September 7th. Four Days After Entrapment
Elsa sat in silence, her face emotionless, inside of the family room. She held Annaleise's reindeer plush in her hand, close to her heart. For four days, the poor queen barely had gotten six hours of sleep, those images of Annaleise's disappearance replaying in her head over, and over again. Not only was it hard on Elsa, it was hard on everyone else in the palace. For those four days, no one in the palace had stirred, not even Ellie and Laurence, who spent sleepless nights in the library looking for a way to try to free their sister.
Anna had barely touched Elsa's shoulder, making her jump as if she were being spooked.
"Wha-Anna?"
"Hey," Anna replied, sitting next to her sister on the couch, draping one of the fleece blankets over her and Elsa's laps.
Elsa replied with a weak smile, resting her head on Anna's shoulder.
"Elsa, I know I wasn't there to see everything happen, but I know exactly what you are going through."
Elsa looked up at Anna, lifting her eyebrow.
"I was the one who locked you in that urn. For thirty years, even though Arendelle was completely frozen, I thought I had lost you forever. But you know that didn't happen, and neither will that happen with Annaleise. If our children can't find anything in the library, maybe Pabbie knows something about pendants and entrapment. It never hurts to ask, does it?"
"Anna, I was in an urn, and either way someone would have opened it, whether it be accidental or intentional. This is a pendant, not an urn. Maybe the trolls can help. But what if they can't? What if she doesn't find a way out?"
"Knowing her, she probably will. Not right away, but soon enough." Anna took her sisters hand and held it, reindeer plush still in her fingertips.
"You finally broke her of her silence spell, good job Anna."
"Jack, that's not funny." Elsa scoffed.
"Four days is too long for not saying a word to a husband, Elsa. I don't know if you know this, but Laurence, Anders and Ellie haven't' left that library ever since the day after their birthday."
"Not even once?"
"Well, maybe a few times for bathroom breaks but they haven't left the vicinity for three days."
Ellie came rushing into the room, her eyes red with tiredness but an excited look upon her face. "Mama, Papa, aunt Anna, I think we might have found something."
"Anders found this book way in the back, buried under lose papers on the desk in the corner. I think we found how to release her."
Elsa and Jack's, along with Anna, faces lit up. They sat on the floor around Laurence and Anders, Anders flipping to the pages he found.
"Okay, so I just happened to find this page by opening it to a random page." He thumbed the old, torn pages to the middle of the book where a drawing of a pendant and an aurora were seen. "Apparently, if the pendant's jewel is in the right spot, the light of an aurora reflects upon the surface, the stone absorbing the light, causing a reaction and releasing whatever was sealed inside. It's been done once before and was successful. The only downside is that the person who recorded the results noted that amnesia would affect the person trapped inside. It didn't say how bad the amnesia was."
"Having at least some memories are better than none, right?" Laurence asked, looking back to Elsa.
Amnesia.
"I suppose, elskling." Elsa sighed, her eyes looking away to Ellie, her hand supporting her chin as she crossed her legs on the floor. Though it wasn't proper, Elsa got on her hand and knees and crawled to her deep-in thought daughter. She placed her arm around her shoulder, bringing her in close. "Elskling, du er ok?
"I was just thinking, before she got sucked into this," Ellie held her sister's pendant in her hand as the chain fell down her fingertips. "She told me to sing to her, even if she couldn't hear it, she wants me to sing. Didn't happen to mention what she wanted me to sing, but nonetheless, sing."
"Try it." Elsa encouraged Ellie, slightly nudging her.
"I can try." Then, Ellie remembered something from a biology book she had read a few months back. "Wait a minute, I remember reading about something like this in one of the biology books Gerda had us read."
"About singing?" Anna curiously asked.
"Mmhm! I remember it saying that a fetus in the womb can hear his or her mother's low-pitched vocal vibrations, sometimes giving a response after they hear it. Did we do that quite often?"
"One of the two of you was very responsive, that's for sure. Why do you ask?" Elsa wondered.
"I'm thinking that Annaleise told me to sing to her so she could respond in some way. What if she can hear us through that stone and respond if I or anyone else sings to her?"
"There's one way to find out, and that's to sing something to her." Jack agreed.
"Oo, I need to remind Bjørn- Oh, wait. You're still a bit sore about the whole thing with him and Hans, aren't you." Ellie asked.
"I'll speak to both Bjørn and his mother in time. But right now I'm more worried about Annaleise getting out." Elsa sighed, kissing Laurence on the forehead. "How about, you three go take a nap. Your aunt, uncle, father and I will try your theory out, Ellie."
Ellie yawned, Laurence helping her up and walking her back to her room. Anders hugged Anna and followed his cousins out of the library.
"Kris should be back from the northern mountain soon, until then, let's try singing or talking to her." Anna suggested, Elsa gently handing her the pendant. "Um, hi Annaleise. The last time I did this was on my birthday a long time ago, a few months before you were born. Uh, if you can hear me, I guess light up? Vibrate? Something?"
Nothing happened. "Well I tried, how about you go, Jack?" Anna tossed the pendant over.
"Annaleise? Its your father. If you can hear me, just know that we love you, and will find a way to bring you back." Jack gently said to the ruby. Still nothing. "Your turn." Jack gently placed the pendant in her palm, the chain running over her hand.
Elsa took a deep breath and sighed, a slight smile, and knew exacty what she would say. "Hallo, elskling, jeg har en sang for deg."
Vinteren kommer, luften stille og kaldt. årstidene er i endring, og alt er stille.
The pendant began to softly glow red, responding to the sound of Elsa's voice.
"Keep going!" Anna whispered.
"Snøflak faller og alt sover, innsiden av sine hjem der drømmer er dypt. Innsiden av sine hjem der drømmer er dypt."
As Elsa finished the first verse of the lullaby she used to sing to the girls, the ruby had gone from a faint glow to a bright red shine. "Jack, Anna! She- she heard me! She can hear me!" Tears of joy streamed down her cheek, Jack excitedly hugging Elsa and Anna joining in.
"Mor, where is the-" Ellie was about to ask where the pendant was, only to notice it had began to glow bright red. "Do you sing to her?!"
"I did, it worked. I sang the lullaby I used to sing to you two. Do you want to sing the second verse to see if she respsonds to you?"
"Uh huh!" Elsa held the pendant between her and Ellie, allowing Ellie to sing the first part of the second verse.
"Månen og stjernene skinne så lyse på himmelen, et kart til vandrende barnet passerer.
en dronning og hennes konge sitte på sin trone,"
Elsa, Jack and Anna chimed in at the end, the stone keeping its bright red shine.
"og tar imot barnet som en gang var tapt, og tar imot barnet som en gang var tapt."
"Mama, papa, Ellie, Aunt Anna. I-I hear you. Please, don't leave me."
Jack and Elsa walked hand in hand back to their room, closing the door and lying on top of the sheets, hand intertwined, foreheads rested on one another.
"Well, we learned one thing for sure. She can hear us." Jack tiredly sighed.
"You've got that right." Elsa replied, Jack lifting her chin.
"You know what this reminds me of?"
"Hm?"
"I think it was a week before Anna's birthday and you were hoping the girls would hear that lullaby for the very first time?"
"I do, why?"
"I feel like this was the same exact reaction you gave when you felt them move for the first time. Do you remember?"
"I do, and right before a meeting with Stefan and Alexandra. I remember exactly how it happened."
-June, 18 years ago-
"Jack."
silence.
"Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack."
Nothing still.
"JACK FROST." Elsa groaned, rolling over to her left side on the bed, a wave of nausea pulsing through her body.
"You rang?" Jack cheerfully rang, floating to the side of the bed where Elsa moaned and groaned from the nausea. "We can always reschedule this," He said, rubbing her back as he sat on the edge, which Elsa had given him enough room to do so.
"It'll pass. I'm still meeting with them, Jack." Elsa once again groaned, sitting up. She leaned against the backboard, and gave an annoyed sigh.
"Well in that case, we can finally spend a little time together, just the four of us."
"Lovely."
"So, do you think they can hear us?" Jack asked, placing his hand upon Elsa's, which was resting right on her ever-growing swell.
"I'm pretty sure they can hear me more than you, Jack." She lightly chuckled.
"I'll test that theory." Jack boasted, placing his head right next to Elsa's hand. "Hi girls, are you giving your mother a hard time?"
No response.
"I hear your aunt Anna has been hiding chocolate around the palace again."
Nope.
"Jack, let me try to see if I can work some magic."
Elsa began to sing the first few lines of the lullaby, feeling not even a flight flutter. She felt nothing until she finished singing, her eyes widening, sitting up straighter.
"What?! Did you feel something?"
"Start talking to them, just trust me."
"Um, hey, its your papa again. Did I tell you that your mother is the sweetest, most loveliest ice wielder in all of the world?" He felt a slight punch to his hand. He looked to Elsa, his eyes wide with excitement.
"Keep going!"
"Oh! We can't wait until we can drink cocoa in front of the fire during Jul, make snow angles, pelt your aunt and uncle with snowballs. Your mother doesn't know this, but I think if we work together, we can pelt her in the back of the head with at least ten snowballs." Elsa smacked jack on the back of the head. "Hey!"
"Just you wait, you and Anna will be the ones who get pelted in the face with at least a hundred snowballs." Elsa chuckled.
Jack looked back to Elsa, a very goofy but happy expression crawling onto his mouth. Elsa blushed and placed her hand upon Jacks cheek. "Soon enough, Frost. Soon enough."