Being made of ice and snow, Mary couldn't feel pain. This was lucky because otherwise she imagined having her face caved in by a crowbar would smart. Mary watched in a daze as shards of ice dropped off her cheeks. The next thing she knew, Mary was subjected to the unusual view from her eyes as they rolled out of their sockets. The whole world turned into two spinning, jumbled images until the first eye shattered on the pavement. The second landed on a softer patch of dirt and rolled to a halt.
There was something disorienting about watching one's own body from the outside, especially when said body was getting smashed to pieces. Though she could feel every blow, Mary wasn't panicked, exactly. With her throat shattered, she couldn't scream, and with her ears shattered, she couldn't hear. It was almost tranquil.
By the time the men stopped their hammering, Mary's body looked more like a broken window than a woman. Nothing humanoid remained, save some stray digits and the snow-hair sticking out Mary's broken scalp. Mary impulsively tried to move, but the most she could manage was to wiggle what was left of her fingers. When magically granting Mary mobility, Elsa apparently hadn't accounted for her being smashed to pieces. Mary was made of ice, not snow – she wasn't soft and squishy like Olaf. With her body broken, Mary was effectively paralyzed.
Suddenly, Mary's line of sight shot upwards. It took her a moment to realize that the crippled man had scooped her eyeball into his palm. The men seemed to be debating amongst each other, but without ears, Mary couldn't catch a word they were saying. She'd heard fine without ears back when she was an ice-mirror, but apparently the inner workings of her senses were dictated by Elsa's subconscious, and Elsa's subconscious thought that if a human-shaped snowman loses their ears, they must be deaf.
From her new viewpoint, Mary watched the men shovel her remains into their sacks. Mary's personal flurry seemed to spin around frantically, unsure which sack to follow.
Mary tried to close her remaining eye, but this wasn't really doable when her eye and eyelid were a good three feet away from each other. Well, what did it matter? Mary had never really been wanted anyways. If she was going to spend her existence lingering aimlessly, what difference did it make if she did it paralyzed and in pieces?
I'm sorry you exist.
At least her beloved didn't have to be sorry anymore. That was... That was one good thing that came of this...
Apparently, even when disembodied, Mary's eye could still shed tears.
The crippled man hobbled through the pitch-black wilderness, silently cursing every time his crutch struck rock or slipped in mud. This journey would've been much faster on horseback, but horseback riding generally requires a working set of legs. As do several other activities, such as supporting your family and being self-dependent.
After an eternity, the crippled man reached the head of a small chasm of rocks. It was hard to judge the exact distance in the darkness, but it looked like quite a drop. The man set down a crutch so he could retrieve the orb of ice from his pocket. He held it up to eye-level with his fingers, letting it glisten under the northern lights overhead.
"Wonder if you can still hear me?" he said aloud.
Mary's eye stared back at him.
"Well, guess it doesn't matter." He chuckled to himself. "Y'know, pretty soon the wife's gonna be wondering where all our money went, but it was worth it. I'd kill myself before I'd take charity from a witch. Swear to God, one of these days we're all gonna freeze to death because none of us had the guts to stand up to her."
As he spoke, the man idly tossed Mary's eye in the air, bouncing it in his palm. "Nobody except Prince Hans. Now there was a man with conviction. I watched him fight one of the queen's snow-monsters and win. Figured if he could do it, so could me and the boys." He stopped the bouncing so he could look Mary in her frosty pupil. "To be honest, I was expecting more of a struggle. Got all excited when I saw your little snow cloud trail, rounded everyone up so we could chase after you... all for an anticlimax. Guess you just won't stop screwing me over until you're dead, will you?"
Another water droplet trickled off the eye. His palm must've been melting it already.
"Can you die?" The man let out a snort. "What am I saying? You were never alive in the first place. You're nothing but a soulless, ungodly thing made by sorcery, aren't you?"
Slowly, the man closed his fist around the ice, then held it over the chasm. "Doesn't feel so good, does it, monster? Being crippled. I just wish you'd screamed or cried or something. I wanted you to feel everything I felt."
He opened his hand.
Of course, Mary had been deafened, so she hadn't taken in a word he said. Mary had been forced to watch the man's lips flap until he finally decided to drop her. Her eye plummeted for a couple seconds before striking stone and shattering. Like a candle blowing out, Mary's vision turned to darkness.
This was it. Mary was gone. Except... Except this wasn't the same as being erased. Despite the distance between them, Mary could feel each of her pieces. Some were lying in dirt, some in cloth, and some in grass. If she really tried, Mary could make her fingers twitch slightly, but other than that, she had nothing. Not even a heartbeat to measure the passage of time.
Mary wondered how long this purgatory would last. She had to melt eventually, right? Elsa had never actually allowed her snowmen to completely melt before, so nobody knew what exactly would happen if they did, but the general consensus was that it was very bad and should be avoided at all costs.
However, plenty of Elsa's non-sentient ice and snow had melted, and, like all frozen water, it'd turned to liquid. But Elsa had ice powers, not water powers. Her magic couldn't keep liquid sustained – after a while, it'd vanish back into the thin air it came from. Once she was melted, Mary would be erased again, wouldn't she?
That was... good. If she was being perfectly honest with herself, Mary hadn't been enjoying the ability to think lately, even before her body was destroyed. Before thinking, everything had been so much easier. The imaginary Mary had never had to worry about displeasing her beloved Elsa.
Mary... Mary deserved this, didn't she? Mary had broken that man's legs. Mary had ruined her relationship with Fritz. These people... they didn't just hate Mary because she was a snowwoman. They hated her because... because she'd hurt them.
Mary was... selfish... She was so selfish...
I'm sorry you exist.
Soon, everything would be righted. There were no ticking clocks in this purgatory, so Mary had no way to tell how much time had passed, but she could swear she felt a warmness overtaking her pieces. It had to be the sunrise.
Yes... Yes, she could feel her pieces growing softer, growing smaller, growing warmer. This was good. Mary loved heat. It was... the only pleasure... the only pleasure snowmen could feel. Warmer... Warmer... Now she could feel some of her pieces leaving her, disappearing altogether...
She was melting.
The personal flurry cloud let out a relieved squeak and floated down into the chasm. Its host splitting apart had greatly confused the flurry, but now it'd finally made up its mind and followed after the crippled man. Luckily, the sunlight hadn't quite reached the chasm yet, meaning the remains of Mary's eye were intact. The flurry cheerfully stationed itself above the ice shards, sprinkling them with snow. The Snow Queen had given it specific orders to prevent the snowwoman from melting, and, sure, the flurry had kind of let ninety-nine percent of her melt, but so long as at least an itty bitty piece was kept frozen, it'd technically done its job.
Every wave was a tsunami, every gust a typhoon. Elsa stood at the edge of the docks, gazing into the boundless body of water trailing past the horizon. It looked like it was taunting her, like it was daring her to allow herself to be swallowed by the-
"Queen Elsa, I'm almost done packing!" A scrawny boy in an ill-fitting servant uniform sprinted to Elsa's side, carrying enough luggage to fill half the boat. "This is all your essentials. I'll be back in a minute with the next load."
"Good, good," Elsa said absently. Fritz scurried off, though she hardly noticed. It was like the sea had her in a trance.
"Elsa." There was, however, one voice strong enough to grab her attention. Elsa turned to find her sister coming towards her. Anna had her hair up, and she was wearing a dark purple jacket over her dress. Elsa started to wonder why before she remembered that regular people didn't go around sleeveless in the middle of September.
Elsa put on a smile. "I guess this is goodbye."
"We'll see each other soon enough." Anna tried to sound relaxed, but the tightness of her goodbye hug betrayed her. "Try not to have too much fun without me, okay?"
"Your Majesty!" It was at this point that Fritz returned with load two, which was about twice the size of load one. "Just a few things left. I'm gonna go get you a quilt. The crew says the ship's blankets are moth-eaten, and that's not fit for a queen, now is it?"
"Yes, that's fine," said Elsa, idly waving her hand like she was shooing a fly away.
As Fritz scurried off, Elsa turned back to her sister. "Are you sure you don't want to come?"
"A diplomatic voyage to discuss trade negotiations sounds enticing, but I'll pass," said Anna. "Besides, somebody's got to stay here and keep an eye on Mary."
"I left a guard outside her door," said Elsa. "He says she hasn't gone anywhere since last night. She's still locked in her room, giving me the silent treatment."
"She's just being moody," said Anna. "I'd blame it on hormones, but, y'know..."
"I'm packing some of your books in case you need something to do on the trip!" Fritz made the sprint from the docks to the castle and back oddly quickly. "Your favorite is Advanced Geometrics, Ninth Edition, Volume Five-A, right?"
"Five-B," said Elsa.
"I'll bring the whole set to be safe." Before she could protest, Fritz ran off.
Elsa sighed and turned back to Anna. "I think this runs deeper than Mary being moody."
Anna brought a hand to her shoulder. "Don't sweat the emotional stuff right now, okay? You need to focus on the political stuff. You'll get the kinks with Mary ironed out once you get back."
Elsa nodded feebly.
"Queen Elsa!" Fritz spontaneously reappeared at Elsa's side, total urgency in his voice. "Before we go... have you used the bathroom?"
Elsa gave him a blank stare. "Isn't there one on the ship?"
"Oh, right, right..." Fritz backed away, blushing. "Well, then, c'mon, it's time to go."
"I guess this is it." Elsa gave Anna one last hug, then followed Fritz up the harbor ramp.
"What about a lantern?" said Fritz. "I hear it gets darker way earlier in Pagania."
"Yes, that's fine."
"And some seasickness medicine! You've never been out at sea before. Who knows what'll happen to your intestines?"
"Alright, Fritz..."
"Oh, and we can't forget the spare dresses. I know you wear that ice-dress all the time, but maybe you'll want some variety."
"Fritz, I'll be fine, really."
"Wait! We can't forget the chocolate! In case you need a snack! And- and an extra pillow, and soap, and toothpaste, and monkey chow-"
Elsa raised an eyebrow. "Monkey chow? For what?"
"Well, for the-"
"Ma'am."
Elsa and Fritz were halted at the top of the ramp by a rugged, square-jawed old man.
"Is there a problem, captain?" asked Elsa.
The captain glanced at the waves pounding the side of the ship. "The weather conditions are less than ideal at the present, Your Majesty. If there's no particular hurry to get to Pagania, I suggest we delay until tomorrow."
"Of course." Elsa was a little happier at this than she liked to admit to herself.
"Sweet!" said Anna, running up to the ramp. "You didn't have anything else planned, right? Free day!"
As it would later turn out, the weather wasn't actually that bad, but for some reason, when it came to sending the royalty overseas, there was an unspoken rule in the royal dockyard to always, always, always err on the side of caution.
The rest of her should've melted by now. Mary had felt all her other pieces melt. She was certain! At least... she thought she'd been certain. It was so hard to tell when she was blind and deaf, barely able to wiggle the last remaining chunks of her eyeball. The only sense left was the feel of rock against her pieces, along with the gentle trickle of snowflakes. That... That could only be her flurry cloud...
That clenched it, then. Mary would stay here, abandoned, forgotten, able to do nothing in this claustrophobic darkness. Forever.
The next day was also judged unsafe to set sail. And the day after that.
The flurry cloud prided itself on a job well done. It wasn't entirely sure if Elsa was aware her snowmen's personal flurries were all sentient, but it didn't matter. The flurry loved keeping snowmen from melting. So long as it was fulfilling its creator's wishes, it was content.
Sure, sometimes the job got a little tedious, but the thought of how happy it was making Mary gave the flurry the strength to go on.
"Wow," said Anna, "who'd have thought it'd take the better part of a week for the ocean to calm down?"
"Well, we can't delay any longer." Elsa took one last wistful glance at the setting sun before climbing up the ramp. "Goodbye, Anna."
"Bye." Anna frowned, examining her sister closely. "Hey, Elsa, everything alright?"
Elsa allowed herself to sigh. "Mary hasn't left her room all week. Hasn't spoken to anyone. Hasn't even made a sound."
"Want me to jimmy the lock and drag her out of there?"
"No, no, I think she wants her space," said Elsa. "I'm sure Mary will come out when she's ready. I don't see the harm in it. She's made of ice – It's not like she can hurt herself."
"Yeah, I guess. You'd think she'd at least get bored, though."
Elsa nodded, then wordlessly climbed onto the deck. The sea was perfectly smooth today, but it did nothing to ease the tightness in Elsa's stomach. How could she have ignored Mary for this long? She should've broken that lock, stormed in there, put her arms around her child...
But then the calmness flashed through Elsa's mind. The calmness as Mary wormed into her head, seizing control. No. No, Anna was right, Elsa couldn't keep giving in to her.
"All aboard!" the captain bellowed from behind the wheel.
Elsa would see her again. Mary could wait a few weeks.
Slowly but surely, the boat began pulling away from the entry ramp...
"Hey, guys, is this a bad time?" At the last possible second, a certain bucktoothed snowman waddled onto the dock, and Elsa motioned for the captain to wait. The crew collectively rolled their eyes and dropped anchor.
"Olaf? What is it?" Elsa called down to him.
"You know how you told me Mary was upset and I should give her some space?" said Olaf. "I, uh, I might not have followed the letter of the law, exactly, and oddly enough, my nose makes a great lock pick, and long story short, I went into Mary's room and she's not there."
"What?"
It wasn't until the sun had set that the guards finally returned.
One of them stepped forward, gingerly extending a gloved palm towards his queen. "Your Majesty?" And resting in said palm was a lone, perfect eyeball of ice, a personal flurry diligently hovering above it.
"You found her!" cheered Olaf. "Huh, Mary's a lot shorter than I remembered..."
"We spotted the snow cloud in a pit out in the wilderness," said the guard.
"Uh..." Anna leaned down to give the eyeball a poke. "The rest of her's coming next, right?"
The guard bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Your Highness. This was all we found of her."
"What?" scoffed Anna. "Mary's just an eyeball now? How the heck did that happen?"
"I'm sure she'll explain herself." With a flourish of her hand, Elsa summoned fresh ice over the eyeball, twisting and stretching it until it took on a familiar, womanly shape. Icy nails sprang from her fingers, white snow-hair sprouted from her scalp, and even her dress, high heels, and glasses appeared fully-formed on Mary's body. The end result was a complete snowwoman.
Mary gave her creator a glassy stare.
"Mary?" Elsa immediately wrapped her arms around her. "What happened?"
There was a moment of silence.
"Nothing," said Mary. "Nothing happened."