Chapter 29

A few days ago.

Anna had Gale fetch Olaf from Arendelle. Maybe she found his presence comforting, maybe Olaf was one of the few people she trusted to know she escaped the Enchantress, or maybe she thought he could be of some help with her task. Whatever the reason, Anna wanted him around; for a little while anyway. Anna also instructed Gale to fetch a painting of all things; it would make since later.

Anna, accompanied by Olaf and Kristoff, met with the four spirits of the Enchanted Forest in a clearing. The Nok, Bruni, Gale, and the three earth giants which collectively counted as one of the four spirits. Each of the earth giants were massive; easily several times taller than a house.

Anna came with the intention of training magical spirits to be less dangerous and she had to figure out for herself how to do that. Anna wrestled with her nervousness and considered herself as ready as she'd ever be. "You all know me as Elsa's sister. She's the one you see more, but I'm the other half of the Fifth Spirit. That makes us something kind of like family, I think."

The Nok nodded in mild approval.

"Growing up, the biggest problem in my family was that we didn't tell each other things. So I want to be able to tell you something hard to hear." Anna took a deep breath and trembled as she released it. "People say you're dangerous. And I can't argue otherwise."

The spirits were listening, but only Bruni visibly looked effected.

"When I first came to the Enchanted Forest . . . you kind of tried to kill me mostly just because I was . . . there. And it's not really okay to treat people like that. I realized something on the way here. It might be hard for you to understand death."

One of the earth giants crossed his arms and the Nok tilted his head to the side questioningly.

"I mean, none of you have ever died, so you don't know what it's like to lose one of yourselves. When a human dies, it matters; it hurts the people they knew. Imagine if one of you disappeared and you'd never see that spirit again. There would be a hole in your heart; that's what happens when someone dies."

The spirits looked around at each other. The earth giant uncrossed his arms, thinking maybe they didn't understand death after all.

"And there's more reasons to value human life. It might be easy for you to think less of humans. Sure they don't live as long as you do and most of them don't have magic powers. But every person has thoughts and feelings. Every person is special." Anna beckoned for Olaf to hand her the painting brought from Arendelle. She held it up for the spirits to see. The painting depicted a ship sailing on the ocean. The twist was that everything was painted to be made entirely out of some kind of flower. The ship was made of lilacs, the ocean was made of blue flower pedals, the clouds were white roses and the sun was, appropriately, one big sunflower.

The spirits were intrigued by the art.

"I didn't get this painting from anyone big or powerful. I bought it from a humble farmer who paints as a hobby. He has real talent and passion. Every human is like that."

The spirits took this very seriously. Somehow Anna found a way to get through to them in a way Elsa never did.

Anna asked, "Did Elsa ever ask if you wanted to go outside the Enchanted Forest?"

One by one, the spirits shook their heads, somber in their denied curiosities. Anna said, "Elsa thinks you're too dangerous to go out into the rest of the world. But I think you're capable of being less dangerous." Anna continued with a more chipper attitude, "I think you can be safe enough for any land you want to visit. And I'm not gonna stop until you're ready for that."

Olaf exclaimed, "Que montage!"

An earth giant sat with two wooden tables in front of him. One of these tables had a watermelon on it. Anna explained, "If you can handle a watermelon without breaking it, you can handle a person without breaking them. Gently pick up the watermelon and place it on the other table.

The earth giant slowly moved his colossal hand toward the watermelon and crushed the entire table instantly. Anna face palmed while Olaf said mortified, "I don't think he can handle person without breaking them."

Bruni was very pleased with himself, having just spat fire at crude drawings. They had drawn different pictures of beasts and heroic knights. The problem was Bruni shot fire at all of them indiscriminately.

"Okay, we'll work on identifying friend from foe," Anna said, trying hard to be optimistic. "For now, could you just extinguish those flames?"

The flames kept burning. Bruni just looked at her curiously, wondering what the word 'extinguish' meant.

"You know. Make the fire go away." Anna became anxious as the fire spread to the grass. "Come on! I've seen you do it before!"

Eventually, the Nok shot some water on the fires to put them out.

Anna sighed. "Thank you, Mr. Nok."

Anna and Kristoff acted out a scene of a beast attacking a helpless bystander as she explained to them how to identify a hostile.

Kristoff bared his teeth and held up imaginary claws. "Grrr."

Anna said, "Notice the malicious intent."

Olaf joined the scene as a knight come to defend the bystander and Anna explained how identify a friendly.

"Back, savage fiend!" Olaf cried, waving a detached arm as a pretend sword.

Anna said, "While a good knight wants to defend the same people as you, he might be afraid of you at first."

Taking his role a little too seriously, Olaf pointed at the spirits and screamed, "I have been set upon by monsters from Hell that have come to eat my children! AAAAHHHH!" Olaf then ran away, shrieking despite Kristoff's attempts to stop him. They didn't see Olaf again for couple of hours.

Anna placed a replacement watermelon on a replacement table. "Okay, let's try this again."

One of the earth giants moved his hand towards the table.

"Nice and slow," Anna instructed.

The earth giant slowly got his fingers just close enough. The watermelon was within the space between his index finger and thumb.

"That's it! Now, close your grip on the watermelon."

The earth giant squeezed his fingers together, shattering the watermelon instantly.

"Oh! That's- that's okay. This is a learning experience."

"What is good and evil?" Olaf said seriously to the spirits as part of his long lecture. "Some believe that it's a matter of perspective. But others . . ."

As Olaf kept talking, Kristoff leaned over to Anna and asked, "So, why did you agree to let Olaf do this?"

"Well, he didn't exactly ask first."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

Anna took a walk alone with the Nok. "I know insults can hurt, but sometimes it's better to just not let them bother rather than doing something huge. You've got to remember that it doesn't matter what a bunch of jerks think of you."

Anna knew that the three earth giants didn't have individual names. And she decided to do something about that. "Well, I can't just call you number one, number two, and number three. Let's try out a few different names and see if you like one." Anna pointed at one of them and tried, "How about Gordon?"

The earth giant shook his head.

"Okay, uh, how about Connor?"

The earth giant stroked his chin in consideration. But, ultimately, he shook his head again.

"Um, how about Allister?"

The earth giant's spine straightened at the sound of that. (If he technically had a spine, that is.) He nodded enthusiastically.

"Alright! Allister. See, we're getting somewhere here." Anna pointed to the next one. "Now you. How about Kirk?"

The second earth giant shook his head, but the third pointed to himself and nodded. Picking up on his meaning, Anna said, "Oh. Sure, you can be Kirk." Anna thought for a few seconds on a name for the last one. "How about . . . Roland?"

The last earth giant took his time to think it over. In time, he nodded.

"Yes!" Anna announced in playful dramatics, "I dub thee Allister, Kirk, and Roland."

"Did anyone see you get it?" Anna asked Kristoff. She knew that Elsa didn't want anyone to know they were alive.

"Nope. Thanks to Gale, I got in and out real smooth and quick." Kristoff handed Anna a box he'd been carrying, much to her delight.

Kristoff and Gale had been sent to grab a change of clothes for both Kristoff and Anna. Kristoff changed back into his usual attire; black pants and a black vest over a brown shirt. He always hated dressing fancy. With his less delicate clothes and messy mop of blonde hair, Kristoff was more comfortable looking like the outdoorsman he was.

Anna, however, wore something new.

She wore a dark blue miniskirt and a black crop which exposed much of her midriff. The lack of sleeves showcased the freckles on her arms that matched her adorably freckled face. She also had black boots and a light purple cape. She was light and energetic; a boundless source of sunshine.

"You look nice," Kristoff told his wife.

"Thanks, honey."

Anna looked at her reflection in a nearby lake and immediately frowned. She liked the clothes, but THAT HAIR! It was all done up and intricately tied together in a high class do. She looked like a queen and she hated the reminder. Being a queen had been suffocating her. She didn't want to look like a queen; especially not now. She couldn't stand the sight of that stupid queen hairdo messing with her new look. She got to work unraveling her hair and let down.

Kristoff gaped as Anna shook her brown hair, making it fly freely from side to side before resting on her back and shoulder.

"Now, how do I look?" Anna asked.

"Amazing," Kristoff breathed, getting an appreciative giggle out of Anna.

After the targets were reset, Bruni spat fire at them in quick succession. But only the targets he was supposed to shot. Now, able to tell friend from foe, Bruni sat content with half the targets burning.

"Good boy!" Anna cheered. "Now, extinguish!"

Bruni squeezed his eyes shut in concentration and the flames vanished.

"Good boy!" Anna repeated.

Roland slowly eased his grip onto the new watermelon. Anna said, "Now, bring it slowly over to the other table."

Roland moved the watermelon, careful not to shatter it in his massive fingers. Anna was amazed to see how well he was doing. "Keep going. You're almost there." Roland brought the watermelon close. "Oh . . . ! Oh?! Oooooh!" Roland gently set the unbroken watermelon on the table and released its grip. "YEEEEEEEEEES!" Ana screamed with almost deranged happiness. Roland earned a round of applause from the other earth giants. Anna grabbed Kristoff's shoulders and shook him vigorously while shouting, "YEEEEEEEEEEEES!" She let go of him, but kept screaming, "YEEEEEEEEES!"

"Great," Kristoff casually congratulated. "Now you just need Allister and Kirk to do the same thing."

The realization stole Anna's joy. She fell to her knees and then to her face as she miserably yelled, "AAAAAHAHAAA!"

Anna took much time to ask about the spirts abilities and patiently found ways to communicate with them despite their lack of speech.

"You've almost got it," Anna said exhausted as Kirk carried another watermelon to the table. He was the last earth giant to complete the task. Once it was done, Anna sighed with relief. She had finally gotten all three of them to do it. "Great job, everyone," Anna said.

Kristoff asked, "Do you think they're ready?"

Anna looked around at the spirits, remembering all the progress they've shown. "I think they are."

Author's Note: I have a BIG announcement for you all. As you can tell, Disney Princesses: Extermination still has a long way to go. We still need two more pieces of the Undoing Relic, Phillip and Merida haven't kissed yet, Snow White's backstory is still a little vague, Anna is still technically the queen despite not wanting to be, it hasn't been revealed who killed Ariel's family or why the Enchantress would want to wipe people's memory of Belle, and we haven't even gotten to the part where the Dragon shows up.

However, the few of you who read Miraculous Contempt and this story may remember that there was a period of about eight weeks when I uploaded two chapter every single week; one for each story. And I never failed to hold up that schedule. The time has come to do so again.

His mind is deep in thought as his pilots the ship. Is it too late for him to truly gain redemption? Will he ever become a man his son can be proud of? He doesn't know and he can't stop worrying that he is too far gone. A few short hours ago, he thought his son would join him in the darkness, but his son did not come to him as predicted. Now, he can only hope that his son will embrace him in the light. Even if it's hopeless, he knows there is no turning back know. Even if his son will not accept him, he has one person who believes in him.

There are however a few things to take solace in. Darth Vader has always been accustomed to war. Now he has the entire Empire to wage war against. And he, at least, has his old apprentice to fight at his side.

Star Wars: The Unending

Coming October 31st

Star Wars: The Unending is a what if story in which Darth Vader turns to the light, but doesn't die. In Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Luke leaves to face Darth Vader, but in Star Wars: The Unending, Lia talks Luke out going to face him and instead Vader is visited by a vision of Ahsoka who is communication with him from another planet. This time, she convinces him to return to the light, but that doesn't mean everything will be sunshine and rainbows. Not only does Vader have to handle his past crimes colliding with his new conscience, but he also has to wonder if he can ever have the connection with his son he desperately wants. Remember, in this timeline, Luke never came to him in hopes of turning him to the light. . . . Oh, and there will be lightsaber fights.

If you're wondering how familiar you'll need to be to with Star Wars to understand this story, let me break it down for ya. I'm trying to write this in such a way where anyone who has seen the original trilogy (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi) will be able to understand what's going on it this story. Anything you need to know about the events of the prequels or the tv shows will be explained. For example, Ahsoka plays a huge role in this story, but if you're unfamiliar with her, don't worry because I'll explain everything you need to know about her. Though, I do recommend that you watch the TV shows, Clone Wars and Rebels. (Heads up: Ahsoka is really annoying at first, but she gets better.) Also, if you hate the new movies, good news; so do I. I'm basically writing this while pretending they never happened.

Thank you for reading. Please follow, review, and check every week for new chapters.