Chapter 11: One with the Wind and Sky

"Look!" Hiro pointed at the top of a hill. "It's a...cabin." Dusk was beginning to fall, and they'd been walking for about an hour.

"Alright, let's check it out," GoGo said.

"Is this the tree?" Hiro asked. "It's...barren. There's nothing here!" Hiro turned around to see GoGo entering the old hut.

"GoGo, no!" Hiro yelled.

"Hiro, what, I'm just exploring!" she yelled back.

"I should've said this earlier," he said.

"Said what?!"

"The butterfly effect! I don't know if what happens back here always happened no matter what, or if everything changes based on whatever we change, but we can't risk it. We have to do our best not to touch anything."

"Oh, good point. Wait...Is this the tree?" GoGo said.

"I don't-," Hiro started. "Hey, look. Over there." He pointed into the woods to the east at the bottom of the hill. "Light. From a fire."

"Let's go check it out," GoGo said.

"We don't know what's over there," Hiro responded. "And what about the butterfly effect?"

"What about the chick that sacrifices children for her own twisted religion? It's all we have to go on." GoGo responded. Hiro sighed.

"We'll go look. JUST look," Hiro said.

They stealthily approached the campsite and overheard two women.

"No one can hear you except for, probably bears!" one of the women said. "So shut it!"

"Mm! Mmmm!" the other struggled.

"What?!" the other said after some rustling noises. "Spit it out, you annoying bitch!"

"They're coming! They will find me. And they won't show mercy towards you."

"Whatever. Just keep it down, or I will not hesitate before I knock you the hell out."

"Can I just ask you one question?"

"What."

"Why are taking me? What do you want?"

"You'll know soon enough. Don't worry about it. It's for the greater good, sweet-," she was cut off by a fast-flying disc to the face. Hiro and GoGo came in to help the girl.

"Wha- who? Who are you?" they could now see her pretty, round green eyes and cute, short brunette hair.

"I said no!" Hiro said. "What do we do when we go back and there's a nuclear fallout or something?! Somehow?!"

"We can't just leave her with this lunatic!" GoGo said as she cut her loose.

"Uh, guys," the girl said.

"We can't go around saving everyone we find!" Hiro said.

"Guys!"

"Well we can't-," GoGo was cut off when Hiro was hit on the head with a log, knocking him out.

"Oh, hell no!" GoGo slashed at the Asian woman, but she kept dodging.

How did that not knock her out?!

"Enough!" the woman said. "I won't be incessantly annoyed by stupid children!"

"Who are you?! That didn't even leave a mark!"

"My name is Sumiko."

"Oh my god," GoGo said under her breath.

Suddenly, Baymax flew in above them.

"My patient is unconscious. I will remove him from the area of threat," he said.

"Baymax, no!" GoGo said as he picked up Hiro.

"What sorcery is this?!" the woman shrieked. The girl sat in shock.

"I am not a sorcerer. I am from the future."

"Baymax!" GoGo said. Baymax snatched GoGo and flew off. "Ugh! Baymax, no!"

"I sense magic in those two women. They are threats. I must-,"

"We were helping her, and now you just showed two people that we were from the future! If the butterfly effect is real, we just flooded the Earth!"

"'Butterfly effect' is not in my database. Downloading now... Error, no inter- con- nec- t- connection in reach," he finished as he descended.

"Baymax, the tree was empty. Can you scan for the fruit?"

"Scanning... No results. Not enough battery capacity."

"Damn it!" GoGo was frustrated. "Hiro, wake up! Wake up!"

"Uuugh."

Baymax took a rough landing, making Hiro jump awake.

"Agh," he rubbed his head. "What happened?"

"Remember your old alchemist ancestor?" GoGo asked.

"Sumiko?"

"That was her."

Hiro's eyes widened. "No way."

"Baymax said he sensed magic in both of the girls. I think your ancestor was trying to use that girl for some kind of transmutation."

"So, she might have the fruit!" Hiro concluded.

"Exactly," GoGo answered. "But Baymax needs to charge if we're gonna get back to our time. We can get the fruit on our own."

"I am satisfied with my care," Hiro said. Baymax deflated and started charging again, and Hiro and GoGo took off towards Sumiko and Rapunzel.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Rapunzel struggled.

"Shut up!" Sumiko back handed her, making her nose bleed. Rapunzel spat in her face. Sumiko's face burned red hot with anger, making Rapunzel slightly anxious.

"You stupid bitch!" she threw her on the ground and jumped down fist first. Rapunzel rolled out of the way, jumped up, and sprinted as fast as she could away from the alchemist. Sumiko sighed, pulled out a knife, and threw it.

"Ah-!" Rapunzel gasped. "Ah- ugh-."

"Sorry, dear," Sumiko pulled the knife out of Rapunzel's shoulder. "I need you."

"They went this way," Hiro tracked. "Something went down here."

"And there's blood here," said GoGo.

"We should hurry."

"Stop! Stop right there!" a man said from the back of a horse.

"Run," Hiro said, and they took off, only to be blocked by a huge wall of ice.

"Why are you running?" Elsa asked.

"We can't really interact with other people," Hiro said.

"And we don't know you," GoGo elaborated.

"We don't want trouble," Anna said from her and Elsa's horse.

"We just want to know if you've seen a girl anywhere. She-," Eugene was interrupted.

"Green round eyes? Short brunette hair? Real cute face?" GoGo asked. Eugene jumped down from his horse.

"You've seen her?" he inquired.

"Yes. She was taken by an alchemist. Named Sumiko. There are tracks everywhere. They definitely went that way," Hiro said.

"Thank you!" Eugene hugged Hiro. "Thank you very much!"

"But, there was blood," Hiro added. Eugene looked worried. "Something happened. We have to hurry."

"Hop on!" Eugene said.

Hiro jumped up on Eugene's horse, followed by GoGo.

"I'm Hiro, this is GoGo."

"I'm Eugene."

"Elsa. My sister, Anna."

"You guys have some strange clothes," Anna said. "Where are you from?" They stayed quiet for a few seconds.

"Someplace...around the world," GoGo said.

"A few billion times,"Hiro added.

They came out at a field, offset a small distance from a road into a town.

"Okay, let's ask around the town about this alchemist. The tracks probably end at that road," Hiro suggested.

"How do we know we can trust you, kid?" Eugene asked.

"You don't. But you don't have much of a choice."

"If you try anything stupid, we will drop you," Eugene said. "I can track, myself, so it'd be no trouble."

"Got it," Hiro replied.

They coordinated ground for two groups to cover. Eugene, Hiro, and GoGo asked people on the street, and Elsa and Anna tried a tavern and split up. After asking a few people, Elsa approached a man with short, fiery red hair sitting alone at a table. He seemed to be incessantly eyeing a man across the tavern.

"Excuse me," she tapped his shoulder.

His fierce green eyes peered into Elsa's. His skin was dark and smooth and his jawline defined. He was tall and muscular.

"Yeah?" he said. His pupils dilated when he looked at her.

"I, uh, I was just wondering if you saw, perhaps, an Asian woman pass through anywhere around here?" she inquired. He suddenly took on a suspicious expression.

"No... Not recently. Sorry," he turned his gaze back towards the man.

His voice wasn't very deep. It was smooth and accented by Italian influence.

Elsa moved beside him. "Maybe, heard anything about...oh, I dunno, an alchemist?"

He looked at her urgently, as if he knew something, and Anna started talking to the man who was being eyed.

"What do you know about any alchemist?" the red-haired man asked Elsa.

Suddenly, Anna was blasted back by alchemy from the man's hand, and he tried to escape.

"Anna!"

The red-haired man whizzed by Elsa and followed.

"Hey!" Elsa yelled. "Someone check on her!" She pointed to her sister and ran after them.

"Stop!" he ordered. The man was getting away.

The red-haired man paused, his hair turned bright red, and he gestured towards the running man, making a wall of fire block his path. Elsa looked shocked. The wall moved towards them, making the man run back, and then fall over.

"No, please! Don't! I'll stop, I swear!" he begged. Anna stepped out and marveled at the scene while townsfolk scrambled in the other direction.

The Italian dropped the wall and walked towards him. He was blasted by alchemy and the man started running, but Elsa drove an ice sickle through his shoulder.

"Agh!" the man yelled and then collapsed.

"Hey, fire boy!" Elsa nudged the red-haired man.

"My name is Matteo!" he said, appearing to be in pain.

"Yeah, okay, well you better explain to us who this guy is and what you know about Sumiko."

"Elsa, Anna!" Eugene came running with Hiro and GoGo. "What happened?"

"Agh, I've been stabbed!" the man yelled in the distance. Elsa knocked him unconscious with an ice sickle, and Matteo stood up.

"We found a lead," Elsa said.

"Who is this?" Hiro asked, gesturing to Matteo.

"I am Matteo. And that is an alchemist, Leon. I've been following him to try to find Sumiko. But, unfortunately my schedule has been cut short," he said as he picked the alchemist up over his shoulder.

"And he he has the power to control fire," Anna added. "Hey, how do you know Sumiko?"

"Look, I would love to stay answer all your questions, but I'm very busy!"

"You're not even going to thank me for catching Leon?" Elsa said. Matteo chuckled.

"I was handling it," he said with a smile. He created a large wall of fire to hide himself while he got away, but Elsa sprinted into the air using ice steps to catch up. She jumped onto a church roof and then slid down right in front of Matteo.

"Damn it, woman. What do you want from me?" he said.

"Answers," Elsa replied. "And...help."

"Help with what? I have nothing more to give. Nothing for myself. I can't stay here anymore because of this spectacle, and if I don't find that woman...I will have nothing else to search for, and you and your meddling group of friends have ruined by best chance!"

"I'm sorry!" Elsa responded. Anna, Eugene, Hiro, and GoGo gathered in the background. "I know we might've messed things up, but you can't just put all of the blame on us. You don't have to like us, just...take us with you. We're gonna need you just as much as you'll need us."

Matteo was silent for a few seconds. "Fine."

Elsa smiled. "Thank you, fire boy."

"Don't thank me yet, snow girl," Matteo gestured to the rest to catch up. "You're gonna have to do things that you may not enjoy doing. At all."

Leon woke up early in the morning tied to a tree, alone, in the middle of the woods.

"Oh, no, no, no," he started struggling. "No, no." Elsa and Matteo walked into sight.

"Leon, I'm just gonna ask you a few questions, you're gonna answer them, we're gonna stop Sumiko, and then we're all gonna go home," Elsa offered.

"That's not what's gonna happen," Leon said.

"Oh?" Elsa started. "Then what is?"

"You're gonna torture me to death. Because I'm not saying a word."

"Now," Matteo said, "we both know that's not true. Sumiko wants to revive her sister, and there's nothing in it for you, especially if you're tortured to death. There's no way you're that loyal."

"So, I'm gonna ask once," Elsa said. "Where is Sumiko? And where's my cousin?"

"Burn in hell, witch."

Elsa raised her hand, but then Matteo grabbed it

"Elsa, wait," he said. Elsa looked up at him.

"You're coming on to me now? Not very good timing, fire boy."

"No, look at his neck, snow girl," Matteo said, pointing to a mark on the back of his neck.

"Oh, this is just a birthmark!" Leon said. Matteo seared the mark off, and Leon screamed and fell unconscious.

"Matteo! What did you do?!" Elsa yelled.

"He was under a spell. Probably keeping him from saying anything."

"Th-thank you," Leon said, relieved that he wasn't going to be tortured.

"Can you tell us?" Elsa asked.

"S-Sumiko...she took the g-girl...thirty or s-so miles east of the town," Leon said.

"So we were about to torture an innocent man?" Elsa said with glistening eyeballs.

"Not completely innocent," Matteo started. "He dabbled in alchemy and witchcraft. And look where it got him."

They cut him loose from the tree, but kept him contained. Elsa and Matteo returned to their group with the hostage and updated the situation. They immediately took off towards their destination. When night fell, they tied up the horses and the hostage and set up camp by a river.

"The girl," Leon started. "Sumiko is gonna sacrifice her to revive her sister. But a human transmutation takes long preparation. We can get there tomorrow and stop her. Don't worry."

"That's just messed up," GoGo stated. Matteo got up and walked off by the bank of the river.

"Eugene, I know you must be worried, but don't be," Anna comforted,"Rapunzel will be fine. I promise. "

"Thank you. I believe in her. She's strong, and stubborn as hell."

Elsa followed Matteo while the group kept talking. She sat down next to him. The water from the river washed up enough to wet their feet. They sat in silence for a minute.

"She sacrificed my parents...in a failed human transmutation," Matteo told Elsa. "I was just a kid. I wandered about for years. Tried to track her down, and now here I am."

"I think I know how you feel," Elsa said softly. Matteo looked at her intently. "My parents were lost at sea when I was eighteen. I felt so alone. And even before that, my parents...were scared of me." A tear rolled down her cheek. "I could see it in their eyes. They didn't know what to do. Sometimes I wonder if they weren't actually lost, and they just ran away." Matteo wiped the tear away with his thumb. "I couldn't control my powers, so I shut out the one person in my life. The last one on earth that I loved. And I ran because everything fell apart. But you don't have to run. Your parents would want you to live on. To love those around you. To be happy. Right?"

"You're right," Matteo responded. Elsa slowly moved her hand onto his.

"Now you make your move. Good timing, snow girl." He grabbed her hand tight and scooted closer.

"Hey, Matteo?" Elsa thought about telling him that she was a queen.

"Yeah?" he said and looked at her with piercing eyes.

"What...what are you gonna do when we stop Sumiko? Where will you go?"

"Wherever the wind and sky go."

Elsa shut her eyes and rested on Matteo's shoulder. Time got away from them, and they fell asleep.