Alright, since I'm drowning in work right now, I'll upload it like that, before you have to wait another week or more. Let's hope there aren't too many mistakes in it. This bonus chapter has new protagonists - Flynn Rider, the adventurer whose stories Eugene read as an orphan, and Snow King Ull and Spring Maiden Sunna from my Frozen-fanfiction "Snow Queen and Spring Princess". If you want to know them better then you have to read that story before this chapter, a short version of who they are is in the spoiler below. Oh, and if you decide to read the other story... please leave reviews there too.
Lord Destroyer: I invented Gerhard as some kind of responsible scoundrel because I think that Anna with her spunky personality needs someone like Kristoff to ground her, while Elsa needs someone to coax her out of her shell by making her laugh, yet also someone whom she can trust with the work of a monarch. I didn't really think of any other Disney scoundrels but Eugene.
Pure Creativity: Yes, Rapunzel is a bit stiff - but I needed her to be the voice of reason when Elsa and Anna couldn't overcome their problems alone. I imagine she matured a bit after she married.
crossoverauthor12484: Well, then I guess it's good that the fanfiction ends with this chapter. Not that I had any ideas left since pretty much every major character has had its 15 minutes of fame now.
Killer Sand Shadow, mariasantara & WildfireDreams: I'm glad that you like Gerhard, though we won't see any more of him in this fanfic. Maybe I'll incorporate him into a future one.
SPOILER! Ull and Sunna are Elsa's and Anna's past lives. Ull was rejected by everyone as a child, even his parents, so he is way more bitter and violent than Elsa... he is what she maybe would have become if she didn't have Anna. Sunna is his little sister, who sought him out in his Ice Castle eightteen years later and stayed with him, because she wanted him to come home with her. SPOILER END! And now... enjoy!
Flynn Rider and the wrath of the Snow King
So this was it – the infamous Ice Castle. Home of one of the world's greatest Evils. Birthplace of all Winter Storms. Grave to many powerful warriors who had entered the castle, yet had never left again.
That sounded good!
Flynn Rider, greatest adventurer of all time, took out a sheet of paper and wrote that paragraph down. Alright, so what if he had embellished the tales of his adventures in his books sometimes? So what if he had never been in the Cave of Wonders himself, but had just heard the tale from a strange merchant... of a street rat in the far away sandlands becoming a prince with the help of a magic lamp? So what if he had actually found some magic beans which were supposed to grow a beanstalk so big that it reached the clouds, but hadn't found the right soil for it to grow... and had sold the remaining beans to some guy, making up a fantastic story afterwards? There COULD be giants up there! And golden harps! Anyway, he was doing his readers a favor – he WAS an adventurer, traveling to supposed magical, dangerous places, but most of them were actually just embellished myths. He imagining great adventures when there really was not much to tell about most of the time was BRINGING magic into a mostly mundane world.
Well... most of the time. Because this Ice Castle was marvelous! If this had been built by hand, then it had surely taken years, there was just an insane amount of detail in the carvings alone... but in this case Flynn didn't really doubt that there could have been real magic involved since the whole structure looked like it was one gigantic piece which had grown from the ground. He had heard many tales about the infamous "Snow King", from him being a powerful sorcerer responsible for sending particularly deadly winter storms out into the world to this castle being the residence of Winter itself, which had taken human form because he had fallen in love with a human girl.
The last part might actually be true. These guys he had eavesdropped on in a tavern a few miles from here, one of them an old bombardier in possession of an impressive cannon, the other one a pretty grim veteran warrior, had talked about a young girl who was supposedly living in the Ice Castle right now. It seemed like the warrior had tried to kill the Snow King before, since he was convinced that the King had sent a storm which had killed the veteran's family. He had nearly been killed by powerful magic... but a young girl had begged for his life and the King had let him go. Flynn hadn't heard everything, mostly that they still needed at least one more companion to transport the cannon and then try to kill the Snow King again, but he supposed that this girl was either this human girl from the story whom the King fell in love with or – less romantic – a poor girl who had been forced to serve a cruel master.
Which was why he HAD to see this with his own eyes! A tragic love or a poor slave who got saved by a dashing hero, maybe even both themes combined... this could be his next bestseller! Since his honor demanded though that he at least visited the places and took a look at the people whom he would make famous through his stories, he had to hurry – these guys in the tavern had sounded like they wanted to bring the Snow King down no matter what, even if they had to drop the whole palace on his head. Since the girl, whoever she was, would probably be caught in the middle of a fight between three, maybe more grimly determined warriors and a cold-hearted sorcerer, Flynn might also try to save her – he might not be as much of an adventurer as his readers thought, but he certainly didn't think that he was a coward... and well, didn't any man with an ounce of romance in his heart dream of saving a damsel in distress once in his life?
Though he'd probably invent the part where he had fought the Snow King himself. The safety of the girl was more important than his personal glory and these warriors back in the tavern had really looking forward to kill the King – it would be impolite to disappoint them after they had put so much thought into their revenge. That aside, magic was DANGEROUS! He hadn't actually seen a dragon – though he had written about defeating one of them of course –, but he had visited many so-called dragon caves. In some of them the walls had indeed been melted by something incredibly hot. If the ice magic of the Snow King was only half as potent as what had deformed these walls back then, then Flynn preferred to write about him far, far away. Maybe even with a very thankful young eyewitness at his side...
But that meant that he had to at least enter the Castle, so he began to approach it, trying to stay hidden. It wasn't easy since this was a pretty cold place and there were hardly any plants to hide behind. But it was necessary, since he had already been pretty lucky – there were some strange stone people, and they had almost spotted him when he had arrived here. He didn't know who they were, but they had talked about the Snow King, so they seemed to be servants of some sort. At least so far those stone people hadn't approached the castle even once... actually they seemed to avoid entering it, which was good since the Snow King and the girl would probably be the only people in the castle. He was willing to spy on a dangerous magician for the sake of his research, and if he could save the girl in the process, that would be even better... but he'd like to avoid offending a bunch of people with REALLY hard bodies, at least not in the confined space of a castle with only one entrance.
Which he had reached now. And he was about to enter, when he was lucky again – the Ice Castle was indeed masterfully crafted, not only visually, but also in terms of acoustic as it seemed, and he could hear the echo of someone talking inside and walking towards the big entrance in time. He hid behind one of the two statues – he hoped that they were just statues – of snow monsters next to the entrance and waited. And it happened to be two of these stone-people.
"... shouldn't be offended, Bulda," one of them said with a male-sounding voice. "They are not trolls. They just can't grasp how delicious your cooking is."
"I'm not offended." The one with the female voice huffed, obviously lying. "I KNOW that my cooking is great, and if the Snow King does like HER cooking better, than he doesn't DESERVE tasting my delicacies!"
"Of course, of course," the stone man agreed. To Flynn it seemed like these two were married, if these stone people had a concept like marriage. "But still... it seems that Pabbie was right. The King has become calmer. Perhaps it is still good that she has come."
"Maybe," the stone woman agreed, although grudgingly. Then she sighed. "It's not that I don't like her, Cliff, you know that... she is fearless and friendly and she MAY be able to calm him down. But she will always be in danger here."
"Pabbie thinks that all will be well," the stone man said and patted on his... wife's? shoulder. Flynn winced when he heard the heavy noise. He didn't want ANY of these stone fists anyway near him! "He's hardly ever wrong. Let's move back. I DO would like to taste one of your delicious dishes as soon as possible."
The stone woman smiled. "Alright."
Flynn's eyes grew big when they turned into round boulders and just rolled away. It was good that he knew that. He had thought that because these guys were made of stone, that they were slow... but he wasn't sure if he would be able to outrun them if they spotted him. He'd have to be extra careful... but it was great resource material for his book. He waited for some more minutes, but when he didn't hear more noise, he entered the Ice Castle.
He blinked. Strange. The entrance hall was completely dark. On the outside the ice was non-transparent, but he had thought that there would be at least dim light inside. And he could actually SEE light in front of him, but the entrance hall was on the inside made of ice so dark that no sunlight could pass through... or maybe there was just so much dust mixed with the ice. That might not be magic at all. Still impressive... and just a bit intimidating. But not enough to stop Flynn Rider, mighty adventurer! He moved forward, towards the light, trying not to make a noise.
When he reached the light, he blinked again. This was incredible! Some parts of the roof of the Ice Castle WERE transparent, and the light which entered was reflected by the walls on the inside, brightening the entire room... which was a throne room, as it seemed. The throne – of course – was made of ice a little darker than the walls, all of the walls were covered with carvings which formed something akin to tapestries, and a few doors led to other rooms. And there were human statues everywhere... each one very lifelike. Maybe the Snow King was trying to create his own race, a new kind of life? There were enough stories about mad sorcerers out there, so Flynn wouldn't be surprised. Although he heard people talking somewhere else in the castle, he took some time to memorize all of this – the Snow King might be a misanthropic sorcerer or winter itself... but he definitely knew how to decorate a room! Flynn would give him credit when he wrote his book.
After a minute or so he moved towards the voices, being even more careful not to make a sound. The way the echo in this castle worked, if he made too much noise, he would be in trouble. He didn't know what the Snow King was capable of doing inside this fortress, with so much of his element around... he had to think up some demonstrations of power of the Snow King before he started the novel. But here and now in reality it was best not to tempt fate, even if luck seemed to be on his side today. Now that he came closer to the source of the voices – there seemed to be two of them, one male and one female –, he could hear them better. They seemed to be arguing. Good, that meant that they would probably not be very attentive.
"... not change me."
"You are ...peating yourself. The food … ready."
Correction. The male voice was arguing, the female voice was very calm. And he was quite close now. He walked around a corner and saw another doorway... probably leading to the kitchen. He couldn't smell very much because of the ubiquitous cold, but here the smells of different kinds of food were strong enough. Now he could hear the voices clearly, with no confusing echoes. He pulled the small mirror he always took with him on his adventures out of his bag. This was an important tool for a real adventurer, not the kind he described in his books. For the fictional Flynn Rider dirty, sometimes rugged clothes and a constant three-day stubble worked as symbols of manliness, while Flynn himself preferred a well-groomed appearance when a young lady was involved... that and the fictional Flynn Rider would have probably stormed into the kitchen and started an epic fight with the evil sorcerer, while the real Flynn preferred to spy on his future protagonists around the corner with the mirror before doing anything rushed. Not that he himself wasn't brave enough, but he also had to think about his readers – he needed as much information about the Snow King as possible, and as soon as the sorcerer found out about him, there would be no more chance to see how he acted around the girl and what kind of relationship they had.
The first thing he saw was the kitchen in general... the rest of the castle seemed to be made solely out of ice, but here at least some chairs and kitchen utensils – and there were surprisingly many of them – were made of wood or metal. Which was reasonable since the girl seemed to do the cooking and, considering that she preferred a wooden chair and wore warm furs even in the relatively warm kitchen, didn't seem to be immune to the cold around her. He made a mental note for his story – since the kitchen seemed to be the domain of the girl, the fictional Flynn Rider could maybe use this to his advantage, maybe to hide there or use hot kitchen utensils in his fight against the King's ice magic. Although the real King didn't seem to be fazed by the warmth.
Flynn blinked. THIS was the infamous Snow King? This was a boy! Well, not really a boy... it was a bit hard to tell since he didn't dare to look around the corner without the help of his mirror, and the thing was quite small, but the guy certainly hadn't reached his thirties yet. The short white hair didn't make a guess easier, but the face looked still young, though a bit pinched. The King was quite lean and wore normal commoner's clothes – that was disappointing, Flynn would have to change this detail in his book – and didn't really look all that awe-inspiring... only his icy blue eyes and the grim expression on his face didn't contradict the stories about him, and even their impact was lessened by the fact that the girl didn't seem to be afraid of him at all.
The girl... well, she was alright. She seemed to be barely of age, a bit too young for Flynn's taste, but her long, strawberry red hair would probably attract some men's attention once she was older. If she ever got out of here of course. Next to the King and in this castle, she looked like the first flower of spring in a snow-covered field... that was good, he needed to write that down as soon as he had a chance! Still, she was no exotic beauty, she wore normal clothes, although more and warmer ones than the Snow King... from a literary standpoint, she too was disappointing. The only thing that impressed Flynn was that she seemed to be completely calm, almost happy around someone who had, according to SOME rumors, murdered hundreds of people.
"I should have killed him nonetheless," the King continued a discussion they had seemingly paused in order to eat. "This guy WILL come back... and then he will be better prepared."
"You can't kill anymore," the girl reminded him and shoved her plate away from her. She was smiling. "If you do, I will not cook for you anymore... and then you'll have to eat Bulda's dishes again."
The King growled. Flynn narrowed his eyes. Had the hands of the King just been encased with a layer of ice? "This is no laughing matter, Sunna!" the King muttered, seemingly restraining himself. "He knows the basic layout of the castle now. That makes him more dangerous."
"Why are you so convinced that he will come back?" the girl countered, standing up and carrying her plate to the washing tub. "He might think about why you let him go... maybe he'll also think about his family and that they wouldn't want him to risk his life by fighting you. He might realize that revenge won't bring them back."
The King groaned. The ice on his hands thawed and he began to massage his temples. "Even so... others will come. There will always be people who'll want to kill me. You've seen the statues."
Flynn's eyes widened. Did the King mean the human statues which Flynn had seen in the throne room? These had been PEOPLE once? Until now the conversation had been very... human. But if this guy had really frozen a dozen people solid...
"And I don't believe that," the girl said, looking over her shoulder. "I told you that if you showed enough people that you don't WANT to kill, then the stories about you will change."
The King chuckled and stood up. "You know... you always assume that I don't enjoy killing, Sunna." His voice became... for lack of a better word cold. "I wonder how you can be so sure of that."
Flynn swallowed hard. Was it becoming colder here or was he just imagining that? What if the King had had enough of the girl and decided that she was of better use as a throne room decoration? Should Flynn distract him, so that the girl could flee? But he didn't know what the King could do with his magic... what if he died in the process? But the girl interrupted his thoughts.
"As long as I have been here, you have not killed," she said, continuing to clean her plate. "And as long as I am here, I will do everything I can to keep you from doing it. I like you better this way."
"What gives you the RIGHT to do that?"
Flynn winced and the mirror nearly escaped his grasp. Had the walls of the castle really vibrated when the Snow King had banged his fist on the table? And now he was SURE that it was getting colder here.
"This is MY castle!" the King shouted. "MY life! You have no right to decide what I should and should not do!"
"So it is wrong for me to care about you?" Now the girl... Sunna... had gotten angry too. She glared at the Snow King, completely without fear. "Is it wrong that I don't want people to hate you? Is it wrong that I am even here? I know that I kinda invited myself into your life, but I..."
"And you know who else invited themselves into my life?" the Snow King interrupted her sharply. "The statues in the throne room! Even you should always, ALWAYS remember that!"
And with that he left the room. For a moment Flynn panicked since there was no time to hide anywhere, so all he could do was pressing himself against the wall and remain still... but luck was still on his side because the white-haired young man stormed out of the room without looking in his direction even once. Even after he was gone, Flynn still held his breath, only exhaling when he remembered that breathing was vital. This had been way too close, considering the mere proximity to the Snow King had cause a small icicle to form under Flynn's nose! Maybe next time he should consider wearing clothes which could not be as easily spotted as his in an Ice Castle... but well, he hadn't had time for shopping, otherwise this warrior in the tavern might have arrived here before him.
"Oh Ull," he heard Sunna sigh in the kitchen. "Why do you have to be so stubborn all the time?"
Ull? Was that the Snow King's name? Actually... why wasn't he asking HER? Now that the King was gone, it was a good opportunity to talk to her and maybe even rescue her. And even if she didn't want to leave this castle, although he didn't understand why she would stay here with someone who had just threatened her, he still needed her story for his book. The Snow King wasn't like he had envisioned him at all, so he needed to understand him if he wanted to write about him.
"Another young lady once told me that all men are as stubborn as mules," he answered and walked into the kitchen, smiling at the young girl.
Sunna certainly wasn't delighted to see a stranger suddenly appearing in front of her. She squeaked rather adorably, but reacted very quickly, he had to admit. She didn't even need a second to seize the closest thing to weapons in a kitchen – in her case a knife and a frying pan – and holding them in front of her, looking at him aghast.
"Who are you?" she demanded to know. She tried to sound fearless, but strangely enough her voice told him that she was more scared of him than of the Snow King. "What do you...?"
"Please, milady, let's not talk so loud, alright?" he begged, staying where he was and raising his hands to show that he didn't carry any weapons. "I assure you that I did not come here to hurt anyone. I am..."
"Did you come here to kill U... the Snow King?" Sunna interrupted him and moved until the table was between them. She was now glaring. Normally he liked feisty ones, they reminded him of... well, but right now he would have preferred someone who was more quiet. "I will certainly not help you with that!"
"I swear I did not come here to kill anyone," Flynn told her, his voice sincere. Well, it was true. He came to get information for his novel, to maybe safe someone in need of saving, and take one or two things, preferably valuable, to prove that he had been here. Sadly enough, considering how the Snow King dressed himself, it didn't seem like there was anything of value in this castle. "I'm an adventurer – maybe you have heard of me. Flynn Rider?" Since she merely blinked and stared at him, he assumed that she didn't have many books here. "Doesn't matter. Anyway, I came here because I heard of the legendary Snow King and that there was a young girl living here. And I thought that this girl – although you seem very capable with your knife and your... pan – maybe needed saving."
"I am here because I WANT to be here," the girl told him, while looking to the doorway nervously. "But YOU need to get out of here before he returns. NOW!"
"I can't just go," Flynn argued. "Please, listen! I overheard two men talking in a tavern a few days from here. One of them said that he has been here before, that the Snow King let him go because you begged for his life and now he wants to come back with reinforcements and finish what he started! You are not safe here anymore! Please come with me!"
"I don't belief you," she claimed. But he could tell because of her slightly wavering voice that she wasn't as convinced as she wanted him to belief. "We let him go so that he could change his life. And I can't leave anyway. Ull needs me!"
"But why?" Flynn was getting a bit desperate. Sunna didn't know it, but he didn't WANT to stay here any longer than necessary. But he NEEDED to hear her side of the story... and if he was honest to himself, he also wanted to save her. He hadn't fallen in love with her or something like that, but he believed that these warriors back in the tavern meant what they had said – they would kill the Snow King, and they wouldn't care if she got in their way. And after the scene before, he wasn't even sure if the King would care either. "You tell me to leave you behind when you are in danger. Please tell me WHY. What does the Snow King mean to you?"
"What if that's none of your business?"
Oh crap! He didn't even have time to wonder if it had been their voices or if the Snow King had come back to apologize way sooner than Flynn had expected, before two icicles, one in front of him, one behind him, shot out of the ground, pointing at his heart. He turned his head around VERY slowly, but that didn't make it much better. The Snow King was currently walking into the kitchen, nearly snarling. He looked at Flynn with a glare that LITERALLY made the adventurer shudder.
"Ull!" Sunna cried, lowering her "weapons" and looking at the young man pleadingly. "He isn't here to kill you! He came to..."
"... save you," the King ended the sentence, never taking his eyes away from Flynn, who didn't dare to move even an inch. His mouth formed a sardonic grin. "But who is saving HIM now?"
"Stop this, Ull!" Sunna demanded, seemingly having found her courage again. She jumped between the Snow King and Flynn, although Flynn wasn't naïve enough to believe that this would stop the white-haired sorcerer from killing him if he really intended to. Still, it was a nice gesture. "He did not come here to harm either of us. You have to let him go."
"Oh, do I?" The Snow King walked up the the young woman and, since he was a bit taller than her, glared down at her. Flynn didn't understand where her courage came from. The tips of the two Icicles were peaking his skin and even here, three steps away from them, he could feel the cold the sorcerer emitted. "And what if I'm sick of your constant demands? What would you do if I just turned him into a statue right here and threw you out of the castle?"
Sunna shivered, but she stood her ground. "W-well, I'd be very surprised then," she said, trying to keep her jaw from chattering. "Because I think you enj-joy my company, Ull. I don't think you w-want to lose the only human who l-likes you."
"Really?" Now the white-haired man began to grin and pointed at Flynn's head. Flynn paled when his shoes began to freeze to the ground. "And you are SURE about that?"
"Sunna!" Flynn cried. "Do someth..."
"Quiet!" the Snow King shouted and his unnatural eyes fixated Flynn. "Speak one more word and I won't even wait for her answer!"
Flynn shut up. Instead he began praying. This guy was a true monster! He promised any higher being that got him out of here in one piece that he wouldn't steal anymore when he investigated something... that he wouldn't lead on his darling Leila back in Corona any longer and marry her... and maybe he would even recompense some of the people he might have mischaracterized a tiny bit in his books...
"Leave him alone, Ull," Sunna said, redirecting the Snow King's attention back to her. She was shivering now, and her voice was shaking, but it was still strong. "I'm s-sure. I'm sure that you d-don't want to l-lose your sister's love."
That interrupted Flynn's praying. His eyes widened and he even forgot the Snow King's threat. "SISTER?" he cried. "This guy is your...?" Another angry glare from the Snow King shut him up again. The King began to clench his hand, and for a moment Flynn felt an unnatural cold in his chest, but Sunna knocked it aside.
"Stop this, Ull," she ordered her brother. "I K-KNOW you won't do it. I..." She paused for a moment. "I-I believe in you," she continued more quiet.
For one more moment the hand which would haunt him in his dreams in the future was ready to become a fist. For one more moment it was cold enough in the kitchen to create rime everywhere. But then the Snow King lowered his hand and sighed, and the temperature normalized. And suddenly... he wasn't a monster anymore.
"But you shouldn't," he uttered and looked away from his sister's face. "If what this guy said is true, then I will have to kill again very soon. IF he is trustworthy..."
"Hey!" Never before Flynn had cursed his big mouth with such sincerity. "I'm Flynn Ri..."
"QUIET!"
Now BOTH siblings were glaring at him, and now that he knew what to look for... there was a certain similarity of features, although subtle. He paused for a moment, then he lifted his hands and continued, much more quiet: "... I'm a famous author. You will make all my readers very sad if you kill me."
The Snow King snorted. All the terror that had surrounded him just a minute ago was gone now, as a smile crept onto his face. "Really, Sunna," he chided the younger girl, although anyone could hear the amusement in his voice. "If you HAD to risk your life for someone... did it have to be this clown?"
Sunna harrumphed. She was still rubbing her arms, but she at least wasn't shivering anymore. "Well, at least he isn't AS much a showoff as you are," she mumbled. "You should have known what my answer would be. Now let him go."
The smile vanished from the Snow King's face and he looked at Flynn again. Well, at least he wasn't glaring this time. "I'm not sure if I can do that, Sunna," he said with an almost apologetic voice. "He knows this warrior that I have spared because of you. What if he goes back to him and tells him even more details about the palace? This warrior already knows too much."
"Ull!" Sunna turned around and glared at her brother, her arms crossed. "This is not funny! He has done nothing wrong, you can't just imprison him!"
"I promised you that I wouldn't kill anymore, if I wasn't in mortal danger," the Snow King argued. "I never said anything about imprisoning people, especially if they could be dangerous. Well... except..." He narrowed his eyes. "I COULD let him go... but there would be one condition."
Sunna sighed. "Just spit it out, Ull," she demanded. "I'm getting tired of all of this. I'll do it."
"My readers will be eternally thankful to you, Lady Sunna," Flynn interjected, but he put his hand on his mouth when the Snow King started shooting daggers out of his eyes again... fortunately not literally. He was somehow convinced that the sorcerer would not kill him, but he wasn't as convinced as Sunna.
"That's the condition, Sunna," the King addressed his sister again. "You leave too. You go to the trolls and tell them to escort you back to our parents. And you never come back."
"What?" Sunna blinked. "No! Are you crazy? Just because ONE guy threatened me..."
"He didn't just threaten you!" the Snow King shouted and a gust of cold wind filled the room for a moment. "He is a ruthless warrior and he won't hesitate ONE moment to use you as leverage against me! As long as you are here, I'll always be at a disadvantage because I have to protect you! We are all better off if you BOTH leave!"
Sunna stared at him for a moment, seemingly shocked. But before Flynn could become concerned about him leaving this castle ever again, she put her hands on her brother's cheeks and forced him to look at her. "I don't believe you for a second," she hissed. "You don't WANT me to go!" And then she embraced him. "You actually care about me! You don't want me to get hurt... that's the proof that you are not a monster, Ull!"
"Don't be ridiculous," the Snow King tried to snarl, but the insecurity in his voice betrayed him. "I don't..."
"All these months," Sunna interrupted him, sobbing now. "All these months I just wanted to hear from you that you care about me. That I'm more than just a better cook then Bulda for you. And... and now you have finally said it."
"Sunna..." The Snow King sighed and – reluctantly, as if he had never done it before... well maybe he really hadn't – embraced his sister too. "You will never be safe here. This is my life... but it shouldn't be yours. You really should go."
"You are a good person," his sister continued to sob, seemingly not having heard what he said, and moved his body until Flynn was looking at his back and Sunna was facing Flynn, although her eyes were closed and full of tears right now. "I knew it... I knew it..."
Flynn had just enough time to wonder if he should stay or try to flee, when Sunna opened her eyes and looked at him. Then she pointed at the doorway and her lips formed the word "RUN" while she continued distracting her brother. Flynn blinked, but then he grinned and – ruining his clothes just a little bit – escaped the two icicles. He bowed slightly, making a mental note to pay tribute to her bravery in his story... and then he ran as fast as he could.
"Sunna, listen to m... wait a... LET GO OF ME IMMEDIATELY!"
"No, I won't! I won't let you harm him! You promised me not to kill anyone!"
"I won't kill him! I'll just target some specific body parts! Now LET GO or I'll freeze YOU!"
"You won't! I'm your little sister..."
In his book Flynn would describe Flynn Rider's escape from the Ice Castle as a series of icy death traps like icicles shooting out of walls and the floor, trying to impale him, the ceiling crumbling and nearly burying him alive, holes suddenly appearing in the floor and even the statues in the throne room coming alive and attacking him. In reality there were only two icicles, since the Snow King was seemingly still busy fighting off his sister. That wasn't enough thrill for one of his books, he'd decide later, but in this moment he wasn't sad about the lack of excitement in his own escape at all. So he continued running as fast as he could even after he nearly tripped more than once, even after he had long passed the castle entrance, even after he was relatively sure that he was out of reach of the Snow King's powers. Only when his heart was nearly bursting out of his chest and he was nearly collapsing, he stopped and just concentrated on breathing and not falling unconscious.
These siblings were nuts! The Snow King obviously, but the sister, although kinda cute, was still staying with him, even if he had killed all these statues in the throne room... although he had to admit that the King, at least when he had been talking to her, hadn't seemed to be as bloodthirsty as Flynn had imagined him to be. Anyway, this had been WAY too dangerous! From now on he would refrain from investigating every mysterious claim personally, at least those which sounded dangerous from the get-go. He would still write his books of course, but he would not endanger his life anymore. He would marry Leila, buy a bigger house, would probably have children and lead a peaceful life... well, thinking of Leila...
He looked at his hand, which had instinctively grabbed something when he had been in the Ice Castle's kitchen. It was the frying pan! He groaned. Of all the souvenirs he could have taken from a mystical Ice Palace... well, maybe the pan would be useful for SOMETHING on his way home to Corona. But it certainly wasn't an acceptable present for his fair lady.
He pondered for a moment. Maybe he could still make a short detour on his way home. In this cursed tavern he had also heard a tale about a wood where – supposedly – dwarves lived. And if that was true, then those dwarves surely had lots of gemstones, and certainly one of them would be a perfect wedding present for Leila... a gemstone, not a dwarf. Yes, he should probably make this detour, especially since he hadn't heard anything dangerous about this wood, like dragons, demons, witches and the like. He looked back at the Ice Castle and saluted the frying pan sarcastically. After THIS adventure this wood surely wouldn't be an obstacle.
And so, thanks to his lightning fast reflexes and nerves of steel, Flynn Rider managed to escape the wrath of the Snow King... but if you, dear reader, want to know if he ever made it back safely to Leila, then you will have to read his next daring adventure –"Flynn Rider and the dwarfs of the Enchanted Forest".
"Man, Flynn Rider is the greatest guy EVER!"
The young boy closed the book. It was in moments like these when he didn't mind that he was an orphan. When he followed the boldest adventurer in the whole world to the most dangerous and magical places imaginable. When he could nearly see Flynn Rider fighting raving beasts with nothing but a stupid frying pan while protecting a damsel in distress. And after the orphans had gone to bed that night, Eugene Fitzherbert, like so often before, swore that he would one day become exactly like his idol.
Whew! That's it, nothing left to write... at least anytime soon. Did you like it? Then please leave a review!