a.n. I got Chapter 9 posted on time, if only a little later than I had really wanted. It was a little difficult and I added a couple of extra parts at the end to make it a bit longer, but it works so I hope you enjoy. As always, read, review, and enjoy and I look forward to reading your comments/reviews!

Chapter 9: The Flight of the Queen

She couldn't believe this was happening.

Again.

She was running away from her problems instead of trying to face them. She wanted to get out, get away from it all instead of being with her family who loved and supported her and who would do anything to help her. She fled from her loved ones, her home, and her kingdom. Such actions were unbecoming of a queen. But she couldn't be there anymore, not with them there, not until she was able to safely sort through her emotions. At least this time she had the presence of mind to not cause an unexpected winter in her wake.

Elsa's thoughts were jumbled as she ran through the woods, her heels creating an icy path just long enough for her to run across before dissipating, leaving no outward sign that she had even passed this was. But she knew that wouldn't fool her family for long. They were smart and once they discovered she was gone, it would only be a matter of time before they would try to follow her. Especially Anna. She could only hope that Kristoff would have enough sense to convince her sister to not follow her until she'd had enough time to herself. That's all she really wanted anyway. She needed some space to herself to just let it all go. She could feel the torrent of emotions threatening to burst forth, but she managed to keep them at bay. She had to get somewhere safe first, somewhere where she had no fear of doing any lasting damage. In spite of the control she had managed to gain over her powers in the last year, she knew the swirling storm inside would test the limits of that control and she didn't want to be anywhere near Arendelle when that happened. She couldn't do that to her people again. They had suffered enough from her last outburst. She could protect them this time and she would. No one would be hurt by her ever again.

"I can't believe she left again! How could she do this?" Anna's cry, a mix between bewilderment and anger, was echoed silently by the other three, though they were more shocked than anything. "I mean, I thought she knew better! I thought she learned from last year! Why would she do this again? What was she thinking?" Kristoff's firm grasp on her upper arms stopped her ranting and she turned her watery eyes towards him. The mountain man smiled. She was beautiful when she was feisty.

"Anna, you know better than I do that Elsa has a hard time with letting her emotions out. She always keeps them bottled up because she's afraid of what might happen if she lets them out. All of this has to be hard on her. She probably just wanted some time away to think, to feel. Let me see that letter." Anna's tight grip on the otherwise innocuous piece of paper loosened as Kristoff took it and began to read it. After a few moments, he looked up and looked seriously at Anna. "See, she says right here she just wants some time alone to think."

"But she can do that here! Why run away? We're her family. We can help her." Kristoff rubbed her arms soothingly.

"I know we could, sweetheart, and she knows it too, but I think she wants to get out of Arendelle in case she loses control. She doesn't want anything to happen. The last time she tried keeping her feelings to herself, we had an eternal winter. I'm sure she's just thinking of the kingdom and the people now; she doesn't want to put anyone through that again. You know your sister is in much better control now than she was last year, but with everything that has happened today, with everything she has been faced with, it's probably too much. She knows that running away won't solve her problems and I know she will come back this time when she's ready. She's not abandoning us; she just wants to be somewhere safe to sort through things. She'll be back. She promised you and you know she hates breaking promises, especially to you." The tension in Anna's carriage had disappeared somewhat as she leaned into her fiancée, though the tears hadn't.

"You think so?" She sniffed and Kristoff leaned down to kiss her forehead.

"Of course. She would never run off like this and leave you behind; she knows better than to try that. That's why she left you this note; she didn't want to worry you unnecessarily. Elsa knows what she's doing. All we need to do is give her some time."

"But I'm still worried about her out there all alone."

"She'll be fine Anna; you know she can handle herself. But if you're really that worried about her, I can go after her in the morning." He felt Anna nod in his chest before she pushed herself away to look up at him.

"You're right. She needs some time to process her emotions properly, on her own. I guess tomorrow, we'll go after her."

"No Anna, I'll go after her. You will stay here." He could just feel the indignation rise up within the redhead.

"What? No! If you're going to go after her, I'm going too." Her eyes blazed with fury and the scowl on her face would have made him smile if the situation wasn't so serious.

"Anna, you need to stay here. The last time your sister ran off and you went after her, look what happened. You can't do that to the people again; with Elsa gone, they are going to need someone in charge around here. Chances are they won't even know she's gone and she'll probably be back before anyone even knows she left. But you have to be here, be the one they look to for leadership, until she decides to come back, if she won't come back with me. She even told you as much in here." He waved the letter in his hand for emphasis. "You trust her don't you?" A slight nod. "Then trust her on this." He could see the fear she was trying to hide and smiled tenderly. "I know you're scared, but you can do it. I believe in you and I know Elsa trusts you to take over until she returns. You do your thing and I'll do mine and everything will be fine." Anna smiled at his corny line before leaning up to kiss him. He obliged her and their lips met in a tender kiss.

Erik and Anya watched the entire exchange silently, both of them still surprised at the sudden turn of events. They both knew that it would be hard coming back here, especially for their girls, but they had never imagined that Elsa would run away as a result. They hadn't meant to disrupt things so much. It was their fault she had fled; they knew their return had caused so many bad memories to resurface, memories that she had either buried or forgotten. She was scared and in pain and her response was to run, to hide away from everything and everyone that had hurt her, or that she was afraid of hurting, just like she had when she was younger. In hindsight, they should have blamed themselves then as they blamed themselves now. If they had, perhaps she would have been here, happily rejoicing at their return instead of hiding away with the pains of her past assaulting her, scaring her into running. They had to fix this, make things right.

"I'll go with you tomorrow." The younger couple, who had been temporarily oblivious to the older pair in the room, pulled away from each other and turned sheepish glances towards Erik. "It's our fault that Elsa left. Our presence here brought up so many buried emotions that she couldn't deal with them all and she fell back into her old habits. You've heard the adage fight or flight. Elsa, because she's afraid of herself of what she can do with her powers, has always been afraid of confrontation. She's always been so afraid of hurting anyone that she ends up running away from her problems. From what you told me, the last time she left, it helped free her; she was able to be let it all go and be herself for the first time in a long time. I think she's relying on that now; she's trying to achieve the same thing. You're right: Elsa does need some space to think things through, to sort through her emotions. I also believe that it would be best if one of us should come along. She ran because of us. We caused her to leave so we have to fix it. We're long overdue for a talk; I think it's about time we do what should have been done long ago."

"He's right; Elsa is scared about seeing us again and if we want her to come back, he needs to go talk to her. There are things that have to be said." Anya defended her husband as Kristoff and Anna remained quiet, contemplative looks on their faces. "Erik will go along with you, Kristoff, and I'll stay here with Anna and help her look after things." Kristoff nodded.

"All right. I guess dinner's a bust," he looked around at the now cold and forgotten food before locking eyes with the other three people in the room. "We should all get to bed if we want to get an early start tomorrow." The others tilted their heads in assent and after leaving the dining room, they parted ways, with Erik and Anya heading back to their room and Kristoff walking Anna back to hers in the opposite direction. The morning would come soon enough, though forgiveness for some might still be a long ways off.

Her destination reached, the Snow Queen climbed the stairs swiftly, her anxiety at a high. She'd really had no intention of coming back here, even though it was the one place in all of Arendelle where she truly felt like herself, where she could really let herself be free. The last time she had been here, over a year ago, it had been freeing. For the first time in her life, she could be who she wanted to be, she could let out all of the pent-up emotions and frustrations and be herself. It was wonderful! It was wonderful to not care about concealing her powers, to not be afraid of anyone finding out the truth about her.

Well, it had been wonderful, until Anna had come barging back into her life. She had missed her sister, how could she not, but it wasn't good that the young girl had found her. She had already almost killed her once and now that the truth about her was finally revealed, she didn't want the same thing to happen again. But Anna was persistent and had almost worn her down. She had desperately wanted to return home with her sister, to be a family again. Thirteen years of loneliness taught her that she could be fine on her own if she wanted to be. Yet, she never had really wanted to be alone; she always yearned for the easy camaraderie that had once defined their relationship. She had nearly accepted her sister's hand and it was only the assault of the memories of their last play date together that had stilled her. It couldn't happen, it never would. So she ran. Again. And Anna had followed and had gotten hurt. Again. And then Hans and the henchmen had come and things had only gotten worse…

Elsa shivered at the memories and entered her ice palace, though she did let out a quick blast of ice behind her back that restored the railing to its former glory before shutting the doors behind her.

She really hadn't expected to find herself back here so soon. She knew she'd have to come at some point in the next few months if Kristoff's surprise was going to work. But then it would have been under better, happier circumstances. Coming back now, she was swirling with emotions just as she had been the first time she had come here. She was feeling much the same too, except she didn't have the sense of freedom she had then; she just felt trapped now. She hadn't wanted to run. Not really. She'd endured a lot this last year and she thought she could handle anything. Including this. She just hadn't expected such chaotic feelings to emerge. She was happy that her parents were back. She truly was. She had missed them and their support and guidance, both of which she could really use now as Arendelle's queen. But she was afraid of what they would do now that they were back. It had taken her a long time to come to terms with who she was and what she could do and they were a large part of the reason why it took so long. She knew they loved her; they had always tried to show her that. Yet their misguided attempts to protect her, and everyone else, had only succeeded in making her question her own abilities. Their return had caused all of her old doubts to resurface and if she doubted herself now, she didn't think she could be trusted to be around anyone, at least not until she was sure she was still in control of her emotions and her powers.

Elsa made her way up the stairs as more memories battered her. She did her best to ignore them and continued climbing until she reached her destination. She stood just outside the doors, hesitant about opening them. She would have to face this part of her past soon enough, just not now. Sighing, she turned around and headed down an icy hallway, shooting blasts of ice and snow all around her, her inner turmoil reflected in the newest icy designs.

If she was going to spend her first night in her ice palace, she might as well be comfortable.

Anna couldn't do much except sit on her bed that night, reading and rereading Elsa's letter. Kristoff had left soon after they had reached her room. She had brushed him off when he offered to stay with her for a little while and with only a quick kiss, her mountain man had given her back the note and walked away towards his own room, leaving her all alone with just her thoughts and her sister's letter. Several times she had wanted to run after him, wanting the comfort that only his arms could provide. But she hadn't. She was too distraught over Elsa's sudden departure to want to be around anyone much and all she could think about was why her sister had decided to leave again. They had made so much progress the last few months and she had thought that they had finally found a good place. She wouldn't have imagined her sister ever leaving her again, not after what they had been through.

She stared at the letter in her hands, the tears in her eyes blurring the words on the page. Every time she looked at that scrap of paper, she was reminded of her earlier conversation with Elsa and every time she thought hard, hoping that she would find something new, some new clue or confession that she may have missed in their previous discussion that could have hinted at this drastic action. And every time she was frustrated at her inability to do so, so she read the letter again, her sister's elegant script filling her with emotion as the printed words struck her heart over and over again:

My dearest Anna,

I am so sorry to leave you again. I know I promised you that I would never leave you again, that I would never shut you again, and that I would always be there for you. It breaks my heart that I have to go; I have never ever wanted to hurt you, but it always seems to. Even now, it's the last thing I could ever want, especially after everything we struggled with this last year. We were finally at a place where we could be with one another again and more than anything I else, I cherish that. You don't know what it means to me to see that happy smile on your face, to hear your beautiful voice, to listen to your joyous laughter. I never knew how much I missed it, how much I needed it, until it was gone.

I had to leave, just for a little while. I need some time to think, to figure things out. I know you'd want to help me through this and you have, even if you don't feel like you have. I am grateful for you just being there for me tonight when I needed someone to talk to, someone to confide it. But I need this time for myself; there are some things that you just will not be able to help me with, no matter how much you may want to. I have to come to terms with everything that has happened and I have to do it at my own pace. I need some breathing space, some room, some place where I can be…free.

I would ask you to not follow me, but I know that is futile. You are too insistent and caring a person to let me be for long. So I only ask that you give me this time to myself; I will come back when I'm ready. I promise. I will never leave you, or Arendelle, again. Just trust me on this.

In the meantime, I need you to be strong, not only for me, but for yourself and for Arendelle. Our people need to know that even if I am indisposed at the moment, there is someone there who can lead them, who can be there for them even when I can't.

Please. Do this for me Anna. We'll talk when I get back.

Love always,

Your dear sister Elsa

She had memorized the words long ago but that didn't make her feel any better. Her sister was still gone and while she had agreed with Kristoff about giving Elsa the space she needed, she wished she had stayed so they could at least try to talk it out together. That had worked before.

She sighed sadly. Just because she agreed with her fiancée didn't mean that it was any less hard to let her sister be. At least Kristoff had been willing to go after her to try to bring her back. She found some solace that he had been willing, for her sake, to even attempt that. And she loved him even more for that.

She turned fitfully on her side and attempted to fall asleep. It would be morning soon and while she knew Kristoff would be willing to convince Elsa to return, she couldn't be sure that she would want to return now. If Kristoff wasn't successful, she could only hope that whatever it was that Elsa had to sort through would be taken care of soon and she would return. Arendelle needed her. The people needed her.

She needed her.

Just a few short hours ago, she was sitting in Elsa's room, helping her dry her tears. Now, as she closed her eyes and drifted off into a sleepless slumber, quiet tears started falling from her tired eyes.

No one was here to help her dry her own.