I'm falling asleep, Anna realizes, but this time she can't stop herself. She shivers uncontrollably on the couch in the family library. She can hear Hans speaking to someone outside. She tries to call for help, to explain that he's a villain, that her sister is in danger, that she is dying and Arendelle will soon lose them both. But no voice can escape her chattering teeth.
Her head falls weakly to the side and her eyes rest on the books that lie on the table next to her. The words surface, piece by piece. Anna always imagined her sister's voice reading to her and it is Elsa's voice she hears.
This is a life full of beautiful promise. Little princesses in legends are not different from this. Protected, sheltered, cultivated, what could not this child become?
Oh Elsa, Anna thinks, her own words distant and disconnected, slow to form in her sluggish mind. Please Elsa, save yourself. Because I can't save you.
The room is dark and cheerless. The lump of ice in Anna's chest has spread throughout her limbs. She can feel herself becoming like marble and she struggles to push herself from the couch. If she must die alone, she will die standing, a statue in the middle of the room.
Even as she moves, Anna's thoughts begin to drift. She thinks of warm summer days, of her sister's smile. Elsa may be a queen of ice and snow, but her sweet, sad smile has always reminded Anna of the summer, of a quiet day spent on a green lawn with the world gentle and still, basking in the warmth of a loving star.
0123456
Captured, escaped, recaptured. This is the end now, he knows it. Hans follows the queen onto the frozen bay. To her plea that he look after her sister, Hans can't resist the stab of cruel pleasure in his heart as he shouts the words, "Your sister is dead… because of you!"
In that instant, when those words punch through the howling wind to reach her, Hans has a moment to appreciate Elsa's striking, starlight beauty. In the queen's piercing blue eyes, so virtuous and pure in their capacity to love, Hans watches the fragments of Elsa's heart shattering into ever smaller pieces. The queen's devastation is immediate and absolute. He has won. With vicious satisfaction, he watches her fall to the ground.
0123456
In the sudden stillness, the world seems both mute and deaf. Crystals of ice and snow hang in the air. They promise never to move again.
Released from the fog, Anna sees Kristoff running toward her. With a flare of hope, her heart beats hard and gives her the strength to turn to look behind her, where she can hear the rasp of steel as it is drawn from a sheath. Though Elsa has spent her life trying to subdue fear, the power of it warms Anna's blood enough to propel her forward, away from Kristoff and toward the figure lying stricken on the ground.
0123456
A shout. And then, with disbelief, Hans watches his sword shatter at the touch of her hand. Blown to the ground, he struggles hard before he can suck in a gasp, completely stunned. Who knew a maiden could have such powers?
Staring up, he does not realize how privileged he is to see the princess's last breath escape her frozen lips in a puff of white mist.
0123456
In my grief, I can hear nothing but the storm inside me. Broken, with head bowed, I wait to see if the blade of a sword can pierce my body, cutting through cursed marbled flesh.
When nothing happens, I look up.
The scream stops in my throat, a silent shriek that tears through my soul.
Anna stands above me at the center of the frozen bay, a statue. I drag myself up and grasp my sister's face with trembling hands, whispering her name desperately.
Her eyes are open. Here they are, still and always bright.
But where is the hope, her defiant, powerful hope?
I can only beg in single words but my heart, in all its pieces, cries out to her. I am here. I am here with you. You don't have to stand alone. Please don't leave me now.
0123456
Kristoff, his companions, and those on the palace balcony watch the queen clutch the shoulders of the frozen princess. Even from the palace, they can hear her weeping.
012345
For only a brief moment, Anna experiences the cold and quiet her sister has been locked away in. It is so deeply lonely, a desert of ice and snow. As the chill slips from her body and disappears into the air, Anna's first conscious thought is a promise. Never again. Elsa will never be alone again.
"You sacrificed yourself for me," Elsa says after their embrace, the first in years.
Anna looks into her sister's eyes, which shine as brightly and clearly as starlight.
"Of course," Anna answers softly, "I love you."