Frozen Heart (Dark Side of Fairytales Collaboration)

Chapter Eighteen

THE SISTERS RETURNED to the library. The chaotic mess still startled Anna. She never truly acknowledged the fact that her emotions can create a mess when she lets her anger get the best of her. She really needed to keep her emotions checked. Anger and jealousy are her prime nemesis at the moment, and she was triggered after hearing about Elsa and Kristoff's engagement.

But that's not the most important thing now. Now that she's finally cleared up her mind, it is time to move forward and help Elsa overcome her urge to kill--- perhaps, even find a cure for her.

After her outburst earlier, Anna realizes one thing, as long as Elsa is not around, things will always turn out for the worse for her.

The secret door was apparently hidden behind a bookshelf stationed at the wall which Anna overturned. The two sisters went inside and the expectation of a large eerie room subsided from their thoughts when Elsa opened the door. The size of it did not differ from a small study room; tables and chairs are present and so are documents laid on the dusty table. It looked like it's been sitting there for years.

"What is this room?" Anna pondered.

"I don't know, but I reckon this is where mother and father would do their research in finding the cure for me."

"How can you say so?"

"Look around you, Anna. Don't you see anything that doesn't talk about magic and curses?"

Anna purloined one of the documents from the table. "I don't understand," she muttered after reading its contents.

Elsa approaches her and looks at the paper. The same expression registered on her face when she saw it. "That's our mother's handwriting."

"My thoughts exactly, but what does this mean? I've never heard about this place before." Anna's forehead wrinkled in confusion.

"Ahtohallan?" Elsa felt a sense of familiarity when she read the word aloud. Could it be... her thoughts halted when Anna pointed to another paragraph.

"Elsa, look!"

"So, it would seem that there's more to this Ahtohallan place."

Anna hopefully looks at her sister. "And don't you see? This might just be the answer to our problems."

LATER THAT NIGHT, Elsa finds herself unable to sleep after their recent discovery. Most of it was because of Anna's enthusiastic response of how it would apparently solve their problem. Elsa was hurt when she realized that Anna saw her as nothing only but a problem. She stared at her sister sleeping ungainly beside her. For the first time in forever, the two finally shared a bed but Elsa couldn't seem to feel elated at the moment.

"So, I'm just a problem to be solved for you," she whispered.

Elsa rose from the bed and sits in front of her mirror. The red ice spikes once more emerged from her head and face, her eyes turning blood-red. She succumbed to sadness, allowing Queen to take over.

"I told you, darling, she will never love us," declared Queen, her reflection was sprouting wickedness, very much the opposite of Elsa's preserved and elegant queen-like manner. "We were never her sister--- we were nothing but a monster to her."

That's not true.

"I know she'll want to get rid of us eventually," Queen muttered to herself as she descended the stairs to the basement. "Fortunately, I was clever enough to save us both from our horrible fate and you have me to thank for that."

"You see, sometimes it's better to become a villain rather than become the hero and be burdened by the expectation of the many people you don't even know." She cackled maniacally as she marches towards the last cell in the dungeon. Her gait was so elegant a manner; it never ceases to justify her title as queen--- and now, a wicked sister and a villain.

"P-please, Your Majesty, spare me. I-I have two children at home!" the man pleaded. They were supposed to consume him earlier but got distracted by Anna's outburst.

The queen looked even more delighted rather than having empathy for the man, her pupils dilating in cruelty.

"Please spare me, Your Majesty! I-I promise you, I won't tell anybody!"

The man's face was covered in tears; they were like a waterfall wetting his very face. He kneeled, he cried and he begged, but all those attempts were left unheard by the queen's frozen heart.

"Your Majesty, please have mercy on me! I promised I won't tell anybody! Please, m-my children still need me!" cried the poor man.

The corner of Queen's lips lifted. "You promise, you say?" He eagerly nodded. "My sister also made a promise to me. She promised to me that she would stand by my side forever but she broke it. She broke it right in front of me when she declared her joy in finding my cure! She said she loved me but she broke her words."

"Tell me, do you have a wife?" she then added.

Confused, nevertheless, he answered, "Y-yes, I-I have. She's with o-our children at home."

"Good. At least someone will be left to watch over them."

"But---" the man's mouth was sealed with Queen's ice. His screams were muffled while he suffers the pain of ice spikes protruding from his body. Blood sprouts on every spike that exits his body, they're like his own blood that froze and emerged from under his skin. A smoke-like yellow light then exits from the tips of the spikes and traveled toward Queen's chest. Her frozen heart glowed upon absorbing yet another soul. Human warmth never ceases to refresh her. She heaves a sigh of satisfaction.

Another frostbitten victim has fallen in the basement, another body, another corpse.

When will this all end?

Only until Elsa is finally satisfied.

Yet when will her satisfaction limit be achieved? That answer is only known to both sisters.

As Queen ascended the stairs to head back to her room, a whispering voice rang within her ears.

"Elsa---" called the voice.

"Elsa---"

Taking over again, Elsa answered, "Who are you?"

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