Chapter 6: Darkness Visible

I am always here.

Her head felt hot. It was somewhere inside, a hot coal – no, a parasite, a worm, squirming within the soft tissues of her brain. Anna felt hot and feverish but stronger than she had in months. Desperation lent strength to her limbs and she half-stumbled, half-flailed, falling out of bed and almost managing to stand for one brief moment; then her legs gave out and she collapsed once more, her ragged breaths breaking into a dull, asthmatic wheeze. Through the darkness of night and the haze marring her vision, her gaze went to the wheelchair lying at the corner of the room. Without conscious thought she crawled to it. Swung her arm up so she could reach, dug her fingers into the seat to drag herself up. She was out the door within seconds.

I need to leave. I need to get out of here before I hurt anyone, before I hurt her again—

Anna pushed past the castle doors and exited to the courtyard, feeling the night air but somehow not registering its chill. She could tell it was cold. She could only feel that dark heat throbbing inside her brain, pulsing like an erupted artery. Her hands moved on instinct, wheeling her farther and farther away from the castle and away from Elsa. As long as she put distance between them, then Elsa would be safe. She couldn't hurt her as long as she stayed away, couldn't rip her heart out, couldn't burn her skin, couldn't strike her ship with lightning and leave her to die.

I need to leave.

Where was she headed? Anna found herself in the marketplace, deserted at this time of night, and she kept moving. At the sight of the docks, she briefly considered pitching herself off the edge; with her legs disabled and no one else around, she would surely drown. If she were dead, then she couldn't hurt anyone. It would be so easy…

But there was someone else, standing so perfectly still that they could be one of the stone gargoyles at the castle, and the moonlight glinted off their metal face—

It's that mask.

Anna had felt fear but she hadn't known terror until she saw that mask again, so cruelly curved and tainted with red. For a moment she was certain that her heart stopped. She was certain that she would die, but then her heart redoubled its efforts as though it couldn't bear to part with life even as she craved sweet release. Anna sat still, gripping her wheelchair with shaking hands as she watched that figure standing at the docks.

"Wh…Who are you?" Anna asked.

Even the way they cocked their head to side was reminiscent of him, and Anna flinched. It resembled herself too, at one point, and for a moment she imagined it was her face under that mask. Just like her dream.

When the person spoke, it was a female voice. "You are our sister and our prophet," she said. "I'm here to bring you home. I'm here so you can finish what you started."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." When the masked woman took a step forward, Anna pressed her back into her seat. "Please. St-Stay away. I don't want to hurt you too, please, just stay back—"

"You can't hurt me."

"Yes, I can, I hurt people without even realizing," Anna said, as her heart beat ever faster and the heat in her head grew into a roaring flame. "I've hurt people before—"

"You can't hurt me," the woman said again, and this time, she outstretched her hand, palm up. Dark fire curled around her fingers like a snake, spitting purple sparks into the night. "Come with me. Now, Anna."

And Anna snapped.

She screamed, and as the heat built to a crescendo, as her arms flew from the sides of her wheelchair to hide her face, fire erupted from her hands. Anna was pushed back from the force of her own magic – not hers, never hers – and vaguely heard the other woman release a low grunt of surprise before she reached out and caught the fire in her own hands. She struggled briefly as the arc of flame pushed against her grip. Her heel dug into the ground, and still she inched towards the edge of the water. Anna wondered if she should run. Yes, she decided, but her body wouldn't move. She stayed and watched as the masked woman struggled. Just before she would fall, she thrust her arms skyward and the fire followed suit, puttering out into the air like smoke. Her sleeves were ruined, and her skin was burned a mottled red and yellow; but before Anna's eyes, the wounds began to heal.

"Who are you?" Anna cried.

"You're going to come with me."

Anna had no strength left in her to resist, and she did nothing as the masked woman approached, seemingly unangered by her attack. She didn't bother to wipe the tears from her face, though she doubted she could have even if she were so inclined; her limbs felt limp. Whatever had been in her head had dissipated, and in the vacuum was left a withering cold. She did nothing as the woman at last stood inches away from her, hand outstretched.

But the woman snatched her hand back as a sword cut through the empty space she had left behind, and Anna felt herself yanked backwards to be greeted by a familiar face. It felt like something out of a dream. Everything was happening too fast. Was this even real…?

"I'll take care of this," Alek said, and Anna had no time to even process his appearance before he turned to the masked woman, practically snarling as he drew a second sword shorter than the first in his offhand. "Morgan. You stay the hell away from Anna."

"Here for a rematch?" asked the masked woman – Morgan – and her voice at last broke from its cool monotone. Amusement. Dismissal. She crouched, hand flying to the sword at her side, but the battle that Anna feared would break out never did. Instead Morgan perked up her head, as though she was listening to something, and almost reluctantly, she straightened. "Another time. Be glad that I'm leaving—Aidan wouldn't have been here to save you again." Alek rushed forward just in time to swing his sword for her head, but Morgan leapt backwards and, figure half-melted into shadows, swept away.

Alek cursed and made to pursue, but at Anna's quiet murmur of his name he turned back. His face froze. It was like he was seeing her for the first time.

"…Thanks," Anna said.

"…Yeah."

Anna, not quite looking directly at Alek, wouldn't know that he was avoiding her gaze as well. She belatedly realized that this was her first meeting with him since…since she had warped his mind and set him loose like a rabid dog. Her last real memory of him was his frozen statue, then his manic eyes as her magic violated his mind and soul. Even after he was freed and she was once again Anna, they had never spoken. It made sense that Alek wouldn't want to see her again.

"Anna!"

Elsa. Anna didn't need to turn to know that was Elsa running towards them, and she wanted to hide, to shrink away to nothing. It wasn't safe. Elsa wasn't safe. She needed to go. She needed to get as far away from her as possible.

"Where the hell were you just now?" Alek spat.

Elsa unwittingly glanced at her for a fraction of a second only, but Anna knew what she had done. She'd unconsciously bound Elsa with dark magic before she left. It was the only reason she had managed to leave at all. It was happening again. No, it had already happened. She had managed to hurt Elsa, again.

"And why are you here?"

"I left the Southern Isles as soon as I could," Alek said. "And then—"

"It doesn't matter." Elsa shoved him out of the way, and as she approached, Anna wished more than anything that she would stay away. Maybe it showed on her face. "Anna, what's wrong?"

"D-Don't…get any closer." Anna tried taking deep breaths. Instead they were shallow, quick, and she exhaled more air than she breathed. "I'm just – I'm going to – You need to stay away from me, please—"

"You didn't hurt me," Elsa said, as gently as she could, and Anna could appreciate the sentiment but she could also hear the panic edging into her voice, and she couldn't— She couldn't breathe.

"Magic—I have it—I don't know why, I want to get rid of it, Elsa—"

"Okay," Elsa said. "Okay, Anna. Okay. I understand, I know."

"Sol." Yes. She could go to Sol. Sol could heal her and fix all this, this mess. Anna seized Elsa by the arms. "Elsa, I need to go to Sol. She can help me. She has to help me, Elsa. Oh God, I need, I need help."

"Okay. I'll take you there, but Anna, please, you need to breathe." Elsa looked her in the eyes, and Anna could only see the deep blue depths. She gripped her tightly enough that it ought to hurt, but Elsa said nothing about pain. "Just breathe. Everything will be all right."

"Don't say that. You don't know that, don't, don't say—"

"Anna, Anna. Breathe. You're still here. I'm still here."

Anna could feel Alek watching, and she was embarrassed beyond words. She could already imagine his stricken expression. Maybe he would pity her, or maybe he would find her disgusting. She didn't dare to think about it. She just breathed. Like her life depended on it, and maybe it did, she breathed.

In.

Out.

"Tell me how to get to this Sol, and I'll guide you there," Elsa murmured. She turned to Alek. "Head to the castle and let them know. And…thank you."

Alek hesitated for only a moment before he nodded.

Elsa rose and took the handles of her wheelchair, and Anna closed her eyes as they began to move.

It was a disturbing thought that she would need to open them again.

"Why did you call me back?"

Brennus didn't respond. Morgan tore off her mask and flung it aside, dragging her hand through her hair as she began to pace the complex. It was a small, wretched place, but it was their base of operations for now. Rather stereotypical, if he had to judge. It was just the place to be a lair for outcast revolutionaries. All stained concrete and darkness, abandoned, out in the woods; but practical enough. Mani adored it anyhow, the way children claimed a hiding spot and loved it as their fortress.

Speaking of Mani…

She was sitting on the rooftop, her legs swinging back and forth over the ledge, and Taranis stood behind her as he often did, her silent sentinel. Taranis had been with her since she found them again, though Brennus knew nothing about where she had been, how she had met her guardian. Neither could he could make any presumption about what lay beneath her guise—the bandages that wrapped around her entire person, the tattered cloak that shrouded her even further. Brennus did remember the eleven-year-old brat from the orphanage. Bright-eyed, intelligent, talkative. Now she was a waif-like creature imprisoned in grey, purgatorial dress.

"Well, Brennus?" Morgan demanded.

Up on the roof, Mani was busily scribbling on a notepad, and Brennus motioned with his head for Morgan to look. Mani turned the notepad around, and scrawled in a childish hand was the message: Elsa was coming. Unsafe. I'd prefer if you didn't die! Yet. Heehee, just kidding, Morgan.

"I could have—"

"You couldn't have defeated Elsa," Brennus said. "None of us can. We'll have to bide our time for now."

"Know your place, girl," Taranis said, and Brennus gripped Morgan's arm to keep her from attacking him. It wouldn't end well. For Morgan. "I didn't take time to train you just so you could die."

That was what he said, but Brennus knew that Taranis wouldn't care if any one of them died. Save for Mani, he had no regard for anyone else. But to Brennus, Morgan was family. Morgan, Ayden, and Mani. Everyone from the orphanage. Even those who weren't with them anymore. They were always in his thoughts. They had earned that place when they saw the ropey scars that adorned his body – the angry streaks on his back and chest from a whip, the now-faded line across his cheek from a bottle thrown at his face – and they had not fled. They hadn't called him a monster like he believed himself to be, a patchwork of broken bones and torn skin knit together again. With them, he had found a home.

Mani leapt off the roof in a pirouette and landed in a bow, raising her arms and pivoting on her heel this way and that, like she was performing for an audience. She giggled soundlessly and then pranced towards the fields, picking at the flowers and weeds that grew around the complex. When she grew bored of her sport, she stomped through the rest and kicked them out in heavy plumes of dirt and roots.

Morgan watched for a while before she shook her head. "What are the others doing, exactly?"

"Just concentrate on Anna," Brennus said.

Taranis was acting on his own without regard for their goals, attacking locales at random, hurting innocent people, all for the sake of baiting out the Order; but Brennus had expected this recklessness from him. Compared to the rest of them, Taranis was not devoted to their goddess; Taranis was a tormented creature, scarred in mind and soul, and he only wanted revenge to soothe the sting of his wounds. It was such a small, petty cause that Brennus pitied him. But he, too, was doing his part, just as everyone was fighting for a better future. Brennus believed that the day would soon come that they became one with their god, the divine creature that now nestled in their hearts.

He could feel that dark heart pulsing inside him even now, flooding him with miasmic heat.

Then—

Howls erupted inside the building.

"Someone shut that thing up," Morgan said.

Mani perked up, scrawling in the air with her finger this time, and shadows bled into a message.

Oh, don't be mean. I'm sure he'll be helpful, once I break him in a little more. My own little pet! I've always wanted one.

She ambled inside the complex. Despite the cheeriness of the tune she hummed under her breath, her eyes had narrowed into cruel, reptilian slits. Before long the screams intensified, raw, throaty shrieks intermingled with the wet noises of tearing flesh and cracking bones—before they muffled, ceased entirely.

It was, admittedly, inhumane. Brennus knew that Ayden felt the same way, and the boy had beseeched Mani on multiple occasions to put that…thing…out of its misery. Morgan pretended to only be irritated by the noise, but she was the same way. Eira didn't care enough to even have an opinion about it all. Taranis seemed calmly satisfied and viewed the whole affair with clinical nonchalance.

But Mani was the only one to derive pleasure out of torturing it.

She was very different from the talkative little girl he had known, and Brennus wondered what had happened to her in the years of her disappearance. Even before the attack on Corona, Mani had vanished from the orphanage. Six years later she had resurfaced, completely bandaged, mute, and Brennus could hardly recognize her as the same person. But then, maybe none of them were recognizable anymore. In rare moments of lucidity, he knew he had changed too. Did it really matter, though? As long as he was given the power to protect his family, he could accept change.

He wasn't afraid anymore.

It had been a long time since he was a little boy at the mercy of his parents.

It had been a long time since he would try to beat the fear out of his bones, so he wouldn't be afraid. Punch his hand against the wall, so it would stop shaking. What an idiot he had been. He hadn't been wrong.

At last, Mani stepped out from the complex, blood drenching the bandages on her face and hands. She was carrying needles and thread. She motioned inside, then pointed to her eyes, and next her mouth. As her shoulders shook violently with soundless mirth, the haze left Brennus's mind for one precious second. When the heat fled from his body, he realized he felt horribly, horribly cold.

They were, all of them, broken.

What an imperfect world they lived in.

"…Brennus?"

"I'll tear down this rotten world."

Elsa barely knew what she was doing.

She felt that she ought to take Anna back to the castle, so she could rest, so she could just stay somewhere safe and lighted and not be outside in the dead of night, but the only way to calm her down had been to promise to take her to Sol. Every step she took felt like a mistake. But then, did she really know any other way to help? Even if she took Anna back, she had no idea what she could do. Maybe this Sol really could do something about this sudden magic. Maybe this would all be over once they arrived. Maybe. Elsa found it difficult to believe in miracles, and she believed even less in this unknown healer who just so happened to run into Anna on the very first day they arrived in Corona.

"We're getting close," Anna said. She still sounded breathless, but she could manage coherent sentences. She still flinched and avoided eye contact, but she could tolerate being in her presence. She wasn't trying to run from her for her sake anymore, and Elsa couldn't ask for any more than that. "It's down that road there, down to the valley."

"All right."

Elsa narrowed her eyes at the immaculate road, the silvery trees. She was sure it was meant to be beautiful, but in the night, the unnaturalness was so poignant that it made her skin crawl. Moonlight glanced off the silver wood and cast a pale white shine on the road like beckoning will-o-wisps. There was little chance these trees were alive, petrified in a state of perfection, growth stunted for fear that they might branch out the wrong way. There wasn't even a hint of wind on what should have been a crisp night, because nothing was permitted to ruin the perfection of the valley, the trees—the garden.

She guided Anna through the garden of flowers and took note of the sculpted valley walls, the deliberate waterways and stone paths. It was perfectly silent, perfectly still. In this blooming, verdant garden, there were no animals to be found. Not a single bee circling the flowers, nor even a single bird nesting in the trees. At the center of the valley, there was the cottage that Anna told her about. Sol's home, Anna had said. Sitting there in the middle of a pond that was more a moat, with only a single stone drawbridge path leading to its doors.

"Wait here," Elsa said, leaving Anna in the midst of the garden as she approached.

Everything was still.

She had barely taken two steps onto the stone path when the stillness exploded to life.

Elsa dropped to a crouch as the ground tremored under her feet, so jarringly powerful that she felt the bones vibrate in her skull and her teeth grind in her jaw. Up ahead, the entire path was rippling like a snake, and it warped in an instant. Thick granite spikes jutted out, completely, eerily silent, the stone shifting like liquid with life of its own. Elsa pushed herself up and leapt backwards once, twice, away from the pursuing stone. She could barely hear Anna yell for her to be careful through the blood pounding in her ears. As soon as she returned to the grassy field, the rose bushes, too, snapped to life. Petals bloomed open to reveal a gaping maw. Vines whipped outward and snared her wrist. Elsa motioned with her free hand, and even as the ice was forming she swung it through the tendrils. She flung away the vine stuck to her wrist, kicked at the still-squirming half that was writhing painfully on the ground.

"Anna, stay back!"

Now the roots were bursting through the earth, thick, knotted things that carved the earth as they grasped for her limbs. Elsa sliced through each one as they came, but they were tireless, inexorable. She was going to need to do something more drastic. Just as she came to that realization, Elsa shot out her hand—and seized the pile of roots. They slammed one after another into her palm, but she did not budge. Her magic surged through the wall of roots and froze them before they could ever hurt her skin; and once they were all trapped she closed her fist in a crushing motion, and the whole mass of entangled roots and vines exploded into fragments of ice.

Just as she was catching her breath, someone burst from the cottage.

Elsa dodged the blow to her face, seized the attacker by their throat, and slammed them to the ground.

Instantly the commotion ended. Stone spears melded into the flat path, vines wound themselves into bushes of flowers. Even the holes in the earth were filled by soil packing itself inwards.

"Elsa!" Anna rushed towards them, and before Elsa could tell her to stay back, she said, "Th-That's Sol."

She looked down at the brunette girl trapped beneath her hand – barely older than a child – but despite her position, Sol did not look afraid. Her eyes were wide, yes, but they met hers directly and were gleaming with excitement. Elsa relaxed her hold on her throat. She didn't move her hand away entirely.

"Why did you attack us?" Elsa asked.

"Just you," Sol said, before glancing towards Anna and smiling widely. "Can you really blame me, though? Of course I'll attack the conqueror and enslaver of my kingdom. You are a murderer, Queen Elsa."

Her accusation stung more than it should have, but the truth did that.

"You don't seem particularly angry," Elsa said.

Nor did it feel like Sol had been trying to kill her at all. People had tried to kill her before—Elsa could tell the difference. Certainly not many could come as close to being a threat, but Sol's attempt had felt…

Like she was testing the waters.

"You know…" Sol exhaled a small, shaking laugh that sounded practically rheumatic. Like she was sick, but still laughing through pain. "You really give me such bad vibes. I wonder what Anna sees in you."

"Sol," Anna said. "It's all right. Just…promise not to try that again, and Elsa will let you go, I promise. We didn't come here to hurt you, please. I – I need your help."

Like it was the most natural thing in the world, Sol nodded.

It went against every instinct in her body, but Elsa moved away and let Sol rise to her feet. Even as Sol backed away, gingerly massaging her throat, Elsa kept her gaze trained on her movements. She wasn't a threat. Her powers were impressive, but her motions were untrained; Elsa was confident she could subdue the girl at any time. There was little hint of her magic building into an attack. Her own magic would form an automatic defense if it was necessary. And at this distance, she could strike the girl with lightning before she ever moved from her spot. It was as close to safe as it could be.

So why was she still so on edge?

"I'd invite you two inside, but I think that might not be welcome right this second," Sol said. She was right. Elsa would sooner kill the girl than step foot inside her cottage. "Are you going to tell me why you're here in the middle of the night?"

"It's – I have to explain, I-I didn't tell you who I really was—"

"Princess Anna of Arendelle."

Anna jerked away, like she had been yanked back by thread and needle.

"It's not hard to guess after seeing Queen Elsa," Sol said, smiling again. "But…I knew from the moment I saw you at the marketplace. I hope you don't mind that I didn't say anything, but you can't really blame me when you didn't tell me either, right? You did look really lost, and I wanted to know your story."

"O-Of course."

Elsa kept silent, but she wondered if Anna might have grown suspicious if only she weren't so focused on the possibility of Sol being able to heal her of this…condition.

"I suddenly woke up with these powers," Anna continued, and her voice shook at the admission. "Shadow magic. It's not mine, I shouldn't have this, I just want to get rid of it—"

"Most people would consider themselves blessed to have magic." Sol glanced towards Elsa. "It separates us from the mold. It gives us purpose, you know."

"But I don't want it, this isn't mine, this was never mine," Anna said again. She leaned forward, practically throwing herself off her wheelchair for the sake of being heard, being understood. "Can you – Is there anything you can do? I just want to be normal. I am normal, I've never been—I don't want—I'm not meant to be more. Please. If you can, please, help me get rid of this magic."

"I can't help you."

Just like that, Anna slumped backwards. Like water through a sieve, water through the desert sand, the last dregs of hope drained from her face and left her chalk-white, veinless, bloodless. Elsa wished she had never taken her here. If she could do anything to spare Anna from this moment of her last hope shattering, she would. What could she say now? That everything would be all right. That she would be all right. Anna wouldn't believe those words any more than Elsa believed them.

"Don't give up hope just yet," Sol said. She had sounded mocking when they'd met, then utterly false; but now there was such bone-deep conviction that it startled Elsa. Sol didn't just believe what she was saying. She lived and breathed it like it was her entire world. "I know that light will overcome darkness…that despair can't win against hope. Just to see that, I could even offer up my life. I might not be able to help you, but…don't worry. Believe me, Anna. There is a way, and I will show you. One day..."

Sunlight broke through the night.

"I'll heal this broken world."

a/n: Here we go, a new start! To reiterate, updates will come in either two weeks or when the next-next chapter is done, whichever comes earliest.

As for this chapter, lots of characters introduced, and I think this is as good a time as any to give this warning: Polaris has lots of controversial topics and characters with unsettling backgrounds. Brennus has been stated before to be a victim of child abuse, and this chapter touches on it with more detail; later on, topics like sexual assault and gender identity will come up, and there are instances of emotional abuse/manipulation, intentional triggering of others, etc. I'll give warnings if there's detailed description (which I don't expect often if at all), but these things are prevalent enough that I want to warn people now.

P.S. My favorite part of this chapter is Elsa v. Sol, Round 1.