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Chapter Text

About this fic:

Can you provide a synopsis?

Two people from across a vast multiverse are connected through a ‘Node’ -- a telepathic hub allowing them to exchange messages in real-time -- and must work together to face the coming challenges. There’s character development, personal struggles, and a lot of magic.

Wait, haven’t I seen this story before?

Nope! You’ve probably seen the other stories set in the same ‘verse, though! Those stories are:

Everything listed above was written by the wonderful and amazing Pachycephalosaur, who created the Nodeverse and gave me permission to create a Node of my own.

NEW: Joining the Nodeverse is Dig Two Graves (SB), by The Sleeping Knight!

So, wait, is this story canon to Conference Call/Quest?

Sure is! But don’t expect it to cross over any time soon. Power of a Princess is a relatively self-contained story; the groundwork laid out by the Node format is merely a storytelling device.

Do I have to be familiar with (x)?

As a general rule, Power of a Princess is written under the assumption that the reader has at least a passing familiarity with Frozen (since it’s pretty much impossible not to have one). Knowledge of Breath of the Wild is not necessary for this story, and exposition will be given out to the best of my ability as the story progresses. Full spoilers for the plot of Frozen and the entirety of Breath of the Wild’s backstory are to be expected. If you would like to avoid spoilers for these and would like to experience these stories for yourself, Frozen is available on every major streaming platform, and a cutscene compilation of all of Breath of the Wild’s “recovered memory” collectibles can be found on YouTube, in addition to the game being available for purchase on both Wii U and Nintendo Switch. No knowledge of Conference Call or Conference Quest is necessary.

Story (x) has me curious! Can you explain it? Sure thing!

Frozen:

Frozen is a 2013 CG-animated Disney musical featuring Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff, and Josh Gad as Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and Olaf, respectively. When Elsa, cursed at birth with the powers of ice and snow, loses control at her coronation and plunges her kingdom of Arendelle into an eternal winter, Anna, Kristoff, and even the talking snowman Olaf must team up to try and save Elsa and the kingdom before it’s too late. The setting of Arendelle is represented by Princess (soon to be Queen) Elsa, heir to the throne, born with ice powers that seem far more like a curse than a blessing.

Before the events of Power of a Princess, Elsa had nearly killed her little sister Anna with her powers. Her parents took the girls to specialists who revived Anna, wiping her memories of Elsa’s powers in the process, and advised the young Elsa to conceal her powers. Elsa agreed, and both of their childhoods from that day forward were spent relatively isolated from each other, even after the death of the king and queen. Only during Elsa’s coronation, set to happen on her twenty-first birthday, do the two have a chance to finally reunite.

Power of a Princess picks up directly after the musical number Do You Want To Build a Snowman. The film’s official website can be found here.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild:

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the latest main-line entry in the The Legend of Zelda series. Set at the end of the series’ timeline, you play as Link, bereft of memories, as you try and save a kingdom that was nearly destroyed one hundred years before the game even starts. This fic will take place during that initial period, a century before the game begins, where the story that sets the events of the game in motion actually takes place. Breath of the Wild is being represented by Princess Zelda, daughter of King Rhoam Bhosphoramus Hyrule, and heir to the ancient sealing powers that are the birthright of every daughter to the Hylian throne.

When news arrives that the Yiga Clan is planning to resurrect Calamity Ganon, a world-ending cataclysm that was sealed away by the hero of the darkness-sealing sword and the Princess of Hyrule more than 10,000 years ago, Princess Zelda gathers four champions that will aid her in fighting Calamity Ganon when it escapes. During this time, she researches ancient technologies used to fight the Calamity created by the advanced Sheikah clan, such as the Divine Beasts, the Shrines, and the Guardians, to the disdain of her father, who wants the young princess to try and unlock the ancient sealing power that every heiress to the throne of Hyrule can utilize.

Power of a Princess picks up directly before Recovered Memory #5: Zelda’s Resentment. The game’s official website can be found here, and the game is available for Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo Wii U. Game and system sold separately.

What about the sequels?

As of June 11th, 2019, direct sequels for both Frozen and Breath of the Wild have been announced. For the sake of this fic, any information that comes out that contradicts this fic’s canon is not canon. I will be sticking to the canon of the original works as much as I can, but there’s only so much I can do when the sequels literally aren’t out yet.

Explain what this is?

Power of a Princess: A Conference Call Story is the third in a series of experimental crossover fanwork utilizing multiple settings and viewpoint characters. It's hosted on both Spacebattles and Sufficient Velocity, and utilizes their native 'threadmark' tools for easy reading. Click the 'threadmarks' button in the bottom right for the table of contents.

What’s up with the word count?

The story is nearly twice as long as the automatically generated word count would indicate, because text in spoiler boxes is not counted towards the length of the story. I don’t keep track of the actual count.

Where’s the story start?

Right here:

Prelude

Read the Node to see cross-universal dialog! 

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: You Are Cordially Invited

[You have been invited to join Node0430. Do you accept?]

Elsa, sitting with her back to her door, ice spiderwebbing out from where she sat, looked up.

"Who's there?" she asked.

"Elsa?" A voice. From behind the door. "Elsa, are you there?"

Elsa stiffened. She hadn't meant to let Anna know she was there. "Go away, Anna," she said.

Elsa could hear clothes shuffling. Then footsteps.

Anna was gone.

But that thought wasn't.

Node 0430. An invitation. It wasn't so much like someone telling her that she was invited somewhere, that once the words of invitation were spoken only a memory remained. It felt like some sort of extra sense. But totally natural.

Like her powers.

Elsa grit her teeth. No. No more magic. Not now, not ever.

She put her head in her knees and did her damndest to ignore it.

[You have been invited to join Node0430. Do you accept?]

Princess Zelda startled, pulling her reins too tightly. Her horse shook her head, and Zelda was pulled slightly forward. Zelda quickly regained her balance, sitting back up.

“Woah, girl, woah,” she said, soothing the horse as she did. “It’s okay, Storm.” Zelda scanned the horizon from her position on the saddle, looking for any movement.

Slowly, cautiously, Zelda dismounted her horse, first removing her feet from the stirrups, then moving one leg over to meet the other before sliding off to land on the gravel path below, holding the reins tightly.

"Who's there?" asked Zelda, her voice traveling into the woods. "Hello?"

No response.

Zelda reexamined the mental pressure she felt. It was like a thought, or a memory, but it clearly wasn't hers. And it contained an invitation.

"I never should have gone to the shrine by myself," she muttered. Then she took the Sheikah Slate out of her bag. "This is probably your fault, isn't it?" admonished Zelda.

The ancient tablet remained silent.

The invitation loomed.

"It probably isn't an enemy who sent this, right, Storm?" asked Zelda, petting Storm's white neck. "I've never heard of any mental attack like this in the history books. And I doubt an enemy would be so obvious."

Zelda's lips tightened. "I bet father would tell me to ignore this invitation, wouldn't he, Storm. He'd probably tell me that mental invitations from nodes have 'nothing to do with the single-minded focus I should have on unlocking the sealing power’."

The horse said nothing.

"You know what, Storm? I think you're right. I think I will accept. Just to get more information about whoever sent this... 'node’."

Zelda gazed into Storm's big eyes, and, directing her thoughts towards the invitation, gathered a response.

I accept.

[Connection established.]

It was almost two hours later, and the invitation was burning in Elsa's mind.

Elsa was laying on her bed, staring at the frost-covered ceiling. As she watched, the frost slowly, slowly inched forward, getting ever-so-slightly thicker as it kept creeping.

Elsa's eye twitched involuntarily. So did the edge of the frost.

Elsa rolled over and screamed into her pillow, hitting her mattress with her fists. "I can't take this anymore!" shouted Elsa. "Whoever you are, whatever you are! Fine! Fine, I accept your stupid invitation! You hear me?"

The invitation disappeared.

Elsa sat up, readjusting her pillow to be more comfortable for sitting against the backboard of her bed.

“What?” muttered Elsa under her breath.

Who the hell was this “Zelda” person? What the hell was a “cosmological context”?

This was all too much.

Zelda slowed Storm down to a walking pace, attention focused on the node.

Quickly dismounting, Zelda tied Storm's reins to a nearby tree, found a nice looking rock, and sat.

Speaking of pastries... Zelda stood back up, walked over to her saddlebag, and grabbed a slice of fruitcake from the food pouch. It was made by the royal chef, using fresh Tabantha wheat imported from the village, as well as fruits from all over Hyrule. And sugar. Obviously sugar.

Zelda took a bite, blushing slightly. Usually she wouldn’t eat without utensils, but going on an expedition meant the rules were different!

Swallowing, she sat back down, refocusing on the Node.

And suddenly, Zelda’s vision split.

It wasn’t like being pulled in two. That wouldn’t be an apt comparison. Rather, it was like looking through the lens of the Sheikah Slate with one eye while keeping the other open; her vision had split, each eye showing a different image.

But she already had two eyes looking at Storm.

The other two eyes were being blinded by white light, but it was fading. And as it faded, more senses faded into Zelda’s awareness. First, she was aware of a new smell, like pine, and cool, icy air. Then she felt her body, pins and needles fading away into definitive touch, the feeling of her boots tightly fastened to her leg, decompressing as she stood.

Zelda blinked in both realms. She blinked more in the new one, spots of white light fading to reveal a bedroom.

Sitting on a bed, looking at her with something like terror, was an older girl with pale blonde hair.

Zelda opened her mouth. “Are you... Elsa?” she breathed.

Storm eyed Zelda as if to say, no, clearly, I’m Storm. Dummy.

Zelda took another breath, this time in the other universe, and repeated the question. The girl flinched.

The girl on the bed cleared her throat. “Yeah?” she said, looking Zelda in the eye.

“So it is you,” said Zelda. “And I’m in another world, is that right?”

Elsa slid off her bed. “I assume,” she said, making her way to look out the window, eyes never meeting Zelda’s.

While this was happening, Zelda was still sitting on the rock. Carefully, she stood up, while her other self stood still. I’m in two places at once, she realized. This is incredible!

Zelda shifted, watching the girl stare out the window. Then her eyes drifted towards the room.

The entire bedroom was covered in a thin layer of something white, extending out from the door. Zelda knelt down and touched it with her finger, surprised to feel it be cold as ice.

No. It was ice.

Most of it had melted, but there were still tiny snowflakes appearing on occasion. From where Zelda was standing, it seemed like it was snowing outside, too.

Zelda scraped some frost off of the floor and onto her finger. “Did you do this?” she asked.

Elsa, who was grabbing the windowsill, noticeably tightened her grip, but said nothing.

Zelda stepped closer. “Elsa, why is your room covered with—”

Under Elsa’s breath, Zelda could barely make out something that sounded like, “never should have done it why did I send it who the hell is she why did I do it in my room—”

“Elsa?” asked Zelda, holding out her hand. “Are you...”

Elsa leaned forward, and her breathing sharpened. Was she crying?

“Elsa, do you need me to—” began Zelda, reaching out to touch the other girl’s shoulder.

“Don’t touch me!” shouted Elsa, turning around, throwing her arm out. A thick icy mist followed the motion, coating Zelda’s torso in a thin layer of ice.

Zelda stumbled back in shock. After regaining her balance and just breathing for a second, she patted down her chest.

The same ice.

“So you did create it!” exclaimed Zelda. “Just like the Cryonis runes of the legends, or like Vah Ruta, or—”

“Shut up!” hissed Elsa. “Stop talking!”

Zelda stopped talking. For a moment, at least, while she brushed some of the frost off of herself. She took a deep breath, and opened her mouth.

Zelda exhaled, and quickly sent a response to Mod Danish in the affirmative. “Elsa,” she said. “I’m sorry for antagonizing you. I’ll be quiet.”

Elsa said nothing, but didn’t turn away from her. Much.

“Does nobody else in the castle know about your ability?”

“My parents,” said Elsa, barely a whisper. “They knew.”

Zelda recognized that tone. “Oh,” she said.

There was a moment of silence between the girls.

“I lost my mother when I was six,” began Zelda. “Just suddenly. No warning.”

Elsa looked Zelda in the eyes for the first time.

Zelda hesitated, then continued. “You’re older than me, I think, so you probably remember being six even less than I do. But the snippets I can recall...”

She smiled. “My mother was wonderful. She could never fail to make my father smile, she brought the whole kingdom together. Whenever I was worried, before I started trying to train my power, she would always tell me that no matter what, no matter what problem would rise to make people's lives harder, in the end, everything would be okay.”

“Sounds nice,” said Elsa. “When my parents found out I could do,” she hesitated, “the ice thing... they told me to hide in my room until I learned how to control it.”

"Hide? Just..."

Elsa breathed in sharply. Zelda could have sworn the temperature dropped slightly. “Conceal, don’t feel,” she said. “Easy enough for a six-year-old to memorize, like a nursery rhyme. And, well, now you’re the only person who...”

"This is secret, then."

"More secret than you could know."

Zelda nodded. "So then I'll keep your secret. And, maybe, who knows? I might be able to help you."

"What?" asked Elsa.

Zelda blinked. "Did I never tell you what my power was going to be?" she said.

"You forgot to, apparently."

"Well," said Zelda, "Assuming all goes well, by my 17th birthday, I'll have access to the ancient power that lets me seal away evil."

Elsa mulled that over for a second, putting the tip of her thumbnail in her mouth as she thought. Then she realized.

"Wait, so you're saying..."

"When I unlock my power, if you want me to, I'll try and seal away your curse."

Zelda's second body faded away, and she was once again relegated to just the one in Hyrule. She sat up from the rock, stretched, and was shocked to find her torso still covered in a thin layer of rapidly melting ice.

Elsa ended the connection with a mental command, and Zelda disappeared, fading away in a glow of white light. Then she whuffed back on top of her mattress, and sat, and thought.

Zelda, this girl, this random maybe princess from a kingdom on another world, could hold the solution to her problems.

Could, being, of course, the operative word. The other girl hadn't unlocked her powers yet (lucky bitch, Elsa didn't think to herself), but she would have them within three months at the very latest.

And what a coincidence, that was. That her coronation fell on the same day as Zelda's birthday. Odd.

Elsa did not think about Mod Danish, because that would be pointless.

It's only three months, Elsa told herself, leaning back against her bedpost. Only three months until I'm rid of my curse, one way or another.

Only three months until I see Anna again.