I'd like to thank everyone who has stuck with this story for so long and especially the two guest reviewers who had provided some awesome feedback. I hope to hear more from you guys for this next chapter.

Yes, it was watching Frozen 2 that gave me the motivation to jump back into this one, and I plan on finishing it…. eventually.

Anyways, read and review and on with the show.

Chapter 8: …. is bright.

"She was bitten!"

"Oh gods Simon! You're bitten too!"

"You have a bite on your arm!"

"It was just a scratch!"

Elsa listened in horror while the panicked voices of her people flooded her senses. Bitten? Does that mean that they were werewolves now? Why weren't they changing?

Then one statement stuck out to her. Sounding as loud as if it was right here.

"We have to kill them! Their wolves now!"

Her head snapped in the direction of an elderly man trying to rally people to his cause. "They were bitten, they have to be killed." he repeated.

"We need to kill them before they turn, right?!" Without waiting for a response, he headed to the closest person who had claimed to have been bitten.

BANG!

Everyone froze.

Cynthia had taken one of her six shooters and had taken a shot into the air before aiming the smoking barrel at the instigator. "Take another step and they'll be scooping your brains off the walls."

The silence was so potent a pin could be heard being dropped from outside the castle.

"Well, she cant stop all of us." This time it was a woman on the other side of the hall. If anyone had blinked they would have missed Cynthia drawing her other pistol and pointing it at her forehead.

"Wanna bet?"

Once again. Silence.

"Okay!" Olaf bounced towards her. "How about we all settle down and give each other warm hugs!" He threw his twig arms around Cynthia's leg. As he squeezed his eyes drifted to Gerda and the ripped fabric of her tunic. "HEY! Her bites gone!" Elsa followed his finger, sure enough Gerda's bite had vanished.

Elsa began frantically shaking her head. "No. No this can't be happening." She put her fingers to her temples. "I need to… I need to go." She knew she shouldn't have, she knew her people looked to her for strength, guidance and care, but she couldn't be there. She had to leave, if only for a moment, she had to leave.

"Elsa?" She could hear her sister calling after her, but she ignored her. She had to get away.

—:0:—

The sun had started to peak over the Arendelle mountains, allowing the warmth of the morning sun to bleed through the castle windows. With the commotion mitigated for a moment, Drake and Cynthia stepped out into the hall.

The exhausted young man ran his hands through his dark brown hair before letting them fall over his neck. His fingers traced over open wounds on his neck and shoulders.

"Told ya the tunic was useless." Cynthia muttered. "Your leather vest will give you more protection."

Drake chuckled. "Cuz your always right, right?" He turned to her with anger pushing down his brows. "Except now. These aren't werewolves, Cynthia. What are they?"

"They are werewolves." She defended. "You know how there are different sub species of animals? Grizzly Bears and black bears? Both bears, just different kinds. These are werewolves, just different than what we're used to."

Drake waved her off. "Okay fine. Same but different, whatever, but what do we do now?!" Drake then saw something his face Elder sister do something she hadn't done since they were kids. She started chewing her nails. "Oh god."

She caught herself and quickly pulled her fingers from her teeth. "It's nothing."

"Horse crap. You only do that when something is seriously wrong. Do you know what's happening here?"

"No!" She yelled as she tucked her hands into her armpits to keep from chewing them. "It wasn't supposed to be like this!"

He looked at her oddly. She was now talking to herself, pacing around the hallway with her head down and away from him. "What are you talking about? Didn't father teach us to be prepared for anything."

She ignored him as she began chewing her nails again. "This was supposed to be a simple mission. In and out."

He finally grabbed her arm. "Cynthia, what are you talking about?"

Looking into his eyes she was contemplating whether or not to tell him, but she knew it would be useless to try and hide something from him.

"We're not just here to hunt a monster." She finally said. "Dad had another mission for me, concerning the snow queen."

Drake twisted his face in confusion, but then it finally hit him causing him to drop his hand from her arm. "He wanted to know if Elsa was dangerous. Didn't he?"

She gave a curt nod. "Can you blame him? I mean she had a panic attack and covered her kingdom in ice. Hell she created a LIVING THING, even for magic that's not usual."

His voice rose. "Elsa isn't dangerous!" A more horrifying thought entered his mind. "What was he going to do if she was dangerous? Lock her away like they did to uncle Draco?"

She ripped her finger from her mouth again. "It doesn't matter. Elsa isn't as dangerous—"

"She's not dangerous at all! She doesn't know HOW to be dangerous."

She turned her back to him. "Like I said, it doesn't matter."

He grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. "It does matter! This whole time you were looking for an excuse to report back to dad that she's some sort of monster or something! But the fact is, we've never met a more kind hearted pair of sisters."

She jerked her shoulder away. "Do you want me to say I was wrong? Fine. I was wrong!" She threw her hands out in a mocking fashion, "Hey ho, full of herself Cynthia was finally wrong! There. Happy!" She spun on her heel and began to walk away. He took a step forward but she yelled after him. "Don't follow me Drake! Just leave me alone." She stomped away leaving a heavy tension in the space between the siblings.

—:0:—

It had taken some time for Anna to settle the anxiety In the great hall, but Once it seemed that all was well Anna made her way to the exit.

On her way out, Kristoff gently took her by the arm. "Anna, Where are you going?"

She looked back at him with worry disguised as determination. "I've got to find Elsa. We need her here."

Kristoff seemed like he was about to object, but shut his mouth, kissed her on the forehead and released her.

Anna began searching all of Elsa's usual spots around the castle, such as her room and the kitchen, but found no one. Once she had finished searching the common places, including the bathroom, she tried opening doors to random rooms.

"Elsa!" She called to the empty room. "Nothing." She shut it and tried another room. "Elsa! Nope. Elsa! Ugh-no!" Next room. "Els—Oh." This room wasn't empty, but wasn't occupied with anyone she was expecting.

Cynthia spun towards her, surprised by Anna's sudden intrusion. "I'm sorry." Anna held her hands up, "I was just…" Her voice trailed off when she noticed that Cynthia was subtly trying to wipe her nose and puffy eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Of course," she sniffled, "I'm great."

Anna could hardly believe what her eyes were telling her. It had only been a few days since she'd known Cynthia, but she never came off as a crier.

"You're sure? I mean—"

"I'm okay your highness!" Cynthia snapped and turned her back to her.

Anna narrowed her eyes and stomped toward her. "I usually don't do this, but your attitude calls for it." She cleared her throat and held her chin high, "as princess of Arendelle you will not speak to me in such a manner. Is that clear?"

Cynthia begrudgingly composed herself and spoke through slightly clenched teeth. "My apologies, your highness."

"Good. No seeing as you work for me still I order you to tell me what's bothering you ...please… if you want."

Cynthia raised a brow, but couldn't suppress a tiny giggle. "Yes ma'am." She sighed, turning back to face the wall. "All of this is my fault. If I had listened to Drake this might not have happened."

Anna shrugged a shoulder. "Yeah you're probably right. With his plan we might have been able to find the wolf faster. My question is why didn't you want to do that?"

Cynthia sighed again and began chewing her nails. "I don't know. I just… he's my little brother…"

"So what? His opinion doesn't matter?"

Cynthia turned her head sharply to glare at Anna. "Of course it does!" She shuffled her shoulders after her outburst. "It's just… I'm his big sister. I'm supposed to have all the answers. Ya know? When we were kids and studied and worked together, he always came to me for help. Our father rode him pretty hard, but he never had to pretend with me."

Anna nodded. "You looked after him?"

Cynthia smiled. "We didn't have a mother growing up, so I kinda took the roll."

"Awe," Anna clasped her hands underneath her chin and made an adorable face. "Your little boy is growing up."

She scoffed, but shrugged. "I suppose so." She let out a long breath. "At the same time I'm ready for him to spread his wings. Literally."

"That reminds me," Anna suddenly said, "why hasn't he changed into a dragon? I mean I guess he hasn't needed to, but still. I wanna see a dragon."

Cynthia couldn't help but laugh, but as she was about to respond the door opened a crack enough for Kristoff to poke his head in.

"Oh thank goodness you're here." He breathed. "You have to come with me. Gerda has made a decision and you need to talk to her."

"What decision?" Cynthia asked.

Kristoff's eyes drifted to the weapon holstered at her hip and it was easy to draw a conclusion.

—:0:—

Elsa's fingers gripped the windowsill, the pressure behind her eyes had finally built to the point that she needed a release. She felt her icy touch reach out, covering the ground, windows and walls in ice. She wiped her eyes free of tears as she took another look around her. She was sure that Anna wouldn't think to look for her in a random hall down in the guest wing of the castle.

"What am I going to do?" She whispered to herself. "First people have died, and now Gerda…" she put her hand over her mouth trying to repress a shiver of horror. What was going to happen to Gerda? Was she a monster now...just like her.

"WHA!"

She let out a small "eep" when she heard someone hit the ground with a "Thud". Someone slipping on her Ice no doubt.

"Oh no." She hurried down the hall until she came upon Drake, who, sure enough, had slipped onto his behind because of her ice. Her worries momentarily forgotten, She suppressed a laugh.

He looked up at her, laughing mockingly. "Yeah, yeah laugh it up." He put his hand onto the ground, melting some of the ice so he could stand on solid ground, and got to his feet.

"I'm sorry." She quickly gained composure of herself. "I wasn't aware that anyone else was down here. I thought I could," she gestured to the ice on the ground, "vent my frustrations." She waved her hands to remove the ice.

"Yeah. I know the feeling." He sighed. "The whole 'weight of the world on your shoulders' kinda thing. But in my case it's just one kingdom."

Her brows furrowed in anger and agitation. "Well for me, it IS my world."

He hadn't realized his mistake until it was too late. Horrified he tried back peddling. "Well—no I—I didn't mean anything by—I'm so sorry…"

She wanted to be mad, but seeing the look of genuine guilt on his face, she couldn't be. She knew the look all too well the night of the accident and she would be forced to look at herself in the mirror.

She sighed and put up her hand to stop him. "It's okay. You didn't mean anything by it."

He seemed relieved, but was still guilty. Drake moved passed her and made his way to the window looking over the fields of Arendelle.

"I can not express just how sorry I am." He said quietly. "It's our fault your people are in this position, and I don't know how to fix this."

In some strange way, Elsa could almost hear the same conversation being had a couple years ago when she had covered her kingdom in ice. She too had made a horrible mistake and had no idea how to fix it.

He continued. "You asked us here to help and we've only made things worse."

"We don't know that." She found herself saying. "For all we know this was bound to happen, and if it wasn't for you then we would be in even more trouble than we already are." He leaned onto his elbows as another question came to her. "May I ask why you seem hesitant to change into your dragon form?" He turned his head to her, surprised by her question. "You were arguing with your sister about it. So I was curious."

He exhaled, fogging up the window glass and began doodling a small dragon with his finger. "You probably know this, but having that kind of power is both intoxicating and horrifying. For me, whenever I even think about changing, I just see fire, as blue as the ocean, destroying everything it touches." He finished the doodle on the fogged glass. "All fire can do is destroy."

Elsa looked at the dragon on the window and an idea came to her. "I need to show you something."

He was confused. "What?"

"Come with me." She turned around and started down the hall.

"Wait wait, where are you going?" He called.

"First were going to the horses. Then I've got to show you something." Excitement bubbled inside of her. Maybe she would be able to help someone the same way Anna had helped her.

—:0:—

"Whoa. Y-you did this?"

Elsa followed his line of sight to the ice palace before them. "Yup." She dismounted her horse and made her way up the icy staircase, motioning for him to follow her. "This was a couple years ago. Sometimes, I come up here if I really need some time to myself." Coming to the enormous ice doors they slowly began to open revealing a giant ogre shaped snowman giving a small bow to the snow queen.

Elsa bowed back as the ogre started growling at Drake. "It's okay Marshmallow, he's with me." Satisfied he stepped aside so the two could enter the ice palace.

"Marshmallow?"

She chuckled. "Olaf gave him that name."

"Course he did." Drake looked around the palace in awe. "This is magnificent." His head jerked to the side when he began hearing small chittering coming towards them.

She laughed again. "And those are the snowgies."

"Snow—WHA!" Dozens of Tiny snowmen, made of just three snowballs, scurried passed him and jumped onto Elsa.

She squealed with delight. "It's great to see you all too."

Drake looked down at the snowgies with laughter. "So you created these little guys? And the big guy? Why?"

Laughing she got to her feet as a few snowgies hung off of her. "Well I created these little guys on accident. I had a cold, and it was a huge thing and… yeah." Her attitude shifted when she glanced at Marshmello. "I created him to keep people out."

She set the snowgies onto the ground and began strolling around her palace, staring at its icy walls and the memories they held.

"After I was crowned queen, and mine, and a dozen other kingdoms found out what I was, I came here. Created this palace, created him, and committed to live my life alone, where I couldn't hurt anyone." She snorted a laugh. "Which lasted about five minutes before Anna came looking for me."

He joined her in laughing. "I can see that. Sounds like a fun idea to exile yourself, but what did you plan to do about food?"

She picked up on his sarcasm. "I was in the moment alright. My point is that when I finally allowed myself to let it go, I created this." She gestured around her. "Letting the storm rage on, if you will."

He seemed to understand where she was going. "You've created, but like I said before, fire can only destroy."

"Well I almost killed my sister with my power." She didn't mean to say it so bluntly, it just came out that way. Her sudden outburst earned a large eyed, jaw dropped response. No going back now. "I was overwhelmed when she came for me, I lashed out and my powers—" she bit her trembling lip, "I almost…"

She looked down at her clasped hands, haunted and ashamed.

"When I first started showing signs of my powers," he said, "my older brother and I thought it would be fun to go and try them out, see what I could do. We went to the woods, threw some rocks around, punched some trees, etc., but what we didn't know was that I had disturbed a sand viper nest. Think of them as huge, deadly snakes. Their venom is fast acting, and when my brother was bitten on his arm I panicked, and the next thing I knew I had taken a rock and hacked off his arm."

They stood in silence, losing track of time of how long they stood in their own shame. They didn't move until the ice palace began to glow with a yellow and orange hue from the rising sun.

She smiled. "Follow me." She led him up the winding icy staircase to a much larger room on the second story. The doors to the balcony had already parted, giving them a perfect view of the sun rising over the mountains. "There's one thing fire does. Provides warmth."

He smiled. "Well there's that." They watched the sun rise until it's rays began to be too bright forcing them back into the palace. "This is incredible, your highness. I wish I was capable of such amazing things."

"Well you never know until you try." She smirked. "I just wish I had known what I was capable of." She appeared forlorn again. "But my parents had told me to conceal, don't feel."

He chuckled. "Well I know a thing or two about, well my father at least."

She nodded. "I don't blame them. They did the best they could. It's not like there's a guidebook for parents when their child is born with magic." She looked towards the sky. "But they are nestled in the warmth of Valhalla now."

An odd silence fell over them for a few moments. "What did you say?" He finally asked. "Valhalla?"

She was confused. "Yes? Home of the gods and where the souls of the dead pass on."

Drake had his brows pinched together in thought. "The gods? Like Odin? Loki?"

"Yes. Are they not your gods?"

He shook his head but his expression made it clear he was thinking about something. "No, not ours." His eyes started moving quickly as he began muttering to himself, she couldn't quite hear what he was saying, but she managed to pick out two words. "Odin" and "Fenrir".

He slapped his hand against his forehead and exclaimed, "Of course!"

His sudden outburst startled her. "What? What is it?"

He started to laugh hysterically. "Elsa. Your a genius," then he did something completely unexpected. He excitedly wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her into the air to spin her around. "Your a genius!" He shouted again.

She had never been touched by anyone but her sister and especially not like this. She was so alarmed that a small ice flurry shot from her body, covering him in snow. Once covered he quickly set her back down.

"Oh gosh! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean—"

"No, no, it's me that's sorry! I just—"

"Well you wouldn't have if I didn't—"

"Oh my—did I hurt you?"

He was taken aback before letting out a short laugh. "Elsa you could never hurt me." Her eyes went wide. His words somehow bringing an unfamiliar warmth to her cheeks. "Er-what I meant was, you can't hurt me because of my powers and … yeah."

Now the silence was awkward.

"So I think I know how to fix this." He finally said.

"Oh good." She cleared her throat. "Th-then what do we do?"

He headed for the staircase. "I'll tell you on the way, but if I'm right, we can save everyone."