"Shh! Come on!"

Musical numbers are nice and all, but the most integral part of getting back together after a breakup is the make-out session. At first, Mary had been reluctant – She was all too aware now that her freezing cold body wasn't the best suited for bringing Fritz pleasure – but Fritz had insisted kissing a beautiful girl was worth any amount of numbness.

Mary giggled as she dragged Fritz by the hand through the secluded castle hall. They spotted a tapestry, then traded glances. The brief meeting of their eyes was actually an elaborate language developed by shy couples, and it translates as, "This looks like a good place to make our tongues fight each other." The next instant, Fritz and Mary were concealed behind the tapestry. There was only a few milometers between their faces when Fritz's back collided with another back.

The air was filled with the sounds of screaming and plunger-noises as a mass of bodies tumbled out from behind the tapestry.

"What the-? Really, Mary? Again?" Kristoff gave Mary his sourest look as he pulled himself and Anna to their feet, straightening his collar.

"I am so sorry!" Mary's was the only face in the room that was blue instead of red. "I didn't mean to interrupt your sex again!"

"Wait, what?" said Fritz, his voice was muffled by the rug.

"We were just kissing, thank you very much. We're not that kinky." Anna gave the opposing couple a suspicious glare. "What are you two doing?"

"We were just kissing, too," Fritz said as Mary helped him up.

"Oh-" Kristoff did a double take. "-so you're back together?"

Mary nodded. "We've made up. It was a silly argument, really. Fritz said he'll be chaste if it means he can be with me."

"Seriously?" Anna smiled at them. "Aww, that's sweet."

"Uh, you sure you can handle that, buddy?" Kristoff looked at Fritz with something approaching pity.

Fritz stared at his shoes. "I don't exactly have a line of women waiting at my doorstep to throw themselves at me."

Mary gave him a look.

"And also I love Mary!" Fritz quickly added. "Really, I mean it." He took his hand in hers. "We've got each other, and that's all that matters." This seemed to appease Mary – she kissed his cheek.

"I have to thank both of you," Mary said, turning back to Anna and Kristoff. "It was your advice that helped me see straight."

"No problem," said Kristoff. "I don't call myself the 'friends-with-love-experts guy' for nothing."

"But, well, I did have a question for you." As she spoke, Mary fiddled with her ice-glasses. "Eventually, you two are going to marry and start a family, aren't you?"

"Yep." Anna put a loving arm around Kristoff's waist. "That's the plan."

"But what will Fritz and I do?"

"How are we supposed to know?" asked Kristoff. "It's you guys' relationship, not ours."

"So then..." Mary turned to Fritz. "...will you marry me?"

It's a good thing Fritz wasn't eating anything – he'd have choked to death. "Right now?"

"No, no!" Mary said hurriedly. "I meant someday."

"Well, uh..." You could practically see Fritz's brain racing to find the least offensive answer. "Yes. I mean maybe. I mean I don't know!"

"And what about children?" asked Mary. "How are we supposed to have children? Should Elsa make us some snowmen, or should we adopt?"

Fritz's brain was obviously not equipped to handle such questions. It seemed to be on the brink of shutting down.

"Alright, table that discussion before you give your boyfriend a heart attack." Kristoff started to lead Anna away by the hand. "Look, if you don't have any more questions, we've got some important making out to do..."

Soon enough, Mary and Fritz were left alone again.

"Uh... Mary? About what I said." Fritz took a deep breath. "You know I love you, right? I do want to marry you. In the future. When we're both ready."

Mary brushed off some snow from where her personal flurry had sprinkled on Fritz's shoulder. "I understand, sweetheart."

"Really, I mean it," Fritz said, his voice a bit sterner. "I love you. Before I met you, I was a complete wallflower. Even Elsa, I've never been as comfortable around as you. I was the kinda guy who let my momma push me around... Let myself feel worthless..."

Worthless. The image of the crippled man flashed through Mary's head. She and Fritz were in private, weren't they? And he was her boyfriend, wasn't he? If Mary couldn't confide in him, who could she confide in?

Mary opened her mouth. No sound came out. Slowly, she closed it back. It wasn't important, she told herself. She'd tell him later. She didn't want to ruin the mood.

"But, um, Mary?" Fritz swallowed. "There's something else that's been bugging me. You don't think I'm... too obsessed with Elsa, do you?"

"Of course not, silly." Mary chuckled to herself. "I was only mad at you before – I was never really jealous of Elsa."

"So... so it's not like I have to throw away all my Elsa memorabilia, right? Especially the super expensive irreplaceable limited edition stuff? Just hypothetically."

"Well, I've still got that Elsa stuffed bear you gave me."

"Oh thank God- I mean-!" Fritz cleared his throat. "That's cool, I guess. I'm glad you like it."

"Come on, Fritz..." Mary gave her partner in crime a mischievous smirk. "Looks like the tapestry's all ours."

Fritz's blood was a few degrees shy of boiling.

"So how was your date with Olive?"

A lumpy snowman bounced around the ankles of a decrepit old man as the two of them wandered down the castle halls.

"It was amazing," said Anders. "Olive's actually a grown woman with emotional maturity. It was like the exact opposite of being around a teenage-"

Suddenly, Anders froze. He spun his head towards a tapestry on the far side of the hall.

"What is it?" asked Olaf.

Anders's eyes narrowed. "Shh. I thought I heard something."

As the two of them strained to listen. Anders could just barely make out a pair of hushed voices:

"Ah! Mary, you're cold."

"Yes, but you like it."

"...Yeah, you're right."

The tapestry began to shimmy.

"Ugh, speak of the devil." Anders turned around for the stairs, leading Olaf away. "Come on, let's go somewhere with less hormones."

"Usually, I'd be confused right now, but I actually know exactly what those two are doing," Olaf said proudly. "Elsa gave me some great sex ed!"

"I'm not even going to ask."

Elsa let out a groan. Now in addition to the stack of legal documents on her desk, she had to write a stack of apology letters to any civilians who'd been terrorized by snowmen lately. One of these days, the pen was going to freeze to her hand and be stuck that way forever.

"Elsa!" A certain feisty princess teleported into the study. "Kristoff had to go harvest ice. Know what that means?"

"He has a better work ethic than you?"

"It means I'm officially bored again!" Anna threw out her hands theatrically.

"Really, Anna?" Elsa managed to wrench the pen from her hand so she could fold her arms without splattering ink on her ice-dress. "We were just attacked by an army of snowmen yesterday. How much excitement do you need in your life?"

"Eh, that was over way too fast."

"At least you got 'another awesome adventure' like you wanted."

"True." Anna grinned at the memory. "Man, I just wish I could've kept your powers longer. That was the best part."

"Well, it's probably for the best considering what you said you'd do if you had ice powers..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing." Elsa sat up out of her seat to give Anna a hug. "For what it's worth, I appreciate not being in a coma anymore. You saved my life again. I've lost count of how much I owe you."

"You ought to open a tab," said Anna, hugging her back.

Elsa released her sister and returned to her desk. "I've learned something from this. My control is better than it's been in years, but it's not perfect. We're lucky no one was hurt." She sighed and picked up her pin.

Anna, however, only looked happier. "I figured you'd feel that way. That's why I found something that'll cheer you up."

Elsa turned back to her, raising an eyebrow.

"So here's the thing-" As she spoke, Anna dug through her dress pockets, carelessly dropping rocks, candy wrappers, and even a live frog onto the rug. "I was going through Mom-and-Dad's stuff, which I, like, never do, but you mentioned something that bugged me, so I looked, and voila."

Anna held the object out proudly. It was so faded and misshapen by now, you wouldn't have known it was a stuffed rabbit if not for ears. The thing was covered in an equal amount of dust and frost.

Elsa's eyes went wide. "Is that-?"

"-Sussebassen," finished Anna. "The original one. A little worse for wear, but look-" Anna held it to Elsa's face, which made her cough. "-it's been sewn up and stuff. Mom must've done it." Anna set the bunny on Elsa's desk, then met her eyes. "See, they didn't throw it away after all. They kept it all this time."

Elsa's face had completely transformed – She looked downright lively. "They never lost faith in me," she realized. "You know, lately, I've almost been angry at them." She shut her eyes. "They knew about Pagania, and I couldn't help but wonder, if the Paganians were so accepting of me, why our parents never let me visit there." She chuckled to herself. "But now I see they were right to be careful."

"Well, they were right to be careful about that one specific thing, anyways," muttered Anna.

Elsa nodded. "Everything's worked out in the end." Gently, she retrieved the stuffed rabbit, shook off some dust, and held it out in front of her.

The toy glowed bright blue.

"What are you-?" Anna barely had time to cry out in shock before the light faded. Elsa dropped the rabbit back onto the desk. "Uh, Elsa, what was-?"

Anna's question was answered by the stuffed rabbit turning its head her way and growling.

"When we destroyed the amulet, Sussebassen's essence was freed," said Elsa. "I wasn't going to bring him back, but since you found the original toy... it felt right, somehow."

Sussebassen let out a feral shriek and dived at Anna, trying to his hardest to claw her face off.

Squeak-EE.

But as it turns out, stuffed animals aren't the most formidable of opponents. Sussebassen bounced off Anna's head and tumbled to the floor.

"And, err, I'm not giving him any sharp body parts this time," added Elsa.

"Cool!" Anna picked up Sussebassen's newer, squishier body, despite his squeals of protest. "So you can bring toys to life, too?"

Elsa shook her head. "My magic rubbed off on it, remember?" She gestured to the frost covering every patch of Sussebassen's artificial fur. "I guess it's the same way Olaf's carrot nose and twig arms work."

"Eh, it's magic – it can work however it wants." Anna held Sussebassen up to eye level. "Who's a cute widdle guy? Who's a cute widdle guy?"

Sussebassen made a noise halfway between a hiss and a groan.

Anna glanced back at Elsa. "So, uh, I guess he's gonna keep being a bad bunny, then?"

"Well..." Elsa reached out and scooped up her bad bunny. "Sometimes people don't understand Sussebassen, and then he acts out. But he's not really bad. He's sorry."

After a few scratches to the right spot between his ears, Sussebassen happily cuddled up in his mama's arms.

Mary didn't even try to pretend she wasn't severely weirded out. Mary stood in the doorway of her bedroom, giving Sussebassen's new body an unblinking stare.

"...so you see, this is how I always intended Sussebassen to be," Elsa was saying. "I had no right to alter his personality the way I did."

"But- But he could talk," said Mary, almost in a daze. "He was intelligent."

"Yeah, and he also wanted to overthrow humanity," deadpanned Anna.

"Sussebassen only got that way because I had a nightmare," said Elsa. "He was more of a manifestations of my fears than a person." When she noticed Mary's face, Elsa impulsively took her hand. "Is everything alright, dear? I... I know turning on Sussebassen couldn't have been easy."

Mary forced a smile. "He promised me a lot of things... but I hadn't realized how far he was willing to go."

"It's okay, Mary," said Anna, patting her shoulder. "You don't have to be ashamed of liking Sussebassen. You can come out of the closet now. Embrace your snowmosexuality!"

Elsa and Mary gave her the driest stares in their arsenals.

"Sorry." Anna bowed her head. "I'm, uh, I'm gonna go to bed now..." She slinked out the room.

Elsa sighed and shook her head. "Anna's right, it's late." She dropped Sussebassen on the ground so he could hop off.

"Goodnight, Mama." Mary gave Elsa a hug, then marched back into her room.

Elsa, however, frowned and followed after her. "Mary, wait. What are you going to do? Will you lie in bed with Fritz?"

"Not tonight," Mary said dully. "I feel restless. I need to do something. I just..." She glanced from the chessboard in the corner to the books on the shelf. All of it had apparently remained untouched. "...don't know what."

"Do you want me to make it so that you can sleep?" asked Elsa. "I'm not sure if my powers can do that, but I can try."

Mary shook her head. "I'm not sure that would solve my problem."

"Mary..." Elsa regarded her sternly. "Listen to me. If you ever start to feel lonely or worthless again, I need you to tell me. Don't keep it bottled in. Can you do that for me?"

Mary slowly nodded. "Something..." She had to blurt it out. Rip off the bandage. "Something happened to me. There was a-"

The words caught in her throat. The more Mary resolved to tell someone, the more difficult it became, and right now, it was a Herculean task. Finally, after a solid minute of straining, Mary jerked away from Elsa. "Never mind. Forget I said anything."

"Mary." Elsa stepped closer. "Is it the crippled man?"

Mary nearly cried out in surprise. "What-? How did you-?"

"Sussebassen mentioned him," said Elsa. "He said, 'Need I remind you what the crippled man did?' I was a little too distracted at the time to ask about it." She took another step closer. "Was it the man whose leg you broke? Did he do something to you?"

Mary took a deep breath – mostly to steady herself given her lack of lungs. "When I ran away and... and you thought I'd tried to erase myself on purpose..." Why was this so hard? Why was it so difficult to say a few simple words? "It... wasn't exactly on purpose."

There was a cottage in the fjords. It was nice enough – not as nice as a proper house, but a suitable place to crash when your wife leaves you because you spent all the family's money hiring thugs to enact a revenge scheme. And, most importantly, it was several miles from the border of Arendelle. The crippled man had judged this a safe enough distance, and indeed, for the next two weeks, he'd been undisturbed. Even when he'd spotted some white birds circling overhead a couple hours ago, he'd assumed it was nothing.

It wasn't until the swirling vortex of snow touched down on his doorstep that the crippled man realized he was in trouble.

He tried to make a run for the horse, there was only so fast one can go without a fully functional pair of legs. And it didn't help that the horse bolted off in fear once the snowflakes started taking the shape of dozens of snow-monsters.

"You- You took everything from me, sorceress," the crippled man spat, trying unsuccessfully to pull himself up off the grass. "You come here to finally finish the job?"

In the midst of the vortex, the snowstorm parted, revealing a woman standing stalk-straight. Her eyes were fixed on the crippled man, unwavering.

"You are hereby charged with committing torture." The queen's voice was barely audible over the shrieking snowstorm. "One of the highest crimes under Arendelle law. Per Arendelle's agreement with our neighbor, you are to be taken across the border and tried in an Arendelle court." She nodded to one of her snow-monsters. "Marshmallow, if you please."

"What, is this because I smashed up one of your freaks?" The crippled man laughed. "Someone has to stand up to you. Someone has to stand up to you!" As he raved, Marshmallow heaved the man over his shoulder and carried him to Elsa. "You might have control for now, but if you were really so high-and-mighty, you wouldn't keep yourself alive and risk the rest of us freezing to death! You hear me? You're better off d- Nngh!" It was at this point that his speech was obstructed by the sudden formation of ice over his mouth.

Marshmallow held the man outwards, allowing Elsa to meet his eyes.

"That was what I had to say legally before I could arrest you," she said. "Those were my words to you as a queen. Now let me give you my words as a mother." Around Elsa's feet, the snow was twisting and freezing into icicles, every last one of them pointed at the crippled man's neck. "You will live to regret hurting my child."

"Mama!"

By the time Elsa returned to Mary's bedroom, not even the sky was awake. Elsa's hair was a mess, her dress was drenched in sweat, and she collapsed into Mary's arms the instant she was through the doors.

"We- We found him," Elsa panted. "The town guard is going to interrogate him... hunt down all those thugs he hired..."

"You didn't have to do that for me." Mary gave Elsa the tightest hug she could muster.

"I don't blame you for breaking his leg anymore." Elsa let out a breathless laugh. "It was all I could do to keep myself from freezing his toes off."

"You could've waited until morning." Mary kissed Elsa's cheek.

Elsa smiled feebly. "How was I supposed to sleep knowing that monster was out there?"

"Mama..." Mary released her creator so she could bring her hands to her eyes. "When that man broke me into pieces, I... I really thought no one would care. Thought it didn't matter." She buried her face in Elsa's shoulder. "Thank you."

Elsa yawned in spite of herself. "I need to get to bed, Mary. I'm exhausted."

"Of course, Mama." Mary sat up and moved out of the way of the door. "You can sleep in your own bed. I'm going to stay awake. I'll find..." She faltered. "...something to do."

Mary found herself shutting her eyes. Here she was, fixing to spend another night roaming the castle halls, completely alone. Elsa was back to being Mary's mama, Fritz was back to being her boyfriend... After everything that had happened, Mary couldn't help but ask herself – had anything really changed?

"Mary?"

Mary's eyes shot opened to find Elsa giving her a concerned look. For a brief irrational moment, Mary assumed Elsa had read her mind.

"I almost forgot," said Elsa. "I have something for you."

Mary frowned. "What is it?"

Elsa held out her hands, the palms glowing with blue snowflakes. A moment later, where once there had been empty air, Elsa was holding a perfect violin of ice. Every detail from the bow to the strands of icy strings had been captured exactly.

"I've never made an instrument before." Elsa handed it to Mary sheepishly. "I hope it sounds like it's supposed to."

Mary accepted the gift wordlessly.

"Oh, and here, before it melts." Elsa hurriedly added a pair of personal flurries – one for the violin and one for the bow. "Do you like it? Fritz mentioned how much you liked music, and you seemed like you had nothing to do with yourself besides reading books, so I thought-" She caught sight of Mary's face. "What's wrong?" Elsa immediately brought a palm to her cheek. "I know it's been a rough day-"

"Nothing's wrong," said Mary, wiping her eyes. "I'm just so happy."

Elsa smiled at her. "For all his mistakes, Sussebassen was right about one thing – if the world doesn't accept you, you have to change the world, not the other way around. You're a smart girl with her whole life ahead of her. Purpose isn't something that's handed to you – You have to make it for yourself."

Mary nodded. "Thank you, Mama. For everything." She gestured to the bags under Elsa's eyes. "Now you need some sleep. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, dear. I love you."

"Oh, and Mama?" Finally, a genuine smile worked its way across Mary's face. "I know I never met your own mama, but... if she was half as good a mother as you, you were lucky."

The creator and creation shared one last good night kiss on their cheeks, and then Elsa made for the hallway. She took one last glance back just in time to see Mary pull the bow across the violin strings experimentally. Then Elsa walked out the door, leaving it open behind her.

Elsa had always wanted to learn the violin, but playing instruments had been kind of a challenge when her hands froze everything they touched, and doing it with gloves on hadn't been much easier. She'd been taught how to read sheet music, identify musical notes, and all that (Princesses were expected to know these things), but to this day, Elsa couldn't play the violin for beans.

But now, every night, the bedchambers hallway was filled with the sounds of music. Sure, there were some complaints at first, but each night, the music sounded a little bit nicer, a little more on-key, until finally the complaints stopped.

After all, you'd have to be even grouchier than Anders to complain about getting to listen to the best violinist in Arendelle for free every night. It got to the point where Elsa couldn't fall asleep unless she could make out the faint hum of music wafting over her bed.

She was better than anything Elsa could imagine.

Author's Note: Well, here we are at the end of my second Frozen fic. I've also got a Fritz spin-off fanfic, and at some point I'll get around to writing an Anna-centric fic set after Frozen Fever (Also, for the record, Frozen Fever is canon to my fanfics. Fritz, Mary, and Anders are just, uh, slightly offscreen in every single shot).

Anyways, my deepest thanks for all the response and feedback I've gotten, including my wonderful reviewers and the contributors to my TVTropes page. As always, you can find me over in the TVTropes forums.

(P.S. Mary is totally playing Let It Go on the violin in the ending scene.)