Disney Twins

Chapter 1 - The Golden Flower

"Legend has it there's a flower, a flower that can heal any sickness or injury and make things young and new again. The story is that one day, a drop of sunlight fell to the earth from the heavens, and it blossomed into this flower. It's said to have been around for hundreds of years, but those who have looked have yet to find it."

Frederic clung to his wife's hand and looked with desperation at his royal healer. "Are the stories real? Does it exist?"

"There is no way of knowing for sure, Your Majesty, until someone finds it."

Frederic turned to the captain of the guard. "Go. Tell your men to look for this flower. Search high and low. Tell the villagers. Say the queen is dying and I will give a barrel of gold to whoever finds me this flower."

The captain bowed and left the room.

Frederic turned back to Arianna and stroked her burning forehead. "Stay with me, my love," he said softly. "We will find a way to cure you."

The people of Corona searched all night long for this flower. They left the island in droves to look for it. Finally, a group of soldiers spotted it on a tall cliff overlooking the sea. "We found it!" the captain cried.

The soldiers dug up the flower and took it back to Corona. There, the healer used it to make a potion.

Iduna, Arianna's sister, wiped a tear from her eye. "What if it doesn't work?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"It will," Frederic said determinedly. "We have to believe."

Iduna's husband Agnarr squeezed her hand. "Everything will be alright," he whispered.

The healer finished the potion and gave it to Frederic. With shaky hands, he raised the bowl to Arianna's lips and she drank from it.

"Please work," he whispered as a tear slid down his cheek.

Arianna took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her head seemed to sink deeper into the pillow.

Iduna turned and hid her face in Agnarr's shoulder, weeping quietly.

Frederic placed a hand on Arianna's cheek. As he closed his eyes and began to bow his head, it felt as if her face was growing cooler. He opened her eyes and saw the color returning to her cheeks. Agnarr nudged Iduna, who saw too and gasped.

"Arianna?" Frederic whispered.

She opened her eyes and smiled at him. "Frederic," she murmured.

The healer placed a hand on her forehead. "Her temperature seems to be back to normal."

"She'll be alright?" Frederic asked, looking up at him.

The healer nodded. "She will be fine."

Frederic breathed a sigh of relief and squeezed his wife's hand. "I love you," he said.

"I love you too," she replied.

"Pardon me, Your Majesties," the healer said softly, "but now that the queen is healthy again, we should proceed with the birthing."

"Of course," Frederic said. He moved to one side of the bed and grasped Arianna's hand. Iduna knelt on the other side of the bed and took hold of her other hand, smiling at her sister with joy and relief. Her smile was returned, full of love and gratitude.

Ten hours later, a baby girl was born. Her hair was bright blonde, a result of being healed by the flower, and she had big bright green eyes, the same color as her mother's.

"Ari, she looks just like you," Iduna said.

Arianna smiled down at the baby girl in her arms.

"She's so beautiful," Frederic murmured.

Agnarr nodded and put his arm around Iduna's shoulders.

It didn't take long for word to get out that a princess had been born: Princess Rapunzel of Corona. The whole kingdom gathered outside the palace to celebrate her birth. Frederic and Arianna launched a floating lantern into the sky that had the symbol of Corona on it. Rapunzel giggled at the sight and tried to grab it. Agnarr and Iduna stood behind them, smiling broadly. No one seemed to notice that Iduna carried what looked like a small bundle of cloth in her arms.

That night, Frederic and Arianna slept in their bed with Rapunzel in a crib beside them. In the middle of the night, the balcony door slowly opened, and a shadow covered the crib. Arianna thought she heard a woman singing the words the healer had recited when he'd made the potion:

"Flower, gleam and glow.
Let your power shine.
Make the clock reverse –"

Then she heard the sound of crying. Both she and Frederic shot up just in time to see a hooded figure drop from the balcony, carrying Rapunzel.

They jumped out of bed and ran to the balcony, but the figure had disappeared.

"Guards!" Frederic called in a panic. "Guards!"

The guards searched the whole kingdom, but they couldn't find the princess or the strange person who had taken her. Arianna and Frederic were heartbroken.

As Agnarr and Iduna were preparing to go back to their kingdom of Arendelle, Frederic and Arianna came into their room.

Iduna looked at what her sister was carrying. "Is that...?"

Arianna nodded and pulled back the cloth to reveal the other baby. "Please take her with you," she begged. "If word gets out that there was another child, she may get stolen as well."

"Oh, Ari, we can't –"

"Please," Frederic said. "We can't risk losing her too."

"But she's your heir."

"If Rapunzel doesn't return, she is," Frederic said. "But she's the younger twin."

"We could do it," Agnarr said. "Pass her off as our own."

Iduna turned to her husband. "I don't look like I've been expecting a child."

Agnarr placed a hand on her shoulder. "By the time we get back, we'll have been gone for two months. We'll cover you in a cloak to hide your body, which will also hide that you're carrying her. We'll keep the two of you out of sight in the castle and say she was born prematurely." He tilted her chin up. "It's for Elsa, my dear. To keep her safe."

"She looks like you, Duna," Arianna said. "Her features are close enough to yours, and she has Frederic's eyes, which are blue like yours."

"What if she also has powers?" Iduna asked.

"We'll take her to the trolls," Agnarr said. "They'll know how to handle it. But no matter what, we'll have to keep them a secret, to keep her from being kidnapped as well."

Iduna turned to her sister, and then looked at the little girl sleeping in her arms. She took a deep breath. "Alright, we'll do it. For Elsa."