Grace's eyes snapped open. Every fibre within her was on fire and yet, she was alive. She shut her eyes and groaned as another wave of pain wracked her body. When she opened her eyes again, she looked around the room, glad for the darkness. However, Grace was slightly confused as to why she was alone. Had there been another attack? How long had she been unconscious?
It took everything within her to not cry out as she forced herself to sit up. It was only then that she realised that her top was off and seemed to have been discarded. Luckily, she had some spare clothes with her and she reached down, trying to ignore the searing pain in her vains, and grabbed the first thing that she came in contact with; a white silk top. She looked at it for a moment, wondering if she should actually wear it before half-heartedly shrugging to herself and slipping it on. Luckily for her, it was fairly loose-fitting and only reached to her elbows. The plunging neckline would surely raise questions in a place like this, but as another wave of pain hit her, she realised that she really didn't care.
Grace had no clue where her shoes had gone and she didn't necessarily want to walk around barefoot. She reached for her brown leather turnover boots, easily slipping her feet into the worn material and standing, only to fall back onto the bed as her legs gave way. God, she was weaker than she had ever been. She tried to stand again, more slowly this time, and slowly stumbled towards the door, intent on finding the others. For all she knew they could all be fighting or dead.
The corridors were empty as Grace made her way to the council room, stopping often to catch her breath and rest. The last thing she wanted to do was overdo it. As she made her way through the castle, she reflected on everything that had happened; the call, meeting the others, the council meeting, Ignatius. So much had happened in two days that she needed to stop again, hoping that she wasn't about to faint.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, Grace saw the doors to the council room up ahead and a determined walk replaced her shuffle. She paused outside to catch her breath again, not wanting to go in looking a sight. She could hear voices through the doors and make out who was speaking, but not what was being said.
She was reaching for the door knob when a familiar voice stopped her.
"Grace?"
The white-haired girl turned to see Anna nearly running towards her.
"Princess Anna." Grace half-bowed, hissing in pain when her body refused, sending more pain her way.
"You're alive? What are you doing up? You should be resting. You're obviously in pain."
"Whoa, slow down, Princess."
Anna smiled apologetically. "Sorry."
"Don't worry. I was just checking that everyone else was alright."
Anna could only stare at the woman before her. After everything, she still cared about other people before herself. Again, she found herself thinking that it was her fault that Grace had nearly died.
"I'm so sorry."
Grace blinked. "What?"
"I distracted you. You nearly died because of me-"
"Don't say that. That Fire giant was too quick. It managed to hit me in half a second. There was no way that I could have avoided it."
Grace watched as Anna's shoulders relaxed. She hadn't even noticed how tense the younger girl was.
"Are you going into the council meeting?" Anna asked. When Grace nodded, a disappointed look crossed the Princess's face. "Oh, I wasn't allowed in. Something about only Ice-wielders allowed."
Grace laughed lightly before grimacing. Even laughing hurt. "Well, I'm still in a lot of pain and need assistance getting places and I just happened to come across you and asked you for help…" Anna's face lit up when she realised what Grace was getting at.
Anna stepped forward and gently lifted Grace's arm, slipping under it, offering the older girl support. She then turned the doorknob, opening the door to the council chamber.
…
The Ice-wielders looked up as the princess entered.
"Anna, I told you, you can't be here," Elsa stood, addressing her sister.
"Elsa, I know that, but-"
"I'm sorry, My Queen, but I needed some assistance getting here…"
Everything was silent as the Ice-wielders stared in shock at the white-haired girl before them. She should have been dead, but here she was. Yes, she looked weak and tired, but she shouldn't have been alive. In a flash, a cold large hand had wrapped around Grace's neck, slamming her into the wall and knocking Anna back.
"Ugh, it's nice to see you too, Ymir." Grace choked out, fighting to stay conscious.
"What are you?" the Ice giant growled.
Something within Grace snapped. She released a wave of Ice-Light smashing into the giant, throwing him backwards and sending Grace crashing to the ground. Ymir stood and roared, terrifying the others and preventing them from intervening. None of them had ever seen this from the usually friendly and kind being.
Grace, too, got to her feet, albeit more shakily and stood, arm crossed over her body, as if that would stop the internal pain.
"Enough!" her voice carried an air of authority that stopped even Ymir in his tracks. She limped over to Anna who was still on the floor and helped her up. "You know very well what I am. The first Absorber in three thousand years, and the last of my kind."
Ymir suddenly seemed to lose all fight within him. "You could have told us."
"Not even I knew for certain. I have never encountered another Wielder before and I couldn't get your hopes up."
Ymir smiled. "I see that you are indeed chosen well." He turned to the others who were all watching everything with confusion. "An Absorber is somebody who is chosen. They are born to one element and once they have been hit, selflessly defending others, they are able to absorb the power over the element."
"What?" Khione seemed outraged. "Why should she get such a gift?"
"Because of her heart." Boreas replied, silencing his daughter. "An absorber is a creature of light and love. She has an open heart and an open mind."
"But she has killed before." Khione argued. The others, unaware of this, looked over to a grim-faced Grace.
"Yes. I have killed. But unlike you, Lady Khione, I do not enjoy it and I only do it for the greater good. Do not think that I sleep peacefully at night. I have seen things that would make you cry like the little child that you act like you are."
"How dare you-"
"Enough!" Elsa's voice stilled the room. Grace looked gratefully towards the Queen. She hadn't meant to let her temper get the better of her. "What good does it do us to fight one another when the Fire marches this way this very moment? Wait till after the war to fight between yourselves. Now, focus on working together."
Grace bowed, trying to suppress the pain and fighting to remain conscious. "My apologies, My Queen. You are right." Grace looked to Khione. "I shan't apologise for my words, but will you agree to a temporary truce so that we can both focus our attention on the Fire?"
Khione hesitated. Boreas looked over to his daughter, knowing she was too stubborn to agree to such terms. Khione stepped forward and the others tensed. She raised her hand for Grace to shake. "Until then."
Grace took her hand, not ignorant to the tight squeeze of the other woman's grip. "Until then."
A collective sigh escaped the others. Grace sighed and leant back against the wall as another wave of pain wracked her. Her legs threatened to give way as her vision shifted, first exploding into black and red spots and then blurring into nothingness. She closed her eyes and rubbed them tiredly. When she opened them again, she could see again. The others were looking at her with pity, all of them aware that they didn't know of the pain that she was going through. Grace caught Elsa's worried eyes, but couldn't even manage a smile.
"The pain will get worse." Ymir said quietly. Everyone stared at him. "The Absorbers died out because Most of them were not able to cope with the agony."
Grace groaned. "I'll be fine." She said through her teeth.
"A large part of being a good warrior is being able to admit defeat and weakness-"
"I didn't say that I was currently fine. I said that I will be fine. Currently I feel like death."
Before anyone else could answer, Elsa stepped in, "I call this meeting for today." Her eyes turned to Grace. "You need to rest." Grace opened her mouth to argue. "No. As queen I order you to rest."
Grace raised an eyebrow as an amused smirk played across her lips. "So be it, My Queen."
Grace turned to leave when a gentle hand cupped her forearm. She turned to see Elsa standing there.
"I shall aid you to your room. It is, after all, on my head that you were hurt."
Grace groaned in exasperation. "God, you and your sister are scarily alike."
Elsa stopped. "What do you mean?"
"Well, Anna attacked me with apologies about how it was her fault that I was hit. I mean honestly, it's not your fault. I don't blame either of you. I'm not even angry at the Fire." she sighed.
Elsa continued to support Grace. "You really do have a good heart."
"And you are a better person than you give yourself credit for, My Queen."
"Elsa."
"Huh?"
"It's just us. I've told you, you can call me Elsa. After all, I did help to look after you when you were unconscious."
Grace frowned. "Hm. Well that's embarrassing. You saw me topless." Elsa blushed and began stuttering. Even though she knew Grace was anything but embarrassed. "If you feel so uncomfortable, you could get topless in front of me sometime so we are on equal grounds." By this point, Elsa's face was burning and her eyes were wide. She honestly had nothing to say to the older girl. Grace laughed before grimacing. "Don't worry, My- uh, Elsa. I'm only teasing you. I'm pretty confident about all of this." She gestured to her body.
"You should be." Elsa said before she could stop herself.
Thankfully, they had reached Grace's room. Elsa turned to leave immediately before she embarrassed herself further. She was stopped though by a hand on her wrist. She turned back to Grace who chewed her lip nervously, something that Elsa found endearing.
Grace quickly leant in and placed her lips against Elsa's cheek. "Thank you, Elsa. For everything."
Elsa stood there, shocked as Grace turned entered her room, smiling at the platinum blonde before closing the door. Finally, a smile slowly spread across Elsa's face as she turned down the corridor, humming to herself.