Soon, the snowball fight settled down, and Anna and Elsa were leaning on each other, still giggling with excitement and their clothes all cold and wet.
"I still can't believe how many shots you managed to land on me." Elsa said, stooping down to pick up her crystal diadem, which was a gift to her from a neighboring kingdom. "I have to admit, I may control ice and snow, but you sure know how to throw a good snowball."
Anna laughed, blushing. "Yeah, but you were on fire back there. Um, even though you control cold stuff. You were on fire ice! Is that right?" Anna kept trying variations of it, causing Elsa to burst into fits of giggles every couple of minutes, but eventually she gave it up, saying that there were no words to describe how great she was.
Elsa sighed, shaking her head, then looked up to the sky. "Can you believe it, Anna?"
Anna gave her a confused "Huh?".
Elsa looked about her, seeing children playing all around her, the shops selling their wares, and the general populace stopping in their tracks to give her a quick bow before continuing on their way. "It's been a year now since I was made queen. A year since I almost froze Arendelle solid. A year...since everyone thought I was a monster." She hung her head low.
Anna placed her hand under Elsa's chin and brought it up so that now they were looking each other in the eyes. "Hey, don't feel glum about it now. As you said, it was a year ago. Sure, people hated you, they hunted you, and they even tried to take advantage of you, like Prince Hans." She said that last bit with a little venom in her voice. "But, a lot of things have changed since then. I mean, just look at you now! Everyone loves you, the neighboring kingdoms totally respects you, and since you learned how to control your powers, you do miraculous things for the people of Arendelle. Just look at what happened. We had a snowball fight in the middle of summer. You can't get much more special than that." Anna smiled reassuringly and placed her hand on Elsa's shoulder. "Plus, you have me. No matter what, I'll always be there for you. I can promise you that."
Elsa smiled and was about to thank her, when suddenly Anna's eyes bugged out of her head and she turned pale. "Oh, no. I was supposed to meet up with Kristoff and hang out with him up in the mountains a while ago. I completely forgot! Um, I'll see you around, sis!" And just like that she was gone, rushing down the street. Elsa chuckled and turned back around to head back to the castle, when all of the sudden, she heard a terrifying high-pitched scream emanate from where Anna ran off. Elsa ran off over there without a second thought.
When she finally pushed through the crowd that was already forming, she was horrified at what she saw. It was her sister, floating in midair, surrounded by golden ribbons of light. Her hair looked like it was suspended in water and fell all over the place, herself looking like she was in a deep and peaceful sleep. Suddenly, the ribbons started to move faster and faster and the space around her looked like it was contracting until suddenly, she was gone. She disappeared. "Anna!" Elsa cried out, but it was in vain. She was nowhere to be found.
Suddenly, an evil laugh burst out from behind her. She turned quickly to find a woman dressed in black, walking up to her. The crowd parted, giving her plenty of room. The woman grinned wickedly. "Well, well. That was easier than I thought. I'd have imagined that kidnapping the queen's sister would have been harder than that, but I guess that was my bad."
Elsa had her fists balled up tight, her knuckles turning white. The warm summer air quickly started to grow cold. Through clenched teeth, she growled, "Who are you? Where's my sister?"
The woman smiled, as if she was enjoying watching the Snow Queen losing her cool. "Well, to answer your first question, my name is Maleficent. And as for the latter, she's safe. For now."
Elsa's anger quickly changed to shock. "What- What do you mean 'for now'? What have you done to her?!" The woman named Maleficent only smiled in response. "Answer me now!" She let loose a swirling ice blast at the woman in black, but she disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Cries of alarm suddenly sounded from the crowd as the blast almost hit the people. Elsa gasped at the mistake she almost made.
Elsa then heard Maleficent's laugh behind her. "Tut, tut, my dear. You might hurt someone. You wouldn't want to harm the innocent people for no reason, would you?" She then turned to everyone who had gathered there, which grew considerably since Elsa arrived. "Listen well, all of you. In ten day's time, the girl will die. And anyone who tries to rescue her will suffer the same fate. You have been warned." And then Maleficent disappeared into her cloud of smoke and, just like Anna, completely disappeared.
Elsa dropped to her knees. She began to cry tears of despair, as she realized that her sister was now doomed.
Wow. What a low blow from Maleficent. Why would she do this? What could she be planning? Well, now I've intrigued myself, so stay tuned everyone!