109Hi everybody! I'm so sorry for taking long with this story. I was doing some research for Jack Frost, trying to make sense out of the character's origins. It was confusing at first, but, with whatever time I had from work, I was able to eventually create my own backstory for him with some elements borrowed from the real-life version. I hope I didn't screw up on it. Half of it is similar to the original way I described him, the other half is new. This chapter will finally reveal why he hates Elsa here.
Like I said in one of my other stories, I write based on whatever mood I'm in. If I'm in a happy mood, I write a happy story. If I'm in a sad mood, I write sad stories, you get the idea. It's how I can capture a story's setting, I did the same thing with my "Cold Reunion" story and it worked perfectly, though I had to watch and read sad videos and fics to achieve it. I'm also getting some ideas for a sequel for "CU" and so my interest in that has returned.
Here's the long-awaited chapter of "Modern Vacation". Some of it may be off, but work with me here.
I don't own OUAT, Frozen, or anything else here.
Henry led his outerrealm guests into the town's library.
"Wow! What an interesting place, young lad." said Elinor.
"Thanks and call me 'Henry'." he said.
Lucky for them, there were hardly any people in the library, so there was nobody for Olaf to scare since most people would scream and run from him.
"So this is where books are stored in your realm, lad?" Elinor asked.
"Yeah. Of course, books are not the only way to read here. We have other ways of learning information. Here, follow me." he said and led them to a row of computers.
"What are these glowing box devices?" Elinor asked.
"More televisions?" Olaf asked.
Henry chuckled. "No, these are computers."
"'Computers'?" Olaf asked. "What do they do?"
"They allow people to access information via the World Wide Web." said Henry.
"They're made out of spiders?" Olaf asked in fear.
This made Henry and Elinor laugh, but not too loud.
"No, that's just what it's called. I didn't name it, someone else did. It's also called the 'internet'." he explained.
"Oh." said the snowman.
Henry activated a computer and showed them the screen.
"Ooooh." said Olaf.
Henry showed them the files before going to the internet.
"So, what can this internet thing do?" Olaf asked.
"It can show you anything. Watch." Henry said and typed in, for Elinor, castles and medieval-style decorations and for Olaf, snowmen sculptures.
Both were impressed by the images.
"They look so real." said Olaf.
"That's because they are." said Henry.
Henry then clicked on a website.
"What's that?" Elinor asked about the website.
"It's 'Wikipedia'. It's an online site that has information about everything. It's like a library like this, but without the books." he replied.
"It knows everything?" Elinor asked.
"Yeah. For example . . ." Henry said and typed in ice cream where they read the topic on the subject.
"Wow . . ." said Olaf as he stared at the image on the screen.
"It's like this place, full of information." said Elinor.
I told ya. Henry thought.
Elinor had an idea. "Say lad, does this computer thing know anything about our homelands?" she asked.
"Perhaps. Where did you say you came from again?" Henry asked Elinor.
"Dunbroch." she replied.
Henry typed it in and the result was a poster of, and information about, the film "Brave". Henry had knowledge of everybody in town being based off fairy tales, but Elinor, Merida and Dunbroch were custom. They were not based on any fairy tale stories whatsoever, though their homeland was based on Scotland.
Elinor recognized the poster instantly.
"Hey, that's Merida. Why is my daughter on this computer machine?" Elinor asked.
"That's because you and her are characters for this movie." Henry explained.
"What?" Elinor asked in confusion.
Henry scrolled down to the information section that revealed everything about the film. Technically, he was not spoiling the film for her since it was pretty much based on their lives years before she and Merida came here.
"So Merida and I, our family, our kingdom, everyone and everything we know, are fictitious characters in one of your world's movies?" she asked.
"Here, yes. But in your realm, you and her and everyone and everything else are real to you. You and Merida don't actually exist in our world except in this film." Henry tried to explain as best as he could without trying to sound offensive.
"So everybody here in this realm knows about us and what we've been through?" Elinor asked.
"Just the part where you and Merida dealt with your bear crisis. The other half of your lives that you currently live before you came here, nobody knows. There's been some discussions of a sequel to your film, but that remains to be seen." Henry said.
"What about Arendelle? Are there any movies about us?" Olaf asked.
"Actually, there is one." said Henry and typed in something on the Wiki site.
"'Frozen'?" Elinor asked when she saw the page about Elsa and Anna's movie.
"Yeah. It's about Elsa, Kristoff and Anna and what happened with them. What they told us of their lives in Arendelle happened in this film. Would you like to read about it here or would you prefer to watch it yourself later? Of course, I'm not sure if they would want to watch it because that would be like reliving the drama for them and once was enough." said Henry.
"I think I will see it for myself another time, lad." said Elinor.
"Okay. I can download it on my Xbox and we can all see it." Henry said.
"Your what-box?" Elinor asked.
"You'll know later." said Henry.
"What story are Elsa and her family based on?" Elinor asked.
Henry typed in the name "Hans Christian Andersen" and then later clicked on "The Snow Queen" story and the screen revealed information about him and the original Snow Queen tale's origins.
Henry wondered how Elsa would react if she were to learn who she was based on in the real world. Unlike her, the original Snow Queen was an antagonistic person. He then realized that Elsa and Anna's dead aunt was like that and he figured out that she was based on the Snow Queen tale.
Sometime later, the library received an additional visitor.
Henry recognized the visitor as Ashley Boyd, better known as "Cinderella" from the other realm. What was she doing here?
"Who's that?" Olaf asked.
"That's Ashley Boyd, another inhabitant from your realm. Back there, she used to be called 'Cinderella' and now she lives here in Storybrooke." said Henry.
"Is she-?" Elinor said before Henry spoke first.
"Yes, she is based on a fairy tale character." he said.
"Is she nice?" Olaf asked.
"Of course she is." Henry said and walked over to Ashley to introduce her to them.
"Hi Ashley." said Henry.
Ashley looked up from her book and recognized Henry Mills.
"Hello Henry! How are you?" she said.
"Fine. How's Alexandria?" he asked.
"She's okay. Clorinda's babysitting her. She wanted to spend some quality time with her as her aunt." said Ashley.
She noticed Elinor and Olaf.
"Who are these two?" Ashley asked.
"Oh, these are newcomers to our town. They too come from the other land. The woman is Elinor of Dunbroch. She's here with her daughter Merida. You remember Merida? The ginger-haired archer woman?" Henry said.
Ah, yes. I remember her." Ashley said.
"Well, Merida brought Elinor here for medical treatment for bronchitis. They assumed it was fatal and warped here to help her. As of now, Elinor's using an inhaler to get by." said Henry.
"Greetings Ashley. I am Elinor, former queen of Dunbroch." said Elinor.
"Hello Elinor. I'm Ashley. So you're new here, huh?" said Ashley.
"Yes. My daughter Merida was once a temporary visitor here and now I get to see this strange new world she experienced." said Elinor.
"I was like you once when I first came here. Confused, uncertain and scared and curious about the culture of this realm. Now I have adapted to everything. Well, everything except video games." she said.
"What's a vi-?" Elinor started to ask Henry until he nodded, silently telling her she would know later and he turned to Olaf.
"And the snowman is Olaf, a creation and companion of Elsa from Arendelle." said Henry.
"Elsa, as in the woman in blue with the ice powers? She's back?" Ashley asked.
"Yeah, she and Anna came along with him and another person, whom Anna's married to, in order to have a vacation here in our world. They were doing fine until something happened an hour ago and they, along with my family, are now investigating it." said Henry.
"I do hope they're all right." said Ashley. "What happened?"
"I'm not sure yet. They said they would handle it themselves and would contact me when ready." he said.
"Okay. Are they enjoying their vacation here?" Ashley asked.
"They were until the rise of the problem I just told you of happened." said Henry. "How is, you know, your stepmother?" Henry asked, hoping the mention would not disturb Ashley.
"She had a few days left until her sentence is complete and then she'll be going back to the Land of Untold Stories where she belongs. I never introduced her to Alexandria and I don't intend to ever." she said.
"Who's Alexandria?" Elinor asked.
"She's my daughter. She's two years old." said Ashley.
"You're a mother?" Elinor asked.
"Precisely." said Ashley.
"Who is this stepmother you and Henry were talking about?" Elinor asked.
"Her name is Tremaine and she was my stepmother in the fairy tale realm." Ashley said and told Elinor about her history with her stepmother and what she did while in Storybrooke.
"Tremaine was sentenced to both community service and one year in prison for assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder. Her sentence will expire in two days and when that happens, she is to be sent back to the Land of Untold Stories alone and never to return." Ashley explained.
"What a horrible mother that woman is. Why would she want to kill you?" Elinor asked.
"She's an evil person, let's leave it at that." Ashley stated.
"Well, I'm going to show them around the library." Henry said.
"Okay, see you later." said Ashley and Henry led Elinor and Olaf away.
"She was nice." said Olaf.
"Good thing it was her you met. You really don't want to meet her stepmother." Henry said.
"I hope we don't. We Dunbroch people don't take very kindly to abusive parents. If she were a bear when my late husband was still alive, he would have surely placed her pelt at the foot of his bed." said Elinor.
"Your husband hunted bears?" Olaf asked.
"Yes. It was his specialty." said Elinor.
Elsa, Kristoff, Anna, Merida and Regina were inside Granny's diner. After the problem with the ice stranger, they were told to wait there until they got word from Emma and the others about the situation. Since it was already lunchtime, they ordered baskets of fries and hot dogs.
Joining them were David and Mary Margaret. The latter two have agreed to watch over them after learning from Emma via phone call what happened while their daughter was currently busy keeping an eye on the newcomer at the sheriff station. She agreed to contact them if anything happened.
The others seemed confused about the menu items except for Elsa who stared off at the window on her side. She was lost in thought and has not said a word since that fight in the forest. After what happened today, almost getting killed by someone with powers similar to her own, she could not focus on her meal or anything else at hand. She was not hungry at the moment anyway. It seemed that her interdimensional vacation was ruined.
Regina just ordered a cup of water and a garden salad. All that fighting made her thirsty.
"What are these?" Kristoff asked.
"They're hot dogs and fries." said David.
"You cook dogs here? That's disgusting!" Anna complained.
Merida gave a slight laugh at Anna's reaction to the food. She ate here a few times during her first stay in Storybrooke and this meal was one of the dishes she previously had. She also recalled her reaction being similar to Anna's when she was introduced to hot dogs.
"What? No, no, no! They're not real dogs, that's just what they're called." Mary Margaret said quickly to clear the misunderstanding up.
"Who would name these things after a beloved animal companion?" asked Anna.
"Don't know. We didn't name it, someone else did a long time ago in this realm." said Mary Margaret.
"Oh. Then how do you eat them?" Anna asked.
"Like this." said David and he took his hot dog and took a bite out of it.
"Is it good?" Kristoff asked.
"Try it." David said.
Anna took her hot dog and bit a small chunk.
"Mmm! This thing's good!" she said and wanted to take another bite until Mary Margaret stopped her and said, "Why don't you try it with ketchup and mustard?"
"Ket-what and what?" Kristoff asked.
"These." she said and pointed to some condiment bottles on the table.
She grabbed on and poured the contents onto Anna's food. Then she did the same thing with Kristoff while Merida did it herself, remembering how it was done before.
Anna and Kristoff ate theirs and found it delicious.
"This is good." said Kristoff.
"Now this I remember." said Merida.
"You've had this before?" Anna asked.
"Yep. I spent a month in this town, remember?" Merida said.
"Oh yeah. I forgot about that." said Anna.
"My reaction to this food was like yours, lassie. I too freaked out by the name of my dish and was close ta throwin' it away until I was informed about the food. I came close ta wastin' somethin' delicious." Merida replied.
Elsa was the only one who remained silent throughout the meal.
Anna noticed and turned to her.
"Elsa? Aren't you gonna eat?" she asked her.
Elsa didn't reply.
"Elsa?" Kristoff asked.
Still no response. This began to worry Anna and Kristoff, mostly Anna who knew the reason for Elsa's mood. She was still a little traumatized from the fiasco back in the woods.
"Elsa?" Anna said and tapped her shoulder.
This snapped the queen out of her trance.
"What?" Elsa asked finally.
"Elsa, aren't you hungry?" Anna asked.
Elsa looked at her plate, not realizing it was there the whole time.
"Not yet." she said.
Anna knew she had to talk to her sister.
"Elsa, what's wrong?" Anna asked.
"Nothing." said Elsa.
"Elsa . . ." Anna asked again, this time with a longer tone in her voice. She figured out what was bothering her sister, but referred to hear her admit it.
Elsa knew Anna would not stop until she answered, so she decided to cave in.
"It's about what happened back there. We find a man with ice magic like me and our late aunt and what does he do? He tries to kill me." Elsa said.
"Elsa, we don't know what that guy's deal with you is, but Emma will figure it out. Maybe you remind him of someone who treated him badly wherever he's from or perhaps he mistook you for somebody who already does or something like that. I'm just guessing." Anna explained.
"Who could I possibly remind him of? What did I, or another person that looks like me, ever do to him?" Elsa questioned.
"Like Anna said, Emma will find out soon. Until then, we have to stay away from that man as she said. If he ever tries that on you again, we'll be there to defend you from him." said Kristoff.
"Same here. Nobody messes with my sister or husband and gets away with it." Anna said.
"I may not be related to any of you, but count me in. However, I can't help but think about our brawl with him. All those hits he took and he still survived 'em all. I even shot an arrow right into his chest where his heart should be, or at least I assume he even has a heart at all, be it real or metaphorically, and he didn't even go down from that. I wonder how he did that? What kind of magic does that man have other than over ice and snow?" Merida said.
"I have no clue to that either. Not even Regina and Emma's magic or Emma's gun weapon was able to stop him." said Kristoff. "Well, except for that cuff thing she put on him and that other gun she used that puts people to sleep."
"Guns are loud here. I mean that one that doesn't put you to sleep. I thought I would lose my hearing when she used hers on him." said Anna.
"Same here. My people would become frightened by gun weapons." said Merida.
Then they heard a jingle. It was Mary Margaret's phone. It rang to the tune of "Some Day My Prince Will Come", making David smile in hilarity from the irony of where that song was from. He had seen the film he and his wife were based on and also learned it was the first one of princess films.
Mary Margaret took out her phone and placed it to her ear.
"Hello?" she said.
The visitors remained silent as she spoke to the caller. It turned out to be Emma.
"We're still here at Granny's, having lunch. Why?"
Mary Margaret's face fell when she heard what Emma had to say.
"Okay, bye." she said and hung up.
"That was Emma. She said the ice stranger is awake and she tried to interrogate him, but he refused to answer. and so she used a dreamcatcher on him to find out what's in his mind since he won't speak and, well, she said it was really disturbing. She's asking for us to come to the station right away." she said.
"Did she say she got the man's name despite his muteness?" Regina asked.
"Emma didn't say. I'll go get some to-go containers for our food." said Mary Margaret.
"What are 'to-go containers'?" Kristoff asked.
"They're boxes that people use to take unfinished food with them at restaurants." David said.
Mary Margaret got up, asked for the containers and placed the uneaten food inside.
"Okay, let's go." she said and they got up, paid for the meals and headed out the door and onto the streets.
"By the way, what's a dreamcatcher?" Kristoff asked while walking.
Regina told him.
Eventually, they made it to the station where they found Emma sitting on a chair near the cell where the stranger was being held in.
"Good, you're here." Emma said.
The minute the ice stranger saw Elsa and Anna, he grew angry at the sight of them, especially Elsa. While his hatred was for Elsa, was it possible that he harbored some hatred for Anna too since they were sisters.
As for Kristoff, no one knew that either.
Elsa and Anna were cautious about approaching him, but were glad that he couldn't get to them.
Seeing him there reminded Elsa of herself being in a similar position back in Arendelle where she was imprisoned in her own dungeon during the Great Freeze event. Only the stranger was not bound in shackles like she was. Elsa doubted that hand shackles could keep him incapacitated as they had failed with her.
"Where's Henry?" Emma asked.
"He's still in the library with Elsa's snowman and Merida's mother. I didn't call them because I didn't wish to worry them, especially Henry." said David.
"Good." said Regina and Emma.
"Is this the one who attacked all of you in the woods?" Mary Margaret asked.
"Yes."
"How did it happen?" David asked.
We found him in the woods. We introduced ourselves to him and when Elsa introduced herself, he attacked her in return." said Emma.
"He has ice magic, too?" David asked, remembering what Emma told them.
"Yes, but his magic is more advanced than hers. He could perform feats that Elsa can't." Emma said and told her parents what the new guy was capable of doing and they were stunned by the news.
"Yikes." David said.
Emma also told her parents the full story of what happened between them and him.
"So how did everything go with 'Iceman' here?" Regina asked, jokingly referring the detainee to a character from one of Henry's comic books.
"Not good. After he woke up, he tried to pry the cuff off again, but failed. I asked him questions such as who he was, where's he's from and why he attacked Elsa, but he never responded. Either he chooses to be quiet or I think he might be mute like Dopey." said Emma.
"You said you used a dreamcatcher to observe what was in his head. Did you find out why he attacked Elsa?" asked David.
"Yes, I saw everything, but I still didn't see his reason for wanting Elsa dead." said Emma.
"Then let's hear it." Merida said.
Emma gave them all a look of worry on her face.
"Emma?" David asked worriedly.
"Before I show you, quick warning: none of you are really going to like what I've learned about this man." she said.
The Arendelle sisters had a feeling that whatever Emma saw was really bad. Kristoff was worried too and held Anna's hand in support when he sensed fear in her.
"We'll manage." said Elsa.
Everyone found chairs to sit on while Emma remained standing.
Rather than telling them, Emma instead whipped out the dreamcatcher she used on the stranger. She activated it and presented its vision to them.
According to the dreamcatcher, the man hailed from a kingdom that once existed far from the Enchanted Forest. It was a rocky mountainous terrain that was similar to a plains area.
The dreamcatcher showed the stranger walking out of a hut. He looked very much like he did today, only he had short blond hair and his skin was normal looking rather than the bluish-silver appearance he was now.
It was also noted that the reason for his muteness was because he was literally born without a voice and was unable to say a single word to anyone. Because of his normal-looking appearance, it was noted that, unlike Elsa, the stranger did not have his ice powers yet. Was he cursed with them later in life?
The people of his homeland were agricultural people who and the stranger was one of them. He was the youngest of four siblings, he had two older sisters and one brother. Their mother tended to them as children while his father provided for the family.
The man and his brother also worked alongside their father while the mother and the sisters tended to their residence.
Then things took a turn for the worst one day when he and everyone in his village were gathering to celebrate a holiday until an army of soldiers suddenly appeared and launched a brutal assault on the entire village for reasons unknown. This caught the man and his people off guard, but despite that, some of the stranger's fellow villagers tried to fight back and while they put up a good fight, most of them were killed in battle. Some of the invaders died as well, but this did not stop them.
Lacking combat training, the stranger managed to escape the deadly invasion and hid himself away in the village's nearby wilderness of tall trees and large bushes and evaded any soldiers who were searching the forest for any fleeing people and killed any they came across.
When they didn't find anyone else, him included, the soldiers, under the belief that they succeeded in killing the survivors, moved on and after slaying the remaining villagers, they departed from the village and kingdom.
Everyone had been killed, his family included, although his brother was missing and he guessed that he either escaped or was caught and murdered by the invaders later. Either way, the stranger was the sole survivor of this brutal massacre and after staying there for an hour or two in mourning and shock, he ran away from the now-empty place he once called home and never looked back.
Although still alive, the tragic invasion and genocide saddened, traumatized and eventually hardened him, making him into a cold and angry person and he vowed to seek revenge for it however possible. He wanted to kill not only the soldiers, but everyone in their homeland that sent them.
He lived on his own for a while. He had no one to turn to and trusted nobody and avoided people at all costs out of extreme paranoia and PTSD. If he happened to come across anyone, he'd either hide from them or walked away. Nobody ever saw him, he made sure of that. Even if he were interested in socializing with people, he still could not tell them anything.
Sometime later, while out fishing for food in the middle of a boat during a cold winter day, he stumbled into the lake. Because he lacked any swimming skills, the lake was freezing cold and there was nobody around to help him, he died of hypothermia. His corpse sank in the lake and laid there dormant for many years, unnoticed by anyone or anything for a long time.
That lake became his tomb.
One day, somebody stumbled upon the lake. It appeared to be a Dark One, but it was not Rumpelstiltskin. It was one of his unnamed predecessors.
Sensing a great tragic history and feelings of revenge within the lake's deceased victim, the unnamed Dark One had an idea and used magic to revive the man and soon, he was seen rising from the lake and moving and sputtering water. His flesh had been restored to normal after years of freezing and rotting at the same time.
The Dark One levitated the stranger to the shore and kneeled before the revived man, said something incoherent to him and vanished.
The man rose up and looked around his surroundings. Except for a few missing trees from when he was alive, not much has changed. He wondered how long it had been since he died. He figured it was for a few days or weeks, but the now-rotten boat that was still floating on the lake he was on when he was living told a different story.
Nevertheless, he gathered himself and walked away like nothing happened.
Unknown to him, two things have happened to him: it was more than just days since his passing and he now carried within him something other than a second chance at life.
Something powerful and dangerous.
He arrived in an empty cave and made himself at home there until he could figure things out.
Then suddenly, a group of six hostile bandits appeared and invaded the cave. They spotted the stranger and demanded a handover of whatever valuables they believed he had.
The stranger was unable to tell them that he had nothing like what they wanted on him and so the bandits, realizing there truly was nothing of interest in the cave and believing their task to have been for nothing, attacked the stranger out of anger.
One of the bandits took out a sword and attempted to use it to kill him with and the stranger stretched out a hand instinctively to protect himself.
As the bandit brought his sword down, the weapon sliced his hand off as expected. The stranger silently hissed in great pain.
But no blood was spurting and his hand regenerated itself in a matter of seconds and was good as new.
The attacking bandit were both dumbfounded by what just happened.
Fazed by this action, the bandits all withdrew their own swords and daggers and lunged at him and the stranger waved his hands out of instinct again and suddenly, two short ice spears shot out from his hands and they impaled one attacking bandit in the chest, piercing his heart organ and killing him instantly and the bandit literally dropped dead.
Now the stranger was more terrified because not only did discover his new, terrifying talent of which he had never seen before, he also killed for the first time in his life. What was happening to him?
The other bandits, now afraid and horrified by what they were seeing, yelled what appeared to sound like untranslated insults at him and resorted to using bows and arrows and shot all of their arrows at him.
Fortunately for the stranger, he survived the arrow barrage, much to the bandits' confusion. The arrows had frozen completely just from touching the stranger's body and he was unharmed completely.
This attack reminded the stranger of the massacre that befell his family and people years back and the events of that day currently clouded his thoughts and this deadly combination finally made him snap.
His fears and sadness were replaced with feelings of anger, hostility and, for the first time in his life, the willful urge to kill.
Still alive thanks to his healing, the stranger pulled the frozen arrows out of himself, approached the invaders and slaughtered them with ease thanks to his powers and left one to finish off personally. It was the leader of the bandits.
The stranger raised his hand into a fist, but instead his hand formed extended claws from his fingers. Startled by this at first, he accepted it and plunged his hand into the bandit's stomach.
The bandit screamed and was coughing up blood. The stranger then tripped the bandit to the ground by shoving him. His touch managed to create an amount of frost on the wounded bandit's chest.
The stranger held him down with his regular hand and brutally hacked and stabbed the fallen bandit with his finger claws endlessly.
The bandit was helpless to fight back and was screaming and gurgling blood until he was dead, but the stranger didn't stop his assault for a minute and kept on stabbing the dead criminal.
The bandits were all dead and the stranger was covered in the blood of the invaders he had killed, mostly from his latest victim.
Having finally stopped, he inched his head back and let out a scream that he could not actually make. If he could speak, it would have been very loud.
When he calmed down, he was horrified at what he'd done and threw up in disgust. He had committed his first killings.
Suddenly, the same dark magician that brought him back from the dead appeared.
At first, the stranger attacked the Dark One, believing the person to be another threat. But his ice claw hands had no effect on the evil magician and the magic being stopped the stranger and revealed to him what was going on.
The Dark One explained that the stranger had been dead for over 600 years and was granted immortality and ice abilities based on how he died, much to his absolute shock and horror. But the Dark One also said that the stranger now had all the time in the world to extract his revenge against the nation responsible for killing his family and people and revealed where the invaders of his homeland came from.
The Dark One also added that the immortality curse would remain with him until he got rid of the cause of his misery and with that, the Dark One vanished, leaving the stranger alone again.
This was too much for him to digest. He had just learned that six centuries had passed since he died and his new abilities were a result of his resurrection and that he would be immortal forever unless he destroyed the thing that ruined him. He also just learned where his people's murderers were from and, from what that Dark One told him about his new powers, he believed that the destruction of this kingdom would lift his new curse. Any mortality he had before was now gone and he was now the most powerful, unkillable thing to walk the lands, a godlike being.
However, there was one new flaw to all this: because 600 years have passed, the original invaders and whoever ordered the massacre were long dead by now and that meant that somebody else must be ruling the kingdom today. But to him, it mattered not. If he cannot kill the enemy kingdom's now-deceased original ruler, then that person's current descendant will pay in that person's place, his new target for assassination.
Although his people and family were still extinct and he was still the last one of his kind left, as long as he was still alive, they lived on in him and his new immortality would preserve it indefinitely.
With the bandits all dead, he set out into the world again, determined to complete his personal mission of vengeance.
On days when he took breaks from his travels, he underwent personal training on using his new ice magic properly. If he was going to slay his targets, he had to learn how to control his newfound powers better.
He eventually learned that he can create ice weapons and how to make them appear mentally and could produce just about all kinds of weapons such as knives, spears, swords, claws, ice projectiles, anything that can cause damage and injury to others. He learned he can produce icy, liquid tentacles from his limbs, turn his body into a puddle and into an icy mist and learned he was also invincible after remembering his battle with those bandits. To fully ensure this was true, he engaged in self-harm tests and he even tried to kill himself with both his own ice powers and with other objects he could find and he still survived them all. He could still feel pain though, but he would remain alive.
Pretty soon, the stranger had mastered his own abilities, making him now the deadliest person alive.
However, while eternal life and great, god-like powers were the pros of his new abilities, he also learned later of a few cons to them.
The first con was that while he would live forever, that also meant he was trapped in this life without any end to his lifespan. Like his lifespan, his guilt from failing to save his family and people from the invasion would never die.
While some say eternal life was a pleasant reward, for him, it was not, especially when he had nobody to live with, which came to the second con of his powers: romance with anyone. He could, but it was not recommended because anybody he would fall in love with would still age and die eventually while he would not and he would feel heartache from losing someone he cared for and the cycle would restart if he found another to love. Therefore, to spare himself of that kind of pain, he decided to remain single forever.
The third con to his abilities was that he could never eat or drink anything ever again. Any food or beverage he tried to consume would freeze instantly the second it entered his mouth and become inedible. Although he didn't have to eat anymore thanks to his immortality, he could still feel the physical pain of starvation and thirst and could never appease it at all. Every day and night, he was starving and thirsty and was unable to end them. It was tormenting for him.
A fourth con, which had nothing to do with his powers whatsoever, was that tracking down the kingdom that ruined him was going to be long and hard. While he knew now where the murderers of his kind were from, he didn't actually know where their homeland was. Of all the powers he had, he didn't have the ability to find it via magic and was going to have to find it the old-fashioned way: walking and navigation.
The faces of those barbarian soldiers. Them killing the villagers and his loved ones. The bloodshed and violence.
These images kept replaying in his head over and over all day and night, tormenting him mentally. Sometimes when he slept, his anger built up in him and this caused his powers to act on their own without him realizing it until he woke up.
He couldn't wait to find and completely destroy the kingdom responsible for his people's extinction long ago. They would pay for what their ancestors did, one way or another.
Over time, he entered and exited several cities and towns, searching for his target. Nobody in those civilizations cared who he was, where he's from or what his goals were and he felt the same. His immortality made him ageless and his appearance remained unchanged and nobody cared to speak to him and he felt the same. All he wanted was to avenge his people and family and become mortal again once he finished so he can move on in his own way.
To further hide himself from the public during his search, he managed to get a dark brown cloak from a marketplace and he wore it ever since. He used his power to take the cloak without detection. Normally, stealing was not his forte, but he lacked funds and had no choice.
Not one of the places he ventured to were his destination.
His search lasted for a very, very long time. Days, weeks, months, years, more so.
He had searched high and low. He searched every civilization he could find, including places like Oz, Dunbroch, Neverland, Agrabah, Camelot, Wonderland, the Land of Untold Stories, just about every place in the fairy tale world in existence, and still he had no luck in finding what he wanted.
Sometimes during his journey, he would have unfortunate encounters with random thieves, killers, fugitives, people of that sort who were stupid enough to try and victimize him. Like with the bandits from long ago, the stranger, now feeling no regrets for killing ever since the hermit's death, simply did away with his enemies and moved along.
He was even present during some of the events Emma and her family and friends went through in the fairy tale land and he never interfered because he was uninterested. He only observed from the shadows and left them be without being seen.
Emma and the rest were stunned that this man was around many areas of the fairy tale realm and even managed to learn that he watched them and what they did, but never interacted with any of them during their adventures in the fairy tale universe.
Then one day, while venturing into yet another nameless village, he learned some people mention the kingdom he sought and the return of its ruler whose name was not mentioned.
Hearing that, the stranger realized that this was his big chance, the one thing he's been wanting for years. He learned that the kingdom's ruler was female, but he didn't care about that. All he cared about was that he could finally slay this new queen and obtain the closure he has been long awaiting for.
He used a piece of paper to communicate with someone in the village, asking where the kingdom was, and the villager told him. He nodded his head in false gratitude and walked in the direction he got.
Later, he got lost and wound up in the forest where he managed to come across a blue portal floating in the middle of nowhere with nobody around to guard it. He wasn't discovered and he merely hid via his puddle form.
Curious, the stranger stepped inside unnoticed and the portal sucked him in and it brought him to Storybrooke.
The landing knocked him out and he remained there until morning and that was where he woke up.
The vision ended there and everyone was in shock at what they saw.
"So, this guy survived a deadly attack on his family and people and he wanted revenge for it?" David asked.
"I'm afraid so." Emma said.
"And he's hundreds of years old from being dead and he was granted ice magic and immortality to enact his personal quest for vengeance?" Regina asked.
"Most likely." said Emma.
"The dreamcatcher still doesn't explain who he is, though." Kristoff said.
"Or why he has a grudge against Elsa." said Merida.
Emma then got an idea.
"Maybe Henry knows. He's a wiz on all fairy tale stuff." she said and took out her cell phone and was about to dial Henry's number when she remembered he was in a library, as in a place of silence, and so she decided to text him instead.
She typed her thumbs on the typing pad of her phone and sent her message.
"You didn't call him?" Elsa asked.
"No, I texted him instead." Emma said.
"What's texting?" Merida asked.
"It's like writing a letter to someone, but by a cell phone instead of by pen, ink and paper." said Emma.
Henry was showing Elinor and Olaf more of the internet on the library computer until he was interrupted by his cell phone vibrating in his pants pocket.
He held it out and examined it.
He read the message from Emma.
It said:
HENRY. COME TO STATION NOW. NEED HELP WITH NEWCOMER.
He became nervous. Did the new person try anything on his mothers or the others?
"Let's go." he said to Elinor and Olaf.
"Why? What's wrong?" Elinor asked.
"My mother texted me about that new guy they found." Henry said.
"Text-ing?" Olaf asked.
"It's a way we send messages in this world. Now come on." said Henry.
He logged out and walked to the exit with his companions following.
They made it to the station and entered and soon, reunited with his family and friends.
Emma and company noticed Henry, Olaf and Elinor coming in.
"I got your text." Henry said to Emma.
"Yeah." said Emma.
"Hi mother." Merida said to Elinor upon seeing her.
"Merida." said Elinor. "What is this place?" she asked.
"It's a police station. It's built for people of law enforcement to work at." said David.
"What's going on here?" Henry asked.
Emma explained everything to him.
"So this is the man who I was told tried to kill Elsa?" Henry asked when he saw the contained stranger.
"Yeah." said Regina.
"What's his name?" he asked.
"We don't know yet. He doesn't talk much. That's why we called you here to help identify him and his reason for attacking Elsa. Since you're the strongest believer in fairy tales, can you ID him?" Emma asked Henry.
"Sure. Just tell me what his abilities is." Henry said.
"Well, he has ice powers like Elsa, but his are more powerful than hers. She was barely able to fight him earlier." said Anna.
With that, Henry sat down and began to think.
Ice magic. Elsa's the only one we know with that kind of power besides her dead aunt until this guy came along with similar abilities . . . He thought to himself.
Emma humorously thought her son looked like a detective. All he was missing were 19th century detectives' clothes and he would look like a mini Sherlock Holmes. She wondered if Sherlock Holmes existed in the other realm, kinda like how Dr. Whale, Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll did.
Henry thought and thought, trying to figure out who the stranger could be.
Then it hit him.
"Oh, my god." he said blankly.
"What? What is it?" Regina asked.
"I figured out who this guy could possibly be." he said.
"Who?" asked Emma.
Henry stood up from his seat and announced his discovery.
"That man . . . is Jack Frost!" he said.
Everyone grew silent from the discovery until Merida broke it.
"Who-now?" she asked.
"Jack Frost." Henry repeated.
"Who's he? A fairy? A famous prince?" Olaf asked.
"No and no." said Henry and told everyone in the station what he knew about Jack Frost.
"He's even mentioned in a famous Christmas song and several movies were made about him." Henry said.
Despite what he knew about the legend of Jack Frost, he had to think carefully. The Jack Frost in the cell might be different from the legend version he knew of. Peter Pan and King Arthur, for example, were seen as famous, fictional heroes in the real world and yet, they were antagonistic people who pulled off wicked means to achieve their personal goals in Storybrooke and in the fairy tale world and wound up dead as a result.
"So this man, this Jack Frost, was a victim of a massacre that claimed his family and people and he was cursed to wander the world for many years?" Elinor asked.
"Yes. Despite being an all powerful person, from what we've seen, he's never found peace with himself ever since before and after he died. This guy has apparently been through hell for centuries." said Emma.
"And he was there the whole time when we ventured into the other realm countless times and we never noticed." said Mary Margaret.
"But we still don't know the name of the kingdom that killed his kind and made him miserable. Who were they? What does this have to do with my sister?" said Anna.
"Hey, play the part of the invasion again. Maybe there's a hint we can find to who they were." said Merida.
Emma got the dreamcatcher to replay the massacre scene again. She and the others didn't like seeing it, but it was the only way to know who did this to him.
Elinor was visibly disgusted by the scene and Merida had to hold her to keep her together. Olaf watched with a sad look on his face and Henry, the same.
"Pause!" Henry said and Emma made the dreamcatcher stop on a few soldiers in the device.
Henry approached his mother and eyed the dreamcatcher very closely.
Henry figured Elsa and Anna should look for a certain reason.
"Come closer, you two." he said to Elsa and Anna.
The sisters did and glared at the soldier in the scene.
"Do these guys look any familiar to you?" Henry asked.
At first, Elsa and Anna were going to say they did not recognize the men in the footage, but then Elsa made a face that told a different story.
"Wait . . . those men. Their uniforms look different but . . . their symbols look familiar." she said.
"You recognize the symbols on their uniforms?" Emma asked.
"Yes. Before my talents were exposed and our national symbol changed into the snowflake design I created as a way of expressing to the world of what I am and what we currently stand for, Arendelle had a symbol similar to these ones in their early years." said Elsa.
"Ya know, come to think of it. I do seem to recall seeing those symbols in our history books." said Anna.
Then something hit Elsa and Anna.
"Oh no . . ." she said.
"What?" Emma asked.
"Those people, the invaders, they're . . . No, it can't be! Oh, no, no, no!" Elsa replied in horror.
"What?" Emma asked again.
Elsa and Anna stepped back with looks of fear on their faces.
"Those men are wearing Arendelle's early uniforms and symbols. We used to have them in our early founding days." said Elsa.
That's when the bits and pieces were starting to come together right now over them.
"Oh, you better not say what I think you're going to say." Anna said.
"I'm afraid so, Anna." said Elsa. "I think these invaders who plundered this man's home were . . . from Arendelle, our founding ancestors." Elsa said.
Anna gasped in horror as did everyone in the station except the stranger.
"No, you must be mistaken, Elsa. Surely those invaders were from some other kingdom with uniforms and a symbol that looks like yours." said Mary Margaret.
"I wish I were mistaken, but sadly, no. We were the only ones with those designs before they were changed." Elsa said and turned away from everyone to gather herself.
"Elsa?" Anna said, looking worried about her sister.
"Was this event in your kingdom's history records?" Emma asked.
"I'm not sure, but . . . there is one." she said.
"One what?" Merida asked.
"I remember reading on Arendelle's founding days. One of our first wars was against this vicious kingdom who was said to have assassinated our first king and queen, which is what started the conflict." said Elsa.
"What was this kingdom called?" Regina asked.
"It was called 'Kalendra'." said Elsa.
"Kalendra?" Emma asked.
"Yes. Our first king and queen were found dead in their chambers and we found one piece of evidence that revealed the Kalendrans to be responsible for the crime and so, we took up arms and launched an assault against them for what happened. It was said that we wiped them out, no survivors and . . ."
It was there that she suddenly realized what was going on. Her history story was matching Jack Frost's flashback. What they saw in the dreamcatcher was what she was describing. That horrible massacre of his family and people, what she saw didn't look like a war at all, more like murder.
"Wait, this guy is a Kalendran? A real, live Kalendran? But I thought they were gone. Our ancestors stopped them long ago." Anna said until she suddenly also caught on to what she was saying.
The "vicious" people that were killed in the Arendelle-Kalendran war she heard so much about were actually this man's own people. The vision didn't look anything like a war at all. The people in the vision looked like they could hardly defend themselves.
"I think I've heard of that Kalendra place before." said Merida. All eyes turned to her. "I too learned that they went extinct after a horrifying battle with a barbaric military from . . . oh, dear gods!" She too realized the situation and silenced herself.
"But . . . but we were taught that that war was justified because the Kalendrans ransacked Arendelle first and so we retaliated in return and we won." said Anna.
"Well, according to this guy's memories, it was more of a mass murder than a war. His people didn't look like the war-type. How was it possible for his kind to become enemies with Arendelle if they didn't seem combative?" Emma questioned.
Elsa was beginning to have doubts about her history education about her kingdom's first war after seeing the man's memories for herself.
Did history lie to her, Anna, Kristoff and all of Arendelle for centuries?
She and everyone in the building finally figured out Jack's reason for hating Elsa.
"So, it seems that this man's hatred for you Elsa, and probably Anna, is because you're both related to the people who wiped his out long ago. Your ancestors invaded his home, killed his family and people and he's been wanting revenge for it ever since. For years, he never knew how or why it happened or who his killers were until later and he was heading to Arendelle to kill you and avenge his loss when he came here and he didn't know who you were until you told him back in the forest." said Emma.
"But we weren't even alive yet when that horrible tragedy happened, so it's not our fault." said Anna.
"Apparently, he doesn't share your view Anna. To him, all Arendellians are genocidal and he's been living with a strong hatred for your kind for years. He blames you and Arendelle for his fate." said Emma.
Elsa put a hand over her mouth in shock from hearing this. She was ashamed to learn that her own people centuries before she and Anna were alive, slaughtered the man's entire homeland and he was the only witness to the carnage and the last one left alive and it made him into a bitter, angry killer hungry for blood, just like how Ingrid was once.
"So that's why he tried to kill Elsa back there. He's not an evil person, he's just hardened and vengeful over what Arendelle did to him centuries ago and he sees Elsa and Anna here as a current link to it. Anyone from Arendelle or rules over it is an enemy to him and he wants to kill everyone there as a means of retaliation. No offense, you three." said Regina to Elsa, Kristoff and Anna.
"Wait, so you mean to tell us that the story we, all of Arendelle, learned of Arendelle's first battle against Kalendra, was a lie and a mass murder?" Anna asked in dread.
"I'm afraid so, Anna. I'm guessing that your ancestors either went to war with the wrong nation or did it on purpose and simply lied about it being a war and covered it up. Your kingdom's first rulers were probably killed in some other way and Arendelle mistook his homeland for the perpetrators. They're the only explanations I can think up for the moment." Emma said, feeling remorse for saying what she said.
Elsa started ventilating and her eyes were turning red with tears. That was the most awful story she had ever heard of. How can her own nation, the very nation she currently ruled over, slaughter innocent people and lie about it for centuries? No wonder she was targeted by the man in the cell. No wonder she saw the look of extreme aggression in his eyes during their battle in the forest and came close to killing her. She was beginning to feel very disgusted over the fact that her homeland caused a terrible, unholy-like killing. She may not be a monster, but her ancestors were.
Her doubts and fears were starting to cause snowflakes to fall all over her.
"Elsa?" asked Emma.
Unable to handle being inside, Elsa turned around and quickly walked away, needing some along time to digest what she learned.
"Elsa!" Anna cried out and followed her.
"Now everything makes sense here." said Emma.
"I know. As horrible as the battle in the forest and in the vision were, I can't help but feel bad for this Frost lad here. He lost everything because of Elsa and Anna's ancestors and thinks they're evil just like their founders were." said Merida.
"Right now, she's feeling guilty for what her kingdom's founders did and she and everyone in Arendelle were unaware of it and they still are back in the fairy tale world." said Henry.
"Even though my mother and I never set foot in Arendelle before, how can we convince him that Elsa, Anna and their homeland are different? This man's out for blood for what happened to him. I'd feel ashamed too if I discovered Dunbroch's founders did something cruel like theirs did." said Merida.
"Me too, dear." said Elinor.
Elsa barged out of the station's doors and stood outside, weeping lightly.
"Elsa!" Anna called out again and caught up to her.
"Elsa, you need to relax." she said.
"How can I relax after seeing and hearing that horrible story? For years, we believed that our past battle with Kalendra was justifiable and self-defense. But now, I've learned that it was no war, it was a horrible murder spree of innocent people our own ancestors caused and what we were taught was a cover the whole time! One of the victims witnessed everything that happened and hates us because of that! He and his people never even knew about Arendelle the whole time! I feel so ashamed of our own bloodline! I think I'm going to be sick!" Elsa said.
Anna grabbed Elsa by the shoulders.
"Elsa, I'm just as terrified of . . . our new discovery as you are. But, as much as I despise what we saw, none of it was not, I repeat, not . . . our . . . fault. As I said earlier, neither of us were alive yet when that event happened and we can't change it at all. I wish we could, but we can't." Anna said.
Elsa looked at her sister with puffy, red eyes.
"At least we now know why he hates us and, in a non-supportive way, we can't blame him for it. What I'm trying to say is that we both have to pull through this and at least make it so that what he went through never happens again." Anna replied.
Elsa wiped her eyes with her hand.
"How, Anna? Every time he sees me or you, he's just going to see us as murderers and with high hatred in his eyes from something we did to him long ago. If Arendelle learns the truth about that war, it will destroy the entire kingdom's reputation and lower morale among everyone. I mean, who would want to keep friendly relations with a kingdom that cruelly wiped out an entire civilization hundreds of years ago in our realm? Kingdoms like Weselton and the Southern Isles already have tarnished reputations for reasons we both know and soon, we'll be next and those people will surely laugh at us for being related to founding killers when Hans, his brothers and the duke tried the same thing with us." Elsa said. Her voice was heavy with emotion.
Well then, we're just going to have to show that Jack Frost person that we're not the same as our ancestors were back then. He needs to know that Arendellians today are totally different from the ones he saw in his past. Oh, and I'm certain that the other kingdoms we work with won't hate and shun us for this embarrassing and tragic discovery if they ever find out. Everyone makes mistakes. Our mother and aunt did once, remember?" Anna said.
"That was different. Ingrid's first kill was accidental, like I almost did with you twice, and our mother never killed anybody." Elsa said.
"True, but you know what I mean. Even killing someone can sometimes be an error. I'm here for you, Elsa. We will get that man in the station to change his views on us." Anna replied.
Elsa wiped her eyes again. Anna was showing tears, too. They hugged each other in support from their new discovery.
Elsa knew Anna was right. What happened to the man now known as Jack Frost was not their fault and they felt it was their duty to prove to him that Arendelle had changed since his time. This was going to take a lot of time and patience, but personal healing was possible. It worked for them, it can work for him, too.
"You're right, Anna. We owe it to him that we're not the same as our ancestors." said Elsa.
"That's the spirit, Elsa. Now come on.
I finally got this chapter updated at long last! So, did I do well? Anything wrong with it? Did it make you cry? So now you know JF's beef with the Ice Queen and now Elsa and Anna are trying to figure out how to handle him and with what they've learned.
Can they convince JF to see them differently? Will they succeed or will he try to kill them again?
When I mentioned a Dark One in his past during the dreamcatcher flashback scene, it was a different one and I chose not to identify that person's name or gender because I'm not entirely 100 percent on the names of all the Dark Ones, only Rumple, Emma, Hook (both formerly while Rumple is one again) and that female D.O. who pulled a Darth Vader on Emma when she tried to prevent her family's demise when she too was a Dark One. A Dark One can be male or female as I've seen in the show. I couldn't think of anyone else who could have made JF the magical being he is here, and so I chose a Dark One to do it.
The name of JF's homeland, I don't know what is actually is in fiction, so I just made it up here because it sounded chilly to me, no pun intended.
The library computer scene, when I had Henry show Elinor her and Merida's film on the internet, I'm not entirely sure if Brave was based on any real tales other than the fact that it's inspired by Scotland's Medieval atmosphere. I'm aware of Frozen's real-life origins and wrote what I learned from Wikipedia, but that's a different thing.
I saw the Lego Frozen special and it was hilarious. It's also cold where I'm at and, well, I gotta say, it's never bothered me anyway. Heh, get it?
Well, I gotta go. R and R. I'll type another chapter in a month from now. I need a break from this for a while. It gave me one, whopping mental headache.
Oh, and because I'm a Star Wars fan (like Marvel, my interest in SW also has nothing to do with Disney's ownership of the franchise) R.I.P. Carrie "Princess Leia Organa-Solo" Fisher. Sucks she's gone, same with her mother who died a day later. When Star Wars 8 hits theaters, I am definitely gonna see it on the first day on the first showing, even if I have to skip work to do it. I'll be cut a few bucks from my paycheck for being late, but . . . worth it.
