Death and Birth
Her eyes snapped wide open, and woke up gasping. The queen lay on the ground, sprawled on her side, with her arms reaching out. Straining to sit up, she made her aching arms support her weight. The previously white uniform she wore was stained by dirt and coal, with chunks of fabric charred off. An almost completely melted wall of ice encircled the queen. The air was so hot and thick, that she could see the vapor rise from the ice which blanketed Aldyn. The sun hung lurid in the sky. What happened to her? How long had she been out?
It could not have been for a long duration of time. Coals from the embers still scattered around the city every which way she looked, glowing orange. The sky was dark from the black smoke which clouded the heavens. Yet light from the destruction still reflected and refracted off the clouds, distorting the time of day and giving the kingdom a warm afterglow.
There was no sign of the firebird. Instead surrounded in a pile of grey ashes, was Tanya, back in her human form. She lay face down, face buried and not moving, at least from what it appeared from afar.
Elsa shakily stood up and scrambled over to the collapsed princess, tripping over her steps. Kneeling before her, she supported up the girl with her battered arms. With her right hand, she cupped Tanya’s cheek and traced her thumb over her chapped lips. Tanya’s eyes cracked open in slivers at the soft touch.
“You did it,” she gave a gentle, tired smile.
“We both did, together.”
Tanya clasped the blonde’s hand on her cheek with her own, and held it out palm up. “Your powers…”
That’s right, my powers… Elsa tried to make something as small as a few snowflakes, but to no avail, nothing happened. No glow, no cold, no nothing. They’re gone.
A part of her whole identity had vanished, gone in a flash. Just like that. Elsa felt weak, inadequate, and terribly confused. But she was not alone.
“What about yours?” Elsa reacted, concerned.
The Aldyn princess moved her hand from Elsa’s, and her forehead scrunched up in concentration. The attempt to focus her powers from within concluded futile, and produced a deep exhale. “Nothing.” She placed her palm back into Elsa’s, with the queen’s thumb over the back of her hand. “Aldyn… the citizens are…”
“Safe.”
Elsa smiled despite knowing that Tanya was in critical condition. Bruises and burns trailed up the princess’ body, creating a color palette of pales, reds, and blacks. Her face was okay, except for the long wide cut on her cheek, which would certainly scar up. There was no denying Tanya looked awful. The queen suddenly felt dreadfully guilty. How could her body have stayed so intact, when the princess in front of her was falling apart? Why did she have to be the one that turned out alright? It was not fair, though it was out of Elsa’s control. None of this was. Though painful to look at the ash haired girl, the queen could not help gazing into her still bright eyes all the same. No matter what she looked like, she was still captivating. Is that not what love does to one after all?
Tanya coughed, and dust flew off her lips, revealing cracks of pink. “You don’t have to act strong for me now Elsa. It’s all over, you can let go now.”
That was all Elsa needed to hear. At the sound of those words, the queen released a quiet sob, clutching the girl closer. She could feel Tanya’s shallow breath on her neck, as she brushed one hand through the smooth hair.
“You always act so strong and put together around me,” Tanya paused to cough, and spots of dark blood flew out. “But it’s okay to let the chains off once in a while.” It was clearly supposed to be a joke, a feeble one at that. But Elsa was not in the disposition to be humored.
“Like I’m your prisoner, everything I do is my choice.”
“It was a joke,” Tanya smiled, barely. “You can be so serious,” the girl stroked the blonde’s rosy cheek.
“I’m only being serious because I care.”
“I know,” there was serenity in her voice.
“Once everything is in order in Aldyn, you can come back to Arendelle with me. I’ll introduce you to Anna, Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf, my family. Oh it will be so much fun, we will go on sleigh rides in the winter, and have picnics in the summer.” Elsa knew she sounded identical to her sister when she rambled. “We can take walks through the rose garden, which always smells so fragrant. On rainy days, I can even teach you how to play piano, remember? There are so many things we have to do toge-”
“Elsa.”
Just the sound of her name brought the queen back to reality.
“That sounds… nice. I’d like that.”
“It will be so wonderful, especially with you there. We’re going to create so many memories and go on adventures...”
“Be brave for me.”
“What are you saying?” Tear drops from Elsa’s eyes spattered on the concreate.
“We already had so many memories together, ones that I hold dear in my heart. I’ll never forget them.” She looked radiant, saying her words without missing a beat. “You’re more than a friend to me.”
“No, please stay with me. Please…” The queen could not even say Tanya’s name. “I promised to save you.”
“You already have.”
Elsa did not know how to respond.
“I need to tell you something,” Tanya’s words were breaking.
“I’ll always be here when you do.”
“What I’ve wanted to say for a while is that I-” But with closed eyes, she went silent, without finishing her sentence.
No.
NO.
“No,” it was the only word which passed through Elsa’s head. The word of refusal. Zombie-like, she set Tanya’s still body down, and curled up with both arms covering her head.
There was only one other time in her life, where she had wept as furiously, to isolated to hear the footsteps behind her.
“You.”
It was Aldyn’s royal prince, somehow released from his glacial imprisonment.
Elsa’s entire world was cutting in and out, in stop motion. How did he manage to escape?
“Because of you, the whole city is in flames! Frelliya and I had this under control, and could have vanquished the firebird, as was the plan. But you had to barge in ruin everything!”
“I ruined everything..?” She stoically said. Prince Anton kept on yelling, spewing venom. But as if in a trance, Elsa did not catch any of his words. It was until he grasped the hilt of his rapier, when she became responsive.
“Now that Frelliya’s king has expired by your hand, I will just have to take care of matters myself!” With a flash of silver, Anton sliced through the air. Elsa moved out of the way in the nick of time, dodging his blade with precision. It was just the two of them in the abandoned courtyard. There was nothing she could protect herself with as a shield, though she did manage to equip a sword to her uniform. She unsheathed the blade, unconfidently. Never was she trained before in the art of the sword.
“Stop moving and succumb before me! Why do you choose not to use your despicable powers?”
Blocking a strong swing, she stumbled and regained her wide stance. Each blow seemed to make contact like a brick to the face. He was far too skilled, and surpassed her knowledge of the blade by a mile. There was no way she stood any chance.
A fast movement by Anton’s hand, made her light sword fly away to the side, clanging to the ground. Elsa lost balance and fell backwards, with wide eyes.
“This is it, Queen Elsa of Arendelle. You will hinder me no longer in my quest for domination!”
Elsa stuck her hands out in retaliation, a habit she picked up when utilizing her previous powers as a defense mechanism. She prayed that in this moment they would come back to her.
Like a strike of lightning, a cold blast was sent through the air, blowing her back. Immediately looking at her hands with palms turned around, she did not understand. She did not summon the ice.
Fusing into Anton, piercing his stomach with its sharp beak, was the ice sparrow she had created with Tanya along the bluff.
The prince let out a gurgle, “You can’t win this Queen of Arendelle, I won’t allow you to.” But the fusing beings grew brighter as the ice bird entered his form. Unable to withstand its magical properties, Anton turned into an ice sculpture, and was no more. Rather than calling forth her powers, they were used by an indirect method and purpose. The sculpture’s form caught every detail and wrinkle, engraved forever in ice. As soon as the ice completely froze, it cracked on its own and shattered in pieces. There was no way he would be able to turn back.
Elsa did not want him to die, but at that point it could no longer be reversed. There were many questions she would have interrogated him with, but those answers ceased to exist now.
“Oh Elsa, I’m so glad you’re alive!”
A new voice, coming from behind them. Standing next to the mangy reindeer and magical snowman was her sister Anna. What was she doing here?
The redhead frantically ran over and wrapped her freckled arms around her older sister. Sven and Olaf followed suit.
“Man, you should have seen what happened! You were awesome! The firebird sent this huge bright beam of fire, and you reflected it, casting it back with your powers. You sent up this pitch black blast of ice, which totally tore apart its magic, and blew up in its face. It was one of the coolest things I’ve never seen you do before!”
Elsa looked down at the palm of her right hand.
“It hit him directly, and sent him flying down like a meteor. Once it hit the ground, it exploded in black cloud, raining ash everywhere! You don’t know how relieved I am that your powers shielded you from the surge. I thought, for surely I was going to lose you.” There was terror in Anna’s eyes. Though doing best to mask the fact she was scared for her life, Elsa could easily see past it. It was just like Anna to focus on the good aspects. Not only had she lost Tanya, she almost lost her sister and friends as well.
“Why didn’t you turn back at the mountains?” the queen asked sternly.
“I couldn’t just watch you suffer down there, you should have seen it from where we were. It was awful!”
“But you risked your life and your kingdom.”
“But so did you,” Anna pointed out, which was true. Elsa had risked her life, and come very close to dying. Part of her was ashamed to be still alive, and wished the firebird had claimed her as well.
“Only because I… made a promise,” looking over towards Tanya’s body, Anna copied her sister. With a look of astonishment, Anna remembered the reason why Elsa was there in the first place.
“Is she..?”
Elsa did not answer. She did not want to. Wanting to disappear, she placed both palms on the floor. Forever she would be trapped in this moment.
“Everyone is evacuated now,” a random male voice interrupted the moment. They were the last people Elsa wanted to see.
“Hey,” Anna placed a hand on the queen’s shoulder. “I had help from these men. We successfully got everyone out in time, before the city burned down.” She saw Elsa furrow her eyebrows, and she added, “They’re not bad people.”
“They were the men who kidnapped me and Tanya. That’s why we were missing so long in the first place,” Elsa said emotionlessly.
“Wait, what? Are you serious!?”
“Hey, we were only doing what we were told to do!” One of the pirates butted in.
“Yeah! It was our job, nothing personal,” another pirate spoke, holding up both hands, as if indicating his hands were clean. “The prince promised to pay us a large fortune. Now that he’s gone and can’t pay up, the contract is cancelled.”
“And because we failed our job, and let the prisoners escape. Our captain was captured by Aldyn and thrown in prison. We came all this this way to save him, but for nothing. There was no way he could have survived that blast. The city and castle sure did not.”
“That’s no reason to go kidnapping people!” Anna was enraged like a firecracker, ready to blow up.
Even if they assisted with emptying the city, it did not award them with any excuse. However, Elsa was no better. Her own actions had sunk their ship, accidently killing members of their crew. Not only that, but she could not even save the girl she loved. Now with Aldyn’s collapse, probably many more by her hand. She did not know if she could ever forgive the pirate crew, but it would be hypocritical if she claimed them as evil people. Knowing all too well her own dirt, she was in no condition to judge them.
“Let them go Anna.”
“But, it’s not okay what they did to you and Tanya!”
“Please, I don’t want to think about them again.”
Anna looked down at Olaf, and then looked at Sven. They were watching her, waiting for her reply. Anna sighed. “Okay fine, I suppose you should have the final call,” she grumbled, still not pleased. The pirates looked at each other and simply walked off. After what they had witnessed, there was no way they would think of trying anything funny behind their backs. Despite that Elsa’s powers were no more, they had no clue. Elsa did not care about which way they went, as long as it was nowhere near her, or her friends.
Sven nudged the two girls with his nuzzle, breaking them apart. Could Elsa not just retreat within herself, without someone demanding her attention? Already she had lost so much.
“What’s happening? Why has your flurry disappeared?” Anna exclaimed loudly, hands falling on Olaf’s shoulders. The snowman was starting to melt.
“Um, I don’t know?” he said worried. “Hey Elsa, think you could give me a hand?”
“My powers are gone,” she revealed. The other three gasped. “It makes sense, really. Even when I wasn’t using them, they still functioned like a life support, keeping him alive.”
“So what you’re saying is going to melt,” Olaf finished.
“That’s what you think. I’m not going to let you to melt,” Anna folded her arms around her friend.
“It’s alright Anna. I will never be truly gone, as long as you love each other, and remember the fun we had.”
There was nothing more for Anna to hold. Within seconds due to Anna’s body heat and the surrounding hot hair, Olaf melted into a large puddle. The water that used to be Olaf evaporated visibly, almost ghost-like into the air. There were tears in both sisters’ eyes. Sven even let a few tears go, and he never cried.
Elsa couldn’t tell if it was the tears clouding her vision, or if there was in fact a twinkling light growing closer. Examining the sky closer, she could see it was on fire.
The firebird?
It was not. Instead of a booming voice, the object let out a soft chirping noise. It was Tanya’s bird she had made with her powers. How was it still alive, if Tanya was not? After all, her… dear friend melted when her ice powers vanished. A thought occurred to the queen.
Moving back over to the princess, she pressed two fingers between Tanya’s neck and jawline. She jumped when she felt a beat from the body.
Tanya’s still alive!
Everything came together for Elsa. The girl needed medical attention now. Spinning around, she ordered, “Anna find a doctor, quickly!”
In no mood to be questioning Elsa, Anna got on Sven’s back, and rode off. Tanya was going to be okay. They were going to save her.
The chirping grew louder, and the bird made from fire soared gracefully down, circling the duo. Elsa stuck out her index finger as a mock perch, invitingly. Yet the bird did not stop for the queen. Like the bird made from ice, it pierced Tanya’s body with its beak. Entering inside the form with a flash, it returned to its source.
Tanya’s unnaturally cold skin gained a healthy glow, and warmed under Elsa’s hand. Slowly two eyelids fluttered open.
“What happened?” The queen could make out the almost audible moan.
“You shouldn’t talk right now,” Elsa traced the scar on her cheek. “You’ve been through a lot. Anna’s going to find help right now.”
“Mhmm,” closing her eyes again, Tanya flexed her mouth into a smile. Her heartbeat was back. When Tanya died, she had not used the last of her power. It was spent to revive her. A healing flame. The girl’s powers were not intended for death. Instead they were meant to bring life and vitality.
From the cinders, a gentle glow appeared next to Tanya, which made a beautiful melody. Poking its small head out, scanning the area, was the firebird. No, it wasn’t the firebird, at least not the one Elsa had fought against. This one appeared to be a chick, though fully capable of stretching its wings.
“It was reborn, just like the stories have told,” Tanya whispered.
With another peep, the resurrected firebird zoomed out of the ashes, high into the sky. Soaring in the sky across the city, dust fell off its long tail feathers. Immediately at contact, it miraculously doused all surrounding embers and fires, putting them out. Beneath her knees, a shifting was felt below. Small peeks of green grew between the cracks of the courtyard floor. Plants and foliage sprung up from the ground, spreading all over the city. It covered the rubble in a layer of emerald green. The heavy air dispelled making it easier to breathe.
It was if they suddenly were transported into another world.
“It’s beautiful,” Tanya arced her head. “I never thought the firebird was capable of giving life. The prophecy was not only a prison not only to me, but to it as well.”
“And now you can both live the lives you were meant to. In peace.” Elsa smiled big which smudged the coal on her face, and brushed Tanya’s hair back.
Disregarding Elsa’s suggestion to rest, Tanya wrapped both arms around the queen’s neck. She pulled herself up, and buried her face into the nook of the light blonde’s bare shoulder. Their fingers intertwined, and could feel each other’s heartbeats. Elsa was so thankful for that. Never had the queen felt this degree of love and sadness at the same time. She had lost a friend and her life was a complete mess. But she had met the love of her life, and discovered herself in the process. And she was overwhelmed.
Red lips kissed the top of the princess’ forehead, and Elsa closed her eyes. She loved her, so much.