Okay, so this is the next chapter of this story, finished and posted way ahead of schedule because I have way too much time on my hands and an itch to continue this story, mostly because my mind is booming with random scenes from random parts of this eclipsed series.
That being said, this story will probably be put on hold after I run out of steam for writing because I have another story that needs to be written and it is not easy to alternate writing these stories.
With that being said, enjoy the show.
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The Black Princess of Arendelle
Act I: Separated Sisters
Chapter 1: The Division Part 1
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Original Title: Frozen
Original Concept by: Walt Disney Animation Studios
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Written by: K.I. Hernandez
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Eden had no idea how long she had been standing there for.
But considering the fact that she had practically memorised each and every detail of the door in front of her, she was fairly certain that she had been there for quite a while.
The door was painted dark ebony black with rosemaling patterns colored in purple and violet decorating its dark surface. She was the one who insisted on such a color scheme, insisting to her parents that it was the most appropriate color for her room, when they voiced that it looked a little too dark and dreary for a little girl.
Her room; not Anna's room, not Elsa's room, not even their room, it was just her room. There wouldn't be a cute little chubby 4 year old Anna begging to play with her, no 7 year old Elsa admonishing her for her hostility, no more sisters who would share a room with her.
This was her room and hers alone; that's how things were going to be from now on.
Tears pricked her eyes and Eden tried to swallow the lump that grew in her throat, taking a few deep breaths to calm down as she did.
Eden, who had chosen to wear a long sleeved purple dress with a black bodice, black skirt, black doll shoes and purple stockings, had been standing in the hallway in front of the door to her new room for the past two hours, the girl had her chocolate brown hair in a neat and organized braided bun, but her slightly freckled milky white face was contorted in barely concealed misery, while her blue eyes shown with lament.
It has been an entire month, since she asked for her own room and in that span of time Eden was still unaccustomed to such a situation.
Regardless, she had no right to complain; she had been the one to come to her parents a month ago asking for her own room, she was the one who insisted on this separation, and she was the one who deliberately painted herself as the hostile sister for almost an entire year.
Eden clenched her tiny fists and gritted her teeth.
If that was all true, then why did she feel so bitter and resentful towards her current circumstances, if she had prepared for this for almost an entire year, then why did the fruits of her labor displease her so?
Of course, she knew the answer to that.
It's because this wasn't what she truly wanted.
Of course, that wasn't quite true either because to some extent she really did want to do this, but the only reason she wanted all this was because of something she has no control over; a power she had no desire to possess, a curse that she did not ask for, a magic that she did not wish to wield.
She did not truly wish to single herself out of her sisters' hearts, but the choice was taken out of her hands.
It was either she isolate herself or risk hurting her sisters with her cursed magic.
The choice was obvious, but it neither made the choice easier to make nor less heart-wrenching to commit to.
"It's not fair" Eden muttered bitterly.
Why was she the one who had to bear such a curse? Why was her elder sister gifted with such beautiful magic and not her? Why was she given such a malevolent magic to wield? Couldn't she have been born with the same magic as Elsa? Why-
Her mental rant was abruptly cut off when she felt a malevolent aura around her.
Eden's eyes immediately widened with alarm and she looked down at her feet instantly.
Sure enough, there was a growing pool of shifting darkness where her feet touched the ground.
To make matters worse, she heard rushing footsteps that were steadily growing louder from the other end of the hallway.
Not knowing what else to do, Eden flung her door open and stepped inside, the pool of growing darkness following her movements and entering the room as well, something that she was grateful for.
As soon as every inch of the oozing darkness was inside her room, she immediately shut her door with a slam.
But not before she saw a glimpse of Anna's shocked and crestfallen face as the youngest princess came around the corner of the hallway.
As if she didn't have enough images of her baby sister crying over her.
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Let it never be said that Princess Anna of Arendelle gave up on anyone easily, especially if that "anyone" just so happened to be her sister.
Even when her big sister, Eden, moved out of their shared bedroom roughly a month ago and practically shut herself out from her sister, Anna persisted.
Most people would have taken the hint that Eden wanted to be alone, but not little Anna, no she insisted that Eden was just shy around her sisters and would eventually open up if she tried hard enough.
Of course, she was still just a 4 year old girl and to children of such age, the smallest little gestures could have the most significant meaning and have a very noticeable effect on their fragile hearts.
Princess Anna was no exception to this rule.
It was most certainly true that Anna consistently persisted on getting her sister, Eden, to play with her and Elsa again for roughly a month, but just because she kept trying, doesn't mean that she was unaffected by the connotations of the situation nor did it mean that she was oblivious to them.
With that being said, seeing Eden's door slam shut just as little Anna rounded the corner really did quite a number on the 4 year old girl's fragile little feelings.
In truth, Anna was on her way outside to go play in the snow and build a snowman with her big sister, Elsa, when she ran into Kai, who nonchalantly told her that Eden was out of her room.
But after seeing the door to her elder sister's room slam shut with a bang, presumably after Eden heard her footsteps getting closer, Anna couldn't help but feel a little hurt by the blatant rejection.
"I didn't even ask her yet" Little Anna muttered sadly as her whole body slumped sadly and started sniffling.
"Anna?" a voice from behind her asked.
Anna turned around and sure enough, her mother, Queen Idun, was standing behind her with a concerned look etching her delicate features as she kneeled down to meet her daughter's eye level.
"Anna, why are you crying?" the queen asked concernedly as she cupped the four year old girl's cheeks and wiped away a few stray tears. "Is something wrong?"
Anna shook her head, though her sniffling continued.
"Anna" Queen Idun said coaxing as she started rubbing the girl's back comfortingly. "It's okay, you can tell me, dear."
Anna sniffed again, before whispering. "Eden doesn't wanna play..."
At this, the queen sighed subtly to herself. Honestly, she hadn't a clue why her second born daughter would suddenly shut her sisters out the way she did, when she would always want to play with them all the time a year ago.
"How about you go ahead outside and play with Elsa, dear, and I'll go and talk to Eden for you and see if I can't convince her to come out and play for a little while." Idun suggested with a small smile.
At this, Anna's eyes shone hopefully and a small smile made its way on her face, before the little five year old nodded, gave her mother an appreciative hug and ran back around the corner that she came from.
Looking in the direction her daughter disappeared to, Queen Idun could't help but smile fondly at the girl's optimism.
Honestly, I don't think anything can dampen that girl's spirit. Queen Idun mused to herself, before the smile slipped off her face as she turned to her second born daughter's room.
With a sigh, the queen stood up straight and walked towards the door to Eden's room.
Once she was in front of it, Idun knocked twice, before calling out: "Eden, may I come in, Dear?"
No response.
"Eden?" The queen called out again with rurrowed eyebrows.
Still no response.
At this, the queen frowned before reaching for the doorknob.
It was locked.
"Eden, is something wrong?" Idun asked with concern in her voice.
The queen was answered by a lengthy pause, which made her wonder if she was going to get a response at all.
Idun was about to call out again, when she heard a whispered response that was so quiet that she might not have heard it at all if not for the silence in the hallway.
"Now isn't really the best time, Mama."
At this, Idun frowned slightly and raised an eyebrow at her daughter's words.
"Oh? So, when would be an appropriate time for me to talk to my daughter" the queen asked, skepticism clear in her voice.
"...technically speaking, you're talking to me now." Came the whispered response.
"It feels more like I'm talking to a door than my daughter, if I'm being perfectly honest" the queen retorted.
A pause.
Having deemed that she won't get another verbal reply, she decided to try a different approach.
"Alright, you don't have to talk if you don't want to, but if it's alright with you, Dear, I'd like to know a few things. Just knock once if your answer is yes, knock twice if the answer is no. Do you understand?"
Another pause before...
Knock.
Queen Idun couldn't help but let out a smile at her small victory, before she decided to resume her questions.
"Did you know that your little sister, Anna, was looking for you?"
Knock.
"Did you know that she only wanted to ask you to play with her outside in the snow?"
Knock.
"Did you know that she felt really hurt and was near tears when she saw you slam your door shut?"
Pause. Sniffling.
Knock Knock.
"Well, she really was, but I managed to cheer her up by promising her that I would talk to you." Idun said gently.
There was another pause; one which made the queen feel like her daughter was waiting for her to continue.
"Eden, you can be honest with me, but do you not want to be with your sisters anymore?"
An urgent knock knock was the queen's response, making her let out a mental sigh of relief.
Still, if this is the case...the queen mused thoughtfully and her next question left her mouth before she could stop it.
"Then why do persistently shut them out?"
Silence.
The queen sighed at this, having forgotten that she could only ask her daughter yes or no questions as per her arrangement.
"Did you and Elsa get in a fight a year ago, is that the reason?"
Knock Knock.
"Did something happen between you and Anna, then?"
Knock Knock.
Idun was beginning to think that this whole isolation thing wasn't born out of something simple as a misunderstanding or a favorite toy being accidentally broken. Still, the queen was not one to give up so easily.
The queen was then reminded of the earlier part of her conversation and put two and two together.
"Is the reason you're isolating yourself from your sisters, the same reason you can't bring yourself to talk to me in person or why now is not a good time to do so?"
There was a shuddering breath from the other side of the door, followed by a lengthy pause and a single soft knock.
"Can you tell me what that reas-" Instantly, two knocks banged the door before Idun could even finish her question.
The queen had a feeling that her daughter would react like that, still she couldn't help but sigh.
"Can you at least promise me one thing, Eden?" Queen Idun asked hopefully.
There was a palpable hesitance emanating from the other side of the door.
"You do not have to keep your promise, if it you cannot do so. All I ask is that you try to do so and truly make an effort in keeping it" Idun reassured her daughter.
There was another lengthy pause before Idun heard a whispered "what would you like me to do?" so quiet that she might not have heard it had she not been completely focused on her daughter's response.
"All I ask is that you try and overcome the reason behind this division of yours; to learn to live about it. If not for my sake, then do it for your sisters; I know that they miss you both terribly during play time. Do you think you can promise me that, Eden?"
There was another lengthy pause and Idun was all but certain that she would get a negative response. That is until her daughter spoke.
"I don't know how successful I would be if I tried, so I can't promise you that I'll overcome...this, Mama" Eden paused hesitantly before she continued; her voice sounding more firm and resolute. "But I promise to try and do so because I do not wish to separate myself from my sisters any longer."
Idun smiled at this, before replying. "That's all I ask, my dear."
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Once she saw that only her little sister, Anna, was running towards her from the main doors of the palace, Elsa couldn't help but let out a sigh, before she turned her gaze upwards to look at Eden's window, which was coveted by thick dark purple curtains, that hid whatever was happening inside.
This wasn't the first time, Elsa had done this, ever since the month long separation, Elsa had looked at Eden's window, hoping to see her sister, but she was always met with the same sight, dark puple curtains.
Sometimes, Elsa would wonder what exactly started all this. When their baby sister, Anna, was born Eden had been so delighted and awed by the little newborn and when little baby Anna was old enough to eat and walk, Eden would spoil her rotten by sneaking her chocolate from the kitchens or playing with her for hours on end, never once did her happiness falter.
Sometimes, Eden was the one who bothered her to make a snowman in the middle of the night not Anna.
Elsa smiled at her memories, before it slipped from her face, as she remembered the rest.
A few months after Anna had turned three years old, Eden suddenly became more cold and distant overnight. It was so sudden that no one expected it.
One morning, Eden would practically pounce on any opportunity to play with her sisters, then the following morning, she wouldn't even give them the time of day.
Over the course of the year, Elsa had wondered time and again what could have possibly caused her sister's overnight shift in personality; she had retraced her steps during that day several times, but she could not find anything that could've made Eden so upset with them.
Regardless of the reason, the fact remained that Anna was left with only her to play with and Elsa now had to fill in for Eden, until said girl decides to play with them again.
That is, if she ever decided to play with them again.
Still, she had hope that her sister Eden would eventually decide to end this separation of her own accord, but in the event that she never did, then Elsa would be prepared.
A tiny and chubby hand waving in front of her face, immediately snapped her out of her train of thought with a blink and a shake of her head.
"Elsa!" Anna whined with crossed arms and a childish pout, a sight that Elsa smiled fondly at.
"Sorry, Anna, I got distracted there for a second." Elsa said apologetically.
At this, Anna beamed "It's okay!"
Anna then began dragging Elsa through the the snow-covered courtyard to an empty space. "Do you wanna build a snowman?"
Elsa returned the smile. "Don't I always?"
Anna giggled in return, before she broke from her elder sister and started gathering snow for their snowman's base. Taking that as her cue, Elsa proceeded to roll another ball of snow for their snowman.
A few minutes into the process, however, Elsa decided to speak up.
"So, what took you so long?" Elsa asked curiously, given how excited her sister had been when she asked to build a snowman; she thought that she wouldn't have taken so long getting to the courtyard.
"I went to ask Eden if she wanted to play with us too." Anna answered absentmindedly. She was so engrossed in building her snowman, that she missed Elsa's worried look.
"And what did she say?" Elsa ventured cautiously.
Anna paused her snow gathering and a tiny pout briefly crossed her face, making Elsa regret her question.
"She closed her door before I could ask her" Anna replied sounding quite sad about this.
At seeing her youngest sister looking so sad, Elsa couldn't help but feel a little bitter and angry at her second little sister. Anna had done nothing to deserve this kind of treatment and she certainly didn't deserve to feel so miserable because of Eden's actions.
Unbeknownst to Elsa, the snow she was standing on started to freeze into solid ice with small icicle slowly jutting out.
"But it's okay" Elsa was jerked out of her thoughts as she looked at Anna, who looked more enthusiastic and hopeful "because Mama said that she'll talk to Eden, so that she'll play with us" Anna said happily as she continued doing her snowman.
"I hope she does" Elsa whispered hopefully, she loved both of her sisters and wanted nothing more than for the two of them to be together again.
"Eden will come play with us again, you'll see" Anna insisted happily, which made Elsa chuckle amusedly, before they continued making their snowman.
Somehow, Elsa doubted that would happen, but who knew? The future is never set in stone, afterall.
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Meanwhile, Eden slumped against her door and slid down to the floor as she patiently waited for her mother's footsteps to fade in the distance.
When it finally did, Eden let out a miserable sigh as she buried her face with her hands, neither caring about the fact that they were covered up to her elbows in darkness nor the fact that the pool of darkness was spreading to her room's floor and that a pillar of darkness was obscuring the door.
"What did I just do?" Eden mumbled to herself.
She knew the answer to that, of course.
She had essentially led her mother to believe that she wanted to be reunited with her sisters, deluded herself into thinking that she could overcome her condition, gave her mother false hope at possible, if unlikely, chance of reconciliation, practically confirmed that there was something wrong with her, and gave her mother reason to suspect that said something was magical in nature.
And she did all that over the course of one conversation that barely lasted a minute and mostly comprised of knocks and pauses.
Just great.
She lifted her face from her darkened palms, before drawing her knees to herself and laying her chin on them.
"What am I supposed to do now?" Eden said miserably to no one in particular. "I know I promised Mama, but I don't even know where to start."
At this, Eden stood up and started pacing around her room in thought, her dark pillar following her every step of the way, like a towering shadow.
"How am I supposed to overcome this, when I don't even know where this came from or what this is?" Eden muttered to herself, half-frustrated and half-whining. "And it's not like I can ask Mama and Papa, they'd run for the hills the moment I reveal my powers before I could get a chance to explain."
Or throw me in the dungeon. Eden thought fearfully.
Eden fiercely shook her head to clear dark thoughts from her mind. "Focus, Eden, focus"
She started pacing again and proceeded to talk to herself just like before. "Okay, let me think about this." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before opening them.
"If I can't find out how I got these powers, so that I can get rid of them, then the next best thing would be for me to try and control them." Eden mused to herself as she looked at her darkened hands with a torn look at the implications of her musings.
If she wanted to control them, then she'd have to talk to the only person in her family, who had any real experience wielding magic.
Eden didn't particularly like this option because one, she and Elsa didn't exactly part on the best of terms and two, if she revealed herself to Elsa, then her elder sister would insist on telling their parents.
"Still, if my magic came from the same place as Elsa's, then that means I could control or at least hide it." Eden said with a hopeful smile, before it slipped as she stared at her dark hand and continued her train of thought.
"And it also means my magic won't fade, but only grow stronger and more powerful, with time." And that could only be a bad thing in Eden's opinion.
She walked towards her bed miserably before plopping on the covers ignoring the growing darkness around her.
"Maybe I should just give up and lock myself away forever in this room." Eden mused sadly.
A muffled giggle suddenly reached the second princess' ears and Eden head turned to the direction of the sound.
It was coming from her window.
Feeling curious, Eden rose up from her bed and walked towards the window, casting aside the thick curtains to look outside.
Eden saw her sisters in the snow-covered castle courtyard, both of whom clearly enjoying their selves as they tried to build a snowman.
A wry smile settled on her face, before she felt a twinge of envy as she stared longingly at the sight before her.
Right then and there, staring at her sisters' happy faces, Eden made a decision and resolved to follow through with it no matter what.
She would not lock herself away from her sisters for the rest of their lives, she would find a way to control, if not overcome, her magical powers.
Though the question still remained: How?
As if to answer her question, several tendrils of darkness rose up from the pool at her feet to her field of vision.
Eden instantly flinched away from fear at the writhing tendrils of black, which slowly started to coalesce into the form of a slender hand, much to the young princess' growing horror.
The hand seemed to pay no mind to the young girl's fear as it slowly stretched across the room until it reached her personal bookshelf.
As Eden continued to watch the dark hand perusing through her book collection, her fear slowly started to give way to confusion and curiosity.
Tentatively, Eden took a step closer to the hand made of darkness as it scanned every row of books on her personal shelf.
"What are you looking for?" she muttered to herself quietly, before flinching away when the hand turned to face her.
Eden gulped the lump in her throat as her tiny body tensed in anticipation.
The blackened hand lifted a single ebony finger, pointed it at her, to the books, then to the darkness that had pooled to cover the entire floor of her room.
Eden's brows furrowed as she tried to make sense of what the hand was trying to say.
"You want me" Eden started slowly and reluctantly. "To find and read books about this?" Eden asked tentatively as she gestured to the darkness she was creating.
The hand gave thumbs-up and a small nod.
"Where do you expect me to find books like this?"
In response, the hand lifted an ebony finger and pointed to the door to her room.
Eden understood clearly.
She would find no answers locked inside the four walls of her room.
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-End Chapter 1-
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As always, I'll see you all in the next update and if you like MCU crossing over with Marvel Cinematic Universes, then give my other story a try.
Farewell for now - K.I. Hernandez.