Elsa finds herself standing in the middle of a frozen wasteland, naked, and completely alone. The wind whips all around her, accompanied by a heavy, unending snowfall. Strewn around are the broken remnants of stone and wood buildings slowly being covered by the storm. She looks around in confusion, trying to figure out what this place is, and how she got here.

"Elsa?" A ghostly female voice whispers in the wind.

Elsa slowly turns. Appearing out of the snow, like a ghost, is Anna. "Anna? What are you doing here? What is this place?"

Anna slowly approaches, not even leaving a footprint in the deepening snow. And it's just as Elsa feared: Anna wasn't a physical being. "How could you, Elsa?" Anna asks. "How could you do this?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

Anna kneels down and, without breaking eye contact, brushes away the snow from one of the many dead bodies strewn about. Elsa gasps when the body is revealed to be Anna herself! Long frozen solid, a look of fear and pain etched on her face. "You did this Elsa." Anna says menacingly as she stands. "You did this."

"No! No, I didn't!"

Anna points to something over Elsa's shoulder. Elsa turns, afraid of what might be there. A simple wooden sign, covered in snow, decorated with icicles. Anna silently urges her to read it. Elsa brushes away the snow, revealing the hand-carved lettering underneath.

BEHOLD, AND STAND IN FEAR OF ALL I HAVE BUILT

FOR THIS IS MY LEGACY

-Queen Elsa

She uncovers the smaller part of the sign.

ARENDELLE

"No! No, it's not true! This is impossible!" Something far away echoes and booms all over the valley in threes. Then three more. Everything around Elsa bends, warps, and disappears. In the next instant, Elsa wakes up in the bathtub, gasping for air.

"Elsa?" Anna calls from the other side of the bathroom door. "Elsa, are you OK in there?"

It had all come back to Elsa. "I'm fine!" She replies. The water that was once boiling hot is now ice cold. "I'll be out in a minute!" Elsa notes the few snowflakes wafting down from the ceiling.

As she towels off, Elsa remembered that she asked Gerda, the head of the household, to make the water as hot as possible. And hotter still. It was so hot that the staff members carrying the pots had to do so with small towels and mitts. Satisfied, Elsa lowered herself in.

She screamed in pain at first. Something primal erupting from somewhere deep inside her. Even the worst the guards at the asylum inflicted on her was never as bad as this. Eventually, she got used to it, and washed herself off. Years of dirt, dust, grime, and torture. All of it washed down the drain.

And she felt a little better. Just a little. She gets a look at herself in the full length mirror, and notes how thin she has gotten. It seems like a constant diet of whatever bilge the asylum had left her a little thin…maybe too thin. Just one more thing to worry about, she supposes.

She pulls on a blue silk robe, and finally emerges. She sees Anna staring out the window. "There you are!" Anna says. "You were in there for a couple hours. I was getting worried. Gerda laid out some clothes for you, and promised to have dinner ready shortly. How are you feeling?"

Elsa says nothing. Instead, she just reaches out, wrapping Anna in an almost desperate embrace. "I missed you." Elsa whispers, as she fights the urge to cry.

"I missed you too."

After a few moments, Elsa pulls back. "You know I would never hurt you, right? That what happened was just an accident?"

"I know. That's what I tried telling our parents, but they wouldn't listen. I was more scared of never seeing you again. Look-" Anna gestures to the window. "You're home now. That's what matters most."

Outside, the capital was coming to life. People coming and going, living their lives, just as they always have. "Does anyone know I'm back yet?"

"Not yet. We thought it was best to keep it quiet until you were ready."

"Good. I do have to ask: what happened to our parents?"

The one conversation Anna was dreading. It was going to happen sooner or later. It couldn't have waited until later? Much later? Or not at all? That would've been preferable. "Get dressed, and meet me in the dining hall. I'll tell you everything."

WHAT HAS GONE ON BEFORE

King Agnarr rushes through the ship to find his wife. Exasperated, he finds her in their cabin, hastily scrawling a letter. "What are you doing?" He shouts, trying to make himself heard above the storm. "We're taking on too much water! We have to abandon ship!"

"I'm telling Anna the truth!" Iduna carefully rolls up the letter, stuffing it in a bottle. "Maybe we still have a chance to fix this!"

They take off, making for the lifeboats. "As long as Elsa is cursed, she'll never be queen!"

"And maybe we were wrong about that!" The climb into the boat, along with several other crew. All along the deck, other lifeboats are being similarly lowered. Alla round, thunder booms,and lightning cracks. "She is our daughter! Things could've been different! Things…should've been different!"

The small boats are lowered into the violent waves. Up ahead, a towering iceberg crashes into the royal vessel, shattering it like was matchsticks.

"All the search party found was debris from the ship. The bottle was found drifting among it." Anna's voice is thick with emotion. "So far, there haven't been any survivors."

Elsa carefully studies the spoonful of stew she was about to eat. She still wasn't sure how she felt about losing her parents. One the one hand, they raised her. One the other, they did throw her in a prison. "Will there be a service?"

"I don't know. Do you think we should?"

"Maybe. After my coronation, of course."

"After you get better. You need to rest and relax a bit." Anna insists.

"Yes, your majesty." Elsa quips.

Over the next few days, Elsa's health came roaring back. The main motivating factor being crowned queen. As far as Anna was concerned, Elsa had spent way too many hours in the day making sure all the details were just right. Still, she couldn't deny her own excitement. The castle was coming to life again! It had sat completely empty since the incident, and was practically abandoned.

Clean curtains. Clean rugs. All the dust, gone. Clean dishes. Everything had been set. All they needed was the ceremony itself.