Silence fell over the icy ship as everyone stared at the red-headed princess in disbelief.

"What happened?" Elsa asked, "Why doesn't she remember anything?" She directed her question to Grand Pabbie, suspecting he was the one behind it. Besides, she had seen it before.

"The spell she was under fogged her memories. I couldn't save them-"

"-so you destroyed them," Elsa finished sharply, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

Merida's eyes lingered on the troll, and then on the glittering queen, equipped in ice armor. Before she could say anything, her feet began to slip on smooth surface of the deck. She caught onto a nearby railing and held herself up.

"I don't know what either of you are or what you're saying, I just want to get off this thing."

"I'm sorry Merida, we don't have any other choice," Rapunzel said, offering her a hand to help her balance. "Your kingdom isn't safe anymore."

"What do you mean? What's going on?" Merida looked around at the strange faces that surrounded her and then up at her father, searching for answers.

"They're right Darlin'. We have to find your mother."

"So that's it then?" Morgan asked, "Other than that we got everyone we needed?"

The deck grew silent again, as they all took a mental count of the ship's passengers. Rapunzel noticed Elsa's empty eyes gazing into the horizon.

"Elsa, where's – "

"Lance. Where's Lance?" Eugene interrupted. Now it was his turn to be answered with confused looks.

"You know, the Captain?"

"Oh, him…" Kristoff muttered, rubbing the back of his neck as he reluctantly spoke up. "We were, uh… too late."

Eugene thought over his words, hanging his head slightly. "Oh."

"What about Anna?" Rapunzel started again, studying Elsa's face.

Elsa tensed up, her eyes narrowed but never moved from the distance. "Hans didn't have her."

"There's that name again! Who is this Hans?" Merida asked, oblivious to Elsa's reaction.

The queen balled up her fists and clenched her jaw, facing Merida. Her voice was razor sharp, cutting into the air with a coldness that rivaled her ice. "Hans is a monster. He tried to kill me and my sister for the throne. He destroyed our kingdoms. He captured our loved ones. He tried to force you into marriage…"

Moans erupted from the hull of the ship, creaking and swaying with unease. The deck hummed from the shifting ice that began to crack under their own feet. Fergus put a hand on his daughter's shoulder to protect her from Elsa's stinging words, but she wouldn't cease.

"… He killed Corona's Captain of the Guard. He almost killed Kristoff. He lost my sister. He just tried to kill me again. He made you lose all your memories. And if we don't get to you mother in time, he's going to kill her and the rest of your family to get your throne too."

Merida never tore her eyes from the frenzied queen, though wetness began gather on the edges of her eyelids. The black ship started to split along the length of the deck, driving everyone on board to lean against the railings. Merida slipped again, hugging her father tightly for support.

"Elsa, you must control yourself," Grand Pabbie interjected, snapping Elsa out of her rant. She finally saw the snaking cracks that had formed around her, growing out like vines to reach the edges of the ship and the feet of her company. The concerned looks on their faces reminded her of the ones at her coronation, her people that stood horrified while she unhinged. They were scared of her.

"What good has listening to you ever done me?" she snapped at him, pointing out at everyone around her. "They'll still think I'm a monster! I've always been a monster!"

"You're not a monster," the troll reassured her, but he could already see his efforts would be in vain.

"Then why did my own parents lock me up like a prisoner for years?! Why were they afraid of letting me see my own sister?! Why were they afraid of me?!"

Blustering winds were now blowing past their ears as everyone desperately gripped onto the railings. But even those were starting to splinter into pieces.

Pabbie looked pleadingly into Elsa's eyes, continuing with his gentle tone, "If you don't control yourself now, Your Majesty, this ship is going to sink."

"Listen to him, Elsa!" Kristoff shouted over the swirling snowstorm.

Elsa's furious eyes met Kristoff.

"Kristoff," she pointed to him, trying to hold back her overwhelming rage, "Hans told me you lost Anna."

"Well…" Kristoff bit his lip. He shouldn't have said anything. "That's what I wanted to tell you before. I thought it was the only way to keep her safe."

"You think floating in the middle of the ocean is safe for her?!" Elsa screamed as her black cape whipped behind her in the fierce wind. "Why would you do that? You promised me you would take care of her."

"I just didn't want Hans to capture her. I know, I acted too quickly and it was stupid! I'm sorry!"

"That's not good enough!"

"It's all I can do! I've been wounded and imprisoned and almost hanged! I couldn't do anything about it!"

Elsa rolled her eyes, shaking her head at Kristoff's excuses. "Anna is the only family I have left! You wouldn't understand."

"Elsa, she was going to be my fiancé."

"Oh? And look at how great her last one was."

The storm stopped. The ship released a final shudder through its hull, the cracks halting in their tracks and the rippling sails calming to a still. Everyone watched with strained breath as Elsa and Kristoff glared at each other, panting with anger.

Elsa's words had pierced him even deeper than her ice daggers. He gathered himself again, recovering from her harsh blow.

"I thought I had your blessing," he said simply, letting go of the rail and standing tall in wavering defiance.

Elsa knew what she had done. She had put everyone's lives at risk, and hurt the only person she had trusted with her sister's life. Her anger and hatred were consuming her, just like Grand Pabbie had warned her. But it was too late. Elsa was only a spectator now, trapped in this venomous version and lashing at the people she loved. She could only listen as she continued to speak, no longer in control of herself.

"I thought I had your word."

She couldn't stand it any longer. She couldn't bear to see Kristoff's disheartened face, Merida's pained confusion, Grand Pabbie's disappointment. With what control she still had, she forced herself to leave the deck and shut the door of the main cabin behind her. More closed doors. More hiding. More fear.

All she knew was how to shut people out.

Elsa sat in an ice chair, moving her finger methodically along a wall of her ice. It was completely black now, making it hard to see in the room. With one swift motion, she removed a block of ice from the wall and sent it down into the sea, leaving a window to let in the light.

She meticulously traced the rosemaling she remembered that decorated the door of her old room back in Arendelle into the ship wall with lines of frost. It had been engrained in her after all. There's only so much to do in a room alone, and she had years of experience of tracing the painted patterns with her finger while listening to Anna's futile pleas to play.

She wanted to find her sister, more than anything. But she wouldn't know where to start. Anna could be anywhere on the open sea, and being so long without food and water, she may not be…

Elsa kept her mind from straying to the possibilities. She couldn't sink deeper into her fear and anger, not when there was still more people to protect from Hans' ruthless quest for power, if he could survive that long. Not that she wasn't already in far too deep. The power of her hatred frightened her. It seemed to crawl into her skin, moving her like a puppet on a string. Looking past the frosted floral designs, she could see her reflection. Her white hair had been loosened from its pristine braid, a few limp strands hanging in her face. The paleness of her skin and hair was a stark contrast to the dark circlet that embraced her head and the high collar framing her neck, gleaming like polished ebony. Was this really her? All those things she had said, all the things she had done; is this what she had become?

Images started to flash into her mind. The black snowflake that appeared on her hands the instant before she sent it into Hans' heart, the pillar of ice that dismantled underneath her feet, the cracks that now adorned the outside of her ship. She was unstable, and she wasn't sure if she could keep the ship afloat until they could reach Arendelle. It was a gamble on her own strength, but there wasn't any alternative.

They would have to rely on her. She had to be their leader, and they were going to listen to her. The pit of anger in her chest started to flare up again.

A knock on her door startled Elsa out of her trance.

"Come in."

Elsa glanced at Rapunzel as she cautiously stepped inside the room. She had taken off her golden armor and fixed up her hair and green dress, recovering her composure after their frantic escape.

"I just wanted to let you know we told Merida everything. Well, everything we knew about."

Elsa went back to her rosemaling. "Good."

"I don't know how she's taking it. The whole Hans thing, I mean. She really doesn't remember."

Rapunzel stood in silence awaiting a response, her presence increasing the thick tension that grew between them.

"Elsa, are you okay?"

"What do you think Rapunzel?" Elsa hissed. There it was again, that spiteful thing that commandeered her words.

"I-I just… I know you're worried about Anna. We can still look for her."

"What does it matter? I don't know where she is."

"I want to help you, Elsa. What happened back there, that wasn't you."

"How do you know what I am?!" Elsa got up from her chair, angrily approaching Rapunzel. The princess leaned back but stood her ground, eyeing Elsa's movements.

"This isn't you either."

Elsa felt as if this was her last chance. She could feel the grip of her hatred slipping from her heart as she looked into Rapunzel's softened eyes. Her cousin was reaching out to pull her from this blackened haze that clouded her, corrupted her, controlled her. And all she had to do was take it.

But she couldn't find the strength.

"You don't care about me! You don't care about Anna or anyone else! All you ever cared about was finding your prince. Well now you have him, so you can find your own way back home!"

The ice of the walls and floor began to creak and moan once again. A snowstorm formed within the room near Elsa's feet, but this time it had constricted around her, the black flakes buzzing by her body in irregular patterns as they picked up speed.

Rapunzel observed the strange storm, realizing the cracks in the ice were growing again. "You know I care more than that! You saved me! I saved you, too!"

"You didn't! You're the reason my parents are dead! Now I'm the Queen, now I have the weight of the world on my shoulders! Because of you!"

The princess stood in horror as the cracks became deep crevices, opening the room to the bright sky and exposing the ice underneath them that kept the ship afloat. Large blocks of ice on the walls started to shatter as icy shrapnel littered the floor around their feet. The black flakes that swirled around Elsa flew in jagged motions, sparking like electricity and flashing white in the light of the afternoon sky. She was a fearful sight.

Eugene's muffled shouts and frantic banging came from the other side of the door. But it was no use, it had been frozen shut by the frost. Rapunzel would have to save herself from Elsa's fury.

"Elsa, please, stop! We're going to sink!" Rapunzel pleaded, her eyes wet from the wind.

Elsa tilted her chin down, looking up at Rapunzel through her wild hair. Her ice blue eyes burned a wicked flame. "Then at least I'll be with my family."

The cabin was crumbling. Rapunzel tried to step out of the way of the falling debris, noticing her feet were now splashing in an inch of sea water that had invaded the ship. She stabled her stance on the slippery surface, between jagged shards and threatening salt water. Elsa watched as Rapunzel's hand extended out to her, gentle and welcoming, even among the havoc.

"Listen to me! Anna needs you! We all do! You're not a monster. You never were."

Elsa's eyes narrowed, considering her words. She wanted to believe them. But she couldn't.

"I froze Hans' heart! I sentenced him to death! Tell me I'm not a monster."

"I know, he told me when he found us. You did what you had to do. You're not a monster for that."

"You don't know that! You weren't there!" Elsa shouted, her twisted snowflakes burying her behind a black shroud, obscuring her view of Rapunzel. "I wanted him to die!"

She couldn't see Rapunzel anymore through the blur of snow. The tunnel of darkness enveloped her, creating a vacuum that slowly suffocated her, stealing the air away and pulling the life from her lungs. The sparking snowflakes nipped at her skin, leaving red marks on her face and hands. She started to panic, waving her arms to dismiss the storm, but still it persisted. Her powers now possessed her.

Rapunzel watched on, devastated by the screams of Elsa's suffering. Bracing herself, she entered the black whirlwind, her hands blindly searching through darkness. The snow tore at her skin, biting her exposed arms and face and neck. The water level continued to rise. She shuffled her submerged feet and ankles closer to the center of the storm.

"Elsa!" she cried, forcing her voice through the incredible pain and wind. Finally, her hand landed on a solid figure, cold and smooth.

"What are you doing?!" Elsa breathed, trying to pull her arm away from Rapunzel's grip.

"I'm just trying to help you!"

Elsa started to gasp for air, her eyes locked onto Rapunzel's. She couldn't escape this. Rapunzel was fighting in vain, and she was about to take her down with her. With her last breath, Elsa desperately screamed at her.

"YOU CAN'T!"

She closed her eyes, taking both of her hands and violently pushing Rapunzel away from her. A bright flash illuminated the room.

They both tumbled onto the ground, the salt water burning into their raw skin and snowy debris landing on top of their heads. Fresh air began rush into Elsa's lungs. She started choking and sputtering, grasping at life again. Her vision was blurry but not covered, and her ears began to ring in the sudden silence. The black storm was gone.

Elsa weakly looked around the room. It was in ruins. There was no more ceiling, and there were barely any walls or floor. The ice was still dark, but was no longer void of color. A hint of blue shone under the sunlight. She lifted herself onto her hands and knees, finding that the water was already up to her elbows.

A groan of pain echoed in her ears. She moved her head to the source of the sound, squinting through her dizzied sight. There she could make out Rapunzel's figure, sitting motionless and leaning against an icy block. She was clutching the spot where Elsa had pushed her - her heart.

Elsa forced herself up in a hurry, trudging through the water over to the princess.

"Oh no. Rapunzel…"

Rapunzel's eyes were wide with terror, as she shakily shifted away from her, refusing Elsa's hand. She knew. Elsa had directed the entirety of the blizzard into Rapunzel's heart, just as she did to Anna. Her heart had been frozen.

In the aftermath of her storm, the ice door had been loosened from its frame, feebly standing among the weak remains of the walls. Eugene kicked it over and barged into the room, running around the large piles of fallen ice to Rapunzel's side.

"Rapunzel! Are you okay?" he asked, carefully standing Rapunzel up. She took hold of his vest, staring weakly at the rising water. Elsa moved in closer, offering to help Rapunzel stand. But Eugene sharply pushed his hand out to her, keeping the queen at arm's length.

"Get away from her!" he warned, enraged concern shaking his voice. Elsa took a step back, looking down at her wringing hands in guilt.

"What happened?" Eugene continued, brushing Rapunzel's hair out of her face. Her chest was heaving as she tried to catch her breath.

"I think… I just…"

She was interrupted by loud splashing coming from the doorway. Kristoff ran into what was left of the cabin, unfazed by the destruction that lay by his feet. "Elsa!" he called out, startling everyone in the room.

Elsa's gasped, tearing her attention away from Rapunzel. "What is it?"

Her heart beat nervously, afraid her storm had done more damage to her sinking vessel. But Kristoff's announcement wasn't what she expected. It was worse.

"There's a Southern Isles ship coming straight for us."