Devil. It had been years since Anna had seen him last. Her final encounter with the troll was during his and Elsa's violent confrontation following the suitor campaign. He had done everything in his power to thwart Elsa during that time period, pushing her to the limit and forcing her to make impossible decisions regarding…regarding…

'Hm. You struggle to place me in your memories correctly after all.' Devil smirked, his dark presence tightening the air in Anna's room.

This was another reason Anna didn't like the guy. He was rude. And mean. And just plain freaky. He had hurt Elsa so much. Knowingly placed her in unparalleled danger for his own amusement. Not only that, but he had essentially "killed" Anna. How was she supposed to feel anything but disdain toward Devil?

Yes, he and Elsa seemed to have some sort of bizarre respect for one another now, and Anna was proud of her sister for providing even this creature with a second chance, but regardless of circumstances surrounding Elsa's birth, Devil was a manipulative, mischievous entity Anna was happier not having in her life for almost three years.

'How long have you been Dr. Sorenson? Was he even real?' Anna found herself curious, for some reason. How close had Devil been to her? How much had she opened up to someone she certainly did not trust?

'The man you have been speaking to for months now was real. I only took on his guise today.'

Anna breathed out in relief. That was fortunate.

'However, I'm more than aware of how pitiful you've been acting for quite some time now, "Queen Anna".'

'Pitiful? I lost my sister!'

'How quickly you forget; I put Elsa through the exact same thing.' Devil almost growled, shifting in his seat and leaning forward, black bangs dangling about his face.

Anna bit at her bottom lip. She did not forget. How could she? Seeing Devil before her now only brought back those horrid memories of cold darkness. Anna opened her mouth to defend her position further, but Devil cut her off.

'Do you recall how she reacted?'

Anna shook her head, hating even the thought of it.

'She was bedridden until you gave her hope.' Anna knew Elsa disliked admitting as much, but to her, she had done so willingly, elaborating upon her state of despair and loneliness that had dropped the temperature of part of the castle so low anybody who wished to visit was forced to bundle up as though preparing for the coldest of winters.

'Hmph.'

Anna blinked, a tingle of desperation begging for affirmation.

'I-is that why you're here? Are you…going to give me hope, too?'

Even if it meant relying on Devil, and despite her dislike of the troll, Anna would get on her hands and knees if it meant obtaining some semblance of optimism. Her immediate reactions aside, if Devil was here, did it mean he would assist her in saving Elsa?

'No.' Devil snapped mercilessly, as if reaching into Anna's chest again to shatter her soul. Joke was on him; it was already in pieces. 'But I owe this much to your sister.'

'What do you mean?' Anna squinted, still recovering from the rise and fall of her expectation. She knew better than to latch on to anything regarding Elsa, and thought she had convinced herself to stop doing so, but evidently she was a lost cause. She'd always immediately fasten herself to anything that had the smallest of chances to somehow bring Elsa back into her life.

'I'm here to open up your damn eyes.' Devil's harsh words made Anna flinch. 'Manipulated memories to this extent amused me, at first, but it's a game I can no longer permit when rules are being broken. At the very least, your despair should be manifested in the truest sense; not this copycat of a more contrived, conventional plain the masses acknowledge as reality.'

'Uh…what?'

'It's none of your concern.' A cloud passed over Devil's eyes, his confidence faltering so briefly Anna wasn't sure what he was saying anymore. 'You and your sister have surpassed all permissible parameters established by this world. I hate the notion that some omniscient deity can just wipe what you won from my game. I'm a sore loser, as you're aware.'

Anna was having a heck of a time following everything Devil was saying. No wonder he and Elsa somewhat got along. They liked talking big. Not that Anna was completely hopeless, considering the schooling she had received as a princess of Arendelle, but she certainly didn't put much of what she learned in relation to grand oratory skills to use compared to her older sister.

'So…?' Anna was suddenly tired. Her mind kept flickering to the fact she would be holding and even leading Elsa's funeral the next day. The thought weighed her down. The mere concept immediately exhausted her mentally and physically. She wouldn't be able to hold it together. If Devil was here just to tease her, she wasn't going to be able to tolerate it much longer; especially if he kept talking so cryptically.

Devil sighed, moving his head from side to side and then grunting in irritation. He was…conflicted? That was a sudden shift. He leaned back and then forward, pushing his hand through his dark, matted hair.

'I can't believe I'm doing this. How infuriating. It was bad enough I subjected myself to such sentimentality before with that ridiculous dance.' His expression softened, but then instantly returned to the rather crude, hard features Anna had come to know.

'If you don't start making sense, I'm going to have to ask you to – '

'You were in love with your sister, you dolt!' Devil snarled at last, aggravation in every syllable of his words.

The exclamation pierced Anna's chest, her vision speckling with black dots as she braced herself on her bed, almost falling over.

'I…I think you mean I loved her.' Anna replied instinctually, but Devil laughed in a mocking manner, rolling his eyes.

'This tired gag again. No. I didn't mean that whatsoever. You and Elsa were in love. Your relationship was the greatest of sins, yet you and she fought tooth and nail for it against all the detractors both natural and contrived. I threw everything I had at you lot, and you both rose above it all. Don't you see? Your mind is rejecting the very notion, but you are perpetually drawn back to intimate thoughts of Elsa. Nothing can truly wipe what you honestly feel; I know this firsthand.'

Anna blinked, shaking her head and pulling at her blankets as if to shield herself from Devil's words laced with insanity.

'That's impossible.' She lied. She was lying and Anna knew it. But she continued, as if to fuel what needed to be true. 'Sisters don't…It's not…!'

Devil laughed heartily, grinning like the bully he was.

'Oh, I'm aware. And I thought the concept a passing phase at best. Yet, despite what hundreds – thousands – of alternative manifestations of similar circumstances might suggest, this iteration of you and Elsa deny it all, and because of that alone…I am here.'

There he went again with that mysterious mumbo jumbo.

'I…' Anna pictured herself with Elsa in such a way, and her stomach turned, but not in an entirely horrible response until a sharp pain stabbed through her mind, diluting further contemplation and replacing the momentary glimpse of warmth with a numb acceptance of her current reality.

'There. You considered it, didn't you? However, you are being actively dissuaded. You're being forced into line with the others. Monotony and conventional acceptance at its finest. How nature intended. How the creators deemed it appropriate.'

Anna grit her teeth, her eyes filling with water.

'E-even if what you're saying has a chance of being true…Elsa is still gone! If I loved her…I-if I felt more than what I do now, maybe it's better this way!' Anna clutched her nightgown over her heart, squeezing it tight. Her voice exploded in a sob. 'Because I can barely get out of bed each morning now let alone if I loved her even more fiercely than I thought possible!'

Anna's outburst echoed in her room, Devil, for once, seemingly stunned into a brief interlude of silence.

'…So be it.' Devil hummed quietly, his tone sober and somehow more frightening than before when he was being near-antagonistic. Disappointment. This feeling was familiar. When Anna's parents were angry, it was always scary, but when they were simply disappointed? That's when Anna felt the worst. 'You two have always been opposites.' Devil stood up, turning from Anna and approaching the door to her room. 'I suppose it makes sense that one is a courageous warrior of a queen until the bitter end, while the other…'

Devil didn't finish his thought. He didn't have to. Anna wanted to stop him. To demand to know why he had even appeared to begin with. To shake him into giving her hope, too. It wasn't fair! If Devil hadn't given Elsa a way to save Anna, she would have been just as hopeless. Just as…pitiful.

The door clicked shut, Devil transforming himself into Dr. Sorenson anew as he left to avoid suspicion from the guards, surely.

Thus, once again, Anna was alone. But now, she felt ashamed to be as such for some reason.

'I was in love with Elsa…?' She whispered, the possibility so bizarre she couldn't imagine. Yet, was it? Devil understood that Anna's mind was being corrupted. It was true she couldn't delve too deeply into her thoughts about her older sister. Not only that, but on a number of occasions she found herself teetering on the brink of suggestive connotations in relation to Elsa. She couldn't even be with Kristoff without feeling as though she were betraying the relationship she had with Elsa. But that didn't make sense. As Dr. Sorenson made her realize, they were two different forms of love.

Weren't they?

If that was the case, why had Anna so instinctively refuted the initial claim?

'Elsa…' Anna spoke her name, and Devil's glare returned to her. Expectation. Encouragement. No matter how cruel he had been, Devil had appeared before Anna for a reason. He wanted her to know he knew the truth. Why? He had provided Elsa hope but had done nothing beyond torture Anna further. What more was there to do? Months had passed. Elsa wasn't coming back. She was gone forever. Forever. Forever and ever.

And then…

In that moment…

She heard it.

A melody she knew. A string of notes she recognized because they had guided Elsa on that incredible journey into the Enchanted Forest to begin with. It was faint. Perhaps only in her mind. Yet, somehow Anna knew better. No. This was a song for her. It was a song being hummed by none other than Elsa herself, whispering into Anna's ears for but a second in time. It passed over the princess and disappeared into the ether.

Chills prickled over Anna's neck, and she swallowed any doubt remaining. As if struck by lightning, the understanding of what she knew needed to be done pulsated through her soul and into her heart, circulating within her person until that ambition reincarnated through words Anna hadn't been so sure of in a very long time.

'I have to go.' She breathed. 'I have to go back to the Dark Sea.'

In a flurry of action, Anna jumped out of bed. She brushed her hair, dressed herself in the same outfit she had worn upon her first visit to the Enchanted Forest, and threw her dark magenta coat over her black and gold dress. She tied her hair into a low ponytail, and packed a small bag, including the sun bracelet Elsa had gifted her. Almost like a promise of dedication that matched her own moon decoration. Almost as if the sisters shared much more than familial affection.

Anna couldn't be certain anything Devil said in regards to what she and Elsa had was true, but he was right about one thing: Elsa wouldn't have given up so easily. Not without seeing the body. Not without at least returning to the place of vanishing to procure final closure.

'Elsa.' Anna said her name, the sounds slipping through her tongue and lips with warmth and adoration. 'I have to do this. I have to go back.'

She wasn't sure precisely why, but there was no doubt in Anna's mind that this was the course of action she needed above and beyond anything in her life from this point forward.

'Elsa.' Anna flung her bag over her shoulder and exited her room, shutting the door behind her and vowing to herself that she wouldn't return until she was ready to lead Arendelle with no more regret left to burden her down into the depths of despair that had ruled her for nearly a quarter of a year already.

No more.

Elsa. I'm coming to see you. To say goodbye. To at least…put this desperate hope to bed once and for all. Wait for me. Stay in this world for just a little longer. Please. Please. Please. One more snowman. One more. It's all I'll ever ask for again…

'Pushing the funeral back another week after all this time is sure to bother more than a few individuals, I'm sure…' Leonard looked troubled at Anna's explanation of where she needed to go and why. 'And after months of being lost to us, I struggle to completely see the purpose of such a pilgrimage.'

Anna was really only telling her advisor as a formality, and she could tell he knew that. She was already ready to go.

Leonard adjusted his sitting position within his office behind his desk and rubbed his shiny bald head.

'But I can partially understand you needing this final farewell.' He went on kindly, like a grandfather that would never massacre a group of people out of ill-founded fear. 'Perhaps the initial shock of Elsa's loss didn't quite register until you were back home. Maybe you expected her to return after some time – I know I did.'

Anna swallowed, the act rough and hurting her throat.

'How could we not? Elsa was beyond anything we could understand in terms of her magic alone. However, above all that, she also had a resolve unlike any I've seen before. That's not to say she was without weaknesses, for she herself would readily admit to many, and that alone garnered respect from the masses. Indeed, a present or future without someone as otherworldly as she was not within my plans.'

Anna nodded, tightening her jaw and itching to leave the more she heard Leonard speak. Appearing to realize this, the man waved his hand as if dismissing further thought on the matter.

'Very well. Take the time you need.' His tone hardened, as if a parent delivering necessary information no matter how difficult it might be for him. 'Nevertheless, once you return, Princess Anna, we must proceed forward. Do you understand?'

He didn't have to elaborate. That was fair enough. Anna was asking for a lot considering the months the attendant had endured her inability to perform her new role (even if she hadn't officially taken the title yet).

'Got it.' Anna agreed.

'And you will take Lord Daryun with you. Lieutenant Mattias can manage the troops come the worst-case scenario. I would feel much better knowing one of the most powerful men I have ever met is at your side to guarantee your safety.'

Anna couldn't argue with that. As it was, she knew she had a somewhat difficult conversation ahead of her since she needed Kristoff's help to pull this excursion off properly. Perhaps Daryun would act as a bit of a buffer? A bit of intimidation? No. That wasn't nice. Not after what happened…

'Thank-you, Leonard. I'm sorry…' Anna sincerely felt bad. After asking so much of this man, she was pushing her luck even further. Yet, he simply shook his head and stepped out from behind his desk, embracing Anna so kindly it broke her fragile heart.

'There is nothing to apologize for, Anna.'

That wasn't true. If what Devil said was factual, maybe there was a lot to be sorry about. Anna thought about seeking Leonard's advice regarding such a thing, but she doubted even he would humour the outrageous concept. Anna could barely get her head around it. Barely. But she could. And that was scary all on its own.

'I assume you will be consulting with Kristoff considering he has been to the Enchanted Forest before with you?' Leonard parted from Anna, still holding her shoulders.

'Yep. Hopefully he's not too mad at me. We've been a bit…off lately.'

'I've noticed.' Leonard released Anna, stepping about his study thoughtfully. He hesitated to speak again, placing his hands behind his back almost awkwardly. 'I have no place in such matters lest your life is at risk, but I fear the push and pull is getting to the young man.'

Ouch. Right for the jugular.

'I know…' Anna sighed.

'Pardon me if I'm overstepping.'

'No. Step on.'

'Well,' Leonard's bushy brow furrowed. 'It almost seems as though you are attempting to forced yourself to be with him. Is that a possibility?'

Anna closed her eyes, knowing she cared so very deeply for Kristoff, but somehow unable to extend herself beyond something akin to friendship; potentially even a familial affection. It was terribly uncomfortable, for she could more easily see herself being intimate with Elsa, while the thought of allowing Kristoff to do…anything with her was just…

Anna shivered.

'Something like that…'

Leonard nodded, chuckling a bit to himself.

'I swear, if Elsa was not your sister or a woman, I have the strangest notion that you'd do anything to be with her in such a manner.'

Something in Anna bucked at the multi-layered dismissal of the relationship, her instinct to defend whatever she felt for Elsa exiting her mouth before she had the chance to stop it.

'What if I wanted that anyway?'

A heavy beat. Leonard, for once, at a complete loss for words. The question hung between the two individuals for so long it almost seemed possible to simply move on without addressing the ludicrous suggestion. Finally, after the strange sort of standoff, Leonard stuttered out a response.

'Wanted…what, Princess?' He managed.

Anna refused to lie. She knew it would hurt, and she denied further injury to her person. Instead, relieving both herself and Leonard of the uncomfortable interaction, she simply smiled and nudged the man playfully.

'I'm going to where I saw Elsa last. That's all I can do now. Bye, Leonard.'

Turning to leave, Anna didn't expect her attendant to take her arm suddenly, purposely tugging her back prior to speaking once more.

'Just…promise me this, Anna.' He spoke that much more affectionately now. 'Return to us. To Arendelle. There are many that love you here; myself included. None of us can replace Elsa. Of that we are all aware. But please do not give up on the life you once shone brighter than any other for. You truly were the sun of Arendelle.'

Anna's lip twitched as she nodded somberly, sniffing back the remaining awkward feelings from before. Leonard was so kind. He was willingly being ignorant for Anna's sake. He likely chalked it up to pure confusion. Perhaps that's all it was. But still…

'You know,' Anna grinned wryly. 'I seem to be compared to the sun a lot, huh? Like, "Oh, that Anna. Always so bright and bubbly".' She shook her head, controlling her breaths so they didn't shift into laboured sobs. 'And Elsa was the moon. "She's sort of cold. Her moods wax and wane". But I think I've figured something out after all these months.'

Leonard's eyes squinted inquisitively, his mustache almost twitching somehow as he waited.

'Maybe it's the reverse. Because without the sun…the moon is nothing more than a shadow of what it could be.'