He didn't want to waste time, but he could see how so many of the Dark Ones before him had lost time staring at that hat.
It was gorgeous.
He would be first to admit that he didn't have an eye for beauty but even he could declare it was stunning. It was blue, but what kind of blue he couldn't name, for it had been fashioned to look like the night sky. It was royal blue, sky blue, dark blue, turquoise, cobalt, azure, and so many others. There were stars and galaxies spattered all over it but none that he could identify because they moved constantly. There was depth to it, so that he seemed to go on infinitely. The galaxies swirled, the stars glided from the conical tip to the brim, then from one side to the other. There was no seam that he could make out, the brim wasn't very wide and he couldn't find stitching that connected the two parts of the hat. It seemed as though it was only one single piece of fabric from top to bottom, though what kind of fabric could make this or withstand the kind of magic that had to be needed to create it, that was a discovery Dark Ones hadn't made yet. And now was not the time to find out, or so Nimue reminded him.
Get the hat. Get out.
He didn't want to waste time and yet there he stood practically drooling over it. This was where more than one Dark One had met their match and now he stood there waiting for the same fate if he continued to stare at it as he was. This was neither the time nor the place to analyze this magic. He had to get it home; where it would be safe.
With the understanding that the hat was exactly what he needed it to be, he used his dagger to put it away, to secure it back into the confines of the box once more. It would be easier to move that way and far easier to carry. Then he picked it up off the dais, turned, and left the room for good. He was surprised when he arrived at the top of the stairs back into the Apprentice's cabin; he half expected Anna of Arendelle to be gone. But there she was, still huddled on the ground, knees to her chest and head bowed, at least until the trap doors closed with a bang behind him. With a deep breath she got quickly to her feet once more and adjusted her skirt.
"I helped you get what you want," she said through a sob like a child might after they'd just had a tantrum. "So give me what you promised. Tell me about my parents."
Well…a deal was a deal. She hadn't put the vial into the old man's tea, but he supposed she was right, it was only for her ignorance that he'd been able to retrieve the hat, an ignorance that he'd played on from their very first meeting. As far as he was concerned the knowledge he had was nothing that had to do with him, there was no harm in giving it up. And as for that thing around her neck. It was a beautiful piece of magic, but next to what he held in his hand right now it looked weak and pathetic. Next to the hat he had very little interest in it or in Arendelle or either of it's princesses. There was only freedom. And from there, Baelfire.
"Well, dearie, the King and Queen of Arendelle landed on my doorstep with an itsy-bitsy problem...your sister," he answered moving toward her, enjoying the feeling of forcing her to take steps back as he claimed the ground she'd been on. She looked hurt by the words that he'd said and knew before she raised objection that she wasn't going to listen. That was her choice. Sometimes the truth was difficult to accept, it was our choice to choose to believe it. "They wanted something to take away her powers...forever."
Anna stumbled and gave a small gasp as she reached out for the mantle. He'd boxed her into a corner. She had no where to run from her precious truth.
"My parents loved Elsa."
"Sounded more to me like they feared her," he corrected as she began to side-step him, probably intending to run out the door and away from him at any minute. With no more need for her, he'd be happy to let her go. "It's a thin line and, oh, so easy to cross. You must have known. They always wished she had been born a little bit more...normal."
The smirk wiped off her face, she looked him up and down. "Did they find what they were looking for?"
"I'm afraid not. No one could lay their hands on that kind of magic...until now," he tempted presenting her with his prize, the very thing that might have helped Elsa, or rather saved the world from her sister. How lucky for the Queen that she would never get her hands on it.
"So, that's what the box does," she breathed.
"Not the box, what's inside...a hat, crafted thousands of years ago by a sorcerer for one purpose...to steal magical power...and guarded all these years by his apprentice." And with any luck, it would be his ticket to overpowering the curse of the dagger and destroying the Apprentice once and for all so that he could get into the tower and destroy Light Magic for good. It was all within his grasp. When he and Bae were reunited, there would be nothing to stand between them as there had been last time they'd met.
"What are you going to do with it?"
"When the hat has collected all its ill-gotten power and is fully charged, I will be unstoppable," he explained pushing her back into a corner once more. It was like dance, leading the way meant he was the one in charge, and he wanted the dear Princess to know it.
"I thought the Dark One was already unstoppable."
"There are limits, however small."
"No. You can't," she insisted. "That mouse...that apprentice...he dedicated his life to keeping it out of the hands of people like you."
He smiled as he took a step closer. Foolish naïve girl. As if the existence of the Apprentice was enough to make him put the hat down and see the light. "Too bad he's not here to stop me," he whispered in her face.
"What if he is?" Suddenly her eyes roved upward, to something on the ceiling. He followed her gaze to a rafter where a mouse, nearly the same color of the wood was climbing about and-
He jumped! One second he was on the rafters and the next he was on his hand. Barely as soon as he'd realized it he felt the piercing sting of a bite. Hard, sharp little teeth penetrated his scaly flesh and he screamed. He flung his hand about to rid himself of the beast and then moved back to wrap his hand around her throat for that little prank.
"Don't come any closer!"
Magic shot through him, straightening his back and forcing him to take a step back that he couldn't remember telling himself to take and it was then that he took in the true horror of the scene before him. Anna of Arendelle stood there before him, looking just as confused as he'd felt, wielding a blade in his direction. The blade was his dagger.
Damn the Apprentice. Damn him for knowing more than he knew and being more powerful than he should have been! Even in mouse form! That potion should have taken away his mind, obviously it hadn't! And now she had the dagger, just as he'd wanted her to have and whether she knew what it meant or not she was thinking with all her might about him staying away from her and therefore that was what he was doing. He couldn't touch her. Damn Merlin for building a prison for his lover and enslaving every Dark One who had ever lived because of it.
"Wait...you're not coming any closer just because I told you not to?" He watched as her eyes were drawn to the dagger in her hand and ground his teeth together. Clever girl. She wouldn't not know what she had for much longer.
"I get it. As long as I have this wavy knife, you have to do as I say, don't you?"
"Yes," he answered without wanting to. "That's how it works."
"Is that one of the limits you spoke of? Is that why you want the hat...to free yourself from the control of this dagger?" he bit his tongue, grateful that she was asking questions but not demanding the answers-
"Answer me!"
"To be free of the control and to keep my power. Yes!" he answered obediently.
"Yeah, I can't let you walk out of here with that!" she exclaimed with all the attitude of a mother chastising a child for wanting to leave his home without shoes. "So, please, give me the box," she ordered.
He tried to disappear, to use his magic to send it elsewhere to fight back! But the fight lasted little more than a second. His body moved without permission, stepping as close as he had to without getting any closer to hand the box to her. All he wanted gone, just like that. How could he have fallen prey to a childish girl as his former Dark Ones had fallen prey to the greatest wizard of all. When he got his dagger back, he was going to rip the Princess of Arendelle limb from limb, then take that dagger and use her sister's power to free himself from it forever. But for right now, the trick was going to be gaining his freedom back entirely.
"Remember, dearie, you can't keep hold of that dagger forever, and you don't want to be on the other end of it when I get it back," he threatened.
"Then I command you send me and this box home to Arendelle."
"If I must." Arendelle was lovely this time of year. He wasn't sending them anywhere that he couldn't follow.
"Wait!" Anna cried. "And, also, you can never hurt me. Or my sister. And you have to turn the mouse back into a man. Okay. Now I'm ready."
Stipulations. He hated stipulations. But he'd managed to kill people with far more confining stipulations. And it usually tasted oh so satisfying when he was done. They spent their entire lives always looking over their shoulder for him, faithless that their stipulations would protect them. They were looking for him, which meant they never saw his revenge coming. One way or another he'd make it so. And if he must do this then he could already sense victory in what she was requesting. He had to send her back, not the dagger. Which meant that once she was home, she held no power. Her ability to protect that hat at home was non-existant. He'd get it back when he killed her.
With a wave of his hand he did as she commanded and sent her away. He focused his magic on her and the box and a moment later they were both gone while the dagger clattered to the floor before him and he felt something close to his spin release. Without hesitation he moved forward to pick up his dagger, examine the writing and take a breath now that it was back with him.
And then he screamed.
Don't worry! I know this looks like a disaster but I made something really happy out of it in the next chapter! Just wait for it because I am super excited to show it to you.
Thank you Grace5231973, Jennifer Baratta, and Alarda for your reviews on the last chapter! This is the last of the Anna chapters. Of course there is one last Frozen Chapter that has to happen but it's toward the end of the section and it's just one chapter. Everything in between...I think you're going to like it. Peace and Happy Reading!
