It turned out that waiting was harder when you knew you had something to wait for. All her life, Anna had been waiting for Elsa. Waiting for her to open the door, open her heart, even just to acknowledge her existence. After a few rejections, Anna was waiting only because of her burning desire to be with her sister. She had started to think it would never happen, and despite never giving up, she had subconsciously expected to always be waiting.

Now though, she knew for a fact that help was coming. There was not a single part of her that doubted for a second that Elsa would not come find her. The idea of Elsa not showing up in time had not yet reared its ugly head, but it she could feel its darkness lurking in the recesses of her mind.

Knowing that Elsa was coming turned every shadow movement, every tiny sound, every whisper of air into a rescue. Leaving Anna repeatedly disappointed. It wasn't Elsa's fault. She knew that. How long had it been? There was no way of knowing.

She couldn't see the sun, and even if she could there was no way to tell how long she had been unconscious. Having any grasp on time might actually make the waiting worse, she decided. She had never been good at keeping time unless she was actually staring at a pendulum.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

I wonder why nobody has come to check on me. I guess that's a sign that I really haven't been in here that long.

Misery wasn't starting to creep up on her. Even thinking that it still hadn't been too long didn't help. She wanted time to speed up, not slow down. Elsa needed to get there now.

Anna started looking quickly around the room. There had to be some way out. Something she could use to escape. But there was nothing. Aside from the chair, which was firmly fastened to the floor, the room was bare. Four walls, a ceiling, and a door.

She sighed and tried to wipe an uninvited tear onto her shoulder. The movement put a strain on her bound arms, and she decided the pain wasn't worth it. It's not like that would be the last tear anyway.

Get a hold of yourself, Anna! You're more positive than this, and you know it! You never gave up when Marshmallow was rampaging after you in the mountains, did you?!

The tears stopped flowing, and left little wet track marks on her rosy cheeks. She would be strong. She was always the strong one. On the inside at least. Elsa had visible enough strength for the two of them. Heck for two kingdoms. And she was coming. Anna knew it.

The door opened. Anna's head snapped towards it. The man didn't quite have to duck to enter the room, but it was close. She had never seen anyone look so… monotone. He didn't look happy, or angry, or excited, or nervous… he was just there. And he was walking towards her.

Well, he's clean-shaven, so that rules out the men Elsa saw last night at least.

"Um… hi?"

His eyes flickered to her face, and then to the ropes. He said nothing, but started walking around her chair. She tried to follow him, but he knelt down behind her to where she couldn't see. There was a tugging at her sides that suggested he was fiddling with the rope though.

"So…" She waited a few seconds to see if he would respond before continuing, "Whatcha doin' back there?"

For a second, she thought he was untying her. She felt a bit of freedom, and started to try and lift her arms, but she was immediately constricted even tighter than before. The hemp digging painfully into her shoulders and wrists.

"Ow! Hey! It is not nice to-"

"Shut up."

She didn't know whether to be happy that he actually responded, or angry at his rudeness. She decided that the fact that he had abducted her from her room in the middle of the night was already worse than telling her to shut up, and went with happy. She forced a smile.

"Oh, so you can talk! What's your name?"

He glared at her. "You waste a lot of strength talking, princess." The way he snarled the title made it clear that it was not given with anything like respect.

She wasn't sure what he meant by that. Or why he felt the need to be so mean. He already had her prisoner. Why add on to that? "What did I ever do to you?" she asked.

Dark, cold eyes stared at her for a couple seconds before the man shook his head as if she just couldn't understand. "Sleep while you can. Tonight is going to be a rough ride." Still no expression. Could he even display emotion? Was he capable of it?

"Just tell me why. Why are you doing this?"

He didn't even look back as he walked out the door. "I didn't think to ask." The door closed with a thud.

Elsa's feet hit the icy floor running before her eyes were even open. She barely registered that the entire room was coated in ice before she was in the hall. That didn't matter. Anna mattered. Save your sister. The words echoed in her head. Anna! Please be okay, please be okay.

It had to just be a nightmare. A vivid nightmare, but still just a nightmare. Right? She begged her legs to move faster. The floor and walls behind her crackled with newly formed ice settling into place. Get to Anna.

There were voices in the hallway now. The guards must have noticed her trail. It didn't matter. She had to move faster. Anna's door loomed ahead of her. For a split second, she thought of knocking. Her heart smashed that idea and urged her on. She twisted the handle and threw the door open.

Anna's bed was empty. The blankets weren't made. A chair lay on its side. The curtains drifted lazily in a morning breeze. Anna was gone. Anna was gone.

What do I do? What do I do?!

She collapsed to her knees next to the bed, clutching at her sister's pillow. It still smelled of ice cream and chocolate. Exactly how Anna had smelled when Elsa left her the night before. I left her… and now she's gone! This is my fault! She felt a sob break into the pillow. It wasn't alone.

She didn't know how long it was before the guards arrived. The sound level in the room went from one bawling Queen to a cacophony of worried, shouting men.

"Your Majesty!"

"Help her!"

"Where is the Princess?!"

One voice, slightly louder, seemed to be taking charge, but Elsa couldn't pay much attention to any of them. Her Anna was gone. If she hadn't been so scared… scared of opening herself up to the one person she knew would never hurt her… she would have still been in the room that night. Whoever took Anna would have had an extremely different reception, if she had been there.

"Um… Your Majesty…"

"Queen Elsa, please…"

She looked around. Each of her own men were pinned to the walls. Literally. None of them seemed to be hurt. Her magic always did seem to know that she didn't want to actually hurt anyone. But that didn't mean that she could always control it when her emotions were raging. And right now, raging didn't begin to describe it.

With an effort of willpower, she pulled the ice back. It receded, but remained in a swirling mist around her feet, giving her the appearance of standing on a cloud of mist. It wasn't intentional, she was just too angry and scared to dispel it all the way. But she had to admit that it did fit her mood. As long as she was terrified, she might as well try and look terrifying.

"Apologies, Captain. We have to find my sister. Now."

Tendro quickly fixed his uniform and stood at attention. "Yes, Your Majesty. I have already taken the liberty of deploying every man of the Guard to scour every inch of the city and outlying areas. Many of the Guard are fresh recruits, Your Majesty, but they are Guards for a reason. After your coronation, we've had so many recruits we didn't know what to do with them. Now I'm glad they're here. Also, every soldier in the army will be out searching for the Princess within the hour." His eyes found hers, "We will find your sister, Your Majesty. You have my word."

"Thank you, Captain." Thank goodness she had good men like Tendro. "Last night, I saw two men in town. They looked like they might have been from Weselton. They were entering The Frosty Norseman. The Princess assured me that I was being silly, but now… Send your men to check there first. I want those men found."

"Absolutely, Your Majesty." He nodded to the Guards remaining in the room. They saluted and carefully navigated the icy hallway towards the gate.

"You're going to be searching too, I take it?" Elsa asked.

No hesitation, "Yes, Majesty. I will be leading the main group outside the walls. I don't believe the villains who did this would be stupid enough to stay where they might find themselves trapped."

"Then let us leave now. You already have your men chosen, correct?"

"I do, but… Your Majesty, you can't-"

"I can't what, Captain? My sister has been taken from my castle and I can't what?"

"You can't go without a horse! I will run ahead and have one readied for you. It will be waiting outside the gate when you arrive." He gave a quick salute, then turned to run out the door. He slipped once on a rogue patch of ice, but caught himself and sprinted down the hall.

Once she was alone, she shrugged out of her long nightgown. It was replaced in a second by perfectly tailored trousers and a thick shirt, each made of ice, but flowing like silk. In her hand, there was a long, thin, razor-sharp sword, gleaming blue in the sunlight. Anyone who thought the Queen wearing trousers or carrying a sword was inappropriate could take it up with her personally.

This entire situation was nothing but personal.