The sun set over Arendelle, as the party in the castle was in full swing. All of the town seemed to be at the party, celebrating the birthday of their princess. The dark recesses of the town were still and quiet, not even the mice causing a stir. The night was quiet, with not even a moon in the sky to disturb the tranquil peace.
"God this is boring." a voice broke through the darkness, speaking to his companion across the road. They were both guards, keeping an eye on things in town by the piers. The water was still and quiet, as if even the fish were celebrating with the Princess.
"Seriously, I'm not here to entertain you," the friend responded, "Just... I don't know, go walk the block or something," he waved his hand as if his companion was a child bugging his parents.
The guard sighed and turned, picking his gun up again as he walked down the road and around the corner, "Just go walk the block then, bleh," he mumbled under his breath, "I just had to get stuck with guard duty for an empty block."
Let the darkness consume you.
The guard stopped in the center of the street, one single lamp shining down on him. He glanced behind him, "Hello?" He turned, but then shrugged, walking back around the block. The lights in this part of town mostly flickered, some not even coming on at all. But, it was still enough light for the guard to forget his flashlight.
After turning another corner, the lights went out completely for the entire block. Scowling at the sky, the guard desperately patted his pockets for something, anything, that could bring the light back. With a smile, he dug a match from his pocket and struck it on his boot. It cast a warm glow on his rugged face, worn and tired from his night duty, as well as the corner of wall he stood near.
Let the dark be your constant companion.
The guard turned again, looking behind him, down the road he had come from, "Show yourself!" he yelled. He scowled walking back the way he had come, "Quit joking around! Being caught in the dark isn't-" he cut off when his match burned out against his finger. All was quiet again.
Minutes passed before, finally, the street light above flickered on again, a gun lying on the ground under it with a burnt match.
All was quiet again.
The sun was beginning to peak over the mountain when the party finally settled down and everyone was heading home again. Sleepy and dreary travelers wandered back to the Inns in town to sleep the day away and a few workers headed to their stands and various places around the city. Back in the castle, even the servants were exhausted from the long night.
One princess was partied out, passed on a chair in the hall.
"Oh, there she is," Kristoff let out a sigh as he approached her. He smiled, kneeling beside her, looking into her face. She had chocolate smeared across her mouth, but otherwise looked as if she was sleeping peacefully, "Guess her sugar rush finally subsided," he laughed and lifted her in his arms, "Come on, sleepyhead, time for bed."
Anna stirred a little, rubbing her eyes, "Mm...noo... no bed... bad... sleepy..." she mumbled, hiding her face against Kristoff's chest.
He just smiled as he walked to her room to set her in her bed. He passed by Olaf, who was walking in the opposite direction.
Olaf didn't seem to notice them, his snow flurry cloud obstructing his upward view a little, and just kept strutting away. Since he was a snowman, he didn't have to sleep like the people around him. He just smiled and laughed as he waved to everyone.
"Great party!" he called out, "Ooh your dancing was so cool! Or hot! I don't know the difference!" he laughed and walked on, "Oh, Elsa!"
Elsa turned back as she took away the ice decorations before they melted and smiled, "Olaf, did you enjoy yourself?"
Olaf smiled, "Yeah!"
"Did you happen to see Anna anywhere?"
"Yeah!" he paused, "I mean no!"
Elsa tilted her head, but then just smiled and sighed, "She probably wandered off to bed. I hope." She shook her head. Anna had enjoyed the limelight so much, Elsa never thought she would come down off her pedestal. Well, it had been her night, she deserved to have fun like she did.
With a yawn, Elsa walked down the hall, taking whatever ice she saw, away before it got too hot in the castle. She was exhausted herself, but at least she had managed to sneak a nap in earlier in the evening. As the Queen, she couldn't afford to sleep the day away. She needed to be alert for her people.
Her people... Elsa stopped, remembering something. The young man Kristoff found. It was unlikely that he would be awake after one night, but all the same Elsa found her feet taking her down the hall to the infirmary.
The few doctors still on duty had turned in earlier in the evening, leaving just a few aides to watch over anyone in the ward. It seemed like there were only a few still resting, others drunkards who quite possibly were just passed out, to the one side, leaving the other side empty, spare the bed with the nobleman still resting in it. With no aides around him anymore, Elsa walked over and sat in the chair beside him, studying his clothing more closely.
His coat was torn to shreds, but it was much heavier than anything they sold in Arendelle. Kristoff had said he found him injured in the mountains, but where did he come from? The closest city toe the north was still miles away, and that's not including the climb over the mountains. She leaned forward a little to get a better look at the patch on his jacket. She smoothed it out gently, hoping to get a better look.
She flinched back, seeing him react to her touch. He must have injured his arm as well, Elsa thought. She tilted her head, trying to identify the emblem. It was a royal coat of arms, but not one very familiar.
A breeze bushed a piece of hair down into her face, making her freeze entirely. Slowly, she glanced up and met the gaze of the young man. He had been watching her, most likely woken when she touched his arm. Elsa sat straight up, squaring her shoulders as she stood.
"I apologize, I did not mean to wake you," She watched as he shook his head very gently, before going on, "We found you in the mountain and brought you back here to help you. Are you in any pain?"
She looks him over again. He was covered in more bandages than when they first saw him. Stupid question, she thought, he must have been in excruciating pain. But, he never cried out once.
As she was looking over his broken leg, she felt a gentle tug at her sleeve. She looked back at the young man as he was pulling a bandage away from his mouth. He rubbed his neck a little and looked over at the table where a glass of water sat, just out of his reach. Elsa gave a little smile, pushing the water towards his hand. As he took a sip and set the glass back down near the edge, she furrowed her brow in curiosity.
"Who are you?" she asked him.
He stared at her for a moment when the infirmary doors opened again. Elsa looked up as Kristoff came walking in, looking around. He spotted Elsa and hurried towards her, "Your majesty," he bowed his head, before continuing, "Something terrible has happened at the other end of the docks."
Elsa stood, "The docks? Tell me, Kristoff."
Kristoff put his hand on her shoulder and pointed out the window, "See for yourself."
Elsa blinked as she stared out the window. Her eyes widened in horror at the sight. She ran over to it, leaning against it to see what was going on.
"It can't be..." she whispered.
The young man in the bed sat up a little, trying to see what they say, but the glass frosted over completely before he could get a good look. He laid back down with a sigh as Elsa and Kristoff hurried out the door again.
The world was suddenly so dark, everything beautiful suddenly so hideous, and things so warm turned ice-cold. Before her eyes, the whole world changed. It was all she could do to run away, as fast as she could. But it was no use. Her legs were dragging through something thick as molasses, rising up past her hips and slowing her down even further. She reached for something, anything, to pull herself out of whatever was dragging her down, but there was nothing. As she struggled to free herself, she sunk deeper and deeper into the thickness until it finally blacked out her vision.
Then, it was cold.
Anna woke with a start, sitting straight up in her bed. She was out of breath, sweat coating her forehead and neck. She wiped it off with a sigh.
"What a nightmare..."she thought, "I really need to lay off the sugar," she swung her legs over the side of the bed and let her bare feet touch the cold floor. The ice-cold floor. The way, way, too ice-cold floor! She quickly jumped back up to her bed and looked down at the floor with a shiver. There was a layer of ice coating the floor. Looking around she could see a layer of ice over everything!
"Oh no," she said. She threw her blankets over the floor and quickly walked across them, before they froze over as well, and changed into something warmer. It felt weird for summer, but the castle was cold!
"Whee! Woo! Haha!"
As she walked out into the hall, she spotted Olaf sliding across the hall into different rooms. She couldn't help but smile. He was such a silly snowman, who couldn't laugh?
"Oh! Anna!" he spotted her as he slid into another room, "The queen was..." he slid past again, "looking for you!"
Anna blinked, suddenly realizing she didn't remember returning to her room after the party, "When was that?" she asked when he slid back out.
"This morning!" he called, sliding further down the hall, "A few hours...ago!" one of the servants screeched as he slid back into another room.
Anna shook her head. Whatever was going on couldn't have been good. It's been a while since Elsa was stressed enough to freeze the castle. Hanging onto the wall, she made her way, sort of slowly, down and out the front of the castle. People were lined up all over, whispering, shaking their heads, trying to figure out what was going on.
Anna looked around for some indication, not seeing much anywhere. Except...
"That wall of ice?"
"The Queen forbid anyone inside."
"I saw! The docks were destroyed!"
"That's so awful!"
Anna held onto the wall on the bridge as she crossed. Her balance was bad enough on a regular basis, without turning the entire town into an ice rink. She sighed, "This is going to take forever." She leaned against the wall in defeat, looking around for anything to help her. Just before she finally gave up, she spotted a familiar pair of antlers on top of a barrel, "Sven!" she called out.
The antlers rose up quickly, revealing the reindeer's' head. His mouth was stuffed with carrots as he looked around. When he caught sight of Anna waving at him, he huffed, dropping his carrots back into the barrel, and hurried over to her.
Anna giggled as he licked her face, "Sven, cut it out!" she smiled, pushing his head back, "Now, Sven, did Elsa come this way?" she asked, even though she knew the answer.
Sven grunted and jumped a little, trotting his feet and looking towards the wall of ice, "'She sure did,'" Anna said, mimicking Kristoff's "Sven" voice, "'Over there! By the docks.'"
Anna smiled, "Is Kristoff with her?"
"'Yeah! Let me take you over this slippery ice,'" Sven bowed down so she could climb on his back, "'so you don't fall fabulously and break your gorgeous face.'"
Sven gave her a weird look, as if her were saying, "Seriously?"
Anna smiled, shrugging, "It was worth a shot," she giggled, climbing on his back. Sven snorted, laughing at her as he charged across the ice towards the docks.
The air was colder, thinner, as she got closer. A sure sign that Elsa was nearby. Anna shook her head, then blinked as Sven stopped suddenly. She fell forward into his neck fur.
"Sven?" she pulled herself forward, using his antlers. He looked up as she did, her jaw dropping at the sight of the giant wall of ice, "Whoa. Still can't get used to that,"she gave a nervous laugh, looking down the wall on both sides, "Wait... this wall looks a bit weird. Sven, go that way!" she pointing, tugging at his antlers in that direction, towards the water.
He walked warily. Anna sat up, looking over his antlers at what she could see of the rest of the fjord. One clear days, with not a cloud in the sky, it was possible to see straight out to the ocean, to see fish jumping out to catch small bugs, and to see the ships that came in everyday before they even came close. You could even spot the rain falling over the ocean in the distance if you knew what to look for.
On this day, the fjord was covered in a thick fog, too thick to even see past the few ships already in the harbor. Squinting, Anna could swear she could see ice crystals forming. The fog was usually only used when Elsa felt the town needed to be hidden from something.
"The people said the docks were destroyed..." Anna gasped, "Were we attacked?!"
"Anna!" Anna looked up as a hole melted in the ice in the form of a doorway as Elsa hurried over to her. As Anna climbed off of Sven, Elsa waved her hand over her and made ice spikes on the bottom of her boots so she could walk easier over the ice.
"Elsa, what happened here?" she asked as Elsa led the way back through the wall, sealing it off again.
Elsa shook her head, looking at Anna, "I don't know for sure. It looks as if a giant wave took out this section of the town. Luckily no one seemed to be here. But..." she folded her arms, "It would have to have been a pretty big wave. We would have seen signs of it earlier."
Anna frowned, tilting her head, "Even if we were seriously distracted?" she said, feeling guilty. Of course something like this would happen on her birthday.
Elsa stopped and turned to her, "Anna, don't blame this on your party. It's not your fault this happened."
Anna didn't say anything. She just sighed, rubbing her arm. She looked up, as did Elsa, as they heard footsteps approached, "Anna? What are you doing out here?"
Anna smiled, "Kristoff! Wait, what are YOU doing out here?"
"It could have been dangerous, I couldn't let Elsa come alone."
Elsa scoffed, "Do you really think I couldn't handle myself?" she questioned, slightly offended.
Kristoff looked at her, quickly shaking his head, "No! I mean, ice powers or not you're still a young woman. I mean..." he rubbed his head trying to find an excuse that wouldn't make matters worse. He looked to Anna for help, but she gave him the don't-go-down-that-road look. He looked at Elsa again, but this time she looked angry with him. He held his hands up, "I mean it in the best way! I swear!"
"Elsa, he really didn't mean it the way you think." Anna tried to help the situation.
But Elsa just directed her anger at Anna, "So you think I'm weak too?" she snapped, a gust of icy wind picking up behind her.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Elsa! We're not your enemies here!" Anna said.
Elsa glared them both down, making them step back, before letting out a sigh and turning away. She started to walk again, back towards one of the buildings.
Anna let out a sigh of relief, "I thought we were goners for sure."
Kristoff sighed too, "She's been on edge since last night."
Anna looked at him, impressed, "How can you tell that?"
He rolled his eyes, smiling at her, "Maybe you're oblivious most of the time, but I noticed the ice forming around town," he ruffled her hair a bit, "Or maybe you just need to get out more."
Anna huffed, pushing his hand away, "What, is that some kind of crack at me too?"
Kristoff laughed, "You're always so defensive."
"And you constantly tease me," she just smiled, "But, you make me laugh, and you actually care. Maybe that's why I keep you around," she giggled and walked ahead, following after Elsa.
Kristoff paused for a moment, as if trying to think of something to say. He shoved his hand into his pocket, "Hey... Anna?"
Anna stopped and turned back to him, "Yeah? What's up?"
Kristoff looked into her curious face, and just smiled, "Nevermind," he shook his head, walking past her. He patted her head and just smiled at her, "Come on, before your sister gets too far ahead. Anna smiled back at him and agreed, walking right beside him.
Behind them, as if on cue with their leaving, a dark crack formed into the ice, silent as the night.