Chapter 33.

"Mildri, step back." Elsa firmly ordered after putting the girl on the ground and assuming a protective posture in front of her. The scared child didn't hesitate to obey her.

"You know it doesn't matter what you do; she'll die anyways." Weselton said. "The psychic is far more powerful than any other monster, and he's completely under my control so… Let's just say it'd be a lot less painful for you to just give up right now."

"Never." Elsa snarled.

"Very well." He smirked before turning to the thin man and nodding.

Not waiting to see what that very dangerous-looking man was going to do, Elsa raised her hands and created a thick ice barrier between them, which was promptly scattered by the force of his psychic powers. Immediately Elsa tried to counterattack with a bust of ice spikes, but it was useless. As soon as her eyes landed on his, she was completely paralyzed and unable to use her magic. Weselton laughed maliciously at this.

"I told you resisting was pointless." He said. "And now, you'll suffer the most painful death, one not even the worst physical torture could give you." Elsa felt chills and tried to get out of the invisible bindings, but of course, she couldn't. Her heart started beating wildly in fear and anticipation. In that moment, however, something that caused her even more fear happened.

"Leave her alone!" Mildri shouted bravely, stepping in front of Elsa to protect her. The blonde wanted to tell her to leave her and run away, to escape, but she couldn't open her mouth, not even to scream in horror when the psychic simply glanced at her and she fell to the ground unconscious (Or dead? Elsa really hoped she wasn't dead).

"No one can save you now, Ice Queen." Weselton smiled wickedly. "My father warned me about the ones with powers like yours; my family has been trying to eradicate you monsters ever since the first Ice Queen ruled over Arendelle, but unfortunately they never succeeded. That is, until I found you. You see, you were the one to give me the great idea to take advantage of you, instead of simply killing you. I'd never find another monster as young as you were; one that still had healing powers. You were also the one who led me to the one who still had those healing powers even as an adult, so I must say thank you. Thanks to you I was able to extract the essence from her magic and fulfill my purpose of making an elixir that would make the one who drink it never age again, and never die, an elixir that can cure any injury or sickness. However, I still have to fulfill my duty as a member of the Hanssen family and kill each and every one of the remaining monsters, starting from the new Ice Queen. So yes, your time has really come now Elsa. Say goodbye."

Elsa suddenly felt a burning sensation starting on the middle of her back and quickly spreading in all directions. It felt even worse than real fire, since her powers somewhat protected her from burning too quickly, and she wanted to die. She almost wished she had let them shot her in that room; it would have saved her all the pain.

However, almost as soon as it started, it was over and Elsa fell to the ground, shaking and sweating, trying to breathe normally but failing. She didn't understand what had happened until she was able to look behind her and see Anna, Eugene and a bunch of cops at the entrance of the lab. How had they gotten there, she had no idea, but she wasn't going to complain.

"That's all, Weasel!" Anna shouted bravely. "Your sadistic prison has been discovered now and you're going to jail."

"Oh, that's what you think?" He raised an eyebrow, not impressed at all.

"You've been caught, now surrender to justice." Kristoff seconded her.

"I think not." He answered and nodded again to the psychic. Almost instantly all of them fell unconscious and Elsa almost cursed. She was on her own again against those two. "Oh well, after that little interruption, lets continue with what we were doing, shall we?" He said, looking down at Elsa. However, this time the blonde closed tightly her eyes, remembering it had been only after establishing eye contact that the psychic had been able to use his powers on her. It was a long shot, but she was at least going to try.

When nothing happened, she sighed relieved, until she was suspended into the air a few feet. She was scared, to say the least, but she still didn't open her eyes. Her plan seemed to be working after all, as she wasn't being tortured now.

"Open your damn eyes!" Weselton screamed, but she didn't make any move, squishing her eyelids even tighter. "Very well, then I guess it'll have to be the hard way."

That said, Elsa felt a force that was trying to open her eyes against her will, however she concentrated all her energy on them, trying not to succumb to the magic of the psychic. She was failing though, and in only a few more seconds she'd be surrendering if she didn't do something fast, but what?

Wait, I can use my powers now!

Sensing magic flowing through her veins and surging trough her skin, Elsa didn't hesitate a second before extending her arms in front of her and shooting a powerful blast of ice. Only when she dropped to the ground again and heard a pained scream, did she dare open her eyes, to discover her magic had encased the psychic's eyes in ice, making him blind and apparently reverting his powers towards him, if the way he was squirming in pain was any indication.

Relieved, but still a bit frightened, she quickly froze his hands and feet, pinning him to the ground and completely immobilizing him. Now surely he was incapable of doing magic.

"No!" Weselton screamed panicking. "What are you doing?! It was all perfect!" Elsa only looked at him, confused and then amused that once she had been scared from that little old man. Seriously, he was old, weak and he didn't have powers. She could just freeze him with a twist of her hand if she so desired. "Free him right now!"

"Why would I do that?" Elsa chuckled.

"Because…!" He paused, thinking for a moment before an idea apparently came to his wicked and twisted little mind. "Because… he could erase your memories."

"Uh… what?" Elsa asked, wondering why would she want that.

"If you free him and let us go in peace, I could grant you what you always wanted; a normal life." Elsa's eyes widened at this, and it didn't go unnoticed by Weselton. "Oh, yes, Elsa. Your old memories, memories of your abusive parents, your imprisonment, and even your time in here would be erased. Instead, there'd only be happy memories, your life would be perfect, you…"

"Stop." Elsa said firmly closing her eyes. Truth to be told, what he was saying was very tempting, and if he kept taking, then she may agree and make something stupid, because let's be honest, he wasn't going to keep truth to his word.

"Why, Elsa? Are you afraid you'll actually agree and let me go?"

"Never." Elsa snarled, opening her eyes and glaring at him. She wasn't going to let him fool her. "You'll go to jail as you deserve!" Yelling this, she shot ice towards him, hoping to make him shut up this way. However, he jumped aside and the ice landed on the psychic, who cried one last time before getting completely still. In that moment, Elsa realized she had accidentally created a huge ice spear, instead of the little blast of ice she had intended (fury tended to make that to her powers) and that way she had accidentally killed the psychic. Scared, she quickly stepped back and repressed her powers, shattering all the ice.

"No! What did you do?!" Weselton yelled. "Do you have any idea how much it cost me to train him? To make him follow my every order, to…"

"Shut up!" Elsa yelled. "You're sick, and disgusting and… t-this is all your fault!"

"Oh really?" He smirked maliciously. "Well, you can tell yourself that all you want, but his blood will forever be in your hands."

Elsa closed her eyes, trying not to be affected by his words, especially when the corpse of the psychic was still lying on the ground in front of her, but in that moment, she heard a voice at her back that made her turn around.

"Uhm… what…? Where…?" Anna said as she slowly opened her eyes, clumsily trying to get up, as well as Eugene and the cops they had brought.

"Anna!" Elsa exclaimed, running to hug her. "Are you alright?"

"Elsa what…?" Anna asked, still sleepy and confused, but then suddenly all came back to her and her eyes opened wide. "Weselton! Where…?" Her question, fortunately, was answered even before she had finished asking it, by the old man himself.

"Get your hands off me! They are the real criminals!" He yelled to the three cops who had apparently caught him as he was trying to escape. "Let me go!"

"I'm afraid that's not going to happen." Kristoff said calmly as he approached him and put handcuffs in his wrists. "We have enough evidence for you to have a life-long sentence, even if in your case that won't be long."

"You're gonna regret this, boy." He snarled. "When I tell my lawyer…!"

"Look, you have the right to keep silent, okay?" Kristoff answered. "Everything you say will be used against you."

"But…! I… S-she…" He pointed to Elsa. "She's a monster! She has ice powers and she murdered my men and my nephew!"

"N-nephew?" Elsa asked confused, before staring at the psychic's bloody corpse a moment later. Luckily only Anna was able to hear it and didn't say anything, just stared at Elsa with a concerned gaze. She wanted to ask what the hell had happened, of course, but she decided it would be best to do it when they were alone.

"Right." Kristoff rolled his eyes skeptically and led him out of the building as the rest of the cops went to help the kids and search for more victims, as well as other aggressors. It was a good thing they hadn't killed anyone and just left all of Weselton's men unconscious, otherwise they all would now be arrested for murder.

"Rapunzel!" Eugene screamed enthusiastically as he saw his wife, who, as soon as she recognized him, ran to meet him in an intense kiss and an overly enthusiastic embrace that almost made them fall the ground. This brought a little smile to Anna's face, and she was about to comment Elsa about it, when she found the blonde was no longer at her side anymore, and instead was a few meters away hugging a little girl. Curious, the redhead got up and approached her girlfriend.

"Hey, Elsa. Who is this?" She asked, making Elsa pull away a little from the girl in order for both of them to be able to look at Anna.

"Oh, Anna this is Mildri. Mildri, this is Anna." Elsa introduced them, happy teal eyes meeting uncertain grey ones.

"Mildri." Anna tried saying the name. "That's a pretty name." She smiled down at the little girl, whose arms were gripping Elsa's torso so tightly Anna was pretty sure that, even with her small strength, she would leave some bruises. Still, she was so cute Anna had to refrain herself from trying to steal her from Elsa's arms, squishing her in her own instead.

"T-thanks." Mildri hesitantly answered.

"How old are you?" The redhead asked and the little girl answering raising four fingers. "Four years? My, you are practically a woman now!" She said playfully making Elsa giggle and the girl relax slightly. Seeing this, Anna decided to ask the question she had been aching to ask, since she assumed they had met during the time Elsa had been down there on the cells. "Do you have powers too?" Mildri only looked at Elsa anxiously.

"Don't worry." Elsa assured her with a gentle smile. "She's a good person. She would never hurt you." Mildri then nodded, still with some doubt in her eyes, but turning to Anna anyways.

"I-I… well… I control air." She admitted.

"Really? That's wonderful!" Anna answered excited.

"Y-you really think so?" Mildri asked hopeful, for the first time relaxing a little in Anna's presence.

"I do." She said with a kind smile, earning another smile from the child and another one from her girlfriend, who mouthed a little "thank you" to her. Anna was about to ask more questions about the girl when she was interrupted by Kristoff, who returned into the lab.

"Hey, everyone!" He shouted, gaining everyone's attention. "Wiel Hanssen, better known as Weselton by many of you, has already been taken care of. However, it's better if all of you get out of here right now, to give us time to truly explore all this place and search for more victims. Up there will be ambulances waiting for all of you, and you could also use phones to call your families. Now, please exit this place in an orderly fashion."

"Come on." Anna said taking Elsa by her waist and leading her outside.

They'd been outside the building for about an hour now, with all the authorities coming in to ask them questions, as well as the press. Fortunately, many of the kids' parents and/or other family members had arrived and were taking care of their children, also keeping them from answering questions.

Anna, Elsa, Rapunzel and Eugene, on the other hand, had spent most of the time catching up a little far away from the others (Rapunzel had healed Elsa's back injuries when no one was looking). Apparently the brunette had learned a lot about her powers when she was in prison, listening to Weselton and his scientists talk about their discoveries (She had also suffered a lot in there but she preferred to focus on the positive things).

"So, my magic is really weird, you know?" She said as the others listened intently (Except Mildri, who had fallen asleep in Elsa's arms). "I am probably the only one who has it in the entire word, and it's because my original powers got reversed."

"Uhm… what?" Anna asked, not understanding what her friend was talking about.

"Yeah, like... magical kids are born with healing magic that protects them from being hurt until they're strong enough to control their other powers, but in my case that never happened, probably because I was exposed to some intense illness when I was younger (I had leukemia), which intensified my healing powers to the point my other powers were suppressed. Also, because my healing magic is meant to protect me, it only comes in the form of tears."

"So when you are distressed it shows up." Anna concluded. "Sounds logical."

"But which were your original powers?" Elsa asked curious.

"Uhm… I don't know for sure." Rapunzel shrugged. "But I have the feeling I'm soon going to find out." She added with a wide smile.

"And why is that?" Anna asked.

"Because magic is commonly passed down by the mother, while when it comes from the father, it almost never manifests itself."

"So… that means we'll find out as soon as your baby is born?" Elsa asked looking at her protruding (even if it still not too much) belly. Rapunzel nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh, also, that reminds me that I found out something about your powers too." She exclaimed. "Which day were you born?"

"Uh… December 21th?" She said almost as a question.

"I knew it!" She shouted. "When the powers you have represent a season, then the closer you're born to the day the season starts, the more powerful you are."

"Really? Then that means the legend about the Ice Queen's birthday being the beginning of the winter could be more than just a legend?" Anna asked.

"I don't' know." Rapunzel shrugged. But it could be based on a magical child. Who knows? The important thing here is that Elsa is the most powerful person alive."

"Are you sure?" Elsa asked, not sure about how she felt about all of this. "There's no one else who was born at the beginning of the season they represent?"

"Well… not that I know of. But it's very rare, so I really doubt so." Elsa nodded thoughtfully at this and frowned, concerned about if she would be able to control all the power she apparently held inside her.

"Hey." Anna placed a hand over her shoulder to calm her down. "Don't worry. This doesn't change anything. Love will thaw, remember?"

"I know, I just…"Elsa started, but Anna silenced her with a kiss.

"So anytime your powers are giving you problems, just call me and I will make sure even the last snowflake disappears." She said with a suggestive smile that made Elsa blush. The sight was so cute that Anna was about to propose the two of them just escaped to a deserted alley and made out, but in that moment, they heard a Kristoff calling them.

"Hey, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but can I talk to you for a second? It's about Mildri." He said as he approached them.

"Uhm, sure, what's up?" Anna asked. He looked at the girl wearily, before deciding she was truly asleep and speaking.

"Well, we called her aunt to see if she could come and take care of her. But apparently she doesn't want anything to do with her. Also, Weselton's files says she was the one who called him, which means she'll probably be soon facing a trial, so…"

"Doesn't she have any other family?" Eugene asked, finally tearing his eyes from Rapunzel and actually saying something.

"Well yes…" Kristoff started.

"But?" Rapunzel prompted.

"Her grandparents, from her mother's side of the family, are too old now to be taking care of her. They actually live in a nursing home. And her grandmother, from her father's side, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer. It still isn't too severe, but…"

"She'll lose her memory in a few years." Anna completed and the cop nodded.

"What will happen to her then?" Elsa asked, looking down at the sleeping girl in her arms.

"I'm afraid she'll be sent to an orphanage." Kristoff answered with a sad voice. "With time maybe a good family will adopt her and…"

"No!" Elsa shook her head, tightening her grip on Mildri. "I won't risk her landing on a family who could be afraid of her powers, I… Anna, please." She then said turning to the redhead. "We have to adopt her." She pleaded with a desperate voice.

"Wait what?" Anna exclaimed. "Elsa I don't…"

"Please, we can't just leave her at her fate! I mean, someone could hurt her and…

"Wait, please." Anna tried to calm her girlfriend down. "Can we just be rational about this for a moment? I mean, she… well… I'm not…" Anna sighed, not being able to tell clearly her reasons in front of the cute child sleeping in Elsa's arms. "Can we take some time to discuss this? Alone?" She pointed to a spot a little far away from where they were.

"Why?" Elsa asked confused.

"Now." Anna added getting up and walking away. Elsa quickly left Mildri in Rapunzel's arms and followed her girlfriend, confused as to why she was acting that way. After all, she had thought she had actually liked Mildri.

"What is it, Anna?" Elsa asked, confused, once they were far enough not to be heard by the others. Anna sighed and turned around to face her before answering.

"What happens is that we've barely known each other about a year, and been dating for far less than that, we're not even married and you already want us to have a child!" She almost yelled, not truly angry, just unbelieving of Elsa's impulsiveness.

"I-I… does it matter?" Elsa asked. "I mean, we love each other, and we know each other too well. I'm not scared of going out anymore, I can take care of myself and I think our relationship is functional and stable enough for us to become parents."

"But Elsa, we're too young! There's a lot of things I still want to do before getting married and settling down!" She exclaimed, frustrated that her girlfriend couldn't see it. "Like travel around the world! Becoming a well-known photographer! Meeting people…"

"And you can't do that if we adopt Mildri?" Elsa raised an eyebrow.

"Well… No! I mean…" Anna tried to defend her posture, but was soon interrupted.

"No, Anna, listen." Elsa said, more firmly than Anna had ever heard her. "I know you gave up on many things this past year for my sake, and I'm forever in debt with you." She paused, taking a deep breath. "And I also know it'd be unfair of me to ask more from you. However, this time I'm only asking you to… to marry me and raise a child with me. I'm not asking you to give up on your dreams. We could go and explore the world, the three of us, and…"

"Wait, wait." Anna said raising her hands. "D-did you just… proposed to me?" Elsa's heart sank at the not-so-happy-tone Anna used.

"I-I…"

"That was very unromantic from you." Anna said unimpressed. "I'm afraid you'll have to repeat it if you want me to accept it."

"T-that means you'll say yes if I do?" She asked hopeful.

"That depends."

"On what?"

"If you give me a good reason to adopt Mildri. I know you think she could land on a family that would be scared of her powers, but I don't think that'll happen. Your family was the exception, Elsa, not the rule, so you'll have to give me another argument."

"Well… I-I…" She started swallowing a trying to wrap from the back of her mind that thing that had propelled her to do what she had, that thing that had dragged her closer to Mildri since she met her. "I think… I just want to make things right, you know? She reminds me a lot of myself and… I feel that, if I take care of her, if I teach her to control her powers and give her a happy life… I don't know… maybe I'll finally make peace with my past and… let it go." Her eyes started welling up with tears, but she kept talking. "I just need reassurance that a normal life is possible for someone with powers like mine."

"Oh, Elsa." Anna answered wrapping her in a warm, comforting embrace. "Of course it is, but, If words aren't enough… I think I could help you raise Mildri."

"Really?" Elsa asked as she separated herself from Anna and gave her a wide smile while wiping her tears. "Thank you! I'm sure she'll be a great daughter!"

"Yeah, I'm sure she will." Anna chuckled at her enthusiasm. "However, you still haven't proposed, and I really think we should get married before even starting to think about adoption."

"Of course!" She exclaimed. "Would you, Anna," She started, conjuring a small snowstorm in the tip of her right fingers. "be my wife?" She finished, appearing a beautiful ice ring (with an equally amazing snowflake on top) from the center of the storm.

"Yes, I will." Anna answered with an equally radiant smile. "But only if you promise we'll have a yearlong trip around the world as a honeymoon."

"Sounds perfect." Elsa answered finally placing the ring on Anna's hand (on the wrong finger, but the redhead didn't dare to point that out). However, it hadn't been there for more than five seconds, when Anna quickly pulled it off and gave it back to her.

"I'm not immune to cold, you know?" She said eyeing the red mark it had left on her skin.

"Oh! That's right, sorry." Elsa said with an apologetic smile.

"Don't worry. It's quite alright." She assured her. "We'll just have to buy a silver one for each of us and our engagement would be completed. And then we'll get married, have an amazing wedding night and an even better honeymoon. After adopting Mildri, that is."

"I love the sound of that." Elsa answered, leaning in to kiss Anna before being pulled closer by said girl, making their lips connect almost aggressively, before the kiss turned into something more loving but still quite passionate, just as it was supposed to be for two newly engaged girls.