Elsa stared out the window.

It had been hard living without her husband. Almost impossible. As the years had passed, she had grown lonelier and lonelier. They had a child together. It was funny, really. Hans, who had hated his family, now had a baby, and Anna, who had loved hers, did not.

And now, here they were, in the heart (if such a thing existed) of the Southern Isles, waiting for a pointless fox hunt to come to its inevitable, pointless, conclusion. There was no fox. There was no point to any of this, except for what had been he only squandered chance to see her husband.

The queen was somewhat disappointed he had not come, although it was to be expected. Disowning him as King had been a necessary, if altogether painful choice to make. She could not rule this contest and her heart at the same time. He mind quickly turned to Sophia. The princess had a difficult childhood. Being raised by such a hateful and abusive man, being abandoned by her mother. Being saved, only to find out her savior was the uncle who had murdered her father in the first place. She had every right not to trust anyone. But Elsa still held out hope that some part of her would understand the choices her uncle had made.

The whoosh of flames behind her caused Elsa to turn and glare in suspicion.

"Oh no... don't give me all that!" Crowed Maleficient, "We have quite a bit in common, you and I!'
"We are nothing alike!" Snipped Elsa, "Demon!"

The fairy clucked her tongue, "We're both worldly women, powerful..." She added sway to her hips, "beautiful... we could be so much more if it weren't for the men keeping us back!"

Elsa inflated angrily, "Who's being kept back? Not me!"

Her opponent whirled on her, "Come now- the Westerguards have been manipulating you from the start!"

"And you? What have they done to you?" Questioned the blond-haired queen.

The raven maned stranger twisted her mouth in a smile, "They took that!"

Following the index from the other's finger, Elsa's eyes landed on-

"My ring?"

"My ring!"

Elsa's hand instinctively clutched it. This was hers. Sophia had given it to her as a promise; a promise to find love. Such a promise had remained unfulfilled by her father when he set out for the ring's...

"What did they do?" Elsa frowned, then smirked, "You... you were tricked!"

"Mortals!" Maleficient shrieked, "They dared to defy me!? And then, they tried to bargain with me!"

"Who?"

"Olaf!" She hissed the name, "Your betrothed promised me the ring in return for my power!"

"But you had no desire to share," Elsa spoke carefully, hypnotically, trying to get more information, "...Hans."

The last word was spoken with a smirk on her face. Her husband was many things. But the one way she always knew he was involved with a plot was the unbelievable frustrations he caused his opponents. Elsa knew from personal experience what that was like.

Maleficient nodded, "Oh, yes. I conjured the storm that sank your parents. I didn't see the plan, truly. Why was he sending his queen away to Arrendelle? You must have had considerable power if he thought you could stop me!"

"And I can! The truth is that you made an alliance with a murderer!"

Maleficient cackled, "Ha! The filth of the self-righteous! You married a killer!"

"I married a man!" Elsa's cheeks heated up.

"What's the difference?!"

The snow queen held up the ring, "Let's talk about the twins."

"Absolutely not."

"Fine!" Huffed Elsa, "Then where's my Sophia?!"