Anna's Despair was the last idea I had for scenes during the movie, but I didn't want to end on such a sad moment, so here is an epilogue. This takes place after Frozen but before Frozen Fever. Thanks for reading, and please look for my new Frozen story, Freezing Reign.

Return to the Ice Palace

Anna was squeezed between Elsa and Kristoff on the seat of the sled as Sven pulled them up the North Mountain. She may not have been very comfortable, but at least she was relatively warm. She still had trouble accepting that Elsa was comfortable sitting next to her in only her thin blue gown. Just thinking about it made Anna shiver, and she had to keep reminding herself that the cold never bothered Elsa.

Elsa had wanted to visit her ice palace for a long time. She knew how it had been left when Hans brought her back to Arendelle, and every day she thought of it and it saddened her, knowing the damage that had been done to it. It was very personal to her, almost as if it was a part of her, and she wouldn't really be herself until it was fixed. Since it was cold enough on the mountain that the palace might stand forever, Elsa wanted it to be intact. But whenever she mentioned to Anna that she wanted to go to the ice palace, Anna quickly tried to change the subject. Finally, Elsa was adamant about going, and Anna insisted on coming along. Deep down, Anna was afraid that if Elsa went back to her ice palace alone, she might just decide to stay there. She wasn't going to let Elsa return to the ice palace without her.

"Are we there yet?" Olaf said, popping up between Anna and Kristoff from the back of the sled.

"Almost," Kristoff replied.

"That's what you said last time," Olaf countered. "How much longer?"

"We'll get there when we get there," Kristoff said.

"Go faster, Sven!" Olaf yelled to the reindeer.

"You don't tell him what to do," Kristoff said defensively. "I do."

"Olaf, just relax and enjoy the ride," Anna said. "We'll be there before you know it."

"But there's nothing to do," Olaf said.

"Why don't you look at the clouds and see if any of them remind you of anything?" Anna suggested.

"Okay!" Olaf said excitedly as he disappeared into the back of the sled. "Hey, that one looks like a cloud!"

Anna turned to her sister. Elsa had been very quiet. She was staring off into the distance, though Anna couldn't see that she was looking at anything in particular.

"Are you okay?" Anna asked.

"I'm fine," Elsa replied, though it had taken a second for her to realize that Anna was talking to her. "It's just... I'm a little nervous."

"Why are you nervous?"

"I remember what happened up there," Elsa said with a sigh, "but then I was knocked out, so I haven't really seen how much damage there is. Its... a very special place for me, Anna. I don't really want to see it like that."

"You don't have to. We can turn back."

"No, Anna, I do," Elsa said, resuming her vacant gaze. "It makes me sad to think about it the way it is. I have to fix it."

A few minutes later, they came around a curve of the trail and the ice palace came into view. As they approached the staircase, the excited snowman jumped out of the back of the sled and ran toward it.

"Olaf, wait," Anna called after him as Kristoff had Sven bring the sled to a stop.

"But we're finally here!" Olaf said looking back at her while still running forward.

"Just wait for us, okay?" Anna said.

"Okay," Olaf replied with a disappointed tone in his voice as he stopped at the foot of the staircase.

Kristoff hopped off of the sled and helped Anna down from his side. They walked up to Sven and Kristoff produced a carrot. Sven took a large bite, covering the carrot in his saliva. Kristoff took a bite himself and silently offered the carrot to Anna.

"Uhh... No thanks, I'm good," Anna said, slightly disgusted. She still couldn't believe Kristoff shared carrots with Sven like that.

"More for us then," Kristoff said with a shrug. "Right, buddy?"

"That's right," Kristoff answered in Sven's voice. He took another bite of the carrot and gave the rest to the reindeer.

"Well, here we are," Anna said. She turned to her sister. "Are you coming, Elsa?"

Elsa hesitated. She stared at the palace for a moment before slowly getting off the sled and walking toward the staircase without taking her eyes off of it. She stopped at the foot of the staircase. Her eyes shifted as she took in all the exterior damage, from the broken railing of the staircase to the ruins of her balcony. Anna came up behind her and noticed that she looked like she was about to cry.

"It really doesn't look that bad," Anna said, trying to make Elsa feel better. Elsa just sighed. She knew the inside would be much worse.

Snow had been blown onto the steps by the wind. With a wave of her hand, Elsa conjured a cold gust that cleared away the snow, leaving behind the icy staircase. Elsa started up the stairs, her left hand on the intact railing. When she reached the broken part of the railing, she reached out her right hand as if she were reaching for the railing and the railing reformed as it had been originally. Anna, Olaf, and Kristoff followed Elsa up the stairs. Kristoff inspected the rebuilt railing and discovered he couldn't tell where the original railing ended and the newly rebuild railing began.

At the top of the stairs, the doors to the palace were open, as Hans and the Arendelle guards hadn't bothered to close them. The inside of the palace was full of snow that had blown in through the open doors.

"Stand back," Elsa said to the others as they reached the top of the stairs. With a twist of her wrist, a cyclone formed inside the palace, drawing up all of the accumulated snow and blowing it out though the open doors and into the crevasse.

Elsa led the others into the palace. She looked around with a momentary sense of satisfaction. The main floor now looked just as it should. The frozen fountain and the interior staircases were still intact. She was relieved that Hans hadn't gone out of his way to destroy things.

"See, that wasn't so bad," Anna said.

Elsa looked pensively up the stairs. She knew the worst was still yet to come. She had never told Anna all the details about what happened, just that she had been attacked and that she was knocked out. Anna had already been through so much; Elsa didn't want to upset her. She slowly started up the stairs. Anna had noticed her reluctance and followed in silence, leaving Kristoff and Olaf behind.

As Elsa climbed the staircase, she began to find snow on the steps that had blown in through the open doorway to the balcony. With a wave of her hand, a gust of cold air blew the snow from the steps and carried it on ahead. The wind was strong enough to blow the loose snow out of the room upstairs as well.

Elsa felt a chill as she reached the top of the stairs, but it wasn't from the cold. She felt a brief pang of terror like when the Duke's men attacked her. She had to remind herself that it was all in the past and she was safe now. She took a deep breath and continued forward to get her first look at the room. The loose snow had been blown out of the room, but the shards from the chandelier still littered the floor, and the jagged spires of ice remained in place around the room. The doorway to the balcony gaped open, with the huge doors lying in pieces outside. A spiked wall of ice stood on the edge of the balcony. Elsa slowly walked toward the center of the room, stepping carefully to avoid stepping on any of the icy shards. She heard Anna gasp behind her and turned around.

Anna hadn't been sure what to expect, but she hadn't been prepared for what she found. The haphazard shapes scattered around the room were a stark contrast with the smooth, orderly lines of the palace she had seen during her first visit. On her left, she spotted a series of ice spikes jutting out of the floor and into the wall. A few of them had been broken, but most were intact. They reminded her of the spikes Elsa had accidentally created out of fear at the coronation ball. She remembered the look on Elsa's face before she fled, a mix of horror and shame.

"Elsa..." Anna whispered as their eyes met. She wanted to say something more, but she couldn't find any words.

After a moment, Elsa turned away again. Anna noticed that something seemed to have caught Elsa's eye. She followed her gaze and saw it. An arrow was embedded in one of the spires of ice. She watched as Elsa slowly approached it. She tentatively reached out to touch the arrowhead. Her hand trembled as she came close to it, as if she expected the arrow to suddenly free itself from the ice and continue its trajectory. Finally, her fingertips touched the arrow.

"This was it," Elsa said softly, as her fingers curled around the shaft of the arrow. "I almost died right here."

"Hans..." Anna muttered as she approached her sister.

"No, not Hans," Elsa said. "The Duke's men. I begged them to stop; I didn't know what I would do. I didn't want to hurt anyone. They didn't listen. I didn't try to stop the arrow. It happened too fast. There wasn't time to think. My powers... they just reacted... like instinct. I just wanted to be left alone, but they wouldn't stop, so I fought back. At first, it was just desperation, but the more they resisted, the angrier I got, and eventually that anger took over."

Elsa turned and focused on the cluster of ice spikes that pierced the wall.

"I pinned one of them against the wall," Elsa continued. "I thought that would be enough, but the other one didn't back down." She turned toward the gaping opening leading to the balcony. "I forced him out onto the balcony. I had almost pushed him over the edge when Hans got to me and talked me down." Elsa's voice cracked as her eyes started to well up with tears. "If Hans hadn't gotten to me when he did, I... I think I would have killed them, Anna." With tears rolling down her cheeks, Elsa looked back at her sister. "I was so close to crossing a line I could never come back from." Elsa started to regain her composure and wiped away the tears. "I know you think I let Hans off easy by just sending him home, and I know he was going to kill me to take over Arendelle, but, in a way, he saved me from becoming the monster everyone feared."

"Why didn't you tell me about any of this?" Anna asked.

"I was scared," Elsa admitted. "I was afraid that if you knew what I did and saw how close I came, you might think I really am a monster."

"Elsa, how could I ever think that?" Anna said. "You're my sister, and I will always love you. Nothing will ever change that."

Elsa smiled. Anna walked toward her and wrapped her arms around her sister.

"I love you too, Anna," Elsa said as the two sisters embraced.

"Hey, what's going on up here?" came the cheerful voice of Olaf. Anna and Elsa turned to see the snowman running toward them from the stairs. "You guys disappeared and I wondered what happened to you."

"We're fine, Olaf," Elsa said.

"Wow!" Olaf said, looking around. "This place is a mess!"

"I think Elsa was just about to change that," Anna replied.

Elsa stepped to the exact center of the room. After a reassuring nod from Anna, Elsa stomped her right foot, and her power shuddered across the floor, disintegrating the chandelier shards and ice formations to leave behind a perfectly smooth sheet of ice. With a wave of her hands, Elsa rebuilt the doors to the balcony and the railing outside. Finally, Elsa looked up at the ceiling. She raised her hands above her head and with a loud blast a new chandelier exploded from the center of the domed ceiling.

"Oooooooooooooooooh," Olaf said in awe, while Anna stared in silence.

"That was incredible," Anna said, finally finding her voice. "Your powers really are amazing."

Anna and Elsa watched Olaf as he starting running toward the balcony. He passed by the arrow, which was now lying on the floor. Anna followed Olaf out onto the balcony, but Elsa paused to pick up the arrow before joining Anna who was looking out over the railing. Elsa came up beside her but instead of looking at the view as Anna was, Elsa was staring at the arrow in her hands. It took a moment before Anna noticed the arrow.

"What are you going to do with that?" Anna asked.

"I don't know," Elsa replied. "It almost killed me. I don't want it, but..."

"Let it go," Anna said.

"What?" Elsa asked, giving Anna a quizzical look.

"Let it go," Anna repeated.

Elsa hesitated for a second, then she released her grip on the arrow and let it fall into the canyon below. Anna reached out and took Elsa's hand. They stood together in silence, enjoying the peaceful view.

"Hey, what's that," Olaf said suddenly, looking out from the edge of the balcony.

"What's what?" Anna asked as she and Elsa came closer.

"That!" Olaf replied, pointing across the chasm with his stick arm. Anna squinted, trying to see what Olaf saw. She saw a tiny twinkle in the snow. The sunlight was glinting off of something.

"I'm going to go see what it is," Olaf said, running back into the palace toward the stairs.

"Olaf, wait a minute," Anna shouted, chasing after him.

Elsa started to follow them, but she was in no rush. As she stepped back inside the palace, she paused to close the doors to the balcony behind her. She took a look around the room, which now looked just like it did when she built it. She sighed with a satisfied smile on her face, and headed down the stairs.

Anna and Kristoff chased Olaf out the front doors of the palace and down the stairs. The little snowman was surprising fast on the smooth ice, but once he got to the bottom of the stairs and into the snow his short legs slowed him down, allowing them to catch up.

"Slow down, Olaf," Kristoff shouted.

"But..." Olaf stammered as he stopped and turned around. "I want to see what that is."

"Let's see what it is together, okay?" Anna said as she and Kristoff caught up to the snowman.

"Okay," Olaf replied.

"What are you looking for?" Elsa asked, coming up behind them.

"Yeah, what are we looking for?" Kristoff asked.

"I'm not sure," Anna said. "Olaf just saw something shiny."

"Well, let's find out what it is," Kristoff said. "Go on, Olaf, lead the way."

Olaf led them through the snow until they came across what he had spotted. Sitting upright on top of a mound of snow was Elsa's crown from her coronation.

"Elsa, look," Anna said, pointing. "It's your crown! How did it end up here?"

Elsa stared in disbelief. She didn't think she would ever see the crown again. She had impulsively thrown it away in a dramatic moment of intense emotion when she thought the responsibility of the throne meant that she couldn't express herself. Once she realized that she didn't have to give up the throne to be herself, she had regretted losing the crown. She was relieved to find it, but she was also confused. It didn't make any sense for the crown to just be sitting upright out in the open. It should have been covered by the snow that had fallen on the mountain since it landed there.

Anna stepped forward to reach for the crown. Suddenly, the mound of snow started to shake and rise up out of the ground, revealing itself to actually be a giant snowman with Elsa's crown on top of its head. It looked at Anna and growled with recognition.

"Marshmallow!" Olaf exclaimed with excitement as Anna backed away nervously.

"It's okay," Elsa said, stepping forward. She smiled at Olaf's name for the giant. She had never thought of a name for him herself. She looked up at Marshmallow and their eyes met. Marshmallow recognized his creator and his demeanor softened.

"See," Elsa said. "He won't hurt you. He just wants to protect me."

Marshmallow took a cautious step towards Elsa and she noticed he was limping. She looked over his legs in search of the cause of the limp and saw that his left leg had been sliced off and Marshmallow had clumsily reattached it.

"You poor thing," Elsa said with sympathy. "Here, let me help you."

With a wave of her hand, Elsa used her powers to heal Marshmallow's leg. Marshmallow looked at his healed leg and wiggled it around, trying it out. He smiled at Elsa.

"There, that's better, isn't it?" Elsa said.

Marshmallow stared at Elsa for a moment, then he reached up with both of his massive arms and gently lifted the crown from his head. He offered the crown to Elsa in gratitude. Elsa took the crown and held it in her hands, staring at it before looking up at Marshmallow with tears starting to well up in her eyes.

"Thank you," Elsa said to Marshmallow. Then she suddenly had an idea. "You know, as long as you're going to be up here, you're welcome to live in the ice palace. It will make me happy to know that you are looking after it."

As Marshmallow grinned down at Elsa, Anna stepped forward.

"He's really not scary after all," Anna said to Elsa with a smile.

"No, he's not," Elsa agreed.

Anna thought about her fear that Elsa would choose to stay in the ice palace if she returned alone. Seeing Elsa using her powers freely, she realized that she didn't want to be keeping her sister from something that would make her happy. Even though she was scared of what the answer might be, Anna had to know what Elsa really wanted.

"Elsa..." Anna said hesitantly. "You seem so comfortable here. Is this where you would choose to stay?"

"Oh, Anna, of course not," Elsa replied. "I never wanted to be alone. I only ran away up here to protect everyone... to protect you... from my powers. But just because the cold doesn't bother me, that doesn't mean I want to give up the warmth. I always wanted us to be together."

"And now we always will be," Anna said, smiling with relief.