The side of the bed sagged under Kristoff's weight. With his head already covered in bandages, he sat there with his arm outstretched, palm up, letting it rest on Anna's lap.

A roll of gauze held in one of her slender hands, Anna used the other to gently wrap it around Kristoff's grazed left wrist, where an iron shackle had been just the night before.

"How did you even get out of those chains, anyway?"

"Had to use a little bone on the ground near me to pick the lock on them. But the last one just wouldn't budge, so I had to jerk my hand right out of it."

"What about the door?"

"Picked that lock too. When you're raised by trolls you learn all kinds of little skills. I'm lucky that thing decided to eat another femur before it went for me."

When she was about to cross over his wrist with the gauze once more, Anna's hand slipped.

"Ah!"

Kristoff winced in pain, Anna gasping and dropping the gauze.

"Oh I'm sorry, are you okay?"

"Yeah...I think your nail just scraped the cuts, that's all."

Anna picked up the gauze and resumed her role as medic.

"I'm sorry," she repeated.

"It's okay..."

The wrapping complete, Anna reached for the pair of bandage scissors and cut through the gauze, separating it from the rest of the roll.

"All right, hold still."

Slowly and carefully, Anna stuck a medical pin through the bandages, fastening them into place. They sat like that together for a moment, then Anna raised Kristoff's dressed wrist to her lips and planted a gentle, yet firm, kiss on it.

"There we go. All better..." she whispered.

"We can't say the same for Olaf. Or Sven..." Kristoff shut his eyes, his lips trembling. He forced the tears down, stopping them prematurely.

Anna took both of his hands into hers, caressing them with her thumbs.

Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They had trod Earth's fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread.

Elsa blinked. Something about the tome was making her eyes unable to properly focus on the sentences. She had to read them one word at a time, then shut the book and piece the message together in her mind afterward.

She opened the Necronomicon to a different part.

Yog-Sothoth is the key to the gate, whereby the spheres meet. Man rules now where They ruled once; They shall soon rule where man rules now. After summer is winter, after winter summer. They wait patient and potent, for here shall They reign again.

Elsa jumped up in her seat a little when she heard the knock. The door opened partially, revealing the hall outside.

"My queen?" Kai's voice floated into the room. "Could you spare a moment? We have a rather sudden guest here who is demanding your attention."

"Um...yes, just wait one second..."

Elsa took the Necronomicon and let it fall into an empty lower drawer of her desk, shut it, then turned the numbers of its combination lock.

"Come in."

The door opened further, Kai holding it in place for the guest. He cleared his throat.

"May I present...His Majesty King Klaus of the Southern Isles."

Flanked by two members of his royal guard, Klaus walked into the room. He resembled a graying, middle-aged version of his 12th younger brother, his face sporting a combination of a short beard and a handlebar mustache. Various medals hung from his royal uniform, a glint of sunlight reflecting off his gold epaulets.

"Thank you Kai, you may go."

The butler gave the customary bow to his queen and left, letting the door swing shut.

"I have very little patience with the Southern Isles these days, Klaus. Whatever you have to say, make it quick."

The room instantly dropped in temperature, ice forming in the corners. The guards, already having heard many stories of Arendelle's snow queen, grew nervous and stepped back a bit.

"Guards. You may leave."

Relieved, and glad to obey their king, they did so. Klaus stepped forward, indicating the luxurious chair that sat across from Elsa.

"May I?"

"You're early. I wasn't expecting you for another few days."

"Yes, well...when I wrote the letter, I never realized how urgent things had become."

Elsa clenched her hands.

"You have a lot of nerve coming here, Klaus. Especially after what your brother did."

The Southern Isles monarch remained where he was, his face looking apologetic.

"He was an utter fool, your Majesty. It was very unwise of me to ever even consider letting him represent my kingdom at your coronation. But I am nothing like him. I'm not here to cause problems. I am here to make amends."

Elsa softened up a bit, but she remained skeptical.

"Why did you come here, Klaus? What problem is weighing so heavily on your mind, that you couldn't just address it in a letter?"

Klaus indicated the chair once more.

"May I please have a seat? I...I really feel the need to be sitting down right now."

"Fine, you may."

"Thank you."

Klaus took his spot in the chair, letting his arms rest gently at each side of it. He gave a deep sigh.

"Your Majesty...have you ever considered...what the end of the world might look like?"

The queen's apprehensive expression remained, but on the inside, she felt that something was off.

"...what?"

"Have you ever given serious thought to how the world will end? What will bring an end to humanity, the Earth, the universe even?"

"I have already studied the Revelation of Saint John, and I'm sure you have too. Of course I know how things are to end. Why-"

"And what of the Kitab al-Azif? Have you studied that?"

Though she did not show it, Elsa was startled at the mention of the book. She could have told the truth about her finding it, but she decided to play it safe.

"I...don't know what you're referring to."

"Shortly after you were born, your father and I regularly maintained written correspondence with one another. He was very interested in magick, in sorcery, in forbidden knowledge."

Klaus hesitated, wondering if Elsa thought he had gone crazy, but he continued.

"Around 21 years ago, in London, one of the walls in St. Paul's Cathedral was being repaired. Workers knocked out a section of it, and found a dusty old book inside. Upon viewing its contents it's said that one of them went mad and tried to kill the others."

The queen was becoming uneasy.

"Normally the book would have been burned, but it mysteriously disappeared overnight. It did not resurface until around a month later, in your very own Arendelle. It then found its way into the hands of its king, your father. I vividly remember the letter from him after he obtained it. He described a black-eyed man with long hair appearing in his room and hand-delivering it to him in the dead of night."

Elsa's hands grew colder.

"And...what happened to this book?"

"It is unlike any other volume. And after your father saw what it contained-"

"Why didn't he destroy it?"

"He tried to, but any time he attempted it, he felt a strange compulsion not to. In the end, he could only hide it away within this castle."

For a split second, Elsa looked down near her feet, at the locked drawer.

"Where are you going with all of this, Klaus?"

Klaus turned his head to his left, peering out the glass window and at the mountains of Arendelle.

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."

He looked back at her.

"In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."

"Who...what is 'Cthulhu'?"

Klaus put his face in his hands.

"That's the news I have for you, your Majesty. The terrible, awful news."

He looked up.

"Deep in the Pacific Ocean, there is a city...a city that renders all our knowledge of mathematics useless. And the thing that sleeps within that city...that is the Great Old One, Cthulhu. And when the stars are right...that's when it will awaken."

Trying to calm herself, Elsa took a deep breath.

"...and what happens when it does awaken?"

Klaus put his head in his hands again.

"Then that's it, that's the end. It and its fishmen worshippers, the Deep Ones and their high priests Dagon and Hydra, will rise up out of the sea and claim this world as their own. What that means for us...I can only make guesses, but none of them are pleasant."

"How do you know all this?"

"Because I too once had a copy of that disgusting book, and I too once studied from it. I was a younger man back then, a much more foolish man. I took note of what it had to say about the constellations, about the planets, and how they related to the things that lurk our oceans."

Klaus swallowed, feeling like there was a lump in his throat.

"The stars are almost right. I give us five days at the most."

Elsa did not want to believe what the king was saying.

"And how do I know you aren't lying about all this? How do I know you aren't trying to trick me?

"Why would I lie about this, your Majesty? What do I possibly hope to gain by doing so? I would give anything to be able to say 'Yes, it is a lie'. I would give up my royal status, all of my wealth, my opulent palace, and live the rest of my days as a peasant if it meant that I could say it was all just a ghastly lie."

"Forgive me for being skeptical, but after what Hans tried to do-"

"Hans is DEAD!" Klaus slammed his fist on the desk. "My rash, shortsighted, idiotic little brother decided to fuck around with that damned book, and he paid for it with his life! Slaughtered in his cell by some twisted fucking monster!"

He paused, then straightened himself up and took another breath.

"My deepest apologies, your Majesty. That was unbecoming of someone of my stature. Forgive me."

In spite of being surprised at the royal's outburst, she was still focused mostly on the matter at hand.

"It's fine, Klaus...but this thing, it's all the way in the Pacific Ocean. Surely it would never reach us?"

Klaus closed his eyes and hung his head, choosing his next words with care.

"To make up for my brother's treachery, I came here to share this information with you because I felt you deserved the truth, no matter how disconcerting, no matter how horrifying. That, and because Cthulhu's awakening directly concerns your fair kingdom of Arendelle. You see, even though R'lyeh is on the other side of the world, the Pacific is merely its resting place. I do not know why, but it is inexorably linked with the seas near this nation. When it rises up from beneath the waves, it will do so here."

"But...what?"

"The city of R'lyeh contains structures unlike any you have ever seen before. It, and its occupant, dwells in the spaces between our reality, and the spaces between those."

Elsa's heart sank. She stared at her gloved hands, still resting on her desk.

"Is there anything we can do? Anything at all?" she whispered.

Klaus opened his eyes again.

"I have already spoken with Victoria on this matter, and she has agreed to have Great Britain give refuge to anyone in this area. Many nearby kingdoms have already evacuated, including my own. They now all stand empty, every last one. And hopefully, when the creature makes its way here, Arendelle will already be as well."

It looked as though Elsa's letters she had sent would remain unanswered.

"And what will that accomplish?"

"It will buy us time, but-"

"And then what? We just let it continue, we let it plow through all these countries until it gets to Britain anyway? That isn't a solution, that just delays the inevitable!"

A tear rolled down Klaus' cheek, settling into his beard.

"I am sorry. Truly, I am. But I see no other course of action..."

He wiped at his eyes as Elsa stood up.

"...I will stay. I will stay, and fight. I will destroy the Deep Ones, I will destroy Dagon, I will destroy Hydra, I will destroy R'lyeh, and I will destroy Cthulhu."

"That is impossible, you cannot k-"

"Don't tell me what is and isn't possible, Klaus."

The king jumped at her reply.

"I will evacuate my people to Britain, and I will remain here and hold the creature and its servants to this spot. It will not go any further."

Klaus was shocked. "Are you mad? You stand no chance against them."

Elsa looked directly into his eyes. "I've been running from things my entire life...no more. I am through with that. The whole world is now in danger, and it seems I'm the only one that can do anything about it. I will face this head-on."

"...very well. I have said what I came here to say. I wish you the best of luck."

He bowed, and turned to leave.

"Klaus."

He stopped.

"...yes?"

"Thank you. For warning me."

"You are very welcome, Elsa. Godspeed."

The queen watched him leave, then sat back down at her desk. Taking pen to paper, she began to write out the speech she would need to give her people in just a day's time; the last speech she would ever give them.