Frozen III: Zenith

Chapter 5

The wagon rolls slowly through a forest. Not an enchanted one, it must be noted. The sun has almost set, and light is sparse through the canopy.
"Grandpabby?" Anna asks tiredly. "You still haven't said what you needed to talk to me about."
"Anna, it's getting late," Grandpabby protests. "You're looking tired and--"
"It's a perfect time. What did you want to tell me?"
"Anna, trust me when I say now is not the best time."
"Then when will be the best time? There may be no time, thanks to this Hellion, so now's as good a time as any."
Grandpabby sighs. "It's about your parents."
"What about them?" Anna inquires.
"They are... are not your real parents."
"What do you mean?"
Grandpabby looks Anna in the eyes, speaking thousands of words without making a sound. A realization hits Anna. She feels as if her heart stops beating and everything that ever happened is pointless.
"I'm... adopted?" She clarifies.
"Wait, what?" Elsa looks up, having not been paying attention. "Adopted? There's no way."
Grandpabby shows reluctance in responding, but finally speaks to Anna. "They died when you were just a baby."
"My parents? My real parents? How did they die?" Anna sits herself up straighter, preparing for a long story.
"Anna, you're not adopted," Elsa fights off the possibility.
"They became gravely ill and their bodies gave out," Grandpabby replies to Anna, ending the story relatively quickly.
"So the king and queen adopted me," Anna finishes.
"Anna, the king and queen are your real parents," Elsa interjects. "Maybe not by birth, but they are."
"They saw it in their hearts," Grandpabby continues, "to bring you into their family."
"Elsa, do you remember any of this?" Anna wonders.
"All I remember was having a new baby sister," Elsa responds. "Nothing else. I was three. And I was never told you were adopted. And you want to know why? It's 'cause you're not adopted."
"Elsa--" Grandpabby begins.
"What's the point?" Anna asks out loud.
"Here we go," Elsa comments, laying down to be in a comfortable position for what she knows is going to be one of Anna's ramblings.
"If I'm not their own child," Anna goes on, "then is everything I've done a lie? If I've grown up believing one lie, how can I know what's true? Is everything a lie? My own parents didn't love me enough to tell me."
"Now, that's not true," Grandpabby interrupts as any light from the sun evaporates for the night. "They didn't tell you because they wanted what was best for you."
"What do you mean?"
"They didn't want you believing you were any different. They wanted you to fit in."
"Were they ever going to tell me?"
"They kept a lot to themselves. There is no way of knowing."
"It's good enough, I guess."
Anna yawns and lays down.
"Where the Northwind meets the sea..." she sings quietly to herself, falling asleep almost instantly. Grandpabby puts a blanket over her and looks at Elsa, his expression asking why Anna sang.
"She sings that to fall asleep when she's stressed," Elsa tells Grandpabby solemnly. "She has ever since I could remember."
"Ah," Grandpabby reacts, putting a blanket over Elsa.
"It's not true," Elsa tells Grandpabby. "She's not adopted. She's my sister."
"The truth is not always what we want it to be," Grandpabby lectures.
"Oh, I know that," Elsa becomes sarcastic, propping herself up. "I've known it since I learned my grandfather betrayed the Northuldra. I've known it since I had to give up my relationship with my sister to keep her safe. My sister. She's not adopted. Besides, someone would've told me."
"And yet they didn't," Grandpabby keeps his cool, unlike Elsa.
"Why?" Elsa asks sharply.
"They wanted you to have a normal relationship," Grandpabby explains.
"And we did, because we're sisters," Elsa goes on.
Grandpabby does not respond, looking off into the night.
Elsa slams her head onto her straw pillow, wearing an angry expression, not wanting to sleep.
*~*~*~*
It happens to everyone: events that fill one's day typically replay themselves in one way or another during a dream the following night. The same is the case with Anna, who dreams that she wakes up, but does not feel herself moving. She props herself up and sees that she is not in the wagon. In fact, she is not anywhere. Pitch black is the only thing she can see in every direction. Anna holds her hand out in front of herself to see it, and she can see it perfectly. If she looks down, she can see all of herself, but not what she is standing on, if she is standing on anything.
"Hello?" She calls, hoping for an answer.
No response.
"It's me: Anna," Anna introduces herself to the darkness. Her voice echoes.
A light fades into existence behind her. She turns around and sees her parents, Agnarr and Iduna, looking exactly as she had left them before their fateful journey.
"Mother? Father?" Anna tries to understand.
They hold their arms out at Anna. She runs to hug them, but hugs air instead, as if she were trying to embrace ghosts.
"What's happening?" Anna asks worriedly.
Neither Agnarr nor Iduna responds.
"Mother, Father, please, answer me!" Anna begs.
"We're not your mother and father," Agnarr's voice echoes. "We never should have existed to you."
"Your real parents are dead," Iduna states. "You have no one."
"That's not true," Anna tries to argue as tears fill in her eyes and her voice starts breaking. "I have Kristoff and Elsa and--"
"But Elsa's not really your sister, is she?" Agnarr inquires.
"That's not true!" Anna yells, crying.
Agnarr and Iduna fade away.
"Come back!" Anna yells. "Don't leave me! Please! You're my parents! No!" She starts sobbing.
As the wagon rumbles along, a single tear falls from under Anna's sleeping eye and slowly rolls down her cheek. She wears a small frown, and she is visibly frustrated, though asleep, outwardly reacting to her dream.
*~*~*~*
"Okay, let's think," Kristoff declares from the head of the table, around which are seated numerous advisors. "What do we absolutely not need?"
"Most furniture," one comments.
"Good, good," Kristoff approves. "What else? I mean, we're talking a potential end of the world. What will we need to survive?"
"Aside from food and drink, all else we really need is clothing," another advisor offers his opinion.
"Then let's execute," Kristoff calls everyone to action, standing up. "We need to get everyone out of here safely to the North Mountain. We survive on our own long enough for Anna and Elsa to get back and destroy this demon."
The advisors leave quickly to get things done. Meanwhile, Kristoff walks to look out the window over the fjord.
"Oh, Anna," he says to himself. "I know we'll see each other again."
Kristoff's mind is not in the clearest of frames. A mass evacuation in itself is confusing business enough, not taking into account the fact that each and every life is in his own hands in his royal position. His thoughts go immediately to Anna, for multiple reasons. Naturally, as her husband, he wishes he could be with her to protect her from all harm, knowing a difficult fight ahead. He is nearly overwhelmed by the thought that he could lose her in a moment, by one bad move during a battle, by standing up the to the Hellion, by showing the courage he knew he never could if he wanted to, but could if he needed to. Here, he knows that he must be courageous for her. He must do his job, for her. If he cannot do the one thing he is required to do, how can she trust him? When he cannot do one thing? This is his moment to prove how much he loves her, by being strong. Hard as it may be to cope with the thought of thousands dying or living in torture, she is the one thing that keeps his head on straight.
*~*~*~*
"Okay, Sven, this is our big moment," Olaf tells Sven as the two approach the first doorstep. Olaf knocks on the door and the two wait a moment before being answered by a tall, hulking man.
"Yes, snowman?" The man asks in a thick Russian accent.
Olaf clears his throat. "Dear citizen of Arendelle," he recites, "I am here to inform you that times are grave and you must evacuate to the North Mountain. Gather only what you need and leave through and behind the castle in an orderly fashion."
The man shrieks and runs inside. Olaf looks at Sven and shrugs. A minute or two later, the man runs out of the house, still shrieking, carrying a cloth bag filled with food and clothes.
"Tell your friends!" Olaf calls after the man, being ignored.
"Well, that went well," Olaf shrugs off the reaction. He and Sven move on to the next house. Olaf knocks on the door and is answered this time by a woman.
"May I help you?" The woman asks.
"I'm just going to cut to the chase," Olaf replies. "A Hellion is coming, so you need to get what you need and go to the North Mountain. Capiche?"
"All right, Percy!" The woman calls into the house. "Get the boys together! The moment your great-granddaddy predicted would come has arrived! Let's ride!"
The woman marches out of the house. Trailing her is a procession of about a dozen men and boys, in order of descending height. Each carries a small wooden chest, with the exception of the man in front, who carries a large, cloth sack.
"Well, that was something," Olaf shares his thought with Sven after the littlest boy has left.
Olaf is entirely unaware of the seriousness of the evacuation. Yes, he has had his moment of realization when it hit him that he might never see Anna or Elsa again. He thinks of Anna and Kristoff as his parents: the ones who show him the do's don'ts, who humor him with his occasionally irritating antics, and who show him right from wrong. His natural, carefree demeanor takes over outwardly. He tries to stay optimistic through the turmoil of the times to keep everyone else as calm and happy as possible, given the circumstances. Life is like a game, and if he cannot play with his head held high and a smile on his face, why play at all?
*~*~*~*
Stars are few and far between overhead. The moon shines in its nighttime beauty far away, offering little light. Any brightness sin the sky comes from the Northern Lights, dancing without a worry as if on cue every night, brightening the beyond with a display of soft greens, blues, and pinks. It is under this heavenly canopy that Anna wakes up from her sleep. She can hear the conversation of her dream echoing in her ears, each painful moment perfectly preserved. She becomes upset again, though she does not cry. She reminds herself that it was just a dream, that it has no bearing on real life.
She lifts her head to look around. The Trolls underfoot rumble softly across the grassy terrain. Elsa sleeps soundly, as if she had been asleep since the beginning of time. Grandpabby, however, is awake, squinting at the horizon as if looking for answers himself.
"Grandpabby?" Anna whispers, trying not to wake Elsa.
"We are nearly there," he informs her, not in a whisper, but still quietly. "Just a few more minutes. You needn't go back to sleep; it won't do you any use now."
"Can I ask a question?" Anna asks, still whispering. She crawls over to Grandpabby and half sits, half leans against some hay.
"Anything, your majesty," Grandpabby allows.
"What were my parents like?" Anna inquires.
Grandpabby sighs customarily. "It is not a good story."
"I can take it."
"Then I will tell you. There is no way around it. They were criminals."
"Wait, what?" Anna reacts in despair.
"It is sadly true." Grandpabby raises his hands, indicating he is about to show a story. "Your parents were criminals, showing only love for each other and money."
"What happened to them?" Anna wonders.
"Well, they had you. You were the next, and last, thing they loved."
"Do we have a family name?" Anna asks.
"Skylark."
"I'm a Skylark?" Anna whispers to herself, smiling a little at the beauty of the name.
A contemplative silence hangs in the air as Anna takes in all she has been told. Hearing her family name, Skylark, near the end gives her mind a positive note not otherwise obtained had the conversation ended upon the reveal of her parents' criminal history.
"We're here," Grandpabby breaks the silence, announcing the end of the journey loudly enough to wake Elsa.
Clouds cover the sky where the sun is trying to rise. In the clear parts of the beyond are colors not characteristic of a normal sky; rather, they are purple and pink, and filled with sparkles like stars, as if a galaxy has been cleverly etched into the invisible ceiling above. A uniform mountain stands tall and resolute ahead. Trees continue onward on the left, and dirty plains extend ahead and to the right. A small pool of natural water lies still in the grass feet ahead of them, begging to be used. The air has a feel like rain had just fallen: a warm, wet sensation.
"It's beautiful," Elsa comments.
"I can't believe I never saw this before," Anna says to herself.
"It must have been night when we passed through here," Elsa guesses.
"Eat now," Grandpabby commands. "You cannot train on an empty stomach."
The Trolls who had been pulling the wagon take fruits and vegetables out from the hay bales. They carefully wash them in the pool of water, making sure that all traces of straw have been removed.
"There's no time," Anna says. "If Arendelle is coming, we can eat on the way back. Elsa, you with me?"
"I'm with you," Elsa replies. "Let's train. But you can eat. You're not training."
Anna takes an apple.
"The air in this land," Grandpabby explains, "is magic air. Halfway between the land of the Trolls and the land of the elemental spirits. It will flow into you, become a part of you. It will never leave you, and it will strengthen your powers with its magic. Elsa. Do you see that mountain?"
"You mean the one mountain? The one, big mountain a thousand feet ahead of us?"
"No, I mean the mountain you ran away to," Grandpabby plays along with Elsa's sarcasm. "Yes, that mountain. It is a volcano, dormant for as long as anyone can remember. I have brought along Trolls practiced in the art of fire. They, along with me, will bring its heat from underground. It will erupt. You will stop it."
"Grandpabby, I can't--"
"You must. This is the best practice I can offer without risking hurting anyone."
The clouds part and the sun shines with all its rising intensity on the trainee. She ties her hair behind herself.
Grandpabby rubs his forefingers against his thumbs, and white sparkles start orbiting his hands. The other Trolls do the same as Anna and Elsa watch with childlike awe. The Trolls push their hands forward, sending the magic at the volcano ahead. At first, it flies through the air around the small company of seven Trolls and two royal daughters, before zipping speedily to the volcano. It impacts the volcano forcefully, immediately shaking the ground with the rumble of rising magma.
"Is this an earthquake?" Anna asks through the shakes in her voice.
"Just rising lava," Grandpabby explains.
The Trolls become boulders, eliciting a shared shrug from Anna and Elsa.
Lava starts coming out of the top of the traditionally-shaped volcano. Not in an explosion, but rather coming out and flowing down the sides quickly towards the waiting trainees. Smoke speedily fills the air. Elsa sends snow to counter the ever-thickening smoke. However, whatever she does, twice the destroyed smoke takes the place of the defeated. In a moment, the smoke becomes the least of her worries; the lava is getting close, maybe fifty yards away. Elsa sends a wall of ice to stop the advancing inferno, but to no avail. The heat rapidly destroys the ice. Smoke continues to thicken. Elsa sends another wall, thicker and higher than the first one. The lava slowly makes its way through. The lava is now within twenty yards of her. She begins clearing the ever-thickening smoke with snow with her right hand, while her left hand sends flurries to the lava to absorb it. Slowly but surely, the smoke begins disappearing as the lava advances, more sluggishly the more Elsa fights it, but still moving. Five yards, four yards. The last of the smoke is cleared, leaving only the advancing burn.
"Come on, Elsa!" Anna yells. "I don't feel like dying today!"
With a scream of exertion, Elsa sends a blast of snow and ice at the lava. The icy magic absorbs the lava, leaving a snowbank in its place. Elsa smiles, relieved and hot from the lava.
Smoke comes into the sky again, though thinly.
"Is that more smoke?" Anna inquires.
"It is," Elsa confirms, running to the volcano.
"Always running towards the trouble," Anna rolls her eyes, following Elsa. "The least I can do is try to keep her safe."
They run around the base of the volcano, finding lava advancing away on the other side.
"Elsa!" A voice calls.
"Who's that?" Anna asks worriedly.
"Just ignore it," Elsa commands. She starts clearing the smoke in the air.
"Elsa, are you okay?" The voice inquires, much closer now. An unexpected figure emerges from the woods on the left.
"Jack?" Elsa names the unknown.
"Are you okay? What's happening?" Jack checks in.
"What are you doing here?" Elsa wants to know.
"As confusing as your boyfriend's appearance is," Anna yells to ensure Elsa can hear her, "you have a volcano to deal with! Death first, confusing appearance by Jack, second."
"The spirits kicked us out," Jack tells Elsa. "I came this way to check on you."
"I'm fine," Elsa informs. "Are you?"
"Elsa!" Anna calls.
"I'm fine, now that I'm with you," Jack tells Elsa, kissing her. On her hands and arms appear the outlines of blue diamonds, the same color as her bracelet. The diamonds appear all over herself, covering her entirely, and in a blast of magical energy, ice and snow burst from her body in every direction, defeating the volcano and transforming the terrain into a snowy wonderland. Icicles hang from leafless branches. Ice sculptures of trees, flowers, and people dot the world. The volcano is completely inundated in snow, and a light snow falls under the sun.
"Elsa," Anna begins with shock and snow on her head, "what was that?"
"I... I don't know," Elsa searches for answers.
"If I might clear it up a little," Jack offers, his head topped with snow as well. "It happened, like, right after I kissed her, so."
Grandpabby rolls to the trio. "Elsa," he states in wonderment, "what did you do?"
"I really don't know," Elsa answers.
"It seems as if you have unlocked your power, what it can truly do. This is beautiful. Did Anna help with this?"
"Well--" Elsa begins.
"No, she did not," Anna interrupts.
"And if I may ask," Grandpabby inquires, "what is this man doing here?"
"He's Elsa boyfriend," Anna explains, "and we all know they're going to get married someday, but he hasn't manned up and proposed yet."
Jack blushes.
"How did you find us?" Grandpabby wants to know of Jack.
"The spirits kicked us all out of the Enchanted Forest," Jack conveys. "I don't know why. The others headed for the Northern Regions."
"They're going to help us," Grandpabby declares. "The spirits wanted everyone out of the Forest so there would be nothing left to defend. They can feel it, as can I. Now, Jack, why didn't you go with them?"
"I had to come to make sure Elsa was okay, and I guess we met halfway," Jack illustrates. "It felt like something was telling me to go. Something unescapable."
"You're right," Grandpabby agrees. "Something sent you. Call it what you will. Fate, destiny."
"Of course," Jack interrupts. "It was the spirits. They must have--"
"Sent you to me," Elsa interjects. "To show me what do wo with my power." She looks at her hands, and Hans's voice echoes in her mind again:
"It's the answer to everything: true love."
"What did you feel, Jack?" Elsa asks.
"Almost like the wind itself was pushing me towards you."
"Gale," Anna and Elsa say simultaneously.
"Gale?" Jack repeats.
"It's been two years, Jack," Anna criticizes. "If you'd listen to your future wife more, you'd know who Gale is."
Elsa shoots snow into Anna's face.
"I hardly talk about Gale," Elsa explains. "It's what Olaf named the Wind Spirit. She must have gently pushed you along to me so I could discover my power."
"You have done it once," Grandpabby heralds, "but how? Can you do it again?"
"I don't think I can," Elsa states. "For a fleeting moment, I felt reciprocated love. But it was different from normal love. Like... like..."
"True love?" Anna pokes. "Like, marriage true love?"
"If that's what you want to call it, then yes," Elsa confirms. "It was pure love, unhurt love. I've never felt anything like it."
"Want to see if you can do the power thing again?" Jack asks, raising his eyebrows. He quickly kisses Elsa. She looks at her hands, but nothing happens.
"Mmm," Grandpabby reacts. "There must be some deeper magic, some deeper connection. Something. We will have to find out later. For now, we must start a new challenge."
Elsa evaporates the icy, snowy wonderland and prepares for what is next.
Grandpabby walks away for the time being.
"Anna, talk with me for a minute," Elsa commands. "Jack, leave us alone."
"Eh," Jack shrugs, strolling behind Grandpabby.
"Anna, you're not adopted," Elsa cuts to the chase.
"Well, Grandpabby says I am," Anna argues. "And I trust him."
"I don't," Elsa disagrees. "If you're adopted, why would no one tell you?"
"You heard Grandpabby," Anna explains. "They didn't want me thinking I was any different."
"There's some big lie somewhere in all of this," Elsa looks down at nothing. "And I'm going to find it."
"Elsa, I think you need to cool down," Anna steps back. "You're not in the right mindset."
"I'm fine," Elsa shakes it off. "Just... give me a minute."