Love Thaws: Melting

Gone

Elsa gasped as she surfaced into the world of consciousness. She opened her eyes, only to have them struck by a blinding pain, as if she were staring at the sun. She tightly screwed them shut and inhaled deeply. Elsa suddenly froze as the familiar air filled her lungs. The heavy smell of chemical-cleaners mingled with the scent of latex gloves. Elsa felt her stomach twist into knots as nausea suddenly churned within in. 

She forced her eyes open, ignoring the excruciating pain that followed. There were lights. Everywhere. Her breath caught in her throat and she found she couldn't breathe as recognition suddenly hit her, making the nausea increased tenfold. The walls were white. Everything was white. 

She dragged air into her lungs just as her chest squeezed. She doubled over, spewing her to-go lunch onto the pristine floors. When she was done, she kept dry-heaving, nothing coming up. She pressed her forehead to the icy floor and shudder, inhaling shakily. 

She felt like as if someone had sedated her again. Cold. Numb. Tingly. She shivered so hard, her teeth chattered. Elsa lifted her head up, met by the all-too familiar sights of the lab.

"NOOO!!!" she screamed, not knowing if anyone was able to hear, not caring if anyone was able to hear.

Her throat felt like it'd been stripped raw when she stopped screaming. It felt like tiny pin-pricks of needles were jabbing her legs. Elsa sat up immediately and found they were merely numb because she had sat on them too long. She stared at the glaringly bright lights, hopelessness suffocating all other emotions. She suddenly felt a pang of loss, as though she was missing someone. Jack.

"No," she whimpered. This can't be happening!

She wondered how much time had passed. It felt like seconds or weeks. Elsa couldn't be sure. Her head snapped to the left when she heard a noise. The wall faded, replaced by a window. Elsa stared. In the entire three years she'd been there, she'd never seen that. Her eyes locked with cold blue ones. It seemed almost ironic that such cold eyes were the exact color of the sky in summer time, a rich, cheerful blue. He offered her a tight-lipped smile, crinkling well-used wrinkle lines. He had gray hair with a steely glint to it, neatly slicked back.

"I'm am greeting you myself today, test subject 24601. It is a momentous occasion indeed. You've regained your powers." Even his claps were stale and cold, echoing around the room. Through the window, where the cold man in the lab coat stood, there was a myriad of machinery and space-age technology.

Elsa stood, her knees threatening to buckle.

"And since you have regained your powers, we're putting you through a little test."

"Test?" she asked weakly.

He smiled again. "That is the point of a test subject, is it not? We have a very adorable feline here." He held up a soft ball of silky fur. It 'mewed' helplessly. "This feline will be inserted into your quarters and you are to freeze it immediate—"

"No."

He chuckled, wagging a finger at her. "I wasn't finished. Solidifying the feline is not your goal in this test."

"What is?"

His chuckles made her skin crawl. "You have a... spouse now, do you not? A male companion."

Elsa felt her blood run cold.

"Don't worry, 24601, we don't need you to answer that. Are you familiar with venenum venenosum?"

She shook her head.

"That's because it is a very powerful venom, not known to the general public, of course. This has often been used as a torture tool in recent years, one of the more destructive products of science. It means poisonous venom. Some find that name redundant. I find it... informative.