Arendelle Castle, 1826, February 24th, Present.
At nighttime, everyone has to sleep for a new day, including the castle members, and the King and the Queen. However, this wasn't the case for the elder princess.
In the castle's library, there lying on her back on a small, red loveseat near a fireplace was the eight-year-old Princess Elsa, who was reading one of her beloved tales, The Snow Queen, it was made by a Danish author: Hans Christian Andersen, one of Elsa's favorite writer's thanks to his fairytales and the characters.
She was wearing her blue nightgown with her platinum hair pulled in a bun with a black headband on her head and messy bangs across her forehead.
Sometimes when her parents fall asleep in their room, being - occasionally - misbehaving she is, will go and grab her book and sneaks off into the library and read it for her own enjoyment.
Elsa's favorite hobby is reading, as the library is her favorite place as well. Her father has taught her to read and write ever since she was five years younger than now. And it appears that she has inherited it from her mother.
There was a type of character that Elsa loved and felt intriguing towards in every story, even more than the heroes. The Villain. They're interesting, charismatic, and powerful antagonistic characters who have motives and will do anything to achieve them.
But in every story, the heroes win while the villains become defeated, and she sometimes wondered, why the villains always lose? Why can't they win? Why don't the heroes just give them a second chance? Can the villain even be redeemable?
The Snow Queen's Villain was... Motiveless. Like, there's no reason for her to kidnap one of the protagonists, Kai, and promises to give him a pair of skates and free him of her power if he completed the puzzle 'eternity'.
But what she liked even more about the story is that the titular main antagonist has similar powers to hers. The ability to control snow and ice, which is believed to be folklore or legend, but in reality, it exists within her, and she will not let her powers be known.
Before she flipped to the next page, she let out a startled gasp as someone pulls the book out of her hands behind her. She turned over only to find that the culprit is her younger sister, who is holding the book with a devilish smile.
She was wearing a green nightgown with her red hair put in two small pigtails and bangs on the sides of her forehead and was barefoot.
"Anna! Give it back to me!" Elsa stands as she goes to Anna to get back her book, only for Anna to pull it away from her reach. Elsa becomes confused about Anna's behavior, but most importantly, about why Anna is not in her bed, napping as she is supposed to be, it seems like she's restless.
"Nope. I can't sleep." Anna shakes her head as she refused.
"Why?" Elsa replies as she furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms.
"Because the sky's awake, so we are awake, so we have to play!" Anna explains whilst doing motions dramatically. Elsa knew what Anna was thinking and simply raised her right eyebrow unimpressed at her sister with a seriously Anna? look.
"Sorry but no, go play by yourself." She then giggled in amusement before attempting to snatch her book back only for Anna to back off and raised her hand that was holding the book before she turns around.
"Go and get it!" The five-year-old princess runs away from Elsa as she laughed happily while Elsa took the message and rolled her eyes. However, she smiled as she chases after her energetic sister around the room.
One of Anna's favorite games was the tag, always playing with her friends outside the palace. And it seems like she wanted Elsa to play with her. However, Elsa doesn't want to play with her right now if she had to be honest.
Elsa stopped when Anna halted and turned to face her to laugh. Elsa smiled mischievously as she had an excellent thought.
"You are too slow!"
"Really?"
"Yep!"
"Try me!" Elsa challenged as she caught Anna's guard off by slamming her feet at the floor, coating it with ice as it reached to Anna, who slipped as the book dropped from her hand. She then slides on the ice to her fallen sister and took the book, smiling smugly.
"Nice try," Elsa said to Anna, satisfied with herself before she turned around to set back into the loveseat, thawing the ice. Anna, however, wasn't going to give up. She stands and crossed her arms with a cute grumpy face as she starts to think and bit her lower lip for a few seconds before her face forms into an innocent happy smile and gasps as she suddenly has an idea in her mind.
The redhead princess sneaks into Elsa, who was completely focused on the book that she was oblivious to her little sister. Anna brought her face closer to Elsa's left ear and whispers mischievously.
"Do you wanna build a snowman?"
Elsa's blue eyes widened and looked over her sister, who gave her a very adorable smile and titled her face to the right, a look that not even Elsa could resist.
"Please?" Anna asked hopefully.
Elsa's face formed into a delightful smile as she nodded hesitantly, she will do anything to make her sister happy, even if she had to break one of the rules her parents made. Which is that the girls shall be on their beds at the nighttime.
And so the two polar opposites sisters ran from the library down into the ballroom and Elsa simply attempting to silence her sister while holding her laugh, and Anna, on the other hand, was very delighted and happy that she filled the whole castle with her voice.
But Elsa was uncertain with it...
As they entered the ballroom that is shone with the northern lights, Elsa closed the big doors behind and goes to Anna, who filled the room with her cheerful giggles because she was very happy to play with her older sister. Despite having friends outside the castle, her special playmate is her sister and no one else. Anna wore fur boots to keep warm.
"Do the magic! Do the magic!" Anna begged as she put her hands on her chest. Elsa chuckled and beckoned for her sister to come closer as she started to make motions with her hands, and snowflakes appeared and created into a floating snowball slowly. Anna's eyes widened as she awed by the magically mesmerizing snowball.
"You ready?" Elsa smiled and looked at her sister for confirmation, who only nodded with a sweet giggle. She then shoots the snowball to the top as it blows up into many variations of snowflakes that started to fall like winter.
"This is amazing!" Anna laughed gleefully as she stares up and bounced around the room with her arms stretched like wings. She then stopped in front of Elsa, who lowered herself at her sister's high level.
"Watch this!" Elsa says with a big smile before she slams her right foot on the floor as ice emerges and begins to coat the whole floor like an ice rink. Anna glides to the left slowly as she laughed.
All the snowflakes fell and molded into snow mounds around the room as the sisters start to build a snowman with Anna lifting a heavy chunk of snow while Elsa rolled a larger one. She then heaves it at the top of Elsa's snow pile as she groaned and the both of them laughed.
After they build the snowman - it was made of three coals as buttons and two as eyes, three twigs as hair, two sticks as arms, and a sculpt on its head as buck teeth -, Anna moves to sit on one of the thrones and imitates a face for Elsa for the snowman's face as she chuckled. Elsa finalized the snowman by settling a carrot on its head. She then twirled the snowman around and held his woody arms from behind and mimics motions of a hug as she says in a goofy voice.
"Hi! I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!"
Anna's smile widened in excitement and joy as she happily runs into the snowman, whom Elsa named him Olaf, and hugs him.
"I love you, Olaf!" She squealed as her turquoise eyes met her sister's blue ones.
Little Anna played with Olaf as both of them slide on the ice with Elsa behind the snowman conjuring magical breezes, and all of them glided and filled the room with their giggles and laughs.
After they finish gliding, Elsa holds a giggly Anna in her lap as they skid down on a slide made out of the snow while squealing out of the fun. As they come to end, Anna leaped herself from Elsa and flung into another hill of snow, she sinks on the snow and raised herself, tossing drifts of snow around her.
"Hang on!" Elsa says as she conjured a snow peak for Anna to jump.
"Catch me!" a carefree Anna blurted as she hopped from a hill to another one that was higher from Elsa.
"Catch ya!" Elsa exclaimed as she conjured another higher hill for Anna to jump.
"Again!" Anna yelled, urging Elsa to create even more hills without stopping. Elsa suddenly becomes cautious as she shouted at Anna.
"Wait!"
However, Anna was very carefree as she just giggled while hopping from a hill to a hill faster, forcing Elsa to make more hills in a rush.
"Slow down!" Elsa shouted with fear and uncertainty at her little sister. Anna needs to stop!
She was now doubting their "fun" as she knew it was a bad idea. But before she goes to make another hill for her sister, she slipped and falls on her back. She looked up at Anna, who jumped from the eighth-hill without any care and howled in joy.
"Anna!" Elsa calls her fearfully as she shoots a blast of cold to make another hill, only for it to accidentally hit Anna's head. Anna wailed from the effect in the mid-air and falls into another mound and rolled down the slippy floor, completely unconscious.
Elsa gasped as many emotions came to her. this wasn't supposed to end like this. It was an accident and she didn't mean it. She leaped from her position and dashes towards her unconscious sister.
"Anna! No..." Elsa kneeled before Anna and held her sister's head, checking on her. Her eyes widened as one of Anna's Auburn streak transforms into platinum, a color that resembles hers. Tears threatened to fall as she cried out for their parents desperately before she shakes her sister's body a little and sobs. Hard frost came out of her foot inadvertently and started to cover the once winter wonderland, including the gates. the snowman that the sisters build has crumbled as the frost reached to it.
"It's okay Anna, I got you.."
While Elsa was crying out of guilt and concern, two bangs were heard from the frozen gates before it bursts open, revealing Agnarr and Iduna, who were shocked by what they just saw.
"Elsa! What have you done?! This is getting out of hand!" King Agnarr exclaims with of worry and anger while Queen Iduna gasped as the couple hurried towards their daughters.
"It was an accident! I swear!" Elsa exclaims between sobs, trying to justify her actions as she let her mother pick her unconscious sister. However, her father was skeptical.
"She is ice cold!" Iduna exclaimed with fear and worry as she checked Anna before looking at her husband.
"I know where we have to go," Agnarr proclaims.
Elsa was worried, but also very scared, not only for Anna but furthermore for herself. Her original plan was to go read some books before getting on to her bed hadn't Anna awaken from her supposed slumber and barged into her sweet peace. She didn't hate Anna or anything, but something is trying to tell her that it wasn't her fault.
"I'm so sorry Anna..."
The worried king dashes into the library and desperately scanned throughout it for a particular book in the dark. Shortly after the investigation, he finds what he was looking for and begins to rapidly flip through the pages only to stop at one specific page; this page has an image of someone of royalty laying on a bed while blue smokes are coming out of him and a menacingly looking troll manipulating magic. Agnarr takes a step back as a map falls out from the book. The map is painted of two lands and a road between them. This was all he needed.
And so after the monarchs ordered the guards to prepare their fjord horses to travel, of course, the guards didn't ask their judgment, as they know better, King Agnarr and Queen Iduna, who held Anna and Elsa, mounted their neighing steeds, and ride them at full speed in the night to their destination, the valley of the living rocks, leaving a trail of ice behind them thanks to a troubled Elsa as they rode.
The valley of the living rocks was a mossy territory with valleys filled with boulders, mists, and dead trees. It held a mysterious and magical atmosphere around it with northern lights dancing around in the sky.
In this mysterious forest, a self-proclaimed ice harvester blonde boy was sitting on his newly received ice block on his sled and his reindeer wandering around the woodland in peace, until he heard neighs and hooves smashing the ground as two white, fjord horses appeared out of nowhere behind them. The boy turned around in alarm only to see a track of ice that has left behind the second horse.
"Ice?" He analyzed the ice in confusion, how did that ice appear out of nowhere. Unless...
His curiosity got the best of him as he got up from his ice block while Sven, who was holding a lantern, wiggles his tail like a dog as he lay the lantern in the grass before the boy mounts him. The reindeer follows the frozen trail.
"Faster Sven!" The boy urged his reindeer, who let out a sound as he runs faster.
As they rode, the boy notices that the track stopped, so he hopped from Sven and goes to a near mossy rock.
"Sven!" The boy beckoned Sven with a whisper before the excited reindeer runs off. The reindeer followed his friend as the blonde child takes some steps when he suddenly sees the King and the Queen and their two daughters in surprise, and even more when he saw the misty valley. He hides behind a rock for a cover while Sven, who panted like a puppy in enthusiasm, almost moved away if not for the child to grab him. The two companions hid behind the mossy rock as they spied on the royal family.
"Please, Help! I-it's, my daughter!" Agnarr calls desperately for the trolls as his voice echoed off. When the steams that was coming from holes around the valley intensified, the land rumbled as all of the round, mossy rocks around it fidget and start to roll down the ground towards the visitors.
On the other side, the boy gasped in fear as he lowered himself behind his "cover" a little while young Sven simply beamed.
The King pulled his family together in protection as the rocks reached closer to them. The rocks uncovered themselves, revealing the trolls.
"It's the king."
"There majesties."
"and the queen."
The trolls murmured in confusion as they made a path for another particular troll, who seemed older and wiser than the rest. This troll is Grandpabbie, the valley's ruler. The royal family of Arendelle was relieved when the help arrives.
"Trolls?" The boy exclaimed in astonishment and confusion, as the trolls were believed to be mere folklore and stories, he didn't know that they were real indeed. The "cover" twitched a little before it revealed to be a female troll as the boy gasps and backed off a little away from her.
"Shh! I'm trying to listen." the troll says as she tries to hear the commotion when the reindeer reacted by licking her right, stone cheek as the boy gave him a nervous smirk. The troll's eyes darted at her right in surprise to see the reindeer calf looking down with shyness.
"Cuties. I'm gonna keep you!" She awed as she decides to raise the boy and his reindeer as she hugs them on each side with a big grin.
"Your majesties." Grandpabbie greeted the rulers of Arendelle with a bow as he steps closer to Elsa, who was cuddling to her father the whole time, while Agnarr crouched to the troll's level and laid his hand on Elsa's shoulder with a comforting yet threatening way, as a message that her father is unhappy. Elsa sensed this and cower a little as she was terrified of having the idea of her family becoming afraid of her.
Ever since they attached the horses to the nearest trees, every time she comes closer to her father while they walked, he would back off while smiling at her; her mother was the same thing, and she can't help but feel sad and hurt by that.
Grandpabbie, on the other hand, has sensed strange magic coming from the blond girl. he then realized that she's magical and he was amazed by that since she's the first individual with magic he ever met by so far. But, he can't help the uneasiness he felt as he suspected that the royal family had no idea about the prophecy.
"Born with the powers, or cursed?" He raised a question to the king as he grabbed Elsa's soft hand. Agnarr was surprised but shakes his head to brush off the thoughts before he answered worriedly as Elsa glanced up at him.
"ah-Born. And it getting stronger!"
Grandpabbie eyes widened in shock and recognition when Agnarr says "born". He nodded as he let go of Elsa's hand before he beckoned the Queen to bring her injured daughter closer to him. Iduna kneeled while cuddling Anna, who was having a pained expression on her round face.
When she kneeled to the troll's level, Grandpabbie moved his left rocky palm and lay it on Anna's forehead, sensing the curse as he hummed. He then let go as he informed.
"You are lucky it wasn't her heart, the heart is not so easily changed." He explains as he looked at the family in front of him.
"But, the head can be persuaded." He finished his explanation in a casual way.
"Do what you must!" Agnarr snapped with authority and worry as he looked at Grandpabbie. The troll king sighed as he laid his left palm again on Anna's forehead.
"I recommend we remove all magic, even memories of magic, to be safe." he slightly pulled his palm off Anna's forehead as purple magic starts to come out of Anna's head and begins to change her memories as one of them showed Elsa sliding with Anna in the ballroom remade into the both of them sliding in winter outside. The second memory of the sisters gliding around the frozen ballroom's floor changes into a frozen lake on the outside.
"But don't worry, I leave the fun." He says sympathetically as the last memory shows Anna and Elsa sitting and watching their newly-made snowman in pride changes into the both of them sitting outside the winter while staying the same as well as changing the sisters' clothes in each memory into those of winter as to stay warm. Completely clear of Elsa's magic as if she is ordinary.
Elsa was sad that Anna will no longer know about her magic, but she was glad that not even the events of her accident will she remember. However, she starts to have second thoughts about whether she should be saddened about it or not.
The troll king finalized his spell as he collects the magic and injects it carefully on Anna's forehead. He sighed heartily.
"She would be okay." he smiled as Anna's pained face unconsciously changed into a smile of relief as she hummed. Iduna looked down at her daughter and smiled a smile full of love as she cuddles her close. Agnarr also smiled. Elsa, however, wasn't smiling because she has many questions on her mind.
"But she won't remember I have powers?" she hesitatingly asked Grandpabbie as she looked at her hands, then at Anna.
"It's for the best," Agnarr assures her warmly, but Elsa wasn't convinced yet.
Grandpabbie's green eyebrows furrowed as he noticed the tension between Elsa and her father, he also noticed how uncomfortable the young princess she was, and how deep she was with her thoughts. But about her magic, he suspects that she might have a role with the prophecy. If the royal family doesn't know about it, he should tell them as well as the origins of Elsa's powers, and Elsa herself. And he knows that if he told them, their fate will change forever. He really regrets doing it, but they must know and also for their safety.
"Listen to me, Elsa, and all of you." The elder troll beckoned them calmly to listen to him as he turned around and starts to manipulate the magic from the northern lights. All of them, including the royal family, the trolls, the boy and his reindeer, and most importantly, Elsa, begin to seriously concentrate on what he will announce.
'It will take a long time...'
The magic shaped into a vision of blue circles as cold planets having alignment with a green circle as earth.
"Your powers come from a one-thousand alignment between the planets.." He started to explain cryptically as the illusions of all the circles vibrated and merged together and transform into a blue, large six-pointed snowflake.
Agnarr, Iduna, and mostly Elsa were amazed, it really was a gift from nature - she is the gift -. Elsa glanced down at her hands with contentment and her mother grinned warmly at her as well. Agnarr also was happy, but there were many questions he had on his mind.
However, he didn't ask as the wise Grandpabbie wasn't finished yet. Things were getting darker.
"And you, Elsa, was born with it. Much like you, your powers will only grow..." the snowflake vision transformed into a blue light illusion of someone, or rather a woman. Elsa and the others realized that this vision of a person is her future-self. Agnarr and Iduna were very eager to know about Elsa's powers and what does all of that mean.
"There's both of beauty...and danger in it, " The illusion of Elsa's future-self creates a snowflake around her and threw it up. But, what was once a blue, peaceful snowflake thundered and turned into a demonic, scary-looking red snowflake as Elsa gasped. Agnarr's eyebrows furrowed as he finally knew about the danger of Elsa's magic ever since she hurts her sister and starts to reconsider his opinions of her magic.
"You must learn to control it, as well as yourself, or yours will be a terrible fate..." he clarifies in a dark, gravelly voice as the illusion of the dark snowflake roared and her future-self turned from what once was a peaceful, warm-hearted blue vision of a young woman, into a dark magenta vision of a menacing and dark-looking young woman that seems to become cold-hearted and dangerous who was hugging herself in suffer until she starts to laugh maniacally as red visions of groups appeared on each side of her chanted words of "monster" and "sorceress" as they become afraid of her and because of that they strike her down, and the vision of her future-self cried out tragically.
Elsa gasped in fear as she cuddles closer to her father, who was totally horrified about what he, and his wife, just saw. The trolls were terrified as well.
The boy and his reindeer too were also horrified. The female troll feels the same and she can't help but pity the princess, who might have a doomed future as she murmured with great sympathy.
"Poor child..."
"Elsa is not evil and will never be." Iduna argued with an angry look, she can't bear to think of her daughter as a lost cause, or the people... Agnarr agrees with her silently though his head was in turmoil.
"I'm not sure, but her fate could be connected to... the prophecy," Grandpabbie replied somewhat unsure as he was a little offended by her. Of course, he knows what she was talking about and he agrees with her.
"Prophecy?" The king finally uttered a word after his momentary silence as he was confused and interested as well as the rest of them when Grandpabbie proclaimed the troll's prophecy.
This confirmed the troll king that they indeed have no idea about it, which is why that prompts him to explain.
"There's a prophecy, that an evil ruler with a frozen heart, " He explains slowly as he made a frozen blue illusion that resembles a heart, more of the frozen heart. The "spies", and the royal family, especially Elsa, gave attention to his explanation as they become very focused on it.
"Shall bring destruction, to Arendelle." He finished as the vision of the frozen heart vibrated and transform into a kingdom resembles Arendelle being destroyed by something akin to a natural catastrophe as screams of a frightened population can be heard.
Elsa was shocked, to say the least. She accidentally hurts Anna and thought that they would just heal her then go back home, only for a certain troll to tell them the dark truth about her and the kingdom. She then looked down at the ground in shame and fear as she was afraid of what her father or her mother will anticipate.
Iduna was the same as Elsa, though she can't and doesn't want to believe that Elsa might be the troll's revelation. But there was a high connection between them that just like her husband, she realizes that Elsa's magic has a dangerous side and her powers will only grow, meaning that when Elsa grows up, she could do anything with her powers, even if it means sending havoc to the village. She shook her head to clear her mind from these dark thoughts and looked at her worried daughter with a sad yet sympathetic look.
'No, Elsa will never do that.'
Agnarr, like his wife, concluded the same thing. her hurting Anna, her future-self, and the future of Arendelle. He didn't have any hatred of magic or such, but he had to protect Elsa from the kingdom and vice versa. And much like his wife, he denies the possibility of Elsa being a villain.
"No! We will protect her, she can learn to control it I'm sure." He declared as he looked at Iduna, trying to be as optimistic as possible. The Queen nodded in agreement as they stood up from kneeling, towering the troll king.
"Iduna, we're going home. Thank you, Grandpabbie." Agnarr says to Iduna fondly before he thanked the troll king, who was silently praying for him not to do anything he might regret, as he beckoned Elsa, who is glad that they were going back even though she feels uneasiness, to follow them as they return back to where they left their steeds.
The whole trip back to the fjord castle, Agnarr had set new rules for Elsa and the kingdom, and these strict rules are: locking the gates; reducing the staff; limit her contact with people; keep her powers hidden from everyone, including Anna.
At least temporarily.
Of course, Iduna disagrees with these rules, especially separating Elsa and Anna as they had a small argument during their return but eventually, she regretfully accepted.
Elsa, however, wasn't happy and feels very hurt and depressed by that. She will be locked up in her room for quite some time and never go out, no seeing or talking with anyone, not even her sister.
But, does she really deserve to be punished? After all, accidents do happen to kids, with magic or not. And it was actually Anna's fault since she put her own life in danger just for "fun". If she had just listened to Elsa, none of this would happen. Elsa starts to become upset as she knew that it wasn't fair for her father to lock her in her room while Anna receives no punishment. It's as if her sister is more important than her, or worse, that she might be their favorite - she is against favoritism -.
More than that, she realizes that had she refused to play with her in a serious manner, none of this would happen. Had Anna was asleep and didn't come to brag her to play, she would finish the book and go back into her bed. She starts to feel a slight resentment toward Anna and was both heartbroken and guilty about it.
'That was her fault'
And she was thankful that Anna will no longer know about her magic.
But the prophecy, and the visions of her future, really had scared her. Her home will be destroyed at some point or some time, and what's even worse is that she might be, or become, the ruler with a frozen heart. Every time she recalls the way her future-self laughed will bring her shivers as she was frightened by it.
On the next day, the King's orders have been applied as the Kingdom's gates were firmly closed, no one can get in the castle except the invited ambassadors, dignitaries, or royalty from other kingdoms. Of course, the council asked him many questions out of curiosity but he just ensures them.
'It's for the best'
Seventy percent of the castle's staff left their jobs due to these orders as most people and the staff was confused about King Agnarr's behavior. But didn't question him as they know better.
Elsa's provisions and stuff were all transferred into a new, unused room away from Anna by her father's orders as she will no longer share anything or contact with her little sister.
Elsa was unhappy to leave her sister and sleep in a new room, alone. But she had to get used to it eventually, after all, she has nothing to do other than follow her father's wishes.
Anna starts to wake up from her sweet dreams as she let out a cute yawn before she opened her big eyes. she sits up as she looked around the room with weary eyes only to see something peculiar, the other side of the room, where Elsa sleeps in was...
Empty.
Curious, she blinked to clear her eyesight as she got up from her bed and turns around to run into the door. She halts and pulls the handle down and opens the door as she left her room. She heard footsteps into the left halfway and headed towards the sound only to stop in her track when she saw Elsa, who walked towards her new room as she met her sister's turquoise eyes with a sad and longing look before she closed the door behind her.
Anna was shocked and pained as she twiddled her fingers with a bad feeling. Yesterday, they were enjoying playing with the snow outside the castle, but now, things become gloomier.
And she never knew why...