My frozen heart

Chapter 23

She gasped, looking up in to the hard yellow eyes of her captor, Pitch Black. He smiled, his pearl white teeth almost fang like. Elsa scrambled to push herself farther away from him and he laughed. He was even more terrifying than he had been in the courtyard.

He was tall, nearly seven feet. He wore long black robes that were somehow darker than night. His skin was pale, with a gray tint, and looked to be stretched tight over his skeletal frame. His cheek bones were sharp enough to cut glass, and his eyes were deep set, and the strangest yellow she had ever seen.

Not yellow like the sun, or a flower. Not as dark as golden rod or amber. They were a color all their own. They stood out from the rest of his monochromatic appearance, and she found she couldn't take her eyes off them. They were hard, and fixed on her. Unblinking, she felt the heath from them trying to burn a hole in her skin.

As she backed away from him across the frozen sea she say his mouth move and he began to speak. "Oh Elsa, you aren't afraid are you?" he smirked raising a facetious brow. His voice was smooth, as it had been in the courtyard, but this time it didn't echo through the crowed; it was meant only for her. "What do you want from me?" she asked, a small break in her voice.

He frowned at her words. "From you? Oh no Elsa, that's not it at all." He said shaking his head sadly. She got to her feet, never taking her eyes off of him. Standing just far enough from him to feel safe, but close enough to see him clearly. He made no move towards her, only stared at her.

She found her voice again and spoke. "Then why are you torturing me?" she asked him, beginning to feel angry all over again. He seemed confused by her words. His over exaggerated facial expressions were beginning to anger her. She didn't like him trying to play coy when she had been suffering for a length of time she couldn't even calculate. "Me, torturing you? Oh no Elsa, I'm not torturing you, you're torturing yourself." He said, a slight wicked grin on his lips.

She said nothing. She did not understand but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of hearing her say it. There was a rage boiling up inside her that was burning her from within. She wanted to throw herself at him. She wanted to tear at him, to rip his eyes out.

They were silent for a moment just staring at one another when he began to move towards her and said. "You see Elsa, these are your own fears; the ones you have locked down deep inside you." He placed a hand where his heart should be. "You feel vulnerable, so they're all coming out to play." He smirked.

She knew that he was right. He could see inside her head, and her heart. He was exploiting all her weaknesses. He was using these things to break her; her parents' deaths, losing the man she loved, and the horrible fear that had plagued her in the beginning, that this was all a dream.

"You can't escape it Elsa. Even now you're lost inside your own mind, wrought with worry and infected by fear." He said slowly coming closer to her. She wanted to back away, but held her ground. Everything about him made her skin crawl. She could feel a shiver running up her back. "Why are you doing this to me? What have I ever done to you?" she cried and again he only laughed.

"This isn't about you Elsa, don't you see, I'm keeping you safe in here." He said with a smile opening his arms wide. She was confused, and her anger was growing by the minute. She did not feel safe in here, wherever she was. She was trapped, terrified, she wanted to get out more than anything. She was his prisoner and he liked toying with her.

"You see, it's them there on the outside, the Guardians, who should be afraid." He sneered, narrowing his yellow eyes. He was close to her now, looking down at her like a predator approaching its prey. Even on this own frozen plain she felt cornered by him, unable to get away.

"They aren't afraid of you." Elsa said defiantly, standing her ground. To this he smiled and said, "They are distracted, Jack especially, by their emotions. Just like I wanted" a flash of wickedness in his eyes. "Their desire to save you, their Queen, has left the other children of the world unprotected." He said, his voice growing louder and his eyes wilder as he talked. He was coming towards her now, only a few feet away.

"While they're off on a mission to wake you, my little consolation prize, I'll be poisoning the children's dreams with fear. When the Guardians are weak, I'll take them out one by one, saving Jack Frost for last" an evil smirk spreading across his face as he lowered himself, only inches away from her. Her heart was racing and she felt like she was losing her breath.

With a whirl of his hand, a black sand horse appeared. Elsa stumbled back away from it; surprised and afraid. Pitch mounted it, and reached down a hand to her to help her up. "I'm not going anywhere with you." He said recoiling from his hand. He growled and said, "You'll come with me or Anna's mind with be the next I invade." She didn't want to go, but she wouldn't let him hurt her sister.

She took his hand and he pulled her up on to the horse. "Hold on tight." He smiled, a playful tone in his voice. She didn't want to touch him, but as the horse took off she had no choice but to grab hold of him. The horse galloped faster than any she had ever ridden. The frozen sea was a blur as they raced across it, towards an unknown destination.

In what only felt like moments, up ahead she saw the dark outline of what appeared to be a castle. As they got closer she could see that it was in fact a castle. It looked almost exactly like the ice castle she had built, except the ice was dark black and looked almost like polished marble. The nightmare horse galloped up the stairs and stopped just in front.

Rearing back it almost threw her, and she was forced to hold on to him once more. The horse settled and Pitch dismounted. He reached up to help her down. For a moment she just sat there, but then the horse began to buck and she reluctantly took his arms and he helped her down.

"I hope you don't mind, but I took a few idea from your own castle. A wondrous piece of architecture, it was a shame you abandoned it." He said looking up at his own castle. "What are we doing here?" she asked him looking from the castle to him. He seemed surprised by her question. "Well, we're going to live here of course." She said.

Elsa began to shake her head, "No, no, I am not going to live here with you." She said firmly backing away. He raised a brow and said, "If you want to continue stay out here, then I suppose I can't force you to stay with me, but do be careful, it's not safe out here at night, and there is no moon." He said pointing towards the horizon, where for the first time since she had awakened here the sun was beginning to set.

As she watched it sink lower and lower with impressive speed, she saw no moon rising up on the East to greet here. As she watched she suddenly heard the long lone cry of what sounded like a wolf. She looked back to Pitch only to see a smile on his face, as several other wolves joined in the howl. "Your choice." He shrugged, and headed up the stairs.

She was torn. Of course she did not want to stay anywhere near Pitch, but she also did not know what creatures lurked out here at night, and wasn't sure she could defend herself. She wrestled with the decision for as long as she could. The sun was now almost completely gone and she could hardly see. She had no choice. She chased after Pitch and followed him up the stairs to the castle.

"Jack is stronger than you, he's beat you before." She said as she followed him up the stairs. She could not see his face, but assumed that as he spoke he was smiling. "Ah yes, but he'd do anything to save you. When he bargains for your life, I'll kill him in front of you." He said, his words hard and sobering. It took everything in her not to scream.

As they reached the top of the stairs he turned to face her, before entering. "You can't break me." She said, her voice hard despite her shaking hands. They stood there at the top of the stairs, and as the last crescent of sun sank behind the horizon she could just make out the smile on his face when he said, "And you can't kill fear."...