A/N: Not a lot to say this time, sorry for the wait hope this extra long chapter can make up for it :) thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed, favourited and just simply read this far, without you guys I wouldn't have the motivation to continue, so thanks again you guys are great! I love hearing from you so make sure to leave a quick review :P

WARNING: Incest, Swearing, Violence, you know the usual.

Oh would you look at that, I still don't own Frozen and I never will... sad times :(

Chapter 9: A flickering flame

"Where is that bastard?! I'll kill him!" Elsa shouted as she stormed down the hall towards a group of guards, her sister and the other guard following shortly behind her. The men jumped when they heard the harsh command and quickly righted themselves to face their Queen.

Anna gasped, "Elsa! Please be rational about this" hurrying to keep up, she almost bumped into the blondes back when she stopped abruptly to face her.

Snapping Elsa replied, "You want me to be rational?! You should be glad I haven't gone on an icy rampage after what he's done! It's one thing to try and assassinate me, but to have the nerve to do so in broad daylight with guards around every corner! And what he did to you Anna, how I haven't already gone in there and blasted him is beyond me!"

"Because you are a much better person than him, that's why, and I know you would never do anything that was immoral, you aren't a monster Elsa, unlike him" Anna spat the last word with disgust, she understood why her sister was so angry so didn't flinch when she more or less screamed in her face. Placing a hand on Elsa's shoulder she smiled at her, "I know you will do the right thing, don't worry about me, just promise you won't do anything you'll regret."

Elsa calmed down with the gently words and touch from Anna, after everything that had happened to her, the young woman was still so selfless, worrying only about those around her, never herself. With a sigh the Queen replied, "Ok I promise, but that doesn't mean I can't still mess with him, I can't kill him but he doesn't know that" she smirked as she walked towards the entrance to the cells.

The guards opened the large, battered door before stepping to the side allowing her entrance. As she stepped across the threshold one of the men tried to follow her, she put her hand up in protest, "No, I will go alone, no one is to come down here until I return, is that clear" the men nodded in unison and reluctantly stepped back showing they understood, Elsa then looked to Anna, "I'll be back shortly, will you be ok while I'm gone?"

Anna gave her a weak smile, "I'll be fine Elsa, just get back quickly, and be careful."

Elsa nodded to her before turning and entering the dark staircase, the door slowly creaking shut behind her. She took a deep breath before adopting a cold, emotionless atmosphere; she wouldn't let Eldric get to her. The Queen made her way slowly down the stairs and into the main area of the grimy dungeons, several cells lined the walls either side. It wasn't hard to spot which cell Eldric was being kept in, as he was in one of the open view cells rather than a closed off cells like the one she herself had been kept in not so long ago.

A shiver ran up her spine at the thought, she was glad it was so dark down here otherwise he would have seen her display of weakness, or he would have if he was looking up. The Prince was currently sat on the simple bench in his cell, with his head dropped looking at the grimy floor. Did he even realise she was here?

Her footsteps echoing around the room, she gracefully made her way over to the Prince, keeping her head high with an air of aristocracy. She was about to address him when she was interrupted.

"I was wondering when I would be graced with an audience from you, Queen Elsa" Eldric smirked up at her as he lifted his head, acknowledging her presence.

Elsa was slightly taken back with the comment, taking just a bit too long to reply, "Well I had other more important matters to attend to, than some lowly failed assassin" she smirked in return when his face turned to a scowl, "Of course I therefore understand that means you know what I'm here for?"

The tables turned when he started to laugh and Elsa's expression changed to one of confusion, after laughing for a while the Prince replied, "Oh I know what you're here for, you want to hear an explanation, a reason why, well guess what your majesty, I don't have to explain myself to anyone, especially you!" the Prince had stood up and was now by the bars of his cell to try and close the distance between the two of them, trying to make himself more intimidating in the process.

Elsa almost laughed at the comment, so this was how he wanted to play it? That was fine with her; she knew exactly how to get what she wanted even if it took some time. Lifting an eyebrow at him she spoke calmly, "Oh? And what makes you think that?"

"If you've forgotten I'm not part of your kingdom, which means you have no rule over me, therefore you can't order me to do anything without permission from my own kingdom" He smirked to himself, seeming quite proud of his idiotic conclusion.

The Queen took a step closer to the cell, causing his smirk to falter slightly, she stated, "This is true, however, I can still punish you as I see fit, and the more words that come out of your mouth, the less patience I have" she lifted her hand and started to manipulate her powers causing the temperature in the room to drop without warning, it created the desired response from the Prince as he shivered, a glint of fear in his eyes. Slowly an immaculate icicle formed in her hand and she judged the weight of it, "I'd recommend you start talking, or who knows what kind of 'accident' could happen" Elsa's persona suddenly changed as she threw the icicle with as much force as she could into the wall on her right, instead of shattering on impact the spear became lodged in the bricks, part of which were now on the floor in a pile of broken pieces.

The Prince still had fear in his eyes but he wasn't showing it openly, he continued to hide behind his mask of courage and simply smirked at her, "You want me to talk? Fine I'll talk, I would have killed you earlier but your filthy sister stopped me, I do hope you don't mind second hand toys dear Queen, because your sister was more than…" he couldn't finish his sentence because he was sent flying back by the force of the blast Elsa just created, his head hit the wall with a sickening crack and he slumped down to the bench groaning in pain.

Elsa was now stood in front of the bars, her presence far more intimidating with her angry expression, "Don't you dare speak about Anna like that! If it wasn't for this 'peace treaty' between our two kingdoms I'd have had you killed the minute I found out about your disgusting act. The only filth around here is you Eldric, and until you start to cooperate I hope you get used to living in it" not allowing him time to reply, she left him clutching his head in pain and exited the dungeons as quickly as possible.

Only once the large door was closed did she relax, she let out the breath she had been holding and composed herself, who knows what she would have done if she had stayed in there any longer. He was right; she couldn't so much as lay a finger on him properly without the go ahead from his father and this infuriated her. She knew he wouldn't be punished properly, after all he is not only a Prince, he is the heir of Northwind, and if anything happened to him she would have an army at her doorstep by morning.

Snapping out of her thoughts she saw that there were only two guards situated at the door, the others must have returned to their usual posts, she stated, "The prisoner is not to have any form of sustenance until I return, is that understood?"

The guards nodded in unison, "Yes Queen Elsa."

Elsa nodded back, "Good, keep watch on him, if anything strange happens inform me immediately." They nodded again and she left in search of Kai, she needed to arrange an emergency meeting with her advisers, they had to figure out what to do with their prisoner.

Sighing Elsa put her head in her hands. The meeting wasn't going very well so far. For what seemed like hours her and her advisers had discussed (more like argued) about what to do about the current situation. Several ideas had been thrown back and forth, most of them involving injury or pain, she had quite liked those, but they all agreed that the only real option they had was to send out word to the King of Northwind. Once that was done all they could really do was wait for a reply, and keep Eldric locked up in the mean time.

"Ok so are we done here, because I could really do with a bit of peace after everything that's happened?" Elsa asked in a harsh tone, she was at the end of her rope, if she didn't get away soon she was going to explode.

The dignitaries looked at one another with shocked expressions, unsure of what to say, until one of the braver men answered, "Yes your majesty, we'll see to it that word is sent to Northwind by morning."

Elsa stood up and stepped away from her chair, "Thank you, if anything else comes up I trust you can handle it yourselves, I do not wish to be disturbed again today" she made her way to the door and turned to them once more, "Good day to you gentlemen." Elsa exited the room leaving the speechless men behind.

Wasting no time, Elsa went in search of Anna; finally with some spare time on her hands she was going to do everything she could to ease the young woman's suffering. It wasn't long until she found Gerda who informed her that Anna was in the gardens with Olaf. The blonde smiled, of course Anna would be with Olaf he always managed to put a smile on her face.

Stepping out into the secluded area behind the castle, Elsa saw her sister sat by the large oak tree talking to a rather excited Olaf, who was jumping up and down and laughing. At least Anna seemed happy when she turned to see Elsa approaching when Olaf pointed to her and exclaimed, "Hey look, there's Elsa now!"

"How did it go?" Anna asked with a concerned expression, all of her innocent happiness being lost in that one moment.

Elsa frowned, "Not good I suppose, we decided to send word to Northwind informing them of what their beloved Princehas done, all we can do now is wait for a reply."

Anna nodded then asked, "And what happened when you went to see him? What did he say?"

Seeing the worried expression her sister was giving her, Elsa knelt down in front of her and took her hands in her own, the young woman flinching before grasping at the touch, she reassured, "Nothing happened, ok so I did threaten him a little and he's going to have an awful headache for a while, but he deserves it after what he did to you. I only wish I could have stopped it, or that it could have been me instead of you."

The strawberry blonde giggled a little at her sister's playful jibe, then the sound turned into a half sob as she tried to force her tongue to form the words she so desperately wanted to say, "He didn't, I mean nothing happened, he never, I stopped him before he…"

Before the girl could get herself into a panic, Elsa gently cupped her face with her hand and caressed the soft skin with her thumb, in a calming tone she spoke, "Hey now, it's ok you don't have to say anything until you're ready, besides, nothing he has said or done is ever going to change how I feel about you, ok?"

Anna nodded whispering, "Ok."

Olaf had been watching the exchange with interest and it seemed as if he only just understood what was going on as he exclaimed, "Anna don't be sad, me and Elsa love you! Hey why don't we play a game? That always cheers you up!"

The two sisters laughed at the snowman, he could always lighten the mood. Anna stood up and pulled Elsa with her, their hands intertwined when she said, "That sounds like a great idea Olaf, how about we go and find Kristoff and Sven?"

The snowman jumped up and down with a huge smile on his face, "Yay Kristoff and Sven! Come on guys what are you waiting for?!" he shouted to them as he ran off back into the castle, leaving a trail of snow behind him.

Anna laughed again and shook her head at his silly antics, she pulled Elsa along as she followed after him, "We better hurry and catch up with him before he covers the whole castle in snow, remember what happened last time? I've never seen Gerda so angry since the time I crashed into the suits of armour."

Elsa smiled and walked with Anna, enjoying how nice it felt to simply hold her hand, seeing the snow trail she suggested, "How about you take the honours?" she gestured to the ice in front of them with her hand.

"What you mean me? You want me to clean it up? Is that really a good idea Elsa?" Anna did a double take when she realised what her sister was saying, what could she possibly be thinking? Did she really want the castle to be burnt to a crisp?

The Queen nodded, "Yes, it will be fine Anna just don't over think it."

"Well ok then, but don't blame me when all you have to rule from is a pile of ashes" Anna replied with a quirked eyebrow before manipulating a small bundle of heat energy that quickly evaporated the icy path before them, shocked at how simple that really was she stared at her hand with her mouth open.

"See what did I tell you, I knew you could do it! You just need to stop fretting over it, you're still getting used to having these powers, control will come easier with time but only if you let them become part of who you are, take it from me" Elsa smiled widely at Anna before kissing her forehead, "We can get through this together."

The blonde tried to carry on walking when she was pulled back to face Anna again, the young woman smiling back at her, "You don't think you can get away with that so easily do ya?" Elsa was confused as to what Anna meant until the girl in question pulled her into a kiss, Anna then giggled at the blush creeping up Elsa's cheeks, "There that's better, I won't break you know, you can still play with me" she winked which only caused Elsa to turn a deeper shade of crimson. Laughing she dragged Elsa along as she ran down the halls following the icy path that would lead them to Olaf, melting and evaporating the snow as they went.

"Anna I think Sven has had enough carrots now, how about you go easy on the treats?" Elsa suggested as she watched Anna give Sven his fifth carrot in a row, the reindeer may like them but even he had his limits.

Anna pouted as she turned to face her sister, the older girl melting with the adorableness, she whined, "Oh but Sven is such a good boy and he deserves to be treated like one, don't you boy! Don't you! You're such a good boy!" Quickly turning back to the reindeer she cooed her affection as she stroked his muzzle.

"She always scares me when she does that" Kristoff stated as he watched his best friend making silly faces at Sven, much to his amusement as the reindeer grunted happily at her.

Elsa laughed at the boy and scoffed, "Says the boy who has full conversations with Sven and even shares his carrots, you're just as bad as she is!" she playfully pushed him on the shoulder which caused him to laugh in return, it wasn't everyday he saw Elsa coming out of her shell but hopefully it would be a common occurrence now that the two girls were fully open about each other.

"Ok, ok I agree I do, do those things but still you can't say that isn't a little creepy" he pointed to Anna who was now blowing raspberry's on Sven's cheeks and laughing hysterically, Olaf was jumping around by their feet.

The blonde shook her head in amusement, 'exactly how much chocolate has she eaten?' Elsa had made sure Anna got to do whatever she wanted since this could be the first time in a while the two could spend a lot of time together, so they had gone to the town and bought as much chocolate as they could carry before heading over to Kristoff's. It was silly she knows but it made Anna happy and that was all she wanted. They were now stood by the lake near Kristoff's house, and since the weather had finally stabilized in Arendelle the winter was coming on strong, the ground now covered with a fresh blanket of snow and the water had frozen over.

Elsa teased, "Hey Anna, I hope you realise I'm not going anywhere near your mouth until you wash it out properly, I don't quite like reindeer slobber much." She laughed when she saw the frown on Anna's face.

Anna turned to face her sister and Kristoff, "Well that's not very nice to say, you'll hurt Sven's feelings, the only way to apologise is to kiss me, pucker up" she smirked as she rushed towards Elsa.

The blonde saw it coming though and was running before Anna had even finished her sentence; she shouted back, "Oh I don't think so! You'll have to catch me first!"

"Oh boy, what are we ever going to do with those two?" Kristoff asked Sven in wonder as he laughed at the ridiculous display in front of them, who would have every though the noble Queen herself would be running away from 'reindeer cooties'.

All the while Olaf was just cheering them on, "Anna quick! She's going to get away!" the snowman shouted his encouragement.

"Don't worry Olaf! I've almost got her!" Anna shouted back, before she turned her attention back to her target. Elsa was just ahead of her giggling as she ran with her head turned so she could see exactly where Anna was, but it also meant she wasn't looking at what was in front of her. Anna smirked as she came up with a plan, she playfully sang, "Oh Elsa! You should really watch were you are going, who know what kinds of 'slippery' situations you could get into."

Elsa frowned, what was she talking about? Just as she was about to speak she felt her foot give way underneath her and she started to fall to the floor. The patch of snow she was about to step on had melted and was now a puddle, how could she be so ignorant to a small thing like that. Just when she was about to hit the floor, she was pulled up by a hand grasping her own, "Like I said gotta be careful, never know when things can get a little too hot" Anna whispered as she pulled the older girl into her embrace.

She was surprised however when she got a face full of snow that caused her to topple to the ground, the culprit giggling, "Ah yes dear sister, but you also have to be careful when things get too cold for comfort." Elsa continued to laugh until she realised Anna hadn't said or done anything in return, concerned she asked, "Anna? Are you ok? I was only joking around…"

Anna looked up at Elsa and dramatically threw an arm over her forehead, her eyes half closed as she looked into the distance, she proclaimed in an exaggerated manner, "I grow weak, it seems I have succumbed to this 'cold' you speak off, if something is not done soon, I fear I will fade away forever!"

Elsa rolled her eyes, of course her sister would pull a stunt like this now, well at least she wasn't hurt. Playing along Elsa asked, "So what is it you suggest we do?"

Olaf ran over, his face full of worry at seeing Anna fall to the floor, he had heard her statement as well but unlike everyone else he didn't realise Anna was pretending. Hurriedly he said, "An act of true love will save Anna!"

"Yes Olaf! I believe you are correct, only an act of true love can save me now! I can feel the heat ebbing away inside me; if we don't hurry it will be too late!" Anna turned her head quickly to Olaf when she said his name, then held out her arm towards Elsa grasping at thin air and coughing lightly.

The blonde had to stop herself from laughing at the over dramatic display, it wouldn't be fair on Olaf since he didn't understand, also Anna looked rather sexy earlier with her arm draped over her head like that. Elsa reached out and grabbed her sister's outstretched hand and pulled her up so she was standing in front of her, she whispered, "So what act of true love did you have in mind?"

Getting giddy all of a sudden Olaf lifted his head of his body and exclaimed, "A true loves kiss!"

Elsa smirked, "Oh I'm way ahead of you there Olaf" she embraced Anna in a passionate kiss which the younger woman happily reciprocated, pulling Elsa closer with a hand on the back of her head. The two sisters were brought back to the present by the squealing sound coming from Olaf as he showed his excitement that Anna was going to be alright.

Smirking when the two broke apart, Anna let a rush of energy surround her, small flames flickering out melting the snow around them, she exclaimed, "Oh my, Elsa, you've rekindled my burning spirit, I can feel life flowing back through my body, you've saved me Elsa!"

The older girl laughed and pulled her close again, "Oh shut up you and get over here again" they laughed before sharing another kiss. Elsa had never enjoyed herself so much before, people accepted her for her powers, and they were friendly when they saw her, she had friends and she had Anna. There was nothing in this world she would trade this moment for, she finally had what she wanted and she was happy. Elsa could quickly get used to this.

It was very late by the time they returned to the castle, the two girls were too tired to do much else so decided to skip dinner and go straight to bed. Just like last time they both went to Elsa's chambers; expect this time with Elsa holding Anna close to her chest, they went straight to sleep. Everything was peaceful and perfect, but eventually all good things must come to an end.

Elsa was jolted awake by a sharp pain in her side, quickly coming to her senses she realised Anna had kicked her in her sleep. Her strawberry blonde locks strewn on the pillows, her face scrunched up in fear, and her arms and legs thrashing about trying to find an imaginary attacker. The girl was trapped in the realms of a nightmare.

"No… Please… Stop" Anna whimpered in her sleep.

Elsa felt her heart strings tug, tears building up in her eyes, she didn't need to be a genius to figure out what Anna's nightmare was about. Very slowly and ever so gently, Elsa scooped up the terrified young woman into her arms and softly stroked her hair and whispered words of comfort, "It's going to be ok Anna, I've got you."

It seemed to calm her down, as she stopped thrashing and whimpering. As Elsa continued to stroke her hair and whisper sweet comments into her ear, Anna turned to snuggle closer to the warmth surrounding her and drifted off into a peaceful sleep once again. Elsa just stayed like that for quite a while, holding Anna close and stroking her hair, tears dripped from her face into the fiery locks below her. It was then that Elsa swore to herself she would never let anything like this happen to her sister ever again, and she would get her the justice she deserved even if that meant causing a war. Unfortunately what Elsa didn't know was that most promises were made to be broken, and that's exactly what was going to happen.

Elsa couldn't have asked to wake up to a better sight. The sun shining through the window beams of light falling across Anna's face highlighting her beauty. Her sister was snoring lightly but it didn't bother Elsa, in fact she found it quite cute the way her little nose scrunched up and relaxed each time. Unable to stop herself she planted a quick kiss on the adorable appendage and watched as glossy blue eyes greeted her own.

"Morning my little flame" Elsa whispered as she watched Anna slowly become aware of the world.

Yawning the Princess replied, "G'mornin Eltha" she sat up and stretched before wiping the sleep from her eyes, "What time is it?"

Elsa giggled, of course Anna wasn't normally up this early, did she even remember what breakfast was? She answered, "It's time we got ready for the day, don't want to waste a second of it do you?"

Anna smiled and clumsily meshed their lips together, "Of course I don't, come on then I'm starving!"

The Queen laughed and followed suit getting ready, it turns out Anna does remember what breakfast is after all.

Shortly after both Elsa and Anna were sat in the large dining room enjoying breakfast together, or as much as they could with servants and dignitaries constantly informing Elsa of what she had scheduled to do for the day. At the moment one of her advisers was informing her of the large shipment of good that was due into the docks that afternoon.

"You will have to be present to welcome the ship into the docks, more of a social necessity than anything else, and then we can start the distributions"

Elsa nodded her understanding as she finished eating the food in her mouth before speaking, "Splendid, everything is in order and going as planned, but before I start my usual duties, I have to pay a visit to our guest" She stood up from the table and looked to the servant who was in charge of food delivery, "If it's not too much trouble, could you fetch our guest some bread, meat and cheese, oh and some water as well please. We can't have him going hungry or thirsty can we."

"Of course, right away your majesty" The servant rushed out of the room to fetch what Elsa had requested.

Anna frowned at her sister, "Elsa do you have to go and see him again, I'm sure one of the guards could deliver him some food, you have more important things to attend to."

Elsa walked to Anna's side and placed a hand on her shoulder, "It's not just about the food Anna, I know what I'm doing don't worry about me ok?"

The Princess was confused but she trusted her sister so just nodded, "Ok, but promise you won't stay there too long."

"I promise" Elsa nodded and smiled at Anna, "I'll see you later on then" she gave her a quick peck on the lips, which caused a few raised eyebrows but no one said anything, then she left the room, the servant returning just as she walked through the door.

With the food and liquid in hand she made her way to the dungeons, she was going to get a straight answer this time even if she had to wring it out of him. The guards nodded to her as she got closer, opening the door in wait. Elsa nodded back and asked, "Has anyone been in here since yesterday?"

The taller guard shook his head, "No one has been in, just as you ordered your majesty."

"Good, you're doing a fine job, as you were" She replied before once again stepping into the dark descents that would take her to the dungeons. It seemed colder than it was last time, which was strange since Elsa didn't normally feel the cold; she could only imagine how Eldric was coping with the sudden change in temperature.

Just as she suspected the Prince was huddled in the corner of his cell trying to keep warm, she could hear the faint, shallow sound of his breaths and could see as his limbs shook from the cold. Unlike last time he didn't look up as she approached, he didn't show any of that rebellious streak, instead he huddled further into the corner and appeared as if he was trying to make himself look smaller.

Pleased with his new behaviour Elsa caught herself thinking optimistically, maybe he was going to cooperate and tell her exactly what was going on. The only way to find out if this was the case was to interact with him, so Elsa made her presence known stating, "Are we not as lively today? Well who can blame you after all you must be famished and parched." The Prince flinched when she spoke and scowled up at her.

"What do you want now, can't you just leave me alone."

Elsa frowned back at him, she pushed the tray through the gap in the cell bars, designed for such a purpose along with the glass, she pointed at them and said, "Eat, then we'll talk."

The scowl on his face faltered at the prospect of food, and he dropped his shields as he rushed to snatch the food before it was taken away from him. He quickly devoured the bread before moving onto the meat and cheese which he more or less inhaled, the speed at which he chewed and swallowed the food. However he took his time with the water, taking slow sips until he eventually emptied the glass placing it back near the gap in the bars for it to be retrieved.

He sat himself on the bench and then looked up at the Queen, "So your majesty what is it you wish to talk about?" he asked in a sarcastic tone, of course he knew what she wanted to talk about but that doesn't mean to say he'll answer.

Elsa calmly replied, "Why I want an answer to my earlier question of course, is that so much to ask?"

Eldric laughed and shook his head, "Are you stupid?! There's nothing to say, you want a reason? Here's a reason, I was doing everyone a favour killing the evil ice Queen!" he stopped laughing and frowned when he saw Elsa doing the completely unexpected. She was smiling.

The Queen nodded, "Yes I had a feeling you would tell me a lie like that, no matter we have all the time in the world to get better acquainted, or at least as long as it takes for your father to get back to me. Word was sent out to him about an hour ago so we will have plenty of time to get to know one another."

"Ha, yeah that's what you think; he should be half way here by now with the rest of our men…" Eldric muttered to himself. Unfortunately for him the dungeons were rather quiet, you could hear a pin drop, so naturally the Queen heard him crystal clear.

Her eyes going wide Elsa gasped, "What did you just say?"

The Prince was confused at first then realised what he had done, he cursed loudly and started to hit the sides of his head with his hands, why had he said that?! When they find out they were going to kill him!

Everything made sense now, trying to get her alone, the assassination attempt, without a monarchy who would run the kingdom? Who would organise everyone and get everything ready? Leaving the Prince to deal with his breakdown, Elsa rushed back up the stairs and went to speak with the general; she needed to get her army ready for the oncoming attack.