Chapter 6:
Keep your guard up


Anna turned to her sister with worried eyes.

"Elsa… Did you call Gale because you can't use ice and snow anymore?"

The Spirit frowned. "What? No, it's because she happened to be floating nearby and I sensed her. And in the moment, we needed a powerful blow to push the arrows away from everyone here, not to just protect the three of us."

The younger sister stared at her suspiciously.

"Tell me the truth."

"It's the truth, Anna, I swear on Ahtohallan. Though…" She sighed. "I can't deny that I'm starting to feel exhausted, and it's not because of the running."

Anna closed her eyes with a sigh. "I knew it."

Kristoff approached after he had helped a soldier stand up. Some civilians and soldiers took the opportunity of Gale's presence to be transported to medical aid.

"What is going on?"

"Elsa soon won't be able to use her magic anymore."

The blonde gasped in disbelief. "It's not what I said at all!"

She got the Queen's piercing teal blue eyes into hers. "But it's what I say. You will soon not be able to use your magic, because I decide so. If you take too much of your energy, you'll faint, and it's really not–"

"Oh, so you decide for me, uh?"

The redhead grunted as she picked up the sword of one of the bandits' corpses.

"Yes, because I'm your Queen, and this is an order."

"What?"

"I give you two or three other uses of your magic to protect us, then you stop. Understood?"

"Not, not understood!" Blurted Elsa, exaggerating her imitation of her sister. "I don't obey you!"

"Yes you do!"

"Hey hey hey!" Calmed down Kristoff.

But the sisters were fully yelling at each other now, the stressful situation easily switching their moods from one extreme to the other.

"So you can throw me through a window to keep me safe but I can't advise you to limit your magic?!"

"I'm your elder!" Threw back Elsa, now fully facing her with rage.

Kristoff physically prevented her from coming any closer to Anna, however, placing a strong hand on her chest. He actually then immediately retracted his hand, worried he had touched one of her breasts, and blushed a bit.

So the King simply stood in between them.

"Elsa, maybe you can call one of the Spirits to accompany us, and it will give you some rest. Anna, don't panic, you've got this. We'll participate in the fight. Here, pick the sword and an axe from the two thugs that the soldiers just killed over there."

The redhead grumbled, obeying his actually clever order and stomping her feet as she walked.

She mumbled to herself as she reached the corpses, and rubbed the blood out of the blade of the sword with the scarf of the bandit to make it sharp again.

"There was a closer sword." Noted Elsa, so upset that she switched to criticism, as she indicated a weapon on the ground next to another corpse.

"I know." Suddenly whispered Kristoff, and it surprised her so much that she dropped her denigration. "I needed her to be away for a moment. Listen. She means well, okay? She doesn't want to have control over you, she's just terrified for you."

Elsa blinked. Kristoff had just arrived, but he knew his wife so well that he could tell. She looked down in shame.

"You're right. Sorry."

"I'm not the one you owe an apology to. What's this I heard about throwing her through a window?" He smirked gently.

She blushed, still looking down.

Anna came back and handed the axe to her lover, who twirled it expertly. He was used to axes with the help he gave to the woodsmen and the pickaxes he worked with for years.

"Alright, any Spirits nearby?" He invited to think about, changing the topic.

"We have Bruni with us, but he's tired for now." Informed Elsa.

"Bruni?" Frowned Kristoff, and he scanned the ground. Hopefully he didn't step on him by accident.

"Here." Showed Anna, lifting her long hair to reveal the Fire Spirit on her shoulder, who blinked tired eyes at the King.

Elsa closed her eyes in focus. "One Giant is close. At his scale, I mean. We would have some walk to do."

"That explains the shaking we have been feeling for a while now." Noted Anna.

Elsa nodded. "He's roaming along the ramparts to stop cannonballs in their tracks before they hit."

The Queen couldn't help but smile. Now that was a game of catch she would love to see the Giants play at.

"ANNA! ELSA! KRISTOFF!" Yelled a familiar voice, both childish and mischievous.

They all twirled to where it came from. At a corner of the rampart, appeared a group of guards following a snowman in a sprint, and they thought for a moment that they were undercover bandits chasing him down. But in fact, it was Olaf leading his own group of soldiers.
The three of them blinked surprised eyes.

"Olaf!" Breathed out Anna when he came to tackle her into a hug. She let out a relieved sigh, hugging him back. "Are you okay? Elsa told me she sensed that you were still alright, but…"

She had expected anything but this. As they stepped back, she observed him.

The snowman had a proud grin as he wore an enemy's helmet as protection - he didn't actually need any, but it did give him an aura - and he had tied an Arendellian shield to his torso, giving him the looks of a tiny knight.

The soldiers that accompanied him also looked very serious to follow their leader, and Elsa wondered what they had missed. But they would have all the time in the world to talk about it once this mess is over.

"Where were you?" Blinked Kristoff.

If the three of them weren't dizzy from the fighting and didn't have their beating hearts drumming in their chests, they would have paid better attention and noticed that Olaf's normally white face was covered with soot.

He had a giant smile. "I fired with the cannons! And I managed to hit and drown two ships." He said proudly, raising two tiny twigs as fingers.

"He's right, Your Highnesses. I was there." Attested the closest guard, and he seemed in utter disbelief, like he hadn't recovered yet from the sight of a magical living snowman using a cannon efficiently.

"You received the cannons?" Asked Kristoff and Elsa in one voice, turning to Anna.

The Queen had a nervous smile. After all, it was normal that they couldn't tell; they didn't really get the time to lift their eyes to the rampart on the concerned side, and there were more cannon explosions from the ships.

"Ahem." Frowned the snowman. "I just said that thanks to me, we're two pirate ships down."

"That's great, Olaf, really." Complimented Elsa as she stepped forward, and she placed his helmet right as it had tilted on the side, being too large for him. "But new ones are about to arrive. Look."

She crafted him a spyglass made out of ice, so he could observe the horizon where she pointed.

In the meantime, the soldiers exchanged with their monarchs, and once they took note, Kristoff and Anna came to the same conclusion.

"Let's make two groups. Olaf and I, we'll go to town." Summarized the King. "Elsa and Anna will keep helping the soldiers on that side of the castle."

The siblings agreed, and the soldiers split.

Despite the love for her husband to see that he had the same military technique than hers, Anna watched him go with a pinch to the heart. Olaf was pretty much indestructible, but her lover was only human. Sure, he was strong, she knew that for a fact, but she still worried. Said worry however stopped when the King saw a bandit jump on a soldier and he hit him down with his axe in a powerful blow.

She grinned.

"Ma'am, this way."

She followed the closest soldier, running behind Elsa and the others.


"No no no, don't go there! This is exactly what they want, you're right in their line of fire!" Shouted Anna, to be heard from the Arendellian guard above the roaring explosions.

"But they're in danger!" He shouted back, pointing at his colleagues who were rolling on the floor in horrible pain, for some with missing body parts, and the redhead felt her stomach turn when she followed his gesture. "If we don't do anything, they will die!" Insisted the soldier.

"And if you go there, you'll die too! Stay here!"

The man frowned, and turned his back to her. He gave a quick glance to the hill where the pirate shooters likely were hiding, and ran.

However, Anna was having none of it. And actually, she was as fast as the soldier. She grumbled and grabbed his arm, tugging him back to her, and it was right in time as a bullet whistled right in front of his nose.

They stumbled together, and stood up quickly.

"You disobeyed a direct order, officer!" Yelled Anna.

The man clenched his jaw and glanced at her. "With all due respect, ma'am, you have no idea what you are doing."

"I just saved your skin! And it's Your Majesty to you!" Shouted the Queen.

Elsa turned around from where she was crafting ice shields when she heard the screams of her sister, her eyes wide in surprise.

What was happening that could be driving Anna so mad that she would say such a thing? She urged at her side, understanding that her sister must be acting without thinking, driven only by adrenaline and fear due to the dramatic situation. To be honest, her own heart was beating as loudly as the explosions around them.

She quickly understood that the reason why Anna was so upset - and continued to argue with the guard - was that he was the only remaining one at their side who hadn't been busy fighting around, or fallen, and he also happened to be stubborn. With Anna's current mood, it didn't mix well.

"Calm down, the both of you." Frowned Elsa, placing herself in between them. The hands she raised to separate them still smoked from the cold she had just sent.

"Come on, Anna, let's keep going." Asked the blonde, who preferred not to address the soldier.

The Queen grumbled and walked past her, then the two others followed after a beat.

With this change in their pace and positions, however, Anna became more exposed on the next hill, and it gave a perfect window to shoot.

Elsa saw a green blur hurry past her at the exact same time the sound of a gunshot blasted in the air. The soldier jumped in front of Anna, taking the shot for her in an explosion of blood.

The bullet hit him right at the neck, as he had jumped forward to prevent it from hitting Anna's heart. His breath got caught in his lungs from the shock and the pain, and he fell down and rolled on the ground in front of the Queen.

"NO!" Shrieked Anna, her scream piercing the air, her hands stretched forward, powerless.
Speaking of power, however, Elsa clenched her teeth and twirled around, immediately spotting the posture of the shooter based on where the soldier had been wounded, and she saw him in the distance hiding behind a large rock. She grunted and shot a blast of ice before the bandit could have the time to finish reloading. The blast hit him so hard that he was sent flying backwards, and he slammed his back on a tree, where the ice spreaded and tightened him. He struggled, in vain. She made sure that the gun was impossible to use with a layer of frost that shattered it down.

The Fifth Spirit turned around again and saw that one of the soldiers who had just ended his fight nearby and seemed to be a pal of the soldier, ran a long way to him and fell into a kneeling position on the ground. He inspected him for a moment and slipped some curses at his state.

Elsa and Anna were speechless, suspended to his lips for a diagnosis, and the man slowly looked up at them with sad eyes before shaking his head.

It was too late.

The Queen let out a cry. "NO! No no no no…"

She started to have a panic attack, and her chest was quickly waving as she stumbled backwards in terror. He was dying and it was her fault. It was her mistake. She had killed him.

The soldiers that had fallen in the corridors to protect her gave her a different impression; she hadn't seen how they died, and they didn't take a bullet in front of her, as they strategically held the opponents back by taking the fight for her while she ran. This time, it was different. So different. She could see the blood spreading on the ground, the soldier gurgling of his mortal wound…

Anna's breathing doubled in speed, her own blood beating hard at her ears and in her head.

Elsa instantly recognized the sadly too familiar panic attack on Anna's features and immediately ran to her to hold her sister's right cheek, the other squeezing her hand.

"Anna, look at me. You're not responsible. Look at me."

Devastated teal blue eyes stared at her and Elsa assembled every ounce of courage she still had in her to not cry at the sole despair she saw there.

"You are not responsible." Assured the blonde. "Breathe."

The redhead was so shocked that tears didn't even fall. Elsa's hand passed from her cheek to her hair, striking and brushing it to try to make her return to reality. She tried to soothe her, but it wasn't very effective.

"Your Highness." Said the new soldier to attract Elsa's attention, seeing well that his Queen's eyes were wide but staring at nothing. "He was–" He cut himself, then gulped. "He is an excellent soldier, I saw him grow during his years of duty at the service of the Crown… We should honor him."

Elsa nodded, and looked at her sister. Surprisingly, Anna had listened, and she shook her head with closed eyes.

"N-no, I… I can't do that, I…"

Flashes of all the bodies that had fallen to the ground for her that day chained in her mind. She clenched her eyes hard, her teeth gritting.

She was breathing heavily now, and Elsa rushed to move her away and make her sit down on a protected rock nearby, then she placed her hands on her shoulders .

"Hey, hey, hey, it's okay. Just wait here, okay?"

Anna didn't respond, but she seemed to agree, giving her elder a quick nod.

Elsa held her against her and whispered reassuring words to her ear, then kissed her forehead after she made sure that Anna was seated comfortably.

'Bruni, warm the back of her neck and try to relax her, please.' She mentally asked her fellow Spirit, who chirped in agreement.

Elsa turned to the injured soldier who still was clenching his teeth to not scream at his horrible pain and remain stoic. With a gulp and all the regal power she had, she joined him and kneeled.

Then she recognized him. It had been a while, but the soldier also used to work for her; which was logical as he was a close guard assigned to the protection of the Queen. Elsa's heart clenched; heavens knew he precisely accomplished his duty to perfection.

"Thank you for taking such good care of my sister and keeping an eye on her." She said, with a gentle and determined voice.

The soldier laughed lightly, though with a wince.

"Oh, she's the one who took care of and protected me." He smiled.

The Spirit smiled sadly. "I have no doubt."

"I'm sorry I raised my voice at her." He said, in a confession, as his eyes filled with tears.

"She forgave you already, I'm sure of it." She kept smiling.

He had a nervous laugh, and visibly suffered from it, groaning.

She saw his bleeding wound and nearly fainted at the sight. "Hold on."

Her hand glowed with blue light, and she placed her now very cold palm above his injury, to cover it from his sight and ease the pain a bit. Elsa knew of course that it was futile, in fact useless, for it was clear that he was going to die in a few seconds, given his breathing, and the quantity of blood he had lost. She knew that it was dumb to use her magic for this, but she didn't regret it. At least she did something for the poor man, refusing to let him die alone and neglected.

She held his head with her other hand, and gave him a smile when their eyes met. Elsa was about to add something when she realized that the eyes suddenly seemed to stare through her, and her smile vanished on her lips as her heart crushed to see that the man had just gone. She did not expect it to happen so fast and brutally, and let out a gasp of emotion at the unfairness suddenly seizing her. The weight of his head became heavier in her palm and she gulped with closed eyes to not show any tears; not to his departed soul, not to his soldier friend next to her, not to Anna who could still see the scene; not to anyone around them.

'Not a tear shown at Arendelle.' Fiercely thought Elsa.

Her eyes still closed, she felt the other soldier letting himself fall over his body and cry. He had been holding his grief back until now, but it exploded, as he clearly had been losing a loved one.

Touched to the core by this fact, and she could sense how exhausted everybody was, the Snow Queen opened determined azure blue eyes, a frown on her face. She flicked her wrist slowly to cancel her magic and she clenched her fingers in a fist, standing just as slowly.

"Anna."

The redhead startled at the powerful voice and the face she made when she walked to her, and Anna had the instinct to obey it, forgetting for a moment that she was the Queen. "Y-yes?"

"Stay here."

"Wh-what?" Blabbered her sister, her breathing still uneven at her panic attack, even if Bruni helped end it.

'I need to put an end to this mess.' Thought the blonde.

"Bruni, I trust you to protect her like the great Spirit you are." She asked, turning to the salamander.

She could feel him obey her, though he was confused about her departure.

"Where are y-you going?!" Asked Anna worriedly in hiccups, watching her kiss her head again then leaving quickly.

"I'll be right back. Don't move!"

And with those words, she left in the distance, leaving the redhead dizzy.

She was in a safe place, and couldn't do much more than breathing heavily until her panic attack calmed down, but she suddenly felt very angry at Elsa for leaving her. It wasn't out of insecurity, as she wasn't alone, but she did feel alone when her sister went away.

"Incoming, Your Majesty!" Announced the only remaining soldier standing near her.

He raised his sword, and Anna blinked as she quickly forced herself back to reality. She didn't know how much time she had been daydreaming, but she felt better already, her panic attack in the past. She jumped on her feet in one jolt, following the soldier's indication.

"Shit. It's a whole crew." Muttered the guard under his breath to not appear rude, but Anna heard him.

She frowned like him as she observed the trained team that ran to them, and the group of pirates expertly started to form a circle from which they couldn't escape. The circle was still large, and the soldier knew that it was now or never to try to pierce through it.

With a yell, he confronted a bandit who was his size and had a halberd, ducking at his knees and cutting both of his caps. The man roared in pain and fell, then the soldier planted his sword right through the liver of the bandit next to him.

Anna grinned at his agility and prided herself to have such an efficient army. Sadly, her joy was a few seconds long, as a pirate detached from the circle to run to him, and before Anna got the time to warn the Arendellian, and hit his shoulder blade with a mace. The knocked soldier grunted in pain, and fell head first on the ground, where he lost consciousness.

Anna's eyes widened, then scanned the men now surrounding her with no chance of escaping.

She then realized that those men had different clothing than all the bandits she had seen so far. They even matched together. Like they were part of a special crew. She wondered if they offered private protection, until a silhouette detached itself from the group.

"Well, well, well. If that isn't Queen Anna of Arendelle, completely lost to herself." Said a too-familiar voice, the snark in the tone impossible to forget. "Too bad I surrounded myself with the best men, uh?"

The redhead turned to the voice, her soul roaming with rage, though she felt some raw fear deep inside her too; she was still marked by his betrayal. The moment he had left her to die alone in a locked room in the cold was forever printed in her mind.

"Hans." She simply said through gritted teeth.

She stared at him with a stare that matched the one of a wolf. In fact, Hans looked like he had just escaped a pack of them, or maybe, she thought, he had become a lonely wolf. For his clothes were simple compared to the last time she saw him with a regal attire. He was wearing a gray and black tunic with a thick brown belt, and a beige but very dirty pair of pants. His hair was longer, uncombed and greased, he had a bushy beard, and he definitely looked like he hadn't slept in days. Weeks, maybe. She easily supposed that he had been ruminating his plan of attack day and night.

"You look pathetic." Scoffed Anna. "And I'm serious."

He frowned, clenching his jaw as well. "And you look way too young to be Queen."

Anna's face twisted at his words and she turned to a complete rage, unbottling the fury she had held since she understood that he was the mastermind behind the attack. She made the right choice to react fast: he was way too close to not grasp the opportunity. Or rather, to not hit; she tightened her right fist and threw it forward with a yell…

And an enormous outburst of fire erupted out of her stretched arm, blowing him and his men away. They all rolled on the ground, retrieving their standing positions for some while others stayed down with alarmed eyes.

Hans tapped the fire out of the arm he had raised to protect his face and widened his eyes as the gigantic flame coming out of Anna's hand kept going. She smirked then twirled on herself to make a circle with the fire and push the others away. Some had their clothes burning up and they ran away in fear and pain, rushing to the fjord to jump in the saving water. Some others twisted their bodies as the flames got the better of them and they rolled with screams at the feet of their pals. As for the men that were the furthest in the back of the group, and didn't get touched by the fire, if they didn't pee their pants and stayed still with trembling lips at the Queen's rage, they ran away like sobbing kids.

"What the hell?!" Exclaimed Hans, quickly ruffling the large part of his hair that had been burned and scorched black.

Anna heard him and immediately twirled around to point the flames at him, so he

also immediately ducked behind a rock like the nearby thugs, otherwise he would have been carbonized in an instant.

"That's right, I'm your hell, Hans!" Screamed Anna, scanning her surroundings and turning around, effectively pushing the thugs away at the same time. "Where are you hiding?"

Between the mess of the fight, the light of the fire and the attacks in a circle around her, she had lost him.

The fallen Prince held tight to his sword from his perfect hiding spot behind the rock, his breathing fast as thoughts buzzed in his mind.

'Since when does she have fire magic?' He panicked. 'How come I didn't see that in my research? Isn't she powerless? Was it planned all along that Elsa would have ice powers and she would have fire ones, but she only developed them later? Why now? Why didn't I hear about it, at least from newspapers? She surely would have played around with them like the dork she is, the town would know. Did the magical source give Elsa the power to see memories of the past and her the power to protect Arendelle with the power of a hearth?'

"Sir, sir, what do we do?" Asked one of the thugs that had been laying down behind the rock, interrupting his thought.

"Yeah, you didn't tell us that she had fire powers!" Whined another.

Hans groaned as they stared at him from each side. "Shut up! Let me think."

The sole light on the ground told them that Anna was approaching. One of the thugs was brave enough to peek on the side of the rock to watch what the Queen was doing. With a squeak, he rapidly returned to hiding. "We don't have much time. She's burning the whole place to trap us, sir."

Hans muttered multiple profanities as he was forced to change his plans.

Anna quickly came to the violent but clever decision to direct the fire in large bows forward, and soon the rock would be engulfed by the giant flames.

As she kept aiming with her arm, she lowered her head and whispered.

"Excellent job, Bruni. You're doing amazing."

The Fire Spirit chirped in between two flames at the compliment.

"I'm going to put you on the ground." She kept whispering with a smile, though whispering wasn't really useful with the roaring fire next to her. "Keep throwing flames towards that rock, slowly walking forward. I'm gonna get Elsa and we'll catch this bastard."

The magical salamander gave another chirp, this time in approval at the insult.

In fact, it had been Bruni who decided to throw the giant flame at Hans' face when he approached. He didn't like the outrage towards Anna at all, so once Hans was in range when she threw him a punch, he took malicious pleasure in burning his arm.

The Queen had reacted with perfect timing when she saw he was helping her, and the men had legitimately believed the illusion.

Anna ran as fast as she could as soon as she put Bruni on the ground.

"And don't you think for one second that I'm running away from you, Hans." She murmured, her eyes fixed on the horizon. "I'm just going to get my sister, so we can kick your ass together."

However, the adrenaline that fueled her run, due to excitement to finally have the opportunity to arrest Hans for good, eventually erased to be replaced with anger when Anna thought about Elsa. The elder had left her alone, and she still was mad at her.


When Anna finally spotted where her sister was - a not too complex task, for Elsa's outfit, despite being soiled, still was sparkling in the daylight - she let out a gasp.

"What is this idiot doing on the bridge?"

Whatever had her elder planned to do, and Elsa often had stupid ideas, this was one of the stupidest ideas she had. The Spirit was standing right in the middle of the bridge that joined the castle and the town. Was the blonde surrendering? Why was she exposing herself like that? Any bandit who would run by would be distracted from their loot at her sight and would shoot at her.

"Did she not learn a lesson from what happened to the soldier?" Grumbled the redhead, huffing as she climbed over the rubble that had fallen in between the land and the cobblestones.

"ELSA!"

When she finally reached her level, all her rage exploded out of her.

"You shithead!"

She was about to grab her shoulder to turn her toward her, when something intrigued her, and she stopped in her tracks, even retracted her hand; Elsa's posture was very focused. She didn't even react to Anna's arrival. The redhead kept standing where she was, blinking as she observed.

After a big breath in, the Fifth Spirit lifted her eyes up and rose her hands in one swift move to the sky. A huge three-dimensional curve suddenly appeared above the kingdom, very high, even way higher than the highest spire of the highest tower of the castle. Growing in a bright white circle, it expanded and soon became massive in all directions, and everyone not busy fighting or extracting people out of the destroyed buildings stopped what they were doing to stare at the magical creation growing in the air. Thick blurred ice made of the purest color went down and down and wrapped them all in a protective cocoon.

She was making a gigantic dome that was about to engulf everything.

Kristoff joined the sisters' position in a run, and nearly tripped when he raised his eyes to the sky and widened them at the astonishing sight. He stopped right before arriving at Elsa's level, in amirative shock and respect, giving her space to do the certainly tremendous task, as her face still looked very focused. In this moment more than ever, he understood why everyone called Anna the leader and Elsa the protector.

In a few seconds only, and it only took the Snow Queen a lowering gesture of the arms, the dome finished its course by completing itself at the base. It hit the ground and water surrounding the whole castle, ramparts and town, keeping everybody safe. It also allowed to trap the bandits in to make them prisoners as well as repulse the newcomers when the dome propulsed the upcoming ships away. When the bottom of it slammed the water like the edge of a glass cloche, it blasted hundreds of meters of water along the fjord, like a reverse tidal wave. An ironic note that didn't escape the Arendellians as they remembered Elsa's iconic stop of the dam's tidal wave, and they watched in shock the army of pirates getting pushed back by both a barrier of ice and a wall of water. As quickly as it formed, the water naturally dissipated, rolling along the fjord, and Elsa kept the dome where it stood, finally resting her arms along her body.

She looked at her work and let out a satisfied smile.

The magical creation gave a new atmosphere, literally and figuratively. It was like time had stopped inside; it cut the sound of the wind, and even by its tremendous size, it was like the noises and grunts and shouts from everyone inside repercuted on the ice, like they all were inside a snowglobe.

Anna was utterly impressed and remained speechless for a moment. However, staying with a dropped jaw like that, in addition to all the smoke she had inhaled since the beginning of the attack, made her throat very dry, and she coughed before swallowing saliva to retrieve her previous thoughts.

Despite being in awe at Elsa's magic range, and she allowed herself one last look at the incredible dome, she didn't stop being angry at her, and remembered that she had planned to bring her to Hans.

"Come with me, you moron."

She grabbed her sister's arm, and the blonde was startled. "What?"

"Quick! We should go b–"

Something blue and exhaling bright pink on its back zig-zagged at their feet. Anna gasped, in surprise and anger. "Bruni?! What are you doing here?! You were supposed to keep Hans and his team at bay! Literally, even!"

The tiny salamander chirped at the redhead.

"I don't even know what you're saying and neither do I care!" Grunted the Queen before Elsa even got the time to translate, and the redhead stared at him in a scolding way, stomping her foot. "I am the Fifth Spirit too, and you must obey me just as well!"

Elsa frowned. "Easy now. He did his best. Besides, I had ordered him to protect you first, so he followed you here."

The Fire Spirit turned his head to the Snow Queen, looking genuinely sorry, and explained himself. Elsa translated his chirps.

"He's saying that he did as you asked, but when he reached the stone, Hans and his men weren't on the other side. They had run away to where they came from. Which is their ship."

She then winced as she realized her mistake. "...Which I just propulsed away along with the others. Oh… I think I actually accelerated their escape…"

Anna exploded with rage, her clenched fists punching the air. "Ughh! GODDAMNIT! This is all your fault! We could have captured them! We could have captured him!" She suddenly jolted, pointing at her sister angrily.

The latter scoffed at her nerve. "I didn't do it on purpose."

She was about to add something, but Anna was so enraged that she walked away as she paced.

"Gods, if you didn't do that astonishing tide, I would… I would…"

"Slap my face?" Finished Elsa, unimpressed.

"YES!" Grunted the Queen, twirling to face her.

The blonde sighed. Anna thought for a second that it was out of sass and she was about to replicate another insult, when she saw the Snow Queen slightly lose her balance, her face pale.

"Woaw!" Gasped Anna.

Elsa raised a hand to assure her that she was fine, and she held to Kristoff's reacting arm with the other to not slam her knees on the cobblestones. She had fainted in his arms more times than she wished, but was glad that he had such protective ones.

"Thanks for being here." She smiled weakly.

"Always." Smiled the King back.

Bruni chirped next to the Spirit.

"I know, buddy." She breathed out.

Anna twitched her face from her sister to the salamander and back. "What did he say?"

Elsa chuckled sadly. "What do you think? He's worried about me. My magic is very low, and he sensed it. I sense it too, obviously, but they can't help telling me to sit down or whatever." She said, her breathing heavy like she had just ran a marathon.

The redhead frowned, her previous rage governed by confusion. "They?"

Elsa chuckled again. "Right. I forgot that you don't hear them all the time."

'All the… Time?' Repeated Anna mentally, her eyes widening.

Elsa gestured to the sky above them, meaning to englobe the world generally. "The Giants keep telling me to sit down since I made the dome. I let you imagine how much Gale is insisting to pick me up and drop me on a stretcher - she saw some in the town, apparently. Nokk is scolding her at the moment, because she's disturbing him twirling around as he's putting off the house fires."

Anna dropped her jaw and stared at her in silence for a moment while she tried to retrieve her breathing. Elsa had a weak smile.

"Don't look at me like that. My magic will come back, you know it, I just need time to recharge."

"You hear them talk to each other all the time? And they talk to you all the time?" She murmured, astonished.

Elsa blinked at her, surprised that it was the point she was focusing on, then smiled tiredly. "Not always. Not at night, for example. They still have manners." She lifted her face to the mountains, pointedly staring at it. "And right now I am fine, so they can drop the topic."

Anna felt the ground slightly shake as a Giant probably was grunting and walking away instead of preparing to help Elsa, and the Queen gasped in bewilderment at how her elder wasn't joking. The Spirits genuinely were caring and protecting her constantly.

"You said that Gale wants to put you on a stretcher… Why isn't she doing it already?" Asked the redhead, confused, as the Wind Spirit normally was really straightforward.

"Because I forbid her to do so and she's at my command." Chuckled Elsa, but her voice was serious, clearly talking to the Spirit as well.

Vexed, the Wind Spirit went flying elsewhere with a huffing tingle.

Long seconds of silence passed, and Anna felt dizzy and awkward. She looked around and understood that the reason why Elsa had been standing in that spot was to be exactly in the middle of the giant battlefield, so she could point in the sky and form a centered dome that would be optimal.

The silence was punctuated by Elsa's breathing, and the redhead felt guilt for not actually observing her, too focused on angrily dragging her to Hans.

"I…"

Anna didn't know how to formulate what she had meant to say. "Elsa, I…"

"What?" Worried the elder.

She started to regain her health, her posture better, and look at her sister in case something was wrong.

"I didn't… I'm…"

The Queen's mouth wavered with emotion.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. It's okay." Assured Elsa, raising her arm to her.

That's all it took for the redhead to launch herself forward and wrap her elder in a tight hug.

She whimpered over her shoulder as she clenched her fingers through the magical fabric of her outfit. Kristoff melted in a smile, and took a few polite steps further to give them privacy.

"Maybe not so tight," hissed the blonde. "I still need air, and it's getting rare with the fires."

"Sorry." Mumbled Anna's voice, unclenching the embrace but still staying in her arms.

The sisters closed their eyes and breathed calmly in the other's presence. They both had a strong smell of sweat and smoke, but it didn't matter.

"Elsa, I'm…" The redhead gulped over her sister's shoulder, assembling all of her courage. "I'm sorry, I truly am… I'm just enraged for my plan with Hans to have failed. I blamed you, but… I shouldn't judge you when I don't even know what's going on inside your head."

Elsa smiled. "We already had this conversation."

Anna laughed sadly, remembering their discussion on trauma. "Yeah, but that was after the Great Thaw. What I mean is, I had no idea about the Spirits. When you explained the mental bond to me, I couldn't possibly imagine… Nevermind. Now I realize that they love and want to protect you as much as I do."

She then detached from the hug. "But whether it's them or me giving advice, you rarely listen, uh?"

The Snow Queen's eyes widened and then she looked away with a blush. Anna could almost hear Gale tingling in the distance as a strong nod.

"I suppose that I should have a meeting with them to cope with your stubborn self."

"Don't." Simply grumbled Elsa.
Anna smirked as she wondered if she pushed her joke away or if she took the idea seriously and didn't want to be scolded by her fellows.

"That gigantic dome was amazing." Complimented Anna. "How are you feeling now?"

Elsa took the time to analyze her state. "Better. Really."

Her younger sister grinned. "I knew that my hugs were magical."

The blonde tilted her head. "I recharge my powers with time." She said, giving her a look. "But yes," she then shrugged, "your hugs are magical."

They laughed and tackled each other into another hug, as a ray of light passed in between the clouds.

"What a freaking day. And I didn't even have breakfast yet." Sighed Anna as she stepped back from the hug.

She then turned to the thugs that were being captured by her army. Elsa had provided a good distraction, and the soldiers had managed to take the lead.

"Y'all are very lucky that Elsa's a pacifist and that she settled for a dome!" Yelled the redhead angrily. "Otherwise she would have killed all of you in a snap!"

"Calm down." Advised her husband, while Elsa buried her face in her hand.

The King asked a lieutenant about the progress of the arrests, and the soldier nodded that they were victorious.

Kristoff then lifted his eyes to the creation once his royal mask fell in the absence of the active troops, and they sparkled with ice harvester attention. "...Flawless."

"Less admiring, more acting." Teased Elsa, tapping his back. "Let's go make sure that no thug is hiding in some place."

"Did you… Put a… Spirits unity snowflake signature?" He blabbered in disbelief, pointing at the top of the dome.

The blonde blushed slightly. "Yes, why? Am I not allowed to sign what I do?" She replied a bit abruptly.

Anna snorted. "Ah, yes, just in case someone would look at this giant ice dome from afar and wonder who the creator might possibly be."

Elsa ignored her blow and walked forward and looked at the fjord, checking that all the ships that got pushed away with the wave were not coming back. It would be a difficult maneuver, but one never knew, especially with pirates. However, no ship reappeared at the horizon.

"We won, but because of me, Hans was able to escape." She mumbled.

Anna came to stand beside her, and smiled. "Let me rephrase that. We won because of you."

Elsa sighed. "May Ahtohallan be blessed that you're a positive Queen. When you're not yelling at me." She added with humor.

"I was not entirely wrong." Insisted Anna, though she resolutely tried to forgive her. "But let's try to focus on the present time, okay? It was obvious that he would run away anyway, he's a coward and a bastard. Now, the most important thing is to take care of the victims…" She cut herself for a second at the shock of saying that out loud in her reign, and gulped. "...And the destruction. We'll have plenty of time to complain about his escape later."

Elsa gave her sister a nod, and took her hand in hers. "I'll be with you every step of the way."

Anna replied with a thankful smile.

They started to help the civilians around them, and once the soldiers did their report and attested that the kingdom and its people were safe, Elsa vanished the dome, making sure that no ice parts would fall on the houses. Gale helped her carry the snowflakes away.

Anna observed the movements the two Spirits made, then sighed. She must have looked very sad, because when the elder crossed her gaze, she gave her an interrogative look. Anna winced.

"I was thinking about how glad I am that you didn't put yourself on the other side of the dome."

Elsa's face turned sad too at the implication. "Anna…"

"Don't even try to lie and tell me it didn't cross your mind."

The blonde was about to reply, but her sister's raised finger prevented her.

"I would have slapped you really hard if you decided to keep me and the others safe inside while you took care of the bandits on your own, and exposed yourself to danger without asking me first, just to make it very clear."

Her tone was a bit too strong to Elsa's taste as she was as tired as her.

"Oh, so you hate when I'm protecting you like a baby but you hate when I leave you alone to defend yourself?" She blurted.

Anna was about to reply something about her having the bad habit of leaving her behind, when her sentence hurt her at the core.

One point each.

The Queen blushed and closed her mouth in a line. "Surely there must be a middle ground somewhere, don't you think?"

She was right, and the elder stopped in her retort. An awkward silence followed, as Elsa found herself in lack of arguments.

"Just… Don't leave me behind without instructions, for starters." Breathed out Anna.

The blonde looked down. "I understand. Sorry."

"Oh, thank goodness, I thought you two were about to fight again." Came a voice on her left, and they saw Kristoff, who was carrying a thick wooden board as he checked on them.

They laughed nervously, and he showed what he was holding. "Want to help with the clearing?" He asked his wife, knowing she liked to do physical activities to change her mind. He then turned to Elsa. "You said it yourself, more acting."

The siblings smiled back, and the three of them got moving.


Their mood however switched from happiness to grief a few hours later when they walked among the covered bodies that had been transported and deposited on the ground in an isolated place of the town. Hand in hand, the sisters slowly walked between the two rows of victims. On one side were the soldiers that had fallen for the country, and on the others, the people who had suffered collateral damage. It was horrible to see that they were almost at equal numbers, and Anna's hand squeezed Elsa's in emotion.

The blonde looked at her sister. Anna may have been giving a remarkable Queen speech on the market place earlier, with notions of justice that formed a knot in her elder's throat, and words filled with hope to bring resolution back on the Arendellians' faces, she still had trouble coping with that awful reality that was theirs now, staring at the funeral bags laid on the cobblestones.

Anna sniffed, but didn't shed any tears. In fact, she hadn't shed any tears, even when they went back to the castle to get themselves cleaned in the only bathroom still intact, and Olaf even pointed it out discreetly to Kristoff. It's the discreet way he did that shocked Kristoff and Elsa; even the usually joyful and childish snowman knew that there would be a before and an after the attack.

While Anna talked with the people personally, approaching the mourning families one by one reunited around the victims, shaking sad hands and rubbing backs, Elsa looked up at the clock tower and was astonished to see how little time had passed. They had taken the time to help around, clean up, have an urgent meeting then wear mourning clothes, and yet it was barely noon.

Elsa sighed, taking in the fact that a new chapter had been forcefully turned.

Later on, the surprise attack would be known in Arendelle's History as the Collapse.


When Kai and Gerda finally met Anna and Elsa again, they insisted that they should have a decent meal. They knew that they both had rushed out of bed that morning, and the battle had taken a heavy toll on them. The pair of butler and maid had been there since the girls were toddlers, and they had the right arguments to make them ceide. It was difficult for the sisters to accept being fed among the ruins of the kitchens by harmed maids, but the women were genuinely happy to help, especially since the siblings had saved their lives. Anna recognized among them, despite her fuzzy mind, the woman whom she had accompanied in the corridors earlier. The latter nodded gently as she served her water.

Kai even observed closely and waited until they both finished eating to make sure that they had plenty of nutrients. They needed it before the rest of the day, which, even the butler knew, would be filled with heartbreaking feedback.

Having the sisters eating in the kitchens also was an efficient way to avoid them seeing the evacuation of the corpses in the dining room.

Kristoff, who was coordinating all of the logistics, later thanked the staff deeply for what they did, and promised to look at what honorary titles a King could give because they all deserved one.

Coping with everything, taking care of the people as much as the staff and cleaning up the castle's broken furniture during the afternoon was exhausting. When night fell, when the last council meeting eventually ended and once they saluted and thanked everyone, both Anna and Elsa turned to each other and had the same idea to sleep together. After sending a reassuring message to Honeymaren via Gale - and the Wind Spirit informed that the Northuldra were safe - Elsa set up the living room, the only place of the castle that was safe from eventual crumbling and not stained with blood, for her family to all sleep together. She demanded that Anna and Kristoff take the couch while she piled cushions for her next to it to form a makeshift bed.

The Queen had instantly replied that the Spirit needed rest just as much as they did, and should have as much comfort, but Elsa threatened to freeze her to the couch if she refused. She then reminded her that her mattress in her goahti was made of pine tree branches, and that she ended up loving it, so sleeping on cushions truly didn't bother her.

After Anna's grumble, they all laid down to sleep, Olaf curling on a cushion and resting his head on Elsa's leg while she was on the floor next to the couch, Kristoff spooning Anna protectively. The latter enjoyed the embrace in her back and rested a hand over his arm, while she placed her other hand in Elsa's as they whispered to each other long after the boys were asleep.

The castle had finally turned to silence, their ears had finally stopped ringing, the air had stopped smelling like death, burnt wood and gunpowder, the staff and army had finished moving around furniture, and everyone finally settled down after that day that felt like it lasted three.

The siblings were relieved to look at each other with calm and quiet surroundings, losing themselves in the gaze of the other. Their chatting quickly faded, though, as their eyelids felt heavy; they were so exhausted that they both fell asleep at the same time, their hands slowly losing their mutual grip to rest into each other.


Author's Note:

The Flangst(TM) is baaack!

Yep, this chapter was shorter than the previous one. It probably is the shortest of the whole fic, because it initially was part of the 5th chapter, but it had grown too big and I had to split it up. My brain is VERY productive when there's drama lol.

Hope you like the story so far! Please leave a comment, it means a lot! :D