AN: Happy Independence Day, my fellow Americans! And for those of you who don't celebrate the 4th of July, I hope you have a wonderful Friday and weekend filled with unicorns and puppies and laughter! ...Too much? Okay. Any-who, here's a new chapter! Enjoy!

Tallyho!

Chapter 11:

Elsa healed much quicker than expected; within a couple days, the Snow Queen was back on her feet and ready to end this war once and for all. Both sides were taking a break. Nordstrom and Weselton had been relentless with their attacks but Arendelle, the Northern and Southern Isles, and Corona had been able to retaliate quite well and keep the enemy forces far back enough that the casualties had decreased dramatically. The final soldiers who had been injured in the initial attack had been cleared and were either back with the other soldiers or were placed on resource duty if they couldn't fight anymore. The ice harvesters who hadn't volunteered to fight went back up the North Mountain to get some more ice blocks for the catapults. By the time they were back, Elsa was standing in front of the soldiers, preparing to make a speech.

"You have all fought valiantly for Arendelle," she began. "I could not be more grateful for the Northern and Southern Isles and Corona allying with us against our enemies. We have, however, unfortunately lost some of the greatest soldiers and men I have ever met. But I promise you, their deaths will not be in vain. Because today, we end this war. Today, we show Nordstrom and Weselton what happens when they attack my kingdom, my people, and my allies. We will not let our enemies win! You pledged your allegiance to your kingdom, my kingdom, and myself. Well, I pledge my allegiance to you and your kingdoms as well as my own. I will fight alongside you on this day and we will be victorious! Today, marks the end of a war, and the beginning of a new era! Together, we stand taller than ever before! And we will win! We'll win for the ones we love, the ones we lost, and the ones we vowed to protect. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm ready for this war to be over and done with for good! Who's with me?!"

The soldiers cheered loudly and began to chant "All hail Queen Elsa!" The Snow Queen smiled and bowed to her soldiers; every single one returned the gesture.

"Good," she said, "now let's end this."

She turned around and faced the water, waiting for Nordstrom and Weselton forces to show up. Hans walked up next to the queen. "Very inspirational speech, Your Majesty," he said.

"Thank you," she replied.

They were silent for a while before Hans looked at Elsa and noticed something around her neck.

"Hey, you got your necklace back," he pointed out.

Elsa looked down and touched the pendant. "Yeah, Anna said you found it and gave it to her. Thank you for that. I don't know what I would've done had I lost this," she said, smiling.

"Glad I could help," he smiled back. He looked away from her into the horizon and noticed ships in the distance; he felt Elsa tense next to him.

"Shall we?" he asked her.

She looked back at him and smirked. "Gladly."

It didn't take long for the ships get near the docks but they would never get any farther. With a flick of her wrist, Elsa froze the fjord, trapping the Weselton and Nordstrom forces on the now ice covered water. She nodded to Kristoff, who was in charge of the catapults, and he let the first round of ice blocks fly towards the enemy navy units while the Arendellian and ally units marched to the fjord. As soon as the Weselton and Nordstrom forces realized they were trapped, soldiers began to jump down and march towards Elsa and her soldiers while others stayed on the ships and began shooting arrows - burning and non-burning.

Very soon, all anyone could see was fighting; ice blocks were flying through the air and hitting their targets nicely while ground forces were fighting with swords, arrows, and ice powers alike. Very quickly realizing that her forces had control of the ground, Elsa decided it was time to take care of the forces on the ships. She ran off in the direction of the biggest ship in the enemy fleet: Nordstrom's command ship; she knew if she could gain control of that then she might be able to end the war a lot quicker and easier. Dodging arrows and soldiers by throwing up ice shields, Elsa made it to the ship and began climbing. When she reached the deck, she was surprised to find three people she hoped she'd never see again: it was the Duke of Weselton and his two henchmen.

"You," she spat.

"Surprised, Your Majesty?" The Duke replied.

"To be honest, yes. You've got a lot of nerve showing your face here, Duke."

"Yes, but I came with extra backup this time so I've got an advantage."

"You've got the advantage?!" Elsa exclaimed. "Do you not see the backup that I have? If I were you, I'd say you were at a disadvantage."

The Duke was about to respond before he and Elsa heard a grunting from the side of the ship. Suddenly, Hans jumped on the deck. "Queen Elsa!" he yelled, running to her side.

"Hans, what are you doing here?!" she practically yelled.

"Helping," he replied.

Elsa had to resist groaning; this sounded all too familiar. Before she could respond, the Duke began to chuckle.

"Well, would you look at that?" he said.

Elsa and Hans looked at the Duke and his henchmen. "Look at what?" she spat.

The Duke nodded towards Hans. "Your new pet. I had heard from some soldiers that the former prince was working with you but I had to see it before I believe it. Who would've thought that the queen's attempted murderer would end up being her sidekick in war. This will be interesting tale to take back home. Tell me, how exactly do you know that you can trust him?"

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "Easy; he's earned it."

The Duke rolled his eyes. Elsa relaxed her shoulders and took a few steps towards him. She knew what she was going to do could be trivial but she had to try. "It doesn't have to be this way, Duke. We can work this out like the civilized countries that we are. We can settle a new treaty. Please. How many more people have to get hurt or die before this war can end?"

The Duke looked at the queen with a look mixed between sympathy and disgust. She knew he wanted to reestablish trade between the two kingdoms but she didn't know if his pride would allow him. And just as quickly as she thought there would be a change of heart, the Duke said no. "You're a sorceress who needs to be stopped and destroyed. I will not have the people of Weselton live knowing there's someone like you out there!"

Elsa sighed. "Fourth mistake."

"Fourth mistake? What do you mean fourth mistake?" the Duke asked, glancing at the sky. There was a huge funnel of snow clouds above them now with snow beginning to flurry around them.

"First mistake," Elsa began, bringing her powers to their full potential now, "was trying to have me killed on my coronation night." She shot an enormous shard of ice through the bow of the ship. "Second, was allying with Nordstrom," she shot another ice shard through the stern. "Third, was coming back to Arendelle and attacking my home," she put both hands above her head. The Duke and his henchmen were genuinely scared now and Elsa could see it in their eyes. She hesitated before speaking. "And fourth, was putting your own people in debt and danger because of your pride and ignorance. I'm sorry, Duke." And with one swing of her arms, Elsa summoned ice shards and an avalanche of snow through the middle of the ship causing it to break in half. The Duke and his henchmen were hit by the impact of the avalanche and disappeared as the ship began to split. Elsa grabbed Hans' hand and ran towards the edge of the ship.

"Do you trust me?" she asked him.

"Yes," he breathed, seemingly still in shock after watching what Elsa just did.

"Good; hang on!" With a flick of her hand, Elsa created a huge snow pile on the fjord to create a soft landing. Then, without warning, she yelled "JUMP!" and pulled Hans with her onto the snow landing she had created before the ship split completely in half, hit the fjord, and shattered the ice around it.

The battle on the ground had all but died out. Most of the enemy forces were either arrested or dead. As Elsa and Hans stood up from their jump, they began noticing the enemy ships putting up white flags as a sign of truce. Elsa breathed heavily as she looked around watching Nordstrom and Weselton forces back down; she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"Did… did you.. did we just...?" Hans sputtered, just as surprised and breathless as she was.

"Yeah," she said, looking at him and smiling. They looked at each other and smiled before she jumped into him and hugged him as tight as she could. She could've stayed that way forever but was interrupted by a terrifying thought.

"Wait, where is the Duke and his henchmen?" she asked, pulling away from Hans.

He looked at her, his eyes widening as they came to the realization of what happened. Elsa turned around, wide-eyed and terrified, and ran towards one of the soldiers who was near the shipwreck. "Have you found any sign of the Duke of Weselton? Or his henchmen?" she asked, frantically.

The soldier looked at her with sad eyes. "I haven't, Your Majesty. I'm sorry."

Elsa felt her heart break. What have I done? she thought to herself. She felt two hands lightly touch her arms; she turned around and looked into the green eyes of Hans before burying her face into his shirt, not even bothering to tense up as he wrapped his arms around her. She was so tired and and at a loss of what to feel, she just needed someone to hold her and make her feel safe; which Hans happened to do. He didn't say a word; he simply held her just as Anna had done at her ice palace all those weeks ago.

The Snow Queen didn't know what to feel. She was happy that her people were finally safe but she had killed in the process which is something that she had never intended to do. Despite feeling conflicted, she decided that could vent her emotions later at her ice palace. Putting on a brave face, she pulled away from Hans, smiled to reassure him that she was okay and walked off towards the docks with Hans following behind. As they reached land, she asked her new Captain of the Guard if everyone was off the water. When he answered yes, Elsa thawed the ice and returned the fjord to it's former glory; she even moved the split ship closer to the docks so it could be used for building materials around Arendelle. When she was done, she noticed that it was extremely quiet. She turned around to find Arendellian and allied soldiers and her people and sister all standing around various areas of the village and looking at her. Elsa looked among everyone and smiled a small smile; then she saw movement to her left. When she looked she saw that Hans was bowing to her; and then everyone else began to bow or curtsey to her. Elsa's breathing was shaky but she smiled at all of them before looking back out on the fjord horizon, lost in deep thought.