Chapter 10. Break the Frozen Heart

NOTICE: The site notifications were busted when I posted the previous chapter. If you haven't read Chapter 9, These Empty Halls, then this chapter won't make much sense. Mind you, it might not make much sense even if you have….

[Last time on Legend of the Snow Queen: The duke has been conspiring with Weselton Oil. Susan and Elsa have returned, and Anna has realized she is a prisoner.]

The office door banged open and Monger strode out, dressed in his white Arctic gear.

"Monsters! Or Link and Bob! Assemble in the main hanger at the airport, stat! Pronto! Now! Or even sooner!"

"Yay!" Bob cried, waving several arms in the air. "Are we off on another wacky adventure, General?"

"I'll whack you if you keep wittering on! Ginormica's back, with the—with Elsa. Let's get moving! Time's a-wasting!"

"What's the rush?" Link growled, his mouth full of raw cod. "Can't I finish this first? It's good stuff, this Arendelle cod. Nothing like fresh from the sea. Sure beats that frozen crap you feed me back in the States."

"Here, let me help," Bob said, and before Link could react, the gelatinous blue mass had absorbed the entire plate of cod, along with the plate, and a substantial chunk of the table into the bargain.

"Oi!" Link shouted. He shoved his hand into Bob and managed to extract one fish before it was dissolved, while Monger stood there fuming.

"Get moving, you lot!" he cried. "You're all too slow! I've been ready for hours!" he added, pulling on his gloves.

"I've been ready for seconds!" Bob called, pretending to pull on gloves. "And thirds!"

"I'm not," Link muttered, gulping down his fish as he struggled into his thermal gear. "This is why I never wear clothes! I hate all this cold! Why couldn't the Queen of Tahiti have developed hot chocolate powers or something?"

"First, there is no queen of Tahiti," Monger said. "It's a French colony. And second, you don't even like chocolate."

"I like it more than snow," Link shot back, fastening his jacket over his broad scaly chest. "For one thing, it's warmer!"

"Right, let's go!" Monger ordered, pointedly ignoring Link. He led the other monsters out to the front of the castle, where several snow blowers were working to keep the path reasonably clear. A military half-track truck was waiting in the courtyard, with Captain Hansen at the wheel, and in a few moments they were proceeding through the snow-covered town.

"Yikes. Look at it all. How much more is going to fall?" Link asked, looking up at the houses, covered in a thick layer of snow.

"We just don't know," Hansen said. "There's already more than three metres. Considering that the town doesn't usually see more than half a metre, I'm worried that some of these older houses won't be able to take the weight."

"Steep roofs, though," Monger commented, peering out of the window as the truck slowly made its way through the old, narrow streets. "That should help."

"It does, to an extent," Hansen admitted. "But the snowdrifts piled against the doors are another problem—the Norwegian Army is helping, now that their icebreaker's here, but as soon as they clear one street, it gets filled again."

"Oh look! A penguin!" Bob called.

Link rolled his eyes. "No, Bob. That's just more snow. Just lots more snow…."

"We're here!" Monger called as the truck drove into the aircraft hanger the initial briefing had been in. They climbed out and headed over to Susan, who was seated cross-legged warming her hands over an industrial heater, with Cockroach on her knee. She turned as they approached, smiling.

"Good to see ya, Giny!" Link called up.

"Thanks, Linkster," she said. "You too."

"Well? Where's the princess?" Monger asked, looking around. "We were told you and she had arrived."

Susan's face fell. "She was taken away almost as soon as we got here."

"Really?" Monger frowned. "Where?"

"I didn't understand where, exactly, as it was in Norwegian. Sorry," Susan said. "But Elsa said I shouldn't worry; she was going to be taken care of."

"I thought we were going to take care of her," Bob commented. "Oh, another bird!"

"Yes, why were we taken here?" Monger asked.

"I'm sorry for the misunderstanding," Captain Hansen said. "I was simply ordered to take you to where, er, the giantess was. Oh, the prime minister has asked me to convey his personal thanks to you, Ginormica, for all your help in saving our small country."

"Don't mention it," Susan said, biting her lip and glancing away. "I don't deserve any thanks. Not for this…."

"So where is the princess?" Link asked.

"Princess Elsa is safe, in a special ice-proof chamber I believe," Hansen said. "I'm afraid I don't know the details."

"She's not here?" Link asked, rolling his eyes. "What did we have to come all this way for, then? I could have been waiting back at the castle, where it's warm and they have cod."

"A slight failure of communication," Hansen said. "My apologies. Our princess is being prepared for her journey. She should be ready to travel soon. I understand she has been fitted with the anti-snow devices Doctor Cockroach created for her."

"Wait, you can't use those!" Cockroach exclaimed. "They're not perfected! By which I mean… they don't actually work. I couldn't get enough plutonium-239."

"Well, so far they seem to be holding," Hansen noted, looking nervously at the mad scientist.

"Interesting," Cockroach said, rubbing his chin. "A placebo effect, perhaps? Of course—it must be. Well, they should be perfectly adequate in that case, as long as Elsa can retain reasonable control of her emotions."

"I should probably let the prime minister know, however," Hansen said. "At any rate, you can head back to the castle if you would prefer to wait where it's warmer."

Monger glanced up at the towering giantess, seating on the hangar floor. "I think we should remain here. Where Ginormica has some headroom."

"Uh, very well," Hansen said, looking up at Susan as well. "Of course. My apologies."

"That's all right," Susan said, giving him a quick smile. "And thanks, General."

"Monsters stick together," Cockroach added.

"Especially when we're frozen together," Link noted. "Can someone turn up the heat in here? My scales are icing over."

"Use the office," Hansen suggested, pointing to a door along the wall, where a row of windows looked out into the main hangar. "I must head back, I'm afraid."

"Thanks, Captain," Monger said. "Right, Link, get yer keister in there and turn up the heat. Cockroach, you better join him. Your antennae are turning blue."

"Actually, I'd prefer to remain outside here, with Susan," Cockroach said.

Link raised an eyebrow, and Link gave the slim scientist a nudge which nearly sent him reeling.

"Oh? You and Giny? You sly dog, you!"

"It's nothing like that," Cockroach said, drawing himself up to his full six feet of height. "I simply wish to discuss a few issues with Susan. Now shoo! Scat! Vamoose, as you Americans like to say!"

"Yeah, a few issues," Link said, grinning back at them as he followed Monger and Bob into the office.

Susan could see them through the window as Link immediately turned the heater on full. She stretched, her hands narrowly missing smashing through an overhead gantry, then lay down on her side to get nearer to Cockroach's level. "What is it, Doc?"

"Er, how well did you get to know the princess?" he asked, moving close to her titanic face.

"Anna? Oh, you mean Elsa?"

"Actually, both, I suppose," Cockroach admitted.

Susan gave a sort of half shrug. "I wouldn't say that much. Anna was more talkative, I guess. But I spent more time alone with Elsa."

"Would you be able to persuade Anna to listen to me? Or talk to her yourself? It's very important."

Susan frowned. "What's the problem?"

"I've been, er… well, trying to find out a few things," Cockroach said slowly.

"Like you always do," Susan commented with a smile. "And?"

"And… I found that the prime minister is going to sell Arendelle's North Sea oil extraction rights to a British company called Weselton Oil. They'll get millions—billions—from oil sales, and the duke gets a huge cut, but Arendelle won't see a single cent."

Susan's huge eyes opened wide. "Wait… you mean…?"

Cockroach nodded. "The country will be ruined. Not that the duke will care. I overheard him talking about buying an estate in Bermuda."

"The little shit! Son of a bitch! How dare he! Wait, how can he? Won't Elsa stop—oh, she can't. She's not queen any more. Well, what about Anna? Why doesn't she put a stop to this?"

"She's not nearly as trained in political and governance as her sister," Cockroach said. "And she's still too young—remember, by law Arendelle is ruled by a regent until the monarch is twenty-one. So the duke is actually legally in charge of everything for the moment."

"Son of a bitch…" Susan breathed again.

"There's another problem," Cockroach told her. "The duke has kept Anna in isolation. No one is allowed to see her. I, er, circumvented those restrictions—it's useful being able to crawl on the ceiling at times—but when I tried to suggest that her uncle was selling her country out, she… well, refused to listen to me. Not that I blame her, I suppose. He's the closest family the sisters have since the tragic death of their parents."

"So you want me to try to talk to Anna?"

Cockroach nodded. "Maybe as you know her better, and… maybe being a girl would make her more likely to listen…?" he finished slowly, looking up at Susan hopefully.

She pursed her lips, thinking. "Actually, I think going through Elsa might be a better idea. She struck me as being very rational. Too rational, if anything. If we can persuade her that her uncle's selling them out, then she can talk to her sister."

"She may not be allowed to see her," Cockroach noted.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure she can," she said, giving him a lopsided smile. "When should we go?"

"It will have to be done now," Cockroach told her. "Once she leaves, there's no one left who can stop the duke."

"No problem," Susan said, sitting up. Then she paused. "Uh, except one. Where is she?"

Elsa lay on the narrow bed, and sighed. She was in a small round chamber in an ancient medieval part of the castle. The walls were a metre thick, and the only light came from a few narrow barred windows, glassless, giving her a view of the frozen fjord, but not much else.

It was a chamber she was very familiar with. As a child, she had often been confined here when her powers became hard to control. She would be taken here, where the thick stone walls could withstand her snow and ice better than the elaborately painted wooden walls of the castle, and where she could allow her powers to vent themselves out the windows harmlessly into the fjord. Normally it only took a few minutes, and she hadn't had to be confined here for years. Now, of course… it was no longer a matter of minutes. She had finally been revealed for what she was: the dreaded Snow Queen of legend, a monster who ruined nations. Ruined her nation….

She glanced down at her hands, which were encased in cumbersome metal gauntlets, festooned with wires and lights. Her uncle had told her that the mutant American scientist had created them as a way to counteract her curse, to enable them to transport her to the United States safely. She had no idea how they worked, but so far they seemed to be doing the trick. Almost no snow had fallen since she had put them on. One side effect, however, was that her hands were unpleasantly warm. It was also very hard to scratch her nose.

The princess sighed again. In a few hours she would be on her way, and perhaps her country could be saved. If there was anything left underneath her snow and ice to save, she thought, staring up at the interlocking wooden beams that disappeared into the darkness of the roof.

Then she heard a clinking a moment before a key was inserted in the lock, and the thick metal door swung inwards.

"Uncle Mustela?" Elsa gasped, and sat up quickly as the duke entered. He smiled at her.

"Preparations are just about ready," he said. "The American plane landed a few minutes ago."

"The snow has stopped," she noted. "I suppose that mad scientist did create something useful. A bit more effective than those gloves you always made me wear."

"Well, actually, it appears that they don't actually work," Ramberg told her. "You're just wearing tin boxes on your hands. So no more effective than your old gloves, it would seem."

"Not… real?" Elsa gasped, holding her hands up. She could almost feel the ice starting to form. "No, no, they are real, they work, they work," she chanted to herself under her breath. The gloves had worked—these would work even better. They were science, and science always worked. Always.

Except when it failed to explain her curse….

There was a quick knock on the door, and it opened, revealing a nervous young man.

"Your Grace? Pardon me, sir, but it's urgent!"

The duke turned, and motioned to the messenger. "Over here. We shouldn't disturb the princess."

But Elsa wasn't paying attention anyway. She was staring out of the window over the fjord, up at the mountains soaring high on the far side. "I am the Snow Queen," she whispered to herself. "I am in control of my snow. It does not control me. I control it, I conceal it. I do not feel the worry, the fear…."

"Hi…highness…" the duke croaked.

Turning, her heart skipped a beat at the expression of utter despair on his face. "Uncle Mustela…? What is it? What's happened?"

"I… it's…" the duke stammered. He swallowed, and took a deep breath. "It's your sister," he got out. "She's… there's been an accident."

"An… accident?" Elsa whispered, barely able to speak. "What happened? Is she all right?"

"We… we had to evacuate her, just to keep her safe while, er, while you are still in the kingdom," he said slowly, not meeting her eyes. "We couldn't risk you harming her. But… her helicopter, ah, got caught in the snow storm you caused. Blown… blown into the side of a mountain." He paused, looking directly at her. "I'm afraid… she's… she's dead. Please, don't blame yourself! You couldn't have known! It's not your fault!" he added quickly.

Elsa heard him as if at the bottom of a deep well. A roaring sound echoed in her ears, building up and up and up, a wordless scream of utter despair that exploded out of her.

The duke stepped back. "Elsa? Elsa!"

"Get! Out!" she shrieked, doubling over, gripping her palms so tightly inside the gauntlets that her nails drew blood. "Please! You have to get out of here! It's not safe! I can't… I can't… STOP!"

The duke fled, slamming the door as Elsa's agonizing wailing reached a crescendo, pouring out a lifetime of pain. All she could think of was her sister, lying dead in the snow. Her snow. Her… snow. She had killed her sister. Her poor, sweet sister, who she had spent a lifetime shutting out, forcing away—until she had forced her away to her death.

The steel gauntlets split, shattering as her ice escaped its prison, free once more to ruin everything she loved. The princess sank to the floor, sobbing, as the ice grew, covering her completely, and then started spreading across the chamber, while a hurricane of snow howled around her, bursting through the windows in all directions, carrying death and destruction as it screamed across the land.

With a tremendous bang, the hangar suddenly shook, as if a gigantic hand had smacked it. From outside, a low howling grew and grew, getting louder and higher in pitch as the metal walls vibrated.

"What's going on?" Susan asked, looking around nervously.

"Emergency stations!" Monger shouted, emerging from the office. "Batten down the hatches! Man the gunwales!"

"What? What are you on about?" Link asked, trailing behind.

"There's a blizzard coming the likes of which… well, I don't know, but it's big! Titanic! Ginormic! Ginormica!"

"Sir?" Susan asked, looking anxious.

"I'm guessing Elsa's pretty darn-tootin' angry! Have you any idea what's gone on with her? I thought she was okay with the idea of moving to America? Doesn't everyone want to?"

"Not everyone," Cockroach said firmly. "I, for one, was never given a choice. Susan, my dear, did Elsa give any indication when you with her that she was… er, about to lose control?"

Susan shook her head. "None. She was… I guess she accepted it. She knew she had to leave, to save her country. Before she destroyed it."

"Well, she's doing a pretty bang-up job of it right now!" Monger snapped. "All hell's broken loose! Hurricane-force winds, temperatures way below whatever freezing is in Celsius!"

"Zero," Cockroach said, raising an eyebrow. "Really, it's pretty easy to remember."

"Should we evacuate?" Link asked, while Monger pointedly ignored Cockroach.

The general shook his head. "Not a chance. Monster Force One can't take off in this weather. Ginormica, if the building starts to collapse…."

"I know what to do," Susan said, glancing up at the shaking beams. "But I can't reach both the ceiling and the walls, so…."

"Hold it," the general said. He picked up his walkie-talkie. "Monger here. Oh, Mr Prime Minister? What is it? Yes, we know. Oh, you did? Wait, what? It crashed? She's…? Oh my god. My god. My… our… deepest condolences, sir. On behalf of the United States government, we are deeply sorry for your loss. What's that? Oh, yes, of course, we'll make arrangements to remove Her Highness immediately. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. And… once more, my deepest condolences."

Monger switched off his walkie-talkie and looked over at the others, his face ashen.

"What is it, General?" Susan asked gently, her heart beating fast.

"It's… the Queen. Anna. She's… her helicopter… crashed in the storm. There were no survivors…."

Susan felt her mind go numb. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be true. Not Anna. "Oh… oh no, no, no, no…. No…." She let out a low moan, and buried her face in her hands, weeping.

"General," Cockroach said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Can you contact the Pentagon and confirm the crash site using US Army sources?"

Monger shrugged. "Probably. It wouldn't be hard to find. You think we should assist the Prime Minister in forming a search party?"

Cockroach shook his head. "No, I doubt he intends to send one out—you heard him. He said that the queen is dead. And with the princess about to leave for Area 52…. I wonder…."

"What are you getting at?" Monger snapped.

"Just…." Cockroach gnawed his lip. "I want to make sure that there are in fact no survivors," he said in a low voice.

"What the hell for?" Monger gasped.

"Shh! Not so loud!" Cockroach stage-whispered, looking up at the sobbing giantess. "I don't want to upset Susan more than she already is. However, I don't think we should take the word of the Prime Minister, either."

"But the US Army satellites won't be able to tell if anyone's alive," Monger hissed back. "Not in this weather."

"I have a few ideas about that," Cockroach said. "General, if I could set up a relay link using some of the parts in the hanger dumpster that I found, plus a smidgeon of uranium and a few other things I have in my pockets, then…."

Still talking in a low voice, he led the general into a back room. Susan watched them go dully, her mind a blank as the winds roared outside. It was too horrible to contemplate. Anna… dead? How must Elsa feel knowing that her sister was dead—killed by her own storm? Even though Elsa had seemed to reject her human side in favour of being the Snow Queen, Susan was sure that was just a bluff, a façade Elsa had erected to try and make her imprisonment easier. The separation from her family easier.

But now? She had already lost her parents—and now her sister, too? No wonder the storm was so bad, Susan thought as the hangar shook from the blasts of wind. She couldn't even begin to imagine the depth of despair Elsa must be feeling.

She was barely conscious of anything other than her emotions. Emotions that she had spent a lifetime trying to control, to suppress. Emotions that could harm others, destroy everything she held dear. But now it was too late. Now there was no need to control herself, now there was nothing left to protect. A lifetime of fear had been bottled up inside her, and now it was exploding, unchecked and devastating. Nothing mattered any more. There was nothing any more. Nothing but the snow, unending, unstoppable. The world was an infinite whiteness, and her an insignificant speck at the centre. A world where all hope, all emotion had been drained. All save one: utter misery. All she knew was that the last good thing in her life had been taken from her—no, had been destroyed by her. All her life she had lived in fear, fear of what others would do, fear of harming those she loved. And now she had. Now the person she most loved in the whole world was dead because of her. Because of what she was. The Snow Queen. A monster….

Elsa sat slumped on the floor, gazing out through the narrow window over the frozen ford with unseeing eyes. The blank whiteness outside was merely a continuation of the blankness inside her. Her rage and anger and self-loathing had been spent, and now there was only an aching sense of loss, of utter despair. She had thought that the death of her parents was the worst pain she could ever know. But the death of her little sister, her sweet, innocent little sister, killed in a blizzard of her own making: that was an agony unlike anything she could have imagined. She was oblivious to the outside world. It was a world without her sister, so it was meaningless to her. Nothing could penetrate her blank, white hell.

The chamber gradually filled up with ice, encasing the grief-stricken princess, embracing Elsa in its cold, unyielding grip. Cocooning the Snow Queen in its frozen heart.

"Susan! She's alive!"

The giantess gasped. "What? You're sure?"

Cockroach nodded happily, his antennae flying. "A few minor alterations to the image processing algorithms of a top-secret low-orbit spy satellite, and we found her."

"Where is she?"

"The chopper came down near Himmeltindan, the highest peak in Vestvågøya," Monger told her. "It's over three thousand feet tall, but she's only half-way up it."

"So we're going to rescue her?"

"Of course," Monger said. "Or rather, you're going to rescue her."

Susan nodded, her face serious. "No problem, General. I can do it."

"It's… rather windy out there," Cockroach added with considerable understatement, glancing up as the hanger shuddered and shook. "Are you sure you'll be all right?"

"I'll manage." She paused. "Uh, where is Himmel-whatever? Himmeldingdong?"

"Himmeltindan," Cockroach said. "Northwest coast of Vestvågøya, about twenty miles away from Reine."

"Uh, I might not be able to able to find it, not in this weather," Susan admitted.

"You'll need a guide, Ginormica," Monger told her. "What about that bloke who took you and the queen to the North Mountain to find Elsa?"

"Huh? What about Elsa?" Bob asked, looking around as if he expected to find her under a tarp somewhere.

"Great idea, Bob!" Susan said. "I'll ask Elsa! She'll be so glad to hear her sister's alive!"

"We don't even know where she is," Monger reminded her.

"Ask the Snow Queen for help? That is not a good idea right now," Link added, shaking his head.

"Yeah," Bob said. "She's the epic centre of this storm!"

"You mean epicentre," Cockroach told him. He rubbed his chin, one eyebrow raised. "Actually, that is a good point, Bob. If Elsa is indeed generating this storm, it stands to reason that it is centred on her location. Just follow the wind—keep heading into the wind. That's where she'll be. At the heart of the storm."

"Of course!" Susan exclaimed. "I think I know where she must be! Elsa told me that one of the towers at the castle was modified to be ice-proof—it was a place she could go when she felt her powers getting out of control."

"I don't suppose she mentioned which tower?" Cockroach asked.

Susan shook her head again. "But she did mention it had a view of the fjord and the mountains." I'm sure I'll find her easily."

"You sure you can manage this wind?" Link asked.

Susan nodded. "No probs. I should hurry!"

"Yes, because you'll need to get to Anna before she freezes," Monger noted. "Based on when the duke contacted me, the chopper would have crashed about half an hour ago, and she can't survive much longer out there."

"Oh my god, yes!" Susan gasped, jumping to her feet. "No time to lose! I'm out of here!"

"Remember, Himmeltindan!" Cockroach called.

"Gotcha, Himmeltindan!" Susan said.

"We're racing against time here, Ginormica," Monger added. "Don't delay a minute longer than you have to. And… don't let anyone delay you, either."

Susan nodded, understanding his meaning. She headed to the wide hangar door and lifted it up the bare minimum, quickly rolling beneath it then jumping to her feet. A blast of frigid air nearly knocked her sideways, and she grabbed the roof for balance. Trying to stay upright on the icy ground, she quickly made her way out of the airport area, and to the main road. Despite the fact it was summer, the sky was dark, the sun completely shut out by thick black clouds, heavy and pendulous, from which lightning continually crackled, the thunder shaking the ground. The air was filled with shards of ice, blown sideways by the howling gale. Streetlights and trees were swaying, and she saw one large elm uprooted, crashing onto a truck. Several of the vehicles that had been parked along the road were sliding across the ice, pushed by the storm.

Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly spotted something huge flying towards her. Acting on instinct, she quickly swatted the object away. It crashed into an empty house, and she realised it was the trailer from a truck, just picked up and blown by the Snow Queen's storm as if it were no more than an empty cardboard box. She could see loose shingles flying, and a brick chimney crumbled as a particularly savage blast struck. There was no time to lose: the buildings of Reine would never survive a storm like this for long. With her free hand shading her eyes from the worst of it, Susan made her way through the hellish landscape as quickly as she could. At least, she thought, she didn't have to look where she was going, as the wind meant it was easy to keep heading the right way—if hard to actually make progress.

She turned a corner, and then with a cry, she suddenly found her legs swept out from under her as a large truck, skidding along the icy road, struck her. She crashed heavily, knocking over a lamp post and sliding along the road until she slammed into a stone building, rocking it. Tiles rained down on her head, along with a large chunk of snow.

Susan swore under her breath, shaking the snow off her and feeling the wall behind her to make sure it hadn't broken under the force of her impact. Bracing herself, she got to her feet again, and risked a quick glance up into the gale, holding her hand up to try and cut out the driving snow and ice. She could just make out the castle, its outlines blurred under the thick layer of snow that blanketed it. Elsa had told her the tower overlooked the fjord. That meant it must be on the seaward side of the castle, Susan realized. Going straight through the front gates—or over them, rather—would attract far too much attention, even in this weather. She was sure she could take out any resistance the palace guards could offer, but perhaps she didn't have to. After all, the fjord was frozen. The question was, would it take her nearly twelve ton weight?

"Only one way to find out," Susan muttered to herself as she ventured out across the square to the docks. It was actually hard to see where the land became the sea, as the snow drifts were piled so high they blurred into each other. But Susan felt herself going down a bit, and then heard a low rumbling creak underfoot. Gingerly putting her entire weight on that foot, ready to jump back if she heard a crack, she slowly let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding as the thick ice held her.

She could just make out the two smaller towers that marked the entrance to the port. Using those as a guide, she slowly made her way out onto the ice. With nothing to brace against, and nothing to block the howling gale and driving snow, it was slow going—Susan sometimes felt herself sliding on the ice, pushed by the tremendous power of the storm.

And then it just stopped.

The wind instantly died down, and the air was filled with tiny, hovering flakes of ice and snow, just hanging in the stillness. It was as if the very air had been frozen. Immensely relieved to finally be in the eye of the storm, Susan stood upright, and scanned the area. Now that the storm had stopped, she no longer had a direction to head. But it was clear which tower was the right one: all the ice on the buildings was pointing away from the epicentre of the storm, leading her to the Snow Queen like a myriad frozen arrows. Elsa's tower was at the back of the castle, twice as tall and thick as the other towers, ringed with solid crenellations.

Susan made her way across the frozen fjord, hoping she wouldn't be noticed too soon—while she didn't imagine for a minute that the duke would dare try to attack her, he might try to move Elsa, and then she'd never find the princess. Moving as fast as she could, she skidded on the ice, grabbing at the wall to support her. Several large stones crumbled down under her hand as she levered herself upright, breathing heavily from the adrenalin rush.

A few more steps took her to the tower, on a rocky outcropping. There were almost no windows in the thick stone wall—just a few arrow slits piercing it. But just above her head level, nested in the crenellations, was a smaller tower, crowned with a pointed wooden roof, plated in green copper like the rest of the towers. This appeared to have windows. But she couldn't see inside. She could, however, see a faint blue glow coming from it. This would be where the Snow Queen was, Susan was certain. Muttering a quick apology to the royal family, Susan swung a fist through the wooden roof of the adjacent curtain wall, clearing a flat area she could climbed on top of. That put the top tower at about chest height.

None of the windows were lit, aside from the mysterious blow glow, and she noticed they were barred, but not glazed. Susan leaned over and tried peering through one, but it was hard to make out anything inside. The air coming from inside was incredibly frigid, however; so cold that even with her alien-enhanced biology she couldn't stand it for more than a few seconds, and had to take a step or two back.

"Elsa?" Susan whispered, then louder when there was no answer. "Elsa! Are you in there?"

The only response was silence. Susan glanced up at the sky, so grey it was almost black. Anna did not have much time left. She thought quickly. The windows were too small to get her hand in. Breaking down the wall would be easy, but risked injuring Elsa. How could she get in? Ah, of course, she thought with a smile.

Susan stood upright, and put her hands on both sides of the copper-covered roof. She pulled carefully, hearing groans and shrieks of metal as the beams snapped and the nails pulled out under her immense strength. Then she tossed the roof aside, letting it smash heavily through the ice into the fjord.

She peered inside, looking for Elsa. At first she couldn't see anyone. Then she realized that the room was filled with ice. She could make out Elsa's form inside, deep in its frozen heart. Susan's heart skipped—was… was Elsa dead? Was that why the storm had stopped? Could the Snow Queen be killed by her own creation?

There was no time to lose wondering, Susan told herself firmly. Elsa was either dead or alive, and there was only one way to find out. She pulled down part of the chamber wall, letting the stones tumble down into the fjord, and dragged the huge chunk of ice out.

Entombed in her ice, almost a part of it, she didn't even notice the huge blue eye staring in at her, the titanic face, the gesticulating hands. Even when the tower shook and groaned she remained where she was, lost in her personal nightmares. Only when the ice around her suddenly cracked and smashed did Elsa realize she was no longer alone, as one immense hand snaked in and caught her up.

"Elsa! Highness! Are you all right?"

The giantess's deep, powerful voice cut into her consciousness, but it still took Elsa's shocked brain a few seconds to process what was going on. "Su…Susan! Stop! What are you doing? Put me down! I'm dangerous—I could hurt you!"

"I'm so sorry, Highness! I don't have a choice! We don't have much time—we have to get to Himmel…Himmeltrinn…. Oh bother, what was it?"

"Himmeltindan? Why?" Elsa gasped, trying not to look down as the giantess swiftly carried her away across the ice.

"Your sister! We have to save your sister!" Susan cried.

"Anna? But—she's...!" Hardly even daring to think about the slightest possibility, Elsa twisted around to look directly at Susan's face. Which was smiling at her, happy and excited. Hope flooded through Elsa; a sudden, joyous hope, though tinged with a horrible fear that she was hallucinating. "Wait…. Is Anna…?" She didn't even dare complete the question.

"She's alive—but we have to get to her fast!" Susan said. "She's out in the snow, hurt!"

Alive! That was the only word Elsa heard. Anna was alive! Anna was still alive! That was all that mattered, all that gave her hope. Her sister was still alive! Her heart soared, a wonderful warmth filling it. Then another word penetrated her mind, freezing her soul once more: Hurt. Anna was hurt, again. Again, her curse had caused pain for others. Again, her curse had made her a monster. She could never escape, never be free of what she was. She could feel the ice build up inside her, her heart freezing once again. The snow started falling again, harder and harder.

No. She would not retreat into self-pity and fear. Not again. Her powers were destructive, but also creative. Her powers did not make her a monster. They did not make her a danger, any more than the giantess holding her so carefully was a danger. If Susan could control her fears of hurting others, so could she. They were both capable of hurting or even killing someone with a careless gesture, a momentary lapse of concentration, of self-control. Yet Susan had accepted who she was; rejoiced in it. And by accepting it, she controlled it. Rather than being a part of her that she tried to hide away, ignore, she lived with it, welcomed it. And controlled it. That, Elsa realized, was the secret to controlling her fear, her power—not just revelling in it, as the Snow Queen, but accepting it, as Elsa. Just as Susan was both the giantess Ginormica, and the human Susan. She was both, and one.

She took a deep breath, and the snow stopped falling. "What happened?"

"I'm not that clear on the details," Susan admitted, looking down at the princess she was carefully holding. "But she was being evacuated to Norway in a chopper, and… er, it crashed. For… some reason. Uh, mechanical failure, I think the duke said…."

"I rather doubt he said that," Elsa noted, curling her lip.

"Well, he didn't really go into detail," Susan admitted. "He just told us your sister was dead."

"And I gather you didn't entirely believe him?"

"Well, you know… we… uh, well, Doc was…. I'm sorry, Highness, but Doc was suspicious of your uncle."

There was a brief silence. Then Elsa spoke. "Interesting. What exactly made him think that?"

Susan swallowed. "Uh, er, Doc sort of overheard him, uh, say he was ready to sign a deal to… well, to sign away all of Arendelle's North Sea Oil reserves. And keep the money himself."

"I knew it. That little weasel," Elsa breathed. "That lying little weasel. I told him several times to break off all negotiations. I told him I would never sign anything with Weselton Oil. And now he assures you my sister is dead. More lies."

"Uh, maybe he just didn't know," Susan suggested. "I mean, the US Army has better equipment, I guess…. I mean, he is her uncle, right? He wouldn't lie about his own niece, surely?"

"Ah, Susan, I'm sure in your world uncles are all sweetness and light. Avuncular, I think, is the English term."

"Uh, maybe. I don't know what that means," Susan admitted.

"Never mind. But in my world, in the world of political power, uncles have a fairly well deserved reputation." Elsa paused, and gave a bitter laugh. "Especially in this winter of our discontent."

"Huh?"

"Haven't you heard that quote from Shakespeare? That was Richard III. The kind who killed his two nephews."

Susan's eyes opened wide. "Wait, really?"

"Well, probably. You see the sort of uncles we have to deal with in my line of work?" Elsa laughed softly, but quickly turned serious again. "Mustela has constantly sidelined me, and I don't doubt he's thrilled to have me declared unfit to rule. Anna would be far easier to control."

"Yeah, you might be right. Doc tried to tell her about her uncle, but… I guess she didn't want to listen to someone bad-mouthing her family."

"Anna's always been closer to him," Elsa noted. "She was only fifteen when our parents died, and he was the only family we had left."

"But you weren't as close?"

Elsa shook her head. "Turn down here," she said, pointing down a wide street. "No," she continued as Susan's long legs carried them rapidly down the road, kicking up clouds of loose snow. "I always knew he thought I wasn't fit to be queen. Because of… of what I am."

"Yeah, well, he's wrong," Susan said emphatically, carefully negotiating around some fallen trees.

"He… he called me a monster," Elsa said softly, remembering how it had hurt each time.

"Hey, that's a compliment!" Susan said with a quick laugh, jogging down the road at over fifty miles an hour. "But he's wrong. You're a hero. Giving up being queen to save your country? Giving up on having a life to save your sister? I don't know what being a queen means, I don't even know what being a sister means, but I do know what being… one of us means. Sure, you get to do amazing things, but… there's always a sacrifice." She looked down at the small pale princess in her hand, and smiled. "But it's totally worth it."

"I hope so," Elsa said, sighing. She looked around at the snow covering the hills, and bit her lower lip. "I'd sacrifice anything if I could save my country—and my sister. My poor, sweet sister… out there, in the frozen wastes…. Susan, we have to hurry!"

"Don't worry. I'm going as fast as I can," Susan told her, kicking her legs out of a snowdrift that came over her knees. She stumbled, quickly regaining her balance. "It's just hard to see where the road is at times."

Elsa glanced up at Susan, then back down at the road. "Can you let me ride on your shoulder?"

"Uh, are you sure? What if you fall?"

"I won't fall. But I might be able to help."

"Okay, if you want to…" Susan said, carefully lifting the princess up and letting her shift onto her shoulder. Elsa swiftly encased her feet in ice, affixing herself to the giantess.

Susan carefully turned her head, looking curiously at Elsa out of the corner of her eye. "What are you going to do?"

"As I told you on the mountain; no more fear. No more hiding. If I am the Snow Queen, I shall be the Snow Queen."

Elsa raised her hands, and pointed them at the road. The snow covering it slowly rose up into the air, then gathered speed, fountaining high to either side, leaving the road clear.

Susan gasped. "That's… that's amazing!"

"I may not be able to melt it," Elsa said. "But I can control it. It is my servant, not my jailor. It will never hold me back again."

The Snow Queen held onto Susan's hair with one hand while the other remained pointed at the road. Susan moved forward, and the snow continued fountaining up on either side.

"Now run, Susan, as fast as you can. Take me to my sister. My snow shall not keep us apart. Not any longer."

KNOWTES

Another much longer than intended gap between chapters. This is really slack of me. Mind you, the last section of this chapter in particular took a lot of reworking. Getting the last conversation working was really hard. I needed to have them discuss certain points while saving other points for later, for thematic reasons, and needed to have them not unnaturally avoid those certain points. I also had to avoid having Elsa be either too angry or too afraid. And have her embrace what she was and realize she can control the snow, but that's still a far cry from actually melting it.

Anyway, now that's out of the way, hopefully things should be smoother from here on.

It's hard to get a sense of scale of the castle, but I've done my best from the images available online in lieu of any actual blueprints. And I think that the tall thick tower at the back is indeed taller than Susan.

Incidentally, for those of you who haven't read my MVA Ginormica stories, Susan's weight here (more precisely, 11.8 tons) is the weight given in The Art of Monsters vs. Aliens, so it's as official as anything.

Oh, and "avuncular" basically means kind and genial to the younger generation in the way an uncle should be. Richard III says that famous quote at the start of the play that ruined his reputation for centuries. Not that he was a saint or anything—far from it, as he's still the most likely candidate to have murdered his own nephews, the sons of Queen Elizabeth (wife of Edward IV—and a very interesting historical figure in her own right).

There aren't any other facts as such in this chapter, so let's get on with the next….