Johanna

I hate mausoleums. It's like the dead are watching you. Death is perhaps the only force stronger than ice.

I shudder. Nothing to do but get it over with.

The royal mausoleum sits on the shore to the east of Arendelle Castle. It's a grey, nondescript stone building. I land in front of it and send the horses back up to the clouds to wait for me there. This is not a trip to which I particularly wish to draw attention.

There's a lock on the door, but I freeze it with a jet of ice and it shatters. Then I go inside.

It's quiet in here, but not the kind of quiet I like. This quiet is full of echoes. Say one word and the space becomes full of it, calling it out in every direction. It's impossible not to feel everything that has happened here. In the center of the room are two white stones, one for Queen Elsa and one for King Frederick. Their names are engraved in an elegant script. No death date, because nobody's sure when they died. A vase in between them holds a wilting bouquet.

These two stones are memorials, not graves. These I don't mind so much. I pause before them for a moment, but they aren't why I'm here, and I move on.

Julian's tomb is not marked, but he is still encased in the ice coffin I made. I can always feel where my own ice is, and I find him that way. The tomb is locked, but, again, this lock is easy to break. I open the door and slide the coffin into the open room.

Julian looks peaceful, which is all wrong. He was always moving, bouncing from one thing to another, climbing trees or practicing fencing with his rapier. Looking at his still face, it's like someone took a split second in time and encased it in ice. I imagine that he'll open his eyes and jump into action as soon as the ice melts.

I trace the surface above his face. The ice ripples under my hand. How can I be so close to having him back? It doesn't seem real. I didn't expect any of this to happen so quickly.

Behind me, a door creaks open. Footsteps. Who on earth is here at this time of night? I don't bother to hide. Let them see me. A mausoleum is as good a place as any for them to die.

The person behind me gasps, and I turn around.

"Jo?" Sonja is standing in the doorway, holding a long-stemmed white flower.

I frown. "Sonja."

She glances cautiously into the room. Her left hand hovers like a shield in front of her heart.

"Will you relax?" I sigh. "If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already."

She nods, lowers her hand, and walks into the room. Her gate is soft and dignified. Sonja was never fun, always too hard to rattle. Ida would have run away the moment she saw me.

"What are you doing here?" I say.

"I come here every Sunday night."

Figures I'd come here the same night as my stupid cousin. "No guards?"

"They wait outside."

"I never took you for the sentimental type."

"I don't hide from my feelings, if that's what you're saying."

"Is that an insult?" I raise a finger. "I could change my mind about killing you."

"And leave Ivan to rule the kingdom? Oh god. Can you imagine?"

I laugh. Sonja has made me laugh. I decide not to kill her. She walks over to the memorial for Mama and Papa, removes the withered bouquet from its vase, and replaces it with the white flower. She doesn't take her eyes from the pearly white stone, but her words are for me.

"I miss you, Jo," she says. "Not the illused you, the real you."

"This is the real me."

"If you say so." She peels off the black glove, thoughtfully runs her good hand along her icy hand. "You never come back. Why are you here?"

I gesture to the casket in front of me. "Stupid question, cousin. What do you think I'm doing here?"

Sonja turns around, looks down at the coffin in front of me. She frowns. "You're stealing his body? That's morbid, even for you."

"Says the girl who spends every Sunday in a mausoleum."

"I'm serious, Jo. I don't know what you're up to, but you shouldn't mess with death."

"You want to stop me?"

She steps away from me, slips the black glove back on. "I'm not stupid. I want to keep myself and the rest of Arendelle-Ciera alive. You'll do what you want, whether I accept it or not. Just as you always do. I'm not going to fight you over someone who's already dead."

I laugh. "Smart choice, cousin."

Sonja heads back towards the door. I raise my hands, prepare to call up a wind. Not a big one, just enough to move Julian's casket into the sledge. From there I can fly through the storm back up the North Mountain to where the goblins are waiting.

"Jo?" says Sonja quietly.

"What?"

She looks over at the memorial where Queen Elsa's and King Frederick's names are inscribed in script. She looks at Julian, encased in ice. "They were my family too, you know. I miss them every day."

"Touching. Remind me to care."

She smiles slightly. "What good would that do?"

And she is gone.

A/N – Mausoleums do give me the creeps, eep! Thanks all for reading and reviewing and generally being awesome!