Chapter 6: The Proposition

Despair. She could only feel despair.

They were gone.

Her parents were gone forever.

She will no longer be able to talk to them, embrace them. Two of the few people whom she actually cared about were gone. She can't help hating her cousin from Corona for inviting her parents to her wedding and causing their demise. It was unreasonable. But life was unreasonable. Anything could happen, nothing is ever permanent, except for death. Life is flimsy… It is so easy… So easy to end one. A few drops of poison, a well-aimed arrow, a sickness or the work of an element…

She dressed slowly, slipping into the black garments. She pinned her hair up and sighed. She stepped out of the door, just in time to see two of the servants pull of piece of black, see-through material over the painting of her parents. She froze and stumbled back into the room.

Her powers exploded around her. Frost crept up the walls of her room and snowflakes began to fall, the floor was soon covered with a thick layer of ice. She sank down on to the floor and started sobbing.

She lost track of time.

She gave up.

She lost hope.

And the shadows in her room began to slowly reach towards her.

"Elsa? Please, I know you're in there. People are asking where you've been."

Anna took a deep breath before continuing.

"They say have courage and I'm trying to. I'm right out here for you, just let me in. We only have each other. It's just you and me. What are we gonna' do… Do you wanna' build a snowman?"

Elsa listened to her sister. The quiver in her sister's voice made her reach for the door but as she extended her hand, ice raced up and coated the entire door. She pulled her hand back to herself and shook her head. No. She won't hurt another one of her family. She had already lost two and she wasn't about to hurt another.

She hugged her knees towards herself and a few tears raced down her cheeks. She heard the sounds of Anna leaving and began to speak quietly.

"Anna… Yes, I know you're out there. I hear you every day. I want to tell you everything; I really wish I could say. I want to be beside you to help you through. Believe me, I need you too…"

"I wanna' build a snowman…"

Then she cried.

Elsa blinked. She must have cried herself to sleep.

She stood up shakily and looked around her. This looked nothing like her room. Where was she?

She seemed to be in some sort of cave. It was dark and cold. Black pieces of cloth were draped lavishly around the room. The walls gleamed with a layer of ice and furniture fashioned from ice was placed around the cave. The ice was strangely twisted and tinged with either a distinct darkness or a grayish paleness. Elsa stepped closer towards one of the sharp spikes protruding from the wall. There was a small wisp of grayish substance floating within the ice but it kept moving around, shifting uneasily as if trying to escape the icy prison. She looked closer, only to step back in shock.

It was a person! Just that the person was so small and indistinct, she couldn't tell if it was a female or a male. What was it doing inside there? She gasped and looked back at the ice. The wisp as if finally realizing she was there began to shake and move around violently, as if trying to warn Elsa to leave as soon as possible. Just then, one of the darker spirits from the ice shifted into the same icicle as the small grayish one. Elsa got a different vibe from this one. A much more violent and menacing feel. The darker wisp began to push the grayish one away, attacking it from all fronts. The gray one stayed there, still trying to warn Elsa to leave. But, soon it had been swallowed by the dark one whole. The dark one shifted away, not trapped by the ice.

"Enjoy watching the souls?" A strong, female voice rang from a chamber within the cave. The dark wisp immediately jumped out from the ice and took on the shape of a horse. The dark horse snarled at Elsa, baring its razor sharp teeth before galloping to join the others to surround the speaker.

The speaker stepped out into the light. The light from the glistening chandelier hanging overhead hit her, illuminating first her crown of black ice, then her pale beautiful face. Her robes seemed to be made out of pure darkness and swirled around her, pulling light from her surroundings so that she was always encased in an aura of coldness and darkness. The speaker was indeed very beautiful, in a timeless way. Like a goddess, one that you can only admire from afar. Her mouth was twisted into an ugly sneer which was probably the only thing ugly about her.

Elsa had an unexplainable urge to bow down to this woman in front of her. She forced herself to stand straight and tall, tilting her chin up slightly as she did in royal meetings.

"Where am I?" Her voice was clear and rang through the entire cave, echoing.

The woman chuckled coldly at her show of bravado.

"Such boldness. Though I wonder if you would be still as brave after I'm done with you."

The woman flicked a finger carelessly at Elsa. A force, much like a large invisible hand, applied a great pressure to Elsa's back, bending her forward. Elsa, against her will, sank to her knees like a common peasant, not a royal.

"Much better." The woman nodded her approval.

"Who are you?" Elsa said from her position on the ground.

"Why, I'm your grandmother, of course. How else do you think you got those powers?" The woman snorted gracefully.

"My… my grandmother? But I thought both my grandmothers have passed on."

"Well, obviously not." The woman retorted.

Elsa was surprised, but not pleasantly so. Her eyes darted back to the icicles where the grayish wisps glowed slightly.

"What are those things?"

The woman stroked one of the dark horses affectionately, summoning of piece of ice with one of the wisps and feeding it to the horse. "Those are souls. Souls of people who owe me, people who succumbed to the darkness and the cold, souls of people who die and end up wandering the world but are discovered by my Nightmares." She cooed at the horse as it crunched up the very soul of someone.

Elsa winced. Feeding souls to her pets? That seemed a little extreme.

"Now, Elsa, I called you here today for a reason. Enough of the idle chit-chat. I have a proposition for you… For you to be able to keep the people you care for safe forever."

Now Elsa was intrigued, she would do anything to keep Anna safe now, especially after what happened to her parents. "How can I do that?"

"Well, for you to be powerful enough to be able to protect your kingdom, you will have to have the Crown of the Frozen Ones to be able to reign supreme over the entire world. The problem is that this particular relic lies hidden somewhere, I do not know. The crown that I am currently wearing controls two spheres of influence, darkness and the cold. But you will have to get that crown to be able to be strong enough and I will help you. The price of my help is not high, just a few small jobs I'll have you to do." The woman smiled dismissively.

Elsa considered, having enough power to keep her entire kingdom safe for all eternity. That did not seem like a bad idea. Little did she know, a Nightmare was actually feeding her all these thoughts and they were not her own. She hesitated, for some unknown reason, the name Jack began popping up in her head again. She resisted the Nightmare. Why should I do this? What kind of jobs will she make me do anyway?

Lady Andromeda realized that Elsa was about to awaken and was beginning to be able to resist the Nightmare. She decided to break off the connection to Elsa's dreams as soon as possible.

"Consider it." The woman smirked at her before waving her hand at her.

Elsa jerked out of her sleep. What had just happened?

I do not own Rise Of The Guardians or Frozen.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I apologize for the long wait for this one but RL was seriously kicking butt.

Please Review, Favorite and Follow.

BTW, Elsa's reply in this chapter is from this amazing talented YouTuber, SweetPoffin. Her version of the reply is uploaded on YouTube and I recommend that you guys check it out. It is completely not mine, it is just the brainchild of a really really talented singer.

The link is: watch?v=MutnK1UbdRk

Yours truly,

Reina.