Kristoff bundled up against the sudden gust of chilled wind and fastened the buttons to his jacket. He stood next to Sven by a nearby tree in the woods, simply resting from the evening ride. All he wanted was to be away from the festivities because he knew if he were to see her there with her betrothed he would surely become ill. He suddenly heard a muffled cry from beyond the woods calling his name, sounding a bit like Anna. Perhaps it was wishful thinking. At first he thought it was the wind, but he heard his name again only this time it was getting louder and more distinct.
"KRISTOFF! Kristoff! Please! Help!" cried Anna into the woods. Kristoff, positive that it wasn't a dream, ran toward the sound shouting back, "ANNA!"
"Kristoff! Oh thank the gods," she said out of breath. He reached out and caught her falling into an almost unexpected embrace. "What happened?" he asked.
"My sister! We must find my sister! She froze the kingdom. She's scared, I can help her," she tried to explain in between catching her breath.
"What?! Woah, slow down. What do you mean she froze the kingdom?"
"She has these powers to control ice and snow. I don't know where she got them, or how long she's had them, or why she's hidden them from me to begin with…"
"Anna, why did Elsa run away?" said Kristoff, interrupting her to get to the point.
Anna took a disappointed sigh before responding, "Hans threatened Elsa."
"He did?"
"He knew about her abilities and threatened to expose her, ruining our kingdom. And out of fear she froze him along with the palace and the entire kingdom."
"How come you didn't freeze?"
"I… I don't know."
"Well," he said bundling up as much cloth as possible to keep warm. He blew hot air into his cold hands and started rubbing them together, "I suppose her ice magic would explain the sudden drop in temperature. Where is she?" he said looking around at the peculiar weather.
"She ran towards the mountain top," pointing towards the neighboring mountains, "Just follow the trail of ice and snow."
"We'll take Sven and you can explain to me from the beginning what happened on the way there."
... ...
Elsa sought refuge beyond the mountain that bordered her kingdom. She stowed away her gloves and the first thing she changed was herself, creating a shimmering blue dress that seemed to sparkle in the afternoon sun. She felt renewed and rejuvenated, shedding the skin and horrors of her past. Amazed at her prowess, she managed to glide and maneuver traversing great distances using nothing but ice and snow in ways she only dreamt of. Now that she was away from people and couldn't hurt anybody, she allowed her imagination to run wild, testing her limits and the extent of her power. She pushed snow and pulled ice from out of thin air using nothing but her fingers and hands, all of which came to her as naturally as breathing. All this pent up anxiety, all this energy, finally released and she felt liberated. She moved forward and up creating a master staircase along the way leading up to the second floor of her ice edifice. From where she stood on her pedestal, she looked around and felt the need to make herself a new home. Like a conductor, she was directing her symphony of ice. She pointed at the ground and an epic ice wall began to shoot up from four different sides. She twirled her hands and fingers, this way and that, creating towers at different parts of her new castle. Exhausted and satisfied with her newest creation, she took in a deep therapeutic breath of winter air. For some, the air might have taken their breath away. For her, breathing in the cold was part of her and it was of no bother. She welcomed it because this was her area of expertise. Realizing that she was alone she became depressed and walked back down her recently erected staircase, standing outside the front doors of her majestic ice castle.
She fell to her knees at the bottom step and rested her exhausted head with her left hand staring at the ground. Then, the sudden realization of what she just did to get to this point hit her. Barely a Queen for a full day and she freezes her entire kingdom. What a disaster. She thought of her sister. Somehow she was spared from the frozen prison. Elsa pondered where she was at. Would she come looking for her? Would she have moved on? She continued staring at the snow and thought of a memory from her and Anna's childhood. Back to when their parents were alive and all was well and right with the world; a happy memory. Elsa recalled Anna waking her up in the middle of the night to play in the snow she would create. She remembered making snowman friends; one of which they named Olaf. With that happy memory, Elsa rippled her fingers and magically resurrected Olaf from their childhood.
"Well Olaf… it looks like it's just you and me," she said depressingly.
"And me!"
Elsa looked up to find a man of short-stature standing in front of her. The man had wavy hair and his skin, made of gold? His hair and skin were not like anything she had ever seen. "Who are you? Stay back! I could hurt you." She raised her hands to protect herself and she accidentally casted a snow flurry towards the stranger's direction. The stranger, unmoved and unafraid, simply stood still allowing the wind and snow to pass around him.
"Don't worry dearie, you need not fear me. I doubt you could hurt me anyways. Besides, I've come to help you…" his gold eyes looked up scaling her ice castle for a brief moment before looking down with a sinister grin and shrugged, "…remodel." The way he giggled gleefully gave Elsa the creeps. He seemed unnaturally excited and giddy about everything which made Elsa extremely unsure of him.
"I seriously doubt you can help me. No one can. I was born with these abilities. Everything was fine until I accidentally struck my sister in the head and… ugh, why do you care?"
"You're right. I don't care," he retorted, agreeing with her, "But I am, however, interested in what it is that you can do." His eyes widened as he pointed at her, stepping cautiously closer. Every time he spoke it seemed that with every word there needed to be a gesture that followed along with it. Every motion of his hands were theatrical and mesmerizing, almost enchanting. "Perhaps with your powers and the right tutelage from me," he continued, pointing to himself, "you can help me."
"I can help you?" she asked skeptically. The giddy golden man nodded enthusiastically. "What is your name?"
"Oh, please forgive me, where are my manners?" he cleared his throat intentionally and mockingly bowed, "my name… is Rumplestiltskin."
Elsa stood up to reciprocate a proper curtsy, introducing herself, "I am Queen El-"
"Yes, yes," said Rumplestiltskin with a low growl, impatiently cutting her off, "I know who you are, Queen Elsa."
Startled and surprised by his rudeness, she gave up on the curtsy. She didn't know how to react to his impertinence. It was as if he was living by his own rules and etiquette. She felt like she was talking to a child; a golden giddy child. "You know my name. How come I've never heard of you?"
"You've never heard of me?" He gasped in fake shock, pretending to be insulted. "Well, then again, I'm not surprised. You don't get out much, do you?" his reply both perceptive and snarky. He approached the ice door to her ice castle, temporarily ignoring her. She turned to see what he was going to do. She gambled, assuming that with his complexion that he must be cursed like her as well.
"You can perform magic?" she inquired, looking upon him curiously.
"Magic, my dear… is what I do." And on his last word he touched the door with both of his hands and color sprung into life from where he touched. A healthy shade of oak brown expanded from the point of contact and within seconds, she was face to face with an actual wooden door! He transformed her ice into an actual door.
"You… you can teach me magic?" she said, amazed and stunned.
"Dearie, you already know how to perform magic. This whole castle was made from your magic," he said, flamboyantly gesturing toward her castle, "You're actually quite a powerful practitioner and I believe, with the proper guidance, you could do much more."
"What if I don't want to do anymore? I've already done enough damage. All I want to do is control this curse and go back to fixing my kingdom."
"Well, how noble," he mocked. "If you don't want my help, I'll just continue on my merry way-" Rumplestiltskin walked away from her doorstep and proceeded to continue walking away when he heard Elsa shout, "No! Wait!"
Rumplestiltskin spun on his heels facing her, "Yes?..." awaiting her reply.
Elsa hesitated for a moment, pondering her next words. She was trying to determine what her other options were. In that brief moment, she realized that she had no other options. Say 'no' and be stuck in her current situation, or say 'yes' and risk trusting a stranger she knew little about. She needed to take a chance, if not for herself, then for her kingdom. "Where do we be begin?"
"That's the spirit!" he replied jovially, as if he already knew she wouldn't say no. "We begin by you performing more demonstrations."
Rumplestiltskin stood in front of her one moment and in a flash disappeared, only to suddenly reappear directly beside her. His sudden approach was uncomfortably close, startling her. She jumped in reaction to his quick movement and in her defense casted icicles at him in the process.
She looked over at Rumplestiltskin who had been pierced by her icicles. "Oh!" she exclaimed, half-concerned for his welfare. But seeing that he was still alive, she hesitantly asked, "Are you ok?"
"Skittish are we?" he commented while removing shards of ice from his chest and feet, apparently fine.
"I'm so sorry! Every time I get nervous or anxious, or…" she saw Rumplestiltskin and how he still didn't care how she felt, she discontinued her tangent, "You see? I can't control this without hurting someone. This is hopeless."
"True, magic does come from emotions and feelings deep within, but you need to find a happy memory to rein in your powers."
"Finding a happy memory isn't the issue. I just can't remember a moment when I wasn't scared or nervous all the time." If she wanted to be honest with herself, Rumplestiltskin made her nervous. She constantly viewed him as a threat. The way he moved and spoke gave her the creeps and the fact that she still didn't trust him made things worse and training with him that much harder.
"Hmmm…" contemplated Rumplestiltskin, coming to the same unspoken conclusion as Elsa. With magic, he could do anything, except change or manipulate the way a person feels. That was tricky and beyond his magic. For once, he became unsure how to train her. Yes, she was powerful. Yes, she could help him, however not today. Not when her magic and emotions went unchecked and undisciplined. Curious, he asked, "…and your magic… well, can you do anything else that doesn't involve ice and snow?"
Queen Elsa shook her head 'no'.
"Perhaps, if you can't control your abilities, then maybe I can help you get rid of your abilities."
"Really? You can do that? I didn't think it could ever be done," she said, thinking excitedly about a future without this curse.
"Well, now that you're interested," he said, purple smoke engulfed his hand conjuring a small metal urn.
"What is that?" she asked curiously.
"This, Snow Queen, is a receptor. If you rub this item with your hands, it will absorb your curse and you won't hurt anyone ever again."
She approached the item in his hands, hesitant and unsure of the repercussions. Another risk. He hadn't harmed her so far, in fact, she had been the one to harm him first, if not accidentally. "And this… this will take my curse away? I won't be able to hurt anybody?" she repeated back verbatim trying to reassure herself. She stared at the object contemplatively before looking up at him for affirmation. He replied with a firm nod.
Elsa thought of her sister. She was alive somewhere, she could feel it. She wanted to reconnect with her and perhaps, when all was said and done, Rumplestiltskin could help her unfreeze Arendelle. If all went well and accordingly she could get her life back.
She took a breath and placed her right hand on the object, rubbing it with the tips of her fingers. It was surprisingly warm to the touch and upon contact suddenly felt a pull towards the object. She took a timid step backwards, only she kept moving toward the object. "What is happening?!" she cried out in alarm. Blue smoke engulfed her entire body and she became immobile. "What are you doing?!" she shouted. Her body went from solid to gelatin to liquid and then into a blue gas in a matter of seconds, her contents pulling into the urn by the mysterious force until she completed disappeared.
"Good bye Snow Queen." He giggled uncontrollably. "Hmm… Snow. Queen." He amused himself over the irony of the last two words. It gave him another serendipitous echo, like he would be saying those words quite often in the future. Seeing into the future gave off an almost tingly sensation, which only confirmed that his future was on track to the right path; The path to seeing and reuniting with his son again.
"Now a place to put you," he said to himself. He looked fondly at the castle and the convenience of it. "This will do just fine." And with a snap of his fingers, ice turned to rock, walls became fortified and redefined by color. The oak door opened at his will and the interior became flooded and decorated with items and other nick-knacks he collected from his travels and deals. The interior was simple and dark, just as he liked it. "Well Bae," Rumplestiltskin reflected sadly to himself, "this is your castle. It's even better than we dreamed about." He took a moment to marvel the exterior of the castle. The Dark Castle was majestic and enormous, but as much as he wanted to glorify it, he had nobody to share his treasure with. The depressing thought loomed over him but he pressed forward, entering the impressive castle too big for one man, alone.
Thanks again to Montreat11 and Grace5231973 for your reviews. I'm super stoked you guys are enjoying the chapters. I apologize to my Rumbellers up front, because I'm writing in the style of OUAT and they don't typically feature just Rumplestiltskin and Belle. I promise, once we get through the Frozen debacle in Storybrooke, the literature will be more Rumbelle focused. And for you new readers out there, don't be shy. Feel free to review and let me know what you think! I want to hear the good and bad.