Chapter II : Fate
He burst inside the room while holding a piece of what looked like an ancient piece of paper. He ran towards his wife and daughters, his breath was fast and sweat ran down his face. "There!" He pointed at the corner of the map, "This is where we have to go!" The sound of his fast-breathing rang in Aphrodite's ears in the silence of the icy room. She nodded at her husband, passed him Anna and was about to carry Elsa when his cold and fierce voice froze her in place. "You are not going to bring he-... This monster with us! She already did enough harm and many other things!" He yelled.
The word Monster sent a shiver down Aphrodite's spine before she quickly shushed him, "You know it's not her fault!" She stood up while holding Elsa, "A-And maybe the trolls will help us with Elsa's powers. M-Maybe they can remove them!" Her voice cracked as she tried to convince her husband that both her daughters should have come along. She knew she was lying to him. She knew that Elsa's powers were just inevitable since she was born with them. They were a part of her of course. But Aphrodite had to say anything so she could bring them both with her. I have to bring them both! Both... My daughters. I have to save them both, together.
The king saw his wife's determined and concerned look. He sighed, then, "Fine… Just keep her away from me and Anna!" He gave his older daughter a look of disgust and disappointment, before he turned on his heels, a 4 years old strawberry-blond-and now with a white streak- in his arms and he started rushing out of the room, motioning for his wife to follow.
Aphrodite nodded at her husband and grabbed Elsa gently by her arm, "Come on, Elsa. This is going to be over soon, I promise." I promise!
"I'm scared, Mommy." Elsa whispered. He said I'm a monster! But no! I'm not! I didn't mean to hurt Anna. Please Mommy, don't believe him! She wanted her mother's comfort. Someone to tell her everything would be okay.
Me too. Aphrodite thought. She was even more scared and much more concerned about her plan's success. She wanted her daughters' safety. She didn't care about the kingdom. No one was suffering as much as they were.
"I know, Snowflake… But we have to go now. This is it. From this night and on, you won't be afraid anymore." I hope.
They saddled their horses quickly, and galloped out of the castle gates, through the village of Arendelle and out to the woods. Anna was in her father's arms and Elsa in her mother's. Aphrodite winced at the idea that her daughter, Anna, was in between her husband's arms. But she couldn't do anything to help her now. She had to ride inside the woods and just hope for her plan to work. When she sneaked a peek at Anna, she got more concerned about her daughter's motionless body. She is still breathing. She is still alive. Oh please, God! Please help us. She looked at the girl in her arms to see that Elsa was trembling a bit and watching something, fear splattered on her pale face. Aphrodite followed her daughter's gaze and her eyes sat upon Anna. Oh, Anna... Please be okay. I'm so sorry! I won't use my powers anymore but just wake up and come back with me! Elsa thought. Monster! Her father's word rang in her ears clearly. Maybe he is right? What if I hurt Anna again? She looked at her father from under her small platinum bangs and quickly looked away to the ground before he noticed. She squeezed herself closer to her mother's chest and wrapped her mother's dangling cloak around her, claiming protection.
She loves her sister so much, she already forgot about her wicked father. She is afraid for her... And from him. Aphrodite looked at her husband whom was clearly focusing on the way the map showed. A frown crossed her face. You!... I wish i would someday wake up and news about your death scatter the kingdom! She felt her daughter's tension between her arms and at the thought of her husband, she squeezed Elsa closer to her body, her maternal instincts were working on protecting her daughter.
The temperature of the summer night was pretty low. They galloped on hills, through rushing rivers and a forest with large thick looking trees. Oh, Robin... Where the hell are you? Aphrodite thought before she started to fear the worse.
As they arrived at a valley covered in moss and dark grass, they slowed their horses' pace to a walk, before they dismounted their beasts and decided to continue by walking towards the center. They couldn't help but notice that no one was around. No cabin, no hut, not a living soul was there. Both parents exchanged concerned looks, "Where are they?" Asked Aphrodite and put her hand on Elsa's back, urging her to move forward along with them.
"I don't know... They-... They should be here! I wasn't mistaken with the m-map! THEY SHOULD BE HERE!" The king started looking quickly around. He was confused. He was afraid. He was now angry.
"Jamie, that's not the time to be a-angry, right no-" Just when she was about to talk her way out of this mess, she heard twigs snapping. When she quickly turned to face the noises, a grayish figure came closer to her. And the more he came closer the more she realized that he was not human.
His back was covered with moss, his skin was grey and solid like rocks, his face was full with stony wrinkles and his eyes were white; His irises were nowhere to be found. "Jamie...?" She called quietly. Her husband turned quickly and his hostile face dropped to a bug-eyed one. His anger suddenly turned to worry, "Please, my daughter!" He shouted to the creature. "She was hit by... HER magic!" He pointed at the hidden Elsa whom was holding desperately to her mother's leg. Elsa couldn't help but wince as her father spat the word her magic like poison.
The troll walked towards the king. When he approached, he saw Anna's streak, "Ah, I can see ice in her head." And at that point the king shot his head up and gave Elsa a furious look, "You!" The king yelled. Elsa gasped and hid quickly behind her mother.
"Your Majesty!" The troll yelled so he could get the king's attention before hell could break loose. "I can heal her," Reassured the troll before he rested his stony palm on Anna's forehead, "But..."
"Do what you must!" The king demanded.
"No wait!" Shouted Aphrodite and came closer to both of them, "But… What?"
The troll could see her concerned face, and what came next, shocked the royal family.
"Her head was hit with ice, and the ice shot her memories. Of course, I have to remove all her memories swallowed by ice in order for her to live." The troll said bluntly.
The royal family gasped in unison.
"No, no, this can't be happening!" Said Aphrodite. No, no, no, NO!
"This is all your doing!" The king yelled, red-faced, at his wife. "If you haven't gave birth to this MUTANT!" He yelled, pointing angrily at the frozen, unmoving and wide-eyed Elsa, then, "None of this would have happened!"
"Jamie, stop this! She's your DAUGHTER!" Before she could continue, Heat. Sharp. Fast. Across her cheek and the ground rushed up to meet her. The King just slapped his Queen.
Word after word that flowed from her lips angered him more by the second. His patience was running out, and his temper was already flaring. Rage boiled through his body. He barely had a chance to think of his actions. The only thought running through his head, was getting her to shut up. The king pursed his lips and raised his hand back. He threw his hand forward as hard as he could, whipping it across his wife's face. The crack of skin contacting skin echoed off the mountains and the valley. Vibrations of pain started in his palm and spread all the way to his finger tips. His palm was bright red, the same red mark that matched the one on her face. Aphrodite stared at him with her eyes wide as her hand slowly made its way to her scorching red cheek.
"This... THING!... Is not my daughter! You reckless cheating slutt!-" He started.
Elsa was frozen. The scene in front of her was torturous. The fact that it was her fault that Anna had to lose her memories, her mother was hurt and her father was in rage made her feel the more guilty. She closed her eyes, squeezing them shut as hard as she could, her heart thrummed really fast and hard like it was about to burst out of her chest, sweat covered her body, tears began to shed all over her light freckles. "NOT MY DAUGHTER!" She heard the king yell. She couldn't breathe, "She's not! She's not!" She lifted her hands to cover her ears to just avoid hearing anything, not wanting to hear her father's voice. She wanted to get away, to stop the pain in her chest and to save Anna. She just wanted a lot of things right now. As her fear started to grow, ice started to form underneath her. "SHE'S NOT! SHE'S NOT!... NOT MY DAUGHTER! NOT MY DAUGHTER! SHE IS A MONSTER!" She tried to shut all of them out. Her world promptly went in slow motion but the raging screams from her father didn't stop. "She'snotshe'snotshe'snotshe'snotttttttt!" Elsa couldn't take it anymore. As she rocked back and forth quickly, shaking her head and trying desperately to keep the noises out, she used all her strength to let out the loudest high-pitched shriek a 6 years old girl could master, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" In a flash, the whole valley was covered in thick snow.
Elsa's eyes started to blur, her legs fell from underneath her and she collapsed to the ground. The bright white ground underneath her started to spin, as darkness overwhelmed her and the world went black.
Aphrodite's world was a mess. One of her daughters laid unconscious on the snow, the other in between the arms of a devil. You don't understand! She is your daughter, she is she is! She forgot about the slap, she forgot about the snow around them, she forgot about the troll. She only thought about one thing, "ELSA!" She hurried to her daughter's motionless body, a panicked expression painted her face, stumbling in the snow as she tried to reach her daughter. "Elsa! No no no no! Please look at me! Open your eyes, sweet heart!" No no this wasn't suppose to happen! None of this was suppose to happen!... Robin, where are you?! Anna... Elsa!... Please God oh please bring them back to me! As she held her daughter in her arms, rocking her back and forth, tears overwhelmed her cheeks as she prayed for this nightmare to end. She felt her daughter stir, "Elsa...?" Elsa's eyes slowly opened, her eyelids weighted tones and she tried to fight unconsciousness. "Mommy...?" The little girl replied, her voice weak, her wan, languid face turned to face her mother's joyful tears. "Elsa, you're okay!" Aphrodite squeezed her daughter to a hug like it would have been the last time of her life.
Her father snapped out of it and looked around. He stared at the snow in shock, Anna sleeping in his arms. "What have I done?" His voice was barely a whisper. Aphrodite heard him, though. She turned to face him with Elsa in her arms. Was he asking about what he did to Elsa? What he did to me? As Aphrodite's face lit up a little because of how her husband was understanding the situation at last, it quickly dropped from the sympathetic look she gave him, to a disgusted one because of what she heard him say next. "I should have killed her. I should have ended this nightmare the day this thing was born!" He whispered to himself, but it was heard by his wife clearly. To Aphrodite's shock, she tried really hard not to react to his nonsense. She tried her best not to grab an icicle and shove it in his brains, but instead she squeezed Elsa closer to her chest. Both were oblivious to the old troll who was watching them in shock.
"Your Majesties," Both King and Queen turned to face him. "Your... Daughter has magic in her. She should learn to control it, or else the kingdom shall splinter." This was not what Aphrodite was hoping to hear, "-however, there's beauty in it, but also great danger. Fear will be her enemy. It will destroy her."
No… Please… Stop. Aphrodite thought.
She didn't notice... None of them noticed the king, her husband, the father of her daughters' wolfish smirk. If Fear shall destroy this monster, then Fear shall be the only thing that could tame it. The king thought.
"Can't you do anything to help?" Asked Aphrodite hopelessly.
"I can try and look at her future, and I'll see if she will gain control over time. Hopefully, with your help, it will be easier for her. However, while she grows, so will her powers." The old troll informed.
The king couldn't help but feel a pinch of fear towards his daughter. He couldn't imagine that Elsa would over-power him when she would grow up and so would her powers as warned by the troll. And that encouraged him to apply the technique of 'Fear'. I will not let a monster over-power King Jamie of Arendelle.
"Have you decided what you want me to do with the little one?" The troll asked before he pointed at a strawberry-blond girl.
Aphrodite sighed, "Of course…we have no choice" she gave her husband a quizzing look before he nodded in agreement.
The troll nodded, "Please, bring her closer to me." The king obliged and knelt next to the troll. He placed his stony grey-ish hand on her head and closed his irisless eyes. Blue flurries started to come out of Anna's forehead and into the troll's palm as if the ice was being absorbed.
They all watched the flurries around the troll's hand thrown towards the night sky, exploded then disappeared in between the stars, and with that, they all knew that Anna's memories just perished. Gone. "She will be okay." The troll smiled at the little bundle of joy and gave her parents a reassuring nod. They all saw how the streak of white between her hair have vanished. Now, they were sure that the ice have disappeared from Anna's head. Both parents turned to the troll and and gave him a thankful smile and all Elsa could do was to sigh in relief but quickly tensed when she heard the troll say, "Now, what about you, child?" He was looking at Elsa now. "Come closer dear." But Elsa only shook her head and hid her face in her mother's chest. The creature came closer to her and she started to shift away from him but his words comforted her. "Don't worry child. I won't hurt you. Just let me see." He held his hands up, palms opened, flexing his weird fingers back and forth, gesturing for her to put her hands in his. Elsa looked at her mother with concern, and when she got a nod from her mother, she moved closer to the troll and held her shaky hands up and they met his.
She is terrified... Aphrodite thought. She gave her daughter a sad reassuring smile.
As soon as her shaky hands met his, the old troll's eyes lit and sparkled with blue flames. His head shot up and his face met the sky. He shrieked in agony and started chanting with a horrifying demonic voice. Terror struck Elsa's face and she tried to pull away but the troll's hands were too tight around hers. Both the king and queen were startled at the troll's sudden reaction on the contact with Elsa, and all the royal family heard him chanting.
Your future is bleak
Whilst chains, you'll fight the pain
Pale lands shall be struck with winds of agony
And with every struck shall melt red snow
That will bring life to red rivers with tragedy
Although the screams were high and harsh
None shall notice the insanity beyond the gates
Only sun rays shall fight their way in
And free the ice behind bars.