Thanks again for all the continuing encouragement, guys :) ~E-Sharp

Elsa felt someone shaking her awake. "Elsa?" she heard Jonathan say. She sat up groggily and rubbed the sleep out her eyes. "It's Anna...she wanted to talk to you."

That fully snapped Elsa out of her sleep. She stood up quickly. Jonathan stood in front of her. He didn't look like he'd gotten a wink of sleep. He stepped aside, and Elsa walked over to Anna, laying in the same place she had been just hours before.

She had shed her blanket somehow. Her entire body was coated with a thick layer of sweat. Her eyes were open, but red and lifeless. Her forehead practically glowed it was so red. Elsa knelt down next to her. Her breaths came in ragged gasps now, her chest just barely moving up and down.

"Elsa," she croaked in a wheezy voice.

"I'm here, Anna." Elsa replied, pulling a strand of hair in her face behind her ear.

"Elsa," she repeated, "I don't...I don't think I can fight it anymore."

Elsa's almost didn't understand. "No, no, you can-"

"Do you wanna build a snowman?"

Elsa choked on a mix between a laugh and a sob. That one sentence. The one that Anna always used to try to get Elsa to come out, to be the friend and sister that she needed. Every time she had refused. "Yes, yes Anna." Elsa didn't care now. She let the tears stream down their face. "Yes, I want to build a snowman. We'll go out into the mountains and we'll build the biggest, bestest snowman ever, but you have to stay with me."

Anna smiled weakly. "We'll give him a carrot nose...coal eyes and smile...we'll name him Olaf, just like we used..."

"Yes, yes." Elsa laughed, "Olaf. That's what we'll name him. But you have to stay awake Anna, just stay...awake."

"Promise me you'll build it. Promise." Anna croaked.

Elsa nodded. "I promise."

"Tell Hans that I'm sorry." She mumbled.

Elsa bit her lip, but forced herself to nod, even though she knew the truth. "I will." She lied.

Anna smiled, and a single tear fell down the side of her face. "Elsa-" she tried to say, then was silent. Elsa watched the last ounce of life leave her eyes, the last inhale of her chest, had heard her last word. Elsa.

Elsa couldn't hold it in anymore. She flung herself onto her sister's body and cried into her shoulder. She whispered all the things that she knew she should have said, all the endless apologies she knew she owed her. In the end, despite all of her great power, there was nothing she could do to stop her from dying. Elsa had let her down her entire life. She was never there for her. Not even at their parent's funeral, and now she had let her down again. All Elsa could do now was cry.

Later, they buried her next to the path they had taken to the Valley. Jonathan had found a large rock and, using a piece of coal from their pack, had written her name and placed it over her grave. As they stared down at it, Elsa had no words. There was nothing to be said. Nothing worth saying. All she could do was stare. Jonathan stood next to her. He hadn't said a word since waking her up.

Something inside Elsa finally snapped. She knew exactly who had killed her sister. She clenched her fists and tried to steady her breaths. A fire rose inside her, igniting in her chest and spreading out to the rest of her body, stretching to her toes and head. Her heartbeat quickened as it burned. She didn't have anything left. He had taken away the only thing left in all the world that mattered to her. And she would make him pay. She was numbly aware of Jonathan trying to get her attention, but wasn't paying attention. She only had one goal left. One thing she needed to do. Then for all she cared she could fall on her own sword. But this one last thing had to be finished. The fire inside of her grew hotter.

She turned around and walked away from the grave, back to the tree where their horses were tied. Jonathan ran alongside her, trying to figure out what was going on, but she ignored him. The only thing he could do now was get in her way. She untied her horse, mounted, dug her heel in it's side and sped off, wasting no time. Jonathan was nowhere in sight.

She held tight to the reins as she rode down the mountain at an incredible speed. She pushed her horse to the limits as she set her eyes on the horizon. Far, far in the distance she saw the mountain that separated her from Arendelle. She set her eyes on it and drove the horse harder.

As soon as she reached the bottom of the mountain and was about to race through the Ice Harvesters Outpost, Jonathan finally showed up, just barely catching up to her.

"Elsa!" He yelled.

"Go away, Jonathan!" She yelled at him. "This isn't your fight!"

"Elsa, you-"

"Go, Jonathan!" Elsa dug her heel into her horses' side again and pulled ahead of him and into the outpost.

Night fell, but Elsa didn't stop. She knew her horse couldn't take more of it, so she slowed slightly, but couldn't stop now. She had her mission in mind. She had her one last goal. And nothing would stop her from completing it.

Kris slung his pack over his shoulder and took a deep breath. This was the day. He still couldn't shake the feeling that he was making a terrible mistake, but there was no other choice. That day would be the beginning of the end.

Ralph walked up next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "You ready mate?" he asked.

Kris swallowed and nodded.

"We better hurry. Storm's coming, by the look of it."

Kris walked to a window and looked out. A massive sea of black clouds was heading right for Arendelle. Kris got a bad feeling in his gut, but couldn't do anything now. "Alright," he said at last. "Let's go."

Elsa rode on, the fire within her growing hotter with every gallop of her horse, every inch closer she got to Arendelle. Finally, on the second day of her flight, as they reached the crest of the mountain, Elsa stopped her horse and looked down. There lay the city of Arendelle, covered in a blanket of white and brown. The large estates dotted the top part of the mountain, the smaller ones closer to the sea. And in the center of it all was the castle. Elsa smiled to herself, reveling in the fire that burned within her. All around her, a massive storm raged. Snow, ice and hail swirled around her in incredible intensity. Any ordinary human wouldn't have been able to even see through it. Elsa held tight to the reins and sped down the mountain.

As she rode she let her powers run wild with every fleeting emotion. She passed one of the larger estates. The storm that raged around her battered against the mansion, ripping off roofing tiles and shaking the house like it was the center of an earthquake. As she passed, the wood and bricks that held the house together began to separate and crumble, leaving entire walls completely destroyed.

Elsa ruined everything in her path, then arrived at the city wall. She laughed in her madness, and raised her hands at the wall. She let a huge spray of power surge from them, right at the walls. Ice and hard packed snow shot at high speed right at the wall. In three seconds, the gates and wall surrounding them exploded from the pressure and flew backwards into the city. Elsa rode her horse right through.

Kris and his men struggled through the massive blizzard.

Visibility was zero. Kris and Ralph held onto each other so as to not get separated, but Kris sensed that the rest of his men were scattered. There was no way they could fight the war in these conditions.

Even with Kris' scarf covering his entire face it still stung as shards of ice hit it. His entire body felt like it was about to freeze, despite the heavy winter gear he wore. He could hardly even walk with the strength of the storm moving against them. Kris and Ralph walked along blindly, expecting to run into a wall at any second. Kris could just barely make out Ralph's face against the white landscape, even though he was just inches from him.

Kris didn't think it was possible, but somehow, the storm got even stronger and colder. An explosion rocked the ground, though Kris could hardly hear it over the roar of the wind in his ear. The storm continued to grow in intensity beyond what Kris could have imagined. He and Ralph ran into a wall at last, straightened themselves on it, catching their breath, then started walking again.

Elsa dismounted her horse and walked through the city. She kept her eyes set on the castle as the storm continued to grow in intensity. Getting there was all that mattered now.

She walked through the city and right up to the bridge to the courtyard with no resistance. The guards there were stumbling about, trying to keep their balance. Elsa calmed the storm in a small circle around her and the guards. They looked up and met her eyes. She bared her teeth in a cold smile, then walked right between them. They knew better now than to try to stop her.

Elsa walked along the bridge and into the courtyard. She was surprised to see some tents set up in front of the castle doors. She calmed the storm around the courtyard. Peasants poked their heads out of their tents to see their former queen in all her terrifying power. People gazed from the castle windows as she stood in the center of the courtyard, unwelcome yet unstoppable. She reveled in the fear she saw in their faces. It was right of them to fear her, she thought.

She lifted her voice. "Hans!" She yelled. "How long will you hide in your palace, coward? You send your soldiers after me, sending them to their death. Come out of your hole, and we will settle this...once and for all." After a moment, the castle doors opened, and soldiers streamed out. With a flick of her hand, Elsa used her power to throw them up against the walls of the courtyard and bind them there with ice shackles. A moment later, more soldiers came out. She had them stuck to the wall as well, but they were the sorcerers. A moment later they had freed themselves and were heading right towards her, but this time she was prepared. She was full of energy and hate.

They surrounded her once again and used their combined energy to shoot a ring of fire at her, as they had done before, closing in on her. She combated it with ice, as she had done before, and after just seconds began to gain ground. In another second she had overcome them. After a moment of surprise, they created blades of fire, prepared to fight. Elsa attacked first, sustaining her blade with her mind so it didn't melt. Their blades were made of flames, but oddly enough the flames were solid when touched by her blade. Elsa drew ice daggers at her first opponent. He dodged them but gave her just wide enough of an opening. His head fell to the ground with a thunk, his body following. The next soldier went down similarly. Elsa turned to the next ones, who had ganged up on her now, but held them off. Elsa kicked on in the gut before he had time to block, freezing him solid into a statue of ice. Elsa stabbed the next one in the abdomen.

The last she spun around, parried, then spun again. Lifting her foot she knocked the blade right out of his hand, grabbed him by the neck and squeezed. Elsa was surprised by her own strength. He fought against her, putting his hands to hers, trying to wrench himself free, but she held on. Finally his eyes lolled into the back of his hand and his body went limp. Elsa dropped him and stepped away from the corpses, adrenaline coursing through every inch of her body.

"Your men can do nothing against me." She yelled. "They never have been able to. Come out, Hans!" The crowd watched eagerly, their faces showing the full horror and shock of what they had just seen.

A minute of silence. Elsa tapped her foot impatiently as she waited. Finally, a lone man came out of the gate. He was young, maybe Elsa's age. He had neatly brushed and cut red hair, handsome sideburns, an honest face and noble bearings. He wore nice clothes, the same clothes he had worn to the coronation. Hans.

Elsa laughed, aware of the edge of madness in it. "Come here!" Hans walked towards her, fighting to keep his honor intact, but the fear in his face was evident. The mask was gone. The confident, wise, young king was gone. In it's place was a man who was terrified, but also a man who was insane. Who had killed her sister. Who had killed countless soldiers and peasants, who had forced the city into rebellion. Elsa was disgusted just by looking at him.

"Kneel." She ordered with a grin. Hans looked left to right, embarrassed by his complete loss of honor and self respect. "I said kneel." He yelled, gritting her teeth. Hans looked back to her and obeyed, bending down on both knees and bowing his head. "Tell me this, King of Arendelle. Why did all those soldiers have to die? Young ones who had never seen the world, never had a chance. You sent them straight to hell. Why did..." Elsa nearly lost control, but swallowed and moved on. "Why did Anna have to die?" Elsa couldn't take it any more. She lifted her leg and kicked Hans across the cheek. He fell to the ground. Elsa bent over him and delivered a strong punch to his abdomen. "Hurts, doesn't it?" Elsa mocked. Hans tried to right himself to fight back, but Elsa knocked him to the ground with another blow to the face. "You should know," she continued, "Anna asked me to tell you that she was sorry." She couldn't contain the raw hate in her words. She couldn't contain the fury. The wrath. She didn't want Hans dead. She wanted him to feel every ounce of the pain that she had felt. She would make sure that he did, and would never forget it.

With a shove of her hand Hans shot into the air and landed with his back to the wall of the courtyard, held up by an invisible force. Elsa walked over to him, her breaths heavy, her heart beating like a drum. She came right up to his face, just an inch away from it. She pulled her arm back and delivered a punch to his face, then another, then another. She couldn't hold it back anymore. She let go of herself, hitting him like he was a punching bag. She screamed at him as she did, not entirely sure of what she was saying. His face bloodied up within seconds, streaming from both his nostrils. The bruises made his face look completely deformed. Elsa dropped him to the ground, where he landed with a thump and a groan. Then she lifted him back into the air and slammed him against the wall again, then repeated it. He groaned and wailed in pain, but Elsa didn't care.

At last she dropped him, bent over him and beat him more, this time all over his body. Her hands and clothes were covered in his blood. She punched and punched. Her knuckles grew raw and the skin on some of them split, but she didn't realize. She just continued to beat him.

She threw another blow to his face and heard a sharp crack. His jaw had been either dislocated or broken. Or both. He groaned painfully. Elsa enjoyed the sound, the sound of his misery. Her punches grew stronger. She felt a thick coat of ice form on her knuckles. When next she punched him in the chest, she heard at least one of his ribs crack. Maybe more. Realizing her new weapon, she punched even harder. Hans' unintelligible cries were desperate now. He groaned like a ghost and wailed like one of the damned. She could hardly even see the skin on his face now through the coating of blood. His face was completely disfigured. His clothes had been worn and torn. She stood over him and threw him back up against the wall, bringing another groan from him. He coughed up blood, then she began to punch him again, causing more blood to spill from his body and mouth.

She heard someone behind her. It took her a moment to register the voice. It was Jonathan.

He was yelling, trying to get her attention. "Elsa!" he screamed. "Stop! Stop this! This isn't you, Elsa!" She continued to punch, completely unfazed. "Don't you see it?" He yelled. "This is exactly what The Master wants! Remember what the trolls said, Elsa, Hans isn't our enemy!" Elsa continued to beat him. "Elsa, this isn't you!" He screamed right behind her.

She had finally had enough. She stood and whipped around in a flash, grabbing Jonathan by the neck, beginning to squeeze.

He pleaded with her with his eyes. She saw the fear in them, but he didn't beg, didn't plead. He just stared at her as tears welled up in his eyes. "Elsa," he croaked. "This isn't you."

In that moment everything seemed to stop, then start again, but ten times clearer. What had happened? Elsa released Jonathan without realizing it as everything settled in. She looked down at her hands, soaked in Hans' blood and couldn't put the pieces together. She had done this. She had done this. Jonathan was right. This wasn't her. Somehow she had let herself lose control, she had let her emotions take over her, and as she looked around, she couldn't fathom the effect of it.

She felt tears welling up in her own eyes. How had she been reduced to this? She looked over at Hans, now sprawled on the ground in a large pool of his own blood, moaning and groaning painfully. It was strange for it to come back right then, or maybe not strange at all, but something the Master had said popped into her head, so clear as if it had been spoken aloud. She was a daughter of chaos. She hadn't believed him, but she was starting to as she beheld the destruction she had caused.

Elsa looked around at the now terrified faces on the looks of the citizens of Arendelle. Her people. The people she was born to rule. The people she loved, now scared to death of her. It was all wrong. She hadn't wanted this.

Before she realized it she was running. She ran out of the courtyard, tears streaming down her face. She ran as fast as she could to the city wall. The blizzard raged around her again, but this time not in anger or hatred, but in sorrow and regret. She passed the city wall. Only one thought dominated her: she hated herself. All she wanted to do was die.

As soon as she was outside the city, she heard someone calling her. She knew who it was before she turned around. "Stay away from me Jonathan!" She screamed over the wind. "Please! I don't want to hurt you!"

"Elsa!" He screamed back. "Don't...don't go!"

"Stay away from me!" She repeated. She put her hands to her head and silently screamed. In her mind, she was ten years old again, telling her parents to stay away from her, to isolate her, so that she wouldn't hurt them.

"Elsa!" Jonathan said again, interrupting her thoughts. When she turned to face him, he was right next to her.

She recoiled. "Stay away! Please!" The next thing he did was so unexpected she didn't even react at first. He kissed her.

It wasn't a long kiss, but as his lips touched hers it was as if time itself stopped. Something changed instantly. She didn't feel hatred. She didn't feel sorrow. She felt completely content, completely at peace. Something about that kiss, that had been Elsa's first, had changed everything.

Jonathan pulled away and looked into her eyes. Elsa looked around. The storm that had raged around her a moment early had completely dissipated.

"How...how did you do that?" Elsa asked, incredulous.

Jonathan looked confused. "Uh, well I sort of stepped closer, put my hand around your neck-"

"No, no, I mean the...the storm." Jonathan didn't even bother to look. He kept his eyes focused on her. Elsa felt herself blushing, but still stared back at him.

A moment later he wrapped his arms around her and embraced her. She couldn't even react. All she could do was enjoy the feeling of Jonathan's heart beating against her head. It was then she remembered that just seconds ago she had almost killed him in her blind fury, and he still cared for her. Even though her face was dirty, he had kissed her. Even though her clothes and body were bloody, he still embraced her.

He still...loved her. That word that Elsa had all but forgotten the meaning for. He loved her.

Elsa wrapped her arms around his body, returning the embrace. She didn't care about self respect anymore. She cried into Jonathan's shirt, not knowing what else to do, not knowing how to hold it back anymore. Finally she pulled away and looked up at Jonathan, who was staring back at her, smiling. Even after all that, he was smiling.

There in Jonathan's arms, she finally understood. Everything clicked into place. What the troll had said, that the Master was the enemy. Suddenly everything made sense.

"Jonathan," she spoke, her voice scratchy and raw. "I know what we need to do."

Jonathan nodded. "Me too."

"We need to go back."

He nodded in agreement. "Yeah. We do. And fast."

Elsa pulled away and tried to think. They needed a fast way to get back to The Master. A small thought formed in Elsa's head. She didn't know how, but she knew it would work. "I have a crazy idea." Elsa said, turning back towards him. "You might want to stand back."

Jonathan took a step backwards. Elsa reached within her for her powers. She didn't have to go very deep to tap into the energy she needed. As soon as she released it, the ground shook. Elsa walked back towards Jonathan and grabbed his hand. Suddenly they were lifted off of the ground. Snow grew and packed underneath their feet. Elsa looked downwards to see legs forming underneath them, five feet high, ten, twenty.

A minute later a fifty foot tall snow monster had formed from the snow. Elsa didn't understand how it was possible for her creations to have life, but somehow it was. Elsa and Jonathan stood on the monster's shoulders, right next to his head. The monster cranked his head around to look at them. He had jagged icicles for teeth and red eyes.

"Marshmallow!" Jonathan exclaimed.

Elsa laughed. "What?"

"Marshmallow, that's what we should call him."

"You're serious?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Always, Elsa, always."

Elsa chuckled softly, then grew sad. Anna would have loved Jonathan. Both were so kid-like, acted so innocent. "Okay," Elsa said, moving her thoughts back to the present. "Marshmallow it is. Let's go Marshmallow, uh, north."

Elsa pointed in the direction up the mountain. Marshmallow made a sound between a roar and a grunt and started walking, lifting his huge leg, putting it down, shaking then ground, then the next one. Elsa stood straight, keeping her balance as the monster moved. Jonathan wobbled and eventually sat down.

Elsa looked towards the horizon. Her mind was clear. Somehow that short time with Jonathan had made the difference. She knew who she was. She knew what she needed to do.

She might still have one last chance to make it right.