The Duke stepped to the front of his leading ship, facing the kingdom directly as the Arendellians and Northuldra all stepped forward to listen. "People of Arendelle! Six years ago your Snow Queen humiliated our fair country, and damaged our once lucrative trading values through her treachery! Today, I vanquish all magic from the kingdom of Arendelle, and reclaim the dignity... of Weselton!"
He went wide-eyed as he heard the rumbling from behind their ships, with most of the crew and the citizens all looking up in fear at the purple clouds forming overheard. The Duke gasped as Berit emerged from the front of the cloud, twirling a lightning bolt in her hand as she shouted back. "Absolutely amazing! Just about every word in that sentence was wrong!"
Her lightning bolts began shooting in all directions out of the cloud she was standing on, blackening the sky as she lowered herself onto the rear mast of the third ship, with the crowd on land gasping in worry as they saw her prisoner being lowered down bound in lightning chains.
"Elsa!" Honeymaren yelled out as she and Yelena got to the front of the crowd, watching as the chains bound the now awake Snow Queen to the mast while Berit continued her speech. Lynnedslag stood on the other end of the mast, intimidating the Duke's men with his fierce snarl as his master bellowed out her words.
"All my life I have sat back and watch, while humanity brings the planet closer to oblivion by the moment... if I've learned anything these past three decades, it's that mankind is a virus that poisons the Earth, and I've come here now with the cure! You need not worry about Weasel-Town's trading dilemma, Your Grace, for today marks the end of your so-called civilisation, as I give birth to a new world! A better world! A world ruled by magic!"
Anna, Kristoff, Mattias and the snowmen were all gathered at the very edge of the cliff. It was an incredibly steep fall if one were to jump over, and Arendelle was at least a good few miles away from them. Anna had cracked open the crates that the camping tents had been kept in, tearing the fabrics apart into wide, open sheets as she passed them around.
Marshmallow and the Snowgies all stood behind the group, with Kristoff turning to them as he said "we'll see you guys down there!"
The larger snowman nodded as he led the army of miniature snowmen away, before everyone looked to Loaf as he spoke up. "I have just one question, Anna... how exactly are these things supposed to help us not die?"
Loaf looked at the corner of the large tent fabric he was holding, while Beatrix and Olaf held the other two ends. Anna finished strapping her sword to her belt as she passed Kristoff and Mattias a tent each, looking back to Loaf as she answered.
"All you gotta do is hold it open when you jump. Gale'll do the rest." the Queen held two corners of her sheet in either hand, keeping it behind and over her head as she stood on the edge of the cliff. Bruni kept himself hidden under a fold in her jacket, with Anna smiling down at him before she looked back to the others. "We'll fly down just fine... hopefully."
"Oh okay, that makes sense." Beatrix grinned naively, taking a moment before she and Loaf both went wide-eyed. "Wait, who's Gale?"
The Duke had ordered his archers to aim their crossbows and harpoons at the two Queens on the mast, though Berit had hardly noticed this nor was she concerned by it. She smugly turned back to Elsa, leaning closer to her face and talking at a quieter volume. "Last chance, Elsa... we can still do this together if you want... come on..."
Unlimited
Together we're... unlimited
Together we'll be the greatest team
There's ever been, Elsa
Dreams the way we plan them
If we work in tandem
There's no fight we cannot win
Berit had hoped for Elsa to join her in the singing, but gave up when it seemed obvious that she wouldn't. She rolled her eyes as she reached into her belt to pull out a very real, very sharp dagger, holding it to Elsa's face with a smirk. "I have other ways of taking the power I need from you, Elsa, with or without your consent. So what do you say, dear? Take it... or leave it?"
Elsa didn't answer verbally, with her venomous glare being enough of a response as Berit sighed in mild frustration. A smile soon formed on her face again as she looked down to her audience and twirled her dagger in her hand. "Now... the Snow Queen over here has refused to aid me in my mission, but this is a minor inconvenience to me, so I don't see why she would finds her beliefs to be worth the sacrifice!"
The crowd were shocked by the mention of that last word and anxiously watched as Berit brought the knife to Elsa's neck, before they all looked to the North Mountain as they heard another voice echoing on the wind. "HANG ON ELSA!"
Berit and Elsa both turned to squint at the origin of the voice, with everyone's eyes going wide as they saw what it was. Anna and the others were hanging off of their makeshift parachutes as the wind spirit filled them with air, giving them a steady yet speedy descent towards the ships as they manoeuvred themselves around the lightning coming from Berit's clouds.
Loaf, Beatrix and Olaf were lighter and more aerodynamic than the humans, with Gale's force blowing them clumsily around in the air as they spun in a screaming circle, though they remained on the same course as the others as they came closer to the three ships. Berit scowled as she raised her hand, trying to send more lightning their way before Anna thrust her legs forward.
"GAH!" she grunted as Anna knocked her off of the mast, with the blow causing a few of Elsa's chains to break while her sister flew past. Anna let go of her parachute as it blew away in the wind, latching herself onto the loose sail of the Duke's front ship and sliding down it onto the deck.
"It's Queen Anna!" Ryder shouted this from the crowd, prompting the others to let out a resounding cheer as she drew her sword and her teammates landed on the deck behind her. Mattias and Kristoff both drew their own swords behind their Queen as the snowmen picked up anything they could find on the floor, infuriating the Duke as he shouted to his men. "Well don't just stand there! Kill the lot of them!"
Berit was still hanging onto the railing of the mast that Anna had knocked her off of, looking over to the first ship where the group was fighting off the Duke's soldiers. She smirked smugly as she saw this, only to look up at the escaped and very angry Snow Queen. "Oh bugger..."
"HEE-YAH!" Elsa sent a blast of ice down that knocked Berit off of the railing, almost plummeting into the water before Lynnedslag flew underneath to catch his master. She ran across the rope connecting the masts as she continued sending blasts that the lightning wolf mostly avoided, clenching her fists as she glared after Berit.
The battle had spread to the second ship as Anna tried to get to her sister, finding herself being increasingly surrounded by the Duke's men. "Kristoff! I need to get to Elsa! UGH!" she grunted as she deflected a soldier's sword, before grabbing another by the collar and punching him so that he fell overboard with two others.
"Got it!" Kristoff called back as he pushed aside one of the other men trying to attack his wife, with he and Mattias keeping the other soldiers at bay as Anna climbed up the middle mast. Elsa could see this from the crow's nest of the third ship, stretching her hand forwards to create a bridge of ice between herself and her sister as Anna started running across it.
ZZZAAP! One of Berit's lightning bolts suddenly shot in from the left, taking both sisters off guard as it cut the ice right down the middle. Anna hesitated for a moment before she jumped over the crack, running as fast as she could to Elsa while this side began to crumble apart under her weight. Elsa went wide-eyed as she noticed the ice just before her feet completely give way, latching onto the shoulders of Anna's jacket to stop her from falling with it before hoisting her up into the crow's nest with her.
Both were panting heavily as Elsa pulled her sister into a hug that Anna gladly and gratefully returned. "It's okay... I got you... Anna, I... I love you so much..."
"I know, Elsa. I know." Anna nodded with a smile as she pulled out of the hug, only to throw her sister and herself out of the way as Berit blasted the mast below them with her lightning again. "Love, eh?! HA!" She shouted over to them as the mast began to fall apart and the sisters struggled to stay standing. "Well let's see if love can save you from THIS!"
She struck the mast again, causing the crow's nest to falter as Anna tumbled out of it. Elsa just managed to grab her sister's arm, with the one-sided weight causing the entire crow's nest to break away from the mast and plummet into the water with both sisters still inside of it. "Yah!" Berit kicked Lynnedslag's side, prompting the hell hound to fly off towards the North as the purple clouds continued to smite Arendelle and the ships with her lightning.
WHOOSH! After about five seconds the Nøkk shot out of the waves with the two Queens on it's back. Elsa was holding it's reins as she sat at the front, turning back to Anna with a slightly worried grin. "You okay, sis?"
"Yeah... I'm fine.." Anna's voice was somewhat breathless from being underwater, but she was still determined as she looked up to see Berit flying away on Lynnedslag. "Let's go get her!"
"You got it!" Elsa tugged on the Nøkk's reins as it took off across the water in pursuit of the Storm Queen.
The fighting had now spread to all three ships with Honeymaren leading the Northuldra and several reindeer into the battle, while Marshmallow emerged from the fjord and began throwing his fists onto the decks as the Duke's men attempted to restrain his arms. The Weselton troops had even broken into fighting amongst themselves, with those loyal to the Council's demands attempting to overpower and mutiny against those loyal to the Duke's plot.
Ryder and his reindeer gave Olaf a lift over to the second ship, with the snowmen running over to help Mattias undo the ropes tying Marshmallow's hand to the deck. Beatrix watched this from a higher platform on the ship, going wide-eyed as she saw one of the Duke's main bodyguards standing behind them with his crossbow fully loaded.
"Guys! Look out!" she gasped fearfully in a vain attempt to warn them, before noticing the rope next to her was attached to the middle sail right above where the man was. Swallowing her terror as she unhooked her end of the rope, Beatrix swung down with her legs thrust out as she let out a surprisingly fierce battle cry. "AAAAGGGGGHHHH!"
She kicked the bodyguard right in the backside, sending him flying over Mattias and Olaf's heads as she landed face-first on the floor of the deck. Her glasses flew off her face and landed a few feet away as she hit the floor, prompting Beatrix to frantically put her hands across the blurry floor all around her as she started to panic. "Oh man! I can't see!"
The bodyguard got back on his feet as he reloaded his crossbow, pointing it right at the visually impaired snow-girl's head as Loaf and Olaf both went wide-eyed. "I'm afraid you freaks will need a bigger trick than that."
"Oh, okay..." Olaf pointed to his right with a grin as everyone except Beatrix looked up. "Is that big enough?"
The Weselton troops on both sides stared in either awe or horror as three towering Earth Giants emerged from behind the palace, with even Marshmallow being shocked by the sheer enormity they displayed. Kristoff sat at the back of Ryder's reindeer as they went across the second ship, with Ryder grabbing Olaf while Kristoff grabbed Beatrix and Mattias got her glasses. The reindeer and Mattias leapt across to the third ship just as the Earth Giants threw their boulders at the second, destroying the masts and deck and sending several of the Duke's men hurtling overboard into the water.
Kristoff and Ryder set the snowmen down as they dismounted the reindeer, with Mattias bending down to put Beatrix's glasses back on as she looked up in awe at the Earth Giants. "WHOA! THOSE GUYS ARE HUGE!"
"So... how's our brave little snow-girl doing, huh?" Kristoff snarked with a brow raised, smiling warmly as Beatrix childishly giggled and wrapped her arms around his legs, being only just tall enough to reach that height.
The Duke stared with a bubbling fury from the front end of the first ship, watching the second as it slowly split in half and both ends sank into the waves to the cheering of the crowd on land. Half his crew had switched sides and the other half was being royally pulverised by the combined efforts of the Arendellians, the Northuldra, the spirits and three irritating snowmen. He knew his plan was failing miserably so he had to find some way to salvage it.
"Hmm... ah yes..." he muttered in an amused yet menacing tone as he looked to the end of the ship. "The gunpowder. In the cargo hatch. I'll give those traitors a firework show they'll never forget! Ah ha ha... wait... why am I saying this out loud?"
Crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrkkkkkkkkk... He suddenly felt his balance becoming unstable as the ship began to move, looking to the top end to see Loaf starting to operate the wheel. The Duke felt a smug yet sinister grin crossing his face, drawing his sword as he slowly sauntered over to where the snowman was.
Since Berit's outburst the day before, Ahtohallan had now split off into several massive icebergs, while the storm she was currently summoning was creating a powerful maelstrom to swirl in the centre of them all and pull them closer to a large, almost bottomless abyss underwater. Lynnedslag landed on the largest iceberg as Berit dismounted him, before the Nøkk pulled alongside the iceberg as the two Arendellian Queens dismounted as well.
The combined presence of Elsa and Berit's powers was causing the storm to worsen, as the maelstrom grew stronger and the waves wrecked more violently and viscerally around the ice. Anna drew her sword while Elsa made one out of ice for herself, side-by-side as they faced a bemused Berit.
"Alright then..." Berit rolled her eyes before she opened her fists to summon two of her blade-like lightning bolts, getting into a battle-ready stance as the sisters did the same. "Stand together, fall together!"
"AAAAGGGGHH!" Both Anna and Elsa charged forwards with their swords raised, bringing them down in-sync as Berit deflected both blows with her bolts before kicking Elsa aside and pushing Anna back.
Anna ducked under one of the bolts as Berit swung it at her throat, latching onto the taller woman's back as she wrapped her arms around Berit's neck. Berit stumbled back a bit from the added weight, and this distraction allowed Elsa to swing her own sword down, just catching the side of Berit's stomach with a single, swift SLASH!
"Ugh!" the Storm Queen grunted in pain, though this enraged her enough to grab Anna by the arm and tear her off of her back, throwing the Queen halfway across the berg as Anna landed hard on the ice. Keeping one hand pressed to the cut on her side, Berit continued to parry and deflect Elsa's attacks but was eventually being forced down onto one knee as Elsa started viscerally swinging her sword onto her again and again, with the increasing amount of sheer power and rage shattering each bolt that Berit summoned to shield herself.
Anna groaned as she tried to get back on her feet, clutching her side as she looked to see Elsa and Berit fighting still. The small gurgle at her side prompted her to see Bruni glaring right back up at her with a wide smile. She returned the smirk as she took a hold of her sword, holding out her other hand to the salamander. "Good idea, little buddy..."
Elsa was surprised when Berit suddenly caught the blade of her ice sword with both hands, twisting it and Elsa's arms with it to disarm her. Elsa grunted as she let go of her weapon, trying to summon another blast of ice before Lynnedslag gripped her cape in his sparkling teeth. The lightning wolf pulled her back with great force, forcing her down onto the ground as Berit held up the ice sword to dispatch her. Elsa tried her hardest to fight back, but the hell hound pressed it's clawed paws onto her arms to keep her down on her back.
"Ironic, isn't it?!" Berit's eye was twitching as she let out an almost animalistic cackle, raising the sword over her head. "Live by the ice sword... die by the ice sword! Ah ha ha ha ha haa!"
Elsa closed her eyes as she waited for Berit to bring down the weapon for the killing blow, only to open them again as Berit was hit in the back by what seemed to be a bright orange fireball of some kind. She rolled out of the way as the surprise attack caused Berit's grip to loosen on the sword, though the lightning wolf that had been restraining her wasn't quite so lucky.
SHING! SMASH!
These sounds snapped Berit back to reality, causing her to stare down with wide eyes at the shattered sword on the ice, along with the severed yet bloodless head of her hell hound as it and his crackling body fell limp at Elsa's feet. It would have taken the Storm Queen only a moment to get over the shock of this death, though she was far more paralysed with shock and awe as she and Elsa both looked where the surprise attack had come from.
The silhouette was enveloped in a thick cover of bright, golden fire, with the woman almost resembling a phoenix as she strode out from the flames. The sight of this figure was surprising enough as it was, though both Elsa and Berit were shocked to silence when they saw who it actually was under the fiery guise.
"Anna?!"
The blade of Anna's sword was coated in the same blazing orange flames as the rest of her, while the Queen's eyes glowed a neon orange and her brightened hair flickered as if it were among the flames. Berit and Elsa were both wide-eyed and speechless at the sight of her, with Elsa only just managing to let out a small exhale under her breath. "Oh wow..."
Elsa was still trying to regain her breath as she stayed on the ground, while Anna kept her burning eyes fixated on Berit. The Storm Queen glanced with an emotionless face at the remains of her pet as they sparkled and fizzed into nothingness, a grin forming on her face as another blade-like lightning bolt emerged from her hand.
"Well Anna... at least now killing you's going to be a lot more FUN!"
Anna pulled up her flaming sword as Berit charged towards her, a smirk forming on her own lips as she readied her counter-attack. "Huh... so you can remember my name... RRRRAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!"
Loaf continued to struggle at the wheel with the Duke, though the latter's smaller stature meant that it was far easier to pull the wheel his way than it had been with Kristoff. The Duke eventually grew tired of this and drew his sword again, intending to get Loaf out of his way once and for all.
"Whoa! Ugh! Eek! AAGH!" Loaf shrieked as he narrowly avoided each of the swipes, still trying to turn the wheel of the ship whenever he could reach it. The Duke swung for his head before Loaf ducked, then swung for his body before Loaf separated his midsection from his bottom part to let the blade go straight through the gap, all the while getting more and more frustrated.
"GGGGAAAHHH!" the Duke suddenly kicked the snowman down the stairs to the lower deck. He regained his smug composure as he spun the wheel to the left and jammed his sword into the stand, keeping the first ship on course to collide with the third as he strode down the steps to where Loaf was lying on the floor.
"So what do you think you were doing with my ship?" he snarked as he stood over Loaf, with the snowman remaining surprisingly defiant as he answered back. "What's it look like I'm doing? Trying to save my family!"
"Family?" the Duke scoffed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Let me tell you something, my boy, your family are... ooh..."
Loaf was surprised by the Duke's reaction, before looking up to see the Snowgie that was sitting on his head. He looked back at the Duke with bulging wide eyes, noticing the entire army of Snowgies that were standing behind the short, elderly man.
"What are you staring at, you little monster!" the Duke snarled in an impatient tone, prompting Loaf to point at his extended family as the Duke turned to face them himself. "Uh oh... AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Loaf got back on his feet as the Duke ran off with the legion of miniature snowmen chasing and jumping onto him. He looked at the one on his head as it slipped into his hand, letting a warm smile cross his face as he hugged his smaller sibling tightly. "Aw... I love you guys so much..."
"Hmm..." a booming voice from besides the ship alerted Loaf to Marshmallow's presence, prompting him to quickly run into his larger brother's arm as the giant carried him over towards the third ship. Loaf was initially overjoyed to see everyone safe on this ship, before going wide-eyed as he remembered what the Duke had done.
"Hi Loaf!" Beatrix and Olaf both called up with a wave from where Kristoff was holding them, only for Loaf to frantically wave his arms as he shouted down from Marhsmallow's hand. "Everyone get off the ship! NOW!"
They all seemed confused by this at first, only for Kristoff to go wide-eyed as he saw the Duke's ship heading right towards them and instantly realised what Loaf meant. "He's right... everybody off!"
The Arendellians, Northuldra annd Weseltonians all ran to the furthest side of the third ship, some sliding down the backs of the Earth Giants while others jumped overboard and swam across the fjord to the land as the Duke's ship came closer to the second ship. The Duke himself had managed to escape the Snowgies by climbing up to the crow's nest of the first ship, having not noticed that the miniature snowmen had already rejoined the others as his vessel headed closer to it's destination.
He grimaced at the sight of Kristoff and the all others standing on land with the rest of the crowd, placing his now cracked monacle back onto his brow as he gave his speech. "Ah ha ha ha ha... This is not over, you understand! Your Snow Queen will never be safe in this world, and you'll never be rid of me! For I... I am the one fearless enough to defy her lies and sorcery, and I will restore the good reputation that my homeland was robbed off by the daughters of Agnarr! I am the Great Duke of... whoa!... oh dear."
CRASH!
He was cut off as the ships finally collided into a dazzling display of wood and splinters that flew in all directions, with the force of the crash sending him plummeting down from the mast. Everyone stared wide-eyed as the Duke shrieked in an almost ear-piercingly high tone, falling into the very mouth of the shipwreck where the gunpowder barrels finally succumbed to the friction of the crash. "AAAAAAARRRGGGGGGHHHH!"
KABOOM!
A fierce duel of fire and lightning shook the iceberg the Queens stood on, with the storm becoming more volatile as the maelstrom grew stronger. Anna's rage burned inside and out with each attack, surprising Berit every time she thought she'd reached the pinnacle of her fury and force. Elsa wasted no time joining her sister on the assault, taking turns blasting and attacking Berit with the fullest extent of their abilities.
Berit eventually collapsed to her knees, panting for breath as Anna and Elsa both relented. Though she looked up with a worried grimace as Elsa grinned smugly. "Hey Anna?"
"Yeah..."
"Remember our secret handshake?" Elsa had a playful eyebrow raised, as Anna smirked back with a nod. Berit's eyes widened in anxiety at first, with her face eventually switching to one of extreme confusion when she saw what the sisters did.
1, 2, 3 together, clap together, snap together
You and me together, knees together, freeze together
Up or down together, princess crown together
Always be together
YOU AND ME!
As the final move of their handshake Anna and Elsa suddenly slammed their left and right foot respectively onto the iceberg, creating a rippling burst of combined ice and fire energy that sent Berit back into the wall of the iceberg behind her. Berit was partly dazed by the attack, but was mostly enraged as she finally shot back to her feet and sent a lightning bolt at the sisters.
Elsa gasped, shoving Anna aside and letting the bolt hit herself as she was sent flying to the opposite end of the iceberg. Anna went wide-eyed as she saw where her sister went, before frantically putting up her sword to deflect Berit's next attack. Berit let out a furious shriek as she swung her bolt, shattering the blade of Anna's sword as the hilt flew out of her hand.
"NO!" Anna cried out as Bruni fell with the sword, stripping her of his powers as she returned to her normal self, and was now even more vulnerable to attack. Berit took full advantage of this, sending a fist into the Queen's stomach before grabbing the braid of her hair and tossing her to the wall of the iceberg. Anna grunted as the wall shattered on impact and she landed in a pile of debris, struggling to get back up before Berit pressed her foot down onto her chest.
"Always be together, eh? Pah... this is exactly what I meant..." she pressed her foot down further on Anna as she opened her hand, letting a few lightning bolts sparkle from her fingers as she looked down at the Queen. "Love makes fools of us all, Anna. Ha ha, especially people like you..."
"You're wrong..." Anna's tone of voice was confident and defiant, though still somewhat strained. Berit raised a smug eyebrow as she lifted her foot slightly, leaning down a bit so she could face Anna. "Is that a fact? Hmm...? Well how exactly am I wrong, Anna?"
"Love is the strongest power in the universe... it always was, and it always will be." Anna had a grin on her face as she quickly glanced behind Berit, before she spoke a little louder as if giving a signal to someone. "For one thing... only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart!"
"Wait, what?!" Berit's breath stilled in her throat as she turned around to see who was standing there. It was at this moment that the Storm Queen realised what was about to happen as she put up her hands to defend herself, but it was too late.
"HUUUUURRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH!" Elsa clapped her hands together to send a massive, devastating blast of ice in Berit's direction. Berit went wide-eyed with a gasp as she felt the ice strike her right in the chest, as the force of the blow sent her flying backwards over Anna and she disappeared into the mists of the maelstrom.
Elsa pulled Anna to her feet as Bruni jumped back onto her sister's shoulder, brushing Anna's now regular-coloured hair out of her face. She was still quite breathless after what she'd seen, laughing as she looked her sister proudly in the eye. "And just when I thought you couldn't be anymore full of surprises, Anna..."
Anna smiled at this, before the pair jumped off of the iceberg and onto the Nøkk as they headed into the mist, planning to make sure they'd finished off the Storm Queen once and for all.