Here we are with the newest installment of Frosty and Lard Butt! Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! If I take a while to respond to your reviews, I apologize. School & work are keeping me very busy! But I PROMISE I will get back to you!

Several of the Guest reviewers have correctly identified that my stories tend to be pretty brutal towards our lovely Snow Queen. The reason is that I see Elsa as a sort of tragic hero. The strengths of her character are most clearly shown in moments of trial and suffering. So although I do love fluff, I feel that fluffy stories don't do justice to Elsa's very profound and complex character.

Note: I won't be updating the Alternate Ending for a while, because the next few chapters will be identical for both stories. I will get back to the Alternate Ending around Chapter 28, when the plotlines start to diverge again.

10pm update: Guest brings up a good point. The whole kingdom (or at least everyone who stayed healthy through the plague) just committed treason. What should be done about them?

WARNING: The angst reaches its maximum in this chapter!

Chapter 26:

Night had fallen, and Elsa continued lying motionlessly on the cold hard soil. Her clothes were thoroughly saturated with dried blood, and fresh streams of crimson continued to trickle down. By now, her normally rosy complexion was devoid of all color, except for a bluish tint begotten of hypothermia and blood loss.

Thomas Hobbes once declared that human life in its basest state was "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short." Never before had Elsa agreed so profoundly with that cynical dissertation. Tonight she would draw her final breath, and not a living soul would notice or care that she was gone. She would die an exile, an outcast, reviled by all. Nothing but a mere inkstain upon the annals of history.

One eyelid weakly fluttered open just a sliver. Tears dripped down her eyelashes, freezing as they fell. Elsa had known ever since she was eight years old that she was destined for a life of isolation and ostracism, but never did she imagine it would end like this. Never again would she hear Anna's cheerful voice fill the halls with music and laughter, or see those bright turquoise eyes glowing with affection. Never again would she wake up in her own bed, see another sunrise, or inhale the fresh morning sea breeze.

She would never get to tell Brian her true feelings. But perhaps it was better that way. Some people weren't meant to be loved.

Elsa felt a strange sense of finality pulsing through her soul. Her time was coming, and she knew it. Although she hadn't always done the right things, she truly had given her all in fulfilling the roles to which she was assigned. That she could declare with confidence before the Lord. She ran the race, fought the good fight, and now she would be lifted to eternal peace. With eyes fixed on the ground, Elsa breathed a final prayer, knowing that at any second she would be with Mama and Papa again. Into your hands I commit my spirit.

Then her chest fell and she descended peacefully into oblivion.

The darkened forest was a blur of indecipherable shapes and forms beneath the moonlight, as Brian rode through the mountains towards Kristoff's lakeside cabin, in a race against time. Every moment was precious. Every idle second was time in which Elsa could be slipping further and further beyond his reach. The clumsy, erratic hoofbeats of his horse sent violent shockwaves through his bones, and his lower back was becoming terribly sore. But Brian paid no heed. He drew his sword and hacked furiously at tree branches that blocked his path. With every ounce of strength, he willed himself to persevere.

Kai's words rang loud and clear in his mind. To prove Elsa's innocence, he had to show everyone that Anna and Kristoff were alive. Only then would people see that Hans and Henrik were lying. Only then would people finally see who the true villains really were.

As Brian pondered the series of events that led to their current predicament, frustration coursed through his veins. His professional training as a scientist had inculcated him to place great value on logic and reason, and his childhood experiences made him a man who believed strongly in fair play. Doctor Helmholtz was very sensitive to injustice in the world, and was easily frustrated by ignorant, biased people who could only think with their emotions. How could Arendelle turn against Elsa, after she had been nothing but good to them? How could they be so easily deceived? How could they believe Hans and Henrik?

Idiots! Brian was almost gnashing his teeth in frustration. If you want a Westergard on the throne, then it's the least you ignorant, backstabbing traitors deserve! The doctor pressed his heels into the flank of his horse. "Faster!" As they continued on their path, the steed came to a sudden halt, nearly throwing Brian off.

"Come on, boy. Keep moving!" Brian gave the reins a sharp little tug. When the stubborn ungulate refused to move, he jerked harder. They were wasting precious time, and Brian was getting impatient. Elsa could be in trouble this very minute. "Hey, what's the holdup?"

The horse dithered about aimlessly with its snout in the air. After a few seconds, it bolted off the path, snorting frantically, and began pawing at a clump of undergrowth.

Brian slowly dismounted. "This better be important," he sighed. The doctor crouched down and parted the dense foliage. He tentatively reached into the impenetrable blackness and groped around, but felt nothing but twigs and leaves. Until his hand strayed further south, and his fingertips brushed against something cold and smooth.

Curious, Brian retrieved his lantern and peered in closer. Nothing could have prepared him for the dreadful sight that assaulted his senses, and would scar him for years to come.

"Elsa!" The strangled sob barely escaped his throat. His darling, precious Elsa was lying in a heap beneath a clump of bushes, battered beyond recognition. She was covered from head to toe with hideous-looking cuts and bruises. Strips of mangled flesh hung from her limbs and torso, as evidence of a vicious beating. Her arms and legs were broken and bent at such awkward angles, that she resembled a human crab. Deep gashes to various parts of her body revealed festering joints and ligaments, completely laid bare. Elsa's soft blonde hair was caked with dried blood and dirt. Only by the beautiful sapphire medallion that hung around her neck—his gift to her—could Brian even recognize the woman he so loved.

The royal physician was no stranger to grotesque injuries, but Elsa looked as if she had been shoved into a wood chipper. Brian turned aside and emptied his stomach onto the moist grass, with tears streaming down his cheeks. This was a new low, even for the Westergards. How could anyone be so cruel to sweet, innocent, beautiful Elsa? You will pay for this, Henrik! For as long as I live, I will not rest until you are dead!

He grabbed her wrist, and felt the faintest signal of life. Her pulse could die out any moment. Brian fumbled through his satchel with trembling fingers, his sobs intensifying. "I'm going to save you, Elsa. Because you are worth it. You always were, and you always will be."

Soon his fingers found a small, round flask half-filled with sparkling pink potion. The rosy-colored fluid smoked and bubbled vibrantly, as a tiny beacon of light amidst a ubiquity of darkness and despair. "I'm going to save you, Elsa," he repeated softly. Brian gently tilted back Elsa's head and let the potion trickle down her throat.

Very slowly, Elsa's wounds began to patch up, and her pulse strengthened. But her skin was still deathly cold. Given her battered state, the healing process could take an entire day to complete, and he had another mission to complete.

Wasting no time, Brian scooped Elsa's limp form into his arms and made a quick detour to the Valley of the Living Rock. "Take care of her," he whispered to no one in particular. His only audience was an array of small, round boulders that lay completely inanimate. Brian carefully laid Elsa down on a soft bed of moss, and cast one final pleading look in her direction. "You've going to be fine, Elsa," he whispered. "I'm going to bring back Anna and Kristoff, and everyone will know that Hans and Henrik lied. The truth will be out. And the truth will set you free. Then you will finally receive the love and acceptance you deserve, and is so long overdue."

He stroked her hair affectionately. "Sleep tight, my angel. Tomorrow will be a brighter day." Then he quickly vanished into the shadows.

Some time later...

"She's alive." A soft, raspy male voice whispered.

"The poor girl," the second voice was tender and motherly. "She really took a savage beating. But she will survive because she was so dearly loved… right?"

"We can only hope that it was enough," a third voice spoke in the slow, solemn tone of an elderly sage imparting wisdom upon his young disciples.

Elsa's eyes were closed and her senses dulled by a blinding headache. A humdrum of unfamiliar, indecipherable voices droned on in the distance. The last thing she remembered was the furious shouts of the mob, Hans' sneering and vindictive face, and finally a blinding flash of pain. After that she fell into an indefinite period of silence and nothingness. She had no idea if she was even alive of dead. Am I in heaven? Elsa wondered silently.

A stab of cold beneath her breastbone quickly told her that she wasn't. Elsa drew a deep, laborious breath and sat up straight. Her aching joints and muscles creaked under her exertion. She rubbed her head several times and began to examine her own body. Most of her injuries had healed nicely, but she still felt terribly cold. Beneath the moonlight, she could have sworn that streaks of blue were spiraling through her blonde hair. The skin on the back of her hands was cracked and bleeding, as ice continued to saturate her flesh. Elsa shivered and hugged both knees to her chest.

"What's going on?" she wondered aloud through chattering teeth. Her voice sounded strangely distant and hollow. "Where am I? Where are Hans and Henrik?"

A pair of cool, stony hands held her gently by the shoulders. "My poor child," Grand Pabbie's voice rasped. "Thank goodness you're awake."

Elsa smiled in appreciation and reciprocated his hug. "Thank you for saving me." Grateful tears rolled down her cheeks, freezing as they fell. "But why am I so cold? I've never felt this way before."

The troll elder looked her quizzically in the eye, ignoring her question. "Elsa, I'm sure by now you've discovered that you are immune to this dreadful illness that is killing the rest of the kingdom. At sunrise on the Winter Solstice, everyone who has been infected will perish in terrible agony. But you cannot be harmed."

She nodded slowly. "I have indeed."

Elsa's bewildered expression was replaced with hurt, as she remembered what had transpired the last time she spoke to the troll. How he had refused to divulge any information. "Grand Pabbie, I know all about Formula XIV now, and I know how it must be cured. What I don't understand is why you couldn't tell me before. Don't you trust me? Did you think I would do such a terrible thing if presented with the option?" The blonde trembled violently and pulled a mossy blanket tight around her body. "I would give my own heart before taking anyone else's."

Grand Pabbie hung his head in contrition. "I'm sorry, Elsa. It was wrong of me. I never doubted you for a moment. I was afraid you would be deeply scarred by that revelation, and thought I was protecting you. But I was wrong. Keeping secrets and expecting blind compliance does more harm than good. We of all people ought to know that." The troll sighed deeply. "I may be thousands of years old, but I have learned so much from you and your sister."

"I understand. But isn't there anything else we can do to cure—" Elsa's face suddenly contorted as she clutched her chest in agony, and collapsed to the ground.

Grand Pabbie knelt by her side with great concern, and spoke in a grandfatherly tone. "Elsa, do you know why you cannot be touched by Henrik's curse? Why you even have some limited ability to heal people?" The blonde shook her head, gasping through the pain. Another streak of icy blue was weaving its way through her hair.

"Your powers have kept you safe. When you laid your hands on the sick, those wicked fumes in their bodies spread into yours. They were healed at your expense. But your powers acted up to absorb those deadly toxins and keep you protected. That is why you cannot contract the illness."

Grand Pabbie brought Elsa closer to the fire pit. Her skin was becoming paler with each passing moment and her lips were tinged blue. "Unfortunately, you've pushed yourself too far. Your system has become oversaturated with Formula XIV, and your magic has been stimulated beyond what your body can handle. I'm afraid you're becoming a victim of your own powers. There is ice in your heart, thanks to that wicked man who dares call himself King. "

"Just like an allergic reaction or auto-immune response," Elsa whispered through chattering teeth, remembering what Brian had taught her. By now, her blonde locks were almost completely blue in color. "I'm being attacked by my own defensive mechanisms going out of control. Grand Pabbie, is there anything you can do?"

The elderly troll wiped away a tear. "I'm sorry my child, but I cannot. If the ice were in any other part of your body, it would be easy. But only an Act of True Love can thaw a frozen heart."

Love. That simple but powerful word resonated painfully in Elsa's heart. Love had the power to save lives, restore hope, and redeem the vilest sinner from his perfidious ways. But where would she find love? The whole kingdom wanted her dead. Anna and Kristoff had no idea what had happened to her. And Brian never wanted to see her again.

Elsa hung her head in defeat and resignation, eyes brimming with tears. "I don't even know what love is…"

Grand Pabbie reached out to wipe a stray tear trickling down her cheek. "Love is putting someone else's needs before yours. Love is sacrifice. When we found you, you had sixty-six broken bones and lost two-thirds of the blood in your body. You were hit so hard in the head, you went deaf in one ear. There was spinal fluid leaking into the back of your throat, filling up your lungs. Just a few more minutes and you would have died. Elsa, do you know why you're still alive?"

The ancient troll reached behind his back and produced a small glass bottle that was almost empty. Tiny dregs of fluorescent pink liquid stained the bottom of the flask.

Elsa's eyes widened as realization dawned upon her. "Brian! I've seen this bottle in his office before, and I've always wondered what it was!"

The troll shaman nodded. "This is a very powerful healing elixir. Doctor Helmholtz came to us a month ago with this potion that he had brewed himself. He explained that you were violently assaulted by Prince Hans after resisting his advances one night. Doctor Helmholtz feared for your safety as long as the Westergards were around, and so he brewed this potion as an emergency precaution. But he was afraid that the potion would be stolen or misused, so he asked me to implement one final limitation on its usage. Do you know what that special condition was?"

Elsa shook her head, thoroughly intrigued. How sweet it was for Brian to be so deeply concerned about her.

"Love," Grand Pabbie explained, his voice trembling with emotion. "He wanted to make sure the potion would only work if the creator truly loved the recipient. In order to make that happen, he made a tremendous sacrifice. It cost two years of his natural lifespan, to have his life force infused into the potion. Don't you see, Elsa? In spite of all your fears, you are deeply loved. Brian wanted to make sure his sacrifice was for you and you alone."

Elsa was deathly silent for several minutes as she ruminated upon this startling revelation. Brian Helmholtz, the greatest physician in the Western Hemisphere and one of the most accomplished men in the world, had sacrificed life and limb for a wretched witch like her. "Brian loves me?" Elsa stammered irresolutely. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she realized what she had done. "And I loved him too. But I was so stupid… so tactless. I pushed him away, and now he'll never want to see me again."

"Oh really?" Grand Pabbie gave a soft, soothing chuckle. Then he lifted a stubby gray arm and pointed to the snowy slopes of the distant mountains. "Look yonder."

Elsa turned her head and squinted. Beneath a full moon, she could discern three people, a horse and a reindeer flying at breakneck speed towards Arendelle. Her heart leapt and her face shone with renewed hope. "He came back for me!"

Grand Pabbie smiled, sharing in her newfound joy. "Go on, Elsa. There's your True Love's Kiss. Go save yourself."

"I will! Thank you Grand Pabbie, for all you've done for me." Elsa hopped to her feet.

The troll smiled affectionately. "Thank me by believing in yourself. Oh, and one more thing." Elsa slowly turned around.

"Happy birthday, Elsa."

Elsa drifted in and out of consciousness as she stumbled across the frozen landscape at a painfully slow and laborious pace. The cold was brutal and the wind mercilessly attacked the lines of raw, tender, exposed flesh on her chapped and bleeding cheeks. With every passing moment, her vision became blurrier and her world colder. Elsa's blonde hair was now completely ice-blue, and her face absent of all color.

"Brian…" she managed to wheeze. "I love you…" Elsa could hardly even breathe as the frigid air constricted her airways and lacerated the delicate membranes of her sinuses.

A loud, vehement cry rang out in the distance. Elsa turned around and gasped as a thousand orange pinpricks of light assaulted her vision. They were the light of torches. Somehow, people had discovered that Elsa survived her ordeal, and were now in hot pursuit. Elsa had to move faster if she was to reach Brian in time. She clenched her teeth and continued plodding up the snowy mountainside.

Brian had spotted her! Although he was too far away for her to see his face, she could sense the palpable determination resonating from his being. His horse quickened its pace and thundered across the snow with swift, powerful hoofbeats. Sven followed closely behind.

Unfortunately, the mob had spotted her too. Rabid cries of "Kill the witch!" echoed through the vast expanses of open space. Two men with auburn hair stood on the front line, leading the charge.

A sudden stab of pain in his chest brought Elsa to her knees. There was no doubt about it. Her heart was freezing and she was running out of time. Only an act of true love could save her.

"No…" she whispered faintly. Elsa could feel the icy tendrils wrapping themselves around her heart in a crushing grip. They slithered along her entrails like large thorny snakes, proliferated throughout her body and saturating every nook and cranny of her insides. A sharp explosion of pain beneath her sternum almost made her cry out in agony. Although she wanted nothing more than to collapse in the snow, Elsa knew that she had to persevere. Ignoring her pain and fatigue, Elsa forced herself to continue trudging up the mountain.

Her Knight in Shining Armor was less than a mile away by now. What a brave, valiant man Brian was! And he looked so majestic as he stood silhouetted against the indigo sky and silvery snow.

The mob was also converging. Elsa could distinctly hear Hans and Henrik's voices.

"Kill the witch! Kill the witch! Kill the witch!"

Brian leapt up from where he sat, grabbed his rifle and fired. The explosive projectile streaked high through the air and struck a loose ledge that was precariously perched on the edge of a cliff. Violent tremors reverberated through the entire crag, as the bullet buried itself solidly into stone. A cascade of snow plummeted down, creating a miniature avalanche in Elsa's wake. The mob was forced to temporarily retreat.

Impeccable aim and timing, my love, Elsa thought affectionately. She smiled and reached down to retrieve the silver necklace tucked beneath her collar, and planted a kiss on the sapphire medallion. But this was no time for sentimentality. She had to keep moving.

Elsa's teeth chattered as she pulled her cloak tighter around her trembling body. The icy claw was tightening its grip around her heart, and any moment, it would completely strangle the life out of her. If she was to survive, she had to make haste.

"Elsa!" At the sound of her name, the blonde snapped to attention. Brian was only a few hundred meters away. Hope shone in those cold, barren eyes that were rapidly glazing over with death. Brian dug his heels into the horse's flank, and they catapulted forward with lightning speed. With both hands clasped tightly over her chest, Elsa stumbled forward to meet him. She was going to make it!

Until she was sidetracked by a most alarming apparition.

Out the corner of her eye, Elsa caught a faint golden glow peeking over the eastern horizon. The sun was about to rise! Grand Pabbie's words rang sharp and clear in her mind. When the sun rises on the winter solstice, all who have been infected with this wretched curse will die a most excruciating death.

"Wait a minute," Elsa whispered to herself, as she stood dithering. "Today is my birthday, the Winter Solstice…"

She was forced to make a choice, and she knew what had to be done. Elsa turned back to Brian once last time. "I love you," she mouthed. "And thank you for loving me." With a twirl of her fingers, she summoned an icy butterfly to flutter across the barren expanses of tundra, and settle on Brian's shoulder. Then she turned aside and began climbing in the opposite direction, until she reached the mountain's summit. From this vantage point, Elsa could see the kingdom in its entirety. She held out her arms like a mother beckoning her child home.

Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always endures. Love never fails. Prophesies will fade and knowledge will pass… but love will always remain. And she truly meant it, as Elsa looked out upon that great multitude of angry recalcitrant faces. Compassion stirred in her heart, as Elsa looked upon those people whose souls were broken and whose hearts were sick. People who had been preyed upon in a moment of emotional vulnerability, and fell prey to predatory influences. People who had their humanity stripped away.

People who needed a second chance, just like she once did.

Spears of ice blasted through Elsa's veins, erupting outwards, spreading across her skin and slicing up her entrails. As the icy curse took its toll, one final wisp of memory flashed through her mind. Anna's frozen body on the fjord. Her sister's face immortalized in a silent scream and her hand outstretched, in defiant opposition against all the forces of darkness that threatened to destroy a family and kingdom built on mutual love.

Ever since her grateful but disbelieving eyes had seen that miraculous sight, redeeming love had been her theme. And it would remain so until the day she drew her final breath. So with a dying but steadfast heart, Elsa held out her hands. She willed that wicked plague to leave the bodies of all who lay dying below, and enter into her own. Because you never give up on the ones you love. Because love involved sacrifice and self-denial. Because nothing ever felt like a burden or hardship when performed out of love. It was the very quintessence of true love, to put to death one's own goals, aspirations, desires and comforts—to give up one's dreams, relinquish one's rights, and surrender selflessly to a higher cause.

It wasn't fair, and it wasn't justified. But it was love.

The mob dropped their torches, and everyone stood in wide-eyed shocked with mouths hanging open as they watched. Thin streams of green smoke trailed out from the multitude of buildings and homes below, spiraling through the air towards that bluish-white figure that stood perched atop the mountain with arms held out.

In Arendelle below, great shouts of disbelief rang out from every home, as the cursed epidemic was banished into nothingness. But the entourage that had gathered in the mountains were too stunned to utter a sound.

Relationships had been broken by a chasm deep as the ocean, but love would run deeper. Hearts had gone cold and strayed far away from the truth, but love would reach further. A fountain of love opened deep and wide atop the mountain that day, flowing down the austere slopes of the North Mountain. All the wayward, rebellious ingrates who plunged beneath its healing tide would be restored to grace.

Wisp after wisp of Formula XIV, from tens of thousands of bodies below, permeated her skin and entered Elsa's body through her palms. Deep within, her powers exploded with great vigor, stimulated vast beyond any reasonable measure, revolting against her body. She clasped her hands tightly together and brought them close to her chest, trembling under the debilitating exertion.

Finally, Elsa's heart gave out and became one with the ice that completely overwhelmed it. Flesh and blood turned to solid ice, as the hapless heroine drew her final breath and stepped through the gates of eternity.

Today was Frosty's birthday. And she was dead.

More to come! What do you think? Is Frosty gone forever? Or is another miracle in store?