As it would seem Elsa’s castle doors closed and the giant snowman outside went back to assume its guardian role, the isolation that she had created appeared to return to its original form, but perhaps the queen wasn’t alone as she might’ve thought.
“Now that was cold, Ice Queen,” a man’s voice said, appearing in front of the blonde queen. He started to clap his glove-clad hands. “Tossing out your own sister as if it was nothing. Truly, you live up to your name.”
Elsa backed away slightly, wary of the newcomer. There were quite a few questions that came to mind, but she decided to start with a relatively straightforward one. “Who are you?” She asked though she was slightly offended by his accusation. “What I do is none of your business. Keeping Anna away is for her safety!”
“On the contrary, Elsa,” the man approached her, disregarding the Queen’s comfort. Though his hood was up, clouding the majority of his face, a sparkle of a deep blue shade in his eyes showed through. “We both know that you didn’t do this for your sister because ‘she’s in danger’. You did this because you hate the people of Arendelle, don’t you? You blame them for your parents never returning from their voyage.” His voice took a taunting, almost bully-like tone.
Taking a few steps back, the uncomfortable Elsa’s eyes widened slightly. “What? What are you talking about?” She asked, unable to look away. “That was…”
“An accident? Is that what you were going to say?” He walked up even closer, nearly close to touching the frightened queen. “I’m sure you don’t believe that,” he said, starting to see the doubt in her eyes.
Rubbing her arms slightly, Elsa eyed the stranger in front of her. Whatever she had heard, it had been from Anna, considering that dreadful day she had locked herself in her room with no intention of leaving. She shook her head at him, her hands under her arms as the wind blew around them. “That’s reality. Sometimes people getting hurt is out of your control…” She muttered, slightly bitter, though she seemed resigned. “That’s why I’m choosing isolation so that no one has to get hurt anymore.”
The Hooded Man didn’t say anything in response - he only laughed. Extended his right arm in front of him, a light shone between his fingers, focusing small beams of a bright light above the center of his palm. It took no more than a single moment for the light to project the visage of two people that Elsa would recognize without hesitation. “Is this how you remember them?” He asked, showing them smiling like they were imagined in the portrait in the castle.
Surprised by the image, Elsa’s eyes flickered from it to him. There was no denying it, every single detail was precisely perfect. “How-How did you…?”
The man appeared to smile. His body language suddenly became less threatening and more inviting. “I can teach you how to project such accuracy. Would you like to know how?” He asked, almost as if tempting her with the very thing that she longed for most.
The subdued temptation was as clear as day even on her repressed self. She should have been wary of what he meant, but it was difficult for her to look away. Still, before she could even entertain the idea, there was something she needed to know. “Why?” Her question was somewhat short, so she decided to elaborate. “This is...it’s something that I’ve missed for so long, and you would just...give it to me? Why?”
Much like before, he didn’t say anything. He simply appeared beside Elsa, holding his hand close to Elsa’s eyes as he leaned forward. “Let’s just say that I’m a guy who believes in making dreams come true. Of course, if you don’t want to know…” And just like that, he closed his hand, the projection of Elsa’s parents disappearing just as soon as they had appeared.
“Wait!” It had come out so fast Elsa had to catch herself. Recomposing herself for a moment, she let out a small breath to calm herself. “What is it that you want?”
Again, he appeared a few feet from her, turning around to face her. “That isn’t the question you should ask me, Elsa,” he said, once again beside her, arm around her neck in a comforting way. “The question should be what do you want? Do you want to be afraid of your own powers so much that you can’t be with the one person who loves you more than her own life? Or do you want to be alone forever?”
Once he had let her think on that, the man was once again in front of her, this time he no longer had his hood on, revealing the face of a very handsome man with light skin, long, dark hair, and calm eyes like that of a tide that has yet to rise. “Like I said, I make dreams come true. I do not give people what they do not want. “
What she wanted? Briefly remembering the conversation she had with Cielle, Elsa looked away for a moment. “What I want is…” Her voice trailed off slightly.
If Kai was being honest with himself, he didn’t know what exactly happened. The last thing he remembered was being on top of the mountain hill where Elsa was and that giant snowman who talked like he was born just a few years ago, yet had the voice of several men on infinite loop, had him and the others in his grasp. Everything after that was quite the blur. It was as if something was blocking the memory of what happened from then till now as he found himself on a literal bed of snow, causing him to look around and seeing the same, familiar faces just give him relieved looks. Had they really almost died? Was Kristoff actually right?
Kai rubbed his head, feeling some version of a backache as he held his lower back with his left arm. The touch, even through the thickness of his winter coat, was tender. He also found out that he had quite the headache. Every sound that went in one ear and out the next had felt like someone took a hammer and bashed him over the head with it repeatedly. “Ugh, what happened?” Kai asked, moaning out a painful grunt.
“We didn’t die!” Kristoff said cheerfully - almost relieved.
Kai immidiately looked to Cielle, “what happened?”