Me: Wow we're now at the climax of Tainted Ice! It's amazing how this story got so far! But it looks like it's about to come to a close. I don't own Frozen or Rise of the Guardians.

Chapter 18

Cold.

Dark.

Alone.

As much as she said the cold didn't bother her, Elsa found herself seeing her own breath and shivering. She tried to warm herself only to find her hands in chains. She struggled and began to yank as hard as she could only for her to slip and fall on her back.

"Ow," Elsa groaned while wincing in pain. "That hurt..."

Elsa looked around and then sadly stared out of the window. She saw a small scene of what had happened to Arendelle through her window, seeing everything covered by a blanket of snow. She shook her head, completely distraught at what happened. She knew her powers were powerful but she didn't expect herself to have the capacity to unceremoniously drop a blanket of snow and ice in their faces.

"What have I done," Elsa shook her head in despair. "The women, the children... Do they even have food...?"

However, a voice suddenly cut her thoughts short. "Don't be such a hypocrite, Elsa."

Elsa froze and slowly turned behind her only to see Dark Elsa standing right behind her. However, instead of being afraid - Elsa steeled her expression and narroeed her eyes at the dark image of herself. Dark Elsa, seeing that Elsa no longer feared her, chuckled and casually began strolling in her cell before taking a seat on the bench.

"Well, you got what you wanted," Dark Elsa shrugged. "You're alone."

Elsa scowled. "Yes with you bugging me every step of the way though."

"Not my fault. Why don't you just accept the fact that you actually don't care what happens to those who get affected by your powers?"

"That's because I do! You may be me but not ALL of me."

Dark Elsa chuckled, seeing that she hit a nerve. "So the queen finally puts out her claws. Took you long enough."

Elsa glared at her and said nothing. She looked away and bit her lower lip darkly; what had happened? All she remembered was that there were 2 soldiers about to kill her and Jack. Her eyes widened when she realized that Jack was nowhere to be found. She looked around desperately and then glared at Dark Elsa.

"Where is he," Elsa said coldly.

Dark Elsa shrugged. "I have no idea who you're talking about."

"Don't play stupid with me," Elsa scolded. "If you're me then, you should know who I am talking about!"

"Did you not just prove that I am not you?"

"I said that you weren't all of me. Now answer me, where is he?"

Dark Elsa drummed her fingers on her chin and smiled slowly. "Oh you mean our beloved Jackie? Our Winter Guardian?"

Elsa seethed at how Dark Elsa called Jack "Jackie". "Yes. Now where is he?"

Dark Elsa shrugged. "Dunno. Kinda the disadvantage of being stuck in your head is that what you see is what I see. Being a part of you also means that I also carry some of your feelings."

Elsa nodded and glared at her."And if you don't tell me, I'll freeze you!"

Dark Elsa threw her hands up in the air mockingly. "Oh look at me, I'm shivering in my boots. But," - she grinned maliciously. "The cold never bothered me anyway."

Elsa darkly stared before looking at her handcuffs. She saw that her handcuffs slowly began to freeze over until she remembered one of the properties of ice. She remembered seeing Jack jump over one of the soldiers while freezing his sword before smashing it with his wooden shepherd's staff.

If he could break a sword with a staff by simply freezing it...!

"Then I should be able to freeze these things off me," Elsa beamed in realization until the doors suddenly started to clatter open. "Huh?"

She heard voices from outside as she desperately began to hide her powers again. But she wanted also to get out; the longer she stayed here - she could only imagine the kind of damage she could do to Arendelle. After seeing Jack fight, she could only imagine the kind of things she could do with her own powers.

"Be careful, she's dangerous."

"Yeah, she could freeze you like she did Princess Anna."

"Isn't that why Prince Hans sentenced her to death?"

Elsa gasped in horror; Anna frozen solid? She shook her head vehemently and staggered back with distraught. However, how could Hans easily decide her execution? She was queen! She tried to moving around and kicking the chain off. But when she tried to move away, the cuffs and shackles held her down.

On the other hand, Dark Elsa knew it was easy to pull out of the chains. She casually began to watch Elsa without lifting a finger before going back to examining her nails. She knew that Elsa could get out herself but in a frantic state of mind, she knew all of Elsa's reasoning had jumped out of the window. Who wouldn't be when someone's about to die? She breathed in the fear radiating off from Elsa's thoughts with a small sinister smile forming on her lips.

"I can easily get you out of there," Dark Elsa said nonchalantly while looking at her purple coloured nails.

Elsa stopped pulling and she looked at her. "You can?"

Dark Elsa nodded and shrugged. "Sure I can. It's very simple."

She strolled towards Elsa before grabbing the girl's chin with a sinister smile.

"Just follow what I say..."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

On the other hand, Pitch was fleeing from a murderous Jack. He had not expected Jack to be extremely creative especially when the guardian of fun suddenly conjured two battle axes out of snow and ice. Pitch yelped as Jack nearly cleaved his head off and before blasting him with a blast of black sand. However, Jack blocked it by crossing his two axes together before transforming them into scimitars.

"Jack, you're killing me," Pitch groaned and fired more torrents of black sand.

Instead of hearing a maniacal laughter, all Pitch saw was a satanic glare from Jack. He met the guardian of fun with a deadly silence as the ice bolts actually exploded into millions of fractals and launched themselves at Pitch. No matter where he ran, Jack's attack would follow. He could have never gained that much power even if everyone in the world was afraid!

"H-how," Pitch growled and flew towards the castle, not knowing that Jack suddenly appeared right in front of him. "Ugh!"

He suddenly bumped into Jack and spiralled to one of the rooftops. He crash landed on one of the rooftops before morphing the snow and ice in his hands into two boomerangs. He threw his staff down similar to a snow board before jumping up and throwing the boomerangs.

"Happy Easter, mate," Jack grinned with an Australian drawl.

The boomerangs smacked into Pitch and sent him crashing to the ground. Jack landed on the rooftop before kicking his staff into the air and catching it. He pointed his staff at Pitch with a low growl.

"I've had enough of your games, Pitch," he growled. "Where's Elsa?!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Back in the castle, the guards finally managed to open the door. They slowly approached a still Elsa who simply knelt on the floor completely silent. The soldiers had their spears and swords as they cautiously began to approach her.

"Forgive us, Queen Elsa," one of the soldiers apologized. "But Prince Hans has declared you a traitor of Arendelle. Therefore..."

"Therefore, someone has to die," she crooned sweetly. "Am I correct?"

The leading soldier nodded although a bit afraid. "Y-yes... Unfortunately..."

Elsa laughed softly before looking up with a sinister smile. Her eyes now with dark violet eyeliner, her lipstick was bloody red and her dress was shorter and no longer trailing. And instead of the light ice blue colour, her dress had now turned into a midnight sparkling blue dress with her nails becoming dark violet. The soldiers staggered back as her formerly blonde hair then turned black. Before the lead soldier could do anything, he suddenly found an ice blade impaling him.

"Oh look, you've been impaled," she smiled in a sickeningly sweet way.

The other two soldiers were horrified to see her shackles lying on the ground next to her and frosted over. Elsa apathetically pushed the dead soldier's body aside before turning towards them. The soldiers shivered in fear as she slowly walked past them without them being reflected in her eyes. The soldiers shivered as one suddenly collapsed out of fear.

"H-Hey!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about," Pitch snapped moodily and narrowly dodging one of the ice spears.

Jack glared angrily until he felt the winds suddenly change direction. He looked away as the clouds began to swirl around. The skies darkened with black clouds crowding in the sky and lightning began to flash. Hail began to fall from the sky as thunder rumbled loudly. Slowly, the guardian of fun transformed back to his normal white haired self when he heard the people of Arendelle screaming in fear.

"What's happening down there," Jack stared with horror.

Pitch saw creatures suddenly neighing and howling from the sky. He gawked in admonishment when the icy cold winds licked against his skin. The ice around the city swirled into a huge icy tornado with the snow turning dark blue.

"Even I had never made something this terrifying before," Pitch shook his head. "Was her power always this strong?"

Jack glanced back at Pitch before darting away. He couldn't believe the icy creatures running in a huge circle in and letting out torrents of ice. The ice smashed into the roofs with ice bolts lashing out from the sky. He recognized those creatures from many years back during the World War 2 when Germany tried to march against Russia only to die horribly in the cold.

"Wendigos," Jack murmured as he flew and dodged some of the bolts. "Whoa!"

The horse-like creatures snarled and roared at him before breaking into a chase. He glided through the air, trying to knock them back. The wendigo roared and shot out icy breaths in his face as he brushed it away from his staff. As he flew to face them, all of a sudden, they stopped. Jack watched them for a moment before slowly dropping his guard.

"What in the world," Jack muttered with a bewildered state. "They just stopped in their tracks!"

Suddenly, he heard a voice croon sweetly. "Hello, Jack."

Jack froze and slowly turned around when he saw Elsa. He gawked in astonishment when her blonde hair was now black with glittered violet streaks and dark blue snowflakes decorating her hair. She brushed back her long black translucent trail with her midnight blue gradient violet dress gleaming despite the darkened skies.

"Jack, you came back," she exclaimed with an evil smile.

Jack shook his head. "Elsa, what is this?"

"This? This is my world, Jack," Elsa said and beckoned him. "Come come, let me take you to my castle."

Jack wasn't sure whether or not he should be horrified or not. He quietly floated after her as Elsa walked along the icy bridge that she created. He landed inaudibly as he saw the people trembling in fear from Elsa. He saw ice and snow soldiers marching the streets and patrolling the areas.

"Elsa... What is this? You didn't want people to be afraid," Jack shook his head in dismay.

"Oh don't worry, it's not me who they're gonna get angry at," Elsa smiled cruelly when she led him to the courtyard.

Jack stared in shock as he saw Hans on the ground, beaten bloody black and blue. He was held up by two ice-crafted soldiers. His clothes were completely torn and he dangled limply from the soldiers. Jack stared in horror.

"E-Elsa, what," Jack shook his head.

"He claimed to love my sister. Yet he was quick to let her die," Elsa coldly said while strolling through the courtyard until a smile curved up her lips. "Oh? We have another prince."

Jack heard the clopping of reindeer hooves and turned around to see Kristoff and Sven running through the snow field. He beamed in delight before turning to Elsa who disinterestedly just waved her hand. He glanced back at Kristoff when suddenly an army of ice and snow soldiers prepared to mow Kristoff and Sven down.

"Never underestimate the power of ice and snow," she chuckled cruelly before commanding her soldiers. "Kill him."

The soldiers roared and stormed towards Kristoff. Jack looked at Elsa walking away before looking at Kristoff who was going to massacred by the ice soldiers. He looked at Elsa once more before flying towards Kristoff.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Anna on the other hand was locked up in the living room. She could feel her whole body stiffening up from the ice and snow. But what was more frozen was her heart; she didn't expect Hans to suddenly betray her! They sang together, laughed together... It made no sense!

"For the first time in forever," Anna bitterly sang. "I finally understand. For the first time in forever, I realized I don't know love..."

All she wanted was to be free from the dark castle. She didn't want to be alone. Her parents were lost at sea, Elsa shut herself away out of fear for hurting her and the trolls altered her memories which prevented her from seeing Jack. She hugged her body closer while trying to crawl to the fireplace. If she could get a fire starting then, she could at least figure a way out! All of a sudden though, the lock started clattering when the door opened to see Olaf hopping in.

"Hehe," Olaf grinned triumphantly before turning to see Anna freezing. "Anna! What happened?"

The little snowman helped her up as he rushed to the fireplace to throw in a bunch of firewood. He accidentally threw his arm before quickly grabbing it. Can't have me missing an arm, Olaf shook his head before finding a dragon lighter before yanking its tail to set a huge fire. The embers in the fireplace crackled to life as he stated in amazement.

"Wow, so this is fire," Olaf stared in amazement while extending his hand only for it to catch fire. "Oh and it's really hot too! Pretty but no touchy!"

He ran back for Anna and dragged her to the best of his ability to place her by the fire. Olaf could hear Anna whimpering under her breath as her breathing relaxed when she started warming up. The snowman beamed in accomplishment as the formerly brunette princess began warming up.

"Thank you, Olaf," Anna smiled weakly.

Olaf sat next to her while playing with his feet. "So what happened between you and Hans?"

Anna admitted sadly, hugging her own body. "He didn't love me."

Olaf blinked. "What?"

"Truth is, I don't even know what love is," Anna sadly hung her head. "I was so blind. I just loved the idea. Not really loved..."

Olaf tried explaining. "Love is... It's when you make a choice to have the courage to give up someone to let them find someone who will love them better. Kinda like Kristoff did..."

Anna raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Olaf stared in disbelief at Anna before walking in front of her. "Wow, you really don't know anything about love, do you?"

What he didn't notice was that he was melting.

Anna gasped. "Olaf, you're melting!"

However, Olaf just smiled at her. "Some people are just melting for."

Suddenly, the windows slammed open from the frosty winds as Anna flinched from the cold. The snowman yelped and hobbled towards the window. He then climbed on the couch to shut the windows.

"Hold on Anna," Olaf reached to close the windows until he noticed people fighting outside. "Hold on, hang on a sec..."

He cracked off a stalactite and bit off the pointed end. From a morose expression, Olaf suddenly beamed in delight. He saw a man riding on a reindeer and running towards them.

"It's Kristoff and Sven," Olaf happily declared before looking at Anna. "Wow, I guess Kristoff doesn't love you enough to leave you behind."

Suddenly, a bolt of realization hit Anna. She remembered all the tours that Kristoff brought her on. How he helped her despite imposing her desires on him, Anna smiled softly before taking one more glance at the fire, seeing it burn. She looked up at olaf while trying to push herself from the floor.

"Olaf, help me up," Anna said as she tried to get up.

Olaf jumped towards her. "Huh? Why?"

Anna gave him this all-knowing look. Olaf didn't understand at first until it hit him.

"Of course! There's your act of true love right there," Olaf beamed and jumped up and down excitedly."He's your reindeer king riding on a pungent reindeer!"

Before they could jump more with joy, suddenly the whole room went dark. The fires died and the whole room began to freeze. Olaf and Anna staggered back as the living room door suddenly slammed open revealing Elsa with a dark smirk.

"Hello, Anna."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

That's chapter 18! Please don't forget to review!