Chapter Thirty-Four
Disclaimer: I neither own the rights to Disney, Frozen, the Disney universe nor any of its associated media, derivatives or products. I do not profit from this work.
Winter sun was streaming in through the window when Elsa awoke the next day, which told her it had to be at least nine in the morning, if not later. She got up out of bed and dressed herself, irritated that no one had come to wake her earlier.
Her irritation only worsened when she found her sister and Kristoff sitting in the library, already having dressed and eaten breakfast. Anna, her hair tied up into a bun, was sipping a cup of coffee, as Kristoff stood silently behind her, his face set in his telltale pensive frown. The head guardsman, Captain Markussen, was in the room, as well, which made her think that something had happened worthy of her attention.
As she approached, the head guardsman stood and bowed. "My Queen-"
"Did you find him?" she asked automatically. "Where is he? Why didn't you wake me?" This last was directed to Anna and Kristoff in an accusatory tone.
Anna stood from her armchair as well. "We wanted to let you sleep," she said in a placating tone. "You needed your rest, and besides, a few extra hours wouldn't have changed anything."
"Changed what? What happened?" the Queen demanded.
"Captain Markussen will explain everything while you eat some breakfast," Kristoff said calmly. Elsa glared at him, and he added, "You're no help to anyone if you don't keep your strength up. Eat."
Grudgingly, she sat down in an armchair and took a piece of buttered toast from a plate on the nearby table. "What happened?" she asked the Captain again.
Markussen nodded. "We tracked the prince's path to Emilstad, a port town some ways south of here, yesterday evening. We attempted to apprehend him, but he fled, and we gave chase. Some of my younger lieutenants got it into their thick skulls that the best way to take a man alive is to shoot him dead," he added, rolling his eyes. "Believing himself to be under attack, the prince retaliated in kind."
"Retaliated?" Elsa questioned.
"He lit a nearby building on fire and hemmed us in. He looked angry enough to kill, your Majesty, and I can't say I blame him. But he let us go with a warning—and a message."
"A message? What message?" she urged.
Captain Markussen hesitated, and then admitted, "He said, 'Tell your queen that if she's as smart as I think she is, she won't come after me.'"
Elsa said nothing to that, frowning deeply. The captain allowed her a moment, and then said, "Any idea what that might mean, your Majesty?"
"It means he's scared," the Queen answered simply.
"He didn't seem very frightened to me, your Majesty. More like frightening."
"He wouldn't," she agreed, putting the toast down on the plate. "Hans masks fear with anger, even from himself. But if he said I shouldn't follow him, then he's scared. The real question is, of what?" She pursed her lips, looking grim. "Did you see where he went after that?"
"No, your Majesty. We didn't exactly stay around long enough to find out."
Elsa digested this for a moment, and then nodded with a deep frown. "Alright. Thank you, Captain; you may go."
"Yes, my Queen." He gave a short bow and left.
"Do you think he found the Snow Queen?" Anna questioned, once he was gone.
"It's possible. Very possible. And if he did, then we're all in a lot of trouble."
"If she got ahold of him, and his shard, then she wouldn't be likely to let him go without a fight," Kristoff agreed grimly. "Which meant wherever she is, he is."
"Exactly."
"So… what are you going to do?" Anna asked.
Elsa wrung her hands. "I don't know yet. But first, I'm going to call a council meeting. They need to know what's happened." She stood. "I'll go find Kai; he'd know where they all are."
"We'll come with you," Anna agreed. "We may as well; we'll need to be there, too."
"Good idea. Let's go."
They left the room quickly; almost as soon as they turned the nearest corner, Elsa spotted Bishop Willum on the opposite end of the hall. "Willum!" she called.
The clergyman spotted them and hurried over quickly. "My Queen?"
"I'm holding an emergency council meeting. Have you seen Kai or any of the others?"
"I'm afraid I haven't, though if you're looking for him, I believe he'll have just finished his midmorning cup of coffee."
"We need to hurry; it's a matter of the utmost importance."
"Is it? What's happened?"
"We think the Snow Queen has Hans."
Willum's face grew very grave indeed, and without another word, he turned on his heels and headed towards the kitchens. The trio hurried after him, nearly running in an effort to keep up.
Hans, as a matter of fact, was finally waking up, cold, sore, and entirely oblivious to the fact that half the kingdom was looking for him. He sat up shivering and pulled the stolen coat tight around his shoulders. As he did so, he heard a slight clinking and felt a strange weight about his arms, and glanced down to find that twin cuffs of ice were encircling his wrists.
He looked around, blinking, and realized he was in a room constructed entirely out of ice. The artistry of it was intricately delicate, though the room had no furniture; he was almost certain he was in Elsa's ice castle, but as to how long he'd been there, he wasn't sure. The Snow Queen had seemingly vanished, leaving him alone in the palace. The room he was in was of average size and hexagonal in shape, with a high vaulted ceiling, through which shone dim, blue-tinted sunlight. The cuffs about his wrists were attached to long chains that were anchored in the center of the floor. Opposite him, across the room, stood what seemed to be a large mirror.
The mirror itself was a fascinating sight. It glittered like winter snow, fractured into thousands of tiny pieces, all resting within an ornate gilt frame. Parts of it shone an icy blue, others glowed fiery scarlet, but all the shards seemed to glisten and pulse in a way that seemed almost alive. Something about it both attracted and repulsed him. Three small, dark holes stood out against the glittering fragments, clear indications of their missing pieces.
He realized that his hand was still curled tight around something small and sharp, and when he opened it, he saw the fiery piece of glass in his hand. It matched the thousands of other little fragments just like it. Drawn to the mirror by a curiosity and a strange pull, he stood up stiffly and walked forward, ignoring his growing sense of alarm.
The first thing he noticed about the mirror was, despite that it was composed of many thousands of fractured pieces, the image was quite clear; even the colors of the reflection seemed unaffected. The second thing that occurred to him was that, for all the clarity of the reflection, it was not quite correct. Frowning deeply in confusion, he drew yet closer to the mirror, and what he saw startled him so greatly that his eyes flew wide.
It was… him. That was to be expected; after all, he was looking into a mirror. But it wasn't him as he appeared; instead, beyond the glass of the mirror, there seemed to exist another world. A world where snow blew in an eternal blizzard, and his own countenance looked back evenly, dressed in his gray woolen overcoat with his sword sheathed at his side. A white-gloved hand raised to meet the real prince's bare one as he touched the cold glass experimentally, testing to see if it were real.
Then, his reflection grinned. "Hello, Hans."
He jerked backwards in shock. The other him had—had spoken, somehow. "H-how-"
"It's so fortunate that we can finally meet and talk," the mirror-Hans replied. "Seeing as how you keep repressing me in an effort to protect that precious Queen of yours." His tone was mocking, condescending, but altogether Hans's own. "Honestly, do you fancy yourself some sort of knight-errant? It's not as if you're fooling anyone, certainly not Queen Elsa." He chuckled. "Tell me, Hans, does she still cringe at your presence?"
"You're not real," Hans snapped. "You're just an illusion."
"Except the Devil's Mirror doesn't show illusions, does it?" his reflection mused. "It shows the worst in people." He smiled. "And you have a lot to reflect." Hans ground his teeth. "But what do I care; believe whatever you want. Maybe someday, if you believe really hard, that whole fateful day will just disappear."
Hans tried to tear his eyes away, but found he couldn't. "I know what you're trying to do. I'm not giving the Snow Queen the shard."
"Oh, so at least in that matter we are in agreement," his opposite said. "I wouldn't give it up, either. Imagine the kind of power you'll have, if you ever break free of the witch! The power to burn and raze, to rule as you see fit! No, I wouldn't trade that for the world."
"That's not-"
"But then, you're a good guy now, aren't you?" the other said silkily. "Or at least, that's what you tell yourself. You'd never raze a town to the ground, would you? Make the citizens cower beneath you in fear as you took your rightful place as their king? You would never commit such a heinous act for power, would you?"
"You're trying to trick me," Hans said, struggling to speak through his muddling thoughts. "Make me think-"
"Make you think? Are you really that daft? I'm you, remember? If I'm saying these things to you, doesn't that mean that you're really the one thinking them?"
"You're not me," he hissed, jabbing a finger at the mirror. "I've changed. I don't want to hurt anyone–"
"Come now, Hans. It was never about hurting people." The mirror-Hans shrugged. "People are collateral damage; sometimes they get in the way. It's nothing personal."
"Maybe you are who I was," the prince retorted, though his voice wavered at the end, "but you're not who I am now. I don't have to listen to you–"
"Yes, you do," his reflection drawled, as if he were speaking to a particularly slow child. "You do, and you will, because you always have. Oh, you can fight the corruption inside you as if you had some sort of a choice; you can shut me away and pretend you've gotten rid of me. But I'm still here, Hans. I will always be here, that rotten core inside of you underneath all the false layers of altruism and justice, that part of you that let itself become corrupted and twisted beyond repair. The monster they all fear you are."
"I–"
"Everyone knows it, even your beloved Queen. How long did it take her to lose trust in you? A minute? Less?" Hans gaped for words. "They all know, Hans—and you know it, too. Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this conversation." He smiled wickedly, removing his glove. "But don't worry, Hans. As long as you have that shard, you have nothing to be afraid of." The world behind him suddenly blazed red, red as coals, and the snow vanished with a hiss. "You're the most powerful monster around."
Hans's hands began to shake, and as they did so, the fire in the mirror came to reflect the real flames that were slowly curling themselves up his arms, sparks blowing around and around in a mad whirlwind. He tried to beat the flames out, to quell them or force them off, but each attempt only seemed to agitate the fire even more. The more he panicked, the higher the flames grew, until they seemed like a wildfire out of control. He looked up at the mirror, face twisting with terror.
"After all," his reflection sneered, the fire raging in his hand. "Isn't that what you wanted?"
Kai's morning started earlier than just about anyone in the palace. When the clock-tower struck six, both he and his wife would get up; Kai would start his rounds to wake the higher members of the castle, while Gerda went to set the servants on their daily chores. He took his breakfast at six-thirty, and then had another cup of coffee, black, around nine.
It was now around nine-thirty, and the pale morning sun was streaming through the castle windows. He had just passed by the door that led out onto the fjord (he'd never understood why that door existed, but then, it wasn't his job to question it) when something caught his attention.
The window in the wooden door was very small, but even through it, Kai could see that the fjord—which Queen Elsa always kept open, as a matter of trade convenience—had inexplicably frozen over.
Baffled, Kai undid the latch on the door and opened it. A gust of icy cold wind rushed through the open doorway, cutting straight to the bone. Kai's eyes narrowed into a confused squint as he saw someone walking across the fjord. It took only a moment for the figure to become distinguishable, but when it was, his heart stopped dead, mouth falling open, limbs freezing with dread.
The Snow Queen smiled coldly. "Hello, Kai."
The manservant stumbled backwards, seized with a sudden terror. For one dizzying moment, he couldn't quite remember where or when he was, but felt as if he were once more a little child with coppery curls and fearful hazel eyes.
He sat there as silently as he was able, too terrified to speak but unable to suppress the hiccupping sobs that periodically escaped his blue-tinged mouth, the tears freezing on his cheeks before they could fall to the ground. His hands had gone numb and white; his feet no longer had any sensation inside his wooden shoes. He could not feel the cold, but that gave him no comfort, for it had been replaced by a feeling of awful deadness. Kai curled in close to himself and sniffled, having felt never more alone and afraid in his eight years of life as he did right then.
"Oh, would you quit your blubbering already!" The harsh voice made his head snap up, startled. The Snow Queen was glaring down at him, her teeth bared in severe irritation. "You were the one who wanted to come with me, or have you forgotten?"
"Please," Kai begged. "Please, let me go home."
"You fool. Could you even tell me where home is?"
The boy opened his mouth, but found that he couldn't. Still, in his heart there was a deep, sorrowful emptiness—a hollow longing for something he was sure he had once known, but had since forgotten. The Snow Queen sighed, shortly and angrily, and turned back to her task. She seemed to be studying several shards of bluish ice, which rested in the center of an enormous gold frame on the ground, muttering to herself. "Two rings, then, attached- for the shards in the center are missing, wherever they may be… but how to arrange it? A thousand attempts and still, futile." Around the blue shards were hundreds of others like them, all scattered throughout the empty golden frame as if they'd been dropped there. She had told him upon his arrival in the vast, empty ice palace that the frame and its many blue shards were called the "The Mirror of Reason," and how it was the best sort of mirror and that this was the only one like it.
Kai gave little attention to her mutterings, for he was still trying desperately to remember what a home was, where his could possibly be, and who he himself had once been. It was only when a snowy servant entered the room that both the child and the sorceress turned, startled.
"My Queen," the white figure said, bowing. "We have good news. It seems that at last some of the burning shards have been located."
The Snow Queen's eyes widened. "Located? Where?"
"In the south, My Queen- volcanic regions."
"Hm. Very well; I shall set out at once. Be gone." The servant bowed and left. The Snow Queen herself seemed about to follow him, and then paused. "Boy," she said sharply.
Kai looked up, startled, and got to his feet. "Y-Yes?"
"You desire your freedom, do you not?"
"Oh- yes, yes, I do!"
"I am about to leave for a long journey to the south; here is what I want you to do. Do you see these shards of ice, here?" She pointed to several of the blue pieces in the gold frame.
"Yes."
"I want you to use them to make the symbol for 'eternity.' Do you know what I mean by this?"
"Like an eight, turned sideways." Kai was momentarily proud that he knew this; he'd always been rather good at mathematics—or at least, he thought he had been.
"Very good. If you have managed this by the time I return, I will make you your own master again, and give you the whole world and a new pair of skates. Would you like that?"
Kai gasped and nodded eagerly, and quickly set about the work, moving the shards of ice around as fast as he dared and taking great care not to cut himself on their sharp edges. Away the Snow Queen went, muttering to herself about names like "Etna" and "Vesuvius," and other such words as Kai had never heard before. He paid these last comments no mind, for he was fixed now with a goal, desperate to make the two little connected circles that would buy for him his freedom, and the whole world—and even a brand-new pair of skates.
His head cleared, and he found himself again a grown man, though the fear still remained. The Snow Queen laughed. "How you are trembling, Kai! Still a sniveling little imp inside, aren't you? But then, men always are."
"Kai? Close that door; you'll let in the–" Gerda broke off suddenly, her face paling.
The Snow Queen's eyes narrowed. "And you. I ought to have known you'd be here."
"Naturally," Gerda answered, tight-lipped. "This is my position; I serve the Queen. I do not abandon those I care for out of fear, as you well know."
The sorceress let out a sound distinctly similar to a cat's hiss. "Why you–"
"Kai! Gerda! Get away from that door!"
Willum came striding up through the hall, Elsa, Anna and Kristoff following shortly behind. The Snow Queen's expression turned to one of repulsion. "I remember you, also. An older boy, you were—a tramp's son, poor as dirt, hooking up your sled to the farm carts for a free ride. What a game you all made of it! But you shooed the others far from mine, didn't you?"
The bishop's eyes were steely. "And glad I am for it. How many other children have you stolen in such ways?"
She disregarded this. "You didn't know me, but you sensed something—your sort always senses something. A blasted injustice."
"You are not one to speak of injustice," Willum retorted sharply.
The Snow Queen scoffed, and then glanced past him. She smiled and said mockingly, "Ah, the good Queen Elsa. The paragon of virtue and charity. I'd have a word with you."
"You'll do such thing," Willum said sternly. "You have no recourse here, neither you nor your master!"
"Come here, little queen," the Snow Queen said coolly, ignoring the bishop. "We have important affairs to discuss."
Elsa had watched this whole exchange from behind Gerda's shoulder, and decided it was about time she did something. She slipped around the housekeeper and out into the cold.
"Elsa!" Anna said, startled, but the Queen paid her sister no mind, walking briskly across the fjord. The little slivers of ice stung against her cheek like needles. Elsa grimaced and with a wave of her hand created a snowy cloak, which she clasped at the neck before striding forward.
"Elsa, stop!" Anna shouted into the driving winds. It was futile; her sister was no longer listening. Anna tried to run out after her, but Kai caught her by the shoulder. "No, Princess! Not you as well!"
Out on the frozen fjord, Elsa approached the Snow Queen. Once she was within a few feet, the sorceress raised a hand, and suddenly, the miniature blizzard died down. The snow fell to the ground.
"Queen Elsa," she said, in a voice as smooth as an iced-over pond. "A pleasure to finally meet you in person. Now we can discuss matters freely."
Elsa disregarded this. "What have you done with him?"
"With whom?"
"Hans. Prince Hans. I know you have him; what have you done with him?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Nothing permanent." Elsa's gaze was frosted ice. "Why should you care? Weren't you the one he tried to behead?"
"I am not fond of seeing my friends kidnapped."
The Snow Queen regarded her with a mild interest. "Friends, you say?" She glanced at the doorway, where the rest were still watching, worried. She turned her attention back to Elsa. "Be that as it may, Elsa–" The blonde's eyes narrowed at how she deliberately left out her title, "–he had my property. I wanted it returned, but he refused to hand it over."
"The shard, then. I guessed as much. Where is he?" She looked past, to the ice sleigh, but couldn't more than shapes and shadows beyond the translucent sides. "Is he in there?"
The Snow Queen didn't answer. Instead, she said, "I'll make you a deal, Elsa. Yes, I have your precious little prince. I will reunite the two of you, if—and only if—you return that shard to me."
Elsa felt a sharp pain in her chest and let out a short gasp. When she reached inside her cloak, something tore through the thin cotton fabric of her dress and fell into her hand. She pulled it out, staring down at the tiny object in her hand.
The icy-blue shard was strangely entrancing, a deep cerulean color that appeared to pulse in time with her own heartbeat. It seemed almost…alive, somehow. Elsa wasn't sure what to make of it.
"Well, Elsa? The prince for the shard. Is it a deal?" the Snow Queen asked silkily, drawing the young monarch's attention back to her.
"Your Majesty, you can't trust her!" Willum shouted from behind. Elsa glanced back, then again to the Snow Queen. She looked between her and the blue shard in her own hands. Then, she made her decision.
"It's a deal."
The Snow Queen reached out her hand, and Elsa extended her own, ignoring the warning cries from behind her, the crystalline blue shard held loosely in her fingertips. The moment she let go, the cold struck her like a knife, and she let out a sharp gasp. It was the first time in her memory that she'd ever felt such a sensation. The Snow Queen laughed, and bars of ice shot up all around the young monarch. "We had a deal!" Elsa shouted angrily, pulling at the bars of her frozen cage.
"Oh, you'll see the prince soon enough, don't worry," the Snow Queen cackled. "You'll be imprisoned together!"
"Let her go!" Anna cried, desperately trying to fight her way past Kai and Willum to her sister. "Elsa!"
"Anna!" the queen shouted, whirling around. She slammed her fists into the ice.
And, miraculously, the bars shattered. The Snow Queen snarled and raised her fists, conjuring icicles up from the fjord. Elsa dodged them, running as fast as she could towards the castle. Up the stairs, to the doorway-
An icicle sprang up from the frozen earth just beside the door, knocking her off-kilter. She tripped forward but managed to land inside the castle walls, smacking her head against the stone floor. The rest didn't have time to see if she was still conscious, for the Snow Queen was also rushing forward, blown by winter winds and snow that brought her straight up to the castle.
Willum slammed his crosier across the doorway like a barrier. "You cannot enter on sacred ground!" he bellowed at her. "Begone, witch! In the name of all that is good and holy, begone!"
She snarled and gnashed her teeth, but there was nothing she could do against such a command. Whirling around, she threw her arms wide, and a blizzard furled out, covering the sky and racing across the whole countryside. Snow blew in through the doorway, obscuring the woman until all that could be seen was the rushing storm.
Willum stepped back, breathing heavily, and Kai quickly closed the door, cutting off the sound of the fresh howling winds. Anna was already kneeling beside Elsa, the former frantically checking her sister over for injuries. As she pushed back the snowy cloak's hood, she let out a stunned, "Whoa."
"What is it?" Kristoff said, looking over. Then he, too, stopped and stared. Behind him, Kai, Willum and Gerda looked on in shock.
Even as they watched, Elsa's hair finished streaking from whitish-blonde to dark brown, the color curling down every last strand, right to the end of her braid.