Prologue:

Elsa ran.
She had been running from herself for so long, inside, trying to contain her feelings under lock and key. Conceal it, don't feel it. Don't let it show, as her parents (mostly her father) had told her.

An icy path was as good as any footprint. Panic rose to her throat. Could they get me? Her terrified mind wondered.

The sea froze beneath her feet. Elsa! The memory of her father's voice yelled in her head. What are you doing? How will you ever learn to control yourself if you let things get out of hand?!

Elsa felt like crying, the whole harbor froze, leaving anyone living outside of Arendelle with no way back. I'm trying, father! She thought fiercely, yet fearfully. I really am!

No, you are not! Her father said. If you are trying, then how come you do not have any more control then you had when you hurt your sister?

Elsa was nine at the time. She had burst into tears, which turned into ice immediately and a small snowstorm began in Elsa's room. Her father grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

"Elsa!" he cried. The snow only swirled and swirled and Elsa was even more frightened than before. "I can't, Father!" she yelled over the sound of the winds. "I can't control it!"

"Yes - you - can." Her father said. "Take a deep breath and clear your mind."

Elsa did as her father told her and the winds ceased, but there was still a chill in the air. She couldn't feel it, but the king's shivers were obvious.

Her father lowered himself to her level and fixed his dark brown eyes into his daughter's icy blue ones. "Elsa?" he said softly. Elsa stared into her father's eyes. They were so soft, as they used to be before the accident. Now they held the stony businesslike shade to them, his king eyes. The eyes he wore especially when he had to sentence a man to death.

"Do you want to hurt anyone, like you did Anna? Do you really want to freeze someone's heart this time?"

Elsa shook her head. He was right. He always was.

. . .

Elsa was still running. She was not scared for herself, she realized, but for all those people, especially Anna, who could get hurt from her cursed powers. She was a mon-

A scream nearly escaped her mouth as she seemed to be sinking into the ground, really fast.

What's happening? She wondered almost calmly. For some reason, sinking quickly through the strange snow had a calming effect on Arendelle's new queen.

"This is nice." she said aloud, and then the world faded as she gave way to unconsciousness.