Chapter 12: Confrontations
Rapunzel found the castle virtually unguarded. There was one giant abominable snowman, but he had fallen asleep and paid her no attention as she slipped by. Elsa's ice palace blew her away. Flawless walls rose straight up, surrounding an ice rink floor. A fountain sat in the middle of the main room, water bubbling gently, but here and there a frozen droplet floated in the air, suspended. Rapunzel looked up and saw a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
Suddenly, Toothiana fluttered in next to her.
"Where did you come from?" Rapunzel whispered, startled.
"I finished early," she said. "I gave the crown to Baby Tooth, so she can work for me."
"The crown? Never mind, we don't have time. We have to find Elsa, and fast."
"Ok, I'll search this floor, and you go to the second."
Rapunzel nodded and began to climb one of the twin staircases to the second floor. She reached the landing and took another staircase even higher up. If she had not lived in Gothel's tower all her life, the height would have been dizzying, it was so far from the icy floor. Looking around, Rapunzel saw the room was empty, but stayed a minute longer to admire the beautifully inlaid snowflake pattern on the floor. The sun shone through the open balcony doors, and she could see Olaf standing guard in the snow outside.
"Mavis?" she heard Elsa call. "Mavis? Come on, it's time to go!"
Rapunzel hurried back down, nearly slipping on the slick steps. Below, Elsa paused, but did not look up. Mavis and Maggie were no where to be seen; Elsa was alone. It was perfect. Rapunzel wrapped her hair around an icy arch and swung down to the lower floor, sliding across the ice with ease.
Elsa jumped, startled. She wasn't quite sure what to say, and neither did Rapunzel. Her three-year-old baby girl had grown up; it felt like they were meeting for the first time.
"Elsa…" Rapunzel said softly.
Elsa snapped out of her trance. "How do you know me?" she demanded.
"Because I am your mother."
Elsa glared at her, realizing this was Rapunzel. "No, you killed my mother!"
"Everything Mavis has told you is a lie, Elsa!" Tooth said, flying up behind Rapunzel. "Don't listen to her!"
"Mavis warned me about this," Elsa stated angrily. "You and your friends…the Companions…you all seem naive and innocent, but you're cruel and heartless on the inside! You even killed your own parents before killing mine!" she cried.
"Ok," Rapunzel said, exasperated. "First of all, they adopted me, illegitimately! Then they locked me in a tower and left me there for the rest of my life! If it hadn't been for Jack, I would have never gotten out."
"Ahem," Tooth coughed.
"Oh, Hiccup and Merida helped too, of course."
"You cannot be trusted," Elsa said without faltering.
"Very good, Elsa," Mavis cooed as she glided from the shadows. "You've held up well against my sister."
"You are not my sister!" Rapunzel said. "Even if we were at some point, we aren't anymore. A real, good sister does not kidnap her niece from her mother!"
There was a long moment of silence. Tooth looked sideways at Rapunzel, and Elsa seemed confused. Mavis was not amused.
"That made no sense, did it?" Rapunzel said, finally realizing what she had said.
"Kill her," Mavis said shortly.
"Gladly," Elsa said, smiling. She shot a compacted frost wave similar to Jack's. Rapunzel and Tooth jumped just in time.
"Oh, just do the explosion!" Mavis said impatiently. "I'll make sure they don't come near you."
"Elsa, no!" Rapunzel cried. "It will kill you!"
Elsa didn't listen. She bent her head down, concentrating hard. Suddenly, snow flew thick and fast, blinding everyone. Elsa began breathing heavily, building up the energy and snow inside her. Her eyes glazed over—or iced over—like she was in a death trance. Now Elsa's eyes were so blue they looked black, pitch black. In a scary way they reminded Rapunzel of her adoptive father.
"Elsa, stop!" Tooth yelled. "Don't listen to Mavis! She's the bad guy here!"
"No…sheeee's NOT!" Elsa screamed, releasing a spray of snow, ice, and frost.
Tooth pulled Rapunzel down to the floor, copying Mavis. The snow passed through the castle walls harmlessly.
"JACK!" Rapunzel screamed as Elsa legs began to wobble. "Elsa!"
Rapunzel struggled to her feet, slightly weakened by the intense cold, and a desperate effort, she threw her hair and wrapped her daughter in a hair cocoon.
"You really…think this…can stop me?" Elsa said feebly, falling to her knees.
"Elsa, be still. You're weak and dying," Rapunzel said. "And my hair is stronger than you think."
"Yeah? Well so am I," Mavis said as Elsa slumped to the ground, unconscious.
Tooth and Rapunzel gasped as Mavis bared her vampire fangs and crouched to jump them. Before anyone could move, though, Mavis was encased in a cube of solid ice. She screamed in anger, but could not move.
"You forgot about me," Jack growled from the stair case. "And that's something you should never, ever do." He flew down with Anna behind him. "Is she ok?"
"I don't know," Rapunzel said.
Anna knelt down and took Elsa's hand from the cocoon. "She's so cold," she whispered. Rapunzel nodded grimly and, cradling Elsa's head in her lap, began to sing.
"Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine…what once was mine…"
Elsa coughed and opened her eyes. Still glazed and vacant, they stared at the ceiling, then uncomprehendingly at the strange faces around her. At first they thought she would be ok, but then she began struggling.
"Stay away from me!" she screamed. "Murderers!"
"Murderers!" Anna said, confused.
"She doesn't remember anything…" Rapunzel said. "She thinks we killed her parents, and it looks like my hair didn't heal that."
"But, we are her family!" Anna said.
"You're crazy insane!" Elsa yelled, trying to break free.
"Wait, Jack? Where are Hiccup and Merida and Astrid?" Rapunzel asked. "Did you get them free?"
"N-no," Jack said. "The dragons couldn't escape the avalanche. They…they fell into a chasm and the entire avalanche fell on top of them. Without them we can't get anyone free."
"No!" Rapunzel and Tooth gasped.
"Ha! Maggie does her work well," Elsa said. "They were never a match for her. They'll all be dead by now."
"Elsa, don't you remember life before Mavis?" Jack asked gently.
"No. My parents were killed when I was very young. You know that," she spat.
"You HAVE to remember, you were three years old! You have to have at least a little bit of memory."
"Memory…" Tooth muttered. "I'll be back!"
"Tooth!" Rapunzel called as she flew away. Toothiana didn't hear her. "It won't work. She was on high alert for years, waiting for Elsa to lose a tooth. But she couldn't find her. Elsa's teeth aren't at the Tooth Palace."
"Sounds like a spell…" Anna began to say. "Wait!" She knelt down and looked into her sister's ice blue eyes. For some reason, Elsa did not look away, but stared calmly back. "She's seeing things different than what they are. Maggie put a spell on her, so she would forget!"
"Just like Gothel did to you!" Jack exclaimed to Rapunzel.
"No! Maggie would never do that to me!"
"Ok, but how do we break it?" Rapunzel asked urgently.
"Kill Maggie?" Anna suggested. "We need to do that anyway. I mean, being charged with witchcraft is a death penalty anyway, not to mention kidnapping, child abuse, meddling with royal affairs…"
"No," Elsa choked out. "Don't kill her. It-it won't work." But there was fear in her eyes.
"Worth a shot," Rapunzel said.
An hour later, they were chasing Maggie through the mountains.
"For an old lady, she sure is fast," Bunny remarked as he caught another boomerang that had missed it's target. He and North had finally caught up with the Frosts, and after helping lock Elsa and a still frozen Mavis back in Arendelle, they were fighting to bring down the witch.
"It's because of her magic," Anna said as she threw a poorly made fireball to block off an escape route. "It's helping her run fast, almost fly, and it's stopping any attacks we're making."
"Well that explains a lot," Jack said. "What should we do?"
"Just keep chasing her!" North said. "Maybe, if we are lucky, she will wear out her magic?"
Anna shrugged. Suddenly, Maggie ducked behind a snowdrift. They were out in the flatlands now, and snowdrifts from Elsa's latest outburst covered the plains.
"Where did she go?" Rapunzel yelled into the wind.
"Let's land!" Jack suggested. "It's kind of rough up here."
North nodded and landed the sleigh. Anna and Bunny jumped out gratefully and began searching, but Rapunzel was reluctant. Now they didn't have the upper hand, and Maggie could spring a trap at any minute, like she did with…
"Looking for someone?" a crackly voice called out.
Standing at the top of the nearest snowdrift, was Maggie. Before they could do anything, Maggie flicked her hands, and Anna, who was standing a short distance away, was surrounded in a rough ice igloo, separating her from her family.
"ANNA!" Rapunzel and Jack called.
Anna banged on the walls, panic clear on her face. She tried to melt the walls, but it didn't work. All her powers did was melt the snow beneath her, forming a a puddle of quick-snow. She was trapped.
AN: Sorry! Another cliffhanger, I know. Oh and if you've messaged me, sorry. I'll be getting to you shortly. Once I figure out how not to spoil the ending... which is coming up very quickly, actually.
