Elsa looked at the walls of the palace around her, her light blue dress rustling as she walked. The ice that had felt so comforting when she had created it was now creaking ominously, taking a darker, red tint. And it was silent.
Elsa could not remember precisely when her ice had begun talking to her. She had been practising a little in her lonely room, trying to build miniature ice castles that would not look too misshapen, and she had heard the whispers. At first she had been thinking she was dreaming it, or imagining it. She had even considered the possibility that Anna was playing a prank on her. Or maybe that she was simply interpreting the wind blowing outside as whispers.
Then she had begun making out the words.
She had thought for a while that she was going mad. She had not dared talking about it to her father.
She had eventually answered them. And they had answered back.
So she listened to them. They felt good to hear, at first. They told her she was not alone, that ice would be there for her. Forever.
She basked in the comfort the whispers gave her. They drowned out the voice of her sister calling out to her from the other side of the door. She was relieved of that. She was relieved when the whispers told her it was OK to be relieved.
They went silent the day Kai spoke to her through the door, talking about the disappeared ship carrying her parents. But they resumed soon after, filling the void in her soul with their comforting reassurances. They told her she was strong, that she could live through this. That she did not need anyone. That she did not need to fear anyone.
She did not remember either when the voice of her sister had begun to annoy her. Maybe it always had. The whispers kept telling her that this was nothing to be ashamed of. That it was normal that she resented Anna playing with her parents all the time while she was confined to her room, out of fear that she struck their precious Anna.
Then one day, the whispers had become a real voice, talking to her, guiding her, encouraging her to use her powers. She had frozen most of her room in doing so. She had also thrown away a few useless things, at the suggestion of the voice.
She had come to trust the voice implicitly. She was less frightened than before when she saw ice moving on its own, assuming this was the voice's doing and that it would know what to do.
Meeting Anna face to face during the coronation had been a shock. For a few hours, she had forgotten the voices, and longed to speak more with her sister, now that there were no doors between them. But Anna had ruined everything, again, because of another of her foolish whims. The voice had kept repeating this to her as she was fleeing in the mountain. It had not stopped while she was enjoying her time alone in her own castle.
But the little pest had to come chasing her again. And Elsa had snapped, and the voice had lauded her for that. And encouraged her to strike her sister again, to free herself of this curse of fear placed on her by that wretched Anna.
And she would have done so.
She had been ready to strike her sister with a shard of ice.
Then the voice had yelled, but it was not at her, not at first anyway. It was this man, who had appeared out of nowhere with a second Anna. The voice hated this man.
And then the voice had yelled at her. Told her she was weak for simply throwing her sister away with this big snowman while she could have gotten rid of her once and for all. And of the man, the Doctor. She vaguely remembered a man by that name, but he was not the same.
Now the voice was silent, reduced to a mere whisper. Elsa was truly alone in her castle, as she had dreamed to be. Alone with her thoughts.
Alone with an unexplainable sense of dread at the idea that she had wanted to strike her sister.
She knew the voice would scold her for that, when it returned. She tried to forget it, to tell herself it was all right. She hoped the voice would be more convincing.
Elsa looked up. Someone had entered her castle. Again.
She slowly walked down the big staircase, wondering who the intruder was, and what she would do to him or her.
Heels clattered on the ice below.
Elsa looked down as she reached the final steps.
A green-clad figure was walking hesitantly toward her. The intruder stopped from time to time to clutch her head, and stumbled as if drunk or ill.
Elsa looked at bewilderment at the familiar figure. The dress had the wrong colour, but the face and the hair…
"Who are you?"
The intruder looked up. Elsa felt a pang of panic as two wide blue eyes bore into her.
"I'm you", came the slurred answer.
Elsa noticed the inexplicable twin kept muttering something under her breath.
"Is that one of Anna's tricks?" Elsa asked, feeling the ice tingle at the tip of her fingers.
"No. No tricks." The other Elsa breathed with difficulty. "But Anna. Yes. Talk about Anna."
"Who are you really?"
"You. Future you." Elsa strained her ear to understand what the imposter was muttering between each words. She stepped a few feet closer. "Must talk about Anna" the other woman repeated.
Elsa looked at the imposter. The face, the figure… everything was exactly hers. It was like looking into a mirror. Only the dress was different, with a turquoise colour and some flowery motifs. And Elsa hoped that the haggard and strained expression on the imposter's face was not hers either.
"You can't be me. Who sent you here? How did you enter?" Elsa asked, hoping the voice would soon return to tell her how to handle this.
"Front door" mumbled the other. "Could not open a door behind."
"Ha! If you really were me, you would not have even needed a door!"
The other Elsa raised a hand with difficulty. A silvery spray shot from her fingers and hit the floor, where a little figure of ice took form. Elsa glanced at it. It looked like a baby sleeping.
"So you have my powers… How is that possible?"
"Time travel" the green-clad Elsa mumbled.
"Are you all right?"
"No. Remembering being you."
Elsa looked at this strange twin, wondering if she had misheard.
"If you are from the future, you should remember being me… This is ridiculous! You can't be from the future!"
"Don't care" the other Elsa shrugged. "Want to talk to you about Anna."
"What is there to say about Anna?" Elsa asked, her voice hardening. She heard ice creaking under her feet and tried to focus on the anger that the voice in the ice had kept telling her was justified.
"Remember her." The other Elsa looked as if she was about to fall, but managed to stay upright.
"Remember? I remember her very well! And I'm fed up with that! I'm fed up with Papa and Mama's little girl always knocking on my door, while I had to stay locked in my room. This is over now!"
"No. Remember… baby Anna. Anna in her crib."
"What are you talking about?"
The other Elsa straightened up, looking at her intently.
"Baby Anna. When she was in her crib, so small. Do you remember it?" The green-clad Elsa became more animated, her voice stronger. "She was crying in her crib. You came, and smiled at her, and she stopped crying and looked at you. Do you remember?" she asked again, with more force this time. "You had to stand on tiptoe to look into her crib." Elsa took a step backward, puzzled.
"How do you know… what are you…"
"You remember how she annoyed you by knocking on your door, but that's not what you should remember. Do you remember when you took her in your arms for the first time? She was very, very small, but so were you. She was almost too heavy for you to lift, but you still held her, and she looked at you and she smiled and babbled something. Do you remember one of her first words was 'Za!'? Do you remember this?"
"Of course, I remember that" Elsa said, not really sure she was telling the truth. The voice had never let her think about that for too long.
"Do you remember how you used to make a light snow fall on her crib to make her laugh? And how she asked for it every evening? She would say 'Za Gic' until you did? And laugh and go to sleep immediately afterwards. Do you remember this?" The other Elsa almost shouted, her face becoming strangely serene as she did so, her moves becoming easier.
Something stirred inside Elsa. It was a weakness, the voice in the ice had spent enough time teaching her that. She strained her ear to listen to the comforting whispers, hoping for them to drown out the ramblings of this strange double.
"Do you remember that day, when you were running together, where you stumbled and fell, and scratched your knee? You wanted to cry because it was hurting, and she told you not to because otherwise she would cry too, and she threw herself on the ground because she wanted to be just as hurt as you so that you would not be the only one hurting? Do you remember, Elsa? Do you remember who your sister really is?"
Elsa kept stumbling backward, desperately trying to escape the demented mirror image who was advancing on her mercilessly. Memories that she had long tucked away were now surging in her, threatening the peace of mind in which she had been basking thanks to the soothing words of the voice in the ice. She heard the palace creak around her.
"Do you remember her doll, Elsa?" the green-clad copy asked in a low voice. "Do you remember the little doll she stitched herself for your birthday? Where did you keep it, Elsa? Where is Anna's doll? Was it the doll of Mama and Papa's little girl? Did she stitch it only to annoy you?"
Elsa raised her hand to protect herself. She felt her legs give way under her. A snowy wind began to blow around her, covering the whispers from the ice.
"Do you remember the smile on her face when you told her you loved her doll?" The imposter was now almost shouting. "Do you remember that she told you later that she pricked her finger on the needle many times when doing it, but she did not mind because it was for your gift? Tell me, Elsa, that you are fed up with your sister! Tell me she only wants to annoy you! But remember all of this first! Do you remember, Elsa?"
Elsa sank on her knees. Memories whirled inside her, awakening feelings she thought the voice had helped her bury forever. Snow was whirling around them.
"I know what the voice in the ice had been telling you all these years" the other Elsa said, more calmly. "I remember some of it. I remember how good it felt sometimes when it said I was in my right, and how everyone should be grateful that I did not use my powers to harm them. This voice is evil, Elsa. I think… I think it killed our parents. I'm not sure…" the green-clad woman sagged, looked exhausted. She wearily supported herself on an ice pillar. "I don't know if what I remember is real or not… But I don't care. I remember what I just told you about little Anna. Little Anna in her crib. This is always true. It has not been muddled by the voice. Remember it, Elsa. Please. For Anna. For you."
The dam broke. Emotions washed over Elsa. She buried her face in her hands as the memories of her childhood came back to her, fresh as ever, while the events of the past day kept dancing reproachfully in her mind.
"My little Anna… How could I..."
Anna and Osmine screamed as the ice blade plunged into the Doctor's chest. Anna covered her mouth in horror, expecting to see the ice emerge from his back, but the blade did not go that far.
"One heart down, one to go" Simeon said triumphantly.
The other blade whizzed toward the Doctor's chest.
And stopped a few centimetres from it.
"It's less… easy… now, isn't it?" the Doctor whispered hoarsely.
He was clutching the blade embedded in his chest with both hands. Frost kept forming on his face and hands. His skin was almost blue in places.
"What are you doing?" Simeon shouted.
"Learning" the Doctor whispered. "Stay where you are" he ordered, briefly turning his head toward the women. Osmine had been scrambling up, retrieving her broken blades, while Anna was cautiously circling the embraced pair, tugging at the weight she felt in her cape.
Simeon swung back his free arm and thrust it again toward the Doctor's chest. But he once again failed to reach it.
"It's funny, isn't it?" the Doctor asked, still speaking with difficulty. "Ever since I saw you today, I have been wondering how you managed to control ice so perfectly as to shape a body and move around. When I met you in London, you could only shape bulky snowmen and a very stiff ice governess." Ice was still forming on his face and hands, creaking. Anna was not actually sure if there still was some of the Doctor's skin to be seen under the white crust.
"Of course, the answer is that you probably established a telepathic link with this poor Platinum, and managed to creep enough into her subconscious so that you would be able to get some control over ice through her."
"What does telepathic mean, Doctor?" Anna could not stop herself from asking. To her surprise, the Doctor, still embraced with the struggling Simeon, answered readily.
"It means the thoughts. The Great Intelligence has invaded your sister's thoughts."
"That's how he made her so angry with me?"
"And control the ice through her. Don't forget that, it's very important."
"Don't you think you are a little late to figure all of this out, Doctor?" Simeon asked furiously. "Especially since one of your hearts has been pierced and you are about to turn into ice?"
"Actually", the Doctor said matter-of-factly, "I think I turned into ice some seconds ago. At least one of my hearts and the left arm. And the kidneys, of course. But I had enough time to prepare for that."
"How can you dream of preparing for that?"
"For instance, I could come into contact with a telepathic entity that took hold in the psyche of a very powerful cryokinetic. Of course, the best way to do that would be to have this entity connect with my nervous system." The Doctor looked up at the Great Intelligence, smiling. "This would be best achieved if some ice, deeply infused by this entity, were to, say, pierce one of my hearts, where you can find lots of nerves around."
For the first time, the ice face of Doctor Simeon registered something else than smugness or anger.
"You're bluffing! You can't do anything! I'm the one who controls Elsa!"
"Yes, through some applied telepathy." The Doctor leaned forward, moving closer to the ice man. "But now I'm very close to your mind, and guess what?" The Doctor stopped smiling, his piercing, unforgiving eyes fixed on Simeon. The fact that one of them looked as if it had just turned to ice did little to reduce their glare. "I'm a telepath, too."
Simeon screamed, bending backward.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm simply blocking the telepathic link you have with Platinum. No link, no control."
"You can't do that" Simeon hissed. "I'll kill your companions if you don't stop."
Ice spikes began growing from the walls, aiming at Anna.
"Two can play that game" the Doctor answered through clenched teeth.
The spikes stopped and slowly retracted into the ice covering the walls. Simeon slowly sank to the ground, his shape wavering.
"You are almost entirely made of ice now! If you break my control over Elsa you will become unable to move as well! You will die, Doctor!"
"That's not something I'm afraid of."
Simeon glanced desperately at Anna, who was still watching the struggle with a fascinated horror.
"If you die, she will be stuck here! It's not her time, I'm sure of that!"
The Doctor looked hesitant for a second.
"Don't mind me" Anna said instantly. "Freeing Elsa is all that counts."
"Go to the TARDIS" the Doctor told her. "You have the key. She will take you back to your time."
He suddenly grunted. Simeon slowly rose from the ground.
"You won't get rid of me that easily, Doctor" he said. "I've spent years entering Elsa's mind. I can…" He stopped. An expression of incredulous horror formed on his face.
"She's… she's rejecting me? How is that possible?"
"Yes!" Anna shouted. "Come on, Elsa!"
"She… she can't reject me… I have been too far from her… I need to…"
"You need to move your consciousness closer to her to reassert your control, or destroy the distraction" the Doctor said fiercely. "Which is what I'm now busy preventing you to do."
"You can't… She can't… No!" Simeon now looked genuinely scared. "Please, Doctor. She's removing my control. If I can't reach out to her I will lose it, you'll die as well…"
The Doctor did not answer. Simeon slowly slid backward and fell on his knees. The ice spike that had been his hand slid out of the Doctor's chest.
"I think you've lost control now", the Doctor said in a slurred voice.
"He's out of Elsa's head now?" Anna asked in a steely voice. "Why is he still moving?"
"Basic.. elemental control. He's trapped... in this ice body. He can't spread.. anywhere else.. for now" the Doctor said in an exhausted whisper.
Anna took a deep breath. Her hand reached into the pocket of her cape on its own accord and closed on Strax's unfamiliar gun.
"So he can't jump to more ice?"
"No... But he could... try to enter... someone's head.. again."
Simeon slowly stood up, his eyes still fixed on the Doctor.
"That does not change the fact that you are dying, Doctor!"
The Doctor took a step backward, clutching at his chest, his body creaking.
"You know what they say" he whispered hoarsely. "Can't win them all…"
The Doctor slowly sank to his knees. Simeon jerkily advanced on him, hissing.
Anna stepped between in front of him.
"Leave him alone" she said, flatly.
"Never!"
"And leave my sister alone!" she shouted with sudden fury.
She brandished Strax's weapon and fired.
The ray of red light seared through the ice man as if it was boiling water. Simeon screamed, stumbling backward. Anna slowly advanced, constantly moving the burning light over him, until he was cornered to a wall. The screaming Simeon flattened himself against the stone, his voice progressively changing as he slowly melted under the glare of the light gun. A few seconds later there was only a boiling puddle into which a few icicles were shrinking fast.
Anna slowly lowered her weapon. She realised she was trembling. She turned around and fell into Osmine's arms.
"It's OK, Anna" she whispered. "You destroyed it."
Anna took multiple deep breaths before trying to answer.
"But the Doctor is dead now…"
"Not quite."
Anna gasped with surprise, breaking the embrace as Osmine whirled around. The Doctor stood up behind them, leaning against a wall. Anna noticed happily that ice was receding from his hands and face.
"I think I'm going better." He clutched at his chest, grunting. "As better as one can be with one heart, anyway. I'll never understand how you people manage it all the time. Still, I can function for a while like that, at least until the other fixes itself." He looked around, concerned. "Did Simeon escape?"
Anna wordlessly pointed to the puddle on the ground. The Doctor looked at her, then whipped out his screwdriver and ran it over the puddle.
"Is he still in the water now?" Anna asked.
"No" the Doctor said, looking at his screwdriver. "Not enough cohesion to maintain a consciousness. He's gone."
Anna looked up at him shyly.
"Did I… mess things up?"
"You destroyed a homicidal consciousness that wanted to enslave Earth and who had brainwashed your sister. Oh, and it was also trying to kill me, and would probably have killed you as well afterwards. What do you think?"
"Did I break the line of time even more?"
"No" the Doctor said gently. "I think you helped fixed it."
"I thought maybe, I could have done something else… Something less…" she struggled for words, then held up the gun "something without this."
The Doctor looked silently at her.
"How do you feel about it?" he asked eventually.
Anna looked at the puddle for a few seconds before answering.
"Punching him did not feel enough" she muttered. "But I… I don't like that. I wanted to be sure he would never hurt Elsa or anybody again but... I… I did not like doing that."
"Good" the Doctor said. He gently took the weapon from Anna's unresisting hands. "Keep thinking like that." The gun disappeared in one of his pockets. "And try not to do things you don't like again, unless that's your only choice."
"Was there another choice?" Anna asked in a small voice. The Doctor flashed a humourless smile.
"Yes. There's always another choice."
"Oh. What should have I done?"
The Doctor shook his head.
"I have no idea." He looked at Anna's surprised expression. "That's the thing about choices. Sometime you can't find them in time."
He smiled, not unkindly this time. Anna looked in the distance thoughtfully before suddenly turning back to him.
"What did you mean, one of your hearts? How many of them do you have?"
Elsa looked uncertainly at her other self huddled on the floor. The blizzard had ceased blowing through the room, but snow was still falling gently.
"My little Anna… I'm a monster… She'll hate me now..."
Her blue-clad self looked so miserable that Elsa considered hugging her, but she refrained from doing so. Among the jumbled mess that was now her memories was the remembrance that the first person she had hugged in years was Anna. Although she was not quite sure whether that one was still supposed to happen or not, she did not want to deprive herself of a possible happy memory with her sister. Besides, hugging oneself felt wrong somehow, in one of those sinful ways against which they warned you.
"You're not a monster Elsa" she could not refrain herself from saying. "Anna loves you more than you realise… She'll forgive you…" She stopped, partly because she realised she probably should not talk too much to herself about what was going to happen, and partly because the prostrated Elsa did not seem to be actually listening to her any more. "Don't… don't despair, Elsa" she finished lamely.
Another wave of dizziness swept over her. She had been fighting them ever since she had left the TARDIS, as she felt her memories twirl around like the view from a kaleidoscope. She had been exalted enough when she had been talking about Anna to ignore them, but now they were coming back in force.
Stumbling, Elsa turned around, trying to remember what she was supposed to do. She felt exhausted, as if concentrating to keep memories alive had been an actual physical effort.
"Anna in her crib… Conceal, don't feel" she muttered under her breath, trying to latch onto any mantra that would have allowed her to regain some clarity of thought.
She dizzily walked away from her past self. She probably should not be here. None of her memories involved two Elsas being present in the palace, even if she now was really not sure about what had been supposed to happen while she was there.
She found her path blocked by an ice wall. She waved her hand automatically, and saw the ice rearrange itself to form a small arch. She was pretty sure she had tried that when entering, and failed. This probably meant something, but she was too exhausted to ponder it.
Elsa slowly crossed the opening and looked around her. It took her several seconds to make sure that she was back behind the palace, where she remembered the TARDIS had landed. She absentmindedly waved her hand, hearing the wall close itself behind her, and began unsteadily climbing the slope.
She was a few steps away from the ice palace when another wave of dizziness struck her. This time however she was too exhausted to fight it.
Her memories dancing around her, Elsa gently collapsed in the snow.
Author's Notes: The extent of the Doctor's telepathic powers has been shown to vary a lot and Simeon's powers have never been precisely quantified either, so the Doctor's little trick did not seem too exaggerated to me (also, he does have the habit of using an enemy's strength against himself). Still, I hope it does not feel too easy a way out.
I had considered "Do you want to destroy an ice man" as title for this chapter, but I had already used a variation of that for the first chapter. And I don't like to give too much of the plot in chapter titles either.