Santa's workshop was practically in ruins. Ever since the revelation that Rudolph was missing, everybody had panicked, even Santa Claus himself after he heard that his #1 reindeer was absent.
Elves were banging on the doors, screaming to be let out. Some of the reindeer were clawing at the wooden walls with their hooves, attempting desperately to break free. Presents and toys and ice sculptures were being tossed through the air and being smashed at the walls. Tim and Pointy were making a pitiful attempt to smash through the basement door, which had been frozen shut. Mrs. Claus was being used as a battering ram by eight elves to try and break through the walls. Santa himself was screaming loudly, shaking his fists in the air in anguish. It was more like a hell hole than a haven.
Vanellope was covering her ears, shaking in irritation at everybody's overreaction. Her eyes were shut tight and she was gnashing her teeth to keep from screaming.
And then one particularly zany elf smashed a portrait of a Christmas tree right on Vanellope's head.
"ENOUGH!"
Every head snapped over to Vanellope, who was standing on an unconscious elf, the portrait smashed right through her head. Her forehead was dripping with sweat and she was a bloody red, and her normally hazel eyes were practically glowing red.
"YOU! WACKJOBS! WILL! QUIET! DOWN!" She ordered, punctuating every word. Obeying her commands, the elves stopped banging on the walls and sat with their legs crossed. The eight elves dropped Mrs. Claus. Tim and Pointy climbed down the ladder. The reindeer sat on the ground like dogs. Santa, blushing in humiliation, slowly placed his hat back on his head.
"Now then," Vanellope started, calming down, "If you are all going to be a bunch of little crybabies, I guess I'll be off."
"But, your presidency," Tim objected, rising to his feet, "Where will you go out there with the wolves, and Fannar, and..."
"And the frostbites!" Pointy shouted, causing everybody to recoil in terror.
Vanellope just shrugged. "I don't know, where were you planning to go when you tried to break down the wall to escape?"
Several elves blushed, their pride tarnished.
"Look, you guys, I know you're scared of those wild animals and the ice conjurer, but I have a job to do," Vanellope exclaimed.
"What job?" Asked Mrs. Claus, who was still recovering after being smashed against a wall repeatedly.
"I'm going to find Fannar and tell him to stop unleashing those snowstorms, and then I'm going to find everybody who's been disappearing," Vanellope elucidated.
"But, you don't know the dangers of Fannar," Santa objected. "Who knows what could happen if you tried to confront him."
"Hey, do you know Fannar?" Vanellope asked. "You are his brother."
Santa lowered his head to the floor. "I'm afraid I don't, President Vanellope," He admitted drearily. "But you're siblings," Vanellope criticised. "How can you not know a thing about him?"
"Well, I was beamed up at the workshop with the elves and my wife and the two orphans, but Fannar and Mr. Artie and the wolves and the yeti were all beamed up in the outer regions of the game, along with..." Santa paused.
"Along with who?" Vanellope asked.
Santa eyes were still staring at the floor, and he eventually opened his mouth to answer, when the worst possible thing happened.
The basement door smashed open and snow and ice went pouring into the basement. Before anyone could say a word, several elves were engulfed in the snow. All Santa could do was shout "Not again!" Before being bonked upside the head with an icicle.
"Oh boy, I need to talk to Fannar immediately!" Vanellope said to herself as she dodged an icicle. Then, before anyone could say anything, she glitched out of the basement, leaving everybody to their temporary icy fates.
(Scene Transition)
"What do you mean, Mr. Artie didn't attack me?" Candlehead asked, somewhat angered. The moment Fannar had returned to the cave, Candlehead had asked him how his meeting with Artie had gone, and Fannar had claimed Mr. Artie's innocence.
"I told you, he's in the clear," Fannar replied. Candlehead narrowed her eyes. "But that thing attacked me!" She shouted. "How is he in the clear if he did that?"
Fannar shrugged. "I don't know, but he says he didn't do it, and I believe him."
"He's a bear," Candlehead groaned. "You can't trust him as far as you can throw him."
"Actually, once I did throw him," Fannar reminisced, chuckling a bit. "For such a big bear, he sure can be thrown far."
"Okay, so you can trust him as far as you can throw him, but so what?" Candlehead mumbled, exasperated. "He could still be lying."
"Oh please, I know a liar when I see one, and Mr. Artie is no liar," Fannar boasted. "And just what do you know about Mr. Artery?" Candlehead inquired, smirking.
"It's Mr. Artie, and I do know some things about him," Fannar responded. "For one, he wouldn't hurt anybody unless they tried to hurt somebody he cared about, and two, he is willing to put his life on the line for somebody he cares about, and three, he'll share things with people even if he doesn't particularly care about them, and four, he's the only guy in this whole place who doesn't think I'm evil."
"What do you mean, he's the only one who thinks you're not evil?" Candlehead asked. "I'm sure people think you're not evil. Like, um, Santa Claus! He's your brother, right? He must think you're not malevolent."
Fannar sighed. "My brother?" He asked. "I'm not certain we are. The thing is, everybody here absolutely despises me except for Mr. Artie. When I pass down the terrain and the wolves see me, they turn the other way, and the elves and reindeer practically flee for their lives when they here about me."
"But Santa must know you're different, right?" Candlehead asked nervously.
"I only had one encounter with him," Fannar mentioned, and then he shivered a bit. "Santa was flying his sleigh out over the sky, shouting merry things to everybody, until he saw me standing near a tree in the distance. It was then that he turned around and rode his reindeer all the way back to his workshop, and I swear I saw a twinge of fear in his eyes right as he saw me. It was then that I knew what Old St. Nick thought of his big brother."
"Oh," Was all Candlehead could say before she turned around, thinking of herself as a fool for even contemplating that somebody other than that bear thought of him as a friend.
"Um, you know what Candlehead, I'll just go out for a bit and see if Mr. Artie has anything else to say about the whole bear attack," Fannar suggested. Candlehead didn't respond, so Fannar slowly abandoned the cave, leaving Candlehead alone in the cave.
(Scene Transition)
"But I'm telling you, something mysterious is going on here," Licorice exclaimed to the kids and Mr. Snowman. The other children were as befuddled as she was. It was bewildering seeing these creatures that had previously attacked them now try to help them.
"Hey, I don't know what to think of the matter," Mr. Snowman admitted. "I mean, I've seen the wolves, and they were nothing like the monstrous killers you described them as."
"I know, I have an idea," Taffyta suggested. "They were only pretending to be friendly so we would let our guard down and give them the chance to attack us!"
"I don't know, those wolves seem legit," Mr. Snowman responded. Everybody turned to glare at him for a moment. Everybody except Wynter, who just sat on his bed, his back turned.
Rancis turned to stare at the apparently speechless child. Then, with nobody noticing him, he did a somersault towards Wynter, startling him a bit.
"Hi, Wynter," Rancis greeted. Wynter stared at him with his icy blue eyes but didn't say a word. Eventually, after a tense silence, he raised his hand and waved.
"I guess you don't talk very much," Rancis guessed. Wynter sighed and nodded, frowning.
"Well why not?" Rancis asked. "Mr. Snowman said you used to be very talkative."
Wynter shrugged and placed his head on his hands in a display of helplessness. Rancis sighed a bit and turned to leave before somebody else entered his mind.
"What about Willow, you're big sister?" He asked. At that moment he saw Wynter's pupils dilate slightly before Wynter jumped out of his bed, raced towards an icicle, grabbed it, and stabbed into the wall. However, nobody except Rancis noticed what he was doing.
Wynter started carving something into the wall with the icicle. Rancis struggled to see what he was carving. Finally, Wynter stood away from the wall to reveal the outline of a heart and Wynter frowning.
"Um," Rancis said as he tried to process what Wynter meant. Eventually, he realized what Wynter was trying to say. "Oh, I get it!" He exclaimed. "You have a love-hate relationship with your sister."
Wynter nodded and actually managed to smile.
"Isn't that a coincidence," Rancis said. "I have a sister back at Sugar Rush, and boy do we have a love-hate relationship. Though it's a bit one-sided as to who loves who and who hates who."
Rancis carved a question mark into the wall, as if beckoning Rancis to explain. The Reese boy sighed as bad memories entered his head.
"My sister, Creamy, was a psycho and a bully," Rancis confessed. "She killed my brother, turned us all into glitches once, seized control of Sugar Rush, and she temporarily killed a friend of mine named Adorabeezle."
Wynter grimaced a bit.
"And yet, despite everything, for some reason I kind of...of..." Rancis froze as he was unsure of what to say.
Wynter carved another heart in the wall.
"Yes, Wynter, I guess I still do care about her," He admitted. "Reminds me of something Creamy once told me. That no matter how many bad things she does, since she's family, I'll never stop caring for her. I guess she was right."
Wynter smiled a bit.
"I guess that's what happens when you have siblings," Rancis muttered. "You love them even if they hate you."
Just at that moment, everybody heard something drop near the entrance to the cave. Everybody froze.
"What was that?" Witchy asked. Willow got up and ventured out of the cave. "I'll see what it is," She reassured as she left the cave, leaving everybody alone.
"I don't like this," Licorice admitted. "Willow has no idea what's out there. What if it's a bear, or a wolf, or..."
"It's a hat!" Willow shouted from outside the cave. Licorice's eyes widened in embarrassment. Witchy called out, "What hat?"
Willow sprinted back into the cave, carrying a very familiar cap with a candle on it. It was none other than Candlehead's cap, previously blown off her head.
"Hey, I know that hat," Licorice said. "It belongs to Cake-head!"
"I thought her name was Candlehead," Willow muttered. "Licorice is a nick-namer, plain and simple," Witchy said. "Oh, I get it," Willow said. She turned to Licorice and said, "Well, looks like we're going on another adventure, Licky."
"Don't you ever refer to me as that again!" Licorice threatened, narrowing her eyes, though Willow took no notice.
"What adventure?" Witchy asked. "Well, if my calculations are correct, that hat was blown off in the direction of the eastern mountains," Willow hypothesised. "Therefore, Candlehead must be at the eastern mountains. So, we just have to go there to rescue her."
Wynter froze suddenly, and a glimmer of fear showed in his eyes. "What's wrong, Wynter?" Rancis asked. Before Wynter could do anything, Willow butted in and said, "You know what, Wynter has been having a very long, tiresome day. Maybe he should just stay here and sleep on it."
Wynter raised an eyebrow in confusion before Willow effortlessly picked him up and placed him back on the bed. Willow then placed a blanket over him and turned to leave with the rest of the group. Before she left, she turned around and whispered something to Willow:
"Sleep tight, don't let the frostbites bite."