Frozen Beyond [gxg]

Heartbreak

Elsa didn't know how long she was curled on the floor of Ahtohallen. Had it been hours? Days? She curled her hands to her chest; she had stopped crying hours ago but didn't want to move.

If there's one thing she'd learned over the years, crying never helped with anything. But she couldn't harness the strength she needed to pull herself from the floor.

For the life of her, all she wanted to do was cry. It felt like a piece of her was ripped away; the stitches unraveling with every movement, fraying at the ends and unable to mend themselves.

It was the overwhelming sadness that consumed her when Anna froze solid in front of her. She said she would never relive that pain, but here it was, ebbing and tearing at her chest.

This time, there was no happy ending. Just overwhelming grief.

If Anna would see her like this, what would she say? She felt ashamed and weak for allowing herself to succumb to the self-pity she felt.

Pushing herself up, she clutched her ribs and stumbled down the hall to the room of ice sculptures. When she got there, her eyes started to brim with fresh tears.

Many of her newer memories involved Keahi. She stumbled to the closest one.

Keahi was holding out her hand. It was the night that Anna threw the party for Crow and his crew.

The night Keahi asked her to dance for the first time. She had hated dancing. Ever since that night, she actually enjoyed dancing. But only with Keahi.

She took the statue's outstretched hand, using her other to caress its cold cheek. Keahi's wolfish smirk showed through, even sculpted in ice.

She pressed her forehead to the sculpture.

But instead of the languid warmth she felt with Keahi, it was nothing but bitter cold. Nothing in her warmed. It was just a quiver of ice and hollowness.

That's when her sadness turned sour, biting at her chest in bitter rage. It came so hot and swift she couldn't control it. It bubbled and spilled over as she destroyed every single memory in the chamber.

The statues exploded with icy vengeance, mist and shards of ice detonated within the room until she collapsed in its center. Breathing heavy, exhausted emotionally and physically. She let out a wail, letting it carry over the halls and shores like a ghostly sigh.

Whatever raw anger that lived there fizzled and burnt out like the wick of a fast-burning candle. She ventured too close to the fire, and she got burned. Maybe fire and ice truly didn't mix. Maybe they were just left to sizzle each other out like a flashpoint in a heated fire.

It left her with nothing more than a hollow pit of desire and sadness. It was like a black hole, swallowing her and leaving nothing in its wake.

The wound on her rib was the only thing that kept her grounded, it's throbbing reminded her she needed to get back to the Enchanted Forest, back to the Northuldra, to be sure they were all right and the forest didn't burn to the ground in her absence.

That was her next right thing. The only thing moving her forward.

She just wanted to see Anna, to take strength in Anna's righteousness and hope. To cry into her sister's arm and mourn the loss of something that she had only just started to understand.

Staggering out of Ahtohallen, Nokk was waiting for her at the water's edge. Throwing his head back and stomping his hoove into the ground, he let out a low whinny. As she limped over to the water spirit, Bruni traveled up her leg and rested, bruised and sad, on her shoulder as he let out a sad chirp and nuzzled his head against her neck.