Author's Note: Hi, guys! Welcome back to Thawed. We are so close to the end I can almost taste it. So, I'm a little late in posting this, but it's because all morning I was writing another book so I didn't have time for this one until an hour ago (yes, I wrote this in an hour). I don't know if you guys have ever had this happen, but I'll randomly have a day when I'll write, like, five thousand words in a few hours. I have a bit of an addiction to writing. Better than caffeine, I guess. Anyway, this may seem like the end, but there's a little bit left of the story (only two chapters!). As always, let me know what you guys think and I will be back with another chapter next Saturday!

22. Water

"It is not nice to throw people!"

—Frozen, Anna

Elsa heard a bang, followed by a shout. Her eyes flew up, seeing a very different scene before her than she expected. Kristoff flew into the room after throwing open the door, and literally threw himself at Jain—a noble move—knocking him back on the floor. Fire flew out of Jain's hand, but it was off its mark due to Kristoff, and merely hit the ceiling above Hadyn's head. Hadyn, following the tussling pair, raising his hand as fire flew from his fingertips. It appeared Kristoff was trying to keep Jain from using his power and Hadyn was trying to hit his cousin with fire but couldn't because he might hit Kristoff. It was such a mess. Elsa turned away.

She glanced around, looking for some way out of her prison. Just when she thought there was no way she could help, she noticed something shining on the floor where Jain had been standing seconds before. It was the wand device. He must have dropped it when Kristoff tackled him, but that didn't help Elsa much as she had no way of getting to it.

At that moment, Anna flew through the door from whence Kristoff had just come, followed quickly by Olaf. Both of them were panting.

"Anna!" Elsa shouted, though she was certain her sister couldn't hear her words.

"Oh, my!" Olaf voiced watching the fighting men, while Anna ran over to the edge of the orb.

"Elsa!" Anna exclaimed, placing her hands on the orb against where Elsa's hands were placed. "Are you alright?"

Elsa shook her head, pointing franticly towards the device lying on the floor.

Anna looked behind her. Unlike Olaf, she was quick at catching on. Hurrying over to pick up the wand, she turned back to Elsa.

Olaf, meanwhile, seemed to be enjoying the fight as he pretended to punch the air, shouting, "Go, Kristoff, get that loser! Punch him in the face!"

Anna reached her sister, fiddling with the wand. "How do I work this thing?"

She must have pressed a button, as a slice appeared in the orb above Elsa's head.

"Down! Down!" Elsa shouted.

Anna jumped. "Wow! No need to shout. I can hear you!"

Elsa had forgotten that Jain could hear them too when he held it. Strange, it must let anyone hear through the orb.

Trying to calm herself down but still panicking, Elsa tried to walk her sister through how to cut the orb while still glancing over at the three men fighting.

It didn't look good. Jain was sending fire out of his hand which was destroying most of the room. Hadyn's fire wasn't hurting Jain at all. And Kristoff looked like he was losing his grip on Jain.

Finally, Anna figured the device out and made a quick cut in the orb's shield. As she did so, Elsa saw Jain throw Kristoff off him and shoot fire at her sister's fiancé.

It hit Kristoff in the chest and he flew against the wall, hitting it hard and then collapsing on the floor.

"No!" Anna yelled, dropping the wand and running over to her fiancé.

Luckily, the cut had been enough and Elsa squeezed out of the orb, falling on her knees once she was out.

Fire flew everywhere now that Hadyn and Jain were both uninhibited. The two cousins seemed matched in powers, but Jain still seemed to be winning. Elsa could only imagine it was because Hadyn was so weak from lack of food and water. At this rate, he wouldn't be able to defeat his cousin.

Elsa raced forward towards to fight. She focused intently, trying to manage her powers. Hadyn may not be able to defeat Jain alone, but together they might be able to.

Just as she headed for the fight, a flash of fire hit Hadyn's arm. He gasped in pain, dropping down behind a couch while Jain found cover behind a wardrobe. Elsa kept her head low and hurried over to Hadyn, going on her knees next to him.

"Hadyn, are you alright?"

His arm looked slightly burned, but luckily the wound didn't look too deep.

Hadyn nodded his head. "I'm fine. Elsa, you've got to get out of here."

"No," Elsa responded firmly. "This is my fight as much as yours. He's the person who is trying to destroy my kingdom. Besides, you are in no condition to be fighting anyone. If anyone is to get out of here, it's you."

Hadyn leaned over and touched her cheek with his hand. His hand was burning hot. "I'm sorry about all this."

Jain threw a bolt of fire at the couch, catching it on fire.

Elsa rolled her eyes. "Hadyn, we can discuss this later. Now, we fight."

She rose up to stand, focusing all the ice power she could on Jain. At the same moment, he moved out of his cover and focused his fire on her. A constant bolt of fire and ice came from their hands, meeting each other's power in the middle of the space. Sparks flew everywhere in ice and fire. Elsa narrowed her eyes, pushing with all the power she could muster. Jain similarly did the same. But neither seemed to be getting anywhere.

Jain remained constant, but Elsa felt herself weakening. She had not practiced her powers enough to be able to focus them for this long. She was untrained, undisciplined. Hadyn had been right. In that moment, she realized she could not defeat Jain alone.

Suddenly, she felt a hand grab hers tightly.

She glanced over as Hadyn stood beside her, his red eyes flaring. She felt that strange electricity when they touched, but now it felt stronger, stranger.

Elsa felt a current drive up her arm from his hand through her chest, making her heart beat ten times faster, and over to the hand out of which her ice current was coming. In a second, the thing coming out of her hand was not ice, but water.

She stared at the substance and realized only one thing must be happening. Her powers and Hadyn's were combining. Fire and ice created water. Water powerful enough to defeat any fire.

Elsa's blue eyes flashed as she focused all the power she had.

Jain stared in horror as the torrent of water broke through his fire. "No!" He shouted.

"Get out of my kingdom!" Elsa shouted in return.

Jain's fire collapsed and the torrent of water hit him. Oddly enough, he didn't get blown away. Instead, he simply froze, as happened with Anna when Elsa had frozen her heart. But he only remained frozen for a second, before exploding into a million pieces. Fire and ice, it appeared, were a lethal force.

Hadyn grabbed Elsa and pulled her down behind the couch as millions of shards flew everywhere, embedding themselves into anything they could find.

Elsa grasped for breath, feeling her heart slow.

Hadyn grabbed her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him. "Are you alright?" He demanded, his voice hoarse and tired.

Elsa nodded slowly. "I—I—we did it."

Hadyn let out a sigh of relief, letting Elsa go and collapsing against the couch. "Bloody hell, that was insane."

"Yes, it was." Elsa couldn't believe Jain was gone. She had killed him, but she hadn't seen another way to save her sister.

Her sister!

"Anna!" Elsa exclaimed, rising and moving over to her sister, who still sat beside Kristoff.

Anna was sobbing as she cradled Kristoff's head in her lap. "Elsa, is he alright? He's so hot."

Elsa would have laughed at the double meaning of her sister's words if she did not realize how serious the situation was. Feeling Kristoff's forehead, she realized Anna was right: Kristoff was burning up.

"Anna." Elsa tried to stay as calm as possible, though she felt unwanted tears fly to her eyes. Had Jain win after all? Was Kristoff beyond hope?

Hadyn knelt down beside Elsa, reaching over to feel Kristoff.

"He's been hit in the heart with a fire bolt."

"Yes, we saw," Elsa stated cynically. "Is there any way to help him?"

Hadyn shook his head. "I know this power well. I've…I've used it to kill bandits. I have never known of a cure."

"No!" Anna shouted, leaning her head on Kristoff's shoulder and shaking him. "No! He can't be dying! I won't let him! Kristoff, wake up. Please don't leave me. I love you so much. I don't want to live without you. Please, I'm so sorry for doubting you. There are so many things I want to say to you. So many things I want to do with you! I want to visit your troll family. I want to go riding on Sven with you. Please, come back!"

Tears fell down Anna's and Elsa's eyes in unison. Elsa placed her hand gently on Kristoff's heart.

If there was no way to save Kristoff, perhaps there would be no reason not to try to warm his heart. If fire could burn his heart, maybe ice could warm it again.

She closed her eyes, gently pressing her ice power into Kristoff. Slowly, so slowly. Please, don't die, Kristoff, she murmured in her head. My sister needs you. Under her hand's pressue, she felt Kristoff's heart beating quickly, but as her ice fell into him, his heart slowed. Once it seemed to be a normal pace, she stopped her powers and removed her hand.

Elsa felt Kristoff's forehead. It was warm, but not hot anymore. Could he be…?

"He's dead!" Olaf sobbed behind Hadyn dramatically. "I would like to say a speech at the funeral, if I may. He was a great friend of mine, even if he did threaten to feet my nose to his reindeer. He was a brave man, though he did burp too much."

"If you don't shut you, I will feed your nose to Sven." The voice came from Kristoff.

Anna raised her head as Kristoff's eyes flickered open.

"Hell, I have a horrid headache!" Kristoff stated through gritted teeth, his hand moving up to rub his temple as he attempted to sit up.

"Kristoff?" Anna said, tears and slobber all over her face. "You're alive."

Kristoff glanced over at his fiancé, smiling up at her and gently reaching over to wipe a tear off her cheek. "Come on, darling, if you want to kill me, you're going to have to do a better job than that."

"Ohhh, Kristoff!" Anna threw her arms around his neck and started crying all anew. Olaf moved over and joined them for a group hug.

Elsa smiled, leaning back on her heels. It was over. Kristoff was alive. Jain was gone. And Hadyn…

She glanced over at the fire prince.

Hadyn was watching her. When their eyes met, a slight smile crossed his lips. However, it soon vanished, replaced with a grimace. Slowly, Hadyn bowed his head, rose to his feet, and exited the room.

Elsa watched him go, not sure how to react. He suddenly seemed so cold, so distant. What had changed from several minutes before, when he had told her he loved her?

Feeling her heart ache, Elsa watched him go before she was dragged into a group hug by her sister, soon-to-be brother-in-law, and strange snowman.