Me: Sorry for the long hiatus but now I have Chapter 16! I've been concentrating a bit too much lately on my Shingeki no Kyojin x Beyblade story because I really love the action and the dynamics in Shingeki no Kyojin and how it could be questioned politically and philosophically. Anyway, I intend to finish this fanfiction so do not worry my dear fans! Anyway, now on with the story – I do not own Frozen or Rise of the Guardians. I only own the plotline.

Chapter 16

All alone in the castle…

That was exactly what Elsa was currently.

Elsa couldn't understand what was going on. She exhaled sharply while looking at the icy palace she had created for herself. While she was free to use her powers in any way she wished, there was something inside her that was lacking. She then looked at her palms fearfully before looking up to see her reflection in the icy walls. She guiltily shut her eyes when she remembered how her emotions spiraled out of control and created a huge blizzard before blasting Anna. Although she did not see where, remembering how Anna began staggering around knew it was some sort of fatal blow. When she looked up into her reflection again, her icy blue eyes widened with horror when she suddenly saw her reflection slowly smile evilly at her. It cruelly smirked as the lights in the room seemed to dim and the reflection began moving by itself.

"Oh Elsa," it crooned. "You poor misunderstood creature…"

Elsa gasped and staggered back. "Wh-who are you?"

It shrugged nonchalantly. "Wouldn't the better question to ask would be who are you?"

"Isn't that what I just asked!?"

Sensing Elsa's moodiness, her reflection giggled softly before revealing a dark smile. "Yes, yes, I am not deaf," – she waved her hand dismissively and stepped out of the mirror. "But really? Are you really Queen Elsa of Arendelle? Or are you just some selfish little girl who won't control her powers?"

Elsa's blood boiled. "What are you talking about!?"

"You're free here in this castle," the reflection gestured to all the icy structures. "Your powers made this! This grand, magnificent structure – think of what you can do! And this is when you're alone and free!"

Elsa nodded; she wasn't wrong about that.

"But when you're around others," her reflection glared at her. "You hide yourself. You turn yourself into this stuck-up little brat that has to do everything that everybody expects you to do! You hid us!"

Elsa snapped. "You're not a part of me! You don't even know me!"

"Don't give me that junk," the reflection stormed towards her and grabbed her chin to make her look eye to eye. "What kind of queen abandons her people when she had been newly crowned!?"

"The kind that cares for her people!"

"Really? That does not explain Anna."

Elsa opened her mouth to say something but then chose to remain silent instead. She could not deny what had happened to Anna; it was the second time she had hurt her sister. But it was a complete and utter accident! She didn't mean to attack her but Anna simply just had to keep pushing her until it really ticked her off. She warned her to stay away! Yes, she warned her, Elsa tried to reason with herself. If Anna had not been so hard-headed about things then, things would not have escalated this far!

"Yes, let's not just remember Anna but that fateful night where you were kidnapped," her reflection grinned evilly and stared beadily into her eyes. "Don't you remember how dark it was? And how cold it was? Look at the magnificence of cold and dark!"

The moment those words left the reflection's lips, Elsa saw her life flash before her eyes. Her head felt like it wanted to explode as she saw the images flashing before her. She saw how she and Anna were randomly shoved into a sack and kidnapped from the castle. She heard the guard's outraged cries and remembered Anna's hysterical screaming. She remembered how Anna fearfully began to back away before they both fell to the ground. However, what flashed more in her mind was the bodies of the two kidnappers crushed violently by her ice magic and left nothing but a mass of scarred tissue. Elsa gasped in fear and staggered back as the images ended, falling to the ground and looking at her reflection. The moment she looked at her reflection, instead of seeing herself, she saw a bloodied child Elsa with dead eyes staring back at her.

"N-no, I- I didn't mean to," Elsa trembled violently and shut her eyes, shaking her head. "I DIDN'T MEAN TO!"

The darker reflection stood over Elsa with an emotionless stare. This is the person she had manifested from? She scoffed; the girl was pathetic! There was nothing to be afraid of when all that power was at her disposal. But here was Elsa, cowering and frantically trying to shut away the flashback from her trauma. The dark reflection of Elsa scowled darkly at her own reflection before summoning her own ice blade. Upon hearing the frosty sound, Elsa looked up with a teary gaze and stared in horror.

"What are you doing," Elsa gasped.

"I hate being you," the dark reflection growled angrily while cutting Elsa's long braid.

Seeing the pale blonde braid falling to the ground, Elsa then looked up as she saw her reflection slick her hair back with a cruel grin. Her hair then became brown while her face had much thicker make-up such as dark violet eyeliner and wine-stained red lips. Her dress no longer had the trail but had some sort of collar and her dress was much more similar to that of robes rather than Elsa's dress. The queen of Arendelle immediately clambered up to her feet and put out her hands to get ready to blast her. However, her reflection showed no intimidation but smirked at her while striding calmly towards her.

"You were always a monster, Elsa," Dark Elsa grinned evilly and bared her teeth. "It's only now that you remember how much blood you spilled!"

Elsa stood defiant and narrowed her eyes. "It was out of self-defense! I didn't intend to kill anyone!"

At this, her reflection suddenly began to quietly giggle. The giggle sent shivers down Elsa's spine as she cautiously watched her reflection while trying to circle around her.

"What's so funny," Elsa trembled with fear, suddenly raising her voice. "Leave now or I'll… I'll… I'll fight you!"

However, from a quiet giggle – Elsa's reflection howled with a maniacal laughter. Elsa trembled fearfully as she heard the maniacal laughter echoing all around the icy walls. When the reflection finally stopped laughing, Elsa saw her grin darkly towards her. And instead of having ice blue eyes, the reflection stared satanically with mystifying golden eyes with her grin becoming darker and more psychotic as it curved wider on her face. Elsa swallowed nervously and stepped back slowly while keeping her guard up, watching for any sudden movement. Her reflection however trudged towards her with a dark aura swirling around her with her icy blue dress now becoming darker than Elsa's.

At least whoever comes in her will be able to tell us apart, Elsa thought dryly to herself.

"What's so funny, you ask? I'll tell you, Snow Queen," she sneered and cackled darkly, giving her a foreboding and dark glare. "You think you're so righteous!? Do you really think that you're a queen that everyone wants on that throne!? You've done nothing but condemn everyone to an eternal winter! All because you just had to be a selfish little brat who didn't want to control her powers!"

Elsa shook her head. "You're lying! I can't control it!"

"Lying? Me? Hah," the reflection grinned maliciously before pointing to the castle. "Explain why this castle stands at the very top of this mountain then!"

"ENOUGH," Elsa roared; finally having enough. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Seeing Elsa breath heavily, the reflection grinned eagerly to deal one last blow with a sneer. "Why don't you also explain your so-called pacifism to the army outside sent to kill you?"

Fed up, Elsa screamed and fired shards of ice at her reflection. "GET OUT!"

The moment the shards of ice smashed into the reflection, Elsa's reflection shattered and let out a loud bloodcurdling scream. Elsa's hair stood on ends the icy remains swirled with snowy dust before exploding into the walls. The moment in slammed into the walls, the crystals in the castle suddenly began to glow red and spikes began to shoot out of them. The queen frantically spun around before embracing her body tightly, feeling the cold lick against her skin. As much as she knew that the cold never bothered her, she finally began to see what she had been keeping and now it was flying out of control. She shuddered fearfully and saw more ice spikes sprouting and cracking through the walls.

"Conceal, don't feel," Elsa chanted desperately in her mind. "Conceal, don't feel…!"

However, the more she said that – the more the crystals shot out. She looked around her with the room spinning around her as a wave of helplessness washed over her. She looked at the castle she created and then at her hands. Was what her reflection saying true? She slowly fell to her knees as the crystals began to grow so more, now no longer in any of her conscious control. Tears brimmed in her eyes as she hung her head shamefacedly at the mess she had caused. Her kingdom in ruins – and that, she was all alone.

Or so she thought.

In the darkness, Pitch watched the queen tremble in fear. He had seen the whole spectacle of her little psychotic episode. He knew how much loneliness could drive one mad. But a slow sadistic grin curved up his lips instead. He inhaled deeply as the scent of the ice and snow flared up his nostrils but shuddered with pleasure at the scent of her fear. He had never felt so much power rush through his body. And to think, it only came from one person! He was right to choose the eldest princess, he congratulated himself. He patted himself on the back mentally before he walked slowly to the window to see the army led by a familiar prince and two men who carried crossbows.

"Ah, Anna's little Knight in Shining Armour," he chuckled forebodingly. "Let's see how this turns out."

He looked faded into the shadows while looming over to see Hans with his sword. The soldiers marched on when he heard a loud roar from the huge snowman. He heard the gasps of fear and he could hear their hearts trembling. He saw the fear reflect in their eyes as he inhaled deeply with pleasure. The smell of Fear – he could feel the power flowing through his veins as he looked down.

"Fear of Death – the most powerful fear of them all," Pitch chuckled humourlessly before sneering at the people below. "Nothing is more feared than Death…"

"Yeah, keep believing that!"

The moment Pitch turned around, he found himself blasted by a bolt of ice and slammed into the wall. Jack flew into the window and brandished his staff and blasted more ice bolts at him. Pitch could see the anger in Jack's eyes; he didn't need to be a rocket scientist to find how murderous Jack was. He could see Jack's knuckles paling and his fingers gripping his staff with an iron grip. The guardian of fear chuckled and stared down at Jack with a dark sneer.

"Good to see you, Jack," Pitch drawled in amusement. "Quite lovely weather we're having today."

Jack growled and lunged towards Pitch with his staff whirling around and unleashing a cold windy blast. The guardian of fear leapt back and waved his arm to release black sand to lash out at Jack only to have it countered with Jack's ice bolts. The guardian of fear ducked and rolled away as Jack swung his staff in a wide arc, narrowly avoiding the ice bolts. Pitch growled darkly before summoning his scythe, whirling it around to intimidate Jack. The guardian of fun met his gaze with a stone cold one as Pitch roared and lunged towards Jack with his scythe swinging and slamming against Jack's staff. The two guardians could see the power spark between them before pushing each other away.

"You have gotten better, Jack," Pitch chuckled. "I suppose being Elsa's little page boy has done good for you."

Jack glared and lunged again. "Shut up!"

Pitch swung his staff to whack Jack only to have the guardian of fun slide right beneath the staff and jab his staff under Pitch's chin. The Boogeyman staggered back before rubbing his throbbing jaw, spitting out some blood on the ground. Pitch could see the improvement in Jack's fighting but he had not expected the guardian of fun to be that powerful despite being far away from Jamie. While he was thinking, he found himself getting slammed in the ribs in surprise as he crashed against the wall. The moment he kissed the wall, he found Jack slowly freezing him to the wall and covered his entire body with ice.

"I knew you were behind this," Jack hissed venomously. "You messed up Elsa's powers! No wonder she's so afraid!"

Instead of being angry, Pitch drawled with a dry chuckle. "Jack, anyone would be afraid of something they cannot control."

"You rattled her so bad that her power had to get out before it hurt her!"

"Can you blame her, Jack," Pitch hissed through his teeth with a dark sneer. "You abandoned her when she needed you the most. People told her to hide her powers and 'conceal, don't feel'."

Jack opened his mouth to retaliate only to realize that he couldn't. He gnashed his teeth in annoyance when he realized that Pitch had been right. But it wasn't his fault that North decided to send his yetis to stuff him in a bag and drag him all the way back! He bit his lower lip and staggered back, stopping the freezing blast. He breathed heavily when he looked at the castle around him but turned back to make sure Pitch didn't go anywhere. He kept his gaze locked firmly on Pitch and circled around him with his staff glowing.

"You were there, Jack," Pitch smiled slowly, seeing that he had struck a nerve inside the guardian of fun and watched him hesitate. "After all, her father did encourage the mantra of conceal, don't feel, And what did the trolls tell her as well? Ah yes," – his smile became more devilish. "Fear would be her greatest enemy."

Before Jack could say anything, he heard a loud crash and a roar of anguish. He rushed to the window and left Pitch behind only to see that the giant snowman that Elsa had created as the castle's guardian had fallen into the ravine. His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when he saw the soldiers breaking down the doors and running in. Jack, completely alarmed, left Pitch behind as he ran towards the throne room to catch up with Elsa. He didn't care anymore that Pitch could break out of his icy coffin but he was more concerned with Elsa. Two people had vanished from Hans' skirmish with the snowman and he could only assume that they made their way into the throne room.

"Come on, Jack. Faster," he chanted mentally in his mind to fly faster, only to kick down the door. "Elsa!"

By the time he had reached the throne room, Elsa was circled around by two assailants with crossbows. She had put her hands up in defense while watching their movements carefully. Jack mentally berated himself as he remembered that he had never taught Elsa how to use her magic for combat or defensive purposes.

"I should have taught her combat," Jack growled to himself before jumping into the fray. "ELSA!"

Elsa gasped in surprise as Jack sailed over one of the assailants and knocked him in the face with his staff. After that, he pointed his staff to the other assailant and knocked the crossbow right out of his hands before standing back to back with her. Despite being clobbered, the other assailant stood up and opened fire only to slip when Jack kicked ice up from the floor to freeze it over. The arrow still flew only to have Jack slam his staff onto the ground to create a stalagmite to catch the arrow. Seeing Jack fight, Elsa steeled herself to fight as well when one of her other assailants tried to shoot her again. With a wave of her hand, she created a wave of ice that startled her attacker and another wave to catch the guy off guard.

"Jack, we can't keep fighting like this. They're going to corner us," Elsa panicked. "The army will make its way here in no time!"

"No they won't," Jack declared before swinging his staff and knocking out one of the other assailants. "I won't let them…!"

Elsa bit her lower lip before slamming the other assailant, knocking him out cold. "Jack, the only way out is if we jump…!"

"Queen Elsa!"

The two ice-wielders looked up to see Hans with many other soldiers following up behind him. Jack narrowed his eyes and pointed his staff at them, waiting for them to make any hostile movement. Hans couldn't believe what he was seeing. The guards that had accompanied by him were completely down on the ground. He wasn't sure whether or not they were alive but he was pretty certain that Elsa did something. Unfortunately for him, he could not see the white haired guardian of fun ready to shoot him with an ice beam if he did anything stupid.

"What have you done," Hans shook his head in horror.

Elsa began to breathe heavily fearfully while Jack kept his eyes focused on Hans. What he didn't notice that there was some black sand swirling around before suddenly shooting out and grabbing Jack. The guardian of fun suddenly fell over and got dragged aside while Elsa panicked in fear. She staggered back when she suddenly saw Jack get flipped around. The black mass swirled around and slammed him against the wall.

"JACK," she called after him before firing bolts of ice, glaring at the black swirling mass. "You messed with the wrong queen!"

Unfortunately, to Hans and the other soldiers – it looked like she was talking to nobody. To them, she was firing stray bolts all over the place.

"Queen Elsa, stop," Hans yelled out, seeing the castle about to come down. "You're destroying the place!"

Before she knew it, one of her bolts had struck the chandelier hanging. Elsa only saw it last minute and made a bolt for it. Unfortunately, she had slipped and crashed onto the ground.

After that, all she remembered was everything going black and hitting the ground.

That's chapter 16! Sorry for the long wait! Please don't forget to comment or review!