A/N: Hey guys! Sorry this once again took so long to update. I had like a million ideas on what would be in the mysterious room so I was having a hard time deciding what to actually make it LOL! But I finally decided and here it is! Enjoy! :D

P.S.: Thank you to my little Snickers for, as always, being so wonderful and supportive and amazing and beautiful and wonderful and I love you! :D

Chapter 16

Whatever Elsa thought she was expecting, what she saw certainly wasn't it. She wasn't really even sure what she was looking at. They were standing in a giant spherical room made entirely of impossibly smooth, shimmering gold. In front of them a platform of silver, suspended in air by magic, extended out to the center of the room. The path led to something floating in the exact center of the spherical room and also appeared to be the only source of light in the room.

Elsa's brow furrowed. She had no idea what it was, but if she had to name a shape, she would say it looked something like . . .

"Is that an egg?" Anna blurted out next to her.

"You are very perceptive," Maleficent replied in a voice oozing sarcasm and probably condescension. Without giving either young queen the chance to come up with a defense, the Dark Queen strode forward onto the floating platform. Elsa and Anna shared one last uneasy glance before following Maleficent up the walkway.

As they neared the massive glowing egg, Elsa's eyes widened in surprise when she realized it was growing brighter the closer they drew to it. When they reached the landing above which the egg floated in air, Maleficent stepped aside to allow Elsa and Anna a clear view. Elsa could only stare in awe at the sheer beauty of it. The shell looked like some kind of ever-changing fire rather than a solid substance, glowing and shifting and radiating all colors of the rainbow. And most astonishing of all was its massive size - it could have easily fit all three of them inside it with room to spare.

"Goddess of the Seasons . . ." Elsa whispered.

"Is this a . . .?" Anna started, but seemed to lose her voice along the way.

"Dragon egg?" Maleficent finished for her. "It is."

"So . . ." Elsa struggled for words. The shock of the discovery, as well as the overwhelming magic in the room was making it difficult to concentrate on words. "Is this . . . Light?"

"It is the Spirit of Light, yes," the Dark Queen replied.

Anna stepped closer to it, extending a hand with mesmerized eyes and lightly touch the magnificent egg. "It's so young," she whispered.

"Darkness has always been. Light only recently came into the realms in cosmic standards," Maleficent said. "It is why she must be protected. She is not yet ready to shield herself from the power of Darkness. This is why I keep her here, where she is safe to grow in peace."

"She?" Elsa echoed softly.

"Indeed," Maleficent confirmed. "She is the very essence of the light itself."

Anna hesitated a moment before asking, "What . . . what is she?"

One sharply arched eyebrow raised even higher. "What else? She's an unborn dragon."

As if to accentuate the point, the creature within the egg made a soft, muffled crooning noise, as if responding to the sound of Maleficent's voice. It was the sound of the purest of innocence, almost painfully so. Elsa couldn't fully understand the emotions it made her feel. She felt as if she should be crying simply from being in the presence of such innocence. The infant dragon shifted within the egg, causing a ripple of gentle movement to pass through Elsa's entire body.

"Goddess . . . I felt her move," Elsa breathed, failing to suppress her awe yet again.

"Why have you brought us here, Maleficent?" Anna asked, jarring Elsa out of her daze.

"Because Elsa must remember who she is," Maleficent said, perceptibly tightening her grip on her ebony staff. "This is not about a mere ritual she must remember. The Fae of the Seasons have always held more magic than other Fae because of the important role they play in protecting balance in the world." The Dark Queen turned to Elsa. "Your mother normally carried out such roles, but she left us before she had a chance to complete your training in the ancient art. And now you cannot even remember who you are."

"Are all dragons the spirit of Light as she is?" Elsa asked.

"They were, yes," the Dark Queen replied.

"Were?" Elsa echoed.

"Light is the antitheses of Eternal Darkness. When dragons ruled this world, it was untouchable by the Dark. But Darkness is patient and clever. It waited and watched - watched as various creatures of Light came into the world such as the Fae people and unicorns. But when man entered the realm, the Dark saw its opportunity. It slipped in through the cracks and into the hearts of man. Through patience and silent persistence it grew in strength and numbers. It promised man strength and power and prestige. And it delivered on its promises - it gave man strength enough to kill even a dragon. Soon dragonslayers became heroes, legends that their bards sang songs about and celebrated as the bravest warriors on Earth. And then the rivers ran red with the blood of every last dragon on Earth. Save one. Save her. The last of her kind."

"You saved her?" Anna asked.

Maleficent's eyes flickered with some unknowable emotion. "I protected her from Darkness, yes."

"But how has Darkness not reached your heart?" Elsa asked in a moment of brazen curiosity. "You are the very Queen of Darkness. Why protect the Light at all?"

"You have forgotten the original purpose of the Queen of Darkness, child," Maleficent said in a cool voice. "To be the Queen of Darkness is to understand Darkness. To understand it is to master it. I am protector of the Light because I have mastered the Dark."

"So what must we do? What do we have to do with all this?" Anna demanded.

"You must learn the Ancient Rite, young Queen Elsa," Maleficent explained. "And the only one who can guide you to where you need to go is the Light."

Elsa's eyebrows raised in confusion. "How can she tell me anything? She hasn't even hatched yet."

Maleficent merely said, "Listen."

Elsa fell silent and turned her gaze back to the egg. Then she did as she was told and listened.

Anna was perturbed. Their walk back through the strange dimension and back to Queen Spring's palace was uncomfortably quiet, and ever since Elsa touched the dragon egg, she seemed a million miles away. After what Anna assumed was a "discussion," Elsa simply turned from it with an unreadable expression and began to walk silently back toward the exit.

As soon as they re-entered Queen Spring's study, however, Anna could no longer stay silent.

"So are you two going to tell me what the dragon said?" she demanded.

"You have learned all you need from me," Maleficent replied, sweeping past them and toward the door. "The rest is in your hands, Queen Elsa of Arendelle."

Anna stared after the Dark Queen for a few moments after she left the room before turning back to Elsa. "What did that mean?"

Elsa sat down heavily on the sofa in front of the fireplace. "It means . . . it means I must leave."

"Leave? Where are we going?"

"I've never experienced anything like that before. I mean I don't remember most of my life but I know I've never felt anything like that. She was . . ." Elsa's eyes clouded over with an emotion Anna couldn't quite name. "She was young by dragon standards, but ancient and timeless by Fae standards of measuring time. She was beautiful and powerful and she was hope and she was love."

"What did she tell you?"

"I . . . I have to leave here. There is somewhere I must go, but Anna . . . I must go alone."

Elsa fixed Anna with a look Anna knew only too well - that look that she was about to attempt to be stubborn with her.

"Don't be ridiculous, Elsa," Anna fired back without missing a beat. "You don't remember who you are, much less how to navigate this world."

"But the dragon said- -"

"I respect that the dragon is the essence of light and all that, but I don't care what she said. I'm going with you. This isn't open for discussion. Now where are we going?"

Elsa opened and closed her mouth several times as if trying desperately to come up with some kind of argument or rebuttal to Anna's overt stubbornness. In the end, she ended up giggling. "What would I do without you?" Elsa said between giggles.

"You'd surely get terribly lost in this world," Anna replied with a playfully seductive smile. She sat down next to Elsa on the couch and took her lover's hand in her own. "Which is why I'm not leaving your side until we sort this all out."

"Right," Elsa said and placed a tender kiss on Anna's lips. "So any idea how to get to a place called Antarctica?"