A/N: Alright, I've gotta be honest. I've been a little disappointed with the number of reviews I've been getting. 5 reviews on the last two chapters combined? Come on, you guys can do better than that! Do I really have to beg? But right now, I'm giving you what is by far the longest chapter I've ever written, so hopefully you guys will leave something. This is a pretty emotional chapter, too, so be prepared. But before we get to that, we're gonna start off with some nice Jolsa fluff! (yes, that's my ship name! I didn't want it to be Jelsa, for obvious reasons!)

Disclaimer: I don't own Frozen, or Disney, or... blah blah blah blah blah...

"So, you guys think Noah's uncle might have something to do with this?" Elsa asked as she and Johan lay in her bed that night.

"Maybe," Johan replied. "We don't know anything for sure, but it's our only lead right now."

"Maybe you should go talk to Noah and see what he knows," she suggested.

Johan shrugged. "I guess maybe I could, but..."

He trailed off, and Elsa glanced at him as he went silent. "What's wrong?"

He sighed. "I'm just terrified."

She furrowed her brow in confusion. "Of what?"

"That we're wrong about this," he replied. "What if he really is guilty? I don't want to believe that, but there's always that 'what if?'"

"Hey," Elsa said, turning his head with her hand so that he was looking at her. "Whatever happens, it'll be alright in the end."

"So long as we can actually defeat whoever has threatened us," he pointed out. "And what if something happens to you? I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine," she said. "I have icy-snow powers, remember? If anyone tries to mess with me, I am perfectly capable of defending myself."

Johan smiled. "I love you."

She smirked at him. "I know," she replied. She brought her lips to his and kissed him with a burning passion. He kissed her back with equal vigor, and neither of them noticed that their movement was making the headboard hit the wall that separated Elsa's room from Anna's room.

He kissed down her jaw and neck, making her moan in pleasure. She pulled met her lips with his again and opened up to him when she felt his tongue on her bottom lip. He soon trailed kisses up her cheek and repeatedly kissed a spot behind her ear that drove her crazy.

But as she giggled in pleasure, there was a drowsy knock at the door.

"What the heck are you two doing?" Anna's voice rang.

Elsa and Johan stopped and looked at each other in embarrassment.

"Nothing..." Elsa called back like a child who had been caught keeping a big secret.

Normally, Anna would have laughed at her sister's humiliation, but right now she was too tired. "Well could you do the world a favor and keep the volume to a minimum? I hate to interrupt you when you're doing 'nothing,' but it's two in the morning and people are trying to sleep!"

"Sorry, Anna," Elsa said. "Go back to sleep; I'll talk to you in the morning."

The two of them waited until they heard her door close before bursting out laughing.

"As soon as she wakes up in the morning and remembers what just happened, I'm never going to hear the end of it," Elsa said.

"Yeah," Johan agreed. "Good luck!"

As they calmed down Elsa let out a sigh. "It's probably for the best that she interrupted us anyway. We wouldn't want to get too carried away."

"Elsa," Johan said, pushing a lock of blond hair out of her face. "You know I would never do that to you. We would have stopped before we went too far."

Elsa smiled. "Good," she said. "I guess we should go to sleep."

"Yeah," he agreed, settling himself under the covers. She pecked his lips one more time before making herself more comfortable on the pillows.

"Goodnight," she said.

"Sweet dreams," he replied.

And before long, sweet dreams it was.

.:.^*^.:.

The next day passed in a blur for Johan. He thought about taking Elsa's advice and going to talk to Noah, but he was kind of afraid to. He felt that Noah had every right to be angry with him. He let the guards throw him in the dungeons even though he was his best friend. His decision to do that went against his personal feelings, though. He hadn't had much of a choice.

He pushed his thoughts of his friendship to the side and thought about what reason he would have to go down there. He had no idea how much Noah knew about this plot, or if he would actually reveal anything. All in all, it might not help to go talk to him... But, then again, it might not hurt...

About midday, Johan made up his mind that he would go talk to him. After lunch, he donned his cloak and made his way down to the cold, dark dungeons. The guard at the entrance bowed to the prince.

"How may I help you, Your Highness?" he asked.

"I would like to see Noah Jacobsen, please," Johan replied.

The guard nodded and led him down the long hallway. He opened a door on the right side, and Johan saw his friend sitting on the floor of the cell, facing away from him. He approached the iron bars that separated them, and tried to get a better look at him in the faint light from the barred window.

"I would like to talk to him alone please," Johan said to the guard, who looked at him with concern.

"Are you sure, sir?"

"Leave us," the prince instructed.

The guard nodded respectfully and closed the door behind him. Johan didn't say anything at first, and neither did Noah. He was aware of the prince's presence, but he simply waited for him to say something.

Johan took a step closer to the bars and took a deep breath. "Noah?" he said.

The former guard sighed. "Hey, Johan," he said without looking at him.

The prince stuttered as he tried to speak. "I'm sorry I... had to-"

"No, I'm sorry," Noah interrupted. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I'm sorry you had to find out this way. And I'm sorry you have to deal with all this chaos."

Johan's words caught in his throat. He swallowed before he spoke again. "Can I ask why you didn't tell anyone before?"

Noah looked at him over his shoulder, allowing the prince to get his first good look at him. His eyes were bloodshot, he had gotten thinner, and he was starting to need a shave.

"Because," he responded, "I was afraid I'd end up sitting exactly where I'm sitting right now."

"What do you mean?" Johan asked, dragging over the chair by the wall and sitting on it.

Noah turned himself around so he was sitting facing the prince. "Think about the legends," he said. "They all tell stories of mind manipulators who used their abilities for their gain in evil ways. And I knew that even at the age I was, people would see me as a monster. I didn't want to be thrown out of the castle. You guys were my only friends, and I had nowhere else to go."

Johan waited to see if Noah was going to continue before he asked what was on his mind. He didn't though. "How come you didn't tell anyone after Queen Elsa was attacked?"

"Again, because I would have ended up here," Noah replied. "I knew everyone would think it was me on the beach that night."

"Was it you?" Johan dared to ask.

"No," Noah replied, but he didn't elaborate.

"Then who was it?" Johan said.

Noah looked up at him. "You should know the answer to that by now."

Johan sighed. "If you would have just told us that then, you might now be here right now."

"Yes I would," Noah said. "Whether or not I was the one on the beach that night is irrelevant. There's still nothing to say I'm innocent."

Johan raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you saying you're not innocent?"

"No," he replied. "I know that you'd believe me if I were to say that, but that doesn't mean everybody else would."

"I don't understand what you're trying to say," Johan said.

"All I'm saying is that anything I would tell you right now would be irrelevant without any proof. I could tell you that I'm innocent. It wouldn't prove anything, though."

Johan sighed. Neither of them said anything for a few moments until Johan decided to speak again.

"Well you know," he said, "we actually did start conducting a case."

Noah looked up at him again. "What do you mean?"

"We got a detective to try to help get to the bottom of everything."

"Really?" Noah said, intrigued. "Have you... found out anything?"

"Well, we searched your old house yesterday," Johan said.

Noah furrowed his brow. "Nobody lives there now?" Johan shook his head. "Fourteen years and nobody ever bought that house?"

"The townspeople say no one wants to live there because of everything that's happened there."

"So it's been abandoned all this time?"

"Yep," Johan said. "Everything had just been left exactly how it was when your family left. It felt like we were stepping into a time portal and going back to that day. It was really kind of creepy!"

"I'll bet," Noah chuckled.

"I saw your room," Johan continued. "I found your diary under your pillow."

"You mean the one I got from my mother on my eighth birthday and only wrote in once?" Noah said.

"Yeah," Johan replied, chuckling.

Noah smiled sadly. "I just never got to writing in it before that day. I found it there before I left and knew I'd have to leave it behind, so I figured it would be a good way to make sure that night was on record."

"I'm sure it would have been on record anyway," Johan said.

"Yeah, but I also wasn't sure when I left whether I would live or die. The last thing I expected was for you and Julie to find me and bring me back to the castle."

Johan chuckled before his smile slowly faded away. "And you know," he said, "I was curious as to why... on your brother Daniels pillow... there was-"

"Let me guess," Noah interrupted. "A wooden carving of a gun?"

Johan nodded.

"Daniel had this thing about guns," Noah explained. "He always wanted a French flintlock pistol, and he kept asking our father to get him one. He told him that he would someday."

"How old was your brother then?" Johan asked.

"Almost six."

"Well, how did he even find out about this pistol? Even now, fourteen years later, most children around here, and even some adults, don't even know what a gun is!"

"Our father tried to raise all of us to be like him: selfish, and cruel, and having little value for the lives of others. He would always encourage violence as the only way to get what you want in the world. He introduced us to all kinds of ways to hurt other people. I always hated when he tried to force me to use my power in cruel ways against my brothers to practice. I would always go to my mother for comfort, and she was the one that kept me from believing all the things my father told us. I only wish I had been able to save her."

Noah let a single tear fall down his face. He looked up at Johan, who tried to keep a straight face. Johan knew that as the prince, he had to.

Noah sighed. "But what am I rambling about? You don't have to listen to me. For all you know, everything I've told you could be a lie."

"Now, you know I don't believe that," Johan said.

"You might not, but the crown prince knows that I'm still guilty until proven innocent," Noah said. "I know that this goes far beyond being personal."

Johan didn't say anything as he stared at his friend. He couldn't help but feel that Noah felt himself to be guilty of something, but he didn't know what.

Noah sighed. "What else did you find?" he asked. "I'm sure that's not all you came down here to ask me about."

Johan swallowed. "Well," he said, "we think that when your father left he may have gone to seek help from his brother in Norup."

Noah looked up at him. "My Uncle Aksel?"

"Yeah," Johan replied. "Do you think that's where he went?"

Noah shrugged. "Well, it's possible! I don't know anything about his whereabouts for sure."

"Well, we still don't know exactly what he's planning," Johan said. "We don't know who exactly his accomplices are or how to find them."

Noah didn't say anything as a pensive look crossed over his face. He looked down at the gravel beneath him before forcing himself to meet the prince's eyes again.

"Noah," Johan said, "do you know anything about his plans or his accomplices?"

Noah hesitated as he thought for a moment. He began to open his mouth to say something. But then suddenly he stopped. His eyes grew wide as he broke eye contact with Johan. He stared into space in front of him and his breathing became heavy. He propped his elbows on his knees and held his head tightly in his hands. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to hide his pained expression.

Johan stared at him in confusion and concern. "Noah?"

Noah's eyes suddenly burst, and the expression on his face turned to one of panic. His breathing slowed, but he kept staring at the floor in front of him.

"Noah?" Johan repeated.

His head jerked up at the sound of Johan saying his name, and he looked as though he had momentarily forgotten where he was. He stared at him for a moment as he calmed himself down.

"Sorry," he said.

Johan furrowed his brow. "What was that?"

"Nothing!" Noah quickly responded. "I, um... just had a bit of a... panic attack. That's all. I just... relived some... bad memories."

Johan raised an eyebrow at him. "Noah, are you okay?"

Noah hesitated for just a moment before nodding vigorously. "Yeah, I'm fine," he lied.

Johan stared at him for a moment. "What do you know, Noah?"

Noah breathed slowly and heavily, and he looked away from Johan when he finally answered. "I don't know anything."

"Are you sure?" Johan said.

Noah nodded, still not meeting Johan's gaze. "Yes," he whispered.

Johan stared him down. Noah was clearly hiding something, and Johan wasn't buying that he didn't know anything at all. He opened his mouth to protest, but he realized that there was no point in trying to force him to talk. If he wasn't going to talk on his own, he wasn't going to talk.

Reluctantly, Johan stood from his chair and started to walk toward the door. He had his hand on the doorknob when he heard Noah call him.

"Johan?"

The prince turned around to see Noah standing on his knees and holding on to the iron bars. His expression seemed to be pleading for something.

"Yes?" he replied.

"Make sure Julie stays safe," Noah said. "Please. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to her."

Johan stared at him for a moment before nodding. Noah gave him a small, grateful smile before the prince exited the room. As soon as he was gone, Noah crawled back over to the other side of the cell and leaned on the wall. He put his face in his hands and sighed before looking up at the ceiling and shaking his head.

"Lord, have mercy on my soul."

.:.^*^.:.

"Oh, Julie," Anna said as she sat with the younger girl the next evening after dinner. "I wish you would just let all of us help you."

"There's nothing you guys can do," Julie replied, staring up at the ceiling as she lay on her bed. "You can't possibly change things back to the way they were."

"No, but we want to help you feel better, though," Anna said. "You've hardly left this room in three days. At this point, the only thing that's keeping you from feeling better is yourself."

"You don't understand, Anna," Julie said, sitting up. "I love him, and I thought he loved me, but now I don't know."

She buried her face into her knees as she tried to calm herself down. Anna sighed. She had been the only one Julie had let in to talk to her in the last few days. Anna knew that Julie had only let her in because she knew that she wouldn't try to push her too hard to come out. Anna certainly didn't want to push her, but she couldn't just let her wallow in self-pity.

"Julie, I know you've been depressed over this, but think about everyone else. You have a lot of people here that love you, and miss you, and want to help you."

"Yeah, they want to help me forget! They want me to cast aside my feelings for him so that I can stop being sad about it. But I don't want to forget! I don't care if he really has done some bad things! I love him, and I want him back!"

She started crying into her skirt, and Anna, at a loss for words, simply sighed and rubbed her back to try to help calm her down. After a few minutes, Julie had calmed down, but Anna still couldn't find something to say that would make her feel better.

I'm doing terrible at this, she thought.

Just then there was a knock at the door. Julie looked up from her knees but didn't say anything. Anna decided to answer for her.

"Who is it?"

"It's Elsa," the queen's voice said. "Can I come in?"

Anna looked at Julie, who shook her head. The older princess crossed her arms and gave her a scolding look. Julie scoffed and turned herself around so she was facing her headboard.

Anna stood up and opened the door. Elsa smiled sadly at her and then turned her gaze to Julie.

"Is she doing okay?" she whispered.

Anna glanced over her shoulder and sighed as she looked back at her sister. "She's really depressed," she whispered back. "I've been trying to talk to her but she won't listen."

"Why don't you leave me to talk to her for a little while," Elsa said. "I might be able to get through to her."

Anna nodded and walked past her out the door. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Elsa replied as she shut the door behind her. Slowly, she walked over to the girl's bed and cleared her throat to get her attention.

Julie sighed. "My brother sent you to talk to me, didn't he?"

"No, actually, I came myself to talk to you," Elsa replied.

"I don't want to talk about it. I just want to be alone," Julie said.

"Well, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to talk about it sooner or later, so we might as well get it over with."

Julie huffed and didn't say anything as Elsa sat next to her and put her hand on her back. Elsa waited a minute before saying anything else.

"Julie, why have you been keeping yourself in here?" the queen said.

"Because I want to be alone!"

"Why do you want to be alone?"

"Because I'm upset about Noah!"

"Do you think that shutting everyone else out will make you feel better?"

"I-" Julie held her breath as she tried to come up with an answer. When she could think of none, she groaned in defeat. "Look, it doesn't matter whether it makes me feel better, but at least being alone keeps me from feeling worse!"

"How does it keep you from feeling worse?" Elsa said.

"Because I don't have to deal with everyone trying to make me feel better!"

"Do you not want to feel better?"

"Nothing that any of you guys say would help me!"

"But maybe if you would just listen-"

"No, you listen!" Julie yelled, turning around to face her. "You guys all want me to forget about Noah and pretend that I don't still have feelings for him! But I do! I love him, and I want to be with him, or may the world be done with me!"

"Julie!" Elsa yelled.

Julie recoiled as she realized what she had just said. She turned her body over so she was lying on her stomach with her feet by her pillows. She cried into her arms as Elsa rubbed her back to comfort her.

"I'm sorry I yelled," Elsa said. "But don't you dare ever say anything like that!"

Julie nodded and sniffed as she sat herself up so she was sitting facing the queen.

"You're not going to tell anyone I said that, are you?" Julie asked. "I don't want them to start panicking over me."

Elsa sighed. "Only if you can promise me you would never do that to yourself."

Julie nodded. "I promise," she said between sobs.

"Okay," Elsa said, embracing the younger girl. Julie sobbed into Elsa's chest as Elsa rubbed circles in her back.

"I'm sorry," Julie cried. "I didn't mean it. I just..."

"Shh," Elsa said to comfort her. She placed a kiss on the top of Julie's head and held her as close as she could. "It's alright. I'm not angry with you. I'm just disappointed that you would even think that. And you don't know how terrified it made me, too."

"I don't know what came over me," Julie said.

"It's because you were focusing on all the bad things rather than the good things," Elsa said. "Believe me, I understand what you're going through better than you think."

Julie looked up at her. "You do?"

"Yes," Elsa replied. "When I had to hide my powers when I was younger, I had to shut people out for a long time because my parents thought it was the only way to keep everyone safe until I learned how to control them. And I believed that, too. But the thing is, and I realized this later, that shutting myself out from the world was the worst thing I could have possibly done if I wanted to be able to control them. So when I couldn't figure out how to control them no matter what I did, I really started to get depressed. I thought I would never be able to control the curse. If I were to say that thoughts of ending it right then and there never crossed my mind, I'd be lying because they did, on more than one occasion. But you know what kept me from doing it?"

"What?" Julie asked.

"I remembered that I had people who loved me, and cared about me, and I could never do that to them. And I eventually realized how much pain I had caused people by shutting them out, especially Anna. And Julie, you have people who love you, and care about you, and don't want to see you this upset. We're not asking you to forget about Noah. We're asking you to remember all the good things in your life. Life can throw you all sorts of painful things, but you need to move past them and make the best of whatever life throws at you."

Julie smiled at her and nodded. "Thank you, Elsa," she said. "You're right, and I needed to hear that."

Elsa smiled in return. "You're welcome, sweetheart," she said. "Now, I'll make you a deal. If I leave you here for tonight, will you come down and meet everyone for breakfast tomorrow?"

Julie nodded. "Sure."

"Alright," Elsa said, standing up. "I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

"Okay," Julie said as Elsa walked toward the door. "And, Elsa?"

Elsa turned around. "Yes?"

"For the record, I don't think your powers are a curse."

Elsa smiled. "Well I wish someone could have told me that thirteen years ago, but thank you."

Now can you guys push that review button right there?... Pretty please?... It's right there beneath this message, waiting just for you!...

Read on, write on, dream on. -bandgeek63