Now, I'm not exactly sure what happened after I blacked out. A lot of my memories were hazy, interrupted by my going in and out of consciousness. I remember feeling the guards' rough hands behind me, tying my hands together with a coarse rope that dug painfully into my skin. I remember being tossed unceremoniously on what felt like a horse, and a long ride down the North Mountain. What I don't remember was being taken back to Arendelle, and being thrown into the cold, dark dungeon. But I do remember waking up.

The world around me was black. One of the first things I was aware of was the incessant ringing in my ears. It was giving me a splitting headache, but it was the only indication that I was still alive. Slowly, heavily, I felt my eyelids flutter open. Suddenly, the darkness that surrounded me was replaced by blurry shapes and shadowy colors. I couldn't make any of it out. Gradually, though, my vision came back into focus. The hazy world around me cleared away to reveal a small, dimly lit room.

I tried to focus my thoughts, taking in everything around me. A bed, I thought briefly, looking at the tattered mattress I was laying on. I'm on a bed. But where am I? With great difficulty, I tried to get myself up, feeling intense waves of pain shoot through my limbs as I propped myself up on my arm. I threw my legs over the edge of the bed to relieve the weight on my arm, realizing how lightheaded I was still feeling. Just then, I noticed something on the wall beside me.

A window! I thought, feeling my heart flutter. Perhaps it can give me some clue as to where I am.

Ignoring the soreness of my limbs, I threw myself out of bed and ran towards the window, anxious to see what was causing that depressingly white light on the other side of it. But before I could reach it, a fresh wave of pain shot up my arms as I was abruptly jerked backwards, a metallic clink resonating throughout the small room. I groaned and looked back, seeing two long, metal chains that were linked to a single point on the ground behind me. They seemed to be extending towards me, almost as if they were attached to me somehow. I looked down and realized, my heart sinking, that my hands were fully enclosed in what appeared to be steel capsules. Each of the encasings was attached to one of the chains, both of which were firmly attached to the ground. Suddenly, it dawned on me: I was being shackled, almost as if I were a prisoner. Frowning, I wondered why there were shackles in the royal castle that seemed to be made specifically for me. Did my parents have these made? Before I could dwell too much on the thought, I forced myself to bring my attention back to the window. My shackles weren't long enough to let me look outside, but I was able to get a decent view of the outside world by stepping over the chains and leaning as far forward as I could. I looked out the window, squinting due to the bright light outside.

At first, I wasn't sure what I was looking at. All I could see was a swirling wall of whiteness, a blank horizon that seemed to stretch on to eternity, and a few massive, dark shapes in the background. After a few seconds, though, the dark figures started to make sense in my mind.

They're ships, I realized, frowning. But if those are the ships, then that must mean...

I gasped. That desolate, icy wasteland I was staring at was the fjord of Arendelle. And if the fjord was completely frozen over, then I could only imagine what horrors were afflicting my kingdom.

"Oh no," I whispered, unable to keep my thoughts to myself. "What have I done?" My eyes scanned over the scene before me. Ships were sticking out of the frozen fjord, unable to move. If the ships were stuck here, that must have meant that the foreign dignitaries were trapped in Arendelle, forced to survive alongside the people I had doomed.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. In walked Prince Hans, holding a lantern that did little to illuminate the dreary room. He looked at me tentatively before setting the lantern down on a nearby bench and closing the door. I tensed up as Hans approached me.

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked, detecting a note of hostility in my own voice. After his little stunt at my ice palace, I couldn't help it if I was feeling a bit threatened by his presence.

"I couldn't just let them kill you," he replied softly, rubbing his arms. I noticed how his breath condensed in the cold air. Being immune to the cold, I hadn't noticed how frigid the air was. But as I looked at Hans, who was desperately trying to keep warm, I suddenly felt an intense pang of guilt.

"But I'm a danger to Arendelle," I responded, looking at my hands. Then, trying to sound authoritative, "Get Anna."

Hans' eyebrows creased in worry. He spoke slowly as he broke the news. "Anna...has not returned."

My eyes went wide as I looked back out the window. I could hear my own heartbeat as I stared at the howling blizzard outside, knowing full well that Anna was out there somewhere. She's...not back yet? No, that can't be true. If she isn't here in Arendelle, then that could only mean-

"If you would just stop the winter," Hans gently pleaded, interrupting my thoughts. "Bring back summer...please."

I closed my eyes and shook my head in despair, feeling my heart sink. Was that what this was all about? This was why they had brought me back to Arendelle? So I could somehow make the winter go away? I wished it were that simple. These people had more faith in me than I had. I turned to Hans, on the verge of tears. "Don't you see?" I asked, fighting the sobs that were creeping into my voice. "I can't."

Hans could only stare desperately at me, his handsome features glowing softly under the white light as he stood in deep thought.

"You have to tell them to let me go," I begged, a note of urgency in my voice. I knew that staying any longer would only make things worse.

Hans met my eyes, seemingly acknowledging that I couldn't do anything to help. "I will do what I can," he assured me, though I could hear the uncertainty in his words. I watched as Hans picked up his lantern and left the room, leaving me alone once more. As he closed the door behind him, I felt a strange feeling rise up in my chest. It was unpleasant, but strangely familiar. It was a feeling that I thought I had learned to let go of. Though I was afraid to do it, I looked down at my hands, only to be mocked by the sight of my shackles being frozen over.

Seconds passed. Seconds turned to minutes. Minutes turned to hours. Before I knew it, the passage of time became vague and uncertain; hours seemed to pass, but whenever I looked out the window, I was always greeted by the light of the sun, discolored into a dismal white as it desperately tried to penetrate the thick, unyielding storm clouds that hung in the air. Growing tired of waiting, I sat on my bed and simply stared at my shackled hands, admitting defeat.

As I listened to the faint howling of the blizzard outside, I thought about Anna, and what kinds of horrors she must have been facing. Where was she? There was no way she could survive that storm by herself. She had to be far away, out of the reach of the blizzard I had created. If she wasn't, then that could only mean...

The coldness in my heart suddenly spread throughout my body. I gasped as, without warning, a thin layer of ice materialized on the bed I sat on, covering the tattered sheets in a white layer of frost. Though my hands were shackled, my magic was somehow able to manifest itself into my surroundings. I held my hands, covered in steel, close to my chest and whispered softly to myself.

"Get a hold of yourself. Conceal...don't feel. Don't feel. Don't-"

"Hey!" came a rough voice from outside the cell, causing me to nearly jump in surprise. "Be quiet in there!"

I stared at the door for a while, wanting to chastise the soldier who had just disrespected his queen. But instead, finding that I had no strength left in me, I simply buried my head in my steel-enclosed hands, sobbing to myself. Once again, I was lost. And alone. So, terribly alone. There was no one left to turn to. Mama, Papa, even Anna - they were all gone. Though I was only in that cell for a few hours, it seemed like I spent a lifetime sitting on that worn-out bed, crying softly to myself. Thirteen years of isolation in my room were nowhere near as miserable as the few hours I spent in that cell. I was tired, I was hurt, I was frightened - more frightened than I had ever been in my life. I could only imagine what they were going to do to me. Were they going to let me go, free to carry out the rest of my miserable existence? Or were they going to execute me? Or, even worse - were they going to keep me in here, never to see the light of day, chained in isolation until the day I die? I wrapped my arms around my body; there was nothing left for me anymore. All I could do was sit and wait.

Everything was silent. The only sounds I could hear were the flickering flames of the torches in the hallway, and the muffled howling of the blizzard outside. My only companions were my thoughts, which were only causing me further anxiety the longer I sat by myself. I was about to fall asleep when I heard a voice from outside.

"It's Princess Anna!" someone seemed to say, though the sound of his voice was stifled by the stone walls that surrounded me. Immediately, I jumped out of bed and ran to the window, hearing the low rumble of the gates being opened. From where I was, I wasn't able to see my sister enter the castle. But as I heard the gates close, a small sigh of relief escaped my lips. I put a shackled hand to my chest, feeling my heartbeat slowly return to normal.

She's safe, I thought, allowing myself a small grin. Anna's home.

But at that moment, I heard a crackling sound behind me. I looked back to see the stone walls of the dungeon, small rivulets of ice running in between each individual brick. Icicles formed at the corners of the cell, and a sheet of frost was slowly spreading over the window. I realized, in a moment of heartbreaking clarity, that Anna still wasn't safe. Even trapped in this cursed dungeon, I still posed a threat to her. In order to protect her, to keep her alive, I had to leave Arendelle - for good this time. No amount of shackles or stone walls could prevent me from hurting my sister. Even when I had run off to the North Mountain, I had still managed to harm her. But there would be no more of that. There was no time for apologies, no time for good-byes. I had to keep my sister safe.

But how could I escape? My powers were running rampant, my hands were shackled, and I didn't even know where to go. I was trapped. Sitting back on the bed, I scanned the room, trying to figure out an escape plan. I looked around for something that could help me. But all I saw were four stone walls, covered in ice, and a solitary window. There was literally nothing else. The only hope I had of escaping lay in my powers. I could perhaps use them to blast a hole in the wall, or tear open my shackles, or at the very least buy myself some time by freezing the door shut. But, due to my anxiety, my magic was quickly becoming uncontrollable. And with every second, they seemed to be moving further out of my reach. But I had no other choice. I had to escape, or die trying.

I concentrated on the cold feeling in my heart. Control it, I thought, trying to divert my magic into my hands. Conceal, don't feel. Don't let it show.

But instead of destroying my shackles, my magic spread around me, thickening the layer of frost that lined the walls. I gasped, watched helplessly as the gray stones around me were quickly covered in a dismal white.

"Calm down," I had to tell myself. "Conceal, don't feel. Conceal, don't feel." To distract myself, I focused my attention away from my powers for a bit. Instead, I decided to look outside. A bad move on my part; seeing the fjord, frozen over, laden with ships that stuck out of the ice like colossal, monstrous figures, only served to increase my stress tenfold. I thought of Arendelle, and what sort of horrible punishment I had inflicted upon my people. I thought of Anna, and what she was going through. Was she going to be okay? Was she somehow saved from the curse of her frozen heart? Or was she too late? I couldn't bear the thought of Anna dying - especially since I was the one who had endangered her in the first place.

As if spurred on by my stress, my magic flowed out of my heart and into my surroundings. I looked back and saw the rest of the room freeze over, ice covering the floors and ceiling. No, I thought. I can't be losing control again. Not now, of all times... I tried to calm myself down, but it was no use. The ice kept spreading throughout the room. It would only be a matter of time before the entire cell was frozen over.

There's no time to stop and think, I thought. If I want to keep everyone safe, I have to leave now.

I desperately tugged on my chains, hoping the ice would have weakened them. But they didn't budge one bit. I pulled harder, but the chains remained stubbornly attached to the ground, refusing to move in the slightest. For a while, it seemed like all hope of escape was lost.

At that moment, I heard footsteps coming down the hallway, followed by a rough voice. "Hurry up!" said a guard, speaking to his partner. "She's dangerous." My eyes shot towards the door, where I saw dark shapes moving across the window. What did they want with me?

There was no time to find out. Whatever they were going to do to me, I knew it wasn't going to be good. I pulled harder on the chains as my powers rapidly grew stronger and more unstable. I heard the rattle of the keys as they were inserted in the lock, followed by the twisting of the doorknob. I pulled harder on the chains, expecting the guards to come in at that moment. But instead of opening the door and killing me right then and there, I was greeted by silence, and then the shaking of the door as the guard tried to open it, as if it were locked.

"It won't open!" he yelled in frustration. Still pulling on my chains, I briefly looked at the door, only to see it covered in a thickening layer of ice. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's frozen shut!" the other guard said, struggling to open the door. I stopped tugging on my chains for a split second, grateful that my powers were keeping me safe. But I knew the door wouldn't hold up forever. The guard started banging angrily on the door, trying to knock it down. His repeated pounding echoed throughout the cell, sending a fresh wave of cold magic through my body with every repetition. I focused all my strength into my arms, pulling the iron chains as hard as I possibly could. But they still weren't moving. Beads of sweat started forming on my forehead. My stress was quickly getting out of hand. Before I knew what was going on, a deep grumble shook the walls of the cell. I stopped pulling on my chains and looked at my surroundings helplessly, seeing that the frozen walls of the cell were starting to fall apart under the weight of the ice. As the guard continued striking the wooden door, my anxiety reached a tipping point, and the layer of ice became too heavy for the walls to handle. With a mighty crash, the stone walls came tumbling down, breaking apart my shackles in the process. Immediately, a blast of cold air filled the room. And just in time, too, because at that exact moment, the guards came bursting through the door, though they stopped cold upon seeing the destroyed walls of the dungeon cell. Luckily, I had managed to escape through the hole where the wall once was, not stopping to look back as I charged into the blizzard ahead of me.

And there I was. Elsa the Snow Queen, lost in a storm of her own creation. I ran and ran, though I had no clue where I was going. All I knew was that I had to get as far away from Arendelle as I possibly could. And this time, I knew I would have to be gone for good.