Okay, so a few notices.As you may or may not may not have noticed, I changed this story's summary from a Frozen X Tangled crossover to a Frozen fanfiction. Now, don't get me wrong, the tangled characters are still gonna play a major role in the story, but the fanfic is mostly going to revolve around the Frozen characters.Another thing is that, this chapter took so long to write due to the fact that I massively changed the plot story. I think I made it a little less complicated to understand, but a little bit more interesting. I'm still gonna introduce a few new characters, but they're all gonna be side characters and villains.The third thing is that, I changed this story from the title of main plot to a side plot. I will be introducing the main plot in a while, so don't worry. If you want, you can hazard a guess at who is gonna be the villain in the story. Drop it in the comments.Speaking of comments,
MaloKen17: LOL yeah it really would be fun to see Aislecia getting attacked. But, why not go for something bigger? *Smirks wickedly.
The water splashed on his face jerking him awake.
"Wha' the?! Ughh! Arghh! Grrr." He growled trying to intimidate the trio in front of him.
Alex, Elsa and Rufus were in a dark chamber. If had a single door to it and a single window overlooking the cells beside itself. The only light source came from a single short candle kept on the table.
There was a chair beside the table, and on it was a person. He was bound with steel chains, it's sharp edges clawing merciless against his skin. The more he moved, the more blood they drew out.
"You done?" Rufus asked undeterred by the feral growl rumbling in the man's throat.
The man stopped immediately, and moved his eyes about the room.
"You like it?" Rufus asked. "If you don't tell us what we want to know, this will be the place you'll stay. Forever." He said merrily.
The man's eyes showed fear.
"What's your name?" Elsa asked.
"Marcus." He told.
"And how, Marcus, did you get this?" Rufus asked proceeding to sit on the table beside the chained, holding up the golden amulet.
Marcus looked at him with disgust. "I ain't tellin' ya."
The sound of the punch resonated throughout the room before it was replaced by a pained yelp.
Marcus couldn't clutch his broken nose as his hands were tied down to the arms of the chair.
Elsa managed to suppress her flinch to a small flicker of her eyelids, but it was a movement that caught Alex's eye. Being a former queen, Elsa had been to a few interrogation sessions before, but none of them had escalated to physical violence this fast, and it caught her off guard. The heavy and hard hitting fist of the captain didn't help.
Alex smiled at himself. She was determined to stay in that room, and no one could possibly change that.
"Had a change of mind yet?" Rufus asked Marcus smirking with his right eyebrows raised.
The man spit out blood and gasped heavily. "Never!" He half yelled his voice breaking for another pained gasp for air, and then a scream of pain.
Another punch landed on his face, this time dislocating his jaw, and colouring an angry red gash on his already swollen and bruised cheekbone. The punch was powerful enough to topple his heavy iron chair over, the chains digging deeper into Marcus's flesh as he writhed in agony and choked and gagged on his own blood.
Rufus gruffly picked him up by his hair, dragging the heavy weight of the chair, Marcus's weight and the iron chains binding him, to a sitting position. He grabbed his jaw and roughly popped it back into place, extracting another tortured yell from the victim.
Elsa's jaw was tight. She stood forcing herself to watch the mutilation quietly. She never wanted something like this to happen, but she knew that it was for the best. If he didn't open up, thousands of people could be murdered and her home destroyed. She just took deep breaths and willed herself to stay strong.
Rufus, after he fixed his jaw, raised his hand up to strike again, but Marcus cracked.
"Wait! Don't hurt me! Please. I'll do anything you say." Marcus was tensed.
Classic dialogue. Alex groaned. He had lost track of how many times he had heard that. Let's see if this guy can actually manage to make it worth the time; unlike the others. He thought smiling to himself wickedly.
Rufus lowered his bruised fist, shaking it so that all the tiny droplets of blood, snot and saliva flew off.
He then smiled happily and sat down on the table, his presence menacing to the thief.
"Hmm...I thought you'd put up more of a stronger fight, but oh well...who's complaining?" He said in a merry tone. "Okie. So let's get to business. How did you get this?" He asked holding up the amulet.
Rufus had started small. The big questions needed to wait for the smaller ones. This was an effective tactic to make sure that the interrogation went successfully. From the mindset of the culprit, it made the criminal 'trust' the interrogator more that no harm would come to him if he co-ordinated. So the big questions were answered without much hesitation or even sometimes, lies or half truths.
"I...I...stole it from the Cintherian Royal family." He admitted.
"Right. Why, may I ask?" Rufus's tone was quiet.
"I...liked it." Marcus gulped.
Rufus raised his eyebrows and half laughed.
"You liked it, so you took it!?" He was laughing openly now.
Marcus looked intimidated.
"Took it along with what?" Alex asked.
"With the money. To pay for the arrows." Marcus said.
Rufus looked at Alex with a raised eyebrow. "Henry would be proud of this guy." He said slapping a hand on Marcus's shoulder.
Marcus jumped at the contact.
Elsa looked at Alex questioningly.
"Marcus called the Steelwood bolts as arrows." He explained to her shaking his own head at the terrible joke.
Elsa tried hard not to roll her eyes. She thought that Henry was associated in this whole scandal too.
"So what do you do for a living?" Rufus asked Marcus, refraining from asking directly what he had done with the Steelwood arrows.
"I...I'm a merchant." Marcus replied.
Rufus gave him a calculating look. "You don't look like a merchant with that strong physique."
"I'm a heavy weight lifter. Need that skill to load cargo."
"Ships?" Rufus asked.
"Yes."
"Hmm...got any family?" Rufus asked playing him.
"A kid and a wife." He replied.
"So then, why did you do all of this?" Elsa asked.
"To save them."
Marcus's three words hit the trio hard. That was definitely a plot twist they hadn't expected. At least Rufus and Elsa hadn't.
"What happened?" Elsa asked sympathetically.
Marcus was uneasy now. Not because the chains were hurting him, but because his heart was.
"A guy came in the middle of the night. He...he...kidnapped my son and my wife. He told me to get two thousand Steelwood arrows by any means possible. Only then, will they release my family."
"Did they?" Elsa asked him.
"I don't know. After I gave them the arrows, I've had no contact with them since." Tears formed in his eyes and traveled down his bloody cheekbone.
Elsa looked at Alex troubled. She recalled the slaughter she had seen in the Fiend Forest. The merciless killing of the Glitharis still made her blood run cold. She couldn't even imagine what might have happened to Marcus's family.
Alex looked back at Elsa, his expression just like hers. His family was likely gone.
"Who did you give them to?" Rufus asked, his tone a little less mocking this time and more sympathetic. He knew how it felt to lose a family member. In his case, it was his kids. Alex was the only reason they were alive.
"I...don't know."
Elsa and Rufus were disappointed. Alex was watching him closely.
"But, I did see a seal on his shoulder when he grabbed my neck." Marcus offered.
The hope was restored.
Rufus immediately ordered for a parchment and pen. Until it arrived, he opened the chains on Marcus. He immediately clutched his face, with a borrowed handkerchief from Elsa.
Marcus's hands trembled as he held the pen, so Alex held it for him.
Alex wasn't a great artist, but he had skills enough to draw a basic structure of a symbol.
It took some tries to get it right as Marcus described the symbol, but the end figure which Marcus approved, struck fear in Elsa's and Rufus's hearts.
Elsa breathed heavily. The situation now was worse than anything they had ever faced. Not her storm, not even the wave from the broken dam six months ago could surpass half the destruction the titan of a symbol could bring.
The diagram comprised of three vertical lines and a common line at the centre crossing perpendicular to all of them. Each end had a sharp spear like edge to it. It had a small cross on the centre vertical line, and the upper and lower lines of the cross transitioned into a straight broad sword like structure, their tips stretching over the length of three original vertical lines.
"Do you know about this?" Alex asked her.
Elsa was well versed in history. One could ask her any event and she'll tell everything to the point of perfection. On the contrary, Alex was nowhere near even an amateur in learning history.
She nodded and explained. "It's...It's a symbol of an army. Cintherian army to be precise. After fighting the legendary war that named their kingdom, you know, the one where they threw burning coals and torches into the ranks of their enemy and all; a huge number of soldiers were banished from the army. No one knows why, but they all collectively swore that they will have revenge over the king of Cintheria."
"But what's that got to do with Arendelle?" Alex asked her confused.
"I...I...don't know. But whatever it is, it's not good." She said grimly.
"It is said that the army is so terrifying, that they can destroy entire kingdoms with their mere presence." Rufus added his tone worried.
They stayed quiet for a minute.
Alex recalled something. "Unmentioned complications." He said suddenly.
"What?" Elsa asked him confused.
"The Cintherian royal family couldn't come to Arendelle for Anna's wedding due to unmentioned complications."
Elsa's eyes lit up as she remembered Alex saying it from the list of the ones absent for the wedding. But there was more. The page from her mother and father's diary came right after that. Was that a coincidence? She wondered, but dismissed that thought.
"They must know something about this then, shouldn't they?" Elsa asked.
Alex nodded.
"Where exactly did you trade the arrows?" He asked Marcus.
"Cintheria." He replied immediately.
It only reinforced their assumption.
"What shall we do?" Rufus asked them both.
Alex wanted to get to Cintheria and pry as much information he could from the royals, or anyone who had any for that matter.
"Did you anyone else working with the army? A royal...or anyone?" Elsa asked Marcus.
"No. But there have been rumors that have spread that the Cintherian royals had been working on someone else's orders. I can tell you, they're definitely involved in this."
This caught Elsa by surprise. Why hadn't she heard about anything like this until now? She shook it off and proceeded with the questions.
"Involved how?" She asked.
"I don't know. They were trading. Our weapons stock had been reduced to half. Money started coming from nowhere. Initially, we thought they were going to do something good with that money. Perhaps update weapons and walls or... something. It never happened. The money was gone as quickly as it came." He replied.
"And you stole some money from the emptying treasury, didn't you." Alex asked calmly.
"Yes." Marcus was disappointed in himself.
Alex could see the big picture now. He relived that moment in the wedding halls where the guest had said that the Cintherian royals had no idea of what they were doing. He agreed with that wholeheartedly now. 'If the Cintherians have only half the weapons stock they once had, and virtually no money at all, they were extremely vulnerable to attacks. It was a simple game that had been played. First, strip the kingdom of it's weapons, then make people steal whatever money the kingdom had gotten from trade of weapons and whatever other product it sold. That stolen money was used by the enemy to fuel themselves of weapons and mercenaries and men and bandits...anyone who worked for money. And their source wouldn't be discovered by anyone, since no one knew anything about them. Thus, they could kill multiple birds with a single stone. Cintheria and the king would hardly be able to defend themselves from the destruction that the Ectari crossbows and Steelwood arrows would rain down upon them, Glitharis had already been a victim, and Arendelle had a disadvantage as the weapons weren't the best modern age battle strong machines. Neat'. Alex praised the smartness with which it was all executed. Though it was his enemy who had played the smart move, he gave credit where it was due.
He looked at Elsa, who seemed to be following his footsteps in decoding their plan. She came to the same realization that he had. They looked at each other and communicated their plan silently.
They quickly gathered some additional details like location, atmosphere, time and other facts about the trade and left the chambers with Rufus's leave.
"Where are we going?" Elsa asked him as they navigated their way out of the castle.
Alex knew that she had already guessed the answer, but was just confirming with him. "Cintheria. King Michael seems to know something. Let's ask him."
Elsa nodded in agreement, but was still confused as to how they were going to go about doing it. Surely Alex won't torture the information out of him! She thought trying to console herself. But again, Alex was extremely unpredictable in his actions. She had no idea what he would do to make sure they succeeded.
She recalled a moment she had with him that ended up with him reacting in a completely different way than anyone else would have reacted.
Flashback
She turned sharply to the opening door on her left, while closing the one in front of her with a panicked bang. On second thoughts, she could've hid behind that door than get caught, but it was too late now.
She stared at a clown standing coolly in the doorway looking back at her expressionless. She felt a chill run down her spine as the clown raised his eyebrows at her.
It was ten in the night, and a loud thunderous explosion lit up his face. The room was dark as she had extinguished all the lights so she didn't get caught. The only reliable light source was from a single candle in the dark corridor. The gusts of wind blew through the flame, making it wobble and cast eerie moving shadows over the walls. The slam of rainwater and high winds over the windows with the occasional flashes from the clouds added to the fear bubbling in her stomach.
Savouring the frightened state of his prey, the clown entered the room, his presence menacingly bold in front of the queen.
"I...I'm...so sorry!" Elsa cried and backed away as the clown slowly made it's way over to her.
The face in front of hers did not utter a single sound.
She backed away into a wall helpless. "P...Please...forgive me. I promise! I'll never do such a thing again. I'm really so sorry!" Elsa's heart was racing faster than a galloping horse.
The jaw of the clown twitched.
He was now right up to her face gazing at her eyes intently. He then slowly turned the handle of the cupboard next to them and stared inside. Half the clothes in there were suits and pants with shirts, but half of them were...all clown's outfits.
Elsa looked between the clothes and the clown hoped with all her might that she would escape alive from that place. Her eyes met his. She saw with horror as he connected the dots and his eyes darted to and fro from the cupboard to her.
She prepared herself for the explosion, but it never came. Instead, she heard a soft chuckle. She met the clown's silver-blue eyes again as they twinkled with pure mirth and disbelief.
The soft chuckle grew louder and louder until he was roaring with laughter as if Elsa was tickling him. She was still in the corner, slightly tense while he was rolling on the bed gleefully.
"What happened here!?" Anna's voice trailed through the open doors. "Alex?" She asked, her eyes darting from her sister's face to his clown face demanding answers.
"Her...her face...it was priceless!" Alex said through his laughter, gesturing Anna toward his cupboard, where he kept all his clothes.
Anna strode over to the cupboard and took a good look inside it. She too started to giggle and then burst into a fit of laughter at Elsa's blushed face. She doubled up and laughed her heart out at the antics of her older sister.
"Oh Elsa! When are you going to learn how to prank without getting caught?" Anna asked her gasping for breath. That comment made Elsa blush redder than the red colour on Alex's face. He had his makeup done like a joker.
That morning, Elsa had converted all of his clothes to those of a clown's. Alex had not been able to catch her in hard proof, but throughout the day, he'd seen her blush and look away from him guiltily as he had decided to wear those clothes and go about the town merrily. At first, he didn't believe that Elsa was the one who had done this, but now, it was out in the daylight. The idea of Elsa pulling such a prank on him, all while looking innocent and deadly serious at other times when she was being queen was a gift for him. He was in no way angry like Elsa had feared he would be.
Elsa recovered too, and gave a slight chuckle of amusement at the two laughing figures. She shook her head lightly and relaxed her shoulders.
She was almost shocked that he wasn't angry on her. At first, it had seemed like a good idea to change his clothes to something funny, but she had never anticipated that he'd actually wear those for fun. People had laughed at his state and made fun of him. This made her guilty. She had promised herself that she'll fix his clothes in the night, when he was working a little late, but, it seemed that he had gotten off work early.
Elsa smiled and was pulled back to reality as Alex skidded to a halt in front of her. She was following him closely, and the sudden stop caught her off guard. She went hurtling into the figure in front of her. Even though she had reduced her velocity to a bare minimum, she still tripped and fell on Alex's back. She grabbed his shoulders in an effort to balance herself, and thankfully, he wasn't caught off guard by that and stayed rigid beneath her weight, grabbing her wrists on his shoulders to stop them from slipping from his shirt.
Elsa's head exploded in a short, unannounced burst of pain, that had nothing to do with the small crash or tumble to the floor. Her vision shifted between the darkness and an immense amount of light. She wasn't sure what had triggered that, but she knew that her powers had escaped her fingers in shock. Her vision blurred with tears as her eyes ached. Then, she felt release. The pain subsided as quickly as it had come, leaving her gasping for breath. She saw a pair of concerned eyes looking into hers.
"Are you alright?" Alex asked her softly, holding her upright.
"Yeah...I uh. Why did we stop?" she asked confused.
Alex released his gentle grip over her shoulder and waist and turned around sharply.
That's when she heard angry voices coming down the corridor to their left. She immediately recognized the tone of the king she deeply despised.
King Aaron hadn't always been a pleasant person to her. The grudge between Anna and Aaron came from the unkindness he had shown to Elsa in her reign. Her furious little sister always wanted to smash his nose against her knee whenever she saw him. She refrained from doing so, as the trades he offered were quite profitable to Arendelle.
They had to hide, cause' if the king found them, he could charge them of breaking some stupid Aislecian law and put them in a cell. It was a good excuse for him to win in the grudge against Anna.
Alex quickly pulled Elsa behind him as she cleared the ice from the floor. She hid behind a curtain by the window, and Alex covered her feet which were not covered by the curtains by standing in front of them, his weapon turned into a spear. Elsa was reluctant to let him hide in plain sight, but the king turned the corner and walked past them without a second glance still yelling angrily at one of his ministers.
Alex was wearing black like every other soldier in the kingdom, so the king had mistaken him for being a soldier who was standing guard by the window. Alex caught their conversation.
"How could you even let her enter my kingdom!" Aaron snarled at the minister.
"I don't know how she got in, your majesty. Northern walls say that Captain Rufus let her and one of his friends in." The minister squeaked out this information.
The king whirled on him. "AND HE DIDN'T THINK OF ASKING ME FIRST!?" he yelled spit flying all over the cowering man's face.
The king whirled around again and started walking to the dungeons. That was where Rufus and Marcus were. Aaron still thought that he and Elsa were in the dungeons. That's convenient. He thought happily.
Alex knew Rufus could easily handle himself. Afterall, he knew the king and his soft spots too.
After the two people had left the corridor on their way to the dungeons, he felt movement behind the curtain.
Elsa stepped out from behind the curtains and gave him an angry look. "What were you thinking! You could have been caught!" She kept her voice down to a high intensity whisper.
He smiled at her. "But I didn't." Was all he said to win over a small 'thankyou' from her.
Alex at times drove her crazy. Sometimes, she even doubted if he actually wanted to stay alive! He took risks that could easily kill him, but somehow, he always emerged victorious and unscathed. He had a mind boggling amount of skills. Warfare, swimming, running, puzzle solving, security planning and parkour to name a few. But the most intriguing skill he had was self-control. She had NEVER seen him seriously angry. No matter what people said about him, no matter how badly they treated him, he never lost his head. It was like he was immune to the pain that people inflicted upon him. Years of living a hard life had made sure that he didn't succumb to his scars and wounds. However big they were. This attitude helped him to stay cool in extreme situations too.
They set off and reached the courtyards without any interruptions. Alex saw the soldiers tensed as they swept the streets and alleys with their eyes. They were definitely looking for them. Elsa saw the same. "What do we do now?" she asked worried.
Alex knew their weakness. "They're too busy searching the alleyways and docks. Let's go through the main roads. That'll give us some cover."
Elsa agreed. There certainly were not many guards on the roadways they took, and whatever small number of them were there, didn't see them due to the crowd.
They easily made their way to the northern walls. Gale was waiting for them, but he couldn't lift them up in case a soldier from the top of the wall saw them escaping. They had to get out of the kingdom first.
Alex walked along the north wall moving west into a secluded alley. He was getting quite close to the docks where the soldiers were searching for them. He stopped and bent down to examine something. Elsa moved forward to see what it was.
At first, she saw nothing significant. Just a few rags and pieces of clothes and hay thrown around randomly. Alex swept his arm across and moved the junk away, exposing what was underneath it.
Elsa was surprised to see that Alex knew about this. She looked at him for an explanation.
"Remember when I told you of that horrible king I used to work for, and whenever I caught any criminals, he just wouldn't care and let them go?" Alex asked her.
She nodded.
"Well, those criminals used this way to get in and out of the kingdom." He gestured at a trapdoor between them.
"Wait a second. You worked for Aaron!?" Elsa asked horrified.
"No. I used to work with his father, King Erick."
"Oh. I see the resemblance now." She muttered to herself.
Alex laughed softly. "Trust me. Aaron's a lot better than Erick ever was."
He opened the trapdoor and dropped inside. Elsa followed suit, but she felt her foot land on something hard and round. It rolled away, and took her balance away with it. Alex grabbed her under the armpits just as she fell backwards. He strained to keep himself away from her back, but it was too late. The momentum of the fall and the angle with which he caught her was uncomfortable. He felt her swing toward himself, and before he could stop that, she bumped into his knee.
An immense amount of pain crossed Elsa's face, as the slash on her back flared up. It was already bad that she had run in a chase, and with each movement of her arms, she had struggled to keep herself from doubling over in pain, but this was worse.
She hissed lightly in pain. Alex stabilized her while she recovered from the short burst of that pain. "Careful. The criminals really like to store some of their treasures around here." He gestured to the golden object on which Elsa had accidentally stepped on.
Unfortunately, that slight sound of pain made sure that a soldier above the trapdoor heard it.
"Hey! Who's there!?" A soldier yelled looking inside the trapdoor.
The angle at which he was bent cast a shadow over them. He could make out the silhouettes of two people, but their faces were shrouded in darkness.
Alex and Elsa made a run for it.
"Hey! STOP!" the soldier yelled but they never did. He jumped down and gave a chase.
They made it to the other side of the wall and travelled up to another trapdoor. Alex opened it and climbed out. He turned and helped Elsa up, closing the door shut after her by wedging it with a nearby branch from the forest they were in. It should hold for quite a while. He thought.
Elsa called out to Gale.
Alex heard the door being slammed on by. Heavy fists thudded over it and angry voices yelled from below it. There was apparently more than one soldier who had followed them.
Gale lifted them up and carried them off staying close to the ground under the cover of tall and lush trees. Once they were far enough from the walls, Gale carried them into the sun, so that no one will be able to see them.
The sun was setting in the west, and they were flying towards Arendelle. Not the destination that Alex had in mind.
"Gale. Let's go to Cintheria, shall we?" Alex requested.
Elsa looked at him surprised, but when she thought about it, she found it to be the right decision. They needed to catch the Cintherian royals off guard. Word from Aislecia to Cintheria can travel in just a few hours. But that didn't stop her from feeling a little more than hungry.
"I've heard that they have some amazing flavours of chocolate there." Alex added grinning at Elsa.
She smiled. Anna and Alex were the only two people who could get her into doing something that she didn't want to. Alex did it with reasoning with her sensibly, while Anna did it with a cute puppy face.
They set off southwards, toward the Kingdom of Cintheria.