Clavis Et Ianua
EUGENE, RAPUNZEL and some soldiers searched the corpse-laden room.
"What happened here?" Rapunzel looked around.
Rapunzel moved up to a burnt corpse and Commander Gregers drew a sword, raising it above Rapunzel.
"Rapunzel!" Eugene reached to her.
Commander Gregers swung at Rapunzel when Maggie burst in, spraying fire on all the soldiers. The dragon flew toward Rapunzel who smiled in surprise.
"Maggie, what're you doing here?" Rapunzel asked.
"There're soldiers everywhere. We need to go now." Maggie said.
"Okay." Rapunzel said.
Eugene and Rapunzel mounted Maggie and she flew toward a wall.
JACK SMACKED away two earthbenders aside, Tooth blew another away with her wings, Bunny tossed his boomerangs at a firebender, and Astrid and Hiccup burned six benders that attacked them with dragons. Elsa picked up Anna and turned to the others.
"You need to get Anna out of here!" Jack said.
A bender landed nearby and sent water Elsa's way. She dodged it and blanketed the bender in ice. Elsa quickly flew off and swerved away from a rock tossed at her by a bender. She soared over the city and saw Sandy and Santa flying about, fighting benders on roof tops.
"This is bad."
Elsa looked at the city below and saw Red Lotus members fighting soldiers in the streets, killing them off one by one.
"How are we gonna stop them?" Elsa asked herself in a panic when she heard thunder. "Huh?"
An earthbender flung a boulder at Elsa, knocking her out of the sky, sending her plummeting onto a soldier below. She scrambled to her feet and a Red Lotus member shot fire on her, throwing her back down. Elsa tried to stand and the snow swept by, blinding her and pushing the Red Lotus member back.
"Anna!" Elsa called. "Anna!"
Elsa saw Anna lying in the snow nearby and trudged up to her. She picked her up and tried to control the snow, but failed. She looked around and shot ice through house's wall. She jumped into the building and sealed the hole with ice, setting Anna on a chair.
Elsa looked around for something to help Anna when Maggie suddenly crashed into the room with Eugene, Rapunzel and her baby Kristi on her back.
"What the -," Elsa turned to the dragon. "Rapunzel? What happened?"
"The castle's overrun; we need to get out of here." Rapunzel said.
"Come on, we need to find the others and get out of here before the storm gets worse." Eugene said.
"Wait, what about Balder, where is he?" Elsa asked. Eugene and Rapunzel looked at each other in worry and Elsa's eyes widened in fear. "What happened?" She demanded.
"We don't know what happened to him." Eugene said.
"What?" Elsa felt weak-kneed.
"We were attacked by our own soldiers and we had to get out of there quickly. Balder held them off and we came back with reinforcements when we found he had suddenly vanished." Rapunzel explained. "I'm sorry, Elsa."
Elsa sifted her mind and tears well within her as she looks around.
"Elsa, I promise, we'll do everything we can to get him back, but we need to get out of here now before the storm traps us here." Eugene said.
Elsa turned to Anna and frowned.
NIU WATCHED the storm in the ship's hall and Ai walked up to him.
"I have called off the ground troops." Ai said.
"You did what!?" Niu frowned.
"The storm was worsening; they were going to die in out there.
"Their lives do not matter! We are too close to back away now!" Niu walked toward her.
"How would we accomplish our mission if there are no men left?" Ai asked.
Niu paused and sifted his mind. "Alright, pull out for now; we'll return when the storm is over."
"Yes sir." Ai began to leave and glanced at Niu.
ANNA ENTERED the throne room in Arendelle, finding Elsa, who was seated on the cathedra, with Kristoff, Hiccup, Astrid, Merida, Jack, Tooth, North, Sandy and Bunny in the room.
"It's not looking good out there; the people are really upset." Anna said.
"I can't believe the storm got here so fast. I wonder how Berk is doing." Hiccup grew worried.
"Well, this just makes things worse for us. The snow storm's ravaging the kingdom and the people believe it's my fault." Elsa rubbed her forehead.
Jack looked at his arm and looked to Elsa when a messenger arrived.
"Queen Elsa, a message from Berk." The messenger walked toward her.
"Let me have it." Astrid received a scroll from the messenger and he left. She unfolded it and read it with Hiccup who walked up to her.
"What does it say?" Elsa asked.
"The storm's reached Berk too, it's a disaster." Hiccup said.
"I'm sorry, but we have to go; we can't sit around here while they're suffering." Astrid said.
"But what about the storm?" Kristoff asked. "You could get caught out there."
"Toothless and Stormfly can fly over the clouds and get us there." Hiccup said.
"So, you're leaving right now?" Anna walked up to them.
"I'm sorry, but it's an emergency."
"We'll keep in touch and tell you when we get back." Astrid pocketed the letter.
Hiccup and Astrid headed for the door and Merida watched them leave. "Okay, so what now? I'm not going back without Erhard's head on a spike."
"It won't be so easy with the storm; we still have no idea where the order is." Elsa said.
"Well, something better come up because I can't just sit around."
"We're not just sitting around; you seem to be forgetting the fact that we just go our arses handed to us by element manipulating wizards." Bunny pointed out.
"Not to mention that we still have Lamia to deal with." North said.
"And we still have to go back and save Corona." Eugene crossed his arms.
"Well, all-in-all, we're screwed unless something just comes through that door." Anna huffed.
The doors opened and Ai walked into the room, drawing everyone's attention.
"Well, that was convenient." Bunny said.
Tooth frowned as she saw Ai's clothing. "She's Red Lotus!"
"What're you doing here?" Jack frowned.
The guys prepared to fight when Ai suddenly raised her hands. Elsa's eyes widened in surprise as Ai walked up to them slowly. The others eased up, confused as she approached them.
"Stop right there!" Elsa ordered and Ai stopped. Elsa frowned. "What do you want?"
"I need your help to stop the Red Lotus." Ai said.
"What?" Anna exclaimed.
"You expect us to believe you after attacking Corona?" Kristoff raised his brow.
"Who do you think you are anyway?" Rapunzel frowned.
"I am Ai." Ai stated.
"You are you?" Anna chuckled and the others looked at her in disapproval. "Yeah, I know, bad joke."
"I'm one of the four heads of the Red Lotus and I need your help to stop them." Ai said.
"Why do you want to stop them?" Eugene asked.
"You can see that they're clearly insane, they're going to destroy everything"
Elsa sifted her mind and eased up. "Settle down, guys," She turned to Ai. ""What does the Red Lotus want exactly?"
"They want to awaken a dark moon spirit named Lamia who they believe has the power to change the world and bring about chaos. To do so, they'll need Clavis et Ianua, the Key and the Door, two beings that can control ice who hold Lamia's divided spirit within them." Ai explained.
"Wait, two beings that can control ice?" Tooth asked.
"What are you talking about?" Anna frowned.
"You mean ...," Elsa stepped back.
"They want you, Queen Elsa, and him," Ai pointed at Jack and the others gasped in shock.
"That's impossible! Jack is a Guardian! He can't be evil!" Tooth frowned.
"There has to be some mistake." North said.
Elsa and Jack remained silent and Anna looked to her sister in worry. "Elsa ... This can't be true, can it?"
Elsa looked at the others and turned to Jack. He nodded and she sighed. "During the Eternal Winter, I was visited by a Mermaid Spirit who saw my plight."
Elsa's mind went back to the day she'd sent Anna and Kristoff out of the castle. As she'd paced around in fear and the walls reddened and encroached on her, a figure appeared before her in the moonlight.
Snow collected before her, transforming into a woman with deep blue skin, flowing raven hair, wearing straps across her breasts and gauntlets that tapered out to large claws on her middle fingers and her lower body tapered out into a mermaid tail.
"She told me she could help me control my powers and I accepted her offer." Elsa continued to explain. "She disappeared afterwards and I hadn't seen her since. I guess she was just waiting for the right time."
"Elsa ...," Anna's brows stitched.
"She came to me too a hundred years ago and said she could help me get my family back. I accepted it and she's haunted me ever since. I'm now afraid of using my full powers because she'd escape and kill everyone." Jack said. "I'm sorry guys."
The others exchanged looks of shock and Tooth frowned slightly. "There's nothing to apologise for, we understand."
"Really?" Jack turned to her.
"Yeah, she manipulated you; we can't blame you for that, mate." Bunny said.
"Hell, I know a thing or two about being manipulated by spirits." Merida crossed her arms. "Deceitful bastards.''
"What's important is that you told us and now we can work together to defeat the Red Lotus." North said.
"So, what's the plan?" Eugene turned to Ai.
"We go back to Corona." Ai frowned.
AI, ELSA, Anna, Merida ran quickly along the pier in Corona and moved up to a building; Sandy hovering close by. Ai peeped past the wall and saw Red Lotus Airships floating high above.
"Remember, stick to the plan and everything should be fine." Ai said to the others.
Elsa conjured snow in her hands and nodded. "Let's do this."
The five ran out and entered the city, manoeuvring the streets and avoiding Red Lotus members at every turn. The city was heavily guarded, but with Ai's direction, they managed to sneak through undetected as they got closer to the palace.
Merida placed an arrow on her bow as walked with Ai, Elsa, Merida and Sandy down an alleyway. Ai peeped out and gestured for the others to follow her. The five trotted toward the palace wall when fire suddenly sprayed toward them.
Sandy forged a wall to block the flames and he looked up to see four earthbenders dive towards them. Elsa shot them down with her ice and flew out with Anna, engaging the four firebenders that closed in on them.
"What's going on? I thought you said you knew the security formation?" Elsa said to Ai.
"I did." Ai whipped an earthbender with a strip of water and rolled away from an oncoming fireball.
"Then what's happening?" Anna yelled.
"I don't know! They must have followed me somehow."
Merida shot three arrows around them and walked forward calmly. "Well, whatever is going on, we need to get out of here!"
The arrows exploded, releasing a fog that the five quickly ran through. Elsa flew up to the others when a dart suddenly hit her in the neck, causing her to feel weak. She collapsed on the ground near Anna.
Anna moved up to Elsa when four archers landed around them along with the four firebenders and four earthbenders. Ai, Anna, Merida and Sandy prepared themselves when a column of earth shot toward them, knocking Anna off her feet. A hole opened in the ground and engulfed Elsa.
"Elsa!"