Trigger warning: There is a scene that, while doesn't actually depict it, strongly alludes and shows the aftermath of self-harm. There is also another scene that does depict thoughts of suicide.

Thanks as always go to hybrid-rain as always for being an inspirational canyon, promoting this like mad, and helping me with this chapter, sporadic-tiger for agreeing to be my proofreader and nitpicker and once again helping out with the Olaf scenes (seriously Olaf would be this quasi-intelligent sounding abominable child without her help), and frickfractals, the-perfect-girl-is-gone, and fyeahkristelsanna for promoting and recommending my fanfics. All of them can be found on Tumblr. And of course, thank you readers for your favourites, follows, and reviews. Special consideration goes to Syaoran Li Clow for reviewing every chapter. Rock on, man. Seriously it just warms me to see you guys so receptive to my fanfic.

Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen and its characters, plots, etc and I do not make or intend to make any profit from this.

In mid-conversation with Mr Rubik, Elsa had a sudden feeling that something was terribly wrong and she knew that it wasn't just the remnants of her fear talking. She looked to her left and saw a man on the deck of Soliuan raise a crossbow. Then her instincts were roaring at her and she turned back to see Mr Rubik suddenly armed with a dagger that he was bringing down upon her. Gasping in surprise, she quickly grabbed his hand with her left one while her other pressed against his left shoulder and pushed both hands. Mr Rubik was much stronger than she was and with enough time and effort, he could press through the queen's grip and plunge the dagger into her. But Elsa had no intention in giving him that time. Her powers activated, transforming Mr Rubik's hand and shoulder into ice. As he screamed in agony, she gave him a shove, pushing him away from her. She then heard the whipping thump of a crossbow and flinched as a sheet of ice rose in a semi-circle in front of her. But he wasn't aiming at her. And that was when she turned around to where Anna was once standing.

When people talked of anger, they often said how it burned hot, how its flames roared inside their hearts. They hardly ever mention how anger could also be cold. That was all Elsa felt saw the sight of her sister fallen on the ground. Her heart was instantly plunged into ice, her kindness morphed into cold apathy, her eyes glazed over like frost on a window, and she whirled towards Mr Rubik, still howling over his frozen hand, and his men standing behind the crowd of children who had now drawn their swords. There were a thousand things she could do to them. She could freeze the blood in their veins, bludgeon them under a storm of hail, encase them in frozen coffins, blow them away with icy winds, smother their throats with snow, transform them into statues of ice, impale them upon icicles and she would feel nothing about their fates or their pain. She was spoiled for choices and as she prepared her hands to attack, her mind spun from them all. But then her heart broke through the ice with one message. If she killed with her powers, even for a cause as pure as vengeance for her fallen sister, there was no going back from that line. Anna, dead or alive, would never accept her if she was a murderer; she would never forgive her for her sin.

So instead, after dissipating the barrier, she threw a blast of ice that trapped Mr Rubik where he stood. She then formed a small sphere of snow, threw it at the men, and caused it to explode outward so particles flew into their eyes. Not large enough to harm but enough to distract them. As they clawed at their eyes fiercely, she immediately ran towards Anna's side, calling her name. When she reached her sister's body, she quickly formed another barricade surrounding them both.

"Anna!" she cried, examining her body for any blood or signs of injuries. Much to her relief there weren't any. "Anna, are you all right?!"

"Yeahh…" she heard her sister reply softly. Her voice sounded oddly muffled. "Yeah, I'm fine…"

With Anna's safety assured, she began to note her surroundings and was shocked to see the headless body of Olaf holding her sister's head against the ground and shielding it. His head, skewered by a crossbow quarrel some feet away, looked very uncomfortable but he still managed to ask, "Is Anna okay?"

"Yes," Elsa replied breathlessly, nearly crying from relief. "Yes, she's fine."

With that response, Olaf's body got up from Anna's head and began walking towards his head while Elsa immediately scooped her sister into her arms and hugged her. As she tightened her hold, she could hear the sounds of battle past the icy shield and knew that she had to deal with this matter. But she needed to feel her sister's warmth, to be assured that she was still alive before she could do anything else.

Finally after a few moments, she got up, picking Anna with her, and said, "Go back to the palace. I'll handle this."

Anna protested, "No, let me stay! I can help you!"

"Anna, just go. Please! It's too dangerous here for you."

"It's too dangerous for you, too!" countered Anna. "I created this mess, let me help you clean it."

"No!" Elsa said. "Anna, I'm sorry but I can't deal with this situation if you're here…please…"

Anna's lips quivered and although she looked like she was going to argue further, she appeared to have relented. She threw herself into Elsa's arms for another hug. "Come back safe, Elsa," she whispered.

"I will," she said. "Now go!"

Anna swept her arm across her eyes, grabbed Olaf, and quickly mounted her horse. Meanwhile Elsa returned to where her guards and the City Watch officers were attempting to fight their attackers. The problem they found was that the children were driven towards them, running and wailing as her men tried to wade through them. She found the two guards assigned to Anna and commanded them to escort her back to the palace. They immediately complied. Elsa then turned her attention to the ship. Bringing her right foot up, she slammed it against the pier. Ice began to emerge from where she stomped her foot and travel to the fjord where it proceeded to surround the ship. It then thickened and rose from the water so that a small wall encompassed the ship, strong enough to hold Soliuan at the dock.

Bells began to ring across the city, alerting the City Watch to the attack unfolding on the docks. One of the attackers rushed at Elsa, a sword in his hand. She swept her hand outward, causing a sheet of ice to appear between her and his assailant. When the man slipped and fell, he was immediately restrained and knocked unconscious by two City Watch officers. She turned her gaze to the rest of the battle as ice began to form into an armour around her. She might not kill them now but one way or another, she was going to make them pay for what they did to her sister.

As her horse tore through the streets of Arendelle, Anna's tears now flowed freely as she thought of not all of her efforts wasted or how close she was to losing her life, but of how she failed Elsa. This was supposed to be her chance to prove to Elsa and her Council and everyone else that she wasn't just a silly princess but that she could help rule her kingdom. But now, she was going to be known for the stupid sister who let a bunch of soldiers in and attack their kingdom. No one was going to remember that she did this to help a bunch of children driven from their homes. She couldn't even help Elsa fix her own mistakes even though she knew her sister was right as always to make her leave. She didn't have her sword with her and she couldn't borrow one from the City Watch officers or the guards because they needed it and because their arming swords were completely different from the rapier she was trained with. So she would have been more useless and eventually get in her sister's way. But that didn't mean the pain stopped stinging her.

Suddenly her horse stopped and neighed furiously. "What's wrong?" she asked, trying to comfort him as she looked around them. By now, they should have been far enough from the docks but she kept hearing sounds. Then she realised that they weren't sounds of battle but sounds of a lot of people marching. And it wasn't coming from the docks.

"Your Highness," Tormond said. "We should take another way to the palace."

Anna nodded her head to agree but as they turned their horses, she could hear the sounds more clearly. She lifted her hand to tell them to wait. She wanted to know what they were. A minute later, she wished she hadn't.

A parade of men and women came marching past the street in front of them and luckily for Anna, they didn't seem to notice her cowering in the intersecting street. Some of them carried huge crosses and some carried torches but they were all chanting something that she couldn't hear properly at first. But then the words came in clear: Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Anna gazed in horror as she saw two large poles hoisted in the middle of the mob. Upon each pole was a stuffed figurine, like an oversized doll. Crude and grotesque they were, there was no mistake that they were meant to represent the Queen and Princess of Arendelle.

She felt sick. What did I ever do to them? she asked herself as she heard the mob continue to chant for her and her sister's deaths. She never knew the Ordo Malleus, never talked to them, never said a word about them, never did a thing to them, yet here they were loudly and proudly displaying their utter hatred for her and Elsa. She knew about them but until now she just never knew how much they despised her. In front of her, Olaf simply stared at the crowd, his mouth gaped open. Then someone among the crowd held a torch up towards the Elsa figure and hooted gleefully as it began to burst into flames. Anna turned her head just in time to miss the same happen to her own likeness.

Anna felt a hand touch upon her shoulder and looked up to see Evald. "Your Highness," he said. "We should leave now."

She knew that was the smart thing but she didn't feel like doing the smart thing. She felt like telling Evald to stay and kill every single person out in that mob. She felt like calling up the City Watch and commanding them to storm Bishop Mathesien's church, capture him, and burn him at the stake. See how he liked being set on fire. Her hands shook with all the rage flowing through her.

But then a thought came to her. Perhaps it was better if she burned for her sins. Not her sins against God or whatever laws these nutters thought of, but against Elsa. After all, she read about how people would kill themselves after they failed the ones they loved and Anna failed her sister. Maybe this is what she deserved. As the last of the mob passed her vision, she wondered if she should push her horse forward so they could see her. But as she pondered over that possibility, she saw Olaf turn his head to face her and grab her hands.

"Anna," the snowman pleaded. "We should go home. Please?"

She closed her eyes as new tears began to form. She still felt that urge to let go of her life but she could never do it in Olaf's presence.

"Don't worry, we're going home," she said more to herself than to Olaf. Then she turned her horse around and rode off, Evald and Tormond right behind her.

The path they took was much longer but necessary to avoid the religious fanatics. Consequently they arrived at the palace much later. Anna scarcely waited for the horse to stop before she leapt off and called for Kai. The portly butler soon appeared and said, "Your Highness. We heard the watch bells but we have not received any news. What's going on? Where is Her Majesty?"

"Elsa is dealing with an attack on our docks," she said breathlessly. "I don't know how she's doing there but she might need some help. Tell the Lord Commander to send some men over to her."

"Of course, Your Highness. I'll…"

"No, there's more. The Ordo Malleus, they're marching, I don't know where but we need to deal with that too. Tell the City Watch and whoever else that can deal with them. And summon some more guards here and lock the gates."

Kai nodded grimly and said, "I will, Your Highness." He rushed off to do as she bade.

Anna stood in the courtyard and watched as the guards pulled the gates shut and drew a heavy bar across it. As wagons of crossbows and spears were wheeled out of the armoury and soldiers armed themselves and climbed up to the wall. And she knew that none of this wouldn't have happened if she hadn't been so eager to prove herself to Elsa. And though that desire to end herself passed for now, she still felt like something had tainted her. She felt dirty as if she was dipped into a pool of mud that stuck to her skin. She needed a bath.

The situation at the docks was soon resolved when a squad of City Watch officers armed with clubs and spears arrived and quickly mopped up what was left of their assailants. Official count of their attackers was eleven. Of that number, only two of them had been killed. The rest were either wounded, restrained, or both. From their side, two City Watch officers were also killed and a Royal Guard and an additional three officers were injured in the fight. Elsa watched as her men stormed Soliuan and arrested both captain and crew. At this point, it was just a question of who was going to handle the interrogation and lead the investigation: Secretary Hovland or Julia.

Satisfied with the resolution, Elsa called for her horse and her guard to return back to the palace. That was when she received the next disturbing news.

"Pardon, Your Majesty," the City Watch Captain said. "But for your safety, we would like you to accompany us to our station."

"Why?" she asked.

"The Ordo Malleus have assembled on the streets and appear to be marching onto one of the buildings operated by the Facets of Snow. Both the City Watch and the Home Guard have been mobilised to contain the situation but we have yet to hear back from them. Until it has passed, we need to keep you off the streets."

And so she was brought to the City Watch station and though she was given the Chief's Office for her personal use, she spent the majority of her time pacing around the office. Her thoughts were mostly occupied over her sister even after a message came from the palace to inform her that Anna had arrived and ordered the gates locked. She could only imagine what she was feeling right now. She saw how hard Anna worked to make sure her rescue would be a success and how proud she was of her efforts. And now that it was twisted into a complete catastrophe. Elsa knew her sister was now beating herself raw over it and somehow Elsa imagined it was her fault, too. She should have known this was a trap. Maybe if she didn't spend so much time directing Julia's efforts over imagined threats from Hans, she could have discovered this plot before today and spared her sister from watching her work turn to ash.

Hours later, she heard the door open and watched as the Chief of the City Watch entered and bowed. "Your Majesty," he said.

"Chief Officer," she said. "What do you have to report?"

"The situation with the Ordo Malleus has been resolved. It appears the Ordo was attempting to set fire a printing shop the Facets of Snow operated. The Facets quickly organised their own members and a struggle erupted. We have no reports of any deaths but there is quite a number of wounded from both sides. We arrested three members of the Ordo who we believe was responsible for organising the attack. They are charged with public disruption and attempted arson. In addition to them, we are holding ten of the Ordo and six people from the Facets in custody until tomorrow morning. Bishop Mathesien was not present during this event."

"And of the events at the docks this morning?"

"The wounded on our side are currently recovering at Eir Hospital. We have good hopes for their recovering. Among the assailants, we have an array of injuries, including concussions, fractured bones, and cuts. They are being treated as well. We have also interrogated both the captain of Soliuan and Mr Rubik. The captain is named Ulrich Brandeis, stationed in Greifswald. He says that he does not own Soliuan and he and his crew were hired to operate her."

"Was he hired by Mr Rubik or by someone else?" asked Elsa.

"We're not sure yet. Captain Brandeis said that he was simply given anonymous instructions including to pick up Mr Rubik and his men at Kiel and obey his orders."

"And Mr Rubik? What do we know about him?"

"Mr Rubik is the leader of a small band of mercenaries. What we just encountered was his entire crew. Mr Rubik said he was given clear instructions in how to stage the attack, using the children as shields and waiting to ambush. He has not yet however confessed who gave those instructions. He is suffering from frostbite on his right hand. Our physicians believe they will have to amputate it. He has been transferred to the Spymaster's custody and will receive the surgery after she is finished with him."

"If the surgery will be still necessary," commented Elsa dryly. "And the children?"

"None of them were killed but some have a few injuries that were treated. The most serious was a bolt wound through the arm. The children have been taken to the orphanages where they will be sheltered and cared for until we find out where they came from. Captain Brandeis says the children were present with Mr Rubik and his men when they boarded the vessel."

"So they're obviously not Polish refugees."

"No, Your Majesty. We will require some time to sort through everything and perform a proper investigation but I assure you will receive my personal report regarding this matter."

"Thank you, Chief Officer," said Elsa. "I appreciate your efforts in this matter. I believe I've burdened myself at your station for too long and you have work that requires your full attention. Are the streets safe enough to travel?"

"They are, Your Majesty, but with your permission, I would like to supplement your guard with a few men of my own. For my personal reassurance."

Elsa nodded, not caring at all as long as she was allowed to go back to the palace and back to Anna. She ignored her discomfort on her horse as she rode at full speed through the streets, her massive escort riding in front of, behind, and at either side of her. By now the sun had almost finished setting behind the fjord. They were bathed in the dying orange light as they crossed the bridge into the palace. She nearly got her foot tangled in the stirrups in her rush to dismount but as soon as her feet touched the courtyard, she called for Kai.

"Kai, where's my sister?" she asked without preamble when he appeared.

He replied, "Her Highness has retired, Your Majesty, and instructed no one, not even her guards, disrupt her. Normally I would have objected but she seemed rather adamant about her privacy and I thought she simply needed some rest."

Elsa blinked as she tried to block out the worst possible outcomes for her sister. "Tha…thank you," she said. "Make sure the palace remains secure and no one is allowed in or out of the castle until tomorrow."

And with that, she picked up her skirt, rushed inside the palace, and darted immediately for their private sections. In her haste, she nearly tripped over Olaf sitting in the hallway.

"Oh, sorry, Olaf," she quickly said but she stopped when she noticed the snowman looked very despondent. Fearing the worst as always, she kneeled next to him and asked, "Olaf…what's wrong? Is Anna all right?" If none of the staff or guards knew what happened to her sister, at least he would.

"Anna?" he repeated faintly. "She's fine, I think she said she needed a bath."

"Okay, but what about you? Are you all right?"

The snowman shrugged and admitted sadly, "I don't know…" He was silent for a little bit before he said, "I saw them, Elsa. These people… there were so many of them and they had giant dolls of you and Anna. And they…" He paused to collect his words, his eyes dimming in terror from the memory. "They set them on fire. And it made them so happy. They kept repeating something over and over again. Something about not letting a witch live." He looked at Elsa with concerned eyes. "Do they mean you? Do they want you and Anna to die?"

Elsa sadly nodded. Olaf sniffed as icy tears began to form in his eyes. She pulled him into a hug and patted his back. Sometimes she forgot that Olaf, despite his occasional displays of wisdom, was still very much like a child. A child of pure innocence. And it broke her heart to see him exposed to such horribleness like the Ordo Malleus. Then came the question that utterly shattered it.

"Why?" he asked. "Why do they hate you two so much? Don't they know how sweet and warm and wonderful you and Anna are? How much you love each other and how much you love me? How can they be so happy about killing you?"

"They're scared," Elsa said after a minute. "And they're angry. And that makes people think and believe and do horrible, horrible things."

"But why? What have you or Anna done to make them so scared and so angry at you? Is it because you and Anna love each other in a weird way?"

"Partly."

"But what else could it be?"

"I don't know, Olaf…" she said, stroking his back. "Because we exist, I guess."

She held on to her embrace until she felt Olaf's wooden arms wrap around her and then held on for a few minutes longer. "Olaf," she finally said. "I need to go find Anna but I'll be here for you. If you need…anything…"

He nodded and though he was not back to his usual bright self, he seemed a little less shocked and a little less sad. She reluctantly let him go and went to the baths. There was no sign of her sister but there were signs that she did indeed take a bath. Her once beautiful green dress was now a heap of shreds on the floor as if she viciously yanked it off her. She must have been finished recently because the floor was still wet yet there was no mist on the mirrors and when Elsa dipped her finger into the still full tub, the water was rather cold. Elsa went to their quarters but did not find her sister there either. What she did find was the full length mirror shattered on the floor and Anna's clothes scattered across the bed and the room.

Now extremely nervous and fearful, Elsa left their room, wondering where Anna could be, when she heard a sniffle from her old bedroom. A sniffle that could only come from her sister. She burst inside the room and saw Anna huddled in a corner, naked but still wet. Her back was towards the door but Elsa could see that she was shaking whether from the cold or her tears, she didn't know. Ice had begun to form in her hair but Anna didn't seem to notice or care as she continued to cry. As she approached her sister, Elsa saw that her skin was considerably red and she could only guess that she had ruthlessly scrubbed herself in the bath. She took her cape off and placed it gently around Anna's shoulders. She then walked to kneel in front of her sister, who had buried her face in her knees and held her arms across them.

"Anna…" she whispered.

In between sobs, she could hear her sister mumble, "People got hurt today…because of…what I did. I've hurt people, Elsa, because I failed…and now I can't…I can't feel clean from that…I feel so dirty…"

"Shhh," she said, her hands perched delicately just above her sister's. "It's okay. Everything's all right now. I'm right here, Anna…"

Anna took Elsa's hands and gripped them tightly as she continued sobbing, her cries growing louder and more painful. Elsa carefully brought her sister's hands to her face and gently pressed her lips against her knuckles. "Better?" she asked.

Anna nodded and Elsa continued to kiss her fingers and her hands. Eventually her sister relaxed her grip and brought her arms around Elsa. She pressed her tear-stricken face against Elsa's shoulder as her cries slowly subsided into sniffles. Elsa pulled the cape tighter around her sister and, with a small wave of her hand, lifted the snow and ice from the room. She spared the snow castle though and would return to restore the winter later. But for now, her sister's warmth mattered more to her. She stroked Anna's back as she whispered, "You're okay, Anna. I got you."

Okay, who thought I was really going to kill off Anna. I would say we're a little past the halfway mark through the story now. There's still a couple more obstacles and conflicts for our dear sisters to pass through. And I would say there's new problems that Anna is going to have to handle before we get to our happily ever after ending. I did hope some people would predict something wrong was going to happen given how many fluff scenes I had before this. Like almost all of the Chapter Six was just pure Elsa/Anna being adorable sisters.

This chapter, I have to say, was one of the hardest to write since I had to write depressed, sad, and shocked Olaf and that's never any fun. Nor is writing depressed, low self-esteem Anna. And for those who are wondering, yes, the very last scene was sort of inspired by the shower scene in Casino Royale. Without the finger-sucking because, seriously, the hell was that...

Thank you for the support, guys, and please, if you have any comments or criticism, tell me.