Author's Note: These are taking a little longer than expected. And life is still proving rather...complicated for me at the moment. Still, I will try to stay as consistent as I can, and to give my all to telling this story well. Thanks for taking the time to read, y'all 3
"Get it together...control it! Don't feel, don't feel…" Elsa's footsteps echoed through her palace as she paced back and forth. The icicles had finally withdrawn from the walls, but she didn't know how long she could keep her worry at bay. She tried to think of what advice Loki would give...but she didn't know if thinking of him would make things better or worse.
Elsa was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard her ice golem bellow angrily outside, followed by men shouting. She hurried downstairs and peered out the front doors to see her guardian swiping fiercely at several soldiers. Loki was right. They've come for me, to defeat this winter.
"The queen!" Elsa saw two of the soldiers scramble to their feet and rush for the staircase. She closed the doors and ran to the upper levels of her castle. She could hear the doors shatter, hear the footfalls drawing closer and the men shouting after her, until they cornered her in the hall of the ice chandelier. "We got 'er!"
"No, please..." Elsa begged, holding her arms out defensively. She heard the click of a crossbow trigger and threw her hands in front of her face; when she opened her eyes she saw the bolt caught in a protective wall of ice, point hanging within an inch of her nose. She saw the two men reloading and moving to surround her, and once again her will to survive overtook her.
"Stay away!" The ice rumbled as it rose up roughly from the floor and pushed the soldiers back. Before one could raise his crossbow, Elsa remembered her training and pinned her attacker to the wall with the same spikes she'd used against Loki's dummies. The man could feel one frigid point focused aggressively on his throat.
Elsa whirled around and hurled a bolt of magic at the second soldier, knocking the crossbow from his hand. They have to believe you'll hurt them. He tried to run, but she raised up barriers of strong ice to block his escape. His feet scrabbled against the slippery floor in vain as the blockade forced him towards the edge of the balcony, pushed by a fierce, howling wind.
"Queen Elsa!" She didn't have to turn around to recognize that voice. I should have known, he probably joined this daring mission to impress Anna. "Don't be the monster they fear you are!"
The wind stopped abruptly as Elsa looked back over her shoulder at Hans, hostility replaced with confusion. Her arms slowly began to withdraw, but in her contemplation, she didn't notice the man trapped by spikes raise his crossbow with one free arm. All she saw was Hans rush him and yank his arm upward just as the trigger pulled. Elsa looked up when she heard a sharp snap and felt terror seize her as her gorgeous chandelier came plummeting down. She only ran far enough to avoid being crushed, but the impact knocked her off her feet, head smacking painfully against the floor. Stars exploded in her vision before everything went dark.
Tucked away in a silent corner of the library in Asgard, Loki thumbed vaguely through the book in his hands. Though he had managed to avoid Thor all day and find some peace and quiet, his mind was restless. His eyes didn't register the words in front of him, his thoughts always drifting back to the Snow Queen. Most curious to him was that he didn't find himself preoccupied with her power...instead he recalled the way her laughter sounded on the wind as she ran across the frozen stairs, or the balletic way she danced as her castle raised up around her. Something about her enchanted him in a way that had nothing to do with magic. And he needed to know more.
Loki placed the book back on the shelf and left the library. He cast an illusion over himself to appear as a simple guard before making his way down to the lower levels of the Asgardian palace. Though few knew of the labyrinth of ancient tunnels beneath the ground, Loki knew better than to be regularly seen going anywhere near them. As he delved deeper, the refined structures of the palace gradually gave way to rough-hewn stone, which eventually turned into nothing more than a natural cleft in the rock, barely large enough to move through.
As always, the passage through felt like both a heartbeat and an eternity, but eventually Loki found himself at the other end of the tunnel and standing on the North Mountain of Arendelle. He cast off his illusion and readied to meet with his darling pet, but his heart plummeted when he spotted the half-smashed staircase. He carefully made his way across and passed through the shattered entrance of the ice castle.
"Little Queen, are you here?" he called out anxiously, but the only answer was his own echo. He ran upstairs and found more destruction. His boots crunched over the broken shards of the once-magnificent chandelier. He could feel his fury beginning to rise as he observed the discarded crossbows, swords, and those flimsy, metal-tipped projectiles encased in ice. How dare those lowly creatures fire upon his little Queen, to attack something that was his?
The only thing to match his anger were the biting winds that had begun to blow. Arendelle would have seen Loki's wrath, if he hadn't observed the raging storm in the distance doing his work for him. The Snow Queen was still alive, he could feel her worry and fear on the air. He moved swiftly down towards the fjord, fleeting from shadow to shadow. By the time he'd reached the frozen sea, the gale had grown so powerful that even with his godly might, Loki had difficulty fighting his way through the harsh, stinging wind. Still, he pressed on through the blizzard towards where he sensed the heart of Elsa's despair, like a beacon through the blinding snow. He slowly but surely drew nearer and nearer, until he heard a single sentence cut through the roaring wind.
"Your sister is dead because of you!"
Loki could perceive Elsa's devastation almost as though it was his own. The swirling storm died around them, leaving a numb stillness hanging in the air. He noticed other mortals standing nearby and cast an invisibility illusion over himself before any of them could notice him. He turned towards the sound of a sword being drawn and saw Elsa collapsed to her knees before a redhaired man in a fine grey coat, raising his blade high.
"No!" The sole thought in Loki's head rang out across the fjord, though in another's voice. Before he could act, a girl in snow-white braids threw herself protectively in front of Elsa. Unseen, Loki cast his telekinetic force towards the prince's sword and splintered the steel just before it touched the girl's icy fingers. The force threw the would-be assassin backwards as ice fully enveloped the form of Elsa's sister.
"Anna!" Elsa's anguished cry seized Loki's heart with guilt. He had tried to spare his little Queen the loss of the one thing she held dear, dear enough to defy a god...but it was too late for the princess now. He could only look on helplessly like all the rest as Elsa threw her arms around Anna's frozen form, weeping bitterly.
Elsa clung to what remained of her sister, sobbing. It was true, she'd killed her, she truly was a monster. You deserved so much better than this, Anna. You deserved so much better than me. Please, just ask me once more...just one more time…I promise I'll open the door...
She could feel a tiny point of warmth against her chest, spreading from within Anna's frozen body. The hard ice gave way to the feel of a living heartbeat and a loving embrace. Elsa looked up and was met with her beloved sister's beaming, freckled face. She gasped, overjoyed, and held Anna tight.
"You sacrificed yourself for me?" Elsa asked, deeply moved.
"I love you," Anna replied warmly.
Loki gave a content smile as he watched them from afar. He moved back to the shore as Elsa raised her arms and lifted the winter from the land; even when dispelling her own magic, she filled him with such wonder. He began to fade back into the shadows once more, leaving his dear little Queen to reunite with her family in peace. He greatly looked forward to seeing how she would strengthen her power the next time he saw her.
