But your heart's so cold
Amber_Flicker
Summary:
Lisa goes off to find her brother. (Basically, The Snow Queen but with the Snarts -siblings Lisa and Leonart Snart- and Killer Frost.)
Notes:
(See the end of the work for notes.)
The palace looms before her, high
into the dark sky. It gleams bright enough to drown out the stars
surrounding. This is it. Lisa has made it here at last.
She thinks of all she has gone through to reach this place; this isolated kingdom glittering in a way that brought nothing but cold.
She thinks of the Princess and the Prince, as kind as they were clever, and the fast golden carriage they had given her to aid her journey.
She thinks of the crew of robbers, and the dark-eyed girl who had assured her safety until Lisa's departure.
She thinks of the blazing green-pink in the night sky as she rode further north.
She thinks of the two who helped her on her way through the tundra, the weather scientist and the wanderer.
Lisa takes this all in quietly. She is here for but one reason, and that one reason is him. So she ascends the steps of the palace and doesn't hesitate as she enters uninvited. Above all shone the moon.
Her shoes click and slip across the glassy floors. The coat given to her doesn't keep the chill from seeping in. The castle is eerily silent, lonely and dim. Lifeless. Still she continues. She eventually reaches a door more extravagant than the others around it. If she were to find the Snow Queen, and by extension Lenny, anywhere, then it must be here. She opens the door. The room inside is far too grand to be anything but the throne room, sparkling blue and silver and blindingly bright. If that weren't evidence enough, the queen sits on her throne.
But Lisa's eyes focus somewhere else, and she ignores the snow queen in favour of her brother.
Ice chips of puzzle pieces lay all around him, a scatter of shapes that don't seem to fit. She sits in front of him, ignores the way the floor makes her colder through the contact. "I'm here to bring you home, Lenny. Come back." Her voice seems to echo in the quiet.
It takes a while before he even shows he's heard, looking up after what must've been minutes. His eyes are empty, frozen. It's as if the ice from the castle has all entered them, blue reflecting blue, ice reflecting ice. Her heart seems to freeze in her chest, just for a moment. Then he looks back to the puzzle. "Can't do that."
Everything falls silent again. He says nothing else, and Lisa isn't sure what to do. She had never imagined coming all this way only to find that he refused to return with her. It would not have stopped her had she known; there must be a way to convince him to leave. If only she could understand the significance of the puzzle, why it had to be completed, and how she could break whatever spell had been put on him. Her gaze turns to the Snow Queen.
The Snow Queen was just like her palace - beautiful, but frozen. Between the silence, the dissonant glitter of her eyes, and the white of her hair spilling over her shoulders, it was as if she was merely an ice statue.
"What is wrong with him?"
"A shard of cursed mirror has entered his eye. There is nothing you can do; only he can change his fate. Go from here."
Lisa finally starts to understand. "He has to finish the puzzle? He can leave then?"
"I will have no more hold over him." The Snow Queen agrees. "But he will never succeed, as no one before him has"
Lisa doesn't bother to reply, and the queen says nothing more. There wasn't anything else to say.
So for hours, she watches Len try to put the pieces together. It shouldn't have been an issue, he had always been too smart for his own good, but neither of them got anywhere with it. Every time he attempted to piece things together, he claimed it wasn't right, and it started all over. It's impossible to tell how much time has passed within these walls. The skies are unchanging even out there, in this cold dark place at the end of the earth. Whatever the time, it's barely a dent in how long she's been searching, so she remains. And she waits.
She doesn't know when it happens, but she finds herself crying, something she hasn't done in years. She is tired after all of this. Her efforts have all been wasted, because this task is hopeless.
Her tears land upon the ice pieces, beginning to melt them even as Len reaches to pick one up. He stops. It doesn't only affect the ice on the outside; it begins to melt the ice fragmented in his heart, and in turn he grows warm again.
"Lise?"
"Don't tell me you're surprised that I came to get you."
The puzzle is nothing more than a puddle in the middle of a frozen floor, now.
They rise to leave this beautiful and terrible place. Lisa looks a final time to the Snow Queen, who only stares back with those ice-shard eyes.
She returns to the summer world of the living with her brother, and in only in the gold-bright light does she realize years have passed.
They're both older now, and perhaps a little wiser. Lisa wonders if, perhaps, that was the real purpose of all of this turmoil.
She thinks of all she has gone through to reach this place; this isolated kingdom glittering in a way that brought nothing but cold.
She thinks of the Princess and the Prince, as kind as they were clever, and the fast golden carriage they had given her to aid her journey.
She thinks of the crew of robbers, and the dark-eyed girl who had assured her safety until Lisa's departure.
She thinks of the blazing green-pink in the night sky as she rode further north.
She thinks of the two who helped her on her way through the tundra, the weather scientist and the wanderer.
Lisa takes this all in quietly. She is here for but one reason, and that one reason is him. So she ascends the steps of the palace and doesn't hesitate as she enters uninvited. Above all shone the moon.
Her shoes click and slip across the glassy floors. The coat given to her doesn't keep the chill from seeping in. The castle is eerily silent, lonely and dim. Lifeless. Still she continues. She eventually reaches a door more extravagant than the others around it. If she were to find the Snow Queen, and by extension Lenny, anywhere, then it must be here. She opens the door. The room inside is far too grand to be anything but the throne room, sparkling blue and silver and blindingly bright. If that weren't evidence enough, the queen sits on her throne.
But Lisa's eyes focus somewhere else, and she ignores the snow queen in favour of her brother.
Ice chips of puzzle pieces lay all around him, a scatter of shapes that don't seem to fit. She sits in front of him, ignores the way the floor makes her colder through the contact. "I'm here to bring you home, Lenny. Come back." Her voice seems to echo in the quiet.
It takes a while before he even shows he's heard, looking up after what must've been minutes. His eyes are empty, frozen. It's as if the ice from the castle has all entered them, blue reflecting blue, ice reflecting ice. Her heart seems to freeze in her chest, just for a moment. Then he looks back to the puzzle. "Can't do that."
Everything falls silent again. He says nothing else, and Lisa isn't sure what to do. She had never imagined coming all this way only to find that he refused to return with her. It would not have stopped her had she known; there must be a way to convince him to leave. If only she could understand the significance of the puzzle, why it had to be completed, and how she could break whatever spell had been put on him. Her gaze turns to the Snow Queen.
The Snow Queen was just like her palace - beautiful, but frozen. Between the silence, the dissonant glitter of her eyes, and the white of her hair spilling over her shoulders, it was as if she was merely an ice statue.
"What is wrong with him?"
"A shard of cursed mirror has entered his eye. There is nothing you can do; only he can change his fate. Go from here."
Lisa finally starts to understand. "He has to finish the puzzle? He can leave then?"
"I will have no more hold over him." The Snow Queen agrees. "But he will never succeed, as no one before him has"
Lisa doesn't bother to reply, and the queen says nothing more. There wasn't anything else to say.
So for hours, she watches Len try to put the pieces together. It shouldn't have been an issue, he had always been too smart for his own good, but neither of them got anywhere with it. Every time he attempted to piece things together, he claimed it wasn't right, and it started all over. It's impossible to tell how much time has passed within these walls. The skies are unchanging even out there, in this cold dark place at the end of the earth. Whatever the time, it's barely a dent in how long she's been searching, so she remains. And she waits.
She doesn't know when it happens, but she finds herself crying, something she hasn't done in years. She is tired after all of this. Her efforts have all been wasted, because this task is hopeless.
Her tears land upon the ice pieces, beginning to melt them even as Len reaches to pick one up. He stops. It doesn't only affect the ice on the outside; it begins to melt the ice fragmented in his heart, and in turn he grows warm again.
"Lise?"
"Don't tell me you're surprised that I came to get you."
The puzzle is nothing more than a puddle in the middle of a frozen floor, now.
They rise to leave this beautiful and terrible place. Lisa looks a final time to the Snow Queen, who only stares back with those ice-shard eyes.
She returns to the summer world of the living with her brother, and in only in the gold-bright light does she realize years have passed.
They're both older now, and perhaps a little wiser. Lisa wonders if, perhaps, that was the real purpose of all of this turmoil.
Notes:
Came up with this concept over a year ago, but I forgot about it until recently. I tried to write it in a fairy tale style to fit the theme- a couple of lines are taken directly from the original story. Not sure I like how it came out tbh.
Fun fact: This is my 50th story in this fandom.
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