The Invisible: Chapter Thirty-One (Jelsa)

Elsa wandered through the castle and heard soft crying coming from Rin's room. She never in a million years imagined walking in on her 19 year old crying like a little girl who had tripped and fallen to be sprawled out on her bed.

"Rin? What's wrong?" She asked with worry.

"Go away!" Rin said, grabbing a cloth and dabbing her eyes, "Go away, mom!"

Rin's hair, which in the same type of rebellion Heimdall had experienced when he turned 18, had been chopped off and now looked like a bird had made a nest. She tried to stifle her motherly urge to pat it down, but Rin was glaring at her and hugging a pillow so tightly Elsa imagined it would break.

"Okay. Dinner will be soon, though." She said, knowing when to leave her eldest daughter alone.

"I'm not hungry!" Rin said, throwing the pillow, "Just leave!"

Elsa wandered around in deep confusion and worry the remainder of the time until dinner. Jack noticed, and commented on Rin's absence.

"She's in her room...crying. She won't tell me why." Elsa whispered.

"Oh." Jack frowned, quieting, "I should go talk to her."

"It won't help. You're useless around a crying girl." Elsa said, "Just...give her time. I can't even imagine what it might be though." Azura came in, gently leading Colbourne into his seat.

It was hard, living with a blind child. He couldn't see almost anything, and to cover his mikly looking eye they had a little eyepatch made. Jack had been bright about it.

"You're a pirate now! Arrg!" Elsa had to admit that her husband always knew what to say.

At first, Azura had stayed away from him, partly because she couldn't deal with the guilt, and secondly because for a long while he looked at her in fear every time she entered the room. Most recently, though, seeing as Pabbie had been correct about his lack of memory, she had become his protector. She went nearly everywhere with him.

"I took away his sight, Mom." She had said, "It's only fair I give mine to him whenever I can."

"No one blames you." Elsa had said more times than she could count, "If you had done nothing, you may have both been killed."

Now, Azura sat in her usual spot next to her brother, telling him quietly what was in front of him and where. If only her other children could get along so well.

"Where's Kai?" Gavner asked looking around as he sat.

"I don't see Eira either." Anna said, "Or Heimdall and Aoife."

"Oh, Heimdall is finishing some work for the council and Aoife is feeling a little under the weather. She ate some chicken soup already." Jack said, filling in the blanks, "I don't know where the other two are."

"Well, no use waiting. I'm hungry." Elsa declared, and there was a sigh of relief, and everyone tucked in to a delicious chicken dinner.

There was sharp and girly giggling from the hall leaning to the dining room, which brought Elsa from her meal. She looked up, and soon most of the table was perked up in interest. Colbourne, who had begun to rely heavily on all his other senses, wrinkled his nose.

"Kai? And Eira?" He asked.

"That's unexpected." Jack said, raising an eyebrow. The two stumbled into the room together, smiling like goons.

"Mom! Mom we have the best news!" Eira was blushing hard and had a look of eternal joy plastered on her face.

"Kai? You're late!" Gavner reprimanded, "Don't be rude, now come and sit."

"Dad. I have something to tell you! This is why I was late." He said, taking Eira's arm and the two shared a silly smile.

"Mom, Kai proposed! Look at the ring. Mom, married! We went down and tied the knot this morning. I'm Mrs. Eira Eklund now." Eira shrieked and suddenly noticed her mother's expression was not as gleeful as she had hoped, "Mom, aren't you happy for me?"

Jack and Elsa exchanged looks. "Oh, no." Elsa whispered, realizing why Rin was sobbing in her room.

"No." Jack whispered under his breath, "I was prepared for the oldest. Not her! She's too young. Gaaah, dear restrain me before I go and dust off the old hunting rifle. They eloped!" He wheezed, turning white, his knuckles gripping the table. There was a stunned silence, and Eira turned sour.

"Well, thank you for the heart-felt congrats, everyone! Odin!" She said in frustration, storming out. Kai began to follow him, but his father stopped him.

"Kai! What were you thinking young man? Come here." Elsa didn't hear the rest of his anger, because she was up running after Eira. She found Eira in her room, angrily stuffing things into a suitcase.

"Oh, gee, there are you are mom." She said, spinning around in anger.

"What are you doing, young woman?" Elsa asked, slamming the door behind her.

"I'm married now. I'm going with Kai to America and you can't stop me!" Eira screamed, "I wanted you to be happy for me, mom!"

"You married without my permission! You say you're going half-way across the world at the age of 18. Do you think I would be jumping for joy?" She asked.

"Mom I'm happy! Does that mean anything to you?" She said, trying to get around her mother with a suitcase with half her fabrics dangling out the sides.

"How long have you been seeing him, Eira." She asked sharply, "Answer me!"

"Why does it matter! It's true love!" Eira insisted.

"Answer me, young lady. You are still my daughter and your father will still come and fly you home if you try to leave, you understand me clearly?" She asked with venom in her voice.

"Fine! Whatever! We've been in true love for six months, happy?" She asked, "But we knew you wouldn't approve. Well, you can't do anything now, so there!" She said.

"Yes, of course I wouldn't approve! Six months, that's hardly any time at all. You're too young to know what true love means, Eira. Now put your suitcase down, you are not going anywhere."

"Make me." Eira sneered savagely, and Elsa sighed.

"You forced me." She sighed in regret, and shot the suitcase out of her daughter's hand with an icy blast, out the window. Oops, she hadn't meant to use so much power.

"Mother!" Eira cried, running to the window, hot tears running down her face, "How could you?"

"Oh hush, someone will get your things later. What I want to know is how could you do this? Did you know that Rin has been in love with him since before he arrived?" She asked, quite sure that Eira didn't know, hoping that she would soften. Instead Eira became cold.

"Oh, of course. You take her side. You love her more, don't you mom. If her and Kai got married after a month of dating, you wouldn't care! And it's not my fault she was too afraid to do anything about her crush!" Eira said haughtily. Elsa's blood went cold.

"You...KNEW?" She screamed, and Eira winced, but only from the decibel of her mother's shouts.

"So what? He choose me! No one wants boring and ugly Rin anyway." Eira replied. It took everything in Elsa's power not to strangle her daughter.

"This is not how I raised you. You are sisters. Does that mean anything to you? How dare you do this to your own blood. I am ashamed of you! You may not always be married to him, but you will always be Rin's younger sister." Elsa said, recalling how once she almost lost her own, due to something similar but at the same time totally different.

Eira just scoffed, rolling her eyes and refusing to make eye contact. Elsa thought it was enough. She grabbed Eira's arm and dragged her, literally dragged half on the ground, to Rin's room.

"I told you to leave mom!" Rin said, still red-eyed. Her eyes grew with fire when she saw her sister, "Oh Odin, do you want me to kill myself?"

"Apologize to her, Eira." Elsa demanded angrily.

"Why. Can't help it I was more desirable." Eira said sourly.

"Only because you dressed like a slut around him!" Rin said, standing and shaking with fury, "Mom, they got married."

"I know. But not for long." Elsa said icily.

"You can't stop me. I'm going to America!"

"Oh, I most certainty can. Now apologize." She said, "Or else."

Eira turned. "Mom, I never took you as heartless. But Kai has a job in America, and he has to go. And I mean, you wouldn't split up a family would you?" She asked.

"Two of you are not a family, you ignorant girl." Rin sniffed. Eira turned, an evil look in her eye.

"True. But baby makes three!" She said, patting her stomach. Elsa didn't even see Rin lunge.

"YOU WHORE! HOW DARE YOU! I LOVED HIM!" Rin said, trying to punch Eira. Elsa attempted to get in between the two, but with little success. There was finally a climax when Eira was crying on the floor.

"Mom, her ice hit my stomach! She's killed the baby! Baby murderer!" She cried, pointing at Rin.

"You deserve it, you horrible excuse of a person!"

"Stop it, both of you!" Elsa screamed, her fingernails digging into both of their arms, "Rin, stop it. Please." She said, looking at her eldest daughter with a plead in her eyes. Rin's eyes still sparkled with tears, and she took in a deep breath, but nodded. Elsa turned her attention to Eira, who was still going on about Rin the baby axe-murderer.

"Quiet you. Jack will go with you to Pabbie to see what will happen, but for heaven sakes!" She said, tugging Eira from the room.

By the time they returned to the dining room, the room was in an uproar. Heimdall was sitting next to his friend, fists clenched in anger and glaring at his friend.

"I can't believe you did this to Rin." He was muttering. Kai's eyes were wide.

"Dude, I swear I didn't know Rin also liked me!" He said.

"Everyone knew, Kai." Wynter said stiffly, "You're just as blind as Col if you couldn't see that. Or stupid."

Jack looked up, and Elsa let go of Eira. "You need to take her to see Pabbie. Rin hit her stomach with her magic."

"Stomach? I don't think that's really going to hurt much. Maybe a stomach ache for a couple days but-," Elsa cut him off, looking at Gaver, who she realized had no idea about the little surprise either.

"No, I guess that Eira is concerned about the...baby." She said, glaring pointedly at her daughter's stomach. Jack exploded in an bomb of ice. He rose up out of his seat, like an invisible string had tugged him up. The whole room darkened with the wrath of Jack Frost. It was terrifying, and Elsa was glad that she was not the one the anger was directed at.

"What?" He thundered, "Baby?"

"Have fun with your father, Eira." Elsa said with a smile, knowing that if she wasn't afraid of her mother, she was as sure as Odin terrified of what her father would say. This was her punishment. The room was cast into an uproar once again.

Heimdall hauled his best friend up by his shirt. "Not only do you break the heart of my favorite sister's heart, but you get the other one pregnant? Before you were married?" He said in exasperation.

"I mean, it just happened and-," Kai began to say, but he was cut off by Heimdall's fist, which connected with Kai's nose at the perfect angle. Bright red blood spurted out between Kai's fingers.

"Dude?"

"I really needed to get that out." Heimdall grumbled, "I'm going back to my room now. I just...can't talk to you now."

"I'll fix this. While I have a nice long talk about his unknown recent...activities." Gavner growled. Most of the other children were sent away, and Elsa found herself in the kitchen. She grabbed mint ice-cream, Rin's favorite, along with some chocolates that Jack had gotten for her when he left most recently. She had been waiting to eat them with some nice wine, but she figured Rin needed the more. She grabbed the white wine anyway.

"Can I come in?" She asked, "I come bearing gifts of heartbreak fixers." She said softly. Rin sighed.

"Sure. Whatever." She said grudgingly. Her mother set them in front of her and poured her and her daughter a glass of wine. Rin drank it in record time.

"A baby? Really? I...I..." She blubbered.

"What your sister did was wrong, not only to you, but to the family." Elsa agreed, "Chocolate? It will make you feel better."

"What do you know about this." Rin said, turning over on her pillow, "You and dad have loved each other forever." She muttered.

"I was once stupidly in love, at the age of 15. He was the delivery boy, and I was infatuated. And he was seventeen and so curious to see the princess that he just let me be so in love. One day, I thought that he might have loved me for me, and I showed him my powers...he called me a monster, a freak, and he made me feel like dirt. My mother picked me up and brought me chocolate like I'm doing for you." She explained. Rin thought about it.

"I can't believe it." Rin sighed in, "I thought...oh, I don't know what I thought."

Elsa didn't say anything for a long time. She just let her daughter cry, drink wine, eat chocolate and ice-cream and spill all her feelings on her mom. After a long while, she got up and hugged her mom.

"Thank you. I don't know what I would have done without you. I think I'm still in shock." She said. Elsa ruffled her hair.

"Go to sleep, dear. Everything looks better with daylight." She said sagely, "I'm going to see Eira. She must be back by now- I don't want to lose a daughter. I am angry, but I do still love her, and I want her to know that."

She met Jack on the way. "What did Pabbie say?"

"She'll be fine." Jack grumbled, "I can't even..." He shook his head, "The kid will either suffer no problems or be born magical. I hope the kid is magical. Serves her right! The nerve." He said sourly.

"You should go and talk to Rin. She's better now, in a sense." Elsa suggested, "She's really upset." Jack's face softened.

"She shouldn't be. I feel so sorry for her." He said, "I will. Eira is in her room. We've been home about two hours."

Elsa knocked on Eira's room, "Honey? I'm coming in." She opened the door to see the room darkened and a dark lump curled on her second daughter's bed. She went to sleep; good. She would talk in the morning.

She was about to leave, when she noticed something felt off about the room. Out of curiosity, she opened one of Eira's closets. Empty. All empty. She opened the rest in a frantic rush. All abandoned. There were only pillows under the blanket where Eira was supposed to lay, and Elsa felt fearful. A fluttering movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Taped to the window was a piece of paper. Elsa tore it down, and her hands trembled as she read it.

Mom (And Dad)

Well, that wasn't how I expected it to go. At all. I'm upset you just couldn't be happy for me. You're a grandmother now! Isn't that exciting?

I see now though that you are willing to tear a baby away from it's father because of stingy old rules and asinine ideas of how a love should be. News flash mom, it is true love. TRUE LOVE. Who cares how long it's been? I know that Kai is the perfect man and he will be the perfect father.

I had to leave, and I'm sorry. I'm not sorry I left, I'm sorry that I couldn't be a perfect daughter with perfect powers or white hair or whatever I'm not. I'm sorry that my kid won't meet it's grandparents on either side because of your stubbornness. It's your loss.

I've gone with Kai already to where we'll leave to America. I'm not telling you how or where we are going, because I have no doubt that dad will come and find me, and I am NOT letting that happen. I will write you when I'm there safely with a house and food to let you know I'm okay, and I'll try to contact you after the baby is born, but other than that, don' t look for me. You won't find me. I don't need you anymore, mom.

Goodbye forever,

Eira.

Was this what the most bitter sadness felt like? Was this what it felt like to fail as a parent? Elsa couldn't stop crying as she came into the fireplace room where Jack and Gavner shared an ale, looking at each other and just beginning to laugh a bit.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Jack asked, seeing her. She let the letter fall to the floor, and Gavner picked it up. Elsa let herself crumble into Jack's embrace as Gavner read the letter out loud. When he finished, he ran to Kai's room and returned with a similar- but not quite as venomous- letter.

"We'll find them." Jack promised, and Elsa just shook her head.

"No...no...let her go." She sobbed, "Let her be happy, if that's what she thinks she wants."

Jack looked utterly torn. He gave a long sigh. "I hope Eira knows how forgiving her mother is, wherever she is."

Gavner tried to help, "Hey, at least only one of your kids have screwed up so far. That's 1 out of 11. My failure as a parents is a lot more apparent- 1/3 of my children are beyond help." He said, helping the King and Queen up. Elsa cracked a smile.

"Gavner, you always know what to say." She whispered, and pulled him into the hug. The three didn't move for a long time, just sat hugging in silence by the roaring fire, contemplating the days events and how it would continue from there.