Chapter ten

Unstoppable

Elsa twirled her fingers, and a blast of ice shot from her hand. She pointed it at the approaching storm band, driving as much power into the shot as she could muster. The shot flew straight into a thick cloud. Upon impact, the mass of ice splintered, spreading in multiple directions through the cloud.

She curved the fingers of her other hand, sending the ice in different directions through the thick clouds. Like a seamstress, she weaved her ice into a sort of web, its light blue coloration stark against the nearly pitch black clouds of Ansbach.

Elsa was in total control, guiding the ice as it branched through the cloud. Tracks of light blue rippled through the clouds, dividing and rejoining. To Anna, it looked like the very sky was cracking, torn apart by Elsa's powers.

Ansbach grew closer, but Elsa stood her ground, forcing her ice deeper and deeper into the storm clouds. Already, a huge section of the hurricane was within her grip, and still her frigid tendrils spread ever further.

At the center of her web, the clouds were changing. Faced with a sudden drop in temperature, they began to condense en masse, then freeze completely. Chunks of ice plummeted from the sky, no longer able to remain airborne.

"Elsa?" Anna said nervously as she watched these massive clusters of ice fall towards them.

But Elsa was ready. She thrust her hand forward, and a sharp gust of wind blew from behind. The ice chunks were sent away from them, falling harmlessly into the empty valley before them.

She grinned. You're mine.

A sudden gust slammed into them, and Elsa staggered backwards, nearly falling over.

"Elsa!" Anna cried.

"I'm fine," she yelled over the wind. "Get low to the ground!"

Cursing herself for losing focus, she regained her ground and redoubled her efforts. She raised several tendrils of ice from the ground and wrapped them around her body, a sort of frame to stabilize herself. She thoroughly encased her legs and torso in the ice, then turned her focus back to the storm.

Now the winds were picking up near them, blowing in from the left. Elsa held steady and pushed back, sending a powerful gust straight back. Another gust slammed into her, but this time she was prepared for it, not backing down an inch.

Her work was having a clear effect on the storm. The thick clouds, which had been steadily spiraling towards them, were now starting to slow. The rain had slowed to a drizzle, and even some of the thickest clouds were beginning to disperse.

Adrenaline and confidence fueled Elsa's powers as she cut deeper into Ansbach. Any fears she might have once had were now far away. At this moment, she felt invincible. No force on the planet could stop her.

Then, a bolt of lightning shot down, so close that she had to cover her ears for the thunderclap, and struck the pillar to her left.

Moments after the thunder came an even louder sound – the sound of ice shattering.

Elsa looked at the pillar, and fear found her once again.

The pillar had shattered at its midpoint, and the top half was starting to tip over. No longer supported, it was at the mercy of the wind.

And the wind was blowing right in her direction.

And here she was, frozen in place by a cage of her own design.

She turned to Anna. "Run."

"Elsa, I'm not leaving-"

"NOW!" she shouted, blasting a gust of wind at her. Anna started running.

Elsa turned back to the collapsing ice column. Frantically, she tried to melt the ice she had encased herself in, but it wouldn't budge. With no other options, she began forming a wall of ice in front of her.

No longer able to see her impending doom, she thickened the ice as fast as she could, channeling her panic.

For the last time, the little voice inside her head spoke up again.

It won't be enough. You can't stop this.

She tried to ignore it, focusing every fiber of her being into the wall.

You failed, and now you and Anna will die because of it.

"No," she said in a tiny voice. The wind swallowed her protest.

You are going to die, Elsa. And there isn't anything you can do about it.

Then there was a crash.

Then there was darkness.

xxxxxxx

As soon as she heard the impact, Anna threw herself to the ground, covering the back of her head with her hands. All around her, she heard smaller crashes as bits of ice fell to the ground around her.

Please, please be safe, Elsa, she thought. Please tell me you stopped it before it hit you.

As soon as she was sure the shrapnel had stopped falling, Anna stood up and turned around, running towards Elsa. It didn't look good.

Elsa was lying on the ground, eyes closed. She had pieces of ice lodged in her arms, and many cuts on her face. Mere feet away from her head, the shattered remains of the pillar lay on the ground.

Anna dropped to her knees, reaching out for her.

"Come on, Elsa, wake up," she said desperately, shaking her by the shoulders.

Elsa remained motionless. Anna felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"Goddammit, Elsa, you can't do this to me!" she shouted. "Stop playing around and wake up!"

She tried to feel for a pulse, but with the noise of the wind and rain, she couldn't tell if she felt anything.

"Get up, dammit!" Anna felt a surge of anger. She slapped Elsa on the face, a little harder than she intended.

Elsa released a low moan.

"Oh, thank god," Anna said.

She looked at Elsa's arm. A huge, jagged shard of ice was sticking out of her forearm.

"Jesus, that looks bad," she said. She turned to Elsa, who was still barely responsive.

"Okay, Elsa, I'm going to get this thing out of you. This'll probably hurt like a bitch, but I've gotta do it. Ready?"

Elsa made no reply.

"Sorry about this." She grabbed the shard, taking care not to jam it any deeper. "One…two…"

xxxxxxx

Elsa was lost, floating in a black void.

Where am I?

Is this some kind of dream?

Memories floated in and out of her head. She could recall that she had been doing something very important, but now it was a million miles away.

Am I dead?

"One…"

What was that?

Elsa looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Two…"

There it was again, carving through the blackness like a hot knife through butter.

Anna?

"Three!"

Pain flashed through her body, an agony unlike anything she had ever felt before. It was as if every molecule of her body had been stabbed with a red-hot knife.

The world flashed white, and all thoughts raced from her mind. All but one.

I must be alive. There's no way death could be this painful.

xxxxxxx

Elsa's eyes shot open. As the miasma of pain subsided, her eyes refocused on the world around them.

The first thing she saw was Anna, holding a bloody piece of ice. When Anna realized she was awake, she threw the piece away and wrapped her arms around her.

"Don't scare me like that again," she said in a tear-soaked voice.

"Ok," said Elsa, still trying to bring back the memory of what she was doing here.

Then she looked up.

Ansbach was directly above them now. Without her to restrain them, wind and rain battered the hill, the town, and them. Her fortress was still standing, but a few pieces had started to fall loose. It certainly wouldn't hold forever.

All of her memories rushed back to her at once. It was not a pleasant experience.

She stood abruptly, looking up at the sky with renewed fear. "Anna, I'm so sorry," she said. "I've brought all of this on you and your family."

"Oh no, don't start with this shit again," Anna said vehemently. "We all came here of our own free will. And do you know why?"

Elsa said nothing, knowing the answer would come in a few seconds.

"Because we believe in you, Elsa. We believe that you have the power to stop this thing. All of us trust you to do it!"

"You…you do?"

"Of course we do! You're the most powerful person on the planet! If anyone can stop this storm, it's you!"

Just hearing Anna say these words filled her with confidence. "All right," she said. "I'll do everything that I can."

"Go get 'em, Elsa!" Anna shouted.

Elsa took a few steps away from her. Her mind, which had been buzzing a moment ago, had fallen silent.

She gathered her strength, breathing slowly and deeply.

If I'm going to stop this, I'll need something stronger than I've ever done before.

She took a deep breath, holding her arms out to her sides.

I am the most powerful thing on the planet, she thought. The strongest human being to ever live, if I can even be called a human.

She felt the wind begin to rise.

I am an elemental being, a primal force of nature. No wind, no storm, no force on earth can rival my strength.

Now it swelled to a powerful gust, blowing all around her in a sphere of wind and energy.

Even gravity cannot hold me.

Now the wind blasted straight up, lifting her off of the ground. Anna watched, jaw dropped, as Elsa rose into the air, frigid winds blowing all around her.

If I wished, I could pluck the sun from the sky and crush it in my grip. Every last ounce of power in the universe could not rival the power within me.

She felt the energy within her building, growing larger and larger until she felt her body might explode from it.

I am a god.

With that thought, she released all of her pent up energy in one powerful burst.

A shockwave emanated from her body, all that energy concentrated into one rapidly expanding bubble.

Trees bent and buckled from the might of this wind, some yanked out of the ground from it.

The black storm clouds were blasted away, flung to the corners of the earth by winds stronger than any hurricane could ever produce.

Anna was knocked onto her back by the force of Elsa's power, eyes wide open in witness of her miracle.

The effect was spectacular. In an instant, hurricane Ansbach was torn asunder. Weathermen around the world were stunned as, on the radar, in front of their eyes, a gaping hole appeared in the hurricane, then grew at lightning speeds, engulfing all of the storm and extinguishing it.

And then, just like that, it was done. Ansbach was no more.

After a few seconds, Anna got to her feet. She looked at the still-intact fortress, then at Elsa, who slowly descended from the sky.

Elsa stared, in awe, at the force she had just unleashed. The valley before them was coated in ice, and hundreds of trees lay on top of them, wholly uprooted.

Oh my god. I did all of that.

Her feet touched the ground. Anna approached her slowly, then gently put her hand on her shoulder.

Elsa turned to her abruptly. "What am I, Anna?"

Anna was taken aback by the question. "You're Elsa," she answered, concerned.

Elsa looked at her with quavering eyes. "What more than that?" she asked. "Am I some kind of witch?"

A pointed hat and broomstick made of ice appeared in her hands.

"A demon?"

Now the hat and broomstick dissolved, and a pair of horns appeared on her head.

"A god?"

The horns vanished, and a pair of icy wings sprouted from her back.

"Or just some kind of monster?"

The wings wilted, and two bolts grew from her neck.

Anna laughed, shaking her head.

Always one for the drama.

"None of those," she said happily. "You're just Elsa."

"Just Elsa?" Elsa repeated.

"That's right. You go to Ridgebrook high school, your favorite color is light blue, you love chocolate ice cream, and you're really ticklish. Especially right here," Anna said, reaching out and tickling Elsa right on the back of her neck.

Elsa giggled like a child, wriggling and squirming.

"Now, when's the last time you've seen a ticklish demon?" Anna pointed out, arms folded.

Elsa thought about it. "So, I'm…just Elsa?" she said one more time.

"Of course."

She looked Anna in the eyes. "That's good, because I can't think of anything else that I'd like to be." She smiled.

Anna beamed back at her. "Glad to hear it, just Elsa."

Elsa looked back at the frozen valley. "Now, didn't you have something you wanted to say to me?"

Anna smiled wryly. "I think you already know what I was going to say."

"I want to hear you say it anyway."

"All right." Anna took her hand, staring her straight in the eyes.

"I love you, Elsa."

Warmth flooded Elsa's body. She pulled Anna closer and kissed her, savoring the feeling.

As they kissed, all around them, the ice began to vaporize. Not melt, but simply dissolve into thin air. Elsa's fortress turned to vapor, drifting into the air and vanishing. The valley thawed in a flash, no longer flooded or frozen. Even the clouds disappeared from the sky, leaving nothing behind but a sunny day.

Their kiss seemed to last forever. Elsa wished that it would. But eventually, Anna broke off.

"You realize, of course, what you have to do next."

Elsa nodded. "And I'm really not looking forward to it."

xxxxxxx

Elsa stood outside the doorway, nervous. Beyond that door, the nurses had helpfully told them, her parents waited.

Anna stood next to her, smiling reassuringly. "Just go on, tell them. It'll be fine."

"Easy for you to say," Elsa said. "Your parents just roll with everything. Mine are different."

"Don't worry about it. What's the worst that could happen?"

"I'm thinking about it right now, Anna, and it's not pretty."

Anna looked at her. "Do you think they'll stop loving you?"

Elsa was once again shocked by her blunt demeanor. "Of course not!"

"Then you have nothing to lose. Nothing important, anyway."

"I don't know what to say," Elsa worried.

"They aren't expecting a recital. Just talk, it'll come to you."

She turned to Anna. "You'll be right by my side the whole time, right?"

Anna gave her a funny look. "Elsa, I was by your side in a hurricane. A couple of confused parents is nothing."

"I guess you're right," Elsa said. Mentally, she prepared herself to go forward.

She reached for Anna's hand, but Anna pulled it away.

"One bombshell at a time," Anna explained.

"Right, good thinking," Elsa said.

She swallowed. From this day forward, she knew nothing would ever be normal again.

Then again, wasn't that kind of redundant? With all the crazy insane surprises that life held in store, every day was strange and abnormal. Now and then, you may have a normal day or two, but it usually doesn't last long. If it does, then it becomes abnormal in and of itself.

So yes, nothing was normal. But that didn't mean it was a bad thing.

Elsa took a deep breath, and opened the door.

THE END