Chapter Twenty-Four: As Forces Draw Near

Rapunzel had always considered herself an early riser. Even when she moved into her parents' castle, she was almost always the first in her family to prepare for the day. Her parents often worked late into the night and consequently made up for it in the mornings, while Eugene himself had never been much of a morning person at all.

Given that experience, it was quite a surprise to find not one but two people at the breakfast table before her.

Elsa was giggling as she finished weaving a thin braid to frame the side of Alphonse's face, falling right beside his defined, and at the moment very pink cheekbone. The rest of his hair was tied in a loose tail, a stark contrast to the ebony curtain that usually framed his face. Rapunzel, her presence still unknown, thought it made him seem … freer, more open. And she had never seen Elsa play with anyone's hair, not even Anna's.

"You two are so cute," Rapunzel commented, causing both to flinch in surprise, eyes wide. Ah, so they expected to be alone? That only made it cuter! Rapunzel sat across from Elsa and helped herself to some porridge. "Sorry about interrupting," she said lightly. Both Elsa and Alphonse turned red and glanced at each other before fidgeting and starting their breakfast.

"So Elsa, what's the plan for today?" Rapunzel asked, her constant enthusiasm never wavering. Elsa smiled at the question.

"I'm glad you asked, Rapunzel. A few months ago, I decided to take a leaf from your book." Rapunzel tilted her head to the side, like she always did when she was confused. "You and Eugene make a point of interacting with your people every week; or that's what you said in one of your letters." Rapunzel nodded, her smile showing she knew where this was going. "I've decided to try and do the same. Anna constantly says I should get out of the castle, and recent events," she glanced at Alphonse with a grin, "have shown that she's right. I was actually planning to start this week anyway."

Rapunzel clapped in excitement. In her time spent in Arendelle, she knew that the people adored their queen. This would be good for them; and it would be good for Elsa to take a regular break from the monotony of paperwork (she would know; Rapunzel hated paperwork).

"Why don't you take Alphonse and I with you?" she asked suddenly. Both seemed surprised by the suggestion, but Rapunzel ploughed through. When she had an idea, it usually kept unfolding in a line of intuition. "The people haven't been introduced to him yet, right?" She knew she was right; it would have shown up in their stories otherwise. "So use this as an opportunity to introduce them to their new hero." She smirked. "To their queen's hero," she added suggestively.

Elsa kept her face neutral at that last part, but she had to admit that Rapunzel had a good point. Alphonse had been responsible for saving Arendelle itself at least twice, and that was not counting the times he had saved the royal family. Elsa looked to Alphonse, the question in her eyes. Alphonse looked away and back before nodding.

"I'll do what you think is best," he answered. Elsa gave him a soft smile. Seems they were all going to town today.

As the sun rose through the sky that morning, a young farmer's son was leading his mule laden with crops to the city. He had done this a hundred times before, and would continue to do so for the rest of his life. Some would call it boring; he called it secure.

But unlike other times, his path was halted by something that made his eyes widen in surprise. A ball of blue light, vaguely shaped like a person, was bobbing close to the ground. It made quiet whispering noises as it beckoned him closer. This was a Will o' the wisp, just as his gramma had spoken of in her stories.

The farmer took a step back in suspicion. Like most of those who lived in and around Arendelle, he was not frightened of magic itself; the queen's benevolent powers showed that it was not all evil. But that didn't mean creatures of the supernatural could not be mischievous, if not outright harmful.

A rustling in the trees jerked his attention from the wisp, and he clutched the carved rod he carried in case of bandits. It came as quite a shock when something far different than bandits tumbled from the trees.

It was a girl … a beautiful girl. She had shining chestnut hair that fell past her waist like a smooth waterfall, framing a dainty face. Large brown eyes gazed at him with both tiredness and fear. A blanket was wrapped around the girl's body in place of a dress, reaching her knees, and dirt marred her bare feet. She stood with her hands folded before him, a picture of demureness.

"Excuse me," she asked, "how far away is Arendelle?" The young farmer stood for several moments, simply staring as a blush creeped up his neck and painted his cheeks. He swallowed before gesturing vaguely down the road.

"F-f-few hours," he oh-so-eloquently explained. The girl's features lit up with joy, making her even more beautiful than before and she giggled and kissed his cheek before bolting down the road, her laugh like an angel's echoing from the trees.

For several moments, the young farmer stood rooted in his spot, watching the place where he had last seen the mysterious girl. After a while he shook it off, assuming it was merely a daydream, and moved his mule along.

There was no way such a lovely girl would be all the way out here.

As the sun continued its trek through the sky, Anna sank down to her knees in one of the castle gardens. Yes, she had heard about Elsa, Rapunzel, and Alphonse taking a trip into town, but she couldn't shake off the Dream she'd had. She needed to know about these men that were coming.

Anna took a deep breath and let it out, repeating the action until she felt as calm as could be. She connected herself to magic and gently separated her Awareness from her body, just as Freya had taught her.

Anna took a moment to look at herself while in this state. She grinned as she wondered what anyone would think seeing her perfectly still. They'd probably think that the world was ending. Then again, it probably would if they weren't successful. Anna glanced at Kristoff leaning against a tree, hammer held loosely in his fist as he kept his senses open for danger. Anna marvelled at the aura that seemed to trickle around him, from the crown of his head and down. Like the Lights that swam through the night skies.

Anna shook herself, unnecessary in her spirit-form but still good for focus, and looked up. Criss-crossing the sky was a series of thin, glowing strings. Freya had described them as the Threads of Fate that connected the pieces of Destiny's Web, visible only to those deemed worthy to see them. She had never said exactly who chose whom to see them, but it didn't matter - Anna could see them.

The princess floated up and examined the threads. A closer look showed that they were not just one, but rather a loose braid of thin strings of … something. Each one was a different color and they would came together above the castle, woven together for some distance, and then split off into separate directions. The threads were constantly shifting; swaying in the non-existent winds, dissolving as important events and people broke apart, reforming as more came back together.

After some time examining the threads in front of her, Anna gently grasped a violet-and-gold thread between her fingers. The princess yelped as the thread jerked her along, speeding across the material world at impossible speeds. After what seemed like only a few moments, Anna arrived at a large plain. A large group was moving across the plain, the thread seeming to form from their collective life energies. It rose as motes of energy before condensing and weaving into the thread that she had followed.

Anna appeared before them, floating to keep up as she examined one of the strange men at the edge of the formation. He couldn't be any older than his mid-twenties, and yet his hair was shot through with streaks of grey. All of them had grey in their hair. His eyes were brown, the whites somehow tinted violet. In the Spirit World, his scars glowed a faint sickly green. All of the men were moving fast with a loping stride. The sight of their movement tickled something in her memory, but it was forgotten as the man before her glanced to the side and his eyes narrowed. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought he looked into her eyes!

The man gave a sound suspiciously like a bark and the formation immediately slowed to a halt, all of them men turning in her direction. Had she been in her body, Anna wasn't sure if she would have blushed from the sudden attention or paled in fear. Freya had said that only a powerful mage could sense her in this form - what were these guys?!

The formation parted to reveal the oldest of them (or he looked like it, anyway). The man lifted his palm toward her, fingers splayed, and she unconsciously mirrored the action. Their hands would have met had she been solid, and visions flashed across her mind's eye: snarling wolves, crying infants, tears falling. The visions stopped as fast as they had begun and she looked to the leader. He nodded to her and continued on, the formation following.

Anna hadn't a moment to think before a green-gold thread tied around her waist, the connection to her body, tightened and yanked her back. The landscape sped by in a blur as she moved ever faster. Anna's eyes widened in fear as a dark lump of fog materialized beside her, keeping pace. It condensed into a feminine shape that leered at her before screeching and flying away as they neared the castle. Anna calmly braced herself-

And fell back as she reentered her body. She barely had a moment to gasp before Kristoff was helping her up, asking if she was alright. Anna nodded and allowed him to help her up before throwing her arms around his neck. Kristoff was surprised for a moment before he melted into the embrace.

After a few moments, Anna broke away to begin telling him what she had found out. "The guys from my Dream will arrive by nightfall. And-" she thought about those feminine shadows, "I need to talk to Freya." She would talk to Alphonse, but she didn't want to interrupt his time with Elsa.

Anna sat back down and concentrated inward, reaching for the deepest parts of her being as questions flew through the outskirts of her mind. Who were these men? Were they all magicians? What were those figures in the Spirit World? After some time, she opened her eyes to find herself in a small clearing scattered with broken stones, remnants of statues. On a statue's dismembered head sat the alluring Freya.

"How can I help?" the goddess asked.

As Elsa and Rapunzel led the way into the town of Arendelle, Alphonse hung back and tried to remain inconspicuous. Granted, he was taller than both women, but perhaps the presence of their queen and the princess of Corona would draw their attention away? As people approached to greet the royals, others hung back and stared at Alphonse, whispering behind their hands.

Apparently not.

Alphonse was loathe to admit it, but he was not at all comfortable with this idea. Even as a child, before everything had been taken from him and he had been picked up by those damned birds, he had never been comfortable around crowds. That sensation had only grown as he learned magic and became involved in the Ashland community.

So engrossed in his thoughts and the sick feeling in his gut, Alphonse flinched at the feeling of someone's hand on his shoulder. He relaxed when he realized it was Elsa, looking at him with concern shining in her eyes. "Are you okay?" she asked. Alphonse wrung part of his cloak in his hands before gently shaking his head.

Elsa gave him a kind smile and brushed the back of her hand against his cheek. "Relax," she said, "they'll love you." Here words summoned numerous memories of towns just like this one chasing him out with farming tools and torches, blaming him for the monster he had killed for them or simply fearing the magic he used. Needless to say, the queen's words didn't help much. Elsa opened her mouth to tell him to return to the castle, but she didn't get the chance.

"People of Arendelle!" Rapunzel shouted with joy, "it is my pleasure to formally introduce the man who saved your kingdom and your queen!" She turned and gestured to Alphonse, who paled and wrapped his cloak around himself. Elsa shot Rapunzel a cool look of disapproval, which made the princess fidget.

Alphonse was about to simply turn into a raven and fly away when he felt something tug at the hem of his cloak. The mage looked down to find a young girl persistently tugging, an excited smile on her face. She tugged again, and Alphonse realized she wanted him to come down to her level. Instead, Elsa gracefully knelt to address the child.

"Did he really save you, your majesty?" the girl asked. Elsa smiled warmly and gently bopped the girl's nose.

"Yes, he did. He's my hero," she answered honestly. The little girl gasped and latched herself onto Alphonse's leg in a hug.

"Thank you, mister Alphonse!" she said. "Thank you for saving our queen!" The little girl let go and ran to her mother, talking excitedly about the "nice queen's hero". Like the crack in a dam, more children approached to ask questions. "Is it true you have magic, like the queen?" "Did you kill that big snake in the fjord?" "How did you save the queen?" Pretty soon, even the adults were trying to ask questions, shouting over each other to be heard by the queen and her champion.

A sharp whistle cut through the air, drawing attention to Rapunzel. "Wouldn't it be better to hear the actual story?" she asked loudly. The crowd spoke to each other before shouting in agreement, shouting for the story.

Elsa and Alphonse looked to each other and Elsa smiled mischievously. She summoned her magic and fired it into the sky, bringing snow to fall upon the town and drawing gasps and awe from the crowd. She gestured at Alphonse, prompting him to do something.

Alphonse grinned, his apprehension fading away, and embraced the flow of magic. Harnessing the rune of fire, just as he had on the night of the draugr attack, Alphonse flicked his wrist to spin a rope of fire that shot through the air, twisting and turning into the shape of a dragon. The construct of fire turned in on itself to morph into a collection of fiery butterflies that scattered into the winds.

"If you must blink," Alphonse said as he willed fog to rise from the fjord, "do it now. For if you look away, if you fidget, if you waver in the slightest, our heroes will surely perish!" He cast images into the fog, illustrations of their tale.

All three smiled in anticipation.

Far from the castle, on Loki's new island, a woman dressed only in a black chemise gasped in ecstasy as her Awareness returned to her body. She giggled and stood up to stretch, showing off her curves. All of her kind were young and lovely, thanks to the dark magics they employed. As she gently traced with elaborate tattoo of black thorns that traced the side of her face, from the temple to the cheekbone, a chill ran up her spine as she sensed someone behind her, watching her. She glanced backward to find Loki (or was it Hans now?) watching her with lidded eyes.

The witch took her time dressing in her off-the-shoulder black dress before tying back her waist-length hair in an elaborate braid. Only then did she step off the stone pedestal she had been working on and address the fallen prince.

"What did you discover?" Hans asked. The dark-vala shrugged elegantly with a sultry grin before answering.

"She has potential," the vala answered, "and learns quite fast. But she is still weak. Freya was the best of us," she grit her teeth as she said so; just because it was true didn't mean she had to like it, "but she has none of the skill of goddess." The witch chuckled as she brought to mind the girl's wide-eyed fear at the sight of her in the Spirit World. Yes, the girl was weak, inexperienced.

"Then why is she still alive?" Hans asked snidely. The witch looked up at him with narrowed eyes. Yes, she was insulted by his lack of respect, but more than that how had he known so clearly that the princess still lived? As if sensing her internal question, Hans scowled.

"I know that all of them are alive," he growled, eye twitching. "Their lives claw at my soul like the sound of metal scratching across stones. All of them. The Snow Queen, the Princess, the Mage. Even the Sun and my enemy's son." Hans bared his teeth at the thought of Baldr's heir. He had been insufferable during the Eternal Winter when he and his wife had tried to help with such … purity, and his very existence was an insult to Loki. He hardened his gaze, throwing the witch off guard with channeled madness. "So … why is she alive?" he asked.

The dark-vala hesitated before answering. "The sorcerer has protected the castle with runic wards. None of my sisters can come close to the place. Even being in the city itself is ... difficult." It galled her to admit that a mere man was so talented with magic. Odin himself had been the standard for which the few men brave or foolish enough to dabble had striven for. In older times, these men were ridiculed for using magic, a woman's power, even as they were grudgingly respected for their powers.

"So your 'powers' are useless, then," Hans grinned. The dark-vala hissed in fury.

"We are still powerful," she all-but-shouted. "We could wipe that overgrown fishing village off the map! One man cannot stop us, now matter who he was Before!" Hans lifted her chin with his fingers, forcing her to look into his eyes. The dark-vala couldn't help the blush that rose to her cheeks. Yes, she was decades older than him, but he truly was a handsome specimen.

"I never doubted it, and clearly neither do you." He grinned savagely. "And speaking of said powers," he stepped aside to reveal one of the Maras; a pack leader, judging by the symbol burned into her cheekbone. The witch leered at the she-wolf even as the woman's expression remained stony. Their sisterhoods had never been "friendly" even at the best of times. "Hati, here, wishes to slay the new Sunna. What can you do to … ensure her success?" Hans asked. The vala approached the she-wolf and circled her, eyes moving up and down. The witch could sense a cloud of shame surrounding her, suppressed by pride and fury. She giggled at the thought of how that could have happened.

"I have a few ideas," the vala admitted. "But she'll have to be given over to me and my sisters for anything significant." The vala looked Hati in the eyes. "Exactly what are you willing to do, she-wolf?" she asked.

Hati glared right back. "Whatever it takes, witch," she growled. The vala sneered and mentally summoned the rest of her coven. She glanced at Hans, who had yet to leave. The message was clear: I will stay. The vala shrugged in ambivalence as her coven approached and surrounded the she-wolf.

They had work to do.

Rapunzel watched from her seat on a large cart as Alphonse showed his powers to the people of Arendelle. First, he had shapeshifted to entertain children, first into an eagle and then into a wolf. Using his newly acquired charms, he had healed a number of people from injuries and had caught arrows out of the air, both with his hands and simply stopping them in mid-air.

Now he was playing what he had called the "Fenris Game". He had told the kids and their parents to gather whatever they could to tie him up, challenging that he could break it all. They had started with ribbons and string, which had been easy. Then they had moved up to ropes of varying thicknesses, also snapped. Now they were trying a heavy iron chain, which a sailor was wrapping around his arms and shoulders.

After it was secure, Alphonse had closed his eyes and muttered in that unhearable language, his eyes flying open with a blue flash. An arc of orange light shot across the loops of the chain, severing it from the mage's body. The citizens had cheered, and Rapunzel smiled as Alphonse blushed.

Rapunzel watched intently as Elsa approached, saying something that made Alphonse laugh before they simply looked into each other's eyes. Rapunzel giggled at the sight that brought a hush to the crowd. Was this how she and Eugene were after she had been brought home? It would actually explain a lot.

Rapunzel only looked away at the sound of a commotion coming through the crowds. Curiosity piqued, Rapunzel moved to intercept the commotion, years of settling disputes in her own kingdom instilling habit. Upon a closer look, a guardsman was pushing his way through the crowds, escorting a young woman. Rapunzel gasped at the state of the man; his nose was bleeding and his skin was pale, even as his face was red with a blush. His voice was hoarse as he ordered for the crowd to move.

Rapunzel focused and began singing under her breath, summoning the magic within her. Her short hair turned blonde and her hands glowed with golden light as she placed them on the guardsman's head, letting the light heal him of whatever was wrong. As her light faded away, the guardsman coughed and shook his head before glancing around in confusion. "Where am I?" he asked. "The last thing I remember is-"

The crowd's collective gasp cut the soldier off. Rapunzel spun around to find Elsa and Alphonse trying to calm the girl that the guardsman had been escorting as she wrung something between her hands and tears streaked her cheeks. Concern rising, Rapunzel ran toward them.

"Elsa, what's going-?" The princess couldn't help but gasp as she finally realized what the girl was holding. It was a tail - her tail! The crowd was drawing closer, some shouting and pointing at the girl even as she sobbed. The girl latched onto Alphonse and buried her face into his chest as if to hide.

"Elsa?" Rapunzel asked, hoping to get a word in edgewise. Before the Snow Queen could answer, little balls of light - Will o' the wisps - appeared in a circle around them. With a sigh like a howling wind, blue flames rose up and swirled around them, obscuring the crowds.

"Oh now what?" Elsa groused.

Sorry about the long wait everyone - new job, getting used to it. And another sorry to anyone who was expecting Merida - she won't be appearing.

Leave a review guys, tell me what you think. The final battle is fast approaching!