Winter Moon (Jelsa)

Chapter 34: Elsa

The moment I entered the room, I knew something was off. I shut the door, according to Merida's instructions.

The lighting was dim. A small lamp hung from the ceiling, but that was it. The windows had been tightly shuttered. I spotted Merida sitting on a crate just to my right with the throwing knife clutched in her hands.

"Merida?" I asked cautiously. Something wasn't right.

"I think I'm okay now," Merida gave me an eerie smile that wasn't at all like the one she usually wore.

"Okay," I frowned. I was getting out of here. I reached backwards to seize the doorknob.

"Is Arendelle very nice this time of year?" Merida said in a singsong voice.

I paused, caught off guard by the question. That was my mistake. 

She lunged knife extended and drove it towards me. 

I twisted, yelling, and flung a handful of glass beads from a bucket next to me at her. The knife cut a deep gash in the side of my leg and embedded itself in the wood of the door behind me. Even as I staggered backwards, stumbling over crates, buckets, bins, and goods, I knew she hadn't been aimed to kill. Blood gushed from my leg, pooling on the floor beneath me. I could hear the shouts of my friends as they pounded on the door. Merida had locked it.

Currently, Merida had another knife in her hands and was striding towards me. Her eyes were blank, staring over my shoulder at nothing.

"You're being possessed," I realized aloud.

"A clever deduction," Merida snarled. Her red curls fanned out around her like a lion's mane.

I raised my hands, ungloved and wreathed in ice. "Free her, Pitch, and no one has to get hurt."

"You wouldn't hurt your friend. Not intentionally," Merida/Pitch replied. 

"My power doesn't just have one use," I flicked my fingers, and a wall of ice materialized between us, cutting the room in half. I used my other hand to blast open the storage room window.

The door on Merida's side of the room flew open. Jack stood in the entrance, his staff extended like a weapon. My friends flooded into the room, surrounding Merida. At least Anna wasn't with them. Someone must have had the sense to tell her to hide.

"Foolish children," Merida/Pitch muttered. Suddenly, Merida's eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed as Pitch left her.

Flynn stiffened, gasped, and bent double. The knife in his hands slipped from his fingers.

"Eugene?" Rapunzel turned to him. She had a frying pan in her hands.

Flynn whirled on her and lunged, hands wrapping around her throat. 

The room descended into chaos as the possessed Flynn tried to strangle Rapunzel. Astrid raised a heavy-looking book and whacked Flynn over the head with it. He passed out.

"Stop!" I screamed at Pitch. "It's me you want, isn't it? Stop hurting them, and I'll go with you."

Pitch spoke from Astrid. "An interesting proposition."

I limped forward, towards my wall of ice. "Leave her."

"I have no use for your friends," Pitch decided, releasing Astrid from his hold. "Kynes!"

I heard a thud behind me and turned in horror to see the priest grinning manically at me. His dull hair was mousy and limp in the light, but his eyes were alight with a dark hunger. He raised his hands and all the metal objects in the room rose, refusing into chains that wrapped around me. I let them.

"Elsa!" Jack shouted.

"Get help!" I called before a piece of metal obscured my face like a mask.

Pitch laughed, the sound resounding around the room. His voice sounded far away and terribly close all at once. "Soon she will be beyond help."

I didn't bother struggling. It was too late.

Author's Note:

Hi everyone! I'm sorry about the weird update times and the short chapters. I've been really busy lately. If any of you have any thoughts about the story please let me know. Or just stay silent. That's cool too. See you next chapter!