Hey y'all, here's the finale! Thanks go to my reviewers The Keeper of Worlds, Luckenhaft, and silverheartlugia2000! Top to bottom of this fic, ya'll showed up, and I appreciate it!
Special thanks go to my betas Faulty Paragon (without whom the story would be double the length with half the decent focus) and Rose Starre (without whom, I would not have learned so much about sentence construction). I'm a better writer because of these people and I appreciate the hell out of them.
Chapter 5: many things
Reaching the Bay of Arendelle is a strange experience. Up close, she can see the extensive damage her magic caused the town and ships in the area— to say nothing of the people within Castletown. If the rest of Arendelle is in similar straits, then she has little doubt that the barley and wheat harvests have been set-back, if not decimated. Not to mention disrupting the small but thriving ice harvesting community.
A bit of shifting reserve funds can smooth the way until the next season, but Elsa reminds herself that it will be up to the ruler, and not her. Not anymore, even though her hands itch to fix things.
She might not be able to repair the economy but what she can fix is the cause of the strife— she will unfreeze the land. Or attempt to. She isn't sure if she'll be able to do it, but if not her, then Sora and Donald; one way or another Arendelle will be free from her curse. With her newly garnered understanding magic, she hopes to never make them suffer again. After fixing things she can just fade away…
Sora gestures to a crag of rocks. "That's where we first saw you," he says. Tilting his head, he evaluates her.
"What is it?" she asks.
"You're much better," he decides, "But I think we can still improve…"
On what? She shakes her head.
Her gaze finds the weathered green roof of the castle. Donald suggested they go to the location where she first cast the curse to dispel it evenly across the land. She knows it makes sense from a technical standpoint… but having to face up to all the wrongs she committed against the people she had just sworn to protect?
Well, it's the kind of thing she was raised to be able to do. So, she swallows her fears, thinks about her parents, and braces herself for the deserved ire.
Upon reaching the castle gates, the guard on the tower almost passes out. "Queen Elsa," he mutters to himself before he shouts louder. "It's the queen!"
The soldiers scuttle around in a panic. Elsa braces herself and announces—
"I have come to undo the spell I cast on the land! Please allow me to plead my case before the acting ruler."
Hopefully, she can convince Anna or the council of advisors to allow her attempt to undo the magic before they chain her. While she feels more comfortable knowing she can protect people from her magic, she would rather be in and out as fast as possible. Then Arendelle can move past their errant and monstrous queen.
The captain of the guard appears atop the gate and he gives her a look of such vitriol that Elsa must force her expression placid.
"You dare return here! To even show your face after what you—" he sucks a tight, deep breath, and Elsa thinks about the calm way his steps traced hers toward her coronation ceremony. She wonders how deep the hurt lies and if the snap cold has killed anyone.
He assembles himself and gestures for the gate to open. "I'll let the sovereign deal with you, ice-maker. But know that if you attack anyone you will not leave the castle alive a second time." The flank of guards waiting at the entrance punctuates his statement.
Sora looks at her, eyes conveying discomfort and worry but she nods. Elsa has more control now, and beyond that, she doesn't doubt that between the four of them they can find a way to safely extricate her if something goes awry. This winter needs to end.
The four are walked through the town, traced by the fearful and wide eyes of Elsa's former constituents. Elsa remains conscious of the guards through their walk, but the presence of Sora, Donald and Goofy buffets her forward.
Her heart knows something is deeply wrong before they pass the first row of houses. It's the clothing, the despair she sees in her people's eyes. She wonders if her advisors ruled her as dead and if that was a sweeter end to her rule than an escaped sorceress intent on destroying the country that bore her.
Her dread culminates when she enters the courtyard of the castle and she sees a sea of citizens in full mourning clothes. She realizes that it's possible she killed Prince Hans. She did leave him on the mountain with considerable frostbite. The townspeople part in fear as her retinue nears, splitting apart like a cut in fabric and muttering hushed reservations against each other as they pull away.
The fear festering within her chest solidifies as they reach the center of the circle of mourners and they find an ice statue. Not Hans, but—
Anna.
Pristine and still, her sister stands in the same clothes as on the mountain, but every thread and hair is iced over. Her wide eyes, white with frost, stare forward without sight. One leg extends mid-step as though she were going somewhere, but there was no escaping the strength of Elsa's curse.
A choked sob escapes her lips and Elsa staggers forward. No other could have wrought this upon her sweet sister and the contemptuous glares from the townspeople feel earned, that and more. She remembers the last time she lashed out. The cure for the curse must have been undone, could not withstand a second blow.
It's all her fault.
Tears chase down her face, freezing instantly as she stares upon every nightmare realized, every fear of her powers confirmed. Hands trembling, aching to touch her sister and feel life, but knowing better. Can it be possible to fail so much as a sister?
Her hands near Anna's face when a sword appears to block her way. Hans of the Southern Isles. In full mourning and… the king's regalia?
The details aren't registering right. Her vision narrows on her sister, the still eyelashes and frozen tears. Soldiers appear and stand on guard around Anna. Elsa lets Sora pull her back and registers Hans demanding the reason for their presence. Everything happens through a shroud, distant, but growing—
"We came to unfreeze Arendelle!" Sora says. And his hands are tight on her shoulder, and she remembers that he met her sister. Sweet Anna. Boisterous Anna. Frozen Anna.
She feels despair build up in her chest… and also the sudden swelling feeling of resolve.
"And I will unfreeze Anna as well," Elsa says, with a shaky strength she doesn't feel. But it has to be true because she can't bear the thought of it being false.
If magic can be many things, then please, oh heavens, let it also be this.
A gasp spreads across the crowd and she hears murmurs of surprise and doubt in equal measure.
Prince Hans frowns, but Elsa steps forward. "I would like to negotiate with the acting sovereign," she says. "Where is the council of advisors?"
"I am the acting sovereign." Hans makes a broad gesture. "As the reigning King of Arendelle."
She startles. "King? That could only be if—"
"Before she died, my darling Anna and I exchanged vows of marriage between each other in a private ceremony. She entrusted me with her last words and her avowal of marriage." He turns and addresses the crowd. "My people, do not trust the sorceress before you! She may claim to save the princess and the kingdom, but the risk of allowing her to cast within these walls is too high! As your king, I cannot allow it!"
There's a visible wave of murmurs through the crowd and Elsa hears them, some hopeful, but more doubtful of entrusting anything in her. The doubt festers and swells until one person from the crowd pitches something heavy and hard at her. A rock, she thinks, as it clatters on the ground after hitting her shoulder. Her hand flexes against her magic's recoil.
"Hey, don't throw things at her!" Sora steps in front of her.
"She's just trying to fix her mistake!" Donald shouts.
Hans sneers. "Why should they curb their reactions when she is to blame for the whole mess!" His eyes flicker to Elsa, almost gleaming. "Perhaps if you kneel before your ruler I may grant you consideration."
Elsa grits her teeth as the crowd hisses and boos.
Magic writhes and twists along her hands, begging for form. Elsa looks at Hans, the guards wrapped around Anna, the mutinous mob and she imagines for a moment unleashing her power. A wave of ice will wash away the guards, a flick of the wrist to freeze the crowd, a mere thought and she can immobilize Hans and his cruel eyes. And after, limitless time to save Anna.
Her heart trembles for the dark want of it, a seething purple wrapping around her hands. It would be so easy to take…
"Elsa," Sora whispers. Her eyes cut to his, finding the clear aquamarine echo of Anna's. In the reflection she sees herself, wreathed in purple and she shudders. She gazes at her sister's frozen form, thinks how badly she needs to save this life… but she doesn't think her sister will thank her if she does. Not like this.
A choked breath breaches her lips as dark energy trickles from her form evaporating into the ether.
"Will you kneel before your ruler, or won't you?" Hans demands.
Her magic is many things, she decides weary and worn, but it won't be this.
Sora's expression twists and pulls with worry, and she puts a shaky hand on his shoulder as she moves past him and Hans.
Elsa kneels down before her people, crushing her knees into the ice. And she begs. "I know I have no right to ask for your forgiveness for what I have wrought upon this country. The vows I took forbade me from ever knowingly doing harm to the people who serve me and to whom I serve. I failed that vow. It wasn't on purpose but— I just want to make things right. This was never my intention. So please, I beg of you, please allow me to try and unfreeze this land and save Princess Anna."
Silence, soft like the snow follows the wake of her speech. Then, a low and gentle murmur builds. No one throws anything, and when she looks up and meets the eyes of her former constituents, she sees something like understanding or pity, less fear and hate. She wonders if they are remembering her now, the cold, lonely princess passing laws somewhere out of sight, her distant but tender care through the shut door…
"Well, yes, while your intentions might be good, you've proven you cannot control your powers— and as King, it is my choice whether or not to allow it!" Hans points out.
"Actually, the council also has bearing." Hushed murmurs rush the crowd as Greiga, head councilwoman steps forward. The old councilwoman's hands fold tightly at the knuckle and the recent events pull on her care-worn face. "We've discussed the matter amongst ourselves. If the sorceress Elsa can save Princess Anna, the council would have it so." Other heads nod behind her.
Hans splutters. "Surely, a, a united front in such a time—"
"You are new to our ways," Greiga says. "The royal family has long been held in regard and for good reason. They are just rulers, and king. A chance to save the princess means more to Arendelle's people than a long winter."
A low hum starts in the crowd, deep and growing. Traditional assent and approval ferried through generations of queens and kings now resounding from the people's collective memories. Yes, Anna is worth it, they decide. All the horror that Elsa is and can be, is worth it.
Elsa can only agree. She bows in contract to the council and then the people.
The guards raise their spears to attention before stepping to the side one by one. A path unfolds and Elsa walks forward, chased by every eye.
"She can't do it," Hans scoffs from the side. "You all saw the horrid winter she cast. What about that seems like she could melt a frozen heart?"
Elsa hides a flinch. He isn't wrong. She thought much the same only days earlier. But now… now she's learned that her magic can come from different places, it can be so much more.
And really, it isn't so much a want to save Anna, but a need.
She recalls making the clothes for Sora and the others only a day earlier— the remnants of magic she had woven into their clothes, the desire to care for and protect them, spark within her chest. Elsa's hands rise from her sides. Breathing deeply, she pulls on her magic. Tender hands mold fresh, welling emotion into the one feeling best suited toward her sister's brimming heart.
For Anna, there has only ever been love.
The first sight of the red-faced baby with pale orange hair, worming and squirming in her weary mother's arms—
Being taught how to support the head and rock back and forth—
Learning to walk, saying her name—
Chasing after each other in the long tall hallways—
Racing their bicycles over the snow-made ramps, snowball fights, and Olaf—
The accident and—
Years and years of raps and taps and knocks and begging and the sweet cry of "Elsa."
It's Elsa's life and her fear and her love and her hands, alight with magic, slip past her sister's face and instead wrap around her body in a hug long overdue.
Love long dammed up rushes out as she squeezes and cries and holds her sister.
She hears gasps but she doesn't risk opening her eyes until she feels the warmth of her sister moving beneath her hands. Looking up, she sees Anna, disoriented, gasping for air— but moving! Alive, warm, and turning her head towards Elsa.
Though Elsa expected fear and anger, she isn't ready for the immediate and intense hug Anna wraps her into.
Now both of them are crying and looking at each other with awe.
"Never again, I'm so sorry! I promise—" Elsa says.
"I was so worried about you!" Anna blubbers.
"I was worried about you!" Elsa says.
Anna's hands tighten on Elsa's sleeves. "Hans said he was going to kill you and take the throne." It's only reflex that sends Elsa's hand flying up and making an instinctive wall when she hears the sound of a weapon whistling towards her.
Through the ice, she sees Han's face, warped in rage and emitting a strange purple ire.
"Hans!" Anna gasps.
"Guards!" Greiga calls, and they force Hans back with the long ends of their spears. Elsa dissolves her barrier.
"He told us the two of you were married before you died," Elsa says, her emotions flipping into anger.
"What?!" Anna splutters. "That never—"
"So, what if I did?! To kill a monster sacrifices must be made!" Hans throws his hands out to the citizens. "You all were practically begging me to do it! I was willing to end this dread curse. You should be thanking me! Bowing on your hands and knees."
The citizens in the crowd draw back as the guards press him more firmly.
Instead of calming his ire, Hans starts writhing. Elsa can feel dark strange energy building within him. The purple haze intensifies. It feels reminiscent of the—
"Heartless!" Sora draws his ice weapon as Han's erupts in dark shadows. The soldiers are thrown to the ground and the townspeople shriek as the shadowed form flies into the sky, growing and shifting until it makes a dark orb large enough to block the sun. The people hover in uncertain terror, every eye of adult and child trained on the unearthly globe, and then— small Heartless rain from the sky and begin their attack.
"Hide!" Elsa commands. "Soldiers, get the civilians to cover! Retreat to the inner chamber!"
With a stampede of feet, the citizens hasten to obey, with the soldiers directing the company towards the castle. Sora, Goofy, and Donald spring into action, swiping at the Heartless and holding them off the crowded square.
Taking her sister's hand inside hers, Elsa tries to lead her away. "Anna you need to—"
"No! I won't let you go off on your own this time," Anna says, her hand tightening. Her thumbnail digs into Elsa's knuckles. "Together. Let's help Arendelle together."
Elsa stares at her sister's eyes, the resolve. She's ignored her sister's desires before and it never led anywhere productive. This won't be safe, organized, or easy, and yet she thinks the utter protection of her sister is another thing she needs to let go.
She relents and her hands lapse their grip.
Anna swells.
"You need a weapon at least."
Anna nods and Elsa goggles as Anna mugs a soldier with a jaunty shove. She spins the spear in her hand. "Stab the little creatures, yeah?"
Elsa gathers the concern and fondness in her arms and runs her palms over her sister's clothes. Colors sprout along the edges and chase up Anna's form filling in the gaps with bright light. Elsa hardly has time to appreciate the mastery and Anna's awe, because the Heartless begin their encroach.
Elsa shoots ice at them and freezes them where they stand. "Now break them!"
Her sister wastes no time jamming the butt of the spear in the ice and shattering the forms. Light and shadow escape towards the sky in droves. Elsa takes a firm step down and spears rise from the earth, skewering seven Heartless at once. Anna gapes for a moment before she strikes forward too. The sharp end of her spear finds heads to nestle in, and Elsa covers everything that her sister misses. They make a pretty good team, defending the entrance to the castle.
Goofy, Donald, and Sora are everywhere at once, spinning from lampposts, sending shields flying, and bringing lightning down in an unholy rush. When Anna misses a step and meets a sudden crush of Heartless, Goofy is there, bearing them off with his shield and passing a potion her way without breaking stride.
"Be careful," Elsa says, caging the Heartless surrounding Goofy. She draws the edges of the cage closer and closer until the Heartless evaporate.
"No way! This is more what I meant by open doors," Anna says, swiping her hand over her chin, green glow of the potion filling her face with light again. "Where are you all from again? We're visiting you next time!"
Sora splutters from his pivot around the back of a Heartless and Elsa chuckles.
Her sister gives a gasp and Elsa whirls around and traces her gaze towards the sky. The dark globe has evaporated, leaving a huge wolf with the same emblem on the crest of its head.
More than that is the rush of heat the creature brings. Waves of warmth emanate from the creature, but far from being pleasant, the blaze is intense and curling. The rapid change causes Anna's hair to frizz and then flatten in only a few instants. More than that, the heat is increasing, and she realizes that the wolf is heading towards them.
Elsa takes stock of the situation. This situation spells trouble, her magic ebbs and throbs in her— dangerous, it whispers. The instinctive need to draw away from this aberration is much stronger than the Heartless before. The wolf needs to be destroyed as soon as possible, but the small creatures are still raining down in equal measure. She can't leave the castle and her people unguarded.
"Anna, stay here and protect the castle." For once, it isn't about keeping her sister safe but what as rulers they must do. Anna seems to understand and gives her a tight nod.
"Donald, Goofy?" They snap to attention and look between her and Sora before they give her determined salutes. They take stances on either side of Anna and continue their attacks.
"Be careful, Elsa," Anna says.
"I'll come back." Elsa kisses her sister's cheek like she hasn't in years, and then she's running down the steps towards Sora who waits in the center. They make eye contact and she dissolves the ice glove preventing her hands from touching the wand directly. Her magic surges and a shiver runs down her arms.
Sora is all but vibrating with energy. In fact, he's glowing with it. She blinks as his form suddenly explodes in light and the tower-weapon is gone. In its place is—
"Ice-skates?" Elsa utters. The skates and the long lances attached to his arms are all made of familiar ice but she doesn't remember doing that, even as she feels a strange tugging on her heart.
"All right!" Sora cries. He gives a few experimental kicks up before turning to her. "Can you make me a ramp?" The adrenaline has his pupils blown. Elsa squints upward before twisting her hands and tracing arcing tracks up towards the wolf. Her ice is subzero, has to be to combat and withstand the intense heat.
Sora leaps and skates up the tight edges in gravity-defying leaps and bounds, trusting her to make the path as he flies up and up and up.
Midway, he meets the wolf and slams the edge of his skate into its neck. It cries and falls to the ground, landing hard on the court fountain. Elsa races forward, sending spears and blades of ice spiraling towards the creature in pulses of energy. The wolf bats some away, but others find a home inside its fiery flesh. Sora races close and uses the distraction of her projectile to drill his lances into the enemy.
The wolf lashes out, but Sora has already zipped away, double the speed from before, and he was already a swift fighter. A ball of yellow energy erupts from the wolf's mouth and Elsa draws up a strong wall for her and Sora to hide behind. Even as it hits, she twists her hands, making ramps for Sora to fly through the area and back at the wolf. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Elsa makes another wall close to the castle, where her sister and friends are defending.
This time she was standing in between the energy ball and the castle, but she isn't taking any chances.
Up close the heat is more intense than before, almost unbearable. She's dripping in sweat and it's all she can do to keep her structures strong and lasting enough to do damage. Her mouth grits into a smile. The heat is intense, but her ice is enduring.
She uses her magic to corral the creature away from the castle, but some of the nearby buildings are being destroyed despite her effort. She sets out fires on the wooden homes, but can only catch so many. They need to end this fight sooner than later, but the wolf has stamina to spare. Elsa and Sora are chipping away at the wolf, but it shows wear and tear only at great length.
She's summoning more projectiles when the wolf shakes itself and gives an earth-shaking howl. The Heartless flies into the sky and makes the same dark globe as before. This time, fire rings the outside edge and it glows like an eerie facsimile of the sun.
"Is it retreating?" Elsa asks, panting.
Sora eyes cast up and his mouth twists in a frown. "No," he passes her an elixir which she knocks back. "They don't really do that." He wipes sweat from his forehead and squints at the orb. Elsa looks closer too and then balks.
"Is it getting closer…?" Sora mutters.
"It's going to land on Castletown!" she realizes.
"Then we gotta stop it!" Sora says, even as fiery rain falls from the sky. Far from being the little Heartless from before, wolf-heads spring from the ground. Sora casts a mighty thundaga and the two hack away at the front line of the forces while Elsa tries to minimize the damage to the town.
"What do we do?" Elsa asks, ducking the snap of a wolf's head.
"I think… I think I can dispel the dark energy," Sora says, twisting and cutting. "I need time though, and it has to be still." He looks at her in askance, and Elsa can only nod.
It's do or die.
They have to take care of some of the wolf-heads first, and it takes precious time. When they have a respite from the onslaught, the flaming orb has taken up all the space in the sky and it's perilously close to the nearby roofs.
Sweat runs down Elsa's face as she lines herself up beneath the orb and starts to build. Thick, sturdy walls enforced and reinforced with a solid center, she pushes and pushes and pushes. Her only thought is Anna and her sister's steadfast heart guarding their people and Elsa thinks, PROTECT.
Like a damn breaking, an avalanche of magic swathes her. Her sweat crystalizes and her veins sing with natural energy. The strain leaves her body and the structure shoots towards the sky, branching out like a great tree.
Grandmagic, she realizes.
She doesn't have time to think about it, because the burning globe collides with her ice tree and it takes all her focus to reinforce the structure as the wolf bears down. Her ice creaks under the strain, but she halts the wolf there. Water falls from the sky, splattering her and the area as the top layer of ice melts.
"Sora!" she calls.
Sora runs up the side of the tree and spins through the branches. His weapon warbles with energy and leaks light as it spins, gathering force. Sora's weapon meets the mass of dark energy in a rush and it ripples and coils around him. She sees the strain on his face as he continues channeling a counter force through his weapon.
The light pulses and the ice starts to crack—
The shadows disperse and a wolf shakes out from the cover. The ice structure crumbles around her and Sora darts to the ground to join her. Amid the raining ice, an idea forms in her mind.
She makes eye contact with Sora, feels a tugging in her heart between the two of them. For a moment, she is the inner ring of his snowflake. Words stop but communication flows, and Elsa and Sora smile amid the scorched earth.
"Right, together!"
The grand magic still thrums within and conjuring the ice lances takes only a though. Each is the length and thickness of a rowboat, and she soon has a fleet hovering in the air.
"Now!" She commands, and Sora is there, swinging back behind the blunt end of the lance and sending it spiraling forward with fierce propulsion. The minute his follow-through ends, he flashes to another and starts his swing again.
The hail of spinning spikes pound into the Heartless, which yowls under the onslaught. The ice pierces its limbs, latching it to the ground. Howling in anger, it writhes within its confines, flames flaring.
Sora lands beside her and kneels down, crystal blue weapon angled to the ground.
She steps onto his blade and is hurled into the air. At the apex of her flight, she gathers ice around her and as she starts falling down, she is accompanied by an ice spike growing sharper and heavier as she shapes it.
Sora air-steps to join her as she adds the last few layers of dense ice to the tip.
"Let's finish this!" he says. At her nod, they jump.
Sora spins, and swings one final, fierce blow at the ice, sending it hurtling towards the wolf with terminal velocity.
Elsa and Sora latch hands as they plummet through the earth. Beneath them, the Heartless lets out one final howl before it disperses into shadow and light. The dark tendrils fly up past them and the light floats up too, Elsa can just make out the heart shape in passing before they shoot by. Right before the ground, she hears the sharp cry of her sister and sees Sora's weapon extend.
"Aeroga!"
Warm winds buffet them as they alight on the snow. Elsa's heart pounds as the grandmagic leaves her and she has a moment to catch her breath. Snow is falling around her again, and she realizes in the rush of things her grandmagic has coated the area in fresh ice. The buildings that were burning have been put out.
"We did it!" she utters.
Sora laughs, hat askew, hair covered in snow and ice and Elsa knows she has to be in a similar state of slushy yet burnt disarray. She huffs a laugh that grows and swells until she is gasping for breath and trembling in the wake of their accomplishment.
"Elsa!"
The little breath she has leaves as her sister slams into her side.
"That was so amazing!" Anna rattles. "The way you used those spikes, and the wolf didn't even stand a change. You just, you nailed it with that last thing! I thought you were going to go splat, but you didn't, and oh Elsa, you were just amazing!"
External to her sister's glowing praise, Elsa can hear the growing sounds of cheers and she looks towards the castle to see the windows open and the people of Castletown cheering and hollering… for her.
She blanches when she sees the top of the roof, half cinders and she realizes how close they cut it.
"We can rebuild it, don't worry," Anna says, wrapping an arm around her sister's shoulder and steering her towards the castle. "Just think, you could even make it out of ice!"
"You would just want to slide down the side of it," Elsa says.
"Well if you added a slide, then you wouldn't have to worry about that," Sora adds in behind them, and Anna latches on to the idea.
"Yes! Like a mega-ultra-tall slide with a big loop in the middle!" Anna says.
"Two loops!" Sora declares.
"We are building a roof, right?" Elsa asks. And despite the lightness in her heart, she straightens herself as she sees the council waiting for them at the steps of the castle. The residents of Castletown pour out from the castle and greet her with whoops and cheers, but the council looks as reserved and firm as she's always known them to be.
The square falls silent as Greiga steps forward. "Elsa of Arendelle," Greiga says. "With one hand you cast a detrimental winter over our land, and with the other, you save our Princess and defeat the creature of darkness masquerading as Prince Hans of the Southern Islands." Hushed murmurs ripple through the crowd but fall silent when Greiga raises her hand. "How would you have us take this?"
It takes a few moments for Elsa to realize what Greiga is actually asking. In the wake of her demonstration of strength and goodwill towards the people, Elsa has a chance to regain the throne. Her head whirls at the thought, but she forces herself to think it through.
If she agrees she will sign up for her old life, one of restriction and concealing her emotions. Yes, her ice is no longer something she has to hide, but her feelings, her opinions, those once more must be guarded and altered for the benefit of the public…
On the other hand, the castle is where Anna lives. It's where her sister can begin to have a life surrounded by people and new experiences. Elsa does love Arendelle, relishes the details of its rule. She could enact the laws she intended, make the change she wants to see. More than that, she could create a kingdom that Anna's children would be lucky to inherit.
She meets eyes with her quirky, inimitable sister, who smiles ever hopeful.
That's all it really takes.
"I made a mistake," Elsa begins. "Incautious and fearful of my natural born power I recoiled from the outside world. Instead of seeking to understand myself, I sought to hide. But now…" she looks at Sora, Donald, and Goofy, the smiles and the trust they always gave her. "Now I return to you with experience and control. I can't promise to never make mistakes, as a sorceress, nor as a ruler. But I do promise that I will do everything with what has been granted to me, to fix them."
Greiga nods her head. "Then there shall be a preliminary trial of your rule, and some harms that must be recompensed, but I speak for all of Arendelle when I say that we are happy to have you back, Queen Elsa."
The citizens in the square cheer and there's one thing left to do. For a moment she is reminded of trying to pick up the scepter, proving her worthiness to rule on that fateful coronation day, but this time— her sister taker her hand and squeezes.
They exchange smiles, and with her free hand, Elsa takes all love she used to thaw a frozen heart and sends it up and out.
The change is instantaneous.
Spreading out like a rippling pond, the ice disappears and evaporates for the sky. The townspeople stare in awe as the sun glows, no longer overcast. She pushes up and out to the northern tip of Arendelle where the ice fields lay before stopping. Opening her eyes, she sees her sister lit by the light of summer. Rancorous applause meets her ears and Anna leads the way in an unceremonious group hug with Sora, Goofy, Donald, and Elsa in the middle.
The smile on Anna's face is one Elsa denied herself for years, and returning it feels like finally opening the door.
Love enters.
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THINGS FIXED
- Elsa faces up and owns the impacts of her accidents
- Anna and Elsa fight together
- Elsa chooses the crown.
That's all folks! Thanks for reading!