Chapter 10
Elsa wondered down the hall in a daze. Her heart felt like it had been shattered into a million pieces; her grief felt like and endless pit that she just could not climb out of. Maybe it was the fact that she had been so excited to see her little sister get married. Maybe because it was so close from happening, that this hurt all the more. She knew a part of it was because she had kept Anna at arm's length for so long, and they were just starting to make up for that.
Now, that opportunity had been taken from her. Fate had taken everything from her that she loved: her parents... her sister... everything. It had taken everything, and left her a curse that made her a freak. Perhaps the Duke of Weaselton was right, perhaps she was a monster. If she was, she had lost the only thing that had made her feel... normal.
She was wondering through the castle, not quite sure where her body was taking her. She didn't have the will to guess where she would end up. Her soul was directing her path, merely just bringing the rest of her along for the ride. She entered a chamber, not quite sure exactly which one it was. She looked up and she found herself in the last place she wanted be at that moment. Standing in the center of the room was the ice sculpture of Anna.
Just seeing the icy face of Anna again, brought a new wave of emotions over her. Breathing heavily, she fought against that rising anger that did not want to remain bottled up. Her right hand balled into fist that clenched so tightly, that it shook violently. The ground beneath her feet started icing up, and the ice spread rapidly until it reached the walls. It then climbed up them when it ran out of floor space. Snowflakes swirled around her clenched fist, and it continued to pick up speed and intensity.
She clenched her eyes shut tightly, and her breathing got heavier to the point of turning into a snarl. When her eyes opened again, they were glowing. The last strain of her light blond hair disappeared, leaving all of her hair white as the snow she manipulated. The rage exploded out of her; she screamed as she violently swung her clenched fist across and over her head.
A deafening rumble came from the ice sculpture as a giant crack formed at the waist. The top half of the sculpture started to tip forward and gravity did her dirty work. It crashed onto the ground, and the arms and the head broke off. The raging blizzard inside of the magical ice sculpture was unleashed, filling the room with a violent blizzard storm for about thirty seconds. When the storm ended, the sculpture was nothing more than a shattered ice sculpture, which was already in progress of melting.
The glow in her eyes subsided, and the sudden realization, of what she had just done, began to take hold. The ice head of Anna lay on the ground, seemingly looking up at her as it melted before her eyes. The sight reawakened the tears in her eyes. They streamed down her face as she turned and ran. She ran by several workers, not even caring what they may think or say. She raced through the castle to her private chambers. Slamming the door shut behind her, she leaped onto her bed and buried her face in her pillow to suppress the sounds of her sobs.
As she scooted on her bed, she felt strange objects on her bed. Risking to look up from her pillows with her tear stained face, she saw the items that were brought back by the captain of the guard. The items were gently placed on her bed. There was the wooden plank from Kristoff's ice sled and Anna's green hooded shawl, which was neatly folded. On top of the shawl, was a piece of paper... the map that Anna had used and Versa had told her about.
She opened the sheet and looked at, letting out a sniffle in the process. Indeed, this map did lead her to the part of the Eastern Mountains that were very prone to avalanches. "Why Anna? Why?"
There was a nervous and gentle knock on her door. "Your Highness?" Versa's soft and reluctant voice came from the other side of the door.
Elsa quickly wiped the tears from her face. "What is it, Versa?"
"I need to speak to you... it's kind of urgent."
"You may enter," Elsa said, though she found it ironic. Versa obviously was the one who laid this stuff on her bed in the first place.
The massive door opened and she nervously, and cautiously, entered the room as if her life was in jeopardy for merely coming before her presence. "We've kinda—sorta—have a slight problem."
"What problem?"
"Arendelle is kind of being buried alive under a massive blizzard."
Elsa knew what she was referring to; her broken heart was unleashing another out-of-control storm over the kingdom. She had been so wrapped up in her mourning, that she forgot that there was going to be a huge negative effect on the people of Arendelle. Even now that she knew, she couldn't just stop mourning on a blink of a dime. Her sister had just died; there was no easy cure for that kind of a broken heart. "I'm so sorry; I can't help it! I'm heartbroken," her voice cracked, as she fought off the urge to break down in front of her handmaiden.
"I understand, Your Highness," was all that Versa could say seeing the suffering that was going on inside of her. She dreaded this very moment since having learned of the incident. How could anyone expect someone to recover immediately after receiving news like this? There was nothing she could say or do to change anything. This was the queen's curse to bare.
Elsa's emotions started to show as she shook her head. "Why is this happening to me? Why do I have to be such a monster? Why can't I just be... normal?"
As she said those words, she looked at the folded map in her hands. Anna had died trying to find a cure for her curse. She was so certain about what she would find that she sacrificed her life to attempt to go this location on the map. Their father sounded fairly optimistic in the pages, that Versa showed her, that there was a cure out there. Maybe she didn't have to be the monster that she was destined to be. Her people were suffering because of her heartache; just maybe if she could rid herself of these powers, they would no longer have to suffer, and she could spend her time in mourning.
"Your Highness?" Versa looked at her inquisitively.
"Prepare my horse; I'm going on a journey."
Versa's eyes could not display the horror any more clearly than they did that moment. "Please, Your Highness, we can't afford to lose you too!"
"It is for the sake of my people, that I have no choice BUT to go. Besides, I'm the snow queen; the snow doesn't bother me."
Being stuck underneath snow, there was no telling how long they've been there. All Kristoff knew was that it had already been too long. He was using his pickax to dig a tunnel through the snow, and he was going as fast as he could. There was no telling how long it would take before they would suffocate to death, and he didn't really care to find out either.
Occasionally, he would look back and check up on Anna. There was nothing she could do but to sit there, hug her knees, and watch him. He tried to push himself as hard as he could; he did not want her to see how tired that he was getting. To help, he started humming a tune that he tended to sing while out ice harvesting with other men. Humming the tune, helped him find his strength, as he matched the tune to the hacking of the ice.
The little tune did not go unnoticed by Anna. "That's a lovely melody."
He looked back towards her with an embarrassed grin on his face. "Oh, that? That's just a little song that we ice harvesters enjoy singing while working."
"Really? What kind of songs do you men sing?"
Kristoff sighed, not wanting to divulge everything they sung about, out of sensitivity for Anna's sister, but there, but Anna was going to find out the truth someday. "Well, we sing songs about ice, and sometimes about the legend of the Ice Witch." Not wanting to see any look of distress or hurt on her face, he quickly explained. "It has nothing to do with your sister, please believe me! The stories and songs of the Ice Witch have been passed down from generation to generation. I've learned a few of the songs when I was just a little boy learning how to Ice Harvest. Funny, my family never really cared for the songs all that much. I guess I now know why."
At first, Anna's face remained expressionless. He couldn't tell if she was offended by just the thought the songs of the Ice Witch could be a reference about her sister. He had avoided telling her telling about these songs and stories up to this point, because he feared that possible confusion. Now that they were going to be married, if they survived this, they knew each other well enough to know that he cared for her sister deeply. The queen would be his family, and he loved his family and would do anything to protect them.
After a few seconds of silence, she finally spoke. "Sing one for me."
"What here? Now?" Kristoff stuttered, followed by a timely cough. "I don't even have my lute with me."
"That's okay," She smiled. "You were doing pretty well the way you were going with your ax."
There was no getting out of it. She was not going to let him get away with not singing her one of his ice harvesting songs. "Err—ok, I suppose I can do one for you." He turned back towards the tunnel and commenced digging through the snow to pick up the beat.
(space)
Snow thicker than her blood and ice colder than her stare
Her frosty grip shows no mercy and leaves men in despair
Her heart of ice will chill a man's soul
Her skin as white, as white as the snow
Fear her reign
Respect her throne
And stay clear of the icy witch
(Space)
Beautiful as the morning sun, and intense as the midnight moon
Her powers are such that can make the strong man swoon
Her eyes glows with unruly hate
Her smile will lure you as her bait
Fear her reign
Respect her throne
Beware the icy witch
(space)
Kristoff looked back to see Anna's reaction. It was probably a very poor song to choose from; it would only remind her of what was happening to her sister. The look on her face clearly showed her being stunned. After an awkward moment of silence, she finally replied. "That was... nice. It was kinda creepy, though."
He shrugged. "Hey, ice harvesting is a very dangerous occupation, and the men who do it are very strong, rigid, and abrasive. We just don't sing about fluff."
Anna grinned. "For someone who doesn't like to sing about fluff, you're fluffier than a big bunny rabbit."
"Wait...what? I resent that!" He replied, slightly miffed. "I'm just as manly as the other ice harvesters."
She chuckled at how cute he was when he was quickly trying to defend his manliness. The way his nose bulged when he was frustrated was just adorable. "Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to question your manhood."
"Apology accepted," he replied with a nod of his head. He turned back around to continue working on his tunnel. He then noticed something sticking out of the snow in front of him. "I found something!"
"You did? What is it?" She asked excitedly, trying to crawl over to him to see for herself. With so little crawling space, it was very difficult, especially when he was tugging at whatever he found with as much strength as he had.
The item broke free from the snow so suddenly, his elbows shot behind him, and nearly clobbered her in the nose. Luckily, she managed to pull away to avoid it. She returned to where she was sitting as Kristoff was crawling back out of the tunnel. When he was out and sat up, he held up a familiar looking black wooden board. It was part of his sled.
Seeing it in his hand, she grimaced in embarrassment. She had once again led them on a trip that cost him his sled, something he valued more than anything. Growing up, the sled was the only thing he owned. As a boy, it was his key into manhood. He loved his little boy's sled. He got it from his birth parents, and it was the only thing he remembered about them.
No one knew what happened to his parents, and if Kristoff knew anything, he refused to talk about it. All Anna knew, from the stories he told her, that he found the Ice Harvesters as a young lad. They seemed to tolerate his and Sven's presence. He then found the trolls, who took him in and raised him. Even at that time, he still hung around the ice harvesters because he grew up loving the work. When he was old enough, he worked hard to be able to afford his first sled. He was so proud of what he accomplished and to own his first personal possession, he cherished it to no end. He was so fond of it, that he was early on each and every payment he had to make on it.
Sadly, he had just made the last payment on it when he met Anna, and on their journey, the sled fell off a cliff and exploded. As a result, Anna and her sister replaced that sled with this new and latest modal of ice sleds. He cherished that sled just much, if not more, because it came from her. Now, he had lost another sled helping her out. "I'm so sorry about your sled."
He looked calm and collected as he stared at the board. He showed no emotions at all, which greatly surprised her. "It's okay... it's just a sled." He stared at it for a few more seconds, before his emotions finally showed themselves. He let out a sigh and a heavy moan. "But I loved that sled."
Anna couldn't help it; she covered her mouth to try to hide the chuckling that broke forth from her. Once she managed to control it, she lowered her hands, to display a giant grin on her face. "BIG... fluffy... bunny."
He looked at her dryly with a raised eyebrow. It was his way of saying that he was feeling insulted, but instead, it nearly caused Anna to burst out laughing. She was managing to keep it to merely snickering, but it took every ounce of her not to explode in a laughing fit. The look on his face was priceless! In a slight huff, he tossed the wood aside and crawled back through the tunnel to continue, hopefully, working towards freedom.
