Escape the Tower

Elsa and Hans raced up through the tower, determined to find a way out. Unfortunately, the higher they got the more windows there seemed to be, and the more places for the shadow to hide. How high was this tower? Suddenly there was a door in front of them. Their eyes widened hopefully. Maybe it was a room! Preferably one without windows or light. Hans threw open the door and the two darted out only to slide to stops with gasps. They looked around, eyes wide. They were outside, but outside on a balcony with no parapet, overlooking Weselton, that was right in the twilight sun when shadows abounded. "Oh no," Elsa hollowly said.

Hans looked around in horror. This couldn't be happening. "We have to get away from here!" the prince insisted.

"To where?" Elsa asked, realizing immediately there was no way out. They could climb up the walls, but for what reason? To reach the roof? It was still shadowy there, and on the roof they'd have even less room anyway. Every darkness that existed about this time of day was primed for a shadow creature to thrive in. Hans looked around and realized she was right. The door was thrown open again, and into the light stepped the shadow. Hans and Elsa spun around and slowly backed away from it.

"You have nowhere to run," it said. "Give yourselves up to me!"

"Get back, creature!" Hans ordered. "We aren't your toys to play with." Elsa looked back towards the edge of the balcony. This… could work.

"Yes you are," the creature stated. With a war roar it lunged, talon-like fingers outstretched.

"Come on!" Elsa said, seizing Hans's arm and pulling him towards the ledge.

"What are you…? Are you crazy?!" Hans demanded, immediately realizing what she was doing.

"Jump!" she said, leaping from the balcony, pulling him with her whether he liked it or not. He cried out in alarm. The shadow man, stunned, looked over the ledge in disbelief. Elsa suddenly began conjuring an ice slide! The creature roared in anger and leapt after them.

Hans and Elsa slid down the slide rapidly. "This is crazy!" Hans said.

"Even crazier is we're not using it to get all the way down," Elsa said.

"What?!" Hans demanded.

"We have to find Anna and Franz!" Elsa said, levelling the slide and swiftly conjuring up a sort of ice battle field suspended high in the air.

"You're totally out of your mind," Hans numbly said, looking down uneasily. "But then it isn't like any of this is making sense, so you know what, I'm not going to question it." She smiled at him. He smirked back. The two turned to face the shadow following them.

Frozen

The shadow reached the battle field. "Now! Get up to the window of the library!" Elsa shouted to Hans, immediately conjuring up an ice platform for him. He ran to it and leapt on. Elsa conjured another, which he leapt onto in turn. Then another, then another. The prince easily kept up to the platforms being raised, while the Shadow was kept busy dodging them and trying to figure out and understand what they gained by returning to the tower. There was no reason to this madness. It hated that it couldn't see the motive behind the actions! It screeched in rage and immediately raced to catch Elsa, who erected a barrier in front of the shadow. The shadow, growing more and more uneasy that it couldn't figure out this plan, went after Hans, sending up shadow fingers to reach out to gab the prince.

The prince dodged the shadow's fingers with a grin, then reached the last platform Elsa built up. From it, the prince leapt to the library window and caught the sill. He pulled himself up and into it nimbly. Elsa smiled then erected a platform beneath her own feet just as the shadow jumped at her. It struck the platform instead and hissed in anger, quickly following. The platform grew high into the air and as soon as she deemed it tall enough, she too leapt for the window. Hans caught her and pulled her in swiftly. Elsa looked down and quickly called forth an ice wall to connect the pillars she'd made into something of an elaborate maze. She covered over the top, so it would be in darkness. Of course light shone through ice, so there would be some brightness, but though it might not vanquish or trap the thing, the shadow would at least be forced to stick to those light sources for everything it was worth while it navigated the maze. That would buy Hans and Elsa time. Not a lot, but enough to find their siblings and maybe figure out how to stop this thing.

"There has to be a book in here or something. Something that tells us how it can be defeated," Hans stated.

"Search for it. I'll find Anna and Franz," Elsa replied.

"No. No more splitting up. I'll come with you to find them. The library will still be here when we get back," Hans said.

"And if it isn't?" Elsa demanded.

Hans could think of nothing to say. She made to leave. Wait, he figured it out! He reached out, catching her arm lightly. She looked back at him, eyes narrowed guardedly at the contact. "If the shadow knew there was something in this room that could be its downfall, the library would have been burned long ago," Hans said. "Stay with me to search for the solution, or let me come with you to search for our siblings. Separating isn't an option."

Elsa was quiet, looking at his hand on her arm, then faced him again. "Fine," she agreed. "Come with me to find Franz and Anna." Hans nodded and immediately released her, racing out the door at her side.

Frozen

The rumbling stopped after what seemed like hours, but could only have been seconds. There was no movement to be seen, prince and princess buried beneath the rubble. Nothing stirred for upwards of ten minutes. Suddenly, though, a movement. A slab of granite was being pushed. It slowly moved and a hand stuck out. Soon after, Anna scrambled out from under the rubble coughing for air and waving away the dust. She gasped, tuning back to the pile. "Franz!" she exclaimed, diving onto it again and frantically trying to unbury the prince. "Franz!" she called. That he wasn't answering terrified her, frankly. "Come on, come on," she willed, throwing aside chunks of debris as fast as she possibly could. Soon she managed to uncover his head and part of his upper body. She gasped fearfully.

Franz was unconscious and bleeding from a head wound. She tried to move more debris off of his body, but it was too heavy. Soon she gave up, panting. She needed help. She had to find Hans and Elsa before the shadow found Franz! But what if it found him after she'd left? He'd have no one there to defend him. She looked around, thinking up a way out. She could call for her sister and Hans, but the shadow might hear and come instead. Oh god, what was she supposed to do? She had to get help somehow. She turned back to the prince then knelt next to him, removing his cloak from herself and draping it over his body. She removed a sash from her dress and carefully wrapped it around his head injury, trying frantically to remember how to tend to an injured person. The palace doctor had liked teaching her things like this when she'd been little, but it had been years since his last lessons, and she'd never actually had to put any of it into practice before. She hoped she was doing the right things.

Anna looked at the rubble. The debris had to come off of him, but moving either him or it could just hurt him more. Of course if no help came, or she didn't get any, he was going to be a little worse than hurt. She looked at him again. "Franz?" she said, lightly placing a hand on his face and patting it. "Franz!"

He moaned slightly. Good. He was alive. She could have cheered. He seemed like he was trying to wake up. His eyes flickered and fell on her. He looked puzzled, then worried, then alarmed. He couldn't move! "Why can't I move?" he immediately demanded.

"You're buried up to the chest in debris," Anna answered. "I've gotten as much of it off as I can, but-but I can't move the bigger things. You're hurt. You need help. Oh but I can't leave you because then maybe the shadow will find you, and I can't call for Elsa and Hans because it might hear and… I don't know what to do…"

"Are you alright?" Franz demanded.

"Shaken, bruised, sore absolutely everywhere, but hey, I'm still moving," Anna answered, cracking her back with a grimace.

Franz eyed the area as best he could. It was dark here. The shadow couldn't come… Unless it dropped a light down here… But maybe it was a chance they could take. He knew he needed help. Then again, sending Anna to find Hans and Elsa on her own might be a death sentence to the princess. He couldn't let that happen. "Find a bar or a stick or something long and strong," he said.

"What?" Anna asked.

"You're going to use it as a lever to get this stuff off of me," Franz explained.

"Moving it off of you could hurt you more!" Anna protested.

"Anna, I'd rather be paralyzed than dead. At least right now," Franz said.

"And if you change your mind later?" Anna demanded.

"You did what you could to try and save me," Franz answered. "You'll have that respite, at least, if I should at that point manage to orchestrate a not-so-accidental fatal accident for myself." She felt her heart drop. He'd alluded to suicide?! She didn't think so!

"Franz…" she began.

"This debris has to come off one way or another," Franz said. "No matter how it happens, we don't have time to get it professionally done and so the risk's about the same either way, whether you get my brother and Elsa or not."

"Okay," Anna relented. Immediately she began scouting around and had soon set up the system to move the debris. She grunted and pushed as hard as she could. Slowly the debris began to move. Franz cried out in pain. She wanted to stop, but if she stopped pushing now, it would fall back on top of him and maybe crush him. She gritted her teeth. "Come on, come on," she willed.

"You can do it, Anna. Just a little further," Franz encouraged.

Anna grimaced. She'd never even known she had this much strength in her. "Come on!" she shouted, shoving down on it with all the power she could muster. She screamed as the debris rolled off of the prince and the stick, sending her falling to the ground. "Ow," she groaned, raising herself up off of the ground. She gasped, looking over at Franz. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I can breathe better now. Nice job," he said. He felt freer, at least. He was also acutely aware of how much pain he was in. Oh please don't let anything be broken…

Anna scrambled over to him. "Can you sit?" she asked.

"Help me," Franz said. She went to him and started to help him up, supporting him as best she could. With him helping her, she managed to get him turned over and into a sitting position.

"Can you feel everything?" Anna questioned.

"I can, thankfully," Franz answered, moving his extremities just to be certain.

"Thank goodness," Anna said in a breath. "Can you walk?" she asked.

"Right now? No," Franz answered. "Still dazed. You need to find Hans and Elsa."

"I'm not leaving you in this state," Anna answered. Hans and Elsa would be fine, but Franz wouldn't. Not if the shadow came.

"Anna…" Franz began.

"Anna! Franz!" a voice called. They fell silent and listened. Soon the voice repeated, "Anna! Franz!"

"We're…!" Anna began. Franz quickly covered her mouth. She looked at him curiously.

"It could be a trick of the shadow's," Franz seriously warned. Anna paled and nodded in understanding. Franz removed his hand and listened.

"What if it's really them?" Anna asked.

"They know where we fell," Franz replied. "It doesn't." Anna swallowed, looking up again fearfully. There was a sound from above, rocks falling. Anna and Franz shrunk close together, watching fearfully to see what looked over.

Frozen

Hans and Elsa moved through the palace quickly, searching. "Where did they fall?" Hans said.

"We're close," Elsa recalled. She hurried down another corridor and stopped. "There!" she exclaimed, pointing. Quickly she and Hans ran towards it. They slowed, closer to the edge, just in case. "Anna, Franz?" Elsa called. This marked the third time. No response. Hans got on hands and knees and began carefully crawling towards the ledge, just in case the floor was still unstable. Cautiously he peered over, Elsa ready to attack if something went wrong.

"Hans!" Anna's voice suddenly exclaimed.

Hans started and looked back at Elsa. "They're alive," he said, beckoning her over.

Elsa gasped, getting to hands and knees and quickly scrambling towards the ledge. She peered over too. "Elsa!" Anna cheered. Elsa grinned in relief and formed an ice slide down. Quickly her and Hans slipped down it and went to their siblings.

"You're okay!" Elsa said, hugging Anna tight.

"I am, but Franz might be hurt," Anna said. "I mean I bandaged his head wound, but a lot of rubble fell on him. I mean he's not paralyzed, but something might be broken and I just don't know!"

Hans started and looked at his sibling, who looked as if sitting was tiring him out. He went to Franz. "Can you walk?" he asked.

"I can try," Franz answered. Hans bent to help him stand. Franz cried out, putting too much weight on a leg. "Dammit," he hissed, holding it. Hans inwardly cursed. There was definitely a leg broken, if nothing else. Maybe some cracked ribs too, given how raspy Franz's breathing sounded.

"We have to get out of here," Hans said seriously to Elsa and Anna. They nodded in agreement and Elsa squinted ahead into the darkness. "There's a door," she said, pointing it out. "It might lead to a hall or another balcony or even outside."

"Let's go then," Anna said, moving to help Hans with Franz. As swiftly as they could, they all got to the door. Elsa took a breath and opened it up… Only to scream as something reached in, seizing her and pulling her away from the others!

Frozen

"Elsa!" Anna screamed.

"Hold him!" Hans ordered, letting Anna take Franz's weight and darting after the queen. Anna gasped, watching after them fearfully.

"Keep moving!" Franz ordered. Anna nodded and hurriedly helped him limp into the next hallway as well.

The shadow threw Elsa down and began swirling all around, dancing in the light. "Stupid woman. Suffer!" the shadow hissed in a garbled and warped tone. It leapt at her with wicked cackle!

"Queen Elsa!" Hans exclaimed suddenly, getting between her and the shadow. The shadow tackled him, seemed vaguely surprised a moment, then decided this was as good as anything so focused attention on the prince.

"Hans!" Elsa exclaimed, staggering to her feet and running to help him as Franz and Anna made the scene.

Franz cursed the fact he didn't have a crossbow right about now. Not that it would hurt the shadow, but if nothing else it might distract it! Elsa quickly began using her powers to blow out all the candles. She also began building up snow around the windows so the light wouldn't get through. The shadow was ripping into the prince. They wouldn't make it in time!

Suddenly heavy blankets fell over the windows from the outside, drowning the hall in darkness. The shadow screeched in rage and pain. Hans felt the claws falling away from him and the weight of the thing leaving. He gasped, staggering up. He nearly fell, but Elsa steadied him. Hans shook his head to shake off the daze and looked in shock at the heavy blankets. "What on earth…?" he began.

"The Duke of Weselton," Elsa realized, eyes widening in hope.

"Let's not waste this opportunity, then!" Anna said, stumbling over with Franz. "He's given us a way out, so let's get out!"

"We still don't know how to stop this thing!" Hans protested.

"We can't stay here anymore with the shadow after us," Franz argued.

"Elsa, Anna, take him out. I'm looking once more at the library," Hans said.

"Hans, you're being a fool!" Elsa protested.

"No kidding," he replied. He didn't give them time to argue, though, just ran back the way they'd come.

"Hans!" Franz called.

"Let him go," Anna said. "He can handle himself."

"Against this?!" Franz demanded.

"I'll go with him. Again," Elsa said. "I told him I would." Kind of. To be specific, the choice he gave her was 'stay with me to look for a solution' or 'let me come with you to find our siblings', so technically this didn't count, but she considered it included in the package anyway.

"Forget it," Hans said, returning suddenly and looking pale.

"Forget what?" Elsa asked. "Did something happen?"

"Just trust me on this," Hans replied. "Let's get out. Now." They weren't sure they wanted to know.

"What did you see?" Franz asked, noticing his brother's shaken look.

"The learned man's body, decay and all, standing at the foot of the steps," Hans hollowly replied. "Before collapsing to the ground and dissolving into dust…" He trailed off, looking up. "It screamed, Franz… The body screamed…"

"I want to get out of here," Anna fearfully said, voice breaking fearfully.

"The body is downstairs, decaying in a chair… What you saw may just have been the shadow losing it's last hold on the man's image. It didn't gain its own shadow in time, so now it's gone. Forever, hopefully," Franz said seriously. If the shadow could no longer keep up the host body image at all, then it couldn't possibly survive as anything more than an inanimate shadow, after all… Right…?

Hans drew a shaky breath. "I'm with Anna. I want out of here. Now," he said. He wasn't passing the place that body—or image of a body—had fallen. He'd rather be tarred and feathered.

Frozen

"Prepare to advance!" the Duke ordered the soldiers and guards he'd brought with him to the tower.

When the royals hadn't come back within the first few hours with at least a progress update, fear and panic had overwhelmed and the Duke had readied a battalion to march on that damnable tower. He hadn't the foggiest idea how throwing blankets over the windows was supposed to work, but this strange book he'd found hidden in Weselton's archives had a picture of this place with blankets thrown over every window, so he'd gone with his gut and decided to trust the creepy and old looking writings. Which, in retrospect, probably was a stupid thing to do, but at this point there was nothing left to lose. If there was a chance the blankets would somehow magically stop this sorcerer, he would use them, loathe as he was to use magic of any sort.

The men prepared to enter the tower. Just then the door burst open and all of them spun to face the threat. The Duke's eyes widened. "Lower your weapons!" he commanded, seeing immediately who those who had exited were. "Elsa, Anna, Hans, Franz!" he exclaimed in relief, seeing the four.

"Get us away from here. Now," Elsa said fearfully.

"More importantly, help my brother," Hans said.

The Duke, blinking blankly, shook out of the shock and waved for his men to help Franz. Quickly they moved to the injured prince, bringing him to a horse and helping him onto it. "What happened?" the Duke demanded.

"It's a long, long story," Elsa answered.

"Dear Duke, if you hadn't come when you did.." Anna began shakily. She took a breath. "If you hadn't covered those windows when you did, either Hans or Elsa or maybe even all of us would be dead by now."

"Good god, what did you face in there?" the Duke worriedly questioned.

"We'll tell you. When we're away from here and safe again," Elsa answered, looking loathingly back at the tower. The Duke nodded. He wouldn't push them for answers until they were ready.