A/N: I'm not sure whether any of you care, but I had some interesting back-story prepared for Sabrina that I never got the chance to use. Still, it might answer some questions about the plot that some people might have later on. It's pretty tragic so you might want to skip this author's note if you're squeamish. Sabrina's brother was suicidal but no one could convince him to go to therapy. She wished for the ability to get her brother to not commit suicide, but she found that her mind control magic only works for as long as she was using it in close proximity, and though she was able to take her brother to a few therapy sessions and get antidepression medication, nothing was working for him. She had to make sure to never let her brother be on his own for long periods of time and she had to constantly control his mind with magic. She realized that she was denying him free will and that even if she was willing to make him a slave she would eventually slip up anyway, so she stopped and tried to convince him again, but he ended up killing himself.


The car ride back home passed in silence. At first, Anna was hesitant to say anything. Elsa's hands jerked on the wheel occasionally. Besides, Anna had been confused enough to not know where to start. After a few minutes of watching the scenery zip by the adrenaline finally seemed to wear off and Elsa's arms became more relaxed on the steering wheel.

"What happened?" Anna asked.

"That other girl broke your soul gem, so I wished you were fine again." Elsa made the next turn a bit more sharply than usual.

Anna looked at Elsa's hands on the wheel. There was a silver ring on her left middle finger.

"So you're a magical girl too now." Anna said, slumping in her seat.

She really thought she'd be able to prevent it from happening. For all the agonizing she'd done before the battle, she hadn't considered that her deal with Kyubey would be over if she died. She was an idiot.

Elsa glanced over at her for a moment before facing forward again. "There wasn't any other choice, and I don't regret it."

"You didn't have to do it." Anna said. "I know you didn't want to be a magical girl. You shouldn't have to pay for my mistakes."

"Don't be stupid." Elsa said, not bothering to turn to face her.

There was a pause.

"Anyway, it looks like we're going to be fighting wraiths together." Anna said with forced bravado. "Don't worry, we'll get you trained up. Those wraiths won't know what hit 'em!"

Elsa frowned, but Anna didn't give her a chance to object. "You're not getting out of this one. There's no way you can fight wraiths on your own, and we could use the backup."

Anna still wanted to learn about Elsa's magic, but Elsa had just started talking to her again and she didn't want to ruin that by asking too many questions. This would give her a chance to learn more and get Elsa used to being a magical girl at the same time.

Elsa sighed as she pulled into the driveway of their home. "Alright then."

Anna smiled. At least something good was coming out of this situation.


The next day was still a school day, so Elsa had to get up early despite how tired she was. She hadn't even managed to sleep well for the few hours after they got home. Until then she'd been so relieved that Anna was safe that the implications of being a magical girl hadn't sunk in yet.

Elsa had always been able to feel her magic. Before it had tingled against her skin when she was stressed. Now that feeling was constant, and it was far stronger. It took more concentration for her to control it now, and Elsa knew she would lose control again eventually. She was a ticking bomb, and she did not want to be anywhere near Anna, or anyone else for that matter, when it went off. She could already tell that her control exercises wouldn't be good enough anymore. She would have to find someplace isolated right after school and let the magic out. Maybe if she did that occasionally it would be easier to control the rest of the time. If she got unlucky someone might find out, but she would rather get taken away by men in suits than hurt anyone.

Her mother must have noticed that she was even more withdrawn than usual during breakfast, because she cornered her in her room afterwards.

"What's wrong?" Elsa's mother asked, careful not to cross the threshold of her room. She always was good about that.

"Nothing." Elsa didn't look up from her backpack, instead readjusting the ordering of her folders. It was just an excuse. She'd already packed everything up.

"You and Anna have both been acting so strange lately. You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Elsa wished that was true. She got up and slipped the backpack on.

"It's just getting a little harder to control." Elsa mumbled.

Her mother furrowed her brow. "I know it's hard. But you've been doing such a good job. I'm so proud that I have such a strong daughter."

Elsa nodded and left quickly.

If it was only hard, and if she was actually strong, then she could have managed it. She was worried that it was becoming impossible.


Anna was surprised when Kristen approached her right after homeroom. Kristen didn't bother with going to the roof this time, instead just leading Anna to a close-by, relatively empty section of the school near the orchestra room.

"How are Sabrina and Claire?" Kristen said as soon as the crowd began to thin.

"They're fine. Helen just chased them away." Anna said bluntly. She could tell Kristen was worried and, sure enough, Kristen breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's good."

"If you were worried, why didn't you come with us? They might have backed down if they knew it was three on two." Anna said.

"No, they wouldn't have. They aren't the type to back down."

"Still, if you'd come you might have been able to do something. You probably would have at least felt better."

Anna knew that she would always try, even if it was futile. It was painful to see someone she cared about getting hurt. She would feel even more powerless if she didn't at least try to do something about it.

Kristen made a strange expression. Anger, maybe? Or pain?

"It's not that simple." Kristen said sharply. "I can't afford to get hurt fighting someone else's battles. I have my own problems to worry about."

Anna remembered something, and suddenly all of Kristen's actions made sense.

"Do you mean your mother?"

"Yes. Anyway, nothing bad happened in the end, right?"

Anna paused.

"Did something happen?" Kristen said, her voice unusually timid.

"I got hurt in the battle. My sister found out about it somehow and followed me there. She became a magical girl to make me better again."

Kristen winced.

"I'm not blaming you!" Anna said.

She really wasn't. It was her own fault. She hadn't fought well enough, she apparently hadn't snuck out of the house well enough, and she hadn't considered that Elsa might contract. She hadn't thought anything through properly. It wasn't the first time, but usually she was the only one who got hurt because of it, and she wouldn't let it happen again.

Kristen looked away. "I know you're not."


"Don't worry, Anna." Helen said at lunch. "We'll take care of Elsa. With three magical girls, the wraiths aren't a real threat anymore. We don't need to worry about grief cubes either. Now that we have Sabrina and Claire's territory, we should have enough."

Anna poked at her sandwich, but didn't lift it to her mouth to take a bite. She wasn't feeling very hungry, not even for banana and Nutella.

"Yeah, I know. I just feel like this is all my fault." Anna said, still looking down.

"It isn't. Really. It was my strategy that failed. I underestimated Sabrina. We would have been better off fighting together." Helen said.

Kyubey had been stretching leisurely on the table in front of them, but suddenly he sat up, an ear raised.

Another group of wraiths? Anna asked.

Correct. It's close to the industrial area.

Let's take Elsa along then. Helen said.

They walked over to Elsa's table. She must have heard Kyubey, but she just sat there, as if frozen.

"You should come too." Anna said. Helen stood quietly at her side, letting her do the talking, for which Anna was grateful.

"I'm not sure…"

"You can't avoid fighting wraiths forever." Anna said. "You need grief cubes and this is good practice. Besides, we need you."

Elsa hesitated, and then nodded. "Fine. Let's get going."


The wraiths were milling through the streets between the abandoned warehouses and factories. Elsa couldn't tell exactly how many were there since they weren't gathered in one place this time. The miasma that obscured the senses of ordinary people was dispersed across several blocks.

Helen and Anna held their soul gems in front of them and transformed in flashes of light. Anna turned back to look at Elsa afterwards. She'd barely moved from the car yet. She had intended to try to vent her magic, and this was a good opportunity to do so, but she'd been planning to do it far away from other people. But she also had to make an attempt to work with Anna and Helen better now that she had to fight wraiths with them. It was terrible timing. She would have to do her best to control it, and keep her distance from the others just in case.

Anna gave her an encouraging nod and, taking a deep breath, Elsa held her hand out in front of her. The ring vanished and a blue-white soul gem appeared in front of her. It spun and spewed streams of blue light. It was bright, brighter than either of the transformations that Elsa had seen before. Strangely, it didn't hurt for her to look at, though she could see Anna and Helen shielding their eyes with their hands. Elsa's clothes transformed into light and then into a navy blue, archaic military uniform with gold trim and a scabbard strapped to her waist. A short sword with a silver hilt had already appeared in her hand, though it took her a moment to realize it since it felt so light. Her soul gem was shaped like a snowflake and was anchored to her shirt pocket by a short, gold chain.

The tingling sensation of her magic was stronger now, and Elsa clenched her fists at her side with the effort it took to keep it inside. She took a step back from Anna and Helen.

"Well, aren't you going to try using your magic?" Helen said. Her expression was dispassionate, but the question came out just a little too fast.

"Get clear first." Elsa said, her voice taking on more of an edge than she'd meant it to. The magic was surging now, stronger and stronger.

"Now!" she barked when their steps to the side of the road were a little too slow, and they shuffled back more quickly.

For the first time, Elsa understood how to use her magic. As a child, she'd had some rudimentary skill, but she'd learnt all too bitterly how insufficient that skill really was. Ironically, the knowledge now came to her mind effortlessly the moment she thought about it. The sword would help. It could be used directly in combat, but its main purpose was to channel her magic.

Elsa raised the sword over her head and slashed it forward in the direction of the group of wraiths in front of her. Giant icicles materialized around her and with a thought she sent them flying towards the wraiths. She watched them go, using her improved eyesight and reaction time to bend their paths with waves of her sword to strike the wraiths that attempted to dodge. Every one of the icicles struck their target, causing the wraiths to disappear in bursts of wind.

"Not bad." Helen said, one side of her mouth raised in a coy smile.

Anna nodded in agreement, apparently too impressed to say anything. The reception made Elsa nervous. She didn't like showing her magic to others in the first place, and that they didn't treat it with the appropriate fear and caution worried her. At least Anna didn't have to risk her life fighting now.

They walked from street to street, and at each one Elsa killed all the wraiths quickly and efficiently. It didn't ease Elsa's nerves though. She'd hoped that the tingling of her magic would diminish, but apparently she was barely tapping its full strength, and a quick glance at her soul gem halfway through, which showed only a few specks of corruption, confirmed her suspicion. But Elsa didn't want to know what would happen if she unleashed more magic. It took all her focus as it was just to keep her magic focused forward, towards their enemies, rather than towards Anna and Helen.


"Your magic is amazing!" Anna said as they walked back to the car after the battle ended.

She'd kept her distance throughout and hadn't said anything to avoid distracting Elsa, but now she couldn't help it. Elsa had killed all the wraiths in just a few minutes. Anna had gotten a lot better at fighting since she became a magical girl, but she still couldn't have done that nearly as quickly.

"No, it isn't." Elsa said. She turned to hold Anna's gaze for a moment with piercing blue eyes. "It's dangerous, and you shouldn't let your guard down. You shouldn't be standing this close to me."

"Is that why you've been shutting me out all this time?" Anna hadn't meant to say it. She was trying to take a more subtle approach now that Elsa was talking to her again, but it had slipped out.

Elsa's eyes widened, and then Anna knew.

"Anna, please-" Elsa began to say, her voice strained, but Anna cut her off.

"No, I'm tired of walking on eggshells around you all the time!" Anna said, surprising herself with how quickly the anger returned. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Helen taking a step away from her and Elsa, but she ignored it. "That's really the reason? You really think I'd rather be safe than never talk to my sister?"

"You don't understand!"

"Then explain it to me!"

"I can't!" Elsa yelled, waving her arm, and icy wind sprung from her hand towards Anna.

Anna was so shocked by the warning her precognition sent her and the burst of wind moved so quickly that she wasn't even able to start to dodge. It struck her directly in the center of her chest. Anna gasped and bent over as ice gripped her. It was colder than anything she'd ever felt. She couldn't feel her chest at all. Her arms were cold and the sensation was spreading.

"No." Elsa said softly, and then she collapsed to the ground.

"Wh-what?" Anna said, her teeth clattering from the cold. She stared at Elsa, not understanding.

Anna turned to Helen. She didn't know what she expected from her friend. Directions maybe, or just support, but Helen was too busy looking at Kyubey, who had run up to her side.

Her soul gem is in critical condition. You must take her to the isolation field immediately.

Helen's face twisted into a snarl. "Damn it! This wasn't how it was supposed to go!"

"What's going on?" Anna said.

Helen looked at her, and her eyes flickered with some emotion that Anna had never seen from her before. It suddenly occurred to Anna that she didn't know very much about her friend.

"I'm sorry, Anna." Helen said before pushing past her.

She bent over Elsa's body and ripped her soul gem, which was now nearly entirely black, from her outfit, breaking the gold chain it was attached to in the process. Then she ran away down the road at full speed.

"Wait!" Anna called out. She made to follow her, but the cold had numbed her legs.

She shuffled to Elsa's side and checked her wrist for a pulse. She let go of the breath she was holding when she found it, but it was slow and weak and Anna didn't think any hospital could help her. Helen had once told her that a magical girl couldn't survive for long without their soul gem. She had no idea what was going on, but she knew she had to get her sister to her soul gem. She could make Helen explain herself later.

The worst of the cold had gone. Her chest was still numb, but her arms and legs weren't any longer and she could feel the cold starting to slowly recede. She checked her soul gem and, sure enough, her magic was being used to slowly heal the damage.

Anna got down on one knee and gently slid her hands under Elsa's back and legs. She stood up again with Elsa held in her arms and began to run in the direction Helen had left in.