Now that the prisoners are free and roaming around Arendelle in search of their frosty target with the exception of the wrinkly Puke of Weselton who's sitting in his cell hoping for the possibly false chance of ambushing and exterminating Elsa, how will things turn out? Will Hans actually kill her in front of everybody just like he planned on doing? Will someone defend Elsa again like Anna did if he tries it? Will Elsa tend to Anna later on and arrange a royal funeral for her or will Anna defrost and reunite with Elsa like she did in the film? Go on and find out for yourselves, then!


Elsa accompanied her royal guards in gathering firewood, not wanting to stand back and watch. While half of them did the gathering, the other half were busy constructing a pit in the middle of the village square to place the fire material in.

Some of the villagers lent helping hands to finish the job faster.

The foreign dignitaries, who were present, also gave assistance.

Even though everyone in Arendelle was wearing winter clothing to get through the weather plague, Elsa's order to have the pit built was because she felt they deserved better.

Elsa plopped her armful of firewood into the unfinished pit and stopped for a moment to observe the red rose given to her by that little girl a while ago. She placed it in her hair prior to collecting wood. It was the only gift she had ever received after her secret got out and accidentally caused Arendelle's winter apocalypse and it was another piece of proof to her that she was embraced by society rather than feared. Olaf was right earlier, Elsa was wanted because of who she was instead of her short belief of them fearing she would kill them all with her magic if rejected.

She was starting to think that perhaps she and her parents should have come forth with the truth years ago rather than go into hiding all because of one, little accident and perhaps this wouldn't have happened. Sure, some might have freaked out from seeing her powers as they did at her ceremony, a natural reaction of witnessing uncommon and misunderstood things for the first time, but the people would have eventually grown to admire her abilities and enjoy being around her more often like they do now. She let her fears run her life and Arendelle's crisis, the attempts on her life by four outsiders, and Anna's death, were the results, evidence that living in fear instead of accepting oneself was a bad thing.

The deaths of her and Anna's parents overseas three years ago might also have had something to do with Elsa and her fears, but the answer to that mystery died with them in the ocean and it may never be solved and Elsa would never know until her time came in the future. Yes, she was a believer of there being life after death. Everybody around the world had their views on what happens after death and Elsa believed in something like that after one dies. Elsa may be magical, but she was not immortal and she hoped her parents were in a better place and she will want to ask them the purpose of their ocean voyage upon her own death one day. She assumed Anna was with them right now, either letting out some steam for keeping her and Elsa apart for thirteen long, lonely years and they were probably apologizing to her for doing that and denying them perfect, happy childhoods or she was looking down on Elsa while stuffing herself with all the chocolate and sandwiches she could consume despite being dead.

Elsa may have made a bad first impression on her first night as queen, but now that didn't matter anymore. What mattered was moving on and being there for the kingdom who accepted her as their leader which was the first step in the healing process.

With much wood collected and piled together in the middle of the village square for all to see, now came the task of lighting it up. The only problem? There was hardly any fire around to lit the pit with and Elsa believed her spell may have extinguished any fire in the kingdom when it struck.

"Now all we need is some fire to light the pit with. If only there was any around and I had fire magic to go with my ice powers." Elsa exclaimed. She was starting to think that the construction of the pit was for nothing.

"Actually, Your Majesty," the Spanish dignitary began to say in a Spanish accent and Elsa and the others within earshot turned to look at him. "I seem to recall your castle's library having a fully lit fireplace where we last spoke with Prince Hans and Princess Anna before we and that foul-mouthed duke left to give them some privacy. However, due to Prince Hans' eventual betrayal to Princess Anna and you just recently, I'm guessing he's probably done something to put it out, which I hope I'm wrong about, to speed up Princess Anna's freezing process before returning to us to give his false claim of marrying your sister and being Arendelle's new monarch." The Spanish man hated bringing up that last part up, but his explanation made sense.

Elsa was terrified at the possible thought of Hans doing such a dreadful thing when she was still locked up in the dungeon. She then remembered him telling her that Anna wasn't back yet when she asked for her, remembering that she expelled her, Kristoff and Olaf from her mountain castle by creating Marshmallow. She hoped her giant snow guardian didn't do any serious harm to them. She just wanted to be alone and she couldn't think of any other way to convince Anna to leave when she refused to.

Elsa wasn't sure if Hans was honest or lying about Anna's whereabouts when he and her spoke before her escape from captivity. She thought up two possibilities: Anna was back in the castle the whole time during her imprisonment and Hans simply lied to her about her not having returned to Arendelle or he was right and she really didn't return until later. Both theories, however, had one thing in common: Hans was a traitor and the dignitaries, the palace guards and the villagers all saw Anna rushing out onto the frozen waters to defend Elsa from Hans' murder attempt, and she succeeded at the cost of her life.

Another topic was that it made sense for Hans to snuff out any heat sources to decrease Anna's chances of survival. She couldn't imagine what kind of suffering and torment Anna went through with no heat and no one to help her. It must have been terrible and perhaps painful. The very thought of being unable to reach Anna while locked up and Anna being trapped alone in the library, weak and frail from the cold, scared Elsa inside.

Unbeknownst to her and the dignitaries, Hans really did do that prior to Anna and someone did help her after he abandoned her. What Olaf failed to tell Elsa back in her room was that he found Anna inside the library, locked because of Hans, and that he was the one who reignited the doused fireplace to retard her freezing curse a while longer, putting his own life at risk from the heat inside, until another solution to foil Hans and save the sisters and kingdom was discovered.

Only three of those tasks were accomplished.

Despite what the Spanish dignitary said about Hans possibly silencing the library's fireplace to end Anna faster, Elsa refused to give up and she sent a guard back to the castle to inspect the library just to be sure. Even if a flame came from a single, small candle, Elsa was willing to accept anything like that just to provide warmth to the cold citizens.

The guard made a quick bow to Elsa before running to the castle.

Later, that same guard, who was now being accompanied by a butler, returned to the village square. Both were holding two fully lit torches. It turned out that Elsa's hunch was correct. There really was a source of heat still in the castle that survived the cold.

"Your Majesty, we are pleased to announce that there was indeed a fire inside the library's fireplace." said the guard.

"Excellent work." Elsa praised the two.

"The fireplace was already alight when we entered and we lit these torches you see in our hands with it. We also lit up many other torches, candles, lamps and other fireplaces in the castle before heading back here. The castle should be warm in given time." said the butler.

"Now that we have heat, light the pit, please." Elsa said.

"At once, Your Majesty." the guard and servant replied together and they lowered their torches into the pit and the flames engulfed the pit and pretty soon, it was ablaze.

The villagers gathered around the flaming pit and held out their hands to feel the long-awaited heat.

Elsa was happy that her people finally had something to help keep them warm and last the supernatural winter a little while longer. If she were not immune to the cold, she would have joined them. While the cold never bothered her, she can still fell heat like everyone else.

Feeling that her guards could use a break from the hard work they've done in creating the fire pit, Elsa permitted them to join the crowd whenever they wished. They thanked her and gathered around the now-blazing pit.

The dignitaries joined them too, which Elsa didn't mind either since the pit was meant to be for all to share.

Now it was just her and Kristoff who was standing next to her and watching.

"You are free to join them if you want." Elsa said to him.

"No thank you, Your Majesty. I'm fine the way I am." Kristoff lightly rejected.

Kristoff observed the pit alongside Elsa. It reminded him of something from his journey with Anna and Olaf and he felt he should tell Elsa just to cheer her up.

"You know, I bet Olaf, would love to take part in this right now." he told her with a little smile.

Elsa looked at him in confusion.

"Why would you believe Olaf would want to be anywhere near that fire? He's made of snow and everybody knows what happens to snow when it's exposed to heat." she said and Kristoff, remembering what Olaf said to him, Sven and Anna upon their first encounter, gave his explanation.

"Because when Anna and I first met him during our ravenous adventure in the forest, he kept going on about his wish to experience summer. He was completely ignorant of what summer heat would do to him and he asked us what heat was and what it was like. Anna was hesitant to tell him the truth, believing it would break his heart and crush his soul like a grape if she did. I, on the other hand, was willing to tell Olaf that his dream was not for him, but Anna strictly told me to withhold the truth and let him have his little fantasy. Not wishing to get on whatever bad side your sister may have had, I agreed to keep silent about it."

Elsa smiled mildly from the story. She figured that Anna would have flipped out if he really did tell Olaf the truth about him and summer and if so, she would probably say, "Kristoff, you insensitive jerk! You shattered poor Olaf's hopes and dreams!", either in a playful manner or in an actual, angry manner. Not knowing Anna's modern personality due to years of isolation, Elsa didn't really know what Anna's reaction would have been like, but one of them would have come true.

"Even with Anna . . . gone . . . I'm still willing to never break my promise to her about not telling the snowman out of respect for her." Kristoff said.

Elsa's face went back to being neutral, not sad nor happy. This time, no emotional snowflakes appeared. She was teaching herself to control her feelings by thinking happy thoughts like she did before. Her snowflakes were the least of her worries, raging winds were. It happened on the fjord when she tried to navigate her way out of Arendelle through her own snowstorm after escaping from the prison.

Thinking that the mere mention of Anna's name may have upset her, Kristoff continued with another light topic.

"He's a goofball, isn't he?" he asked.

"Who is?" Elsa asked.

"Olaf, of course. He's always saying he likes warm hugs to anyone he meets for the first time, he has an obsession with the summer season, he finds the act of impalement amusing when it's done on him which really happened in the mountains with no injury of any kind, and the little, hilarious spat he and Sven had over his carrot nose out in the middle of a frozen lake in the woods."

"Yes, my Olaf sure is a silly one. Plus, he already told me of the impalement part and that it didn't hurt him." Elsa said and chuckled weakly.

The idea of her beloved snowman loving the one season that was hazardous to him was kinda funny to her. If Olaf were made of fire instead of snow and the winter curse was a summer or rainy curse, it still would have sounded odd and comical.

Elsa's mood headed south from knowing that Olaf's wish would never become reality as long as the eternal winter was around. Despite the public bonfire and the people's trust in her to care for them, she didn't like the idea of her winter staying in Arendelle forever. She hoped she could learn how to get rid of it as soon as possible as she couldn't stand to see everyone struggling to survive the freezing cold even if they didn't care for it, but like healing from her loss of Anna and her parents years prior, it was going to take some time to achieve.

"By the way, there are a couple of things I would like to know." Elsa said to Kristoff.

"And what would they be, Your Majesty?" Kristoff asked.

"Your name, as I never got it when we first met at the ice castle, who this Sven person is that you mentioned a while ago, how you and my sister met and what thawing a frozen heart with true love means. Olaf told me that last part when he spoke to me in my room. He said that you, him and Anna went to visit rock trolls to learn about her condition after I accidentally hurt her." Elsa answered.

Realizing that he and Elsa were not properly introduced before, he cleared his throat and spoke.

"Well Your Majesty, I am Kristoff Bjorgman. I am, or was, an ice harvester. Sven is the name of my reindeer, my longtime friend since childhood. Anna and I met at a small store in the middle of the forest called 'Wandering Oaks' Trading Post And Sauna'. I was trying to purchase some carrots for Sven and other things while Anna, who was blocking my way to the carrots at first, looked as if she was dressed up as if she came from, or was going to, some party. The store's owner increased the price for the supplies I was going for. I couldn't afford them with my budget and so I called him a crook and he literally threw me out of his store. Anna bought not only the things I needed for me, but winter clothing for herself and she asked me to help her find you and I accepted. At first, I was dismayed from travelling with her, but she and I later became fast friends as she and I battled some hungry, vicious wolves at the cost of my sled when it fell off a cliff. As for the true love part, after you expelled us out of your mountain home, I took her to the Valley Of The Living Rock to visit the rock trolls, who also happen to be my adoptive family which Sven and I lived with since we were younger, to see what they could do for Anna. But when they first saw her, they were quick to assume that she and I were lovers and they tried to perform a wedding ceremony for us, which I admit was embarrassing for both of us, until Grand Pabbie, my adoptive grandfather and the leader of the trolls, arrived and called it off before things got out of hand. Anna told Grand Pabbie of what happened between you and her and he said that he couldn't do anything to undo her frozen heart condition and that an act of true love can. She assumed that he meant a kiss from someone who loved her and we quickly rushed her back here to see that Hans guy she said she was engaged to because she believed he could save her life. Unfortunately, that didn't work and we now know why back there on the fjord. That royal backstabber refused to help her and then went after you to murder you and steal your kingdom from you and Anna."

Kristoff finished there.

After hearing Hans' name once again, Elsa remembered what the French dignitary said about asking Hans what he did and said to Anna in the library before she died and was considering going into the dungeon to interrogate the murderous prince.

"Now that I've answered your questions, Your Majesty, may I ask about what happened between you and Anna before our paths crossed? She told me that her engagement to Prince Hans was the reason you ran away and caused all this, not that I'm saying you did it on purpose, but was she right about the first part?" Kristoff asked. "If it's too disturbing to say, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No it's okay, Mr. Bjorgman. I'm willing to tell you since you told me what I wanted to hear. It's only fair." Elsa replied.

"Okay, and call me 'Kristoff', Your Majesty." he said.

"Only if you call me 'Elsa' instead of 'Your Majesty'." she countered jokingly. "Since you helped Anna find me, helped her survive out there and brought her back home, you, and only you, have earned the right to call me by my name."

"As you insist, Elsa." Kristoff said.

Elsa took in a deep breath and exhaled, doing her best to remain calm during her speech.

"Yes, Anna was right about her engagement to Prince Hans and it being the cause of the magical winter. You see, during my coronation ceremony when I was declared Arendelle's new queen, she presented Prince Hans to me and asked for my blessing in marriage. Stunned beyond belief that she was willing to marry a man that she had just met on that day, I refused her request. Angered by my decision, she and I got into a spat and she said she couldn't live like this anymore and, I don't know why I said this and it hurt me just as much as it did Anna, I told her she was free to leave. I turned to walk away and she grabbed my hand, removing one of my gloves when she did, to keep me from going anywhere. In anger and panic, I demanded her to give my glove back to me, but she kept asking me questions such as why I kept shutting her and people out and what she ever did to receive such treatment. I told her enough, but she kept pushing me with her questions and demands of answers endlessly. Reaching my breaking point, I yelled at her to stop with a wave of my bare hand and that is when my magic was exposed in front of Anna and my guests and workers in the form of ice spikes. Horrified by everyone's reactions to me, I ran out of the throne room where the party took place and those outside were trying to greet me and congratulate me on becoming the new queen. Unable to navigate myself or think properly, I unconsciously took a step back and touched one of the water fountains in the courtyard, freezing its running water into an ugly shape, which terrified all who saw. The Weselton duke demanded that someone stop me. I told him and everybody else to stay away from me and as I held my hand out to exercise my gesture to be left alone, my gloveless hand shot another beam of ice magic at the duke, something I had not intended to do. He and his two bodyguards, the ones whom he would later send to kill me, slipped and fell and the duke was the first to call me a monster twice. I ran away from the courtyard and the people backed away in fear as I did. I heard Anna calling out to me, pleading me to come back, but I ignored her. I made it to the fjord, back when it was water, and I stepped into it with the intention of swimming away if that's what it took to escape my own home. When my feet touched the water, it froze under me, something even I didn't know I could do since, until the coronation, I never set foot outside my castle in thirteen years and never got the opportunity to practice with my powers. Well, maybe when I was inside my bedroom, but most of the time, I was too afraid to try and I fought to keep my magic from coming out. As I was saying, desperate to leave Arendelle, I started to run out into the water and it froze with every step I took until I was safely on the other side of the fjord and into the wilderness which I ran into until I was gone. It was during my exodus that my winter curse was cast all over Arendelle and I didn't know this because I never looked back as I kept running until Anna later informed me of the problem at my ice castle. When she told me what happened here after I fled, the strain from what I'd done to my own kingdom got to me and that is what set off my powers and infected Anna. that's where you, Kristoff Bjorgman, came in and saw me. At that moment, I admit I was cautious of seeing you because I assumed you were going to be angry at me for hurting my sister and then attack me. When I created my snow guardian to drive you, Anna and Olaf away, I regretted that when it came to my mind and I hoped that my creation would not kill any of you."

When Elsa had finished telling her story to Kristoff, she felt her emotions starting to rise in her mind and her snowflakes had returned, surrounding her.

She closed her eyes and tried to think positive thoughts again to stop her magic from acting out. If she was disturbed even further, another blizzard like the one in the fjord could return and the fire pit could go out and leave the people in the cold once more.

The dignitaries and guards noticed and wondered if they should help comfort the queen again.

"What? No, I wasn't angry at you for affecting Anna and I never planned on attacking you back there. I was just worried for Anna when I saw her groaning in pain. To be honest though, I thought you were going to strike us based on how you were looking at us and the way you were standing. I was being protective of her." Kristoff said.

Elsa struggled to get her powers under control after Kristoff said that and was touched that he really did care for Anna when she was alive. But she also felt ashamed for believing the mountain man was hostile then and making him feel she was hostile back.

"Your Majesty. Are you alright? What happened?" Kai asked Elsa.

Some of the guards assumed Kristoff had said something to upset Elsa.

Her snowflakes vanished again after regaining her calmness.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Did this young man here say anything to bother you?"

"No, no. He and I were just exchanging stories on what went on between him, Anna and I in the last couple of days and, despite my feelings over it, he deserved to know about us and such. You can return to warming yourselves if you wish." Elsa said.

While a third of the kingdom was occupied in the village, everyone remained unaware that Hans Westergard and the duke's bodyguards, all disguised as palace guards, were watching them. They were standing guard at the castle's entrance gate bridge high above to get a better view of the village where they laid their eyes on their one and only target standing with the crowd.

Each man was armed with a spear and sword, as all patrolmen were assigned with.

"It seems the witch has built and started a bonfire to bring warmth to the people." said one of the Weselton guards in a hushed tone despite the fact that they were the only ones up there.

"Any ideas on how to lure her away from the public and to the dungeon?" said the other.

Hans thought of something, though he had no intention of using it.

"It's just like we agreed to before. We approach the queen, trick her into going into the dungeon to have a word with us about our actions against her and to discuss a proper penalty for us and other things of that sort with us as her escorts and when we have her into our trap, we strike her down then and there and once we kill her, we'll have to sneak out of Arendelle as soon as possible because everybody will learn about her death eventually and we will be hunted by the entire kingdom and we sure don't want to be around when that happens." said Hans.

"Excellent plan, Prince Hans. When we escape after killing the queen, we'll need to travel into the forest though due to every ship being frozen in the fjord because of her." said the henchmen.

"Yes, I can see that." Hans said sarcastically. He knew that. The Southern Isles ship he used to sail to Arendelle was among the ships trapped under ice, not that he had any need to use it anyway after Elsa's death. If the duke and his men wanted to run away to avoid capture or death, he wouldn't stop them as they were none of his concern. Once the abomination in the blue dress was slain, he would then turn his sword on himself.

The instant he was close to Elsa, she was as good as dead.

They climbed down from the watchtower by ladder and when they touched the ground, they were about to begin walking to the bonfire gathering up ahead when they were stopped by Gerda, one of Elsa's servants.

"Wow. That sure was nice of Queen Elsa to built a big fire for everyone. Now they can feel warm and toasty all day." she said and clasped her hands together in glee.

"Indeed." Hans falsely agreed. Thanks to their disguises and facial scarves, Gerda had no idea she was speaking with Elsa's assailants/prisoners.

"We also have lit fireplaces in the castle for those who are tending to things inside and can't attend the fire in the village. Would you three gentlemen care to take a break inside?" Gerda asked.

"No, thank you. We were just about to accompany the queen to see if she requests anything." said one of the disguised Weselton guards.

"Very well. I am craving for some hot chocolate right about now. Maybe with marshmallows. Princess Anna would have said yes on the spot. She loved chocolate." Gerda said and walked back into the castle.

"You do that." Hans said and when the maid was out of range and earshot, the evil prince rolled his eyes. To him, that woman was just as chatty and obnoxious as Princess Anna and he wondered if the dead princess got her mannerisms from her. No matter.

When it was just them again, Hans looked at his two accomplices and said, "Now is our chance. Move out." The trio marched toward the village.

As they moved, Hans smiled beneath his scarf and quietly patted his stolen sword with his right hand, satisfied that he was about to have his revenge in a matter of minutes.

Elsa probably wishes to see Anna again. If that is the case, then I shall be happy to grant her wish and they will soon be reunited . . . in death. He thought.

Nothing was going to come between the disgraced, wicked prince and the snow queen. Victory was going to be his and he would die with satisfaction of Elsa's demise.

Just then, they noticed another guard running to Elsa from a different direction with a look of shock on his pale face.

The three stopped suddenly. Did that man discover what happened back in the dungeon and is on his way to report the incident to Elsa? Is he on to them? The only way to find out for sure was to hurry over and listen to what news the guard had to say and see where it would lead.

"Your Majesty!" the unnamed guard yelled out.

Elsa and everybody turned and saw the guard approaching fast.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Elsa asked with worry.

"It's Princess Anna!" the guard said.

"What about her?" Elsa asked in confusion.

"It appears that she's . . . she's thawing!" he spat out.

Elsa gasped and so did everyone listening.

"What? Anna's melting away? Oh no!" Elsa said and started panicking and clutched at her chest and breathed heavily. Just as her snowflakes were about to return, the guard spoke again.

"No no! You misunderstand, my queen! The ice around her, starting with her chest area, is dissolving, but she's still standing in her defense position and her appearance before she was frozen solid remains intact." the guard corrected, wishing he choose his choice of words better at first so Elsa wouldn't freak out.

Elsa's face began to light up and her hopes began to rise.

"You're saying that my sister . . . is . . . is . . . alive somehow!?" she asked.

"I'm not completely sure, Your Majesty. I just witnessed her frozen form going through a change and I'm not exactly familiar with the type of magic you possess at all. Nobody around here is since you're the first one. Anyway, I suggest you come see for yourself since you seem to know about your magic more than us." said the guard.

Elsa agreed and began to rush out to the frozen fjord to get to Anna with everybody following her, wanting to see the princess too.

Excitement and images of Anna filled her mind. If what the guard said was true about Anna thawing and perhaps being brought back from the dead, though that was her assumption, then she was now glad she didn't hold a funeral for her just yet.

From where they stood, Hans and the duke's men were flabbergasted by the unexpected news and with everyone making their way out onto the frozen fjord, they decided to follow the crowd to see if it was true.

But either way, they were still determined to proceed with their plan of assassinating Elsa.

How can that foolish, redhead princess be brought back from the dead? Elsa froze her heart and Anna wasted the final moments of her pathetic life protecting her supernatural sister from me and foiling my plan to rule Arendelle in their places! No matter. I could now kill both Elsa and Anna simultaneously. Two royals dead by my hand in one day. A great opportunity for me that must not go undone. Hans thought as he ran toward where the people and queen went.

If Anna turned out to be living once again, he could fulfill his revenge on both sisters. In an uncaring, sinister way, he hoped Anna would actually thaw and be flesh and bone once again in order to kill her because from what he remembered earlier, when Anna turned completely into ice in front of him and his sword struck her frozen hand, the weapon shattered on contact like a stick, but left Anna's frozen form unharmed in any way. He hadn't actually expected to see Anna again or strike her with his sword because he left her to die in the library. How she escaped was a mystery to him. Hans figured that Elsa's ice was indestructible, which is why Anna didn't shatter like a regular ice statue when he hit her.


There ya go, another chapter written and posted. What did you think? It seems that Anna may indeed thaw and come back to life after all! But stupid Hans wants to spoil the moment by going after both sisters now! Will he succeed or will he fail? Will Elsa get to reunite with her sister and learn the secret of getting rid of her eternal winter spell? Or will her hopes be shattered like Hans' sword from hitting Anna and she'll have to move on without her? I've only got a couple of more chapter ideas left for this story. Will it end happily or will it end sadly? You'll have to wait to find out.