Author's Note:

YAY! I finished college and all my exams! Just like Olaf, I'm so happy that summer is here! My goodness, I've waited for a whole year to return to this story!

OK. Quick recap on the latest events that had happened: Jonathan returned from Shadowland, consumed the soul of a young girl, and was no longer a Lost One. He wanted the Lost to feast on all human souls in the City, become as powerful as he is, and rule the Overworld by his side, but the Allgood leaders, together with their friends, killed and stopped him. Hans condemned Kai to death by hanging him after he discovered that Kai was only pretending to be loyal to him.

Chapter Thirteen: We Stand Together

WISTY

"Come on, Wisty, we're nearly there!"

I glanced up at Anna and called back, panting slightly, "Right behind you!"

I was climbing one of the last few bombed out buildings that still remained unrepaired from the N.O attacks. The muscles in my forearm began to feel sore and a little numb from when I was halfway up and they were slowly getting more and more tired as I continued to ascend, but I was not complaining. Although two days had passed since Jonathan resurrected from the dead and attempted to kill me in order to gain control over the City, the terrifying memory of it all was still fresh and alive in my mind. I had tossed and turned in bed for hours last night and simply could not sleep. That was when Anna had come in and asked me if I wanted to go with her to see the sunrise, and I had agreed it was a great idea.

The damage done to the building was most severe near the top and made the climb up dangerous and challenging, therefore I was forced to be more cautious about where I place my foot. I didn't mind the challenge at all. It gave me something else to focus on other than the Lost Ones and helped me to clear my head.

I needed a little adventure like this to distract me.

We climbed higher and higher and higher.

Anna held on to a cavity in the stone that had belonged to part of a wall, brought a leg over the floor, and hoisted herself up to the topmost level. I reached it five minutes later.

We were six hundred feet up and got a clear, excellent view of the majority of the City. It was 4:30 a.m. and everybody was asleep, but I could make out a couple of cars moving down roads and highways and bridges. No sound apart from the twittering of birds reached my ears. The gentle breeze felt cool and relaxing on my cheeks.

"It's so beautiful up here," Anna said dreamily.

"Yeah…" I rubbed a sore ankle and asked, "How many times have you done this now?"

"Plenty of times," Anna shrugged and said dismissively. "I've been doing it almost every morning since I got here, which might sound a teeny bit crazy…" She trailed off in a singsong tone.

"Oh, it is definitely crazy."

She paced about the area, occasionally stepping on pieces of cracked glass scattered here and there over the floor. "I rarely got up early. I usually overslept back home, but not anymore. There are so many wonderful things to see in this City, so much to explore and I've barely scratched the surface!" She pointed excitedly in front of her. "Did you know that yesterday morning I stood on top of that building and watched the scenery for almost four hours? Every one of them has a different view. It's nice to see this place from different angles." She turned around in a circle. "And I can't believe there are buildings even taller than ours! Oh wow… Well, that just makes the climb even more fun."

I jerked my chin into the far distance and suggested, "Should we go for that building, say, tomorrow?"

"I'm on it."

"That one the morning after, that one the morning after that, and then that one, that one, and that one…" I gestured to each building as I spoke. Then I stood on tiptoe and strained to see as far as I could. "And the one by the river which we can just about see in our peripheral vision," I finished with a wink.

"That would be splendid. But…"

There was something uncertain in her voice.

Anna stopped pacing and leaned against what was left of a wall, and her turquoise blue eyes met mine. "You know Elsa and I can't stay forever, right? We have to go and take back our home. I can't spend day after day climbing buildings and watching sunrises and chilling out while Hans sits on my sister's throne and oppresses our people. Look, Wisty, I'm thrilled to have you as my company right now at this very moment, but I-I'm sorry to admit it might be our last." Then she added, "Or the second to last, or the third to last or maybe even the fourth, I don't know." She stopped prattling and sighed. "Our people need us. They will be expecting their queen to return.

I blurted out, "How are you going to take back the kingdom?"

Her face brightened up. "With Elsa's snow army, of course!" she exclaimed fervently.

I frowned: With what?

"Anna, you can't expect to recapture Arendelle with nothing but figures made out of snow," I said. "I'm not underestimating Elsa or saying she's not powerful enough or anything, but don't get me wrong: You will need highly skilled, well-trained comrades who are willing to support and stand by you. You want a proper army that can fight."

Anna's enthusiasm vanished as quickly as it came. She protested in a juvenile way, "The only army I've got is locked up in the dungeons!" Then another idea occurred to her. "However, if Elsa and I return home, surely our people will rise up and come to our aid?"

She sounded doubtful, and seemed to be asking the question more to herself than to me.

"I'm sure they will. How many are your people?"

"Nine-hundred and two."

"That's not bad."

"Quite a lot of them are probably dead, though."

"But you also have residents in the village?"

"Not as many as those in the castle."

I fell silent. I didn't know what else to say.

Anna sat down hard on the stone floor with her elbows propped up on her knees. She raked her hands through her strawberry-blonde hair, which was always tied into pigtails, making it messier. "What should I do? Apart from our people, who else have Elsa and I got? Oh no. What should I do what should I do what should I do?"

I shifted uncomfortably.

"Why didn't I fight Hans and his men when they tried to depose us?" Anna continued in frustration. "Why hadn't I known, after Elsa sent him away, that Hans never gave up his ambition to become king and was plotting to take over the kingdom for a second time? Why hadn't I known that? I could've prepared for what was coming—"

"There was nothing you could've done, no way for you to know Hans was going to attack," I cut in. "He carefully planned it all. There were too many of them and too few of you, and they've got magic, so resisting him would've been futile." I turned away from her and gazed at the golden horizon.

Anna said sadly, "There was a time once when I really believed that Hans cared and felt something for me, but he never did. That was merely a scheme he concocted to marry into monarchy, a trick, and I can't believe I was naïve enough to fall for it." Her voice grew bitter. "Elsa had been right to refuse our permission for marriage. She wasn't foolish and reckless like I was and saw through all this. Hans feels nothing for me but contempt. In his eyes I am weak and helpless and stupid."

I took a few quick steps toward her. "Hey, who cares about what Hans thinks or how he looks at you? None of it matters, because you and Elsa are going to stand up to him and take him down."

I walked to the edge of the top floor, where a long, thick piece of hempen rope was attached to an anchor.

Looking back at Anna over my shoulder I said, "And I am going to help you."

I grabbed the rope with both hands, stepped over the edge, and slid all the way down the side of the building.

"Wisty!" Whit held out his arms and exclaimed as I walked into the City hall chamber. Some of the resistance kids were already seated at the large round table while others had yet to arrive. My brother said wryly, "Would you look at that everybody. Finally we have a council meeting in which she actually arrived on time to."

Several kids clapped in response as if they were putting on a show.

I rolled my eyes and mumbled while more people entered, "Make that an official announcement in the plaza and broadcast it live on TV or whatever. But first, Whit, let's get down to business."

When every member was present and seated, Ross addressed Whit and I, who were the council Speakers, "Over the last two days, you have instructed half of the council to search in pairs for any Lost Ones or other 'creatures' like Jonathan that could possibly be in hiding, while the other half patrolled the streets at night. That is exactly what we did. I went with Emmet, and so far we have not managed to locate any of them."

"Neither have Whit and me," said Janine. "We looked everywhere. We covered as much ground as we could, but there wasn't so much as a trace of them."

"Which means that none other than the three Lost Ones, who ate those two kids, and Jonathan, who killed Bettina, had managed to escape while the portals were opened, otherwise we would've heard about at least one more death by now," I said. "This is a good thing, right?"

Emmet said, "It is. I believe I am ninety per cent sure that none of the Lost have made it into the City."

"Most people still feel anxious and unsettled, though, even after we've announced to them that the council is constantly on the lookout," said Whit. "The fight with Jonathan had disquieted them. Wisty and I were totally not expecting it. The magicians are finding it easier to calm down and are recovering quicker from the news than the ordinary citizens, but…it still struck great fear into their hearts, which is understandable, considering the fact that Jonathan conquered death and is literally immortal and indestructible."

"Was," I corrected.

Whit nodded, "That was what I meant to say, yes. Thanks to Pearce, mostly, that he is gone. So how about we stop searching and patrolling?"

"Good idea," said Ross.

"All right then."

Emmet asked, "Just out of curiosity, why aren't Byron and Pearce on the council? I bet Byron would be honoured to be one of its members."

"We can't simply add new members to the council whenever we feel like we should. Wisty and I established the council months ago before they returned, and we've all been running things fine. I reckon it is best to keep it that way," answered Whit.

Lily, a red-haired girl, spoke up, "And if Pearce is here right now, most of us would probably be real scared of him, or if not, we'd be extremely nervous. I definitely would be."

"So would I," agreed a brunette boy.

I responded, "Well, I'm not surprised. He is still the bad guy. Kind of."

When nobody else said anything, I took it as the end of discussion on the topic and stated, "Anna and Elsa are going to return to Arendelle to take back their kingdom."

All heads turned in my direction.

"When?" asked a guy in a navy blue blazer.

"Anytime soon," I replied. "They don't have an army, so I am thinking that we could be their army."

"Are you saying," Whit's eyebrows furrowed, "that the people of the City should go to Arendelle with Elsa and Anna for battle and help them defeat Hans?"

My expression was serious. "That is exactly what I am saying."

"No," countered the small and pale Terrence Rino. "No, no, and no. We are not risking the lives of our people for an ice sorcerer who brought a blizzard upon our City, forced us to open the portals just so she could save her weirdo of a sister, and almost released a bunch of the Undead from the Shadowland as a consequence. As you said so yourself, Whit, the people are barely recovering from the horrifying event." He turned to me. "Do you really expect them to ardently slam their right fists into their left palms and charge into a battle?"

"Terrence is right," said blonde-haired Greg, but in a gentler and more patient tone. "Elsa and Anna have done nothing for us but terrorize the City we live in. Jonathan was back in the first place because of Elsa and what she got Beric, Titus and the Allgood leaders to do. Gathering our people to go to battle after all that destruction Jonathan caused is…too much to ask of them."

A few kids were nodding in agreement.

"And then there were the unpleasant memories of their days under the ruler The One Who Is The One," said Terrence. "Whit and Wisty, you guys, along with all the rest of the magicians, have already gone through a tribulation under the regime of a tyrant, whom you have successfully vanquished, and now that you've finally put the days of the past behind you, you want to head somewhere else to vanquish another tyrant? I mean, seriously, I know you two are brave and formidable, but…" Terrence exhaled sharply and leaned back in his chair, "a person has got to give himself a break at some point, man."

"We've had a break for over three months," I said. "Look, we can't just think of ourselves here. The City is not the only place where people have suffered and lives have perished. Ever since the night Hans overthrew the kingdom, the people of Arendelle have been experiencing the same oppression we did, or perhaps even worse, if Hans is an even bigger tyrant than The One. So we should be able to imagine how the situation there must be like, because we were in their shoes once."

Whit was looking at me in a mixture of inspiration and awe. I took care to avoid his eyes. Then he turned away and said to his fellow members, "Greg and Terrence, I completely understand your reasons for not wanting another war, and I admit that I partly agree with you. However, you cannot blame the events that happened two days ago fully on Elsa. Elsa was desperate when she arrived, so desperate that she cast one of the coldest winters I've ever seen in this City. She was worried sick about Anna and had no clue how to rescue her. She was alone. All Wisty and I did was greet her with hostility and counter her every step. Then we realized our mistake. If you want anyone to blame, Terrence, blame Hans."

Terrence's gaze lingered on Whit for a moment, and then he gave a nod in submission and lowered his head to look at the smooth, shiny surface of the wooden table.

I carried on, "As I was saying a few minutes ago, Elsa and Anna have no army. Their people are chained up in the dungeons. The only way for them to take back their home is if we unite with them. If we don't, then Arendelle is lost forever."

Emmet said, "We can't let a ruthless sociopath such as Hans to care for only the men he likes and ruin the lives of those he doesn't, and be allowed get away with it."

"A person like that shouldn't triumph," concurred Janine.

Emmet said, "It is time to teach this self-proclaimed king a lesson."

"In order to accomplish that, we stand together," Whit said firmly.

"Together." We all cried in unison.

"OK, guys, guys, wait a minute. Just…hang on a sec." Ross moved to the edge of his chair and put up his hands in a gesture for us to calm down. Everyone quietened to hear what he had to say. "You're making the right decision to help Elsa and Anna, but doing this is not as easy as it sounds. Hans's army consists of hundreds or maybe thousands of full-grown adults, many years older than us, strong, and undoubtedly very, very fit. They are excellent in many forms of medieval combat, especially sword-fighting."

I said, "We have magic."

"And so do they," Ross pointed out. "They've mastered both skills, while we are only capable of one, and this makes them very dangerous. I think we need to be more aware of how powerful Hans and his soldiers actually are."

He waited for this to sink in.

A girl with her copper hair tied up in a bun said in a small voice, "I've seen the way knights fight in movies, but…I don't actually know how to use a sword."

"No, but it doesn't mean that you can't learn," I told her. "Anna could teach you. She and Elsa could train us all for battle. I've seen Elsa fight, and, boy, she is good."

Ross argued, "It'll take ages before every single one of us could properly wield a sword. And even if we could, the chances of us beating Hans's men would still be slim."

"We won't just have teens fighting in the army, Ross," said Whit. "Think bigger. We'll have many adults as well. Remember, Hans's men weren't born soldiers; they were trained and taught to be soldiers by Hans. Before that they were farmers, stonemasons and stablemen. They had no more than a year to learn combat." He looked around at his friends. "Beating them is not totally impossible."

Ross said, "True, but a year of training is a long time. Do you think Elsa and Anna have as long as a year to teach us medieval combat? Hans would've killed so many of them by then that there'd be almost no one left. Listen, I'm not disagreeing with your decision. I wish the City to fight for the sisters too. But if they, and Olaf, have to return to Arendelle soon, before it is too late, then we definitely won't have as much time for training."

"I know," I bit my thumbnail in worry, "But I hate to say there's no other way around it."

Janine interjected, "Guys, we haven't got an army yet. You are all speaking as if we do. We need to first report to the citizens that the council has decided to go to Arendelle for battle, and then convince them to join us."

"We'll rally our people this afternoon in the square," I stated.

Whit quickly held up a finger and said, "Magicians only, not those without powers." Several kids started talking immediately, including me, but Whit's voice overrode theirs. "To beat an army this strong, we need people who can match their strengths blow by blow, that means people who can fight with medieval weapons and magic, not with either one or the other. Ordinary people will not stand a chance against Hans's men. If we bring them with us they will be massacred, and I'm sure nobody here wants that."

After a moment of silence, Emmet nodded in approval, "OK. Magicians only, hands down." He slammed his palms against the table. "Are we all good?"

"Wait," Janine said to Whit, "I'm not a witch or a wizard. You can't expect to leave me behind, can you?"

Whit responded, "If you haven't got magic but still wish to go, Janine, I'll respect that. I won't hold your decision against you. That goes for you two as well." He pointed at Ross and Emmet with a smile.

We met Byron, Pearce, Elsa and Anna on a concrete arch bridge that spanned a wide river a few hours later.

"I have to say I'm impressed," concluded Pearce, after we had told them everything that happened during the council meeting. "This is fantastic."

Anna was crying tears of gratitude. She began, "I know we haven't done anything for you or given you anything—"

"No problem, Anna," interrupted Whit, waving her off. "We're glad to be able to help. There is no way you and your sister could operate alone. Thank us later. We still got to persuade the people first." He was already walking past them.

"Come with us to the square," I called over my shoulder.

The City plaza was so packed with people that there was hardly enough room for them to move without bumping into one another. Those who arrived much later had to assemble in the streets leading away from the plaza. I stood on a black marble platform that had been placed in the middle of the square with Whit, Janine, Byron, Pearce, Emmet, Ross, the Arendelle sisters and the rest of the magicians from the council, surveying the sea of witches and wizards surrounding us, who were chatting noisily. Whit and I had announced speeches to the citizens before and we could also have done it today, but we gave the role to Janine since she was outstanding and a natural at it.

"Everyone," Janine called to the crowd to get their attention, her voice amplified by the hundreds of large speakers positioned on the sides of buildings that ringed the square, and the conversations stopped abruptly. "As you already know, all the portals in this City leading to other dimensions have been reopened so that Elsa, the Queen of Arendelle, could let her sister Princess Anna, who was trapped in a place for spirits called the Shadowland, escape. Now that she accomplished what she came here for, the two sisters are going to return home to retake their kingdom from Hans, a sadistic and malicious tyrant. Hans is hell-bent on revenge and has taken everything from them. The only problem is: Anna and Elsa haven't got anyone to support their cause but their people back home, many of whom are likely to be imprisoned or dead. In order for them to be able to remove Hans, they will require an army with power and ability equal to that of his men, and where better for them to create one than here in this City?"

Every pair of eyes was fixed on Janine. She paced the edges of the platform so that she could be seen and heard properly by people on all sides.

"The council has neither forgotten the threat that you faced from Jonathan and the Undead two days ago, nor the dictatorial and repressive days under the reign of The One Who Is The One. The great amount of hardship and suffering you were forced to tolerate, the terror that had taken root deep inside your hearts, the dreadful loss of countless lives, the creativity and imagination in which The One tried to suppress, and the magic and power that he endeavoured to control and destroy…we haven't forgotten any of it. You have all been through so much, but so had Elsa and Anna ever since the night Hans overthrew their kingdom. Even though the troubles they've been through have not yet lasted for as long as ours in the past, they are not so different from them. We believe that offering the sisters a helping hand to deliver them from their troubles is the best and the right thing to do. Therefore it is the council's decision for our people to go to battle with them. Whit and Wisty Allgood specifically gathered the magicians here today because you are the strongest and mightiest fighters. We will stand together with Elsa and Anna to defeat Hans!"

Whit stepped forward and cried, "So who will join us? Who will fight against oppression and evil and rid the world of them once more?"

I instantly took over, "Who is willing to fight for the people of Arendelle's freedom?"

The number of fists pumped into the air and the thundering cries from the people around us made hope and happiness within me bloom like a field's most beautiful flower.