A Second Tyranny

Sunlight on the Horizon

Author's Note:

I'm planning to put it all in a single chapter but it's too long, so I'll have to split it. 

WISTY

I could hardly believe it. Hans, a man with a stony heart, stripped of authority and power. Hans, a ruthless and sadistic ruler, gone.

Now that the stillness and calmness in the hills had resettled, the pain in my temple from the punch Hans delivered and the throb in my forearm from the sharp twist he gave it returned in full force. I bent forward to keep from stumbling, suddenly light-headed owing to the fatigue and the battle.

I seemed to have lost the ability to talk. "Whit..." I wheezed. "Pearce..."

Elsa nodded, not needing me to say more. I lumbered to her side. She spun a whirlwind of ice crystals and snowflakes. I barely noticed as it carried us away from the snowy hills, the silvery haze dispersed, and we arrived back on the North Mountain. I charged up the frozen staircase and darted past the grand entrance of the ice palace, Elsa hard at my heels. Heart hammering in apprehension, I bolted up that long flight of crystal blue stairs from which I had tumbled down to the room where I'd left Whit and Pearce.

They were in the exact same positions as when I last saw them—still as statues.

I'm not too late. I am not.

"Whit!" I rushed and collapsed next to him. "Please be alright. Tell me you're alright," I sniffed.

Elsa brought a worried hand to her mouth, her astonished intake of breath all too loud for me to hear. "Oh my God, what happened to them?"

Whit looked so lifeless, so pale... Tears rolled down my cheeks. I exasperatedly wiped them away but more pooled in my eyes, blurring my vision. I explained to Elsa between sobs, "Pearce b-broke several of Whit's b-bones and he was hurt r-really bad an—and I knocked Pearce out before h-he could kill me."

"He broke his bones?" Moisture glazed Elsa's eyes. "Oh my God," she repeated softly.

I tucked an arm under my brother and pulled him into my arms. "Please be alright, Whit," I whispered. I laid a hand on his chest and smiled weakly when I felt the pulse of his heartbeat pumping steadily, refusing to give up. I repeated my reassuring words to him over and over, hugging him like I never wanted to let go. "You're gonna be OK." I sniffed, took deep breaths to calm myself, and closed my eyes. "You're okay."

I didn't reopen my eyes until I felt the gentle touch of my brother's hands on my back, then his arms. They wrapped around me, soft and hesitant at first, then surer and stronger. "Wisty." Hearing him say my name only brought more wetness to my eyes, and I squeezed them shut to stop the tears from spilling, hugging Whit tighter.

I watched Elsa sink to her knees beside Pearce, touching him like a friend would to revive him.

I broke loose from our hug, looked at Whit, and smiled at the sign of colour returning to his cheeks. "You didn't think I'd leave you in this world on your own, did you?" Whit asked, running a thumb over my cheekbone to brush away a tear.

A laugh burst from my lips, and I rubbed his arm. "How are you?"

He straightened and rolled his shoulders. "I'm fine. I was suffering from severe internal bleeding due to my fractured bones, but when I was, you know, asleep, I wasn't drifting in unconsciousness like I appeared to be. I was...I don't know...in a dimension of peace and quietness, where I could use my mind to mend and heal." He flexed his limbs. "I guess that's how I mended my bones."