Elsa opened her eyes, yawned, and immediately checked to make sure her gloves had stayed on securely through the night, a habit she'd developed after having to clean ice out of her hair one too many times.

Then she noticed her father sitting at the foot of her bed.

"Papa?" Elsa sat up, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

"Good morning, Elsa," Papa said gently. "You must have been tired yesterday. You fell asleep with your face in a book."

Elsa tried to think back to last night, but it was all a blur. She did vaguely recall reading, though. "What are you doing in here, Papa?" Elsa glanced at the clock. "Shouldn't Anders have woken me by now?"

Papa smiled at her. "We decided to let you sleep in. Elsa..." The smile vanished. "Your mother and I know the past few days have been hard on you. But we want you to know we love you and your sister with all our hearts." He put his bare hand over her gloved one. "Things are going to get better."

Elsa only nodded slowly, her face a blank slate. "Yes, Papa."

"Mrowr?" There was the sound of pawing from the other side of the door.

"Papa..." Elsa's eyes fell on the doorknob. "Can we... let the cat inside?"

She couldn't put her finger on it, but Elsa could swear a strange look crossed her father's face. "You know we can't, Elsa. Why do you want to?"

"Nothing, I just..." She closed her eyes. "I'm not sure I would hurt her, Papa... even without my gloves. I've been thinking, and... what I did to Anna... Well, what really happened was we were playing snow-pillars, and Anna was jumping too fast, and I slipped. My powers weren't out of control, exactly. I tried to catch her, and my aim was bad, that's all. Maybe I'm only freezing everything I touch because I let myself get scared?"

Papa let out a heavy sigh, then stood up and walked to a tray of breakfast food on Elsa's bed stand. "Why don't you leave the cat outside and try something safer?" He handed her an apple.

Elsa removed a navy glove and placed her fingers on the fruit. For a second or two, nothing happened. Elsa inhaled... then caught sight of Papa's face.

Though parents love to forget it, children are not stupid. Elsa knew darn well what Papa expected to happen. The instant the thought crossed her mind, out came the ice, covering every inch of the apple. The fruit fell out of Elsa's hand and shattered against the floor. Her lips were quivering.

"It's alright, Elsa," Papa said softly. He reached towards her, but Elsa immediately pulled away, returning the glove to her hand with lightning speed.

"I'm sorry, Papa..." She buried her face in her arm. "I know I'm not supposed to... feel."

Papa leaned in, touching her shoulder – or, specifically, the nightgown fabric over her shoulder. "Sometimes it's okay to feel a little bit." He let out another sigh. "But Elsa, you need to be careful. You're not going to learn control overnight."

"Papa..." Elsa looked at him with those deep, pained eyes of hers that didn't belong on a eight-year-old. "I heard you yelling at Anders."

Papa bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Elsa. I shouldn't have done that. Sometimes I have trouble controlling my emotions, too."

"You yelled because Anna told Anders we didn't love her anymore." Elsa's voice was hardly more than a whisper. "Anna's so lonely, Papa. She comes to my door all the time, and I... I never say anything back. But... you promised if I could safely touch things with my bare hands..." She had to stop there because her voice was shaking too much.

"Elsa..." Papa tried to hug her, but it wasn't very comforting considering he had to keep a couple inches of distance from her head and neck. Even that exposed skin was cold enough to burn. "You'll see your sister again. I promise."

The ice-tower was once again a tranquil and beautiful place. It no longer housed distorted mirrors, extremely sharp icicles, or snow-monsters of any sort. It did, however, contain a displeased Snow Queen giving her sister a look.

"What?" said Anna with a practiced innocence. "He could've learned that from anybody. The guards swear all the time!"

Elsa's expression was unchanged.

"Besides, that's, like, nothing compared to the bad habits Mary picked up," said Anna. "I mean, where did she learn all that crap?"

"What's 'crap?'" asked Olaf.

"Anna."

"Sorry, sorry!" Anna winced, then asked, "Anyways, how long was Mary around?"

Elsa glanced at the tower walls. "Like I said, she was the opposite of Olaf. I made her by accident when I turned the castle into a second Ice Palace, just like how I made him. The difference was..." She bowed her head. "...when I made Olaf, I was happy."

Even though Elsa wasn't actually depressed anymore, Anna impulsively took her hand in comfort. "And so when we had that big argument and stuff, she was possessing your brain, right?"

Elsa sighed. "Anna, everything Mary said was a thought I'd had before. She made things worse, but I'm still accountable for my actions."

"Well, it's water under the bridge now anyways," shrugged Anna. "Besides, I acted bad, too, and I didn't have any evil snowmen in my brain."

"I think I understand," Olaf told Elsa. "You and Mary don't love each other, and she's never going to possess your brain again, and you wish she hadn't in the first place, so now we're not going to talk about it, especially not to Kristoff."

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "Why not Kristoff?"

"Ha ha ha! Doesn't Olaf say the craziest, randomest things sometimes?" Anna hurriedly ushered the snowman towards the staircase. "Hey, Olaf, I think Anders wants you to visit him in the infirmary. Run along, now."

"Okay." Olaf bounded off down the staircase. After a minute, the sisters could faintly hear him say, "Hi, Gerda! You look really crappy today, bitch!"

Anna could feel Elsa's eyes on the back of her neck.

"So, uh..." She let out an anxious chuckle. "How about those other snowmen Mary brought here?"

Elsa shook her head, then walked to the edge of the balcony. Marshmallow was still over there, holding himself upright with his arms in lieu of any other limbs.

"Hey, big guy." Elsa gave him a sympathetic smile. "Sorry you and your brothers were put through all this. Here, I can fix you." She waved her arms.

Nothing happened. Marshmallow bent to examine his legless torso and let out a frustrated grunt.

"What's wrong?" Anna frowned. "I thought you got your mojo back."

"I have." Elsa conjured up an ice-crystal in her palm, as if double-checking. "I just can't add any snow to the snowmen." She stared at her hands, confused. "Maybe..." The ice-prism vanished, and Elsa retrieved the crystal sword. "They're in here." Her brow creased. "I can feel them. This sword trapped them, somehow."

"Man, these ice-eating swords have sure caused a lot of trouble," said Anna. "Do you think we could smash it to pieces or something?"

"We'll bring it to the trolls. As for now, though..." Elsa closed her eyes and placed a palm on the flat end of the blade. After a second, the sword glowed white, and a bolt of snow shot out. The powder quickly re-formed, latching onto Marshmallow's legs and the various bits of twitching snowmen and snowbirds left in the wake of Anna and Kristoff's valiant battle. Some of it even formed into whole snowbirds, who immediately stretched their wings and preened themselves irritably.

Marshmallow happily pulled himself to his feet and retracted his icicles in relief. Cloud and Cottonball did likewise, then let out pleased grunts and walked over to him. The newly acquainted brothers leaned in to sniff each other's faces like dogs.

"Cloud, Cottonball, this is your brother Marshmallow," Elsa told them. "If you want, he can live with you on the North Mountain." The snowmen nodded. "Alright. We'll visit soon, I promise." Elsa was about to turn away, but then she felt something brush against her foot. She glanced downwards to find one of the snowbirds peering up at her.

"I am glad you are free of our bad sister," it said in its stiff, businesslike voice. "I want to make you happy."

"Thank you." Elsa smiled and allowed the bird to perch on her finger. "Hmm... Maybe Kristoff was right about you guys after all."

"Wait, what are these things?" asked Anna.

"They were supposed to be lookouts for the wight," said Elsa. "I didn't think they'd be sentient like my other snowmen, but it looks like I was wrong. I guess I can't animate snow without giving it a mind of its own." She turned to address all of her snow-creations, which, strictly speaking, were now mostly birds. The snowbirds all peered up at her. Most were scattered across the balcony, but a few dozen were perched on the railing. There were also countless flurry clouds wafting through the air, keeping them from turning into bird-sized puddles. "I hadn't planned on making so many lives. Somehow, Mary removed my inhibitions about it. She seemed to think my purpose was to create new life. I don't know if that's true, but... I'm glad each of you are here. I love all of you. I doubt you'll be much trouble for anybody, so feel free to fly around Arendelle's skies."

The birds replied with assorted cooing, which presumably meant they approved.

"Your Majesty," said the one on Elsa's finger, "we will gladly carry out your orders. That's why you created us, after all."

"You don't have to," said Elsa. "You're not my slaves. But I'll let you know if I ever need you."

The bird nodded. "Thank you, Your Majesty."

After that, it was time for the snowmen to return home. Most of the snowbirds flew off, and a few of them even returned to monster-size again so they could carry Marshmallow, Cloud, and Cottonball to the North Mountain in their massive talons.

Elsa gazed off the balcony. "I think that's all the unfinished business this ordeal's left us," As she spoke, she returned the sword to its ice-prism.

Just then, a massive yawn erupted Anna's mouth. "Man, nobody should have to fight evil snowmen at this time of the morning. I'm going back to bed. What about you?"

"I think I'll stop by the infirmary."

"Suit yourself." Anna moved for the staircase, but before she left, she paused and turned back around. "Hey, Elsa?"

Elsa gave her a concerned look. "Yes?"

"Nothing, I'm just... I'm just glad you're okay. I mean, when you lost all your magic and you weren't moving and stuff... you really had me going."

Elsa walked over to her. "I'm glad, too. And I'm glad it's over now. Now that I've overcome Mary... I feel stronger."

Anna grinned. "I'm going to bed before I pass out on the floor, but as soon as I'm up, we're doing sisterly activities together, okay? Y'know, in honor of the wight being dead and you not being brainwashed and stuff."

Elsa grinned back. "I've got an idea for an activity already."

"Would it happen to be... building a snowman?"

"No, I'm going to wash your mouth out with soap every time Olaf says a bad word."

"That's not a sisterly activity!"

The wight cackled as his fingers clamped tighter over his victim's mouth.

"So you love her, do you?" he spat, twisting the boy's head to meet his sunken eyes. "Oh, yes, don't deny it. I heard you. I know how to keep out of sight of silly little mortals. Let me set the record straight, Fritz." Somehow, the fact that this thing knew his name brought Fritz almost as much horror as his imminent death. "Only I love her. Elsa doesn't need any more liars. And you may be a bit scrawny, but the way you are squirming right now is making me very hungr-"

"Fritz! Fritz, wake up!"

Fritz was wrenched from sleep by cold hands shaking his shoulders. The sight waiting for his eyes upon opening was a welcome change from the horrific monster they'd seen while closed – Elsa, her face full of concern.

"Wha- Your Majesty?" sputtered Fritz. He wasn't totally convinced this was really happening.

Elsa smiled and sat up. She was seated in a homemade ice-chair by his bed, which, Fritz realized, was an infirmary bed and not the one in his room.

"You looked like you were having a nightmare," she said.

This was a lot for Fritz to take in. He'd been certain that monster was going to violently slaughter him.

"It's gone," said the heavens and earth manifested as a woman. "The wight's dead, and nobody was hurt."

That was great and all, but holy cow, was Elsa actually paying attention to Fritz? He tried to say something suave, but his tongue tied itself into a knot in defiance. The best he managed was, "You mean I'm not dead?"

Elsa laughed. Fritz hadn't known sound waves could be chemically addictive, but he got such a buzz from that. "No, you just fainted."

"And you...stayed by my bedside?"

"Well, not the entire time," said Elsa. "But I figured I owed it to you."

It was at this point that Fritz's brain finally woke up and caught up with the rest of his body. Whoa, she may actually be into you! it said in genuine shock. Make your move! Make your move NOW!

"Before all this happened, you had something you needed to tell me." Her eyes were looking right at him. "I'm sorry I was late, but you have my full attention now."

There was silence. Gee, Fritz had felt pretty confident right before the monster had tried to kill him. He'd planned his whole speech and everything, but at this point his mental notes had been scattered and blown away on the mental wind.

In spite of all reason, Fritz opened his mouth.

How about a simple 'I love you?' he told himself. You can't possibly screw that up.

Wait a minute! realized his brain. Every time we try to confess our love, something interrupts. Let's just keep our mouth shut and wait for-

"Why hello, my tiny friend! Good to see you awake!" A big pile of meat tied together by a dashing grin neared Fritz's bedside.

...Okay, that crossed the line from uncanny to eerie.

"Good morning, Samson," Elsa said stiffly. "I see you've made a full recovery. Now if you'll excuse us, Fritz and I were-"

"Actually, Your Majesty, there's something I've been meaning to say for some time now." Samson flashed his teeth at her. "Believe me, I have seen a lot of gorgeous women over the years, but... you leave them all behind." Elsa pulled back in her chair, but she couldn't escape from Samson taking her hand in his.

Someone had yanked the stopper out, and all of Fritz's hope was going down the drain. He sat paralyzed on his mattress, gaping at the sight before him.

"When that monster attacked me, I thought I was a goner, but you saved my life." Samson leaned in. "If only there was some way I could repay you..."

"I don't-" Elsa started to say, but her next word was muffled by Samson's face.

Fritz had been struck by lightning, and now the only thing left in the bed was a smoldering crater. The nightmare was real! Samson was kissing her with all his might! And Fritz just knew Elsa was enjoying it! Why else would her eyes be so wide? She didn't want to miss a minute of Samson's handsome mug!

Without him telling them to, Fritz's legs flung him off the bed and out the infirmary. He sprinted down the hall, bawling hysterically.

This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be happening. The heavens and earth manifested as a woman were being overthrown by all the powers of hell manifested as a big, bodacious debauchee! A ruggedly handsome fiend, returned from the grave to ruin Fritz's life by seducing the only woman he'd ever love! This was it.Fritz's entire life had been one long, twisted conga line of bad things happening to him, and he had finally hit rock bottom. This was without a doubt the absolute worst possible-

"Agh!" In his delirium, Fritz almost smashed headfirst into one of the servants.

"Oh, there you are," said the man. Had Fritz been in a sounder state of mind, he'd have recognized him as Kai by his distinct bald spot. "I've been meaning to speak to you, Mr. Gudmund."

"Uh buh buh wha?" said Fritz.

Kai shifted in place. "Well, you see, there was an incident a few hours ago, and Anders was wounded. He won't be able to continue acting as chief of staff, and so the position has transferred to me. But I promised him I'd carry out his wishes, and I was sifting through his notes, and, well..." He brought a hand to his forehead. "The queen employed guards at a rapid rate due to the wight, which led to some serious discipline problems and, frankly, questionable hiring choices. And now that the monster is dead, we don't need nearly as many guards on the payroll."

Fritz let out a whimper.

"Anders made out a list of staff members to cut immediately," continued Kai, "and... Look, there's no easy way to tell you this, but your name was at the top of the list. In big block letters. With three exclamation marks. Circled in red pen. And five arrows pointing to it. And a little note in the margin calling you a lecherous pervert."

Fired. Fritz was fired. Samson was making out with Elsa, and Fritz was fired. He nearly blacked out.

The next thing he knew, Fritz was in his bedroom, bawling even more hysterically than before. He stood over his bed, where an open suitcase rested. Fritz gravely dropped in the portrait of his momma, followed by his long underwear, and then his stuffed bear wearing a little bear-sized sky blue dress and blonde wig in a French braid.

Fritz's brain should have made a snarky comment here, but at this point, even his inner thoughts were sobbing incoherently. He almost didn't notice when his door creaked open.

"Fritz?" Charlotte let herself into the room, concern on her face. "I heard you crying again. What's wrong?"

Fritz wiped his eyes. "I was fired," he said hoarsely.

"Oh no!" Charlotte handed him a hanky so Fritz could loudly blow his nose. "I'm sorry, Fritz. I'm sure you don't deserve to be fired."

"Thanks, Charlotte..." It didn't escape Fritz's notice that she'd placed a hand on his shoulder.

Wait a minute, said his brain. Is it just me, or has she been paying attention to you a lot lately?

Fritz shook himself out of it. That couldn't be right. Why would any girl show interest in Fritz voluntarily?

"But... I do deserve to be fired." Fritz bowed his head. "I was supposed to be the queen's bodyguard, y'know, to protect her from that monster-thing. But when it attacked the castle yesterday... I was useless."

"You're not useless, Fritz!" Charlotte immediately said. "You're sweet and nice and... cute... I'm sure any girl would be lucky to have you..."

For the first time, Fritz took a careful look over her. He'd been wrong before. Charlotte was more than adequately pretty... She was very pretty. With her bangs, headband, and maid's outfit, well... she was adorable.

Fritz's face was growing red, and not because he'd been crying. "Wh-What are you saying?"

Charlotte smiled at him. "I just don't want you to look so down all the time. I like you."

"Really?" Fritz was awestruck. Slowly, not entirely sure what he was even doing, Fritz reached his hand towards hers.

"Yeah," said Charlotte. "You remind me of my husband."

Fritz almost got whiplash from the speed at which he withdrew his hand.

"Well, anyways, I've got more work to be doing." Charlotte gave him another smile and moved for the door. "Keep your chin up!"

Fritz stared blankly as Charlotte exited his bedroom and left down the hall. A minute later, she crashed into another random staff member, and Fritz could make out her voice saying, "Ah! I'm sorry! I mean, uh, I'm Charlotte. That's my name. I just started working here! I'm such a klutz..."

A bubbling sensation was starting in Fritz's chest, as if his insides had turned into boiling pudding. The bubbling got bubblier and bubblier until finally it morphed into words:

You. Total. Idiot. She... was... wearing... a... RING! She's been wearing a ring this whole time, you moron!It was stupid of you to even assume a girl liked you in the first place. When in your seventeen years of life have you EVER seen ANY evidence you're anything but a PATHETIC LOSER?Huh?

That was the last straw. Fritz dried his eyes, finished packing his suitcase, and stormed out the castle. He wasn't heading for the town or his momma. No, he couldn't stand to see the look on her face when she learned he'd been fired from his fifteenth job in a row. Fritz headed for the docks, walking right past a street performer playing some incredibly sappy violin music.

He was a failure... Fritz was a failure! Nobody had ever wanted him... Momma probably wouldn't blink twice if she never saw him again... Elsa, of course, would be too busy planning her wedding with Samson to wonder where that skinny kid who used to follow her around had gone... And Fritz could already hear Anna's reaction to the marriage announcement: "Whoa, forget Fits! Elsa, you've hit the jackpot!" Well, Fritz was sick of it. If that's how people felt about him, then... then he was leaving Arendelle. Good riddance!

Fritz reached the pier and gazed out over the ocean. He had some money saved up from his weeks of bodyguarding. All he had to do was buy a ticket and skip out on the first ship outta here. He'd go somewhere without any crazy royal chicks with magical powers, like Corona or Enchancia. Somewhere normal.

But that's when Fritz caught sight of someone heading onto one of the boats. He ran up in surprise. "Sampson? What are you doing here?"

Samson paused halfway up the ramp. "Oh, hi, uh... guy."

"Fritz," said Fritz. "Are you leaving?"

"I, err, decided it was time for a change of scenery." Samson turned around, revealing bits of ice stuck to his face. "Don't worry about me. I've got a cousin in France who'll take me in."

"I thought you'd finally made your move on the queen?"

Samson's dashing grin wavered. "It's sexist double standards, I tell you!" he suddenly yelled. "If a magical king saved a gorgeous damsel from a man-eating monster, and then she kissed the guy, nobody would bat an eyelash!"

"Wait, what?" Fritz's heart skipped a beat. "You mean... Elsa didn't want you?"

Samson laughed. "Alright, I admit it, things went south, and long story short, I need to leave the country as quickly as possible. It's very, very rare, but this kind of thing has happened before. Trust me, in my experiences, there's only one type of woman who can resist my charms..."

"A married one?"

Samson laughed harder. Then he leaned in, conspirative. "Let's put it this way: The freak's been hiding more than just her sorcery, if you catch my drift."

A lead weight dropped down Fritz's gut. "What did you just call her?"

"Trust me, that's not the worst thing I called her," snorted Samson. "Serves her right."

Fritz had never felt this way before. His entire body was quaking with fury. "How... How dare you? Queen Elsa's the nicest woman I've ever seen! Oh my God, did you put your hands on her? That's horrible!"

Samson raised a beefy eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"You think you can do whatever you want to girls just because you're handsome?" yelled Fritz. "That's sick! So who's really the freak here?"

It occurred to Fritz that he'd never seen Samson's face without the blinding white grin before. It looked a bit more... terrifying. Suddenly, Fritz was wishing he'd stopped to consider some important factors before blurting that out, such as the fact that Samson had quadruple his body mass.

"Well." Samson took a step towards him. "Who knew you had such a mouth on you, my tiny friend."

The next instant, Fritz's butt was fused to the wood of the dock, and his stomach was stinging. Fritz had been beaten up before, of course, but never by someone the size of a hippopotamus. Samson's boot felt like a cinder block slamming into his gut.

Fritz screamed and spun his head wildly. There were plenty of passerby around the dock. A couple of them stopped to watch, but most went on with their business. He tried to climb to his feet, but then Fritz found them leaving the ground. He was being suspended in the air by the collar of his uniform. This served the dual purpose of scaring Fritz to death and tightening the cloth around his neck.

Now Fritz had a good view of Samson's snarling face. The behemoth raised a fist. "Where's your smart mouth now?" Fritz closed his eyes...

But the blow never landed. It couldn't... because Samson's fist was stuck in a pillar of ice. It was her... marching across the pier, cape billowing behind her in the howling wind she created.

"Oh, uh, Your Majesty!" Samson's voice wasn't quite as milk-curdling anymore. He immediately dropped Fritz and struggled to free his hand. "I, err, didn't see you there!"

Elsa's balance between beautiful and terrifying had never been tipped so far. "Get. On. The boat."

"Yes, Your Majesty! I was just leaving, in fact!" The instant the ice vanished, Samson scurried off up the ramp. You wouldn't think someone so huge could move so fast.

As soon as he was gone, Elsa knelt down to meet Fritz's eyes. "Fritz..." she said softly.

For the first time in his life, Fritz wished he wasn't in Elsa's presence. Look at him, crumpled on the floor, sobbing like a little girl. She must have known the truth by now, if it wasn't blindingly obvious before – He was a loser. A worthless little loser.

He wasn't expecting such a tight hug.