CHAPTER TWELVE

The Siphon

"Anna!"

Elsa burst through the doors of the surgery wing of the Snow Queen's castle. Anna's entire body was strapped to an operating table, surrounded by giant burning lights and machines. The unsympathetic doctor stood back, watching the defenseless young girl screaming, crying, and begging for them to stop as she writhed violently from the torturous device attached to her back.

Above them and across the room was an enclosed balcony overlooking the surgery, and standing in the middle was the Snow Queen herself, scrutinizing the practice below.

"What are you doing?" Elsa demanded.

The Snow Queen's lip curled. "Protecting Anna, like you should have done."

Elsa gestured to her weeping sister. "You call this protecting her?"

The Snow Queen shook her head. "A last resort. I kept her safe in that tower for thirteen years, until you put her in harm's way. You destroyed her home. You took her who-knows-where in this city, endangering her, placing her in the midst of combat-"

"Combat with your soldiers!"

The other woman shrugged. "Details. I tried to give Anna the childhood she deserved, until you tore her away from her life and forced my hand." She gestured at the scene below. "This is your doing, Elsa. Every time you try and help her, you make things worse." She shrugged. "If you weren't so selfish, you'd see that she'd be better off without you."

"I am...far from perfect," Elsa admitted. "But I'm a hundred - a thousand times better for Anna's well being than you are."

The Snow Queen frowned. "So be it," she said, and turned.

"Let her go!" Elsa demanded, freezing the thick glass dividing her from Anna, who was continuing to weep uncontrollably. But the glass was too thick to break through, and the Snow Queen ignored her cry, closing the door to the balcony behind her.

Elsa screamed angrily, stomping on some of the cords that were spread throughout the room. Ice formed from her shoe, and grew around the giant cables, continuing to follow their trail out the other doors.

Freezing the cords caused the power to short out.

"She shut down the siphons!" shouted the doctor - judging from his voice, Elsa figured he was Weselton. "The specimen is-No!"

A tear opened, changing the walls surrounding the entire operating theater into a grim, stormy countryside. Wind was blowing violently, and it was not caused by Elsa's magic, but a twister in the distance, speeding right towards them.

"Melt the ice! Turn it back on! Please!" he begged, clinging to the operation table as the wind picked him up. Elsa had nothing to hold on to to keep her from being swept away from the tornado. She turned away from the scene and sat against the glass, keeping her arms over her head as she was buffeted by bits of wood and debris. She could only pray that the glass was strong enough to hold.

The scream of Weselton could be heard through the roaring of the wind as he was sucked into the twister. Elsa braced herself. And then there was silence.

The tear to the storm had disappeared, and Elsa was back in the surgery wing. She looked back and saw that the siphon machines and lights had been taken by the tornado. Half of the theater was destroyed, with planks of wood thrown across the floor. Anna thankfully had not shared Weselton's fate. She was still strapped to the table, which was strongly bolted to the floor.

Elsa ran around the broken glass wall to Anna, who was panting from exhaustion. Tears had dried to her cheeks. She was bruised all over, scrapes and cuts fresh from the twister's debris. Elsa felt she could've died from heartbreak right there.

She freed her sister from the restraints, practically ripping apart the leather straps that were binding her ankles, legs, waist, and wrists. Then she took her hand and raised her head, and with a whimper, Anna shakily sat up on her own.

"Elsa…"

"You're okay, Anna," Elsa choked. "I've got you…"

Anna threw her legs over the side of the table, revealing the device attached to her spine. It wasn't a device that was simply placed on her back. It was a syringe as thick as her forearm, with a needle injected into her spine. Her poor, brave little sister... How could the Snow Queen torture her like this? That woman was a demon, and she needed to be sent back to hell where she belonged.

She firmly grabbed the back of the syringe with her hand, Anna's shoulder was gripped with the other hand.

"I'm going to pull it out now," she warned.

"Please make it fast…" Anna mumbled weakly.

The needle was yanked from her back with a disgusting wet sound. Anna cried out, half laughing as a response to the new pain. It left her with a perfectly circular purple and red bruise directly between her shoulder blades. Her breathing was heavy at first, but slowed down when she realized Elsa was still there.

The older woman clung to the younger one tight enough for both of them. Anna barely had the strength to lift her arms around Elsa's waist to hug her properly. Elsa could feel her shaking in her embrace, but her eyes were too dried out to let tears fall.

They stayed like that for minutes, though they knew time was running out. She just had to let her sister feel safe for once, even if it was only for a short time. They were together again, and nothing would tear them apart.

How many times have you made that promise in the last few days?

Elsa pushed the thought away. Anna needed her, she had no time for Elsa's insecurities.

Anna finally had the energy to cry into Elsa, and cling to her desperately, asking her what took her so long. Elsa couldn't answer her right away. It took everything within her to keep from crying herself. She had to be strong for her sister's sake. She continued to let her cry.

Once Anna had calmed down enough to stop crying, Elsa handed to her the piece of paper with the notes written on it from future Anna.

"Someone asked me to give you this."

"What is it?" Anna asked through a dry swallow, and attempted to read it as Elsa tied up her bodice, not too tight, but tight enough so it wouldn't fall when she began to walk. She explained where she was, how she met the other Anna, and what she told her.

"You mean she… I… I'm the one who… takes her place?" The young woman looked like she was about to panic, knowing that Elsa met her future self, and it was somebody who'd willingly followed the Snow Queen and did her dirty work for her.

"You can't become that Anna if you're away from the Snow Queen and living in Paris." Elsa corrected.

"Elsa, we can't leave." Anna said solemnly, shaking her head. "She'll chase after us, you know she will. And I won't allow her to turn me into a… monster." She growled the last word. She was hurt, and had rage burning inside her. But she sounded like she was going to take actions that Elsa knew her Anna would never want to take.

"And what are you going to do? Kill her?"

"She won't get away with this…"

"Enough, Anna. You can't kill her." Elsa understood how she felt. So badly, she wanted the Snow Queen dead. She ruined their lives, and she deserved to die. But she was not going to let Anna taint herself with someone else's blood on her hands.

"And why not?" her sister asked, her body slumped in defeat.

"Because I'm going to do it for you."

Much to Elsa's regret, Anna had been tortured by the queen for a while, but she couldn't recall exactly how long. Just the same, Anna had refused to give up on Elsa, and hung on to the belief that she would come back for her. She did learn a few things while she was strapped to her chair. She'd learned the location of the Snow Queen, and learned that the gondola outside would take them directly to The Hand of the Queen, which was a zeppelin she used as a personal warship. They would reach her at the top of it.

Or, Elsa considered, if she were wiser, she'd just take Anna to Paris, kicking and screaming if she had to.

The two kept silent after that. Elsa didn't want Anna to overexert herself by talking too much, so she said little that needed a response. Despite Anna's desire to move around, her body wouldn't let her. Several times she nearly collapsed from exhaustion and fatigue. Elsa crouched in front of her with her back to her.

Anna was confused about Elsa's gesture, but Elsa insisted that she was going to try to carry her to the trolley.

Carrying her sister all the way up to the roof was a reminder of how much of a weakling she was. She'd barely scraped by throughout this entire journey by using her magic, being as frail as a kitten physically, and she was about to stupidly take on the Snow Queen - who had far more control over her powers - when she couldn't even piggyback Anna without her knees wobbling from the extra weight. She was pathetic. Any fight she had so far had been won by using her magic, without any skill or finesse, to overpower people far better at combat than she. What was she going to do to the queen?

Give her an easy target, no doubt. She also wouldn't put it past her to chase after them, even if they simply left.

There was really only one option.

Opening the door to the roof, Elsa nearly slipped on ice that had frozen over the entire expanse. She set Anna down, offering her her arm for support, which her sister took. They carefully walked to the gondola that would take them to the Zeppelin. The ice was sharp and uneven, and man-sized hurdles were scattered all over the place and at the base of various angel statues. When Elsa got a closer look, those hurdles were actual men, Vox Populi judging from the red clothes they wore, frozen to the roof. This was obviously the work of the Snow Queen.

When they reached the gondola, Elsa pulled the lever to get it to head towards its predetermined destination. Anna leaned against Elsa's shoulder, pulling her close to her body by her waist.

"Elsa?" she whispered, just loud enough to talk over the wind. "Do you think it's possible... that the two of us could live happily ever after together?"

She had to think about what Anna meant by that. She had a feeling she already knew, by the way Anna was looking up into her eyes. "Of course, Anna," she said, turning so they were facing each other.

In their time together Elsa had come to know Anna through a series of closed doors, barriers built out of fear and anger that held them apart. That separation had come to define them both, but in this moment those doors were crumbling away to leave Anna bare before her. Clear eyes shone with an undeniable love no longer held back, an affection that she had kept guarded in secret for all this time. But the accidental lies she had built all of this upon burned with a guilty weight into her heavy heart.

She knew Anna only felt this way because Elsa hadn't been completely honest with her, even if it wasn't deliberate.

"Anna..." she breathed softly, trying to contain herself. She took her hands. "Before anything else happens, I need to tell you that I'm..."

And Anna was kissing her.