Warning A/N: This chapter will be dark. Body horror. Definitely M-Rated. Oh, and get the tissues ready.
Ghost's Theme: "Sacrifice", Guardians of the Galaxy OST (the piece that plays when Star Lord rescues Gamora).
"Sleeping Beauty (For the Fallen)"
Location: Snowfield House
Date: December 4th, 2073
Time: 09:26
'What are we going to do?' was one of those annoyingly vague questions covering a multitude of contexts, each one ranging from the choice between a holo-movie and a museum visit, to being pinned down by enemy fire, surrounded and out of options. The trivial to the life-defining.
Rapunzel's question to the room existed on the latter end of the spectrum. Thirty minutes until the hover-car arrived to carry them to the Staging Ground, and she'd picked that moment to ask it. Elsa couldn't fault her too much; there was no way in hell they'd risk such a question surrounded by the military. She was, however, content to listen to the conversation unfold whilst lost in thought.
"... about?" Astrid asked slowly from the corner of the sofa, glass of water in her right hand.
Rapunzel glanced at her and shrugged. "Us. The Ghosts. Unity. Supreme Commander Henrik. All of it." When Astrid said nothing, she added, "Everything we thought was the truth has been turned on its head. I think we need to get our bearings."
Elsa's jaw clenched. Supreme Commander Henrik Larsen was a name she had tried to put at the back of her mind. It was one thing to chase after and wrongly attempt to kill a member of a resistance team, it was quite another to rightly attempt to kill someone who ranked just below the Unifier in importance. Avenging her parents wasn't viable in any way, shape or form; he was too powerful. Too well-protected.
Even if she tried, she'd likely die in the attempt - and the thought of dying without seeing her sister again terrified her. It didn't stop the helplessness from taunting her though.
"What makes ye think the Ghosts'll want anything ta do with us?" Merida pointed out, perched on the edge of the sofa's opposite side. "From what Elsa told us, it sounds like Frost wasnae interested in anything she had ta say, and I reckon she was lucky ta come away unscathed. Might nae happen again."
"Maybe…" Rapunzel offered lamely, "Maybe they'll understand."
Merida frowned. "How'd ye figure that, lass?"
"Well... we didn't know that Hans was gonna blow up their ship, we didn't know what was gonna happen to the other teams. If they realise... if they understand that we had to follow orders, maybe they'll-"
"No."
All eyes turned to Elsa, whose face was taut with determination and purpose as she stared unblinkingly at the floor, her arms folded while she leaned on the wall. Rapunzel was right in a manner of speaking, and she knew it, but pedantry and optimism would not cut it - especially in the eyes of the Ghosts.
"What do you mean?" Astrid asked, leaning forward in interest.
Elsa pushed herself off the wall and laced her hands together behind her back. "We need to take responsibility, not absolve ourselves of it. No, we didn't expect or want the Purge to happen, for all those people to die. No, we didn't know what the Inquisitors would do to the other teams. It doesn't matter. We still captured their friends and our boots were the first on the Guardian Star's deck. We still physically injured them. We need to make it right. I don't know how, and I don't know if we'll even succeed, but we have to try - and the first step is accepting that even if we didn't pull the trigger, we still had a role in it. To do otherwise is a lie."
"You know," Astrid remarked as she relaxed back into Elsa's sofa, "you've gone up about six notches in my book for that."
"What does that take me to?"
"Six," Astrid deadpanned, and gestured to Rapunzel. "But it still doesn't answer Flower-Girl's question. What are we going to do?"
"I'll be doing what I was going to do ever since I started training: when my Valkyrie tour of duty ends next week, I will hand in my retirement papers. Then, I intend to search every single building in Unity territory for my sister, and spend the rest of my life making it right."
Astrid gave her an odd look, halfway between a sneer and a bemused gape. "What, you wanna ally with them?"
Elsa smiled and looked away - such an opportunity, while about as likely as her parents' spontaneous resurrection, would be welcome. "If they would have me." She sighed and adjusted the position of her feet to the standard at-ease position. "However, I will do this alone - I can't ask any of you to come with me. You all have your own lives to return to after when you retire. Your own families."
She looked up at her team just in time to see Astrid purse her lips and look away.
"But tha's nuts!" Merida said, lifting an arm in protest. "We have no idea where they're hiding; it could take ye months, years ta find 'em - and that's if ye do!"
"It's either that," Elsa said as she gestured toward the stairwell, "or I sit here, alone in my house, reinforcing Anna's already low opinion of me. There's no contest. I have to do it."
Rapunzel looked deeply anxious. Painfully so. She knitted her brow and lamely pointed at Elsa. "You can't do it alone."
Elsa opened her mouth, hoping it would be the last sentence she needed to speak to convince Rapunzel that she was going ahead with it whether she liked it or not, but Astrid beat her to the punch, and in the most surprising way possible.
"She won't be alone."
Elsa was floored, and any hope of masking her utter astonishment went out of the window. She stared, dumbfounded. "What?"
Astrid shrugged indifferently. She took a sip of her water and scrutinised it. "I've got nothing planned. I can come with you."
The sigh that Elsa let loose wasn't intended to be patronising, but she sensed Astrid perceived it that way, judging by the look of death she subsequently received. She had intended to go it alone precisely to not involve the Valkyries, in case the Ghosts decided to skip the trial stage and go straight to the execution. Her own death she was fine with provided she saw Anna before her end, but she was adamant it would be hers and not anyone else's. "Astrid," she attempted diplomatically, "I can't put you in that position. Your family-"
Astrid's interruption was harsh and carried with it a stream of bitterness so sharp it made Elsa flinch. "-is not something I want to talk about," she snapped, glaring. "Do you want me to help or not?"
Elsa looked at Rapunzel for an explanation - based on that response, she was about as inclined to agree as Anna was to spontaneously proclaim the renewal of their sibling relationship. Rapunzel looked away, startled by the vehemence in Astrid's tone, and more than a few glances were cast her way. Merida rubbed her left temple with visible exasperation, but Astrid's scowl hadn't dropped in the slightest. "Family…" Rapunzel began awkwardly, "is kind of a sore spot for Astrid."
Elsa swallowed and nibbled her lips. Eyeing Astrid warily, she decided. "I would welcome the company," she said, "provided this situation isn't repeated."
Astrid's eyes didn't even move, nor did she miss a beat. "If my family isn't brought up again, it won't be. Besides," she downed the rest of the glass and whacked it down on a nearby table, "if I'm certain I can trust you, then I'll introduce you to a friend of mine that might make our search a lot easier."
"What friend is that?" Merida asked, frowning.
"A personal one," Astrid said in a clipped tone as she abruptly stood, deepening Merida's frown along with causing a flash of hurt across her face. It was clear she would brook no more questions. "So, you interested?"
Slowly, Elsa nodded. She wasn't sure she was comfortable with Astrid's help, but she would be lying if she said the help wasn't welcome. Rapunzel had taught her much of solidarity versus solitude and scouring the entirety of Unity territory would be lonely. Not to mention it would be far less boring.
"Good," Astrid said, moving to stand beside her. "I've got a lot of wrongs I need to make right, and like you said, it's not gonna happen if I sit on my ass."
Elsa dipped her head once in respect, but as she did, she took a glance at Merida. The brave woman's head was bowed, her curls cascading over her shoulders to hide her face. "Are you alright, Merida?" she asked out of concern.
The red locks swayed to and fro. "Not really."
Elsa shot a glare at Astrid, who for a few seconds returned it scowl-for-scowl, until her face betrayed dawning comprehension - and embarrassed shame. "Red," she said, "look - I'm sorry I snapped-"
"It's not that, Astrid." A hand dove into the mess of hair just as Elsa heard a sniff, before her soft voice spoke, "It's that I cannae come with ye."
"I never expected you to," Elsa said.
Merida looked up, and amidst welling eyes, her face wore a mask of what looked like grief and shame. "But I'm supposed ta, ain't I? This is a sisterhood, we help each other with their problems, but... I cannae do it. Not anymore."
Rapunzel clucked and quickly went to sit by her and stroke her shoulder. "Harvester really did a number on you, didn't he?"
Merida snorted bitterly. "Aye, he did." Another sniff, and a wipe of her finger under her nose. "That night, I found out just how close ta death I was - so when we got our leave papers, I was so lookin' forward ta seein' ma family again. Kinda like my reward fer survivin'... but when I got home, it was different. My brothers were five when I left fer trainin', now they're eight. I missed three years of them growin' up. Playin' with them. Those are years I cannae get back, and I don't want ta miss any more. Not while I have the chance ta spend time with 'em. I'm sorry."
Elsa sighed, pity in her eyes as she gave her a reassuring smile, but Astrid beat her to the punch, with far more gentleness than anyone expected of her. "Red - we never expected neither you nor Rapunzel to come." When Rapunzel opened her mouth to protest, Astrid held up a discouraging hand, and continued, "The reason it's just gonna be us two, is because we don't have family at home. We have nothing to come back to. You've both got families waiting for you who miss you and love you - Elsa's sister is out there, and my parents couldn't give a shit if I was dead or missing."
Elsa shot her an odd look and gently chastised her. "A little more blunt than I would have put it," she said, and then looked at Merida, "but Astrid is correct. If there was a choice between your company and your happiness, then it's not even a choice at all. But if you want me to," she smiled wryly, "I can make it an order."
Merida chuckled lightly and sniffed once more. "Nah, yer all right. Thanks, girls."
"Don't mention it." Elsa looked at each of them and forced a bright expression. "Well, I don't think it'll be long until the hover-car gets here to take us to the Staging Ground, so if you'll excuse me I'm going to take one last look around the house. Maybe spend some time in Anna's room - I have a suspicion this will be the last time I ever set foot in these walls, and I intend to commit as much of this place to memory as I can."
She knew she wouldn't be coming back. She decided, one way or another, that day would be the last day a Snowfield would live in Snowfield House.
Location: Staging Ground
Time: 17:25
Elsa grumbled under her breath as she made her way down the concrete-grey corridor toward the shooting range and debated visiting the quartermaster for a new wrist-com bracelet. The infernal contraption had been vibrating irregularly, and despite her best efforts to find out whether she was receiving a call from one of her team members elsewhere on the base, the silver band had been remarkably and irritatingly reluctant to behave.
Groaning through gritted teeth, her eyes rose to heaven when she had enough. She yanked up the sleeve and pulled the device up to her face, glaring angrily at it. "What the hell is wrong with you? Do you want me to tag you for recycling?"
It was then she noticed something she had previously missed, and it was only because of the slightly dimmer lights of the Valkyrie Quarter that she caught it - a faint blue light just off centre of the band. It was a visual notification of a text-only message, rarely used but an option installed just in case. It had been so long since that function had been used, Elsa forgot it existed. "Display message," she said to the bracelet.
The centre obeyed, and a small beam of light not unlike the holographic projector of the Uni-Com or her briefing table appeared - and in the middle of the blue field, letters flickered into existence in a haphazard and disjointed format. Not unlike-
eLsA
"Aurora," she breathed. So much had happened since the hacking of her Uni-Com, the unnerving experience had largely faded from her memory, especially since she took the Uni-Com's word for it that it was nothing more than a hacker trying to be clever. Now, it seemed, this person was more determined to get hold of her - and that they were right, nothing was as it seemed. "Aurora," she repeated blankly.
yEs
Who could also understand her, apparently. Elsa quickly looked behind her - the corridor was largely empty save for three officers immersed in light conversation, passing her on their way to the shooting range. She angled her back toward them, seeking to hide the potentially suspicious communication - then again, a Valkyrie facing a wall was bound to look weird. "Who are you?"
fINd mE
Elsa blinked. "Wha-what? Find you... where are you?"
BEHinD thE DoOR yoU aLwaYs wAnted tO OPen
slEEpiNG BeauTY
She took a quiet but ragged gasp - the one door in the Valkyrie Quarter she wasn't allowed to go through, another locked door in her life. The one with SLEEPING BEAUTY INTERFACE, AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY inscribed on it. Her heart raced with tense excitement; she always wanted to know what lay beyond that door, and the what was increasingly looking like a who. Her head swiveled left and right, checking to see if the coast was clear. With no-one to her left, and the three officers far away enough to not be considered a risk, Elsa pulled her sleeve back over the bracelet and went back the way she came, stopping once at the corner. She peered round; two logistics officers in their grey boiler-suits stood by a wooden crate continued to debate the proper way to pack a stun rifle as they had done when she passed by a few minutes ago. Periodically one would reach into the crate and flip a rifle onto its back, and the other would immediately turn it over again. Elsa waited, with her breath coming thick and fast, until one of them picked up the rifle and slammed it down. With a sharp gasp she darted across the room whilst the second grumbled something rude and turned it back, and without thinking she pushed down on the handle and slipped inside.
The first thing that hit her was the complete reversal in illumination. Whereas the corridor outside was fairly well lit, her surroundings were blanketed in murky darkness, the only light radiating from a pitifully weak sequence of gold strip-lights on either side of her, where floor met wall. She waited while her eyes adjusted, and after a minute she picked out thick cables that sprouted out of the walls either side, held neatly together by large metal tidies in equidistant spacing, and as she looked up, she discerned the faint outline of a security camera.
Her eyes widened, and her stomach dropped when the implication hit. Someone could have seen her enter. Rooted to the spot, she knew that any second now, base security troops would come thundering through the door and catch her where she couldn't go. Then would come the questions, and whatever Aurora wanted for her would be a moot point.
The bracelet vibrated, abrupt enough to make her start. Biting her lip, she yanked her sleeve back and peered at the message.
cAmeRA on Loop. SaFE.
Elsa closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief that came out as more of a whimper.
foLLow ThE liGhts
The striplights either side pulsed in a line, accompanied by a gentle hum. Pulling the sleeve back down, Elsa warily and slowly moved in the direction the lights were leading her, eyes picking apart the dark ahead for any sign of... anything. The metal plates rattled under her feet, even with her careful steps, and the sound echoed throughout wherever the hell she thought she was. To say it was unnerving for her was an understatement.
She knew she was going the right way, and it was a thought reinforced by how the striplights went off in opposite directions to form a wide circle, and the blinking to life of a dozen miniature glass Uni-Com screens ahead. She tilted her head; such disconcerting surroundings for a mere handful of Uni-Coms? It didn't seem right. She continued on toward them, occasionally checking behind her in case someone had sneaked up on her, until she was a few feet away from the screens. Each one read 'AWAITING DATA INPUT' in slowly pulsing white letters over a light blue background.
She read it out loud. "Awaiting data input." She frowned at the banal truth behind the door kept secret. "What data do you need inputting?"
"My dreams."
Elsa cursed aloud in fright and whirled around to the source of the feminine voice.
Taking two steps back she stared, open mouthed and stunned.
The woman gazed back. Golden blonde hair that framed a healthy pink face and a gentle smile. Dark blue eyes that saw her, yet gave Elsa a chill as though she was looking through her. Against the dull grey metal walls, thick pipe systems and bright yet pitifully useless lights, her pink off-shoulder dress stood out like a rose in a ruined building. So out of place. A vision in sunlight, against the dark of night.
And when she spoke, she spoke with a thousand voices, like the eerie voice of a legion.
"I am Sleeping Beauty."
Elsa tried to speak, but no words would dare come. Neither would her breath; whether it was due to fright or that an elegantly dressed woman just magically appeared behind her, she wasn't sure... not that it mattered.
"It is good to finally meet you," Sleeping Beauty said.
Elsa blinked, still bereft of the ability to speak. What was once banal, became surreal. "Um…" she forced out with a croaky voice, "... likewise."
Sleeping Beauty's eyes crinkled slightly, and her smile widened an inch. "You are nervous. Why?"
"Erm," Elsa stammered, "well, it's probably something to do with you appearing out of thin air, and speaking like hundred people all saying the same thing at the same time. You know. That might have something to do with it."
What she said seemed to have an effect, but not one she liked; Sleeping Beauty's face fell, and her eyes went to the floor in ashamed apology. "I am sorry. I realise this must be unsettling for you - I must confess, it is the same for me. I rarely get visitors, much less ones I can communicate with."
Elsa cocked an eyebrow. "Right…" She cast her eyes around the room, hoping to distract herself from the surreal and ground herself in reality. Faintly illuminated by the lights, she stood on a large circular dais, slightly elevated from the surrounding floor. Pipes set into the dais travelled toward the centre and burrowed down into either side of a long rectangle impression in the floor. It was murky, oppressive, and Elsa couldn't understand why anyone would be down here. Something that prompted her to blurt, "Forgive me for being blunt but... why did you want me to come here?"
Sleeping Beauty looked up at her, but the shame held sway in her ethereal features. Shame, and what looked suspiciously like guilt. "I must make a request of you. Something I would not ask you to do were I not so desperate."
Elsa instantly looked at her. "What do you want me to do?"
Pink hands went up to her chest and fiddled with each other. Sleeping Beauty's lip found its way between her teeth. "Before I ask you - I need you to understand why I need your help. May I show you something?"
Elsa's head turned an inch, though her eyes narrowed a touch. "Okay…"
Sleeping Beauty thanked her, and a hand directed her to a small silver disc under her feet with the suggestion she lift it, and turn the handle under it ninety degrees clockwise. Frowning, Elsa complied with her recommendation and knelt down, all the while wondering why Sleeping Beauty didn't do it herself. Her fingers lifted the circular hatch, grasped the grooved handle and twisted it as directed.
She recoiled in surprise as steam burst with an angry hiss from the corners of the rectangular impression. The floor vibrated under her thanks to a series of metallic groans and clanks, which preceded the appearance of a thin line of light bisecting the rectangle. Oddly, it reminded her of the Hammer's launch bay doors, a notion reinforced by the rectangle splitting apart with a protracted scraping. The two panels pulled away from each other and receded into their housing much like a door, and a second before they were hidden completely, a three-dimensional iron grey rectangle not unlike a casket slowly rose before her eyes. With a regular clanking like the turning of cogs, the object continued to lift until it abruptly ceased before her with a dull thump.
Elsa blinked and stared at it with a blank expression. Even in the age of technological advancement, it wasn't exactly something she saw every day. "What is this?" she asked quietly, unable to take her eyes off it. Sleeping Beauty's answer only added to the questions and brought a measure of insidious discomfort.
"Me."
Elsa frowned with ill-hidden surprise. "What?"
Sleeping Beauty said nothing, but the finger she pointed at a small circular button was all the clarification Elsa didn't know she needed. Nervous, but with enough curiosity to kill a batch of cats, Elsa leaned forward and pushed it with a slightly trembling finger. Obediently, the top surface of the object split into four sections, and with a good deal more speed than the floor hatch, rotated ninety degrees in opposite directions and moved down to the object's sides, flush against its surface.
Tension in her breathing thanks to an oddly tight chest, Elsa timidly peered inside - and covered her mouth in gasping horror when she realised exactly why it reminded her of a casket. There was a woman inside it.
Her arms were crossed over her chest with her hands on her shoulders. Dirty blonde hair cascaded like a dishevelled oily mess from her scalp, but there were patches where hair no longer grew. Her skin was pale, almost translucent, and her dull nails were raggedly manicured. She smelled of faint body odour, and her lips were ghostly white. She was naked, with only her arms covering her breasts and a faded grey strip of material hiding her nether regions. What turned Elsa's stomach and caused her to try so hard not to throw up was not the state of the poor woman - it was what she was attached to. She was intubated with a plastic pipe burrowing into her mouth. The backs of her hands sported cannulas, and further tubes protruded from under the cloth, all of which led into the base of the 'casket'. The worst part, however, were the six thin cables attached to her head, which Elsa didn't initially notice thanks to the overgrowing hair. Slowly, she leaned over whilst keeping her hand over her mouth, which turned out to be a sensible idea when a closer look revealed the cables were literally in her skull, due to scarring around the penetration sites.
"I think I'm going to be sick," she uttered in a strangled voice, but fought hard not to prove the statement true. Still, she tore herself away and heaved. "Fucking hell." She panted, waiting for the retching to subside. "How... who would do something like that?"
"Unity."
Elsa's head swivelled, and she stared at Sleeping Beauty with an incredulous expression. The woman's eyes, however, remained fixed upon the inert woman in the 'casket', seeing but not seeing her, with numbness etched on her face. "W-what?" Elsa mumbled.
Sleeping Beauty did not answer. Elsa's eyes danced between the two women, back and forth, until it finally clicked. She said the casket was her, but it was the person inside it she was referring to. Which meant-
"You're a hologram."
It explained the slight glow to her body, and how the colour of her skin, hair and clothing wasn't dimmed by her surroundings, and how her voice sounded so strange. The dark blue eyes suddenly snapped to meet Elsa's gaze, abruptly enough to make her breath catch. "Yes," she answered. "Forgive me for my silence," she said as she looked back at the woman in the 'casket', "I am having what could be defined as an out-of-body experience. The person you see in there is me, but the person you speak to now is who I used to be - at least, I hope so. I am... I was... called Aurora."
Elsa straightened up. She took a step toward her. "How did you come to be in there?"
Aurora studied her for a moment. "I was eighteen when it happened. Mama, Papa and I were eating dinner, when I passed out. I woke up a week later, and the doctors could not tell me why, but they had noticed after several scans that my brain was more active than they had previously seen, especially during sleep. However, they saw no danger to my health, so I was sent home with my family."
Aurora didn't move a single inch as she talked, though had Elsa not been so rapt with attention, she would have put it down to a hologram having no need for idle movement. "It wasn't long before the pain started. Sharp, excruciating migraines that felt like my head was on fire - but with the pain, came images. Videos in my head of people I had never met. People who lived in places I had never visited, yet somehow I saw them as clear as day. I saw them as they underwent the transition, from human to something else. Something... greater."
A transition. It could only mean one thing. "You're an abnormal…" Elsa breathed.
Aurora nodded, slowly but resolutely. Her eyes didn't move from the 'casket', not once. "Yes. It took me some time to understand, but when I saw a good friend being taken away, and remembered I had seen them in my visions, I realised I was seeing people as they bloomed, that somehow we were connected for those moments."
"And Unity found out," Elsa murmured, her stomach sinking.
"Yes," Aurora said. "I am not sure how they found out. They came for me in the night, with their guns and their hate. They knocked Papa unconscious, pinned Mama to the ground and dragged me away. I kicked, and I screamed, but they were too many. I was stuffed into a truck, and as we drove away, they forced a sedative into me." Her eyes slowly moved to meet Elsa's. "That night was the last time I was awake, and that was fifty-three years ago."
Jaw met with floor, and defying the limits of imagination, Elsa's situation became all the more surreal. "F-fifty-three years?" she sputtered. "Could you... repeat that?"
Aurora looked back up at her, and her expression of loss and sadness did wonders at dissipating Elsa's bewilderment. "I have been in this room with no-one to talk to for over five decades."
In an instant, Elsa's isolation in her room felt insignificant in comparison. She had a luxury room with a comfortable bed, a miniature Uni-Com for Media Stream newscasts and entertainment shows, an education regime and plenty of holo-books. Aurora... her situation couldn't even be comprehended. Stuck in a tiny rectangular box, asleep for over five decades - Elsa tried to imagine what it would be like, but it terrified her. She raised a trembling hand to her mouth and fought the very seductive urge to cry for her.
And strangely, she didn't look like someone who should have been in their early seventies. She didn't look a day over twenty-five.
"W-w-why?" she mumbled, for no greater strength could be added to her voice.
"When people bloom, I see it. I see where they are, but I do not know the location. So Unity keep me permanently sedated and administer regular doses of vitamins and fluids to keep me alive whilst my brain is probed. When I have a vision, it appears on those screens, which Unity uses to find and capture new abnormals." She snorted, a bitter sound sharp as a blade. "I am responsible for their suffering and terror - and I have no control over it. I see, they see."
Elsa took a step back as a fresh wave of fear crashed down on her. "You-"
"Yes," Aurora said. "I see every bloom. I have seen your sister's."
Her head turned, and their eyes met. Elsa flinched.
"And I have seen yours."
Elsa's flinch became an obvious recoil. She shook her head in denial, "No," she murmured. "No, no, no! You're lying!"
Aurora didn't move an inch, but the words she spoke brought Elsa's world down. "You were in your room, talking to your boyfriend over the Uni-Com. You were telling him about your day, and about how you were looking forward to being in his arms the day after, when you felt a strange sensation on your hand, like it had been buried in snow. You then looked down at your hand, and that was when you saw frost creeping over your skin. Your eyes widened in terror, and you saw how the comforter on your bed was covered in ice that spread from your other hand. You felt pain, so much pain in your body, and when you looked to your boyfriend on the screen, you cried for his help. You said 'help me!' but he wouldn't. He looked at you like you were a monster and said-"
"Abby freak…" Elsa finished in a broken whisper.
A lone tear welled in her left eye and slid down her cheek, and she hugged her chest as though to drive away the pain. The memory of seeing her boyfriend's face, twisted by fear and disgust as he called her a freak stabbed like a dagger in her heart. She had never felt more isolated in her life, at least in that moment. "I needed him. I was so scared, I needed him and he left me."
Elsa involuntarily thought back to that moment, and everything that came after it. Being abandoned in such a way by someone she thought she loved led to a distrust of anyone with their reproductive organs on the outside, and only after Hans had taken care of her over the course of her Valkyrie training did she trust him. Maybe that was why she believed so readily that Frost had killed her parents - he was a man, and men took away her dignity, so it wasn't a stretch to believe that men could take her parents.
Recent events proved to her how wrong she was, with ruthless clarity.
Aurora nodded. "He ended the call, and that was when your father burst into the room." She tilted her head and frowned. "I do not recall seeing anything after that."
Sniffing, Elsa wiped under her nose with a finger whilst staring at the edge of the grey casket, lost in painful memory. "He injected me with a sedative. When I awoke, he told me that the house's temperature sensors had registered a sudden drop in my room. He realised what had happened, so while I was asleep he injected me with his experimental suppression vaccine. I've been using it ever since, but in pills."
"You did not complete your bloom?"
Elsa shook her head. "No."
"Interesting." Aurora turned her head back to the casket. "You are not the first. There was another."
That time, Elsa looked up. "Who?"
"I do not know. All I remember is ice, and water. It was cold, it was dark, and he was terrified."
Elsa frowned. She couldn't possibly mean Frost, could she? It was vague as vague could be, with drowning claiming any number of people, but still, it aroused an itch in her mind. One threatening to become distracting, so she forced out a question she wasn't sure she wanted answered. She cleared her throat, attracting Aurora's attention. "How... how are you communicating with me?"
It seemed like something so common, yet when Aurora smiled in response, it was like all the sadness and numb grief on her face was washed away. "The same way I sent you those messages - I have been connected to the system for so long, I am the system - though I cannot prevent them taking my visions from me. It took nearly forty years, but I learned how to communicate and how to hack - though both are incredibly mentally taxing. It is the same for my holographic body." She gestured toward the six screens. "I have been connected to those Uni-Coms for some time, so I was able to utilise their projection system. I can see and speak with you... but only with my mind. My eyes have not seen light for a long time."
Aurora's eyes fell, and she inhaled a deep breath that sounded suspiciously like she was preparing herself. "Which leads me to my request - and I understand that it is one I have no right to ask you."
"What would you have me do?" Elsa asked softly.
Aurora looked up, steadily held her gaze, and was silent for a moment, until-
"I wish to die."
Elsa took a sharp breath. Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. "No. You can't ask that of me. I've killed enough people."
"Elsa," Aurora said whilst waving a hand over the casket, "I showed you this, because I wanted you to understand - this is my life. My body is dead, but my mind is alive. I still feel pain. I want to scream, but I have no mouth. I want to move, but my limbs betray me. My body is a prison, Elsa, a prison I have been trapped in for fifty years. A prison Unity made of me."
Elsa tried to open her mouth, but Aurora continued - and each word was an assault on her heart. "Every day they take from me, but I will have it no longer. I will not be responsible for the terror they inflict on my kind. I will not be a slave to their torment. They took everything from me but my ability to choose - and I choose death." She smiled again, but it was a devious smirk. "Besides, without me it will be much more difficult for them to arrest my kind. My parting gift to my extended family."
Elsa's legs weakened. She reached out for the edge of the casket to steady herself. Her other hand went up to cover her mouth while her eyes screwed shut. "I've killed enough innocent people, I don't want to-" she paused, clenching a loose fist over her lips as she slowly shook her head. Her heart felt like it was breaking apart like soil in the harsh sunlight.
"I am so sorry to ask this of you, Elsa," Aurora murmured regretfully. "If I could do it myself I would, but I cannot control the machine keeping me alive. You are my desperate hope because you know better than anyone else what being in a prison feels like."
Elsa's eyes snapped open. She stared in anguish into the gently smiling, intangible face. "But what you're asking me to do is-"
"To grant me the dignity of choosing my end," Aurora said. "You can give me what I have needed ever since they came for me: peace."
Elsa's mind worked furiously to find other ways, other means of helping Aurora, to avoid what was being asked of her. She thought of disconnecting her from the machine, maybe sneaking her off the base - but her corporeal body looked so frail, so dependent on the machine, the stress would likely kill her anyway. She could leave - but it would mean consigning Aurora to her fate.
She opened her eyes and rested them on the body. Took in the sight of the wires protruding from her head, and the pipes attached to her hands. Her posture of peace, trapped in living death. In that moment, her compassion, her grief, her rage overwhelmed her, and as she decided, she fought hard to swallow down her tears.
"Okay," she whispered.
Aurora let out an audible, broken sigh of relief that sounded like wind howling through a room. "Thank you. Thank you," she rambled. "Thank you, Elsa, so very much."
Elsa held up a hand - she couldn't outright say it, that taking an innocent life felt wrong even if it wanted to be taken, but it wasn't her choice to make. So she forced herself to focus, and as she stared into Aurora's corporeal eyes, she asked, "How do you want me to…" she hesitated, finding it difficult to even speak, "... to do it?"
The edge of her vision was filled with a subtle pink glow as Aurora moved to stand beside her. "There are a few ways, but I understand that the pulse bolt from a pistol set to kill is painless and instantaneous."
Elsa nodded slowly in understanding - being shot by a stun pistol was the most merciful option. Elegant, too. However, an unwelcome thought crossed her mind - what if she was found out? The consequences would be the end of her. Mission: Finding Anna would be in jeopardy. Her head swivelled, and she looked at Aurora with ill-disguised worry. "Won't there be any alarms?" she asked. "Surely when the system registers your death, someone will be notified."
Aurora smiled and shook her head. "I have been planning for this for a long time. When I was not trying to communicate with you, I spent many years creating a program which, when I die, will trick the machine's software into thinking I am still alive for a few more days. Eventually they will find out, but it will not matter. No-one will know of what transpired here."
Elsa made an impressed hunh. She really had thought of everything.
"Okay," she whispered. Her right hand left the casket and slowly reached down to unclip her stun pistol from her thigh holster. She sniffed, and gulped. "I'm ready."
"Before you do it, may I offer two pieces of advice?"
Elsa looked up at her holographic form. Her eyes were welling, and she wore a grateful, happy smile. "Sure."
"The first is: trust your team. There is more to them than you know."
Elsa wondered what she meant by that. "And the other?"
Aurora became serious. She pressed her intangible hands together as though pleading. "Find the Ghosts. I do not know why, but I sense the destiny of the Valkyries is inextricably entwined with theirs."
"How?"
"Every one of us is connected in one way or another. I suspect you know this better than most."
Elsa simply nodded - the past half hour had been so full of information it was threatening to overload and numb her mind, so she accepted Aurora's words without question. The last thing she wanted, for what she was about to do, was to be unfeeling. Aurora deserved someone to feel pain for her, to feel grief and rage, to remember her.
"Okay," she whispered. With a trembling hand, she pointed the stun pistol at Aurora's forehead, activated it and set it to kill with her thumb.
"Goodbye, Elsa," Aurora murmured, "and thank you."
"Goodbye, Aurora," Elsa croaked, and squeezed the trigger.
A small burst of red light burst from the barrel into Aurora's forehead, the zip of its discharge the only sound in an otherwise crushingly silent room. A shaky breath then escaped Elsa's lips, one she was unaware she had been holding ever since she squeezed the trigger. "Aurora?" she whispered. Hoping, praying she had been successful.
Silence greeted her, and when she slowly traced her eyes over to where her holo-form stood, there was nothing but empty space. No golden-blonde hair, nor a pink dress. Elsa whimpered quietly. With a tremulous right hand, she thumbed off the pistol and carefully slipped it back into her holster, whilst her left hand cupped her mouth. It worked; Aurora had finally found her peace. The cupped hand became a loose fist holding back her emotion, and as she looked back at Aurora's lifeless body, she reached into the casket with her left hand and stroked the right side of her face, cool and clammy under her fingertips. "Now you're free," she whispered, as two hot tears slipped past the dam in her eyes and traced their way down her cheeks.
There was a beeping from her wrist bracelet, visible on her arm thanks to the riding up of her sleeve. In the air, small blue numbers hovered as a digital clock; it was time for the evening meal. In five minutes, the corridor would be deserted as the base's occupants went to the mess hall for their food - at least for a few minutes further, whilst the next shift rotated in.
Of course, she wasn't hungry in the least. All she wanted to do was run to her quarters, hide in her shower, and crumble.
Location: Unknown
Time: 20:00
As they walked the short distance enveloped in chilly darkness and clad in their uniforms, only a dozen yards from the farmhouse, Jack felt Anna's grip tighten around his arm. Kristoff's mask was hidden under her cloak, looped around her left forearm, whilst in his pocket he fingered and fiddled with Neve's headband. Each step toward the four crucifixes planted in the ground around the back of the farmhouse, softly illuminated by a burning torch next to each one, felt like inevitability. A journey they all had to make, which if Jack had time or patience to really think on it, worked on a metaphysical and probably spiritual level.
"I thought I would be ready for this."
Jack looked down at his closest friend and saw the vapor floating away from hers mouth. It was an abnormally cold night, and so even his breath came out in translucent wisps. "No-one ever is," he murmured.
Anna hummed her agreement, and the two continued the short walk in silence. Kozmotis stood waiting for then, with Hiccup and Toothless at his left. Both men wore solemn expressions, but one thing Jack liked about Toothless was that he wore his heart on his scaly paws. Illuminated by the dim glow, his pupils were wide and his ear-nubs were drooping, not unlike a dog's. His head was bowed as were his wings, and Jack could easily pick out the low, sad warbles emanating from the creature's throat. He never had time for being stoic.
Frosty grass crunched under their feet as they came to a stop, with Anna standing between Kozmotis and Jack. Whether that was down to their prior scuffle or which crucifix belonged to whom, Jack didn't know. Nor did he care - nothing like that mattered anymore. However, when he caught Kozmotis' eye, the taller man gave him a respectful nod. Jack returned it and cherished the small sense of relief; the Ghosts had fought each other too much lately.
Jack, like the team had previously agreed they would all do, held his hands over each other and bowed his head, eyes closed while he internally reflected on the people whose crucifixes stood before them. Eugene, whose killer smoulder, cheeky sense of humour, occasionally shaky morality but vast knowledge of hiding places and smooth-talking had saved them more times than he could count. Belle, whose literature classes opened his mind up to a world of words he never thought existed - when he paid attention. Kristoff, whose leadership and bravery had led them to victory over and over again - but for Neve, he found the desire to speak harder and harder to suppress, and in the end let his heart do the talking.
"Neve," he said quietly, though in the silent surroundings even the smallest whisper could be heard, "while you were our leader and our queen, you were also a mother to us all. You took me under your wing, guided and encouraged me like my real mother did, and made me feel like I was part of a family again."
He swallowed down a growing lump in his throat. His forearm felt the warm touch of Anna, who squeezed it in support. He wasn't the only one to whom Neve acted the part of the mother - so Anna knew exactly how sharp the loss felt.
Jack walked forward to Neve's crucifix. With weak limbs, he knelt on one knee, produced her red headband, looped it around the topmost point and securely tied the garment to it. Once he did that, as a sign of respect he held his right fist over his left breast, and bowed his head for a few seconds before standing and returning to his previous spot to wait.
"Kristoff," Anna began with a soft yet cracking voice, but paused to take a deep and strengthening breath, "there's so much I wanted to say to you but don't have the chance, so wherever you are I want you to know - I will always love you, and your child will know just how amazing a man you were. Sleep well, honey."
Anna did the same as Jack; she approached and knelt at Kristoff's crucifix, clipped his mask and goggles around the part where the planks crossed, and held her fist in the same place - but before she rose, she kissed her fingertips and then pressed them against the mouthpiece of his mask. When she returned to where she previously stood, one glance told Jack that with the swallow, repeated blinking and lip-biting, she was doing everything she could to hold her emotions back.
Kozmotis, true to himself, said nothing. He walked with purpose, took a knee in front of Belle's crucifix, slipped a rose under some string Hiccup tied around it earlier in the day, drew his fist across his chest whilst bowing his head much like Anna and Jack, before returning to his place.
"Eugene, you were a cocky, smug, suave pain in the ass, with questionable morality and terrible punctuality - coming from me, that's saying something - but you were a fine cook and a damn good fighter." Hiccup cleared his throat and nodded to himself. "Toothless is gonna miss your grilled fish steaks... and even though you snuck into the hangar bay when I slept and put my fingers in some water - trying to explain to Anna that I don't wet the bed was hilarious-" Jack had to suppress a small chuckle; even he hadn't done that and wished he had, "-I'm still gonna miss you."
Toothless moaned and warbled his agreement when Hiccup finished speaking, his guttural form of speech was wracked with pain and regret. Once Hiccup had planted the handle of a frying pan into the ground, mimicked the sign of respect across his chest and returned to the team, Jack watched as he scratched behind Toothless' ear nubs, murmuring, "I know, bud."
Then came the part Jack wasn't looking forward to because then it all became real. He drew in a slow breath through his nose and stared immovably at the sea of trees far ahead, painted an impenetrable black by the night. "Ghosts," he called out, "atten-hut!"
There was a small shuffle, and then four hard thuds into the grass. Stood bolt upright, hands straight at his sides and legs together, Jack turned his head toward the team; Anna, Kozmotis and Hiccup all stood rigid as a board, in perfect harmony. Even Toothless had sat to attention with his chin held high and chest puffed out.
Satisfied, he turned back. "Present arms!"
His hand flew up to rest horizontally at his right temple, and the split-second sound of movement showed his team had done the same. He allowed a few seconds to pass before returning his arm to his side, yelled out, "Stand at ease!" and then, "Stand easy."
The entire team relaxed, with both Anna and Kozmotis catching his eye; the former gave him a warm smile, and the latter a respectful nod. That would have been the end of the Ghost funeral rite, had he not had an idea earlier in the day which he brought to the rest of the team for a send-off, a kind of last hurrah for their fallen friends. He held his right hand out in front of him, relaxed and slightly cupped. A small rush of energy coursed into his hands, preceding the creation of four palm-sized snowflakes that floated away in the small breeze. Anna too sent four small balls of flame into the air, followed by four barely visible puffs of black sand from Kozmotis. Toothless followed a different tack; he raised his head to the sky and shot four small, gentle torpedoes of blue fire that became tiny explosions in the black.
"Wherever you all are," he murmured to the collective signs of reverence floating away, "give 'em hell for us."
Time: 22:39
"We all know synthohol's safe for pregnant women to drink," Anna had drawled in exasperation, suppressing a subsequent throaty cough for daring to speak, whilst making an impatient get-on-with-it gesture for Jack to top up her glass, "Keep it coming, Frosty."
When Hiccup said he stole the strongest synthohol from a small bar two settlements over, he wasn't kidding. It was almost as strong as the New Arendelle Shoreline, with probably the same capability of cleaning decade-old grease with a single wipe. Sat around the dining table in what Kozmotis called a wake, every sip was followed with a bout of coughing - even from the usually unflappable sand-wielding Ghost.
"It's not the baby we're worried about," Hiccup had said. "It's us."
Not to mention every time Anna coughed or let loose a small burp, three pairs of wary eyes were cast her way.
"Ah, shut up, you big wusses." She tapped the side of the glass with her nails, creating a tinging sound. "C'mon. I just buried my husband in an empty grave. Reload."
The whole point of the wake was to share stories and anecdotes, or little speeches about their fallen friends. They were nearly all mentioned at least once in stories that varied from hilarious to serious, and even instances that no-one knew about. Anna talked of the time she was taken around the ship by Neve and waxed romantically of her first date with Kristoff, whilst Hiccup talked of Eugene's love of his frying pan and the tug-of-war he had with Toothless, who had caught a scent of the fried fish fillets cooked in the pan earlier in the day, and thought it would be a good idea to try and eat it. Poor Eugene had no chance of getting Agatha back by pulling it out of Toothless' mouth, yet still held on for dear life as he was dragged around like a ragdoll. That particular story nearly had Jack and Anna in tears of laughter. Only Belle remained with no anecdotes, and as Jack was busy topping up everyone's glasses and seriously debating watering it down, Kozmotis chose that moment to rectify that.
"Belle and I once had a rather heated discussion." All eyes turned to Kozmotis, who stared at his glass as he rotated it with his fingers, lost in memory. Wholly interested, Jack poured way too much into Hiccup's glass, right up to the brim, and quickly sat down. "We were talking about the best way to teach - I was more in favour of detention and extra homework for misbehaviour, whilst she preferred positive reinforcement. Our discussion devolved into a war of words, with most of them being French. I have no idea what she said, but I'm fairly sure it was rude. It got to a point where she threw the book at me."
Hiccup drew his glass to his lips, "She chewed you out on teaching rules or something?" and promptly recoiled in cursing surprise as the liquid spilled out onto his lap. "Dammit, Jack," he hissed.
"No, she literally threw the book at me. War and Peace if I recall correctly. It was a very thick book. Hurt a lot." Kozmotis deadpanned.
Sniggers burst out, and even a wry smile and low chuckle from the tallest man. "I didn't know she had that in her!" said Anna in between laughter behind her mouth.
"Oh, even Belle had a berserk button. Everyone does, you just have to find it. I just wish she wasn't so accurate; I had a bruise on my cheek for weeks," Kozmotis lamented.
"Why didn't you tell us she was K.I.A?" Jack asked, before sipping from his drink and suppressing yet another cough. His throat was already insulting his mother.
Kozmotis looked up at him, studied him, and looked back down to his drink. Anna and Hiccup both cleared their throats, whilst the latter scratched behind his head to deal with the awkwardness. Several seconds passed with Jack increasingly regretting the question until Kozmotis finally spoke.
"Because I didn't want the pity." He took a gulp, and that time didn't so much as wince. "I didn't want people walking up to me and offering their condolences. Frankly, the idea of that was exceptionally patronising. I asked Scout Team Red to keep it quiet, and I did the same."
"You should have told us," Anna lightly chided him.
Kozmotis' eyes flicked over to her, then to the part of the table directly in front of her, then back to his glass. "I should. It was selfish, and gave everyone unnecessary hope, but I didn't care at that point. She was my closest friend, and I wanted to keep her memory for myself."
Anna opened her mouth, but decided against speaking, which only added to the awkward silence over the table. Belle was loved and respected on the ship, both for her pleasant demeanour and knowledge of literature, so while Jack - as undoubtedly did the rest of the team - felt slighted, he could sympathise. He nibbled at his lip while the intangible discomfort grew, feeling increasingly at odds with it - so decided it was time for a little fun.
"Hey, Koz?" he asked, and waited for him to look up before continuing, "You remember the prisoner rescue in Zone Forty?"
Kozmotis cocked his head. "The door incident? Yes, I think I do."
Jack grinned and clapped his hands together. "Great!" he cheered. Excited at the prospect of one of the funniest raids he'd ever been on, he gripped the chair to scoot forward and then rested his elbows on the table as he animatedly reminisced. "Okay, so this was before either of you joined," He said, gesturing to Anna and Hiccup. "I was about eight months into being a Ghost, and this was Koz's first mission."
"Woah, woah, woah, back it up." Anna leaned back, shaking her head with her hands in the air. "Koz was a probie?!"
Kozmotis threw Anna a glare, especially when she burst into sniggers. Grinning, Jack continued, "Hoooo, yeah. Anyway, with Mulan M.I.A., Kristoff was the temporary C.O. and I was his X.O., but even with Koz there we were a man down, so Shrek let us borrow Antonio for the mission."
"I remember Puss," Hiccup chuckled. "Good guy. Complete womaniser. Fantastic dancer."
Jack clicked his fingers and pointed in agreement. "That's Antonio, all right. So, we land two clicks out from a waystation camp, about ten clicks south of the work camp the prisoners were being transported to. It's all easy; we clear the camp, kill their comms, make sure no-one's gonna drop in unannounced. Problem is, this waystation is one of the higher security ones, you know, on account of us. The prisoners were all held in this bunker, with thick steel doors, cameras, the works. Puss notices it's got a biometric hand reader, too."
Glancing up at Koz, his grin widened as a mirthful smirk appeared on his grey face.
"So, Puss gets worried. He gestures at all the knocked out bodies and says 'maybe one of these gentlemen has the hand we're looking for?' and Koz, calm as anything, goes 'Well, we only need the hand, not the body'. Puss is, like, disgusted at the idea of Koz going around slicing off people's hands, so they argue in front of the door. Kristoff and I look at each other, roll our eyes, and I'm like, 'Guys - you might wanna move', seconds before Kristoff literally punches the door down. Just like that - door's open. Puss just looks at us and goes, "... or we could do that'. Our glorious leader just smirks, offers his hand to him and says, 'Hi, I'm Harvester. You must be new here'."
Laughter broke out around the table, varying from Hiccup's nasal chuckles to Kozmotis' silent chortles, and Anna's uncontrollable giggles. Jack eyed his glass in memory whilst his own sniggers subsided. "We saved thirty people that day," he said, though his grin slowly fell to a thin line. "All thirty of them were on the Star."
The good humour dropped like a stone. Hiccup's eyes never rested on a particular point for long, whilst Anna and Kozmotis sank a long draught from their synthohol - long enough that both glasses were drained. Clearing his throat, Jack reached for the rectangular bottle in the middle of the table and used it to refill them. "He was a good guy," he said, mid-leaning to fill Kozmotis' glass, "Good leader. Every day this week, there's not been at least one moment when I thought to myself, what would Kristoff do? If he was here, after what happened in the Purge, what would be his first move as our leader?"
Jack flopped back down on the chair and slid the bottle over to Hiccup. "Then I realised - I shouldn't ask myself what would he do, but what should I do?"
Three pairs of eyes stared unblinkingly at him, listening to every word. Anna at his left, Kozmotis ahead, Hiccup to his right. He looked into each pair, resolve in his gaze. "So I'm making a change - full disclosure."
"Full disclosure?" Kozmotis repeated. He narrowed his eyes. "What are you hiding, Jack?"
Jack looked at Anna, and regretfully said, "I'm sorry, Anna, for hiding this from you." When she lifted her chin, with an expression of gentle hurt on her face, he added, "Kristoff hated keeping it from you too - but these orders go way back. Like, right to the beginning. Kristoff told me about it when I became his XO, he was told about it by Mulan, and she was told about it by Wolfhound. We were under the strictest orders - need-to-know only, in case any of us got captured. I can't afford to be secretive now - and I was never one for rules," he added, grinning.
"What is it?" Anna asked quietly.
Jack moved his glass aside so he could lean his forearms on the table. "Everyone here knows about the Ghost Company after the war, right?" Three heads nodded back at him. "Well, when Unity turned the public against them and started hunting down all the abnormals that fought for the U.S. in the war, the Ghost Company saw the writing on the wall and started thinking long term. So, they fled to Canada, and built a training camp there called Camp Bravo. They figured they could rescue some of the other Company troops hiding from Unity around the U.S. and bring 'em back to Bravo. They could also rescue some abnormal civilians, train them and set up a proper resistance. In time, the resistance would bring Unity down, and Bravo would be the place they'd do it from."
Kozmotis filled in the gap. "But then Unity annexed Canada."
Jack clicked a finger and pointed at him. "Bingo. The Company knew they couldn't use Bravo anymore. Too risky. Then when the Reapers came out of fucking nowhere… they abandoned it. They split into three cells, the Ghosts, Spirits and Furies, and hid in the U.S. to carry the fight from within. One by one, the original members of the Company died, so it was ordered that only the leaders and XOs knew about Bravo. Course, after about fifty years no-one remembers exactly where it is, but we all know it's still there."
Anna was the first to speak. "Why are you telling us this?"
"Because we're going to find it. I'm done hiding, waiting to die. I'm done falling back and watching Unity steamroll us while we can't do a thing to stop them. Not anymore. Not on my watch."
The mood around the table instantly changed. Deep interest became a steady rise in confidence and morale. Bodies stiffened, proud and erect, and every face looked back at him with solemn resolve.
"Unity thinks we're dead. So we're going to let them think that. We're going to find Bravo. We're going to watch, and we're going to wait, and when Unity starts to settle, when the Ghosts are just a memory? We'll throw a stone at them - and believe me, I'm winding up." Jack jabbed a finger into the table. "I don't know if it'll take months, years, decades, but I promise you this: when the time is right, we will strike, and we're gonna burn it all down. For Kristoff, Neve, Eugene, Belle, and everyone who died under Unity's boot - we're gonna bring the whole fucking corrupt system down around their ears."
Jack snatched up his drink and held it aloft. "For the fallen," he declared.
Three glasses were raised, and three voices sounded back in perfect synchronicity and identical, loud pride. "For the fallen."
A/N:
and the depths of Unity's depravity is revealed. Just a reminder that this story is dark and adult. When I started writing this story and conceived Aurora's scene, it didn't hit me until now how tough the topic of assisted death is. Everyone has their opinions on it, and I have my own - based on experience - but I feel it takes extraordinary strength of character both for the person making the choice, and for the person carrying it out.
Which then, I suppose, leads me to my question: how am I doing with the women in this story? One reason I ask is - a lot of people believe a strong female character is someone who can handle themselves in a fight, who is quick to anger and their strength is measured on how many people they can defeat. I believe strength comes in many forms, from physical prowess to mercy, making the hard choices and accepting responsibility when one makes a terrible mistake, not just whether you can fight as well as the boys. Another reason is that I've been flagellating myself with social media, and a common theme is "you can't write a particular type of person unless you happen to be that particular type of person", so, being a male writer creating a story where five eighths of the main characters are women, I'm curious. The final reason is the Bechdel Test (yes, I've talked about this with one of you - you know who you are), which I find flawed and arbitrary and have undoubtedly failed on many occasions, but it has left me wondering.
I would rather be judged by a jury of my peers, which is what the reviews are supposed to be for, so my question to you, my lovely readers, is this: how is the representation and characterisation of the women in this story (and indeed, the men)? Are they strong, or wet weekends? Are they three-dimensional, or cardboard? In short - for the ladies out there, am I doing it right?
So, one might have guessed but the theme of this chapter (which I never really noticed, as I tend to throw words at a wall and see what sticks) is choice. Elsa made two choices, one that she would cast aside her old life in search for Anna (though time will tell if that's how it will play out), and to agree to Aurora's request. Aurora made the choice to be freed from her perpetual torture. Merida made a choice for herself, which in this world a lot of women don't get to do. Jack made the choice to step up to his position, and become what he felt he was never meant to be - and then made the choice to pull the Ghosts out of their limbo and pull them together. At least, that's how I see it. What about you?
Oh, and yes. The twist everyone expected - Elsa is an abnormal. Surprise...yeah...yadda yadda. Kazoo, fanfare, exploding cake.
Let me know your thoughts.
Guest mailbox!
Guest 1: Thank you. I understand your thoughts, and I can see how it might feel like that. Soon, fate is going to conspire, keep your eyes peeled for the next two updates.
Polar Panda: Week of depression? Good grief. I am so sorry - and no, thank you for being a great reader.
heartonfire: haaaaaaai! Not too strong or week? Cheddar, then. Cool. Yeah I agree - religion is, whether people like it or not, a core part of society.
Thank you all for your reviews, follows and favourites. It means so very much, and is the fuel that keeps me going.
Next up: Everything changes. Again. More bombshells!
For the Ghosts,
Furiyan