Frozen, Teen Titans 1. Beginnings

Frozen Destinies

One

In the faraway land of Azerelle, there ruled a King and his beautiful Queen. He was a harsh ruler, very strict and powerful but in his heart all he sought was a good place for his wife and future heirs. The Queen was pregnant with their first child, and when the baby was born they were astonished. The child was pale and cold as ice, her eyes a deep amethyst. Upon seeing their raven-haired daughter, they chose the name Raven.

That same day, however, a chill swept through the town and as the royals slept with their baby daughter nestled between them, the moonlight cast itself upon her through the nearest window and her entire body began to glow with blue light. When they awoke the next morning, King Trigon and Queen Arella were covered in a blanket of fresh snow.

Startled but in love with their daughter all the same, they kept her power a secret as much as they could from everyone and would raise her on their own without help from tutors or governesses. The King would teach her everything she needed to know about the kingdom and the ways of the world, while the Queen would begin teaching her the art of knowledge from books and other learned materials when the time came.

A mere 4 years later, another child was born to the royal family. She had fiery red hair and bright green eyes, and her skin was warm and tanned compared to her sister. They named her Starfire, and she and her older sister became very close. They played constantly using Raven's magic to create winter wonderlands and indoor magical kingdoms of their own. At the age of 8 and 5, respectively, Raven and Anna were the best of friends.

At the same time in the village of Azerelle, not too far away, there lived a young boy by the name of Robin. It was actually a nickname, and his real name was Richard 'Dick' Kristoff Grayson, the only thing he had left of his past and too much for him to say all at once.

Robin didn't have a family, all he had was his trusty companion Sven the reindeer who he had found alone in the forest one winter; they had stuck together ever since. Due to his lack of family, Robin had taken up to following a nice older man by the name of Alfred around to his job, that of an ice-harvester and merchant.

One night while following the ice men out to a frozen lake, Robin was determined to make himself look good in front of his role models, and he had succeeded in finally getting a small block of ice from the lake and attaching it to Sven's sleigh. Triumphantly, the young boy urged his reindeer along and they made their way back into the forest.

About halfway back to the village, a sudden movement startled Robin and he stopped Sven and the sleigh.

"Who's there?" he called with a quaver in his voice. Since he had stopped, all the other ice-harvesters had continued on their way without him. He was alone. "Anybody?" he asked again.

Suddenly, a large snowball hit him square in the face. "Ouch!" he yelped as he was thrown off his sleigh and back into the fresh powder. Before he could say anything, he thought he had heard laughter around him.

"Not funny, tell me who you are!" Robin said, standing up as menacingly as a 6 year old could. Another snowball smacked him on the head, and he yelped in surprise.

"Where are you? Why can't I see you! Come out, Frost monster!" he said, getting a little scared and hovering next to Sven.

"Frost monster? Nobody's ever called me that before!"

A boy that looked to be perhaps in his late teens or early twenties had appeared in front of him. He was almost as pale as the snow around them, and had no shoes on his bare feet. His ears were pointed like an elf's and his strange smile revealed a rather pointed fang on his bottom row of teeth. His hair was white, and his eyes were dark green. He wore what seemed to be a dark blue hooded sweater with ice crystals covering it, while in his hands he clutched a shepherd's staff that looked encased in ice.

Robin stared at him skeptically. "Are you the ice man?" he asked. The strange boy blinked.

"I guess you could say that. Name's Gar Frost, you can just call me Gar" he said, raising his feet off the ground as he began to float around the pair in the forest. "What're you doing out here so late? Don't you have a family to go to, kid? Why're you working?" the spirit said to the young boy.

"No, I don't have a family. I work because I wanna be an ice man when I grow up" he said plainly, crossing his arms. Gar looked taken aback.

"Well it's good that you've got a plan for yourself... Say, how'd you end up seeing me? No one ever sees me" Gar said, suddenly realizing that this young boy was talking to him and seeing him outright.

"Um, you're the one who started throwing snowballs at me. There's no one else here. Of course I ended up thinking it was some sort of magic snow man" Robin said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Right... Well good! Now we can have some fun together always!" Gar said excitedly; finally someone he could talk to, besides those nutty Guardians who were always on his back about responsibility and all that... Except for Santa Cyborg, he was pretty cool.

"You'll play with me and Sven?" Robin said, his blue eyes lighting up a bit at the thought of a real, well somewhat real, person to actually hang out with and be friends with. Gar nodded.

Just then, however, two horses came thundering past where they were, leaving an oddly out of place trail of crystallized ice on the grass (which had very little snow on it to begin with; Gar had simply conjured up some snow to throw at Robin) behind only one of the horses.

"Ice?" Robin wondered aloud, and with a look to Gar he hopped on his reindeer and started chasing after it. "Faster Sven!" he urged, while Gar floated closely behind him.

Once they had reached what seemed to be a sort of quarry, they noticed that the horses had been left towards the entrance. They stopped, hiding behind a large boulder and stared at the scene before them.

The King and Queen and the two Princesses were standing in the middle of the quarry's cleared center, surrounded by oddly placed boulders similar to their hiding place.

"Please, it's my daughter! You must help me!" the King called out. The younger Princess was in fact swaddled up in a large blanket in her mother's arms, she looked to be sleeping... Or even worse. Robin tried not to think about that.

Gar stared at the other Princess, clad in a blue nightgown, her violet eyes wide with fear. She had an air about her that sensed familiar to him, and he wasn't quite sure what that was just yet.

Suddenly the boulders all began to move, wiggling and rolling towards the royal family. As soon as they got there they flipped over to unveil that they were not simple rocks but troll-people, their fire-crystals shining brightly on their mossy robes.

"It's the King!" they all cried, and the waves of trolls parted to allow their grand master through. He placed his hand on the younger Princess' head, and began to speak.

What had happened at the castle had started out as a simple midnight excursion of playtime between the two Princesses; Starfire had snuck over to Raven's side of the room and jumped on her bed.

"Sister Raven! Raven, wake up wake up!" she had whispered.

"What is it?" Raven had replied groggily, but soon her young body responded to her little sister's shaking. "Starfire, go back to sleep!" she urged.

"I cannot sleep!" the younger continued, flopping down on top of Raven. "The sky's awake, so I'm awake! We must play!" she exclaimed, turning over again.

"Go play by yourself!" Raven said with a small giggle, pushing Starfire off the bed and onto the marble floor. Starfire sat there for a minute, wiggling her feet in thought before she brightened and jumped up onto the bed again. Pulling her older sister's eyelid to assure she was awake, she leaned in to her ear.

"D'you wanna build a snowman?" she suggested. A small smile spread on Raven's face.

With that, the two Princesses hurried down the hallways giggling and trying to keep quiet, pushing open the doors to the main ballroom and bursting into childish laughter as they ran around.

"Do the magic, do the magic!" Starfire said excitedly, staring in wonder as Raven motioned for her to look closely as ice and snow began to form in little sparkling crystals in her hand; she tossed it up and it exploded throughout the ballroom, dazzling and drenching them in tiny flakes.

"This is glorious!" Starfire screamed in delight, running around. Raven stomped her foot on the ground and ice spread from where it touched. They began to skate, play, and eventually they even built a snowman together. He was a little lopsided as always, but overall looked cute to the girls.

"Hi, I'm Larry and I like warm hugs!" Raven said in a silly voice while moving his wooden arms like a puppet from behind him. Starfire squealed, rushing towards the snowman and throwing her little arms around it.

"I love you Larry!" she exclaimed.

With that they continued to play, sliding down mountains of snow together and then Starfire leaped up into a pile of it, tossing the snow around her with glee.

"Catch me!" she said, and began to jump from one pile of snow to another.

"Hang on!" Raven said, thrusting her hands out to direct her magic in order to create new piles of snow for her sister to land on. Starfire continued to rise up higher and jump higher with every leap, so much so that Raven suddenly felt like it was too much and she couldn't keep up.

"Slow down!" she cried, and then she slipped and fell backwards onto the ice.

"Wheee!" Starfire said, leaping into nothingness and unaware of any potential danger.

"Star!" Raven threw a blast of magic out desperately trying to catch her sister, but from her awkward angle on the ground it missed and hit the side of Starfire's head. She let out a small groan as she fell into a pile of snow, rolling over and lay still.

"St..Starfire!" Raven scrambled to her feet, rushing to cradle her little sister in her arms. Her wide green eyes were closed; she looked dead. Suddenly from the roots of her hair a strand of it began to turn the red into white, all the way down into her small red pigtail. Raven's insides were as cold as ice and full of dread; tears pricked her eyes.

"M...Mama! Papa!" she called out, crying in earnest now. "Don't worry Star, you're gonna be o-okay" she hiccuped, still clutching her close.

With a creak, the ballroom doors burst open and the King and Queen gasped at the state of things.

"Raven! You've gone too far this time" King Trigon thundered, rushing towards his daughters.

"She's ice cold!" Queen Arella said fearfully as she took Starfire into her arms; the King grabbed his family and ushered them out of the ballroom.

"I know where we need to go" he said. "Make ready the horses at once! I must fetch the map" he ordered, and the Queen rushed off with her two daughters to prepare things.

They mounted their horses and took off, Raven sitting with her father on the massive horse and feeling the pressure and fear of his anger but also knowing just how worried he and mother were at that moment, and it was all her fault.

As the troll spoke to them, her heart was in her throat and she hoped that there would be some way to save her sister.

"Born with the powers, or cursed?" the creature asked, taking her hand in his.

"Born, and they're getting stronger with each day" the King replied. The troll then turned his attention to Starfire, placing his hands upon her small head.

"You are lucky it was only the head; a heart would be difficult to persuade, the head, eh. Not so much" he explained. Raven wasn't quite sure of his meaning, but it still sounded better than anything else she may have expected.

"Will she be alright?" the Queen asked fretfully. The troll's hands began to glow purple and he entered Starfire's mind, changing the memories she had of Raven's powers and the fun that they had together.

"I recommend removing all traces of magic, for good measure. But don't worry... I'll leave the fun" he said in his gravelly voice. Starfire's cold slumber changed to that of a comfortable sleep, and she sighed in contentment and snuggled into her mother's arms.

"She won't remember I have powers?" Raven's voice trembled a bit as she spoke, realizing what had just happened.

"It's for the best. But will she be able to control it?" the King asked the troll.

He turned to Raven somberly. "Raven, your powers will only grow" he began. "They hold great beauty... All will be able to admire them" he said, demonstrating by creating a magical vision in the air above them of Raven using her powers in front of many people.

"But they can also hold great danger!" he continued, and the vision flashed red. "It can be your undoing, as everyone will turn against you!" he finished, and the people in the vision also turned red and suddenly attacked the elder Raven in the vision before it dissolved with a puff. Raven gasped in fear, turning into her father's arms to hide.

"We'll teach her how to control it. Until then, we'll reduce the staff, close the gates, and limit her contact with people... No one will know. Including Starfire" he said resolutely.

From behind their hiding place (which had turned into a troll-mother who had declared both Robin and Sven as 'cuties' and was determined to 'keep' them) the boys stared in wonder at the scene that had unraveled before them.

"She's got powers like mine?" Gar wondered aloud, wanting desperately to go over to her and ask her all sorts of questions.

"She doesn't know how to use them! You won't learn anything" Robin said rather wisely, effectively shutting Gar's need to dash over there down... for now.

'Man in the Moon, what on Earth are you planning?' the spirit-boy thought savagely.

* * *

><p>Well, there's chapter one of one of the first FrozenTeen Titans crossovers I've seen actually on Fanfiction!

I got the idea from the lovely Ceshira's drawings all over tumblr and deviantart, so of course my contribution to this crossover idea is writing. Heh. Credit goes to her for the story's cover image!

As you may have noticed, this is actually a three way crossover with Rise of the Guardians making an appearance as well... I may or may not add some more to it, this could turn into something huge. Depends on what kind of response I get!

Leave a comment or two, I'll appreciate it!

x


	2. Growing Pains

Frozen Destinies

Two

That very next day Raven's stuff was moved into a room across the hall from Starfire's, and the younger girl couldn't come to terms as of why. She had in fact dreamed a rather strange dream last night, but beyond that she couldn't fathom why her sister would suddenly pull away.

She pulled on her brave face and hastened over to her sister's new room, where unbeknownst to her Raven was trying to keep her powers from coming out and blasting her bed with ice and snow.

"Raven?" a small knock had come before her name, and Raven turned her small eyes warily towards the door where Starfire was undoubtedly standing. "Do you want to build the snowman? Come on let's go and play! I never see you anymore, come out the door, it's like you've gone away!" she called out. Raven smiled a little at her sister's sweet tendency to have everything rhyme and at her odd way of speaking.

"Do you want to build the snowman, it doesn't have to be a snowman!" Starfire pleaded, pressing her lips against the keyhole in order to project her voice into the room.

"Go away, Starfire!" Raven called back, her eyes turning downcast as she looked away and towards the window. She heard a shuffling of feet on the other side of the door.

"Okay, bye..." Starfire replied before heading away.

Raven then turned towards the window and looked outside longingly, wishing she could be a part of the world once more. She placed her hands delicately on the windowsill, where upon contact ice spread out with a crackle and coated part of the window.

She retracted her hands in fear, calling out for her father instantly. Soon he was there, and she explained everything with a wobble in her voice. He comforted her briefly before pulling something out of his pocket.

"Here, the gloves will help" he explained, covering her hands in two small white gloves that were almost as pale as her own skin. "Remember what we've been practicing... Conceal it," he started.

"Don't feel it. Don't let it show" they both finished together, and Raven allowed a small smile to grace her features.

Princess Starfire was saddened throughout the coming years as she attempted time and time again to connect with her older sister Princess Raven, yet each time she tried she was met with a door slamming in her face or a muffled dismissal from the other side of it.

Raven, on the other hand, was struggling with her powers as they continued to grow. She hated shutting out her sister, but it was for her own good and the good of everyone else that she hid herself away and practiced. 'Conceal, don't feel' she would tell herself.

As they years progressed, Gar and Robin became close friends and went on many adventures together. The trolls were kind to them all, including Sven who grew larger and larger until he could seat both boys without a problem. Gar would often float over to the castle in order to watch as the girl with similar powers as his own continued to become more and more powerful.

"Why is she suppressing them? She should use them, learn, practice! She's got a gift, that girl" he once whined to Robin. The young ice-harvester's business was helped along by Gar, who even during the summer would create huge blocks of ice for Robin to cut down to shape and sell.

"Maybe you didn't realize it, but she's a Princess and the kingdom will eventually be under her rule someday. I doubt they'd take kindly to this sort of thing, they'd chalk it up to witchcraft or something" Robin reasoned, twirling his pick expertly before chopping off another bit of ice.

"I guess, but it's never good to push your powers down. Keeping them hidden will only make them explode out with even more viciousness when they do. Because they will some day." Gar finished this thought with a sense of dread, wondering just what was going on. He knew that the Man in the Moon had something to do with this, but it was beyond him as to what it could be.

"Have you talked to the other Guardians recently?" Robin asked. Gar made a face.

"Yuck, they're all a bunch of responsible workaholics. No fun! Plus why would I talk to the Guardians? I'm not a Guardian, I have no business with them" he replied.

"Yeah, but they might be able to help you figure this out" Robin suggested, pulling a carrot out of his pocket and offering a bite of it to Sven before taking a bite for himself.

"I don't want them to get involved. If they find out about her, who knows what sort of meddling they'd do. Especially that weirdo Bunny" Gar said, mumbling that last bit to himself.

He didn't have a great relationship with Garth Aster Bunnymund, also known as the Easter Bunny. They were always fighting and trying to one up each other, which made Gar's distaste for the Guardians only grow and he increasingly wanted nothing to do with them. The only one who he could stand to see from time to time was Victor St. North, or Santa Cyborg as he was known around the world.

Robin seemed to know this, however, as he crossed his arms menacingly and glared at his non-aging friend. "Grow up and go visit Santa, then. He'll be able to give you some advice for sure, then come back and report. No excuses!" he ordered, waggling the carrot at Gar as if it were a weapon.

Gar let out a puff of air, mumbling a bit before he created a small snowball in his hand and then whispered something into it; it began to glow like the northern lights, and then with a heave he threw it onto the ground and a portal opened with a loud boom.

"See you around, Rob!" he said with a small grin, and jumped headfirst into the portal. Robin shook his head and then got back to work.

~.~.~.~.~

Starfire had long since given up on trying to pull her solitary sister out of her shell; at the ages of 18 and 15 the two Princesses barely saw one another save at family mealtime at dinner. One day, however, Raven was forced to emerge from her room in order to say goodbye to their parents who were heading on a journey to the nearby country of Germany where their closest partners in trade, Weselton, were awaiting.

Starfire had already run over to her parents' room in order to hug them fiercely, both at the same time.

"I shall see you in two weeks!" she said, optimism lacing her voice as she masked how much she would miss her parents during these upcoming days; yet she hoped at the same time that with her parents gone she might be able to get out a little more and explore, even if it be only the castle grounds themselves.

Later on, as the King and Queen were at the stairs of the entrance hallway with their possessions being taken out towards the loading point, Raven had followed them with a poised and careful step, curtsying in front of them with fear in her eyes.

"Do you really have to go?" she asked softly. Her mother smiled at her and opened her arms for a quick hug that Raven only allowed because of the warning she was given; she hated sudden contact, after all that she had gone through to control her powers she would hate to lash out at someone.

"We'll be back sooner than you'll know" her father replied, placing his hand on her shoulder slowly. She nodded gracefully, and once they had made their way out of the castle she once again retreated up into her room.

Starfire caught a glimpse of her as she did so; she had no doubts that she would no longer be seeing her sister at meals starting tonight, as their parents were the only thing that could make her come out.

As Raven closed the door behind her, however, she felt an unfamiliar presence in the room; it was as if someone was staring at her. She whirled around and there was no-one there, of course. She was just being silly.

Suddenly a large snowball smacked her square in the face, and she let out a yelp in surprise. 'Did I do that?' she thought, frantically scraping the snow off with her gloves and realizing that it didn't do any good. Removing the gloves carefully, she used her powers to pull the snow off of her and reformed the snowball in her hand.

"What on Earth..." she muttered. "How did I do that?" she asked herself aloud, wondering at how she had managed to do any of this, without her gloves on to start off with no less.

"You didn't. I did" a male voice replied matter-of-factly from right behind her. She let out a small scream and threw the only thing she had in her hand, that same snowball, right at whatever was behind her.

It was a boy, he looked to be a few years older than her. His hair was pure white, and he wore what looked to be a blue snowflake-encrusted hoodie, while holding a shepherd's staff that was covered in ice. His face was obscured by all the white powder that had exploded upon contact, and Raven fearfully backed away as he seemed to laugh as he scraped it off.

"I'm Gar Frost, at your service" he said once the snow was mostly gone. His eyes were a deep emerald while his lips were pulled into a large grin; one of his canines was shaped into a fang that stuck up a little.

"You don't mean as in nipping at your nose, do you?" Raven blurted out sarcastically before she even thought about it. She flushed a little as his grin widened.

"How'd you know?" he exclaimed, floating over to her. Her eyes grew wide as he did this, but he simply shrugged. "I'm the spirit of winter and I'm here to help you with your powers. We've got some pretty similar gifts, see?" he said, pulling another snowball into existence in his hands before he caused it to explode into the air, forming small pieces of ice and snowflakes that coated the room.

"H...How did you know about me?" Raven asked, startled. She definitely believed what was going on, as the temperature in the room had dropped and she felt one of the snowflakes land on her nose.

"I've known about you for a long time, but I finally found some answers about how to approach you, I guess, and was given the go ahead to do so." His reply was enigmatic, but Raven was also too mesmerized by what what happening to think about it.

"Who told you to go ahead?" she asked anyway, reaching her hand up to catch some of the frosty flakes in her own and marvel as they didn't melt upon contact with her skin.

"Santa Cyborg, he's got a way of directly contacting the guy who's behind all of this, and of course I'll explain it all to you when you're ready to hear it... But for now, how about we get to know one another?" he asked, confusing her a bit further but she thought perhaps not to ask as she figured he wouldn't tell her anything of use just yet.

He reached out to try and touch her hand, then, and she pulled it away quickly.

"Don't touch me! You mustn't!" she exclaimed fearfully, her eyes searching for her gloves.

"Why not? We're one and the same, you can't hurt me" he said with an encouraging smile, holding up his palm and beckoning her with his eyes.

Tentatively, she took a deep breath and approached his hand with her own. Their palms connected, and a spark of blue magic flew up from around their skin to form a perfectly unique snowflake right above their connected hands.

"What does it mean?" she gasped in wonder, staring from him back to the magic that their hands had produced.

"It means that we're going to have a lot of good things from now on" Gar replied, his smile at its widest yet.

~.~.~.~.~

Over the next two weeks, Gar and Raven spent their time in her room practicing on helping her control her magic and he told her that all the stories she had learned as a child were true, such as that a half-man half-robot called Santa Cyborg would build toys and goodies for children and bring them as presents every Christmas, and that once a child lost a tooth a fairy called Karen Toothiana or the Tooth Fairy would collect them from under their pillows and leave a piece of candy or a coin in its place.

Raven's mind was opened to a whole new level of understanding, but as the time went on she knew that her parents would probably not take it too kindly that someone else, be it the spirit of winter or not, knew her secret. Time continued to pass, however, and it was already past two weeks and her parents had not returned.

"If they were delayed they would have told us, they would have written!" Raven worried; she withdrew into herself a bit more, avoiding her sister even more than before.

Starfire on the other hand was more optimistic as usual, but she still worried. More importantly, she had heard her sister speaking to someone in her room from time to time, and she hoped that Raven wasn't going crazy. On the other hand, for the first week and a half of their parent's departure, Raven had actually emerged for meals and had actually been polite to Starfire; what the redhead didn't know was that this change was caused by Raven's newfound confidence in getting some answers from Gar, and learning how to control her powers was key of course.

This change was missed greatly by Starfire once Raven had retreated completely to her room as their parents had seemingly vanished.

"What if something happened to them?" Raven worried one day, clutching her ungloved hands to her hair and causing a burst of snowflakes to crystallize over her dark locks.

"Will it make you feel better if I go check? I can fly over there and be back in no time" Gar suggested, trying to reach out to touch her hair and remove the snowflakes. Raven pulled away from him sharply, eyes wild with fear.

"Please, Gar. I need to know they'll be coming home" she said desperately.

"Alright, Raven. I'll be right back... But remember what I told you, you can't give in to fear. It's the most important lesson we've been learning" he warned, thinking of what he was told by Santa.

She nodded slowly, and with that he floated out the window and began manipulating the currents to pull him away from the castle. On his way out, he spotted Robin and Sven pulling a cart of fresh ice towards the town; he stopped and changed course towards them.

"How's it going?" Robin asked, jerking his head towards the castle. Gar let out a breath of frosty air.

"The King and Queen haven't returned yet; Weselton hasn't sent us anything either, and Raven's a wreck. Starfire seems cheery as usual, but I bet that's a lie" he replied, throwing in that last bit for Robin's benefit. The ice-harvester flushed and waved his friend away.

"Go and do what you gotta do, alright?" he said, while Sven seemed to have understood everything and was sending Gar knowing looks. With a smirk, the spirit of winter took off once more, and with the wind pushing him along he reached the North Sea.

Scanning the water, he wasn't surprised to find it a bit choppy. There had been a few large storms from what he could feel in his gut, as he controlled many of these windy currents himself to an extent.

Suddenly, a large piece of driftwood caught his eye and he swooped downward to inspect it. Upon reaching it, however, his cold temperature seemed to drop a few degrees as dread fell across him at what he knew had happened to the King and Queen's ship.

~.~.~.~.~

Raven was inconsolable. She refused to emerge even for the funeral, and stayed in her room crying all day. Starfire had to put on a brave face once again and donned her black mourning clothes as she stood as the only family member for the burial and remembrance of her parents.

Gar stayed with Raven for as much as he could, but he soon learned for a fact that her powers were driven by emotion and any time he tried to console her spikes of ice would jet out and nearly skewer him.

Starfire had returned from the funeral, and her sadness seemed to reflect the entire kingdom's. She reached her sister's door, staring through blurry eyes at the blue snowflake patterns it had painted on it.

"Raven?" she knocked softly. "Please, I know you're in there... People are asking where you've been. They say 'have courage' and I'm trying to... I'm right out here for you, just let me in?" she began, the sadness permeating her voice causing Raven herself to choke back a loud sob as she collapsed to the ground on the other side of the door, clutching her knees close to her.

"We only have each other" Starfire continued, "It's just you and me... What are we gonna do?" she asked, sliding down herself to sit with her back against the door unknowing that Raven was doing the exact same thing.

"Do you want to build the snowman?" she said, her voice cracking a bit as tears began to fall down her tanned cheeks.

Upon hearing this, Raven's body convulsed and a spiral of snowy magic burst out of her and coated the room in a sheet of ice and snowy crystals floating everywhere; she let out a sob and pulled her knees close, her heart wide open and vulnerable for the dark shard of fear that had been waiting for so long to penetrate it.

* * *

><p>Here's the next part!<p>

Hope you aren't too lost, I know for a fact that everything will be made clear soon! We'll meet new characters next chapter of course, and for all those asking the plot will for the most part towards the beginning follow the Frozen plotline, but I'll throw in some RotG points as well and many little details will deviate of course, such as you could probably see in this chapter itself.

Please leave me a review, I really appreciate them! :)


	3. Coronation Day

Three

Three years later, the sun broke from the East as it rose and shed it's light over Azerelle, yet some members of the community had already been awake long before. It was Coronation Day, as Princess Raven had come of age and was to be crowned Queen of Azerelle.

The hustle and bustle in the town grew as the sun made its way across the sky, and ships had already begun to enter the harbor and dock, spilling their contents full of gifts and visitors and dukes and royals from other lands onto the streets leading up to the castle.

Robin and Sven had just delivered a shipment of ice directly to the castle itself, as the palace needed plenty of it for the party celebrations after the event itself. Gar floated alongside them, hating that he had to restrain his wintry magic due to the warmer summer temperatures, which to any normal person felt lovely but to him was absolutely scorching.

"Raven still hates it when I come see her these days, especially yesterday. She basically ignored me the whole time I was there!" he whined to Robin. Ever since that night when he had come across her after her parent's funeral, her room encrusted in ice, she had been different.

At first he had chalked it up to sadness at the loss of her parents, yet even many months after she still seemed almost fearful to be around him and more reserved than normal. It was too much of a change, even for her. Gar hated to admit it, because Robin made fun of him constantly if he spoke of it, but he had been watching the girl long enough to realize that this was out of the ordinary for her behavior.

"It'll be okay, once she passes through the day everything will go back to semi-normal and she'll want to be around you again" Robin muttered, as no one else could see Gar but him and Sven.

"I hope so. I'll be right there to support her through it, and I know she'll do fine" Gar thought, looking over towards the castle with a sigh.

The boats had now completely unloaded their passengers, and many Dukes and Duchesses, Princes and Princesses, Kings and Queens too were walking over towards the still-sealed gates.

"Ahh, Azerelle!" one somewhat short (at least when compared to his hulking bodyguards that covered both sides of him) man wearing a black, red, and white formal uniform with a few medals, black boots, and with silvery hair and a thin mustache exclaimed. It was Duke Blood of Weselton. "My mysterious closest partner in trade... Open up those gates and let me divulge your secrets and exploit your riches!... Did I say that out loud?" he suddenly questioned; his guards shrugged but continued to follow him along the bridge.

"I simply cannae wait to meet the Princesses!" a Scottish Duke exclaimed to another, who seemed to be the Duke of Spain.

"Yes, I bet they are beautiful!" he gushed in return as they approached the palace.

In it's depths, a manservant by the name of Kai knocked briskly on the door to Princess Starfire's room.

"Princess Starfire!" he called out.

Starfire herself was sprawled in a very unelegant manner on her bed, her hair sticking up every which-way with some of it stuck to her cheek and in her mouth. A dribble of drool coated her pillow to complete this mess; she stirred a little at the activity outside her door, pulling herself up into a sitting position slowly.

"Yes?" she replied, her voice still laced with sleep as she pulled the hairs out of her mouth and ended up resting on her fist instead.

"I'm sorry to wake you, but it's time to get ready!" Kai continued.

"Oh, no! I have been up for hours! Ready for what?" she replied sleepily, about to doze off again.

"Your sister's coronation" Kai supplied slowly, knowing that she was full well still half asleep.

"My sister's... Conoration..." she said softly, falling asleep for another two seconds or so before she began to fall forward off of her fist. She shot up again, eyes still closed. "Who is it?" she called out.

"Still me, ma'am. Come on then!" he called a little more forcefully. Suddenly her eyes slid open a bit, and she caught sight of the beautiful green flowered print dress she was to wear this day. Her eyes shot open then.

"Ah! It's Coronation Day!" she exclaimed excitedly before rushing out of bed. She got dressed in record time, admiring the beautiful black bodice with floral design and long, pleated two-tone green skirt with similar prints along it; it had off the shoulder green sleeves that covered only a part of her arm, and she fastened a black hanging choker with a coin-sized green gem around her neck. She pulled her red hair back into an elegant plait which she then fastened into an updo, a few hairs escaping it tastefully which she tied with a green ribbon. Slipping on her tights and shoes, she burst out the door and ran through the hallways.

"The window is open, so's that door! I didn't know we did that anymore!" she gasped, staring as the castle went underway with many preparations for its first occupation since the time Starfire was around 5 years old.

Rushing through the halls, she passed a few lines of ladies carrying a multitude of golden plates. She reached out and grabbed one excitedly. "Who knew we owned eight-thousand salad plates!" she said, placing the plate back on the pile before continuing to explore the 'new' castle.

At each moment of discovery, she would marvel at the changes about to befall her entire world that night, as she would finally come into contact with real, live people and would spend the night dancing and having a real ball in the ballroom; each thought she had, she would say aloud in a kind of sing-songy voice of glee and wonder.

"I can't wait to meet everyone! Oh! What if I meet, the one?" she asked, at this point having made her way to the grounds and stooping to pet some baby ducklings that honked at her in response.

What if tonight was the night, the night she met someone who was important enough to fill the role of her best friend? She'd never had this experience before in her life, not once! She and Raven had used to be close, of course, but suddenly drifted apart.

"For the first time in forever, at least I've got a chance!" she told herself, desperately wanting to find a person to confide in and spend time with.

Meanwhile, Raven looked out fretfully at the scenery of people and boats and general activity unfolding in front of her. She was wearing a long, elegant teal dress with a sweetheart bodice, trimmed with gold lacing, black sleeves that came up in a turtleneck around her and a long flowing purple cape. Her gloves were also teal to match her dress, a bit longer than her normal ones, and her hair was pulled back in a perfect, not one hair out of place french-braided elaborate bun."Don't let them in, don't let them see" she whispered to herself, turning away from the window in deep fear.

"Be the good girl you always have to be" she told herself, in imitation of what her father would always say to her. She looked at his portrait, so regal and standing tall and proud. He was wearing his crown and held the sceptre and globus cruciger, firm and yet powerfully wise.

"Conceal, don't feel, don't let it show" she repeated to herself, almost pretending he was there to guide her. She reached out, pulling her gloves off and grabbing a candlestick and a round powder box in her hands as if practicing.

"Make one wrong move and everyone will know" she said with a quiver in her voice, as ice began to crystallize across the objects in her hands. She set them down quickly and pulled her gloves back on.

"But it's only for today!" she reasoned with herself, turning towards the doors, while similarly Starfire out towards the grounds was thinking the same thing.

"It's only for today!" the young Princess said, rushing towards the closed gates.

"Tell the guards to open up the gates!" Raven ordered, after pulling her doors open with a surprising act of finality.

"The gates!" Starfire cried out, rushing towards them and running out before they had barely finished opening, making her way out onto the bridge and surprising some of the people who were making their way over. They hadn't expected the young Princess (for that's who they assumed it to be) to come barreling out first thing, yet they were pleasantly surprised by it.

Starfire continued to explore things as she came into contact with the outside world, marveling at each thing and not spending more than a second to take everything in lest she missed something.

"For the first time in forever, nothing's in my way!" she sang out, beginning a brisk pace alongside the docks, until she suddenly was bumped into by a rather large animal. She let out an 'oof!' before she was sent flying into a boat that had been pulled up onto the docks, sliding all the way into the back of it.

"Whoa, whoa! Ahhhh!" she screeched, as her weight began to offset the otherwise empty boat as it slid off towards the water. Suddenly the large animal which was in fact a horse stomped its foot into the boat, effectively preventing it from going any further.

"I'm so sorry, are you hurt?" s friendly voice called out; the horse's rider.

"Watch where you are going, please!" Starfire exclaimed, pulling a clump of seaweed that had flopped into her face off and tossing it into the water. She looked up at the rider, then, and was stunned.

It was a smallish looking young woman who seemed to be her age; she wore a pair of dark blue trousers, black boots, a magenta tie, a blue shirt, and a light gray-and-black formal jacket. She seemed to be of royal blood, as she held herself well on the horse. Her long blonde hair hung free down her back, something unusual for a princess (at least from Starfire's knowledge) and her big, wide blue eyes sat atop a nose dusted with light freckles. Instantly, Starfire admired this girl for defying all the conventions she had been taught all her life.

"Hello, friend!" Starfire instantly called out. The girl instantly dismounted from her horse and reached out her hand.

"I'm Princess Terra of the Southern Kingdom of Markovia. Let me help you out!" she offered, and Starfire struggled to pull more seaweed off of her and took her hand.

"I am Princess Starfire of Azerelle! And I thank you most graciously for your help" she replied, standing once more on solid ground. Terra's eyes widened.

"Princess? Oh! My lady, where are my manners!" she said, offering her a small bow (also unusual for Princess behavior, as Starfire curtseyed in reply. She supposed that because she had no skirt that a bow was customary, however.)

"No need to fret! I am all right" Starfire assured her with a warm smile.

"I can't believe I ran into the Princess of Azerelle with my horse... Yikes, I'm a mess!" Terra replied sheepishly.

"You are mistaken! For if you had run into my elder sister Raven... It would not have been so nice. But as it was simply me..." Starfire finished that thought with a shrug. If Terra thought her odd way of speaking was strange at all, she didn't show it.

"Just you? I'm glad it was, though" she said with a returning smile.

Was this what it was like to have friends? Starfire thought, staring at the pretty girl across from her who held herself with such confidence. Suddenly, the bells from the chapel began to ring in the distance and she was snapped out of her trance.

"The bells, oh! The coronation! I must go... Goodbye!" Starfire said with an awkward exit that involved running in to a short pole as she backed up. Terra returned the wave, a smile forming on her face at the retreating form of the redheaded princess.

In the chapel, Gar was standing on the left side of Raven as she awaited the dreaded moment that would seal her fate and crown her Queen. Every once in awhile he would catch her looking at him out of the corner of his eye, and he simply sent her encouraging glances and a thumbs up.

The Bishop placed the small crown on her head, and she already felt a few pounds heavier as this responsibility felt like the weight of the world.

The choir sang angelically in Norwegian from above, setting the tone for a peaceful and beautiful celebration. Raven was not all that soothed as the Bishop turned to her with a pillow, upon which rested the sceptre and the globus cruciger that her father had once held. She reached out, hands still gloved, hoping that she could get away with it.

"Hem... Majesty, the gloves" the Bishop had caught it, and Raven paused, her eyes darting from the old man to the gloves to Gar who now stood behind the Bishop.

"You can do it, Rae" he whispered, even though no one would have heard him. She sent him a look that clearly said the usual retort of 'it's Raven, Gar!' which she couldn't speak out loud before she shakily began to pull the gloves off her hands.

Setting them on the pillow, she picked up the golden objects quickly, turning around to face her crowd of people. Starfire had seen Terra sitting in one of the first rows, and she waved at her with a small grin; Terra waved back.

Raven was shaking in fear as her powers began to slowly coat the royal objects in a light sheen of ice, and she willed the Bishop to hurry up.

"...Queen Raven of Azerelle!" the Bishop finished, and she had already turned around and dropped them as if they were hot coals back onto the pillow, slipping her gloves on quickly.

"Queen Raven!" the crowd in the chapel replied, cheering. She allowed them a small smile, feeling a strange sense of relief at having accomplished it all without revealing herself. She turned to briefly make eye contact with Gar, and his own green eyes shone in approval.

Unbeknownst to them all, a dark presence was lurking just outside the chapel windows, watching all of it.

"Don't get too comfortable with those feelings, dear girl... You'll be scared soon again, you just wait..."

* * *

><p>Two updates in one day! Don't know how it happened, really, but you know how it goes sometimes.<p>

We met two new characters in this chapter, sort of. Hans/Terra and the Duke/Blood, plus a lovely sort-of appearance by another villain... Hmm. ;)

Let me know what you think! :)


	4. Revelation

Frozen Destinies

Four

The reception in the ballroom was bursting with well-dressed people dancing and gossiping and eating, all chattering and laughing so that sounds of human interaction dominated the vast space.

The musicians finished playing the upbeat tune and everyone stopped dancing, clapping and bowing to their partners before turning towards the sound of a fanfare.

"Her Majesty, Queen Raven of Azerelle!" Kai the servant announced, and Raven walked into the ballroom looking much more pleased and calm than anyone in the room had ever seen her. She held herself regally and poised, as a queen should, and she came to a stop atop the slightly elevated platform at the end of the room, smiling out at her guests.

"Princess Starfire of Azerelle!" Kai continued, and she made her way over at a slight trot to stand at a considerable distance from her sister, waving awkwardly out at the people who were staring at her fondly.

Kai shook his head slightly and took hold of her shoulders, pushing her closer to her elder sister so that everyone could applaud them appropriately.

"Over here? Are you sure that this is the correct position?" she whispered, but nevertheless the sisters were met with clapping and murmurs of approval, and Raven nodded graciously, signaling for the band to begin playing again.

"Hi" she suddenly said, turning her head slightly to her sister, a rare attempt to reach out and communicate. She felt like this night she had accomplished something truly great, however, and she wanted to share her good mood with Starfire.

The younger of the two, however, was definitely not expecting this. "To whom are you speaking? Hi for me?" she asked, bewildered. Raven smiled a little and nodded.

"You look beautiful" she said, appraising her sister.

"Oh, many thanks! You too look much more beautifuller... I mean, not that you look fuller, simply beautiful...er?" Starfire struggled with her words, but Raven cut her off.

"Thank you" she replied with a small chuckle. Her sister had always been eccentric, which was something she admired about her since she could never be this way herself out of fear of her powers. "So, this is what a party looks like" she continued, gazing out at the full room buzzing with people.

"I suppose so, dear sister!" Starfire replied, admiring all the bustle with shining green eyes. "It is warmer than I imagined!"

"And what is that smell?" Raven asked, and the two sisters in unison inhaled deeply, trying to place the scent.

"Mmmm... Chocolate!" they both said simultaneously, before bursting into giggles that Raven covered delicately with a gloved hand and a small cough.

"Your Majesty, Highness... Duke Blood of Weasel-town" Kai suddenly walked over to them accompanied by a man who was slightly shorter than both of the girls, it seemed, and wearing a suit of red and black. He had a full head of silver hair that stuck up on both sides a little which made him resemble a sort of nutty bat in some ways, and a thin silver mustache.

"Weselton!" he corrected fiercely, turning back to the royals with a smile that seemed out of place on his features. "As your closest partner in trade, it is only fitting that I should ask for the first dance?" he said with a flourish and a bow, which was so powerful that what they had thought to be his full head of hair turned out to be in part a toupee as the top of his head was completely bald; the fake hair peeled off almost to the point of falling off all the way.

The girls let out small "Oh!"s and had to suppress another fit of giggles as they saw this. He stood again, hair flipping back on as he did to, and offered his hand to Raven, who raised an eyebrow.

"Thank you, but I don't dance. However, my sister does!" she said primly, ignoring Starfire's protests as she was dragged off onto the dance floor. Raven's eyes finally caught sight of Gar, who was flitting around the ballroom observing everything. When he noticed that she was alone, he came to rest beside her.

"Nice party, I approve of the refreshments!" he said with a wink, revealing a hidden piece of chocolate that he had clasped in his hand. He bit off half of it and placed the other to her lips before she could protest, and so she quickly opened up and allowed the creamy candy to melt on her tongue.

"Gar, that was foolish" she chastised, but her eyes sparkled a bit. He smiled back at her, leaning casually on his staff.

"You look ravishing tonight, Majesty. I'm quite glad that you refused that strange little man's hand, as I'd like the pleasure of your first dance as Queen" he said, and Raven was surprised to detect a hint of seriousness in his tone. She scoffed, however, maintaining her composure so she didn't look like she was talking to herself to any onlookers.

What happened next was truly an interesting sight for all, and Gar even turned to watch as the self-proclaimed 'Little Dipper' began to jump around Starfire in all sorts of odd ways, claiming he was 'dancing' of course.

"Like an agile peacock!" Duke Blood said, making movements to imitate a peacock's pecking as he circled Starfire who kept glancing at her sister in desperation and amusement.

"Splendid to see that you've finally opened these gates, why on Earth were they closed for so long?" Duke Blood continued as he rounded around Starfire again, who honestly had no idea to begin with and thus gave him a confused look as he asked. "Do you know the reason?" he inquired, getting rather close to her face as he did.

"I do not!" she replied, a little wary, but his face simply fell a bit before he sighed and grabbed her into his arms again.

"Ah, well, prepare for the fall!" he said, as he dipped her down causing her to let out a little squeal. "They don't call me the Little Dipper for nothing!" he assured her, before twirling her around again and resuming his odd dancing.

"Like a chicken with the face of a monkey! I fly!" he imitated each animal as he did so, causing Raven and Gar to snicker as they watched from afar; the song ended, then, and Starfire returned through the throngs of people panting a little bit.

"Let me know when you're ready for another round, little lady!" Duke Blood could be heard calling.

"Really spry for a man of his age, hm?" Raven joked as Starfire stood up once more on the platform, adjusting her shoes.

"Indeed, especially for a man wearing high heels!" she replied with a small huff.

"You're all in one piece, right?" Raven asked, smiling at her sister's flushed skin and dancing eyes.

"Yes, I have never been better, this is truly wonderful!" Starfire exclaimed, hands clasped together out of excitement. "I wish it could remain so forever more!" she finished, hope in her eyes.

"I wish that it could too..." Raven said, but fear clouded her heart soon after, and she turned her face away from her hopeful sister. "But it can't" she said softly.

Starfire was instantly crushed, and she reached out to try and touch Raven. "But why mustn't we..."

"It just can't!" Raven snapped, turning away from Starfire fully now. Starfire suppressed a small sob, before clutching her arms to herself in dejection.

"Will you please excuse me for a moment..." she said softly, eyes shiny as she left the pedestal in order to lose herself in the crowd of people.

As she did so, however, a man with a rather large behind backed into her and sent her tripping over her dress; she let out a small screech as she flailed to regain her balance, but braced for impact anyway... And it never came, as a gloved hand grabbed her arm instead. She opened her eyes to meet the familiar blue ones of Princess Terra.

"Glad I caught you!" she said with a smile, and Starfire righted herself before giving the blonde a hug in gratitude.

"Oh thank you! That was most kind, you have spared me quite the embarrassing moment!" she said with a sheepish shrug. Terra smiled and they moved off of the dance floor to a less crowded area to talk.

"That was a little harsh, Rae" Gar said in the meantime to the distressed Queen.

"Not helping" Raven said under her breath, trying to regain her composure as some of the guests closest to her had seen the altercation and had cast questioning looks in the royals' direction.

"Fine, fine. But I was serious about that dance, yeah?" he said.

"Now is hardly the time for me to go around dancing by myself" Raven said sarcastically.

"Of course not right now... But some other time, okay? Save that first dance for me" he said, reaching out to leave a trail of cold on her cheek. She barely flinched as the temperature didn't bother her of course, but their eyes remained connected for a moment and her pale face pinked a bit.

Meanwhile, Terra and Starfire were connecting on everything they said to one another, taking time to go off to other parts of the castle in order to speak more privately to one another.

"Wait one moment, you have how many older siblings?" Starfire asked as they sat together on one of the balconies where they were gossiping and shoving chocolate into their mouths gleefully.

"Twelve! All boys, three of which ignored me and pretended I didn't exist for two whole years!" Terra said with a huff.

"That is horrible!" Starfire replied.

"It's just what brothers do! Brion is the only one who I could sort of stand, he's the eldest" she continued with a shrug.

"True, for sister Raven and I were quite close as children, but one day she simply shut me out..." she trailed off.

"I feel like you simply understand my innermost feelings!" Starfire exclaimed suddenly.

"I totally understand! I've never met someone who just gets me like you do..." Terra replied, reaching for another chocolate.

"Can I say something, crazy?" Starfire began, searching for the right words.

"I love crazy!" Terra replied, eager.

"All my life there have been the doors in my face, until suddenly I have bumped into you!" she started.

"I was thinking the same thing! Because, I've been searching my whole life to find my own place, and maybe it's the party talking, or the chocolate fondue" she said with a small laugh that Starfire joined in with.

"But with you, I see your face, and it's nothing like I've ever known before... Friends mean an open door!" Starfire said, standing up and grabbing Terra's hands in order to twirl her around as they danced gleefully.

"I've found my place, friends mean an open door with you!" Terra continued.

"With you!" Starfire added with a grin.

They continued through the hallways of the castle, taking off their shoes and skating around the smooth floors with their socks and giggling madly. A guard poked his head around the door just as they managed to get out of the room, and they had to suppress their laughter as he looked around, wondering if his mind was playing tricks on him.

"I mean it's crazy!" Terra exclaimed as they sat up on the roof of the castle, staring out at the kingdom.

"What?" Starfire asked.

"We finish each other's..."

"Sandwiches!" Starfire finished, jumping down off the roof. Terra's eyes lit up.

"That's what I was gonna say!" she gushed, running after the redhead.

"I've never met someone who thinks so much like me... Jinx! Jinx again!" they both said, grabbing each other's pinkies in awe as they seemed to be in sync.

"Our mental synchronization can have but one explanation!" they said, moving their bodies as if they were mechanical.

"You and I were just meant to be best friends!" Starfire said, tackling Terra into a hug, and Terra let out a cry of excitement as she flung her arms around her new friend.

"Can I say something crazy?" she asked, echoing Starfire's words from before, eyes bright with her newfound thought.

"Yes?" Starfire seemed to bounce in anticipation.

"Can I live here, with you? Like... you know, a sister?" she said slowly.

"May I say something even the 'crazier'?" Starfire replied. "YES!" she squealed.

Back in the ballroom, Raven was still engaged in playful banter with Gar when suddenly he jerked his head towards the approach of her sister, linked arm in arm with a slender blonde girl that seemed to be a Princess by her decoration, yet oddly she wasn't wearing a gown but the royal attire that Princes normally bore.

"Your Majesty, my beloved sister Raven!" Starfire began. Raven arched her eyebrow, her smile fixed and small as she surveyed the blonde who looked a little too smiley for her taste.

"This is Princess Terra of the Southern Isles of Markovia!" Starfire introduced, and Raven graced the Princess with a small nod.

"Your Majesty" Terra said in an overly sweet voice that Raven instantly didn't like, but she said nothing of course.

"We would like..." they both began at the same time before giggling a bit at their simultaneous speech; Raven suppressed the urge to roll her eyes.

"We would like your blessing, for... Terra's becoming my bestest and closest of friends!" Starfire began. Both of Raven's eyebrows went up then, as Starfire's request didn't seem that odd at first, but the idea of 'friends' was not something either of the Princesses were familiar with.

"Friends?" Raven rolled the word slowly off her tongue, staring at the two.

"Indeed! She would move here to the castle at once, and I would also request that she become like a sister to us! Perhaps we can perform the ritual of adoption? We'd need a few days to plan the paperworks, of course... She wishes to have complete access and codes into our home, as it is what best friends do! Oooh, perhaps your brothers may come stay as well! We have plenty of room! They may visit every other weekend, all twelve!" Starfire rambled off effortlessly.

"Here? Adoption? Twelve...?" Raven's panic level rose upon each new word that left her energetic sister's mouth, and she suddenly raised her hands in warning.

"Slow down, no one's brothers are staying here, no one's getting adopted!" Raven continued, effectively stopping the two from their gushing.

"What?" Starfire looked at her sister in shock.

"May I talk to you please? Alone?" Raven pleaded, her heart beginning to clench as more fear gripped it.

"No! Whatever you must say you shall say in the presence of best friend Terra!" Starfire replied resolutely.

"Fine. You can't invite someone into this home, to become a part of the family, that you've only just met" Raven said with finality.

"You can if you are the best of friends!" Starfire countered.

"What do you know about friendship?" Raven replied, a bit coldly. Her eyes flickered briefly towards Gar as she considered him her only true friend in the world, but even then she would push him away more than open herself up to him out of an irrational fear of doing something to hurt him too.

"More than you! All you are capable of doing is shutting people out!" Starfire snapped back, becoming more incensed by the second. Raven's face betrayed shock and hurt.

"You asked for my blessing, but my answer is no" she replied.

"Your Majesty, if I may ease your mind..." Terra tried, reaching out to plead with Raven, but she was already walking away from the both of them.

"No, you may not, and I think you should leave. The party is over, close the gates!" she ordered the last part a little more loudly to the guards, who began to follow her commands at once. Starfire's heart leapt into her throat, and she desperately raced after her sister.

"What? No, no, sister Raven, please! Wait!" she exclaimed, grabbing at the elder's arm and pulling off her glove in the process.

"G-give me my glove!" Raven gasped, trying to pull it back out of her sister's grasp, to no avail.

"Raven, please! I cannot live this way any longer!" the redhead pleaded, eyes shining with sadness.

"Then leave!" Raven hissed after a moment, effectively silencing her sister momentarily. People had begun to stare at them, and Raven looked around the room for Gar to find him hurrying towards her.

"Raven, remain calm. Don't let fear take over" he whispered in her ear as she clutched her ungloved hand to her side, hiding it. She sighed at her sister's downcast face, before turning away to make her exit before something bad happened.

"What have I ever done to you?" Starfire called after her, anger boiling up in her veins.

"Enough, Starfire!" Raven desperately called back, eyes shifting around the room as her internal emotions had begun to take control and cause her insides to twist unpleasantly. Gar was floating beside her, eyes frantic as he could tell she was trying to keep it in but wasn't handling it well.

"No, please tell me, why do you shut me out? Why do you shut the world out? What are you so AFRAID of?" Starfire continued to screech after the retreating form of Raven, whose eyes suddenly scrunched up as she reached the door and she whirled around.

"I said ENOUGH!" she bellowed, her hand flinging out and a blast of icy magic ripping through it, causing a slew of sharp ice spikes to crystallize on the floor of the ballroom extending towards the guests.

Gasps and screams were heard throughout, and Raven's eyes went wide as her sister finally realized what she was hiding. She pulled her hand back to her chest, lip trembling in fear. It was then that she noticed that her skin seemed to be changing right before her very eyes, eyes that were now glowing white.

"What..." she heard Gar hiss as he floated over to her.

Her skin was slowly turning paler than normal, until it turned fully gray. She let out a small whimper. Terra was staring at her with a furrow in her blonde brow, while Starfire's eyes shone with horror.

"Raven..." she murmured.

"Sorcery!" Duke Blood exclaimed as he stared in shock at the ice spikes. "I knew there was something dubious going on here!" he said, pulling one of his large bodyguards to stand behind. Raven then turned and bolted out of the room.

"Raven! Wait!" Gar and Starfire both called simultaneously; it was easier for the winter spirit to follow after her, of course, but she continued running until she had made it out of the castle and into the courtyard.

She was met with cries of approval and cheers from her subjects. "Queen Raven!" "There she is!" "Our beautiful Queen!"

She let out a small tortured cry as she moved past people who were slowly beginning to notice her gray skin.

"Your Majesty, is something wrong?" a woman holding a small baby asked. Raven backed up, fear wholly consuming her, and ran into a fountain spurting water. As her hand made contact with the stone, ice shot out from it and covered the entire thing, freezing it solid to the horrified screams of some of the people. The woman with the child gasped and pulled her baby close, away from Raven.

With that, Raven turned and fled, a searing pain in her forehead and her eyes glowing an eerie white as her magic spread out through the environment and Gar struggled to keep after her, Starfire not too far behind.

* * *

><p>Here we go! Hope you all enjoyed, it was fun to write Terra being a sneaky little creep and poor Raven going through all that... Let me know what you think!<p> 


	5. Let It Go!

Frozen Destinies

Five

"Stop her!" Duke Blood called out, pointing to his bodyguards and indicating that they follow after the retreating form of the Queen.

"Stay away from me! Just stay away!" Raven cried out, hands up in front of her defensively. A blast of magic shot out of her exposed palm, however, and nearly hit the Duke who flailed and screamed as he fell backwards. The stairs he was standing on now were coated in ice, spiky ice produced by Raven's fear. She turned and ran again, this time directly out of the town square.

Starfire tried her hardest to keep up after her sister, who was running swiftly through the streets of the town, the temperature dropping all the while. Terra wasn't too far behind her, calling out for her to calm down and listen, yet Starfire wouldn't have it. Clutching the glove to her, she followed Raven.

Raven had now reached the bay, and paused briefly at the water's edge. Hearing Starfire's agonized cries, she tentatively placed her foot on the surface to find a beautiful icy pattern met her shoe the second it made contact. Spreading out until it was wide as a large dinner plate, the ice solidified the water and Raven, now determined to remove herself from this environment, placed her full weight on the surface and began running.

More icy disks formed under her as she ran, keeping her from sinking into the dark water beneath her; she reached the other side swiftly, and began her journey into the mountains.

Gar in the meantime had seen the direction she had chosen but also noticed poor Starfire crying out for her desperately, and made a quick decision based on this. 'Raven can handle herself, and I'll be able to find her. She'll leave a trail. I can't let anything happen to Starfire, she'd kill me...' with these thoughts in mind, he raced off to where he figured he would find the people he needed.

Robin and Sven had just finished eating a very measly dinner together in the town square and were preparing themselves to head back out into the mountains in search of more ice. Ice during summer was very hard to come by, so the journey would be long and hard. Just as Robin climbed into his sleigh and started off, however, a blur of blue and whirling icy air smacked right into him and almost knocked him off his seat.

"Gar! What did I tell you about landing BEHIND me when I'm driving?" Robin yelped, keeping his course steady but now with a small coating of frost along his coat and a frown on his face.

"Shut up, now's not the time... Raven's been found out. Starfire's gonna go after her, I just know it... I need to go talk to someone about all this and find Raven, so you need to watch out for Starfire okay? No questions about it, just make sure she's safe!" Gar blabbered quickly. Robin had never seen him look so fretful and truly concerned about something, so he simply nodded.

"But what if I can't find her? I don't know which way she's going to go" Robin asked, thinking that the Princess would probably have no clue how to navigate a mountain range at all and would get eaten up by wolves instantly.

"Just wait for her to leave. I've seen how she acts when I um, stayed in the castle" Gar explained, faltering a bit.

"You mean creeped around in the castle" Robin countered, which only earned him a snowball in the back of the head.

"I've gotta go. If you haven't noticed, it's started to snow and we're in summer" Gar said, pointing upwards at the sky which was now in fact raining down cold, powdery flakes of snow. Robin gawped but continued on his path out of the city. Gar took off, floating back up into the sky and dashing back off towards where he could feel the winter magic the strongest.

"Now that that's done..." Gar muttered to himself, conjuring up a perfect snowball before enchanting it as he flew.

"Santa? Hey, Cyborg, you there?" he called into the snowball. Nothing for a minute or so, but suddenly it began to glow and a distorted face appeared in the crystal after a moment.

"Yo, Gar! It's been a while! What have you done this time, hm?" the Guardian replied, giving him a look that suggested more often than not Gar caused such problems.

"It's kind of a long story..."

x.x.x.x.x

Raven somehow had made it to one of the highest points of one of the highest mountains in the entire range of her kingdom, and as she walked along the snow she realized just what had happened and the magnitude of her secret being exposed.

Worry began to crash down on her; she knew she had to get out of there, no one wanted a witch as their Queen, Starfire could just as easily take care of everything for her and everyone already loved the bubbly Princess much more than her...

She surveyed the snowy ground in front of her, taking a deep breath. It glowed white all around her, the only footprints in this desolate area belonging to her.

"A kingdom of isolation, and it looks like I'm the Queen" she said to herself, a bit sarcastically but with a bittersweet tone. A sudden pang in her forehead caused her to wince a bit, as her emotions whirled around her.

"The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside... Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried" she continued talking to herself, hugging herself a bit in a sign of lonely comfort.

"Don't let them in, don't let them see! Be the good girl you always have to be! Conceal don't feel, don't let them know... Well now they know!" she continued, her father's words echoing through her. She had failed him, and now it was too late to turn back. She grabbed the glove that remained on her other hand, ripping it off and flinging it to the wind.

Gar, in the meantime, had finally found her and was trying to catch up as she made her way up the North Mountain. He saw her fling off her glove, an act of freedom but also defiance, and he made an effort to catch it but shot after her instead.

She still hadn't caught sight of him, but she bit her lip before flinging her hands up into the air.

"Let it go! Let it go! Can't hold me back anymore... Let it go, let it go! Turn away and slam the door! I don't care what they're going to say... Let the storm rage on, the cold never bothered me anyway!" were her words, and Gar was startled by how powerful she looked just then.

As she had spoken, she released gorgeous flurries of snow and ice crystals, at one point swirling the snow around her and magically forming a small snowman. She turned away from it, pulling at her cloak and unlatching the clasp. She shrugged it off her shoulders and let it fly off; it whizzed past Gar who spared it no second glance as he was transfixed on Raven.

She had never felt this free, never felt this powerful in all her years of living. She began to strut forward, a new confidence taking hold of her as she surveyed her new landscape.

"It's funny how some distance can make anything seem small, and the fears that once controlled me can't get to me at all!" she said, staring off at the faraway peaks of mountains that seemed much tinier from her current position. She rushed forward towards the edge of a cliff, where the mountain had broken off and the highest peak lie to the opposite side.

"It's time to see what I can do, test my limits and break through" she told herself, reaching her hands out and crafting a perfectly sculpted ice staircase complete with two sturdy banisters from one end to the other of the gorge. She smiled wide, placing a foot on the step and gasping a little as the small patches of ice blew off and solidified the structure at her touch.

"No right or wrong, no rules for me... I'm free!" she sang out, voice light as she extended her hands once more and began running up the stairs. Her power pushed off the excess ice and created the perfect staircase as she ran.

"Let it go! Let it go! I'm one with the wind and sky! Let it go, let it go! You'll never see me cry... Here I stand, and here I'll stay! Let the storm rage on..." she continued, hopping off the staircase and onto a semi-flat surface of snow on the side of the North Mountain.

She stomped her foot on the ground and a large hexagonal snowflake of pure ice emerged, expanding and expanding as she created a new home for herself. She pulled the shape upwards with her magic, creating layers and rooms and more of the palace formed around her as she rose into the sky.

"My power flurries through the air into the ground... My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around... And once it crystallizes with an icy blast... I'm never going back, the past is in the past!" she continued, telling herself all these things as she felt them, creating a ceiling filled with spiny turrets of ice and a large chandelier made of spiky ice crystals descended from the new ceiling.

She took the crown from her head, staring at it for a moment before casting it to the side at this declaration of moving forward. With a deep breath, she then grasped her perfectly pulled back hair and yanked on it, breaking it free from the updo.

"Let it go! Let it go! I'll rise like the break of dawn. Let it go, let it go, that perfect girl is gone!" she continued, pushing swisps of her bangs every which way and letting the braid fall over her left shoulder. She noted that her hair instead of raven black now seemed to have a more violet sheen, much like the dark amethyst of her eyes. Tiny ice crystals began to form along her hair like little gems and remained encrusted there, and with a wave of her hand even her dress began to take a new form.

She wanted a whole new feel for herself, a new sense of who she was. As she looked down, her off the shoulder dress now was crystal-blue and made out of ice complete with a crystallized bodice that reflected little squares of blue and turquoise light. Her sleeves were now long and powder blue, and she created a sheer cape that attached to the back of the bodice, transparent and with large snowflake designs decorating it. Even her shoes now were made fully of ice.

"Here I stand, in the light of day! Let the storm rage on!" she emerged out onto the balcony she had created, arms raised in triumph and positive emotions swirling in her system as she looked out across her new domain. The sun had begun to rise, casting a pinkish glow that caught on her icy new home and reflected light across everything.

"The cold never bothered me anyway" she finished, a smirk on her face as she turned back into the room and slammed the two doors to the balcony shut behind her with a swirl of her cape.

Gar had been watching all of this intently, his heart thumping and pride swelling in his chest as he watched her work. She used her powers with a surprising amount of skill and artistry that he hoped he played some part of, as he helped her learn control of her creations a few years back. When she had changed clothes, however, and emerged in that new dress... Gar had felt his normally cool features flame up and a blush dusted his icy cheeks.

Shaking off these feelings, he knew he needed to talk to her and quickly. He had snuck in through the front doors of the castle, making his way inside and up to where Raven was now pacing. Her cheery demeanor from moments before seemed to have vanished completely.

"Raven? Are you alright?" he announced his arrival, coming into the room and floating down next to her. She whirled around to face him, large tears having formed in her eyes. Gar instantly knew why.

A gem now appeared on her forehead. It was diamond shaped, and blood red; smack in the center of her forehead, it glistened and shone like ice but was not made out of anything Gar had ever seen before.

"What's happening to me? I thought... I thought everything would be okay. I'm fine out here, aren't I? I can't hurt anyone up here" Raven seemed to be telling this to herself as well as Gar, and so he took her hands in his. Startled by the sudden touch, she stopped talking.

"I can't tell you what that" he gestured to her new accessory "is, but I can tell you that it's all going to be fine. A friend of mine should be here soon to help us figure stuff out... It'll all make sense soon" Gar explained, squeezing her hands in his own. Raven took a deep breath and nodded, suddenly feeling a bit fatigued.

"You haven't slept at all have you? It's probably best if you get some sleep, okay? I'll wake you when he gets here" Gar said, and they walked together towards a room that adjoined this one, where together they pulled their powers together in order to create a large ice-bed, complete with a soft snow mattress and icy blankets. Raven protested a bit before he managed to get her to lie down in it.

"Time to close your eyes, overlook the darkness, and try to dream tonight. Not so long ago your world was bright! So take a deep breath and count to ten, and maybe you can dream again" Gar spoke softly to her, sitting next to her on the bed and keeping a hold of her hand. He wouldn't ever admit it out loud, but this felt the nicest it had in however long he'd existed.

Raven listened to his words as he comforted her and relaxed her enough to sleep a bit, feeling calmer but not enough to dream of anything pleasant, which was exactly what someone watching them was hoping for.

x.x.x.x.x.x

When Raven awoke, it was due to a disturbance that she was feeling in her icy palace. Gar was no longer by her side, so she pushed aside the icy blankets and slipped her shoes back on before returning to the main room. He seemed to be speaking into a snowball, a glowing snowball that he held in the palm of his hand.

"Oh, she's awake now. You can come now!" Gar said, after catching her looking at him from the doorway. She shot him an inquisitive look before her eyes were immediately drawn to a large portal that had opened up in the middle of the room. Gar let the snowball crumble in his hands before floating over to her and placing his arm lightly around her waist in support.

"What... How? Who?" Raven managed to ask, but her question was answered as a large brown boot stepped out of the portal. Following that was a... metallic leg? And the rest of the large body followed.

It was an immense man with dark brown skin and shockingly blue eyes, although one seemed to be a bit less real if that was even possible. He wore a black fur hat that covered a head devoid of hair, and yet the beginnings of a dark beard covered his chin; surprisingly it was not solely black hair, but also silvery white hair that donned his face. A long red coat with black fur trimming covered him, and a red plaid shirt paired with dark blue pants completed his outfit. The metal leg stuck out of one of the pants legs noticeably.

"Gar Frost! How long it's been!" he exclaimed, a twinkle in his false eye revealing it to be metallic as well; it flashed briefly and changed from a human eye into a fully red robotic one, as the rest of his face followed and blue silvery circuits revealed themselves on that side of his face up to his cheekbone. He removed his coat, exposing the sword strapped to his waist and the suspenders holding up his pants. His right arm was also fully metallic, circuits whirring and flashing as he moved. Both forearms were covered with two sleeve-live tattoos, intricate in design, with scripts that read 'Naughty' on the metal right arm and 'Nice' on the human left arm.

He turned to stare at Raven, who was surprised her mouth hadn't dropped open in shock at seeing this man. He chuckled a bit, wriggling his eyebrows at Gar when he noticed the arm still draped around her waist, before clearing his throat.

"I am Victor St. North, also known as Santa Cyborg... but you may call me Cybrog if you like."

* * *

><p>Sorry there was so little Starfire in this one, you guys get a whole chapter of her (and Robin!) next time to make up for it!<p>

On the bright side, Cyborg is here! And points to all of you that noticed what song I had BB/Gar sing to Raven as he was putting her to sleep.

(Okay I'll tell you, it's the song at the end of ROTG, Still Dream by Rene Fleming. I just had to. I almost made them duet it, and it may happen later on if you all like that idea, but I wanted that moment to be about Raven and her discovering her power's true potential!)

Leave me a comment, I wanna know your thoughts! :)

xx Spotty


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