A/N: I think this is exactly two weeks... Oh well, here's chapter 12, anyway :P

As the days of travel wore on, Elsa slowly became weaker and weaker. Half the time, she couldn't get her mind off blood. During those long, painful, dreary hours, she wouldn't speak. All she could do was suffer in silence, listening to the taunting heartbeat calling from within Anna.

Several times a day, during these silent moments of agony, the red head would ask if Elsa was okay, and each time the shopkeeper would lie. She'd shrug her shoulders and say "yeah, I'm fine," with no farther explanation. She was usually more careful, but she was too starved to care.

Finally, Anna couldn't take the blatant denial any more. "Elsa, you're not okay, you've barely moved all day and haven't even spoken to me in hours!"

The ancient woman had a splitting headache, like a spike had been driven into her brain. "Anna, I'm-"

"No, Elsa," the red head's voice was stern and she effortlessly grabbed the reigns of control over the conversation. "Don't you dare say you're okay, because I know you're not. I know what a sickly person looks like." Before Elsa could respond, Anna softened up and tenderly grabbed her hand. "It's been a stressful couple of weeks, I know. When we get to Corona, you're going to rest. I'll take care of you."

The contact elicited a soothing response within the shopkeeper. Anna's hands were warm, soft, her eyes full of care and concern. It felt... good to have someone stare this deeply and genuinely into Elsa's eyes. The pale woman had no resolve to fight with. After all, maybe it'd be nice to have someone to watch over her. "Okay," she conceded with a soft but appreciative smile.

Anna seemed satisfied with this answer, but Elsa was left feeling hollow within. I'll have to tell her the truth eventually, or she'll find out on her own. It's not like I'll be cured of my ailment. She had to face the abysmal truth alone for the time being: the knowledge that the only way for her to get better was for Anna to get worse. Quite frankly, Elsa didn't know what happened if she stopped feeding, she'd never tried, and clearly by some instinctual drive embedded deep within, she was absolutely terrified to find out. She sat there, anxiously staring at the necklace and pondering her lie of omission.

A contented sigh escaped the red head as she leaned up against her companion to get comfortable. After only a few seconds, Anna piped up again. Her voice was reserved and nervous. "So that immortality spell you've been trying, it's never worked, right?"

Elsa's heart pounded like the thundering sound of the marching of a league of soldiers. "No, it hasn't."

"And the rats you've been practicing on, have they ever, you know, been hurt by it?"

Elsa thought for a moment, wondering where the red head was going with this. "No, they haven't."

Anna fumbled with her hands and voice. "Well maybe you could, I mean it might be good if, you know, if you want to you can-"

"Anna?"

"Right. You- you could practice it on me."

There was a long silence. Elsa's brained cataloged what Anna said and re-analyzed it about fifty times, making sure she heard right before she did anything but stare blankly, mouth slightly ajar. "No, Anna! What if I make a mistake, what if I accidentally hurt you, or worse, what if it backfires? Why would you even bring that up?"

Through a lightly trembling lip, the younger woman sniffled. She weekly replied "I just thought that, you know, it's a spell about making life, so how could it hurt me and- and the rats, it didn't harm them but-"

"But what?" Elsa's voice carried strength now, she was angry with Anna.

In a very soft voice that embodied innocence itself, Anna responded. "If it does happen to work then you wouldn't be alone... I- I could stay with you..."

Elsa's heart broke. She choked on the regret of getting angry with Anna and the overpowering feeling of loneliness rising within. She longed to say yes like the moon and the Earth yearn to finally meet. The delectable suggestion of companionship along her previously isolated journey was tempting. "I- I can't."

"Why not?"

"I just- I don't know."

"Please Elsa? Please!"

"I... I'll think about it."

Hans left for Corona, making sure to stay at least a day's travel behind where he thought Elsa and Anna to be so they wouldn't catch wind of him. "I will avenge you soon, brother," he whispered to himself.

After just over a week of travel, Elsa and Anna arrived in Corona during the dead of night. The days had taken a heavy toll on the older of the two. She was able to put on a mask most of the time, but her great fatigue was bound to show through eventually, like the sun on a cloudy day. For the first time in five hundred years, Elsa was tired. Swimming to shore from Hans' ship was one thing, but she couldn't get over this through sheer willpower, she needed... blood. The pale woman looked at her companion, eyes forgone in favor of her ears.

The rush was tempting. Her teeth brandished their blades, saliva pooling in her mouth. It would be so easy... so simple. No, I can't! Elsa slammed her eyes shut, guilt permeating her being like the cold in winter, making her shiver. Through her clenched lids, she spoke. "We're here."

They both stepped out of the chariot, Elsa heaving from the exertion, but carefully concealing it from Anna.

The red head looked around, the black veil of night impairing her vision, save for the silver help of the moon. Even from mere feet from the carriage, it simply looked like a bump in the night, mostly indistinguishable from the murky scenery.

They were in the front yard of a large house, though it wasn't ornately decorated, at least that Anna could tell. In fact, it appeared to be completely nondescript, save for the impressive size.

Well, there was one other distinguishing feature: the lack of windows. Nowhere on the entire surface did Anna spot a portal for light. That makes sense, I guess, given what Elsa told me.

Elsa whistled at the horses and they obeyed a command that was unintelligible to Anna, trotting into the distance. Cool, Anna thought.

"Come in." Elsa offered her hand, to which Anna smiled before she took it. Into the dark house they went.

As they passed through the front door, the red head took notice of a staircase. Well, it was hard to miss, centered just feet in front of the door, leading up into the black abyss of a hallway. "Um, Elsa, it's kind of dark-"

The landowner waved her hand and a nearby oil lantern lit. Teal eyes bulged, burning Anna's retinas against the new-found light source. "Whoa, Elsa, that was awesome!"

A weak smile glowed on red lips. "Thank you. This way, your bed's upstairs, I'll show you." She started the impossible task of climbing said steps. Every step made her want to faint, made her want to give up and close her eyes.

"Okay!" Anna tailed her.

They were a little over half of the way up the stairs. Elsa was heaving, every breath like throwing a boulder off of herself, she felt like she was drowning on air. She became dizzy and disoriented. She heard a faint, echoing voice. "Elsa? Are you okay?" Before she could respond, weightlessness took over and the world went black.

Anna's face was above her, blurred. A flame flickered somewhere far in the background. And straight ahead the wall -Wait, no, that's the ceiling- what? As Elsa came to, her mind played catch up with reality. Her head was foggy and the pounding of the red head's heart beat against her like a blacksmith's hammer on an anvil. "What-"

In a very calm and caring voice, the other woman interrupted. "You fainted, Elsa. How do you feel?"

"Fainted?" The pale woman repeated groggily. "I haven't fainted since... since..." she thought about the night she was cursed with immortality. "Since I was mortal."

Anna playfully shrugged. "Well, there's a first time for everything."

The joke made Elsa chuckle. Despite all that was happening and her mishap on the steps, right now, in that moment, with Anna sitting beside her, Elsa was happy. She was relaxed, enjoying life.

Anna's face fell serious. "Elsa, you're really sick. You need to stay in bed and rest, I'll go to the market and get some herbs for you in the morning, okay?"

"What if Hans sees you?"

With a grin and a whimsical shake of the head, the red head rebutted "how would he find us here?"

Trusting that Anna had kept her part of the deal, Elsa nodded. "Okay. Thank you, Anna."

"Of course." She leaned in and tenderly kissed Elsa on the lips. Hers were so warm, chilling Elsa's spine and erupting in her stomach.

Elsa wanted this moment to last forever. This sweet, tender, loving instant between the two. This rush of happiness and calm, the lack of fear, ease from stress. I could have it... She thought about the spell, about Anna's request. Maybe it was her true willpower dissolving because of her feelings for Anna, maybe her weakened state made her give in. Either way, Elsa didn't care, she had made up her mind. "Anna," she said when they broke their kiss.

"Hm?"

"I'll do it. I'll practice the spell on you."

A/N:I've made a change to chapter 8, it's just one extra line while Elsa is jumping from the ship, but it's VERY important, so go re-read it!

We're getting there. So what is that necklace? Guesses, anyone? I'm curious to see everyone's theory on everything!