The Ice Behind Bars
Chapter XLVIII: A Game of Chess

"You know, I've been thinking…" Brandon started as he sat on the chair, swinging slightly back and forth, his hands behind his head and his eyes towards the ceiling.

"That's dangerous." Aphrodite mocked as she worked on the dead body that lied there in front of her on the table.

Brandon frowned at her, "Ha. Ha. Very funny." He could clearly see the smirk on her face.

"Well?" Aphrodite asked.

"Well what?" Brandon asked, oblivious.

Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "Well, what were you thinking about?"

Brandon bit his lip. "Hey, Aphrodite?" He removed his hands from behind his head and leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees.

"Mm?" She acknowledged, dissecting the body's chest.

Brandon gulped, "Have you…" He trailed off. He knew that Aphrodite hated to bring this up, but he was just so curious. "Have you ever wondered why Jamie became like that?"

Aphrodite's hand froze. Brandon fidgeted nervously seeing the scalpel in her hand.

She blinked and slowly lowered her hand, putting the scalpel on the table.

He could see that she was clearly lost in thoughts. He gulped again.

After a silent moment, Aphrodite inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, then spoke, "Always have." She opened her eyes again and continued her work with the corpse.

Brandon waited for her to continue since he could sense that she wanted to say more.

"Do you remember, Catherine?... Jamie's sister?" She asked him.

Brandon nodded, "Yeah?" He paused for a moment, "But what happened to her?"

"She's dead." Aphrodite blurted coldly.

Brandon's eyes widened slightly. "What happened?" He asked in disbelief.

"She was forced to marry a young king from a foreign land by her mother. And of course, Jamie didn't approve of that. He loved his sister more than anything." She explained. "But…" Aphrodite's face turned sad. "On the day of her wedding, she and her newly husband were assassinated."

Brandon made a small and silent 'Oh' with his mouth.

"Jamie had promised her that he would bring her back home one day, and that he would protect her at any cost. So… Ever since he received the horrible news," Aphrodite's eyebrows furrowed. "He… Changed…"

Brandon lowered his eyes, feeling a bit remorseful for Aphrodite since she spoke in a sorrowful tone. The king was her husband anyway, and she had clearly loved him once.

"He became so obsessed with keeping his kingdom safe. He wanted to be the greatest and strongest king, so strong that everyone would fear him so that no one would ever dare harm anyone he loved. But…" She sighed, "All that purpose was only driven by Hatred." She gritted her teeth from behind her closed lips. "His heart became full of hate and no longer had space for Love… Not even for me or his own children. What he is now is because…" She sighed, "It's because he loved his little sister so much, Brandon."

Realization dawned on Brandon. He stood and put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, while looking at her sympathetically. "Sometimes a great Love can create a greater Hate."

Aphrodite nodded slowly. "It was a great and shock and tragedy for him. He grieved for years, even when I became pregnant with Elsa. I tried my best to keep him happy. I tried so hard to give him a better purpose than this obsession of his. But I failed." She lowered her head sadly, and after a pause, "Brandon… We just have to remember… Monsters aren't born."

"They are made." Brandon finished.


Anna gasped.

Kristoff furrowed his eyebrows in concern at the redhead as they walked beside each other in the forest where a thin layer of fresh snow covered the ground. "What's wrong?" He asked.

Anna was staring straight ahead, blinking repeatedly. "I…" She felt a strange unsettling feeling that overwhelmed her body in a rush. It was a bad feeling. A very bad one. It gave her goosebumps for some reason. "I don't know." She said worriedly, but waved it off. "Anyway…" She turned and looked at Kristoff. "We should hurry up and gather as much firewood as we can."

Kristoff and Anna were far away from the fort. They had to go up into the mountains for them to patrol the surroundings and make sure no intruders could cause any problems for the fort, as well as gather some wood for the upcoming winter along the way.

"Winter is near... Very near." Kristoff said while looking around at the small patches of snow. He then turned his head and saw the pensive expression on Anna's face. "Something on your mind?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

Anna's head shook as she was brought back to reality, "Huh?" She gave him a puzzled look.

Kristoff chuckled, "You're worried about everyone back at the fort aren't you?"

Anna sighed and turned her head away, "Yeah but… I don't like it one bit that everyone there is becoming paranoid." She frowned.

Kristoff understood Anna's real feelings behind that frown. "Well… You can't blame them. There's something or… someone out there who is killing people. What do you expect? They have every right to be scared and worried." He reminded.

Anna glared ahead, lost in her thoughts. "Not when most of them are blaming, Elsa."


"She tried to kill me people! She should be locked away!" The drunk man yelled at Elsa while pointing an accusing finger at her.

Elsa stood haunted and terrified in front of him, utterly unaware of what had happened. The pure shock and confusion on her face made Aiden skeptical of the man's words.

Aiden quickly stood in front of Elsa, shielding her from the raving man. "Stop yelling at her! Look at her! She doesn't know anything of what you're blabbing about!" He defended.

"No! SHE tried to freeze me! She's a WITCH! A witch I tell you!"

Elsa cowered and started trembling. "I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I just… I-I don't know!"

"Elsa, please! Just calm down, okay? Everything's gonna be fine!" Aiden assured with a gentle voice and a soothing smile. Albeit his expression quickly flipped into an angry sneer when he turned to the man. "Don't you call her, Witch, you bastard!"

Elsa gripped her hair. The stress was too overwhelming. "Please… stop…" She begged the chaos and the yelling around her. The wind started to blow harder.

"She's using her powers again!" One woman whispered to her friend in fear.

Now… do it now!

Elsa gasped and closed her ears and eyes tight. Shut up! Shut up! Not again!

You're a coward! A COWARD!

"No…" Elsa's silent tears fell. The wind was getting colder and colder.

Kill him NOW!

"NO!" Elsa screamed. The wind settled in.

Every single person around her went silent. They all turned to look at her.

As for Elsa, she kept her ears and eyes shut.

Aiden who was gripping the man from his shirt, shoved the man to the ground. "Try to control your consumption of booze before you start accusing innocent people." He gave him one last disgusted look before he ran to Elsa's side.

Aiden looked remorsefully at the stressed-out princess. He put his hand on her shoulder to try to comfort her but—

Elsa gasped and started thrashing her hands, "No! Don't hurt me! Please, please! Don't hurt me! I'm sorry, I-I'm sorry!"

"Hey, hey, hey! Elsa, it's me! Aiden! Calm down…" He soothed and held her wrists not too tightly. "Open your eyes… Look… It's just me." He said with the gentlest voice he could master.

Elsa blinked repeatedly before she slowly opened her eyes to see Aiden's sympathetic smile. "A-Aiden…?"

"Hey… it's fine, now. You're okay, alright?" He let go of her wrists and took a step back to give her space. His heart burned when he saw the tears in her eyes. "Look... I know it wasn't your fault, Elsa. The man was just drunk, and he wasn't making any sense." He assured.

"I-It's… it's not my fault?" Elsa asked shamefully, while hugging herself with a hurt face.

"No. Not at all." Aiden gave her a reassuring smile.

Elsa slowly but surely smiled slightly back.

"Where is my drink!?" The drunk man on the ground tried to look around for his bottle.

Elsa noticed where it was and rushed to it. She grabbed it and then ran back to the man on the ground. She leaned down and held it up for him with an innocent smile.

The man took the bottle and slowly lifted his eyes to see the goddess who helped him find his drink. "Ah Thank you! Whoever… you… aaa" He saw Elsa. "AH! Get away from me!" He pushed her and crawled back.

Elsa fell to the ground and the bottle went shattering.

"Stay away from me!" He shouted again.

Elsa sat up and stared at him in shock. "I… I-I just wanted to help!" She tried to explain, while lifting her hand and when she saw them, her eyes shot wide open in terror, noticing that the gloves were gone. "N-no…"

"You monster!" The man accused.

The word was so hurtful that it made the confused princess flinch in her place. Elsa could only stare at her shaking hands in horror. She then started to hear whispers around her and lifted her head to look at the people staring at her. Some were angry and others were giving her skeptical looks. They were all gossiping about her.

Elsa shakily stood up and kept her clenched hands to her chest, her head darting around everyone. "I'm…" Her cyan eyes went right and left then right and left, looking at everyone who gave her hateful looks.

Finally, her eyes fixated on Aiden. "I'm sorry…" She said before she suddenly started sprinting away from the scene.

"Elsa, wait!" Aiden quickly followed.

I have to run! I have to run! They're going to kill me!... I don't have my gloves! No gloves! Papa will punish me! Where are my gloves!? Where are they!? Her mind raced as she tried to find a place to hide.

People gave her weird looks as she passed.

Elsa gasped by seeing the trail of frost she was making behind her. "No! Stop!" She begged her curse in a desperate tone.

Aiden ran as fast as he could, but throughout that entire crowd he lost her and his only source of help was the frost on the ground.

"Over there…" He whispered to himself, seeing that the trail of frost led to the stables.

He quickly shoved open the stable doors, startling some of the horses.

His heart sank as he saw a woeful Elsa crying in the corner of Sven, the reindeer's stall.

Her knees were brought to her chest and her head was between them.

Aiden winced slightly at the hurtful scene and approached her. He leaned down and put a hand on her knee, "Elsa…"

"NO!" Elsa screamed and all of a sudden a four meter tall wall of ice shot from the ground right between them.

Aiden stumbled back in surprise, staring at the wall in amazement. The horses around were spooked.

He had never seen Elsa's powers in action, but now? He was pretty gazing at it.

"I-I'm so sorry, Aiden! I'm so sorry! I-I-I'll conceal! Conceal! C-Conceal!" She screamed to herself as she tried her best to hide her hands, but that only created a layer of frost on the wooden walls of the stables. "Conceal. Don't feel! Conceal! Don't feel!"

"Elsa…"

"Conceal! Conceal! Conceal!"

"Elsa!" Aiden shouted to snap her back to reality.

Elsa cowered and finally stopped gibbering.

Aiden sighed and cursed himself for shouting since Elsa was now cowering from him, her entire body shaking. "I'm sorry… I shouldn't have raised my voice. I know how much that scares you." He remorsefully said with a chagrined face.

But Elsa didn't reply and kept her arms up in defense.

Aiden lowered his head in shame.

All of a sudden he noticed something: The reflection of Elsa on the ice wall was distorted. Suddenly it hit him. He gasped silently while smiling widely as he got an idea. He then gave Elsa a playful smirk.

Elsa was having an internal conflict. Why was I born this way?! Why does everyone hate me?! Why?! Why?! WHY!?

COWARD!

"Hey Elsaaaa…" She suddenly heard Aiden sing-song from the other side of the ice wall, interrupting her from her gloomy thoughts. She slowly lifted her head to see him, and when she did…

"How do I look?" Aiden asked and chuckled like a goof.

Aiden stood directly behind the ice wall so that Elsa could see his distorted reflection. His face was chubby and his eyes were huge and far apart than usual. As for his muscular body… Well… It wasn't that muscular anymore. Instead his legs were very thin and his upper body was in the abnormal shape of a heart.

Elsa started giggling while wiping away her tears.

Aiden made a goofy dance and it only made his reflection look weirder and funnier.

Elsa's giggle became more lighthearted.

"Isn't it awesome?!" Aiden was honestly amused with the ice wall. He was playing like a 5 year old boy who just discovered something new. "I sure need a diet!" He deadpanned at his fat reflection.

Elsa laughed.

"Ahhh… My face is meltiiing!"

And laughed…

"I think… my leg has a butt."

Elsa couldn't take it anymore. Her carefree and jolly laugh was almost heard throughout the entire fort.

"Come on! Try it, Elsa!" Aiden encouraged.

Elsa stopped laughing and stared at Aiden with a blank face.

"Give me your hand…" He said gently while leaning forward and holding his palm in front of her.

Elsa stared at his hand with a surprised look.

"Trust me, Elsa." Aiden said.

Her eyes widened and she stared straight at his green ones.

Trust you? Her heart beat faster.

Aiden gave her a toothy smile.

"I…" Elsa mumbled.

She lifted her hand to take his…

"I…"

Aiden's heart was dancing.

"I…"

Their hands were getting closer to each other.

"I…"

And closer…

Few more inches… Annnnd…

"I can't." Elsa quickly recoiled her hand back to her chest. "I could hurt you." She said sadly, looking at her bare hand.

Aiden smiled sympathetically. "Then here…" He removed his own gloves from his hands, "Take mine. It will help you feel more confident until we get you your new gloves." He wondered where here old gloves were but he didn't dare ask and ruin their moment.

Elsa smiled radiantly and gratefully accepted his gloves. She then put them on, but despite noticing how big they were for her hands, she didn't mind the kindness. "Thank you." She sincerely said with a blush.

"D-Don't mention it." Aiden blushed harder. "Now, come on. Let me break this ice so I can remove it, then—"

"You won't punish me?" Elsa nervously asked, gulping.

Aiden turned at her with a surprised look. "What?"

"I-I… There's… I-I-Ice and… I— Papa—… I-I shouldn't have used my powers!" She worriedly confessed.

Aiden smiled sympathetically, "So what?"

Elsa's eyes widened in shock.

"We had fun didn't we? Besides… It was an accident. And Elsa?"

"Y-Yes?" She awkwardly replied.

He leaned closer. "Remember… I will never ever hurt you."

Elsa smiled widely in relief.

He then held his hand for her again, this time the other way around where his hand was bare and hers was gloved. "To Bulda's?" He asked.

With a shaking hand, Elsa hesitantly but surely grasped his big hand so he could help her up on her feet, "To Bulda's." She repeated with a nod.


"Your Majesty, you have a visitor." Mad said with a smirk while bowing.

Tyler stared at the king's back with a nonchalant face.

The king stood in his dimly lit study, staring at the window with his hands folded neatly behind his back. "Welcome to Arendelle, stranger. My name is King Jamie of Arendelle… and I heard you have news?" The king turned his head and smirked at Tyler.

Tyler bowed mockingly, "Your majesty… My name is none of your business. But I bring you information on The Snow Queen you seek."

Jamie smiled then nodded at Mad.

Mad bowed once again, then left the room, closing the door behind him and leaving them both alone.

"Now… We can talk." The king allowed and sat at his desk. "Please take a seat."

Tyler approached the desk and sat on the chair opposite the king.

"Mad told me that you came here with the intentions of getting rid of The Snow Queen." The king started.

"Yes, Your majesty. I've figured that she's too dangerous to be left to roam freely in this world." Tyler admitted.

"I couldn't agree more." The king nodded. "I've spent years trying to tame this beast. But not once did she listen. She kept using her curse and even tried to harm me multiple times. Now look… My entire kingdom is frozen and people are dying because of her will of revenge."

"And she might also cause problems to my home." Tyler huffed mockingly, "Somehow I keep bumping into crazy people." He angrily said.

"Beasts." Jamie corrected. "Things like her are called beasts. We… at Arendelle… tend to teach beasts a great lesson of manners. We then proceed on locking them up forever so they can rot. But…" His expression turned grim. "Thanks to some SCUMS!... They decided to set free the most dangerous one. Who happens to be. My. Daughter." He spat.

Tyler's eyebrows furrowed. He opened his mouth to speak but…

"But first…" The king said raising a palm, "Before we get more serious… Let us amuse ourselves with the game of kings." He said, putting a box of chess on the desk in front of them.

"As you wish, your majesty." Tyler accepted.

"Please… Take a seat."

The two men sat on each side of the desk, with Tyler having the white pieces, while the king got the black.

And they started playing.

Tyler moved a pawn.

"One of the most important things they teach us royals, is Chess." The king said with a confident, calm voice and moved a pawn of his own.

"Is that so?" Tyler nearly rolled his eyes. He made his move, moving the same pawn forward.

The king gave one nod. "Chess teaches us about Strategy, Observation and Tactics." The king moved another pawn. He looked at Tyler's white pawn. "No one has ever won this game by taking only forward moves. Sometimes you have to move backwards to take better steps forward."

The two of them continued playing, each one of them making their own moves depending on their own style of playing. They kept playing for an hour until…

The king tapped his black king. "The king is the most powerful piece. That's why you have to sacrifice the other pieces in order to save him."

"Unfortunately, I disagree. At the beginning of the game, the king is hiding behind all the pieces." Tyler said with a smirk and knew well that he just insulted the king by noticing how the king clenched one fist. But that only made Tyler more amused.

"The other pieces become useless when the king is dead." The king carelessly moved the queen, feeling irritated.

Tyler knew that Anger was his weapon against the king. For when a player loses his patience, he loses the game. "Sometimes a well-placed pawn is more powerful than a king." Tyler ate the king's black queen using only a pawn. "Check." He was one move away from winning the game.

The king rubbed his chin, "A queen is not as important as a king." He then moved his king away from Tyler's pawn.

Tyler shook his head when the king made another wrong move and chuckled at how pathetic the king looked. He leaned forward close to the king's face, "King… Pawn… Knight… Queen… They are all the same. Since at the end of the game, your majesty…" He smirked widely, "The king and the pawn go back in the same box." He made one last move. "Check. Mate."

The white queen ate the black king.

"You should have been more careful of your queen. But you sacrificed her in order to save your precious king and never knew that… Every king needs a queen in order to be strong." Tyler honestly said.

Then silence.

The king stared at his dead black king and Tyler leaned back, folding his arms proudly and grinning.

The king suddenly huffed then started chuckling, "Well, well… I guess we have an expert at chess here."

"Of course you have." Tyler bragged.

"However…" The king smirked.

Tyler's eyes widened when he suddenly felt an enormous pain at the back of his skull. "Ah!" Tyler fell over from his chair to the ground with a thud and turned to see a smirking and laughing Mad with a club in his hand.

"An expert at chess doesn't have to be an expert in life." The king said while resting a leg over another and smiling with a puffed up chest, beaming with pride.

Tyler then turned at the king, feeling that he was beginning to black out. "You bastard!" He snarled.

That only made the king laugh, "I am patient with stupidity, old man, but not with those who are proud of it." He then stood from his chair and walked towards Tyler.

Mad was already tying Tyler's wrists behind his back. "This is gonna be so much fun!" He eagerly said while snickering to himself.

"I won't!... T-Tell you shit!" Tyler tried his best not to lose consciousness.

The king crouched next to Tyler's body and lifted the man's chin up with his index. "You are gonna tell me where the snow queen is… Even if I have to force it out of you." The king then let go of Tyler's chin and stood tall above him. "Mad will accompany you to your new cellar. Until then…" He lifted his feet and smirked manically…

Tyler's eyes widened.

"Sweet dreams." The king kicked Tyler's head, making him collapse completely limp and unconscious. Everything in Tyler's mind turned black.


CALL IT KARMA! MWAHAHAHAH