"…Ten…twelve...thirteen…eleventy! Ready or not, here I come!"

Four-year-old Anna tottered down the long hallway. Elsa had promised not to hide in any of the rooms upstairs. This would be easy. Whenever she got too excited, Anna knew her sister's powers would give away her spot. That made the game lots more fun, because she didn't have to be the seeker for very long.

She went to the kitchens first.

"Hello, Princess Anna," greeted the head chef, Adrian. He smiled at her. "Can I do something for you?"

Anna glanced to her right. Adrian looked the same way. Anna glanced to her left. Adrian copied her. She motioned for him to stoop down so she could whisper in his ear.

"We're playing hide-n'-seek."

Adrian nodded. "Ohhhh. I see. Well," He dropped his voice to a whisper too. "She has not come through here. I would know it!"

Anna grinned. "Okay! Thanks for the help!" She turned to go, then stopped. When she turned around, mouth open for permission, she found that the chef had already known what else she wanted. Adrian held out a chocolate for her and Anna popped it into her mouth, chewing gleefully as she left.

On the quietest of feet, Anna made her way to the Great Hall, the ballroom, the parlor, the study, the drawing room, the foyer…she even checked inside each suit of armor. But no luck. She should've found her sister by now! Where could she be?

Elsa was behind her mother's throne. At 7 years old, she was at least mature enough by this time to know this wasn't an appropriate hiding spot. But it was the best in the whole castle, because Anna really hated the throne room. She always said it was too long and boring. There weren't enough pictures on the wall and it was really just a big, big room for only two chairs, and that seemed unfair to all the other furniture. This would be the last place the redheaded seeker would look. This was the first time the wintery Princess had hidden here.

She tried to keep her adrenaline in check. To Elsa's surprise and amusement, her feet were creating flecks of blue on the floor in between the thrones. Anna would see that. Trying hard not to giggle, Elsa tucked her feet in closer to her, hoping the ice would melt before her sister made it to the throne room. Anna was so fast! She should be here any minute. She hadn't gone upstairs, had she? They'd made the rule—no upstairs allowed this time. It made the game go on forever.

An hour passed, and while Elsa was squished uncomfortably behind the throne, Anna was still racing around the rest of the main floor, desperate to find her.

"Elsa?"

Anna was getting more than a little bored. Her voice echoed in the castle. Since the staff members were in an important, dull grown-up meeting with Mama and Papa somewhere on the second level—all except Adrian, who was preparing dinner—Anna felt very much alone in her large home. She and Elsa did almost everything together, and an hour and a half was too long to be hidden.

What if Elsa had gotten lost? What if she'd gotten hurt? Anna gasped as she imagined it. What if she'd slipped and banged her head on something and now she was too dizzy to get up and nobody was around to hear her? The freckle-faced royal's hyperactive little mind filled with worry. She and her sister had never really been apart this long during a game of hide and seek.

Two hours had officially gone by, and Elsa wasn't giving up. She'd stay here all day if she had to! Anna would give up and Elsa would finally win at this. Her stomach rumbled. How uncouth. That was one of Mama's favorite words. Uncouth. Elsa liked to say it, and she whispered it to herself now and then to pass the time. She wondered how you spelled it, and when she decided on U-N-C-O-O-T-H, she spelled it backwards.

Anna finally burst into the throne room at top speed, yelling Elsa's name. She was starting to get scared of the way her voice filtered back to her, bouncing off the walls. Where was her sister? It was getting dark out. Mama and Papa still hadn't come downstairs. Adrian wasn't in the kitchen anymore. Had they all disappeared? Elsa couldn't go! They hadn't finished playing. Was Anna all alone forever?

"Elsa! Elsa!" Anna screamed, big tears filling her eyes and running down plump, 4-year-old cheeks. Panic rose up in her. "Where are you? I don't wanna play anymore!"

Elsa bit her lip. Was Anna joking? Was she playing a trick? She hesitated, shuffling just a little bit, very softly.

Anna was wailing too loudly to hear it. "I don't like being by myself! It's scary!" She put her fingers to her eyes, lower lip trembling. "Elsa!"

Elsa rushed from her hiding place, almost tripping over her skirt. "I'm here, Anna! I'm right here! You're okay!" She picked her sister up in a very tight hug.

"I thought you were gone! I thought…" Anna sniffled, returning the embrace. "I thought you went away!"

"I didn't," Elsa murmured. "I'm sorry, Anna. It's okay now. I'll never go away, I promise."

Elsa had thought she was happy here, in the ice palace. But there was a difference, she came to learn, between being happy and being free. Freedom is not always the best thing for us. Freedom to make our own choices, for instance—what if we make the wrong ones? We could choose to end our own lives, breaking the people we leave behind. We could choose to end someone else's, without giving them a say in the matter. We could choose to love ourselves and our possessions instead of those around us who are hurting. We could choose to eat apple pie instead of pumpkin pie, when clearly the latter is the better option. There were many, many possibilities that made freedom seem more miserable than anything else in the world. Especially freedom of choice.

Elsa wanted to believe she'd made the right one, running away. She was protecting everyone down there, wasn't she? She had been selfless. This was the best thing, for Arendelle, for Anna, for herself. She could finally come out of hiding and make something of her life. And if that meant being even more alone than she had for the last 15 years, it was worth it. Anna wouldn't miss the sister that made her live like an introvert. She could do what she wanted now. And Elsa was fine with that.

But that didn't mean she didn't miss her.

"Can we go now? Can we go now?" Anna begged, kicking her feet as she sat on a stack of books in the dining hall. Elsa sat beside her, though it was customary in their house for the two Princesses to sit across from each other. But for tonight, everything was different. It was Christmas Eve. The Queen had moved her seat from one end of the long table to the end her husband ate at, sitting on his right instead of far off at the opposite side of the feast.

"Not yet, Anna," Papa chuckled. "Finish your porridge."

"Oh, darling, you've got it all over your face!" Mama clapped her hands.

Immediately, Gerda appeared with a cloth in hand, ready to clean Anna up. Elsa got a sudden idea and sat up a little taller.

"Wait!" Elsa dabbed her finger in her own bowl of rice porridge, dabbing it on her nose and a little on her cheeks, making a mustache.

Anna laughed and laughed at her sister's rare display of goofiness. "You look like a Tomte!"

Elsa giggled too. "We both do!"

Mama glanced at Papa with a smile. "Where did we go wrong?"

Papa smirked. "Where did we go right?" He nodded to Elsa as she got up and ran around the table to squeeze Anna tight.

"I suppose they're not going to finish their porridge, are they?" The Queen took a sip of glogg, hiding the snort she sometimes released when laughing.

Papa loved that snort. His wife had tried very hard to get rid of it when she became his Queen, and he was glad she hadn't succeeded. He cleared his royal throat, calling down the table to his daughters, red mustache twitching with amusement, "All right, girls, go on to the Great Hall."

Anna sprang from Elsa's arms. "Come on, come on, come on!" She grabbed her sibling's wrist with both hands and tugged her out of the dining room.

"You may not open a single present until we arrive!" Mama remembered to shout after them.

"Yes, Mama!" Elsa responded, voice echoing as they rushed to the enormous fir in the Great Hall.

"Oooh…" Anna walked around and around the tree, gazing at the bright green boughs and the cloudberries that had been placed in clusters between the branches for decoration. Then her face fell thoughtfully.

"What's wrong?" Elsa asked, noticing her expression and coming to stand beside her.

"It's not shiny enough," Anna mumbled.

Slowly, Elsa grinned. "I can fix that! Watch this."

She opened her palms and the tree was covered in glittering, sparkling ice décor. Snow covered every limb, little icicles dangled like ornaments, and a brilliant snowflake star topped the tree, glowing blue.

"Wow!" Anna clapped her hands. "Now it's perfect!"

Elsa gave her a side hug. "Merry Christmas, Anna."

"Merry Christmas, Elsa!"

Elsa smiled. Anna had always been her biggest fan. She could appreciate her sister's magic like no one else—back when she knew it was there. She knew how to make Elsa feel special, and she knew when to stop asking for a show. Her whole face would light up and the blue glitterings would reflect in her huge, moon-shaped eyes as she gasped and applauded Elsa's gift. And Anna had made it a gift, Elsa recalled. When they were children, she had never, ever thought of her powers as a curse with her chatty sibling by her side.

Anna would love this castle. Elsa could hear her now. "This is amazing!" The same call from the 4-year-old dancing about in the throne room as snow fell under the high roof. She'd love the slippery halls, the spots where Elsa had slanted the floors just so she'd slide to her destination—gracefully, of course.

Anna wasn't much of a skater, just as Elsa wasn't much of a dancer. But as she walked slowly down a flight of steps, gazing at the clear, wide-open landings between staircases, Elsa knew Anna wouldn't have been able to resist shuffling onto the smooth surface. She'd be wobbly at first, but if things had been how they used to be, the eldest would pull or push the youngest along mischievously, shooting her enchantment from her open palms to propel the two of them across the room.

In the past day and a half, Elsa had often daydreamed of having Anna live with her. Sometimes she thought, I've got control here. There's room for family in my court now. But she always remembered the accident in time, and fear—the same one she thought she'd left down the mountain—would always dismiss the idea.

It was going to get dark soon. Suppertime had passed and despite the winter Elsa kept on the North Mountain's peak, the world must have still been on summer time, because the sun set much later in the day. She'd saved the rest of the chocolates on the table for dessert tonight. She wasn't sure where they'd come from—it was a welcome mystery. Elsa had checked around the castle and even a little past her bridge, trying to find footsteps in the snow or perhaps the shadow of a stranger. But there was nothing. She was delighted and a little nervous to encounter a gift that was so strangely given, and had decided not to put too much thought into the identity of the culprit—even if something nagged in the back of her mind to reconsider.

She was on her way to the dining hall to retrieve those chocolates when she heard a knock—a knock!—at the front double doors. Elsa was on the staircase just above the main floor, overlooking the fountain. She stopped cold (no pun intended) and blinked hard.

Who was it?

Who always knocked on her door, without fail, for 15 long years?

With a flick of a shaking hand, Elsa felt an odd and incredibly strong hope fill her chest. What was she hopeful for? It was probably just the wind howling against the ice walls. And even if it wasn't, shouldn't she be worried? No one could find her here. They would…she didn't know what they'd do. They 'd try to take her out, perhaps, rid the kingdom of the monster at their backs. They might attempt to banish her. Hadn't she gotten far enough away? She was content here. Really she was. She had left, after all, to protect them, hadn't she? From herself? There would be no need to give chase; she'd renounced her claim to the throne willingly.

A wispy shout leaned tentatively against each wall, jarring her.

"Elsa? It's me…Anna."

It is her! Elsa looked through the ice sheet keeping her out of sight. She could see the blurry form of her sister, with something pink draped over her, wobbling uncomfortably on the slick floor.

Taking a deep breath, allowing cheer at seeing Anna again to show on her face, Elsa stepped into the light. "Anna!" This was just what she'd wanted, she realized. She'd just like to see Anna, to have Anna see all this.

Anna gasped, her head jerking upward to openly stare at the winter Princess. Elsa smiled, a little shakily, feeling proud of her new attire and the structure around the two girls. Anna's expression was one of awe and a hint of the same pride—pride in Elsa's abilities, as always. Elsa's smile became more genuine.

"Woah, Elsa, you look…different." She held up mittened hands, adding sweetly, "It's a good different!" Then Anna glanced around, breath billowing out in front of her. "And this place…it's amazing."

Elsa spread her arms, gazing fondly at her sister, letting a little more warmth creep in. Amazing. Just as she imagined it. "Thank you." Exhaling with barely concealed satisfaction, she joined her sibling in looking around at the main level of the castle, enjoying its style. "I never knew what I was capable of."

Suddenly that sounded a bit accusatory. Like, Of course I never knew what I was capable of. You and the rest of Arendelle kept me from finding out! That wasn't what she meant, not even a little, but she wasn't one to backtrack the way Anna could.

This felt so incomplete, too formal, like it had been at the coronation party. She was worried she'd say the wrong thing, wondering what Anna must be thinking, as if they were total strangers. They were family; shouldn't Elsa have been able to guess what was in her head? Everything had gone so wrong, and now, looking back, Elsa could no longer be sure where it began.

Anna balanced with a hand on one of the sparkling pillars, taking on the first step—and not just to the staircase. "I'm so sorry—about what happened. I-If I had known…"

As she drew closer, Elsa's heart cowered against her chest. She felt the storm swirling, rising with her happiness at chatting with Anna. It had been so active lately, what if it sprang out now?

"No, no," Elsa stammered, tentatively holding up both palms to try and still the redhead slipping a little on the stairs. "It…It's okay. You don't have to apologize." And she didn't. What had Anna ever done to her? Clasping one hand in the other, she added, "But you should probably go." She couldn't meet that hopeful blue gaze. "Please."

The fragility showed in Anna's voice, and Elsa tried to pretend she hadn't noticed it. "But I just got here."

She was on the second step now, and Elsa took a pace backward. "You belong down in Arendelle."

Had Anna been trying to find her these past two days? The days that had felt like two weeks of solitude and open-aired freedom? Why hadn't she been down there, living her life the way she'd never been able to? Elsa felt as if somehow this recent loss in her sister's personal clock was her fault. Just like everything else in Anna's life was her fault. She could get hurt here; she had to leave.

Anna's tone was firm, raising her eyebrows as she retorted, "So do you!" As if she believed it.

Elsa huffed, just a tiny bit. She strode toward the bannister. "No, Anna, I belong here. Alone." She chortled, almost bitterly. No, it couldn't be bitterness. She was happy here. Wasn't she? "So I can be who I am…without hurting anybody."

Anna lifted a finger, suddenly looking sheepish. "Aaaactually, about that…I came—"

Another voice, familiar and unfamiliar, squalled out, "Fifty-nine, sixty!"

"Wait—what is that?" Elsa felt her defenses picking up.

And then, to her heart-pounding astonishment, an old friend of hers bounced back into her life. "Hi! I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!"

Jack had been out trying to find a river that wasn't frozen. Elsa hadn't acted as if she needed it, but she'd probably really like some fresh water, instead of just melted snow. The food had given him hope. Maybe if he kept doing these little tricks, she'd see him again. He pushed away the memories of doing the same sort of stunts with other people through the hundred years he'd been alive. The memories of failure after failure. There was something he was doing wrong—something the Man in the Moon wouldn't shed some light on. Nothing, even the craziest of schemes, ever worked. But Elsa had to be an exception. She was special. He didn't know why it was so important to him that she be the one—she just had to.

After having no luck thawing out or breaking through any rivers, Jack returned to the ice palace, only to find two very odd characters sitting outside its doors. When he got closer, he realized both were counting.

"28…29…"

The one on the right was no stranger to Jack. It was Kristoff, the reclusive mountain dude who brought amusement to the snowy spirit every once in a while. The same kid he loved to give sleigh rides to, the same guy he watched sleep in a different place every night, the same guy who talked to a reindeer—Sven. He'd gotten a little bulkier since the last time Jack had seen him, but he was the same Kristoff. No-nonsense, grumpy, and currently reaching the number 40.

"Looks like I missed the party invite." Jack observed, leaning on his staff. "What'd I miss?"

Then he caught sight of the talking snowman. He'd seen Elsa build Olaf before, but he'd never been so…well, alive. His eyes weren't made of rocks and his mouth was actually moving, as were his round little snowball feet as they kicked impatiently where he sat.

"We're having a party?"

Jack jumped as Olaf turned and looked right at him, grinning widely. Blinking, Jack's heart lifted. "Uh…wait, can you…are you seeing me?"

Olaf nodded. "Yeah."

"And you can hear me?"

"Yeah."

"You gotta be kidding."

"Yeah." Olaf shook himself. "I mean—hi! I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!"

Jack laughed. "I like warm hugs too, little man. Hey, how're you doing that?" He poked at Olaf's still-wiggling feet, and the snowman giggled.

Kristoff, disgruntled, glared at Olaf. "Who are you talking to?"

"Tell him I'm Bigfoot."

"Okay. He's Bigfoot!" Olaf pointed to Jack gleefully. "Bigfoot, this is Sven."

Kristoff rolled his eyes, apparently exasperated with his round companion, and looked away as if ignoring Olaf's existence.

"Don't worry about it," Jack assured his new friend. "Some people just don't like me. I always thought the reindeer was Sven," he added, scratching his head. He sat on Olaf's other side, glad of conversation.

"Yeah—oh, well, they're both Sven. Makes things easier for me. Why do they call you Digfoot?" Olaf snorted when he laughed. Jack grinned. Clearly the poor little guy wasn't that good with names.

"Actually," Jack decided to inform him, "Name's Jack Frost." He stuck out a hand and Olaf put his three-fingered branch into it. When Jack shook it, the arm actually came out of Olaf's middle snowball, and Jack winced, shoving it back into place.

"Hi!" Olaf repeated as Jack introduced himself. "I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!"

"Got that." Jack rested his elbows on his knees. "So what are you guys doing up here? It's not like Elsa climbed a mountain 'cuz she wanted visitors, you know."

"That's what Sven said!" Olaf gurgled, pointing at Kristoff. Kristoff deliberately didn't look, shuffling with his sack. "But Anna told him nobody wants to be alone. She's right, right? Like, I definitely don't! I love people. They're so warm all the time! Oh, but hey, whatever floats—"

Jack shot to his feet. "Wait wait wait, Anna's here?"

Olaf nodded. "Yeah! Y'know you're really good at listening! You should start a business." He didn't sound even a tiny bit sarcastic, blinking innocently up at Jack.

"Thanks, buddy," Jack roughed up the three endearing twigs on Olaf's head, then turned and went into the castle.

"Bye, Jack!"

Behind him he could hear Olaf continue to count with Kristoff as if Jack had never been there. "Fifty-eight…fifty-nine…"

"Sixty!" Suddenly Olaf ran past Jack, waving up at him as he went, and entered the ice palace. He darted to Anna's side; Jack had just noticed the second royal standing at the foot of the stairs. "Hi! I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!"

Jack flew to the fountain, where he sat on the frozen water as if it were a chair. He wanted to watch this. "He with you, Freckles?"

Elsa stared at Olaf. It had been so long since she'd ever seen him like this—and when she had, it was only in her imagination. But it had been an exact duplicate. "…Olaf?"

Olaf began to whisper a yeah, then caught his breath, looking up at Elsa with adoration and a dose of shyness. "You built me. …You remember that?"

Elsa kept watching him, leaning downward slightly to get a better view. He was adorable. Just the way she always crafted him to be. And his voice was absolutely perfect—better than the one she used to give him. She'd reconstructed this little friend for days and days in her room, almost every time 7-year-old Anna had asked her to build a snowman. She had—her sister just hadn't known it. Olaf looked so absolutely charming that Elsa did have the strong, age-old urge to pick him up and hug him.

"And you're alive?"

Olaf glanced down at himself, curling his fingers in. "Um…I think so."

Jack snickered. Elsa looked at her hands, biting her lip. How had she done this? It was incredible. Could she do it again, if she had to? She felt certain she could. Just a passing tribute as she'd traveled up the mountain, and now he was here, jittering in the middle of her castle and talking as if he were human.

Anna put a hand on Olaf's back. "He's just like the one we built as kids." Olaf smiled up at her.

Elsa felt delight bubble in her heart, and it spread to her mouth in a smile suspiciously similar to the snowman's. Like mother, like son. "Yeah."

"Elsa, we were so close," Anna murmured. "We can be like that again."

Jack sat up straighter. With Olaf here, and Elsa so clearly in a fine mood—safe in her palace, where no one else could judge them as they talked—could Anna finally receive what she'd wanted most of all?

Elsa wanted to believe it. She so, so desperately wanted to agree. It would be so easy. It would feel so good. She could see them, ruling side by side, hosting parties every evening, the gates to their childhood home always open, staying up late talking, waking up with the sun every morning to build Olaf some friends…being best friends again.

Unfortunately another vision blotted out the rest.

"Catch me!"

"Slow down! Anna!"

Elsa squeezed her eyes shut, the terror overwhelming her again. No, no, no, no, no. She hated this feeling. She didn't want it back. Anna was watching her, and Elsa folded her arms, yearning like she always did for a place to just get away. Even her ice castle wasn't secluded enough now.

"No. We can't." She turned away, hurrying toward the stairs behind her. "Goodbye, Anna."

Jack sprang from the fountain, used the wind to push himself up the bannister instead of sliding down it, and landed at Elsa's side. "Hey, Elsa, come on, you can't do this again. You were getting the hang of it, remember? Just don't think about it."

But he was invisible. With a backward glance, Jack saw Anna rushing after her sister.

"Elsa, wait—"

"No, I'm just trying to protect you!" Elsa's voice caught in her throat. She fought tears. She wished Anna had never come.

Anna wasn't giving up that quickly. She started moving up the stairs, little by little getting faster. "You don't have to protect me; I'm not afraid!"

Jack, noticing that Olaf was trying to hop his way up the stairs too, dashed down to the snowman and whispered, "Stay here, okay, Olaf?"

"Okay! I'll go get Sven!"

"No—wait—" Jack reached out to pull him back, but he didn't have much to hold onto. Olaf was already out the door. Groaning, Jack turned to follow the dopey snowman.

"Please don't shut me out again! Please don't slam the door! You don't have to keep your distance anymore." Anna watched Elsa hurry up more and more curved flights of steps, and with growing confidence the redhead did the same. "'Cuz for the first time in forever, I finally understand! For the first time in forever, we can fix this hand in hand! Elsa—we can head down this mountain together. You and me. You don't have to live in fear!"

She had reached the balcony room. Elsa kept her back to her unwelcome guest. She didn't have to live in fear? How can she say that? Hadn't she figured it out yet? Elsa was a loose cannon. She'd hurt Anna once. She would not do it again.

"I promise." Anna stood in the doorway, smiling quite lovingly at her big sis. "'Cuz for the first time in forever, I will be right here."

Elsa felt her face tingle with pain. Anna truly believed she could change things. She didn't know how wrong she was. Elsa decided to soften, just a bit, in her farewell.

"Anna…please go back home." Elsa turned, smiling with her, but it was a very different smile. "Your life awaits! Go enjoy the sun and open up the gates."

"Yeah, but—"

"I know—you mean well. But leave me be. Don't you see? Yes, I'm alone." Elsa went out to the balcony, gazing at the evening sky, enjoying the view and remembering the ecstasy she'd felt when she built this place. "But I'm alone and free!"

Glancing sideways, she realized Anna had followed her, and was standing too close. Elsa whirled around and speed-walked back into the room.

"Just stay away and you'll be safe from me!"

Anna's voice changed. It became almost teasing, the way it did when they were little and she'd made Elsa play guessing games, before revealing the chocolate she'd swiped for the two of them. "A-Actually, we're not."

Elsa stopped. Her heels couldn't take all this turning. "What do you mean you're not?"

"I get the feeling you don't know."

Elsa rolled her eyes. Just spit it out! "What do I not know?"

Anna winced. "Arendelle's in deep, deep, deep, deep…snow."

Elsa felt the fear get stronger, and her powers rose up. Snowflakes filled the air. "What?"

"You kind of set off an eternal winter. Everywhere."

"Everywhere?" Arendelle was buried? It was frozen? How? How could she do that? Yes, she had ice powers, but she was just one girl! She couldn't possibly, not even for a second, have enough strength, even of emotion, to do that kind of damage. Not to a whole kingdom.

"It's okay," Anna reassured her. "You can just unfreeze it!"

Elsa scoffed, horrified. "No I can't! I don't know how!" She didn't even know how she'd set it off it in the first place.

"Sure you can, Elsa! I know you can."

Elsa cradled her head in her hands. What had she done? The snow billowed around her, getting stronger, swirling. Please. Please. "Oh…no…I'm such a fool! I can't be free!"

"You don't have to be afraid!"

Yes I do!

"No escape from the storm inside of me…" Elsa folded her arms around her stomach, feeling nauseous with fear. Why couldn't she be born normal? This gift she'd loved so much over the last two days—it wasn't a gift anymore. It was back to being a curse, and she just wanted everything to stop.

"We can work this out together!"

"I can't control the curse!"

"It's okay! We'll reverse the storm you've made."

"Anna, please, you'll only make it worse!" Elsa dropped her arms, running her hands through her bangs. Get it together. Get it together. Stop, stop talking, Anna, I can't…

"Don't panic!"

Elsa whirled around, staring at her sister in disbelief. Don't panic? She was panicking! Then she glanced back, glaring with hatred at her own reflection in the ice—or was it Anna's reflection she hated? "There's so much fear!"

"We can make the sun shine bright!"

She didn't want the sun. "You're not safe here!"

Elsa curled in on herself. Anna's voice became drowned out as the storm and the terror raged in her ears, drumming in her head, pounding her heart harder and harder and harder and harder and harder…

"I can't!"

Just as Jack entered the balcony room (from the balcony), an explosion of icy magic flowered from Elsa's entire body. It snapped around the walls until it came full-circle and collided with an unsuspecting, well-meaning Anna as she staggered through the mini snowstorm toward her struggling sibling.

Jack felt his face go slack. The magic had done something to her; he could feel it charging the air. Anna, grimacing, clutched at her chest with both hands, dropping to the ground. Something glowed beneath her mittens, just for a heartbeat. "Freckles, what's going on? You okay?" He started toward her, but stopped, realizing that his friend had gone quiet.

Breathing hard as the pounding in her skull subsided, Elsa glanced backward at Anna's grunt of pain. When she saw her sister, the color drained from her skin. She gasped, lifting her arms ever so slightly, trying to calm herself down. She hadn't. She couldn't have. Not again. She'd been trying to avoid hurting…

"Anna!"

Kristoff slid heroically on one knee, right to Anna's side. Olaf followed him. Kristoff helped the Princess up with a tenderness Jack had never seen in the mountain man before. "Are you okay?"

Anna let Kristoff support her, almost coughing. "I-I…I'm okay." She glowered at Elsa. "I'm fine."

"Who's this?" Elsa's eyes cut from Anna to Kristoff to Olaf and back again, distrusting. Then she caught herself. "Wait—i-i-it doesn't matter. Just…you have to go!"

"No!" Anna argued. "I know we can figure this out! Together!"

Elsa groaned, the picture of frustration. She'd lost her patience for that word. "How? What power do you have to stop this winter? To stop me?"

Jack glanced around. The walls were crackling, reacting to Elsa's anger.

"Anna, I think we should go," Kristoff suggested nervously, still holding her shoulders.

Anna gritted her teeth. "No, I'm not leaving without you, Elsa!"

Elsa gritted her teeth right back. Stubbornness ran in the family. And she was going to prove it. She'd do anything to keep Anna away now. She wasn't going to put her in danger again. It was a mistake, even letting her into the palace. If Anna was going to live, like it or not, Elsa could not be apart of her world anymore.

"Yes, you are."

With a surge of her magic, Elsa looked away from the flash and let it zap the floor.

Jack reeled backward against a pillar. Rising from the ground, an enormous snow monster roared his disapproval of the visitors. "Woah!"

The monster snatched up Anna and Kristoff in one clawed hand and Olaf in the other, lumbering down the steps. Right on their heels, Jack marveled at how the monster didn't the ice around and beneath him, despite what must be his weight.

When the big guy stopped at the front door, Anna yelled, "Put us down!" It was clear she'd lost her temper a long time ago.

He tossed the two travelers into the snow, past the bridged staircase outside.

"Go away!" growled the monster.

Jack flew back to the balcony to watch, passing a stiff and adamant Elsa on his way. She walked to his side to make sure her creation got the job done, but when she put her hand down on the railing, it passed through his. He chose not to acknowledge it.

When Anna hit the monster with a snowball, the chase was on. Jack couldn't help laughing as the huge snowman took off in pursuit down the mountain, irritated at the puny human's nerve.

Elsa didn't laugh. She looked at her hands in disgust. "I did it again. I haven't learned anything! I can't control it."

She went back inside, and Jack watched her go. "So you're just gonna sit here?" Just because she couldn't hear him didn't mean she wasn't about to get an earful. "Hey—Princess! You saw what happened back there. Something's wrong with your sister. What're you gonna do about it?"

Elsa went to her chambers, and Jack curled his lip when she slammed the door behind her. Obviously she wasn't too concerned. She probably didn't notice the gravity of Anna's injury, not the way he had. Maybe she just didn't sense things like that. Their powers were different, after all.

Jack looked at the ground, staring into space. It was up to him. If Elsa wasn't going to help Anna, he would. Or at least he'd figure out what was going on. Someone had to.

(Ha ha! How's that for a long one? Don't forget, I love reading your reviews, so the longer the better! And for those of you reminding me to update soon, don't worry! I've got plenty more where this came from and I won't make you wait too long. You can stop reminding me. :D You guys rock! -Doverstar)