Chapter 14: A clone's life.
"… And so I think the three of us should go now to see Maleficent." Elvira concluded her explanation and looked at Elsa and Anna expectantly.
"Like… right now?!" Anna exclaimed. "Shouldn't we think more carefully about this or something?"
"Maleficent is our best, and probably only, chance to get into the Center. It doesn't matter how much we think about it, the facts won't change." She tried to reason.
"And… are you sure we can trust her?" Elsa asked, hesitant about this new plan. In her eyes, the less people knew about her being a clone, the better.
"That's a good point." Anna agreed. "How do we know she's not working for Weselton?"
"She's not." Elvira sighed exasperated. "She's one of the best teachers I've ever had, and a very respected scientific. I know she's not working for the weasel."
"I still don't see why we can't think about this more calmly." Anna argued.
"Because…!" Elvira was about to say something, but stopped herself at the last second, not wanting to reveal too much about her recent change of heart. However, Anna knew her too well and soon detected she was holding back.
"Because…?" She prompted, and seeing she would have to trust her reasons to the girls even if she really didn't want to, Elvira sighed and spilled the truth.
"Because she's my thesis assessor, and if I impress her and do everything she says, maybe my career isn't over." She admitted, lowering her head.
"So that's it? You're willing to risk Elsa's life to get into the good side of your thesis assessor after you screwed up?" Anna chastised, frowning with clear disapproval of the idea.
"That's not…" Elvira tried to defend herself, but to her surprise, Elsa put a hand on Anna's shoulder in a placating manner and spoke.
"Anna, please. You're being too harsh with her." She said despite the fact she hated to agree with Elvira in anything.
"I know, but if something happened to you…"
"I know you're worried." Elsa interrupted her again with an understanding expression. "But maybe we should give this a chance. After all, it would be very difficult to get into the Center any other way." She tried to be the voice of reason, though she herself still wasn't so convinced about this.
"I guess you're right." Anna let herself be persuaded by the two girls. "But if I see something I don't like, we'll be getting the hell out of there." She gave Elvira a warning expression.
"Okay, okay." The older girl raised her hands in surrender at the intimidating, but cute, glare of her sister. "But believe it or not, I want this to work as much as you do."
"For the record, I don't believe that, but anyways. Lead the way." Elsa prompted and soon they were following Elvira to Maleficent's office.
"Okay, first of all, leave all the talking to me, I don't want you saying something stupid." Elvira said as she paced nervously outside Maleficent's office. Anna pouted, but Elsa just rolled her eyes, now used to the girl's attitude. "And don't do anything unless I tell you." She paused, trying to remember if she was missing something. "If she addresses you, don't talk too loudly; she doesn't like people raising their voice to her, and don't look her in the eyes."
"Or what? She'll turn us into stones?" Anna said with a mocking tone. "Just relax. You're being overly dramatic." Elvira glared at her.
"I'm not, and now get your sorry asses in there." She prompted, and both girls internally sighed in relief, not wanting to be outside with this crazy Elvira any longer. Then, the older girl knocked and the three of them walked inside once Maleficent told them to come in.
Anna wasn't sure what she'd been expecting Elvira's most respected teacher to be like. Maybe someone terrifying, with horns and wings and the like, but she couldn't help thinking this woman sitting at the desk look entirely too… normal. Like you would expect a teacher to look like. She was dressed in a brown skirt and brown jacket, both plain yet elegant. Her long black hair was undone, but it still managed to look pretty neat, like she'd spent hours brushing it. The only terrifying part of her, however, were her eyes. Yes, Elvira was right about the don't-look-her-in-the-eyes part; not because she turned you into stone, but because they froze you solid and made you want to sprint away at the same time. Even Elvira seemed to be affected by their power.
"Elvira. You're back." The woman acknowledged her with a curt tone. "I'm certainly impressed. I half expected you to be drugged out of your mind right now." Her words were clearly a way to say she disapproved of Elvira's practices, but still, they were pretty harsh and they even made Anna cringe. Elvira, on the other hand, had to clench her fists and try with all her might to keep her cool; after all, an outburst wouldn't do anyone any good.
"Yes, I'm back." She said a bit more harshly than she intended. "And I brought my sister…" She pointed to Anna, who gave a little nervous wave. "And Elsa, my clone." She pointed to said girl.
"H-hi." The blonde said, obviously nervous because of Maleficent's scary aura.
"So you did." The teacher said with curiosity on her voice as she got up and slowly walked towards them. "I just hope you're telling me the truth." She warned the black haired girl as she positioned herself in front of Elsa, making her gulp audibly because of how intimidating she looked up close.
"Take off your glasses and cap, child." She ordered, and Elsa couldn't even open her mouth to protest. She took her glasses off as quickly as possible, her cap following soon after.
Maleficent hummed, deep in thought. She took Elsa's chin in one well-manicured hand, much to the girl's discomfort, and moved her to one side and then the other. Her eyes roamed over Elsa's face, categorizing the similarities and differences between her and Elvira, trying to discern if she was really her clone or only looked too much like her. At the end she seemed satisfied, so she smiled and released Elsa, taking a step back.
"Well, she certainly looks a lot like you." She admitted, and the girls let out a simultaneous sigh of relief. "However, a DNA test is still required before I'm truly convinced." She added, pulling two plastic bags out of one of her desk drawers.
"Come on, both of you, give me a hair sample." Not hesitating for a second, the both pulled on their hairs and gave them to Maleficent, who put them on the bags, closed them and nodded in approval.
"Very well. Elvira, please take these samples to the Genetics Lab and tell them I want a full analysis done on both of them." She handed her the bag and Elvira nodded before practically flying out of there.
"Now, you…" She addressed Anna, who tried to hide her nervousness. "I need to speak with Elvira's clone, so please wait outside until we're finished."
"But…" Anna tried to protest, but Elsa took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"I'll be fine. Don't worry." She said, trying to convince both herself and Anna, because even though she really didn't want to be left alone with the woman, she knew it was for the best.
"Okay… I'll be outside." She said, returning the squeeze and giving Elsa an encouraging smile before walking out of the office.
As soon as the door closed Maleficent's eyes landed on Elsa, who gulped and fought back her desire to run away. Maleficent's cold eyes were making it quite difficult to stay in the room, much less look her in the face.
"Please, take a seat." She instructed, pointing to the chair in front of her desk as she went to sit behind it. Hesitantly, Elsa did as she was told. "Now, even if the DNA test confirmed you and Elvira have the exact same genetic make-up, I have to make sure you're not a natural clone. Do you know what that is?"
"A… twin?" Elsa said like a question, not quite sure about the answer as she'd only heard something like that once.
"An identical twin, yes." She nodded in approval. "And to do that, I need to know everything about you, so please start speaking."
"A-about what?" Elsa asked dumbly, the anxiety not letting her think properly. She felt like she was being tested.
"About yourself, of course. From the beginning, I want to hear your story."
"Well… there's not much to tell, really. I spent almost my whole life at the Center." She answered sheepishly.
"Nonsense." She contradicted her. "If you're indeed a clone your story might be the most interesting tale I've ever heard. First of all, I want to know what your clone name was?"
"S-E-134."
"Alright, now tell me, what was a normal day for you?"
"Wake up, let the caregivers wash me, have breakfast that consisted of a nutritional but awful dough. Go back to my room, wait for Kristoff to examine me, talk a bit with him, have lunch. Return to my room again, bore myself to death, have dinner and go to sleep." She replied without missing a beat; after all, that had been her whole life for the past twenty-one years. She couldn't help feeling self-conscious about it; it sounded pretty boring. Maleficent, however, just nodded.
"And, how did they discover you were… special?" She asked, clearly more interested in this than her previous two questions.
"Uhm… well, I don't remember much about how they noticed, because I was very young." She admitted, trying to dig up some of her earlier memories. "But some of the nurses told me that when I was a year old, someone noticed I started repeating every word I heard. Soon enough I learned how to speak, something no other clone had done."
"I see." The woman seemed to be deep in thought. "And once they knew you were different, what did they do?"
"They designed a variety of tests. Most were meant to determine the rate of my mental development; if it was normal, accelerated, or slow. They drew my blood every few months, did some scans, etc." Elsa shrugged. "It was like that for a good part of my life."
"The lab was inside the Center or in a different building?"
"Inside. They'd never risked letting me leave."
"And they never experimented on you?" She kept prying, making Elsa uncomfortable; after all no one had ever her those kinds of things, not even Anna. Still, she did her best to answer.
"They… used a variety of substances." She forced herself to say, but the sole memory made her shudder in fear. Even if she was a small child back then, she knew what those substances would have done to her had they succeeded; make her a brainless clone. "But none of them worked, and at the end they just… gave up, I guess."
"That's very unlikely, knowing Weselton." She said, her look telling Elsa she was already formulating several hypothesizes. In the end, she only voiced one. "Perhaps they found another clone like you, one that they could experiment on more freely." The thought gave Elsa chills, but Maleficent seemed to notice and quickly reassured her. "Don't worry about this, though. If what you're saying is true, we will stop whatever that Weasel is doing by the end of the week."
"Won't it be too late by then?" Elsa asked unsure.
"It may already be too late by now." She said, her words bringing little comfort. "But if we work together we may be able to do something." Saying this, she got up and started walking towards the door. "Anyways, I think now it's time for you to go. Once I get the results of the DNA test, I'll e-mail you the recommendations."
"Recommendations? In plural?" She asked, confused.
"Of course. Elvira needs someone with her who knows her way around the center. Someone like you." She said, like it was obvious.
"… R-right." Elsa agreed, knowing her words to be true, but still not wanting to spend a whole day alone with Anna's insufferable sister. "In that case, maybe Anna should come too." When Maleficent just raised an eyebrow in a questioning manner, she rushed to explain herself. "It's just… we don't really get along very well, and without Anna there we may as well kill each other." She laughed nervously, waiting for the teacher's answer.
"I see…" She nodded, apparently thinking about the request carefully before coming to a resolution. "Okay then, I don't see why not. After all, Anna is known for being the perfect daughter any parent would want. I'm sure she won't get in any trouble."
"Thank you." Elsa sighed in relief.
"Well, you should go and inform them about this." Elsa nodded and got up as Maleficent opened the door… only for Anna and Elvira to both fall into the office, obviously having been eavesdropping. Anna looked up at the teacher with a guilty smile and Elvira just looked like she was waiting for Maleficent to turn into a dragon and eat her. Elsa couldn't help but find the situation hilarious.
Anna was the first to react, getting up and dusting off her clothes.
"Sorry." She said, alternating her gaze between Elsa and the scientist. "We were just curious, it's all."
"I-I… It was her idea." Elvira tried to defend herself as she too got up, feeling like a small child again, doing mischief with her little sister and not wanting to be punished. Maleficent, however, just sighed.
"I don't know why I'm not surprised." She shook her head. "But I guess there's no need to explain anything then. Please, just leave; you'll be hearing from me soon enough."
"Alright then. We'll go now. Thanks for everything." Elvira said nervously before getting out of there as quickly as possible, probably fearing Maleficent would change her mind if they hesitated for even a second. Elsa rolled her eyes and politely said goodbye to the scientist before walking out of the room as Anna did the same. Then, they both followed Elvira to the car.
"Anna, get ready. We're living in an hour." Elvira said as they entered the house, walking to her room immediately, not even waiting for an answer.
"Wait, what? Where are we going?" The redhead asked, making the older girl stop and turn around to look at her.
"To our second date." Elvira rolled her eyes.
"But…"
"No buts. That was the deal." She said crossing her arms over her chest and frowning, letting her know she wouldn't relent on this.
"Fine." Anna sighed in defeat, not wanting at all to go on a date with her sister that night, or never really. Especially after the first one was a complete disaster. "But promise me you'll be nice to me this time."
"What? But I was…" She started to protest, but a glare from Anna shut her up. "Fine. I'll be nice." She sighed, and Anna smiled in satisfaction. "See you in an hour." Saying this, the older girl ran upstairs, finally leaving Elsa and Anna alone.
"I hate her." Was the first thing Elsa said once Elvira was out of sight.
"Really? You don't seem like the kind of person who hates someone." Anna answered.
"Yeah, but… she's trying to steal you from me." Elsa pouted cutely.
"You look cute when you're worried." Anna answered, making Elsa blush. "But there's nothing to worry about, really. I'll never leave you for her, I promise." She assured her, taking her hands and looking at her eyes with all the love she could muster.
"I-I know." Elsa stuttered at the intensity at that gaze, smiling because she knew Anna's words to be true.
"Now, come on, there's something I want to talk to you about." Anna said before dragging her to the living room and sitting them both on the couch. Elsa, of course, had a worried expression. Normally when someone tells you they need to talk, it's never a good thing. But when Anna gave her a reassuring smile, she calmed down a little.
"So... what did you want to talk about?" She asked.
"About what I heard at Maleficent's office." She answered and Elsa raised an eyebrow She wasn't expecting that. "Hearing you I realized... I don't know much about you." She explained, clearly ashamed of that fact. "I mean, I know your favorite color, your favorite food, what you like and dislike, how you look like in the morning... and yet, I know next to nothing about your past. And I want to change that." She gave her a smile.
"But first I want to tell you that I didn't ask you before, not because I wasn't interested, but because I was afraid of what I would hear. I was afraid your life had been horrible and I didn't want to make you remember it, not now that you're finally free, so..."
"Anna, my life wasn't horrible." Elsa assured her, taking her hand. "I mean, it wasn't great either, but it wasn't that bad." She smiled, which apparently put Anna more at ease.
"Okay... how was it like then? Living at the Center."
"Mostly boring." She shrugged. "And lonely; I didn't have anyone to talk to, and when I was a child I was miserable." Her gaze turned sad for a second.
"Did you do something to distract yourself?"
"Mostly imagine what the outside word was like, based on some pictures the nurses gave me when I behaved well. I also drew and wrote some stories I invented on a small notebook they gave me." She smiled fondly at the memory, probably remembering some of those childish stories.
"Wait. How did you learn how to write?" Anna asked, wondering how she'd never before thought about making that question.
"They taught me." Elsa answered. "To know my mental capacity they had to test me, and most of them were written exams. That's also how I learned math and logic." She explained.
"I see..." Anna said, obviously quite surprised at hearing all of this. This wasn't how she'd imagined Elsa's life. "And what about Kristoff? When did you meet him?"
"A couple of years ago, actually. He'd been working for Weselton for over a year, and when they promoted the doctor that usually took care of me and the other clones, the responsibility was passed on to him. Of course, after making him promise he wouldn't say anything about my condition."
"But... He should have!" Anna exclaimed. "How could he just leave you there knowing you were a sentient human being?" She asked in disbelief.
"He said he was searching for a way to get me out." Elsa shrugged, like it didn't matter. But truth to be told, she had asked herself the same question a million times, and always came to the same answer; he didn't want to lose his job. It was a selfish reason, but an understandable one. After all, he had worked very hard to get into the Center. Still, it hurt.
"Well... at least he's helping now right?" Anna said, trying to comfort her as she saw her down cast expression.
"He is." Elsa agreed smiling. "I just hope Elvira doesn't break his heart."
"You should warn him." Anna suggested, also fearing for the poor boy. Even if after knowing he hadn't helped Elsa before, she wasn't very fond of him anymore.
"Tomorrow." Elsa said. "Right now there's something I want to do more." She smiled devilishly as she leaned towards Anna, eying her lips hungrily.
"Oh, yeah? And what is that?" Anna asked, smiling too, knowing full well what Elsa had in mind.
"Kiss you." She said huskily to her ear, making Anna shudder in anticipation before finally connecting their lips in a passionate kiss. She wanted to make Anna remember this moment during her date with Elvira. She wanted to leave her lips red and her neck covered with marks, to remind that infuriating girl that Anna was hers, and only hers.
And so she did. And of course, Anna didn't complain in the slightest.
A/N: Hi! I hope you liked this little Elsa-centric chapter and you didn't find it boring or something. Also, I'm sorry for the delay, but it was because I was pretty busy the past couple of weeks and also… This chapter was originally like seven thousand words long, and so I decided to split it in two. And I'll publish the second half next week! :D
Anyways, thanks for reading, and please leave a review if you like this fic. See you soon :)
Thanks to my beta reader moonwatcher13.