My Christmas Star ( A Santa Clause Story Ft Bernard x OC)

Part 2; Chapter 1: The Snow Queen

Third Person POV

"Alrighty, boys. Start her up," Stella said as soon as she got out from under a small go-kart. One of the elves, Jacob, started up the lawn-mower engine to a go-kart. It revved and everybody cheered.
"See? It's child's play," Stella said as she handed Jacob the wrench she borrowed from him.
"Thanks, Stella. We knew we could count on you," Jacob said with a smile.
"Anytime, Jacob," Stella said. Stella checked her watch. It was June 1st, 2002. And it was eight o'clock in the morning.
"Ooh, it's that time of year already?" Stella said before she hurried out of the workshop and made her way to the elevator to the cliff.

She was able to go to the cliff unprotected now since she trained almost everyday of the year, except for Christmas Eve and Christmas of course. She made her way up the elevator and to the cliff. Like she has for the past eight years. And the strange thing was, she hasn't had an encounter with the Snow Queen yet. She felt prepared for it every time she went up to that cliff but for some reason, this time...she wasn't. In fact, she had almost completely forgotten about her. That was until she had gone to refill the magic in her necklace for the ninth time. Stella walked to the cliff and the star of Bethlehem shined bright. The star of Bethlehem shot out its beam of power right into Stella's necklace. Only halfway through the ritual, Stella is met with a sharp pain in the back of her head.
"Ah!" Stella yelled out in pain. The beam is broken from Stella's necklace and she looks behind her to see a hooded figure in a white cloak. The silhouette of the figure was feminine.She held a spear made of ice and wore white gloves. Stella couldn't quite see her face but as soon as she was able to make out who the figure was, her defensive instincts came in. She stood up quickly and created a spear of ice, just like the Snow Queen's.
"Ah, so you're the one they talk about. It's the Snow Queen, isn't it?" Stella asked cooly as she raised her spear defensively. The Snow Queen said nothing and went to strike Stella, but Stella dodged her attack by barrel rolling. The Snow Queen figure jumped over Stella and went for another strike, but Stella parried and struck the hooded figure across the chest. The Snow Queen let out a yelp and jumped back. The Snow Queen then took off one glove and created an icicle. She then threw the icicle Stella's way but Stella blocked it off using one of her orbs. The Snow Queen continued throwing Icicles Stella's way but Stella continued to block them with her orbs. The Snow Queen started to become frustrated and decided to charge at Stella once more. Stella held her spear defensively and started to swing once the Snow Queen became close to her. The Snow Queen used her spear to block Stella's attacks. The two fought with their spears, causing minor injuries to each other. Stella had a gash on her cheek and lower lip and the Snow Queen had a gash on her chin. Stella was beginning to get exhausted and it physically showed. This was the Snow Queen's opportunity to try and snatch the necklace off of Stella's neck. The Snow Queen struck Stella across the stomach, causing Stella to fall back into the snow, back towards the elevator. Stella struggled with sitting up as the Snow Queen approached her. The Snow Queen was able to grab hold of the charm for a split second before Stella gained the strength to shoot the Snow Queen with an orb, which caused her to fall back. Stella struggled to get up but she eventually did as the Snow Queen was recovering from the blow that she had just gotten.
"Touch my necklace again and you won't live to see another snowy day," Stella growled as she gripped the spear in her hand.
"You don't understand the power you were burdened with, child," The Snow Queen finally spoke. Her voice was cold but, yet familiar to Stella. But she couldn't figure out why she found it familiar.
"Burdened with?" Stella questioned. "This power is not a burden. It's a gift," Stella said as limped towards the Snow Queen.
"Then you know nothing of the power Bethlehem truly contains," The Snow Queen said.
"If it's such a burden, why do you want it so much?" Stella questioned.
"Because I know the truth and I can handle the burden. You're just a child," The Snow Queen said.
"Technically I'm twenty-three, almost twenty-four," Stella said.
"Doesn't matter. You're stuck in the body of a teenage girl and you'll be stuck like that for all eternity," The Snow Queen said.
"It's a good thing I like my job then," Stella said as she squinted her eyes at the Snow Queen as she finished recovering.
"Liking your job has nothing to do with power. You'll watch all your loved ones age and die. All the elves you know now will grow into adults hundreds of years later and you'll still look like that," The Snow Queen said as she gestured to Stella. Stella grimaced.
"Stop trying to get to my weak point. It's not going to happen," Stella growled.
"Oh, really? Well then I think you'll be glad to know this. That necklace is your life force. If you take it off for more than twenty-four hours you will age fast and that could kill you. It doesn't matter if you had it for only nine years. The fast aging process will be hard on your body once it turns mortal again and it will kill you," The Snow Queen said, fearlessly.
"If that was really true, I'm sure you wouldn't be as motivated to try and steal a necklace that could kill you now, would it?" Stella asked.
"You would be right. But, I was already given immortality before Bethlehem's powers were able to be distributed so the effect it would have on you wouldn't have the same effect on me," The Snow Queen replied.
"But I was already prone to be an elf before I was given the necklace which means I was also gifted immortality before I had been given the necklace," Stella said in realization. The Snow Queen paused for a moment, grimaced, then softened her expression.
"Elves aren't immortal. They just have longer lifespans than the average person. So, no. You were not given immortality before the power of Bethlehem was given to you. You were just given a longer lifespan," The Snow Queen replied.
"Okay, enough talk. I'm done discussing this with you," Stella growled before she raised her spear and charged at the Snow Queen. The Snow Queen blocked her attack but was sloppy about it because Stella came at her with such speed and anger, it threw her off guard. The Snow Queen was able to regain her balance and attack Stella with the same amount of force she had been giving her, she slashed Stella's stomach again but this time it was more of a stab then a gash. It was deeper and a lot more painful. Stella screamed out in pain but tried to keep going.
As Stella fought off the pain, she didn't want to believe all the things that The Snow Queen had been saying to her. It just couldn't be true. Bernard wouldn't burden her with something like that, would he? After all, he had given her the necklace and called her the chosen one. Instead of trying not to let those thoughts get to her head, she used those thoughts as a way to channel her defensive magic to the point where she threw the Snow Queen off the cliff.
As Stella stood at the edge of the cliff to watch the Snow Queen's downfall, The Star of Bethlehem shone bright and shot out its beam once again. Stella almost didn't have to brace herself as the beam hit her necklace. She quickly regained her balance before the strength of the beam became stronger.
She managed to finish the ritual all the way through but she still felt weak. She expected all her wounds to heal once the power in her necklace was charged but, she wasn't healed. In fact, her stomach continued to bleed. Stella clenched her stomach and made her way back to the elevator. She fell down on her knees as she pressed the down button on the elevator. She groaned in pain as she applied more pressure to the wound. The elevator doors soon opened and Stella tried to get up but couldn't, so she ended up crawling while clenching one hand on her stomach. Her vision started to get spotty but she continued crawling.
"Help...help," she said weakly but she didn't think anyone could hear her. She grew weaker and weaker with each step she took until she could no longer hold in the strength to stay conscious and ended up passing out completely in the cold snow.