Author's Note:

Uh. Holy shit. I did not expect this to take off so quickly (if at all). You guys are amazing! Ten reviews, four favorites, and thirteen followers in about twelve hours. Not to mention a crazy amount of views.

Seriously, thank you. Knowing that people enjoy this and are excited about reading it is really motivating. There's no better gift you can give a writer.

Well, enough of my sappy thank you, onto chapter two!

Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen OR Rise of the Guardians.

Chapter Two:

The castle was in constant chaos, there were so many preparations to make before the festival, whether it was prepping food for the next day, cleaning each of the dusty guest rooms and the long hallways, polishing the dark, wooden floors in the foyer and the ballroom or fetching the most elegant china from storage to set out on the tables—the staff was buzzing about the halls so frequently that Elsa found it impossible to concentrate on her work. In fact, it was really starting to get on her last nerve. Each time the commotion would cease and she would finally get into her paperwork, one of the maids—or more frequently, Anna—would be talking excitedly outside the Queen's door or running around.

So Elsa gave up and fell back dramatically on her sofa near the window and began twirling snow around her fingers. She focused on creating different things out of her ice: rabbits, a fox, she even managed to create a small ice sculpture of Anna and Kristoff dancing. She smiled despite the fact that she couldn't get the expressions on their faces quite right. Then again, how could she possibly capture the expression of love when she had absolutely no idea what it felt like…?

Elsa wondered for moment if she would ever be lucky enough to experience something so beautiful…

And then she felt the tears stinging her eyes as she reminded herself that her heart needed to remain alone. She had Anna and the kingdom, and that was all she needed. They were her responsibility. The Queen forced a smile, closed her hands and the ice dissipated as quickly as it had appeared.

She needed to stop being so foolish; she was a Queen. There were bigger problems than her lonely heart. She needed to get up and focus and do the work that needed to be done.

But Elsa didn't move, just laid there, draped over her sofa. She had no desire to move or do her work or do anything at all really. And so that's exactly what she did. She ignored the knocks on her door at dinner and ignored the unfinished paperwork on her desk. And she stayed like this, eyes fixed on the winter storm raging outside. Part of her wondered if it was the result of her mood, but she quickly shunned that idea, she almost had complete control over her powers now that she wasn't running scared from them. She wished she'd known it was as simple as accepting it and acknowledging it, it would have made her childhood a little less stressful. She might have even been able to enjoy the things in life that she'd recently found herself dreaming about.

With yet another sigh, Elsa sat up. She could have stayed like that forever if the fire in the hearth hadn't begun to die down. Sure, she could have let it burn out and continued her evening of nothingness, after all she never got cold. But she loved the way the orange light glowed off the crystal chandelier and the way the shadows danced on her walls. And even though she wasn't really even looking at it, the idea of it dying out seemed lonely.

So she stood slowly and sat on her knees in front of the weak flames after she grabbed a couple pieces of firewood from the stack and tossed them on top of the embers, fiery red and pulsing with heat.

Elsa smiled at the warm solace of the fire and soon found herself drifting off to sleep, more content than she'd felt for months, as the heat warmed her up to the bone.

The winter festival began on a Friday evening and stretched long into the weekend, not concluding until Sunday afternoon, which was when all the people from the neighboring kingdoms would board their ships and return to their homes. But of course, Elsa was getting ahead of herself. It was only Friday morning and she was already excited for the hordes of both nobles and citizens to leave—when barely any had even arrived yet.

Despite that though, the dread the Queen had been feeling for the festival had subsided the night before. Now there was only indifference and maybe the slightest bit of annoyance revolving around the fact that she was responsible for entertaining hundreds of people for the next two days. And though she wouldn't admit it, she was the tiniest bit excited about the ball that would be held Saturday night. Sure, she'd have to dance with tons of power-hungry men, but she loved dancing and she loved the music that filled the air. Plus, there was something so satisfying about seeing the ballroom filled to the brim with colorful, smiling guests. So she'd dance with whoever asked until her feet were bleeding because was in dire need of some fun.

Anna seemed to sense Elsa's attitude change and went on and on about what kind of dress she thought the queen should wear to the banquet tonight and the ball tomorrow and then she delved into a deep, rather complicated story about how she had found the perfect dress but another woman had bought it before she did and she went racing all around Arendelle looking for her and bribing her in order to get the dress back.

Soon after their conversation, Elsa found herself getting worked up about not knowing exactly what dress she was actually going to wear, so she rushed to her bedroom laughing to herself about how Anna's enthusiasm was infectious.

She decided on a royal blue gown that faded to a silvery white towards the hem with a tight bodice, dotted with light blue rhinestones and sheer, lace sleeves decorated with the smallest of snowflakes for the banquet. And for the ball she chose a light blue dress that hit her at her ankles. It was the same dress she'd created with her powers all those years ago that fell loosely off her shoulders, minus the long train of course.

As she slipped into her gown for the banquet, Elsa found herself remembering the magical, icy art she'd found in the meadow two days prior. It was so strange—what could have caused that? There was no one else in Arendelle with her abilities, in fact as far as she knew there was no one else in the world. The thought sent shivers up her spine just as it had when she'd gazed upon it during her walk. And it kept tugging on the back of her mind until the banquet, where it was impossible to focus on any one thing with all the people talking and the savory smells greeting her nostrils, and then of course the dessert table.

"Elsa!" Anna called through a crowd of people who'd come from the kingdom in the west, dragging Kristoff behind her as he apologized for her pushing. "I have an awesome idea!"

Elsa smiled at the couple, "And what might it be?"

Kristoff rolled his eyes, "It's a terrible idea, really."

"Shush, it isn't! Elsa, I propose we eat nothing but what is on this table!" She turned to face the array of chocolate, fruits, and sweet breads that decorated the dessert table. Anna picked up a cookie and stuffed the entire thing in her mouth, "C'mon, your highness!"

Elsa raised her eyebrow but laughed nonetheless and agreed to the challenge. "We're going to get so sick, Anna." She said as she grabbed a strawberry and dipped it in the fountain of dark chocolate.

"I can't believe you're doing this too!" Kristoff said, letting out an exasperated sigh and mumbling about how Elsa must have been the bad influence all along.

"If it's chocolate's fault, it's totally worth it." Anna grinned.

Elsa opened her eyes and shielded them against the bright morning sun as it streamed through her curtains. She felt a small smile creep up onto her lips as she remembered what day it was, unsure if the smile stemmed from the ball that was going to be held tonight or if it was the because the festival was one day closer to being over. Either way, the sinking feeling of dread in her stomach was gone and that's all she cared about.

After bathing and putting on a plain white dress, Elsa braided her hair and walked to her study to finish up the work that she'd neglected a few days prior.

But when she entered the room, her eyes immediately fell on the window and the frozen fractals and patterns that were preset on the glass. Elsa felt her stomach turn and a burning curiosity rise up in her chest. It was identical to the crystalline swirls she'd seen in the meadow. She longed to know what caused it, but at the same time the thought of knowing terrified her… the possibility that she might not be completely alone in her magical world.

The Ice Queen had lost count of how many men she'd danced with in the span of two hours, their faces were a blur in her mind, their names escaped her—each and every one was terribly ordinary and forgettable. Eventually she stopped bothering to ask their names and just focused on the sound of the music in her ears and the way her feet slid effortlessly across the wooden floor.

It wasn't until she raised her hand to yet another partner and her fingers met an icy palm, that she was pulled back into reality and into the man's steel-blue eyes.

Author's Note:

Woohoo, alright! Took me forever to write this… but I think I managed to make it just a tiny bit longer than the first chapter.

Guess what guys! Elsa has just met Mr. Jack Frost.

I seriously thought I'd never finish it.

Please review! They make my day! Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, what I could have possibly done better, anything!

And thank you all again for so much support so early on in the story!