The sun has hardly begun to rise. It's still very, very early. As Anna sleeps peacefully and uncharacteristically neatly in bed, Kristoff is still wide awake. He's been thinking about what Pabbie might've been hiding, and where Elsa's place is if Anna is the fifth spirit. He's not sure he believes it. But Pabbie was hiding something else. He felt it. Something's being hidden, but what? And why? He tries to sleep, rolling over to get comfortable, but can't shake his thoughts away. What was Pabbie hiding?

Outside the gates, Geirrod is waiting patiently for whenever the royals are up from their slumbers. As the sun's early beams break onto his face, he decides it's soon enough.

"Wake up!" He yells. "Sun's a-rising and we gotta go a-walking!"

Inside, Anna's eyes flutter, not wanting to wake up.

"Tell him to give me like 5… more… hours…" Anna tells Kristoff sleepily.

"Get out here!" Geirrod yells.

Anna puts her pillow over her ears. "Make him stop," she tells Kristoff, her voice muffled.

"I didn't sleep and I'm not going to," Kristoff says. "Maybe we should just go."

"You're selfish," Anna says, understandably.

Kristoff sighs and goes to the window, the curtains letting early light into the room. Not strong, but annoying.

"Will you be quiet?!" He shouts to Geirrod.

"When will you be ready?!" Geirrod shouts back.

"It's like 6 in the morning!" Kristoff calls. "Give us like 3 hours!"

"Fine!"

3 hours later, Anna and Elsa find themselves on a walk in the mountains with Geirrod and Sigurd. No one speaks for the first half hour or so as they get deeper into the mountains, passing by houses that Anna's never seen before. The farther they go, the more gardens there are, and the houses become fewer and farther between. After an hour, they've passed the last house.

"Where are we going?" Anna asks.

"Somewhere important," Sigurd replies.

"Yeah, but where?"

"To a special site," Sigurd answers. "I will explain. As you must know, Elsa's ice froze all our crops. We had next to nothing to eat. Elsa, your solution was to tax us heavily to buy food from other nations. I understand your reasoning. But the prices you sold it for— they were more than we could pay, because we had little money, because of the taxes. We had famine while you were all living it up in the castle. Many people, many people died. Seeing as no one had any strength to cut rock for headstones, we made a memorial, deep in the mountains. The names of everyone who died because of your power are carved into it."

After a moment of silence, Anna asks, "why do we have to see it? You just told us about it."

"Because," Sigurd says, "you can believe whatever you hear, but seeing is impactful."

"You don't need to see something to believe in it," Elsa says.

"True," Sigurd concedes the point, "but I wanted to see you see it. See just how many lives you've impacted."

The four stroll along silently for the next hour, all thinking of nothing and everything. Nothing eventful happens, as advancement through the mountain is the really the only thing that happens. Once the hour is up, they arrive at a humongous boulder, maybe fourteen feet in diameter. There are carvings all over it.

Anna runs ahead to see it, moving her hand over the weathered surface of the boulder, almost crying but just barely keeping herself from it.

"There's so many," she whispers. "Why did it have to come to this?"

Geirrod and Sigurd wait a few feet away.

"So?" Geirrod asks. "What do you think?"

"Why'd you bring us here?" Elsa asks.

"I wanted you to see," Sigurd answers, "how many lives you've impacted. It's difficult to picture inside one's head."

Elsa comes up next to Anna, taking in the impact of the stone.

"Elsa…" Anna says quietly with a quivering voice once Elsa is by her, "did you know about this?"

Elsa looks at Anna and sees in her face a look of pain and horror that Anna's never had before, not even when she revealed her powers. "I only—" She begins.

"You only did what you thought was best," Anna interrupts and finishes. "I think anyone can understand that. Were you aware of this? 'Cause I wasn't. I was running around like a little girl for twenty-one years. I didn't know anything. Did you?"

"I wanted to hide the truth," Elsa says.

"Wait, what?"

"I wanted to shelter you," Elsa goes on. "But with the beast inside, there's nowhere we can hide. No matter what we breed, we're still made of greed. This… this is my kingdom come."

"I can't believe you!" Anna yells.

"Sigurd," Geirrod says, "I think they've seen what they've needed to see. You ready to make tracks for home?"

"Ready when you are," Sigurd says as he and Geirrod start heading back towards Arendelle.

Geirrod and Sigurd are working together, though not necessarily for the same reason. Geirrod wants to oust Anna, opening the throne for himself. Meanwhile, Sigurd wants to kill Elsa to avenge his family. By bringing the sisters into the mountains, they had the chance to kill them or kidnap them, but they didn't, both afraid of Elsa's power. However, they're also turning Anna and Elsa against each other, something that could keep Elsa from helping Anna when it's time for a revolution.

"Elsa," Anna says, Geirrod and Sigurd gone, "why did you have to tax them like that? You ruined them. Then you lived like it never happened."

"For once," Elsa replies, "I had my life to myself. I wanted to live it. I couldn't be dragged down with queenhood and servitude. All my life, I was living with negative emotions. I wouldn't let them keep holding me back."

"So, does that equate to you doing what you thought was best?" Anna asks. "Tell me the truth right now, Elsa."

"That was the truth," Elsa mumbles so quietly Anna can't hear her.

"Oh, what was that?"

"THAT WAS THE TRUTH!" Elsa yells. "That… that was the truth. I had a life. I wanted to live it. I did what was both fastest and, um, rightest."

"And people died because of it," Anna adds on. "You are so SELFISH! You've always done what's best for YOU without thinking about how it would impact Arendelle or how it would impact ME! I followed you around; I always have. I've always gone with whatever YOU wanted! My WHOLE life! I haven't complained 'cause I love you, and I'm trying to keep the peace. At the end of the day, I'm all you have, and you're all I have, besides Kristoff. Talk to me. I'm here for you. You know that. If you had asked me for help—"

"How could you have helped?!" Elsa shouts, blowing up. "You were an eighteen-year-old princess that knew NOTHING! You STILL don't know anything!"

"Then WHY did you put me on the throne?!" Anna responds loudly. "And DON'T say you did what you thought was best."

Elsa doesn't have a response.

"Do you think I ASKED to be queen?!" Anna goes on. "NO! If it were up to me, it would've been Mattias or somebody else more qualified than I am! You don't listen to me! You didn't listen to me from the other side of that door! You didn't listen to me when I tried to bring back summer! You didn't listen to me when you ran off to Ahtohallan!"

"That's 'cause I know what's right!" Elsa counters.

"And I don't?" Anna reacts.

"If you knew what was right," Elsa yells back, shifting the blame, "then we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"No," Anna responds, "we wouldn't be in this mess if I was never on the throne and if YOU did a better job at handling YOUR mistakes! Your power isn't a gift; it's a curse! You're a curse! You're a curse on Arendelle and you're a curse to me! Whenever something needed to be done, you never consulted me ONCE! You're selfish and you've ruined me! You ruined my childhood, since all I wanted to do was be with you. You ruined my princesshood after the fact. You ruined my life by making me queen. All you do is ruin things. I'm worse off because of you."

Elsa, enraged, pins Anna against the boulder with one hand and raises her other hand, which is in a fist with ice swirling around it. Through her tears, Elsa sees Anna's face. Anna looks horrified; it's a look Elsa didn't even know was possible for someone to make. It's a look of fear and terror and anger and sadness all wrapped into one. Elsa lets Anna go, stepping back.

"Sorry," Elsa apologizes as tears flow, "but it hurts me when you talk about me like that. You're the one person whose opinion I care about. Well, besides Erik, but you know what I mean."

"That much is clear," Anna mumbles, making tracks for Arendelle.

"Hold up a sec, where are you going?" Elsa asks, catching up to Anna.

"Anywhere YOU'RE not!" Anna yells. A few birds fly out of nearby trees comically.

"Fine," Elsa responds. "Then where do you want me to go? I wanna make this up to you."

"Don't make it up to me," Anna says, continuing her trek. "Make it up to THEM. If you really wanna help, just run away into the mountains again. I don't wanna be around you."

Elsa doesn't move, standing there in shock and disbelief as Anna heads down the mountain. Way ahead on the trail, Geirrod and Sigurd smile to themselves satisfactorily, their plan working better than expected. They're separating the sisters, and this'll come in handy come revolution time. Soon… Soon.

During all of this, something else was happening in the mountains: Kristoff took a trip back to the trolls to talk to Pabbie. Without Anna physically by him, he didn't have to worry about her. Well, of course he's always worried about her; in fact, unhealthily so; but without having to physically be there for her, he could take a ride up to his childhood home, riding in the sled pulled by Sven. Just like old times.

Upon arrival, the usual celebrations and revelries ring throughout the mountains, bringing some later-sleeping animals to their wake. It's around 11am by the time he arrives at the Valley of the Living Rock. To get there that fast, he had to use superspeed. Not anything like Quicksilver or Nascar, but he was able to make Sven move at twice his normal speed up the mountain.

Pabbie rolls up quickly with an air of uneasiness around him. "Kristoff," he addresses, "I saw you using superspeed to get up here. Did anyone see you?"

"People in the mountains wanna be alone," Kristoff responds. "Even IF anyone saw me, I don't think they'd care."

"Why did you use superspeed to come here?" Pabbie asks. "What could be so important you risk giving yourself and, in turn, us to people like Runeard?"

"I could feel you," Kristoff says. "You were hiding something about Anna. I can feel feelings the same as you. What were you hiding?"

Given Kristoff's powers, he can only feel feelings of "normal" people by putting his hand on their forehead, but he can sense the feelings of other trolls without that touch, kind of like The Force from "Star Wars".

"I can be honest with you," Pabbie says, "but if I tell you, I'll have to erase it from your memory."

"Then what's the point in telling me?" Kristoff argues. "This is my wife we're talking about here. I deserve to know."

"I can't tell you because you'll tell HER," Pabbie explains. "I'll say this much, though: her power is unrivaled by anything in this world, even Elsa. If they fought each other without emotion at the height of their power, Anna would win in less than a second. That's not exaggeration. Less. Than a second."

Kristoff turns to walk away. "I understand," he says. He turns back around quickly, reaching his hand for Pabbie's forehead. Pabbie's hands wave in the air, bringing rocks out of the ground to block Kristoff by forming a quick wall. Kristoff punches through the wall and tries to punch Pabbie with one hand, but, as Pabbie goes to block that hand, Kristoff lays his other hand on Pabbie's forehead. Pabbie does all he can to push Kristoff's hand away, but Kristoff is too strong. The consequences of a small troll against a big human.

"No," Kristoff says calmly. Suddenly, he collapses, clinging to consciousness.

"There's still a lot you have to learn," Pabbie says.

"If she doesn't learn now," Kristoff says weakly, changing the subject, "she won't be able to control herself when the time comes."

"If she learns to control them," Pabbie debates, "she'll be too powerful!"

"I'm teaching her," Kristoff says with determination. "She'll control it. What happened to Elsa won't happen to Anna. You totally botched that one. Learn from your mistakes."

"It wasn't a mistake!" Pabbie defends himself. "I don't make mistakes."

"Everyone does," Kristoff says, letting Pabbie go and heading back to his sled with physical support from a couple trolls. "If you try to stop me," he adds, " won't hesitate to kill any of you for Anna's sake."

Pabbie knows Kristoff isn't lying. He let's the man go without a fight.

"That was close," one troll says to Pabbie.

"TOO close," Pabbie agrees. "I almost let our deal with her out. No one will ever learn. Not even Kristoff. He's our brother, he's a troll, but he's still a human. Does everyone understand?"

The trolls provide their silent agreement.

Around 1:30 in the afternoon, Anna and Kristoff meet up in the false-Anna-declared-dead dining room. Neither is hungry; their meals get cold in front of them. For the longest time, neither talks. Anna doesn't talk because she's still in shock after her fight with Elsa. Respectfully, Kristoff doesn't talk, either, knowing that if Anna wanted to talk, she would, and he doesn't want to burden her with what he has to say. After about a half hour, castle waiters come by and take away the untouched plates of food.

"Look, Anna," Kristoff says, finally breaking the silence, "something happened. Are you okay?"

"No," Anna says, her voice breaking. "I don't wanna talk about it. I don't wanna bother you with me."

"Anna, you can tell me anything," Kristoff assures, grabbing Anna's hand. "You know that."

Anna makes a poor attempt at a smile as she wipes away the tears that were forming in her eyes. "There was a memorial," Anna opens up at last, trying not to cry, "and there were dozens of names carved on it. Maybe hundreds. I only saw one side. It was all Elsa's fault. Her taxes after her blizzard killed people. I don't think I wanna see her again. I mean that. If she comes here again, get her out."

"Anna, I found out what Pabbie was hiding," Kristoff says after a moment, trying to get Anna's mind off Elsa.

"What?" Anna asks, looking up hopefully.

"Anna, I…" Kristoff begins, contemplating whether or not he should tell this to Anna. He ultimately decides to go on. "I looked at Pabbie 's feelings for a split second. A blip. He's afraid of you and your power. It's as simple as that. If he's afraid, then it must be really serious. Let me help you learn how to do it so you can control it, so you don't lose control without ever having it, like Elsa did."

"What do you mean?" Anna asks.

"You can turn liquids into solids, solids into gasses, and gasses back into liquids, and the other way around, too," Kristoff explains. "You can change the energy of what makes up an object. This is amazing! It's dangerous, too. Pabbie said you could defeat Elsa in less than a second. Your powers, Anna— they're amazing and really, really cool. They're also dangerous. Let me teach you how to control the energy of objects."

"How would YOU know?" Anna responds. "I mean, I get that you have powers of your own, but how would you know how to teach me?"

"Because I've seen Pabbie teach people before," Kristoff replies dramatically.

Meanwhile, Sigurd and Geirrod are going door-to-door, gathering people for a revolution. All are told to meet in the castle courtyard come dark. However, going to so many doors is going to take a hot minute, so there's still time. Still time. After knocking on a few doors, the two meet back up.

"Are they willing to die for freedom?" Geirrod asks Sigurd. "Seems to be the case."

"We will all die for Arendelle," Sigurd replies. "That is no issue."

"The plan is simple," Geirrod says. "You all gather in the castle courtyard. Storm it. Get inside. I'll sneak in through the back and bring Anna to you all, where she will publicly resign her position. If she does not, well…"

"It's a good plan," Sigurd complements. "Simple and straightforward."

"God willing, it'll work out our way," Geirrod says.

In the mountains, Elsa treks slowly back towards Arendelle, each footstep heavier than the last.

**How can I apologize?** She thinks to herself. **How can I make it up to her?**

Thoughts buzz throughout her head, each seeming more important every second. She knows what she did was wrong. At the time, heavy taxes seemed like the best compromise: quick for her, so she could get on with her life, and a way to get food to the lower class. Clearly, it didn't work out. Suddenly, she's overcome with a huge wave of guilt at the monument. She turns back, going to see it again. She glances at every name on the side facing her.

**Anna's right,** she thinks. **This is all my fault.**

Elsa throws herself against the memorial, crying and sinking down to the ground. A light snow begins to fall around her. All she can think about is how her actions only helped herself. If she had been just a little slower, a little better, none of this would have happened. She shouldn't have put Anna on the throne. She knows that now. She thought her place was in the Forest with the spirits, but now, she's not so sure. Was Anna the right choice to be Arendelle's public head? Absolutely, without a doubt. But queen ? Definitely not. Maybe some other form of governance or some other official position. But it's too late now; people have died because of Elsa. There has to be a way to make it up to Anna, right? She gets back up, trembling, and trudges slowly towards Arendelle.

Later in the afternoon, Elsa arrives back at the castle, being let in easily, given her position as sister of the queen. In the courtyard, she sees something unbelievable. Anna is holding an object about three feet long, the top half being a rose, and the bottom being a dead branch. Kristoff is watching intently.

"Anna, what are you doing?!" Elsa exclaims in disbelief.

"Thanks, Elsa," Anna says sarcastically as the object becomes fully a dead branch, "you wrecked my concentration!"

Anna snaps the branch in half and stomps inside angrily, trying to get away from Elsa.

"Anna, wait," Elsa says, going to catch up to Anna.

"Get away from me!" Anna yells, turning around. "I don't want to see you again! You may be my sister, but you're not my friend."

Elsa sort of puts her hand out as Anna heads inside, slamming the big door behind her.

"How was she doing that?" Elsa asks Kristoff.

"Magic," Kristoff answers. "Please, don't be here right now."

"I'm trying to apologize to Anna," Elsa pleads her case.

"I don't think you can fix that right now," Kristoff sighs, heading inside after Anna.

Inside, Anna is slumped cross-armed on a sofa in a lounge of sorts. Kristoff sits down beside her, putting his arms around her and holding her close. "Anna, what you were doing," Kristoff says, "was unbelievable. You were literally changing the physical energy of the smallest parts of that branch to not only make it alive again, but something completely different."

"I was focusing so hard," Anna laments, "so closely, until Elsa showed up."

"Don't think about her right now," Kristoff says. "You'll drive yourself crazy. Channel all your focus into your one task."

"How do you know how to coach me?" Anna asks, looking up at Kristoff.

"Earlier wasn't the first time I've seen Pabbie's past," Kristoff reminisces. "One time, when I was little, I tried to see it when he was asleep. You can see hours in seconds. I saw him training someone who he called 'Energy Spirit.'"

"So, I'm not the only one?" Anna guesses.

"If you're not," Kristoff says, "then I don't know why. I think Pabbie let me learn about his past so I could learn how to do it, but I don't think he knows that I know how to train you properly. But he seemed scared about it."

"He should be," Anna says. "This power is pretty awesome."

Kristoff chuckles, kissing Anna on the top of her head. After a few seconds, he realizes that Anna has fallen asleep in his arms. He leans his head on hers and he, too, falls asleep.
At nightfall, Kristoff and Anna are woken by the sound of a crowd advancing towards the castle.

"Wha— what's going on?" Anna asks sleepily.

"I'll check," Kristoff says, heading towards a window. He gasps lightly when he sees what's happening.

"What is it?" Anna asks.

"A mob," Kristoff says, shutting the curtains to the room. "Bigger than the first one. Come on, we've gotta get out of here."

"No," Anna says. "Let them come. We'll find out what they want."

As the mob charges the castle, Sigurd steps out in front, himself alone going to the gates.

"Uh, sir?" The lone guard on duty nods to Sigurd.

"Yes?" Sigurd replies politely. Unbeknownst to him, Elsa is watching the action from the mountains juuust outside Arendelle, so she can strike quickly if need be. She can't hear anything, though.

"What do you and your… mob want?" The guard asks Sigurd.

"Safe passage," Sigurd answers. "We don't wish anyone death, believe me, but we will do what we have to do to set things right. Let us in, and you will live."
The guard opens the gates as the mob charges in, almost breaking the gates and almost trampling the guard in the process. Arrows fly in from above the courtyard walls, but it's too hard to tell who, if anyone, is being hit in the pre-moon, post-sun darkness.

Elsa makes a go at the castle, making herself a slide of ice to glide down to the castle, going at three times the running speed of an average person. By skating, she adds speed.

Inside the castle, Anna and Kristoff are running to the back, almost running into walls at sharp turns and going at full speed. Suddenly, they are stopped by a familiar voice behind them.
"Anna? Kristoff?" Olaf's curious voice asks. "What's going on?"

"We're being mobbed," Anna answers anxiously, "and if you wanna escape, come on!"

"Mobbed?!" Olaf reacts, running behind Anna and Kristoff. Within seconds, the group reaches the back door that lets out by the fjord, which is the only thing between them and the mountains. The door opens for them, however, and in steps Geirrod, clutching a pistol and pointing it at Anna.

"Hold it right there," Geirrod says epically as the trio stops in their tracks.

Kristoff spins his hands around, causing the ground to shake a little. Geirrod responds by uppercutting Kristoff in the jaw, knocking him out with one swift hit as he goes to the ground hard.

"No!" Anna reacts, getting down beside Kristoff. She puts her ear on his heart, confirming that he's still alive.

"You'll pay for this!" Olaf yells, charging Geirrod, who simply steps aside as Olaf careens out the door. Geirrod shuts the door behind him, comically taking care of that situation.

"Please," Anna begs, "don't hurt Kristoff more."

"I don't want Kristoff," Geirrod says, pointing the pistol at Anna. "I just had to get him out of the picture. I wanted you. Let me lay out my terms here. You're gonna come with me and publicly surrender the throne to me. If you don't wanna do that, I'm taking the throne by force. I guess you know what I'd have to do to make that happen."

Anna quickly runs over in her head what she'd be giving up if she surrendered the throne. She'd pass off leadership to a hopefully capable ruler, but the throne would no longer be in Agnarr's family. She decides that the latter is more important.

"All I've ever wanted is family," Anna says. "This throne is sort of our heirloom, you could say. It stays with me."

"I'll give you a second chance to consider," Geirrod says.

Again, Anna runs over the two options. She realizes now that leadership is more important than family pride: if Arendelle is given a capable leader, it would be her one good act as queen. This solution actually satisfies both of her desires.

As Anna opens her mouth to speak, the door is suddenly smashed in, and Elsa vaults into the situation, pinning Geirrod against the wall with her right hand on his heart. The hand turns a translucent black color as she wrestles Geirrod's pistol away.

"Elsa, what are you doing?!" Anna yells, getting up and trying to pull Elsa away from Geirrod. Elsa's feet are seemingly rooted into the carpet.

"Please…" Geirrod says weakly as his hair turns black and his fingertips start to freeze into black ice.

"No," Elsa whispers, grinning evilly at Geirrod. Within the next second, black ice spreads from Geirrod's heart all over the rest of his body. Elsa lets go of him, and he doesn't budge. He's been frozen. By dark ice. By Elsa.

"Elsa, wha— what?" Anna reacts quietly in disbelief. "Did you just…"

"He was going to kill you!" Elsa argues. "He's trying to take the throne away from our father's family! I couldn't let him."

"I was going to let him," Anna cries, repeating, "I was going to let him."

"Anna—" Elsa begins.

"You're a monster," Anna says. "You're a killer."

Elsa looks at the frozen body of Geirrod. Without another word, she runs out the back door, running over the fjord and into the mountains, but stopping behind a tree, out of sight. A blizzard quickly falls onto the Arendellian night as Olaf comes inside and tries to help Anna keep the door shut from the wind.

"Hang on!" Olaf yells over the wind. With tremendous strength, he drags frozen Geirrod over to the door to use as a brace. Hilariously and grossly, it works.

"Is Kristoff okay?" Olaf asks Anna.

"He will be," Anna says, wiping away her tears. "I won't."

Anna hears quick footsteps approaching. Within a moment, Sigurd and an entourage are confronting her.

"Anna!" Sigurd reacts upon seeing the queen. "None of us know this castle, so it took some time to find you. What happened?" He asks, referring to the body.
"Elsa froze his heart," Anna answers. "Fast."

"Is your husband okay?" Geirrod asks.

"I think so," Anna answers. "Thank you." She changes the subject, saying, "the kingdom is yours now. I was going to give it to Geirrod before Elsa…" her voice trails off.
"You are welcome to stay anywhere in this country you would like," Sigurd offers. "But I will not be king. We will need to find someone capable. Someone like Geirrod. Speaking of that whole… Where is Elsa now?

"No idea," Anna says, getting down by Kristoff again.

"She has to be somewhere," Sigurd says. He turns to the man next to him. "Get Kristoff fixed up."

"Yes, Sigurd," the obedient reply.

"My people!" Sigurd says loudly, turning to face the entourage piled up in the thin hallway, "tonight we welcome a new era in Arendelle. We will not be long without a king. Soon, my friends. Soon."