Show Yourself (An Elsa Fanfiction)

Chapter Ten: The Spirit Speaks

From her safe position in the woods at the back of the girl's house, Elsa dared to look up at the bedroom window. That hadn't gone how she'd planned, initially; she'd hoped the girl would be intrigued by her enough to pursue her outside, so that she could get her alone and at least talk to her. Then she heard the scream again and knew it had all gone wrong.

Enough messing around. Elsa was going to have to do this the not-so-secret way, as much as she loathed the idea. She sighed, venting her frustration, and then resigned herself to what had to be done. 

Flexing her fingers, she shot a bolt of deep blue ice out in front of her - one that reached right up to the girl's bedroom window - and then ran up it. When she reached the other end, she nimbly leapt on to the girl's window ledge, crouched in order to steady herself, and then with a wave of her hand, dissolved her makeshift ramp. 

Elsa, somewhat apprehensively, looked down . The ground was now a long way away and this window ledge was very, very narrow. It wasn't as perilous as the halls of Ahtohallen, but that didn't mean it was any more comfortable. She grimaced at the height, then turned to face the window and knocked on it softly. 

The curtain twitched, and suddenly the girl's face appeared at the window, her mouth agape. Elsa could see she was simultaneously both astounded and horrified. 

You! Elsa saw her mouth through the glass. 

In reply, Elsa put her hand on the pane and made a pattern of frozen fractals, making sure there was kindness in her eyes. 

For a moment, the girl withdrew, the curtains  swinging back into place  - and then she reappeared, accompanied by a clicking sound as she opened a nearby pane and stepped back, allowing Elsa to enter her room. Gracefully, Elsa shimmied to the end of the ledge and swung her legs inside.

"What are you?" the girl whispered in amazement as Elsa placed her feet on the bed that was under the window, before stepping down so that she could stand in the girl's bedroom properly. "Are you an angel?"

Elsa didn't hear her. Instead, she too was gazing around in wonderment, but more at the environment she had found herself in. This girl's room... it was the cosiest, warmest place she had ever been in. The walls were painted in soft rosy hues, and everywhere she looked, there were flowers, or at least the emblems of them; on the bed covers, curtains, in the subtle pastel artwork on the walls - there was even a garland entwined around the light fitting on the ceiling. Greener plants cascaded over the edges of the almost-ceiling-height shelves, which were themselves festooned with treasure; candles, photo frames and ornaments abounded. There was a strange looking machine on a table in one corner of the room,  and a heaving bookcase in another, next to which there was a doorway that must have led to a closet. Elsa smiled. She'd expected to find a girl living in a dark pit of sadness and despair - much like she herself had done - but that wasn't the case. There were all the trappings of a life here; of a life very much in love with life, passionately preserved and curated. 

Anna would love it here, Elsa thought distractedly. 

But the girl in the room was not Anna, and she was tapping her foot now impatiently, waiting for Elsa to introduce herself. 

"What? No, I'm not an angel." Elsa quickly gave her delayed response.

"Well you sure aren't Peter Pan, so how else could you be magically sitting on my bedroom window ledge?" the young woman asked pointedly. 

Elsa didn't know who Peter Pan was, but she saw the humour in the statement and smiled slightly. "Because I am magic."

Despite her adult age, Elsa saw the girl's eyes widen with childlike amazement. "Really?"

"Yes. How else do you think I made those snowflakes?"

The girl nodded. "I suppose it could be science, but... I believe in magic, and that seemed pretty magical to me. So what are you?"

"I'm not a what, I'm a who!" Elsa said brightly. "My name is Elsa, and I'm not an angel, I'm a spirit; The Fifth Spirit, to be precise. I live in a place far away from here, called Arendelle. What's your name?"

For a moment, the girl hesitated, and Elsa studied her. Ironically, on the outside she reminded Elsa of Anna; reddish-blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks were all wrapped up in a face that Elsa could already tell had no trouble at all showing its emotions. But there was something about the way she carried herself - her initial reserve and discomfort at Elsa's direct questioning, the sensible plait scraped behind her ears,  along with a slight air of aloofness - that made Elsa think she was looking at herself five years prior. 

Eventually the girl spoke. "Alice." she said. 

Elsa nodded kindly; she wanted to gently coax the girl out of her shell. "Alice. That's a pretty name."

Alice looked down as she mumbled: "But I still don't know why you're here."

"Because I heard you, screaming, and I thought you might need some help."

Any headway that Elsa had made seemed to vanish immediately. Alice gasped and blushed, looking down and backing away a little. She was obviously terribly embarrassed at the thought of someone overhearing her outburst.

"No no no, it's okay! I'm not mad, or upset, or any of the other things that I know are going through your head right now, because I was like you, once. I was angry, and sad, and frightened, just like you are now. I don't know if you consciously did it, but your screams... they reached me in Arendelle. I believe you were screaming because you wanted someone who could help you make sense of what you were feeling. I can be that person, if you want me to be."

Alice listened to Elsa, and now she started to cry again. "I can't make it stop. I want to, but I can't. Everyone thinks I'm naughty or difficult or whatever, but it's just hard work and... I'm scared."

Elsa was immediately sympathetic. "I know exactly what you mean. It's tiring isn't it? Together though,  I'm sure we can find a way to make it better."

"Don't you have to go back to your country... Arendelle?"

"No. I'll stay here for as long as you need me."

Alice dried her tears. "So what do you suggest first?"

"I think you were arguing with someone in your family earlier. It might be good to apologise to them." Elsa was careful in what she said - she wanted to make sure that what Alice heard was a gentle, softly-spoken, kind voice, not one that harboured undertones of frustration or judgement.  Besides, it would be wrong of her to criticise the girl for the behaviours she herself had once showcased.

It worked. Alice smiled at Elsa. "Okay. You wait here while I go and do that then, but be quiet. I don't want her to find you. And Elsa?"

"Yes?"

"I know you're not really an angel, but do you mind if I call you one anyway? Just you sure seem like one to me."

Elsa smiled. "Of course you can, sweetheart."

And then Alice exited the room and dashed downstairs to apologise to her mother.