Chapter Twelve - A Frozen Heart
Krista ordered Sven to run as fast as his hooves would take him, Aaron growing weaker in her arms. She was lucky that the Prince was small enough to be able to rest in her hold, otherwise there was no way they would be able to get back in time.
"Don't worry, Aaron!" Krista called over the wind, "We're gonna make it!" Aaron whimpered in response, trying to say thank you, but his mind was weak with cold.
Looking down at the prince's sickly white face, Krista removed her woollen hat and placed it on the red-head's red head, as his hat had blown away ages ago. Aaron smiled at the blonde in thanks, and Krista rode into Arendelle. "Olga!" she called. "I'll meet up with you later, but right now you need to stay out of sight. Okay?" she said, and Olga nodded.
"Okay!" exclaimed Olga, and jumped off the reindeer and landed in the snow, the force of the motion sending her rolling downhill, and immediately into the path of a villager. "Hello!" she said.
"AAAAAAAAAA! KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE!" they screamed.
Sven raced on, the castle gates coming nearer and nearer. Krista wrapped her arms around the Prince and leapt off the reindeer before he could stop, landing on her feet steadily. Aaron shuddered.
"Don't worry, we're almost there." she said.
"Are you g-gonna be okay?" he croaked.
Krista smiled. Even in a state close to death, he still found the strength to think of others. "I think I'm gonna be just fine."
As soon as she came close to the castle gates, they swung open and several attendants ran out.
"Oh, Aaron, where have you been, you poor thing!" one of them said.
"You're ice cold! Let's get you inside!" said another, putting their arm around the boy.
"Make sure he stays warm, and find Princess Harmony."
The servant nodded. "We will. Thank you for bringing him home." he said, and turned to leave.
"Make… make sure he's safe…" Krista called out as the gates closed in front of her.
She knew it was unnecessary to say such a thing. Of course he'd be safe, this was his own castle. But something inside Krista wanted to… no…. needed to know that that little prince was going to be okay. She had tried to distance herself form everyone except her family, to make sure no one ever left her again the way her birth parents and the ice harvesters did. But… she couldn't help but feel a crushing loss at the realisation that after today, she would probably never see Aaron properly again.
Oh well... she thought. He's with his true love…
The servants led Aaron through the halls, his arms slung around them as he struggled to move on his own. Eventually they came to a room where Princess Harmony was waiting.
"Aaron, you're back!" she exclaimed, walking up to him and running her hands along his arms as if to see if he was real.
"Harmony, we have to kiss. Now!" he said, to which the female attendants blushed and cleared out of the room.
Harmony led Aaron to the fainting couch in front of the blazing fire, although it did little to keep him warm. "Aaron, woah, slow down. Where have you been? What happened?" she asked as Aaron sat down, her gloved hands in his.
"It was Erik… he… he struck me with his magic… in the heart…"
Harmony's eyes widened. "But you said he'd never hurt you!"
"I was wrong," he said, and let out another shudder of pain as more of his hair turned white. "There's ice in my heart, and, only an act of pure love can melt it." he said pleadingly, looking into the Princesse's beautiful eyes.
She looked back knowingly. "A kiss?" she questioned, and Aaron nodded. Gently, Harmony placed a silk-covered finger under Aaron's chin and led his lips up to hers. But right before their lips could touch, Harmony stopped. "Oh, Aaron. That's so sad to hear. If only there was someone out there who actually loved you."
She pulled away from him. Aaron's face slackened in confusion. "What?" he whispered, "We said we did."
Harmony chuckled. "I'm thirteenth in line. After all my sisters came of age and were married off, my father remarried and had me. My perfect, half-sisters always picked on me for being the youngest, even Lacey. God, I never imagined that Genevieve would be married first out of all of them, god knows she's anything but a proper Princess. My life was practically shrouded by the shadows of my pretty, perfect older sisters with all their talents. Blaire with her horses, Courtney and her books, those ridiculous twins and their stilts. But then there was me. Boring little Harmony, with no defining features. Of course I was never going to rule, I'd have to marry someone, but who would want the youngest princess with no discernible personality? Well, it turns out... you."
She picked up a jug of water form a nearby table and poured it over the fire, extinguishing it instantly. Aaron cried out, reaching out a hand to stop her and fell off the couch. All of his hair was now white. "As the direct heir to the throne, Erik was the first choice, of course, but he was always a reclusive freak. But you. You were the most desperate, pathetic little boy I've ever met! You were willing to marry me just like that! I figured that after the wedding, I'd take Erik out of the picture, a little push down the stairs, you know. But then he runs for the hills and you were stupid enough to go after him!" she practically laughed.
Aaron scowled. "Harmony, stop!" he exclaimed through gritted teeth, his heart tightening in his chest from both pain and anger, the ice expanding.
But Harmony ignored him. "Now all that's left is for me to wait for you to shrivel up, kill Erik, bring back summer and save the day. They were telling me right before you stormed in that technically, I am all Arendelle has left. I signed some papers making me the third heir after you. It's just a matter of time." she let out a cackle.
Aaron grunted with effort as he pushed himself up onto his hands. "You're no match for Erik." he said.
Harmony only stepped on his hand with her boot, making him wince. "No. You're no match for Erik, clearly. I, however, am the selfless heroine who's going to save this tiny kingdom from doom." she picked something out of her coat, Aaron couldn't see what, and turned to leave the room.
"Even if you pull this off…" Aaron began, struggling to speak, "You're gonna die alone."
Harmony only smirked, one hand on the door. "No. But it looks like you will."
With that, she shut the door and locked it. She must have had the key that whole time. Aaron scrambled for the door handle, but it was no use. The door was locked. He shrank down as a painful chill was sent all throughout his body.
"No… help… someone…" he clutched a hand to his heart, his face contorting with pain as he felt a stabbings sensation. Feeling himself slip into nothingness, he whispered the name of the only person he wanted to see right then and there. "Krista…"
Krista and Sven slowly walked back up the mountain, ready for the wind to take their lives wherever it wanted. Where they would go now, they didn't know. Maybe back home until the winter ended… somehow. But something inside made Krista turn to look at Arendelle one last time, and the adventure she left behind. A pang of loss rang through her; she didn't want to leave. After the few days she had spent with Aaron, she had grown to love his perky view of life and vibrant personality. She wanted to know him more, to get to know everything about him. But it was not to be. He was a Prince, and she was an ice harvester. Besides. He already had a true love, and she was sure their love would make him happy. Happy without her. Letting out a sigh, she turned and resumed he journey uphill. But Sven suddenly ran in front of her, huffing as if to say 'turn back'.
"What, Sven?" she asked, annoyed. "I'm not going back!" the reindeer only dipped its horns and scooped Krista up, making in the direction they had come, to which she kicked and flailed. "Hey, let me down! Stop!" Sven dumped her back down in the snow. "Hey! Not like that! Look, he's with his true love, okay?"
Sven only looked at her with a sarcastic expression. Krista sighed. Maybe she really did love him, and never wanted to leave him there at all. Now it was back to the ice fjords or wherever the winds of the blistering blizzard would take her. Wait a minute... blizzard? She heard the sharp whisper of a storm brewing behind her, and turned to see an enormous storm brewing from the castle.
"What?" she whispered. Whatever was going on, it wasn't good. Maybe it was getting worse. Knowing that she would never forgive herself if anything happened to Aaron, she gave into Sven's request. "Okay, Sven. You wanted me to go back? We're going back!" she exclaimed and mounted her steed, and the two ran back down to Arendelle.
Princess Harmony waited outside the room of awaiting counsellors, including the Duchess of Snalisem and the other leaders from neighbouring kingdoms. She waited outside the closed set of double doors, shaking herself off and preparing for her performance. Pushing open the door, she immediately faked being close to tears. The counsellors looked up at her arrival, their expressions hungry for answers.
"Prince Aaron is… dead." she said.
The leaders gasped, the Duchess taking her arm and leading her to a chair to sit down. "Goodness me, what happened to him?"
Harmony feigned light-headedness, placing a hand over her heart. "He was killed… by King Erik."
The Duchess gasped. "His own brother."
"He died in my arms… just after we said our marriage vows..."
The Duchess turned to face her fellow leaders. "There can be no doubt now. King Erik is a monster, and all of Arendelle is in danger."
Harmony nodded. "As Arendelle's rightful heir, I hereby charge King Erik with treason against the crown. And sentence him to death."
Within the next five minutes, Harmony, the counsellors, and a dozen soldiers stormed down to the dungeon, ready to kill a man right then and there.
Erik heard the voices outside the door, and tried desperately to hurry up his magic. The stone and wood had held up pretty well, but they were weakening. Just a little more effort. Erik strained against the chains despite the aching of his bones.
"Careful, he's dangerous!" came a voice from outside the door. The ice finally reached the door and froze it over, buying him some more time.
"It's frozen shut!" came another voice.
"Ram it in!" someone else called.
With all his might, Erik channelled all that he had into the chains, and to his delight, they broke open and the ceiling began to collapse. One hit. Then two. Then CRASH. The door of the cell burst open, but there was no ice King to be found. All that remained was a missing wall, bits of rubble and foundation in its place, the storm raging outside, and the broken open chains littered on the floor.
Aaron lay on the floor of the room, slowly freezing to death. The ice in his chest stabbed him. No fire on earth could warm him now. He couldn't move. All he could do was wait. Wait to live, wait to die, wait for anything. He had sat alone in this room so many times before. For hours on end, always wishing the doors would open up and Erik would walk through. But they never did. Maybe his life would end where it had started; alone. He felt his body go slack, his hope begin to die out. When suddenly, there was shuffling heard in the lock. He found the energy to look up and to his delight, saw the handle moving and jiggling. When it popped open, what had been in the door was a carrot, and a twig arm reached up to take it and stick it back on her face.
"Olga?" Aaron croaked.
The snowgirl looked around and found the quivering prince, and ran up to him immediately. "Oh my gosh, Aaron!" she exclaimed, "What are you doing?! You need to stay by the fire and keep warm!" she tried to pick Aaron up as best as she could, and the two hobbled over to the fireplace. "Where's Harmony? What happened to your kiss?" she asked.
Aaron looked down. "I w-was w-rong about h-her… it wasn't… pure love…" Olga sighed and grabbed some logs, then gasped when she found her arm in the pile and quickly snatched it back, lit a match and set the pile ablaze. "Olga, g-get away f-from there!" Aaron struggled to say.
She just looked in awe at what blazed before her. "Woah. Is this what summer is?" she asked. "I don't see puppies raining from the sky though, is something wrong?"
Aaron managed to smile at her innocence. "Olga, sweetie, you c-can't stay h-here, you'll melt." he finally told the truth.
Olga only smiled. "You're worth melting for, Aaron." Suddenly, the red-head felt the intense pain in his chest die down just ever so slightly. Was Olga's act of selflessness enough to melt his heart? No, It had only helped a little, but it helped nonetheless.
"Thank you, Olga." said Aaron, feeling the heat of the fire's glow. It did little to save him from death, but it was something.
Olga felt her snowy face slacken as the heat threatened to turn it to slush. "Okay, maybe not melting right this second…" she moved to Aaron's left, away from the heat, "Still. I am not leaving until we find a new act of love that will save you." she planted her snowy butt on the floor, her little snowball feet wiggling as she wracked her brain. "You got any ideas?" she asked.
Aaron just looked down. "I don't even know what love is."
Olga rushed up to place a comforting blanket from the couch around the prince's shoulder, wanting to do something to make him feel better. "That's okay, I do! Love is…" she thought. "Never thinking of yourself when things get bad. Laughing at people's jokes, asking if they're okay. Wanting to laugh with them, but also get into trouble with them. Wanting to do what's best for them, even if that means letting them go. You know, like how Krista brought you back to Harmony and left you forever."
Something in Aaron's mind clicked, and he turned his head to face the snowgirl.
"Krista… loves me?" he asked.
But before Olga could answer, the windows on the other side of the room burst open from the force of the blizzard, and Olga ran to close them. Spying something off in the distance, she snapped off an icicle and bit off one end, using it as a telescope. It did little to magnify her surroundings, but she managed to make out a very specific figure in the distance.
"What is it, Olga?" Aaron croaked.
"It's Krista and Sven! They're coming this way! Oh no… I guess I was wrong. I guess Krista doesn't love you enough to let you go."
Aaron laughed. "Olga, we need to go." he said, getting up but still hunching.
The snowgirl only protested. "No, no, no! You need to stay by the fire and keep warm!"
"I need to get to Krista." said Aaron, and Olga understood his words.
"Oh, of course! The two young lovebirds racing against time to seal their love for one another, one a handsome Prince and the other a valiant, pungent reindeer queen with an extensive criminal history! Let's go!"