AN: Here it is! The long awaited next chapter of This Swirling Storm Inside. Sorry to keep you waiting so long. I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: For the umpteenth time, I do not own Frozen, no matter how much I wish I did.
The sun broke over the horizon as Nels, Anna, Kristoff, and Sven trudged through the snow over an icy ridge. The firey ball painted the landscape orange and pink. Nels shielded his eyes as he looked east. I've seen some beautiful sunrises, he thought, but nothing like this. He sat down, trying to enjoy the pristine and tranquil beauty that normally eluded sailors.
"Hey, we need to get moving, remember?" Anna barked down at him. The admiral merely pulled an apple from his sack and bit into it with a satisfying crunch, wincing slightly as his black eye throbbed.
"Shut up," he said around the sweet fruit. "Life's too short to miss out on an opportunity like this. Trust me, I'd know."
Kristoff gazed in awe at the rising sun. "He's right Anna. You never get to see the sun when you're locked up inside a castle." The ice man chuckled slightly. The princess punched him. Sven plopped down next to Nels and stared at the apple in his hand, his tail wagging.
"Here you go," Nels muttered, holding out his apple in front of the reindeer, who took a bite, and almost took Nels's fingers off. "Hey!" he yelled. "Why don't you try…" he tossed the slobber covered apple to Kristoff, who took a bite and fed the rest to Sven.
"Ugh," Anna winced and looked away. "Can we PLEASE keep going?" She begged. "You're done with your apple!"
Nels sighed. "Fine. Let's go." He pushed himself up.
The group moved on as the sun continued to rise higher in the sky. As they came over a ridge, they were treated to a view of Arendelle and the fjord. "Arendelle," Anna said.
"It's completely frozen," Kristoff said, coming up behind her. Nels just gaped at the snow-covered city.
"But it's okay, Elsa will just unfreeze it. Now, this way to the North Mountain?" the princess asked. She pointed, actually in the right direction for once.
"More like that way." Kristoff pointed her arm almost vertically. Nels moved his gaze and followed her finger as it travelled up to a lone peak jutting into the clouds. The gigantic column of rock and snow was a foreboding sight. Nels couldn't help but whistle in admiration. Not even the tallest mountains in Sitnalta could compare.
They moved on to a small clearing in the forest. A small waterfall and a pond, both frozen over, were surrounded by droopy trees with dewdrops frozen to them like little bells. They all ran their arms through as they passed, enjoying the faint jingling of the icy drops. Nels thought Sven was a bit on the odd side, especially when he got the dangly-things tangled in his antlers. "I had no idea winter could be so… beautiful," Anna said, staring at the winter wonderland before them.
Neither did I, for the longest time, Nels thought, his mind flickering to when he'd been forced to hide his powers in Jorgenhale.
"Yeah, it really is beautiful." The group instinctively looked at Sven as an unfamiliar voice joined Anna's. But the reindeer simply gave them a goofy grin. "But it's so white! You know, how 'bout a little color?" They peered around, trying to find the source. The ground slowly began getting a small layer of frost under Nels's feet. He left his bow on his back though.
"I'm thinking some crimson, maybe chartreuse, ooh how about yellow?" The voice was right behind them. "No not yellow. Yellow and snow?" The owner of the voice shook his face around. "Am I right?"
Anna screeched and swung a kick behind the admiral. He turned around, expecting some sort of attack. He felt…something… form in his hands. All he saw was a giant snowball heading his way. "Oh shit-" he yelled, instinctively swinging his arms. An icy frying pan collided in midair with the ball of snow, knocking it to Kristoff. The ice harvester panicked and tossed it back and forth with Anna.
"I don't want it!" She cried.
"Right back at you!"
"I think we got off to a bad start-" the ball began.
"Eww eww the body!" Anna hurled the ball down onto a stack of two others on the ground.
"Was that… a snowman?" Nels asked, half looking at the frying pan in his hands and half looking at the snowy mound that was struggling to get back up.
"I think so." Kristoff said.
The snowman stood up, his head on upside down. "Wait, what am I looking at right now? Why are you hanging off the earth like a bat?"
"Hang on-" Anna kneeled down and pulled the snowman's head off, turned it right side up, and put it back on his shoulders.
"Oh. Now I'm perfect," he exclaimed happily. "It's like my whole life got turned upside down," the snowman said to Nels and Kristoff. Nels was now staring wide-eyed at the snowman, the frying pan hanging loosely in his hand, now forgotten.
"Well, almost." Unbeknownst to the snowman, Anna reached into the bag of carrots while his back was turned. He turned back to Anna, who shoved a carrot through his head.
"Oh god-" Nels's eyes bulged and he felt like throwing up. He had seen too many objects go flying through people's heads during combat.
"I'm sorry! Are you alright?" Anna asked the snowman, who didn't appear hurt at all by the carrot sticking out both ends of his head.
"Are you kidding? I… am wonderful!" he exclaimed. "I've always wanted a nose." He brought his hands up and began pinching it. "It's so cute! It's like a little baby unicorn- whoa, hey!"
Anna shoved the carrot through the back of his head. "Oh, I love it even more now! Alright, let's start this thing over. Hi everyone. I'm Olaf. And I like warm hugs!"
"Olaf?" A sudden look of recognition crossed Anna's face, like she knew the snowman. "That's right! Olaf!" She broke into a smile.
"Aaaaannnnd you are…?" he asked.
"Oh-I'm Anna."
"And who's the funky looking donkey over there?"
"That's Sven."
"Uh huh." Olaf nodded. "And who's the reindeer?"
Nels, Sven, Anna, and Kristoff all looked up in surprise. "Are you the funky looking donkey or am I?" Nels whispered to the ice harvester.
"I hope it's you," Kristoff whispered back.
"Uhhhh… Sven." Anna finally told the snowman.
"Oh, so you're both- okay, make things easier for me. But who's the guy with the pan and the bow?"
"Goddammit," Kristoff muttered.
"Sven! Sven!" Nels mouthed to Anna, barely able to keep himself from laughing.
She sighed and rolled her eyes. "That's uh, Sven."
Olaf's eyes went as wide as dinner plates. "Three Svens? Group Sven hug!" He pulled the three "Svens" into a tight huddle. Anna covered her mouth, snickering. The actual Sven took a bite at Olaf's nose. "Aw, look at him trying to pinch my nose! I like you too!" he said in a puppy dog voice.
"Olaf, did Elsa build you?" Anna asked the golem. He finally released the three from his group hug.
"Yeah, why?"
Nels was stunned. If Elsa can create life… He looked down at his hands and slowly backed into the trees. None of the rest noticed, as they were too distracted by Olaf.
She can create life, Nels thought, almost hyperventilating. And all I do is take it. But if she can create it, so can I, right? But how do I create life?
The admiral paced around for a moment, lost in his thoughts, arguing with himself in his head. Finally he sighed exasperatedly. He set the frying pan down. "Okay… let's do this." He rubbed his hands together and cracked his knuckles. Then he stopped suddenly. He had no idea what he was going to bring to life.
The admiral was at a loss. He plopped down in the snow and rubbed his temples as if that would make ideas pop into his head. Fuck me, still nothing, he thought after a frustrating minute of temple-rubbing. A vision of Anna's stampeding horse suddenly rushed through his head. His eyes popped open and a huge grin stretched across his face. He rubbed his hands together and tried cracking his knuckles again, only to be met with silence from his hands.
A familiar tingling ran down his arms and to his hands, almost like an adrenaline rush this time. "Not yet," he told himself. He closed his eyes and concentrated, picturing what he wanted to make in his head.
A blast of white and blue shot from his hands and impacted on the ground with the force of a cannon shot. A swirling vortex of snow formed, which slowly began to take shape.
Nels ogled at the snowy horse that stood in front of him. It's body was made of snow, but was covered in tiny azure hairs of frost. He reached out his hand to stroke the beast's snout. He touched it lightly and the horse pulled away with a quick whinny.
"Easy, easy," the admiral soothed. Derek had always had a way with animals that Nels never understood. The horse backed up slowly while Nels pulled an apple from his bag and took a bite. The horse watched him hungrily until-
"Can I have an apple?" the horse suddenly blurted. Nels's jaw dropped.
"All I can think about, apples. I love apples. I think I'm having a craving! That's new, never had cravings before!" The horse said excitedly in an English accent.
Nels stared open-mouthed at the horse.
"What, is there something on my face?" The horse asked, incredulous. It picked up one icy hoof and waved it in front of Nels's face. "Hello?"
Nels snapped back to reality. "Oh, uh, yeah, sorry." He held the apple up to the horse. "Here."
The horse snatched the apple out of his hand and began to chew. His eyes widened in disgust and he spat the fruit out. "What was that?"
"An apple!"
"Apples are rubbish. I hate apples. Do you have anything else?"
"Uh, no, I don't, but Anna has a bag full of carrots. Speaking of which," he turned and looked back into the clearing.
Anna and Kristoff were watching Olaf as he was singing about… summer, of all things. What the fuck, Nels thought as he walked around the horse and pulled himself onto his back.
"When I finally do what frozen things do in summer!" Olaf sang.
"I'm gonna tell him," Kristoff said smugly.
Anna elbowed him. "Don't you dare!"
"In summer!" The snowman finished. "So come on. Elsa's this wa- what is that?" his eyes locked on Nels and his snowy steed.
"Hey," Nels said while everyone else gawked. "Could you please stop staring? It's rude and making me very self-conscious!"
"Did you…?" Anna said, once again in awe, pointing at the horse.
"Yep." Nels closed his eyes again, and felt the tingling rush through his body. He threw both arms to his sides. The group watched as his magic struck the snow, and two more snowy horses formed. "Mount up," the admiral called. "Let's go bring back summer!"
AN: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I won't be posting nearly as often anymore because my schedule is about to get very busy. I hope I can get one more chapter for each story published before that though. Anyway, please leave a review, PM me with any questions/comments/concerns/suggestions. I'll see you in the next chapter. But in the meantime, go forth and be a force of awesome!
-Coat-Rack96