The Ice Behind Bars

Chapter L: My Last Lullaby

Anna slowly opened her eyes, feeling a killer headache. She slowly blinked, failing to get the blur out of her eyes. She could feel that she was on a soft and warm bed. She slowly brought her hand to her forehead, only to feel the fabric of a bandage. "Wha…?" She felt confused.

A door opened, letting cold air inside the room then closed.

"Oh, you're awake!" A cheerful feminine voice said.

Anna turned to the voice but only saw a blurred figure. She started to sit up.

"Wow, there! Easy now, girl." The woman said, approaching her. She grabbed Anna's arm and helped her gently to sit up.

"Where… Where am I?" Anna asked tiredly.

"You're in my hideout! Well—… It's not really a hideout. It's more like my shack."

The blur in Anna's eyes finally faded. Her eyes widened when she saw the woman.

The strange woman had strawberry blonde hair just like hers, tied up in a low messy bun. Not only that but she also had blue-grey eyes just like Anna's! She had a brown thin headband around her forehead and she was wearing a long beige poncho with only her right hand gloved.

Anna gawked at her.

The woman lifted an eyebrow at her, "I'm not that hideous am I?!" She teased playfully.

"W-What?! N-No! Not at all… I-I was just… You look a lot… like me!" Anna pointed at herself.

The woman rubbed her chin, "Yeahhhh, I was wondering about the same thing!"

"B-But we're so similar!" Anna's tone showed all sign of bewilderment and disbelief.

"Awesome right?!" The woman exclaimed happily. "Oh well," she shrugged, "Strange world, strange people."

Anna stared at her for a moment, "Who… Who are you?"

The woman laughed, "I should be the one asking you!"

Anna hesitated. Well… She did save my life. All of a sudden she remembered something. She gasped loudly, making the woman jump in her place. "Kristoff! Where's Kristoff?!"

"Oh, don't worry about your boyfriend. He's fine. He went out a moment ago to take a walk around the woods with his moose or whatever that was. He wanted to make sure no bounty hunters were around." She explained.

Anna sighed in relief, "I'm glad he's okay— And WAIT what?! He's not my boyfriend!" She blushed.

"Well he did spend all his time tending to you when you were having a fever and wouldn't wake up." The woman looked away and teasingly said, "And he was pretty concerned for you." She winked at Anna.

Anna was taken aback. "Kristoff was… worried about me?" She said, a smile slowly growing on her lips.

The door suddenly opened and Kristoff got in, carrying a pile of wood.

"Speak of the devil!" The woman said with a smirk.

His eyes widened when they met Anna's and he quickly let go of the wood, "Anna!" He rushed to her side. "You're awake! You're fine!" His voice sounded so relieved that Anna could have sworn he almost cried with joy. "Oh, I'm so glad!"

Before Anna could speak, Kristoff quickly wrapped her in a hug.

Anna's heart beat with joy. She just had never known that Kristoff cared about her this much. Slowly but surely she hugged him back.

"You were out for three days!" He notified.

"What?!" Anna broke the hug and stared at him in shock. "Three days?!"

Kristoff nodded, and then he smiled and looked towards the woman, "If it wasn't for Catherine here, who knows what would have happened to us. You gotta thank her for saving your life."

Anna turned to her, "I… I don't know how to thank you, Catherine. I-I don't even know why you saved us or why those bandits were even after us!"

"Those weren't bandits, darling. Those were bounty hunters." Catherine corrected.

"But why were they after us?!" Kristoff asked.

"Well…" Catherine rubbed the back of her neck. "They were actually after me."

Anna's eyes widened. "Why?"

Catherine giggled, "It's a… very long story. You see… my brother-in-law literally wants my head on a spike."

"Your brother-in-law?" Kristoff asked again.

She nodded. "My husband's brother."

Kristoff and Anna both exchanged surprised looks then, "You're MARRIED?!" They shouted in unison.

Catherine blushed and rubbed the back of her neck, "I'm… more of a widow now."

Kristoff and Anna made a silent 'Oh'.

"Anyway… Since you look a lot like me, those bounty hunters definitely mistook you for me. So… I couldn't just stand by and watch someone get killed because of me." Catherine apologetically said.

Anna noticed the glove. "Uhm… I know this is kind of a blunt question, but… Doyouhavepowers!?" She suddenly quickly said while pointing a finger on Catherine's gloved right hand. Maybe that's why they're after her?

Catherine burst out laughing. "Oh god!" She held her stomach, "Of course not, silly!" Her laughs slowly subdued as she slowly removed the glove. "It's… a— uh… gift from my late mother."

Kristoff and Anna gasped with a horrified look on their faces as they stared at the cheerful woman's hand.

Catherine's right hand was entirely burnt and covered in damaged tissues of melted skin. It had brown-red patches here and there, clearly showing how painful it was.

"My mother always sought perfection." Catherine brought them back from their gawking, staring at her burnt hand with a smile. "She was always telling me to be the perfect girl. And I… Always used to be the little rebel who just wanted to do crazy things. So one day… My mother and I argued and fought about this. And late at night, I decided to steal from the castle kitchen just to spite her. However… She caught me… and well…" Catherine chuckled for some reason, "She decided to teach me a lesson. She said that I would never listen not until she showed me what real punishment was, so… She…" Catherine's smile fell and she brushed her scarred hand with her left thumb. "Shoved my hand in the fireplace's burning coal."

"I'm… I'm so sorry…" Anna sadly said. What's wrong with parents these days? Her eyes then suddenly widened in realization, "Wait what!? Did you just say you stole from the castle kitchen!?"

Catherine giggled, "I just hated being so serious and just wanted to try new things! You know… Adventures!"

Anna and Kristoff exchanged weird looks then turned at a smirking Catherine.

"Please don't tell me you're a royal." Anna said.

Catherine shrugged and smirked, "I am."


"Want me to help you with that?"

Bulda jumped in her place, startled. She turned and saw Aiden approaching her. "No it's fine." She chuckled. "I'm almost done." Bulda was putting everything away since it was late at night, and she wanted to go home.

Aiden leaned on one of Bulda's stands, and then lost himself in his thoughts.

"Thinking about Elsa?" Bulda snapped him out of his trance.

Aiden sighed. "I just went out of her room. I waited for her until she was asleep."

"Good." Bulda nodded.

A moment of silence occurred between the two, both of them hearing the relaxing chirping of crickets at night.

"You don't think its Elsa, right?" Aiden suddenly asked while folding his arms.

"No it's not."

"How can you be so sure?" Aiden asked again.

"Well…" Bulda trailed off, "She kind of… wasn't herself. It was as if it's a completely different person. Besides, she hasn't done anything unfortunate ever since the incident with the boy three days ago. This is hopefully a good thing."

Aiden nodded in agreement. He then looked around and smiled. "It's a pretty quiet tonight."

Bulda huffed and smiled, "It sure is."

Aiden's smile fell and he furrowed his eyebrows, "Almost too quiet."


Elsa jolted out of her sleep with a gasp, hearing laughs around her. She realized she was completely wet as well as the bed underneath her.

"Waky waky, ice princess!" A young woman's mocking voice said.

"That bucket of water sure has woken her up!" Another said.

Elsa brushed the water out of her eyes then lifted her head only to see three women standing over her bed with a smirk on their faces. "W-What's going on?" She fearfully said, her shoulders lifting.

There were two women with brown hair but one had darker skin than the other, as for the third one who looked like she was the leader, had blonde hair and wore a green peasant dress.

The latter who was holding an empty wet bucket approached her, "We're here to have some fun with you!" She mockingly said and threw the bucket away. "We allll want to be your friends!"

Elsa smiled nervously, "R-Really?"

"NO!" The blonde shouted in her face, making her cower. "We heard you've been spending some good time with Aiden, huh?"

"W-What?" Elsa was confused.

"And causing a lot of trouble for the villagers." The second one said.

"Aiden sure has an eye on you, though." The one with dark skin said.

"And no longer cares about me!" The blonde pointed at herself. "Are you trying to steal him from me?!" She angrily said, grabbing Elsa by her wet hair.

Elsa yelped, not understanding what was going on. "I'm sorry!" She said out of habit.

"So you DO want to steal him from me!" The girl pulled Elsa's hair harder and shoved her off her bed, forcing her to stand between her and her comrades.

"I don't really know what he really likes about you!" She mocked with a laugh. "Sure you have a cute face, but look at that body of yours!" She smirked and purposely touched Elsa's healing wound, making Elsa whimper in pain.

"You're pretty hideous for a princess, Darling!" The third one said then all of them started laughing.

Elsa felt tears roll down her cheek. She felt utterly humiliated.

"You know we've been hearing some nasty rumors about you." The one gripping Elsa's hair whispered in the pale blonde's ear.

"Hah she probably slept with every single man in this fort." Another girl noted.

"Anna…" Elsa whimpered for help.

"Oh, you poor little thing. Are you crying?!" She gripped Elsa's hair harder and pushed her towards her friend.

The third girl moved away, causing Elsa to fall on the ground. "Disgusting wet dog." She looked at the soaked princess in disgust.

"Since you love men so much, we invited some for you!" The blonde one smirked. "Come on in boys!"

Two young men entered the room, their lustful looks hovering over Elsa's body.

Elsa cowered on the ground and let her silent tears fall. "P-Please… Leave me alone…!"

"She's a pretty thing, isn't she?!" A young man approached Elsa.

"Don't you remember us, princess?" The other young man asked with a grin on his face. "We were the ones who wanted to get to know you when you first came here, however your pretty little boy, Aiden got in our way and beat us!" His tone turned angry.

"You can do whatever you want with her!" The blonde said and sat on a chair, putting a leg over the other.

Why?! Why does everyone wanna hurt me?! Why?! Elsa thought.

"Come on, princess! Aren't you gonna show us your pretty magic?" The girl with dark skin said.

"Who cares about that! Magic or not, she's mine." The young man took his belt out of his pants and bent it once, holding it with one hand like a whip. "Alright then, princess…"

Elsa turned utterly silent. The room's temperature dropped dramatically.

"How about we have some fun?" He asked, everyone smirking sadistically at Elsa, but soon their grins turned into surprised looks and some were even fearful.

"U-Uhm… Guys…" The other boy started backing away from Elsa, pointing at the ice forming around the bedroom door.

The girls gasped, "She's locking us inside!" Then they all ran to the door and started punching it and tried to break the ice but it only got thicker.

The blonde girl fell on her knees and started shivering. "I… I-I don't wanna die!" She sobbed.

Steam started to come out of their mouths.

"Oh shit!... Help! HELP!" The boy who held his belt shouted.

They were all drumming on the frozen door, trying their best to break it so they could get out, and not noticing that Elsa started to stand.

"Where are you all going?"

Everyone froze and went silent. They gulped as their heart stopped after hearing that dark and sadistic tone that came from behind them.

Slowly and shakily, everyone turned to see a smirking Elsa with glowing eyes. "Oh… G-God…" The one who was holding the belt felt wetness between his legs, and he knew very well that he just peed himself.

Elsa's smirk widened and she stared at them with bloodlust in her wide crazy eyes and…

"Didn't you wanna have… fun?"


Aphrodite and Brandon walked in the hallways.

"Ugh…" Aphrodite groaned, rubbing her tired eyes.

"Yeah, I'm pretty exhausted too." Brandon teased.

"Said the one who sat all day doing nothing but filling my ears with crazy stories." Aphrodite bluntly said.

"You know you like them." He said, grabbing Aphrodite's hood and pulling it over her head to tease her like he always does.

"Hey!" She pulled her hood back up and glared at him. "Why do you keep doing that?!"

"I just love seeing your expression afterwards." He glared playfully back.

She frowned. "Next time you do this, I'm cutting your fingers."

"Ouch!" He laughed and hid his fingers.

Aphrodite finally smiled.

Brandon then thought for a moment and gulped. He put his hand in his pocket, grabbing something. "H-Hey Aphrodite?" He nervously said, blushing really hard.

"Yeah?" She turned at him.

"I-I've been meaning to ask you… S-S-Something." He was totally tense and Aphrodite could see the sweat forming on his forehead.

"What's up?" She asked with a sympathetic smile.

They were both a few meters away from Elsa's room.

Brandon's face couldn't get any redder. He even forgot to…

"Breathe, Brandon! Breathe!" Aphrodite reminded.

Brandon exhaled loudly. "W-Well… I-I wanted to ask you…" He inhaled deeply and slowly, closing his eyes and tightening his grip on the thing in his pocket.

He opened his mouth and…

BAM!

The door to Elsa's room got smashed open, and out of it a young man's body went flying and hit the wall violently in front of Aphrodite and Brandon.

"Oh my god!" Aphrodite rushed to the young man. "Are you alright?!"

Brandon forgot about everything and sprinted to Aphrodite's side.

"What happened?!" Brandon asked.

The young man was all bloody and barely breathing. His left leg was gone, his eyes were wide with horror and his shaking was horrifying. He slowly and shakily lifted his hand and pointed behind Aphrodite.

Aphrodite gave him a confused and shocked look before she turned.

The moment her eyes caught the sight, Aphrodite's eyes shot wide with terror and she nearly puked, despite her years of experience with blood and gore.

Brandon quickly turned away and gagged.

Aphrodite gawked at the scene, unable to say a word… Utterly breathless.

In front of her, blood was everywhere. Two young girls were impaled with multiple ice spikes. A young man's body lied on the ground headless. But the most horrifying thing? Was Elsa.

Elsa stood in the middle of the room, gripping the blonde girl's throat and trying to dig her nails as hard as she could in the girl's skin. "Beg!" Elsa commanded with a maniac smirk.

The young woman tried her best to hold for dear life, "Please…!" She pleaded. "I'm sorry…"

Elsa laughed evilly then broke the girl's neck, the sound of the snapping bones sent chills down Aphrodite's spine.

Elsa then calmly let go, leaving the corpse to collapse on the ground with a thud.

Thieves and villagers ran in the halls and rushed to see what was going on.

They all watched and gasped in horror. The thieves readied their weapons to attack.

"She killed them!"

"Murderer!"

"You cold blooded demon!"

"How dare you!?"

Two daughters you have but one split in two... Aphrodite remembered her dream.

She could hear everyone shout angry accusation at her daughter. But what could she do? How could she even defend her daughter now? Could she even prove her daughter's innocence anymore? Even to herself! Was Elsa really a monster? She had so many questions but the most important one was…

"What have you done, Jamie?" She whispered to herself, staring at the monstrosity in front of her that she once called 'daughter'.

"KILL HER!"

That snapped Aphrodite out of her shock. "NO!" She more like begged.

Elsa turned and saw her.

Aphrodite.

Her mother.

Her eyes slowly widened. And she gasped and started screaming again, clutching her head in pain. She fell to her knees and after a moment she shook her head as if waking up.

"Get her!"

Elsa slowly lifted her head, not understanding what was going on or why everyone was surrounding her, or why all of them were giving her angry and fearful looks.

"NOW!" One commanded.

Before Elsa knew it, about six men jumped on her and started pinning her to the ground violently, tying her hands behind her back with chains.

She still hadn't comprehended what was going on.

They then started pulling her out of the room, not caring about her wounds or anything.

"Wait you guys! Stop!" Brandon tried to stop them but none listened. In fact they even pushed him away.

"You murderer!" One woman accused and made Elsa flinch.

As Elsa passed between all the chaos, an old man spat on her face.

Elsa then couldn't handle it anymore. She lowered her head and tried her best not to cry. Everyone hates me! Everyone hates me! I'm a murderer!

They drag her through the halls. "Demon!"

A demon!

Down to the lower level of the fort. "Abomination!"

An abomination!

Into the dungeons. "Witch!"

A witch!

Threw her in a cellar. "MONSTER!"

"A MONSTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRR!" Elsa finally screamed with her eyes shut tight.

The cellar door closed shut.

"This is where you belong! You'll stay here till we figure out what we'll be doing with you tomorrow morning… You monster." The last man spat at the door and started leading everyone out, leaving Elsa to be the only prisoner of the fort's dungeons.

Everything inside Elsa's mind was silent. She turned and looked at the big metal door that looked so much alike the door that she'd been staring at for 15 years. If she was in a normal mental state, she would have heard the angry mob outside, shouting and cursing her name.

But no…

Everything was silent.

Until…

"NO!"

Realization dawned.

"NO PLEASE!" She screamed and rushed to the door, smashing her body on it, trying her best to open it but to no avail. "Get me out!" She screamed. "GET ME OUT!" Her heart raced as flashbacks and images of her father, mad and all of the suffering she had gone through raced inside her mind. She ran to the other side of the cellar, hitting her body on the wall, barely able to breathe with all the hyperventilating. "PLEASE! WHAT DID I DO!? PLEASE! GET ME OUT! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" She started to sob and wail, unable to think straight. Her mind was going mad.

With all the bedlam she was having inside her mind, she didn't notice that someone was on the other side of the door.

After everyone had left, Aphrodite slowly approached the cellar door, staring in disbelief. She could hear Elsa's pleading, screaming and begging. She could even hear the thuds of her daughter's weak body hit the walls here and there. She almost felt like there was a trapped wild animal inside with no sign of a rational mind what so ever.

"Get me out!" Elsa pleaded then, "Get… ME OUT!" Her tone suddenly turned furious. "Please!" Then scared and sad again.

Aphrodite on that moment knew… just how far Elsa's mind was really damaged.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" An angry Elsa screamed.

Aphrodite lifted her slender fingers and slowly brushed the metal door. Silent tears went down her cheeks.

"I'LL KILL YOU ALLLL!" Elsa shrieked.

Aphrodite couldn't hold it any longer. Her legs wobbled and she collapsed on the ground, on her knees, in front of the metal door, her hand over her mouth, and her eyes wide with horror.

"I'm sorry! I just… I j-just…" Elsa shakily said then groaned in rage, "DAMN YOU!"

Aphrodite sat on the ground, and leaned her back on the metal door, hearing her raving daughter go crazy inside. Yes… Damn you… Damn you, Jamie! DAMN YOU! She thought, feeling utterly helpless.

Elsa kept screaming and yelling and crying and wailing, her mind completely unstable. Her words completely absurd.

Elsa started forming ice spikes around the entire cellar. But her innocent and scared side stopped herself from continuing. It was a total mental conflict. "No… Stop!" She cried to herself, realizing what was going on with her.

Aphrodite just gave up. Despair gripped her mind and she tilted her head backwards, leaning it on the door.

Elsa was consumed by rage again. She started making a shining ice ball in her hands, ready to let the entire fort explode…

Aphrodite stared at the ceiling with teary red eyes, and inhaled slowly and deeply… then…

"Little snowflake… close your eyes…" The queen started singing hesitantly.

Elsa suddenly froze. Her eyes wide in shock. Her head slowly turned to the door.

Aphrodite continued. "The sun is going down… now…"

Elsa's anger slowly dissipated and turned into utter disbelief.

"D-Deep in our hearts… Love shall thrive…" Aphrodite just let her tears go. "No one can hurt you now…"

Elsa slowly approached the door, tears welling in her eyes. That was it… the very lullaby that only she and her mother knew. As for the elegant and beautiful voice of her mother singing? She remembered it very well.

Elsa slowly slid down the door and put her ear on the cold metal, trying as hard as she could to be close to her long 'dead' mother. "When… W-When you're alone… hear… my voice…" And Elsa started.

Aphrodite couldn't help but smile, knowing that despite how much Elsa had forgotten about things, she had never forgotten about their lullaby. Somehow she was able to find happiness by the fact that SOME part of her real daughter was still there.

"I'll be there when you need me…" They started singing in unison, both finding peace and quiet.

Elsa feeling a warm beautiful sensation that she had missed so much.

"Little baby…" Aphrodite sang.

"Count on me…" Elsa continued with a hesitant smile.

"I promise I'll never let you go." They finished in unison.

Silence.

Sadness suddenly overwhelmed Aphrodite. For the song was over, and so was her big lie. The lie she was living all that time.

Elsa was shaking. "M-Mama?" More tears went down like waterfalls.

Aphrodite was speechless. She put a hand over her mouth to try not to sob. Guilt. Pain. Remorse. Happiness. Sorrows. Her feelings were going crazy. She didn't know how to respond. But for her… she had one choice.

Aphrodite stood on her feet and ran out, leaving a bewildered daughter.

She ran and ran through the hallways, crying her eyes out and not caring about anyone who was giving her weird looks.

Leanna was crying… That was the world's greatest shock.

Aphrodite ran… and ran… and ran…

She stumbled to the ground and some rushed to help her up but she pushed them away and continued running. She was heading straight to her room.

After reaching it, Aphrodite dashed inside the room and closed the door, throwing herself on the bed and wailing her eyes out. All of the anger. All of the sadness. EVERY single feeling she caged up inside her chest exploded into loud fits of cries and screams.

"Oh, my poor, queen."

Aphrodite's entire world froze. She slowly and shakily lifted her head off the bed, her eyes wide with utter dread. She refused to even turn around. That voice… it nearly made her faint. It made the small hair on her neck stand. It made a chill crawl around her spine and give her the strongest negative vibes she had ever felt. It's been years and years since she had heard this disgusting voice.

Without even daring to exhale, and with shaking lips, Aphrodite was only able to say one word.

"Jamie…"