Chapter 12
A long time had passed since Anna left before Elsa dared to speak.
"Why? Why would you do this?" she finally asked. She knew she was listening. She knew she was listening, but there was still no answer.
Elsa could practically see her other self smirking within her head.
Frustrated with waiting, she decided to ignore her. She willed herself to her feet and tried covering her naked body with her powers. It didn't work. She tried again frantically, bringing herself back to tears as she tried to hide her body. Vaguely she wondered why it was so difficult. Although it finally worked, it wasn't the outfit she had imagined.
It finally clicked what was going on. With a wail, Elsa dropped back to her knees and cursed Elle.
"Get out of my head!" Elsa screamed, grabbing her head and pulling at her hair. The only answer she received was a wicked laugh that sent a chill down her spine.
"Elsa..." Elsa froze at the mention of her name.
"Just look at yourself." Elle's tone was cruel and condescending, Elsa could feel the malice in her words. A mirror made of ice materialized before Elsa's very eyes. She looked into it, but quickly averted her eyes the moment she spotted the image of herself reflected back. She looked nothing like Queen Elsa of Arendelle.
"Why are you doing this to me?" she cried.
"You were never there for me," Elle spat, the true emotion finally coming to the surface for everyone to see clearly. "You never loved me, you never embraced me." There was a sigh. "You were so useless as Elsa."
"I never even knew you existed. Please, leave me alone," Elsa begged.
"I was always with you!" Elle screamed. This explosion of built up emotions frightened Elsa. The feeling of betrayal ran deep. The voice was only in her head, but it had been so loud that Elsa cowered. "I've been a part of you since we were born. But you ruined everything."
"Please, I've never done anything to you. Please, just stop. You've already taken everything I have left. Please..." Elsa's plea dropped down to a whisper as she watched her tears fall to the floor. Ice was spreading across the floor from her body. It wasn't her who was doing it though, just like the mirror and the ice dress.
Why is she doing this to me?
"Because of what you did to me," Elle answered. Elsa's breathing stopped and her eyes flew open wide. Not even her thoughts were safe anymore. She grabbed her head again and sunk further into despair.
"It was you who caused me to hurt Anna. Then you blamed me and tried to repress me. To pretend I didn't even exist! You wanted to get rid of me. You wished I was never a part of you. You never appreciated what I was. I was only a curse to you," Elle spat each accusation out like poison.
But in her despair, Elsa barely registered the words her other self was saying. It was only when she heard the word 'curse' that she finally snapped back to attention.
"You can't get rid of me," she continued. "I'll always be a part of you, just like your physical body. I am you. I am Elsa. But you are not Elsa. Not anymore."
Elsa's sobbing calmed as she took in Elle's words.
There was another wicked laugh. "But don't worry, your plan backfired. By repressing me, you only made me stronger. I tried my best to come back. I was getting nowhere, we were growing further and further apart too. Your emotions, your fears, your despair; it only continued to separate us. And then you decided to embrace me. It was..." There was a pause. "...a relief. You had finally embraced me after all." There was a hint of excitement and exaltation in the way Elle had said it, but that quickly disappeared. "But it was too late. There was no going back at that point. We already on different paths. But you did give me the final push I needed to make my move."
Elsa continued to fail to grasp the meaning behind Elle's words. She couldn't fathom what she was talking about.
"Ever since then I've been growing stronger and stronger. You've helped me greatly along the way. I appreciate that, but it's time to move on." Elle stopped at that as if waiting for Elsa to ask her to continue.
"What are you planning?" Elsa asked, now more out of curiosity than fear or despair.
"To take over. You have failed as Elsa. Now it's my turn to take over. As she should be." Elsa could hear the smug triumph in her voice.
"What are you?" she whispered.
"Haven't you realized this yet? That part of you that you've always hated the most."
Elsa had to stop to think about that. What do I hate most about myself? My fear?
"No silly, that's what I hate most about you," her other self answered the unspoken question.
Then...
Elsa had been staring at the ice coated floor. Her eyes flicked to the ice mirror in front of her. The reflection that showed her wearing a dress made out of ice.
Realization hit Elsa. Of course her words had made no sense because it only made no sense if Elsa had been thinking of Elle as a person. Elle had never been a person.
"It doesn't matter what I am. I will be Elsa now."
"No!" Elsa commanded, suddenly regaining some control and came to her feet, standing strong.
"It's too late."
There was a tone of finality to Elle's words. Elsa spotted the telltale flurry of magic forming at her feet. Using all her willpower and strength she could muster, Elsa fought back.
"Why do you struggle? You couldn't possibly resist me." And yet, the flurry of magic slowed as it passed Elsa's knees. They were still her powers after all. As if on cue, the skin of her covered legs began to sting horribly as they were assaulted by subzero temperatures. Not even her affinity to the cold was protecting Elsa from the full power of her powers. She began to shiver uncontrollably, her body shaking and her teeth chattering. Elle was throwing her full power into this.
Despite it all, Elsa somehow managed to produce a slight grin. The magic had stopped completely at her hips. She could almost feel it being pushed back too. Her mind was racing with all sorts of emotions, fear the strongest. It was both hurting her concentration and edging her on. The pain was excruciating too and she wondered if she would be able to come out of this without being horrible disfigured by frostbite to her lower body. At this point, she had lost all feeling in her legs, they could have been gone for all she knew. Elsa pushed the thoughts away to prevent them from causing her to panic. She suspected those thoughts were other self's doing and tried to think about anything else. The best thing that Elsa should've put her mind to was also the absolute worst. Anna.
"Elsa, why even bother?"
Going for a direct approach I see? It won't work either.
"What's the point?
"Shut up!" Elsa demanded out loud, she had to concentrate. She was tired of her games. She was now even more determined to win this.
"Even if you manage to stop me, how are you going to go back to Anna after what happened?"
All of Elsa's efforts came to a screeching halt. The magic continued to swirl around her now unopposed. One simple question had destroyed Elsa's fight of willpower.
It was because Elle had been right. After what had happened, after what Elsa had said to her, there was no going back. Her relationship with Anna was unrecoverable. That wasn't entirely true, but with only seconds left, there was no point.
Elsa watched the flurry of magic swirl around her in the mirror. A single tear fell down Elsa's cheek and Elsa watched it fall until her vision blurred.
The cold came. It engulfed her completely. She shivered, but nothing came of it. There was nothing for her to shiver with. The blackness followed. It started at the corners of her field of vision, creeping along the blurry view of swirling ice and snow in which was providing her the only light in the coming darkness. As the darkness engulfed her completely, Elsa wondered why she couldn't have just loved Anna like that back.
The knock on the door startled Anna. She didn't expect her to come so soon.
There was no waiting for an answer. The door opened and quickly shut again without Anna's input.
"Go away, please," Anna ordered weakly, never removing her face from the now damp pillow that she had buried herself in earlier.
There was no response and Anna only heard her continuing closer.
"Elsa, please, just leave me alone." A new wave of tears struck Anna as Elsa continued coming towards her. She didn't want to deal with her right now. She couldn't do it. She couldn't even look at her sister. Anna gripped the pillow tighter.
Elsa climbed onto the bed and Anna sobbed harder. She flinched when she felt her sister lie practically on top of her and drape her arm across Anna's shuddering body, embracing her.
It quickly occurred to Anna that something was very off. How Elsa was reacting was not how Anna was expecting. After the things Elsa had said to her, Anna wasn't sure Elsa would ever speak to her again. Anna wasn't even sure what would happen at all between her and Elsa, but this was too unexpected.
"Shhhh," Elsa cooed. "It's going to be okay."
Feeling Elsa's warm body pressed against her and hearing her words made Anna tense. Her sobs died down quickly until she was only hiccupping into her pillow.
"Everything is going to be alright, Anna," she tried to reassure her again.
But something about that caused Anna to shudder.
"You will never have to worry about anything coming between us ever again. I will always love you. We will always have each other," Elsa continued, not seeming to notice Anna's reaction.
Anna let the words sink in. Her grip on the pillow tightened greatly.
"Elsa," Anna called out in a whisper before another sob escaped her lips and tears started flowing again. A minute early, Anna couldn't have faced her sister. Now she desperately wanted her more than anything. The girl laying in her bed was not her sister. She knew that for a fact.
"I'm right here, Anna," Elle answered. Anna knew that Elle knew she hadn't been calling out to her. She could see her smirking, no matter how tightly she closed her eyes.
Anna desperately wanted her sister back, but Elle's words replayed in her mind like a recurring nightmare with no escape.
"You will never have to worry about anything coming between us ever again."
It was obvious to Anna. Elsa was gone.
A/N: Thanks to my two beta readers, Mig and Road.
Thanks for reading and feel free to leave any questions, comments, or reviews.
