Elsa was alone at the table, sitting with three empty chairs, cups without drinks, and plates without food. The only thing not empty was the bottle of wine, so she poured herself another glass and took a large swig. The courtyard was abuzz with activity but she wasn't paying attention, wasn't focused on anything. Although the band played to her left, the music sounded more distant and hollow the further she delved into her own brooding thoughts. The screams and laughter of the party guests were little more than the fog of a dream.

She couldn't believe the night had turned out the way it did. All the planning, all the preparation, derailed by an argument between Kristoff and John that left Anna in tears. She wondered if there was something she could have done differently, anything she could have changed to prevent the party from collapsing into disaster. More than anything she had wanted this evening to be a night to remember, a special occasion to be cherished by all. But like so many things in her life it had ended in disappointment.

She shook her head, trying to understand why. Why was everything in her life unraveling like a ball of yarn? She couldn't even hold a proper party for her sister without it coming apart at the seams. Was one night free from problems too much to ask?

"Are you alright, Elsa?"

It was Olaf, but she hadn't seen him come up the stairs to stand beside her. He had been enjoying himself all evening, weaving and spinning amongst the dancers and entertaining others with his goofy antics, but now his smile was replaced by concern.

"Yes, Olaf, I'm fine."

He didn't look convinced and he glanced over his shoulder at the gates.

"Are Kristoff and Anna coming back?"

"I don't know, Olaf."

That was the question of the evening, she thought. But even if Anna could coax Kristoff back to the party, would there be any joy left to salvage? Could they pretend nothing had happened and have a good time? She wasn't sure they could. It was a strong possibility that neither of them would be returning and that left her to contemplate the unpleasant task of announcing an end to the festivities. After all, there would be no reason to continue with what had become a meaningless charade.

'Let them be.'

It was John's voice in her head now. She could imagine his response to her idea of ending the party.

'Let them be, they're enjoying themselves. Why make things worse than they already are?'

She didn't think things could get worse, no matter what she did.

She was wrong.

A sharp cry from the other side of the courtyard shattered her melancholy. She sat up, searching for its source, and saw Sven burst through the open gates, nearly trampling the guards in his haste.

"Sven?" she said.

What was he doing here, she wondered? She looked beyond the gates and saw Kristoff running across the bridge, dragging Anna behind him and waiving his arm so hard it looked like it might break off. The guard with them, too, seemed to be yelling. At first, she thought they were chasing Sven, as if he had escaped and they were trying to collect him, but it only took her a moment to realize that didn't make any sense. Sven was not the sort of animal to run off alone and he wouldn't go anywhere without Kristoff. So what was going on?

The reindeer skidded to a halt, stomping at the ground and jerking his head up between loud neighs. A few of the partiers noticed his arrival and turned to look, but the dancers kept dancing and the music kept playing, the band drowning out whatever Kristoff was yelling on the bridge.

The guards at the gate recovered from Sven's near miss and ran toward Kristoff, and she realized he hadn't been calling after Sven at all, he was shouting something to them, and this made her stand up, trying to get a better look.

The wall around the courtyard was actually the inner portion of a corridor which surrounded the entire castle. Two large doors functioned as gates on both the inner and outer wall, the inner gates opening to the courtyard and the outer wall joined to a long bridge that connected to the town square. The guards had gone to the gate on the outer wall, looking like they were preparing to close it, which aroused Elsa's concern. Why would they be closing the gates? Kristoff flung Anna inside and joined the guards at the gate, but Elsa must have been mistaken because they didn't close it. It was so strange and she couldn't figure out what they were doing.

Anna ran into the courtyard and when Elsa saw the look on her face she realized all was not well. It was like something had spooked her, but what that could be she had no idea. Anna was shouting and pointing behind her but Elsa couldn't hear what she was saying so she was compelled to leave the table to go meet her. Anna ran so fast she almost knocked Elsa over when they met at the foot of the steps. She was short of breath and in a panic as she pointed to the gates and said, "They're coming! They're coming!"

Most of the dancers stopped now, their attention turning toward Elsa and Anna, but the band kept playing. Although Anna's warning was ominous Elsa could not figure out what she was talking about. Was it the duke and his men? She had seen no ship approaching.

"Who is coming?"

"Get everyone in the castle!" Anna said. Then she turned to the dancers and party goers. "Everyone, get in the castle!"

The music jarred to a halt, the band stopping mid-note.

"What?" Elsa said, her heart racing. "Why? What's happened?"

The people stared at Anna but didn't move, perhaps wondering if her outburst was attributed to her earlier breakdown. They didn't have any sense of impending danger and Anna screamed in frustration as she pointed at the castle.

"Hurry!"

A few people responded but most continued to linger, appearing confused by the order. A shout from the gates drew everyone's attention and Kristoff and the guards left the outer gates and ran back to the inner gates. Again, they looked like they were trying to close them, but for some reason they were struggling. Then Elsa saw something that made her heart leap into her throat. A mass of blue creatures spilling into the town square, pouring down from Arendelle and turning toward the bridge. She didn't know what they were but she knew they were all in grave danger.

A woman by the food tables screamed, a high pitched wail that was answered by another scream of terror, which was itself followed by more screams, and then everyone was in an uproar, scrambling toward the porch.

"Open the doors!" Elsa shouted to the guards as she ran up the steps. Elsa tried to push the table aside to clear the porch, but it was too heavy. The guards joined her after propping the doors open and together they sent it cascading off the side of the porch in a shower of clattering dinnerware and shattering plates. Kai nearly tripped on a bowl as he led his bandmates toward the stream of people fleeing the courtyard.

On the other side of the porch, Marshmallow stirred, activated by the chaos unfolding around him. He rose to his full height, claws appearing on his hands and spikes of ice sprouting from his back.

Something was wrong at the gates, Elsa thought. They should have been closed by now, but they hadn't budged at all. The first of the blue creatures were on the bridge and in a few seconds nothing would stop them from pouring into the courtyard. She had to help, had to seal it with ice before they got in, but the people were streaming up the steps all around her, running in panic as they sought refuge in the castle. She had to get clear of them before she dared use her magic.

"Get in the castle!" she said to Anna, then leaped down the stairs, against the flow of bodies scrambling past her. She stole a glance at the bridge again, saw it swarming with creatures, but the distraction cost her. She slammed into a large man, losing her balance and spinning sideways, then tripped over a child, knocking them both to the ground.

She knew it was too late, she would never make it in time.

"MARSHMALLOW!" she cried out in desperation. "GET THE GATE!"

The giant snowman sprang into action, leaping forward in large strides and covering the distance between the porch and the gates in record time. It was a race, one that the strange blue creatures would have won had they been better organized or prepared. As it was, they fought and clawed over one another, each struggling to be first as the mass was compressed through the mouth of the bridge and funneled down its narrow pathway. This allowed Marshmallow to reach the inner gates before they did. He grabbed the doors with his icicle claws, pushing with all his might. Kristoff and the guards remained to assist him, but the gate didn't budge, not even with all of their efforts, and the creatures were nearly upon them.

Elsa struggled against a sea of legs to get up, then a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. It was Anna.

"I told you-" Elsa started, then she saw Marshmallow, Kristoff, and the guards all straining against the unmoving doors, Marshmallows arms quivering and his legs shaking with the effort. She was sure it was too late, that they were doomed, but then Marshmallow gave one last mighty heave and with a loud CRACK! the doors swung inward just as the blue beasts crossed the threshold. One made it through and several were crushed in the gap of the closing doors, preventing Marshmallow from shutting them all the way. He leaned against the bulging doors and kicked at the creature who made it through, his foot connecting hard and sending it flying into the wall where it landed lifeless on the ground.

"He won't hold them for long!" one of the guards said. "Kristoff and I will use the north exit to get the queen and princess to safety. You two,"-he pointed at the other two guards-"get everyone into the castle and prepare to defend it!"

They left Marshmallow and met Elsa and Anna near the dance floor behind a crowd of people that flowed from the porch, down the steps, and spilled into the courtyard. They were all trying to get through the castle doors at the same time, with little success.

"Your Majesty," said a guard, "we must get you and Princess Anna to safety." He motioned toward the north exit but a strange howl cut him off, a low, guttural cry from the gate that made Elsa's skin crawl. They all turned in unison to see that a handful of creatures had somehow managed to breach the gate and were running directly at them.

The guards drew their swords and made a protective line.

"No!" Elsa said, "Leave them to me. Get everyone else out of here!"

The guards hesitated. One looked back over his shoulder.

"Go!" she yelled, and they sprang into action. Kristoff grabbed Anna's hand and pulled her away from the crowd, heading along with Olaf and Sven to the area behind the now empty bandstand where the courtyard wall met the edge of the castle. Nestled in that corner was a small door, the north exit, which led into a corridor with multiple avenues of escape.

For the first time Elsa caught a real glimpse of their attackers, was able to see them in detail, but she had no idea what she was looking at. They weren't quite manlike and not quite animal, like some cursed creation that was stuck in-between. They were short, none taller than her waist, and they had blue, almost luminescent skin with a white mane of hair that started "V"-like between pointy ears and appeared to run down their backs. They ran upright but supported themselves on their knuckles, punching the ground as they ran. Claws on their feet clicked and scraped across stone and they bared sharp, fang-like teeth, hissing and grunting to one another.

They smashed into the tables and flung them aside, sending a spray of food and dishes flying through the air. The people behind Elsa screamed in terror and she responded with a blast of magic, a large blade of ice rising from the ground between her and her attackers, blocking their advance. They veered left and Elsa raised another, twice as wide, cutting them off and forcing them to backtrack. She waved her arms and conjured two more, and now the blue monsters were boxed in with nowhere to go. She could see them through the translucent ice, clawing and scratching and trying to escape. She wasn't sure how long it would hold them but she didn't want to kill them. She couldn't kill them.

She had spent her entire life trying to convince herself she wasn't some terrible monster capable of incalculable harm. Using her magic as a weapon, even upon these vile creatures, went against every grain of her being and challenged the very notions that kept her from spiraling into madness. Perhaps she was naive in this, but it was a survival mechanism, the only way she could come to terms with what she was. In her mind, there was a thin line that separated woman from monster. She had crossed that line before and she would never go back again.

Half the people had made it into the castle but the rest were stuck outside, barely moving as if something was blocking them from inside. Marshmallow was still struggling, leaning all his weight into the doors and bracing his enormous arms against them. The doors bulged and splintered and cracked, and Elsa knew they could break at any moment. They were out of time.

"Your Majesty, come with us," one of the guards at the north exit called out. Kristoff ducked inside the open door but Anna stopped, waving for Elsa to join them. Kristoff grabbed her hand and pulled her in, and she was followed by Sven and Olaf. Two of the guards went with, the other two stayed behind to beckon Elsa forward. Then Anna reappeared, yanking her hand out of Kristoff's grasp and running toward Elsa. Kristoff and the guards gave chase.

With a loud CRACK! one of the gate's hinges split in two and flew through the air which was followed by a roar of delight from the attackers. This spooked the people and they screamed, clawing and trampling each other to get in through the clogged entryway. Like the last sands of an hourglass the final ones were able to squeeze through the doors, which slammed shut behind them. On the other side of the courtyard the gates heaved and quivered and Marshmallow lost his footing, slipping backwards, but his grip held as he struggled against the quaking doors. Elsa wanted to go help him, but she had to get Anna to safety first.

"Anna, go back!" she yelled, running toward her. But Anna didn't listen. She met Elsa in the middle of what used to be the dance floor.

"You need to get to safety," Elsa said.

"I'm not leaving without you!"

"Then let's go!" Elsa said. She had no intention of leaving but she knew Anna wouldn't leave without her and she had to make sure her sister was out of harm's way.

They ran to the door where Olaf and Sven were waiting, probably wondering where everyone had gone. Kristoff and Anna went in first along with one of the guards. The other guard stepped aside. It was part of his training to protect the queen's flank, but she had something else in mind.

"Go, quickly!" she said.

"Your Majesty-"

"GO!"

She held the door open with one hand and pushed him in with the other, then she slammed the door shut and sealed it from the outside with a burst of ice. The guard pounded on the thick wooden door.

"Your Majesty!"

Kristoff, Anna, and her guards were safe. Now she had to help Marshmallow, but she was too late. He gave a final roar before the gates broke with a tremendous crash, the force of the army blasting the doors right off their hinges. Marshmallow was flung backwards, kicking and slashing at the horde of creatures that poured in.

She ran to assist him but he was overcome by the first wave of attackers. There were too many and he was swept off his feet and subdued, disappearing into a mass of thrashing and clawing beasts, his massive limbs flailing but doing little to impede them.

Then they poured through the gates unhindered, a frenzied horde full of gnashing teeth and slashing claws, and they made directly for Elsa, who had stopped in the middle of the courtyard. She raised a blade of ice, a thick wall that thrust upward from the ground, but there were too many and they flowed around it like water around a rock. A moment later the ice wall shattered and fell to the ground in a shower of glimmering pieces. She raised another, and another, but all they did was slow the beasts' advance, redirecting them along the walls of the courtyard. There were just too many, and there was too much open space, she couldn't trap them or stop them, and they were closing in fast. They filled the courtyard, surrounding her and rushing at her from all sides.

She panicked, knowing there was no escape and no retreat and in half a moment they would tear her to shreds. It's at a moment like this when instinct takes over, in which the raw desire to survive at any cost overrides all conscious thought and the body responds with a burst of adrenaline.

She crouched down, crossing her arms and bending forward as she conjured all her power, focused and concentrated it, feeling it course through her limbs and swell in her body. Then she shot to her feet, screaming in rage as she swept her arms up and unleashed a force she didn't know she was capable of.

A concussion of magic exploded from her, slamming into her attackers and flinging them back, sending a spray of monsters cascading in every direction like a blue tsunami. The shockwave rippled through the entire horde, lifting them in the air and throwing them toward the walls in a shower of falling bodies.

The bandstand and tables shredded into splinters, the fountains exploded into bits of rubble, and the stone floor cracked and split beneath her, a burst of jagged fissures spidering out from her feet.

With the torches snuffed out the courtyard was engulfed in darkness. An eerie silence crept in around her, broken only by the settling of debris and Elsa's own labored breath. She was surprised and a bit frightened, not sure what had happened or what she had done. It was as if her magic had taken on a life of its own, like the danger had awakened some instinctual response she wasn't aware she had.

She feared a counter attack but she couldn't see anything in the black of the moonless night, and she panicked, imagining those teeth and claws tearing into her while she was blind. Her magic responded again, and without even thinking she thrust her arm up, a ball of white light leaping from her hand and hanging in the air above her, banishing the shadows as it cast a colorless glow over the entire courtyard. What she saw made her heart stop.

She stood alone in a courtyard which looked like it had been swept clean, as if every furnishing, decoration, and permanent fixture had just disappeared. The bandstand, tables, and fountains were all gone. Worse yet, mounds of blue, twisted bodies were piled along the walls all around her, heaps of white manes, limp arms, and tangled feet en masse. Mouths hung open in frozen snarls, lifeless eyes staring at nothing. Not one of them moved nor made a sound.

They were all dead.

"What have I done?" Elsa said, looking in horror at her trembling hands. She felt nauseous and light headed, as if she might faint at any moment. There was no relief that the battle was over, nor any solace in her victory. She was consumed by the devastation around her, the destruction she had wrought with her own hand.

'She's a monster!'

She put her head in her hands, fighting against the memory of the night that accusation had been shouted, here in this very courtyard, after her coronation. She remembered the fear and revulsion in her people's eyes, how they shrank back, hiding their children and recoiling from her.

'Monster!'

"What have I done?" she said again.

Alek burst through the castle door, flanked by two of his guards, but they slid to a stop when they caught sight of the courtyard, gaping at the wreckage.

Alek had witnessed a great many things in his life. He served in the army before becoming a guard, then worked his way up through the ranks of royal servitude, traveling to other countries with the king, thwarting attacks, dealing justice, and surviving a coup. But Elsa had never seen the look of shock that he was wearing now.

"What happened?" he said. "Are there any more?"

The sharp crack of splintering wood echoed through the courtyard and Alek and his men turned toward the source, the north exit, with swords in hand, ready to face a new threat. The door was forced open, a feat made more difficult by the bodies piled in front of it, and when two guards stepped out Alek heaved a sigh of relief.

The guards looked around, as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing, then Kristoff called out from behind them.

"Is it safe?"

Before they could answer Anna burst out of the doorway and shoved her way between them.

"Elsa-" she began, then stopped in her tracks, shocked by what she saw. "Whoa," was all she could say. Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven joined her and the whole group stared in awe.

Footsteps from the gate drew everyone's attention, except Elsa's. She was staring at her hands, disconnected from what was going on around her, so she didn't see John approaching, or the guards who were accompanying him stop at the gate to gape at the scene. John, however, continued, his focus on Elsa.

"Elsa!" he said. "Are you alright?"

"Stop him!" Kristoff shouted, pointing at John. The guards behind John sprang forward and grabbed him by the elbows, yanking him back.

"Get off me!" John said, struggling against their grip. "What's the meaning of this?"

Elsa was in a daze, unable to take her eyes off the piles of bodies. She had only a vague awareness that others had arrived; she was lost in a fog of her own disbelief, trying to comprehend how she was capable of such destruction. John's voice cut through her fog, though, and she detected his distress even though she missed what he said. She turned and saw the guards restraining him.

"Let him go," she said.

"Your Majesty-" Alek objected.

"I said let him go!"

The guards released John and he ran to Elsa, looking her over for any sign of injury.

"Are you ok?"

She nodded, but it was a slow nod. She wasn't thinking about her own welfare and had she been injured she might not have realized it.

"Are you sure you're not hurt?" John asked again.

"He sabotaged the gates!" Kristoff said.

"What?" Anna said, as if she found the accusation incredulous.

"They wouldn't close," Kristoff said. "They were sabotaged so they wouldn't close when these things"-he gestured to the piles of dead bodies-"whatever they are, when they attacked...there was nothing to stop them!"

Alek and the other guards took a step toward John, Alek's hand going to his sword again.

"Kristoff," John said, without taking his eyes off the approaching guards, "I understand we're not on the best of terms, but I assure you I did no such thing."

Elsa didn't understand. She was having trouble focusing on words and processing their meaning. She was still trying to come to terms with what happened.

"Elsa," Kristoff said, "did you hear me? John sabotaged the gates! If it weren't for Marshmallow we'd all be dead."

"What?" Elsa said. The accusation cleared her head, forced her to focus her thoughts and think about what Kristoff was saying. Someone sabotaged the gates?

"You can't believe what he's saying," John said. "He's mistaken, it simply isn't the truth, Elsa."

In the panic following her magical outburst she had forgotten about the gates, and she remembered now. Kristoff had struggled with the guards to close them, after warning them that something was coming. Even Marshmallow had trouble closing them. In her entire life in the castle she had never once heard of anyone having trouble opening or closing the gates. Had someone really sabotaged them? The thought was so foreign, so strange, but if it were true that meant someone knew the party would be attacked. It was the only explanation that made any sense. Even if someone had sabotaged the gates could it have been John? Every fiber of her being resisted that conclusion. It just couldn't be true.

"Elsa," Kristoff said, pleading with her. "Where was John during the attack? He wasn't with you when I got back. Where did he go?"

The question struck her hard as she realized the implications of the answer. She had tried to convince John to stay, requested his continued company, but he had insisted that he be excused. He was safely out of harm's way when the monsters attacked.

"He left," she whispered, staring at nothing. Could it be a coincidence, she wondered? It had to be. John would never hurt her. Would he?

"You left," she said, her attention turning to John. "Why?"

"Elsa, I…" John started, but he didn't seem to know what to say.

She looked again at the mounds of dead bodies all around them, their expressions frozen in a perpetual snarl, their razor tipped fingers and toes protruding from mangled limbs. They had almost killed her. They might have killed everyone if Kristoff and Anna hadn't sounded the alarm. Her heart skipped a beat when she thought how close those creatures had come to destroying them all, and she had visions of her people screaming as they were torn to pieces by vicious beasts.

Their attack seemed to come when they were most vulnerable, in the dark of night when they were all distracted by the festivities. Was that a coincidence? She wondered again if someone had known the attack was coming. Even worse, had they helped plan it?

The gates had been sabotaged, she was convinced of that now, forced in some way to stay open, so those things could run unhindered into the courtyard.

The courtyard! She gasped and put a hand over her mouth in sudden realization. Everything was coming together like the pieces of a puzzle. They were all outside, every single one of them, the entire kingdom collected in one place, open, exposed, and defenseless against a nighttime ambush. And why were they in the courtyard? For what reason had they chosen this of all places to hold the celebration?

It had been John's idea all along.

A chill ran down her spine, an unpleasant tingle of horror that spidered down her back and into her legs, which now felt weak. The strength seemed to go out of her whole body as the full truth of the circumstances dawned on her.

The entire party had been John's idea, his doing. He picked the courtyard, he was the reason they were all here. And he had left just before the monster's attacked.

"It was like you knew!" Elsa said, barely able to conjure enough breath to form the words.

"Elsa, you can't honestly believe that."

Kristoff had tried to convince her that John was a traitor but she had refused to listen, refused to believe that he was capable of such treachery. The last vestiges of her resistance crumbled as she considered the evidence. It was all so clear now, how had she not seen it before? She had been blinded by her feelings, by her own desire for affection, and her error had nearly killed everyone in Arendelle.

She looked at the dead bodies once more, but this time she saw the faces of her people there, the lifeless remains of those she had sworn to protect. It could have been Anna and Kristoff, she thought, their corpses buried under a pile of bodies, and it was all her fault.

A flurry of snowflakes bloomed around her, a swirl of white dots which circled like a tempest.

"Are you alright?" John asked, reaching for her.

Elsa jerked away. "I trusted you!"

The swirl of snow expanded, surprising John and throwing him off balance as it churned around him and Elsa. He raised his arm to shield his eyes from the sting of the snowflakes.

"You knew!" Elsa said, her voice rising to meet the desperation in her heart. "The party. The courtyard. Everything. You knew!"

"No, Elsa!" John said.

But his denials were useless as Elsa thought about the danger she had put everyone in, how she had put her faith and trust in this man who had tried to destroy her kingdom. Another bloom of snow and the vortex expanded into a storm, filling the courtyard and driving everyone back as it howled and raged like a blizzard.

"Elsa, please," John said. "You must believe me, you must get control."

She was trying to get control but she was no match for the power and intensity of her feelings and her magic. She let out a cry, a desperate sound filled with heartache and pain. The magic grew within her, swelling against her will and coursing through her body. It hurt, like she was full of icy needles trying to force their way out, and she trembled with the effort to hold it in. She bowed her head, gripping her hair in her hands, trying not to think about John and his betrayal, but she couldn't get it out of her mind. She had trusted him, given in to her feelings and allowed him to get close, and now she had paid the price.

Anna knew John was in danger. Elsa was losing control, had lost control, and John was standing right in front of her. He should have known he was in danger too, he had seen what Elsa could do when her magic got out of hand. She expected him to retreat, but he wasn't retreating, he was trying to get closer, trying to calm her.

Anna started forward, but Kristoff grabbed her arm to stop her, then the storm rushed at them all and drove them back. She escaped Kristoff's grasp and advanced, raising her hand to protect her eyes, her red dress flapping in the violent wind. She couldn't hear what John and Elsa were saying over the howl of the storm, but she could see them, their forms silhouetted within the swirling snow. She saw Elsa bow down and heard her cry of pain, a forlorn sound that pierced the deafening blizzard, and Anna knew she was out of time.

"John! Get back!"

Anna ran but a gust of wind pushed her aside, nearly knocking her over. She corrected, leaning into the storm, and shouted at John again, trying to get his attention.

"John!"

But if he heard her he was not listening.

Then the storm stopped, or rather, reversed direction, and Anna lost her balance as the wind she was leaning into started pulling her forward. It fled from the walls and rushed to the center of the courtyard, driving Anna to her knees as it converged upon Elsa. The entire storm disappeared, the ravaging wind and the biting snow, it all condensed into a cloud which imploded inward, shrinking as Elsa absorbed it back into her body like a chimney in reverse. The courtyard was left in complete silence, everyone stunned by the sudden change and transfixed by Elsa who doubled over and let out a cry of pain.

Anna knew what was going to happen next, she had seen it before, upon the North Mountain when Elsa had struck her in the heart. She couldn't let that happen to John, had to get to him before it was too late.

"Look out!" she said, pushing herself to her feet and running toward him. This time she caught his attention but it didn't help, he didn't move, and she was too late.

Elsa let out a long and sorrowful moan as she tried to hold it in, to control it, but the pain was unbearable and, try as she might, she could not contain it. Her moan became an agonizing cry, her cry a scream, and then she shot to her feet, arching her back and thrusting her face to the sky as a ring of magic exploded from her body, sending a spray of white spear-like projectiles in every direction.

"Elsa!" Anna shouted as she leaped in front of John at the last moment, just in time to shield him from the deadly shards of magic. They struck her hard and she crashed to the ground, shuddered, then lay still upon the cracked stones of the courtyard floor.

"Anna!" Kristoff said as he bolted toward her, followed by Sven, Olaf, and the guards. Before he got there John bent down to inspect her, but Kristoff barked his disapproval.

"Get away from her!"

John recoiled and Kristoff fell to his knees beside Anna. She lay on her side with her back to him, her head resting on her arm. He leaned over and brushed the hair out of her face.

"Anna! Anna!" He said, desperate for a response. "Talk to me!" But she didn't stir.

"Anna!" Elsa cried, falling to her knees before her sister, across from Kristoff. She was numb with disbelief, unable to comprehend what had happened. How had this happened? It couldn't be possible, she thought. No, no, this wasn't happening, couldn't be happening. Not again!

But it had happened, and as the wall of her denial crumbled she was stricken with a grief so intense that her vision blurred and her head swam, the courtyard spinning around her as she teetered on the edge of consciousness. The greatest fear she had ever known, the fear she had carried with her every day since she was a child, throughout all her years of isolation, the very thing she had spent her entire life terrified of, had happened.

"No! No, no, no, no! Please, no!"

She touched her sister's cheek and found it as cold as ice. She took her hand and squeezed it, but didn't get a response. Kristoff put his ear to Anna's mouth and listened.

"She's still breathing!" he said.

Those words brought no comfort to Elsa. She was a little girl again, kneeling next to the lifeless body of her baby sister, and her whole world was falling apart. She had made a vow to herself all those years ago, swore that she would do whatever it took to protect her sister from harm. Whatever the cost, even if it meant years of isolation, she had promised she would never hurt her sister again.

But once again, she had failed.

"Anna!" she cried out, collapsing upon her sister's body and bursting into tears.

The courtyard was silent except for Elsa's hushed cries, a ring of onlookers watching in helplessness. Kristoff remained on his knees, shaking his head in disbelief as he scrubbed at a tear. Then he took Elsa's hand, holding it until she raised her head to look at him. Her eyes were red and swollen, and she wiped an arm across her face.

"We have to get her to Grand Pabbie," Kristoff said, his voice almost a whisper.

Elsa nodded. He was right. That was their only chance. Grand Pabbie had saved her once, maybe he could save her again.

Kristoff stood then crouched down, slipping his arms under Anna's back and legs, picking her up.

"C'mon Sven," he called out, then headed for the gates. The reindeer followed.

"Your Majesty," Alek said.

"Yes?" Elsa said, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Shall I have John and his men committed to the dungeon?"

It was a question Elsa never imagined she would hear, one she could not have contemplated having to answer. John stared at her, silently pleading, but she was past the point of all doubt. She knew now that he was guilty, and no amount of theatrics on his part could convince her otherwise.

"Yes," she said.

"Elsa, no!" John said.

Two of Alek's men grabbed John's arms and another bound his hands behind his back. She turned away, ignoring his cries of protest as she followed after Kristoff. Olaf caught up with her.

They walked together in silence for a while, the first rays of moonlight peeking over the mountain to the northeast. She tried not to look at the piles of bodies around her, but she couldn't ignore what she had done. This night had changed everything, it had changed her, and she now knew what she had to do. She only wished she had done it sooner.

When they arrived at the broken gate they had to step around what remained of Marshmallow.

"You should remake him before we go," Kristoff said.

Elsa was silent for a long while, then she said, "No, it's better this way."

Kristoff paused, looking over his shoulder at her, as if he meant to question her about it, then decided against it and continued on. Elsa and Olaf followed him out the gates and onto the bridge, some of the lampstands beginning to dim as they ran out of oil. She turned to Olaf and crouched down, still fighting back tears.

"Is Anna gonna be ok?" he asked.

"Olaf," she said, ignoring his question. She paused for a moment, considering her words. There was no way to soften their blow, so she didn't try to. "I want you to stay here."

Olaf appeared as disappointed as she expected.

"Why?"

She stared into his big, sad eyes, trying not to cry. He waited for her answer but it never came. Instead, she leaned forward and gave him a hug, a fresh tear tracing a crooked line down her cheek.

"Are you gonna be ok?" Olaf asked.

"Just stay here and take care of Arendelle," she said, picking a few loose snowflakes from the tiny twigs on top of his head. "And never forget that I love you."

Olaf nodded, but she could tell he didn't understand. She didn't expect him to. He turned, heading back to the castle, and she watched him go, her expression reflecting the sadness of the truth she held in her heart.

She would never see him again.