I would just like to remind those who are just finding this fic on their own, that it is a SEQUEL to "The Storm Inside of Me" and to read that first. Aside from that, to the person who left the review saying that my fic rivaled every other fic and took readers hostage from chapter one, thank you very much. That was very flattering, considering the Frozen fanfics I have as competition. Thank you all for your amazing reviews! And special thanks to those who left reviews on "The Storm Inside of Me" that nominated it for an I.C.E award :D You guys rock! Without further ado, chapter 7!

TW: blood, fist fights, panic attacks, co-hosting (?)

Vocab: fragment-a not fully formed alter, just a piece of the host that has broken off but not become someone else yet

Chapter 7-Fire and Ice (Nass, Kiri, Arcy, Elsa, Astra)

Arcy tilted her head, hearing voices. One was scared and another sounded mad. There was a third that sounded amused. It scared her and she wasn't sure what to think. The voices sounded familiar, at least two of them. The third was a mystery to her. She drew out what she was hearing: two women arguing over someone, one was really mad. What else could she do? The yelling was scaring her and hearing the girl crying made her feel somehow guilty. Her art showed depictions of women arguing, things breaking and a girl in a corner covering her head.

"She's my little Snowfreak. I was here first."

"We were here at the same time Nassiri."

"So?" Nassiri casually walked toward Kiri, swaying her hips with each step. "Even as a fragment I had more control than you. I even had influence on you." She grinned. "You couldn't do anything to protect her then and you can't now. She's mine."

Kiri took off her shoe and hit Nassiri with it. "I'm here now and I can protect her. The past is in the past."

Nassiri flinched from the blow and quickly caught Kiri's wrist before she could be hit again. "Is it now? Isn't her past, the reason we exist? It seems the past is very much alive." She twisted Kiri's wrist back and snapped it, grinning wider as Kiri screamed in pain. "Oh, your pain feeds me."

"You sick, twisted freak!" Kiri growled between gritted teeth. "I don't care how we came to be. We're here to protect her!"

"You weak others might be, but I'm the hate, the vengeance, the bloodlust in Elsa that drives her dark side. I am her dark side."

Kiri had heard enough. She swiveled around and launched herself at Nassiri. She pinned the insane woman down and began punching her in the throat and head. "I swore to protect Elsa no matter what!" Her knuckles started getting sore as she kept beating Nassiri.

The angel raised her leg and managed to bend it enough to knee Kiri's back. It knocked Kiri forward over Nassiri's shoulder. She grabbed hold of her black hair and smashed her head into the ground, rolling out from under her. "I don't care what you vowed woman. I do what I want for my own means and no one can stop me." As Kiri was getting up, she slammed her foot onto Kiri's back. "I despise all of you people! Every single person in existence is only around for me to manipulate as I want." She ground the heel of her boot into Kiri's back.

"Gah! I don't…give a shit….how you see people…." She pushed up with all of her strength and made Nassiri stumble back. Kiri pushed aside her own back wounds and moved to Elsa. "Elsa, you need…to run….Anywhere, but here."

Elsa, panicked and terrified, shook violently. "I don't….Where…There's nowhere! I can't escape!"

Kiri shot a blast of snow at Nassiri to throw her further away by a few feet. "Even if it's just a few feet away," she brushed hair from Elsa's face and dried the tears on her cheeks. "I care about you and don't want you to get hurt. You can do this, I believe in you."

"How touching. It makes me sick," Nassiri approached, hovering over Kiri's shoulder. "You can't escape, Elsa. Everywhere you go, I'm there."

"SHUT UP!" Elsa screamed, covering her ears. "You're not me! None of you are! I'm only me and all of this is just a sick and twisted nightmare!" She scrambled to her feet and ran from them, stumbling a few steps.

"Oh don't run," Nass mocked sounding sad. "We were just starting to play our game."

"Oh, no you don't!" Kiri jumped and grabbed Nassiri's feet as she got airborne, slamming the woman to the ground. "Whether she thinks this is just a dream or not, I won't let you hurt her. We know what's real and that's what counts right now." She sat on Nassiri's legs and dug her nails in, leaving bloody trails.

"If she thinks it's a dream," Nass squirmed out from under Kiri, kicking her in the mouth before getting up. "Then it's all the more reason to frighten her. She believes she'll wake up soon." Nassiri swung a hard punch at Kiri's throat. She wiped off the blood that was coughed onto her. "I have my fun and then get on my way to ruin her life." Nassiri spread her right wing and spun around, knocking Kiri onto her back at least 10 feet away. "Now, if you'll excuse me," she leapt to her feet and got airborne once again.

Kiri scrambled to her feet and ran after Nassiri, trying to jump and grab her. "You bitch, I will stop you!" Despite the blood dripping from her back, head and mouth, she kept chase.

Nassiri purposefully flew just out of reach. She only laughed. "Say what you want, but I have the wings here and you don't."

"I'll get to you somehow!" Kiri hopped a few steps, taking her other shoe off to throw it at Nassiri. She was about to try jumping again when a streak of white blurred passed her vision. "What the hell?!"

"You find Elsa! I'll deal with this disgrace of an angel!"

Kiri stopped running and leaned on her knees. "Ok," she panted, "good luck Astra!"

"Don't wish me luck. Wish me success."

"Alright well, uh, good success?"

"Enough talk!" Astra flew in a blurred spiral, Nassiri's wings in her hands. "Find Elsa and take her from this place! I'll keep Nassiri here as long as I can." A loud and gut wrenching series of crunches could be heard. Astra felt Nassiri's wing bones popping and decided to act. Using all her strength and momentum, Astra hurled Nassiri backwards over her head but kept hold of her wings. Only when she felt the bones cracking did she let the woman fall. "Go!"

"Right!" Kiri finished catching her breath and went in the direction Elsa had run. It was easy to find, as a path of frost led away from them. She ran as fast as she could in the direction it led, relieved to find Elsa in her own corner of frost. "Elsa, it's alright. Here, I'll lay on my stomach with my hands under me." Kiri did so and looked up at Elsa. "I'm here to help you. All I want to do is take you somewhere safe. Would you go with me?"

Frightened Elsa, surrounded by suspended snowflakes and frost, looked to Kiri. "Where even is this? I can't take it anymore! It's my fault….my fault…All my fault…."

"It's not your fault Elsa. Everything that happened or will happen is not your fault. You have no reason to blame yourself." What was that thing that Astra did to soothe Arcy? She bit her lip, trying to remember. Slowly, Kiri sat up next Elsa and wrapped her arms around. She lowered her voice to a soft, motherly tone. "It's okay to be scared and feel like you can't do anything. It's only natural." She slowly stroked Elsa's hair. "All those emotions are just part of being alive. I only want to take you somewhere to calm down in safety."

Elsa clung onto Kiri and wept. "Just get me out of this nightmare!"

Kiri nodded. "We can do it together. Follow me." She slowly stood and helped Elsa to her feet. "Do you want to walk or no?" Elsa shook her head so Kiri carried Elsa on her back. She wandered for a bit until there was a tiny bit of light. The only way out, Kiri bolted for it. She heard swearing and bones cracking behind her and put a hand on Elsa's head. "Don't pay attention to those sounds. We're leaving them behind."

After a blinding flash and a heavy slam in the stomach, Kiri opened her eyes. She was lying in her room in the castle. Panicked, she looked around. Kiri heaved a sigh of relief seeing Elsa half slumped on the bed beside her. "Oh thank god." Kiri's head suddenly felt like it would split open at a diagonal slant. She reached up and felt stitches near her right temple, remembering she had conked herself a few good times with a frying pan to reach Elsa. Wait, so if that was how she had gotten there, how had Astra gotten there? Kiri shook her head, deciding to be grateful she had and not question it. Ignoring her pulsing migraine and own nausea, Kiri took Elsa to her room and tucked her into bed. "I'll stand watch over you," she whispered as she stood up. "No one will hurt you if I can help it."

Arcy was lying in the hospital bed, drawing fervently. She saw pretty white and mean black and red fighting. There was lots of sticky stuff everywhere and both were hurting. Diane was watching as Arcy drew out different things. "Arcy, is this what's happening now?"

"She hears it and this is what she imagines. It' scares her. Pretty white is nice and lets her pluck feathers. Mean red and black hurts her and says very bad things. She makes her do things she shouldn't and say things she doesn't want to say. It's all her fault…"

Diane examined the drawings. A little confused. Other than wing color, the two women were identical. "Are the wings how she tells the two apart?"

"That's how. And how they talk. Pretty white speaks softly and always in a way she understands. Mean read and black talks in a weird way and always seems to mock her and others." Arcy frowned. "No, it hurts…Her head hurts…So bad…" Arcy curled up and covered her head.

Diane, unsure what else to do, put her arms around Arcy, stroking her hair. "It's ok, Arcy, it's ok."

Astra swore under her breath, bleeding from her stomach and a head wound. But she wouldn't back down. "I won't let you escape this mental prison called comatose."

Nassiri grinned around a swollen lip and black eye. Her wings were broken, covered in her own blood. But regardless of losing flight, she could still kick this nuisances ass. "Oh I'll escape, even if it's in a trail of blood and bones." She leapt at Astra and pinned her down, biting into her twins neck.

Astra resisted the urge to scream out in pain and instead put all her weight into rolling Nassiri off of her. She tore off part of her top and wiped her neck, ignoring the painful burn and sting of the bite. "It will be by your blood and bones that I shall leave." Astra spread her wings and lunged at Nassiri. "You will never escape this place even if I have to use your own claws and bones to nail you to the floor!" She dug her claws into Nassiri's eyes and yanked downward. The woman screamed and writhed in pain. Astra wasn't proud of what she was doing, but it had to be done. She was the gatekeeper and had to get that back form Nassiri-even if she had to dirty her hands. As it was, Astra had a head wound, stomach wound, lacerations in her chest, a possibly infected bite on her neck and a fractured ankle.

"I don't," Nass spat blood onto Astra, "need sight to fight you. I can still smell your sickeningly sweet sugar cookie and lavender scent." Nass reached up and dug her nails into Astra's chest, ripping in and out. She slid out from under Astra and grabbed one of her ankles, dragging her about and throwing her as a loud crack sounded.

Astra hit the wall opposite, a few wing bones breaking. Regardless, she lunged and took hold of Nassiri's wrists. Ignoring the screaming pain in her ankles nerves, she smashed her wrists down. She felt bones cracking and ignored the sick feeling it gave her. "You have no rights to torment Elsa or anyone else! And I'll see to it that you don't." Astra pinned down Nassiri, placed her knees on Nass's arms and jammed her elbows into Nassiri's rib cage. Naturally she coughed and lurched in pain as bones pierced her organs. Astra wiped her face and stood, watching as Nassiri struggled to breathe. "That should do it," she panted.

"You…only made…"Nassiri coughed up fluids. "Things worse….You'll see…" She couldn't see through the bloody slashes in her eyes. She sat up slowly, blood dripping from her head, eyes, nose, mouth and upper body. Her legs were badly slashed and her wings were broken-covered in both her blood and Astra's. "Go now. See what you've done."

Astra retied her ponytail and (painfully) flew off to the tiny light, a sinking feeling taking hold of her heart. Hopefully she hadn't caused any damage to anyone. But the way Nassiri spoke was ominous, almost like she had and it was all part of a vicious plan.

Arcy was curled up on the bed, blood dripping from her nose and holding her torso. "Pain….She can't breathe….Lungs….pain, she can't….Drowning…Her back, it hurts!"

Diane immediately smashed the call nurse button. The nurses rushed in and Diane explained that her daughter was having trouble breathing and complained of chest pains. The immediately rushed her off to be x-rayed and mri/cat scanned. Diane was clueless about what had happened. She looked to the drawings left on the table. The women were fighting in some and in the last the white winged angel seemed to have won. But the expression on the black winged angel disturbed Diane, almost as if she had planned to lose. What exactly was going on in that inner world?

"Pretty white, where are you? It hurts her…"

"I'm here child. What's wrong?"

"It hurts…Her chest, breathing hurts her…And her head….She can't think…"

Astra felt immense guilt wash over her. Why hadn't she thought of the possibility that Nassiri might somehow force a physical connection to another altar during the fight? "I'm so sorry child. It's my fault."

"What? No, it's not pretty white lady's fault. She never hurt her."

"No, I didn't hurt her but I did beat up mean red and black. She made her feel that. I'm sorry child."

"Mean red and black is who got hurt?"

"That's right."

"Is she gone for good?"

"I can only hope so…"

"Then it's alright. Pretty white was only trying to help right? She forgives you."

Astra's eyes filled with tears. "She's such a sweet girl! Pretty white lady thanks her very much."

Arcy only smiled, unaware that the entire conversation between her and Astra had been spoken aloud. The paramedics just dismissed it as delusions brought on by severe pain and took her in for the exams.

Diane paced in Elsa's room, uncertain of what was going on. After an hour and thirteen minutes, Elsa was wheeled back in. The nurse told her there were no abnormalities and the pain was probably just a delayed reaction to waking up so soon from the coma. As a result of waking up so soon, her body hadn't had time to recover from the injuries. It made sense to Diane but still she wondered. Wouldn't the pain come almost immediately after Arcy had come to front and not out of nowhere nearly an hour later? She smoothed her hair and sat by Arcy as the girl slept. At least she looked more at peace then she had since first coming to front and waking up Elsa's body. She gently kissed her daughters forehead and whispered, "Elsa, wherever you are in there, I hope you're alright." Hopefully Elsa would be discharged soon. She sat back in the chair and closed her eyes for a short nap. Before she drifted off, one thought went through her mind: how would she break all this to Ian? After all, he had a right to know.

Woo! Talk about a chapter am I right? Is Nassiri gone for good or will she return? Is Elsa having a relapse in her treatment? Will she wake up from her coma or be in the inner world indefinitely? What will Elsas psych, Dina, make of these new developments in her patient? All will be revealed in later chapters. Hopefully you enjoyed this latest chapter. Thanks for reading/faving/following and I'll see you guys in chapter 8!