Nathan stood frozen in place, his eyes darting from Mark to Jara in shock. Was Mark dead? He couldn't tell from this distance. Jara's nostrils flared as heated black smoke was snorted from them. Grinning at him, Jara started to approach him as he growled out. "Some protector you are. All that power and you still haven't mastered it." Stepping back from him, Nate exhaled out softly. "The power isn't mine to master. I'm just a vessel." Jara scoffed, growling out. "Surrender, Mortal. You are unworthy." Nathan shook his head nervously. Was he strong enough to take him on? Isak had mentioned that he'd failed... kind of. How had he failed? Jara raised his hands, causing the nearest trees to spring to life and the limbs to reach out for him with their sharp branches. They grabbed his arms and legs, lifting him off the ground. Nathan screamed, thrashing and snapping the thin branches clinging to him. More grabbed him to keep him in the air and Jara chuckled up at him as he watched him with amusement. "We're not on the mountain anymore, Highness! You're in MY domain now!" Jara curled his raised fingers causing the branches to squeeze him before starting to pull him back out into an X formation to expose his chest again.

Nathan tried to tug his arms free, but the trees' branches were wrapped tightly down to his bones. Jara smirked, approaching slowly to smugly say aloud. "You seem weaker than our last fight. Reincarnation hasn't been good to you. I'm gonna make you suffer." Putting a hand to Nathan's chest, Jara licked his lips before asking coolly. "Any last words?" Panting, Nathan looked around for anything that could help him. Beyond, Sten held a limp Aputsiaq in his arms, his large hands stroking her half-melted face as he tried to wake her up with a grim look. When Sten turned to look at him, Nathan met his hollow eyes and gasped. Within the depths of his hollow eyes, Nathan saw an old memory from Mark's point of view. Mark was fighting Jara as a reindeer, shoving him back into the snow. Jara rolled up onto his ram feet, his horns starting to frost over with ice as he aimed the points at Mark. Just before he unleashed the power at Mark, Mark's eyes turned to Isak. Isak was clutching his wounded side but raised a hand and managed to draw the ice from Jara. Nathan gasped, watching Jara's horns fade back to normal and the ice crystal on Jara's horn lost its glow as its power was pulled from it. When the glow had faded to a dull white, the crystal exposed! They were all sent flying as snow blasted out in an avalanche of uncontrolled power.

The North Mountain going from a rich earthy rock to covered in permanent deep snow. Leaping over the rushing snow as a reindeer, Mark dashed after Isak to reach him before the snow rolling over the mountain side took him away. Isak managed to snatch Mark's antler before he went over the side, screaming out Mark's name. Mark grunted, his hooves sliding in the snow, but he heated them to keep his feet planted firmly. Pulling Isak up, Mark turned and got shot with an arrow from Jara's vine bow. Collapsing in the snow, Mark fell over the side of the mountain, leaving Isak alone with Jara. As Mark fell, he struggled to change into an eagle, but saw Isak straightened up and yell out words that Nathan repeated to himself as the memory faded. "You are no vessel of magic. I AM!" Jara's hand jerked off his chest as Nathan lowered his eyes to lock with his for the first time. Letting his emotions numb out until he felt nothing, Nathan saw his reflection in Jara's horrified eyes. Nathan saw his body frost over in snowflakes and his eyes turn a blazing white, his every breath exhaling out in thick cold. Tilting his head back, Nathan let out a scream as he let his power surge out of him without any hint of control. The release of power that he'd been trying to hold back for so long felt incredible. Like a massive weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

Jara was blasted back from him as a blizzard kicked up around Nathan in a strong whirlwind of power. The branches holding him turned so brittle as they iced up almost instantly and snapped under his weight. Falling to the ground on his feet, Nathan watched his skin pale and turn to solid ice, his hair turning a pure white with black streaks. Glowing blue lines formed down his cheeks like war paint from under his glowing white eyes to his chin. His loose hair rustled in the swirling blizzard around him as he started walking toward Jara, his voice icy and unfeeling as he sneered out to him. "You are unworthy of MY power, Jara. I was made for it. I am the opposite of Mark. He is the summer to MY WINTER!" Jara scooted away from Nathan as he approached him now. Hopping to his feet in the snow, Jara puffed out cold breath and shivered violently the closer that Nathan got to him. Lifting a hand, Jara rubbed his hands together and tried to use the dragon fire trick that he had on Aputsiaq. Locking eyes with Jara, he saw how the trick worked and raised his hand as the fire shot toward him. His hand touched the flames and froze it into one solid piece. Jara's eyes widened, watching Nathan close his fist to break the solid form of icy flames into snowflakes.

Jara snorted, staggering back and heating himself up until his horns glowed a bright red. Nathan smirked, lost in the memories within Jara's eyes. The pain that he caused. The humans that he had killed. The pleasure he took in it. He even saw how Jara had taken advantage of Mark's kindness to rip pieces of the spirits from Mark in order to forge the element known as ice and create his powerful crystals. Crystals made from those in the river of Ahtohallan that could hold the pieces of power that he'd stolen. Knowledge that he had hoarded to unite the troll tribes and make himself king of the trolls as he taught them a lesser form of how to use magic. A lesser form that had almost gotten his own son killed when he sought to claim Isak's power for himself to overthrow his father. Jara unleashed a firestorm to try overpowering the storm surrounding Nathan, but Nathan's swirling blizzard only dropped colder and sucked the air from the flame as the air dried out and thinned. As the flames flickered out and died, Nathan blinked calmly and told him emotionlessly. "You have no power over me. The earth wilts beneath me. No flame can burn me. Air thins around me. Water losses its adaptable emotions and freezes around me. I am the ice king. The season of winter. I am the cold shoulder that makes you miss the warmth of summer!"

Jara started to heat himself more, he was determined to prove him wrong. Inhaling deeply, Nathan's voice turned deep and dark as he growled out. "Don't push me, Jara. You won't like how this ends..." The blizzard swirled more intensely around Nathan, causing the frosted trees to sway and whistle. Over the cold whistling wind, Jara screamed out bitterly. "NEVER!" Nathan started breathing heavier, feeling his body change as he growled out. "Then cower before me!" Nathan felt the power flow through him from Ahtohallan's river, the power changing his ice body until he grew and stood before Jara as a large menacing ice dragon of the North. His body glistened like black ice with clear white and black ice spikes along his spine to the tip of his long tail. Lifting his black wings, he showed off the glistening blue webbing that glowed like the scales on his underside. His long thick black horns of ice curled out over his long nose and thick icy breath escaped between his parted clear teeth. Glaring down at Jara's tiny body, Nathan snorted snow over him that buried him in an instant. Bursting from the snow mound, Jara aimed a bow made of vines at him that held a flaming white arrow. Jara shot the arrow and Nathan unleashed a jetstream of pure ice.

The flaming arrow touched the ice and caused an explosion of hot mist, but when the mist settled... Jara was completely incased in a block of ice so strong that even molten lava would take centuries to melt it. Having lost all feeling, Nathan growled deeply and slammed his foot down on the ice to crush the block like it was a disgusting bug. With Jara dead to his own satisfaction, he turned to the sound of Sten coughing violently. Looking at Sten and Aputsiaq, he watched Sten lay her down to cough as the thick hot mist shrouded him. As the hot mist cooled over Sten's body, Nathan marveled at the rock giant. Sten coughed more mud out, but his smooth rock skin was changing now. Thick foliage was starting to grow on him and his coughing slowly subsided. In mere moments, Sten was a rock giant covered in thick green life that acted like hair and a clothing. The mist had caused a greenhouse effect that cured Sten of his cough and exhaustion. Perking up as he looked at the moss over his hands like fingerless gloves, he once again placed his thumb to the base of the dead tree. This time a green light glowed beneath his thumb and the dead tree slowly blossomed with fresh life. It came back stronger than before and sparkled with fresh dew from the mist.

Nathan glanced at Aputsiaq who weakly smiled as she watched the tree bloom. She needed help, but his heart was drawn to Mark. Turning to face Mark's body that was still lifeless on the now lightly frosted ground, Nathan felt his form melt away as a spark of hope filled him with warmth. Stumbling with exhaustion on his human feet, Nathan fell to the ground soaking wet and barely able to stay awake. Crawling up to his body, Nathan put his hands on Mark and called his name in a broken voice. Mark's eyes were closed, and he didn't respond. Grabbing the mistletoe stick, Nathan tried to pull it out, but the stick hummed with a magic of its own. It refused to be removed. Shaking his head, Nathan cursed and kept trying, but it wouldn't budge. Cupping Mark's face, he whispered to him in a shaky voice. "Mark? Please... wake up. Mark? It's over... Please?" Tears brimmed his eyes as the sinking thought of Mark never waking up flooded his mind. His emotions shaking out of him so badly that it began to snow over them. Sniffling, Nathan sat up and yelled out to Sten desperately. "STEN! HELP! HELP HIM!" Sten didn't hear him, but Aputsiaq crawled closer to them, causing Sten to follow her with his eyes until he saw Nathan.

Getting to his feet, Nathan waved his arms and yelled out. "HEY! DOWN HERE! HELP!" The ground shook as Sten shifted to see him better, forcing Nathan down to his shaky knees. Leaning closer, Sten smiled out to him in an almost ear shattering deep voice. "Human?" Nodding, Nathan put a hand on Mark's chest, pleading out as loudly as he could. "HELP HIM!" Sten cautiously reached out toward Mark, until a barrier zapped Sten to keep him from getting close to him. Recoiling, Sten put his finger to his mouth, yelling out loudly in pain. "OW!" Getting to his feet again, Nathan stammered out in horror. "No! No! NO! HELP HIM! PLEASE!" Sten shook his head, pulling his finger from his mouth as he told him in a grim childish voice. "Mistletoe. Not friendly. Can't help." Getting to his feet, Nathan snapped out. "YOU HAVE TO! HE'S DYING!" Sten looked over his finger for marks, uttering out softly to himself. "No dying... Him sleep. Like Sten sleep. Water make Sten weak. No die. Mistletoe make Mark weak. Him no die. Or Sten die." Nathan was only a bit relieved by that, when he called up. "WHAT CAN I DO?! HOW CAN I WAKE HIM?! STEN?!"

Sten slowly looked back at him, telling him openly in a warm calm voice. "A kiss for every berry. For every berry, a tear. Mistletoe a parasite. One life. For another. A kiss of death and of cheer." Nathan blinked, then looked at the barren stick. He didn't understand. Shrugging, he yelled out. "STEN! I DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Sten chuckled to himself, growing increasingly distracted with fixing the plants around him as he said playfully. "Sure, you do. You saved him before. You always save him... and he saves you." Nathan shrugged, but Sten was too distracted now to pay attention to him. Dropping to his knees, Nathan laid his head over Mark and cried as his exhaustion filled him. He couldn't think and he was scared. Sniffling, he lifted his head to ask Mark in a broken voice. "Mark, I don't know... I..." Nathan stopped talking as he noticed the stick now. The stick in Mark had green leaves now and small white berries. As a tear fell from his cheek, another berry slowly grew on the branch. Swallowing, Nathan sat up and mumbled out to himself. "Every berry a tear... for every tear... The story of Freya and Baldur." Huffing excitedly, he shifted closer and cupped Mark's face. Swallowing, he pressed his lips to Mark's in a loving kiss.

As he kissed him, Nathan heard a tiny snap and pulled away to see that a berry had fallen from the stick. Picking up the little poisonous berry, Nathan's hand shook before he whispered to himself. "One life. For another. A kiss of death... and of cheer." Closing his eyes, Nathan popped the berry into his mouth and quickly chewed it. Swallowing the sweet and slightly bitter aftertasting berry, Nathan cleared his throat and leaned back over to kiss him again. The second berry fell, and Nathan acted quicker now to eat it. He didn't know how fast these berries would kill him. Leaning back down to kiss Mark for a third and last time, Nathan ate the berry. Swallowing the berry down, he grabbed the stick and found it easy to yank out now. The spell broke and the stick disintegrated in his hand. Mark didn't wake or move though. Falling to his side weakly beside him, Nathan panted softly. He couldn't tell if the berries were killing him or if he was just so exhausted that he couldn't stay awake anymore. Putting a hand on Mark's chest, he whispered out weakly as he closed his eyes. "Mark... I love you." Aputsiaq let out a weak sorrowful whine, her eyes closing with Nathan as her power dimmed, drawing Sten's attention back.

Noticing Nathan and Mark, Sten stroked Aputsiaq comfortingly as her breathing stopped. Then reaching out, he put his hand over Mark and a soft golden light rained over Mark, causing Mark's body to shimmer with a golden rainbow. Mark's wound healed and his hand rose to touch Sten's finger. Sten smiled, whispering in a sudden adult sounding voice that mirrored Mark's. "I knew you'd come back for us." Sten's body shrank down to Mark's size, before his rock body shimmered into golden light. Gripping Mark's hand, Sten leaned over him and told him with a grin. "Time to get up, Mark. He needs you." Pulling on Mark's arm, Mark gasped and opened his eyes as he sat up. For a brief second, he saw Sten smile at him before his shimmering body merged into his shimmering skin. Coughing, Mark turned and spit a mouthful of river water, before turning onto his side to face Nathan. Nathan looked so pale, and he was soaked in water. When he touched his cheek, Mark almost recoiled. He was a cold as ice. Checking for a pulse, he uttered out in a gravelly voice. "Nathan?" Feeling his slow and faint heartbeat, Mark turned him onto his back gently.

Nathan was so weak and slipping away. Flashes of Isak laying in the snow beneath the North Mountain rippled through his mind. Isak had saved him when Jara's arrow had cursed him and here Nathan had done the same. Smiling, he cupped his face and pressed his warm lips to Nathan's. As he kissed him, he felt his lips draw out the poison from him and instead filled Nathan with enough warmth to help revive him. Parting their lips, Mark smiled as Nathan sleepily opened his eyes and chuckled out groggily. "I never doubted you..." Brushing his lips over Nathan's, Mark whispered to him in a beautiful deep voice. "I'll always fight for you." Laying down next to him, Nathan scooted closer to hug him but neither of them could get up. Running his hand through Nathan's wet hair, Mark whispered to him in a tired deep voice. "The clouds are clearing..." Peering up past the trees, Nathan saw the cloudy sky part to reveal the clear deep blue sky. Holding him, Mark chuckled out. "My spell is broken... Now that I'm whole again. Thanks to you, Nate." Nathan flashed him a sleepy smile, until there came a sudden crumbling of rocks and a rush of water.

Sitting upright, both Nathan and Mark turned to look back through the trees toward the river. As the thought crossed his mind, Nathan blurted out in horror. "The mist! It's no longer holding back the river!" Grabbing Nathan's wrist, Mark and Nathan stated out in unison. "Arendelle!" To Be Continued...