The Doctor moved cautiously toward the man made of ice, gesturing to Anna to stay behind him.
"Or maybe you're called something else here" he went on looking at the man he had called Doctor Simeon. "Is it 'Great Interference' now? How about 'coward hidden inside the ice of a poor frightened girl'? "
The ice man smiled humourlessly.
"How good of you to remember so much of me, dear Doctor. And how lucky you are that I managed to remember so much about me as well, otherwise all those barbs of yours would have fallen on deaf ears."
"And what do you remember, exactly?"
"That I wanted to destroy you. To turn all of your victories into defeats. In every point of your insufferably long existence. And that I will exist, at various points of your timeline, to do that." The ice man spread his hands. "Here is how I exist in this point."
"Good" the Doctor said harshly. "Then you know that you've failed." He strode toward Simeon. "As you can see, I'm still alive, despite all your attempts. So how about you try to show some actual intelligence for once? Recognise that you are beaten and leave."
Simeon smiled.
"Why would I leave, my dear Doctor? I'm in the ice now, where you and this little girl tried to trap me all those years ago."
"It was you, on the ship..." the Doctor said in a half-realising, half-accusatory tone. "The very early you. That's where you learned to control snow…"
"Yes. But I came back here as I was following your timeline, and then I did much more that controlling snow." Simeon paused. "I controlled the snow maker."
"Is he talking about… Elsa?" Anna asked timidly from behind the Doctor's back.
"Yes, stupid child" Simeon answered mockingly, "Elsa. I spent years in her room, spreading to every ice she created, influencing her, talking to her…"
"And failing" the Doctor cut sharply.
"Did I?" Simeon asked mockingly. "Is that some of her ice that I feel in your chest now, my dear Doctor? Now tell me, why would she do that if I did not tell her to?"
"Because she's frightened!" Anna shouted. "And she does know how to stop it! She did not do it on purpose."
"You should know that if you really controlled her" the Doctor said forcefully. "But you don't really control her, do you? Oh yes, you made her pick a fight with Freckles. That's quite an achievement for you probably. But let me break it down to you, it does not mean that you control her, and more importantly, it does not mean that you control her powers! You are just what you always were, a parasite, feeding on the fears and insecurities of others!"
"I control enough of her powers to kill you, Doctor!" Simeon shouted with sudden anger. "You said all my echoes have failed, Doctor, but I only have to succeed once, you know." He smiled, his self-control returning. "Maybe this is where I do."
With a sinister creaking, ice spikes began growing on the wall.
Hunched over the console of the TARDIS, Elsa listened wordlessly to the conversation that echoed in the room, Anna having apparently kept pressing the button that allowed her to hear them. She was trying to make sense of it when she suddenly realised something else.
She was sure she had never heard the low voice of this man the Doctor called Doctor Simeon.
But now she was equally sure that she remembered listening to it.
The Doctor slowly circled around the room, keeping Anna behind him.
"That's nothing compared to her powers!" he said defiantly. "This is a simple controlled deposition. What is this compared to freezing a whole country? You were able to do much more the first time I met you."
"I don't need to freeze a country to kill you, Doctor" Simeon said, as spikes kept extending toward the centre of the room.
The window unexpectedly exploded inwards, shards of glass flying inside the room along with a cold gust of wind. Anna and the Doctor crouched reflexively.
"This way!" came a shout from outside.
"That's Osmine!" Anna shouted happily.
Jumping to her feet, she ran toward the window, dodging the spikes that were still trying to expand toward her. As she neared it, she saw Osmine's head quickly zoom sideways.
"I'm coming baaack" came her diminishing voice.
Trying to avoid the shards of glass still embedded in the windowsill, Anna leaned on it to look out of the window. Osmine was nowhere to be seen.
"Over here!" came a distant shout.
Anna turned her head. The dark-haired woman was perched on the little scaffolding that was suspended from the highest tower of the castle, and using it as a swing. She had extended the rope almost to its maximum, and was coming back in a long arc.
The Doctor appeared behind her and laughed.
"Great work, Osmine!" he shouted. "Get ready to jump" he said casually to Anna.
"Jump? Jump when? Jump where?"
"Jump now!"
The Doctor crossed over the windowsill and jumped down, dragging a screaming Anna behind him. His timing proved to be perfect: both of them landed squarely on the plank just as it passed under them. The landing itself was less perfect, though, as all three occupants of the little scaffolding struggled to keep their balance as the wooden plank began twisting and turning under their combined weight and momentum. Each of them began shouting contradictory orders to the others two.
Eventually the scaffolding hit a snow covered roof and dropped its three occupants on the white powder, where they began a long sliding descent from one snowy roof to another that ended up unceremoniously on the cobblestones of the courtyard.
For a few seconds there was only various grunts and groans from the heap. Then the Doctor disentangled himself and stood up, brushing his jacket.
"Well done, Clara" he said sternly. "I mean, Osmine. Quick thinking. Now go away."
"What?" The young woman was slowly standing up, helping Anna on her feet.
"You heard me. Go away. Go help people somewhere else. Bring them soup, or blankets, or teach them something about paintings." He leaned toward her. "The Fragonard is a copy" he whispered conspiratorially.
Osmine brushed the snow from her dress and looked defiantly at the Doctor.
"I'm not leaving before you explain to me what was going on in there. Was it you who closed the door? It was covered of frost in the corridor!" She paused. "Was there someone in there with the same powers as the Queen?"
"No. Yes. Not entirely. Listen, this is dangerous. You should not remain here…"
"Then if it is dangerous I will leave with Princess Anna. She should not be exposed to danger, don't you think?" Osmine asked snidely.
Anna, who had been patting frantically the snow where they had landed, stood up with a little cry of triumph, brandishing the little radio.
"Elsa? Do you hear me?" she asked to the device. It let out a hiss of static.
"Elsa?" Anna shook the radio. "Elsa, we are all right! If your hear me, please answer!" She turned to the Doctor. "It's not working any more! I broke it!"
"What? It should not be…" the Doctor stopped and looked above them. "Run!" he shouted.
"Wait, what? Elsa is not answering, she..."
Osmine and the Doctor each grabbed a wrist of the princess and lunged forward. A few seconds later, a large wad of snow and ice fell on the ground where they had been standing. Ice erupted from it, coalescing into the form of Doctor Simeon.
"You can't escape me, Doctor" he shouted after them. "I'm everywhere!"
"Where are we going?" Osmine shouted to the Doctor as they rushed to a door leading inside the castle.
"You can let go of my wrists now, I can run by myself" Anna protested.
The Doctor yanked the door open and let the two girls inside. He stood a few seconds on the threshold, looking at the stalactites of ice slowly erupting from the snow on the ground around him, before slamming the door and activating the sonic screwdriver on the lock.
"We have to go to the TARDIS" he told them.
"What is a TARDIS?" Osmine asked.
Anna was still shaking the little radio. "Elsa? Elsa, do you hear me?"
"Run! Now!" the Doctor intimated, as little shards of frost began forming around the door hinges.
The three of them began running along the mercifully empty corridors toward the remote gallery where the Doctor had parked the TARDIS.
"Doctor! What is happening?" Anna asked, panting as they climbed stairs. "Who was this… ice man? Was he the one who made Elsa become angry with me?"
"Yes!" the Doctor shouted. "He's an old enemy of mine. I'm sorry you were brought into this. And you were right!"
"About what?"
"This timeline is the wrong one, not yours! He's the one who interfered!"
"I told you so!"
They turned round a corner and came to a screeching halt. A wall of ice was blocking the door. A large stalagmite of ice was slowly growing in front of it and turning into Simeon.
"This way!" Anna shouted instantly, pointing to a branching gallery.
"What is happening? Did someone steal Queen Elsa's powers?" Osmine asked.
"No, someone made her think he has!" the Doctor panted back.
Anna skidded to a halt. Another wall of ice was blocking the end of the gallery where they had been running. The face of Simeon could be seen appearing in the ice.
"Over there!" she shouted, backtracking.
"This will lead us to the heated areas of the castle!" the Doctor warned.
"What's wrong with that?" Osmine said, with more difficulty as the running was taking its toll on her breathing. "I could use heat! Especially if we are fighting someone who controls ice!"
"That's where people are!"
"And what's wrong with that too?"
Anna stopped and turned into a branching gallery as another wall of ice blocked their way. She attempted to pull back her cowl, but the speed quickly put it back. She kept her head down as they zoomed past a couple of servants carrying blankets who looked at them with puzzlement.
"Your Highness?" one of them shouted incredulously.
"It's not me! I mean, not her!" Anna shouted back.
"Definitely not any highnesses you could know of!" the Doctor confirmed as they disappeared around a corner.
The air was getting warmer. Voices and steps could be heard echoing in the nearby corridors.
"Stop" the Doctor panted. "We are getting too close."
He turned to a door and worked the sonic screwdriver on the handle as the voices were getting closer. The Doctor quickly glanced inside the room. A fire was burning in the fireplace and no one was present.
"In here!"
The sonic screwdriver whistled as the Doctor locked the door behind them. Both girls doubled over, trying to catch their breath.
"This should hold it back for a while" the Doctor panted. He grunted, grimacing. Looking up, Anna thought she saw icicles forming on his bushy eyebrows.
"I'm all right!" he said as he caught her eye, striding toward the fireplace. "We need a plan."
Anna looked around and shivered. She recognised this room, and seeing the Doctor trying to warm his hands near the fireplace brought back a painful memory. She had also done that in this very room, one year ago… and tomorrow.
"Doctor, you are going to freeze!" she said, moving quickly to his side. "You need an act of…"
"Give me that radio", the Doctor said, taking the device from her unresisting hands. He briefly passed the sonic screwdriver over it. "It's still working. The problem is on your sister's side."
"You mean she can't hear us?"
"Maybe. Or maybe she's simply not answering us." He raised the radio near his lips. "Platinum? Elsa? If you're still there, answer us."
"Please, Elsa! If you hear me, answer me, please! Is something wrong?" Anna paused and looked at the Doctor, smiling. "Hey, you called her Elsa. I thought you did not remember our names."
The voices were echoing in the console room. Huddled in a pool of ice near the railing that circled around the large console, Elsa shivered and considered for a second jamming her fingers in her ears. But she knew it never worked. She had tried it when her stupid dear little sister had been calling her from behind the door, little pest poor lonely Anna trying to reach out to her during all these years.
"Elsa! Please! Elsa! We need your help. We need her help, right, Doctor?"
"Maybe. Platinum, this is serious. If you're afraid of something, you should have learned by now that it's useless to hide."
"You know" came a third voice, affecting a matter-of-fact tone, "I think that if neither of you gives me a detailed explanation of what has been happening around here, I may begin hitting both of you with this poker."
"No you won't. Platinum, if you hear us, make sure that the third switch at the right of the red button is raised, and that the middle red knob to the right is switched up. There should be a red blinking light on its side. If not, step to the right side of the console, near the loudspeaker, and unplug the…"
"I'm here" Elsa said in a weary voice.
"Elsa!" Anna's voice radiated relief. "What was happening?"
"I'm remembering, Doctor" Elsa said flatly, desperately trying to contain the tears out of her voice.
"Remembering? Remembering what? Doctor, what is she remembering? Elsa, what are you remembering?"
"The voice. The voice in the ice. I never heard it, but I remember it." Elsa paused, digging her nails into the palm of her hands. Something beeped behind her as little stalactites of ice fell from the railing. "I remember being angry with you, Anna."
"What? But that can't be possible! The Doctor told me this is the wrong line of time, Elsa! We are the right ones! Like I told him! You are not the angry Elsa!"
"That's not the point, you stup…" Elsa bit her lip until she tasted blood. "The Doctor said I would become the other Elsa, whether I was the right one or not. It's beginning." She breathed, her vision blurry with tears. "I was about to yell at you, Anna. To call you stupid."
"You are right" came the Doctor's solemn voice.
"Wait, what?"
"Your sister is right. The paradox is resolving itself. Whether this was the modified timeline or not, this is the one we are in now, and she's becoming the local Platinum. The one who had Doctor Simeon, or the Great Intelligence, slowly affecting her mind for all these years." The Doctor paused, and Elsa thought she heard a muffled whimper of pain through the receiver before he resumed. "He's the one who changed the timeline."
"Who is this man, anyway?"
"That's what I'm also interested to know" came the unknown voice. Elsa frowned, briefly wondering if she had not heard this voice before, but right now she was far too afraid of what her memories contained to dig into it.
"It's… an entity, that I fought a few times. In the end, he jumped into my timeline, and was broken into echoes of himself spread all over my life." There was a short pause. "I don't expect you to understand, actually."
Elsa thought about this a few seconds.
"You mean that he appears at various points in your life, like you did when we were young?"
"Not quite. It's a different individual each time. And I have a very long life, so that makes a lot of them."
"And what does he do?"
"He tries to kill me. Each of them remembers enough of who they were to know what they should do."
"But you managed to escape him each time?" This was the unknown voice. The Doctor paused longer before answering. When he did, his voice was uncharacteristically emotional.
"Yes. I had… help. But this version is dangerous" he went on quickly. "You see… apparently, the homicidal consciousness that was on your parents' ship was a very early version of him. Some part of him managed to remain in the ice of the chair your froze in your room, Platinum. Maybe that's how its first iteration reached England… but now it's different. The echo sent here apparently merged with its past self. This made him much more dangerous."
"The ice… whispered to me. I remember…" Elsa muttered, feeling another wave of dread wash over her. Snowflakes began falling on the floor of the console room.
"Do you remember anything else?" came the Doctor's inquisitive voice.
"She can't, Doctor! She's not this Elsa!" Anna shouted.
"You're right. She's an anomaly. She will soon disappear anyway."
"Don't say that!"
A series of unidentified sounds came from the console, accompanied with Anna's shouts. Eventually, they receded, to be replaced by what Elsa thought was the sound of someone sobbing.
"You know, trying to hit me won't change anything" came the Doctor's calm but slightly offended voice.
"Doctor? Will Anna disappear as well?" Elsa asked as softly as she could, wondering how loud this would be heard on the other side.
"I don't know" the Doctor answered. "Your sister's past has not been altered. She may have boarded the TARDIS with me even in this timeline, so she could be there. Her memories will adjust after a while, but they will only concern her past year. And since it has not happened yet, it will take more time."
"OK, that's it" came the third voice. "Who are you all exactly? Is that really Queen Elsa talking in this little box? And how do you stop everything that's happening?"
"I'm the Doctor, she's Freckles from your future. Yes. I don't know."
"What?"
"We are not from… now, Osmine" came Anna's tearful voice. "Elsa and I come from next year. The Doctor has a wonderful machine that can travel in time. And… this man of ice, this Simeon… he changed Elsa. He made her angry."
"So that's why she froze the country?"
"No. She already did it. And she was not angry, just frightened. But now… she's angry. Because he spoke to her… before now?"
"Don't forget that he's also in every ice she creates" the Doctor said. "Given that we are now in winter, this could be a problem." He paused. "In every ice she creates…" he added in a pensive tone.
"Doctor?" Elsa asked. "Is there some way… some way I could not change? Not disappear?"
"No. There is not. You will disappear if Angry Platinum is not changed back to someone who could become you. The TARDIS will delay it, but your memories will keep changing." The Doctor paused. "Try to hold on the right memories. This may help you."
"How can I know they are the right memories?"
"They are those where you are not angry with me, Elsa" came Anna's voice. "When we were playing together when we were little. Building Olaf. Having fun in the snow. When we…"
She was interrupted by Osmine shouting. "The window!"
"Oh no, no, no…" the Doctor said frantically.
There was a sound of creaking wood and wind blowing.
"Did you really think a chimney fire could keep me out for long?" Elsa shivered at hearing once again the simultaneously familiar and unknown voice, but even more at the menace she heard through it.
"Anna!" she shouted. "Get out! He will harm you! He hates you!"
"Oh, what do we have here?" came the sarcastic voice. "Was that Elsa's voice coming from that box? Is that one of your trinkets, Doctor? Don't bother trying to open this door, by the way, the lock is frozen now. Now let me settle this…"
There was a scream, and a loud crackling sound coming from the speakers in the console, followed by a hiss.
Silence fell in the console room.