For My Kingdom
A Frozen Fan Fiction
Chapter Twenty-Two:
Love Will Thaw?
Author's Note: Sorry for the hiatus, but here's chapter 22! Hope you'll enjoy it!
Heavy gusts of frigid wind blew through the Valley of Stone like the current of a river. The sky above was brewing a nasty storm in the dark, moisture laden clouds that covered Arendelle and the mountain range with shadow. As Prince Alexander and the trusty, copper mare made their way south back to Arendelle, the trees around them seemed to lose all shape and mass as if you could run into one and end up on the other side. It was as much of a struggle for Alex to stay on Eira as it was for Eira to stay surefooted as she pushed forward toward home.
In Alex's head swirled a different storm, where the sky was blanketed with conflict and precipitated fear. He knew that he had to find a way to save Elsa from Charlotte's curse, but he couldn't help but wonder what it would take to save Charlotte... If it was possible...
The prince started when something cold and wet landed on his cheek. It seemed like the summer rains were upon Arendelle, until he looked around and saw white powder begin to coat the ground and the trees. Reining Eira in to a stop, Alex turned in the saddle toward the North Mountain that dominated the skyline. At the top, the eye of the storm swirled ominously. A dense fog covered the summit where the famous ice castle was rumored to be.
A cold fear wrapped its greedy fingers around his heart. He turned Eira around so they were facing the mountain; his heart fell at the distance, but he knew he had to try. "Come on, girl!" he said, taking Eira in to a gallop. With the wind at their backs, they flew toward the mountain not knowing what they'd find once they got there.
ooo
As Elsa looked up at the vastly huge beast before her, something even more potent than fear seemed to fill her heart. Instinct. Pure and unadulterated fight or flight instinct. She took a step back as the idea of death began to flow through her veins like shards of glass.
The large and malevolent creature began to stumble toward her, his eyes gleaming with a strange blood lust, but something unthinkable happened. From behind Elsa, a loud crash brought down the gates of ice and there in the gaping doorway was a harried-but-furious Marshmallow. Spikes covered his back and poked out from his knees and elbows. With a loud roar of anger, the giant snowman rushed onward against the threat to his creator.
Elsa watched in awe as the two monstrous, snow creatures grappled in a fierce battle for her own life, but out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of movement going up the staircase. The burning hatred rising up once again in her veins, Elsa skirted around the brawling beasts and rushed up the stairs in pursuit.
When Elsa reached the room where Anna had tried to get her to return home two years before, Charlotte was there. Her white gown shimmered in the reflected light off the ice.
"Are you going to hurt me, Elsa?" she asked incredulously, her petite, pale hands resting on her hips.
The queen's eyes narrowed and with a fierce flourish a dagger of ice formed in mid-air and sliced it's way toward the witch who then sidestepped it as if it was about as meaningless as a ball of crumpled paper. With a hissing, scratching crash it hit the wall behind her.
Charlotte looked back at where the dagger crashed and tsked with mock disappointment. "You can do better than that!" she exclaimed, looking back toward Elsa with a sly grin. "Why don't you... try that again?"
With every move Elsa made, Charlotte dodged it with dancer-like flair. A wily smile was carved into her lips like she could have been a statue of an evil goddess walked right out of a temple.
Pretty soon, Elsa became haggard with exhaustion. Her arms felt leaden at her sides. "Why don't you fight back!" she cried furiously.
"Work smart, my dear. Not hard." Charlotte winked.
Drawing strength from her anger, Elsa rose up her arms once again. With them rose an army of ice daggers. Light reflected off the tips, eerily beautiful. Charlotte's eyes widened with surprise for a moment, but only for a moment before her eyes seemed to send the challenge, 'Try me.'
Elsa bit her lip as she held the volley in place. There was a card hidden up the witch's sleeve, but she was out of ideas. She couldn't bring herself to think of any options, any consequences. All she could think of was the anger that mounted in her chest brick upon brick as if she were building a wall with her fury. Suddenly the ice began to weigh on her. It became harder and harder to hold them up, but she wouldn't let them fall.
This is where Charlotte saw her opportunity gift wrapped in silvery-blue paper. "I wonder what Anna would think of all this, Elsa..." she chuckled. "I saw the way you treated her... Oh, Elsa." She held out her hand where a large, clear ball of ice formed. Inside it, an image of Anna appeared; her cheeks were streaked with tears and her eyes were filled with the hurt of betrayal. "She hates you."
Elsa gasped. It was Anna right after she had left her earlier... After she had gotten angry with her. "No..." A single droplet slid silently from Elsa's eye. "No!" Anger filled her body like ball and powder into a cannon. Strength filled her arms again and the volley of ice daggers lifted a few inches higher.
Charlotte looked across the room at Elsa through thick eyelashes, a quiet little smirk hidden under a thin layer of manufactured concern. "Yes."
With a brief moment of intense silence, the brick wall of rage that had formed inside of Elsa's chest exploded in a wall of ice that was sent flying toward the witch with a desire for blood and vengeance.
But it stopped. Just before reaching Charlotte, the ice daggers froze in mid-air. Elsa gasped as the ice melted and fell in individual droplets to the floor, revealing Charlotte once again. Her eyes were alight with an almost giddy madness.
"But..." Elsa whispered, "How?" She slowly took a step back. "I thought... Only love..."
This seemed to strike Charlotte as incredibly amusing. Her laughter filled the castle with it's menace. "Only love can thaw?" The witch's laughter lowered to a chuckle as she waved a hand over the castle floor. Elsa screamed as she fell into the floor just before it froze once again around her waist, trapping her. She struggled to pull herself up, but she was stuck.
Charlotte approached Elsa and knelt by her. Elsa tried to pull herself out again, but as her hands touched the ice, they were sucked in as well. "Elsa..." Charlotte said quietly, brushing a lock of hair from the queen's eyes. "When you've been heartless as long as I have, faking love becomes so easy you can fool even magic."
ooo
As Alex approached the ice palace, the forces of nature attempted many times to whisk him away to nowhere, but he and Eira forged onward until they came upon a greatly distressed, black horse tethered to a tall oak. Reigning the mare in to a stop, the prince stared at the black horse until he had confirmed his fear. He looked back up to the mountain for a moment to calm his sinking heart, then continued to urge Eira onward until they reached the palace gates.
The gates were completely shattered as if something large and incredibly mean had deliberately decimated them, but the rest of the palace stood untouched. In the distance, Alex could hear the enraged roars and thunderous booms of warring beasts as they rolled and fought somewhere in the mountains of Arendelle. The prince's heart pounded desperately as fear and adrenaline began to rush through his bloodstream. The storm swirled all around and the cold bit into his exposed skin like a million tiny insects.
Sliding from the saddle, Alex started hesitantly up the staircase of ice that led up to the entrance. There was no sign of Elsa or any other woman, and he was scared of what he might find in the castle.
From high above within the castle came a woman's cry. Over the wind's howl, Alex couldn't place the voice as Elsa's or not, but his tentative climb up the stairs turned into a flat out run as he pulled the sword at his side from it's sheath. No matter whose voice it was, he needed to stop what was happening before it was too late.
ooo
As Anna and Olaf raced up the side of the North Mountain, the wind picked up dangerously and snow began to fall. Anna looked up at the sky, frightened. What was Elsa doing? Was... Was she trying to freeze summer again?
"I wonder who's doing this..." Olaf muttered in awe, his arms still wrapped around Anna's waist.
Anna looked back at Olaf, a small warmth filling her stomach. Of course Elsa wouldn't do this. She was having a bad day, but she would never freeze summer again... Let alone on purpose.
With renewed purpose and determination, Anna guided Aksel at breakneck speed to the staircase of the ice palace. If Elsa wasn't responsible for the storm, someone else was. This same person may also be responsible for what's been happening to Elsa. But in any case, Anna had a feeling that Elsa was up the mountain and that she was in trouble.