Surprise! Yes, another update within 6 months of the last. Thanks to some time off from work for Christmas and New Year, I've ve had a little extra time to put towards this update. Once again, thank you to Desteny Star and Jacob Flores for the encouraging reviews! And to answer your question, I have not seen the new movie and I doubt I will anytime soon. I didn't see the first one until it had been out for a couple of years. My friends would be singing "Let it go" and I would pretend I knew what in the world was going on. It was actually shortly after first watching the movie that I had the idea for this story and couldn't get the idea out of my head so here we are... Anyway, without further delay, please enjoy the next update to Frozen Home.
"Have you lost your mind?!" Anna screamed much louder than Elsa hoped she would, not wanting the others in the house to overhear.
"Keep your voice down!" Elsa sternly whispered to her sister.
"We didn't come all this way just to give him exactly what he wants! What about all the planning we did on the ship?"
"Anna, we haven't gotten anywhere in three days. We need something to speed things up. Also, have you noticed that our business isn't even a business anymore? Everything stopped when Father was arrested. Even if the outcome of the war is in our favor, we might not even be able to salvage what's left of it, but right now it could be a bargaining chip to save Father, which is more important."
Anna thought on it for a moment. "So you think if you just waltz into his office and sign it over to him, that he will just let you and Father leave?"
"I don't trust him to keep his word. But all I need is for him to bring Father to me. After that, I could use my magic to get us both out if he tries anything."
"Just like that? Elsa, nothing is that easy! He could hurt you!"
"That's why I'll need you and Kristoff to come help if something goes wrong."
"I don't like this plan... Why wouldn't you involve Luc or Mr. Larsen? They could help."
"They don't know about my magic. I don't think I want them to know right now..."
"Yet you're ready to expose your magic to Colonel Hans?"
Elsa hesitated to respond. She had been thinking about her conversation with Olaf for the last several days, and she finally came to terms with what she might have to do. "Anna... I wouldn't leave him alive this time..."
Anna choked out a laugh of disbelief. "Wow... Do you hear yourself right now?! Not only are you ready to expose your biggest secret to our enemy but you're ready to kill him to keep it a secret?! Elsa, what has gotten into you?!"
"It may not even come to that! I'm just... considering it in case it does..."
Anna closed her eyes and started pacing the room as Elsa watched her try and fail to speak. Finally she stopped in front of her. "Elsa, there's a chance he might already know about your magic. Remember what happened in Skien?"
"I knocked him unconcious. Maybe he doesn't remember what happened."
"Maybe he does and he'll shoot you on sight! If you're serious about going through with this, let me go meet with him."
"That may just be a chance I have to take. This is my plan, I'm not letting you do it. I have no doubt he's up to something, and I'm the only one capable of taking on him and his guards."
Anna took a few minutes to catch her breath before sitting next to her sister. "Fine... But we need to make some changes to your plan."
"Like what?"
"Well... I think you should tell Luc..."
"Anna, I just sai-"
"We're going to need all the help we can get, and if he's going to be putting himself in danger for our family, he deserves to know the truth."
Elsa thought on it for a moment... How would she tell him? She'd never intentionally shared her secret with anyone. They just found out when they saw her using her magic in a tense situation and she had to explain later. One thing was certain, they were all afraid of her at first.
Elsa sighed in defeat. "Wha-... What if he's scared of my magic?"
"After what he's been through, I doubt your magic will have that much effect on his resolve."
She thought on her sister's logic for a moment. "Maybe you're right..."
"Once you talk to him, he can help us and Kristoff come up with a plan." Anna could see the discomfort on her sister's face. "I'll leave you alone so you can think on it some. Come find me and Kristoff when you're finished and we'll go from there."
With an acknowledging nod from Elsa, Anna closed the door behind her.
It was well into the night and Elsa lost track of how long she was there lost in thought. Playing through all the possibilities in her mind, desperately trying to find the right words to disclose her secret to someone she hadn't known very long. She would pace the room and gesture with her hands as if the 2nd person of the conversation was in front of her. "I guess what I'm trying to say- Oh forget it!" She let out a breath. "This is ridiculous. I'm just going to do it... Don't think... Don't think." With her impatience growing, she left the room.
She searched the house to find Luc helping Mr. Larsen organize some books in his study. She cleared her throat to announce her presence. Mr. Larsen noticed her first. "Ah, Elsa! Please come in."
She stepped through the doorway. "Actually I was hoping to speak to Luc."
Mr. Larsen picked up on the tone of her voice and simply nodded. "Well I'll go see if the fire needs more wood." He eyed the two of them. "I trust you both, and I'll be back shortly."
He had no sooner left the room before Luc spoke up. "Elsa, I wanted to apologize."
She was so caught off guard by his words, she momentarily forgot why she came to talk to him. "Apologize? For what?"
He shifted his weight around uncomfortably. "I haven't been very forthcoming with you about me. You see, I've never really had that sort of bond with anyone, for them to know much about me personally. And you asked me about the war... I want to tell you what I can about it, but I'm just not ready yet... That story I shared with you the other night about my parents was uncharted territory for me. I've only shared it with Mr. Larsen but only because I look up to him as a mentor.
Elsa giggled. "Does this mean you look up to me as well?"
Luc laughed as he took a step toward her. "Well... I do admire your courage... your strength... your dedication to family." He was now visibly uncomfortable. "And you are... quite beautiful." His face was now cherry red and Elsa couldn't help but smile at his kind words, and also at how flushed he was while complimenting her.
"Thank you, but I'm afraid I must apologize as well." Now it was his turn to be taken by surprise.
"I've kept this a secret my entire life... My father and sister were the only ones who knew about it until recently. And I think you should know-"
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I understand if you need to keep it to yourself."
In that moment, Elsa realized something. She didn't want to keep it to herself. She wanted to tell him.
"Hold out your hand..."
He eyed her confused but nonetheless he extended his open palm to her. She took a deep breath before moving her wrist and a single snowflake softly drifted down from above to land in Luc's hand.
His expression of confusion only intensified but he spoke calmly. "How'd you do that?"
"I've been able to do it my entire life, but I don't know how I'm able to if that's what you're asking."
His face cracked a small smile. "Can you do more?"
Returning the smile, she waved her hand above her and snow began to fall throughout the room. His smile went away as he looked around the room with a mesmerized expression. "Elsa..."
Her insecurity bubbling under the surface made her tense. He was going to be afraid of her or call her a witch. The first person she willingly shared her secret with was going to resent her for it.
"This is beautiful."
Every thought in her mind evaporated with his words. "What?"
"Elsa, you have a gift."
She wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head. "It's a curse."
Figuring she was cold, he removed his coat and placed it around her. "How so? It doesn't seem like a curse."
Not feeling cold, but appreciating his kind gesture, she pulled his coat tightly around herself. "If I don't control it, people get hurt from it."
He narrowed his eyes and gestured to the room. "Hurt from snow?"
"Its not just snow." She reached for a nearby book and as she made contact with it, ice spread across the book until it was completely consumed in the bright blue ice. She showed the book to Luc. "Its ice too."
He was clearly startled by the frozen book, he stepped back. "Oh..."
Seeing him distance himself, she felt her insecurity creeping back in. Before her emotions could cause her to lose control, she quickly made all the snow disappear and the book thawed. Seeing this, Luc's face brightened into a smile. "Elsa, this is amazing! I've never seen anything like it!"
Once again, his response surprised her and angered her for some reason. "How are you okay with this?! Everyone that's found out about this has been afraid of me! Why aren't you?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, I'm just not afraid of it. Very surprised and confused, but not afraid."
"What are you confused about?"
She spent the next few minutes answering his questions about her magic, most of them she didn't have answers for. Before long they were both laughing at the convention and Elsa felt such a weight was lifted from her shoulders. She finally arrived at a question she needed to ask him.
"Luc, I have a plan to save my father but I need all the help I can get. It will be dangerous and I won't lie to you, it may not work. But we've only a few days left so I need to try. Will you help me?"
He thought on it for a moment. "Is this why you shared your secret with me?"
"Not entirely. I've wanted to tell you but I figured until my family is safe I should keep it a secret. But if you're going to help us, you deserve to know."
"Well thank you for sharing it with me. I'll be glad to help you."
She smiled before throwing her arms around him. "Thank you!"
He returned the hug and chuckled. "So what's your plan?"
She stepped back. "We need to go talk to Anna and Kristoff."
"Oh, he knows about your magic?"
"I used it when we were escaping in Skien and he was there."
"And the Larsens?"
"I don't think so. They've never said anything about it but Mr. Larsen and my father have been good friends over the years so he might know."
He smiled. "Well thank you for trusting me. Let's go talk about that plan."
They found Anna and Kristoff in the den. Anna eyed Luc and Elsa as if she were asking an unspoken question. Elsa smiled and nodded to her sister. Anna smiled brightly at them both before turning to Kristoff. "We all should go talk somewhere."
They slowly made their way upstairs to talk without the Larsens hearing them.
Once Anna shut the door, Elsa started laying out her plan of bargaining with Colonel Hans for their father. Luc was first to voice his issue with the plan. "You realize he's going to betray you, right?"
Kristoff spoke up next. "Yeah, he brought your father back here as bait and you want-"
"Anna and I have already discussed that. I can use my magic to overpower Colonel Hans. Luc, you know the area since they turned it into their headquarters so if it comes to that, I need you to get us out of there if things go wrong."
Now it was Anna's turn to lay out her part of the plan. "Kristoff and I will be waiting nearby. If nobody shows up after a short time, we'll assume something went wrong. Then we'll cause a distraction to draw away the guards and come find you like Kristoff did when he broke us out in Skien."
Kristoff was surprised. "And... what happens after that? We don't know when Olaf will be back and if we turn the port into a war zone, every soldier in this city will be hunting us. We might be able to hide out long enough, or we might not..."
Elsa and Anna both eyed him skeptically.
Luc was quick to defend Kristoff. "He's right... It's a good plan and it could work but we need a little more information before we go through with it. Like where the Colonel is holding your father. Knowing that for certain would help the plan run a lot more smoothly."
This was what Elsa was afraid of. She knew she needed help but she also figured everyone wouldn't treat this with the same urgency she would. She couldn't do this alone though... Too much could go wrong and too much was at stake. But was it really the right decision to wait that long?
They continued to speak and eventually Anna agreed they should wait until they could find where their father was being held. She even argued that once they find him, they should contact Olaf before attempting anything to make sure Olaf will be out of harm's way and ready to get them out of Arendelle in a hurry. Reluctantly, Elsa agreed to wait before excusing herself from the meeting.
That night, feeling cooped up after several days indoors, Elsa decided to step outside for a moment to get some air. However, even she couldn't ignore the harsh wind gusting around her. She quickly ducked into the alley and took several deep breaths of the Norwegian air. After a few minutes, she heard the front door of the Larsen's open and suddenly a dark figure came around the corner. "Elsa?"
"Anna? What are you doing out here?"
"Making sure history doesn't repeat itself! The last time I woke up and heard you leaving the hou-"
"Yes, I remember. I just needed to get out... We've been inside there for days."
"And there's a reason for that. We can't be seen, Elsa. We should go back inside."
"I know!" She spoke louder than she should've. "I just..." Her voice trailed off.
Anna was surprised at her sister's outburst. "Elsa... Talk to me."
"I'm sorry... I'm just tired of waiting..."
"We all are."
"And not knowing! We've come so far, and we still don't know if he's alive... I miss him."
The tears freely flowed now, and Elsa leaned against the wall as she sat in the snow. She wrapped her arms around herself and softly cried. Anna slowly made her way over to comfort her older sister. Words of encouragement probably wouldn't be effective so she took a deep breath and said something she'd probably regret later. "Lets go find him."
Elsa stopped almost instantly and looked at her. "What?"
"Lets go find him. We probably won't be able to save him tonight but we can go to the port and see if he's really there. Once we know, we can plan more carefully and we'll be ready when the time comes."
Elsa couldn't believe what she was hearing. She wiped her eyes as Anna offered her a hand up. Elsa took her sister's hand and stood from the snow. "Alright Anna... Lets go."
With a smiling nod from Anna, they both departed to sneak their way to the port.
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoy writing it! Due to computer issues, most of this chapter was done on my phone so I apologize for any errors or autocorrects I didn't catch. Things are about to get busy again so I don't know when the next update will be but I'm sticking to it. Please leave a review of what you think so far! Any feedback is much appreciated!