(Alice's POV)

I threw the bag of my belongings over my shoulder, and turned my back on Jack. As I stomped away, I couldn't help but wonder if there was any truth to what he had said. I imagined the scores of people that I had killed since I left home. Each one had done something to provoke me. Each one had attacked me in some way. Each one deserved it. So why did I feel so strange thinking about them.

I shoved the thought away, and focused on getting out of the city. My stomp turned into a tjog and then into a run. The stone buildings blurred past as I continued to speed up. The people on the cobblestone streets barely had enough time to look at me before I blew past them heading straight for the gate.

Nobody tried to stop me as I rounded a corner and darted through the gate. A sharp sting erupted from my shoulder but I didn't give it a second thought as I pressed on. It only took a few minutes before the city was a dull mass partly shrouded by the morning mist. I slowed to a walk and struggled to catch my breath.

Assessing my still stinging shoulder, I was surprised to see my entire arm soaked in blood. The wound had clotted, yet my arm was still wet and sticky. I moved to bandage it, but I before I could grab a strip of cloth off of my shirt my left arm fell limp.

There was something… nice about having my arm soaked in my own blood for a change. I allowed the stinging to fill me and I enjoyed the pain. Inexplicably I wanted to hurt, I wanted the agony.

I threw my hand outwards towards the ground and a jagged stone threw itself up at me. I caught it in my left hand, and in a swift motion drew it across my right arm directly below the first cut. A stinging like fire greeted me, letting me know that it had done its job.

"Mother." I gasped as the sweet torture raced through my shoulder down to my fingertips. Fresh blood slid down to coat its hardening brother. Oh this was pleasure. The pain was everything I had hoped it to be. I threw the stone dagger across my skin once more.

"Father!" I shouted marking the new scar as his. The pain was blinding and brilliant. I tilted my head towards the sky and laughed. A terrifying empty laugh that shook the sky. It would have been surprising had there been any light left inside of me to laugh with joy.

Once more I threw the knife across my arm and shouted the final name. A name that hadn't left my lips or been heard in a decade. "Aliendra!" I shouted my name. The edges of my vision darkened and before I succumbed to their sweet relief, I dug my hand into my bag and pulled out a silver amulet. It was nothing special aside from the now illegal emblem sprawled across its face. The emblem of Spera, her home, her kingdom. I pressed it against my chest, and fell backwards allowing the darkness to overcome.

Her eyes opened slowly and the outline of her chambers revealed themselves to my blurry senses. The cotton blankets on my feather bed pressed down on me, wrapping me in their suppressing warmth, but I couldn't go back to sleep. Not today, today was special. Today the Emperor of the western empire would be visiting. A fact that her mother wouldn't let her forget as she urged her to clean alongside her servants.

Everyone in the castle had been on edge, but I couldn't see why. The Emperor was probably just another big man wearing way too much jewelry for my taste, and he wasn't even part of Spera. He had no power her, so why was everyone so afraid.

A tall woman in plain clothing burst into the room, and helped me to put on a sparkling green dress. The dress itself was more emeralds than fabric, but I appreciated the sparkle as the woman rushed behind me to make my bed. I still couldn't see why everyone was so nervous, today was starting off great.

I made my way to the kitchen where a man in dark clothing was already seated. He didn't have bodyguards as I expected, but he didn't look like he needed them. He was broad shouldered and tall, higher than anyone else in the room. when he moved he flowed with a dark grace of a practiced killer, but I payed that no mind as I wandered over to my parents and plopped myself in a seat next to my father.

"Oh uh yes, I would like you to meet my daughter, Aliendra. Aliendra say hello to the nice man." I looked at him but said nothing. He met my gaze and stared at me with an odd curiosity. He didn't look at all offended, but my parents began to offer up apologies and excuses for my silence, but he raised a hand and they silenced.

"I understand she is just a little girl. I have a son about her age, in fact he is around here somewhere. Jonathan!" He spoke with such an authority that even I jerked to attention when he talked, although his authority was not something I wanted to find myself following. A small boy with black hair and a cocky smile rounded the corner, his feet making so sound as they hit the floor.

He looked at me, and smiled broadly. His father turned to him. "Take Aliendra and go outside. It is a glorious day, it would be a shame to see it wasted." The way he said glorious made it sound like it was quite the opposite, but I waved to Jonathan and he followed me out to the garden.

As I left I heard a few words that I didn't understand. "Annexation..cautious" and then one final word that I understood quite well "warning."

Jonathan and I (He insisted I call him Jack, but I preferred his prince name) played out in the garden for hours until one of the maids called us in for lunch. I ate like I normally did, tearing into my food and wasting no time on forks and knives, yet Jonathan ate to, put it simply, like a prince. He carved each bite to a perfect size and raised it to his mouth without a single piece falling out of place. I meant to comment on it, but then a few servants brought out dessert and I quickly forgot.

Night fell, and I went away to bed. I couldn't have been asleep for more than a few hours when a crash echoed through the castle. Wiping sleep from my eyes, I grabbed a candle off of the nightstand and, without magic, I lit it. I walked the normal path to my parent's room, but surprisingly I wasn't the only one there.

My father and my mother stood at the ready, both with swords drawn while the Emperor on the other side of the room simply laughed. He stood unarmed, but my parents did not advance, they just stood petrified.

"Aliendra go back to bed." My mother warned but I stood absolutely still, waiting for the moment when my parents would kill the emperor and we could live in peace. Despite the overwhelming odds the emperor still continued to laugh. Then finally with a wave of his hand a dagger flew from nowhere aimed directly at my father's heart.

A bolt of lightning flew from my hand, that I didn't remember stretching, to obliterate the dagger. The emperor looked at me and began to laugh even harder. He threw two more knives this time directly at me, but each one I met with a blast of light and heat before they could reach me.

"My liege." My father the king of Spera said to the emperor "We surrender just please let her go." The emperor looked at him with a crooked grin on his face, and moved to throw another dagger.

I caught him first, and threw several bolts of lighting directly at his chest. He looked surprised and each bolt embedded itself in him, and he fell to his knees. I stood shocked at what I had done, until he stood up and my bolts flew out of him, and into both of my parents.

They screamed for a second before their bodies melted to dust, and I couldn't even comprehend what had happened. I screamed and screamed and screamed until the Emperor raised his hand and the air fell out of my throat.

"Imagine that. Aliendra killing her own parents to help the empire. Well queen of Spera" He said with a mock bow." We'll be sure to mention this at your execution. Now if you could come with me."

Even as a child I knew that following him meant certain death, so I turned and ran away,

and continued running to this day.

I opened my eyes and the ache in my shoulder reminded me where I was. That was the day that Aliendra queen of Spera died, and with her death Spera became the eastern kingdom. It was also the day that Alice was born, and the world knew fear.

Author's note- I'm taking a turn away from what this was originally supposed to be, with her going to Arendelle to kill -. I feel like this will be a better story than what simple 'vengeance for no crime committed' story I was going to tell before. I hope you enjoy, thank you for reading.