A/N - A smaller chapter, only because I've been having a lot of writers block and I really don't want to ruin this story. And I'd rather update little by little as opposed to waiting for 2,000 words to strike. I hope that's okay!

Nothing in life had ever come easy to her, in fact it was becoming quite repetitive. She got comfortable in the uneasiness, pushing back so it didn't hurt so much when the good things in life were unveiled as a mirage. She saw it coming and she was smart.

This was different.

Her guard was down, this tailspin of pain had ripped the blanket from the barbed wire she was so precariously crawling through. The forest was eerily calm given what had just taken place. She was going backwards, this was meant to be a new start, they had done what they had came for.. it was supposed to be over. There was a small grace in the cool gentle breeze that brushed her rosy cheeks, lifting her sights to the stars that were scattering the sky rather than the size 5 footprints that belonged to Anna, leading to the opposite direction.

She had stayed beside Anna for hours, having the same conversation over and over. But still, she wondered if there was something she could have said, a stone that they left unturned back at the site of anguish. She missed being close to her.

"Elsa? What are you doing here?"

She hadn't realised just how many steps she had taken, she was preoccupied with her thoughts and the growing awareness of the fear sitting in the pit of her stomach.

"I need the reindeer." She said bluntly, her gaze turned toward the herd, and more specifically the antlers that crowned each head.

"Why?" Honeymaren probed further, she was doing this awfully annoying thing of standing much too close, perhaps to catch her attention. All it was doing was obstructing her route, her next steps.

"Because I can't get home." Elsa took particular attention to greeting them, Kristoff would've. "They're going to get me out of here."

"You can't get out?"

This was where the problem lied, too many questions and no answers.

"Come on." She motioned to the huddled herd of reindeer, entertaining a conversation with Honeymaren was pointless, because this, it would work. In their mass, the reindeer slowly followed Elsa. The insects in their path would scurry and flee, Elsa and her army, the barrier would fall apart for certain. A hundred antlers, She would make it through with them.

A clear straight path ahead. Honeymaren lulled behind, confusion still flushed across her face. "What are you going to do?"

"We're gonna break through." Steadfast determination, Elsa hopped onto one of the reindeer in the middle of the herd, if the barrier did break, there wold be enough time for the gap to be sustained for her to get to the other side.

The stampede had begun and the ground was rumbling beneath her. It was exhilarating mixed with horrible. She was flying, her hair being swept up behind her. And then, some hooves would kick up the ground, and she would be sprinkled in an array of small stones and dirt.

The atmosphere was electric, it was as though with each gallop they got faster, she was going to make it, she was going to see Anna.

She was struck, hard. By what, she was unsure of. Flailing painfully through the remainder of the herd, Elsa's goal was to keep her head from being crushed, gasping for air, she turned into the fetal position. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to start counting her teeth - as well as noticing the gravely texture sitting between her teeth that never used to be there - all she tasted was dirt. The moment would pass, it would be over soon.

"It snowed less when she left" Anna mused. Still venturing back to Arendelle, her eyes cast to the vast landscape and the town just ahead. She was beginning to miss when her world had been Arendelle and neighbouring kingdoms. She wished she never knew of the forest at all.

"Huh?" Kristoff averted his eyes from the route ahead, motioning for Sven to keep them steady.

"It was like the universe understood how I was feeling. The snow - that was me and Elsa's thing. That following year, there was almost none, I thought maybe someone up there saw that the two little kids who played in the snow all the time had got separated, so there just wasn't a need for it anymore. There weren't any sisters to make snowmen - so what was the use, you know?" She sighed, her hand nimbly playing with the end of her hair. "I know now, it was the magic being replaced for snow. I was missing something distorted, but it was her, she was at the root of everything still."

"They really did what they thought was best" Kristoff replied sympathetically.

"Some days, I was grateful. It was like the universe was saving me of that pain. Other days, it would make me so angry. My best memories were building snowmen together, and it was like I was being robbed of opportunity to make amends, snowmen made her the happiest, it was my best shot at getting her out." Turning to the back of the sleigh, she looked to Olaf, who appeared to be remembering too, but with fondness - something Anna longed to be able to do again. He had been quiet the whole journey back, sensing her felt guilty, she continued "I really am glad that you're able to get to Elsa's side. She needed you, she will need you."

"Next time, we'll all be together." Olaf assured.

"Yes." She breathed deeply, hoping to be absorb that same faith. "Now we know about mother - Northuldra - she must have something that could be of use. Something that could tell us how to get Elsa back."