CHAPTER FOUR

The Crow

The orb flickered twice and began to float away without Elsa.

No! Don't leave me! Elsa's own voice cried out in her head, though her face remained expressionless. She couldn't possibly go on without that orb. It was precious for reasons Elsa couldn't even explain, but she had to follow where it was going. Everything in her screamed that following it was the right thing and the only thing she should be doing. She wouldn't dare separate from it again.

Without any regard for her own weaknesses, Elsa rammed her shoulder into the door over and over until it broke open. She may have injured her arm doing so, but she did not feel it beyond the desire to pursue that little sphere.

The ball flared up, but just a bit, as if sensing Elsa slowly trailing behind it, leading her to an open yard in the center of the building. Then it disappeared, and for an instant Elsa felt desperate, having lost the thing she'd wanted forever. She snapped back to her usual self, albeit a bit frightened and confused about what had just happened and how easily swayed she was. She didn't understand how something could be more important than Anna, but she was quick to remind herself and regain her composure.

It was a wide enclosure with a dome over the top. Elsa had thought with all the vines and thorns littered all around the walls that it was outside. There was still beams of natural light leaking in from between the pillars, falling onto yet another statue of the queen, and hanging golden cages containing corpses, with the occasional bird eating from it.

Despite its colorlessness, the fog (and the smell), the place had a calm air to it. That is until the towering, shadowy woman appeared where the sphere had been. Elsa couldn't tell if the orb and her had been one and the same or not, but the fear of her didn't leave for very long. Elsa remained still, feeling discouragingly small in the woman's presence.

Having a clear view of her now, she could see every sharp edge of this sorceress (a word that Elsa seemed to sum up her description in the only way she knew, despite being accused of being one herself). Her entire body, aside from her staggeringly pale face, was covered from head to toe in black garments. Her staff and even her large, twisting horns, that made her tall self even more intimidating, were wrapped in black. Elsa already felt outnumbered, even without the crow who returned to his mistress's side.

"Well, well…"

When the woman spoke, her voice was deceitfully soft, and yet still rang mightily off the surrounding walls, a hint to Elsa that even at this witch's most serene she was far more threatening than she herself ever could be. She couldn't even read her expressions. Was she mocking her? Or did she actually find something interesting about her?

"When the queen asked me to kill you, I didn't realize how… docile you'd be."

Elsa stepped back. Kill her? Was she to suffer the same fate as that poor man? She wouldn't be able to escape the crows, she thought, noticing them starting to flock around the tops of the pillars and gravestones.

She began to stroke the wings of her companion with her ring finger. The sorceress was biding her time for some reason, evidently since she had yet to order her crows to peck her eyes out. "I expected more resistance from you, considering your talents."

Her talents? Did she mean her ice powers? She supposed that the queen told this strange woman about them, along with everything else… Elsa remained silent for a few moments, unsure of what part of herself she felt more shame for.

"And who are you?" Elsa asked, trying to hold back the aggravation in her voice.

The woman sneered at the attitude given, raising her nose pretentiously. "My name, little bird, is Maleficent."

"Well, Maleficent, I certainly wouldn't call them talents." Regret flickered across her face. "But I don't use those. Not anymore."

"Is that so?" Her chin tilted down. "Not even for your precious Anna?"

Elsa's hands started trembling at the mention of her sister. "I can free her from that corrupt queen without my powers. I've gotten this far."

"You'll need them soon enough." Maleficent swung her staff back, the crow flying off from the sudden movement. When she brought it forward, bright violet bolts of lightning cracked, being hurled right in Elsa's direction.

She'd already began to move at the first sign of the sorceress moving her staff, and ducked behind a stone cross that was bigger than she was. Another crack of lightning destroyed the gravestone and Elsa started running to the door she came from.

She knew she couldn't really escape, she would only be hunted from that point on. A pillar of green fire rose from the grass, stopping Elsa from going up the stairs to her passage out, revealing the witch from the center outward. Startled, Elsa reacted by bringing her hand up, trying to project fire from her palm using the Devil's Kiss vigor.

When nothing happened, she looked down at her hand, expecting to see embers crackling in it. Her hand looked just as it did before. Why didn't it work? Were all those aftereffects of the vigors temporary as well?

"Foolish girl," Maleficent said, her voice palpably dry. "You have such power, and yet you are too weak to use it to save the one you love."

"Why, then?" Elsa asked. "You know I'm trying to save my sister, why do you attack me?"

"Because as much as you love your sister...it seems I love Aurora more."

"W-what?"

"The Snow Queen has offered her services to me," Maleficent explained. "And should you fall, she will lift the curse on the one I love."

"Then help me!" Elsa said. "We can save them both-"

"How could we?" asked Maleficent, "When you will not save yourself?"

She simply pointed a finger at Elsa, and without another word, the murder of crows flew at her with impossible speed with their beaks wide open and their talons outstretched. There was nowhere to run, and it would be useless to just start flailing her sky hook at the birds. The only thing she thought to do was block her face with her arms, expecting the ceaseless scratching and tearing from enraged birds.

None of that came. When Elsa looked up, what she saw terrified her. The birds at the front of the line were encased in a wall of solid ice, that had shot up from the ground. The rest of the crows scattered about, trying not to have collisions with the ice barrier; some weren't as lucky and fell to the ground with broken necks.

A whimper escaped Elsa's throat, wincing at the innocent lives she just took. Her first time using her powers in so long, and she used them to kill these poor creatures.

She saw a horned shadow out of the corner of her eye, and deliberately cast her hands toward the ground and projected a jagged fence of ice to keep Maleficent away from her. There was no point in running, but she did regardless, sliding behind one of the larger gravestones.

She knew that Maleficent had every intention of killing her, and part of Elsa knew how easy it would have been for her. But she was prolonging this fate, playing cat and mouse, and for what? To frighten her into slipping up? In her frenzy, she may just end up hurting herself.

Realistically, she couldn't have messed up any more than by not fighting back to protect herself. But just because Maleficent wanted to kill, didn't mean Elsa had to.

There had to be an escape route. But where there might be some hope to flee, Maleficent appeared in a burst of green flames. And if Elsa shot ice toward her, she would disappear again, even though she probably knew that Elsa wasn't really trying to hit her, so much as keep her away.

Then again, the only place Maleficent never appeared, was up. And outside was right there, she could make it and then leap to the rooftops. She clenched her fists and stomped one foot on the ground, causing the grass around her freeze solid. She raised her hands to the ceiling and the icy platform began to elevate.

Elsa's eyes snapped downward, feeling something snaking around her ankles. Breaking through the ice were sharp, dark thorns, growing thicker as they coiled up her body, constraining her arms, pushing her upward. The ice beneath Elsa's feet crumbled, her weight pulled her down onto the briers, snagging her skin and making her cry out. Her blood trickled down the spines as she struggled to pull herself upward to keep them from going deeper.

Again, searching for any means of escape, she looked up, coming face to face with Maleficent, who appeared to be even taller than before. She engulfed herself in green flames, her silhouette just barely visible behind them as they both grew to the height of the queen's statue.

Once the flames dispersed, a dragon stood, heat radiating from it's mouth, it's eyes narrowing to paper-thin slits. It's horns shared the same shape as Maleficent's, indicating that it was her in a more monstrous form. Wicked laughter came from the dragon's maw, causing Elsa to back into the thorns constraining her at a pitiful attempt to get away.

Maleficent hunched her neck, curling around her prey, and bringing her teeth up to Elsa's body. The heat emitting from the dragon's mouth was causing her to sweat profusely, stinging when it mixed into her wounds.

She had too many close calls in such a short time, from the start of all of this. But this was bigger than her. How did she think she could save Anna from this of all things? She really was a fool.

The dragon reared her head back, jaws opening wide, revealing a bright green interior, and slowly her mouth neared to close around her.

It couldn't end like this. Elsa shook her head. Anna needed her.

She would do anything for Anna.

Elsa screamed, forcing a large burst of icy magic from her chest, hitting everything in her proximity. The walls of the building, a few other crows, and the dragon. Maleficent screamed, clutching at her chest and falling to the ground, causing the thorns to wilt as her strength left her.

"No! No, no, not again!" Elsa stumbled from the barbs, ignoring her fresh cuts, and ran towards the dragon, which slowly melted back into the form of a horned woman. "No, please, I didn't mean it, I- Don't-" The smaller woman lifted the witch up into her arms. She was cold, even through her robes.

Maleficent groaned, bringing her hand up to her chest yet again. "The Songbird - don't kill her. What was done to her can be fixed." Her hand suddenly grasped Elsa's arm, tightly. "You have to save her," she said. "Please. Save - save Aurora."

Her hand fell to her side, limply. "I had wings," she said, looking past Elsa, to the sky. "Once. They were strong." Blue color crept from her chest, slowly radiating outwards, freezing her into solid ice. "I'm sorry."

A final puff of air, frozen into a white cloud, escaped her lips, and Maleficent moved no more.

Elsa's fingers scrambled against the smooth surface of the ice as she tried to will the effects to reverse, to bring the witch back to life. Maleficent had been just like her, just as desperate, and the Snow Queen had used her and discarded her just as cruelly as she had done to Elsa herself.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered to the unmoving form in her arms. "I didn't - I'm sorry."

She gingerly lowered Maleficent's body onto the ground, and blinked away tears she didn't know were there. She unenthusiastically stood straight. Reliving those past few moments, and without paying attention to her surroundings, she dragged her feet up a flight of stairs that happened to lead where she needed to go.

The angel statue was closer than ever, and for once it actually brought comfort to Elsa, as little amount as it was. She took it as a sign that she was just another step closer to having her sister in her arms again.

She had to press on. Anna was waiting for her. And if it was in any way conceivable, Elsa silently promised to try and free this Aurora for Maleficent's sake. After yet another accidental murder...it was the least she could do.

Elsa hurried to the station nearby. She was feeling so drained after everything, she just couldn't wait to rest inside the gondola even if it was just for a few minutes. It would take her to the island, and allow her to rest her feet and regain her strength, the little she had of it to begin with.

No workers should have been around after all the warnings and panic from everyone, but one couldn't be too careful. Elsa quietly made her way around the walls until she got to the gondola that led to and from Monument Island. She tried jiggling the lever to turn it on. It wouldn't budge. The power had been completely shut down due to the recent emergency. Her.

Not again! No! Elsa thought to punch the lever to get it to move, but a single grain of sense let her not. She whipped around, squeezing her eyes shut, and furiously wiped her bangs back.

This was hindering her enough as it was, but being denied a moment to sit down was nearly the final straw on the mountain of discouragement for Elsa. When she felt the tears well up again, she did something she ought to do more often, and took a deep breath. And then another.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw that the rail for the gondola was not that much different from the other skyrails. If she coasted down the railing on her skyhook, she'd be able to make it to the skyline station, and take a zeppelin to the island. Then she and Anna could use that same zeppelin to get out of this place.

Taking one more cleansing breath, she mentally prepared herself to hang on to that skyhook and never let go until she reached the main skyline station.

Like the first time, Elsa tested her grip on the weapon, and did a running leap, much longer than the last one. It sent her flying down the skyrail quicker than expected. Her arm only hurt a little bit and it felt like the wind was carrying her as she drifted. While the pain was small, and she felt like she could almost touch the angel statue, she did not want to chance making it to the island without some type of footing beneath her.

Then a demand echoed throughout the entire city. "Stand down!"

Elsa could recognize the Snow Queen's voice anywhere. Despite the threat, Elsa leapt onto the sidewalk of the next building as planned. It was close and she managed to catch herself lightly. What she did not expect to see was a large group of men, kneeling. What she expected to see even less was none of them making an attempt to capture her.

She walked up the stairs of the station, and saw a video of the queen, which everyone was bowing to. As she spoke, all she could do was glare at the cause all of this. All at once, she felt anger for what she did to these people, to her, to Anna, and to Maleficent.

"I know why you've come, Elsa. I see every weakness in your soul: your fear, your cowardice. Your guilt. And of course...Anna." Elsa's jaw clenched. "And now, to repay a debt, you've come for my lamb. But not all debts can be repaid, Elsa."

How dare she speak about her that way. How dare she even speak at all. "You don't know me." Was all she could say, when in the back of her mind, all she wanted to do was throw curse words at her. She didn't even curse.

"Oh, but I do know you, Elsa. I know you better than you know yourself." The queen smiled at her purposely, trying to get a reaction out of her. Elsa would make certain she wouldn't give that to her. She would give her nothing anymore.

Elsa suddenly felt a change, her eyes blurred and white framed her vision. She brought two of her fingers up to her nose. They presented thick drops of blood on them. What was she doing to her?

The video shut off, just as her vision cleared, and her nose stopped bleeding. But the threats kept coming over the speakers. "Go back to the sodom from whence you came!"

She ignored the voice and traversed through the station until she found one of the many empty aircrafts. She eventually located the control room, and discovered that the zeppelin wasn't quite as empty as she'd thought. There was a nun praying to a picture of the queen, and she was surrounded by candles. It wasn't Elsa's ideal flying companion, but she wasn't causing any harm standing there. Even if she did blindly follow this insane queen of hers.

Now how could she fly this thing? It had about five more levers than necessary, and too many buttons to get acquainted with. And she needed to be airborne that instant.

"Amen."

Elsa whipped her head around just in time to see the nun drop a flaming bottle onto herself. The entire control room burst into flames, and, barely thinking except to get away from the explosion, Elsa leapt through the window.