Second Chances

Chapter Eleven: A Proposition

Anna felt a sense of dread. She didn't understand why this woman was so keen on finding the source of the magic but she was sure it couldn't be anything good.

"It's your sister, yes? She's the one who has been using the magic?"

Anna didn't reply.

"Is she? Tell me, it is of utmost importance I must know!"

Anna shook her head though she was surprised by the desperate tone the woman was using.

"Tell me little brat or I'll make you!" her pleading voice had shifted immediately to an angry one. Anna gulped and backed away, "N-no, I can't!"

"Anna!" a familiar voice suddenly called from behind her. There was a loud cracking noise and she whirled her head around to see the icy remains of the door scattered on the floor.

Her eyes lit up, "Elsa!"

(*)

Blood rushed into Elsa's ears. She felt the familiar tingling sense in her fingers and ice shot out of them in every direction. Thankfully, Anna was in the room. The only problem was the woman whose clothed head was turned towards her.

"Ah, you! You are the magic user!"

"Don't tell her about your - mmph!" Anna's sentence was cut as the clothed woman placed a withered hand on her mouth.

"Let go of her!" Elsa yelled. If any harm were to come to her baby sister she'd never forgive herself. Ever. The anger pulsated through her causing the entire floor of the room to ice over faster than she had ever seen.

"Ice magic, not uncommon…but the time magic! Show me the time magic!" the woman cried. Elsa's eyes narrowed and she felt a cold draft blow into the room. There was a shriek of terror as the cloth covering the woman's face was blown upwards revealing…

Elsa jumped backwards in shock. The woman was, by far, the strangest thing she had ever seen. Half her face was that of a beautiful young woman whereas the other was an old woman's face – wrinkled and shriveled and gray.

"You…you…" Elsa tried to say.

"Monster!" Kristoff yelled. He had been so quiet that Elsa had completely forgotten he was there. She shot him a look, quieting him and faced back towards the woman who had pulled the cloth over her face again. Her pulse quickened when she saw Anna struggling against the woman's bony fingers.

"Wh-what are you?" Elsa said hesitantly, her fingers clenched, "Who are you?"

There was a pregnant pause.

"Who are you?" Elsa repeated, "And what do you mean about my magic?"

"So you do have the magic?"

"I'm the one asking the questions," the young princess said with the regality of a Queen.

Another moment of silence passed, shorter this time. "I have many different names. If I were to tell you my real one…you would disintegrate before my eyes. Here in this world, though, I am called the Time Guardian or the Lady on the Throne."

Elsa considered this. "The Time Guardian?"

"Yes, and I've come to persecute you."

Her eyes widened, "Persecute me?"

"You disobeyed the rules of time – you travelled through it with neither license and you are underage. You destroyed what was to be a fixed event. You have given me burdens, paradoxes I've had to fix. Universes I had to weave and cracks in the universe I had to mend!" the woman said impatiently, "It simply cannot be!"

Elsa frowned, still watching Anna from the corner of her eye. Her sister was quiet for once, listening to the conversation. Breathing in slowly, she tried to explain. "I don't understand exactly how I got here, to this timeline I mean. I have a suspicion but it isn't a proven fact and I think I can understand what you mean…" she tried to recall anything of this Time Guardian. Perhaps if she had been listening more in mythology she would have been able to make more sense of what was going on. "But I got here by accident and I don't know how to get back."

The woman seemed to ponder on her words.

"Ma'am, there's been some break-in, th'door was wide ope – " a voice called, halting suddenly. Elsa looked back to face a dark haired man, surveying the frozen room with wide eyes.

"Oh, shut it," the woman said, waving her hand. The man instantly quieted but his mouth was still hanging open in shock.

"Do you want to?" the woman asked suddenly. Elsa blinked, "Want to…?"

"Go back. To your original timeline," the woman said, "You may. Less work for me but…I think I understand now," her eyes shifted to Anna, "Yes, I think I understand why you were sent back."

The woman muttered something about Destiny and Fate rivalling before focusing on her again, "You were sent back to correct something. I can see it. Your future is blurry but your past is readable. Yes, I see…regrets. This is your second chance."

"Second chance?"

"You were sent back to the day you had regretted the most to rewrite things."

Elsa's mouth went dry. Could this woman be the answer to her questions? If she knew that much then perhaps it was so. She dared the words to come out of her mouth. "You can answer my questions then."

The woman laughed, a cruel cackling sound that echoed on the icy walls of the chamber, "Yes, obviously. It is the easy part. It is what you do with the knowledge, though, that makes all the difference."

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.

Elsa did not hesitate to ask her. "What happened to the Anna I knew? The rea – the older Anna. Is she dead? I must have changed everything."

"It's a bit complex but…" the woman pondered a moment, "She is in a state of time-comatose. I can sense a moment of choice sometime soon. It will either awaken her from the time-comatose or wipe her from the records of the universe forever.

And sorry I could not travel both.

"You were giving me a choice, then?" Elsa gulped, "To go back or to stay here?"

"Oh, you don't need to decide now. I can give you a week, a month, a year at maximum to let you choose. I can mend the causalities. This is a special case, you may say. Travel through time for love not power. Very different circumstances, rules are set a new," the woman shrugged.

"And what will happen to the Anna here if I choose to go back?"

"She will never have existed," the Time Guardian said lazily, "As I said, this is the turning point. Whatever you choose will change everything, quite possibly forever."

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

Elsa felt a heavy pressure on her heart. If she chose to stay here, her Anna, the one that had loved her despite the doors slammed on her face would fade. But she reminded herself that the little girl, held in the Time Guardian's grip, was her sister as well. Her sister that, if she was careful, would have the childhood she deserved.

"Ca-can I have time to think?" she stammered. The Time Guardian hand in a welcoming expression but Elsa felt as though she were mocking her, "Name the circumstance. Your maximum is a year. 365 days."

Anna, seeing the chance of escape and seizing it, jumped out of the woman's grasp but she didn't seem to notice. Elsa expected Anna to come over to her but her sister instead stood still where she was.

"Anna, come over here," Elsa said quietly. Anna shook her head, "Wh-why were you saying that stuff?"

"What? Anna, I…"

"No, don't touch me!" Anna yelled, stepping backwards, "Are you like her? She said you had time magic and you said you did! Are you even my sister?"

The world seemed to crash down on Elsa's shoulders, "I'm still your sister, Anna, I just – "

"Will you be making a decision any time soon or can I have a tea?" the woman said, turning to the forgotten man who had entered the room earlier, "David, dear, do get me tea."

The man bowed and nodded, his hands visibly trembling as he left the room.

Elsa stepped backwards, tears forming in her eyes, "Anna…"

"What does she mean by a choice? What are you hiding?" her younger sister cried out, moving towards Kristoff and Sven who were watching the argument with wide eyes. "Is that why you've been acting weird?"

"Your choice, child?"

"What's going on?" Kristoff said wearily.

"I trusted you!"

Elsa kept backing away until she hit the wall, "No! No! No!"

And her body seemed to be on fire as she collapsed into a fetal position and ice cantered around the room.


Author's Note

oh my god, i updated. i'm so sorry for the long wait-lot's of stuff came up. thank you to all who patiently waited for this update, the next chapter is up and ready. also, to make up for it i'm posting a little drabble about our favorite sisters (that i also posted on tumblr btw). how do you think this is going so far?