The sun climbed higher and higher in the sky as the morning awoke, and the herons chirped away under its warm glow.
The grandfather clock in the hallway struck nine, sending an echo of chimes throughout the castle.
Jess lay sleeping peacefully on the left side of the bed on her stomach, with the lower part of her leg hanging off the side.
Hannah was positioned on her back, wide awake, staring up at the underbelly of the canopy. It was a behavior her body conformed to when her mind wandered away.
Jess had stayed in the bed with her overnight, incase the dark mark began to endanger Hannah's health to a fatal degree.
Although, it seemed to have stalled, Hannah thought, right where the root of her hair started to grow out. It was almost as if it was waiting for just the right moment to invade her brain, when she was most vulnerable. As if she wasn't already vulnerable enough at this point.
Jess shook awake suddenly with snort, and frantically grasped at Hannah's arm, eyes wide, despite the sleepiness.
"Hannah are you alright?! I tried so hard not to fall asleep incase you needed help! Has the mark spread at all?" Jess asked craning her neck to catch a glimpse of the growth.
"No I'm okay, I think, it kinda stopped spreading—right here." Hannah said bending forward and putting her index finger on the tip of the black mark right below the hair line.
"Yeah I see it. I'm gonna be honest, black's not really your color." Jess smirked.
"Well did you expect there to be a fanciful sunshine mark back there?! It's the mark of DARK MAGIC." Hannah hissed back.
Then Hannah's brow relaxed from its tensed, angered, state, and her eyes flashed with grief.
"Oh I'm so sorry Jess I didn't mean to snap at you, it's the mark, it's affecting me." She apologized, her shoulders sinking.
"It's okay, it's okay. We just need to get that thing out of you ASAP." Jess declared.
Down in the great hall, the cooks set piles of plates and silverware across a large banquet table, which would soon hold platters of food to be eaten by the townsfolk.
Hannah and Jess walked into the extravagant room, attempting to locate the others.
A few of the people they passed shot them looks and took their children's hands.
Hannah, deeply discouraged by this, pulled her hair out of a ponytail and distributed the locks so that they hid her disgusting mark.
"There they are!" Jess exclaimed, pointing her finger at Elsa and Anna, and following it to them. The royals stood at the side perimeter of the room, overseeing the people getting organized in the food line.
Upon their arrival, Elsa's expression turned almost to one of embarrassment.
"Good morning girls, I apologize for running out of the room in that manner last night," She sighed, before putting her queenly smiled back on, "Some terrible things have happened in the past with my magic and it still hurts sometimes, but I'm coming to terms with it slowly." Elsa smiled as Anna linked arms with her affectionately.
"Are you guys hungry?" Anna grinned revealing a small plate she was hiding behind her back that contained multiple stolen tarts.
"Anna!" Elsa giggled. "Those are for the citizens."
"Oh please, there's plenty." She countered, distributing the flaky treats to the girls.
Benji weaved his way through the crowd of people and sauntered over to the group.
He gripped an ancient-looking, tattered book to his chest.
"Hello, how are you all?" He asked out of courtesy.
*num* "we're good." *crunch*
Jess said munching on her blueberry filled tart.
"So I've been up the better part of the night, searching for a book that might aid us in extinguishing the dark magic from Hannah. I haven't been able to find anything of use, but maybe if we all look through the books in the library, we can find something." Explained Benji.
The group gave a nod of approval, and after breakfast, they all headed towards the library.
Meanwhile at the ice harvester's safe house, hours later...
Dusk was sinking below the horizon as the sun began to set.
Garth leaned against the wall, firmly gripping the handle of his sword. He overlooked his men indulging in what food and drink were left behind by the ice harvesters when they fled the building.
"Sir, the ravine outside these walls is drawing nearer to us. What are we to do?" Xavier asked, almost quivering in the presence of his leader.
"Not to worry, Xavier, I've cast a spell to keep it at bay. It won't hold for long but long enough for our purposes here." Garth declared, not breaking eye contact with his focus point off in the distance.
"I see. Sir if you don't mind me asking... what are our purposes here? Isn't our goal to exterminate the imbalance?" He inquired.
Garth switched his gaze to sharply eye the young man.
"Do you dare question me? The reason we are here is to regroup and replenish our forces before going after the girls. The imbalance will soon grow too strong to be inside the gates of Arendelle and they will be forced to evacuate. That's when will strike." Garth stated in an annoyed tone.
"Forgive me for questioning you Sir, I was out of line." Xavier gulped back a stutter.
"Yes well, don't approach me with a question so infantile again." Garth turned his gaze away again.
"Yes of course Sir, but erm, what of the girl you marked? You haven't killed her yet, um sir."
"How insightful of you Xavier," He began sarcastically, "Yes she's still alive. I only marked her to torture her and my imbecile brother. I wanted to be able to get inside her head. I intend to kill the imbalances off later with my bare hands so everyone can watch."
"But how does this hurt Benji, Sir?" Xavier asked.
"YOU IDIOT! Shut up with all the questions! Can't you see, he's come to care for them." Garth screeched.
He slowly reeled his anger back inside himself, a smile of hatred growing. "Why not have a little fun, shall we?"
Back in Arendelle...
The dark of night had fallen upon the small kingdom, as the atmosphere seemed to slow down, preparing for a slumber until dawn.
Hannah sat crisscross on the sofa leafing through one of the books in the library.
Jess was sprawled out across the floor, asleep, using an open book as a makeshift pillow.
Anna peered around her novel to chuckle at the sleeping figure on the ground.
Everyone had been searching desperately for hours through every ancient book about magic, in attempt to find a cure.
Hannah had thought in the back of her mind since the beginning of the day that they probably wouldn't find an answer. That would be almost too easy. Garth would never have left anything to rid her of his magic.
Before she knew it she was drifting off to sleep as well. Unconsciousness flooded her senses and she fell into darkness.
COLD. TOO COLD.
Hannah awoke, but didn't open her eyes. She felt herself lying in the sheets of a familiar bed.
The realization that hit her held the weight of too many emotions to count.
This was HER bed. Her bed, located in her own room, back in her world.
Hannah bolted upright, ripping the Frozen themed blanket off of herself.
NO. NONONO.
She ran circles around in her mind.
"This couldn't have all been a dream, it couldn't of, it couldn't of!" She sputtered to herself.
But it was all so clear. She was back in her room and Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Benji were gone.
She touched her temple: the bandage was gone, and so was the wound.
"No..." she whispered collapsing to the floor in defeat.
Hannah began to cry, for her friends that she would never see again, and were never real in the first place. They didn't know her or Jess. They didn't care about them.
It was her very deepest fear come reality.
She felt weakness come over her; not just in her body but also in her mental state.
Had she been so desperate to be with these people her mind had constructed a fantasy while she lay asleep in her most vulnerable state?!
The crying turned to sobbing as the impending emotion took ahold of her.
Through this panic episode, though, Hannah did not take notice of the dreamlike distortion of her room. How the light that streamed in the window seemed wispy and broken.
Abruptly, she felt an extremely sharp pain in a centralized area on the back of her neck.
She let out a high pitched shriek and jolted forward, swiftly plunging into a haze.
Then she heard voices. Beautiful, wonderful, voices.
Hannah forced her self into consciousness again. Her eyes darted from person to person around her.
Anna, Kristoff, Jess, Elsa, and Benji were all there. Every one of them.
Hannah yelped as the pain in her neck still pulsed through her and felt blood trickling down.
"I-I thought you were, I thought you g-guys were, and..." Hannah stumbled.
"Shhh. You're okay now." Jess comforted.
"Wha—" Hannah looked up at Elsa who was breathing heavily.
She stood in a wide stance, bearing a sword of ice, stained with a drop of red. Her expression was one of fear. As was everyone's.
Benji stepped forward. "Garth's mark took you over and projected an illusion in your mind, Hannah. It wasn't real."
Elsa lowered her sword and knelt next to Hannah. "You started writhing around and screaming, and we had to do something. Since Garth marked you with his magic enchanted sword, I created a sword of my own magic, and struck the origin of the mark, as one of the books we found later revealed would reverse the dark magic." She explained.
"Yeah, and it worked! The black root thingy is receding." Anna exclaimed. "Hmm there's a snowflake mark there now. That's Elsa's mark." She observed past the blood stains.
Hannah had calmed down slightly now, but was still brimming with questions.
"Garth made it look like I was back home, everything we've been through was fake, you guys were...gone." She said shakily.
"I swear it, that man abuses his power just for the sake of being evil." Benji gridded his teeth.
"Thank you, Elsa", Hannah began, "For saving me."
"Of course sweetheart." Elsa smiled, still a little uneasy from the fact that she cut a hole in her friend.
All of a sudden the ground began to tremor, much stronger than ever before. Books came flying off shelves and the sofa was lurched forward a little.
"Woah..." Kristoff muttered. "I don't know how much longer it will be safe here guys..." he warned.
"He's right. You won't be able to stop avalanches if they keep coming stronger, Elsa." Anna said.
"We could pack up the townsfolk and move away from the natural disasters." Kristoff suggested. "Arendelle's not our safest standpoint anymore."
"But then the girls will be open targets for Garth and his army." Benji countered.
"That's a risk we'll have to take for the safety of everyone." Elsa stated in her queenly voice.
Hannah and Jess shared a look; one of fear.
"Don't worry, no harm will come to you, I swear it. At least Garth's lost his influence over you, Hannah." Benji mentioned.
"I'll go get Sven and Olaf, they're in the stables." Said Kristoff with a grunt as he stood to leave.
"Alright let's let the people know." Elsa gestured towards the door, beckoning for her sister.
"Okay," Anna replied, "Let's get out of here before we're crushed by another tremor."
And with that, they all left the dusty library, littered with books and furniture knocked askew.