WildVirus (guest): Yeah, Odd should love Cecilie, and he will too. It's just hard for him; she's a constant reminder of how he failed to protect Elsa from his own father's men. Also, yeah, Freddie probably will be shocked! As for the multiple endings, I'd prefer to just close it all off with one ending, but there will be both good and bad aspects in it.
Jealouswayward: Glad you liked the Cecilie and Anna interactions. As for Victoria, I'm in the middle too. She's strong but kinda heartless too xD As for the arranged marriage, yeah, it's harsh but it's also necessary.
kathy22334: Actually, Victoria's daughter would travel to Arendelle. And yeah, poor Odd's got it tough hasn't he?
You with the weird name: Wow, that's a big secret to keep! And to think, there are no rumours either. They covered that up well! As for reaching the elusive happiness... yeah, you can dream! Nah, there will be some happiness. Maybe in a Harry Potter sense of the word, if you've ever read/seen it.
spartandestroyr: Yay, caught you ought! And aww, thanks. It's nice to know you think I'm not too bad at writing xD
Pabulover123: Yeah, Cecilie's a big issue for him. He wants to love her, he really does, but such things are easier said than done. And as you say, it's even worse with Freddie's situation now too. Glad you liked Vicky and the Anna and Cecilie interactions!
disneylover115: Glad you liked the chapter! Glad I caught you out too!
KLime (guest): Yeah, I'm quite proud of getting this far, especially considering that when I started writing this fic I had no idea where it was going. As for the showdown... Damn, now there's loads of pressure on me! xD On the topic of unmotivated soldiers, that's a good point and I'll bear it in mind, mind you I also imagine she'd have been quite ruthless in controlling her soldiers too... As for Elsa's decision, it was definitely not the best decision but it was the easiest option for her.
thorinii: Yeah, had to have a twist. And yes, royals were often betrothed to each other at the time—for a modernist family such as the Arendelle royals, though, it's painful. Elsa nearly married Bjørn but instead married Odd, so she feels guilty pushing it onto her son. Odd also nearly lost Elsa because she was to marry Bjørn and so it's especially painful for him, too. As for Odd speaking english, he knows a little, it being the universal language of the time, but he doesn't know much. Thankfully just enough to get him through the meeting. As for Victoria's overconfidence, that was a real quote she once made, so she was always confident I suppose!
"We will be getting close to Arendelle shortly, your Highness. We should be there within a day, at the most."
Anna nodded once stiffly and then turned away from the captain of the newly-built war ship, retreating back into her shared cabin with Kristoff with barely another word. In truth, fear was clawing at her heart constantly, a constant reminder of what was to come; like it or not, there was no way that the kingdom could be reclaimed without fighting of some sort. The best anyone could wish for was a short and sweet battle, lasting a few days or less; at least that was more tolerable than a full scale war.
Closing the door behind her, Anna sighed as she dragged her feet across the carpet over to her bed, flopping down on the mattress and laying there for a moment, sprawled out and unmoving. It was the most consequential task she could do without breaking down.
Crying wouldn't solve anything.
Laying still for a few minutes and wishing Kristoff was here to hold her, to comfort her and to feed her those delicious lies which, though obvious falsehoods, would numb her mind and calm her fears, Anna eventually rolled over and lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling silently. Not long after, though, her curious and excitable nature, though dulled down by the threats looming over her head, won out and she realised she couldn't spend the next twenty four hours doing nothing.
Ignoring the growl of her stomach, Anna pushed herself up on her bed and reached over to the bedside table, picking up the old, yellowed journal which she'd been reading, her sister having given it to her after deciding she wasn't up to finishing it. It was still an important task to read it, however; any tidbits, no matter how small, which could give a clue on how to defeat Ayla would be invaluable, more precious than any of the jewels found in Arendelle castle.
Having read up to where Elsa left off, being equally horrified as her sister had been—and slightly sympathetic towards Ayla, as well—when she read the shocking truth about her past. Still, part of her remained angry; from what she could tell, Ayla had always been somewhat unstable. Her mother's ignoring of her would have only fuelled that lack of complete sanity; if only she'd been supportive to her daughter, things might have turned out differently. Perhaps the now-princess could have even been a fight for the light; on that note, though, her mother probably wouldn't have wanted that. She'd tried to claim Arendelle for herself with Karleif, and now her hated daughter was finishing off for her.
March 9th, 1839. Mother has finally cracked. She has gone mad with power, and now she's planning to get more of it. She's not content with simply having magic; she wants the world. Of course, with so much strength I can hardly blame her, I'd want that much too. But I… I realise it won't be as easy as she thinks. She can't just kill outright with her powers, and I know that from experience. I'm sickened by it, of course—it had been a spur of the moment decision to try to kill Karleif, but didn't work. Honestly I'm relieved; I've got enough blood on my hands as it is. Still, if I am capable of doing that, or trying, I can't help but fear what Mother will try. She's hardly of sound mind anymore. At least I can still think rationally…
June 29th, 1839. Mother was serious with her plans, though I'd expected nothing less. She's gathered some "followers", as she calls them—the crazy woman thinks she's Jesus, I swear!—and she's made plans for an undersea hideout. I think it's more of a lair, but she has a go at me whenever I mention it. Of course, she has a go at me for everything I do anyway, so that's nothing new.
September 1st, 1839. I'm impressed, Mother and Karlief actually pulled off their crazy plan. The lair-hideout is complete. It took a lot of work on their part—I, of course, don't have powers as far as they know—but they achieved it. Building the place itself, that was fairly easy. They just made a small cavern in the seabed, teleported down there and then did some renovations. They began to extend it, too, making corridors and separate rooms for Mother's "sheep", as I think of them—they are nothing but brainless idiots intrigued by the thought of power, sort of like Karleif. That took a few days, if that. The portal though… That was tricky. Took them days to figure out the magic and how to get it to work without killing anyone who entered through it. I had to help out, though they don't know it; though I'll never be able to brag about it, I feel rather smug to know that I was the one who made all this possible. Even if the scheme itself is sick and twisted.
September 3rd, 1839. I've been practicing teleporting down here, like Mother and Karleif do—though they think I use the portal—and something rather interesting came up. Whenever they do it, they seem pretty out of breath, but me… I can do the short distance two or three times before I get tired. I suppose it's because I have magical blood naturally, and they don't; I'm stronger. The thought alone puts ideas into my head, but I know I must control them; I wouldn't want to end up like Mother. She is plain evil.
Anna sighed as she flicked through a few pages, coming to land on one with a small, tan-coloured stain, presumably tea. She looked down at the first entry and sighed as she began to read again, feeling highly unmotivated to do so—she wasn't particularly keen on hearing of the atrocities that had been committed by the twisted family of Ayla—until something caught her eye and made her breath catch in her throat.
October 21st, 1840. Mother said this morning that something big's on the horizon; supposedly Princess Anna of Arendelle should be giving birth to her daughter within a month or so. She seems extremely excited; I think she wants to try to collect their magical blood, and use it to give her sheep some powers. Not as much as she controls, of course—that would be suicide—but enough of a bonus to keep them loyal. I'm not sure what to think anymore; she's definitely cracked, that's for certain, trying to kill a baby. But then, at the same time, I think I'm beginning to fall too… Part of me, a small, savage part, is just as excited as she for the chance to heighten the control of our followers. But I'll keep it buried; I'm a magician, not a monster.
December 3rd, 1840. Word has just come out that Princess Anna's baby, a young princess by the name of Mia—cute, I like it—was born on the last day of November. Mother's particularly excited now, she's already made plans of how to get them. Karleif's going to kidnap Queen Elsa—I suppose he'll have to use magic to do so—and then hide her away. Supposedly he's supposed to make a clone of himself to fight her, but I'll be impressed if he can pull it off. I tried to clone myself, but I nearly passed out doing so. I guess he'll just have to make an illusion of himself. But then, in the meantime, he's supposed to burn down the kingdom; I think Mother's hoping that with them weak, they'll be easy to attack and killing the royals will be simpler. I have to wish her luck; seems like a foolish plan to me.
December 15th, 1840. He did it, Karleif pulled it off. I must say, I'm a little annoyed actually; I'd have loved him to face Mother's wrath, but she's showering him with praise as normal. But I suppose there's nothing I can do, so there's no point in getting annoyed. On the plus side, though, he did nearly lose his powers; he got cut across his injection scar, where he got the dose of magical blood. He wouldn't stop bleeding, and couldn't use his powers either, even though it was only a small cut. He'd have died had Mother not healed him with magic. It's a little worrying, to think that that one spot on our body is incredibly weak, but the pain he was in… That made me feel better, seeing him suffer. He deserves it.
December 20th, 1840. The attack had to be called off, for it seems the kingdom recovered faster than we'd thought possible. Annoying, but that's life. I guess beggars can't be choosers… On that note, a nobleman's widow and her children can't be, either.
December 26th, 1840. It has been a rather rubbish Christmas this year, for once again Mother's plans have failed her. Princess Anna, and her husband and daughter, escaped the storm which she brewed up, so she's been sour all day yesterday and today. I suppose I'm a little put out, too; it would seem that I am, scarily, more like her than I thought... It's not all bad, though; Mother's now planning a different tactic, possession. I think she wants to trap Queen Elsa and her family in some wedding arrangement, then kill them then. I guess it's her best plan yet.
February 3rd, 1841. It's over. It's all over. I just got a letter from some of Mother's old followers—the few that survived—saying that they were crushed to death by Queen Elsa. Anna frowned for a moment as she struggled to read the next words, the scrawling, cursive writing smudged by water. I... I'm all alone, now. The followers have moved on; I'm too young still for them to follow me. Perhaps one day, but for now... Now I'm an orphan, alone. And I don't know if I can cope with that.
The next few pages of the little journal were strangely bare, with a few doodles here and there but with no words of any kind. A few of the pages even had rather questionable red smears, something which made Anna feel uneasy.
Turning to the last page, Anna was shocked to see one paragraph at the very bottom. The writing was neater now, and much finer. It almost looked as if it had taken weeks to write.
May 2nd, 1843. The Southern Isles are a powerful Kingdom. I am a powerful sorceress. It is only right that I lend them a hand, as my dear friend Phantasie always tells me. But I am not evil, nor will I ever be. I will simply take the side of whichever power will win.
Anna closed the book slowly, pushing it to the side gently and giving a little sigh. Laying still for a few seconds again, she then rose to her feet and stumbled as the boat rocked a little, crashing to the ground with a yelp. Wincing, she began to struggle unsteadily to her feet, looking up as the door opened and her husband walked in; accepting his hand, she smiled warmly as he helped her regain her feet. Her happy blush vanished, however, when she saw his darkened eyes and his thin lipped frown.
"Elsa's made the... underwater boat thing, and the kids are already on board," he said, looking out to the sea. "We've got to go now; we'll get the kids to the Valley, Hodepine's already told Pabbie about what's going on. But we've got to get that done before the mainland notice our ships; we've got to get back to support the army."
"I... Okay." Anna withdrew her hand, stepping backwards a little before she turned to face the door. "Let's go now."
One more chap 'till the good stuff starts! I, for one, can't wait to write it! Anyway, sorry that there weren't enough reviews to get an update on Wednesday! You guys were half way there... oh well!
Also, note the new cover art!
-Luna
