The Balance of Magic: A Frozen/Tangled Adventure

Chapter 1

4 After Frozen

The Enchanted Forest

Elsa closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of the wind blowing through her hair. It had been nearly a year since she became the Guardian of the Enchanted Forest and learned her true nature as the Fifth Spirit, and at this point she wasn't sure if she would ever be truly used to the feeling of freedom she had out here. When she had reunited with Anna and thawed the enchanted winter those years ago, she had thought that would be her happily ever after. But as Queen of Arendelle, she still wasn't free. Sure, the gates were open, she could use her powers openly, and she had her sister again. But she still spent so much time locked in her study or rooms filled with ambassadors, working to keep solve all her people's problems or fighting over treaties and trade agreements. She had to keep on a happy face so much of the time, ignoring the feeling deep inside her that she wasn't where she belonged. The feeling that she was meant for something else.

But now she had truly found her calling, and she had never been freer. Whether she was at her new home in Ahtohallan, visiting with the Northuldra, alone in the forest, or spending time with Anna and Kristoff in Arendelle, she always felt like she was right where she belonged. It was just… right. But she never felt more right, more free, than when she went on these rides. The feel of the Nokk's smooth gait beneath her, Gale whipping around her playfully, and Bruni the salamander running along beside them, the Earth Giants even joining the fun at various points of the journey, everything was in perfect balance. Everything was as it should be.

Suddenly Elsa felt a strange ripple go through her, a discordant noise ringing in her ears, like the string of a harp suddenly snapping. The Nokk reared beneath her, crying out in confusion and pain, nearly launching her off its back. Elsa quickly conjured reins of ice, something she hadn't had to do since their very first ride, and wrapped them around the water horse's muzzle, struggling to hold on.

But the Nokk wasn't the only one she had to worry about. Bruni, who had been happily following her trail of snowflakes, erupted in a plume of flame, running off into the trees, igniting each one he touched, their boughs suddenly consumed by bright violet flames. Gale began whirling about madly, no longer playful as leaves, sticks, and stones flew through the air, stinging Elsa's face and arms as she still struggled to rein in the suddenly wild Nokk.

A shadow covered her then, and Elsa looked up to see one of the earth giants, or more specifically its foot, as the mass of rock came down directly above her. Jerking hard on the reins, she forced the Nokk to the left just in time to escape the foot as it came crashing down, shaking the earth and nearly making her lose her seat once again. Looking around her frantically, she saw that things were going from bad to worse. The fires were spreading, and in the distance, she could hear the crashing of the other earth giants going on a rampage. Whatever was causing this, she needed to act fast.

Pulling the reins tight, she managed to somewhat direct the Nokk's wild charge, holding on for dear life as it bucked uncontrollably. Keeping a tight grip with one hand, she used the other to blast waves of frost over the forest, snuffing out the flames wherever the Nokk galloped. She searched for Bruni amid the chaos, finally catching sight of the little salamander as he leaped across the treetops. Pulling the Nokk towards the little ball of flame, she managed to chase him down, throwing up a large snowbank for the little guy to crash into. She let out a sigh of relief as she saw the fires around the forest die down to nothing, the fire spirit calmed.

The Nokk was also quieting down, allowing her to relax her grip on the water spirit's reigns and focus on the two remaining elements. Closing her eyes, and raising her arms, Elsa focused and called up a snowstorm, the icy wind and snow catching Gale mid-air, holding the flighty wind spirit in one place until it too calmed down. That just left the big one.

Elsa turned around and saw that the Earth giant that had nearly crushed her was now headed south… towards the current location of the Northuldra village. Her eyes grew wide as she realized what was happening and dug her heels into the Nokk. Go as fast as you can, she ordered silently, directing her thoughts towards the Nokk. They're counting on us!

The water spirit answered her mental command, neighing mightily and racing forward at breakneck speed. They soon caught up with the earth giant, which ignored them. It was too focused on destroying everything around it to pay attention to anything in particular. Trees and boulders flew through the air, which was now so filled with dirt Elsa could barely breathe. Gale! She called out with her mind. Can you help us? Gale responded by spinning around them, blowing all the dirt out of the air around her and sending it flying everywhere else.

Looking up at the rampaging giant, Elsa tried to think of how she could get it to calm down. The last time, the giants were the only ones she hadn't had to calm directly. Then a thought came to her mind, from where she didn't know, and she went with it. After all, this was what she was born for.

Leaping off the Nokk's back, Elsa landed on the ground in a slide, the earth freezing into a solid sheet of ice beneath her feet. She poured her power into the ice as the walking mountain's foot hit the ground, and it held. The great behemoth began to slip, and at that point it was inevitable. Allowing her momentum to carry her out of the way, she winced as she felt the resounding thud as the giant landed on its back, shaking the earth. Spinning around, she held out both her hands and unleashed her power, waves of cold flowing from her and washing over the giant, enveloping it in a massive cocoon of ice.

For a moment, everything was still. Then the ice began to break, cracks appearing across the cocoon until, like a baby bird breaking free of its egg, the earth spirit broke free of the ice. It sat up slowly, rubbing its head in confusion as it looked around. Elsa realized then, to her relief, that she no longer heard the sounds of the other giants' rampages. The spirits were calm once more.

But even with the spirits back in control of themselves, Elsa could not escape the feeling of wrongness that had come over her. Something had changed. She had felt it, just as the spirits had. Something was wrong. Very wrong. The Nokk trotted up beside her, shaking its head and neighing anxiously. Gale flitted about and messed with her hair worriedly, and Elsa heard a noise behind her, turning around to see Bruni standing on a rock, looking up at her with a frightened expression. Even the earth giant looked concerned as it stared at her. Whatever it was she was feeling, they still felt it too. Something had gone very, very wrong. Elsa just didn't have any idea what it was.

The spirits spoke to her mind, and she realized that they were right. She was the Guardian of the Enchanted Forest, and the forest was in danger. Possibly a lot more than the forest was in danger. Whatever this was, she knew that it was her job to set it right.

. . . . .

Corona

The sun shone high over Corona, the bright light reflecting off the waters of the bay like a thousand brilliant gemstones and filling the streets of the city with vibrant life. Rapunzel smiled and waved at Attila as he laid out his newest batch of cupcakes outside his bakery, the helmeted thug waving back at the princess cheerily. Monty walked out of his sweet shop and nodded to Rapunzel, and she smiled back. While he no longer hated her like he used to, their relationship would probably never be the closest in the kingdom, and that was alright. She continued to wave at the people of Corona as she walked through the city, stopping to talk to a few of them like she usually did on her walkabouts. Of all her duties as princess, there was nothing she enjoyed more than spending time with her people and getting to truly know them.

Things had been calm in Corona for the last few years. After all the craziness with Zhan Tiri and the Moonstone, they were all enjoying the peace. Cass kept in contact with them from her travels, a letter arriving almost every month detailing her adventures across the world, and they visited the rebuilt Dark Kingdom every so often. The only event of real note since they defeated Zhan Tiri and reunited the Sundrop and Moonstone had been on her and Eugene's honeymoon, when they made the mistake of going to Arendelle. They hadn't expected a place known for its beautiful summers having a blizzard in the middle of July. But besides that honeymoon mishap, everything was perfect.

I can't believe how lucky we are, Rapunzel thought to herself.

And that is when the earth began to shake.

. . . . .

Ahtohallan

Elsa raced atop the Nokk across the frozen surface of the Dark Sea, Ahtohallan growing larger in the distance as she went over what had happened in her mind. Whatever had happened, it had affected both her and the rest of the spirits deeply, and even through the spirits had recovered, they were still all on edge. They could feel that something terrible was coming, but they didn't know what. When she tried to get more information out of them, the messages she got back were jumbled, confused. They were still too overwhelmed to give her anything clearer than the knowledge that something was wrong, and she needed to fix it.

And so, she rode to Ahtohallan. While she spent much of her time since becoming the Fifth Spirit both with the Northuldra and with Anna in Arendelle, the enchanted glacier had become her true home. She had even brought Anna and the others there a few times, sharing its secrets and beauty with her family. She knew now to keep from going too deep, but she knew that if she was going to be able to get answers from anywhere, it would be Ahtohallan. The river will know, she assured herself. The river will know.

She dismounted at the edge of the glacier, nodding her thanks to the Nokk and thawing its frozen body with a wave of her hand, the watery steed bowing its head in response before running back and vanishing into the sea that had thawed along with its spirit. Elsa watched it for a moment with a smile before turning away, heading into Ahtohallan's frozen depths.

Elsa had wondered since she had started living in the glacier how Ahtohallan had come to be. In some parts, it seemed like just a natural formation of ice that only happened to form into things resembling tunnels and caverns, but deeper into the glacier, where she had built her new home, there were already rooms, complete with doors and pillars of ice. Had the spirits carved these chambers out of the ice, or had there been others before like her who had come here and shaped this place? Whatever the answer, neither the spirits nor Ahtohallan itself had decided to tell her, and that wasn't the reason why she had come here today. She had a more pressing concern.

Standing in front of the doorway to the Chamber of Memories, Elsa took a deep breath, focusing on her question. "What happened to the world?" Elsa asked. "What is wrong?"

She snapped her fingers and the wall of ice in the doorway exploded into a thousand tiny multicolored floating ice crystals, each bearing the symbol of one of the four elements. With a wave of her hand the crystals came together, forming into four giant crystals hovering in the air before her. She lowered her hand and the crystals followed, forming a pattern on the ground, with her place ready at the center. Focusing on her question once more, Elsa stepped into her place.

A beam of light blasted up from the ground around her, shooting up towards the distant, unseen ceiling before exploding in a shower of light, the magical power forming into a brilliant dome of ice crystals, within which Elsa could see a myriad of memories. But these memories didn't make any sense.

She recognized some spirits like those in the Enchanted Forest amid the images, creatures of fire, water, earth, or air, but she also saw things she didn't recognize. A flabby giant with one eye, large as a mountain, crushing villages beneath his grotesque feet, their screams cut off instantly. A giant glowing crystal, before which scores of people bowed. Men and women with glowing skin of every color of the rainbow, throwing lightning bolts and pulling a giant orb of flame behind a golden chariot. Giant mechanical monstrosities glowing with the same blue light as the crystal from before. Fire-breathing dragons locked in battle with creatures with a hundred hands. She saw monsters and worse than monsters, beasts with too many heads or too many eyes, creatures she couldn't describe. It was all too much. The sights, the sounds, the wrongness of it all, it was overwhelming.

"Enough!" she finally shouted, her power exploding out of her. The icy dome shattered, and for a moment everything was shrouded in thick, icy mist. Elsa, taking a breath to center herself once more, waved her hand, and the mist dissipated. All around her were statues of snow, silently moving in slow motion. Only when she approached them did they speed up and start making sounds that she could hear. Looking around, she saw so many alien creatures, some horrific, some beautiful, but all gave her a feeling of wrongness. So many of the frozen scenes she saw were those of battle, often with humans, animals, and spirits fighting back against the strange invaders.

"This all happened so long ago," she whispered, not certain where the knowledge was coming from. Perhaps Ahtohallan had found yet another way to speak to her. "They came from somewhere else, claiming the world as their own. They didn't care that there were already people here." She continued searching through the snowy images, trying to understand. "But if this was all so long ago, why is it causing problems now? Why is this happening?"

Then she heard something. "The gods have lied to you, child," a voice whispered. Spinning around, Elsa saw the snowy figure of a muscular man, dressed in some form of impractical-looking ancient armor, the symbol of a lightning bolt on his belt. Directly across from him was the snowy figure of an ancient, gnarled tree, a face formed from the knots in the old wood. "The tale you know is only a small part of the story," the tree continued. "There is much that the great Zeus has hidden from the world. From you."

"My father wouldn't hide anything from me," the man objected. "Why should I listen to anything you have to say?"

"Oh, nothing," the tree answered, a sly smile on its knotted face. "I'm just an old tree. I will probably be chopped down and used for firewood before next we meet. But this old tree has been around for a long time, and I have watched all that time. I have seen some of the histories the gods have made sure everyone else forgot."

The man, who had looked like he was struggling between leaving or cutting the tree down himself, hesitated. Elsa could see the struggle on his face, a struggle between the desire to trust his family and the desire to know. She remembered feeling that same struggle the first time she had come to Ahtohallan for answers. "What histories?" he finally asked. "What has everyone else forgotten?"

"I can only tell you the little that I have seen from my limited perspective here in this forest," the tree told him. "If you wish to know the full story, you will need to travel north and west, far away, to the Misty Isle. There you will find the Tower of the Ancient Sage. And there you will learn the truth."

"You want me to travel across the world to chase… what again?" the man questioned. "A story that my father somehow made everyone forget but you?"

"It does not take much to make the world forget when you are immortal," the tree replied. "You simply make sure it is never written down and ensure that those who saw it never speak of it. But you need not follow my council. You could of course return home to your wife and forget this conversation ever happened." The tree smiled again, the trunk and branches leaning towards the young man in an almost conspiratorial fashion. "But then you would never know the truth."

The man hesitated for a moment, then quickly spun around and left, the face vanishing into the trunk, leaving behind the snow sculpture of a simple gnarled old tree. Elsa stared at the tree, wondering at all that she had heard. "Gods, plural?" Elsa wondered aloud. "Like in the old stories? They were real?"

"Is this my answer?" she asked the glacier, looking out into the darkness above her. "Is that where I need to go?" There was, of course, no response, but this was the closest any of the memories in this place had come to making sense. "Then that's my destination," she resolved. "The Misty Isle."

. . . . .

~2000 Before Frozen

Greece

When Meg found Hercules pacing in the gardens alone, she knew something was wrong. In the years since they had gotten married, she had learned all his little tics, especially the things that he did when he was anxious or unsure of himself. None of them were more telling than when he got to pacing. "Hey," she said, grabbing his arm to stop him. "What's got you in such a mood, Wonderboy?"

"Huh?" Herc asked, taking a moment to emerge from his troubled thoughts. "Oh psshhh, it's nothing." He tried to wave it off, but she was familiar with this tactic by now.

"Something's got your head in the dirt, Herc," she told him, her tone letting him know that she wasn't going to be brushed off that easily. "Spill."

Hercules sighed, allowing himself a little smile, and took a seat on one of the garden benches. He knew that he could never hide anything from her. "Would you believe me if I told you a talking tree told me something I want to ignore but can't?"

Meg raised an eyebrow, sitting down next to him. "Herc, I spent years bound to the god of the Underworld, your pops is the king of the gods, and you once freed me from a swirling pit of death after beating up a Titan. I don't think anything is really beyond belief at this point." She slid closer, wrapping her arm around his. "So, what did the talking tree have to say?"

"Apparently my father has been lying about something big," Hercules answered. "Lying to me, to everyone, for a very long time."

Now that was interesting. "Lying about what?" Meg asked.

Herc half-chuckled at that. "That's the best part. If I want to find out what this is, I have to go find a tower on some island halfway across the world. And I don't even know if this tree was telling the truth!" He grabbed his hair in frustration, shaking his head.

Meg took a moment before speaking. "The tree might be lying," she agreed, "but you won't be able to live with yourself until you know the truth." She lifted his chin, looking into his eyes and smiling. "Besides Wonderboy, what's a journey halfway across the world when you have a magical flying horse?"