you've probably had to hide your powers your whole life and been called a monster by anyone who ever found out..."
Elsa walked toward him, her face full of understanding, "Yes, but in time I learned to control them and eventually most people accepted me for who I am." She put a hand on his shoulder, "Do you have a name? Mines Elsa, Queen Elsa of Arendelle."
"Of course I have a name its..." the man suddenly looked worried again. "It...started with...a V, I think. I don't really remember. Just call me V I guess."
Two chairs of ice suddenly sprouted from the ground, "Please have a seat", the Queen said motioning to the chairs. V obediently sat down across from her, "So tell me your story", she said.
V nodded and took a deep breath, "While my memories are rather flawed I will tell you all that I can recall. I was born in an underground city, beautiful place really. You'd probably think that it would be dark and terrible down there but there was always light. Our light came not from the sky but from crystals. Much like the one right there", he said motioning toward the shining crystal nearby, "I grew up an orphan until I was old enough to join the royal guard. The king was a powerful yet arrogant and was older than any person in the kingdom. Eventually I worked my way up to being the king's personal bodyguard. This gave me access to the castles vast rooms of rare and dangerous artifacts. And in one of these rooms I found the most powerful crystal in existence. It has the ability to show all of time and space and as I found out later send you to other worlds."
"Other worlds?" Elsa asked intrigued.
"Yes, but I'll get to that in a minute" V continued, "Any way, one day a group of assassins attempted to murder the king. There were so many that I was forced to use my powers to defeat them. Half the kingdom saw and the king sentenced me to death immediately." The boy took a deep breath and then continued, "I lost control covered the entire kingdom in darkness and fire. I-I tried to save as many people as I could, I was bring them to the crystal hoping that somehow it would save us. I was the first to touch it and well, it came with me. Abandoning those I had tried to save, it brought me here. But then something very unexpected happened, as soon as it entered this world the crystal changed from black to icy blue and when I tried to leave this world I guess it froze me. And then here you are."
Elsa blinked as she absorbed the information, this boy was much like her in many many ways. "How long did you protect that King?" she asked.
"Six hundred and fifty-four years..."
The Queen gasped, "Six hundred years?! But how did the king not suspect anything?"
"Like I said he was arrogant, when he asked I began to explain to him but thinking that he was the smartest person alive he decided that I had found his greatest treasure that grants long life. He congratulated me on being clever enough to find it and that was the end of it." He looked back up at the woman in front of him, noticing for the first time how beautiful she was. He noticed how her icy blue eyes sparked and how gorgeous her long platinum blonde hair was. "So what is your story, your majesty?"
Elsa spent what seemed like forever telling V the events in her life, about the accident she had caused as a child playing with Anna, shutting everyone out. The eternal winter, Hans, and the most recent and most painful events of her life.
"...So really I have nothing left up there and you really wouldn't want to go up there."
Suddenly Elsa felt something grab her hands, she looked up and saw that V was holding her hands, "Queen Elsa of Arendelle, from this moment forward I swear to stand by your side and protect you from any that would wish harm on you."
The blonde looked at him to see if he was joking, but his eyes gave nothing away. "That very flattering V, but there is really no where left for me to go."
V smiled and stood up, "Ah, but that is where you are wrong my Queen. We still have this crystal! I think that reason that I couldn't use it again is because it locks onto the strongest magical presents, and that would be you! Maybe you will be able to use it."
Elsa thought over this proposal, what did she have to lose? Nothing! But how could she be sure that she could trust this immortal boy? "I guess I'll just have to take the chance", she decided, standing up.
"Okay V. let's give it a try" she said taking his hand and lifted her hand to touch the radiant crystal. She hesitated for only a moment before lightly touching it. Her body suddenly felt as though it had been torn to pieces. She could barely breathe! Suddenly she felt water, water was everywhere. Her hand was still being held by V. but as soon as she felt it his hand was ripped away from her. She opened her eyes to see water everywhere and as soon as the water had come it disappeared almost entirely. They had appeared in a wide but shallow river.
V was a little farther down the river and was shakily getting to his feet. There were trees everywhere, Elsa noticed. She soon saw to other figures at the bank of the river. A woman was leaning over a child and was chanting a strange language. The woman too noticed Elsa and quickly pulled out a curved blade.
"Stay away Snow Witch!" she screamed and turned her focus back on the child in front of her. Elsa looked down and realized that she had frozen most of the water around her. Soon V was at her side,
"Should we approach them?" he asked.
"Yes, she looks like she needs help." Elsa said walking forward toward the woman and child. The woman quickly turn toward them.
"I don't know who you are but I need to get him to my father and my horse if to exhausted to go any further. Please...help."
V nodded, "I can help you with that", and with a wave of his hand two misty black horses appeared. The woman quickly mounted one with the child and said, "Follow me." Before taking off into the forest.
V quickly hoisted himself on to his horse and offered a hand to Elsa helping her crawl onto of the stead. They followed the strange woman through the forest until they passed through a the gates to a magnificent city set into the side of a mountain. They were stopped by a guard, who (Elsa noticed) had pointed ears much like V.
"What is your business in Rivendell? He said in a smooth but gruff voice.
For once V didn't have an answer.