Author's Note!
Howdy everyone! We enter the climactic final act of Molten in the next few chapters! We're almost done! Hope you guys have enjoyed it!
Sorry I missed yesterday's post! Maybe I can get you guys two today!
DH
Elsa could barely feel anything by the time the dragon reached the palace. The cold had chilled her down to the bones.
The ships of the blockade began to enter the fjord having sensed that something was wrong.
Karthus led Jolly Roger towards the ships. The dragon swooped in front of the coming ships; the water in front of them froze instantly into jagged and treacherous bastions as Karthus blasted the fjord. The leading ship was caught in the blast and crushed by the ice.
The blockade could do nothing else. The fjord began to freeze solid. The Dragon's mighty ship, the Ignis Spiritus was caught in the flash freeze; locking it in place.
Karthus laughed at the feeble attempts of the blockade.
Elsa's mind was racing. All she could think about was the conversations she had with Arthur. The kisses. The magic. And the moment that killed it all. It was all a lie.
"How could he make you feel this way..." She thought to herself. Her tears had frozen solid on her face.
"Love isn't real, you stupid girl... This was the closest you could ever have gotten and you ruined it."
The dragon landed on the Palace roof.
Karthus hopped off and landed hard. His feet spread ice as they slammed onto the brick floor.
"Welcome home, Roger! This will be our palace now!"
The dragon's chest hummed, he flicked his tongue, he lowered himself to the roof and looked back at the two women that were still on his back.
Elsa looked into the great yellow-orange eye that was staring at her. Elsa shuddered as she saw that instead of being just an animal he was intelligent, that he was a proud creature, that he chose to be with Karthus making him as cold as his master.
"Time to get off." Minka unclipped Elsa and helped her down.
"Beloved, the queen looks unwell..." Minka said to Karthus.
Elsa shivered uncontrollably.
"I suppose that could be a problem." he said. "I think its wonderful out, personally!"
Minka led the faint Elsa into the castle. The storm built.
Karthus peered over the Edge of the roof and saw his men arriving on their horses.
"Welcome home, boys." Karthus' mouth hurt from grinning.
Arthur sat motionless. The cold began to set in. He was freezing to death. After losing Elsa, he didn't mind.
"You!" Anna screamed at him. "You monster! She loved you and you threw it back in her face! You let her go with that freak! How could you! How could you not love her!" She ran at him raising her chained arms to strike him.
Arthur didn't react. He didn't even look at her.
"Anna wait!" Kris stopped her. "Stop it Anna! He came to save you. He fought bravely! But now He's our only chance to save Elsa!"
Arthur scoffed. "I can't..." He said quietly.
"What..." Kris was confused. "What happened to the fire! And the heroism! And the riding into the sunset! You can't just give up now!"
"What choice do I have, kris..." Arthur said shivering.
"You're cold... What happened to your powers..." Anna said. She was suddenly finding it very difficult to be mad at him while he was freezing to death.
"I don't know... They... Snapped. I felt it." Arthur muttered. "And now I'm going to die... So if you'll excuse me."
Kristoff knelt down and wrapped his coat around him. "He's ice cold, Anna. He's not lying..."
"Lying or not he doesn't love Elsa. And it destroyed her... Literally."
"PLEASE. STOP SAYING THAT..." Arthur snapped. The glint of fire behind his eyes was weak.
"I d-don't know what love is. But if it's real th-then I am in love with Elsa..." He started to cry; the tears freezing on his face.
"At least I th-thought I was. She's all I can th-think about. All I have been able to th-think about for days... She's my angel. I've dreamt about her since I w-was a boy... I see her when I close my eyes... I have since I w-was a boy..."
"What do you mean?" Anna asked.
"When I was a boy I was saved by an angel. Since that day I've seen her whenever I close my eyes. Beautiful and gentle. When I've had nothing... I had her. To guide me through. A couple days ago. In my darkest hours... I met her..."
"Why didn't you tell her the truth..." Anna was concerned now.
"Because seeing her. Seeing she was real. Beautiful. Living. Vulnerable. I couldn't...
I am a force of nature. An intentional swath of destruction. I couldn't destroy my angel... And now despite all my efforts to avoid it I've inadvertently destroyed her anyways."
"Arthur... The Heart Stone..." Anna began.
"He's not lying Anna... A liar wouldn't come this far... Lose this much." Kris said trying to warm the dying man.
"I know what happened to you, Arthur..." Bulda the troll approached the trio.
The rest of the trolls in the valley edged a little closer but stayed out of sight. "You severed your conduit..."
"His what?" Kristoff asked.
"His conduit. The connection between his body and his Heart magic. The pathway through which magic flows Into his body." Bulda said.
She pulled a red crystal from her pocket; She pushed it into the ice holding Arthur's hands. The fire crystal melted the ice.
He held his hands under his arms. His fingertips were blue.
"T-Thank you..." He struggled to say. "The H-Heart stone.."
"Works through the conduit. When your emotions are strongest so is your conduit. Elsa is madly passionately In love with you, son.." She said. "She was easy prey for the Heart stone."
".. And I should have been too... But.."
"But you snapped your conduit. The Heart stone couldn't touch your heart magic because it was too weak to hold any kind of transfer."
"You... You do love, Elsa..." Anna said shocked.
"More than anything..." He blew onto his frozen hands.
His hands were shaking uncontrollably.
Bulda gave him the fire crystal to hold; it warmed his hands a little.
"Can you heal his conduit?" Kristoff asked.
"No. I don't know of a magic powerful enough to repair someone's conduit... But I can heal you of your physical injuries."
The compassionate troll sparked some magic on her fingertips and began to heal him with her magic.
"Why are you helping me..." Arthur asked. Warming himself with the crystal. "One of you is dead because of me..."
"I'm helping you because it's right. You came to rescue Elsa because it's right."
"Right is a matter of opinion." Arthur said.
"True. I can't deny that. You can lie to yourself. But you can't lie to your own heart."
"What about true love!" Anna interrupted.
"Well what about it?" The troll said.
"Can True love heal a conduit?" She inquired.
"I dont know... But That's interesting ... Arthur, did you feel anything when Elsa kissed you..." She asked while she healed his head.
"I ... I felt warm..." Arthur closed his eyes as he remembered the kiss. "Yes! I felt warm! While I was fighting the dragon I felt something in my heart snap... Like... My magic heart." He started to breathe normally. "Karthus used the heart stone and their was nothing to take!"
"And?"
"When I kissed Elsa it was like a spark was lit in me..."
The troll placed her hand over his heart.
"Oh my... It's there. Tiny. But there!" She closed his Hand on the fire crystal and pushed his hand to his heart and he absorbed the crystal. The light in his eyes burned a tiny bit brighter.
"You've just made history... You... You repaired a broken conduit..."
Elsa felt empty; For many reasons. For one her soul had been delved into and the very thing that she had built her life upon was removed. Another was that she had fallen in love. Passionately, Crazily in love but the man of her dreams had no feelings for her whatsoever. And to top it all off she was now training a mad man on how to use the piece of her soul to kill the man she loved.
"It is fueled by emotions. Anger, Anxiety, Fear. They are all powerful but impossible to control. The only way I could control them was through love.." It hurt to say the word.
"I have no time for that nonsense." Karthus said.
They stood in the grand hall. The place that Elsa froze her sister's mind so many years ago.
"You can dominate your will. That will grant you control. But it was impossible to maintain. I couldn't conceal it for very long and eventually it exploded..."
Karthus clenched a fist. Focusing on it. A rough gauntlet of ice formed on his fist.
"If there is anything I can do. It's dominate..." He said pleased with the gauntlet.
"But I have no time for concealment." The gauntlet's jagged outer layer of ice exploded and beneath was a perfect smooth gauntlet.
"Yes. That's it. Let it go. Just imagine it and it will come to be." She said mostly to herself.
"Interesting." He said. "How much power do I have?"
Elsa saw his eyes filled with a desire for power, she was afraid of what she saw.
His eyes pinned her to where she was standing.
She hugged herself trying to keep warm.
Karthus slinked forward causing Elsa to take a step back. When he was standing in front of her he whispered.
"Answer me."
His breath was warm on her face, he smelt like smoke from the battle in the quarry with Arthur. Almost like firewood. That would have been A comfortable smell but on him it smelled like death. Karthus smiled as she shuddered at his confidence.
She couldn't help but think what their life could have been if he wasn't trying to kill her. He was smart, strong and until he took hers did everything without powers proving that you could be powerful and be normal. She craved to know that confidence, to know what it was like to be so sure without something extra. Elsa shuddered as he pushed her chin up so that she was looking right into his eyes. Elsa sighed in relief as he looked away from her.
"Your majesty."
"As much as you desire. Heart magic is unlimited. Use it your heart's content." She did her best to make the lie as discreet as possible. She was lucky he was still examining his gauntlet at the time.
"Excellent... Teach me more!"
Elsa sighed. She had cried her eyes dry.
"Arthur. Your conduit is saved. But it is small. It will take years to restore it back to a healthy fighting strength like it was..." Bulda said.
"I don't have years!" Arthur insisted. "We cannot make the conduit stronger if we use the Heart stone?"
"Afraid not!" The motherly troll continued. "It can only be used to transfer Heart magic." She instructed the other trolls to gather all of their fire crystals.
"Arthur, we can temporarily strengthen your conduit."
"Understood." He placed his hands atop a mound of fire crystals and focused; Absorbing them all. The flames in his eyes beginning to resemble the sun once again.
"The fire Crystals will strengthen your magic. But Arthur you have to understand. It's not the same as repairing it. You can hold it open but you cannot stop. If you go through with this. This may be the last time you can use magic. Ever again..."
"I do not care. All that matters is Elsa. If I can get to her. I can fix all of this." He said as the color returned to his face and the fire to his eyes.
His tattoos began to glow a blinding orange; like a window to a furnace.
"Your conduit is weak. But will hold so long as you continuously use magic. Stop. Even for a quick breather and your heart walls will rebuild!"
"Give it everything I have? Got it."
Kris approached Arthur carrying Gigas. "You're going to need all the help you can get."
"You're right. And I hate to endanger you. But I need you..." Arthur stepped towards Anna and she held out her shackled hands and cringed.
"I will not hurt you, Anna." Gigas said monotone.
Arthur slashes twice at her shackles. The silver blade slices through the metal shackles and they fall off Anna's wrists. She is unscathed when she reopens her eyes.
"I'm going to need your help rescuing Elsa.." He said handing Gigas back to Kris.
"I tried to do this alone. My arrogance has costed me... And all of us far too much. I can't... Do this alone."
"I'll gladly fight alongside you but.. I don't know how to fight?" Kris stated.
"Worry not. The sword will show you how!" He said almost smiling. Dwelling on a memory.
"And what do you need me to do?" Anna walked up to them.
"No! Absolutely not! I won't allow you!" Kris let Gigas hang at his hip and crossed his arms at her.
"I won't allow YOU to go out there without my protection!" She met his angry stare. "Arthur! I can help!"
"No."
"What!" Anna is angry.
"There is fear in your eyes Anna..." Arthur says. "Karthus has planted fear deep in you."
"True... But more than I fear him I fear doing nothing... Elsa needs us."
"This is dangerous.. I" he hesitates.
"No. Elsa is my sister! She needs her family! I will not be denied!" She stared down the Dragon.
"...I" he sighed. "Kris. We do need her..."
"I know... And I hate it." Kris places a hand on his wife's shoulder.
"Anna. You can help us. But I will not allow you to go to battle unprotected." Arthur brings up the Heart Stone.
"Anna. I know your bond with Elsa is strong. So I need to ask you something..." He placed her hand atop the relic. "How much do you love Elsa?"
"More than I can explain." Her eyes hold a fiery determination.
"Then that is where you must pull your strength from."
Magical fire swirls around them.
Karthus held his arms out at his sides. Black Ice and snow began to swirl around him. He closed his eyes. Focusing. The ice began to swirl at blinding speed around him. In a moment it solidifies into perfect armor. A suit of crystalline armor fit for a King.
He waved his hand and a perfect mirror formed at his whim. He was getting very good at constructs. He looked into the mirror and smiled at his reflection. His armour was flawless. Symmetrical. Geometrically perfect in every way.
"That's... Incredible." Elsa says staring at the perfectly crafted armor.
Karthus smiled at her wonder, he couldn't help but attempt to show off to her. He did not need her but it was much easier to have her look on him with wonder.
He formed crystal swords in the air around him. They swished and sliced at the control of his very thoughts.
Elsa hugged herself even closer biting her lip at the cold that stung her skin and burned her lungs. In Karthus control the ice was unyielding, unforgiving and merciless.
"I must admit one thing about ice. It is far more beautiful than my brother's fleeting flames!"
Karthus laughed admiring the excellent armor. He created a Multi-sided sheathe on his back and the swords slid perfectly into it.
"Your teaching has been ever helpful, Elsa. I've waited for power like this my whole life. My brother was always weak-willed. Not stealing himself for what needed to be done! He has run away for his entire existence. I will destroy him now that we rest on equal footing! He is a powerful man but I Have become a god!" He spread his hands wide and the air in the room filled with swords.
"Join me, Elsa! Be my Frozen Queen! Help me rid this world of the weak and susceptible!"
"But what of Minka..." She said not wanting to answer him.
"She is a useful tool. A well-weighted knife in my hands." He hastily created a dagger. He admired it but brushed it off. It was not perfect.
"But she is not a queen! She is not worthy!" He snapped the blade off the dagger as he said it.
"Your beauty is without match, Dear Elsa!" With a wave of his hand he created a beautiful crown, intricate, delicate and flawless.
He placed it on her head. Elsa looked into a piece of his armour to see that the beautiful crystal that was in the center threw tiny rainbows around and made her skin look luminous. He turned and strode away allowing her to think.
Elsa took a steadying breath and looked at Karthus.
"With all due respect, King Karthus. This is the second time you have proposed to me. And the answer is still no!" She said not fearing him, she removed the crown and dropped it. It smashed on the ground.
Karthus smiled and walked forward even with the armour his movements were cat-like. He slinked towards her, his eyes gleamed, holding her in place.
"Ha ha ha! Oh what a feisty one! You still love him don't you! You don't want to! You truly hate yourself for it. But you cannot stop.
Well Elsa, As I'm sure you witnessed my glory when we kissed I witnessed your deepest darkest moments. All these years I have devised and plotted. How will I kill my brother? You supplied me with my answer, Elsa!"
His rough hand took hers, Elsa looked down at the hand that enclosed hers. Years of abuse covered them. This tenderness that he was showing her was unfamiliar. She did not know what to expect and didn't like what he was doing. She wanted him to speak plainly and not play games with her. To distract from the moment trying to figure out how she should feel about everything that was going on swirling around her.
"I did..." She said nervously.
Karthus smiled and took her other hand looking right at her with a look of excitement. There was something almost childlike about how happy he looked to have figured out a puzzle.
Elsa knew that she shouldn't want to hear more but she allowed him to capture her attention and continue talking.
"Yes! You did! I want to keep his remains as a reminder of my victory. But a rotting corpse or an urn of ashes just simply won't do! So I'm going to freeze his heart! A painful enough death and I can stare him in the eyes. Relishing his final anguish! Forever! I will be the master of our future. I am the captain of our fate. Father told us that we should stick together. And after today….. We will.
I want his last thoughts to be of you. I want his face to freeze in an eternal image of pain. I want him to realize that the woman he truly did love has betrayed him."
Elsa looked at him, his smile stung her. Her heart felt heavy as she realized that she had condemned another person to face the pain that she had.
She may have been born with the powers but if she felt too much she would feel a pain in her heart. A pain like it was being frozen forever. Now that the magical part of her was gone the pain that she felt was different.
"He feels a different pain too…. Karthus has felt loss….. Betrayal… the fire in his heart! That is what is controlling his power …. That is what is causing his power to be so strong….. The flame in his heart is pushing him."
Elsa looked at Karthus once more, he moved to kiss her cheek in thanks. Elsa side stepped so his lips barely touched her skin; not wanting him to think that he could do what he wanted.
Karthus broke into an evil laugh and Elsa's head hung as she looked away from him. He walked away, creating the same dagger again. Balancing it on the edge of his finger. He cocked a glance back at Elsa.
Her eyes burned, not with sadness or anger but with guilt. She wished that there was a way that she could warn Arthur; make him stay away but there was nothing. Nothing that would make him stay away.
"You did this to him. If anything you are the reason he is going to die."
The thoughts played in her head as Elsa put her face in her hands. She breathed deeply containing her emotions. She looked out at the window. The sky was darkening, there was a calm but she knew that soon the storm would follow and that she was going to be caught in the middle of a terrifying battle that would destroy the three of them.
"I'm sorry, Arthur..." Elsa whispered.