A/N: Yeah, the ten reviews thing kind of worked... So, I know I missed yesterday, so you guys get two chapters today. That's my policy on missing days. But I hope you enjoy this next chapter! (It's probably a bit OOC, but I tried. This is more of a transition chapter, until the end)
Chapter 9
I woke up the next morning with a mission.
I was going to hike down this mountain, I was going to walk into Arendelle, and I was going to dig through many, many, many years of books and memories to find that fairy tale book I was addicted to when I was younger. I just kept imagining the look of shock on Jack's face when he sees the version of him I grew up knowing. I think it should be an… interesting experience.
I crawled out of bed, and stumbled down the stairs. I brushed and braided my hair with my fingers as I went, as I did not have the foresight to make an ice hairbrush. How was I going to live here for the rest of my life?
I saw Jack at the bottom of the stairs, leaning on his staff. His eyebrows were furrowed together, his lips turned down. The universal look of worry.
"What's wrong?" I called from the top of the stairs, and he jumped ten feet in the air. Literally. There was a huge gust of wind that rippled through the palace, and Jack looked almost in shock.
"Make some noise when you move, Snowflake!" He exclaimed, slowly descending.
"Only if you stop calling me 'Snowflake'" I bargained. Jack smirked, and I already knew the answer.
"Never." He said, sounding fairly hollow. He didn't have the spirit to his voice that I had normally heard. I thought nothing of it. Maybe he was just tired.
"Then be prepared." I retorted. I was surprised that I actually knew all these good comebacks. I had to use this ability with Anna sometime. Isn't that what sisters do?
I went down the stairs, and thought about my plan. I just kept imagining his eyes going wide and his jaw dropping to the floor when I showed him the fairytale I tried not to laugh aloud, but I did start to giggle.
Giggling? I thought. Since when do I giggle?
"What's so funny?" Jack asked, but I could tell he was humoring me.
"Remember how you said you wanted to see physical proof that the fairytale says you froze a child?" I prompted, and he nodded. But the thing was, when he nodded, he didn't even look at me. He looked at something over my shoulder.
"Well, I'm going to show you the book." I said, but got no response. I continued, in hope of getting something. "I mean, it says right there in black and white what you did to that girl, and…" I trailed off, realizing that it wasn't working. I tried a last resort. "You know, 'Snowflake' is the favorite nickname anyone's ever given me."
Nothing. Nada.
I snapped my fingers in front of his face, something I'd seen Anna do with Kristoff every now and then. It worked like a charm, and he snapped to attention. He looked at me annoyed, and I could tell he was getting angry. Jack seemed distracted for some reason.
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
"It's just... Guardian stuff." He said. "Also, I time travelled last night."
"To where?" I asked, and started to smile. I could only imagine what he had seen. He could've gone back to the time of the cavemen, and made paintings I'd only seen in history books. Or, maybe the future, where there were things beyond the wildest imaginings.
"I – uh, saw you. After your parents died." He admitted.
"Oh." I said and looked down at my feet, not sure what else to do. So, I guess I could imagine what he saw too well.
"You couldn't see me." Jack said, and I took a deep breath.
"Well, I mean, after my parents died I stopped believing in much of anything." I clarified. "That probably didn't help." I scrambled to change the subject. "What about your 'Guardian stuff'?" I tried to deepen my voice to match his and failed miserably.
Jack shrugged.
"It's all really complicated, but I guess you have to know." He sounded more like he was convincing himself. "It's happening in your kingdom?"
"What?" I asked, and heard the menace in my voice. Arendelle had been through enough with being frozen over. But wouldn't I know if something was wrong with my subjects? Possibly not.
Jack stopped talking, like he backed out at the last second.
"Now you have to tell me right now." I said, feeling myself go into protective sister mode. Not only my people were at stake if something was in the kingdom, Anna was at stake. I would not risk losing her or Kristoff or anyone close to my sister.
"It's Pitch." Jack admitted, and I blinked in surprise. He told me all about how they fought and defeated him. Pitch wasn't supposed to be a threat anymore.
"But you told me– " I started, but Jack cut me off.
"Yeah, we thought he was done, too." Jack said. "Pitch is in Arendelle, getting stronger somehow."
"Well, how are you going to stop it?" I asked. He shrugged.
"We have to find the source of the fear first. That could take a while, considering how many people are in Arendelle. You're the expert. How many of them have problems?" He asked.
I racked my brain, searching for some incident that involved fear. A lot of people in Arendelle have fears. They're all farmers, and they're scared of losing business. I get that problem a lot with competitors. The harvest was smaller this year than usual, so that could be it. But there wasn't one incident with one person that I could isolate.
"I don't know. Everyone is scared of something." I tried. And what I said was true. I knew fear better than most people, and I knew that if you are truly terrified, you don't dare share it with anyone.
"If whatever is making your arch enemy stronger is in Arendelle, then we should go back. Forget the fairytale." I suggested, and Jack nodded. "We can leave now."
Jack picked me up, and shot out of the castle like a rocket. He was going even faster than I expected. The wind whipped my braid around like a lethal weapon, and my eyes were watering. But, for whatever reason, this didn't affect Jack. Or, it did, but he just didn't show it. He didn't say anything, and his face was set in a look of determination. This was even more serious than I thought.
I looked below me, and saw the houses of the people who lived in the town. They looked tinier than usual. The castle came into view, and I realized just how high we actually were. The guard towers for the gate looked miniature, like a child decided to build a model of Arendelle. The spire at the top of the tallest tower in the castle looked like a speck.
Jack went into a nosedive, and I almost had a heart attack.
"What are you doing?!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, but the wind snatched away my words before they could be heard.
My window rushed at me, and I half expected it to shatter as we hit it. It flew open at the last second, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm not dead." I said in shock. I started muttering to myself, trying to comprehend my crazy life. "I'm not dead. That's good. Always good."
Jack set me down, and I almost fell over from my legs wobbling.
"That was… fast." I said, not knowing what else to say. Jack opened his mouth to respond, but I heard a knocking at my door.
Knock, Knock, Knock-Knock, Knock. Anna's signature knock. I had to get this.
Jack spoke up from behind me.
"I'm going to go flying around, see if I can root anything out." Jack said. "And by the way, the other Guardians are coming, so if you see a fairy, a flying sled, a guy riding around on sand, and a kangaroo, don't freak out."
"A kangaroo?" I asked. How could a kangaroo be a Guardian. I'm not buying it.
"Okay, well, he's a rabbit. The Easter Bunny. But he's huge, so I call him a kangaroo." Jack attempted to clarify and flew out the window. I was left just as confused as before.
I opened my door to see a very confused-looking, sniffling, tear-soaked Anna standing in the hallway. My first thought was that she had a broken heart, caused by Kristoff. She wouldn't be crying over anything else.
When I find him, I'll freeze that evil man and his reindeer into an icicle! I vowed, and gave Anna my attention. I looked at her with concern, and she started to sob.
"Anna, what happened?" I asked, trying to sound compassionate. She coughed, sniffled, and straightened her spine. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that the servants were staring.
"Hello, Elsa. May I come in?" My little sister asked in the most mature voice she could muster. I nodded and shut the door behind her. I hugged her tightly and walked her over to the center of the floor. That's what we used to do when we were little and shared the same room. We would sit on the floor, because that was neutral ground in our minds. Nothing changes.
"I-I'm so sorr-y." Anna chocked out between sobs. Huh? What happened while I was away?
"What do you mean? What are you sorry for?" I prompted, making my voice gentle.
"This is all m-my fault." Anna sniffled, and I shook my head. Whatever happened, I was ninety percent sure it wasn't her fault. She didn't know about any of the really risky things I took care of. I made sure never to tell her.
"What is?" I asked again, and Anna looked at me.
"It's Hans." Anna said. "He's building up an army to attack Arendelle."
A/N: DUN DUN DUN DUN! So, cliffhangers, I know you guys love me for them! Review your favorite part of the chapter!
