Frozen Nightmares [ worldeater & Bear ]

[HeyThereLittleBear]

Beautiful. Powerful. Dangerous. Cold.

Never before had she felt so powerful, but never before had she felt so completely and utterly free. The trolls had been right about her – she was a monster, and she didn’t deserve to live among the others, where she could cause so much pain and suffering by being nothing more than… Herself. It hung so heavy in her heart to hold the thing that had been such a huge part of herself in more, even more painful that she’d had to hide it from the one person she loved most of all. But everything had changed. Anna had someone to look after her now, and Elsa… Well, Elsa was free now to be the person she had always been.

It was such a relief to not have to hold everything in anymore, her eyes taking in the beauty that was her castle, with crystal walls and sparkling chandelier. It was so breathtaking in its own that she could hardly believe it had been made from the same hands that had been covered for so long, to hide the secret that she no longer had to fear. God, the freedom. It was so maddening to think that for all of these years she’d had such potential.. Potential that had never been tapped…

And for what? Fear? She’d always been so scared of hurting Anna again, so scared that she would kill the girl who had always been her closest friend, her dearest companion. But damn it, what was the point now? They were much older and it had been so many years since she’d actually connected with her that she didn’t know anything about her anymore… Who was she? Obviously, not the little girl that had been struck in the ballroom so many years ago, but still just as naïve as she had always been. So carefree…

If Anna had the chance to feel that why, why couldn’t she? All of her life she’d spent in hiding, carefully locking herself away and giving up her own happiness just so that she could protect, to guard against a possibility that Anna could get hurt from her powers again. That had to change. Here, in her castle, she was able to be free to explore who she wanted to be, what she wanted to do. She knew that she was expected to return, to be a normal person… But damn it, she didn’t want that.

More than anything else, she wanted what everyone else had – freedom. No more holding back, no more hiding. Elsa hadn’t noticed that she was pacing until now, her clenched hands releasing as she tried to calm herself. The swirling storm inside had died down so much that she could barely feel it, her creation a show of just how much she could do… But there was so much more in her that she was hiding away, her sheer power.

And for the first time in forever, there was nothing holding her back. Nothing to worry about. No closed doors, no knocking sister, nothing! The joy rushed back to her like a wave, her joy unabashed as she admired the ice, so strong and cold. It was like her… And all of this had been possible because she’d done one simple task that had seemed impossible – finally, she had managed to let it go.

 

[worldeater]

How . . . quaint

He didn't know whether to be laughing at his circumstance or to be scornfully musing with his situation. He didn't know how long it took for him to escape from his nightmares' grasps, but when he did, he had been quick to disappear. Of course, he didn't do it alone as this place was definitely not his own world. Who had helped him? Why? He didn't know for certain. All Pitch knew was that the man that came for him seemed more as though he was a part of the darkness than he was. Words were not exchanged, only an understanding for what needed to be done. The Nightmare King was given another chance to fulfill his purpose.

When he came to this world, Pitch had been quiet the entire time he was watching the girl, the days rolling by while he watched her use her magic. Of course, while he could not outright stalk her with the shadows, her inner fears were so all consuming that he had no trouble spying her while inside the castle. It had been a while since he had seen such darkness in someone. He was almost certain that this girl was female of Jack Frost, but the way she carried herself belied a difference in essence. While Jack was naturally fun, Elsa was shrewd and jittery. Her fear was easier to manipulate than Jack's and when she had finally isolated herself, Pitch chuckled as he began to set things into motion.

Just as she went back into her fortress, the walls closed upon her just as her previous prison had done. The lights that had earlier pour through the clear glass faded while the shadowed stretched forward. No theatrics were here, but he still had to make his presence available for her to recognize. Thus, when he finally stopped and appeared in the shade under her form, he whispered.

"You have let it all go . . . but what happens when it comes knocking right back?"

A heavy thud hit the door, but there was no one outside.

 

[HeyThereLittleBear]

The door had only just closed when her fortress of solitude became a nest of shadows, the figures creeping up the walls and doing dark dances over the beauty she had created. On its own, the castle had been a thing of wonder, full of glittering delight and twinkling wonder. It looked now as if it had been taken over by a disease, terra formed into a nightmare landscape where all horrors of the mind could come true. Her arms pulled in tight to her body, as if she could protect herself from the creatures.

It was then that they started to take a shape, nothing but wisps at first, swiftly coming to form a man that was lanky and just as dark as the things he had come from. His skin was tinged blue, as if he'd been pulled from her ice. His voice was cold, but smooth like velvet, his words whispered but having such an ominous tone he may as well have screamed them from the mountaintops.

Elsa was easy to spook the first time, jumping at the loud knock from no one. Her hands were trembling, snowflakes swirling just beyond her skin. "What... What do you mean? Who are you?" She demanded, trying to hide the fear that was all too apparent in her voice. The confidence was gone, replaced instead with someone who wasn't so sure of the world she had plunged herself into. Perhaps it hadn't been such a grand idea to leave Arendelle...

 

[worldeater]

At first, he kept silent, letting his appearance sink into her mind as his form slithered around the room. Suddenly, the knock was louder as a second and third knock hit her door. Each one slammed into the icy barricades and soon enough the pounding began to sound like terrifying heart beats.

"Don't you know, little one? Escaping to the mountains will not save you . . . you've only learned to doom yourself further."

With that, the doors crumbled at the 12th beat and with it came dark shapes of sand that formed the general look of humans. Their eyes glowed blood red as their mouths curled up in a twisted fashion. The voices were loud and incomprehensible, but no one needed to truly understand what they said in order to understand what was happening. Soon shapes of weapons drew out into the ever growing mob of dark shapes as they came for Elsa. No doubt these visions were only made more effective from dripping fear that came from the corners of her mind.

Just as they came at her and pulled at the very air she breathed, Pitch waved the dark sand away.

"They, like all others, fear what they cannot understand. You have only traded one prison for another."

 

[HeyThereLittleBear]

The knocks were increasing in strength and ferocity, almost seeming to mimic the swift beat of her terrified heart. The snowflakes that had stayed in a rather self-contained flurry of confusion and fear were starting to spread, jumping from her in mad swirls that were causing snow banks to form in the far corners of the room. A blizzard was starting to form from her distress, her body backing away from him though she honestly had nowhere to go.

"I am not doomed." She stated, trying to assure herself more than convince him, "I am free of all the burdens. I can be myself here and I won't have to worry about hurting anybody. They're safe, that's all I ever wanted."

Now that, that much she was sure of. Elsa was confident that it had been in their best interests for her to be far away from the Kingdom of Arendelle and its people. What good could she do them if she couldn't even control her powers? They would be hurt by her if she'd stayed. It was as sure as day turned to night.

And night had descended in her personal castle, brought pre-mature from the shadow-forms that danced around her, cruel partners in a dance that she didn't know the steps to. The sand closed around her, trapping her as if she'd sunk into a pit of quicksand, robbing her of breath and freedom. For the first time, she felt cold. Not from the outside, but from within. The storm had nowhere else to go, ice fighting against the small particles.

With a mere wave of his hand, the sand was gone, swirling away and leaving her gasping for air, coughing and choking out small bits. Her mouth was dry and gritty, her blizzard picking back up. "This isn't a prison... This is my home. Now please... Leave." Elsa had backed herself quite literally into a corner, swinging her arm to force the great ice doors open, "Leave now."