A/N: Thanks to everyone reading this fic and taking the time to leave reviews! To answer several questions, yes: the Sherlock references are completely intentional.

I know many people have been complaining that I stuck too close to the events of Frozen, but that's kind of the point. I never intended to use this fic to change the movie, but to explore how Elsa and Loki's relationship might work within the movie. Now that the fic is past the events of Frozen, there will be more "original" content in the remaining chapters.

"Your majesty, there is a man here to see you…"

Elsa looked up from the desk in her private study. She had thought that her robust, middle-aged housekeeper was not afraid of anything. Yet today she came before the queen with voice and knees equally tremulous.

"What man?" Elsa asked. If he was really so scary, the guards would have raised a hue and cry.

"He…he will not tell me, your majesty. But he asked—demanded—to speak with you."

"Now, Inga," Elsa said, putting down her pen and standing up. "After all the visitors here, and after all that I've put this poor kingdom through, who could possibly be so fright—"

As soon as it occurred to her, the words stopped. Inga looked at her curiously.

Not now. Not after everything that has happened…

"Well," Elsa continued, "you'd better show him in, then."

Despite Inga's fear, the visitor was all smiles and easy confidence as he strode into Elsa's study. The prince of Asgard had foregone his formal armor and cloak, and was dressed in a simple dark uniform, much like the one he had worn the first time she met him.

Elsa could not keep a queenly composure. "You!"

"I?" Loki said with perfect nonchalance.

The young queen shot a dart of ice at him, but he deflected it, and it burst into a frozen puddle on the carpet. It only made her angrier. She blasted magic at him, over and over, but he blocked and diverted it all with an indolent smile that she wanted to slap away.

Not until she nearly broke a window did Elsa finally lower her arms. Blue ice had splattered across nearly every surface of the study. She was breathing heavily, but Loki was hardly ruffled.

"Your majesty!" a woman's voice shrieked.

Elsa and Loki both turned to the open doorway, where a frantic-looking Inga appeared with two young footmen. One of them brandished a candlestick in his gloved hand, presumably to defend his queen.

When they saw that Elsa did not appear to be in danger, their gazes darted all over the room. Aside from there being ice and snow everywhere, books had fallen off their shelves, candles were knocked over, and a chandelier rocked ominously. Several papers blown off the desk were just now fluttering down to the floor.

"Are…are you all right, your royal highness?" the younger footman asked timidly.

"Perfectly all right," Elsa said. "Thank you for coming to my aid, but as you can see, I am not under attack. You may go."

The three servants hesitated, looked at Loki, and then scattered. When they were gone, Elsa turned her attention back to her visitor, a little calmer if not less angry.

"You left," Elsa said.

"You heard my brother," Loki said. "It was time, and you refused to go with me. Had I other options?"

"You knew. You knew what had happened in Arendelle, and you never told me. Did you think I wanted the city and all my guests to freeze to death? Did you want it? Just because I stayed behind? Was that your revenge? You said that you wanted to help me, but I guess that was just another lie."

"You did so well without me, after all," he said cheerfully. She gave him a look that was almost a snarl, and he finally dropped his grin. "Perhaps I was in error," he admitted. "I was going to tell you, but—"

"No, you weren't," Elsa said.

"I was angry. I was…insulted by your refusal. I wanted to see how the little Midgardian queen with her burgeoning powers would solve this disaster. It was petty of me. I never thought the circumstances would grow quite so desperate."

"You watched it?" Elsa said. "And you did nothing?"

"By the time I realized how dire things were, it was too late for me to help. I came to do what I could."

"Which was nothing," Elsa said. "I thought you cared, I-I thought you…" She paused to swallow back the burning sensation in her throat. "My sister died, Loki. After all I tried to do to protect her, she died—because of me. Her final act of love saved my life, saved everyone, and even brought her back. It showed me what my powers were missing."

She did not want to say it, but something inside prodded her, made her feel like she had to. "I wondered if you loved me, but…it was ludicrous, of course. We'd only met a few times. Now I know what real love is, and…no thanks to you."

"Elsa," he said, taking a step toward her. "If you had been lost…so would I."

She shook her head and took the step back. "Words," she said. "Anna thought words could calm the storm, too. But it needed action—and so do I. You're just words, Loki, and those not even true."

She looked around at the damage to her study. When she extended her arms again, all the ice drew slowly back toward its source. It collected into an enormous globe of frozen crystals, hovering above her palms. Another wave of her hands, and the ice vanished. Although Loki's eyelids were lowered disinterestedly, his eyebrows flickered upward. She recognized the expression: he was impressed.

"If you have nothing more to offer me but words, you may go," she said.

"What else would you accept?" he asked.

"Do you have any other ideas?"

"A few," he said.

He took a step to close the distance between them. Elsa was fast, but he was faster. He caught her upper arms and pulled her tightly against him, his mouth crashing into hers. Her palms pushed to get away, and she tried to turn her head. In a few moments, Elsa stopped resisting, her outstretched fingers curled and grasped the fabric of his tunic, and her lips softened beneath his. His hold relaxed as his arms encircled her. Pressed this close to him, she could feel both their rapid heartbeats.

When Loki let her break away, his eyes shone with equal parts desire and triumph. But Elsa just smiled.

"Is the prince trying to melt my heart with a kiss?" Elsa asked. "Anna was wrong about that, too."

"Was she," Loki said. "You seemed to enjoy it nonetheless."

"I'm made of ice, not stone."

Loki laughed, and Elsa took a step back from him. She felt that her face had flushed and her pulse was still racing, but she tried to ignore it and folded her arms. "However sweet, your kiss can't break the spell here—and it doesn't undo the things you've said."

"I spoke in selfish haste. You are so stubborn, your grace. I meant to break your will—not your heart."

"The ice here is made of stronger stuff than you're used to, it seems," Elsa said, her tone lofty. "'Stronger than one, stronger than ten, stronger than a hundred men,' is how the old song goes. 'Beautiful, cold, and empty' is how you put it."

"As I said, I spoke in haste." He smiled. "Though one part of that is still true."

Elsa turned away from him and sat back down at her desk. She made no invitation for Loki to sit, waiting to see if he would claim the courtesy for himself.

"I don't think you came here to apologize," she said.

"Well, in a way," Loki answered. He moved toward the desk and took a seat in the nearest chair. "I came to see that no animosity remained between us. I came to make amends, if you like."

"How do you think to do that?"

"By repeating the offer I made when I was here before—and before that. I am inviting you, once again, to come with me to Asgard. For as long as you like, to return the moment you wish it."

Her pulse had calmed down from the kiss, but at the mention of Asgard, it sped up again.

"You really want me to go?" she asked. "Do you really want me there?"

As soon as she asked, though, she remembered his face on the North Mountain, and the way he said "please." He was a liar—an accomplished one. She knew that then; she knew it better now. Yet something in him that day had seemed so honest. She glanced at his face now, and wondered if he was thinking of that moment, too.

Remember what happened the last time you said no, Elsa thought. Remember how much you wanted him back.

But I needed him then. I don't need him now.

Then this journey should be that much less urgent—and that much more enjoyable.

He was sitting calmly and comfortably in the chair, as though he were home in his own palace. He watched her, but she tried not to meet his eyes, afraid of what he might find there. For all that had happened, she still liked him, still wanted him, and she did not relish the thought of being away from him for a long time. But what if this was all just another lie? How did she know she really would come back—or that they were even going where he said they were?

She was just making excuses now, Elsa realized. She was trying to convince herself not to go, but she already knew what she wanted.

Be the good girl you always have to be.

That perfect girl is gone.

"Wait here, please," she said.

She kept her regal composure as she walked out of the study and halfway down the hall, but then took off at a run. She practically flew down the east staircase, out of a side door, across the back courtyard, and toward the palace stables. She did not slow down until then. Elsa took a deep breath and stepped inside the stables. As she had expected, Anna was there.

The princess had returned from her morning ride and was now surrounded by several young children from the town. She had been trying to teach some of them how to ride, but most of them just wanted to pet and feed the horses or jump on bales of hay. One chubby little boy with sandy hair sat nervously astride Anna's mare, Summer Wind, and looked as though he were about to cry. Elsa could tell that Anna was trying to console him, but he clamped his legs and gripped the reins as though that was all that kept him from certain doom.

"Queen Elsa!" one little girl cried out from her position atop a stack of hay bales. Two other children darted behind the door of an empty stall, timid in the presence of the monarch.

Anna helped the boy down from the saddle and approached her sister, plucking a piece of straw from her hair. "To what do we owe this visit?" she asked, smiling.

"I have to talk to you about something," Elsa said. She felt a tug on her skirt, and looked down. The little girl had climbed down from the hay and was now standing very close to her.

"Your majesty, will you do your magic?" the child asked. "I want to go skating!" Her request was loudly echoed by the sandy-haired boy.

Elsa smiled. "Not just now," she said.

"The queen wants to talk to me," Anna said, patting the girl's head. "We'll go skating later."

"But when?" the boy asked.

"Soon," Elsa said, leading Anna out into the courtyard.

"Is something wrong?" the younger sister asked. Elsa took a seat at the edge of a fountain. Anna followed suit, facing her.

The queen stared into the water, wondering how to begin. "Do you remember the two brothers who came to my coronation?" she asked. "They gave me the dagger."

"The two princes?" Anna asked. "The one you danced with? He asked you for your glove after you ran off. I thought he wanted it as some sort of token."

"His name is Loki," Elsa said. "After I left, he found me at the ice palace, before you did. He'd been to Arendelle before, years ago. I snuck off one night, just to leave the palace, and I happened upon him in the woods. When Mother and Father died, I went to their graves, and he was there. He has magic, and he's from another world, called Asgard."

Anna was listening, clearly fascinated. Her blue eyes were enormous, and she seemed to be hanging on Elsa's every word.

"I was still trying to hide my powers then, of course," Elsa went on. "He said he could help me. He wanted me to come to Asgard and learn from him and his mother. I asked him to wait until the coronation, and he did."

"That's so romantic," Anna sighed.

"Well," Elsa said, "I ran off before I could give him an answer. He asked me again, when he found me at the ice palace, but by then, everything had changed. I told him no—we argued—he left. But now he's back, and…everything's changed again. But he still wants me to go with him."

"You have to go!" Anna gasped. "Elsa, you can't miss the chance again! This is the most exciting thing I've ever heard!"

Elsa suppressed a sigh of exasperation. She was not sure what she wanted to get out of discussing the matter with Anna, but a rational response was clearly not an option. She did not even know how to begin to explain Loki and her own conflicting feelings.

"But Anna, this…man, Loki, he's…dangerous. He's devious."

"He seemed quite civil when I met him."

"So did Hans, remember?" Anna frowned at that remark, but said nothing. Elsa added, "He reached the North Mountain before you, but he didn't tell me about the winter I made."

"But it turned out all right," Anna said. "You didn't know how to fix it then, anyway. Maybe he didn't either, and he wanted to spare you." She gasped. "Is he in love with you?"

"No!" Elsa snapped. "I mean…I'm quite certain he's not." She bit her lip and said nothing else, but she could not help remembering that night she went to her parents' markers.

"Why should you help me?" she had asked Loki. "Why do you care?"

"I am desperately in love with you…I offer my friendship and my help to gain your trust and loyalty, in hopes that you will become a powerful ally…Or, perhaps you are simply the most intriguing creature I have encountered in this uncultured and uninspired realm…"

Which one—if any—had been true then? Were any of them true now?

"Of course he is!" Anna said. "Why else would he come back, or want you to see his country? Hans was out to get something from us, but this Loki is trying to impress you, Elsa. He wants to sweep you off your feet!"

"Somehow I don't think Loki is the type to sweep a girl off her feet," Elsa said.

"Do you love him?" Anna asked.

"No," Elsa said. "Well…"

"You do!"

"No, I just…I'm not sure."

"I bet you'll find out if you go," Anna said, her voice taking on a singsong quality that set Elsa's teeth on edge.

"Anna, stop," Elsa said.

"I'm just teasing. Where is he, anyway?"

"In the study," Elsa said. "The palace will probably go up in flames any minute."

Anna laughed. "He loves you, he won't let anything happen. Elsa, go with him, you just have to."

Elsa sat silently for a moment. "It would be my first official visit as queen," she finally said.

"Oh, don't be 'official' about this, you'll spoil it," Anna said, rolling her eyes. She grabbed Elsa's hand to pull her to her feet. "Come on, I'll help you pack!"

"Anna!" Elsa scolded. "I can't just throw some gowns in a trunk and board a ship. I'm queen—I have to make sure everything is taken care of first. You'll have responsibilities too."

"That won't take long," Anna said. "You'll be on your way by this time tomorrow! And whatever you want me to do, I won't mind. And you still have advisors. Everything will be fine."

As they crossed the courtyard, Elsa looked up at the palace. Was that Loki at the study window? She wondered if he could hear as well as see the two of them. Best not to think of that possibility. She sent Anna off to find her secretary and proceeded to the study.

Loki had not set anything on fire, and had not disturbed anything in the room. He was in the chair, reading a history of Arendelle and the surrounding lands. When he looked up from the book, he already seemed to know what she was going to say. Elsa almost hated to give him that satisfaction.

"I will go," she said. "We may leave as soon as I have the kingdom's affairs in order."

Loki heaved a loud sigh as he set the book on a table beside his chair. "What consolation! I knew not what I would have done to be refused a third time."

"I daresay you would have survived," Elsa said dryly.

Two days later, Elsa stood at the top of a hill overlooking Arendelle, wondering at everything that had happened over the last weeks. She and Loki were very near where they had first met. Now, it was not only the two of them, but Anna, Inga, her prime minister, and three guards to bear witness. Her little sister's eyes were wide open and sparkling with anticipation.

Elsa felt vulnerable without any luggage. Loki had promised no need of it, that all necessities would be seen to in Asgard. That had not allayed her fears that he might be up to something less innocent than a holiday. At least Elsa could arm herself with more than just her magic. She had found the dagger Villieldr in her room, where the guard had placed it for safekeeping during her coronation. It was now hanging from a belt at her waist, inside a layer of gown and beneath her traveling cloak.

"I hope you have a marvelous journey!" Anna said, rushing to give her one more tight hug. "I cannot wait to hear all about everything!"

Elsa returned the embrace, hoping that Anna could not feel her anxiety. It was plain enough on her face. She remembered three years ago, when their parents had gone on another faraway journey—one longer than even they had planned. In fear of her own powers, Elsa had not dared to touch them when she bid them goodbye; she gave them only a curtsey and a final plea not to go. She wished that Anna would make such a plea to her now, but her sister's head was full of romance and adventure, and she wanted the queen to return with a new story to tell.

You'll be fine, Elsa, were her father's final words to her.

I was, eventually, Elsa thought. But you weren't.

"Ready?" Loki asked Elsa when Anna finally let her go.

"I-I suppose so," she said.

"Hold on to me," he said. Elsa stepped closer and grasped Loki's waistcoat, such as it was, and refused to look up at the smirk she knew he was wearing. Loki took more liberties bringing his arms all the way around Elsa and pressing her close before he leaned his head back and shouted toward the clear sky above. "Heimdall! Open the Bifrost!"

Seconds later, the two of them were surrounded by a beam of rainbow light. This time, when Elsa felt the ground fall away from her feet, it was not just figurative. Faster than the swiftest winter wind, they were pulled upward, past the treetops, past the clouds, past all sense of space. Elsa pressed her face into Loki's chest, overwhelmed by the light and the force of their movement. Then they were pulled forward instead of upward, and Elsa felt as though she were squeezed through a small tube. Suddenly there was a fresh gust of wind, a solid surface under her, and she and Loki were stumbling away from each other.

Elsa steadied herself, shook hear head, and immediately lost all capability of speech. They were standing in an enormous, dome-shaped room, every surface of which shimmered with gold. Even the huge, dark-skinned man standing on a platform at the center of it was wearing gilded armor, and there was a golden glow to his eyes.

This must be the giant gatekeeper Loki told me about, Elsa thought. He stared down at her stoically, and she remained dumb. She flinched when she felt Loki's hand on her elbow. When she looked up at him, he smiled, entirely unfazed by their travels.

"Welcome to Asgard," he said.