Hey y'all! I just wanted to thank you so much for sticking with this story and to let you know that some mysteries are soon to be revealed! I'm super excited right now honestly!

Enjoy!

~Queen Isabelle

I think you hide so much you feel inside

But I know deep down there's a fire burning bright

From where you stand it might not be clear

But you shine from here

~You Shine, Carrie the Musical

Chapter Twelve: You Shine, Part 1

Marshall had somehow found out about Elsa's impromptu late night walk. After nearly an hour of lecturing from her bodyguard as well as her parents, leaving Elsa to feel more like she was twelve than twenty, it was agreed that Elsa was no longer allowed to leave the house without Marshall. Additionally, her parents had decided to install a new security system, which essentially shut the house down from ten o'clock at night to seven o'clock the next morning. No one was able to get in or out without the passcode, which only Agnarr, Iduna, and Marshall knew, effectively shutting down any more ideas for late night strolls.

The only person who was unhappier than Elsa about this new arrangement was Anna.

"This is completely ridiculous!" Anna yelled, fuming. Steam was practically coming from her ears. "You're only doing this so that I can't see Hans!"

"Anna, this is for your own good. Elsa's safety is at risk, and by extension, so is yours," Iduna said calmly, a hand reaching out to sooth her youngest. Anna whipped around to glare at Elsa.

"So this is your big master plan, huh? You just conveniently snuck out for the first time in your life the night that Hans and I announce our engagement, and now we're locked away from the outside world!" Anna raged.

"It's only during the night, Anna," Agnarr said. "You can still see that boy during the day." Anna paid no attention to him, only raised a challenging eyebrow at her sister. Elsa stared at her in exasperation and a little bit of disbelief.

"Yes, Anna. I acquired a stalker, put my figure skating career on hold, moved back home, and took a midnight walk all to spite you. My one goal in this world is to ruin your life," Elsa deadpanned. Anna let out a sound halfway between a scream and a groan and stomped upstairs.

That had been the last conversation Anna had had with her family in nearly a week, aside from asking for the potatoes at dinner.

Elsa groaned just thinking about it, a hand coming up to rub at her forehead.

"What's up, Snow Queen?" Jack asked, coming up to the cart with a package of pink paper party cups. Elsa took note and scratched that item off of their list.

"Thinking about Anna, as usual," Elsa said. Jack sighed as he unceremoniously dumped the cups into the cart and came around to stand next to her.

"She'll get over it. Don't worry about it, kid," Marshall said from his place behind her. He was never far from her side now, even when she was doing something as simple as shopping for party supplies. Jack was so used to Marshall's presence that he barely even flinched at the sound of his voice any more. Barely.

"He's right, you know," Jack said. "After this awesome party we're throwing her, there's no way that Anna can stay mad at any of us. She'll wake up tomorrow morning and be back to being the quirky, adorable Anna that we all know and love."

Elsa admired Jack's optimism, but a large part of her didn't believe him. In fact, a large part of her suspected that he didn't really believe himself. And yet, they were still going through with the surprise party.

"Are you sure I'll be able to get her to Oaken's? Maybe we should ask… Hans…" Elsa hated the idea of asking her sister's fiancé for any type of favor, but she wasn't sure that any of them were on good enough terms with Anna to convince her to go anywhere with them.

"Nope, you've got this. Plus, he's apparently out of town this weekend," Jack said. He gently nudged Elsa out of the way and began pushing the cart down the aisle in search of the rest of their needs. Elsa hurried to catch up to him.

"Seriously? He's not going to be here for Anna's birthday?" Elsa asked, shocked.

"I figured you'd be happy about it. I know Kristoff is. Hell, I kind of am too. I really didn't want to put up with that douche tonight," Jack said.

"Sure, I'm glad I won't have to play nice, but that doesn't mean that I want Anna to be miserable on her birthday." Elsa wrapped her arms around herself. She felt like a terrible sister, not liking the guy Anna was in love with.

"She won't be miserable. We've got the party!" Out of nowhere, confetti his Elsa in the face. She spluttered and wiped at her eyes. When her vision was clear, she saw Jack smirking at her, a small bag of shredded paper and glitter in his hands.

"Jack, did you open that?" Elsa demanded, reaching for it. He laughed.

"We're buying it, relax!" he said, running away from her to the other end of the cart. Elsa spun around to her bodyguard, who seemed to be hiding a smile.

"Are you laughing at this? He just attacked me! Isn't your job to protect me from attacks?" Elsa asked in exasperation. Marshall stared at her.

"It was glitter, Elsa," he said. Jack lost it, his laughter ringing throughout the store as he clutched at his stomach. Elsa glowered.

"I'm going to get the table clothes," Elsa said, looking down at the list and choosing the first thing she saw. She pointed at Marshall. "You stay with the cart." Elsa turned on her heel and marched down the aisle, eyes scanning for a sign of where party supplies might be. The sound of footsteps followed her and she groaned.

"Elsa, wait up!" Jack said, catching up to her easily. He was slightly out of breath from his laughing fit, causing him to place a hand on her shoulder for balance. Elsa shrugged it off.

"Hey, hey, hey, wait! Wait! Are you seriously mad at me?"

Elsa looked at him. "There is glitter in my eyelashes."

Jack bit his lip to stifle his laughter. Elsa involuntarily followed the movement, then shook her head. Gaining control of himself, Jack held the bag out to Elsa.

"Go on," he said, bouncing it in his hand.

"Go on with what?" Elsa asked.

"Get me back. Throw some at me."

"Seriously?"

"If it means you'll stop glaring at me, then yes. I didn't know you were such a poor sport."

Elsa's eyes flashed at that comment. Before he could react, she snatched the bag from his hand and dumped the remaining contents onto his head. Glitter and confetti rained down on him, sticking in his hair and shoulders. He gaped at her.

"You're going to look wonderful at the party tonight," Elsa said sweetly, giving the empty plastic bag back. "And by the way, I handle pranks just fine. I just don't enjoy being nearly blinded at a supermarket." Satisfied with her work, Elsa continued to search for table clothes.

At the end of the aisle, guarding the cart as Elsa had ordered, Marshall chuckled at the two young adults arguing. Over the past week, he had found that he actually liked Jack. The kid had stopped by every day to see Elsa, talking and joking with her. Marshall didn't think that he had ever seen his charge so carefree; it was a nice light in the darkness surrounding her.

Marshall watched as Elsa dumped the remaining confetti on Jack and primly turned on her heel. He saw the look of surprise and adoration on Jack's face before he could school it back into his usual look of cool mischief. Normally, Marshall was tasked with shooing away any potential suitors, but he had a feeling that Elsa's relationship with the young man wasn't just friendly.

Marshall was equally nervous and hopeful about it, to be honest. While he knew that Elsa wasn't particularly fond of relationships, he thought that Jack was good for her—a comforting, cheerful presence amidst all of the drama concerning the threats and her fight with Anna. Marshall liked that Jack managed to draw Elsa out of her shell, so long as she was protected when she ventured out.

Marshall felt a flicker of irritation and worry, thinking about last week. The pictures that had found their way to the Winters' doorstep. The freak who had been threatening Elsa was getting cocky. Agnarr and Iduna had expressed their concern that the stalker might make their move soon and do something to Elsa. But that was what Marshall was here for, to protect the elder Winters child. And Marshall took his task seriously. Dead seriously.

"How does the banner look?" Kristoff called down from his perch on the ladder. Elsa wasn't sure who exactly he was asking—Jack was messing around with the music, Rapunzel was flitting from place to place checking on the decorations, and Elsa herself was in charge of making sure the food was all correct. No one was exactly concerned with the banner, which had HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANNA! written on it in a large pink font.

"I think it looks okay," Elsa said, after no one else had answered. Kristoff gave her a thumbs up and began to descend the ladder.

"Whoa, hey, Kristoff, can you hang the left side of the banner up a little more? It's crooked," Rapunzel said before dashing off to the opposite end of Oaken's. Kristoff looked at Elsa in exasperation, who shrugged.

"I probably wasn't the best person to ask," she admitted. Kristoff simply sighed and began messing with the banner once more.

"Okay, so, I think we're good for you to go and get Anna," Jack said, coming up to stand beside her. Elsa wrapped her arms around her waist.

"I really think someone else should go get her…" Elsa began, but Jack held up a hand, effectively cutting her off.

"Elsa, we've been over this. Your parents texted Anna this morning, saying that they wanted to have a family dinner here, at Oaken's, and that you would be picking her up after your practice. It's all set up. I can't go get her for a family dinner," Jack said, the duh in his voice very heavily implied. Elsa sighed.

"You act like it's so easy," she complained.

"It is easy. I promise."

"Nothing with Anna is ever easy."

"You've got me there."

Elsa sighed again and looked down at her shoes, pressing the heels together. There was a whisper of contact against her arm, the ghost of a hand, before it dropped as if it were never there.

"Everything is going to be okay. You're just picking Anna up. I can even text you your line if you want," Jack said. Elsa snorted softly and looked up at Jack through her eyelashes.

"And what is my line?" she asked.

"I don't know. 'Anna, let's go'? 'Anna, I'm here'? I've got some time to think of one before you get there, don't worry," Jack said. He smiled at her, and Elsa couldn't help but smile back.

"Okay. You're right. I'm overreacting. I'll let Marshall know that it's time for us to go," Elsa said, nodding her head to psyche herself up.

"Exactly! What could go wrong?"

It was official: Anna was having the worst birthday of her life. Not only was her fiancé out of town, but her family had decided to have a 'special dinner' tonight, which Anna knew was going to be some sort of intervention. As if they hadn't made their opinions about Hans known last week.

Anna let out a groan, flopping onto her back on the dusty attic floor. She had decided to come up here around noon, wanting to look through some old childhood stuff for some happy memories. So far, she had come up short. Sure, her own baby box was cute and adorable, but she wanted more. She wanted intrigue. Drama. Romance. Then again, this was her family that she was talking about, so it wasn't surprising that she had come up short.

Anna sighed, looking at the scrapbook she had found earlier. Rolling to her side, Anna opened the book to see pictures of her and Elsa when they were kids, before Elsa had left for Norway. There was a whole page dedicated to the day Anna was born, with toddler Elsa eagerly looking at her in every picture. The best one was of Elsa sitting on Mama's lap, holding baby Anna and kissing her forehead.

The next few pages were of them growing up: Halloweens, Christmases, Easters. Matching outfits and costumes. Playing together in the snow. Beaming at Elsa's skating performances. And then, the pictures stop. Just like in real life.

Anna sighed again and closed the scrapbook, hauling herself up into a sitting position. She probably needed to clean this up. She probably needed to clean herself up as well, but she wasn't going to. It was a small form of rebellion against her parents, but it was a rebellion nonetheless. Anna reached to pick up the scrapbook to place it back in its box, but her grip on the book was too weak. She lost her hold and the book fell to the ground, splaying open. Anna winced.

"Shit," she said, getting to her knees and picking up the book. It's fall must have jostled something because a fat manila envelope tumbled to the floor, several pictures inside sliding out. More pictures of Elsa's childhood figure skating career. But these pictures were different.

Instead of pictures of Anna and Elsa, they were pictures of Elsa and a man on the ice. He was short for an adult, with a large nose and a balding spot on his head. He wore a sports jacket, with the name of Elsa's old skating rink stitched onto it beside a singular snowflake. Was he an old coach? Some of the pictures also had Anna with the pair, giving Elsa flowers, and others included their parents. Nevertheless, the feature of the photographs were Elsa and the strange man.

Anna flipped through them, seemingly both slowly and quickly. She watched as Elsa grew older, baby fat beginning to melt away, hair changing from a barely-there ponytail to a classic French braid. She also watched as her smiles became more forced, as the man found some way to always be touching her. Anna felt a nasty thing growing in the pit of her stomach. There was a dark cloud floating over these pictures, over her head. There was something off about the man and the pictures themselves. But what bothered Anna most of all was why she didn't recognize the man. She was pictured with him several times. He seemed to be Elsa's coach.

"Anna," Elsa's voice was tinny, almost quiet, floating up from nearly three floors. "Are you ready to go?" Anna pushed the pictures back into the envelope, save for one which she held tightly in a trembling hand. She forced herself to her feet, to travel down the attic ladder and the stairs to reach her sister.

Elsa stood in the foyer, arms wrapped around herself and glancing around as if she had never been there before. Almost a month in the house, and she still looked as if she was a guest. Anna watched as Elsa's face flooded with relief at the sight of her. Her sister gave her a small smile.

"Hey, happy birthday," she said shyly. Anna shook, with anger or shock or fear or disgust she didn't know. She held up the picture in her hand, the one where the man had Elsa on his shoulders. Elsa was holding a first place trophy, dressed in a blue, sparkly dress; she should be beaming with pride. Instead, she grimaced at the camera, eyes filled with fear. The Elsa that stood in front of her looked much like her childhood counterpart.

"Who is this man, Elsa?" Anna asked.

Yay! One chapter away from the big reveal! Ugh, I'm so excited. As always, please follow, favorite, review, etc. Who do you think the man is? Does he have something to do with why Elsa was sent away? Is he the stalker...? (I, of course, know these answers, oops.)

Again, thank you for sticking with me. I truly think the payoff is coming up!

~Queen Isabelle