Chapter 3: Infiltrating Arendelle

The Doctor peered down at the Sontaran, "I don't know what you're talking about," his tone was deadly serious. Commander Strax stared blankly back up at the Time Lord.

"But Sir, green is a horrid colour for a Sontaran," a hissing behind him made him turn around, "No offence Madame," he added.

"None taken," Vastra replied curtly turning back to fixing Jenny's collar, "My love you look a picture, green suits you very much"

"Why thank you Ma'am," the girl chuckled curtseying in the uniform sent by the Queen.

"Jenny do be careful when you are in there. Do not engage this man in combat. We don't yet know what he is or why he is here"

" 'asn't the scan completed yet?"

The Silurian glanced down at the scanner sat on the table, "I'm afraid not"

"Okay Straxy," the Doctor beamed fixing Strax's bow tie, "It's show time" He fixed his own bow tie happily before leading them out of their hideout and towards the palace.

The night had been completely uneventful. Arendelle as they'd discovered was perfectly calm and quiet from around nine o'clock in the evening; not a mouse stirred until dawn. The Doctor strode along happily ahead of the group. His footsteps were loud as they tapped along the cobbles. The early risers in the small town could be heard whispering, 'It's the Doctor. He's returned' The Time Lord didn't stop to chat, nor did he pause to acknowledge anyone. High up in Elsa's bedroom window his eyes were transfixed on a silhouette of a man.

"I'm coming for you," the Doctor muttered darkly.

"You look beautiful," the Queen greeted Jenny in her uniform, "And handsome," she added to the disgruntled Strax, "There's not much to do around here, but I'm sure you'll be just fine"

"Thank you, for this," the Doctor smiled, "You have fun Straxy boy!" He beamed as he noogied Strax and smacked a huge kiss on the top of the Sontaran's head. He screwed his face up at the taste and flicked his tongue out in mild disgust.

"Sir, do not noogie me during work prep" The Sontaran grumbled in embarrassment.

Elsa coughed pointedly and pointed behind the Time Lord with a smile. The Doctor turned to see the Tardis, now stood upright, looking as good as new.

"I had it stood upright for you Doctor, it was beginning to sound rather distressed at being on its side" The Doctor felt his heart jump at this, Elsa had felt the Tardis' distress? Elsa stood simply smiling at him, he returned this with his large puppy dog eyes and a vacant grin, he loved when the women in his life got along. The tender, subtle moment however was short lived.

"Ouch," he gasped pulling the hot shiny Yale key from his pocket. He grinned at Vastra, "The car is ready," he chuckled, "We'll have to take her for a spin to run her in," he turned back to Elsa, "I bet your sister would love a quick trip to the moon. Where is she?"

Elsa looked slightly startled at his question, out of the corner of her eye she could see Eric enter the room, "Anna, she's, she left with Kristoff, um, she wasn't very, specific about where they were going…" her voice trailed off, Elsa cringed at the Doctor, in her palm she made a tiny ice structure, watching his eyes flick over it she quickly curled her fingers around it, thawing it instantly as the Prince approached her.

The Doctor, initially stunned by her evasiveness suddenly grinned, "We should go there again some time, you and I"

"I'd like that Doctor" The Doctor's heart rate peaked again, he grinned widely at the Queen completely ignoring the man now stood at her side. He bear hugged her suddenly, he breathed in deeply the scent of her hair, it was like coming home. He put his lips to her ear, "I'm going to fix this," he whispered.

"Doctor," Vastra interrupted him quickly, she forced the scanner into his hand. The Time Lord stared between the reading and the Prince for a moment, things were beginning to made a little more sense. The scanner, as technological as it was, couldn't actually tell him why Elsa didn't just freeze this horrid specimen but the Doctor often found that time would usually reveal all to him eventually, if he just allowed situations to simmer a little longer.

"Time to run"

With that said he hurried to the Time Machine, turned the key in the lock and rushed inside, Madame Vastra close at his heels. Jenny and Strax watched on as the Tardis dematerialised. The girl wished that Vastra had told them what they were dealing with before running off like that. She looked to Strax who was already watching her, they were on their own now.

The interior of the Tardis, was breath taking. Sharp, crisp blue light from the central column illuminated the circular control room. Every surface was shiny, silver, and all brand new. The delicate array of controls lit up in a variety of blues and greens, yellows and reds. Vastra stared up at the rotating reams of Old High Gallifreyan above the console unit, "New desktop," the Doctor informed his stunned guest, "Had a bit of an incident with a storm cage explosive" The Silurian shook herself out of her daze and moved to where the Doctor had plugged the scanner into the console. She rocked slightly as the Doctor piloted the Tardis into the Earth's upper atmosphere away from prying eyes.

"I don't think I understand the reading it's giving Doctor," she admitted after a few moments.

"Anti-matter," he told her quite calmly.

"Yes I can see that it's anti-matter but I don't understand the significance"

"Isn't it obvious? He came through the hole in reality"

"But the repair to it is being overseen as we speak by the Shadow Proclamation's High Counsel"

"He is quite convincing though, probably slipped right past them," the Doctor uploaded the readings into the Tardis database, "What do we know about anti-matter?"

"The particles are the same weight as regular particles only their charge is the complete opposite"

"The complete opposite," the Doctor repeated mumbling to himself as he typed into the new keyboard before him.

"When matter meets anti-matter they destroy each other, they cancel out"

"Do you believe in an alternate reality?" The Doctor stopped his typing and leant against the monitor.

"Do I believe in…?"

"Another reality where there's another you running around killing humans, or a Jenny who isn't so sweet, or a Strax that, well, bad example. Perhaps another me?"

"But not a kind you? Not a saviour of worlds? Perhaps such a thing exists. You know better than anyone about parallel universes Doctor," she noticed how he stiffened at the mention of the other universe, "But you're suggesting that a reality exists in which our anti-selves also exist, not just different versions of us that have made different life choices"

The Doctor scratched his head, "If he's an anti-version. Why hasn't he been destroyed by the matter in our reality?"

"Because he hasn't met his counterpart," the Silurian said simply, "This Prince must exist somewhere in our reality, only when they come into contact will they cancel each other out"

"So if we find the real Prince, we can cancel them out?"

"They'll both die"

"Then we need to send him back through the tear. No one needs to die, not today," The Doctor input a search into the Time Machine, hurriedly searching for the location of the hole in reality. Vastra watched his brow furrow further and further into a frown.

"What's wrong?" she asked in response to a hopeless groan from the Time Lord.

"They've closed it. They managed to seal it shut. But of course they've closed it, to them it's been fifty years, you don't need that long to do a quick repair job"

"Then we have no choice old friend. Sacrifice one to save many. Where is this Prince from?"

"The Eastern Quarter"

"Well, where is that?"

"No idea" The Doctor rubbed his eyes in thought, his hand dropped to his side, "What are you doing now?"

Madame Vastra removed her veil, the material of her dress left with it revealing traditional Silurian war attire, "Do we know anyone that can direct us there?" The Doctor didn't move despite Vastra readying herself for the task ahead. He watched as she strapped her sword to her back. Her green scales reflected the light from the central Time Rotor. A sharp glimmer from her now bare hand temporarily blinded the Doctor in one eye. As she continued to tighten the strap he could see clearly the small silver band on her left hand.

"How do you do it?" he asked quietly.

"Do what Doctor?"

"Love a human knowing that you're going to outlive them. Knowing that you're going to have to see them wilt, and suffer, and die?"

Vastra looked down at the plain band she wore without fail every single day, "It's the curse we live with Doctor. The end is coming no matter how fast we try to run from it. You learn to live," she carefully removed the Doctor's pocket watch from his waistcoat, "Instead of watching the clock count down to zero"

He watched her carefully as she set the time piece down on the console, "You'd do anything for Jenny?"

"No matter the cost. We must protect those we love Doctor. They're precious, our time with them is short"

"Oh Vastra, look at you," the Doctor smiled, "You've changed so much"

"As have you old friend. Change helps us to live better lives"

"Life," he sighed, "Life is too long," the Doctor turned back to his controls, shaking his head slowly.

"Not for them Doctor" She snapped at him, "For them it isn't long enough. For us, their lives are not long enough"

"I know where to find Elsa's sister, she'll know where the neighbouring isles are"

Vastra could sense that their delicate conversation had drawn to a close. She leant back against one of the outer control panels and allowed the Doctor to control his Time Machine in peace.

The Ice Tardis stood proudly on the edge of the North Mountain. The ice crystals sparkled in the rising daylight. The real Tardis stood not even twenty metres away, the time travelling duo stood in its open doorway. The Doctor squirmed under Vastra's withering glare, "I won't ask Doctor," she told him flatly.

"Probably for the best," he grimaced as they approached the enormous doors. He knocked four times, "Not sure why I did that," he muttered quietly.

"It's the heartbeat of a Time Lord, the rhythm of your people," Vastra replied lazily running her hand along the smooth perfectly crafted Ice. The door opened sharply. Stood in the opening, jaw practically trailing on the floor, was Princess Anna.

"Doctor, is that really you? Actually you? Oh my god. I'm dead aren't I? I knew it! I knew all of this was just too crazy to be real!" The Doctor and Madame Vastra glanced nervously at each other.

"Anna you're not dead," the Doctor pushed past her entering the large ice structure, "I had trouble getting back to Arendelle, long story, I'll probably tell you about it another time, then again, I'll probably forget. Why are you up here?"

"Elsa sent us up here"

"Kristoff is here too?"

"… Eight, Nine, Ten! Okay feisty pants! Here I come!" The Ice Mason in question came dashing out of a side room wearing nothing but a little grass troll-made Hulu skirt and his hat. Vastra's eyes widened at the sight, she quickly slapped a hand up to her face to obscure her view. Kristoff snatched his hat off his head to hide his modesty unaware that the mental scarring had already been done, "Tell me that this is just a bad dream," he whimpered moving to hide behind the console.

"I wish..." muttered Vasta.

"Ah Kristoff," the Doctor smiled, the awkward moment completely lost on him, "Nice of you to join us"

"Kristoff!" Anna scolded, "Go and get dressed please. Now is not a good time. I'm sorry about him. Oh!" she gasped seeing Vastra properly for the first time.

"This is Madame Vastra, she's a Silurian. Her people inhabited the earth before you lot took over. This is Princess Anna of Arendelle"

"Oh, wow. I mean, that's really cool. You're a lovely shade, I mean, green, it's very nice, I love green," Anna's voice trailed off as she dug an even bigger hole for herself. She bowed slightly hoping that it would grant her forgiveness.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Princess Anna of Arendelle," Vastra was highly amused by this little earth girl. She'd forgotten what it was like to meet someone so naïve to the Doctor's world.

"Come here," the Doctor pulled Anna into a tight hug. He sniffed her hair and beamed, he'd missed how the Arendelle sisters smelled, "Oh you too!" he lifted her hand up showing off a wedding band. Anna blushed pulling her hand back to look at the ring herself as though it was the first time she'd seen it.

"Two years already," she laughed.

"Congratulations! Hey, you two could form a club," he pointed between the two women, "The married women club. You could have meetings, bake cakes and, do knitting!" Vastra hissed at the Time Lord in annoyance, "Right. Sorry, Anna, you never said why Elsa sent you up here"

"Because of Eric," Anna's expression changed, she frowned at the floor, "There's something about him Doctor. He's got this, hold over Elsa. I don't recognise her when she's with him"

"When did he come to Arendelle?"

The Princess screwed her face up in concentration, but at last she sighed loudly, "I can't remember. It's like he's always been here. Doctor it's so strange, when he's around it's like he sucks the life out of the room. When we were alone, Elsa told me that there was something very wrong. That I should get away from Arendelle. She told me to come here, and to tell no one, because if you ever returned to the Kingdom, you'd go to the only place where people could be free. Doctor, how dangerous is he?"

"Very dangerous" The Silurian hissed.

"Vastra!" the Doctor groaned, "Don't tell her that!"

"Who are you to withhold the truth?" the Silurian argued, "This girl has a right to know what has invaded her world. Tell her Doctor, you owe it to these people that you left behind for so long"

"Doctor, is my sister safe?"

The Doctor took a deep breath, before the straight talking Silurian could open her mouth.

Jenny Flint peered around the corner into the corridor that led to the Prince's study. In her hand, she held a feather duster, "Don't be a wimp," she told herself quietly. After a deep breath she emerged fully into the corridor and began dusting the wooden panelling that ran its whole length, right past the study door. She moved slowly, being sure to look engrossed in her work. She was used to pretending to look busy back in London where she was the 'maid' of the house. Mostly that role was just to keep up appearances, though she did tidy the place while Vastra was out working. However, she had often pretended to clean the house while secretly watching her darling Silurian wife studying cases at her desk, she loved watching the concentration in her love's face as she read line after line. Madame Vastra was often contacted by Scotland Yard to solve crimes that they could not. Jenny had sent many telegrams to the institution on behalf of her wife informing them that whatever culprit they had been searching for had been dealt with accordingly. The study door drew nearer and Jenny slowed her dusting pace, worried now that she would reach the door too soon and be mentally unprepared for whatever lurked behind it. She ran through the multiple possibilities in her mind; but nothing could calm her erratic heart rate. This must be how Vastra felt when she was out hunting criminals and murderers. She withdrew her small lock picking kit and had just started inserting the small implements into the keyhole when she realised that the door wasn't locked at all. Jenny crouched to peer through the hole, the room looked empty. She silently cursed under her breath feeling rather silly before opening the door. It creaked open slowly, Jenny flinched as a blast hit the doorframe beside her head.

"Strax!" she chastised, "Wha' the 'ell are you doin'?"

"Investigating," the Sontaran replied lowering his blaster, "You startled me," he explained matter of factly.

Jenny closed the door quickly behind her, "'ow the 'ell did you get in 'ere?"

"Through the door you stupid boy!"

"The door was open?"

"Of course it was open! How else do you think I got in here? ... Ridiculous human"

Jenny puffed air into her cheeks and glared at the back of the Sontaran's head, "You're going to get us caught," she muttered angrily before joining him in his snooping.