Sorry for being this late. I got a little busy playing catch up with life and assignments. This year's gonna get even more hectic but it'll all be over in a few months time. This chapter is rated 'M' (Mature) for substantial amounts of gore and violence. Proceed with caution.

Also, quick tip. If you've stayed to read this up to this far point in the story and none of the words like Demanitus, Moondrop, Zhan-Tiri etc. make sense to you, then I encourage you to watch 'Tangled the series' first :) Oh and also, read 'Frozen 2: Forest of shadows' if you can. I know it's not quite canon, but I suppose I could use the timeline and some references from it. It's not largely necessary, but things would get a bit clearer if you do read it ;)

I'm thinking of one-shots based on all of these characters. I don't plan on making them all fluffy and sweet since some of them might contain Alex's and other characters' dark past, so bear that in mind. I'll try to keep this story and the other one-shots apart as much as I can, but they'll be following the same timeline as this fanfic. Think of them like spinoff movies off a series or prequels, side plots or tiny short sequels or something. If you have any ideas on what I can or should do in these oneshots, I'm completely open to any and all of them. A quick sidenote, you might wanna visit 'Arendelle Kingdom' discord server if you're a sucker for Frozen (or Disney) like I am...or just need friends :) You'll find me there too if you want.

Happy reading and here's to hoping that you're liking the storyline so far :)

"You really saw her!" Anna whispered intensely.

"Yes," Alex told her patiently for the third time.

"And you're saying she was using some sort of a beautification spell?" Elsa asked, frowning slightly.

"Yes! I mean, I don't know. Alex has... other ideas," Kristoff said.

"I think she was using some sort of alchemical fog to manipulate our minds into loving her or something," Alex explained.

"So...basically a love potion," Anna guessed.

"Well...that's definitely one way to sum it up," Alex hesitated.

Elsa gave a low whistle. "Reports have been coming in from our spies in the Nightscalers that the people in there have been going crazy over this woman. Three people have already murdered each other arguing over Ingrid and fifteen have gone completely missing!"

"Oh my goodness!" Anna exclaimed, while Kristoff just looked plainly horrified.

"How does a love potion even exist?" Kristoff asked, mildly angry, "Love doesn't have any shortcuts in it!"

Anna strongly nodded in agreement.

"I think this manipulation potion or whatever it is, also makes the affected person quite aggressive," Alex said, stroking his chin.

"Do you think she could manipulate you or something?" Anna asked with uncertainty, looking worriedly at her husband.

"I don't think she could get a good hold of us, but I'm more worried for Ryder," Alex said. "He's not acting himself lately."

"Yeah! Honeymaren tried to get him off his butt, but he snapped at her...very unkindly," Anna revealed, wincing at the chiselled memory of Ryder flinging strong obscenities at his sister. She hadn't even imagined that Ryder could be that brutal if he'd ever wanted to be. Bringing Honeymaren to tears was no easy feat, especially considering that she was almost just as emotionally headstrong as Elsa was, who practically never cried however bad things got. The only two memories Anna had of her sister ever crying were when she had completely turned into ice on that fjord and when Elsa thought that she was responsible for their parents' deaths.

They all looked worriedly at Ryder who was just sitting on a rock in the middle of the camp, lost in his thoughts. They had all tried to cheer him up and take his mind off of what he saw that evening, but he had shut himself off from listening to anyone. Though there were no doors in the forest, he turned a deaf ear to anyone who wanted to speak to him.

"Maybe it'll wear off in a couple of days?" Anna suggested, hopefully.

"We don't really know that," Alex pointed out.

A small silence followed where they calculated their options.

"Maybe we should at least try and find her?" Kristoff proposed.

"I tried doing that," Elsa said, "even Gale can't find her in the whole forest."

"Is that even possible?" Anna asked, surprised.

"I didn't think it was up to this point either," Elsa replied.

Gale, as far as they knew, could find out the exact location of every person in its vicinity who breathed air.

"Maybe another potion or something?" Alex suggested.

"Oooh, a potion of invisibility!" Anna exclaimed.

Elsa laughed, "no of course not silly! If there's a potion which can make you survive without air, then that could work."

"She might be able to turn into a mermaid," Anna pointed out. "Gale can't search underwater."

"You forget that Nokk has the same ability as Gale. He practically knows every fish and crab across the oceans by name!" Elsa revealed, giggling.

"Yeahaha, right. Like," Anna then switched to a deep imaginary imitation of Nokk talking to a fish, "Hey Martin! How's your day going?"

She then shifted to another deep voice impression, "Hey Nokk! My day's fine! Where are you headed off to?"

She shifted back to Nokk's voice, "Me? I'm off to be Elsa's unpaid slave!"

"Anna!" Elsa exclaimed, horrified and mildly amused at the same time.

Kristoff, Anna and Alex laughed, clutching their bellies, while Elsa thought of the best way to freeze her sister in a block of ice. Apparently, she didn't need to.

A small spray of water shot out of a nearby pond and hit Anna square in her face, making her gag cough and sputter. They heard a small neigh of laughter from Nokk as he disappeared into the depths of the pond again, making them laugh at the sodden and grumpy queen even more.

"I was defending you, YOU IDIOT!" Anna yelled after the water horse.

It was almost midnight. A few of the Northuldra people had organised a late wedding and birthday party for the recently married royal couple to surprise them. Of course, no one except Yelena and Honeymaren were told of this and it had been a complete surprise for everyone. After quite a large meal and a completely unexpected and unwelcome responsibility of giving a speech, Alex was sitting on the ground and leaning his back against a large rock, utterly drained of his mental capacity to socialize anymore. The party had ended an hour ago and everyone had already flopped on their beds and mattresses.

"Improving your drawing skills?" Elsa asked, walking up to him. Her white dress glimmered in the orange light of a torch and the white light of the full moon. Her footsteps were completely silent as if she were floating rather than walking.

He smiled at her, "I thought you'd be asleep."

She sighed and gave a weary laugh. "What is sleep these days?"

Alex chuckled as she sat down on his left. Her dress never seemed to get dirty in the mud. She gave his drawing a peek. It was a portrait sketch of a woman.

"Is that her?" Elsa asked curiously.

"Yep. That's the...uhh...that's Ingrid."

"Hmm...not gonna lie, she does look like she's an angel," Elsa said.

Alex feigned surprise, "Really! I thought girls get jealous when they see someone else competing with them!"

Elsa gave a playful smack on his head and laughed. "Not all of us are like that!"

Alex laughed.

"But I can see why people are dazed by her," Elsa admitted.

"Well, I guess I was lost in your beauty for much longer," Alex replied.

Elsa gave a fake overdramatic gasp, "Are you trying to flirt with me?"

Alex burst out laughing. "If I was even trying, you'd practically be my wife by now!"

It was Elsa's turn to laugh at the pure absurdity of the situation. She could not imagine Alex having very good pickup lines. At least he never seemed the type of guy who'd rely on pick up lines to lure her.

A small silence settled between them in which Alex tried to draw Ingrid's lips more natural.

"Is everything going okay in Arendelle?" Elsa asked.

"Everything is going well," Alex replied. "There have been no threats to the kingdom until now whatsoever."

Elsa still looked worried about something.

"Hey," Alex said. "There won't be a threat to the kingdom for at least another month."

"How do you know that?"

"The Forsaken Legion used too much of their resources in the battle against the Glitharis. It will take a while for them to recover. The Eight kids will want to lay low for a while and we're not facing any other major threat apart from these," Alex explained.

Elsa seemed a bit relieved from that matter, but something else nagged her.

"I take it that Kristoff told you about Anna's dream?" Alex asked her.

Elsa wasn't surprised that he already knew. Afterall, Anna trusted him with the whole kingdom, her life and a lot more than that too. She did sometimes refer to Alex like an older brother, and he too treated her like his younger sister.

"He did," Elsa confirmed. "It's just weird that she never had a nightmare like this in months and now this suddenly happens? Does it mean anything?"

"I don't know if it does," Alex thought out loud. "Normally I'd dismiss this as just a piece of senseless dreams, but there is something that's bothering me about this whole thing. Maybe...just maybe, this wasn't just another normal nightmare she had."

"You're saying this could happen in real life?" Elsa asked, quietly. Her voice didn't tremble from fear, but just a deep sadness. It was as if she didn't care what happened to her, but what would happen to Anna if she were to die, especially as cruelly as Anna had seen in her dream.

"I don't know that. I don't understand magic yet, but I need more time to figure some things out." Alex said.

Elsa nodded in understanding. Even through this subject, her weariness was getting the better of her. She was pressed rather close to Alex. His warmth was soothing.

"On a more serious note, what did you find about Narsilla?" Alex finally asked Elsa. She was expecting that question.

She took a deep breath. "Someone opened a portal to the realm and brought her back."

"Who did?"

"I don't know," she answered, "but whoever they were, suffered a rather...gruesome death. They were first in line for her wrath and well, none of them survived." Elsa shuddered.

Alex was surprised. Elsa had seen many brutal things in her reign as queen including torture, crime scenes and more than just a few gory assassination attempts on her. If something was strong enough to make her quake, then it was definitely gruesome.

Elsa could still remember the way Narsilla had appeared out of the portal. She looked like a nice and kind lady at first. Though everything was just ice sculptures in Ahtohallan, she could see the fear in the eyes of the ones who had brought her back as she descended from her portal. Her immense anger even seemed to burn through Elsa's icy artifacts.

"So, have you all been having fun these last years?" Narsilla asked, a deadly calm to her voice.

The people in front of her trembled in fright.

"N-no your highness," a man sputtered. "Life is no f-f-fun without you."

"Hmm...I see," Narsilla said casually scrutinizing the man in front of her.

"How long has it been for me getting trapped in there?" She asked another man.

"M-more than three thousand years," he answered.

"Hm...I don't really like incomplete answers," she smirked murderously.

The man in front of her shuddered.

"I'll give you one more chance to get this right," she said. "How many years have I been trapped in that realm for, exactly? She said this sentence slowly and menacingly.

The man's breathing was quickening. Even through the brute cold of the winter storm, he was sweating in gallons out of fear. The only warmth he was getting was from a stream of warm bodily fluid running down his thighs and wetting his pants.

"I...I don't know your majesty," he answered, cowering in front of her.

"I'm disappointed," Narsilla said.

"I'm s-sorry your highness," the man quickly said.

"It's quite alright," Narsilla cooed. "It's understandable that you lost count after so many years. You are simply mortals after all."

The man nodded, more in thankfulness than agreement.

"Are you cold?" She asked him.

The question caught the man off guard. "I...yes your highness. I'm a lit-little cold due to this winter storm."

Narsilla smiled. "Well then! As your queen, it is my duty to protect you. Come forward. I will give you a nice and warm gift."

The man obeyed, happily shuffling forth at being spared of death, but the other people knew what was going to happen even before it did.

As soon as Narsilla touched his left arm, it burst up into flames. The red coloured fire slowly and excruciatingly travelled up his forearm, burning the leather hide jacket off and then igniting his skin. He screamed in agony and saw as the fire ate away at his arm, sizzling blood and exposing the muscles and bone inside. The smell of burnt flesh wafted around in the storm as he tried to put out the fire by his other arm. The other arm also started burning as soon as he contacted the red blaze. A few embers from his left arm fell on his legs and abdomen, marking and expanding their vicious territory of heat. Within seconds, his body was nothing but a pile of steaming skeleton with charred pieces of flesh hanging limply from his blackened skull and bones. A few embers had been blown astray by the powerful winds and they landed on two other people who suffered the same fate.

The remaining people backed away in fear from the evil witch and her burning victims as she laughed in earnest. One man took off down the mountain path he had come up.

"Oh, you think you can run away!" Narsilla exclaimed, amused. She clenched her fist as though commanding the air around her.

The others watched in horror as he was dragged back to the clearing by some invisible forces like a ragdoll attached to a rope. As soon as he was in their eyesight, he was turned around and massive claw marks appeared on his body splattering his internal organs and blood all around him. He tried to wriggle his way out even though he knew he was doomed, but he was not able to. His snaking intestines were ripped from his body and chunks of it started disappearing in thin air. He was still alive and in excruciating pain when his arms and legs were ripped off his joints and then they disappeared in thin air too. A few seconds later, he met his end when his skull was crushed beneath the foot of something huge. Something invisible that roared in triumph. Some carnivorous creature, which ripped the crushed person's head off in such a way that his vertebral column also came with it and then ate him, crunching happily on his bones. The pool of red gathered around the man revealed a large claw stepping in it. It was large enough to wrap around a large man and powerful enough to crush human ribs, as happened with the leftover carcass which was lifted about fifteen feet in the air and then squeezed to extract the remaining blood, flesh and other internal tissues. The paste and broth-like substances dripped down and disappeared into what could only be perceived as the creature's mouth, giving a terrifying brief glimpse of the silhouette of the sharp fangs and long spear-like tongue. The empty cage of bones, loosely hanging skin and torn clothes that once protected the man's lungs and heart was tossed away off the cliff where the splattering and thudding noises could clearly be heard over the fierce winds.

"Your meal is served...my hungry pets," Narsilla whispered at the invisible creatures and then gestured at the remaining nine members who had backed away into a corner of an overlooking cliff.

The only sounds they heard before they were torn apart were the vicious growls of the invisible creatures that attacked them, the screams and agony of their companions and the cruel laughter of Narsilla.

None of them were ever seen again. The only indication that they were dead was the huge amount of blood splattered along the walls of the cliff and bits and pieces of human flesh buried deep in the grass and shallow snow. To say that these creatures were messy eaters would be a huge understatement.

Alex frowned as Elsa recounted what she saw in the memories of Ahtohallan. "When did this happen?"

"Over a century ago," she replied, traumatized by what she had seen. It was a miracle she hadn't thrown up in Ahtohallan when she first saw it.

"Why has she been laying low all this time?" Alex wondered, unfazed by the brutality he had seen. His previous job had ensured that he saw some of the most brutal things with his own

eyes. What the creatures did to that man was one of the more tamer things he had ever seen in his life.

"I had the same question. I tried to find out where she is and what she is planning on, but I couldn't find anything," Elsa told him.

Alex looked at her confused.

"Sometimes, Ahtohallan deliberately doesn't show memories," Elsa clarified.

"It's more like at the worst times," Alex chuckled as Elsa nodded wholeheartedly.

"They're restricted for some reason and the only way to see them is to go deeper. We all know what happens after that," Elsa said.

Alex nodded. A frozen Elsa definitely won't do any good to the world.

She sighed and rested her head on Alex's shoulder, observing as he completed the sketch. For some reason, he was hesitating quite a lot almost as if he'd forgotten her face. Alex could easily have told her what Pabbie had told him the previous day, but he needed time. Time to get all the facts and timeline right. Though he knew exactly where the stones were, he wanted to understand what he was dealing with before he even tried to search for them. In his experience, many people had dived in to search for such mysterious objects and treasures and had faced fatal consequences, simply because they did not know who else wanted those objects or the objects themselves backfiring on the wielder. If Narsilla was behind the stones too, he wanted to know why and how far she was willing to go to possess these trinkets.

Elsa couldn't keep her eyes open. She needed to get up and go to her tent to sleep, but she couldn't muster up enough energy to do so in her feet. The scratching quill, the soft breathing of Alex, the warmth he offered were all like a lullaby. She noticed at that moment that he had moved his left arm to wrap around her so she could sleep more comfortably on his shoulder. How does he always know exactly when to do that? Elsa wondered, smiling to herself and closed her eyes.

It was fifteen minutes later when he noticed that Elsa was fast asleep. He gave a soft chuckle and kept his diary aside near his staff. He tried to gently shake her awake, but she only snuggled in closer. The last time someone had slept on his shoulder was Anna when they were both lamenting over Elsa's 'death' in Ahtohallan and Olaf flurrying away in that cave six months ago. This was completely different. This time, he had a lump in his stomach which seemed to weigh upward on his diaphragm, constricting his lungs and making his heart race.

Alex always thought Elsa was breathtakingly beautiful, but he'd never expected it to be literal!

The way she was pressed against him set off a few fireworks in his head. Her palms were facing upward as they lay on her lap and both of her knees were pressed against his leg.

Her arms were open and inviting and she didn't even make the slightest of efforts to cover her neck and shoulders. All of these were strong indicatives of her having a bond deeper than that of best friends.

'Does she really trust me so much? Does she even remember that I was an assassin sent to kill her? Didn't she say she never wanted to be in a relationship? Did she want to come with me to Aislecia and Cintheria for other reasons than to gather her thoughts?' were just a billionth of all the thoughts rushing through his mind.

'Does she...love me?' a small voice in Alex's head finally wondered.

'No Alex, Get it together you dork! Not in a thousand years will you ever get that lucky!' He immediately oppressed his ideas.

He gave a small sigh and shifted his shoulder to a position that won't give her a crick in the neck the next day. He covered her hands in his right hand, rested his cheek on her head and closed his eyes. He thanked his luck for blessing him with so much love and kindness that he never thought he could ever deserve. He was aware that the happiness would only be short-lived, but he wanted to use whatever little time he had to do good in the ravaged reality they were living in.

A vivid image of a young girl in the arms of a faceless couple, happily waving her hand at him from a distance, flashed before his eyes.

He wished he could have saved her from that explosion which was going to happen in just the next few milliseconds.

'Guide me sister…' he prayed before he slid into a dreamless sleep, again.

Alex woke up to a small rustling sound near and in front of him. Even though he hadn't opened his eyes, his mind sensed danger. He could immediately tell by the weight of the footsteps landing on the leaves, that this was a person approaching them. He was breathing heavily as if he had been running for miles. The one true thing that alerted Alex was the scent of blood and sweat.

His eyes snapped open, immediately focusing on the man standing in front of the sleeping duo.

"Ryder?" Alex whispered in surprise.

Ryder was standing poised with a crude sharp piece of a nail in his left hand. The rusted flakes cut deep into his palm as he held it tightly, drawing out blood.

Elsa was still sleeping, blissfully unaware of the situation.

The one thing that caught Alex's eye was Ryder's face. It was completely void of emotions yet tears flowed from his eyes. Alex could clearly see the agony through Ryder's eyes as he

conflicted with himself. He wanted to tell him something very important, but couldn't seem to be able to make a sound. At last, he snapped.

"Help me!" Ryder rasped as a last, desperate cry for help before he lunged at them like a puppet whose strings had been flung forward by the arm of the puppeteer.

Alex rapidly moved his right hand counter-clockwise and deflected Ryder's arm with the nail towards his left side. He grabbed Elsa's shoulder and sharply jerked it so that her head was lifted off his shoulder and was out of harm's way.

The nail whipped from between Alex's shoulder and Elsa's head and struck the stone behind him. The sharp jerk to Elsa's shoulder woke her up with a jolt, freezing the ground beneath them, making it slippery.

'Perfect' Alex thought to himself as he pulled back his right leg, aiming it precisely at Ryder's undefended left side abdomen. He kicked hard as Ryder lost his balance over the ice, sending him flying through the air. He screamed and flailed before he fell headfirst into the ground covered in solid ice.

Elsa quickly took note of the situation and melted the ice covering the ground. Alex retrieved his staff and they made their way over to Ryder. He was now unconscious and a trickle of blood from his head dropped on the ground. Alex felt a faint pulse in his neck.

"He's out cold," Alex informed Elsa.

"Why did he attack us?" She asked.

Alex tried to answer, but another voice overlapped his own.

"Ryder!" Honeymaren yelled, running out of her tent and over to them.

The other Northuldra were woken up by the sudden shouting and most of them were already tumbling out of their tents with torches and spears in hand.

Alex saw Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, Agnarr and Iduna rushing over to them with worry in their eyes. Honeymaren was asking what happened to Ryder, all the while trying to shake him awake.

Before Alex could answer though, he caught a very slight movement in the woods out of the corner of his eye. No Northuldra were out and near the place where he saw the movement and no animal was wandering about the camp which was unaccounted for.

Alex rotated a small dial on his staff to loosen the blade into a long stringed wire. It looked very similar to a chain-sword, but was completely non-lethal and was only used to wrap around people's weapons or legs and trip them, but Elsa was already way ahead of him. Before he could throw out his wire, Elsa had already conjured up an ice-rope and flung it out just as she had been taught. For extra measure, she had also created a wall surrounding that creature that had moved earlier. As soon as she felt a tug on the rope, she pulled

unbelievably powerfully. Half assisted by her physical strength and half assisted by magically making the ice in the rope move backwards so it would pull out whatever it had caught on, she was able to drag out a swearing and a struggling figure out of the woods.

Many of the people who hadn't seen her were completely clueless, but some others who already had had an encounter with her knew exactly who she was. Kristoff growled rather menacingly, which was atypical of him to do so.

"Hello Ingrid, we meet again," Alex said, grimacing darkly.