Dinosaur King: Project I

by Harold Godwinson

5 months had passed since the Arendelle war between the D-team and the Alpha gang. New friendships are forged, and a new alliance is born. But little do our heroes know that a new darkness is rising to take the entire Earth, with a savage pair of biological weapons. Now Elsa, Anna, and all their friends and family must come together to banish this darkness forever... or die trying.

13. The Enchanted Forest: Part 3

The Enchanted Forest: Part III

Last time...

Elliot: "Your parents are dead...because of me."

Bulldust: "And then there was one, yeess..."

Maleficent: "Oh dear, what an awkward situation then..."

Terry: "You're still in shock about that, aren't you?"

Elsa: "AHHH-AHHH, AHHH-AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

(Intro theme.)

A few moments passed before Elsa and the Cryolophosaurus rose to stand again, and a gasp immediately left Elsa's lungs as she looked at her surroundings. The pair now stood in what would be seen as a white meadow, with all kinds of familiar people and events around them, easily seeing so many familiar faces, and even hearing their voices...!

"Hi, I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!" She looked to see herself and Anna as toddlers, holding her hands to her heart at hearing their voices.

"I love you, Olaf!"

She walked on, taking in everything around the scene with the Beast of Ahtohallan by her side, still taking everything in with a huge, teary smile on her face.

With a giggle, a much younger Anna raced by, balancing precariously on a bicycle with one foot on the seat and the other flailing around as she tried to keep her balance.

"Come on, you can do it!" The voice of a happy, slightly younger Elsa then rang out in the memory chamber as the slightly younger Anna desperately clung onto her sister's arms in an attempt to prevent herself from falling over onto the ice, as they both had skating shoes on.

"Here I stand, in the light of day...!" That singing of her slightly younger self in her old ice gown had her turn her head away with a cringe, shaking her head in slight exasperation at herself while the dino looked at her in confusion. Passing on, she looked to see the Duke of Weselton during his time at her coronation, dancing around like a loon. "Hoho, I'm a chicken with the face of a monkey!" And despite not being friends with him, she couldn't help but do a slight bit of boogieing along with him, giving a slightly amused laugh as they carried on, now running into a memory of Anna.

"I just wasn't looking where I was going...but I'm great, actually!"

As she saw her younger sister, her grin widened in joy and recognition, momentarily forgetting their last encounter in which she had sent her and Olaf away. As she gazed around the scene, she noticed that Anna was accompanied...

...By a very specific person that wiped away her smile, as she closed her eyes and turned away.

"Prince Hans, of the Southern Isles."

At this, Elsa gave a flick of her hand at the Hans silhouette, and the whole thing crumpled into a pile of snow. Then, as she looked to her right, a gasp of surprise left her lungs as she saw a familiar trio of children, swiping their dinosaur cards on their old dino holders. "DINO SLASH!", they cried out, before seeing their dinosaurs appear around them, charging into battle with a roar. She then looked up, and she suddenly leapt back in defensiveness as she saw Brontikens lash his tail at a charging Chomp and Terry, batting them away with a roar. Moving on from that, she then saw...what could have been mistaken for a baby Brontikens, and another sauropod she didn't recognise...but it did look like one of the dinosaurs that Hans, Gothel and Sykes sicked on the kids.

Playing and laughing together. "I'm gonna catch you, bestie!" the apatosaurus baby shouted playfully.

"You couldn't catch a worm!" His play buddy - a female, by the sound of her voice - cried back in glee as the pair ran off. This caught the Queen of Arendelle off-guard - of her time knowing the alpha dinosaur, Brontikens had always seemed stern, cold - emotionless, she could call it. What could've happened to him? Maybe it was something to do with his mother's death that turned him so...empty. But that didn't explain what happened between them as kids.

After moving away, she saw the forms of her mother and father in an embrace, and her face showed a sad sort of recognition as she looked between the two.

"I love you."

"I need to tell you about my past...and where I'm from."

"I'm listening..."

Smiling again at the tender sight, she then looked to her right, seeing her parents in their younger forms, with Agnarr reading a book at the foot of a tree as Iduna suddenly dropped down from a branch and hung herself upside down with a giggle. "Iduna!"

"What're you reading, Your Majesty?"

"Some new Danish author," he said before he suddenly leapt to his feet in fright with a yelp, and when Elsa saw the massive horse-sized wolves that came their way, she too nearly jumped five feet in the air. But her worries were put to ease when she saw her mother laugh and she dropped from the tree to greet them fondly with strokes on their snouts.

"Still scare you to death, don't they?" she asked with a laugh.

"Hey, it's not my fault that they're so scary!" he said in self-defence.

Then as she walked on again, she saw Gale laying the pair down in the back of a wagon and gave a slight gasp when she saw the silhouette of the Cryolophosaurus walk up to her, with what could be seen as a worried look, nuzzling into her hands. "No, you can't come with me!" Iduna lightly scolded the dino with tears in her eyes, who only did a warble back, before giving her a slight lick on the cheek. "We'll meet again, I know it...! Now go, hide!" She begged before Gale covered her under a blanket as the dinosaur turned and ran away.

In response to this, Elsa turned to the dinosaur with her and took note of the sad look in his eyes. "You really knew her...didn't you?" she softly stated, the Beast of Ahtohallan replying with a short growl in confirmation. With a sad frown on her face, she raised a hand and laid it on his muzzle, giving a comforting stroke. "I wish you got to see her one last time...but she ended up being a great mother for me and my sister," she said with a small smile at the end, causing the dino to look at her in a new light.

"Elliot, we came as soon as you wanted us here!" Elsa looked to her left at her mother's voice, and a small gasp left her lungs as she saw her and her father. But in its place, a small hateful scowl crossed her face as she realised that they were talking to her ex-husband.

"You said you had something to give to us in your letter," her father said next, with his wife holding one of his arms as the sixteen-year-old Eli nodded in confirmation.

"You read the letter right," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a neatly folded-out piece of paper, handing them what Elsa could only assume to be the map from the shipwreck. "This took me a few days to draw out, but...well, call it a hunch, based on a story you shared with Elsa and Anna," he said as Iduna took it from his hands and unfolded the paper.

Elsa then looked on as her mother and father shared a small gasp, obviously from seeing the small depiction near the edge of the map. "Ahtohallan..." Iduna said breathlessly, revelation clear in her voice as she looked back at him with surprise in her eyes. "How did you-?" Her question was cut short by the young boy.

"That night, when you two told the story of the Enchanted Forest to them, I..." He hesitated, looking down, sadness and a bit of shame on his face. "...I listened through the door..."

"Why did you not just come in?" Agnarr implored him intently.

And Elliot's only mournful reply was simple as he still didn't maintain eye contact with them. "I...didn't want the girls...to see how my parents..." He trailed off as Elsa saw a tear fall from his eye.

The more the young queen looked and listened to her ex-husband's voice and tone, the more and more difficult it was to stay angry and vengeful of him even then, and sympathy filled her heart at his brokenness. This young man was the same one that sent her parents to their graves, and yet...instead of feeling as hateful as she swore to be of him from that moment in anger, sadness entered her core at his tone of voice.

That was when she began to wonder if she actually believed him to be her parents' murderer, as he claimed to be in his story.

The figures of the late king and queen, in the meantime, grew looks of sorrow in their eyes, as the older woman brought the young man into a comforting hug, one that he eagerly returned. "You should've come in, Elliot...because you know that we would take you in without a moment's hesitance and protect you from your tormentors..." she told him softly as she pulled back and cupped his teary face in her hands. "You know that..." she said sorrowfully.

Elliot sniffled.

It was then, though, that Elsa saw a look of anger on her father's face. "We've seen how your mother and father treat you, Elliot, how they hurt and torture you physically and verbally every day," he said with a rather frightful and disdainful look on his face. "What they do to you every day makes me sick beyond belief, and makes me wish to bring Arendelle's entire guard to just rescue you and-"

"Dad, stop!" Elliot cut off the king's ranting, and Elsa had to hold in a gasp at what he'd called him just then. "Doing that would just make it worse...you place them under arrest, and they would just break out and then come after Elsa and Anna as well in vengeance for interfering...they've done it to other people who knew of my plight before..."

Elsa's parents then looked to each other as the young woman herself took in a slight gasp. She, of course, knew that her ex did practically everything to ensure that only he would suffer, but her heart always used to yearn to be able to do something to save him from his constant pain, especially if his pain was for her protection. But she never knew that those that did know of his troubles would have been targeted as well.

Surely this couldn't mean that they would...

"It's a risk we would ask to take, young man, as we have our castle guard to protect our daughters," Agnarr said earnestly, bringing Elliot into a fatherly embrace. "But we understand if that is what you think is best, as we wouldn't want to risk our children...but we'd like you to promise us something," he told him with direct but gentle eye contact.

"Anything..." he replied with a rather pleading tone as Iduna spoke up.

"Come back to Arendelle one day...when you feel like the time is right." She spoke with the same tone, cupping his face in her gentle hands again. "Be the big brother Anna wanted to have...stay true to the young man that Elsa fell in love with...and promise us, that you will continue to protect them, to the very best of your being...and believe in yourself...always."

At the end of this statement, Elsa saw Elliot's face contort in shock before making his hesitant reply. "I'll...I promise...Your Majesties."

That was when she saw her father shake his head in a 'no' motion, to her confusion. "We don't want you making that promise with us as your king and queen, Elliot," he said with a soft look in his eye as Iduna said a few meaningful words.

"Please make it to us...as your mother and father."

Elsa again took in a gasp, one that was followed by the younger figure of her ex as she looked at him.

But before she could look and listen to any more, she was startled by the crack of a whip, followed by a great scream that shocked her being, followed by a shout of, "DO IT, YOU CRYING LITTLE SHIT!"

No...!

Surely this wasn't...!

With cold blood of fear running through her body, she followed the screams a little way and around a corner within this memory chamber, and what she saw stopped her heart dead. What she saw before her was her former lover, stark naked with his hands and ankles tied in rope on the floor, crying his eyes out in wracking sobs, with his fake father standing over him, constantly striking his bare back with a bladed whip, leaving bleeding scars with every strike with his fake mother kneeling down, her hand squeezing his bound wrists, and a sub-adult Sugi growling desperately from a chained cage.

"Do as your father says and the pain stops, you little weakling!" the woman snarled coldly to the crying boy at their mercy.

"N-no, p-please! They did nothing to you!" the young teen boy cried pleadingly.

"It's for your own good!" the fake father shouted, whipping his back again while drawing blood, causing him to scream in pain once more. "Sink that ship, or you'll really be hurting!"

That was what caught her attention the most out of this horrible scene before her. She looked in the direction that they faced, and in front of her, the small form of a ship floated in the air, rocking about as if huge waves were constantly crashing against it.

A horrid gasp left her lungs with trembling hands on her mouth, as her mind finally began connecting the dots. "This can't - this can't be..." she whispered to herself in an attempt to deny what she had already realised.

Time after time, after time, Elliot's tormentors continued to strike at him, causing him to scream with pain and pleaded for mercy, as the form of her mother and father's galleon rocked and swayed around more violently due to wind power being forced from his bound hands, and the young queen could now see the form of a - what must have been a large wave - form upwards. "No...NOOOOOO!" She heard him scream, horrified sobs now threatening to tear her body apart.

Then finally, the ship capsized itself and disappeared under the wave. "NO-OO, NOOOOOOOOOO...!" came his final, terrified wail, reaching out desperately to where the ship had been just moments before.

It all made sense now as dread and guilt filled her being.

Elliot didn't kill her parents out of spite, or anger...

He got utterly tortured into doing it...!

A point proven as he saw not the looks of mourning on his tormentors, but of cruel, sickly satisfied grins on their faces as the fake mother knelt down to Elliot again, as she released her grip on his wrists, and then pulled his head back by the hair whilst she looked into his broken and scared eyes with malice. "This was for the best, child...we couldn't allow them to turn you into a weak-minded peasant, filling your head with false promises and songs of love..." she started. "Such emotions are for the weak, for those who rely on others to come to their rescue, a weakness that can kill. And besides...that young witch in Arendelle would never have come to really care for you anyway...and now, she has every reason to let her true feelings come out..." she told the whimpering, bleeding mess cruelly as Elliot's fake father came up to him, looking down with cold intent.

"If, however, you do tell anyone of what has occurred here..." he started, savagely gripping his throat, and choking Elliot as he got lifted from his feet into the air, "...then we will break you to a point that you would wish to die...and we'll force you to watch, as I tear that pathetic girl's heart out from her chest cavity, before your very eyes...!" he mercilessly promised, throwing Elsa's former lover down to the ground with a weak cough, looking up at them with terror in his eyes that crushed her heart like a grape. "You are nothing..." he said, before dragging the whimpering child by his hair back the way they came, with his equally evil wife following.

It was as if every bad emotion filled every corner of Elsa's being...This was a plan of theirs...They seemingly wanted her to turn against her husband...and made a threat on her life to force Elliot's lie.

How could she have not seen this before...? But equally, why didn't Elliot come clean about it and tell her the whole story? Didn't he trust her? Couldn't she have protected him somehow?

Now starting to hyperventilate with dread, and praying beyond praying that this, and everything before this was just a bad dream, she moved a trembling hand to her chest, trying to feel for her cave lion necklace that Elliot had given her, with his promise from so long ago.

But she felt nothing but air in her grasp.

That was when she remembered the most horrifying thing she had ever done...destroyed it...along with her wedding ring and the snowflake pendant she gave him.

Sobs and wails now leaving her lungs, she ran off with tears streaking down her face, with the Cryolophosaurus giving her some space before following from a short distance. As the young queen continued to run, it became as if the magic within Ahtohallan turned against her as she heard her own parting words to her husband.

"Honeymaren was right...maybe dragons are deceitful creatures after all!"

"Monster!"

"We will fight side by side until none of you remain!"

The more and more Elsa heard her own words as she ran while crying in guilt, horror and shame, the less and less Ahtohallan felt magical and beautiful.

And more now...like a torture chamber.

Desperately, she sat down on her knees and covered her ears with her hands to block out her own words. But she then realised that she was doing so while looking at silhouettes of herself, Anna, Olaf, Elliot and Sugi in a particular moment in her time she wished she could take back above all else.

She watched herself with terror as her silhouette took the necklaces and wedding rings, froze them in her hand, and let them shatter on the ground, desperately reaching out with a scream of "NO!" out of her body. From there she watched...

Watched him leave, for what could only be the last time, with tears down his face.

Tears...that she caused.

Guilt, shame, dread and horror all filled her being as she tucked her head into her knees, racking sobs shaking her body as she slowly rocked from side to side. How could she do this to her husband...? Why did she not stop and think it through...? Why didn't Anna stop her...? Why did she let her shock turn into such unjustified atrocities...? How was she supposed to know exactly what happened if he didn't even explain it and he'd painted himself in the worst light possible?

Why...didn't he tell her the full truth, rather than lie to her and Anna, about what happened that day...?

All of these questions as to "why" plagued her mind like a fiddle, as she begged and prayed with her soul that the man she loved would run up to her, fall to his knees before her and bring her into such a badly-needed embrace, whispering words of forgiveness in her ear, telling her that they would live a long life, have their children, watch them grow, and die side by side in their bed, ready to ascend into the heavens that would welcome them.

But she knew that she had missed this chance...she may never meet him again.

'If you show yourself in Arendelle once more...I. Will. Kill you.'

Words could not describe how awful she felt, knowing that those words would be the last time she ever spoke to him. The promise of murder in that sentence made her feel disgusted with herself on a level she never felt possible...

And now...she may never see the man she married...and the little boy she fell in love with inside said man...again.

"What...have I...done...?" she whimpered to herself, holding herself tighter and still crying her heart out.

But as she continued to cry, she felt a pair of cold hands gently rest themselves on her shoulders. Tensing herself slightly with this action, she removed her teary face from her knees and looked up to see a pair of snow-made faces that made her gasp and freeze.

Before her was a young girl in Northuldran clothing, who had kneeled before her, and slightly behind her laying a hand on her shoulder was a young handsome man in a royal suit - both of which had soft, comforting smiles on their faces. First, Elsa looked directly into the familiar girl's eyes. "Mother..." she said breathlessly, to which young Iduna bobbed her head up and down with her smile widened as the young queen then looked towards the man. "Father..." she said surprisedly, which was then answered by a single nod from the young form of Prince Agnarr with a beaming grin on his face.

The younger Iduna silhouette then rose to her feet, and then both of them reached a hand out towards the broken queen, gesturing for her to hold them. After a slight moment of hesitation, she reached her hands out to grasp them and allowed herself to be hauled up to her feet. Still smiling at her, the young silhouettes walked off, taking her with them.

...All the while the young woman didn't realise that the eyes of the cryolophosaurus were glowing a pure white as he followed after them.

The duo led the young woman throughout the memory chamber, passing her old self and the D-Team and The Alpha Gang's first meeting along the way, as they then turned around a support pillar of ice, before stopping as Elsa gave a gasp. In front of her stood all of her memories with Elliot, from the day they first met, all the way up to a very specific memory.

There she saw herself and the man she loved out on the balcony of her ice palace, facing each other and holding hands. "Elsa..." The memory of Elliot started. "Before I met you, if anyone told me I would know feelings other than neglect, disappointment, abandonment...pain...I never would've believed it...how can you ever tell someone who had known those negative things for so long that there is another way of life?" He paused, taking in the concerned look of Elsa's past self. "Stolen as an egg, cursed with a form that was never meant to be mine and...born with control over the air itself...that was up until we first met, when we were nothing but toddlers." A small smile formed on his face. "I met you and your family, all of whom were teaching me feelings I had never known...your parents...teaching me the difference between right and wrong, how I'm not just dead weight, and...learning how it is like to be loved by a mother and father. Then there's Anna, who taught me to laugh, to smile...and to live your life to the fullest...all the while never knowing when to shut up!" His smile broadened with a hint of humour, just as the present Elsa remembered as she looked on with tears building up in her eyes. "But you, Elsa...you taught me, what I consider, the most magical lesson of all...how to love, and to be loved back in the same way..." he said, getting down on one knee as her silhouette gave a gasp.

"You and I have known and loved each other, for a long ten years Elsa..." he started. "And in that time, we have laughed, played, fought and mourned side by side, and throughout all those times, you have proven not just to me, but to everyone, that you are more than just a human with ice magic, more, than just the Queen of Arendelle..." he stated firmly, before softening his tone to barely above a whisper. "But to me alone...you have reminded me why I live on this earth. I love you, Elsa of Arendelle...with everything that I am and may yet become...and that is why, on this day, in this moment, that I ask you the one question that can change my life forever." With that said, he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small leather box, causing the silhouette of Elsa to gasp once again with her hands over her mouth as the real one smiled tearfully at the memory, just as Elliot opened up the up the small box, and revealing a diamond ring. "Will you marry me?"

Elsa watched as her past self allowed tears to slowly pour down her face, and just as she remembered all she could manage a small nod with a slight 'Mm-hm!' - otherwise nothing would stop her happiest cries ever. With a slight exhaling laugh and a face-eating grin, Elliot stood to his feet, grasped her right hand and slipped the ring onto her finger, after which she threw her arms around Elliot, squeezing tight in a hug with the man himself returning the favour as she began to sob in joy. "I thought you were never going to ask me..." she said tearfully, before pulling back slightly to look up in his eyes, cupping one of his cheeks within her hand. "I love you, Elliot...I love you, so much!" she told him, as tears of joy and love ran down her face.

His only reply, a face-eating grin and a small sentence. "Right, back, at you..." he said as the pair engaged in a kiss of ultimate passion and glee.

As the Ninth Spirit finished watching her own memory, she knew deep down at that moment that Elliot's tormenters were wrong. Love is not a weakness. But an unbridled strength and power, unlike anything the world could understand - not just for the people who believe in each other. But also for those who find the best in each other, accepting each other's flaws, and loving them all the same, if not more.

As these thoughts continued to swirl in her mind with a smile of hope on her face, she turned around.

And came face-to-face with a silhouette of the man she loved above all, gazing at her with a neutral expression on his face.

Elsa gave a slow walk towards him, still maintaining her smile, as she began to speak with a determination she only felt once in her life. "I don't know why you didn't tell me what really happened that day, Elliot..." she started, slightly looking away with a frown before turning back to him. "But I will find you...and I promise you we will never be apart again...I love you, Elliot Takkar...always...and forever...!" she said as a tear streaked down her face.

At those last words left her lips, a beaming smirk came to life on his features as he gave a wink. After which, his form dissipated into a flurry of snowflakes, slowly swirling above her head as the rest of their heartfelt memories did the same, causing her to gasp in shock. Soon all of their memories joined in the fray, and then suddenly dashed into her middle section like a bullet train, causing another gasp to leave her lungs as she took a step back. Soon the snowflakes all entered her.

And then she felt and heard it...

A heartbeat...!

A heartbeat that she could hear all around the chamber, as a familiar feeling emerged from her gut. She was with child once again. Born out of the magic of Ahtohallan, and the still-fixable love between her and her husband. A realisation that caused a great stream of tears of the greatest of happiness, softly sobbing as she did with a smile on her face as she held her hands to her stomach. After calming down after a minute or so, she turned around once again, facing her mother and father once again, who looked to her with those same smiling faces with the Cryolophosaurus standing behind them.

"Thank you...Mama and Papa..." Elsa whispered with love in her voice, with the pair giving her a slight nod of encouragement, before finally closing their eyes, and tehy allowed themselves to dissipate into the air once again. Afterwards, the Beast of Ahtohallan walked up to her and gave a gentle growl as the Ninth Spirit laid her hands on his snout. "I'll be alright now..." she started softly. "I know now that as long as I have Elliot in my life...there's nothing that can go wrong..." she said, before resting her forehead against his snout with her eyes closed, with a blissful smile on her face.

She knew that now, more than anything else in the world.

Just then though, a new, hesitant-sounding voice spoke a name that was all too familiar to her. "King Runeard, I'm sorry - I don't understand..."

And she turned away from the dinosaur before her, now looking at an Arendellian guardsman walking towards her beside the very same man who made the dam. "Grandfather..." she whispered breathlessly as she immediately recognised the moustached man from the portraits in the castle gallery.

"We bring Arendelle's full guard," he ordered firmly, sorting out one of his gloves with a grim look on his face.

The younger man, though, made a defensive reply to his king's request, looking at him intently. "But they've given us no reason not to trust them!"

At this statement, the late king of Arendelle stopped no more than a foot or so in front of his future granddaughter with the other man right beside him, still looking at him as if asking for an explanation. As he slowly turned his head to face him, he began to speak. "The Northuldra follow magic, and allow a beast to roam the forest unchecked..." he began, "...which tells us we can never trust them." He then growled at the end, shocking Elsa with a frown on her face as the dinosaur next to her gave a growl of his own.

"Grandfather...?" Elsa responded, slightly backing up with a heartbroken look on her face.

"Magic and beasts, put together, are what make people feel too powerful, too entitled..." he said, taking a slight pause to take in a gasp of air. "They make these peasants think that they can defy the will...of a king...!" he finished with a mixed face of anger, disgust and grim determination.

A look and sentence that had wiped away Elsa's heartbroken look, and replaced it with a scowl of resentment, taking a defying step forward as dots began to connect in her mind. "That's not what magic and dinosaurs do. That's just your fear," she stated with a glare towards her grandfather. "Fear is what can't be trusted..." she continued, before watching as her grandfather and his guard captain walked on past her, and then suddenly walked through a thin wall of ice. Determined to finally find out what had truly happened in the past, she gave a wave of her hands, evaporating the wall before following them, the Cryolophosaurus following behind her as they began a decent deeper into Ahtohallan.

"You see, the dam will weaken their lands, so they will have to turn to me," she heard Runeard state to the man beside him as she kept following, while somehow, hearing her mother sing as the ice-casting woman and beast walked on, like a kind of warning.

'Dive down deep into her soooouuuund...but not too far, or you'll be droooowwwned...'

Suddenly she found herself taking in a gasp of surprise at finding herself nearly tumbling over an edge of the ice, but didn't fall thanks to the beast lightly tugging on her dress with one of its sharp claws. She looked down and across a seemingly bottomless pit, seeing a silhouette of the dam down below.

"They will come in celebration, and we will know their numbers...and their strength."

Elsa gave the dinosaur behind her a glance, as he gestured for her to get on his back again, kneeling down as he did. Once she mounted up, the Beast of Ahtohallan walked up to the edge and allowed her to peer down into the abyss just as a whole column of people came into view, both Arendelle and Northuldra.

"As you have welcomed us, we welcome you! Our friends, our neighbours."

Finally, as she took one last inhale, a determined look came on her face as she gripped her legs onto the dinosaur's body and encouraged her new friend to jump. With a short roar, he leapt from the ledge, and fell for a few seconds, before slamming down onto the floor, now standing in what was seemingly an entire forest of deep purple ice. But as Elsa dismounted the dinosaur, she found herself feeling cold of all things, looking down at her hands to see something that made her heart race in fear.

They were starting to frost and freeze over!

Now worried, she wrapped her arms around herself and looked around the beautiful but freezing landscape, not taking a genius to know that she had dived down too far. Looking slightly ahead of her, she spotted a gathering of the two peoples in a large circle, watching a pair of reindeer racing around with their riders leaping from one side of their mounts to the other, and slightly away from the entertainment was her grandfather, speaking to a man who she could only assume was the Northuldran leader before Yelena took over.

And judging from what she was hearing him say, he was not in a happy mood. "King Runeard, the dam isn't strengthening our waters; it's hurting the forest!" She first heard him say. "It's cutting off the North-" he continued before the late king intervened, placing a reassuring arm on his shoulder.

"Let's not discuss this here, let us meet on the fjord, have tea. Find a solution," he suggested in a friendly tone, and with a soft nod the other man walked off as the memory ended.

Now truly shivering, she looked about frantically to find out more, just as the Cryolophosaurus nudged her to face to her right, taking in a slight gasp as she saw the Northuldran man kneeling down with a wooden cup in hand, waiting for Runeard to meet him.

Elsa then looked around cautiously, before hearing her new friend give a hate-fuelled growl, and she shifted her feared attention to her grandfather, who had quickly run by from behind her, drawn his sword, and she then watched in horror with another gasp of such as he quickly and honourlessly decapitated him, holding her now near-ice hands to her mouth as her butcher of a grandfather standing over the dead man with his sword dripping in blood. "For Arendelle...!" he spat hatefully. With air leaving her lungs she went to take a step back, but then quickly stopped herself falling over backwards, looking to see she was now properly freezing over into a statue.

Just like Anna did.

Now trembling she looked up into the abyss they came from, with the two most important people in her world on her mind. "Anna!" She first grunted in pain, straining to raise her freezing arm with her palm open. And then, with a tear, she sobbed the name of the love of her life. "ELLIOT!" She cried, letting a flow of her magic fly upwards from her hand.

Before finally freezing over, completely...

Now alone, the Beast of Ahtohallan silently mourned for the passing of the Ninth Spirit, preying for Seikatsu and Draco to welcome her. He then looked up and gave a loud thundering roar that echoed within the cavern. But instead of the voice like the previous times, his roar was answered with a low but echoey howl. The Cryolophosaurus, now having done his part, laid down on the ground and wrapped himself around the queen's body protectively.

But, as of that moment...

Elsa...was dead...

DK

Back in the forest, Anna and Olaf were still trying to find their way out of the caves to meet up with everyone else, eventually ending up in a fork in their path. "Hmm, which lucky tunnel do we choose...?" Olaf muttered out loud with a thoughtful look on his face. He was about to lead Anna down the right path when they heard the echoed sound of a harsh whip crack from their left, followed by a pained cry of a familiar voice.

"DO IT, YOU CRYING LITTLE SHIT!"

"NO-OO, NOOOOOOOOOO...!"

Still holding a little bit of bitterness for the owner of that voice, but far too worried from the pitch of such a scream to concern herself with it, Anna ran around the corner to her left, with Olaf following behind closely. And what she saw stopped her dead.

In front of her was a sculpture of snow, of a man and woman standing over a crying, teenage Elliot, his eyes and mouth wide open in terror and pain with hints of tears streaking down his face. The man stood directly above him with rage recognisable on his ugly mug, striking the boy below him with a whip with a sharp blade on the end, while the woman knelt down with his hair in her fist, forcing him to look forward with a mad look in her eyes. As Anna stood there with a look of shock on her face, she noticed that one of the young man's hands was stretched outwards, and when she followed where it pointed, she saw a small ship in a rocked position sitting on a boulder.

And then, with a gasp, realisation sept into her heart.

And she felt it snap.

Hyperventilating herself now, she shakily took a few steps back - and would've toppled over, if it wasn't for the wall they ended up leaning against with a wild look in her eyes. "Anna!" Olaf exclaimed in worry, rushing over to the princess as she slid down to the floor. "Are you okay?" he asked her in concern.

"Murderers...I'm-worst sister...Not his f-fault..." Anna stuttered, still breathing rapidly as her heart pounded anxiously and tears flooded her eyes.

"Anna, what are you talking about? What murderers? Whose fault?" Olaf asked frantically, laying his stick arms on her shoulders.

After taking some calming breaths, she looked up at the horrid sculptures in front of her, and used her arms to turn the snowman's head around to face it with her. "Olaf... do you know who they are...?" she asked with a wobbly jaw.

"No...but I feel like I should..." he answered honestly.

Anna then gestured to the man and woman standing. "Those are Elliot's tormentors..." she started off, directing both of their gazes to the younger boy below them. "Brutally attacking Elliot himself...with his arms stretched out at...my parents' ship..." she finished, closing her eyes soon afterwards in heartbreak at she now thought on her previous actions towards the man. "Elliot didn't take away their lives because he was angry or jealous..." She paused to take in a shaky breath. "He was forced to do it...tortured to..." she finished, closing her eyes to hold back her heartbroken tears, and put her face in her hands as she did.

"But if that's true-" Olaf turned his head back to her. "Why would he lie to us about it...?" he asked softly, emotion clear in his voice at the revelation.

Anna gave her eyes a wipe with the back of her hand, before attempting to answer through her choked-up voice. "I don't know for sure...but I think his fake parents must've said something to him that made him not want to tell us." She took a deep breath before continuing. "I think, from knowing how they treated him...they threatened him with our wellbeing to not tell us sooner...maybe even never. And in turn...he may never have had to experience our hate, and our anger...nor would he risk seeing us get hurt afterwards..." she finished with a whimper.

"Oh...ohhh...!" was the snowman's only sad reply in an understanding of the situation, before slowly walking over to rest his head on her knees. "Are you okay?" he asked softly, looking up at her.

"I could really use a bright side, Olaf," was Anna's reply, trying hard not to break down again.

"Bright side, um..." the snowman went, trying to think of something to cheer her up. "Turtles can breath underwater through their butts...?" He tried, only getting a look in return on the lines of a deadpan and confusion. "And...I see a way out!" he suddenly said, gesturing with his arms towards an opening in the cave, up on a higher ridge above them.

"I knew I could count on you," Anna smiled, seeing the entrance herself and giving the snowman a tight warm hug, before getting back on her feet and walking on to find a way up. But she didn't notice Olaf give a moan of what seemed like pain as he raised a stick arm to his head.

"Come on, Elsa's most likely on her back to find Elliot and apologise to him. We find them, get the family back and then-" Anna cut her ranting short, having alarmingly noticed a light flurry of snow floating on the air, which stopped her in her tracks with wide eyes and a gasp as she slowly turned back to see this flurry originating from her snowman friend. "Olaf...?" she began with worry as he looked at himself with a fascinated smile on his face.

"What's this...?" he whispered, looking around himself in wonder.

"Are you...okay?" the princess continued.

"I'm flurrying...?" he slightly exclaimed with a hint of excitement, before continuing on. "Wait no, that's not it..." he continued before his smile left completely, a dreadful realisation seeping into him. "I'm flurrying...away!" he said. "The magic in me is...fading."

That last part is what made Anna gasp again in horrid dread. "What...?" she asked, as she quickly knelt down in front of him as they looked each other in the eyes.

"I don't think Elsa's okay..." he said, making Anna reel back a bit with a horror-filled look snapped onto her face with a soft, breaking whimper. "I think...she may have gone too far..."

Cue the slight hyperventilating again, as Anna closed her eyes, refusing to believe...that her family was now irreversibly torn apart...her mother and father, lost to the sea. Her dear brother, somewhere lost in the forest, chased out because of misunderstood anger. And now, her sister, that meant everything to her...dead. "No...no...!" she whispered, with a shake of her head.

"Anna..." Olaf's voice sounded, making the princess open her teary eyes. "I'm sorry...you're gonna have to do this next part on your own...okay?" he told her, with a sad, accepting smile on his face.

That was the moment that Anna went ahead and picked up the little snowman into her lap. "Come here, I've got you," she said in reassurance as the snowman gave a sigh.

"That's nice..." he whispered in reply, his eyes now beginning to droop in what seemed to be tiredness as the magic in him continued to die. "Hey, Anna...I just remembered something that has never changed..." he whispered.

The teary princess made an exhale of breath before answering. "What?"

"...Love..." was his basic reply, but Anna knew just what he meant. Love for the family they had. Elsa, Kristoff, Sven, Rapunzel, Eugene, Maximus, Pascal, Elliot, Sugi, the D-Team, Panthos, Rohanna, Koba, Orius, Tarroz, Tyeema, Darboon, Iven...and so many others. And she knew he was right, in saying that love is something that would never die. It was something that never changed.

"Warm hugs...?" she asked, nearly sobbing as she brought the dying snowman into a tight hug.

"I like warm hugs..." he said with closed eyes and a seemingly blissful smile on his face, returning the hug by holding one of her arms.

And before he disappeared completely, Anna managed to say one last thing through her crying as the snowman lost his smile. "I love you...Olaf..."

The flurry from Olaf floated out of the cave and high into the air above the forest, a sight that could be seen for miles around. And not that far away on the grounds of the forest, below the cave opening, Elliot looked to this sight with Sugi at his side, tragically knowing that the woman he loved, was dead. Overcome with grief and heartache, the hunter fell to his hands and knees, taking in heavy breaths in an effort to soothe his shattered heart. "I never got to make amends..." he moaned pitifully through his emotional anguish, looking to the feline at his left who gave him a sorrowful look. "And now...she died hating me..." he said with a near-sob as tears fell freely from his eyes. It was then, though that he felt a cold gust of magic snow flow around him quickly, which formed into a gruesome sight.

"See, the dam will weaken their land, so they'll have to turn to me."

"The dam is not strengthening our waters; it's hurting the forest!"

A sight that would leave him disgusted, at the sight of an honourless betrayal.

Upon a higher ridge overlooking the land, a familiar pale orc and his equal-in-sized son also saw the flurry of snow flying above the forest, and their reactions to its meaning were mixed, in all honesty. While it did mean that the Ice Maiden was dead, preventing the prophecy from passing, it also meant that the world would potentially not have a future after all. "With the ice caster dead, shouldn't we tell the sorceress that the prophecy will not come to fruition?" Bolg asked Grarzog in their native tongue, who continued to look at the sight with a slight sneer on his mug.

"It may be wise to do so, I imagine..." the cruelly-titled orc admitted, before turning away from the sight, and started back towards his warg in the tree line with Bolg not far behind. "But I don't believe that this is over..." he said before they climbed aboard their snarling mounts and immediately ran back towards the stones outside the forest.

"And where are you two going?"

Both orcs stopped their mounts dead at the deceptively silky sound of Maleficent's voice, turning to their right to see her walking up towards them, a satisfied smirk on her face and her raven cawing on her shoulder. Upon reaching them, she too looked out towards the swirling, airborne snow. "So, the ice caster...dead, is she?" she asked rhetorically.

"Yes, sorceress. The prophecy you feared will now never come to pass," Bolg told her, a menacing grin threatening to split his face, only to be answered by the witch shooting a low-powered blast of green fire at his chest, impaling him, and flinging the young, but large orc off his startled warg and landing a few feet from the cliff's ledge. Grarzog looked on, impervious to his offspring's predicament, deciding he deserved it for speaking so soon.

"Fool!" Maleficent hissed with anger as the orc slowly climbed back to his feet. The Mistress of All Evil then took a calming inhale of breath. "In any other case, I'd rejoice to know that this world's ice maiden is no more..." she said to the pair, smirking evilly - but then she said something that surprised the orc. "But she still has a job to do here...and it's not her time for death - just yet..." Before she turned away, her calm but dark grin returned. "Come, both of you," she instructed the pair as Bolg remounted his snarling beast. "Soon, the forest will be free of its prison...then, we make our move."

DK

Cold...alone...broken.

Darkness was all the hysterical princess could see and feel, curled up by a boulder, hugging her satchel full of Olaf's remnants with her knees to her chest, and her eyes staring into nothing. "Elsa...Olaf...Elliot...what do I do now...?" Anna cried to herself softly, feeling as if she was all alone with no one to turn to.

She had lost her parents, who had died on the Dark Sea, looking for the answer to her sister's magic.

She had lost Olaf, the innocent little snowman who loved summer and warm hugs - and had been with her in person and in memory forever.

She had lost her brother, a man who was meant to be born a dragon, and had been raised in hatred and grief, and then chased out of her life because of a horrible misunderstanding.

And...she had lost Elsa, her sister, who had sacrificed her entire childhood to protect her from herself. The woman that never gave up the fight for the man she loved most. And worst of all, the woman who died before she and her brother figure could rekindle their relationship. And now...she was the only one of her family left.

"I'm sorry, guys..." she whimpered, seemingly talking to the spirits of the ones she lost. "I don't know what to do anymore...I n-need help..." She cried, as more tears poured out of her eyes. But, as she cried a bit more, she felt as if she wasn't alone in the dark.

As if...she was being watched.

After struggling to compose herself a bit, she opened her eyes just in time to see an alarming sight. In the pitch black in front of her, there was a pair of yellow eyes, staring at her intensively. The owner of which slowly walked out of the darkness, and when Anna saw that it was the large white wolf from the river hours before, her eyes widened in fright, scrambling up to her feet as the creature gave a low growl. "You...!" she said in wariness, grief-induced fear now setting in. "I've seen you before...!" she whispered again, holding her arms and hands in front of her in a vain attempt to keep herself calm and try to placate the huge canine.

"Yoouuu..."

Her heart stopped dead. That wolf...just fricking spoke!...in a low echoey voice before the wolf growled again, gnashing its serrated teeth. Now Anna was really beginning to panic, especially when she heard two more growls from her flanks. She first darted her line of sight to her left, where she saw another wolf that equalled in size to the white one, with this new one having a brown fur coat with blue, piecing orbs for eyes, its head low as if stalking her with killing intent, and when she looked to her right, she saw a third one with dark grey fur and white eyes, leap onto a small rock, snarling menacingly.

Now feeling utterly terrified at these imposing, snarling wolves that reminded her of the orc's wargs, she did the only thing she felt she could in her emotional combination of grief and vulnerability. She turned and ran. The wolves each gave a growling bark and chased after her - first the grey, then brown, and finally the white wolf with another snarl.

Anna ran as fast as she could through the cave as tears of terror poured down her frightened face, heaving, hyperventilating rapidly as her face turned pale, but she dared not look back, hearing the pounding of their large paws behind her, and gaining fast, hearing their deep panting getting closer. After coming to a bend, the princess ducked into a crevice by the corner and struggled to hold her panicked breathing, looking through the opening to see the brown and grey wolf rush by. After calming down, she dashed forward and scrambled up a steep wall face to a higher ridge, where she then looked out to see a path on the other side of a wide gap. Steeling her nerves, and taking a deep breath, she rushed forward, and jumped with all her might to bound across the gorge, only to find herself latching on to the edge as her leap fell short, gripping the ledge with a steel grip.

After taking a few moments to catch her breath while trying to stay glued to the rock face, she then slowly tried to pull herself up onto the ledge, making sure not to lose her footing. But as she reached one her arms out, her heart rate accelerated and her eyes widened in dread when she felt her hand touch - not rock and stone - but a smooth set of fur. Looking up once more, she saw herself face-to-face with the white wolf, snarling at her with teeth bared.

The wolf gave a growling bark and snapped its fangs at her, frightening her into letting go, and soon found herself screaming in terror as she lost her grip on the cliff face, and fell towards the bottom.

Her world went black as she hit the ground.

DK

Anna woke to feel and hear something sniffing loudly in her ear, slowly opening her eyes and slowly looking around herself. The first thing she noticed was that she wasn't closed in by the walls of a deep dark cave, but instead, she was under a rather hazy-looking night sky, and on a grassy plain that was lit up by a combination of the moon and the many fireflies that seemed to make the entire meadow glow with all kinds of dazzling colours. Sitting up and taking in the beautiful scenery, she looked down at herself, and upon remembering that she practically fell to her death, she was surprised to find herself all cleaned and not seeing an injury, nor feeling any physical pain whatsoever.

She then turned on herself onto her hands and knees in an attempt to stand up, only to find herself yelping in absolute fright as she backed away from the biggest wolf she had seen, its light grey fur illuminated by the lights of the meadow. As it sat on its haunches, she looked up to see a wolf being possibly as tall as a giraffe, its head alone perhaps rivalling the size of the castle gates in Arendelle, and gazing at her with misty blue eyes.

To her, it was like staring up at Fenrir, the wolf of Norse myth which she had read about from books in the library - and as the giant gave a quiet growl, her heart slightly hammered once more, and when she turned, she saw none other than the white wolf that had chased her before, who too gave a short growl. She then looked back at the giant wolf, who stared at her intently. "What do you want me?...Who are you?" she asked, with a hint of desperation in her voice. And with a very deep and echoey voice, the Fenrir lookalike made a reply!

"I...am...Runeard..."

Anna's eyes went wide.

DK

Back in the forest, The D-Team had just regrouped at the barren patch made by Elliot on the first night they arrived. During the night, their dino bracers had picked up the signals of a new dinosaur, but...the signal seemed...scrambled...popping up all over the forest. So, they had decided to split up, human and dino alike, all heading in different directions. Upon regrouping at the fiery stone sculptures, Rex was the first to speak up. "Any sign of it?" he asked his teammates.

"Nothing by the river," was Zoe's reply.

"I looked all over the old Northuldran camp like you suggested - nothing." Max said before Rex turned to his partners.

"Any luck on your ends?"

"No sign of it anywhere, I didn't even catch a scent..." Ace said in apology.

"I was close to just digging for the dinosaur myself...I mean - Seikatsu, does this forest have to be so big and confusing?!" Tank said in frustration. "Every damn thing looks the same!" she nearly screamed.

Zoe then turned to her Parasaurolophus and Spinosaurus as Tank took a deep breath to try and calm down. "What about you two, Paris?" she asked them.

"I couldn't find anything, sorry you guys..." Paris replied in guilt.

"It's like as if this dino is a wizard, like Gandalf the White/Grey (depending on the series), or Professor Dumbledore, casting a curse onto the bracers, trying to get us to lose our way in finding it," Spiny said in worry, before looking up, and gave a screaming cry. "DAMN IT HAROLD GODWINSON, ISN'T IT BAD ENOUGH THAT YOU CURSE US WITH SLOW WRITING?!" were his words of rage. Slow writing, accidental, curse, on purpose. "FUCK'S SAKE!"

"Babe, what are you even talking about?" Tank deadpanned to her boyfriend.

"I know what I'm talking about!" Spiny just yelled randomly.

"Actually, getting back to the here and now-" Max suddenly said, noticing that two dinos, in particular, were missing. "Where're Chomp and Terry?" he said in concern.

"They're not here?" Zoe went in surprise.

"Honey?!/Terry?" Paris and Tank called out for their respective companions.

That was when they heard loud footsteps coming their way, and when they turned to see them through the trees, they were in for a rather amusing sight. "Look, I am sorry," the still broken-horned Chomp said.

"If I was navigating, this wouldn't've happened!" Terry exclaimed.

"Oh, just stop!"

"You talk me into letting you lead, and we literally, got lost, in the woods!"

"Oh, fuck off, bro!" Chomp nearly shouted back that time. "I said I'm sorry, let it go!" he argued. "Besides, how else was I gonna stop your boasting about your nose?!"

"That nose of mine that I - quote 'boasted' - about could've led us back to the others ten minutes ago!" he replied, before stopping in his tracks and facing the triceratops, frustration still in his eyes and words. "But noooo - you just had to make an excuse, just so you could try and find the new dinosaur! And thanks to you, pea brain, we got lost!" he raved.

Chomp was getting even more fed up with Terry at this point, getting right in his face. "Oh yeah, very original, eh? Tiny arms!" he retorted.

"Chomper face!"

"Bird legs!"

"HORN SNAPPER!"

Chomp then gave a shocked gasp with wide eyes, and hurt filled him as the situation with his horns was very sensitive to him. And upon realising what he said, Terry's frustration and anger was replaced with gulit. "Sorry..." he said quietly to him, as the Triceratops looked away from him.

"Y-You went too far that time..." he said in an equally quiet reply.

"Yeah, yeah, I know bro, I know." Terry replied apologetically, giving him a gentle brotherly nuzzle and bringing their fight to an end as the others walked over to them.

"There you guys are!" Max said in relief of seeing his partners. "Everything okay?" he asked them with concern.

"We're fine, Max, just...got turned around is all." Chomp stated bluntly.

"So, none of us found the dinosaur, at all?" Zoe questioned, looking on the screen of her dino bracer to see the blinking light still scrambled.

"I swear, we must've looked all over this place!" Max replied in frustration, waving his hands about. "We looked up, down, left, right, everywhere! How can we not find it?!"

"Max, as much as I am just as frustrated as you, complaining is not gonna help," Rex said, laying a hand on the brunet's shoulder to keep him from pacing more. "Let's think, there's nine of us here, and the rest of our group is somewhere out there, with Yelena's people or otherwise."

"Right, in that case, I think maybe we should start heading back towards camp, get Kristoff, Sven, maybe even some of the Northuldra to help us too!" Max then suggested, taking one of Zoe's arms. "Hopefully Elsa and her group will be back by then with a clue on how to free us all, and then we can look for the answer and the new dinosaur at the same time!" he continued.

"In that case, I say what are we waiting for?" Ace finished for the group. "Come on!" he said, heading back the way they came, with the rest of the D-Team following.

DK

With her eyes still slightly wide, Anna slowly rose to her feet and addressed the large being before her. "Runeard...that was my grandfather's name..." she said, taking a pause to accept this little revelation. "What do you want with me?"

"You...ran..." the giant wolf lowly growled in a tone of hidden anger.

"Well, yeah, the wolves were chasing me!" Anna nearly shouted back, gesturing to the white wolf behind her as fear set into her again.

"Why...?" was his questioning reply, leaning in closer to her with his teeth slightly bared.

"W-What else was I meant to do?!" the princess exclaimed, taking a small step back, tears of fear and sorrow stinging her eyes again. "I-I thought-...I j-just feel - so alone a-and lost without my family!" she cried, collapsing to her knees. "Elsa - did everything she did - to protect me from herself! Olaf was - one of the best friends I ever made! He was innocent of everything!" she continued to sob, all her anguish pouring out of her as she listed the third loved one she lost. "And Elliot...he was, so strong...and brave, and he cared..." she finished, now fully crying. "H-He protected those around him, w-when there was no one to protect him! He did nothing to deserve our anger! Our hatred!"

In that moment, the wolf Runeard sat back up straight, looking down at her with a calculative expression as he gave a ruff exhale of breath. "Fear...!" he summarised.

"I AM AFRAID! Okay?!" Anna screamed up at him, her tears still pouring rapidly and she started to heave, trying to breathe. "I'm afraid...everything seems so hopeless now!" she told him.

"Hmm...Fight...!" Runeard growled deeply.

"How?" she asked with a whimper as she ran out of tears to shed.

"Together..." he replied, with a hint of comfort in his voice and a now gentle expression on his face. After that, he looked to the white wolf behind her a gave a small nod as if giving him a command.

Anna once again turned to said wolf, seeing it walk up to her, growling profusely and intimidatingly, finally ending it with a growl like bark as its mouth opened wide, which in turn, cause the princess to cover her eyes, fearing the worst.

THUD!

But after a moment, she felt no pain, and uncovered her eyes to see something that took away her breath, and not in a good way. Standing in front of her was an ice sculpture of her grandfather, a hateful scowl on his face and sword in both hands and paused in a mid-swing, its blade resting on the neck of a man in Northuldran clothing, a look of surprise, shock and pain on his face as his grip on the wooden cup he held was about to drop. She once more rose to stand up, and inspected the sculpture in front of her. "This moment from time...where is this from?" she asked the giant wolf.

"Magic...River..." was his short reply, but an answer that she could guess by herself.

"Ahtohallan..." Anna whispered to herself, looking down at the ground with a look of realisation as she turned back at the statue, knowing just who this thing came from. The same woman that showed her what really happened to Elliot that day, and the same woman who gave her life to do so. "Then Elsa did it...she found the truth...!" she said.

"Realisation..." Wolf Runeard observed, watching her reaction.

"That's my grandfather..." she started, looking at the man's hateful expression. "Assassinating, the Northuldra leader...who wields no weapon..." she ended off. It was right then and there, with a sorrowful and grim look, that she knew that her grandfather, a man she used to admire, was, in turn, a soulless betrayer of trust. And all the evidence that was shown here could prove only one thing. "The dam wasn't a gift of peace...it was a trick...!" she saw in crushing realisation.

"Fear..." was the wolf's start of a reply to this crime, making Anna turn her head back towards him as he continued his little list. "Deception...betrayal..."

"These are things that go against everything Arendelle stands for..." was Anna's own reply, looking down at the ground as a sorrowful and dreaded realisation on what had to be done now became clear in her eyes, laying one of her hands on the shoulder of the Northuldran leader, looking at his horrified face frozen in time as she did. "I know now how to free the forest...I know how to make things right..." she said.

"Sadness..." he noted with a whisper, watching her intently as she faced him again.

"We have to break the dam," she said to him with a face of dejection and determination.

"Danger...!" he replied, pressing the fact that in doing so, it would cause the destruction of her home.

"It's why everyone was forced out, to protect them from what has to be done," she said, concluding that this was the real reason why everyone was forced out of their homes. However, as she looked back to the frozen statues, she began to wonder. If the spirits were angry for her grandfather's betrayal, what was the reason for turning their rage on the rest of the world? It made no sense. "But...this doesn't explain why the world as a whole is under siege like this, so...why?" she asked, turning towards the giant wolf again, desperation in her voice as she continued. "Why are the spirits affecting the rest of the world like this, if not worse?" And the dark reply she got was not what she expected.

"Dark...Magic...!"

The princess had her eyes widened like pancakes. "What...?" was her stunned first question. "But - that should be impossible! Who the heck in this world could be that powerful?"

This was when the giant slowly leaned its head downwards, continuing to look at her thoroughly as he answered. "Deceiver..." was his first statement. "Destroyer...!" He ended in a tone of anger, with him so close that Anna had to slightly lean back in discomfort, warranting a low growl from the smaller white wolf behind her to keep her in place.

"What are you talking about exactly? What deceiver? What destroyer?" Anna's words became frantic again, feeling pressed from the two deadly carnivores on either side of her. "It's doesn't make sense!"

One final pause of words, before the giant wolf made his last sentence. "Redeem...past...Restore...future..." were his words, before raising his body upwards again.

"How? How am I meant to do all of that?" Anna asked, only to be replied with a low 'hmp!' from her giant host. "Tell me!" she demanded. That, however, was when the gentleness within the giant's eyes was replaced by killing intent, now snarling profusely and echoingly with jaws open and teeth bared, a sight that told Anna what was about to become of her now. "No...!" she begged, raising her trembling arms to protect herself.

And then with a savage roar, the giant wolf lunged. "NOOOOOOO!"

DK

"ELSA!" The princess screamed with terror, darting up in a sitting position and hyperventilating, with wide eyes and profuse shaking of her entire body.

It took her around 5 minutes to finally calm down, if only a bit, and as her sight and sense of feel refocused, she noticed two things. One: looking slightly up and ahead was the sculpture of her treacherous grandfather, sword and all, and two:...she felt no pain from the fall from earlier. No broken limbs, smashed ribs, and...wouldn't her head be splattered after taking such a fall?

She then noticed that while she was sitting on a stone-hard floor, her back was leaning on something...soft, furry. When she noticed that, she sat up, looked behind her, and then held her breath.

It was the white wolf. Just laying by her side, watching her, seemingly move for move with its piercing yellow eyes. And she was resting on his flank, while the other two wolves from the earlier chase gazed at her as well. Now more alert to her surroundings, she looked ahead of her to see a black wolf pup, just sitting and staring at her with green eyes as if she was the most interesting thing in the world. Slowly, the tiny creature walked up to her with its tail slightly wagging and laid itself on her lap with a little squeak.

Then slowly, the princess raised one of her hands to the pup's snout, and then 'aww!'ed inside as the adorable little babe licked her fingers and then nuzzled into her palm.

But then, as the pup got comfy with the three adults watching, tears came to her eyes again, remembering how she ended up there.

Her family was still, in a few ways, irreversibly torn apart. And nothing could bring her loved ones back.

As if sensing her grief, the wolf pup gave a whimpering whine and craned its head up to give a comforting lick to her nose, which was quickly answered with her wrapping her arms around it and sobbing into its fur. All the while with the three adults watching her.

Feeling like she had nothing left to lose, her voice, broken, near sobbing and weak, broke into song.

"I've seen dark before, but not like this...this is cold, this is empty, this is numb..."

(The princess closed her eyes as the pup gave another whimper.)

"The life I knew is over, the lights are out..."

"Hello, darkness...I'm ready to succumb..."

(She let her head loll to one side, still singing softly and holding the pup close.)

"I've followed you around, I always have...but you've gone, to a place, I cannot find..."

(She sung the next verse, now near to fully sobbing as her next words were stuttered.)

"This grief...has a gravity - it-pulls-me-down...but a tiny voice whispers in my mind..."

(She looked up into the yellow eyes of the white wolf, now feeling a sense of comfort when she didn't see any malicious intent in the yellow orbs.)

"You are lost...hope is gone...but you must...go on..."

"And doooo, the next right thiiiiiing..."

(She lowered the pup to the floor, and manoeuvred onto her hands and knees.)

"Can there be a day, beyond this night?...I don't know, anymore, what is true..."

(The pup gave her one more little nuzzle, before trotting over to the other adult wolves, before the white one stood back up.)

"I can't find my direction, I'm all alone...The only star, that guided me, was yooooo-oooouuuu..."

(And then crouched beside her as the brown wolf came up to her, nudging her slowly onto her feet, the princess herself slowly stumbling.)

"How to riiiiiissee, from the floor...when it's not you...I'm rising for...?"

(She then saw the dark grey wolf walk up to her, her bag of Olaf's remnants still withing and carried by the strap in its maw. She slowly took it, and wore the bag over her shoulder.)

"Just do, the next, right, thing..."

(And finally looked to the still-crouched white alpha, and saw the look in its eyes as if allowing her to ride him, steadily climbing aboard onto his upper back.)

"Take a step..."

(And then gripped its fur as he stood up once again.)

"Step agaaiinn..."

(And with the pup now in the brown wolf's mouth, all three adults slowly walked uphill through the caves, along a steep windy track back towards the cliff's ledge where she fell.)

"It is aaaaalll that I caaaaaann, toooo dooooo...the next, right, thing."

(Upon reaching the final steps, the still-teary princess clung to her new mount's fur as he climbed.)

"I won't look too far ahead... it's too much for me to taaake..."

(And upon reaching the top, both woman and wolf looked towards the same ledge that she tried to jump earlier.)

"But break it down, to this next breath..."

(She gazed at it for a moment.)

"This next step..."

(And let bravery enter her, tightly gripping the fur beneath her fingers, leaning slightly forward and legs raised as the wolf stood its ears up.)

"This next choice, is one that I can maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake!"

(The wolf ran towards the edge and gave a loud echoey bark as it leapt high and far over the gap, the princess still on its back as he landed, and from there, proceeded up towards the cave opening at last as Anna continued.)

"So I'll waaaaalk, through this night, riding blindly towards the liiiiiight..."

(Finally, she was out of the caves, and found herself and her new companion on a mountain cliff looking over the entire forest.)

"And do the next, right, thing..."

(She then dismounted the wolf, and walked up to the drop, taking in a view as she sang towards the end.)

"And with the daaaawwwn...what comes theeeeen..."

(She poured all her anguish into her next verse, trying to expel the pain as the white wolf walked up behind her.)

"When it's clear, that everything will never be the saaame aaagaaaiiiinnn...?!"

(She took a pause to regain her breath, slowly turning to face him, as her song neared its end.)

"Then I'll make the choice...to hear that voice...and doooooo..."

(And finally, both looked out, seeing the dam on the horizon.)

"The next, right, thing..."

The longer she stared at her grandfather's creation of deception, the more and more remembrance filled her for what she and her family came to do. She looked into the eyes of the wolf who spared her and even helped her when needed, who in turn, gave a slow nod. Her core now filled with determination, and a plan in mind to free the forest once and for all, she rushed down the mountain path, and back into the trees towards the river.

On and on she ran, for what seemed like miles, through low branches and bushes back towards the river. After what seemed like an hour, she finally broke through, and came face to face with the Earth Giants! All asleep, deep grumbling snores and huffs indicated that they wouldn't be roused for anything.

"WAKE UP!" Anna shouted, trying to snap the giant rock men out of their slumber, only to be replied with another snore. "WAKE UUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!" she then nearly screamed, nearly hurting her voice as she did, and when she saw one of them move, hope filled her.

Only to be disappointed as it only shifted its position, one of its hands making a splash as it landed in the water.

Anna gave a deep breath. "WAKE, UUU-!" But she then found herself covering her ears and nearly jumped five feet in the air as a massive, inhuman roar broke through the air like a thunderbolt, making her go down on her knees and into a foetal position as she looked to the source of the sound, looking up towards a small hilltop.

And the man she saw on top, giving out a genuine and authentic draconian, territorial roar, was none other than Elliot, his bow raised in the air and Sugi by his side, staring at the giants who now were nearly shocked out of their sleep. But it wasn't him or Sugi that the suddenly fully awake Earth Giants saw first. But rather, Anna - one of them giving a groan of anger as they all began to rise.

"That's it..." Anna said to herself, a mixture of hope and fear running through her as she slowly backed away from the river. "Come and get me, come on!" she then taunted, turning around to run back through the trees, just as one of the giants slammed its hands on the ground where she had previously stood.

Soon, all three, angry giants stood to their full height, towering above the trees of the forest as if they were small bushes, all their sights set on the running princess. One of them went ahead, and gave a low, bellowing roar that made a gust of wind so powerful, "OVER HERE- GAH!", that it actually knocked her off her feet, and stunned her as she hit a rock, causing her to feel too dizzy to get back up, rubbing her forehead thoroughly to try and get her sense back. But by the time she did and looked up, she saw one of of the giants before her, and raised a rocky fist intending to end her then and there, giving a roar as it threw its fist forward.

Anna screamed in terror, frantically trying to scramble herself back on to her feet. But before she ended up being pulverised, a loud familiar roar echoed to her right, and something dashed in, grabbing her and running away just as the hand made contact with the ground. Anna looked up and saw the face of the one man she might never have seen again. "Elliot!" she exclaimed in relief at seeing him, clinging to him tightly as tears pooled in her eyes.

"We've already lost Elsa..." the hunter said, not caring for what her reaction was to see him as he looked down at her. "I'm not gonna lose you too, whether or not you still loathe me..." he stated, before giving a loud piercing whistle. which was soon answered by the bellow of a reindeer. And soon coming out of the trees, was none other than-!

"Kristoff!" Anna called out to her beloved, joy mixing into her words as she then gave a yelp as Elliot literally tossed her over to the blond's waiting arms.

"Get her away from this place, and get somewhere safe!" he called out, before getting his bow out, and let an arrow fly at the lead giant, hitting it where one of the eyes would be. "I'm what you want, ya stony-faced wankers!" he shouted at them, with Sugi giving an accompanying roar, taunting the pissed-off giants more as Kristoff pulled Sven over to a thicker canopy in the forest where they wouldn't see them, and just in time as they saw the second giant pick up and hurled a large boulder at the hunting pair.

But before Anna could yell her concerns, Sugi literally stopped herself dead, both hunters ducking down low as the boulder flew overhead and gave a bag gash in the earth as it landed, and stopped a good few feet away. "That'll work!" Elliot and Anna commented as he looked back at the giants again. "You missed, dickheads, what are you waiting for?!" he taunted with a yell, as Sugi gave a roar and continued running, the giants now taking long strides to keep pace with them.

"Kristoff-!"

"I'm here, Anna," the blond cut Anna off, covering one of her hands with his own. "Now, what do you need?" he asked quickly.

"To get to the dam."

"You got it!"

"Thank you," Anna told him in gratitude.

"Wait!" Another voice shouted, just before Kristoff could encourage Sven into a gallop.

Soon after that, the trio saw Mattias and his guard team come out of the trees before them, all looking at her specifically with worried confusion. "Lieutenant Mattias!" Anna addressed him breathlessly.

"Your Highness...what are you doing?"

Not far away, The D-Team also noticed the same commotion with the Earth Giants while looking for the rest of their team, standing atop a small hill within a break of the trees. "What's up with them?" Terry asked.

"Not sure, but I'm getting a sense of déjà vu," Max said in reply as the rest of the team watched from a short distance. "They're definitely chasing something, but what?" he asked out loud.

But then they all heard a yell of "OVER HERE, YOU ASSHOLES!".

"Hang on, was that-?" Paris suddenly exclaimed, before then all looked slightly down from their spot, and the whole team got shocked when they saw Elliot and Sugi, running away from them and dodging flying boulders and debris left and right! "It's Elliot!"

"And Sugi!" Rex exclaimed.

"Eli!/Up here!" Max and Zoe called down to them as the dinosaurs gave a short calling roar.

Over the chaos around them, Elliot heard the yell of the three kids and their dinosaurs' roars, and looked in their direction on higher ground - but before he could call back, he had his faithful feline duck to the right as a tree was thrown their way. "D-Team, stay out of this!" he shouted at them as they disappeared from sight.

"What the heck could Elliot have done to upset the giants like that?!" Spiny asked frantically as they watched the giants continuing to follow him, just before Zoe put the lenses of her glasses over her eyes.

"Forget about that, look where they're headed!" she exclaimed in worry, pointing to something in the distance ahead of them.

And that something, to their combined worry, was the dam, causing them to all gasp in worry. "This is bad. If the giants take out the dam, all of Arendelle's gonna sink into the sea!" Ace went about saying, voicing all their concerns.

"Well we can't just stand here, we got to do something to stop them!" Rex went ahead saying to his team.

"Well yeah, but how do we do that!?" Chomp said, "'Cos I don't think they're in a listening mood!"

Thinking while everyone was talking, Zoe looked ahead at the Earth Giants as they continued towards the dam, still throwing rocks and stuff at the hunters within the trees, worrying herself more at the sight. But then, a small sense of hope filled her, as she looked in her dino gadget and flipped through her move cards and saw a pair with the Grass emblem that could be just what they needed to pacify the Earth Giants. And after seeing them..."Guys, I have an idea!" she said, with a plan in her head that could work. "Paris, Spiny, you two come with me," she started, her dinos nodding in reply. "The rest of you, try to get the giants' attention and lead them to the river!" she said before running off.

"You want us to do what?!" Max called to his girlfriend as if she had gone crazy.

"Trust me!" the pinkette replied to her boyfriend, before continuing on with her dinos behind her.

DK

Back in the chase, Elliot and Sugi were still in a sprint, weaving left and right in a sort of zigzag form, dodging all kinds of earth-made stuff left and right - trees, rocks, branches, even giants mounds of earth. They eventually got a break from said weaving about when they entered a thicker canopy in the trees, where the three giants had to use their giant rocky hands to sift through the leaves, trying to locate their quarry.

Back within the trees themselves, the hunter pair had almost reached their destination, only facing a rock wall leading upwards. "Ready, Sugi?" he called out to her, muscles tense as he manoeuvred to a crouch on her back. "Jump!" he shouted, and with a roar, the sabertooth cat gave a mighty leap up the wall, forepaws spread out as if to embrace it, and at the same time of her leap, Elliot jumped off her back upwards and unsheathed his dagger, and stabbed it into the top of the ledge, quickly hauling himself up, and then turned to grab Sugi's paws which she had used to grip to the side of the wall. Together he pulled, and she pushed until she could grip her claws into a flatter surface. "Good girl!" he praised as she pulled herself for the last leg, reaching the even ground at last.

But then she looked ahead and gave a warning growl, something that confused him at first, before looking in the same direction. For there he saw Yelena, Honeymaren, Ryder and five other Northuldran warriors, all holding their staffs while looking at the two with confusion and wariness. "Ms. Yelena," he addressed respectfully, moving a soothing hand down Sugi's spine.

"Forgive me for sounding accusing, but what exactly do you think you're doing?" Honeymaren asked with a mixture of hostility and confusion.

Elliot then walked in front of his feline and put a pair of placating hands up. "Guys, listen to me," he started seriously. "The dam has to fall, it's the only way to free your forest and bring this whole thing to a finish."

"But won't Arendelle be destroyed if it goes down?" Ryder then asked.

"Arendelle - along with the rest of the world - won't have a future, not unless we set things right!" he stated firmly, getting his point across. "King Runeard betrayed all of you!"

At that, the confusion of the Northuldra stopped, now as shock filled them. "How do you know that?" Yelena asked.

Before Elliot could answer, they turned to see Anna, Kristoff and Mattias' company come out of the trees, all having a morbid look on all their faces, the guardsmen all looking the most crushed with a hint of betrayal in their downcasted eyes. Behind them came Sven, who was pulling a makeshift sledge made from a large flat stone.

And on the stone sledge, was the statue of the late king's treachery that the princess saw earlier. "Queen Elsa gave her life to find the truth..." was the Lieutenant's short but broken-sounding answer, like all he had sacrificed for had been for the wrong side.

Anna then stepped forward. "As well as uncovered a more personal past than what was previously thought," she said, casting her sight over to Elliot who returned the gesture, seeing a look in her eyes that was mixed with sadness and guilt, with a hint of demanding in her eyes. A look that spoke in volumes in telling him all there was to know.

She knew.

She knew about what happened that day.

How, when and where, he had no time to ponder, however, not when there were more pressing concerns. "Please...before we lose anyone else..." he slowly and softly implored Yelena.

The Northuldra Elder just stared, conflicted on what to do. On one hand, if what everyone said is true, then destroying the dam just might free her home once and for all, and undo all the wrongs the late king had made. But on the other, all of the innocent people living in Arendelle...innocent men, women and children, all of whom did nothing to her. Where would they go? What would they do?

Before those thoughts plagued her anymore, Mattias slowly came up next to her, facing the giants in the distance, a look of sadness and acceptance on his face. Slowly, he turned to face Yelena, casting a look that said one thing alone.

I'm sorry.

When the silver-haired woman saw this, she understood right away what his silent apology was for. It was for the treacherous actions of the man he called king, the war between two peaceful nations that followed, the blood that had been spilt since. All of it.

But at the sight and the understanding that followed, instead of anger or mistrust, pity filled her. Although things weren't the best between them, she knew that the Lieutenant merely fought for what he thought was right - not to mention that while he knew how to handle a sword and shield with deadly finesse, he was not ruthless as a man in general. She silently laid a hand on his shoulder, a look of her own apology and forgiveness in her eyes. The man next to her then raised his shield, and started slamming his sword on its face, followed quickly by Yelena thumping the bottom of her staff on the ground. Soon after, the rest of the Northuldra and Mattias' men followed their respective leader's example, thumping staffs and slamming shields.

And soon, the combined noises caught the hearing of the Earth Giants, all three looking to the source, and seeing the mass of people near the dam. "Make sure no one follows!" Elliot quickly and quietly told Sugi, who gave a slightly hushed understanding growl in return, before her rider ran off towards the dam.

Not to say it went unnoticed..."Elliot!" Anna called out to him with worry - and was about to follow him when Sugi suddenly appeared in front of her and gave a snarl, causing her to stop in her tracks with a frightened gasp, holding placating hands in front of her with a worried expression on her face.

"Look out!" Mattias suddenly shouted, shoving the princess and Yelena out of harm's way as a giant boulder suddenly crash-landed onto their spot, throwing them to the ground as the rest of the crowd scattered as more rocks flew in.

Back with Elliot, he ran and ran until he reached the centre of the dam, facing the giants defiantly. "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, ASSHOLES?! THROW YOUR BOULDERS, I'M RIGHT HERE!" he yelled loudly in a taunt at the giants, which proved itself to work as one giant threw two boulders at once, careening towards the dam at high speed.

But suddenly, before he bothered to run out of the way, two mini-tornadoes suddenly grouped them together, and before he or anyone else could understand what was happening, a familiar-looking carnotaurus flew in out of nowhere and started battering the rocks with powerful, rapid kicks. "What?!" the man exclaimed in shock, his plan beginning to fall apart.

"Ace, NO!" Anna screamed at him to stop, desperation clear in her voice, but sadly only fell on deaf ears and Ace gave one last powerful kick with a roar, shattering the boulders, and throwing their remnants into the water behind the dam, doing a backflip and falling to the bottom of the dam, before landing on his feet, and running back the way he came.

This whole thing caught everyone's attention - the Earth Giants included. "No..." Elliot said to himself in dread, before Terry's roar suddenly echoed through the forest, catching everyone's attention even more looking out into the distance, while the giants turned to face the source.

...And filling Elliot and Anna with more dread, knowing at what only one group of individuals intended to do.

And dooming the world in doing so.

DK

"They see us, great opening move pal!" Tank complimented, as Ace quickly rejoined the team after using Hurricane Beat at the last second.

"Cutting it a bit close, I admit..." the carnosaur replied with slight alarm as Terry gave a second roar to keep the giants' attention.

"We can worry about that later, the giants definitely see us now!" Rex started. "And now we gotta make sure that we have their undivided attention, and get them away from the dam!" he stated, as the giants now fully faced them, curiosity in their eyes for the moment as Rex turned to face Max. "Max, Tank and I will set it in motion; you, Chomp and Terry follow up, just like we planned!"

"Go for it!" the brunet told the Dinosaur King, readying his chosen move cards.

"Let's go, Tank!" Rex said. "Cavern Crash!" he shouted, swiping the card against his bracer.

The Saichania gave a roar as she glowed, before charging ahead as if performing Ultimate Earth. But instead of glowing purple fully just like that, she gave a mighty leap halfway and rolled into a ball as if intending to do Mole Attack. During her spin, she then span around rapidly, landing on the ground and then charging ahead much faster on the ground. Then just before she reached the lead giant, she bounced upwards, hard, and starting grounding and grinding her spiky back against its chin, sparks and loose bits of earth coming off as it happened. Soon she went away, leaving the now-stunned giant to slightly stumble backwards, its steps booming the earth as the other watched in slight shock and concern.

"Awesome move!" Tank exclaimed, liking her new ability as she regrouped with her teammates.

"Our turn, guys!" Max told his dinos.

"Gotcha!" Chomp and Terry called back.

"Go, Lightning Blaster!" Max called out, swiping his Lightning Strike and Magma Blaster move cards.

Both dinosaurs gave a roar as magma filled Terry's mouth and the horn and stump on Chomp's face fused lightning into a ball between them, and with a stomp and a rear up, both of them launched their attacks at the other two giants. The beams of fire and lightning fused and swirled, striking one giant, making it fall to the ground with a pained groan, and nearly launching the other at the dam by accident, landing just a few feet short of the base. "Ooooooooohhh, nearly hit the dam, yikes!" Max grunted to himself, seeing how close he was to causing a disaster.

All three giants soon collected themselves, and as the lesser two rose back up to their full height, all three looked at the human boys and their dinosaurs with a new light. A light of rage. And before anyone could do anything, the lead one gave another huge bellowing roar, creating a gust of wind powerful enough to push the dinos slightly backwards, and Max and Rex to nearly go flying, quickly caught by Ace's teeth in the back of their jumpers before they could be blown out of sight.

The roar soon died down and the gust of wind left. All three Earth Giants started to stomp towards them rapidly for their size with new boulders in hand. "Well, we got their attention!" Max said simply with a hint of worry and fright in his voice as he climbed onto Chomps back, as Rex did the same with Ace.

"What the hell was step two?" Terry asked in the same tone as he and the other dinosaurs slightly backed up.

"RUN!" Ace shouted, with all four dinosaurs turning on their heels and running as fast as their legs can carry them, a boulder slamming into the spot where they had previously stood as the giants quickened their pace in chasing them with anger.

Back at the dam, Elliot, Anna and the rest all had watched the short battle of giants vs dinosaurs, and not knowing what could happen next, the hunter ran back to his faithful feline and quickly mounted her. "Come on!" Elliot went, with Sugi giving a quick growl as she ran back down the hill in order to follow the giants, which was quickly followed up by Anna and Kristoff mounting Sven and had the reindeer gallop off after them.

Yelena and Mattias gave each other a worried look after seeing all of this before they and their teams sprinted to follow as close as they could.

What no one knew was that on the other side of the dam, Maleficent, in the tree line, had also watched the spectacle - all the way up to everyone running off, giving a dark, humoured chuckle as soon as she was alone. "Ahh, humans are so amusing..." she whispered to herself in amusement, before she had her staff glow and cause a ring of green fire to suddenly flow around her, before disappearing after only a second later, taking the evil sorceress with it.

Even she needed some entertainment now and then.

The four dinosaurs ran on and on through the forest with their passengers on their backs, still zigzagging left and right to avoid the piles of earth-bound debris that the giants kept throwing at them. "Watch it, Chomp!" Tank called out, quickly nudging the triceratops out of her path and gave a bound upward, smashing a large rock to bits with her armoured back and a slam of her tail club.

"Nice one, Tank, thanks!" Max called back in gratitude as the two dinos quickly swerved left to avoid another boulder, Max yelping in shock as it landed.

"We're not gonna be able to make it to Zoe at this pace - what now?" Chomp asked him, slightly panting from all the running they'd been doing.

"We don't want to lose them though, we got to lead them to the river where she has her plan set up!" Rex reminded them, still riding Ace's back and then checking the map on his bracer, showing him that the river itself was now not that far away.

"Yeah, but she didn't exactly tell us what that plan is!" Terry retorted before he suddenly allowed himself to glow red, did a jump turn and fired a fire cannon at another, particularly large boulder that was thrown his way, before landing and kept running, running on adrenaline alone. "Can one of you boys call her up or something?!" he asked with a shout.

"Zoe, you there?!" Max called into his bracer, the face of his girlfriend appearing screen not a moment later.

"We're right here Max, and we're all ready!" she started, determination filling her voice. "As soon as you reach the river, break off and find cover!"

"Got it!" Max and Rex replied as the transmission cut off.

Another mile they ran through the forest, and the Earth Giants were now becoming very pissed off at not hitting anything with their debris-throwing, so they resorted to actually moving a little faster as if they were now actually running themselves, shaking the ground more than they previously did before.

Luckily, though, it was not long until they reached the river's edge - and with a grin on Max's face, he could see his girlfriend waving to them on the other side. "We're here, I see her!" Max exclaimed.

"Then now's our chance, split off here!" Rex ordered in response.

"Got it!/Sure!/Understood/Right!" the four dinosaurs said in reply to the king, Chomp and Ace heading left, and Terry and Tank to the right.

On Zoe's side of the river, she saw the dinosaurs and their partners split up and the Earth Giants stop in their tracks, trying to find them by shoving the treetops out of their way again, and an excited grin appeared on her face. "Okay guys, this is it now!" she called out to her dinosaurs, determination still in her voice.

"I'm ready, Zoe, do it!" Paris called back to her in the same tone, coming out of the trees behind the Earth Giants, who turned around to look at her in confusion, wondering where she came from.

And before they could do anything, Spiny gave a roar, leaping out of the river at high speed, before landing on the bank. "'Ere comes the pain, assholes!" he roared at them, who turned once again to face him. They were now surrounded, just as Zoe planned.

"You're first, Spiny - Water Sword!" the pinkette called out, slashing the card.

The spinosaurus gave a third roar, and with a blue glow, the familiar-looking water-bound blade formed from his mouth outwards and gave a huge heaving swing at one of the Earth Giant's feet, not tripping it, but still forcing it to its knees with the force of the swing itself, its companions suffering the same fate as Spiny repeated the action two more times, one for each of them. "YES! SUCK IT, IDIOTS!" He cheered at his achievement.

"Now, Zoe! Phase Two!" Paris called to their human partner as she swiped her next card.

"Go! Two Platoon Crush!" Zoe called.

As the Earth Giants made a move to stand back up, they found themselves stumped when they saw Gertie literally rise up out of the ground before them, standing on her back legs, and gave a huge roar that seemed to echo around the entire forest. She let herself fall back onto all fours as the lead giant gave a startled bellow back, neither of them seeing such a large creature for centuries, and as they heard stomping from behind them, they looked see Charles coming up from behind them, shoving a few trees out of his way as he made his way to stand beside his mate, giving his roar challenging roar as he did.

"Ready?" he said to Gertie.

"Yep!" she quickly said in reply. The two giant sauropods then turned with raised tails, and as they faced fully away from the Earth Giants, they began to finally rise up again, both dinosaurs gave a huge swing of their tails at the three like giant wrecking balls, smashing into them with enough force to send them flying back onto their side of the river, landing up their backs with surprised, pained groans.

Now it was time for the coup de grâce. "Paris, let's finish this once and for all! Emerald Garden!" she called, swiping her final card and Phase Three of her master plan.

"Time to go back to sleep, great spirits of the earth..." Paris said to them with great respect in her voice as a green ball of energy formed in her mouth, rearing slightly up, before launching the projectile at the downed Earth Giants.

The ball of grass landed at the trio's feet, and as the now severely hacked-off Earth Giants began to rise up again to fight, the energy from the ball began to spread over them as green plant life formed around the three in a sort of large circle, and they paused. They began to feel strange - as if great fatigue and calmness came over them, and their anger and frustrations began to just melt away. Their eyes began to droop, their arms lost their strength, and any rocks, trees and mounds of earth they had collected dropped from their hands. Finally, the lead giant gave a great yawn and rubbed his eyes with one hand as all three toppled over onto their backs, and deep snoring could be heard.

All members of the D-Team watched them warily, finally getting together completely. "It worked..." Max said softly to Zoe as face-eating, achieving smiles appeared on the faces of all three children, before the brunet tackled his giddy girlfriend in a huge bear hug, lifting her from the ground. "YOU DID IT, ZOE!" he yelled in joy, spinning her around as she gave a laugh while returning the hug, Gertie and Charles returning to their respective cards as they nuzzled happily while Rex gave his own cheer, bringing them into a group hug as the three laughed.

And they weren't the only ones overcome with joy..."YOU'VE DONE IT, PARIS!" Chomp cried with a joyful roar, praising a rather teary-eyed Paris as he nearly tackled her to the ground, nuzzling her all around as hard and fast as he could (a dinosaur's method of bear hugging). "WELL DONE, BABY!" he yelled again as his mate gave a teary, joyous laugh at her boyfriend's affections, returning them as best she could.

"It was nothing, Chompy, honest!" she couldn't help but say back with a teary laugh, overcome with affection, achievement and pride at herself as Terry and Ace grouped around the pair in a sort of group hug.

Spiny, though, was a little bit mopey. "Hello! The other fifth of the plan here...!" he complained sulkily, feeling a bit left out, which was quickly eliminated when Tank tackled her boyfriend to the ground.

"Don't put yourself down like that babe, you had a big role there!" she praised him, before nuzzling him firmly with her eyes closed.

"Hehehe, true!" he giggled back, wrapping his long arms around her neck, giving her a hug which she laughed at.

"Zoe, that plan was genius!" Rex praised the pinkette, breaking their group hug.

"I couldn't have done it without you guys!" Zoe said in reply, still giving Max a side hug as she faced him. "If it weren't for you bringing the Earth Giants here, this never would've worked!" she said, giving Max a peck on the cheek.

"And Arendelle would've been beyond saving," Ace said, proud at what the team had achieved as a whole. "All of us have had a part in this, and not one of us could've done it without the other," he said, praising everyone with a smile on his face.

"Well, what can we say? At heart, all of us together are a team of stubborn bastards who won't go down without a fight!" Terry exclaimed, causing the kids to cheer in agreement as all the dinosaurs gave a proud roar before they all broke into joyful laughing again.

But then..."Well done, young ones..." A woman's praising voice called on the air, bringing all joy to a stop at the amount of darkness in her tone - all team members looking around in confusion as the voice seemed to have come from all around them. "Say what you will about humans and dinosaurs, you continue to prove yourself every day." The voice seemed to praise them more but still kept the wickedness in her tone.

"Uhh...who's that?" Spiny said meekly, moving to stand up as a wary Tank moved off of him.

"I'm not the only one hearing that, right?" Max asked next and uncertainly, the three kids slowly moving to be back-to-back with each other.

The call of a raven then sounded above their heads and they looked up into one of the trees to see one just perched in a branch, looking down at them impassively. They watched it give another caw before it flew off slightly westward, away from them.

They watched as it circled above an opening in the trees, like a vulture looking down at a carcass.

And then soon, the three kids jumped back in slight fright as a green intimidating fire suddenly appeared out of nowhere in a short circle. It burned relentlessly for a moment or two, before slowly dissipating. And when they saw what replaced it, they, including their dinosaurs, looked on in wariness, sensing that something was unnaturally ominous and wrong.

What they saw was none other than Maleficent, staff in hand, and all with the raven landing on her shoulder, standing not even twenty feet away from them with no fear in her features at the sight of their dinosaurs at all. And rather, it was them who felt an unknown fear at the mere sight of her.

She gave what could be mistaken for a soft, kind smile on her face. "Man and dinosaur, two completely different species of mortals, working together...not many in this world would've ever seen such a thing coming. Nor would many come to accept an idea, to begin with..." she started, slowly walking towards the D-Team, still maintaining her smile. "But time and time again, you have proven that coexistence with such animals is possible..." she continued ominously, the raven giving another caw as she ran a finger down its back. "And what of you, my pet...? Do you believe in such a world?" she asked, who gave a ruffle of his feathers in response to her question.

Now all of the D-Team were highly wary of this...creature...as it felt as if a great, unnatural coldness had entered their bodies - like as if this person before them spoke of horrors unknown to them. A low growl came out of Terry's throat as he took a step in front of the rest of the team, glaring at her sceptically. "Who're you, exactly?" he asked coldly.

"Oh, no one you need to be concerned with, I assure you," she said in reply, still stroking her avian friend. "Like you, young ones, I too wish for a beautiful world of peace, one with no kind of conflict, and which remembers only what people will see before their eyes..." she spoke, now walking around the rex himself, who watched her like a hawk along with the other dinosaurs. And she then came face-to-face with Max, Rex and Zoe, all of which slightly backed up and slowly reached for their dino blade cards. "Who would've thought...such, young humans such as yourselves, would come to be some of the greatest heroes, the world has ever known?" she said to them, in a soft, almost motherly praise, walking around the three like a predator to prey, looking into the orb that mounted the top of her staff. "Tell me, Dinosaur King and friends, does it not feel like only yesterday that you found those stones, and your very first dinosaur friends in that tree hollow, so long ago?" she asked them with a glance.

Those words that this woman spoke made the three kids pause in their initial rebuke, as they stared at each other with shock, and majorly freaked out on the inside. There was absolutely no way that she would know about that! They were the only ones there! "What is she talking about?" Paris whispered to her equally shocked mate, as she, nor Tank, Ace and Spiny had been there that day.

But before they could answer..."D-Team! Where are you?" They heard Anna call on the air.

"Kids!" They then heard Elliot.

All of the ones present, Maleficent included, faced the direction the voices came from, and there through the trees a little distance away, the D-Team could see the rest of their party, along with Mattias' guard team and Yelena's people. "Hmm, it appears our conversation will be postponed for now..." she said, walking a little away from them as they watched her warily. "May we speak again soon, D-Team! Hahahahahahahaa...!" she said with a wicked-sounding laugh towards the end, her raven now off her shoulder and flying deeper into the forest and her staff glowing a hellish-green from the orb, making the same green fire from before reappear and surround her again, and then warped her away into nothingness.

As she went away, all of the D-Team felt as if that demonlike cold feeling went away from them, allowing them to take calming breaths once again. "What...was...that?" Zoe asked, genuine fear filling her that was shared by the rest of the team.

"No clue...more importantly though, what did she mean by 'a beautiful world of peace'?" Max asked worriedly.

"From what we could tell of her, not the kind that we would like..." Rex said grimly.

But before they could say anything else, they heard Sugi's familiar roar, and all present turned to see the rest of their party with the feline, Sven and their riders leading the way towards them. And, to their surprise, no one had a proud look in their eyes at their achievement.

After quickly dismounting, Elliot walked up to them with a deadpan look in his eyes, with a tired, and a weary-looking Anna in Kristoff's arms. "D-Team...you lot...are idiots," he said exasperatedly.

"What?" Tank said in a shocked and offended tone.

"On one hand, the fact that you went up against the Earth Giants, and came out of it unscathed without killing said giants, that was quite a feat..." He gave a slight compliment with a little smile. "On the other, however..." He then looked out to see the sleeping giants. "You practically ruined our entire plan, and now Arendelle and forest will never be freed."

"Hey - woah, woah, woah there, Elliot!" Chomp said, stepping up to him. "Last we checked, you led the giants to the dam, what exactly were you thinking?" he asked defiantly.

"Guys..." Anna stated, stepping out of Kristoff's arms, and went to step in between the two parties. "Arguing about this isn't gonna get us anywhere..." she reasoned, before turning to the D-Team. "Max, Rex, Zoe...remember the story Elsa shared on the way here?" she asked softly.

"Of course we do," Zoe said, taking a note of the sad look on her face.

"What's going on?" Max asked next, becoming quite scared of Anna's question being posed in such a way - and the sudden tenseness in the atmosphere.

Anna closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and as a tear fell down her face she reopened them and made her broken reply. "The dam my grandfather made, to strengthen the Northuldra's waters, it..." She trailed off, before turning around to face her beloved. "Kristoff, did Sven bring it?" she asked.

"Right here, Anna..." he replied gently, before calling Sven forward.

And gasps could be heard from the appalled D-Team when they saw that same sculpture on the makeshift sledge that the reindeer still towed. "Is that...?" Rex asked hesitantly, slowly turning to face the princess as she gave a slight nod.

"My grandfather..." she said in a mournful, but sickened reply. "He said to the Northuldra that he wished for friendship...and then tried to destroy them..." She continued, before turning to face the dam, far off in the distance. "All starting off, by using that thing, to bring harm to their home."

"Son of a bitch..." Terry growled in hidden fury, a feeling that was shared among all the dinosaurs, Spiny included.

"The Northuldra never betrayed Arendelle in the beginning..." Ace realised, the shocking revelation to his curiosity from long ago taking hold of him. "It was the King of Arendelle that started this whole mess...!" he continued.

And to this whole revelation, all that the kids could do was think of one thing, as Zoe looked back at the sleeping Earth Giants with dread. "What have we done...?" she whispered fearfully. Having said that, all the D-Team turned to face the dam, now knowing what must be done.

But they were hesitant.

Very hesitant.

For not only that, all of the team had grown to think of the outdated but also magical kingdom as a home away from home. But also, they thought of all the people who had made their lives there from probably hundreds of years before.

Not to mention that all of this, could possibly only mean one thing, as Terry turned to Anna. "Elsa sacrificed herself so we could see this truth, didn't she?" the rex asked knowingly and mournfully, a question that made tears pool in Anna's eyes as she gave a slight sob, covering her eyes so they wouldn't see the tears. "I'm so sorry..." he said as a slight waterslide pooled in his and the rest of the team's eyes, with the dinosaurs seeking the comfort of their respective mates and a slightly crying Zoe hugging Max tightly.

"Princess Anna," Rex started respectfully, getting the princess's attention. "That dam goes down, and all of Arendelle is gonna sink just like the Atlantis legend..." he said, turning to face him. "Are you sure that there is no other way to free the forest?" he asked her.

Anna's only reply was a slow nod, with closed downcast eyes.

At this Max gave a great sigh of resignment, laying a hand on Rex's shoulder, who turned and gave his brunet friend a nod. "Okay, you guys..." he started softly, before steeling his heart as he gave the dam a glare. "Let's do this!" he shouted, suddenly swiping two move cards at once against his bracer.

"Now!" Followed by Rex.

"Go!" And finally, Zoe.

All the dinosaurs glowed their respective colours and gave a roar as they used Lightning Darts, Fire Cannon, Biting Wind, Boulder Slide, Emerald Garden and Shockwave, all the dinos firing their respective moves at the dam, and all fusing into a fusion beam just like they did before (which brought a huge gasp of surprise form those who weren't as used to the dinosaurs' powers) and slammed into the face of the dam.

The explosion that followed was so powerful that it completely blew the dam to smithereens, and sent tons of water high up into the air like an atom bomb, before it all came crashing back down and formed a huge tsunami that poured out of the dam's remains and started to flow rapidly down the fjord.

...And straight towards them. "Now to get to higher ground, now!" Anna called out as Kristoff unattached Sven from the makeshift sledge and began to lead everyone up to higher ground on the run.

The blast from the dam also woke up the Earth Giants again, who all looked out to see the tons of water running not that far away.

And then, to add to the sight, the four giant multicoloured crystals that were seen in Arendelle reformed in the sky, with all the spirits watching the spectacle.

A sight not missed by all the people and the dinosaurs with them. "Keep going!" Elliot shouted, running at the back of the pack with Sugi right beside him.

'Caesar...'

That deep, growling and echoey call stopped Elliot dead in his tracks with wide eyes, something that his feline friend noted as she didn't move another step. The wind hunter and dragon prince slowly turned around to where the voice came from, turning to see the flood from the dam still roaring towards him. But the sight of the giant wave didn't even make him budge a step further.

'Caesar...'

He heard the voice again, making him give a slight gasp of surprise and shock.

That...was Draco's voice...!

The voice, of the Dragon God himself!

But as he continued to stand and listen to the voice and watch as the wave continued to scream towards him, the front of the wave shimmered as if by magic. And images began to form within. It was as if all the magic within the forest had combined itself to form it.

And what he saw, brought him into an unbelievable amount of shock and disbelief, as a tear formed in one of his eyes.

"Impossible...they're...alive?" he whispered with a slight whimper.

But as soon as the image formed, it vanished.

"ELLIOT, RUN!" Anna cried out, fright and panic obvious in her voice.

The wave was right on top of him!

"No! NO! AHHHHH!" Elliot yelled in fear, crouching low to the ground as Sugi gave a roar and leapt over to cover him, just the wave crashed down on them, covering them completely as the wave continued onward.

And all the rest could do was cry out in horror at the sight.

DK

Back within Ahtohallan, a great shifting feeling resonated within the Cryolophosaurus, raising him out of his slumber and standing back up again. Looking to his left, he quickly caught Elsa unfreezing with a gasp, and losing consciousness as the ice floor they stood upon broke, forming a cracked hole that she fell through. Quickly, the Beast of Ahtohallan leapt after her in a dive, and upon reaching her, he grasped her in his claws, hugged her to his chest, and angled himself so that he ended up crashing into the seawater with full force.

As he looked to his right, he came eye-to-eye with the Nokk as the water spirit gave a whine.

DK

Many miles back down south, it had been several days since the departure of the away team, and Pabbie, Utheema, the Space Pirates, Jonathan, Guru and Beta had been up around the clock, always keeping a constant eye on the people of Arendelle and the rest of the dinosaur herd and making sure that no one stepped a foot towards the kingdom still under siege.

Earlier on that morning, the latter two had sent Flia out on a reconnaissance flight, after deeming it safe, as for the moment, the winds had practically stopped blowing as harshly as they did that first night. So far, she had been soaring high in the air, and not seeing anything of interest thus far. That is, if one weren't to count Arendelle's current condition.

At this point in her flight, she had been gliding along the fjord upstream, away from the kingdom, flying in between the tall cliffs that shoreline it. "Still nothing...I hope King Rex and the others are okay, things have been too strange and unnatural for my-" The quetzalcoatlus paused in her concerned ranting as she caught something of interest in the distance, further up the fjord. She squinted her eyes to focus her eyesight.

But as soon as she saw that it was a massive tidal wave, nearly reaching the cliff tops due to just how big it was, her heart nearly stopped. And terror filled her. She watched as the wave cascaded up the cliff walls, and several acres of forests on the lower hills were completely washed away.

"Oh, shit...!" she whispered to herself in near panic. A wave that size was sure to be powerful enough to rip away the Arendelle castle, and then some! "The others...I have to warn the others!" she squawked loudly to herself, turning around and then flying back to Hunter's Ridge as fast as her large wings would allow her.

Had she stayed a little longer though, she might have seen three very distinctive beings, one running on ice steps further back on the wave, and the other two swimming underneath it as a certain spirit creature gave a whinny.

Back at the gathering grounds on Hunter's Ridge, Guru and Beta were making their rounds with the rest of the herd. Since their king had been away, they took on the leadership role and had several members of the herd take on three-hour shifts in helping Pabbie and Utheema watch over the Arendellian people around the clock. They also had their faster members, such as Sushi, Meg, Swift and so on take on the duty of making sure no one went into the kingdom, just like Elliot had asked.

All the dinosaur parents, on the other hand, were told by the temporary alphas to the ensure the health and wellbeing of all the hatchlings - which was easier said than done, since half of them were meat-eaters like some of their parents, and wild game had been scarce since the start of the phenomenon, and the food replicators on the Space Pirate's ship was damaged so they couldn't get what they needed from there. As shown by Ally's three children laying by their mother's side; hungry, weak, and worried about their father. One of them, the baby rex female, named Suri, gave a pitiful little cry at the adult allosaurus, as her allosaur siblings tried to get some rest. "Shh, baby, I know you're hungry..." Ally cooed at her daughter soothingly. "We'll find some food soon, I promise," she continued, nuzzling her daughter gently with a small lick. But she couldn't help being so worried for her mate's wellbeing. Not long after that did she see Beta walk up to her, with Guru, Mia, Iguano, Shep, Iduun and Adgar not far behind.

"Your little ones are starving too, aren't they?" the Acrocathosaurus asked rhetorically, looking down at the babies sadly.

Ally gave a sad nod as she made her reply. "It's been several days since they last had a proper meal," she said, looking down at her starving children worriedly. "They're not as strong and active as they used to be, and them worrying about Terry and the others don't help the situation," she said, before looking up at them, a hint of tears in her eyes. "I don't know what to do..." she slightly whimpered.

Beta probably understood her pain more than most. Being a first-time mother can be very daunting, and during times when food is hard to find, it can be very pressurising and scary, not knowing what to do next. And now, she had her own worries, as she needed nutrition to help grow the eggs inside her - Ace's future children.

Mia, while not being a carnivore, could also sympathize with Ally. This wasn't her first time being a mother, but she also knew what it was like to struggle in keeping one's children healthy and strong. As she pondered this, she noticed Shep walk up to Ally, and gave her chest a nuzzle, a sight that would've put an adoring smile on her face.

Ally herself gave a slightly awe-ing sob and returned the baby miasaura's affections by giving him a lick on his snout.

Guru was just about to walk up to her, to provide reassurance and advice, when..."Guru, Beta!" They heard Killer's voice call out to them, and they, along with the others, turned to see him approaching. "My team and I are back with good - and, perhaps bad - news too," the torvosaurus said.

The two temporary alphas looked to each other for a bit in concern before turning back to him. "We'll take the good news first," Beta said.

At this, Killer stepped slightly out of the way, revealing Yang and Venom walking up to them, and in the Yangchuanasaurus' mouth was a large wild boar, freshly killed with bleeding teeth marks on its head, and ripe for a dinosaur feast. "Did someone order a delivery?" Venom asked proudly as the bigger hunter dropped her catch before the gaping allosaurus.

"We went out a bit further than usual for our hunt, and finally managed to find some actual food," Yang told them. "And we've already brought in some wild deer for the others to feed their own kids."

"There should be enough on this boar to feed you and your youngsters for a day or so," Killer told Ally, who quickly woke her hatchlings and encouraged them to start eating, observing as they began to gorge relentlessly.

"Thank you!" she said tearfully to the torvosaurus and his pack. "Thank you..." she repeated gratefully, before beginning to eat herself, using her long, clawed arms to hold the big pig still as her serrated teeth began to slice off chunks of flesh.

"So that was the good news..." Guru observed, relief obvious in his words as he turned to Killer again. "And the 'perhaps' bad news?"

"He means me!" Flia's loud squawking was what startled the Ampelosaurus, as he and the others quickly darted their heads in the pterosaur's direction as she nearly crash-landed before them.

"Flia, you okay?" Adgar asked the quetzalcoatlus in worry, which was only replied to by her trying to regain her breath, her head low as she tried to fill her small lungs.

"Flia, breathe..." Guru started off calmly, walking up to her, lowering his neck and allowing the delicate flyer to rest her head on his own. This allowed her to finally regain some of her breath, her loud gasping being the evidence. "Now, start again, slowly," he said to her.

"What is it?" Iduun inquired with one of her besties.

"Look..." Flia said in worry, using her beak to point downwards, and up the fjord through the mountains beyond the kingdom.

Guru, Beta and the others (aside from Ally's children) all turned to look in that same direction as the pterosaur gestured, and during that time, most of the Arendelle people, along with Pabbie, Bouldar, her lover Cliff and Utheema all crowded around to see the same view.

For down there, certain doom in the form of thousands of tons of water flowed into the fjord...and on a direct collision course with the castle. A sight that got all of the people racked with fear and grief at such a horrifying spectacle, and the wave was too huge and dangerous for even the entire dinosaur herd to hush down and try to stop it. All they could do was watch as certain doom sped its way to the kingdom, with nothing stopping the beautiful city from being torn apart and destroyed.

But then...against all odds...something miraculous appeared.

Out from the top of the wave, the Nokk and the Cryolophosaurus leapt out from the cresting wave, with Elsa on the water spirit's back, hopping from one part of the wave to the other, thanks to their respective abilities and powers to run along the water just as they had before. The trio of magical beings bounded and jumped until they reached the bottom of the wave and started sprinting tirelessly ahead.

The duo continued to run faster than the wave could proceed until they stopped just short of the outer walls of the castle, where Elsa then leapt off the Nokk's back onto an ice platform of her own that formed at her feet, and then they let all their power flow. The Queen of Arendelle's hands flowed with her powers, the dinosaur on her left glowed multicoloured, and the Nokk to her right gave a wail as a sort of vibration wave shot off of his body.

Together with her two companions, Elsa shot her hands upwards and outwards and the Cryolophosaurus allowed a blizzard's worth of snow and ice to shoot out of his mouth with a roar, and a huge ice shield in the form of a snowflake appeared right in front of the wave, causing the tsunami to crash into it - all the while with the water spirit halting the wave back with his control of the seas itself.

Together they held the wave back, in front of all of Arendelle to see, earning them agape mouths, shock-filled gasps and all kinds of appropriate reactions to this amazing sight.

Then the trio on the fjord delivered their final combination of powers. A great flowing wave of Elsa's hands, the dino closing his mouth with a snap, and the Nokk stamping its front hooves down of the surface with that same shockwave again. The shield of ice disappeared as fast as it was formed, and thanks to the Nokk, the tidal wave that seemed impossible to stop simply fell backwards and was sucked into the fjord.

Great sighs of relief flooded from the hundreds of people, trolls and dinosaurs from atop their high seats on the ridge, happy at seeing their home spared from certain doom.

On the fjord, Elsa made a sigh herself with a proud smile, as she had been completely unexpecting being capable of doing something of that magnitude. She turned around to see her home, with the Nokk and the Beast of Ahtohallan following suit.

And watched, as peace in Arendelle had been restored to the fullest. A gentle breeze made the flags flow gently, the cobblestone streets no longer rippled, the waterfall and the courtyard fountains flowed once more, and the light poles, lampposts and candles were lit with gentle flames once more.

The people of Arendelle cheered merrily at the sight; finally, they could - at last - go home. To get everyone moving, the pterosaurs all took to the air, giving out shrieks and cries as theirs caught the breeze beneath them, and Beta gave a mighty roar, signalling the rest of the herd to start escorting the people home safely, even allowing most of the children to ride on some of their backs.

Pabbie and Utheema gave a slight smile at each other, for as of now, the spirits had lost their anger, and Arendelle had been cleansed of the sins of the past. Elsa's part of the quest had at last been completed. Now, it was the turn of a certain wind warrior to finish his own.

Elsa remounted the Nokk, giving a few gentle strokes to the water horse's neck with a smile on her face as the Nokk replied with a satisfied huff of air through his nostrils. Then she faced the Beast of Ahtohallan, who gave her a very fond look, one that she returned with gratefulness in her eyes. "Thank you..." she said, before laying a hand on his snout, "For everything..." she whispered softly.

The Cryoloophosaurus gave a growl in return, and then allowed himself to glow in a multicoloured light, catching the young woman, and by now Ninth Spirit, partially off-guard. The light shrank completely, and all that remained when the light faded away was a card of the secret markings that she caught in her hands, and held like a newborn child, holding it close to her heart as she looked up to the clear sky. "I will take care of him, Mama..." she promised with her heart as a tear trailed down her cheek, "I hope...I've made you proud..." she said, before finally urging the water spirit into a full gallop back up the fjord, to the Northuldran lands again.

She had a family to reunite with.

And above all else...her husband, to apologise to.

Little known to her, Spectre and his pirates had viewed the entire scene from the viewport of their now fully-repaired time machine. After Elsa and those two creatures with her evaporated the tidal wave, the controls sparked uncontrollably for a few moments, before lights made themselves known across the entire ship, and then the whole ship basically lifted itself from the crash site of practically its own will!

And it wasn't just the onboard lighting that got fixed up. The engines that were strained to the brink before were now back online, the restoration device on board had been fully - well, restored - and the time-travelling controls had been brought back to their former selves.

But it never hurts to make double sure that these formerly-angry spirits weren't messing around with his ship. "You and Jonathan sure those status readings are correct, Shear?" Spectre asked his second-in-command.

"Absolutely, boss," the female pirate responded to him, a massive grin plastered on her face.

"We don't know how it is possible, or why it happened to begin with..." Jonathan started off, pressing away at the controls, checking for anything that might still be amiss. "...But it seems that when Arendelle was restored, the spirits that Queen Elsa told us about must've used their magic to repair our systems. All functions aboard the ship are now back to one hundred percent capacity."

"Well, I don't know about all of you, but I say this is a time for celebration, rather than suspicions!" Foolscap reasoned, looking away from his own console, leaning back on his floating chair with his hand behind his head with a grin of his own.

"Yeah!" Gabbro commented in agreement, smashing his fists together, "Maybe we can-"

The red pirate's sentence was cut short, as a familiar signalling sound went off. "A dinosaur signal...!" Shear identified, zooming in on the location, and finding not just one signal, but a group of them. "Heading north towards the Enchanted Forest!" she exclaimed.

"Jonathan, plot a course at once! The kids are in danger and they're going to need our help!" Spectre ordered.

"I'll make it so!"

DK

Back in the Enchanted Forest, a soft-sounding gust of wind made itself known across the land. For something truly magical was happening. The fog that had surrounded the forest for so long, keeping everyone trapped within, or blocked out...

...Was slowly, but finally, lifting.

Spread out, but all together, the remaining members of the team, Mattias and his men (and the whole of the Nothuldra and the entire reindeer herd) slowly walked towards the stone circle at the forest's entrance. They all watched, some arm in arm, as the enchanted mist lifted up and expired, revealing an open and beautiful blue sky. A sight that was met with so many gasps of awe, especially from the ones who had never seen such a view.

Among the sightseers was Anna, who had wrapped her arms around herself and held in pained sobs. For only moments ago did she lose a man that meant just as much to her as Kristoff, who was holding an arm around her shoulders to provide comfort. A man she never got a chance to make up with before his untimely death. "I'm sorry for leaving you behind..." Anna said softly and mournfully to Kristoff, who turned to look at her. "I was just so desperate to keep her safe..." Anna explained remorsefully, staring up into the eyes of the man she loved worriedly.

"I know, I know, it's okay..." the blond man replied softly, before raising his other arm to wrap her in a hug. "My love is not fragile," he said reassuringly.

Anna couldn't help the loving smile that appeared on her face despite what she'd lost, closing her eyes to snuggle herself into his embrace.

Not even ten feet away from them was Ryder, who gave a exhale of breath at the sea of blue above them all, a big smile of breathlessness at the scene. "Wow...look at the sky..." he said softly as Honeymaren walked up next to him, and gave a slight laugh at his awestruck face, giving her brother a soft shoulder budge. "I just didn't realise there was so much of it..." he said.

Mattias and Yelana were no better, the two former enemies staring up at the sheer openness of the air, having grown so used to just seeing constant clouds thanks to the mist that had had them trapped. And together, they actually counted down how long they had been there in the mist.

"36 years..." Mattias started breathlessly.

"5 months..." Yelana continued, in the same tone.

"And 23 days..." They finished together.

A smile came upon both of their faces, looking at each other with gentle expressions on their face, the need to be enemies and at each other's throats no more than a distant memory. The Lieutenant even went as far as holding an arm out for the Northuldran leader like a gentleman, one that she gladly took in before the pair stepped forward together, arm in arm.

Not far away from the pair were the D-Team and the dinosaurs back in their chibi forms, who just took the time to stare into the open sky as well. "You know, even though we weren't in there for as long as the others by a long shot..." Rex started, catching the attention of all of his teammates, watching as a small smile grew on his face, "I realise now that we never took the time to appreciate the sight of the open sky like this," said the Dinosaur King.

Max and Zoe gave their own small smiles at that sentence before the pinkette gave a frown. "I just wish all of us were here to see it..." she mournfully replied, closing her eyes as a tear went down her cheek, with Elsa, Olaf, Elliot, Sugi...all gone.

"They'll be remembered, Zoe," Paris said in a reassuring reply, but not hiding the sorrow in her own voice, prompting the pinkette to drop on her knees and wrap her green dinosaur into a tight hug. "We'll never forget them." She continued, as the rest of the team gathered in a mournful group hug, before watching as Sven and the reindeer herd went ahead and ran in a huge circle, in a sort-of celebratory run-around.

While everyone watched, though, Anna let her breath leave her lungs. The forest was finally free and the world now had a future. But silently, she said to herself, 'At what cost?', when two of the most important people in her world were gone for good? Along with her home, destroyed.

What...was the cost?

As she mourned the loss of her loved ones, she suddenly found herself in shock as Gale fluttered over to her. And being carried by the Wind Spirit were the symbols of the four Spirits of the Forest. A soft gasp left her as she realised that the symbols were in the same ice shard form that she saw before Arendelle went under, slowly reaching out to touch them before Gale gave another chitter and flowed towards the last being the princess ever expected to see again.

The white wolf - the same one that had inadvertently provided her with so much wisdom, and even comfort in her lowest point. She watched intently as it gave a small huff of air through its nose, and slowly walked past her, towards an edge looking over a small stony beach that led out to the sea.

At first, Anna didn't know what to do, until she felt something large nudge her forward. She looked behind to see that the grey and brown wolves - along with a curious little pup from before - were there with her, the grey wolf giving a short growl to encourage her forward. At this, however, a slight hint of fear filled her, not knowing what they wanted this time around. Were they taking her hostage? Something worse?

As if sensing these fears, though, Gale came chittering in once more, now holding a happily squeaking Bruni in her air currents, the salamander's tongue flapping about. They swirled around Anna's head, before Gale dropped Bruni on the head of the white wolf, before going away again. The wolf was not sitting on its hind legs like a dog, Bruni comfortably snuggling down into its fur coat, and looking at her with a smile - even licking one of his eyeballs again.

Now with that kind of reassurance from the Enchanted Spirits, she walked forward with the other wolves by her side. The princess stepped up right next to the white alpha, who gave her a brief look, before shifting its eyesight to something out on the ocean, prompting her to do the same.

That was when she saw it.

At first, it was a shape she couldn't recognise, due to it still being quite a distance away, but the closer it got, the more and more it began to take form.

The familiar whinnying sound of a horse was what gave her the answer that she was actually seeing the Nokk from all those months ago during their last battle with the Alpha Gang.

But as the Nokk gave another whinny, she then noticed someone was actually riding it.

Anna had shed many tears since that morning; tears of heartbreak, loss, grief - but now, at seeing a very familiar face from the person riding the Water Spirit. She now shed tears of joy with a gasp, scrambling down the slope towards the water's edge as the wolves watched on. She stopped a few feet short of where the land meets the sea, just as the Nokk stopped just by the edge of the water, and bent down, allowing its rider to gracefully dismount the Water Spirit as it then merged itself with its natural domain once more.

"Is it really you?" Anna dared to ask, hoping beyond hope that the person she was seeing before her was no sick trick.

Elsa gave a nod, and opened her arms, stepping forward with an emotional smile on her face. "Anna..." was all she said.

With that simple beckoning, Anna's joyous tears broke their dams as the princess rushed into the arms of her sister, crying her heart out as they squeezed each other tightly in their heartfelt embrace.

"I thought I lost you!" the redhead sobbed before Elsa pulled away gently.

"Lost me?" she asked, pride filling her voice. "You saved me. Again." She told her crying sister, wiping away one of her tears.

"I-I did?" Anna asked in reply, her voice hiccupping as she struggled terribly to control her current state.

"And Anna..." Elsa continued with a near-whisper, still smiling gently and holding her sister's chin delicately, "Arendelle didn't fall."

Anna, bless her heart, still cried profoundly, struggling to pronounce her words in her emotional state. "It didn't?" she asked in surprise.

Elsa, all the while, kept her gentle smile on her face as she made her explanation. "The spirits all agreed...Arendelle deserves to stand - with you."

With a sniffle and snort, the redhead gave wiped her nose and any remaining tears. "Me?" she asked, her voice higher-pitched this time.

"You did what was right. For everyone," said the blond woman softly in a reply.

"Did you find the other spirits?" Anna then asked in her normal voice.

That was when Elsa's smile ebbed off into a disappointed frown, breaking eye contact and causing Anna to become concerned. "I saw shadows and shapes of all the Spirits of the Forest...but I didn't see any of the others in physical form..." she said sadly.

Anna looked slightly down at this, before asking one last question. "What about the Ninth Spirit?" At that, Elsa's frown was replaced with a very sheepish look and grin, even slightly flustered. Anna's eyes widened in astonishment, as this lack of an answer - and the rather amusing look on her sister's face - could only mean one thing. "You are the Ninth Spirit! You're the bridge!" she exclaimed with a gasp.

"Well, actually, a bridge has two sides - and Mother had two daughters..." Elsa said, taking her sister's hand in her own and holding them up between them as Anna's eyes widened and a smile of realisation dawned upon her. "We did this together...and we'll continue to do this together," she said, before the sisters rested their foreheads against one another.

"Together." Anna agreed.

"Elsa!/Queen Elsa?!" The two joyous voices of Kristoff and Max sounded, causing the sisters to release their embrace and watch as the big blond man and the whole of the D-Team run down the same slope. "You're okay!/You're alive!" They sounded with a cheer from Rex and a slight cry from Zoe.

Elsa stepped forth with open arms and found herself in a squeezing group hug with a slight laugh of happiness. After the tight squeeze, she was released and then knelt down to greet the dinosaurs at her feet! This caused her to laugh profoundly in joy.

"Welcome back, Queen Elsa!" Chomp went with a joyous shout as he, Paris, Tank and Spiny practically jumped on her and smothered her with nuzzles.

"We thought you were gone forever!" Spiny bawled loudly, wrapping his tiny arms around her neck.

"You're back!/Don't do that to us!" the two girls exclaimed, each of them nuzzling her cheeks.

That was when Terry and Ace came forth to get in on the action. Ace didn't say anything, unlike the others, as he got in on the group hug, but anyone could tell he was just as happy as anyone else to see Elsa back, due to tears collecting in his eyes. On the other hand with Terry, however: "You go and die like that again, I'll drag your ass from the afterlife and eat you myself!" he warned, but with a slight sob in his voice.

"No, you wouldn't!" was all that Elsa could laugh in reply, finally being released from the dino group hug and allowing Sven to help her back to her feet, who gave a happy bellow in greeting her, the woman replying to it by giving the reindeer a firm scratch on his chin.

"You look different." Kristoff stated bluntly, taking in her new look along with everyone else. "Did you cut your hair or something?" he asked, rather dumbly as Sven gave him a look.

All the queen did in reply to this question was give a slight laugh. "Or something," she said.

"Oh," the blond man said promptly replied.

Before anything else could be said, Elsa suddenly widened her eyes as she had just realised something. "Oh, by the way, D-Team..." she started, catching the kids and their dinosaurs' attention. "There's someone with me that I think you would all like to meet," she finished.

She brought out the card of her new friend and laid it down in front of her for everyone to see, bringing out a gasp of surprise from the others and an accompanying groan from Sven. From there, Elsa swirled her hands together, and then made them hover over the card as a gentle snowfall fluttered to the ground, a few flakes falling onto the card, which in turn allowed it to glow multicoloured. Once the light died down, the Beast of Ahtohallan came into full view and gave a mighty roar that hung in the air.

"Whoa!" Max went, taking a slight step back, an action that was followed by the rest of his team as surprise overtook them all. "Where did he come from?!"

"A Cryolophosaurus!" Chomp identified with a startled tone. "How did he wind up out here?!" he asked, referring to the fact that there was actually a wild dinosaur living in the Enchanted Forest of all places!

Anna was also mighty surprised at this, and when she saw this new dinosaur look at her sister, fear overtook her as she thought that this newcomer was eyeing up a potential next meal! She rushed in front of her sister, and opened her hands out, blocking his way in walking towards her. "Stay back!" she shouted at it, worry in her voice. She wasn't about to risk losing her sister again when she had just got her back.

"Anna, everyone, it's okay!" Elsa exclaimed placatingly, moving past her sister and walking over to her mother's friend from so long ago. "You don't have to worry about him, see?" She said, reaching both hands out as the Cryolophosaurus lowered his head to accept her strokes. "He's a friend," she said, with a massive smile on her face. One that she kept as she faced Anna. "A friend of our mother's, from years ago," she concluded.

The princess gave a gasp, shock filling her core, something that was shared with everyone else. "What...?" she whispered. She then looked into the beast's eyes, and in those eyes, she saw an ancient, powerful being, but filled with a kind, and brave soul. She was about to walk up to him, when-

"You found him..." A familiar voice said. Everyone, the new dinosaur among them, turned to see the shocked filled faces of Yelana, Honeymaren, Ryder and the rest of the Northuldra, (Mattias and his guard team among them) all staring at the newcomer as if a great almighty being had landed from the heavens above. "The Beast of Ahtohallan...he lives..." the Northuldran Elder said, emotion and awe clouding her voice.

The revelation both surprised and bewildered the D-Team, gasping as they turned to the Cryolophosaurus. They also thought back to the stories that Yelana told them not too long ago, and now they could see what she meant by the dinosaurs reminding her of this seemingly enchanted beast.

"Where did you find him?" Honeymaren asked Elsa, in nearly the same tone as the Elder.

"I was out on the Dark Sea, heading to Ahtohallan..." Elsa began with her explanation, still looking into the eyes of the dinosaur before her. "I ran into the Water Spirit, and I saw his card below the waves." She felt that perhaps it would be best for the Northuldra not to know of the death-defying battle that led up to his rediscovery.

"What are you talking about?" Yelana asked, slowly stepping up to her - but hesitantly, as the same beast of her people's legends watched her intently.

"Yelana," Elsa began, facing the Northuldra Elder respectively. "The Beast of Ahtohallan from your legends is like the dinosaurs of the D-Team. Or more specifically, they're the same." She spoke truthfully, looking at King Rex and his team, and gesturing for them to come forth and show her point. Getting the message, the three kids returned the dinosaurs to their cards and walked over to stand beside her; Anna joined in, standing to her sister's right.

Then she looked back to the Cryolophosaurus, who gave an understanding nod. He closed his eyes and glowed multicoloured again. From there, Yelana watched with growing shock and awe, as the card of the Beast of Ahtohallan landed in Elsa's open hands, and together, she and the D-Team presented all their cards to her, showing her and her people a superbly astounding revelation.

The Beast of Ahtohallan, the very same myth and legend that many believed dead...was a dinosaur! And very much alive!

And probably had been for who knows how long!

However, as the Nothuldra took in this shocking newsflash, and Elsa and D-Team brought out their dinosaurs again, the Ninth Spirit noticed that there were two very specific beings missing.

Where were Elliot and Sugi?

Not seeing them so she could apologise to her love, she turned to her team and asked, "Anna, have you seen Elliot or Sugi anywhere?"

That question brought any talk from among the crowd to a dead stop, dread and emotional pain now filling the hearts of the rest of Elsa's group, and even a certain amount of sorrow from the Northuldra. For Anna, she couldn't look her sister in the eye, turning away with a broken frown. "We don't... I don't...know," Anna said, a wobble obvious in her voice as Kristoff walked over to her with a sorrowful frown on his face, and an equally-as-broken-looking Sven following close behind.

It didn't take Elsa long to understand why her little sister was suddenly looking so sad and broken, terror and fear filling her heart as well with wide, dread-filled eyes.

Something, was terribly, and tragically, wrong.

"Anna..." the blonde woman started off, softly, but with a noticeable amount of fear and realisation as a potential tear formed in one of her eyes, and stared into Anna's eyes intently. "Where is my husband?" She finished her question, her own voice now breaking as she watched a tear go down her sister's face, and softly beginning to cry.

That was when she saw it. Catching something in her vision she looked past her sister where a small wave receded, leaving an object in place. An item that filled Elsa with absolute terror as she ran past her sister and dropped down to her knees, sobs now threatening to break her as her wide, horror-filled eyes pooled with tears.

In her reach was a longbow, its once before elegantly carved wood chipped and snapped completely in half, with only the now slightly-ripped string keeping the wooden pieces from being permanently separated. Hesitantly, she grasped the once-beautiful weapon in her hands, both shaking profoundly as the lack of presence could only mean one absolutely horrible truth.

Elliot Takkar...the young boy she met so many years ago...the wonderful man he grew up to be...the one she loved unlike anything she loved before...the one she married with utter joy...and the man that will never see his newborn child when it arrives...

...Was dead.

Elsa had cried many tears on this day. Tears of sorrow, guilt, heartbreak, joy and happiness equally...but now, all that she could cry were the one sort of tears that she hadn't shed since her parents died, and thought she would never have to cry again...tears of a shattered heart...and of mourning.

She buried her face into the remnants of her husband's longbow, shaking from such a horrible state of vulnerability, nearly wailing from her sobbing. "Elsa!" Anna called to her tearfully as she rushed over to her sister, slid down to her knees, bringing her sister into a tight-as-hell hug, her sister leaning in and burying her face into the crevice of her neck as the redhead began to sob herself. "I'm s-so sorry, E-Elsa...!" she sobbed profusely.

Back amongst the crowd, crying could also be heard. Kristoff sniffled greatly as he tried to wipe away his tears, before feeling an equally-broken Sven slightly nudge him, before the two males brought each other in for a brotherly embrace, seeking comfort from the bond they share.

The D-Team, bless their hearts, were no better. Zoe cried heavily as she and Max held each other tightly, the brunet boy also in tears along with Rex, the two boys laying an arm across each other's shoulders, while the dinosaurs at their feet engaged in a group nuzzle themselves, seeking comfort from one another.

As for Mattias, the guardsman never had the blessing of knowing his would've-been-king for long...and he'd never even got to see Agnarr grow up and have his family. But from the short time they talked when they first met, he easily found the kindred spirit in their duty to Arendelle and was able to forge their brief friendship through their will to fight for their home. He closed his eyes, grief filling him again and looking away from the heartbreaking scene before him. Oh, how he wished things were different now.

Even Yelana, Honeymaren and the rest of the Northuldra shared in the sadness, closing their eyes and looking down in mourning, praying that in the end, the Highfell would find peace in the afterlife.

For Elsa, this whole journey had been the worst of her life. For a while, they had had their disagreements and their relationship was far from perfect, but they always came back together in the end. But there won't be any coming back from her beloved Elliot this time. And while he may yet live on in her child-to-be, that same little soul will never know its father.

She promised herself, that when the baby in her arrives, she will love it for both of their sakes. Raise it to have similar traits to the man she loved most so that in the end, he will never die.

With that promise made, she looked up into the sky and saw dark clouds coming in, the sure sign of potential rain approaching to signify the loss.

'Elliot...' she began to say to herself in her head, but from her heart. 'Wherever you are now...I hope you're at peace at last...and that in the end...know that I will love you...no matter where you are...' she said to herself, before placing her head where it was before, her tears not stopping any time soon.

Next time...

(A huge tidal wave of light spreads across the world.)

(A trio of different roars and a loud ringing of bells sound off within a dark chamber in Ahtohallan.)

Elsa: (Crying) I'm pregnant again...!

Honeymaren: You know...you belong up here.

Terry: Worst. Singing. Ever!

Spectre: I BEG YOUR PARDON! I practiced day and night for this moment!

Zoe: What?! But he's a sauropod, he can't do that!

Bulldust: That's when the impossible becomes possible, yeess!

Hoooooooooohhh...myyyyyyyyyyy...fuckiiiiiiiiinnnngggg...Goooooooooooodddd!

After nearly a whole bloody arse year of writer's blocks, this chapter is finally finished!

I will say now I did not expect this chapter to take so long to pan out, I was originally so excited to write this out, but then, I don't know what happened!

So yes, I really don't know what to say for taking so long with this...

But with that out of the way, for anyone who was hoping to have the married couple back together, I'm so very sorry for doing this to you lovely readers. But you will find out what exactly happens next, and see that this was necessary as such.

I also know that this chapter had a lot of mystery to it, and not a lot of dino brawling, aside from the battle with the Earth Giants, thanks to the D-Team being absolute clods.

I think the main parts of this chapter I enjoyed writing out were with the big wolves (and for those wondering, yes, I based them off the Loth-wolves from Star Wars Rebels) and I know you're gonna ask, "Who/Why the hell is Runeard in a wolf's body?" Well, you'll find out in the next chapter.

The other three scenes were the battle with the Earth Giants, the tender, worried moment with Ally and her babies down in Arendelle, and of course the D-Team having that dark first meeting with Maleficent after the Giant's battle.

I also won't lie, I shed a tear or so writing that last scene at the end, everyone crying over Elliot and Sugi's death. But that's what cliffhangers do, isn't it?

Anyway, I can't promise when I'll get the next chapter up, but what I can say is that many good and bad circumstances will happen. You thought that battle with Dynerra, Bulldust and Scowler in the last chapter was kickass? Wait till you see the one I have in mind for the next chapter.

I also decided, that Dinosaur King: Project I will be split up into two sequences (if that's the right word for it). After the next chapter, which will finally mark the end of the Enchanted Forest arc, the story will be taking in a few humorous one-shots, and then diverge into the next season, which I decided to call:

Dinosaur King: Operation Hybrid.

With all that said, I hope you enjoy reading this one, and sorry if it's not as good as it took waiting for it.

Read, Rate and Review.

And have a nice day!