Author's Note: I would encourage everyone, before they read this story, to first read The Hobbit and the Snow Queen; that's the best way to make sense of what goes on in this tale.
The snow glowed white on the mountain peaks across the fjord, an effect achieved through the soft light of the moon hanging in the sky above. But it didn't do so in total isolation, not in this kingdom of the north; flickering ribbons of brilliant hues of green and magenta softly danced against the dark, star-specked blue of the sky, granting a greater amount of light to those who happened to be wandering around at this time of night. In this case, that happened to be Anna, who quietly tip-toed barefoot down the castle halls in her night-gown, watching the lights shimmer through the window. Such astronomical displays filled her with energy, enough so that she couldn't be prevented from abandoning the comforts of her bed to try and shake it off.
On this night, Anna had in mind a certain place where she wanted to be at the moment, where she could watch the lights without hindrance. So, as not to wake anyone in particular, she strolled down the dark halls, wincing at the instances where her feet made contact with bare wooden floor. Having memorized all the little twists and turns in the passageways of the castle she called home, it didn't take her very long at all to find the right door, even in the faint light. Gently turning the brass knob and making sure the clicking of the inner mechanisms weren't too audible, she pulled aside the door and slipped her way through the gap. Relying on memory to guide her in the dark, she ascended the spiraling staircase up to its furthermost limit, where she opened another door and became immersed in the soft cool of a late summer's night, her feet stepping on to the cold weathered stone floor of the northwest tower. Her eyes went straight up towards the sky, and she drank in the iridescence of the northern lights while her feet stepped along as if on their own accord.
Going along two or three paces, Anna's attention remained fixed on the glowing bands of color. Watching them shimmering and wavering with more life than the waves of the ocean water in the fjord, she couldn't help but wonder; what magic from the dawn of time engineered such magnificence? She remembered hearing something about the Faerie War in the beginning, and wouldn't be surprised if something from that primordial time had something to do with it. What else but magic could create something so beautiful?
Almost out of nowhere, the brilliant white of a shooting star zipped across the color-filled sky, burning long enough for Anna to follow its path from one end of the fjord to the other. At first she raced to find a decent wish, but then such thoughts stopped—along with her heart—as she saw through her peripheral vision that she wasn't alone. Her sister, Elsa, stood a few paces away from her, leaning on the barrier with crossed arms in her own blue nightdress. Her pale skin and light blonde hair seemed to glow as much as the snow did in the moonlight. Her sky-blue eyes were directed towards the craggy mountains across the waters of the fjord instead of the light show going on above the two of them.
"Oh, hey!" Anna burst out in surprise, disturbing Elsa from her quiet meditation, "You're here! Not that you can't be here, or anything, y'know, who's to tell you what to do—I mean, I just didn't think you'd be here at this time of night…"
"Anna, what are you doing out here so late?" Elsa asked.
"I could ask you the same thing," Anna replied, "As for me, I just, uh…"
Before she could go on, Elsa simply smiled, and said, "Let me guess: the sky's awake, so you're awake?"
"Guilty," Anna admitted, "What about you?"
"Oh, nothing," Elsa replied, turning her gaze back towards the distant mountain slopes, "I just…couldn't sleep is all. Nothing to worry about."
"Oh yeah?" Anna asked. She walked over and took a place on Elsa's left side; the closer she got to her own sister, she could feel the air drop a little in temperature. But that was something she had gotten used to. What she hadn't gotten used to was how Elsa slightly jerked away from her, as if she was still afraid to touch her. Deep inside it hurt Anna slightly, but at least this wasn't a one-sided conversation with a closed door between them, like it used to be.
"Are you worried about that council meeting you got tomorrow?" she asked, hoping to start up a decent conversation, "Because I sure would be, because, well, holy cow, it sounds really important…"
"No Anna, that's not it."
"Was it a bad dream?"
"I told you, it's nothing to worry about."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Aw, c'mon," Anna said, "Share!"
"Since when is what goes on in my head something you need to know about?" Elsa questioned.
"Well, I know if it was a good dream, then you wouldn't be out here," Anna explained, "And if it was just a mildly bad dream, you still wouldn't be out here. But since you're out here, well then, clearly it's a REALLY bad dream, and you could use someone to talk to about it, maybe do some psychoanalyzing, or whatever it's called."
"I don't think that's how it works," Elsa said.
"Oh c'mon, Elsa!" Anna pleaded, "Just tell me what's going on! I promise I won't share it with anyone else!" Seeing that Elsa remained resilient, Anna decided to pull in close, and use her secret weapon.
"No secrets," she said in a serious tone, "Remember?"
Those last words had the right effect on her older sister; she quivered, as if stung by an arrow. Then her shoulders loosened, as did her tongue.
"There are times when my dreams take me to a place I once called home," Elsa began, "Sometimes I dream about ancient forests, open fields, caverns darker than dark, and mountains taller than you can fathom. Sometimes I dream about graceful elves, stalwart dwarves, mysterious wizards, and valiant men. And sometimes I dream about sitting by the campfire, eating good food, and laughing along with the others out in the wild…"
"Sounds to me more like memories than dreams," Anna remarked.
Elsa nodded. "Do you realize that it's been eight months since I came home?" she asked, "And a whole year since I ran away?"
"Well, yeah, so does the whole kingdom," Anna said, "People are still calling it the 'Frozen Summer', Elsa."
"Yes, well," Elsa said, "I know from your end I was only gone for four months, but from my end I was gone for years, Anna. It feels like I left a whole life behind me…and I can still remember what happened in all that time. I can still remember them, Anna; Gandalf, Dwalin, Balin, Fili, Kili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Glóin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Thorin…"
"And Bilbo?"
"Yeah," Elsa said softly, "and Bilbo. Not to mention so many other people…"
"You miss them, don't you?"
"Yes…I just can't help but wonder what they're all doing with their lives now…the ones who survived, anyway. I wonder if they're okay…"
"Is that it?" Anna asked. "I'm sure they're all fine, wherever they are."
Elsa didn't seem convinced, however, as she kept her gaze on the mountains in the distance. Looking in the same direction, Anna remembered at that moment why she did; she remembered seeing her sister sprint across the fjord in her coronation ensemble towards those mountains, the water turning to ice the moment it touched her feet. She remembered standing near the water's edge, watching the newly crowned queen disappear into the trees, calling out her name and being restrained from following her at that time…
Had it really been a whole year since that fateful day? Even now, it seemed so far off.
She looked back at Elsa again. An idea formed in her head again…maybe this time it would work; as opposed to the other times she had popped the question.
"Well, if you're really so worried," she started, "then maybe, oh I dunno...a quick visit wouldn't hurt—"
Elsa's answer was swift and resolutely solid: "NO, Anna."
"Ugh," Anna groaned at the rebuttal. But she wouldn't be defeated so easily, "C'mon, Elsa! You got to go see a whole other WORLD! I just want to see it for myself, to see it for real!"
"Anna, it's too dangerous," Elsa said, standing upright and staring down at her with the sternness only an older sibling could wield.
"So there's a bunch of gremlins and monster dogs running around, so what?" Anna said, "What would I have to worry about when I've got you with me? Besides, it wouldn't be very long, we'd just drop by to say hi, and—"
"You don't understand," Elsa sighed, "…It's bigger than that. It would be too dangerous for both of us."
"This is coming from the girl who whipped up an army of ice soldiers," Anna said. "I saw that too, you know."
"My answer is still no," Elsa said. She then walked past Anna towards the tower door, saying, "I'm going back to bed. I suggest that you do the same. Good night."
Before Anna could say anything else in protest, the door shut behind her sister, and she was left alone in the night.
Blowing a puff of air through her loose hair, she turned back towards the night sky to watch the spectacle with noticeably less enthusiasm than before, mostly because of the frustration weighing her down. Foiled again, she thought bitterly, for the umpteenth time in a row…or something like that, she certainly hadn't been counting.
But in no way did it mean that she was about to give up. Far from it; Princess Anna was not one to be deterred so easily.
Elsa walked quietly down the halls back to her room, though still unsure of whether or not she would be able to get any sleep. She had a suspicion that Anna would be up and about on this night, but she hadn't suspected that they would cross paths, let alone come to the same castle tower. Still, she felt glad to have at least someone to talk to at the time…though Elsa would have to admit that it wasn't easy. All that time speaking to Anna, and that streak of white in her otherwise reddish hair leered at her as a reminder of what she had done to her sister…after all these years, it still made her afraid to touch her. Even though Anna now knew about her powers, she wondered if she would ever be able to tell her the whole truth behind her hesitation…
After what seemed like a long time, she finally reached the door to her room and slipped back inside. She flopped into the comfort of her blankets, but even their softness failed to drive away her troubling thoughts.
Elsa had long lost track of how often Anna asked her to take her to see Middle-Earth, but it had been that way ever since she had returned home and figured out how to undo the curse of the Frozen Summer. Consistently she refused the persistent query with her lips…but not with her heart. The grey wizard's warning was strong enough to keep her from touching the Star Gems again, but the desire to visit that world that she had been ready to call home remained within her. But even then there were other things that helped her resist the temptation, things that woke her up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and surrounded by frost of her own making.
You need to get some sleep tonight, Elsa, she told herself. Just relax, and let it go... hopefully she wouldn't have the nightmare of that flaming red eye and the haunting voice that accompanied it again tonight.
Unmarred by passing clouds, the heat of a bright morning sun bore down on a town bustling with activity. Blue and white streamers were draped across cottage windowsills, while vendors were lined up on the streets selling clothes embroidered with winter scenes, toys carved in the shapes of snowmen, and other such novelties; the owner of a certain trading post and sauna had even come down from the mountains to offer half prices on his winter gear in anticipation of this day. Had a wanderer from a distant kingdom come to town on this day, he or she would surely think something had gone wrong with the mental state of the citizens. On the contrary; this was merely a sort of unofficial holiday held in remembrance of the 'Frozen Summer' the year before; granted, a great many of the people who remembered the event acknowledged that it had been a disaster, but admittedly the idea that it really had snowed in the heat of summer was quite a novel thing, and some of the more crafty merchants took advantage of that fact. No one, however, had asked permission of the Queen, so in perspective it was a rather minor folk celebration that had yet to bloom into a tourist attraction.
Anna had already seen all the quiet preparation that had gone into this folk celebration during some time spent with Kristoff, and now, seeing it afar from one of the tower windows, couldn't help but wonder if Elsa was even aware of this, and if she was, what she would've thought of it. As far as she was concerned, Anna felt rather divided on the issue; on one hand, she couldn't help but giggle at the neat little trinkets and at how two small children tossed handfuls of flour into the air, claiming that it was snowing again. On the other hand, however, she still remembered how much colder it became with each and every passing day that Elsa was gone. She also remembered the look on Elsa's face when she saw what her unleashed powers had done as soon as they came within the city limits…
But that remained a rather minor concern of Anna's at the moment; perhaps one of the officials would bring it up at the council meeting, and that would settle the issue. For now, she had one single thing on her mind, a plan that she had labored over long into the night, and was anxious to put into motion.
She watched as Elsa greeted the high-ranking officials at the door, and also as all of them followed her into the courtroom, with the doors slamming shut behind them as the guards took their places on either side. Anna could tell that Elsa had made an effort to look as queen-like as possible; rather than wear the loose, shimmering blue dress that she herself had conjured personally, she resorted to clothing herself in a more traditional dress for the occasion. However, she insisted on keeping her hair in that long braid of hers with her bangs swept to the back as if blown by the wind, which Anna didn't mind very much.
However, as soon as that was finished with, and with the muffled banging of the gavel signaling the beginning of the meeting, Anna immediately made her way back up the stairs, careful not to draw too much attention to herself. She passed by roughly a dozen servants on the way there, and to Anna's own confusion, she felt anxiety build within her with each passing face the closer and closer she got to her destination. Calm down, will you? She thought to herself, No one knows about them except you and Elsa. And no one knows about this little operation except you.
After climbing up the stairs, she found the white door decorated with blue trapezoid-petal flowers that she had been looking for.
A flood of painful memories came over her; how many times had she come up to this door and knocked, expecting her sister to loosen up and play with her for just once in her young life? How many attempts at luring her out had she tried? Only now did she realize the reason for Elsa keeping her out of her room, and practically her life, for all these years; while at the very least it blessed Anna with understanding, it also filled her with some degree of despair. Even now that she was back and her little secret was public knowledge, Elsa still preferred to keep the door to her room shut.
Shaking away the recollection so it wouldn't distract her, Anna refocused herself on the mission at hand. From her pocket, she drew out a long, dark skeleton key, acquired from one of the guards with much persuasion, and placed it gently inside the keyhole.
"No more closed doors," she whispered.
To her satisfaction, the lock gave way, and the door swung open to let her inside, as well as let out a shock of cold air. Bracing herself against the chilly gust, Anna stepped in and almost immediately stared in awe at what greeted her. Of course the room possessed a bed, a dresser, and the usual things that a bedroom should have, but Elsa clearly went out of her way to personalize the place; much of it was ornamented with ice that might've been mistaken for glass fashioned into the most elegant of shapes along the walls, formed into a graceful table that sat in the middle with a frozen fountain on top, and numerous other things that she could only guess were Elsa's personal experiments into seeing what she was capable of. The sunlight coming in through the window gave the room a brilliant sense of life, reflected with beauty and serenity, and none of it melting away. It was almost like stepping into winter all over again…on that note, maybe Elsa wouldn't be entirely opposed to letting the common folk have a little winter celebration in summer, if not participate in it.
Rubbing her hands against her arms to generate warmth, Anna stepped further on inside, and asked herself in a quiet voice, "Now if I were Elsa, where would I hide a chest of glowing rocks?"
The first place she looked was underneath the bed, pulling away the blue covers to find…nothing. Not even a few old toys strewn about.
Perhaps that was too obvious.
Next, she tried the wardrobe. After leafing through the large collection of Elsa's other dresses (many of which had been gathering dust) and gowns, she still felt frustration at not finding what she came looking for.
Maybe that was too obvious as well. She would have to look even harder.
The next place she tried was Elsa's dresser, upon which sat a very large mirror. But something very nearly stopped her from searching the drawers: herself, or rather her own reflection in Elsa's mirror. She stared back at herself, standing in a place where she shouldn't be, and inside she felt as though she were weighed down by a millstone. It was an emotion she had felt more often than what was probably healthy for her, having come upon her the night that she pulled her sister's glove off demanding an answer, as well as so many other days in childhood when she questioned what crime she committed to drive Elsa to isolation…and now it came upon her here of all places.
What was she even doing here, rifling through Elsa's things like this? For so many years she had struggled for so long to gain her sister's trust, to rekindle the friendship they had as children, and now here she was undermining the very foundation it was built upon through trespassing…
It doesn't have to be like that, a voice within her said. What Elsa doesn't know won't hurt her. Besides, I could be right back home before she even notices.
With that, she continued, opening the very first drawer she came across—which was full of socks.
Wait a minute. The memory of the chest came back to her, and she vaguely remembered how long and wide it was. Would it really fit inside one of these drawers…?
"Hi, Anna!" a voice said cheerfully from behind her.
At the sound of it, Anna's heart nearly skipped a beat as she whirled around in surprise. Looking down, she saw Olaf standing in the open doorway, with his head tilted at an angle while the tiny snow cloud above him continued to drop snowflakes.
"Gah! Olaf," Anna half-yelped. "What are you—I mean, good morning! How are you, today?"
"I'm wonderful!" the little snowman replied.
"Why aren't you outside enjoying the summer?" Anna asked.
"I wanted to see what you were doing," Olaf answered, "…What are you doing, by the way? Isn't this Elsa's room?"
"Yes, it is," Anna said, "I was just looking for something…"
"Something special?" Olaf asked.
"Well, you know, I wouldn't say something especially crucial; I just wanted to get a quick look at it for curiosity's sake…"
"Is it something Elsa would miss?"
"…No, no, not really."
"You hesitated."
"What? No I didn't, I—you know what, never mind," she said. She started to get the feeling that this would lead to nowhere.
"Well," Olaf started as he wandered over to the window, "If it's something really special, I know that Elsa wouldn't keep here."
Then again, maybe it could, she decided.
"Really?" Anna asked.
"Yep; she's got a special place where she keeps stuff that must be really important," the snowman explained.
Wow, Anna thought, Elsa's a lot smarter than I give her credit for... and yet somehow Olaf knew where it was.
"How do you know about that?" she asked him.
"Oh, I just followed her to it," Olaf explained, "I don't think she saw me, though; not to brag, but I can be pretty sneaky, sometimes."
She had to give him that, definitely. She also wondered, however, if that 'special place' really did happen to be where the chest laid; it would make a lot of sense unless it turned out to be a secret collection of knick-knacks and dolls. Before she spoke again, however, she did feel that sinking feeling of guilt again at the thought of taking advantage of Olaf like this…
But was she really hurting anyone, though?
Olaf then asked, "Do you wanna see it?"
Sitting as politely, quietly, regally, and rigidly as she had been trained to do as queen for years, Elsa felt restless upon the throne, looking down a long table with two rows of noblemen and women on either side. Over the course of forty-two minutes (a nearby grandfather clock revealed that information), she had sat there listening to both sides argue and debate over things like land settlements, tax deductions, etcetera, and while it was tempting to doze off and hope that they didn't notice, she knew too well that she was not there to look pretty. In fact, she had to listen intently to every little detail brought up by either side, for eventually they would look to her to see which side she supported, or at the very least made the stronger argument. After that, she would make her ultimate decision, and her word became law.
Overall it was a fairly effective method of governing the kingdom. But her only problem with it was that, more often than she would've liked, both sides were so passionate about whatever they were arguing about that the debate would go on for hours at times; hence these council meetings didn't occur that often.
Fortunately for her, the current topic of whether or not to allow the legalization of bridge tolls was settled rather quickly, with her in favor of discontinuing the practice. With that, the spokesman for the meeting announced, "And now for the next item on the itinerary: it is proposed that the Kingdom of Arendelle form a political alliance with the City-State of Palace City and be formally inducted into the so-called 'Empire'. We will now begin the discussion."
Now this was a fairly crucial one that, were it not for the insistence of her advisors, Elsa might have been able to settle herself. Truth be told, the word 'empire' was a rather misleading term, and was merely a reference to its territorial expanse; in truth, it was more of a confederacy of independent kingdoms rather than a singular government, bound together by common ideologies and a pursuit of peace and coexistence as opposed to a barbaric land-grab as most so-called empires were. The neighboring kingdom of Corona, Elsa had been previously informed, had already accepted this invitation, and thus far nothing terrible had happened to them since then; in fact, word was that their citizens enjoyed many of the benefits that the people in Palace City were said to have. However, there was still some concern as to why such a union among kingdoms had to occur in the first place.
Elsa herself never paid a visit to Palace City in her life, nor had she met the High King; most of her years had been spent behind closed doors, or recently in another world entirely. However, from what she understood, the High King was a wise and benevolent being who ruled in fairness, but also a powerful warrior and a skilled mage, more so than any in the known kingdoms, close enough even to rival the Faeries. She also knew, however, that he wasn't even human…
Regardless, she made her mind up concerning the matter a long time ago. The only real question was whether or not her advisors and the other officials of the kingdom were open to such a proposal or not; it would be unwise of her to officially announce her decision without the support of the people of her own kingdom. So for now she simply half-listened to the arguments being tossed back and forth like vengeful darts. All she really needed to do was to wait for them to finish the debate and turn to her for her final verdict on the matter.
She allowed herself to relax a little bit, and her eyes began to wander from the discussion before her up towards the windows centered in the roof, towards the sunlight that shone through them. More so than any other time before now, she longed for the meeting to be done with. She longed to get outside and breathe in some fresh air. She longed to get back out in the open, to get on the road and follow it wherever it would lead her. She longed to see mountains taller than those she had ever seen, forests more ancient than anyone living knew, and cities full of people she had never met before. And she would do it all with her dearest friend by her side…
Something stole across one of the windows, quietly surprising her. Was it a bird that had flown outside? No, it was too big to be a bird…but whatever it was, it had vanished.
Strange…
Her eyes returned to the foreground; the ministers and officials were still discussing and debating, no change there. And yet, she couldn't help but feel that something was off...
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something slip into the shadows near the furthest corner from her. But when she looked in that direction, all she saw was an empty corner. Could it be a mere trick of the light?
The answer came sooner than she expected; for the span of an instant, she saw a figure cloaked in black and red, wearing clawed gloves and a large hood over its face, silently striding just behind the people on the furthest end of the table before it disappeared again, like a moth popping in and out of a spotlight.
She gripped the arm of her chair like a vise. How did no one else see that? The phantom had practically walked right behind one woman, fluttering a few strands of hair, and she didn't even notice! But what could she do? Did she dare try to point the phantom out? But if no one else noticed it, was it possible that she was the only one who did? What would it say about her if she tried to alert the others?
"Your majesty?" the spokesman said, "Are you alright?"
His voice shocked Elsa back into the moment. Only now did she see everyone looking expectantly in her direction. Looking down, she saw that the arm of her chair was coated in thick frost.
She inhaled deeply, calming herself, and in her mind she repeated the one mantra that had truly become her ally.
Love will thaw. Love will thaw.
With that, the frost began to dissipate until it was all gone.
"Yes," she said, "I'm sorry about that…"
"Have you reached a decision, your majesty?" the minister asked.
"Hm? Oh, actually…" Elsa started. Then she glanced over to her left, and there, in a distant corner, she saw the phantom. He simply stood there without making a single movement. Underneath his hood, she could see the glimmer of a pair of eyes staring back at her. She stared right back at him with an icy glare.
What do you want? She said inside. Why are you here? Why can no one else see you?
Again, the phantom simply stood still. However, she noticed that he had slightly tilted his head at an angle. Her eyes darted in the direction he indicated, and she found herself looking at the doors. She looked back, and the phantom was gone again.
"Your majesty?" the minister asked again.
She returned her attention to him. "I…well, this is such a crucial decision for the kingdom," she said, "…I need some time to think it over. I call for a thirty-minute recess."
The minister nodded, and he made it so; everyone lifted themselves from off of their seats and started to stretch, a bittersweet mixture of relief from sitting for ages and disappointment at not hearing Elsa's declaration. Elsa, meanwhile, made a beeline for the door. Stepping through, she summoned the captain of the guard with some of his best men. Within a few moments, he, a tall brawny man with thick black sideburns, and several others arrived, curious about the matter.
"You called for us, milady?" the Captain asked.
"Yes, Captain," she affirmed, "Order your men to close the gates and guard every possible entrance; I don't want anyone coming in nor out of this castle. Keep watch over the ministers and officials as well. Do you understand?"
"Yes, milady," the Captain replied, "But may I ask what this is about? Is there an intruder?"
"Yes, Captain," she answered, "But I will deal with him myself."
Leaving the confused guards behind, Elsa moved down the hall, her eyes darting around for the trespasser. She became aware of her surroundings like she had never been before…not for a long time, anyway. Old instincts began to flare again; her hand gently waved around by her side, stirring up some cold air ready to strike with. But even then there was the crippling sensation of terror deep within her.
What are you? She wondered.
She came to the end of the hallway, where it took a left. Here, she became especially wary; corners were especially dangerous, being a perfect place to spring a trap. But she refused to be caught unawares. As a matter of fact, this presented a unique opportunity to turn the tables.
She took it without hesitation, sending a hurricane gale of ice and snow around the corner, and followed straight after it to see the results. The results, however, obviously wouldn't please the servants; aside from the snow and ice covering the area, much of the furniture were blown over, and several wall decorations where thrown off their places.
And to cap it all off, the phantom stood at the other end of the hall, clearly untouched.
The two stared at each other from their respective places. Elsa, expecting just about anything at this point, readied herself to use whatever winter attack would suit her best; whoever this person was, he had picked the wrong queen to mess with.
The seconds seemed to pass by as slowly as possible. Elsa kept her eyes locked on the phantom, watching for the smallest of movements that would betray an attack. The phantom, in turn, kept his face in her direction, but whether or not he was directly looking at her, she couldn't tell, given how his eyes were hidden.
Finally, the phantom made a motion. Elsa raised her hand to strike, only to realize that it wasn't out of hostility. Instead, the phantom merely waved his hand in a summoning motion, indicating that he wanted her to follow him. He then turned to the left, going down another hallway.
At first, Elsa felt confused. However, she didn't want to lose him, not this time.
Fine, I'll play your little game, she thought, but where exactly are we going?
"Where exactly are we going?" Anna asked as she followed Olaf further and further down into the lower levels of the castle, the bright wallpapers colors of scarlet, gold, and violet being replaced with the dark grey of exposed rock and stone. The air steadily became chilling with every step they took, while light itself became scarce, forcing Anna to light a torch and bear it the rest of the way. She hadn't been down to the dungeons that often, nearly not at all, and now that she was down here, she wondered if it was possible that the castle foundations went deeper than she had ever imagined.
"We're almost there," Olaf assured her, "You'll see."
I hope you're right, Anna thought. They walked past cells that hadn't seen an actual occupant for years, but they still filled her with no small amount of dread as they made their way to Olaf's destination. The wailing and shrieking of prisoners behind those doors filled Anna's imagination, no matter how much she wanted them out. She looked towards Olaf, and it relieved her to find that even he seemed somewhat nervous at the ominous surroundings; at least she wasn't alone in her dreading of the place. To his credit, though, he did put on a brave face.
Turning a corner, Olaf led her to another door, but it looked like this one didn't lead to a prisoner's cell. Anna came up to it and tried the handle, only to find it locked. Before she could retrieve the skeleton key, however, Olaf walked up, plucked his carrot nose from off of his face, and stuck the point of it inside the lock.
"Olaf, I don't think that's going to—" Anna started.
To her surprise, however, the door swung open, and Olaf proudly replaced the carrot back onto his nose.
"How did you learn to do that?" she asked.
"Well, you know," the snowman explained, "I needed to get away from Sven once, and I think it was Kristoff who said, 'Desperation is the mother of necessity…or something like that. Anyway, it's a long story."
Anna peered through the doorway to find a staircase that led straight down into utter blackness, and from what she could tell, it was even colder down there than up here.
More than likely, her sister had been hanging around here; that much was clear.
Clutching the torch tightly in her hand, she started down the stairway and into the dark, the light of the flames keeping the shadows at bay. Her foot did slip somewhat upon the stone, forcing her to calculate every step she took for her own safety (to her annoyance, the stairway lacked anything tantamount to a handrail to cling onto for dear life. Good gracious, didn't anyone believe in those things back then?).
At last, she found bottom of the stairway, where there stood yet another door in her path—curiously, however, this one lacked a lock. With Olaf following close behind, she pushed it open, and entered a round stone room, where there stood three more doors, these ones bearing locks.
Turning to Olaf, she asked, "So, which one of these doors leads me to the treasure?"
"Um…" Olaf groaned, "…I dunno. I only got so far."
At first, Anna felt slightly aggravated, but then she realized that this was no big deal. She could probably figure out the puzzle on her own. "Could you wait for me back upstairs, please?" she asked Olaf, "I won't be very long."
"Okay!" the snowman said cheerfully as he turned in the other direction, hopping up each step as he went.
Anna, meanwhile, turned back to the three doors before her. So the chest lay behind one of these three doors; did there happen to be a clue that she could follow? She could've simply just used her skeleton key on each one until she found the one with the chest inside, but no, she felt that would've taken up way more time than necessary. She racked her brain for a quick solution to the problem…then she decided that it would be best if she inspected each door up close to see if there was something to set one of them apart. She walked up to the door closest to her left, and examined it for any peculiar details, anything that stood out about it, but finding nothing. She then went over to the door across from her on the right, and again found nothing in particular to set it apart. Finally, she walked over to the door right in between them, and searched the surface for anything….
There was nothing. Frustrated again, Anna sighed and turned back to think things over…
…Right up until she realized that she had seen her own breath.
Wanting some confirmation, she ran back to the door and blew some more air. Its presence registered itself in a small puff of cloud.
If that wasn't a sign that Elsa hadn't spent a lot of time here, then Anna didn't know what was. She reached for the door handle, clasping her hand upon the chilled metal, and slowly turned it, surprised to find that it was unlocked; perhaps Elsa was counting on the locked entrance and the remote location of the place as protection. Anna then pulled, and once the door became ajar, frigid air swept through, sending a burst of shivers and goosebumps across her skin in spite of her sleeves. Braving the chill, she opened the door further, and stepped inside a small dark round room, where only a single light shone in from above.
To Anna's great joy and satisfaction, the light illuminated the chest as it sat squarely upon a stone pedestal. It was just as she remembered it from eight months ago; small, wooden and braced with iron decorated by curious-looking runes.
To her great disappointment, however, it also sat with a cage made of latticework ice.
Yeesh, could Elsa be a stinker, making everything more and more difficult for her. The answer to this problem was simple enough; Anna held a lit torch, so why not use that to melt the ice. But perhaps that would take far too long for her plan to work…
Wait a minute, she thought.
What in the world was she doing? If Elsa was so determined to keep these Star Gems out of Anna's reach, then maybe she meant everything she said about there being something more dangerous than she could imagine? After all, she had endured years and years trying to keep her winter powers a secret, and look what happened when Anna forced her to reveal them! And now here she stood, having taken advantage of an innocent snowman and her sister's regal duties to knick some glowing gems so she could go world hopping.
At that moment, Anna felt sick from her head to her toes. How could she betray Elsa like this, her own sister?
And yet, there was still that tantalizing allure…
No, she couldn't go through with it. This couldn't be the means to her end. She decided right then and there that she would walk right out of here, lock the doors on her way out, go back to her room, and go on with her life pretending that this treachery of Elsa's trust never happened at all…
"Anna!"
Anna whipped around to see Elsa standing in the doorway, appearing shaken and confused at the sight of her down here. Her own heart chilled within her at the shock of being discovered. Never before had she felt so scared of her own sister than she did at this moment.
"What are you doing?" Elsa asked, but the serious tone of her voice indicated that she knew too well what Anna had been attempting.
At first, she didn't know what to say. Shame and grief weighed down her tongue too strongly for her to be able to form words to express her regret. But words did come out. "Elsa, I—I thought you were—"
"At the council meeting? Yeah, I was," Elsa said, "But then we took a break. Anna, are you so single-minded as to go sneaking around behind my back like this? I've told you time and time again that neither of us is going back there! I can't believe you even got Olaf involved in this."
"I know, I know," Anna said, "I'm so sorry, it's just that—I was just so jealous of how you got to go on such a cool adventure, and I wanted to see everything that you-hey, how'd you even know I'd be down here, anyway?"
"I didn't," Elsa started, "I was following someone else, and then I found Olaf and…" but then she stopped midsentence. Her eyes widened, and she turned about wildly, looking for something in the dark. "Of course," she whispered, "Secluded, no other witnesses…This is the perfect place to pull it off…"
"The perfect place to pull what off?" Anna asked.
Elsa didn't reply. Her eyes zipped back and forth desperately as she stepped backward. Her hand caught on the stone of the doorway, and Anna saw harsh frost spread like fire from where she touched.
"Elsa," Anna asked, "What's going on?"
Suddenly, her sister jumped forward and latched onto her arm. "We've got to get out of here!" she said as she pulled her through the open doorway with surprising strength.
"Hey, HEY!" Anna yelled as Elsa pulled her through the previous rooms toward the exit, "Elsa, Tell me what's happening!"
Before they reached it, the door slammed shut of its own accord, sending a shuddering THUD echoing through the chamber, followed by the sound of small clicks within the mechanism of the lock. The two sisters stopped in their tracks at the sudden hindrance to their escape; Elsa let go of Anna's arm, and spread her arms out, chilled air and snow flowing around her hands. "Get behind me, Anna," she instructed.
"But Elsa—" Anna started to protest.
"JUST DO WHAT I SAY," Elsa declared. Subdued, Anna complied, though she still had no idea what frightened Elsa so much. Still clutching the torch, she held it aloft, trying to see whatever it was that laid in the shadows. Unfortunately, that was all she could see: shadows, dancing along the stony brick wall in the glow of the firelight.
One of the shadows jumped out of the wall, leaping towards the two of them while wielding a sword.
Anna shrieked in fright at the attacker and shut her eyes at the impending doom.
CLASH!
Hearing the strange sound, she looked up to see Elsa standing before her, pushing back the blade of the black and red phantom with her own sword, a long narrow rapier made of pure ice with a hilt that made her think of pure, flowing water frozen around Elsa's hand.
"Anna, get back!" Elsa shouted again.
Anna jumped away from the fight just in time, dropping the torch onto the floor and backing herself against the wall while the Phantom pulled back his sword and came at Elsa again. THWACK! CLASH! FHWASHING! The two weapons sang a shrill song of imminent doom as they collided time and time again. Anna watched this deadly dance with awe, surprised to see how skilled Elsa was in combat; she was like a winter whirlwind, swift, elegant, and cold at the same time, dodging and repelling the bloodthirsty edge of the Phantom's armament, all of it mirrored by the quivering shadows on the wall.
"I see that sword-fight training's paid off!" Anna shouted from the sidelines.
"Thank you!" Elsa said between blade collisions, "I've been practicing."
As if to back up her claim, she pushed forward against the Phantom, and, with a flick of her wrist in a single fluid motion, succeeded in sending the Phantom's sword flying against the room, while directing the point of her own towards his throat.
However, the Phantom leaped several feet backwards, his back against the main door. At first it seemed as though he planned to make an escape, but then FWOOSH! An orange ball of fire burst from his hands and rushed towards Elsa, who let her sword fall to the ground and raised a thick wall of ice in response. Instead of dissipating into smoke, the spinning fireball kept pushing its way through the barrier, forcing Elsa to generate more ice to prevent it. But even then, its heat consistently ate through the ice; seeing it was a futile effort, Elsa leaped out of the way as it punched through and collided with the door to the chest-room, knocking it off of its hinges and sending it in backwards with a crash.
The Phantom then sprinted towards the disarmed Elsa, who launched bolt after bolt of ice and snow at him. But the Phantom dodged every attack with bewildering agility. She in turn jumped to the other side as he swiped at her, the iron claws on his gloves grazing the air just a few inches away from her face. She cast another bolt of ice at the ground beneath his feet, but he jumped straight up into the air, whirled around, and swung his foot into her, knocking her into the treasure-room where he soon followed after landing back onto the floor. The sounds of a struggle came quickly after that.
"Elsa!" Anna shouted. Hopping back onto her feet, she retrieved the torch from the floor and rushed into the treasure room. As she entered, the firelight illuminated broken, smoldering, and altogether shattered remains of what used to be the door lying in pieces across where the pedestal used to be, and to her right, Elsa and the Phantom locked in combat; the Phantom had Elsa pinned against the wall, his clawed hands grasping forward as a stream of fire erupted from his palms. But they were repelled, as it were, by the icy blue beam of winter that shimmered from Elsa's. Fire and ice were both attempting to overpower each other, but thus far it had been drawn into a stalemate.
"Get away from my sister!" Anna shouted, raising the torch like a club as she ran towards the enemy. But just as she was within striking distance, she felt herself thrown back to the other side of the chamber by some unseen force. Her spine was the first thing to hit the stone, knocking the wind out of her and briefly paralyzing her with a burst of pain that rushed through her body with the impact. She slumped to the floor, groaning as she struggled to overcome the sting. The torch, meanwhile, fell to the ground yet again, its flame lighting some of the door splinters on fire.
But then, through the corner of her eye, Anna saw something beneath the broken slabs of wood…something that glowed with a white light. She hauled herself forward, and pulled away the wood; there laid the chest sitting amongst the smashed fragments of its icy cage, still intact…save for the small hole in the side through which several glowing white gems had tumbled through. In their facets, Anna saw things that she couldn't have imagined in her wildest dreams; titanic beasts clashing amongst towers of stone and glass, a man dressed in red and blue soaring through the skies, and even a vast desert of sand where she saw a man made out of gold with glowing eyes followed by a cylindrical looking creature colored blue and white with a single red eye…
Looking back up, she saw Elsa and the Phantom still locked together, trying to overcome the other…but Elsa seemed to be slipping, her strength giving way to the Phantom's cruel determination.
She looked back down at the Star Gems before her.
She looked back up again, and this time with an idea formulating in her mind.
She grabbed one of the Star Gems, careful not to grasp it too tightly. Ignoring the pain in her back, she got up onto her feet again, and shouted, "Hey, tall, dark and hostile! CATCH!"
With that, Anna lobbed it towards the Phantom, watching it as it sailed like a shooting star through the dark room. Distracted, the Phantom glanced over in her direction and saw the flying gem.
Please catch it, Anna prayed within her, please catch it and wind up somewhere far, FAR away…
Then Elsa looked over as well, her eyes opening up to their widest as she saw what happened.
"ANNA, NO!" Elsa shouted. She pushed back the Phantom with a powerful blasting surge of ice and wind, throwing him against the wall.
In the fastest of movements, her arm moved forward, and the Star Gem wound up in the clutches of her own hand.
Through her fingers, the jewel began to glow brighter and brighter, filling the room with light.
No, no, no! This wasn't supposed to happen! "Elsa!" Anna shouted, "Let it go!"
But it seemed as if her sister couldn't hear her; she seemed too entranced by what she personally saw in the facets. What looked like shards of glass materialized and began to whirl around her in the air.
Immediately she recognized what was happening. With that thought, only one thing resounded in Anna's mind:
Never again.
The pain of being thrown against a wall tossed aside, she charged forward, pushed through the floating shards, and clasped her arms around her sister. Somehow, she felt herself lifting off the ground, levitating in midair. But that hardly mattered to her.
I am NOT losing you again, Elsa, she thought. Never again.
The shards began to swirl faster and faster around them.
Suddenly the black form of the Phantom jumped through, and latched his hand onto Elsa's arm. Anna screamed and tried to kick him away, but to no avail as the room dissolved away while the glass pieces whirled around them with increasing speed. Though she struggled against the adversary, the commotion became too much for her, and she closed her eyes, terrified as she waited for wherever it was that awaited the three of them…
Sooner than she anticipated, the winds died away. Anna suddenly found herself flung through the air, having lost her grip on Elsa. She felt the impact very strongly as she rolled around in…grass. Soft, green grass, as a matter of fact…it was a nice alternative to being thrown against a stone wall, she had to give it that.
Carefully, she opened her eyes, and discovered a forest of tall, strong trees enjoying the gentle warmth of a bright spring day, with birds twittering in the branches like no one's business and a soft wind rushing along its way, rustling the grass as it went by. At first, Anna wondered why they had wound up outside in the castle grounds…but then she failed to recognize any of the trees as being from the castle gardens, nor, as she looked around, was there any sign of the castle in sight. The question, however, still remained; where exactly had she wound up?
Through the corner of her eye, she saw something glowing through the long blades of grass. Parting the foliage aside, she found the Star Gem lying in the dirt; it probably flew out from Elsa's hand when they had landed. Thinking very quickly and moving very fast, she pulled out a small bag of maroon velvet from her pocket that she had taken with her to hide it in originally, and scooped up the Star Gem with it, closing tight the opening with a golden string and placing it back in her pocket. Patting the precious jewel in her pocket, she stood back up on her feet and began to have a look around.
"Elsa?" she called out, "Elsa, where are you?"
A sudden burst of cold flushed forth to her right; she turned and saw as the Phantom was pinned against the trunk of a large tree by dozens of very large, thick icicles erupting from the ground. Several inched dangerously close to his neck. Even then, however, his face was still hidden from view by that hood of his.
Elsa followed close behind, holding her hands out as if the icicles were connected to her hands; Anna knew that should the Phantom make one wrong move, it only took one flick of a finger to send just one of those icicles plunging straight into his neck. Escape failed to be an option for this would-be-killer.
"Who sent you to assassinate me, and why?" Elsa demanded in a strong, powerful voice tempered by indignation.
The Phantom spoke not a word as he hung there.
"SPEAK!" Elsa shouted. She walked straight up to him and reached for his hood, saying, "You have nowhere to run. Confess, and I may just spare your life."
She grabbed the hood and yanked it away to reveal the killer's face—instead, all she found was a crumbling mound of ash and dust.
Leaping back in shock, the two sisters watched as any life disappeared in an instant, and the Phantom's body hung limp, suspended like a scarecrow by the points of the icicles. Ash and dust spilled out from his black clothing onto the grass like sand in soft torrents.
A long time passed before either of the sisters spoke again, too shaken by what they had seen.
"So…" Anna started, "What was he—or it, rather?"
"I think it was a homunculus," Elsa whispered, "I've only heard of them, but I didn't think I'd ever see one."
"A what?"
"It's a magical construct," Elsa explained, "An imitation of human life; it was never alive to begin with. It's a very ancient form of magic, and only the most powerful of sorcerers are able to conjure such things…"
"Yeah, but you made Olaf," Anna said, "And he's alive for real! Wouldn't that make you…"
Elsa, however, seemed to tune out her words, walking away from her as she gazed around the forest. Suddenly she turned to glare straight at Anna again. "Why did you DO THAT, Anna?" she half-yelled.
"What, you mean save your life?" Anna asked, "I was trying to make it so that he'd wind up somewhere, anywhere!"
"Exactly! You could've put an entire world in danger that way!"
"Well, I didn't!" Anna argued, "Where are we anyway?"
"How should I know?"
"Well, you grabbed the Star Gem! You had to have had someplace in mind! Isn't that how it works?"
"Yeah, well, I haven't the slightest idea where we…" but then she stopped again. She gazed around the place, and Anna could see in her eyes some glimmer of recognition. "Wait…do you feel that?" she asked.
"Feel what?"
"This place…it's brimming with magic," Elsa said softly.
Just then, Anna heard something in the distance; the sound of creaking wheels, tromping feet, and laughter of both young and old. "Hey, do you hear that?" she asked.
"Hear what?"
"I don't know…it sounds like there's a village, nearby! Maybe we can get some information, there!" She then ran off towards the direction of the sounds, in spite of Elsa's protest. Following it carefully, she pushed her way through dense brush and branches, the noises becoming more and more audible as she went. At last, she came across the border of the woods; pulling aside some branches, she looked to see an open countryside, trees dotting the landscape and a clear river flowing through rolling green hills…hills with chimney stacks on their uppermost ridge and round doors, windows, and flower gardens at their base. That was strange…but not nearly as strange as what she saw running around on the paths that wound past the individual hills. At first, Anna thought she was looking at a multitude of very small children, but even from this distance she could see that, in spite of their height, many of the people were clearly too old to be children as they went about sweeping dust off the pathways, leading cattle twice their size down the road, and other chores. There did seem to be at least a few youngsters among them, but they were absolutely tiny, barely reaching up to her kneecap from what she could tell. All of them, however, ran around on broad, bare feet covered in curly hair.
It was all just so adorable!
"Elsa," she called out, "Come over here! You've got to see this! It's so cute!"
Sooner than she had expected, Elsa came over to her side and gazed upon the scene with her. Rather than being overcome by the charm of it all, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped in terror. She staggered back, and the air began to chill around her.
"Elsa, what's wrong?" Anna asked.
"It can't be…" Elsa whispered, "…I'm back. I'm back in Middle-Earth!"