Warning: Torture.

Chapter 31:

"Sir, we found something." A young woman dressed in a suit said as she entered a massive office as white and tidy as it could get. The person she had been talking to was currently siting on a swivel chair, facing towards the window.

"I do hope it's not another false alarm, like the last time." He remarked, not bothering to turn and look at her. She clenched her jaw, realizing he was referring to her past mission when she had been completely fooled by that couple and their thug-like friends and had ended up losing the trail. But this time she was sure.

"It's not." She said confident. "It's about Elsa Arendelle." At this, the chair rotated, revealing an old little man with a grey toupee on top of his head, his eyes shining with interest.

"Very well, what do you have?" Having her boss' approval, she handed him her tablet and pressed into the screen to play a video. It was an interview, apparently from some news television program, in which an incredibly pale woman was shown, smiling in front of her ice-cream shop and showing amazingly detailed sculptures, varying in size and forms, and even colors. The interview even said they lasted longer than the normal ice-sculptures thanks to a secret formula they had invented. The man raised an eyebrow, interested.

"There's more." She added as she paused the video and showed him a local newspaper article. "I investigated that town's archive and, apparently, three months ago there was a small celebration in honor to the legendary ice queen, and the same girl, Elsa Winters, won the title of snow queen. The article said she expressed not to be bothered by cold."

"And you think this 'Elsa winters' is the Elsa we're looking for." Her boss stated and she nodded. "I agree. She didn't even bother to alter her first name. Well done."

"Do we have your permission to go collect her?" She asked, glad to hear her boss' approval.

"You'll leave at sunset." He nodded. "And make sure to be as sneaky as possible. We don't need any scandals."

Meanwhile, Anna and Elsa slept peacefully, unaware of the plans made by others to ruin their calm life. All had been going well the past three months, from the strong love they felt for each other, to the ever-growing success of their business (they had even held an interview a couple of days ago for some television program), and each day was for them like living in a fairy tale. They felt safe and comfortable in their new home and with their new way of life, that's why Elsa didn't suspect anything when she woke up to the sound of someone knocking at their door.

The blonde yawned and rubbed her eyes before picking up Anna's phone and realizing it was only three in the morning. She frowned, wondering who would visit at that hour, but figured it was better to go and investigate.

Careful not to wake Anna up she slid out of bed, put on her nightgown and climbed down the stairs to the front door, grabbing the keys from the table on her way, and unlocking it before taking a peek from a small opening to see who it was. She distinguished a woman and a man, both dressed in suits, but she had never seen them before.

"Who are you?" She asked, but they didn't reply; the man raised a hand in front of her face and suddenly there was a strange smell invading her nose. She tried to close the door but suddenly her eyelids felt heavy and her vision started to fade. Before she could scream for help, everything went black and she fell to the ground.

"That was almost too easy." The man said. "I was expecting something more exiting when the boss sent us to capture the Snow Queen."

"What's important is that we got her." The woman chastised him. "Besides, he wouldn't want there to be an scandal about this. Now pick her up and let's go." The man nodded before walking to a parked car, opening the back door and putting her inside.–Wait, you forgot the handcuffs.

"Is that really necessary? She doesn't seem like much of a treat."

"Boss' orders." She simply said and he sighed before going to open the trunk and getting out a pair of large metal cuffs. However, he hadn't thought they'd be so heavy, and so they fell to the ground, making a loud noise. "You idiot!" She yelled. "You want us to get caught?"

"No one heard." He brushed it off and went to put the handcuffs on Elsa's hands, realizing they were large enough to cover entirely the girl's forearms. "Why are they so long?"

"The largest the strongest, I guess." She shrugged and started the car. "Let's get going. We don't want her to wake up during the ride, do we?" The man nodded, closed the back door and got into the passenger sit, before the car rode off towards an uncertain destination.

Anna woke up when she heard a metallic sound out of the window, but she figured it was just some drunk person bumping into a trash can, so she tried to sleep, snuggling closer to her lover… only to realize that she wasn't there. The redhead opened her eyes, the moonlight filtering through the curtains letting her see that she was alone in bed. She got up quickly, realizing it was far too early for Elsa to have woken up already, and the bathroom door was open, so she hadn't gone there either. Panicking, she looked out of the window to find out what had woken her up, and was able to see a black car parked in front of their house and two suspicious people getting inside it.

No wasting a minute, Anna ran downstairs, her heart racing when she noticed the front door was slightly opened. She got into the street just in time to see the car leaving, having no doubt they had somehow taken Elsa.

"Stop!" She screamed as she ran after the car even though she knew they were not going to listen. "Wait!" She felt tears of frustration and fear running down her cheeks, but she kept running, even after the automobile had disappeared from her sight. She was now regretting not having bought a car. "Don't take her away from me." She said lamely as she collapsed into the ground crying, because she had no doubt it had been Weselton's men the ones who took her. She had promised Elsa she'd protect her, but she had failed; they had felt so safe living a calm life in that small town that she had forgotten Weselton was probably still after them. Why did Elsa go out in the middle of the night? Why hadn't she woken her up? She could've done something then.

"Hey! Are you okay?" Anna heard a voice behind her and quickly turned around wiping her tears, only to discover a car beside her and a man with half of his face covered by a scarf driving it. "Anna?" The man asked and in that instant Anna recognized that voice, but… it was impossible, right? Except that a moment later he took off the scarf and Eugene's face was revealed.

"Eugene?!" She exclaimed surprised.

"Oh no." He said with dread once he realized that indeed he was standing in front of his old friend. "They took Elsa, didn't they?"

"How…?" Anna tried to ask, but she was soon cut off.

"No time to explain." He said as he opened the passenger's door. "Get in, we have to follow them!"

Not wasting any more time Anna jumped into the seat and quickly wiped her tears as Eugene chased the other car. She had no idea how he had gotten there, but she wasn't going to complain. The only thing that worried her was that Rapunzel wasn't with him, but she didn't wanted to distract him from the road, even if she was truly intrigued about how the heck his cellphone registering the exact position of the other car in the GPS.

"You can ask." Eugene sighed. "I know you have lots of questions."

"Why are you here?" Was the first thing that came to her mind.

"I was following them."

"But WHY?! They hadn't even captured Elsa, right? Heck, you didn't even know it was Elsa!"

Seriously, did he wanted to commit suicide or something?

"I've been following Weselton's men for months, just like they'd been following me before that." He suddenly sounded sad. "They took Rapunzel." He admitted, his voice wavering. New tears formed into Anna's eyes at the news, as he placed a hand in her friend's shoulder to comfort him.

"Don't worry. We'll find them." She assured him.

"I do hope so. They captured her at the end of November, while I had gotten out of our underground bunker to keep them from entering. But they somehow managed to get in from another tunnel I didn't even knew existed until them. I tried to follow them, but I was left unconscious and they disappeared.

"Wait, slow down!" Anna protested. "Bunker? Tunnels? What on earth are you talking about?"

"Remember my friends from the Ugly Duckling? Well, they used to be criminals… until Rapunzel convinced them to follow more innocent dreams than dealing with drugs or stealing things." He chuckled. "But under the bar there's still a labyrinth of tunnels that connect to various bunkers in the state, meant to hide illegal things and escape from the police." He paused. "We lost all of our stuff while trying to escape from Weselton's men, since apparently they were more interested in catching Rapunzel than Elsa, but we managed to get to the Ugly Duckling and ask for help. They let us stayed in one of the bunkers and set up a distraction in some town at the other end of the country to trick Weselton's servants into think we were there, but…" Eugene sighed. "Rapunzel got pregnant."

"WHAT?! What the fuck Eugene! Don't you know how to use condoms?!" Anna berated him, annoyed that he had put her friend in that position. Being pregnant in a bunker fearing a group of people who want to capture you and experiment on you can never be fun.

"Calm down feisty pants." He answered glaring at her. "We just didn't know the condoms in that bunker had been there for too long. I obviously didn't want her to get pregnant either, not while we were in that situation, but… she did and we couldn't just ignore it, much less when she had some bleedings that were obviously not normal." He rubbed his eyes, as if just narrating what had happened exhausted him. "That's why we decided to go to the hospital and get her checked, but apparently Weselton's men hadn't given up and followed us when we returned to our bunker. Two days later they attacked." Eugene sniffed, and it was clear that he was trying hard not to cry.

"Hey, I'm sorry that I asked." Anna tried to comfort him by rubbing soothing circles in his shoulder, but truly, she was almost as devastated. "But we will find them, and then we'll both beat the shit out of Weaseltown."

"If I see him, I'll kill him." Eugene answered darkly. "He'll regret having ever taken the love of my life."

Anna didn't answer, but she related far too well to that feeling. However, now they needed to focus on following Weselton's accomplices, because hopefully, they'd lead them to their base.

*WARNING*

Elsa woke up when someone shook her roughly. She opened her eyes and quickly tried to use her powers to defend herself from the aggressor, since she remembered the circumstances that had made her lose consciousness. However, as soon as the ice got out of her fingers, a too familiar sensation invaded her. The ice pierced her skin and crawled up her arms, making her let out a pained cry.

"Ah, ah. No magic." Said a man's voice above her. Elsa looked up to him and found out that he was the same man who had knocked at her door in the middle of the night. The same who had kidnapped her. "Those shackles will prevent you from using your hellish powers. I think you're already used to them?" Elsa glared at him, understanding he must be part of Weaseltown's group. However, she didn't say anything nor tried to escape, since she was terrified on the inside. She didn't want to see that old man who had caused her so much suffering again. "Now, follow me and don't put any resistance, or you'll be punished accordingly."

The man tugged on her chains and she didn't have any options but to get out of the car and follow close behind as he lead her through what looked like an underground parking lot to a metal door where a woman was expecting them.

"It took you too long." She berated him.

"It's not my fault. The narcotic you gave me was too damn strong; she wouldn't wake up."

"Well, then you should've carried her." She said exasperated. "Anyways, I'll go inform the boss about our successful capture. You go put her in a cell." He nodded and the woman, after opening the door with a special card, went into an elevator and disappeared. The man, on the other hand, tugged roughly at Elsa's chains and led her down the corridor. A very familiar corridor that smelled like hospital and had a white and cold light that made you feel like you'd prefer darkness. It was Weaseltown's lab.

Elsa shuddered and her legs started trembling at the memories that came to her mind. She had suffered too much in that place when she was little, and did not intended to repeat the experience. But how could she get out of there? She could not use her powers and the metal doors they'd left behind were too strong to be opened otherwise, unless you had the card. She could try to take down that man walking beside her, but unlike Anna, she didn't have almost any physical strength and he was way taller and bulky than her, not to mention she didn't know how to fight. Besides, they probably weren't the only people in there, and so as soon as he asked for help, she'd be outnumbered by his companions and would be punished. She shuddered at the thought. Definitely her best chance was to wait and hope an opportunity to escape would present itself in time. She just needed to be strong and to resist.

That's easier said than done.

They descended a couple of stairs (each escorted by two guards with guns) and arrived to an even darker area full of heavy metal doors, all to be opened only by the card each of Weselton's men possessed. At the end of the large corridor was an especially big pair of doors in top of which hanged a sign that read "authorized personal only". Elsa wondered what could be behind them; after all she'd never seen this place before.

Suddenly, they stopped in front of one of the normal doors, which the man opened before pushing Elsa inside, making her stumble and fall. The man kneeled before her and started working on her chains, apparently trying to unite them with others that were anchored to the ground. Elsa sighed; this was probably going to be exactly as her life before her parent's death. However, she was pulled out of her thoughts when she saw a small figure behind the man. It was a little girl, probably no more than three years old, with astounding grey eyes and pale hair that seemed to shine with different colors each time she moved. She was dressed in rags, but they weren't able to conceal her miserable state; she probably hadn't eaten properly in months. Elsa's heart broke at the sight, knowing too well what she must be doing there and how much she must have suffered since she arrived, but she didn't have time to dwell too much on it, as the little girl moved towards the door. A door the man had left half open.

Elsa's heart started beating with force, since she was sure this wouldn't end well. On one hand, she desperately wanted the girl to escape, but on the other, she knew she wouldn't make it far, with all the guards posted at the stairs and the many doors that had to be opened with a card. And when they found out she escaped, they'd undoubtedly punish her. And Elsa really didn't want her to be punished.

"What are you looking at?" The man's thundering voice got her out of her thoughts and she looked at him with a panicked expression. She wanted to answer that she wasn't looking at anything, to keep him distracted, but in that moment he turned around and looked at the little girl who was just about to exit the cell. "What do you think you're doing?!" He yelled, making the girl flinch and try to run away, but he was faster and soon managed to grab her collar and shove her back inside. The girl landed in her rear and looked at him fearfully. "Were you trying to escape, little monster?" He snarled. "Do you have any idea what Weselton would've done to me if you managed to get away?! You shall be punished!" The girl could only shake her head terrified, her pleading eyes already wet with tears, but this didn't even faze the man, who was soon freeing a whip from his belt.

Elsa watched all this with horror, too terrified to interfere. She knew what was coming next, but she couldn't watch. It was all too similar to what she had lived in her childhood, when her father beat her and Weaseltown experimented on her. She wanted to just close her eyes and curl up in a ball, forget about where she was and about the little girl about to be whipped. But she couldn't. She couldn't just leave her at his mercy. She had to do something, even if she was too terrified to even move a hand.

As he raised his hand to give the first strike to the terrified girl, Elsa came to a resolution.

Without thinking it twice, she jumped between the man and the girl, encircling her with her arms and protecting her with her body. One second later, she felt sharp pain in her back and found herself screaming in pain. She was trembling, but she didn't care, because the little girl below her needed her protection.

"You want to protect her?" The man laughed. "Or are you just that eager to get what you deserve?" He added wickedly. "Either way, for interfering in the punishment of a captive, you'll get twice as many strikes as those meant for her."

Elsa shut her eyes tight and tensed, anticipating what would come next.

The second strike hit her and she clenched her jaw, preventing herself from screaming; she didn't want to give him the satisfaction. She kept strong the next five hits, but at the sixth one, she let out a strangled cry. Her back felt like it was burning. However, she suddenly felt the girl press closer to her, burying her face into her chest, providing her with warmth and making her resolution to get stronger. The girl was trembling and crying, probably as terrified as her or more. She needed her and she wasn't going to disappoint her.

Elsa endured twelve more strikes before the torture was over and the man, after uttering some degrading remark she didn't bother to listen, left. As soon as she heard the door closing, Elsa opened her eyes slowly and looked down to the girl who was currently in her arms.

"A-are you okay?" Elsa asked, barely being able to talk due to the pain she was feeling. The girl nodded but kept crying, placing her little hands in Elsa's arms and pulling herself closer to the woman. "Good." Elsa smiled, because in that moment all that mattered to her was the girl's safety.

"Why you do it?" The girl asked in a small voice.

"Why did I save you?" Elsa said, surprised that she'd ask something like that. The girl nodded. "Well… To be honest I didn't really thought about it." She answered truthfully. "But… I think it was because… you remind me of myself." She admitted with a sad voice. "You reminded of those times when I was little and Weselton would hurt me and my father would hit me… and all I wished was for someone to come to my rescue, to save me for once from the pain… but no one ever did and I fell into despair." She started sobbing at the memory of all the pain of the past. "I didn't want you to go through that too." She added as she started to sob, and the girl pulled herself even closer to her, as if she was trying to give her some comfort.

"Thank you." She said with gratefulness clear in her voice, and Elsa's heart melted at this. All the pain she had endured for her was definitely worth it.

Eugene stopped in a street near to a building that seemed to be abandoned from the outside and frowned, checking again her GPS.

"Uh… Are you sure it's here?" Anna asked, uncertainty clear on her voice.

"That's what the GPS says." He answered, his voice showing just as much doubt.

"Maybe they realized we were following them and threw here the chip you put in their car."

"Maybe…" He answered worried. They had come so far, they had driven for hours and even crossed borders, arriving to the country of Arendelle, and they were going to be outsmarted so easily? Eugene wanted to scream, get out of the car and start kicking whatever came close to him, but in that moment, they saw a car coming from a nearby street, driving straight towards the abandoned building. They looked at it puzzled, glad that they had had enough vision to park a little far away, in an alley concealed by shadows. They then watched intently as the ground next to the building descended a little before revealing a secret entrance, which the car drove into.

"So they are really here." Anna said, hope returning to her. "Come on, let's figure out how to get in there." She was about to open the door and get out of the car, when Eugene took her hand.

"Wait." He said. "I don't think we'll be able to do this alone. We should call the police and attack only when they arrive. Besides, we need a plan before even attempting to enter."

Anna hated to admit it, but for once Eugene was right.

"Alright. You call the local police. I'll call Kristoff, maybe he can give us some support." Eugene nodded and got his cellphone (not the same he had had before the attack, but another one since he had lost it when he had fled) as Anna did the same. As it sounded, she glared at the building under which Elsa was being held prisoner. She wasn't going to let them take her away from her, or to hurt her. She would rescue her, even if it was the last thing she did.