Chapter 6-Day Six, Part 1
The next three days passed rather uneventfully, aside from the return of Olaf (who had been up on the North Mountain with Marshmallow); Kristoff returning to the castle and learning about what had really transpired when Anna went missing ("You mean she didn't run off just to be silly?!"); and Superman stopping by to offer a charter plane to transport Hans and his brothers to the U.S. capital for their trial (Elsa accepted the offer, but gave Superman the letter she'd originally written as well). And several chess games, all of which Elsa won, to Anna's chagrin. On the fifth day after the Hans fiasco, Kai knocked on Elsa's door to tell her she had a visitor. "He calls himself Lex Luthor, your majesty, and claims he can only talk with you."
"Tell him that Princess Anna will be glad to meet with him, but that I'm busy," Elsa sounded a bit annoyed. She was getting restless from being cooped up in her room for the last several days; she'd had quite enough of staying in her room in the past to last a lifetime.
"Wait, what? I don't want to meet with him! What would I even say?" Anna jumped up from her seat in the comfy chair in the corner where she had been reading a book.
"Anna, you have to. I'm certainly not going to have a meeting in here in my room," Elsa said.
"Oh, all right," Anna conceded.
Kai left and was back five minutes later. "Mr. Luthor says he must speak with Queen Elsa and no other. What shall I tell him?"
Elsa considered this for a moment. "All right, tell him I'll meet with him in fifteen minutes."
"Very well." Kai left.
"But Elsa, your ankle! How are you going to get downstairs?" Anna asked.
"You're going to help me downstairs. But not down the banister, if you please," Elsa said. "Then I'll just sit for the duration of the meeting. Will you get my blue dress out of the closet?"
"Sure," Anna agreed. She opened Elsa's closet. "Uh, which blue dress? They're, like, almost all blue!"
"Oops, sorry, I guess I wasn't specific. The ice blue one I made, please." Elsa hesitantly stood up and put weight on her ankle. It ached, but didn't collapse under her. "Oh, Anna, you should go change your clothes too. You're going to sit in during the meeting."
"Thrills. Oh, all right, I'll be right back," Anna replied, running down the hall to her own room.
Elsa quickly pulled on her dress and rebraided her hair. Then she limped out into the hall right as Anna came racing headlong down the hall. Anna skidded to a stop just before running into her sister. The two made their way to the top of the stairs, Elsa leaning on Anna for support. Anna tried to pick up Elsa to carry her downstairs. "Good grief, Elsa, you're heavier than you look!" Anna complained. "Can't we just slide down the banister?"
"Anna, if we do that, you know we're both going to crash at the bottom, so no way," Elsa replied.
Anna slammed both of them into the railing and nearly dropped Elsa.
"All right, time out. Put me down," said Elsa, rubbing her elbow. "At this rate, we're just going to fall down the stairs."
"There's always the option of sliding down the banister," Anna offered.
Well, it can't hurt, I suppose, Elsa thought. "All right, but make sure nobody's down at the bottom of the stairs first."
Anna leaned over the railing so she could see the bottom of the spiral staircase. "The coast is clear!"
Elsa and Anna slid down and crash-landed, as expected. "…and I have a gift and business proposition for Queen Elsa," they heard from an adjoining room. Then, "Hi, I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!" and "Ahhh! What's that?"
"I guess this Lex Luthor guy hasn't seen a talking snowman before," Anna laughed as she and Elsa dusted themselves off. "Now we just got to sneak over to the Great Hall for this ever so interesting-not!-meeting."
They made their way through the castle to the Great Hall, where Elsa immediately sat down on her throne. "I don't think my ankle liked that last escapade too much." Noticing there wasn't a place next to her for Anna to sit, she waved her hand and another throne made of ice materialized beside her own for Anna.
"Wow, I get to sit there?!"
"Yes. Now sit down; our guest will be here any minute now."
A few seconds later, Kai made the announcement. "Introducing Mr. Lex Luthor and Miss Teschmacher of the United States."
"Welcome to Arendelle," Elsa greeted her visitors. "May I help you with something?"
Luthor flashed what he considered an award-winning smile and bowed, while Miss Teschmacher curtsied. "Ah yes, I think so. You made all the intriguing ice, I presume?" Luthor said eagerly.
"Oh, Lex, what do you think? Of course she made the ice; it's still summer time!" Miss Teschmacher scolded. "Oh sorry, you must think I have terrible manners, Queen Elsa!"
Elsa, who was usually excellent at reading people upon first meeting, immediately labeled Luthor as being vain and full of himself. Well, at least he doesn't dislike my ice anyways, she thought. She also decided that Miss Teschmacher struck her as a bit airheaded and was wearing a slightly inappropriate outfit. "Yes, I did make the ice."
"See, I told you so!" Miss Teschmacher said triumphantly.
"Oh, do be quiet. Where is my gift for Queen Elsa?" Luthor sounded irritated. Miss Teschmacher handed him a small gray box, and Luthor handed the box to Elsa.
"Thank you, sir. This must be lead; it's rather heavy for such a small box," Elsa said as she opened the box. Inside lay a green rock.
Anna leaned over to see what was inside the box. "A rock?!" Anna started giggling, and Elsa elbowed her to make her be quiet.
Elsa took the rock out of the box and looked it over carefully. It seemed to glow slightly. "Well, thank you for the…green rock," Elsa said, not sure what else to call it.
"That isn't just a green rock, your majesty; it's kryptonite. It can take away superpowers when certain individuals come in contact with it," Luthor explained.
Elsa hastily dropped the rock back into the box and shut the lid, just as an outraged Anna jumped up and exclaimed, "It does what?! If you came here to hurt my sister, I'll…I'll…"
"Anna, please sit down," Elsa replied in a tense voice. If he has rocks that take away superpowers, who knows what else he's up to? She felt like hightailing it out of there as fast as possible; but she was quite certain that firstly, her ankle wouldn't let her, and secondly, Anna couldn't finish the meeting properly. "I'm fine; it must not have had time to do anything, at least I don't think so…" Elsa tested this theory by forming a snowflake in her hand. "See, Anna?" To her visitors, she said in an aloof tone, "Do not pull a stunt like that again."
"You misunderstand me, Queen Elsa. That rock will have no effect on you; only individuals from the planet Krypton," Luthor answered. "I have a business proposition for you: If you help me get rid of Superman, I'll give you a large estate on the beach in California. I heard that you know him from a reliable source."
He wants me to do what?! Elsa was incredulous at the prospect of such an idea. She wasn't surprised that Luthor knew that Superman had been in Arendelle, however; she figured (correctly) that some other 'modern technology' device had informed him. "I will not do any such thing. Superman helped my sister and me once, and I will not repay him by doing something like that. Not to mention, I have no need of an estate in California. Also, if this kryptonite is as strong as you claim, why are you even asking for my assistance?"
"Because my last encounter with Superman and kryptonite did not end as planned," Luthor responded, glaring at Miss Teschmacher. (Luthor had managed to get Superman in contact with kryptonite once before, and Miss Teschmacher had rescued him before the kryptonite did any damage.)
"You will have to find another gullible pigeon to assist you in that venture; I will have no part of it. This meeting is over. Kai, please show Mr. Luthor and Miss Teschmacher out," Elsa said, unwavering in her decision.
Kai began to steer the two visitors out of the Great Hall. Elsa and Anna heard a "But what if it were two estates in California?" They looked at each other in stupefied silence.
Finally, Elsa spoke what they were both thinking. "That was one absurd meeting."
"You can say that again! That Luthor guy is crazy…hey, by the way, what are you going to do with the kryptonite?" Anna replied.
"I don't know. For now, I'm just going to stick it in the back of my closet until we can find out if what he said was even true. He could have just been bluffing, although somehow I doubt it," Elsa said. "Besides, he said 'individuals from planet Krypton.' That means there could be others like Superman. If a person with bad intentions had all those powers he does, that would be horrible. I want to be ready, just in case."
"Makes sense to me," Anna responded. "Come on, let's go back upstairs."
"All right, but you aren't carrying me this time. I have a better idea."
A/N: Great job, Luthor. Did you really think Elsa was going to help you kill Superman? Anyway, Elsa has some kryptonite now because she wants to keep it 'just in case'...:)
