A/N: Um, hi?

*dodges flying tomatoes*

I'm just gonna say, for the record, I thought about uploading literally every single day, but I just couldn't find the time to write, hence the delay. Truth be told, I'm still not super happy with this chapter, but I've had the idea in my mind for weeks now, so it was rather easy to jot down.

I'm not gonna make promises about future uploads, just because my work is rather unpredictable right now. But we are approaching the end here, so I'll do my best to get those chapters to you in a timely manner.

Thanks for sticking around!

All eyes were on Alvar as the sorcerer stirred the ground up flower into the chalice. It seemed not even a breath had been taken since Kristoff's sweaty but triumphant return from the village.

To Anna, it seemed as though no one dared to take a breath if this was to be Elsa's last.

She didn't know how to feel about it.

"Will it work?"

The question came from Sorenson, the man eyeing Alvar with a strange apprehension that Anna could now somewhat commiserate with. She had vouched for him before, but now, the princess remained silent.

Alvar nodded, "The potion is not what I worry about…" All eyes turned to the window. The sun was minutes from setting, its blood-red glow casting an eerie glow inside the queen's bedchambers and bathing everyone in a color Anna was suddenly developing a hatred for.

Red flames. Red sunset. Red, red, red.

"It is ready." Alvar drew closer to the queen to administer it himself before pausing. He turned to Anna. "Perhaps you would rather give her the cure."

Anna didn't hesitate to accept the chalice from him, her fingers wrapping around the cold metal as she studied the contents for the first time. The potion was a deep purple, like the flower that had once graced her gardens. She wasn't much a fan of purple either.

But if it would help Elsa, if it would allow her to gaze upon bright blue eyes once more, then her personal objections meant nothing.

She tilted Elsa's head back and dribbled a few drops of the potion into her chapped, partially parted lips, the contrast of the bright liquid and Elsa's dreadfully white face only adding to the gravity of the moment.

This was it. This was all she had left.

"Elsa," Anna pulled Elsa's hand close to her, unconsciously running a thumb over the back in an attempt at comfort, "Please, please wake up now. Please?"

Elsa remained motionless.

"It may take a few minutes, princess. You must be patient."

Anna bit back a bitter laugh. Patience? At this point, she was practically the personification of it.

No, she was done waiting. It was time for Elsa to come back to her.

"Elsie," The entwined hands came up to her lips. She kissed Elsa's fingers, "You gotta wake up now. I know you can do it. Fight it, Elsa. Fight it and come home. It's time."

There was no response.

The fire continued to rage all around her, but it hadn't dared to draw any closer to her huddled form, and yet, Elsa couldn't really feel secure in that fact.

Because though the fire had not advanced, it hadn't retreated either. And being in the same chamber, breathing that smoky air, Elsa now felt weak, so, so weak that lying down was beginning to feel like a wise decision after all.

And yet something gnawed at the back of her mind. A warning. A call.

No, sleep was a bad idea. She didn't know why. But something told her that if she slept now, she wouldn't be able to wake again.

"No, no sleep then."

But there was little else to do. With the fire blocking her path, she could neither escape to safety nor battle the flames any longer. All she could do was wait and wither and eventually fade away, it seemed.

That is, until the doors to her throne room burst wide open. Elsa startled upward with a cry, strangled, hoarse and excited to see something other than the four walls of her prison.

But there was no one to greet her. No one to free her from the flames. There was only light. And a voice.

"I know you can do it. Fight it, Elsa. Fight it and come home. It's time."

Elsa still didn't understand a lot of things about her situation. She didn't know how she'd ended up there, or why, or how to escape it even. But she did know that voice.

She knew that was the voice of love, of comfort, of safety. She knew that voice was her haven. And deep down, she knew if she listened to that voice, she would be safe once more.

Her brain protested, but still, her feet began to move, descending down the stairs with a feather light glide that floated her past the raging, licking flames and through the open doors.

"I'm coming home. It's time."

With every passing second it seemed Anna's heart was only crumbling more, hope slipping through her fingers like sand from a broken hourglass. The sun had set minutes ago, but even in the silvery glow of moonlight, Elsa was no closer to waking.

The physician was the one to break the long, dreadful silence. "Princess…I think-" She ignored the warning glances sent her way. "I regret to say that perhaps it is time to accept the truth."

Anna didn't budge.

"Princess, I know you continue to have hope, but the truth is-"

Anna held up a hand, trembling though it was. "I won't hear it."

Sorenson stepped closer, "But Your Highness-"

"The next person to acknowledge me with that tone will be charged with treason."

The room fell silent once more, leaving Anna to her wandering thoughts yet again.

Perhaps it was foolishness. Perhaps it was her own blind, desperate, pathetic co-dependency that kept her from accepting a truth that others had acknowledged already.

Perhaps this wasn't exactly becoming behavior for a future queen.

But damn them all to hell if they thought Anna was going to give up on her sister just like that, royalty or not.

Perhaps they had forgotten how she'd died and turned into an ice statue, and how her love for her sister had brought her back to life.

Perhaps she was crazy for hoping for unrealistic possibilities, but she would have been even crazier to give up hope when things like magical snowmen and existed. When people like Elsa and Alvar could roam the earth and perform veritable divine miracles with the snap of their fingers.

She lived in a world where there was no such thing as fantasy, because every fantastical thing that could have possibly been written into a novel was a real possibility. Because her sister was just such an example. And she would be once more.

Once she woke up.

And so, perhaps it really wasn't so improbable or impractical or pathetic to hold onto hope. There were far more fantastical things to hold onto in this universe.

She knew that first-hand.

She gripped Elsa's hand a little tighter.

Come on, Elsa. Please?

"Anna." She could feel Kristoff shifting behind her, his hands playing with the hem of his shirt. "I…" He sighed. "I think, maybe…maybe you should consider letting the physician look at her once more."

She swallowed. His meaning was clear. His delivery tactful and sensitive. But somehow, still, Kristoff's words drove a stake through her heart.

Because in this world, only Kristoff and Elsa really understood her, and if Kristoff wasn't on her side, then perhaps…

She shook her head, but whether it was a response to his suggestion or just her blatant refusal to accept this as the actual end, she didn't know. All she was aware of was that sting at the back of her throat and the light squeeze of her hand and the feeling of her heart sinking lower and lower and lower as reality began to encroach upon the fantasy that shouldn't really have been a fantasy because –

Wait.

Her eyes shot to Elsa. "She moved."

Everyone seemed to come back to life, crowding around the bed, eager to see for themselves.

Fearful of disrupting the very fragile spark of hope that her sister had lit in her weary heart if she spoke too loud and shattered this illusion, Anna leaned in.

"Elsa?"

But she wasn't imagining it. Or if she was, it was the most vivid dream she had ever had in her entire life. Because Elsa's eyelids started fluttering ever so slightly and she was clenching and unclenching her jaw in barely perceptible movements and her fingers were squeezing onto Anna's a little too hard but who was she to complain at a time like this and then suddenly, she startled awake, her eyes shooting open, those bright blue, glowing orbs alight with life and warmth and love and magic.

They opened up to the world, drinking in the sight before them before turning their beautiful gaze to meet Anna's tearful one…

And then –

"What in the world is going on here?"

Elsa didn't know what she'd expected to wake up to.

Truth be told, she didn't know what had happened to her to begin with. On the one hand, she was inclined to dismiss her strange experience as the product of some very vivid nightmare, one that had left her feeling physically weak. (Did nightmares do things like that?)

On the other hand, however, the whole situation felt too real to be a figment of her hyperactive mind. She could give her brain credit for coming up with a lot of sordid, terrifying nightmares, but this didn't feel like those.

It felt like her soul had been sucked out of her, like she had neither the energy nor the will to live because something had sapped both from her being.

In any case, whatever the situation, she had figured she'd wake up to soft sheets and a warm morning beam of sunlight filtering through her window to greet her. Maybe to a knock on the door as Anna came to check on her for their trip, maybe a reminder from a servant as to her duties.

She had not anticipated waking up and being surrounded by several weeping members of her core staff, a stranger she had never seen before and a shaking Anna, the latter of whom waited all but three seconds before launching herself into a confused Elsa's arms and whispering her gratitude to all the deities in the world as she wept with what appeared to be relief. She really did hope it was with relief.

But lost though she was, Elsa quickly allowed herself to fall back on instinct, rubbing Anna's back in a hopefully soothing gesture as she turned to her staff. "I'm going to need an explanation."

Kai obliged, proceeding to provide as accurate a summary of the weekend's events as he could muster, and though Elsa was immediately struck by how she had managed to stay asleep for three full days, she set aside her astonishment to listen to what was beginning to feel like a grave concern.

An assassin with a magical talisman? And a traitor to boot?

Her work never did seem to be finished, did it?

She looked to them all. "Kai, Gerda, I'm not sure I have the words to appreciate everything you've done over the past few days. And as for you, Kristoff, it seems my debts to you have only grown." The man blushed. "But the truth is, I'll need to process all of this before I can determine our next course of actions."

She then turned to address the new face, "Sir-"

"Alvar, my lady."

She nodded, "Alvar. I do not know how to repay my debt to you, but the least I can offer you is a place for the night." He began to shake his head, but she cut him off, "Please accept it. You saved my life. This is nothing in return."

He sighed, "It is getting late. I don't suppose I have a choice." He bowed, "Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty."

Elsa nodded, her gaze drifting to Kai. The chamberlain got the hint. "Come everyone, let us leave the queen to her rest."

The occupants were quick to shuffle out, some with relief, others with weariness that only emerged at the end of such a trying ordeal. A weariness she didn't identify with, but one she recognized all the same.

The door clicked shut behind them, granting Elsa the privacy to turn to her sister for the first time since she woke up.

Anna had long since stopped crying, but the younger sibling seemed glued to her side, her fingers digging into Elsa's nightrobe even as she steadfastly avoided eye contact.

For once, Elsa wasn't entirely sure how to broach a conversation with her sister. She'd never really had that problem before, not even after the Great Thaw, because back then Anna had taken it upon herself to fill every moment with conversation. Now, that seemed to be the last thing on her mind.

Elsa ran slender fingers through Anna's hair and braced herself, but just how was she supposed to talk to her sister, the one who'd almost had to watch her die?

"Anna…I know what happened now, but-"

"Not now." Fingers gripped her robe tighter, "Please, not now." Anna took a shaky breath. "I-I just need to feel your heartbeat right now…"

A lump lodged in Elsa's throat.

Again was the word that went unspoken. Again, because this particularly ugly nightmare had reared its head before and it seemed it would only happen again. Again, because Anna would never be afforded the chance to live her life in peace, instead trekking through dangerous forest and up difficult mountains over and over again for her sister, just to watch her almost die. Again.

Stop it. Right now, she needs you.

Elsa drew her sister closer into a warm embrace, "I'm so sorry, Anna."

A head shake was her response, "Not your fault. I-I should have...I could have..." Anna fell silent. She didn't elaborate.

Elsa didn't ask her to. It seemed neither of them were much for talking. All the sisters could do was hold each other in relief, because at the very least, they were both okay.

For now.