My apologies; this was supposed to be the last chapter, but it was going on twenty pages and I didn't want you all to have to endure all the anguish at once. Plus, twenty pages for one chapter? I didn't even know I had that in me!

Anyway, here's part one of the final chapter. Hopefully—if my fingers don't betray me again—the next chapter will actually be the last. Add a short epilogue and 'Belonging' will finally come to a close. *gasp*

Chapter XVII

She was floating amidst the clouds, feeling light as a feather; unburdened, free.

Flash.

She was sinking; slowly, slowly, painfully; cruelly. A blackness enveloped her and closed around her; suffocating her, killing her.

Flash.

It was quiet; too quiet. There wasn't a sound to be heard. She couldn't even hear her own breathing; she couldn't even feel herself breathing.

Was she breathing?

Flash.

It was loud; incredibly, painfully loud. Her eardrums were bleeding; her head throbbing with the nocuous voices drumming in her head.

Flash.

There was a blur of blonde. She blinked and the blonde blur focused somewhat. A braid; a flowing braid of gold. She blinked again and two hauntingly familiar orbs of blue were looking down at her; calling to her; begging her.

Flash.

"Anna!"

Flash.

She was tired. The blonde was talking.

"Anna, stay with me!"

Flash.

Something wet fell on her. She blinked. Her angel was crying, blue eyes leaking droplets of crystal.

"Anna, don't do this!"

Flash.

The blackness returned; enveloped her again. This time it stayed. She was scared. She was sinking again and there was no anchor in sight. Her angel's voice was comforting, but it was nothing she could grab onto. She would die in this black ocean. An ocean that was slowly turning red with blood as a storm brewed overhead.

She was dying.

Flash.

"Anna!"

She tried reaching for her angel; Death began pulling her the other way.

"E…Elsa…"

XxXxX

She came to again with a shock accompanied by a flash of lightening. She was in the middle of a forest, thunder rumbling up above.

"She's flat lining!"

"Start manual ventilation!"

"Charge to 300!"

"Please, save her!"

The trees were talking. Some were laughing. It all filled her head; she didn't know up from down.

Flash.

Her body jumped involuntarily as lightening flashed again; the melody of the thunder repeating soon after.

"Nothing!"

"Damn it; try again!"

"Charge to 350!"

"Anna, please..."

The trees moved. They bore manic grins; their eyes blood red, liquid dripping from their sockets like tears. She trembled where she stood.

Flash.

Another jerk of her body, another flash of lightening. Blood rained down on her. Tears spilled from her eyes.

She curled in on herself, waiting for this hellish nightmare to pass.

"Elsa…"

XxXxX

The silence was pounding in Elsa's ears as she rubbed at the tears in her eyes for what had to be the seventh time that minute. She blinked and another tear started its course. She wrapped her arms tighter around her legs, forehead resting on her knees as her body was overcome with sobs yet again.

She wasn't sure what was going on. She had long since given up on determining what was real and what was a dream. Ever since those shots were fired, Elsa seemed to be on autopilot; a helpless onlooker as her life spiraled out of control.

It had only been three hours, yet it felt like a year to Elsa.

Hans had fired two rounds at Elsa the same time Elsa pulled the trigger herself. She hadn't even heard the two shots come from Mulan's and Shang's guns respectively. No, she had been too preoccupied with the fragments of metal speeding their way towards her.

The fragments of metal that never ended up making contact.

She had slowly opened her eyes to see a sight which would plague her for years to come.

Anna stood before her, arms stretched wide, mouth frozen in a scream.

"Anna!"

The redhead had begun to sway before falling backwards into Elsa's arms, the blonde immediately feeling the warmth of blood.

Collapsing to the floor, Elsa observed Anna. One bullet had connected with her gut; the wound pumping out blood with each shudder that wracked the young girl. The other bullet entered her chest and Elsa could only pray it missed her heart.

"Anna! Anna!" Elsa had called, fingers tapping the redhead's cheek.

Anna's eyes were darting every which way, unfocused as her body began to shake uncontrollably.

"Someone do something!" Elsa yelled, bringing Mulan and Shang over.

Shang was instantly on his radio calling in several ambulances to their location. Elsa felt Mulan's hand on her shoulder, but Elsa only encircled Anna more, pulling the girl to her chest, careless of the blood that was now staining her clothes.

"Anna, don't do this; don't die." she whispered, tears escaping on her own accord. "Stay with me, baby, please."

She watched in horror as Anna's hand—which until then had been clenched into a tight fist—slackened, opening as it slowly paled.

"Anna!" Elsa screamed.

Her body bending protectively over Anna's, Elsa wept harder, her hands grabbing fistfuls of copper hair and bloody clothes.

Paramedics ran into the room and over to the girls on the floor. Several began trying to remove Anna from Elsa's arms, but Elsa held strong. They were taking her away! Elsa fought back, intent on keeping Anna in her arms where she would be safe and warm.

She knew she wasn't thinking clearly as she cursed and shouted at the medics, even going as far as pushing Mulan backwards as the policewoman attempted to calm the blonde.

There was a moment of peace and Elsa held Anna tighter in her arms, placing chaste kisses across the girl's many freckles.

Then there was a pinch in her side and her world became fuzzy.

She felt herself begrudgingly let go of Anna.

She watched the paramedics pick the girl up and rush out of view.

She tried to call out to the redhead, but didn't know if she was heard.

Her eyelids became heavy.

She was at peace.

When Elsa came to, she was in an ambulance; the sedative she had been given wearing off much sooner than anticipated. She awoke just in time to see Anna's body jerk beside her as the doctors shocked her in order to restart her heart.

A long beep broke through the silence and Elsa started crying again.

"She's flat lining!" a medic cried, looking to a screen that displayed the line accompanied by the drawn out beep.

"Start manual ventilation!" another called as the first medic brought out an air mask and strapped it to Anna's face.

Elsa watched in dread as he began squeezing a balloon of sorts and peaks started to appear on Anna's screen, a quiet beep following each peak. Meanwhile the other medic busied himself with the paddles in his hand.

"Charge to 300!"

The man helping Anna to breathe pulled the mask away as the paddles were placed on her chest. A medic yelled "clear!" and Elsa watched Anna's body flail as the shock coursed through her.

Nothing.

New tears leaked from her eyes as Elsa cried out, "Please, save her!"

The men seemed surprised Elsa had regained consciousness already and a third quickly prepared another sedative.

Another prick of her skin and Elsa knew the blackness would soon come beckoning.

Haziness blurred her vision as Anna's body was electrocuted yet again and the doctors continued to shout at the other.

Groaning, Elsa succumbed to the darkness.

"Anna, please…"

She had woken up in a hospital bed two hours later. A nurse, who had been scribbling on a clipboard at the foot at Elsa's bed, smiled when she saw the blonde was back in the land of the living. A doctor had been called in and had explained to Elsa that she had several broken ribs, a black eye, a slight concussion and stitches on her cheek from a particularly nasty cut. Her wrists and ankles were also bruising from her bonds, but were simply superficial wounds.

After passing a psych examination and downing several glasses of water, Elsa struggled to sit up in bed.

"And Anna?" she had asked. "How's Anna?"

Her stomach knotted at the grim look that overtook the doctor's face.

"She's in surgery; has been for the past hour. One bullet was a simple through-and-through, which is good. The other though…"

Elsa watched in apprehension as the doctor sat down on the bed and placed a gentle hand on Elsa's shoulder.

"The other nicked her heart," he finished. As the tears welled in Elsa's eyes, he attempted to smile comfortingly. "The surgeons are doing all they can. The fact that she's still in there is good news; it means she fighting. She's not gone yet."

"She has to fight…" Elsa mumbled more to herself, though the doctor heard and fixed her with a bigger smile.

"She is," he repeated, affirmed. "You have to believe she will continue to."

Elsa nodded and the doctor slowly took his leave. Spending the next few minutes shedding tears for Anna somewhere with hands, scalpels, and gods know what else in her chest, Elsa continued to amaze herself with how many tears her body was capable of producing. She wiped at her eyes and made to push herself off the bed.

She was going to look for Anna; the redhead needed her and Elsa would be damned if she just waited helplessly in this room.

Cringing at the slight throb of her ribs, Elsa staggered from her room.

It wasn't hard to track down the hallway which held the operating rooms. After asking an orderly, she had been led to a hallway to find Mulan and Kristoff sitting in chairs lining the wall. Large double doors were at the end of the hallway, an illuminated OR 2 indicating Anna's ongoing surgery.

Both the policewoman and boy looked up at Elsa's approach and gave sad smiles. Kristoff moved over a seat, offering Elsa a space between them.

After sitting down and receiving a gigantic bear hug from Kristoff and even a hug from Mulan along with condolences for Anna's wellbeing, Elsa remained in said chair for the next hour.

Uncurling from her position, she stretched. Mulan had left some time ago to head back to the precinct, saying she'd be back later with Shang, and Kristoff had left only minutes ago to grab him and Elsa a bite to eat.

Elsa glanced back up to the light above the double doors. She debated on whether or not she wanted that light to go out or not. If it did, that meant Anna's surgery was over; but it may also mean she didn't make it. Elsa was sure she wouldn't be able to handle it if Anna died, and therefore, part of her continued to pray it would stay lit. If Anna was alive in this moment, this moment never needed to end.

As if attune to Elsa's thoughts, the light suddenly went out with a gentle ding and Elsa waited with baited breath.

The double doors opened and Elsa was surprised to see Dr Marsh step out. Upon seeing Elsa, he smiled and removed his scrub cap.

"Elsa," he greeted. "Thank goodness you're okay."

"Anna," Elsa whispered. "Is she…?"

Huffing, Dr Marsh sat down beside her, folding his hands in his lap.

"She's alive," he replied.

Elsa felt like she was reborn; then she took note of the look in Marsh's eye and wanted to go crawling back into her metaphorical womb.

"But…?" she offered hesitantly.

"She's in a coma," the doctor finished. "It's uncertain whether she'll ever wake up or not."

Elsa's world came crashing down.

"B-But…" she stuttered, "she wasn't hit in t-the head!"

Dr Marsh smiled sympathetically and squeezed Elsa's shoulder.

"That doesn't matter, my dear," he said. "The injury to her heart, the efforts to keep her alive, and the surgery took a lot from her. She was unconscious for so long that her brain was deprived of oxygen. We had to revive her several times during surgery as well. Her heart wasn't taking the strain very well, but it seems her will remained strong. She came back every time."

"Wh-What…are her c-chances?" Elsa was almost afraid to ask.

Dr Marsh sighed again and his grip on her shoulder tightened even further.

"Elsa, I'm afraid they're fifty-fifty."

XxXxX

She was afraid to open her eyes again. She was afraid of what she might see. She had been at peace for the past several hours and she hated to think it would instantly shatter with the opening of her eyes. She felt herself being watched and filled with dread at the feeling. It was probably Death again. Staring into her with soulless eyes and beckoning her with the gleam of his scythe. She had managed to thwart all of his attempts so far, but she was so weak; she didn't know how much longer she could hold out.

"You just gonna lie in the elevator all day?" a voice that most certainly did not belong to the demon laughed.

Hesitantly, she opened her eyes to find herself curled in a ball on the floor, a hulking blonde standing above her.

"Kristoff?"

Kristoff smiled. "Hey there, short-stuff."

Jumping to her feet, she quickly noticed the absence of any pain. Strange, she thought. She vaguely remembered being shot.

"W-What's going on?" she asked. "Am I dreaming?"

Kristoff fixed her with a smirk, although it fell slightly as if he was uncertain.

"Well… Kinda?" he responded.

She quirked an eyebrow at his answer. Sighing, he pressed a button on the elevator and held out a hand.

"Come with me, Anna," he said.

The elevator dinged as she took his hand, but she was perturbed when the doors didn't open. Before she could ask if the elevator was malfunctioning, Kristoff led her through the door. A sickening feeling built up in her stomach as they passed through the barrier.

"Kristoff…" she started, "I'm not…dead, am I?"

Again, he fixed her with an uncertain smirk—now almost looking like a grin.

"Kinda," he responded.

Anna pulled her hand away. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

Kristoff spun to face her, his expression pained. "Anna, please; just follow me, okay? I'm trying to help you understand."

Staring him down to determine his worth, Anna finally conceded, but refused to take his hand again. Following him down a brightly lit hallway, Anna picked up on the lack of people milling about.

"Aren't we in a hospital?" she asked. "Where're all the doctors? Nurses? Patients?"

"You're the only patient here, Anna," Kristoff ominously responded.

Anna blinked and was about to question him further when she realized they were not passing any rooms. The hallway was empty, save for one lone door at the end. Anna gulped.

"What's through that door?" she asked.

Kristoff stopped before it, hands behind his back. "Go on inside; I'll be right in."

Hesitating, she began to back away before Kristoff all but pushed her through the closed door. Catching her balance, she looked around. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight that greeted her.

She was lying in a bed, hooked up to various machines, her pallor sickly.

But…she was standing right here, too, wasn't she?

There was something else, though.

Elsa was sitting beside the bed, her hand tightly wrapped around the Anna's in the bed. She had her back to Anna in the doorway, but Anna could clearly hear her cries.

"Elsa?"

The blonde didn't turn.

"She can't hear you."

Anna spun to see Kristoff now standing beside her.

"Why not?"

The male shrugged. "'Cause you're not real," he offered.

"So I am dreaming?"

Again, Kristoff only offered a shrug in return.

What the hell was going on?

"Why am I here?" Anna tried next.

"I'm showing you what you have to fight for," Kristoff replied, motioning to Elsa.

Slowly, Anna walked up to the elder girl, Kristoff following her steps on the opposite side of the bed.

"She hasn't left your side, you know," he said.

Anna observed the stitches on Elsa's cheek and reached out to caress them. Only when her hand fazed right through the blonde did Anna pull her hand away.

"You should've seen her when the paramedics tried to take you away," Kristoff continued with a somber chuckle as Anna traced Elsa's black eye. "She was so hysterical they had to sedate her."

"They did?" Anna asked, her eyes moving to look at the boy across from her.

"I'd never seen her like that," he said with a nod to her question. "It was terrifying. I… She wasn't Elsa in that moment; I don't think she even knew what was happening. All she knew was that you were dying in her arms and she was helpless to stop it."

Anna felt him staring and looked back over.

"Why did you take the bullets for her?" he asked sternly.

"I saved your best friend, Kristoff!" she exclaimed defensively. "It sounds like you're blaming me for all of this!"

He only repeated his question. Anna looked to her body in the bed, eyes clenched shut in obvious pain.

"I…couldn't let her die," she mumbled. "It was my fault she was there in the first place. Hans' fight was with me from the beginning, not her. She was innocent. I had to protect that innocence."

"You have to wake up from this, Anna," Kristoff told her, also looking to the body in the bed solemnly. "You can't be her hero and then die on her."

"I don't want to!" Anna cried. "Why can't I wake myself up now?"

"You're not trying hard enough."

Tears pricked her eyes as she screamed at the blond. "I am trying! You have no idea how hard I'm trying! I've been trying since I was shot, damn it!" Wrapping her arms around herself, she collapsed to the floor. "It just hurts so much," she whispered. "Every time I push, the pain pushes back harder and overpowers my will. I am trying, Kristoff, I swear. I don't want to die…"

Kristoff stroked Anna's hair in the bed softly, smiling sadly at the frail form before him. Anna watched from the floor, her eyes glancing to Elsa as the blonde wiped several tears from her eyes.

"She's already watched her parents die from this position, Anna," Kristoff whispered, suddenly sounding so far away. Anna looked back at Elsa, her heart breaking as she pictured a young Elsa crying at her parents' bedside as they slipped away from her. "Don't let someone else she loves go like this. You have to get back to her."

Anna wanted to scream, but just as she opened her mouth to do so, everything around her became black.

"Kristoff?" she asked, looking around frantically for some light but to no avail.

The pain was back, Death and his glistening scythe lurking in Anna's shadow.

Her eyes shot open as she let out a gasp. Shooting into a sitting position, she took in her surroundings. Sun light beamed down on her and a breeze danced through her braids.

"Where am I now?" she mumbled, holding her head as a dull throb started.

Blinking, she looked down and saw a gray slate of marble. The writing carved into it was faded from the weather and age, but Anna knew what it was.

A tombstone. She was in a graveyard.

This couldn't be good.

"Please don't tell me I have to watch my funeral," she choked on a sob.

What kind of sick game was this? She wished she could wake up. Elsa would make all this better.

Making to stand, Anna looked around again and took in the tombstones around her. They fell into neat rows which stretched on for miles. Some were simple and flat, while some were tall and elaborate structures.

Down one row in particular, a tent was set up and a group of people surrounded it. Anna began walking towards it without a second thought.

Two caskets rested beneath the tent, hidden from the damaging sun. A small group of people surrounded them, all dressed in black and all weeping.

Anna's eyes fell to the little girl clutching an older woman's hand and her heart shot to her throat.

That was Elsa as a little girl.

Unbidden tears came to Anna's eyes.

Oh gods; don't tell me this is…

"She was far too young, the poor thing," a kind, gentle voice flitted to her on the wind.

Anna turned to her left and saw a beautiful woman standing beside her. Her chocolate brown hair was done up in a bun and she had familiar piercing blue eyes.

"She still grew up into the magnificent young lady we knew she would, though," an equally kind male voice added.

Turning to her right, Anna took in the man now beside her. He had a mop of blonde hair atop his head, his saddened eyes a shade lighter than the woman's.

"You're…Elsa's parents… Aren't you?" Anna asked, looking back and forth between the pair.

The woman nodded and the man placed a comforting hand on Anna's shoulder. She felt her knees go weak.

"Why is this happening?" she whimpered.

"We're here to persuade you to not follow Death's path, dear," Elsa's mother told her gently. "We know it's not voluntary, but it is a battle you have to win."

"Gods only know how we fought to stay with our little Elsa," her father cut in. "Clearly we didn't win that battle."

"And look what it did to our baby!" her mother cried.

Anna looked back over to the young Elsa. Although she held the older woman's hand in a death grip, no tears fell from her eyes. She looked on to her parents' graves with an almost vacant expression.

"She never cried?" Anna asked.

"She did," Elsa's father corrected, "just not at our funeral."

"She cried at our bedside in the hospital and cried for god knows how long after the ceremony, but she never let a tear fall here," her mother joined in.

"I think she thought we were watching and wanted to be brave for us," her father chimed back in. "She didn't know we'd be watching over her the rest of her life and would see the thousands of tears shed for us down the road."

"Our death changed our little girl," Elsa's mother went on. "Like any death of a parent would, it shattered her. She lost her light, lost her innocence; became a shell of who she used to be. And at such a young age; she was only six, you know."

"I know," Anna responded with a sad smile, looking on as the caskets were lowered into the ground. "She told me."

"You changed her," Elsa's father spoke up, his hand squeezing Anna's shoulder. "When she met you… I had never seen her look that happy since before our deaths."

Anna blinked back a tear. "But I brought her so much pain," she muttered. "She deserves better."

"Nonsense, dear!" her mother scolded. "You know yourself Elsa forgives you for all your faults; don't condemn yourself to such disdain!"

"But…"

"'But' nothing, Anna," the man replied. "Our Elsa loves you." With a chuckle, he added, "Almost as much as she loved us."

"She has a lot of love hidden inside her," the woman agreed. "She's buried it inside herself since our passing, but you knew that; you drew it out of her. You've changed her, dearie; that's why you can't leave her now."

"It would destroy Elsa," her father confirmed.

"I'm trying!" Anna shouted at the pair, her hands balling into tight fists. "I don't want to leave her, okay? I love your daughter more than you can possibly understand, but…it's not that easy to get back."

"Anna." Anna looked up and into the gaze of Elsa's mother, eyes identical to Elsa's boring into her soul. "We know that, dear; we were in your exact shoes. But we failed where you have to triumph. I know you're friend Kristoff told you the same thing, and I know it's frustrating, but you've got to try harder. Okay? For Elsa."

Sniffing, Anna nodded. "I can do it," she said.

Elsa's mother enveloped her in a hug and Elsa's father joined in as well.

"Yes, you can," Elsa's father said. "You have more fight in you than you know, Anna. Our daughter is in excellent hands."

Anna smiled and basked in the warmth the couple gave off.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"And don't you dare to even think you don't have our blessing when the time comes," Elsa's mother added with a melodic laugh, her voice now sounding far away.

Anna—now blushing profusely at Elsa's mother's jab—knew what was coming as the voices drifted away. Peering out of the embrace, she looked to the young Elsa again as she placed a flower on each of her parents' graves. Determined not to put Elsa through another funeral, Anna closed her eyes.

Then she opened them…