Winter Moon (Jelsa)

Chapter 23: Astrid

Astrid decided that she was going to find the Broken Light and destroy them. Utterly.

Astrid paced at the foot of Rapunzel's bed, listening to her strained breaths. Hiccup was seated on an adjacent bed, his head in his hands while Merida hissed furiously at Moana, who had been brought along with them because they didn't know what else to do with her. Jack was arguing with North and the other Elites. Elsa stood silently in the corner, gray-faced and quiet.

Worst of all, was Flynn. He was kneeling beside Rapunzel, whispering to her in a tender voice. Astrid didn't strain her ears to hear what he was saying. They deserved a moment to themselves.

"The only way to fix a Changeling is death," North said to Jack.

Astrid watched Jack visibly control himself. "There has to be another way," he said through gritted teeth.

Rapunzel's features were becoming steadily more angular; her fingers were beginning to fuse to each other. Slowly but surely, Astrid's friend was becoming a snake.

A few Elites entered and dragged Moana away. Strangely, the girl didn't fight. Just went along with it.

"Is there anything, even theoretically, that could help her?" Elsa interjected. "Like some sort of artifact that's never been discovered?"

North looked at a short, golden man made of sand. Astrid struggled to remember his name.

Wait. It was Sandman.

Sandman thought about Elsa's question for a moment before answering. A series of symbols appeared over his head. Astrid was able to make out the gist of what he was saying. "Changelings are a creation of Pitch. He fused animals' souls to his dreamsand — his magic, essentially. Then, he inserted them into a person, creating... this. Hypothetically, to undo this you would have to extract the animal soul and the dreamsand from the host."

"But to do that, you'd need someone who could manipulate souls. The gods are the only magical beings with the power to do that. Varda was the best at it, though Goldred and Moon were talented as well. Vana preferred to deal with physical bodies rather than the metaphysical, though," North continued for Sandy.

Manipulate souls...

Astrid's hand drifted to her stomach, where the shard of the aegis was buried. Thus far, she had only been able to release bursts of light. Rays, if she concentrated. The power was stemming from the aegis. A dagger, steeped in magical blood... or in Astrid's case, a god's old plaything.

What if it could do something else?

Before she could talk herself out of it, Astrid blurted, "Would an aegis help?"

"An aegis?" Sandman's icons once again began to flash. "Perhaps. If you plunged an artifact of that power into the Changeling, it would probably at least temporarily stop the process. The two magics would be fighting for control. It might kill the host. Or give us a chance to fix this. But I don't know where we would find such a weapon. Most of them are lost or destroyed. Solen has one, but he will not part with it for an... Experiment."

"Fear not. We have just acquired one." North frowned. "It is risky but..."

"Too bad. It's the only chance we have," Astrid said, reaching for a knife in a nearby medical kit to cut the aegis out of herself.

"Astrid..." Hiccup gulped. "Maybe you should approach this in a different—"

"That won't be necessary," North murmured kindly. "Nura!"

A brown-haired, middle-aged healer rushed over from the other side of the infirmary. "Yes?"

Astrid explained the situation, indicating that she would have to cut the shard out while North and Jack quickly explained to Sandman what he had missed.

"Hold still," Nura instructed in a soft, accented voice. "This will hurt just a tad, dearie."

Astrid nodded, mentally bracing herself.

But instead of picking up a scalpel or knife, the healer merely flicked her wrist. Astrid felt a bolt of pain as a thin precise cut appeared where the aegis was. However, no blood leaked out of it. Nura must have been keeping it inside her body. 

Nura clenched her fist, and Astrid felt her muscles contract and physically push outwards. The dagger shard slid out of her and on to the floor with a bloody plink. With a wave of her hand, Nura sealed the cut. 

Astrid felt a certain power drain from her. Disoriented, she swayed slightly, and Hiccup reached out a hand to steady her. 

Meanwhile, Flynn wasted no time in scooping up the aegis shard, wiping it hurriedly with a cloth as he returned to Rapunzel's side. He glanced at North and Sandman for guidance.

"Anywhere should do," Sandy signed. "Perhaps her arm would be a good place?"

Astrid held her breath as Flynn pushed the shard into the flesh of Rapunzel's arm.

Instantly, light began to pulse from the aegis, and Rapunzel began to glow. Her features seemed to become less reptilian, the black scales on her face began to recede. 

Just as Astrid was about to start cheering, the darkness surged back again, as if they were fighting for control. Rapunzel began to convulse, and her lit up with a golden glow. Somehow, her magic had been triggered. 

"We have to get the Changeling soul out of her!" Elsa shouted into the deafening silence. "Can we contact the gods or something?"

"They would smite us for demanding their help in manners they view as trivial," Jack responded.

"Well, what choice do we have? We're at a stalemate — the aegis and Pitch's Changeling are fighting for control."

"Could we establish another soul bond?" Elsa demanded.

"That will undoubtedly kill her. Rapunzel's body is under too much magical strain as it is. She cannot keep this up forever," Sandman replied.

Elsa let out a growl of frustration and laid her hand on Rapunzel's arm, where Flynn had inserted the aegis.

Instantly, she froze. Jack stiffened as well, most likely sensing something through their soul bond. 

Astrid turned her gaze to Rapunzel's arm. Where Elsa was touching it, the dark was beginning to coalesce. 

Elsa drew her hand away from Rapunzel, but as she did so, dark sand began to follow her hand, leaving Rapunzel's body and collected in front of Elsa in the distinctive shape of a snake.

Clenching her fist, Elsa let the sand drop into a lifeless pile on the floor. 

The room was filled with stunned silence. Astrid's mind was whirling. How was this possible? Elsa's affinity was to ice. Not darkness. 

Then, a familiar voice filled the room. It was hoarse from screaming.

"What the hell just happened?" Rapunzel asked.