Usual disclaimer. I pushed this one out late, but it's on time this time! Yay!
I also want to point something out.
As much as I love Avatar: The Last Airbender, almost nothing in my story is taken from it. The only reason I included the reference to the Lion Turtle scene is because I needed a way to take away Magic from people, and that was a great way that I saw. I'm not mad or anything, but I worked and still work really hard to create this world for all of you to read. This story is something I created from my own imagination. I have my fair share of hat tips in here, such as Bragsdar (essence of Nightshade in Game of Thrones), the Lion Turtle scene from A:TLA, and references to Disney characters in here for all the things that have pushed me to be a better writer today. If this would have been based off of A:TLA, it would have been in a crossover. Just because I have people using Magic with Elements does not mean that it's from A:TLA. It's different if it reminds some of you of Avatar; of which, I take a compliment to. However, I haven't even watched Avatar since I was around nine. I give credit where it's due, as you guys should as well.
Sorry for the speech, but I needed to get that off my chest. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
It really was easy, you know; the access to the kitchen was readily open for the evening meal, the prisoners still needing to eat. The Magi decided to wait a week for the prisoners to actually be able to start serving, making the claim that they needed time to become mentally right again. The night post-verdict was a wet one; the clouds that were overcast during the day had opened up, the rain coming down like Vita was crying for the prisoners.
Oran pulled out the bottle of Bragsdar and swirled it around a few times, the mystic shift from clear to a dim lavender never ceasing to fascinate him. He fixed the seven prisoners some soup and pulled the bread out of the oven, the smell making his stomach rumble.
Focus. You must; the mission calls for it.
The thought of finishing the mission and returning to his King to tell him of the new process of Magic removal excited him greatly. It was a boon they could use when they decided to execute Plan Z. They weren't ready though, not yet. The time wasn't right, His Majesty said. His King knew what to do and when to do it, so he would respect that decision.
He cut the bread up into seven slices and laid them on a separate trays, along with the bowls of soup. After making sure that no one was in the hallway or near the kitchens, he removed the rectangular bottle of Bragsdar from around his thigh. As he unscrewed the cap, a little pop resounded in the air, the quiet noise breaking the drone of silence that shrouded the kitchen. The orifice reducer released one drop into each bowl, the tasteless poison diluting into the broth. He lifted up his sulu and resecured the Bragsdar against his thigh.
He pushed the cart out the doorway, the wheels slightly rattling as he made his way down the corridor. Oran would have rather just snapped their necks from the shadows, but once again, discreteness was called for on this mission. He walked into the prison chambers, sliding each tray to the prisoners. As Noa normally would have done, Oran waited for each of them to be done their meals.
"Noa," Ota said quietly. Oran looked over at her, the brown eyes that did not belong to him connected with her own. He quirked his brow at her, awaiting what she was going to say. When she gave no reply, he walked over to her with feigned concern and squatted in front of her.
"What is it, Ota?" he asked. She finished up her soup before pushing the tray underneath the food slot.
"Isn't it funny?" she began. She realized that she had not made sense, and continued with further elaboration.
"What I mean is, how you never really notice something is there until it's completely torn from you. I never fully realized how much Energy I had within me – I feel like a mere husk now, a body with no inhabitant truly inside it. I think my soul may have left with my Magic, Noa," she said. He wanted to smile and laugh at her, to tell her that her soliloquy would be for naught, that she would die in a matter of mere hours or maybe even minutes, depending on the effect that Bragsdar had on her. But he couldn't; the mission called for tactfulness, and right now it was needed more than ever.
Oran's fingers wrapped around the bar that was closest to her face, the cool metal chilling his hand to a small degree.
"Hopefully, that's not true. I know near nothing on the act of Magic removal, so I really can't tell you if what you fear is valid or not. But if you feel without purpose, fear not; you have a new start, a new life, here at the Temple," he said. In his head, he said it to her mockingly, but verbally he had to say it with a kind inflection in his tone.
Without saying another word, Ota stood with a yawn and shuffled over to her bed, wanting sleep and peace of mind more than anything in the world right now. Oran collected her tray and placed it onto the cart. Soon, there were seven of them stacked neatly on it. As he wheeled out the cart, the last of the seven laid down in their bed and went to sleep. He smiled to himself as he reentered the kitchen, sneaking out from the entrance on the side into the forest.
He went back to the shack that he was keeping the boy Noa in and transformed back into his old self. He took a deep breath, happy to be back inside his own skin. Noa was sleeping quietly in the chair, bruises wracking his body left and right. Oran slipped the boy's clothing off of himself and folded it neatly on the table, pulling out his own black shirt and khaki pants from the top of a shelf. After he was finished buttoning up his trousers and shirt, he took a piece of wood that he had found on his way back and burned an inscription into it, putting it by the Noa's sulu, knowing the boy would find it when he woke up.
He left Noa a pack of saltine crackers and and a cup of water before going over to him and silently cutting his bonds on both his arms and legs. The boy slumped over fully in his chair and fell onto the floor, still sleeping. Oran looked at him pitifully.
Shame, really, that someone like him is bound to the Order. His Majesty would have liked him.
He silently walked over to the door and paused for a brief moment.
"Boy, I'm saying this as a word of caution: I'm a man of my word. If I find out that you have mentioned me to anyone, I will make sure that everything that you love is taken away from you, and I will make you watch as I kill them slowly. Do not test me, Noa Maharaj," he said.
He left without another word.
"Anna," said Esmeralda from across the room. They were in that same damned room as before, the one with the red curtains and charcoal colored bed sheets on a cream bed. Anna's heart began pounding as she gulped.
"Yes, Es?" she replied. The raven-haired woman looked at her sadly, tears clearly evident behind her eyes as she wiped them away. Her jaw clenched slightly before her lip quivered, turning to look at Anna in the eyes.
"You already know what I'm going to say, don't you?" she asked. Anna bit her lip and turned to look into the mirror, the pictures of her and Esmeralda and Phoebus and Quasimodo lining up and down the sides.
"We can kill him, Esmeralda. We can! We'll kill him and get back Phoebus and –"
"You already know that's not an option, Anna. We can't start a war because of this. I must, and I will. I love Phoebus with all of my heart, and Quasimodo too. I can't let Q risk his life for me, or you. You three are the family I've always wanted, don't you know that?" she said. Anna had tears glistening from the corners of her eyes, threatening to fall at any second.
"If any of you die because of this, I will not be able to live with myself. I'm going to Frollo, regardless of what you say. It will all be taken care of after this is done." She walked over and wiped the tears from the redhead's eyes, never wanting to see the young girl's face look like that because of her. Anna embraced the Romani tightly, clutching her and crying into her shoulder.
Soon, though, the scene changed. Anna was standing on the edge of a cliff now, Looking down at a pit of fire. The face of Esmeralda pushed through, smiling up at her. Above her, in the clouds, she heard three words:
She will burn!
Anna awoke with a start, heart beating mercilessly against her ribcage. She clutched her chest tightly, panting with a rigor that would've otherwise suggested she ran a race. Her hands were shaking from adrenaline, and her cheeks were wet. She ran a hand through her bangs, a habit she always did when she was nervous.
I haven't dreamt about Es in such a long time… Where did that come from?
A light breathing from behind broke her out of her reverie. She looked down at the arm wrapped around her waist– the arm of her new girlfriend. The winter blonde was sound asleep, her breath tickling Anna's ear. Anna and Elsa decided that they would sleep in Elsa's room for the night, the emotional toll of the day prior making neither of them want to be alone for the night.
She had [luckily] not awoken from Anna flinching into consciousness, but had shifted to pull the redhead closer. Anna closed her eyes and sighed against the embrace, allowing herself to feel safe within Elsa's grasp. Judging by the small amount of light, it was about six in the morning. She knew that after that bout of nightmares, there was no way she was going back to sleep.
She gently lifted up Elsa's arm and replaced her own body with her pillow. The redhead stretched, her back cracking with her shoulders.
I need to run.
She threw on a pair of leggings and her running shoes, along with a sweatshirt she had picked up from Paris a while back. Grabbing a piece of paper from Elsa's nightstand, she wrote out a little note for her girlfriend.
Hey, I had a pretty bad nightmare. Spooked me a little bit, going for a run. I'll see you when you wake up Frosty :)
Anna
Satisfied with the note, Anna grabbed her earbuds, phone and a couple of Krones and headed out the door. Janders stirred slightly at her footsteps, eyes lazily blinking at her. She smiled at the adorable ministration, leaning down to pet his big head. She opened the front door quietly and walked down the porch, rubber soles treading across the soft wood. Since the redhead had been training here now for some time, she decided to take the path from the end of the gravel driveway all the way up to the small restaurant that laid about three miles down the road, knowing that she would want something to eat by the end of the first part of the trek.
She went into her Apple Music and put her workout playlist on shuffle. As she started out with a light jog, Run by AWOLNATION came on. She smiled, the corners of her mouth tilting upward.
Perfect.
Elsa awoke with the sun hitting her face and an absence of warmth to her front. Her eyes whipped open immediately, sitting bolt upright at the fact that her girlfriend was not in her arms. She looked around frantically, looking for any sign of the redhead.
Oh.
She noticed a piece of paper on her nightstand, put on her glasses, and read the note that Anna had left her, releasing a breath of relief at the fact that her girlfriend was okay. She got up and did her morning stretches, ending with a straddle split that could put a gymnast to shame. Feeling loose enough, she popped up, went into the bathroom and turned on classic rock radio, a genre she had learned to love from her father. Elsa took her showers in the morning, so that she might feel rejuvenated for the rest of the day to come. She stripped out of her clothes and turned the handle to hot.
Though Elsa might have been of Ice, she loved hot showers. They released all the tension that she had built up in her body from the day previous. She brushed her teeth, the mint refreshing her mouth, and slipped into the shower. The blonde hummed in appreciation for the steaming liquid, the water rolling down her back and soaking her locks. She heard the front door open and close as she began to wash her hair. Her father had not been cleared for discharge yet, so she knew it was Anna.
She wanted to smile at the thought of her father, but she couldn't. She and Anna were going to visit him today, and as much as she didn't want to, the anxiety that she had been feeling at the mention of him had crept back up into her throat. She hated that, but she couldn't help it; her father was dying, and there was nothing she could do about it.
As she squeezed the shampoo from her hair and picked up the conditioner, she thought deeper about the subject. Was she more anxious about seeing her father in his state, or that dreadful fact that she couldn't do anything about it? Even people of the Healing Sector couldn't stop a sickness from within someone. She thought back to when she and Tonna were talking after a training session one day, when she had come close to accidentally slicing off one of her fellow pupils arms.
"You see, Elsa, you're lucky you didn't end up whacking off his arm!" Tonna yelled at the sixteen year old winter blonde. Elsa's eyes were downcast, shame lingering above her like a snow cloud.
"He kept calling me names, Tonna," she said. The elder lady rolled her eyes.
"People are gonna call you names your entire life, snowflake. Grow a thick skin and get used to it, otherwise people can use that against you in battle. If you let mere words get to you, you'll be done for before the steel of a sword or bullet can even hit your skin," she said. Tonna was always one in favor of calling things as they were, especially when she was angry.
"And, in addition, you were going to take off Christian's arm? What the hell is wrong with you? You're lucky that he got away with a cut and that we have people from the Healing Sector here as well!" She fumed, shaking her head with vigor.
"At least I didn't Ice him from the inside out," Elsa murmured. Tonna's head whipped over to her and she stopped her pacing.
"Excuse me?" she asked, jaw slightly slacked. Elsa tilted her chin up and looked at Tonna in the eyes.
"I said, at least I didn't ice him from the inside out," she repeated. She soon regretted the action as Tonna walked over to her sitting form and loomed over her. Though Elsa was significantly taller than Tonna now, the woman had a way of making her feel small when she wanted to.
"Don't you ever say that again. The one thing that even the Healing Sector can't fix is internal ailments. Do you understand?" she asked, voice low and angered. Elsa nodded, both from fear and understanding.
"Good. Now get out of my face; I'm already mad enough at you as is," she commanded. Elsa did as she was told, scurrying out of the room as fast as she could.
While it was not Elsa's most fond memory of Tonna, it had taught her that valuable lesson of healing. She finished washing herself off and turned off the shower, stepping out and drying her body before wrapping both her torso and hair in a towel. When she walked out of the bathroom, Janders was gone from his normal spot as was his leash. She took the time that both Anna and Janders were gone to walk into her room, brush her hair and get dressed. As she slipped on her grey shorts and forest green t-shirt, she heard the door open, along with the jingle of Janders's leash. She plopped her contacts in and walked downstairs, where Anna was waiting for her with a cup of tea and a plate of chocolate pancakes.
"Hey, Frosty," she said, giving her a half smile. Elsa's eyes lit up at the sight of chocolate and pancakes, and she zoomed over to where both laid. The pancakes were still steaming, and there was even a little container of syrup off to the side. She dug in hungrily, body accustomed to eating much earlier.
"Morning, Anna," she said, once she had gotten through at least one pancake. "Did you make these?" She asked. The redhead shook her head.
"Nah. I just picked them up when I got breakfast earlier, then ran back with them," she said. Elsa smiled widely.
"Aw. Thank you for thinking of me, Fire Face. They're damn delicious, I'll tell you that," the blonde said after she had swallowed her bite. Anna chuckled at her eagerness, before her eyes zeroed in on a little bit of chocolate that Elsa had managed to get on the corner of her mouth. The blonde looked at her quizzically, a dark brow raised in curiosity.
"Uh, Anna?" she said, before the redhead swooped in and kissed her. Elsa's eyes widened, then fluttered shut, her fork clattering against her plate. Her heart picked up speed as Anna let her tongue roam over the edge of her lips. The redhead paused on one particular area, and then pulled back.
"Sorry, Els. You had a bit of chocolate on your mouth, didn't want it to stay there," Anna said with a wink. Elsa's face flushed, her cheeks blazing crimson. Anna's face turned a bit more serious at that point, taking Elsa's hand in her own.
"Are you ready for today, Elsa?" she asked, ducking her head to meet Elsa's eyes. The blonde gulped, knowing that she was going to get asked this sooner or later. She shook her head and decided to give her the honest answer.
"Not at all, to be true. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it—about my dad—, and I'm nervous as all hell to go see him," she said. Anna squeezed her hand.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Anna asked. Elsa shook her head.
"Not now," she replied. Anna nodded, understanding where she was coming from.
"Alright. Listen, I'm gonna hop in the shower, and then we'll go, okay? Finish up eating and meet me out front," she said. Elsa nodded silently as Anna walked toward the downstairs bathroom. She felt warmth bloom in her chest as she thought about all that the redhead had done for her so far, even down to the most minute thing of buying her pancakes.
You're too good for me, Anna.
You really are.
Noa stirred, realizing that he was unbound. He got up off the ground when a memory hit him suddenly.
"Boy, I'm saying this as a word of caution: I'm a man of my word. If I find out that you have mentioned me to anyone, I will make sure that everything that you love is taken away from you, and I will make you watch as I kill them slowly. Do not test me, Noa Maharaj." The man with the green eyes knew who he was. He knew who he loved and cared about.
This man was dangerous. He walked over to where his sulu was and dressed himself. On the table laid a single plank of wood, saying only a few words.
Run, boy. Run, and never return.
A/N: Ah, I love Scar. He's such a fun persona to play around with. A quick update: I have Marching Band competitions on Saturdays from hereon out, so expect late updates until about mid-November (Saturdays are usually my writing days, hence). I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter! (P.S. I'm doing a Q&A next week in honor of 20 chapters so drop those questions in the reviews and PMs my dudes!)
And now, for the reviews! (Thanks to everyone who PM'd, favorited, followed, and reviewed this week. Y'all kick ass!)
Strasza: I fucking love this chapter, especially at the end with the Avatar the Last Airbender reference. I am now convinced this is actually an Avatar fanfic with Frozen characters in the modern world, with Anna being Aang, Olaf as Sokka, and Elsa as Katara. But if that's the case, would Scar be Zuko, and would Riuk be Ozai? I think I just went too deep, well shit.
Burns: Thanks for the compliment! And you ~might~ have gone just a weee bit too into it XD
PenguinVuelve: Congratulations for your cousin. One day late? No problem, you were able to update and that's whats counts. I can imagine Elsa's face when Olaf mentioned them being girlfriends (JAJSJAJSJAJSJASJA :v). See you soon.
Burns: Thank you! It was a beautiful reception :) Olaf had a gigantic smile on his face! He loves both Elsa and Anna, and seeing them finally get together makes him really happy. See you next week!
MidnightNightm3r3: I KNEW THERE WAS SOME AVATAR INSPIRATION IN THIS STORY! Big brain so happy!
Burns: Not necessarily inspiration, but a definite hat tip.
The Myth Rider: Hehehehe, remember back when I said his story of yours reminded me of a couple of things? Even then, Avatar had been one of them, so I couldn't help but chuckle to myself at that last scene, hehehe. Very nicely done, and I must confess I greatly enjoyed the first portion. To break my usual decorum for a moment, IT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME! On an unrelated note, someone decided it was a good idea to review the newest chapter of Birger's fic by asking me if I would update my Elsanna fic. *sighs* I've finally gotten back into the groove for that fic, and I really want to continue it more so...but Elsa and Anna haven't met yet in the EA one, so I kinda owe them at least that, hehehe. Anyways, good luck on your next chapter, looking forward to it!
Burns: Thank you! I love the way that A:TLA is written, so that's a huge compliment :) Thanks! I worked really hard on the first half of the chapter, and to see that a fellow writer whose work I greatly enjoy likes it too makes me feel really good about myself :D Also, don't let those kinds of reviews bother you. Don't feel like you owe anybody anything, either. Write for yourself, and you'll keep your writing uniquely you and be happier doing so. I wish you luck with your next chapter as well, since I really enjoyed the last one!
Alright guys, I'll see you all next time! ~ Burns