Back in Black (sequel to Ice Cold)

Chapter Five

The four guardians stood in the living room in Elsa's apartment, looking around.

"All the lights are off," Tooth observed. "Perhaps she's already gone to bed."

"I will go check," North said, beginning to walk down the hallway and disappearing into the first room to his right. There was a crash and a "humph", then North reemerged from the room. "That was storage closet, not bedroom." He turned to the next door and opened it. His eyes scanned the small room. A bed and nightstand laid to his right, and a dresser on his left. He approached the bed, only to find it empty.

"She's not here." The guardians exchanged glances.

"But I don't understand. She should be here. Baby tooth said she saw Elsa coming back here an hour ago..." Tooth fluttered around the room in a panic.

"Where else could she have gone?"

***

When Elsa awoke she sat alone in the corner of a small dark room. She opened her eyes and slowly began to sit up. Her head began to spin, making her cringe and grunt. She raised her hand to her head to find a large bruised spot on the side. She brushed her hands along her now tattered blue dress and ran her fingers through her messy blonde hair. She took a deep breath. She could feel the icy fear rising up inside of her.

"Conceal, Elsa. Don't feel." she whispered to herself. Her blue eyes scanned the room. Where was she?

A deep laugh echoed through the room. "Oh poor Elsa," the voice said. Elsa cowered against the wall.

"W-who's there?"

The laugh sounded again. "A friend," it said, though it sounded all but friendly. "Poor little Elsa. So alone with those icy powers you've tried so hard to ignore."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Elsa said, but her voice began to falter.

"You can't hide from me. I know a lot about you, Elsa. There's something was missing from your life. Past memories you couldn't retrieve, an inexplicably missing past," the voice said. Elsa stayed silent, her heart pounding. "I know about your ice powers, too."

"I don't know what you mean," Elsa tried to lie, but she couldn't hide it. A small sheet of frost began to spread from the ground underneath her. She gasped in horror. Conceal... conceal... conceal...

"I know who you are, Elsa. I know the past that you don't. I can tell you everything. And I can tell you who is responsible for this." A figure emerged from the shadows. He was tall and dark with an ominous smirk painted on his face.

"Who are you?" Elsa asked.

"The name's Pitch. If you want to know what went wrong, why you feel so empty. Why you feel like you don't belong. If you want to know more about your ice powers. There's one thing you've got to do for me. Only one thing. One thing to the man who did this all to you."

"What do you want?"

"Kill Jack Frost."