She was a great Queen, any of her subjects would agree to that. After they understood the plight their Queen had suffered through in silence and saw how she had tried to protect them from the powers she feared, they grew to love and respect her as much as they had her parents. And this made Elsa so proud of her kingdom. She understood the initial fear they had had, and even despite her freezing the entirety of Arendelle, they had forgiven her and embraced her as their new, young Queen. Her heart swelled from the love she held for her subjects and she tried her best to do right by them every day.
Being the Queen was not an easy task. She was rarely taken seriously by visiting dignitaries at first, due to her young age. This meant that negotiations were a tedious process that took far longer than needed but she refused to bow to foreign powers. She took every little victory with great joy as she knew it would take a long time to assert herself as a competent Queen.
The country was prospering as well as it could do after her enchanted flash winter destroyed a good quarter of the crops. She had managed to discuss the trade prices well though, and while the kingdom would have to be frugal this coming winter they would survive. Even the outer provinces would have enough supplies to see them through to the spring. It was a move that had the people praising their young Queens taciturn but efficient negotiation skills.
Still, Elsa worried. Would storms come and ravage their homes? She could create snow and ice but as of yet she could not dispel them if they had not come from her. She prayed to the Gods that they would be kind to her country this winter; else she would be seen as not helping her subjects when she was in fact completely powerless.
But these worries shrunk in comparison to the shadows that haunted her sleeping moments. When she closed her eyes at night she prayed that her dreams would be happy but they hardly ever were. They hadn't been for years, but what had started as small, childish fears had slowly turned into terror. Darkness slunk in the corners of her mind and Elsa was so terribly afraid of that voice. That single voice that twisted around her dreams, contorting them into a misshapen nightmare that she could never shake herself out of. It was a voice she didn't recognise when she woke but it was all too familiar when she was asleep.
"Elsa…" It was almost sing song. "Elsa, what are you doing?" The voice questioned her, mockingly. "You have no idea how to run a country…"
She'd protest against this. She'd had private lessons on politics and economics since she was a young child, and had seen how her late mother and father had ruled. She was more than prepared for the difficulties of being the acting monarch.
…Wasn't she?
"A real Queen wouldn't doubt herself" The voice chuckled. It had a liquid feel to it, shifting between silk and velvet to grit in a split second. She once thought it sounded like her father but a moment later she was certain it was Annas' voice, and then once that though had entered her head it was a cacophony of her advisers.
"A real Queen wouldn't have these fears. She wouldn't have to hide in her room to take a moment to compose herself. She would set fear into the hearts of her people, not fear them herself."
"No! I will not allow myself to become a monster again. I will not hurt my subjects!" Elsa would shout into the black void of her mind but instead of it filling her head, the sound would echo into the dark oblivion. Her voice was tiny and had no power in this shadowy realm.
She forgot she was dreaming and suddenly her beloved Arendelle appeared before her, blanketed in ice.
"Isn't it interesting Elsa, that your fears of Arendelles fall come not from the fires and swords of invading armies but instead from your own fair hands." The voice was whispering from behind her ear and she whipped her head around, hoping to catch her tormentor. But of course there was nothing there.
Visions of the dead Arendelle flooded her mind. Iced corpses, shattered buildings, people screaming within frozen walls desperate to escape, and of course she was in the middle of the chaos and destruction. Deadly magic flowed from her in freezing waves and nothing she could do would stop it. She had lost all control.
A dark figure stood over the restless body of Elsa. He smirked with every twist and turn she made, and nearly broke into a full grin when a weak string of 'no's left the young Queens lips. Pitch thought that the furrows of anguish in her delicate brow were simply delicious. He could sit and drink up her fear all night but he knew he was on borrowed time. Soon enough she would have another night time visitor as the northern winds were blowing and a certain laugh rang out on the night air.
He assessed the damage he had done for the night and felt it was enough for now. His nightmare would leave its' dark tendrils in her mind, waiting for the next time he was able to visit. Her own thoughts would do the work for him in the meantime, keeping Elsa on edge by day and near crippled by fear at night.
The wind suddenly rushed through the open window and Pitch swept himself into the shadows and away. As he melted into the darkness, a pang of regret filled him but he consoled himself by knowing that he would soon have the chance to talk with the fair Queen herself, face to face. He was very excited indeed to finally set his carefully laid out cogs into motion and he was certain he would be well received.