~Chapter 14~

Anna

I honestly couldn't stay mad at her forever. Once the boys had caught up with me, my temper had simmered down a bit. Kristoff luckily had an ice pick he always carried with him in his satchel and Marcus just watched Kristoff chip me out nervously.

"You know, with your powers, this would go quite a bit faster…" Kristoff said looking up at Marcus.

Marcus shook his head in response.

"Not a chance, you have seen what I've done merely by accident. No, I'm not going to risk hurting anyone else." He snapped.

I understood why he was so worked up and even more so with Elsa missing. Marcus shoved his hands under his crossed arms to hide his slowly glowing hands. This fear was all too familiar and Marcus needed to know none of us were afraid of him. I've done this before with my sister and I'll do it again with my brother in law.

Once Kristoff finally got me free, we made further plans for what to do. Olaf walked ahead of us staring out upon the ocean shore nearby.

"I can't believe she left us behind…" He mumbled.

I knelt beside him giving him a gentle hug.

"It'll be okay, Olaf. Elsa knows what she's doing."

"I still can't believe she froze you here" Marcus muttered, "It's not like her."

"Well, apparently my sister chose to go it alone." I snapped.

Maybe my anger hadn't dissipated as much as I thought.

"Easy Anna…" Kristoff replied pulling me toward him, "She'll be okay."

It was selfish of me to be this upset in front of Marcus. He probably felt exactly how I did and he had to keep his powers in check, which probably was brutal for him. I gave Kristoff a quick peck on the cheek thanking him for his kindness. He put his arm around the small of my back and we both glanced at Marcus.

"What do you suggest we do while we wait for Elsa?" I asked him casually.

Marcus looked between Kristoff and I with a wide-eyed gaze. Was it fear? Confusion? Maybe a bit of both, but I don't think Marcus was quite himself. He stuttered a couple of words trying to get his thoughts together.

"You want to sit here and wait?" He finally muttered.

"Marcus, you know patience isn't my best quality." I teased with a casual eye roll trying to keep the mood light.

"Of course, we all want to be sure Elsa is safe, but we should believe in her. She knows what she's doing…"

"She went to a glacier, right?" Olaf giggled, "She must be having a party. Though I feel a bit excluded."

Seconds later, a blast of ice came from nowhere hitting the ground right behind me. We all panned around looking for Elsa expecting her to be running toward us from the water, but she was nowhere to be found. Though curiously, the blast of power formed into two large ice sculptures. One of them was my grandfather Runeard with his sword raised against a Northuldran man. The other was a father with his two teenage sons. I recognized the father, though he was much younger than the man I met at Elsa's coronation reception who was the worst dancer. Callum, the Duke of Weselton. I could hear an exchange of dialogue in my head almost a narration for these two memories.

"Does everyone else hear that, or is it just me?" I asked.

"I hear it." Marcus nodded.

"What are these memories?" Kristoff asked.

I continued to listen to the narration of the memory and glanced between the sculptures. Marcus was fixated on the other one.

"My grandfather raised his sword against the defenseless Northuldra leader. Runeard lied when he said that dam leading out from Arendelle was a gift. It was a trick."

"I hear my father's name in my head. My grandfather and my father were there when this betrayal happened…" Marcus muttered.

"It seems to me they left before everything went down between the kingdoms." Kristoff added.

"Who is the other son?" Marcus questioned, "I didn't know my father had a brother."

"Oh Marcus, the treehouse!" I said tapping him on the shoulder.

"Huh?" He replied.

"There was a picture Elsa and I found in a treehouse that our parents often hung out in. The journal entries that my father wrote...it all makes sense."

"English, Anna." Marcus urged.

"My father's journals and that picture gave a name along with Zane and Lucia. The name was James. Our parents were close, Marcus. Or I think they were…" I told him.

Marcus looked to be in a daze. He didn't know what to make of anything in this moment. Though little by little, pieces were coming together. Marcus began to breathe heavily as he took several steps away from us. His hands were beginning to glow. He was getting worked up.

"Kalde assisted in the murder of that man." Marcus concluded, "The connections Kalde has with Arendelle go farther than I anticipated. I can't believe this. Any of it."

Marcus and I had many other questions, but one thing was for certain. Elsa found the truth.

Moments later, snowflakes began swirling around us and we all glanced around wondering where it was randomly coming from. Olaf put his hands in the air excitedly, but then slowly let them down.

"This is strange, guys. I feel like I'm melting and yet I'm not by a fire." Olaf muttered.

Sven grunted a few times nervously getting our attention and Marcus backed away more.

"I swear, it's not me." Marcus muttered.

"I don't feel heat either." Kristoff agreed.

Olaf looked at me with wide eyes.

"My snow is flurrying and it's going away."

Kristoff and I exchanged curious glances and my heart started racing because I knew Olaf's magic was tied to my sisters since she made him.

"I don't think Elsa is okay." Olaf mumbled glumly.

"What?" Marcus snapped.

"Let's not jump to conclusions." Kristoff reasoned.

Olaf's carrot nose kept sliding down his face and I tried to keep it in place, but it wouldn't stay. I pulled Olaf toward me holding him close.

"Olaf, can I have a warm hug?" I asked with tears falling down my cheeks.

"Always." He smiled.

I held my friend close completely at a loss for words and unsure of how to help him. Was he scared? Olaf patted my cheek with his hand.

"No tears, Anna. Okay?"

"I-I love you, Olaf." I mumbled.

Then he faded away.

Silence overcame us. Kristoff pulled me into his arms as I cried like the mess I was onto his shoulder. Marcus was pacing and his movements were definitely making me feel uneasy. I looked up at him wiping my nose.

"Marcus, stop."

"Is that an order?" He grumbled.

"What's with the attitude?" I snapped, "Is that fire power making you an angrier person inside?"

"Knock it off, you two." Kristoff interrupted.

"I'm sorry, am I the only one worried about Elsa?" Marcus continued.

"Of course you aren't." I replied.

"Well you have a funny way of showing it!" He snapped again.

I wasn't used to seeing Marcus this way.

"With Olaf gone, how can we be sure Elsa is alright? Your sister...my wife might be dead." He said harshly.

"Stop saying that!" I growled as tears fell from my cheeks.

Everyone always dealt with grief differently. We had just lost Olaf, but we he had no conclusive evidence that Elsa was gone. Though who was I kidding, Olaf fading away was evidence enough. With tears coming down my cheeks in droves, Marcus glanced at me quickly, but avoided my gaze. Then he turned around like something else caught his attention. I was done with his cruel attitude. Before I even thought about it, I ran away toward the trees. Kristoff ran after me calling my name.

I ran blindly for probably a mile or so with trees looking like blurry sticks as I passed them. All I knew was that I had to get away. I refused to accept the facts that something happened to my sister. Being my sister, I thought I would feel something deep down, like I would know for certain that something was wrong. I warned her not to go too far and in the end I couldn't help her. I was pretty sure I was headed west, but soon my path dumped me out on a rocky cliff shelf with a river below probably about twenty feet down. It was narrow and seemingly unstable, but I was afraid to move so I just froze. Kristoff appeared maybe a minute behind me. I never knew I could outrun him. Though he looked nervous as I stood out on that cliff.

"Anna…" Kristoff muttered nervously trying to catch his breath.

I desperately wanted to reach my hand out toward him, but I was afraid to move. This piece of rock was very unsteady.

"You're standing on obsidian...it's really fragile rock. Walk toward me one step at a time." Kristoff directed me.

I barely moved to follow his instruction and more intense cracking was heard below my feet. It was now or never. I made another quick step preparing myself to jump toward Kristoff, but the shelf of rock broke off too quickly. Kristoff reached to grab my hand, but our fingers only barely grazed each other. Kristoff yelled my name as I splashed into the water below. It was a relatively painless landing, but that wasn't the hard part. There was strong current underneath pulling me along. Kristoff hopped on Sven's back and both of them hopped down the rocks following the river after me. White tips of river rapids continually splashed in my face making it difficult to look around or avoid any debris in the water. I think I could barely hear Kristoff yelling my name, but it was hard to hear with my ears going in and out of the surface of the water. The current pulled me under and I was tossed around violently. I smacked my legs and arms against large rocks underneath the water and also hit my head as I fought against the current to breach the surface for air. The rapids settled a bit, but the current remained strong as I was pulled into the mouth of a cave. Sven stopped running once reaching the mouth of the cave and Kristoff hopped off looking ready to dive in after me.

"Kristoff, no!" I yelled, "I'll find a way through."

He hesitated jumping in clearly hearing me looking nervously as I was pulled away.

"Anna!" He called nervously.

Seconds later he disappeared from my view as the river narrowed within the cave and began to separate into smaller branches. I paddled with my stinging arms and picked the path ahead of me on the right hoping I wouldn't be dumped out and skewered on some stalagmites or something. I slid down a long drop trying to hold back a scream as my stomach dropped. Luckily, I splashed down into a small pool that broke my fall. I swam to the surface and took a big breath throwing half my body up out of the water against the rocky shore. I laid there for a minute catching my breath, but I was cold and had to get out of the water. My body ached with every movement I made. I wrung out my hair once I was out of the water and examined my injuries. Now the adrenaline had begun to dissipate, I was feeling pain in new areas. My head throbbed from the blow I took in the water and there were cuts and scrapes on many places all over my body. The sleeve on my left arm was hanging by a few threads, so I quickly ripped the rest of it off throwing it to the ground. All things considered, at least I was still breathing.

I peered around at my surroundings not sure where this cave would lead. It was hard to make heads or tails of a direction, but there was only path forward to follow so I marched forward. It was freezing in here and I had no way to start a fire though luckily I wasn't in completely dark. There were small cracks within the walls that had an eerie glow about them. I examined one of the spots and all I could see was something slimy. It must have been a glowworm of some kind. At least I wasn't in pitch black darkness. I maintained a steady pace putting one foot in front of the other just desperate to find my way out.

I wasn't sure if it was an hour or two of walking, the balls of my feet began to ache. All my focus and determination vanished as I came to a dead end of the path. I retraced my steps curious if I had missed another branching path hidden in the wall, but I found no such thing. My hands balled into fists as I beat against the closest wall and I began crying again. In silence, lost and alone, I pressed my back against the wall and slid down to the ground.

Elsa, where do I go from here?

Several minutes passed me by, maybe even longer. It was cold and I felt empty devoid of anything to lift my spirits. How could I do this? This was pathetic.

"Get up Anna!"

I swear I could hear her voice inside my head.

We need to restore honor to Arendelle. You know what needs to happen, but you can't sit here and wallow!

The voice was clear and stern. Was it her? Or was I just imagining it? Either way, I wiped my cheeks picking myself off the ground slowly with every pained bone in my body screaming at me as I did so.

"Elsa?" I called to her and I thought I heard her say 'up here'. I glanced around frantically following the glowing light from the worms in the walls above my head. Just nearby above my head was a small space in the wall big enough for me to squeeze through. I was in for a climb, but that was my best shot at getting out of here.

I slowly began the climb and I was hardly the best rock climber. I learned that when I tried ascending the north mountain after my sister way back when. My right foot slipped several times as I sliced my palm on the edge of a rocky edge. It stung tremendously, but I had to keep going. After fighting gravity long enough trying to pull me down, I finally made it to the top, but there was a small gap between me and the exit. I sucked in several brave breaths as I stepped back as far as I could go against the wall before sprinting and leaping across the gap. My legs dangled in the air for mere seconds before safely landing on the other side. I tucked and rolled my landing brushing myself off as I peered back over the gap. Adrenaline was still rushing through my veins. As I turned to leave out the small opening, I hoped this was the way out and not another dead end. To my relief, after a bit more climbing, I finally saw the sun.

I made it back outside in the fresh air and I'd never been so grateful for it. I was pretty high off the ground, so I took advantage of this birds eye view of everything in immediate sight. I saw the river that swept me away nearly drowning me and further along the bank, I saw some rocks that appeared to be moving. As I squinted a bit, I was surprised to realize it was the earth giants snoozing so close. Though just beyond where they lay, I saw the dam that my grandfather Runeard built. It started a feud with three otherwise peaceful kingdoms causing unnecessary deaths. Just looking at it made me sick. It had to come down and I was just the person to do it, but I knew I'd need help. I hopped down several ledges returning to ground level as I dashed between trees wading across the river getting to the other side. I needed to be on the other side before alerting the giants to my presence. They were in for a rude awakening.

Immediately I started yelling and throwing rocks toward them.

"Hey! Wake up!" I screeched.

At first nothing, but then I remembered the tune my sister used so I tried that melody next. Seconds later, the eyes of the giants popped open as three of them sat up from the bank looking confused and disoriented.

"Hey, down here!" I called.

The giants glared at me and rose to their feet looking at me menacingly. I began to run toward the dam, but I was quickly thrown off my feet landing on my back as one giant made a single step. That was unexpected. No matter, I stood up and ran for the dam as quick as I could. Though I greatly misjudged how close I need to be to the giants because they were too close for comfort and their stomping threw me to the ground several times. I was exhausted and my body hurt everyone, but I kept pushing forward. Then I fell again and I saw the foot of one of the giants beginning to fall toward me. As I quickly resigned myself to join my sister, I heard a familiar voice call my name and scoop me off the ground. Kristoff appeared out of nowhere riding on Sven as he sat me in front of him. Sven's hooves thundered across the ground with tremendous speed.

"Kristoff!" I smiled.

"Hey, I'm here. Is there anything you need?"

"Get me to the dam." I muttered.

"You got it." He nodded, "Hurry Sven!"

Sven grunted determinedly as he continued to charge forward. There was more climbing to be had once we reached the edge of the dam. I asked Kristoff to give me a boost as I made my way to the top. The boost helped. The giants seemed to lose sight of me until I drew their attention once I was ready. I sang using that melody again marching across the top of the bridge that was resting just on top of the dam surface. It did the trick as the giants did their job beautifully. They threw rock after rock trying to hit me, but missed me hitting the foundation of the dam. Several attempts made, but finally on the final impact, water began spewing out from the now crumbling stones of the dam. As the bridge began to fall, I ran to the other side to meet Kristoff. I had to leap for my life across a missing gap that had broken already. I managed to snag the edge of the side as Kristoff helped me up quickly. He hugged me and kissed me multiple times.

"You scared me, Anna."

"Can't deny that I keep you on your toes." I winked.

"Mind explaining what the point of this was…"

Kristoff helped me back onto my feet as I brought my hand to his cheek.

"Arendelle's honor needs to be restored and sometimes to do that...it requires a clean slate."

Kristoff and I watched as the raging waters burst through the remainder of the dam debris.

"Arendelle is on the fjord...it'll be flooded." He muttered.

I pulled him closer resting my head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I know…" I whispered.

My sister was gone and soon my home would be too, but I knew this was the next right thing that needed to happen.

Hey Readers! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Next chapter will be up soon! As always, you readers rock :)