Krista would have appreciated the amazing palace a lot more had a menacing ice dragon not been chasing them through halls and rooms. The only thing stopping it were the small arches and hallways it had to squeeze through, otherwise it would have caught up a long time ago. The sound of its wings scarping against the ice were her only way of telling how far it was, because she did not dare risk taking a look behind them.
The inside was even more beautiful. But she had mere seconds to appreciate every intricate carving on the walls and on the columns, which was upsetting. Even more upsetting was Andy's labored breathing and the effort on his face while they ran.
Elliott had struck him with his powers. The stubborn Prince would probably deny it, but Krista saw it herself. Their argument had been so loud, she heard it from outside. It had got to a point where she decided to just go in and stop them. She saw the magic fly in all directions, and a good portion of it managed to hit Andy square in the chest. Elliott had had his back turned, so she doubted he saw— or that he'd meant to do it in the first place. The dragon, though, that had been intentional. A "goodbye I don't want you here" would have been enough in her opinion, but the King just had to go that extra mile.
She wondered if something similar to that had happened all those years ago, when the King and Queen brought the two boys over to the trolls. "Ah, it's just his head," she remembered Grand Pabbie saying, "Good thing it was not the heart. That is tricky to change. But the head can be persuaded."
That wasn't exactly comforting.
Neither was General Winter, clinging to her back because his stubby legs couldn't carry him very far or very fast. He kept taunting the dragon, making it madder.
"Let me at him, m'girl, I'll bash its bloody head in," and then, to the dragon, he yelled "YOU HEAR THAT? I'LL BASH—"
"Can you stop—"
"Why? Afraid I'll hurt his feelings? AFRAID I'LL HURT YOUR UGLY FEELINGS—"
The dragon roared as they rounded a corner and its face came crashing against the wall, the brute had tried to lunge for them. General Winter cackled like a maniac in her ear, whooping at the dragon's groan of pain. Krista almost smiled, but Andy's gasps for air stopped her. With the dragon distracted for a little bit, she guided them to a door that was almost see-through, the ice so fine she worried it would just shatter if she pushed the door open. Light filtered through, so that room probably was better lit then the rest of the palace.
It pained her to destroy such beautiful work, but it was either that or the ice monster behind them, so she tried to gently push it open, but it still shattered on contact. They hurried inside.
And things just kept getting more and more beautiful. Rows upon rows of ice roses decorated the greenhouse or glasshouse or whatever the king had been going for. He'd even gone as far as adding tiny elaborate details; he made it look as if the roses had been sprinkled with water, but he had recreated that with his ice. Tiny, frozen water drops.
She was torn between loving his powers and hating them.
Andy was panting, his hands on his knees.
"Are you okay? You don't look okay," Krista said uneasily, bending her knees to try and get a look at his face.
"Yeah... just—just gotta catch my breath, that's all..." the lie was so weak even the General snorted incredulously at it.
"You can rest when we're good and away from that thing, m'boy," said the General, still with his cold hands wrapped around Krista's shoulders, he pointed at something at the far end of the room, "Look, there's a way out."
There wasn't anything at the far end of the room, Krista could see the blue sky and the snowy landscape. So that's why the room as so bright, there was no thick ice to keep the sun's light out.
"Andy, you can lean on me," Krista told him, "You're gonna spit up a lung at this pace."
"No, thank you—"
"I'll carry you if I have to," she warned him sternly, " I swear I'll carry the both of you." She didn't know if she actually could, but she'd be damned if she didn't try.
"She will," the General said helpfully.
Andy glared up at her, but in the end he sighed and slung his arm over her shoulder, the General leaned away a little to make room for it.
They wobbled onwards, the roses on either side framing the path.
• • •
Andy was so, so thankful that Krista was as stubborn as he was, her supporting him was doing wonders for his running, otherwise his legs would've gave away and the dragon would have got him and done— what? Kill him?
No, Elliott would never, and still he defended his brother in spite of everything. Fiercely loyal, or tremendously stupid— which was he? Hopefully the first, but unfortunately he seemed to be the latter. He felt sicker by the minute— he was sure he was surviving on sheer adrenaline by now. And when that ran out... what then? What had Elliott's power done?
He didn't have time to question it, because a very large and very angry dragon crashed through the door to the greenhouse and roared, making the walls shake.
"The overgrown lizard's back," the General reported, like they were deaf and blind and couldn't feel the shake of the whole room or something.
"Gee, you think? I didn't notice!" Krista quickened their pace, taking long strides and pulling Andy's slow self along. He'd be dead without her.
Behind them the Blizzard Dragon stomped and crashed through every one of his brother's roses, the unrelenting crunch of them marking its path.
"Go away," it said in a raspy voice, and just in time they reached the end of the room. Krista tightened her grip on Andy and launched them forward to a not—so steep slope, and they tumbled down to the bottom.
Andy looked up at the dragon, who stood at the edge of the missing chunk of wall like a guard dog. It snarled at them before beginning to retreat. The Prince realized the palace wasn't complete. There were other parts of it like that one, missing a wall. That's why Elliott hadn't been bothered that they'd gone down the stairs. He knew there were other exits, oh, that brother of his was so—
"I think your brother makes 'em progressively worse," the General said, loud enough for the dragon to hear, "I was the first, so obviously I came out perfect. But that ice lizard up there?" he laughed like he'd just said the funniest joke in the world. "The quality just keeps going down."
Krista groaned, half-buried in the snow bank they'd landed on. "Are you kidding me? Stop provoking—" but unfortunately the General's intentions came true and the dragon turned back around and roared, spreading its wings.
"Why! Why would you do that?" Andy cried, swatting the snowman's shoulder.
"That's a Meltling, m'boy. Be it small and annoying or large and murderous, it's still a Meltling and I must kill it," he pulled out his sword which Andy had completely forgot about. It was a toothpick compared to the dragon.
"I detest you." Krista plucked the snowman effortlessly and slung him behind her like a backpack. She quickly stood up and pulled up Andy as well.
"Put me down, I command it!" the snowman squirmed and let itself fall, but Krista picked him up again, this time cradling him to her chest like a puppy. She grabbed Andy's arm and pulled him along yet again, while the Blizzard Dragon trudged down the slope, his steps not as confident anymore. It actually looked kind of awkward coming towards them. They ran.
"Whoa!" they stopped abruptly at the edge of the cliff, a really long drop the only thing to catch them if they fell.
"It's a hundred foot drop," Andy said, he kicked some snow over the edge and watched it become smaller and smaller until he couldn't see it anymore.
"Two hundred," Krista corrected as she looked Andy up and down, "Where's the satchel? I'm going to need some rope and my pickaxe—"
"The satchel— the...Oh," Andy slapped his forehead, cursing at himself internally, "I left it back with Elliott!"
His world became significantly darker when a shadow loomed over them. And gulped and glanced behind him at an angry dragon with its icy nostrils flaring.
"Hmm. Thinking back on it, I probably shouldn't have done what I did," mused the General, as he stopped struggling to free himself from Krista's arms. "I have made a terrible mistake."
Andy could practically see the gears in Krista's mind turning. Her arched eyebrows and the way she was biting her lip. She locked eyes with him, "There's at least twenty feet of fresh powder down there... we could survive the fall."
He clasped her hand and squeezed, smiling at her despite the painful coldness raging inside his ribcage, "Let's do it, mountain woman."
"It'll be like landing on a pillow," she promised.
"You'll break your necks," the General muttered.
The Blizzard Dragon gave out a deafening roar— and that was the last thing Andy heard, because the next second he was falling.
• • •
...
Two young boys, playing in the ballroom.
"You're not going to make a good warrior this way."
"Yeah? You're gonna make a stinky king! The Ice cube King! That's pretty lame."
... and it was dark.
Sliding down a slope in a sleigh, Elliott's laugh in his ear.
... cold. He was cold, so very cold.
Talking to his Kai.
"Elliott says he doesn't wanna go riding to the mountains, because he says it's cold up there? Sometimes I just wish I had a brother more like me, you know?"
... the darkness continued.
"Do you wanna build a snowman?"
... a light...
Helena's pleading hazel eyes.
"Please be careful. I don't want you getting hurt."
"He's my brother. He would never hurt me."
...
"There it is! The door you love to slam in my face!"
I'm sorry.
"What power do you have to stop this winter? To stop me?"
...
"Andy?"
Her voice.
The darkness stopped, and Andy's eyes snapped open. He sat up gasping. He was in a dimly lit cave, with various shadows dancing across the walls.
"He's awake!"
Afraid, Andy looked around wildly. The cave was illuminated by a couple of torches, he was laying down in a bundle of blankets. At his feet, Suri snored. And he felt cold.
He only calmed down when he realized Krista was sitting right next to him. Her hair was loose again, the blonde curls managed to look artfully tousled— and there was a bandage wrapped around her head. Without thinking, Andy raised a hand to touch it, "What happened to you?"
"Ow," she complained, she didn't pull away though. "I banged my head against the cliff. I'm fine, though. I got a thick skull."
"I don't have a skull," a silky voice murmured.
Andy's eyes widened at the... the Erik that came into view. Erik had been Elliott's tutor back home. But this one was a miniature version, barely five feet tall, and of course entirely made of snow. And, if that hadn't been enough, a snow Gerda appeared from behind him, carrying blankets. She put them over Andy and pulled them up all the way to his chin.
"You rest now, m'lord," she said, in a voice much like Gerda's, but scratchier than the original's. The woman that had pretty much raised him after his parents...
So Elliott had modeled more snowmen after people he knew. Great. He expected the snow Mama and Papa any moment now. It was a cozy enough cave, he was laying down on the floor with Krista sitting to his right and the other two snowmen to his left.
"I don't even know what to ask first," Andy admitted, meekly looking around.
"Then I will. Why, no matter how many blankets I put on you, can't you get warm?" Gerda frowned at him, with the same face the original made back at the castle when she couldn't get a stain out of something.
"I told you," Krista said, "Elliott struck him with his magic."
That jolted him out of his half—asleep state, as the latest events of his terrible life came crashing back down. "Oh...oh, he kicked me out! I can't go back to Arendelle with the weather like this—" he waved a hand at the mouth of the cave, which was pure white. "What am I gonna do?"
Krista tried to push him back down, "Hey, hey, calm down—"
"Why are we here? How did you find us—"
"One question at a time, my lord," Erik said with the same rich, cultured voice Elliott's real tutor had, "We found you buried in the snow." He pointed a snowy finger at Suri, "Your reindeer was trying to dig you out, we heard her cries."
Krista patted her reindeer's head affectionately. Even Andy smiled.
"And this is one of those emergency places I told you about. For when harvesters or rangers get lost. But this one is more of a shelter in case of storm or avalanche," Krista finished. He could see she spoke the truth, from the blankets he was wrapped in to the food Krista had been eating before he woke up. He flushed, realizing she hadn't got any rest but instead chose to watch over him.
"We have been hiding here from the Meltlings," Erik said. "They are quite troublesome. General Winter is standing guard," the snowman added, answering what would have been Andy's next question.
The Prince relaxed, "So you're good guys."
"If by that you mean we weren't created from the darkest pits of your brother's mind, then yes, we are good guys," Erik looked almost bored. Just like the real one often did. "Let's pray none of those violent creatures come here."
"Did someone mention violence?" the General wandered in, and when he saw Andy awake he almost tripped over his own feet in the process of reaching him, "M'boy!" he lifted his face, squeezing his cheeks, "You are alive!" he shot a look at Erik, "I told you, I told you he would live!"
Ice Erik rolled his eyes, "He'll live looking like Jack Frost."
Andy barely remembered the myth about the immortal being supposedly responsible for winter storms. It was said Jack had snow white hair and liked to prank others with his powerful staff. He remembered the phrase his mother used to say when she deemed him not prepared enough for the cold weather "Careful! You don't want Jack Frost snipping at your nose."
Elliott is a real life Jack Frost, Andy thought.
"Why would you say that?" Andy frowned at the smirking ice tutor.
"Um... don't freak out," Krista said. She picked up a plate and let the remaining crumbs tumble down to Suri's eager mouth. She held it up to his face, so he could see his reflection.
The lone streak of white in his hair now had company. It's like it had spread— a few of his bangs were now white too. He gasped and almost dropped the plate as another tendril of hair turned completely white.
"What? I don't understand? Is this happening because Elliott hit me with his magic?" Andy tossed the plate aside, trying to smooth his hair down in a useless attempt to stop it.
"Most likely, yes," Erik deadpanned.
Andy blinked, the thoughts forming slowly in his mind, "So... so that means the original one was also from Elliott's magic? I wasn't born with it?"
He thought back on all those odd memories, the ones that suggested he had known about Elliott's powers when they were little. And Krista's suspicious attitude before they climbed the mountain. He locked eyes with the girl, "I think we ought to have that talk now, Krista."
Krista opened and closed her mouth, shifting her eyes away. She hugged her sides, looking uncomfortable.
"General, Erik, Gerda— a moment, please?" Andy said, his eyes never leaving Krista.
Gerda left without protest, Erik looked like he wanted to stay but he did as he was asked. The General, though, looked insulted, "It's really infuriating how you keep asking me to leave you on tricky situations."
"It's not a tricky situation, I just need to talk to her," he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands, trying to ignore the creeping cold having a party in his chest.
The General huffed, and muttered some very unflattering things about Andy, but he left them alone. Andy shivered and sat up, pulling up the covers to try and get a little warm, but he felt cold no matter how many layers he had on him. Krista still wasn't looking at him.
He took a deep breath, "Krista, about that thing you didn't want to tell me—"
"I wasn't even supposed to know! I was just a stupid little girl at the wrong place at the wrong time."
Krista's outburst startled him, scared him a little even. She was finally looking at him, and she looked surprised herself. She went back to hugging her knees close to her chest.
"What do you mean?" Andy said, as softly as he could. "What do you know that you're not supposed to? And I know it's about Elliott. So please just... tell me." The last part came out more forceful that he intended, but it wasn't his fault. He was really tired of people hiding things from him.
Krista made a helpless, desperate sound. For the first time she seemed at a loss of words.
She knew about his brother's powers, before the coronation incident.
'So what caused the King to go all ice-crazy?' she'd casually said back in the sled. But she hadn't been to the coronation, she had been returning from the mountains, that's also how she knew where all the snow was coming from in the first place. What were the chances of her pinning the crazy weather on the King of all people?
At her silence, Andy sat up straighter and glared at her, growing more and more annoyed.
"Were you and him lovers?" Andy blurted out. It was a complete and utter wild guess, with no foundation whatsoever, but Andy's frantic brain hastily put the pieces together; that's why he never paid any attention to suitors, he'd been having a secret affair with the cute mountain woman and told her his secret—
"What?" Surprise, irritation, and about 10 other emotions crossed her face in an impossibly short time. At least that got her out of the shell she'd got herself into; in the end she settled for a scowl, "Stop being ridiculous. Now you're just grasping at straws—"
And then he was yelling, "Then how could you have possibly known about his magic? Even I didn't know! And I'm his brother—"
"You used to know!" Krista finally snapped, she surged forward, her face really close to his. "You knew about Elliott's magic. But then, one day, he almost killed you with it!"
Andy pressed himself back against the wall without meaning to, like she'd punched him. What?
"And then your father, the King, he said they'd hide his power from everyone. Including you!" she jabbed a finger at his chest, causing him to flinch. "So they took away your memories of all magic after saving your life. That's why they closed the gates!" Krista had completely lost her cool, and when she realized this, she immediately drew back to herself, looking at him warily.
"I... Krista." Was all he managed. He felt like when he'd first laid eyes on the Snow Duchess, completely bewildered. Actually, it was pretty similar to what he had felt when Elliott had shot that blast of ice at the Great Hall, and then ran away. Like everything he knew suddenly popped. Ceased to exist. Like it wasn't what he actually thought in the first place.
He tried to focus on one question, out of the hundreds buzzing around in his head.
• • •
"How do you know all those things?"
Krista chewed the inside of her cheek, regretting every word that had exploded out of her. Like she'd said, it was not her place to tell Andy. It was Elliott's. But the truth was out, she supposed, so she might as well finish and give the Prince some peace of mind, because the look of heartbreak on his face was just too much for her to handle.
"I know because I was there," she said slowly, not quite meeting his eyes, she did not need another eyeful of his crushed soul, "When Elliott accidentally hit you with his powers, they brought you to my family." Yes, let Elliott explain about the trolls. "So they healed the ice in your head, but along with that, they replaced the magic memories with completely ordinary ones."
Andy looked like he'd swallowed a bitter herb. He lifted a shaking hand, touching the white in his hair, "So I wasn't kissed by a troll? The original was Elliott's doing?"
She was pretty darn sure she had deliberately avoided the word troll. She was about to deny everything, but Andy continued talking.
"So that's why. That's why he shut me out," his face was suddenly one of immense relief. Krista blinked in confusion. His face broke into a small, soft smile, "It wasn't something I did. Elliott was... trying to protect me."
"Andy..."
• • •
"For him, love means sacrifice." He remembered little Elliott, the pained look he shot him the first time he'd locked himself inside his room. Sacrificing himself. So Andy would be safe. He was torn between loving and hating his brother for that. Even that love is sacrifice principle lived on in General Winter. Not for the first time, he wished Elliott would have just told him. A sudden surge of love for his brother hit him, and for a split second, the ice lodged inside his chest seemed to lift, ever so slightly.
"So you're not... mad?" Krista asked.
"Well, yeah, I mean, they tampered with my memories and robbed me of my brother—"
"—to protect you—"
"—still. I'm just glad to know the truth, kind of. So thank you." He was about to drop it to just get his train if thought in order, but then he frowned, "Wait—how did your family—"
"I'll tell you about my family," she promised, "But not right now... actually," tentatively, she took a white strand of his hair between her fingers, "We might actually have to pay them a visit soon. They fixed you once, they'll do it again... you should get a little more sleep before we set out."
He wanted to press further, but the look on her face was clear; later. He shrugged, giving her a little smile, "Hm. Alright. But you should get some rest, too."
And he really meant what he'd said about being glad to finally know. So many things had made so little sense to him over the years. Elliott wouldn't shut him out for no reason. The reason was that he'd almost killed Andy.
So those random flashes of memories, they'd been real, the snow days indoors had been a thing at one point. He longed to remember completely, not just conform himself with the little snippets he had. He hoped Krista's family would help him, whoever they may be. People who could heal magic and change memories?
But then, as they got older, why did Elliott not simply tell him the truth?
Back at the party, he remembered the panic in Elliott's face when he said "May I speak to you, Andy?... Alone?" Had his brother planned on telling him at that moment? To tell him why they couldn't have 12 other people there with them, because his magic was dangerous? Andy felt like a fool.
Another golden chance to tell him the truth would have been... when their parents...
That would have been the perfect time to tell, he thought. It had probably been the darkest time of his life, when he had to stand between two gravestones by himself surrounded by people that were practically strangers. When the heir to the throne had not shown up to their parent's funeral, more than one eyebrow had been raised. Kai gave some weak explanation about Elliott being sick with an extremely contagious disease and that it was of 'the upmost importance' his brother rest. Andy remembered thinking, Oh, is he sick every day?
The more he learned, the less he understood.
He felt a headache coming and he settled back down, closing his eyes.
++ it is exam week for me, so i don't know when the next chapter will be up but it'll probably be soon
+ so there's a little rotg reference up there, i do hope you have watched rise of the guardians and if not i mean it's alright but u should def see it.
thank you for reading! :)