An: so kind of a shorter chapter today, but very intense and there's a LOT of angst. If you don't like that stuff, read the first part and stop when you get to Anna's POV, and skip to the very end. I'll post a short recap of her section with the next chapter so you don't have to read through the intense buildup.

Chapter 4: Breakdown.

"I look ridiculous," Jack said, brushing a petal out of his eyes. "Why couldn't Rapunzel have come through here? She'd make a much better flower."

"No one said survival was fun all the time," Guy said cheerfully.

Both men had large petals strapped to their heads. From above, they looked exactly like flowers. Hopefully it would be enough to sneak past the carnivorous flowers. Very, very slowly, they inched forward together, pausing every time a flower turned towards them.

Hiccup raced through the tunnels and emerged in the little grotto. Rapunzel and Eep were resting near the top of the waterfall. They looked at Hiccup in surprise.

"What happened to you?" Rapunzel asked.

Hiccup looked down and realized he was covered with small cuts and bruises. "Oh. I got stuck in an almost dead end. There was a whole near the top. I guess I cut myself."

"Come on up," Rapunzel said, throwing down a strand of hair to haul him up.

"Well I was hoping to climb that myself," Hiccup began.

Rapunzel rolled her eyes. "Fine. But at least use it as a safety."

Hiccup used her hair as a rope (although he wished he could do it on his own), and worked his feet up the . As he climbed Rapunzel sang, and by the time he reached the top he was completely healed. He collapsed next to them and rested, taking in the beauty of the place. They stayed there for a while, idly playing with the purple flowers and watching them float down the stream below. Finally, Eep's competitive spirit came back, and she insisted they leave.

They walked in silence for a short time. Surprisingly, they weren't that far off from the other side. After a twenty minute walk in the soft, filtered light, they were hit by the blinding red sun, setting directly in front of them. Despite relaxing for such a long time, they were the first group out of the maze.

"Whoo hoo!" Eep yelled, throwing her arms up in the air triumphantly. "We won!"

"Not by much," Guy said, coming out of a different tunnel.

Hiccup, Rapunzel, and Eep burst out laughing at their floppy flower hats. Jack quickly tried to take his off, slightly embarrassed.

"This is not how it looks!"

"Oh, sure," Hiccup said sarcastically. "Jack, I never knew you liked to dress up in flowers!"

"Come on, guys, we…"

He stopped as a flood of ice poured out of another tunnel. Elsa and Merida skated shakily out. The former stopped abruptly when she saw her father, causing the latter to fall down again.

"DAD?"

"Let me explain!" Jack said. "We had to disguise ourselves as flowers so we could get through a forest of carnivorous flowers alive!"

Guy laughed. "I don't know why you're so upset about it, Jack. I like my hat. I think I'll keep it. What do you think, Eep?"

Eep looked at it critically. "I like it. But do you know how fast my dad would beat you up if he caught you wearing it?"

Guy hurriedly started dismantling it. Rapunzel looked around, counting heads.

"Hey," she said, but her quiet voice was drowned by Merida.

"Hiccup, I learned how ta skate!" Merida said excitedly, making her way over to him. Her arms waved in the air to maintain balance, but she fell into his arms. "Ah'm still learning how to control it."

"You're doing great, Merida," Hiccup said, smiling encouragingly. "Hey Jack, can you fly me back over to Toothless now?"

"Sure thing."

"Hey guys…"

"But we need to add in the paths everyone took to our map," Eep said.

She pointed to a large mural on a large upright slab. Several areas had been filled in, but there were still lots of gaps.

"I'll do it when I get back. It'll only take a minute to go get him."

"GUYS!" Rapunzel said loudly. Everyone stopped. "Has anyone seen Anna?"

Anna was running now.

She had finally been able to get past the room she and originally landed in, but she also seemed to be finding all the intersecting tunnels in the whole maze, not to mention the thousands of dead ends. There were a lot of loops, and she knew she would never be able to remember which ways she had turned. Neither Guy nor Eep had been through here before, so there were no handprints to follow either. Anna was all on her own.

At one point, she had heard laughter from the others somewhere nearby. It sounded like Elsa and Merida, but as loud as she shouted, nobody heard her. That was one of the worst bits. It made her feel so small and insignificant that, in spite of herself, she had cried for the next half hour as she stumbled through the dark tunnels.

Anna had tried to bend the light to reach her, but the path was too complex. She was too far away from any light sources, and much to afraid to use her fire powers.

When will you tell them you're little secret? a voice whispered.

Anna instantly recognized it as the voice that had tormented her when she was trapped by Maggie. It was the voice of fear.

"I don't have a secret," she said out loud.

Oh but you do. You are losing control of your fire. You're scared of it now.

"Am not."

Are too!

"AM NOT!" Small sparks of flame burst from her hands.

Are too, the voice said quietly.

Anna took a deep breath. She knew she couldn't let the fear overtake her.

"I may not have complete control when the fire leaves me, but I can keep it in."

You think nobody's going to notice you have clothing on every inch of your body except your face? You're burning up in this heat, literally!

"There isn't a way to alter this out here!"

But you can still take the gloves off.

"I'm used to heat, I can handle it."

People are going to notice.

"No they won't."

You're saying your family and friends are stupid?

"No. Stop talking to me."

Fat chance.

But it was momentarily silenced. Anna kept running through the dark, searching for an opening.

Guy said it would only be dark for a little while, she thought. Why isn't it getting lighter?

Use your fire.

"NO."

Scaredy cat.

"I'm not scared."

Liar, liar, pants on fire, the voice sang. Literally! How many times have you lied in this conversation alone? Not to mention the past couple years as your powers have been getting more and more uncontrollable…

"Shut up. Now you're lying. I have perfect control over my powers."

You're lying to yourself! I've been watching you Anna Joy Frost…I know your secrets!

"Noooo!"

Anna sank to the ground, sobbing in terror. The current tunnel she was in was completely dark, and she was absolutely isolated. She could not think of her mistakes, she would not, she would not!

But the voice was not her own. It was a Fearling, and she knew that. She hoped and prayed that it wouldn't bring it up, but it did.

You nearly killed him.

"Stop, please stop it!"

You know who I'm talking about, say his name!

"No, PLEASE!" She was sobbing hysterically now.

SAY HIS NAME! the voice screamed at her, so loud she could hardly resist. TELL ME WHO YOU BURNED ALMOST TO DEATH! BEYOND RECOGNITION!

"N-no!"

SAY IT!

"Kristoff!" she blurted finally.

She covered her mouth, reliving the horror of that awful night, the date that had gone terrifyingly wrong.

You're too dangerous to be around anyone.

"No, it was just one time! Kristoff was fine, mom healed him."

Ah, but she doesn't know, does she? You sang the song while she was asleep, and Kristoff lost his memories of the event.

"Nobody needs to know, it won't happen again!"

Anna was completely out of control now, screaming so loud her voice was already starting to feel hoarse. A small portion of her felt detached; it seemed unreal. But it was. She could feel the fire rising within her, and she battled to get it under control.

"I promised I wouldn't hurt anyone again! I will never hurt anyone again!"

How can you promise that? Can you keep that promise? Silence. You can't? What a surprise.

Anna let loose a guttural scream. Her whole body caught on fire like a giant torch, lighting up the cavern. Giant stalactites and stalagmites had formed in hideous formations, which looked very frightening.

"Control it, control it, control it! Conceal, don't feel, conceal don't feel!"

You can't conceal it, not any more. You won't be able to conceal it ever again!

The fire left Anna.

Flames blazed through the tunnels.

Rapunzel had barely formed the question when the roaring fire exploded out of three tunnels at once. She squeaked in fright. The flames were so thick and coming so fast Jack and Elsa didn't have time to counterattack. Jack swooped everyone down and into an empty tunnel. As they waited in the exit, the heat increased and the fire continued unabated.

"Everyone get back!" Jack yelled. "Back into the maze!"

Everyone ran. They ran I until the heat no longer touched them. Finally, after five straight minutes, there was silence. Total silence. Then came the ragged, heavy breathing as they realized they had been holding their breaths.

"What was tha?" Merida demanded.

"Anna," Jack said. He looked pretty upset, and started to fly off to look for her, but Elsa stopped him.

"Wait," she said. "Let me go."

"But...I'm her father! She needs me!"

"She needs me," Elsa said gently but firmly.

"How do you know?" Rapunzel asked.

"I just...know."

Jack bit his lip and shifted from one foot to the other. "Okay, fine!" he said at last. "Come on, Hiccup, lets to get Toothless."

He picked Hiccup up with a slight jerk and disappeared into the sky.

AN: so...yeah. Anna has completely lost it. And she hurt Kristoff. More about that in the next chapter. I'm hoping to post it on Tuesday.