Chapter 4

The first night after meeting Brann had been a bit awkward. Elsa had created her castle with the intention of remaining alone, so it only had one bedroom, and she didn't think it'd be very becoming of her to make him sleep outside on the mountain. Brann had been quite the gentleman, however, and offered to remain in the main hall. She had thanked him and provided a bedding mat for him (she was a bit apologetic, as it was made of ice and not quite comfortable, but Brann said he had slept on much worse).

This attitude of his surprised her. His raggedy appearance and shadowy nature directly contrasted his oddball and rather noble personality. He was certainly a strange man. He'd even refused to give his own name. A man who lived with such policies was not to be easily trusted, and so it was with a wary eye open that Elsa slept that night.

Yet the following morning brought no alarming situations. She had slept sound as ever, but felt a bit surprised upon awaking. She was unaccustomed to waking up anywhere that wasn't her room. It was a very liberating feeling as she sat up and looked around at the magical home around her that had replaced the claustrophobia-inducing walls of her room. The second thing that surprised her was the delicious smell coming from somewhere in her castle.

She walked down her staircase to find her hooded guest squatting beside a hearty fire that was burning atop the icy floor, almost like a floating wisp. It appeared that he was roasting something on a stick.

He apparently heard her, for he then turned around and smiled. His eyes were gleaming, but his face was as concealed as ever.

"Morning, your majesty." He said politely.

Elsa gave him a look, feeling another irk of guilt. "I am not a Queen anymore. Just Elsa is fine. You know that."

"Sorry. You still look like one a bit. It's hard not to."

Elsa shook her head, exasperated. "Please endeavor not to do so in the future. In anu case, what are you cooking?"

"Well, I'm usually a bit of an early bird, so I figured I'd help with some breakfast." He replied, holding up a stick. At the end of it was a very tasty looking cut of meat.

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "Where did you find that?'

"I hunted." Brann replied, smirking.

"I-of course you did, I know." Elsa said, a tad vehemently. "But where? We're on the peak of a mountain!"

"I went down." Brann said again, in a maddeningly casual tone. "Found a boar, put it down and skinned it."

Elsa couldn't help but feel a bit impressed. "You are a capable survivalist."

"Experience is the best teacher. Besides, what else were we going to eat? Snow-cones?"

"Ha ha." Elsa said sardonically. "I would have found a way."

"You can't magic yourself food, Elsa. I learned that a while ago."

Elsa decided to cease the little squabble. The reality was that Brann was spot-on. She had no means of survival In terms of food. It would seem he was helping her in more ways than one.

Brann walked over to her and tore off a piece of the boar. It looked luscious.

"For you."

Elsa hesitated a bit before she picked up the boar. She wasn't used to eating without tableware.

Brann however, seemed to have no such inhibitions, and promptly bit off a sizeable piece of meat, chewing it with a satisfied look.

Elsa felt more amused than appalled. "Apparently you have no experience with table manners."

"I do too!" Brann replied after swallowing. He gave her a mockingly offended look. "I am not uneducated in the ways of forks and butter knives. However…"

He gestured around at the room.

"I fail to see a table. So, I eat like this."

And he loudly ate another piece.

Elsa suppressed a laugh. "Flawless logic." She said, amused. Looking at her own piece, she smirked a bit. With a wave of her hand, a table appeared in front of her, complete with a plate, fork and spoon (all ice, of course).

Brann stopped mid-bite. "Wow. Well done!"

She put the piece of meat down, feeling a small rush of pride. "I suppose so, yes."

"Maybe the trick to controlling your gift is just using it to be snarky." Brann said, sitting down across from her. He took another enormous bite.

"What happened to eating well at the table?" Elsa said at once.

"What table?"

Brann said it with such innocence that for a moment Elsa actually believed he was just stupid. She then saw the amused glint in his eye, and realized he was simply messing with her.

"Well, fine. I'm not here to teach you maturity."

Brann grinned again, finishing off his piece.

Elsa cut off a few pieces and gingerly ate them, determined to show Brann how to eat (though it was more out of jest than true mettle). The meat was delicious.

"You called my abilities a 'gift'." Elsa said suddenly. It had just occurred to her that his wording of her powers wasn't in agreement with her own thoughts of them.

"Yes. What would you call them? Oh, yes…" Brann said, leaning back a bit. "A 'curse', you called it."

Elsa was silent, looking down a bit at the table.

"If it only brings me pain, how can it be called anything else?"

"It brought you this table. This castle."

"It's not enough to make fifteen years of loneliness and fear go away." Elsa said shortly.

Brann nodded somberly. "Of course not."

They ate in silence for a while longer.

"It…may be hard for you to believe this, and I certainly don't blame you, but I have some experience to what you're going through."

Elsa stared up at him sharply. Part of her wanted to bitingly reply that he knew nothing. But his tone had seemed honest enough. Besides, she didn't want to upset the only person she knew who could aid her.

"How so?" She asked instead.

Brann gave her a sad little smile. "I've been on my own for a while."

Elsa suddenly felt a tug of excitement. She had found a loose thread in the enigmatic ball of yarn before her. If she pulled just a bit…

"I see. How long would you say?"

"About ten years."

Elsa almost choked on her meat. "Ten years wandering in the wilderness by yourself?!"

"Yeah. So, I guess that explains the hopeless social awareness." Brann replied. "Sorry again about that conversation down at the castle."

"It's fine, it's fine." Elsa said hurriedly, fixated on pulling that thread further.

"You must enjoy being on your own." She said, trying not to seem too goading.

Brann's face, however, fell into a sad state, and Elsa knew that thread had just been cut.

"Like I said before…we don't always do things by choice." He muttered.

A second of silence passed. Then Brann sat back and clapped his hands, shocking Elsa slightly.

"Well, let's just focus on you, shall we, highness? How are you feeling with the abilities?"

Elsa looked at her hands. With a small wave, she created a little snowflake sculpture.

Brann seemed impressed. "You can keep it under control when you're feeling normal, it seems. But what about Anna?"

It took a second for Elsa to process what Brann had said. Beneath the utter confusion of his blunt statement, she felt a subconscious swoop of guilt and fear. The snowflake crumbled and disappeared.

Brann nodded to himself. "It's when you're agitated that they become uncooperative…"

Elsa nodded somberly, ignoring her the indignation over Brann's trick. "So it would seem…"

Then she thought of something.

"How is it you always control yourself?" She asked her guest.

Brann gave her a humble smile. "Well, I can't always. You yourself know that."

"Well, yes, but you only burned me minimally. And even then you could simply heal it! What do you do to stay calm? To keep your powers under control?"

She could tell this question was making Brann uncomfortable. But her patience with his secrecy was running thin. If he didn't give her an adequate response, she would simply keep hounding him.

Then Brann sighed.

"I…when I can't keep control…I think of what life could be like. Or what it used to be, I guess."

Elsa contemplated his words. She could sense a tone of unhappiness in his voice, but decided not to press father.

"So…basically lie to myself?" She said with an air of sarcasm.

Brann was quiet for a minute. Then he gave her a firm look.

"You need to speak to your sister."

Of all the things he was going to say, Elsa for some reason expected that the least.

"No. I'm not ready yet…If I see her it'll only cause more problems. I need to stay here with you. You can teach me how to control it."

"Elsa, fire and ice are not the same. Just in the last day I've been able to tell that."

Elsa refused to believe her only hope, the last glimmering ray of promise in her cruelly fogged life, was now turning itself off.

"No. The hand exercises. We keep doing those. I will learn to control them. Anna does not need to be involved." She said resolutely.

Brann's face was anything but in agreement. "Elsa, it's not a matter of control. It's a matter of emotion. When I first arrived, I thought that maybe our powers were similar enough that I could help you control it the same way I did. But they're not."

He stood up from the table.

"Elsa, what you need is a friend."

Color slowly found itself to Elsa's face. "What does that-"

"Anna cares about you. She was completely fixated on finding you once you disappeared. I talked to her. And I know genuine concern when I see it." Brann continued. "She can help you more than I can."

Somewhere in Elsa's brain, Brann's words made sense. But the rest of it was screaming out, reminding her of that one night, the night that forever changed her life and had set a barrier between herself and Anna.

"No." Elsa said simply. "I will not hurt Anna again. I could not live with myself."

Brann stared at her solemnly. He sighed.

"Elsa…"

"Enough. Please." Elsa added, her tone being a little sharper than she intended. She knew that Brann meant no harm (quite the opposite, really), but bringing Anna into the picture was beginning to toll on her composure. She could already feel the ice beneath her crack and pop a bit as it whitened.

Brann seemed ready to say something, then relented. His eyes held a look of regret.

"Alright. We'll try the exercises again."

Elsa nodded in thanks, trying to regain a bit of dignity after her outburst. She couldn't let her emotions scare away Brann. He was the only hope for her powers now, however much he himself denied it.

As she held out her hands, however, there came a loud roar from beneath them.

Brann's eyes lit up at once (literally). "Was that the snowman?"

"I think so…"

Then she heard voices. Human voices.

Her panic skyrocketed.

"Wh-there are people here!" She exclaimed.

Brann moved past her quickly and out to the stairwell. As he looked over the railing, Elsa could see his body stiffen with shock.

"Shit…SHIT!" He muttered in a strained voice. Elsa felt her heart skip a beat at his language and tone.

"What?! What is it?" Elsa whispered.

Brann quickly ran back to her, his hands up over his head in agitation.

"I'm such an idiot, I'm such a goddamn IDIOT!" He vehemently said to himself.

Elsa could have slapped him for lack of disclosure, but at that moment, she heard another loud roar from Marshmallow. Running to the railing, she saw him in ferocious state, swinging his arms at four black-clad intruders. They all had weapons drawn and were battling the snowy creation. She could hear their voices rise up to her.

"The hell is this thing?!"

"Ice bitch must've made it!"

Elsa felt like someone had driven a spike into her heart.

"Whatever it is, take care of it! I'm going upstairs, we'll find them!" one of the men shouted to the others. He ran up the stairs, dodging another swing from the snowy guard.

Elsa didn't realize she could move as fast as she did then. Running back into her room, she saw Brann pull out a sword. Its blade was a gleaming orange and red.

"Stay behind me, no matter what." He instructed Elsa with a stony voice.

"Who are they?! What do they want?!" Elsa asked, horrified.

"They're Bankmen, they're evil sons of bitches, and they want to kill you and me. Now please, Elsa, get behind me."

She would have preferred it if he hadn't answered her question at all.

The weight of the words kill you hit Elsa like a freight train. She could feel the world spinning beneath her.

"You…they…"

For sixteen years she had lived in fear of being persecuted for her powers. Sixteen years she waited for the day it would all come crumbling down, and the people around her would demand for her blood.

And now, sixteen years since that awful night, it was here. Someone was coming to kill her. Because of her powers.

The fear bottled within Elsa exploded outwards. Ice whitened. A flurry grew. She could vaguely hear Brann's voice screaming at her, but it was lost to the wind, both inside and outside her mind.

It was only when the doors were smashed open with a mace that Elsa came to her senses.

The man in black was standing before her. His hair was thick. He had green eyes. Three whites lines were patched into his sleeve. He had a slick, black beard that clawed the bottom of his face like some angry talon.

For some reason, every detail of the man stood out to her. She vaguely wondered why. Perhaps it was customary to focus attention on every aspect of the ones who is about to kill you.

And he certainly would have done so had a streak of orange not shot in front of Elsa as the mace came swinging down.

Elsa jumped backwards in shock as Brann grunted against the force of the intruder's blow. Even when blocking it with his sword, it had taken a toll, it seemed.

With a shout, Brann threw his weight against his attacker, knocking him back a bit. Brann brought his sword up in front of him, eyeing the man maliciously.

Elsa had no idea what to say or what to do. It felt like the ice in her body had finally taken control and frozen her solid.

"Leave her out of this. You've been after me. This whole time it was me! So do not involve her in this!" Brann shouted.

The man with the mace looked at Brann with almost an apologetic look.

"No. The girl must die."

Brann growled as he charged the man, swinging his sword with more precision and skill than Elsa had ever seen form someone. It was more of an orange blur than a blade. The man in black was skilled, but Ignus was on a level Elsa had never seen from any soldier, captain or master. Their weapons clashed together over and over, Ignus continually pushing back his attacker.

It continued like this for a while, or perhaps in no time at all. It was difficult to keep track of time when watching something so frightening. Elsa couldn't speak, couldn't even move. Hell, she could hardly breathe.

Then Brann deflected a blow from the mace, and with more malice than Elsa could have predicted, shot flames from his hand, directly into the man's face.

The man in black yelled, clutching his face as he ran from the two of them towards the stairwell. Elsa felt her stomach twist in fear and disgust at what just occurred.

Brann's scarlet eyes seemed to glow beneath his hood. He huffed violently, out of breath.

Then three more men entered the room, armed with crossbows. Somewhere beneath them, Elsa could hear loud groans coming from her creation.

They pointed all three of them at Brann, eyeing him with ferocity and hatred. The man with the burnt face managed to turn around and look at Ignus through his fingers.

"No." He whispered in a tone Elsa would never associate with an angry man.

"Kill her first."

Many things happened at once.

Three crossbows clicked, their metal passengers leaving the wooden instrument with fatal speed. Air left Elsa's lungs and exited her mouth in a frightened exclamation. The man with the burnt face looked on passively.

And the man beside Elsa shouted something, and moved towards her with more speed than she thought possible.

Then the very world in front of her blurred, and Elsa's thoughts turned to nothing.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Hey Kristoff! Not sure if this is gonna fix the problem, but I found a staircase leading exactly where we need to go!"

"Ah! Great!"

Kristoff barely had time to register the odd news when Anna leapt from her awkward position on the mountain and into his shocked arms.

"Thanks! That was like a…crazy trust exercise!"

Kristoff couldn't help but smile in amazement a bit. This redhead was a unique person, to be sure, with her somewhat frightening strength and awkward and unsure nature.

Sure enough, Olaf's word was true. There was a beautifully made staircase leading straight towards the mountainside. Kristoff's jaw dropped. This stuff was absolutely perfect. The most flawless ice he had ever seen. It was breathtaking.

He would have likely stared at it for a lot longer had he not seen what lied at the top of it.

A castle…no, a palace lay atop the mountainside, as perfectly made as the stairwell. It gleamed in the sunlight, sparkling like some sort of ice-farmer's Shangri-La.

Kristoff tried to swallow a sob. "Now that's ice…"

Anna looked just as enraptured by the sight.

It may have stayed silent for quite some time had an explosion not rung out into the night.

Anna screamed as Kristoff flung up his arms to protect himself from the blinding light. He felt a rush of heat fly across his skin.

With what little vision he had, he saw the Upper part of the palace blow outwards, sending pieces of ice flying into the sky like shrapnel. The supports beneath it gave out, demolishing the lower-right side of the exquisite sight.

Kristoff's jaw hung open in shock. What had seconds before been a sight as majestic as and Kingdom castle was now a desolate ruin.

"Elsa!" Anna cried suddenly, whisking Kristoff out of his shock. She immediately ran across the steps.

"Whoa, whoa! Be careful!" Kristoff shouted, chasing after her.

Anna practically kicked down the doors to the castle. Upon entering it, she almost screamed again. There was an enormous snowman in the middle of the room, grunting angrily. He had large chunks of him cut off, and his legs looked like they had been sliced in two.

Kristoff hardly had time to register this alarming sight when another piece of ice fell from the ceiling, crashing about ten feet next to them. The floor cracked dangerously.

"Anna, we have to go! This place is falling apart!"

"Not without Elsa!" Anna shouted defiantly. And she turned and ran up the staircase behind the snowman.

"No, Anna don't-oh for fffffffffAAAAAAH." Kristoff grunted angrily as he chased after her again.

"Don't worry guys, I'll help Frosty here back up onto his feet!" Olaf called after them. He then began to pick up pieces of the snowman's "flesh" and return them to the main body.

Kristoff and Anna burst into the main room on the second floor. Anna gasped.

The explosion must have happened right here. The entire part of the palace in front of them had been blown away. What little ice remained was melting. The sunlight fell freely into the room, unhindered by any walls or ceilings.

Kristoff looked out over the edge. "What on earth happened…?"

Anna simply shook her head in utter bewilderment. Then she snapped her head around.

"Where's Elsa? Where is she?!" She exclaimed, panicking.

"Whoa, calm down, she's-"

"Oh my god she fell! Oh my god oh my god oh my god no! We gotta help her! C'mon help me get down there and-"

"ANNA. Your sister built a castle. I'm pretty sure she could prevent herself from falling with some sort of ice slide or something." He said, ignoring the uncertainty he himself felt.

Then they heard a groan next to them. Kristoff whirled around to find the source of the noise, jumping in shock. A man was lying against the wall of the castle. He was clutching his face.

Anna saw him as well, and ran over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright? What happened?"

The man stirred, looking at Anna and then at Kristoff. His eyes widened a bit, and Kristoff felt himself tense for a moment, but then the man's eyes softened.

"You are…Princess Anna?"

"I am, yes." Anna replied gently.

"I see…you are the Queen's sister?"

"Yes."

The man seemed to think carefully upon hearing that. The he spoke again.

"I'm sorry your majesty. Your sister is gone."

Anna's face froze in shock. "N-no. You…she couldn't have-"

"She's alive, your majesty. But she has been kidnapped." The man said quietly.

Anna's face reverted to relief and shock. "But…what?! By who?"

"By the man my men and I had been chasing. A wanted criminal, living on the run for many years. We tracked him to this palace, where he was attacking your sister. But when we attempted to intervene-"

He motioned out at the gaping hole.

"He did this."

"How?" Kristoff asked in disbelief.

"You discovered that your sister has…abilities, yes?" The man asked Anna. She nodded in understanding. "Well, this man…he wields the power of fire much like your sister does."

"What?!"

"Using his powers, he destroyed the palace in a massive explosion, and when the dust cleared, he and your sister were gone."

The man dipped his head. "I'm sorry your majesty. I wish I had done more."

Anna pursed her lips in worry. "Oh, Elsa…"

She then put a hand on the man's shoulder. "You did all you could. It wasn't your fault. But can you tell me what this man looks like?"

"It's hard to say, milady. He covers himself with a hood every day of the week to protect his identity. His eyes, however, are the bloodiest red you'll ever see, and are a dead giveaway."

"Wh-I met a man yesterday with red eyes!" Anna cried in shock.

"That must have been him." The man muttered.

Anna slapped her forehead angrily. "I knew he was a strange guy! And I just let him go! Just like that!"

"Hey hey, whoa, that wasn't your fault either." Kristoff said quickly. "No hypocritical thinking, okay?"

He saw the redhead heave a sigh and nod. "Okay. Okay. We'll find this guy. And we'll save my sister!"

Kristoff smiled. Her confidence was both contagious and inspiring.

"C'mon, sir. Let's get you out of here." Anna said, helping the burnt man to his feet. "What's your name?"

"My name is Lionel, you majesty." The man replied. He was still clutching his face so that Anna and Kristoff could not see his burns.

"Well, Lionel, we're gonna put out the word. Every kingdom is going to be looking for this dirtbag. And he'll be out of business quicker than you can say…some…random word." She finished.

Lionel smiled. "Excellent."

His smile was not one of relief or determination. It was one of hidden knowledge and manipulation.

But to Anna, it was only ever a smile.