A/N: Honestly, the reviews and numerous PM's got me to write this second part. Doesn't work all the time but the interest got me interested, so yeah. First part is from The Boy's perspective, this part is Elsa's POV, and the last, well... guess you'll see.

Chapter 2: My Sister of Arendelle

"Hey. Hey, Elsa... do youuuu—"

"Anna."

"—wanna buillllld—"

"Anna, don't."

"—a snowmaaaaan?"

I lifted my hand, conjured a tightly packed snowball, and hurled it across the room, right at the smiling face of my sister. She ducked out the room and shut the door with a ringing laugh.

"You missed me!" she chided.

"Only because I wanted to!" I replied, rubbing at my temples. The day had only begun and already I could feel the pressure building like a geyser set to blow. "I don't want to build a snowman," I muttered to myself, swinging my legs over and planting my feet, "I want to build a fortress…."

Like she always was, I knew Anna waited for me outside my bedroom door, but that didn't compel me to go any faster as I slid out of my nightgown and set about dressing as I normally did. As Queen Elsa. As the ruler of the kingdom of Arendelle. It was a title I did not care for in the slightest and yet, it was one I couldn't shed.

When our parents died, the rite was passed to me as the eldest sister, the "firstborn" as many liked to call me. I was forced to step into shoes I was in no way ready to wear and lead with a wisdom I was far too young to possess. Granted, there was plenty to be gained when thrust into the flames of progression unawares, and I quickly learned what to do and what not to do, how to walk, how to speak, how to conduct myself… all the things that came bundled with being a Queen.

With practiced steps, I moved to stand before the vanity mirror. It needlessly stretched from the floor to the rather high ceiling, and within I saw a respectable woman, a woman with lengthy, platinum blonde hair tied into a French braid, a woman with pale, iridescent skin, a woman with the most forlorn pair of blue eyes I had ever seen… a woman who unfortunately happened to me.

I smiled, but it rang hollow, a forced gesture that continued to fool everyone I flashed it at day in and day out. Rarely did it manage to blind Anna, bless her heart, but not even she could fix this unease festering in my heart.

Every time I looked at her, love flooded every inch of me along with an almost maternal urge to protect… and then my eyes would land on that horrifying strip of platinum blonde hair that so matched mine and my insides would curdle, my mind would begin to scream the same thing it always screamed:

MONSTER.

Over and over again, my true title would dominate my thoughts, give birth to wave after wave of nauseating anxiety, and I would sequester myself for hours. To this day, two days before my official crowning ceremony to become Queen, Anna still held no memory of what I had done, and I knew my actions must seem like random outbursts of secrecy, or possibly even dislike, but I couldn't allow the past to repeat itself.

Sighing, I pulled on my magenta cape and gave myself another look. My hair was perfect. The purple dusting of eyeshadow really made my pupils shine with exuberance. These specially ordered clothes fit wonderfully, anyone could see I had a fantastic figure. On the outside, I was Elsa, the ornately beautiful, much lauded over, soon-to-be Queen. And that was exactly what I wanted to be seen as.

My problems were not Anna's, and they most certainly were not those of the people, the hundreds who would be gathering within the main square in a few hours. And why would they be gathering?

"For a most glorious event," I tried saying to my reflection, struggling to pull on the same vacant smile I normally did, but it fell apart halfway through and I came off looking ill of disease. "Oh no, Elsa, you can do better than that—you have to do better than that."

The 'most glorious event' was a kingdom-wide raffle, one concocted by some of Arendelle's ministers and advisors. While I already had the people's love, mere days before my crowning, they told me this would prove a good way to formerly meet those who I would rule over. I understood that line of logic perfectly as mother and father were well known for unscheduled and frequent outings to commingle down below.

I understood it all.

I just wanted nothing to do with it, not this time.

Seclusion had treated me so well all these years, making decisions and delivering orders in private or else using Anna as a proxy, that the thought of actually showing my face, being the one to stand on that dreaded balcony and give a speech….My heart wanted nothing more than to follow behind my parents and present myself as a beacon for others to find comfort in—it's what a Queen did, it's what I felt I should be. And yet, whenever I began to think things would be okay and I allowed myself a fleeting moment of happiness, that moment would rear its ugly head… that moment when I accidentally struck Anna… that moment when she lost consciousness and fell over….

"No," I suddenly told myself when a stinging sensation settled in my eyes, and I refused to blink, "none of that… not now."

Of course, showing face was secondary to the main point of this raffle: Funds. Each ticket was exorbitantly priced and all proceeds would go toward furthering Arendelle's infrastructure, as well as provide a cushion for when the trade trails slowed up due to unforeseen circumstance.

That was fine, we had done similar in the past. The contention I currently held with this raffle was the blistering fact that it was nothing more than a farce.

Beyond gathering coin, whoever pulled the lucky ticket would win the opportunity to spend the day with me, as in I would basically play the role of tour guide throughout the castle, have some lunch, maybe a dinner, and that was it. For the life of me, I couldn't fathom who in their right mind would deign to spend their valuable time cavorting around in my sodden company but to the ones who crafted this event, they felt it a prize many would kill to have. And I suppose there was some merit in their belief because the entirety of tickets sold out within the hour.

Unfortunately, not a single ticket sold to the public was a winner. And how did I know that? Because the winning ticket had been pulled days prior by one of my consultants. To them, while this was a nice gesture for the people, my daily schedule was so full that spending an entire day essentially 'goofing off' would set numerous meetings back and knock several others off kilter.

"You'll read the number, I'll come forward as the winner, and once the crowd disperses, you can go about your day as usual, my Queen," I remembered one of them telling me.

So, in essence, there was no joy to be had here. No spirit, no life, no thrill of the unexpected, all three of which I could sorely use right about now to keep the lingering nightmares at bay.

"Elsa, come onnnnn!" my sister whined from the other side of the door. "I know you're pretty but how long do you plan on admiring yourself for?"

"Until I morph into someone who doesn't have to attend this sham of a raffle," I responded, inhaling to the count of three and exhaling.

"I thought you might say that," Anna said in that melodic voice, like she was five seconds away from bursting into song, but then she merely gave my door a little jiggle before flinging it wide open. The look on her face was smug with victory, her smile a mile long.

Gods above, thank you for this human-shaped ray of sunshine in my life.

"What're you doing, Anna?" I asked, my brow furrowing with suspicion. "Better question, what're you up to?"

"Who me? Why, Elsa, I'm alarmed that you would think I was up to anything!" she gasped, falling back against the egress looking faint. "When have I, your dear, lovable sister, ever been up to anything?"

I blinked at her theatrics, then gave into the fit of giggles causing my eyebrow to twitch. "When have you ever, you ask? When have you not?" I snorted. "Let's go down an abridged list, shall we?"

"Noooo, we really don't have to—" she tried to say, but I cleared my throat like I were about to give a great speech.

"Anna, the so-called Bread Connoisseur who called herself making a loaf big enough to feed the entire kingdom but forgot to add flour—"

"In my defense, the animals enjoyed having a blanket made of bread," Anna quipped, giggling to herself.

"—and we can't forget Anna, the self-proclaimed horse whisperer, who tried to organize a horse tourney for my birthday two years ago and wound up creating a horse stampede through the main square—"

"Wellllll, the kids had fun! And really, when you think about it, isn't that what life is about? The never ending pursuit of a good time?"

"—and we'd be remiss to not mention Anna, the legendary archer who tried to impress the crowds during a routine practice by trying to strike three apples at once… while they rested atop heads—"

"If you hadn't intervened, I would've made history that day!" Anna argued pointedly, and she had the good sense to look chastised when I leveled her with a playful look of scorn.

"If I hadn't intervened, dear sister, we'd be three less souls in Arendelle," I corrected her.

She shrugged, straightening up and waving off my memories. "Bah, I say, you're getting on in years, Elsa, you're not remembering things as clearly as you used to."

"Of course, silly me…."

The smile she blessed me with warmed my frigid anxiety and she took one of my hands within both of hers. "This time I've actually done good," she told me earnestly, and her words all but compelled me to lean forward until out foreheads met.

"You do good every day, Anna," I told her softly, bringing a heated blush to her cheeks. "Whether you mess up, whether you hit the target, you're doing good simply by doing in the first place."

As she often did, I could sense Anna calming herself, fueling herself with my energy, and then she fluttered her big, optimistic eyes. "Thanks, Elsa," was what she said before snatching me into a rib-cracking hug. "But I was serious, I've really done something I think you're gonna enjoy."

Just before my spine gave up the fight and the fates could mercifully whisk me away to my next life, Anna released me and I played off my severe need for air by pretending to cough. "So you say. What is it, then?"

It was rare that Anna ever gave off vibes that resembled anything other than a child lost in a candy factory, but when her smile settled itself into that quaint smirk and she inclined her head toward me, I could see traces of our mothers elegance flowing through her.

"Follow me, sister."

And I did. Once we left my room and took a few sharp turns, muscle memory automatically told me she was taking me to the kitchen. Which led to a number of questions: what had she done that required food? Was it a sequel to the Breadening? Had she remembered to add flour this time? And, ignoring the fact that our kitchen was nowhere near equipped nor sizable to make anything big enough to feed our kingdom, did she have the right tools procured? Was my assistance required? Could I even help? And with what? I could mix with the best of them but still...

So many questions, and not a single one of them mattered when she ducked into one of the many pantry doors and reemerged with what looked like a bagel wrapped in a napkin.

"I don't…." Confused didn't even begin to describe it when Anna pushed the bagel into my hand then promptly turned to leave, signaling for me to keep following. "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with this," I told her as we began ascending a decorated pair of stairs.

The mirth in Anna's voice was unmissable as she sighed. "You're supposed to eat it, silly," she replied simply. "You just woke up and you haven't had breakfast. You do that quite often, probably haven't even noticed."

Taking a moment to mull her words over and coming to the conclusion that she was unequivocally right, I took a ravenous bite of my bagel, only realizing after the first swallow how hungry I truly was.

"A soon-to-be Queen can't be forgetting her own needs in lieu of the interests of the people," Anna said wisely, lifting a finger to emphasis her point.

I would have replied and said that the moments where I neglect myself stem from a debilitating case of social anxiety, depression, and absolute unwillingness to open myself up to the same degree that brought about her streak of discolored hair, but this bagel was too delicious and I didn't feel like pausing in the act of nibbling through it.

She had even put some cream cheese on it; just the right amount, too.

"Mmmpgh," I said instead.

"And a Queen shouldn't try to talk with her mouth full," she admonished through a laughing fit.

Step after step, I followed my sister, finishing off my bagel and stowing the napkin in my pocket. This time, I wasn't confused; I knew where we were going and felt a heavy reluctance sink into my steps, a reluctance that slowed me and put enough distance between my sister and I that she noticed with a glance over her shoulder.

"Elsa...?"

I would have sighed but Anna pointed out earlier that week that my sighs were beginning to sound like the dying rasps of a diseased bear, so I choked it down and put a firm hand on the railing.

"I..."

The words I wanted to say, that weighed on my heart… they merely sat on the tip of my tongue, refusing to come out. Because I felt I was whining. I was in a position that I hadn't earned and about to be handed the highest mantle one could possibly achieve in all the land, and I had nothing to show for it except for a disdain so great that it made me want to spit. This contest was nothing, so if it was indeed nothing, then why was it so distressing? Why couldn't I do what I had done literally thousands of times before and fake it? Force that plastic smile over my lips, wave my arm until it went numb, appease the masses, lose a little piece of my soul, wash, repeat?

Why was it so hard this time? Why did everything feel colder than normal?

Because, Elsa, you foolish girl… you looked forward to it.

The response I heard was coughed up from the darkest recesses of my mind, from the trenches where I kept my hope and whatever joy I used to derive from the world. After what happened to Anna, I learned that kind of happiness was dangerous, that it needed to be controlled and regulated, otherwise it caused my powers to go into overdrive.

I wasn't a creature meant to experience those kinds of emotions. A gain meant destruction; a lack meant control. Conceal, don't feel, that was my mantra.

But... the voice right. Like a fool, I just couldn't let it go. I still clung to some vestiges of what could naturally bring a smile to my face; I had actually believed in this contest, in what it stood for. Clearly the fates didn't like that, the mere notion that I could find that bit of discarded happiness from so long ago, and endeavored to stomp it out before it could even take root.

Overpriced tickets. Falsely implanted wonder. A rigged outcome.

"Speak your mind, sister, it's too strong to be stunted by the tongue," came Anna's voice, so pure and light that I twitched where I stood. She was smiling as she took the stairs down, until she was but one step above me. "What is it you're truly feeling? In here?"

When she placed a hand over my heart, my pulse quickened, something I'm sure she felt, and the warmth that naturally enveloped her seeped into me.

"Just because you're going to be the queen doesn't mean you're infallible to the burdens of the average citizen," Anna said soothingly, and I would swear this girl came with more wisdom than half my advisors. "After all, what kind of sister would I beeeee if I couldn't bring back your smile?" she asked teasingly, and I blinked, not at all sure of what she was getting at.

"W-what... I don't understand, Anna," I uttered, staring into those exuberant, glistening eyes and pulling strength from them.

"I heard about what's going on with this raffle and it really annoys me!" my sister huffed, her cheeks ballooning outward in a cute display that made me want to hug her. "How are things supposed to be fair for the villagers when you're cheating from the start?"

"That's what I've been trying to say!" I exploded without meaning to.

"It's not right!"

"It's not!"

"It's a disservice to the people of Arendelle!"

"More than a disservice, it's a disgrace!" I added vehemently, matching Anna's fiery resolve.

"So!" Anna proclaimed with a comical heroism, like she were about to vanquish a terrifying beast. "Naturally, we can't have that, can we, sister? We're better than that, you and I. The advisors and councilmen, I'm sure they mean well and all that hooey, but they don't carry the same heart as us, the same soul! Who cares about keeping appointments and doing a song and dance show for delegates when it comes at the expense of our people?"

By the Gods of old, she was saying everything that I wanted to say, every word and every syllable, to the point where all I could do was nod my head up and down in a blur, both hands clenched into fists at chest-level. It was how I felt, how I honestly felt about it all, and it explained why something so trivial troubled me so much! I wanted things to be done right, to be handled fairly, to give every single citizen of Arendelle a chance to win what they were promised, even if it did amount to spending their day sharing my dreary presence.

"That's what's bothering you," Anna surmised, taking both my balled up hands within hers and gently unfurling them. She intertwined our fingers and gave them a soft squeeze. "You can't hide such things from me, Elsa. After so long, you think you'd have realized that by now."

When she placed a little kiss over our interlocked knuckles, there wasn't a force in this world that could have kept me from flinching, from blushing, from nervously avoiding her loving gaze.

"I don't blame you, of course," Anna continued casually, playfully jostling our hands. "I wouldn't want to take part in something so… dower. I don't much like dower things."

I started to ask "Then why do you insist on hanging around me?" because I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, when not upholding my duties to the kingdom and forcing a placating burst of enthusiasm for all to see, I took the crown for most dower soul this side of the sun.

And perhaps Anna knew I was on the verge of speaking something snarky because she went on before my lips could part.

"Sooooo, I did my thing and now, dear sister, everything is how it should be," she said with a smile just as cryptic as her words.

Trepidation overrode my curiosity and I clenched her hands. "Your… thing?" I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. "Anna? Anna, what does that mean? What did you do?"

"I only just said it," she replied with a smile. "My thing."

"Yes, but you see, your 'thing' usually has catastrophic consequences… life or death consequences, really."

"Youuuuu… wouldn't be wrong." She giggled, then fixed her face into this childishly firm expression, or what she thought was firm but was actually just puffed out cheeks and furrowed eyebrows. "Not this time, though, this time's different. This time… I'm serious."

As supporting as her presence and words were, they did very little to calm my anxiety as she began to pull me up the steps at a hastened pace. Whatever she had planned, I'm sure she meant well—she always did, bless her soul—but at the same time, I wanted to tell her not to bother. This rigged drawing had been in the works for who knows how long before the council actually introduced it to us, so essentially there was no stopping it, and as life was quick to teach me numerous times, what was meant to be was going to happen whether I wanted it to or not.

It was a lesson I didn't want Anna to learn so early in life but still… maybe a sprig of reality was in order, just to keep her safe.

"Anna," I started delicately, picking over the words in my mind before I spoke, "listen… I know you mean well, you're just trying to help me—and please, don't think I don't appreciate it, but—"

"Buuuut, you should really save your voice, sister," Anna cut in jovially, practically skipping before me. "You're gonna need it when you're addressing the people, don't you think?"

"What I think," I started again, this time through clenched teeth, "is that—you know what? How about we go back downstairs? We could get to work on that snowman you've been singsong asking about for the past half decade now, yeah?" I nodded with as much fake mirth as I could muster. "They'll find someone else, Anna—they can just get someone else to read the winner, change the prize up, I really don't need to be there…."

"The depths of your reluctance is truly astounding, Elsa, although you'll find there's no need for it," and with a small grunt of effort, Anna pushed open the door that led to the main parapet. On it was the balcony over looking the kingdom square, the 'announcement balcony' Anna called it; the 'balcony of hellish determination' I called it, because of the ungodly amount of verve I had to work up to even set foot on it.

Further ahead, and standing there with hunched over postures looking like vultures circling a corpse, were numerous councilman and the heads of estates encompassing Arendelle. Just laying eyes on them caused my chest to tighten and my stomach to drop with nauseating force.

I didn't want to do this.

Why were they making me do this?

Why was Anna trying to make me do this?

This one wasn't like the others, all the other events and kingdom-wide precessions that me and my voice had heralded in the past. No, no, no—where those were mostly benign in nature, this one here, the entire raffle… it was born of deceit. And to willingly take part in it, knowing as much as I did….

"How…? How can I face the people like this?" The words left my lips traumatized, and my eyes widened hearing my own shaken voice. "It's never been like this, everything so cold… so hopeless…."

Closing the door behind me with a resounding, almost definitive 'click', Anna came around to my front, obstructing my view of the looming council members. All I saw was her glittering smile, and oddly, my anxiety levels plummeted somewhat.

"I switched the ballet, Elsa," she told me in an excitedly hushed whisper.

The words hit my ears well enough but I still didn't quite understand, and maybe my face showed it, I could feel my brow furrowing, confusion flooding my eyes. "I… you did what?"

Anna just laughed, using a single finger to gently rub underneath my eye where there sat a sparkling tear that had yet to fall, dredged up from my stress. "I said," and she leaned in closer, pressing her forehead to mine, "I switched the ballets. And them?" Her eyes flickered upward, indicating toward the shadowy specters awaiting us. "They have no idea. None."

It took me a couple seconds of spastic lip-floundering before I was able to form something close to coherent. "Y-you… you switched the"—she nodded, smile growing—"and th-they have no"—she nodded again and I could feel myself growing jittery—"so… so that means…."

"Yes. It means Anna did good for once."

Now I felt like crying for an entirely different reason but I mastered the urge, using the same self-restraint I utilized to keep my powers in check, and then I threw both arms around my sister, this glorious ray of sunshine in my bleak life.

"No, Anna," I told her, shaking my head and producing a sincerely overjoyed smile, "you do good all the time."

"It's this lad here! He's the winner! Queen Elsa, this one here's won!"

"Sister!" Anna was pointing wildly, almost flinging herself over the balcony's edge. "Sister, look there!"

My heart began to swell with an amalgam of excitement and glee just as I heard the comical sound of several jaws dropping from the figures behind me, the ones who just knew the ballet that one of them held would be the winner; then my eyes were sweeping the clamoring crowd below, sifting over face after face, several names rushing over my mind in a blur, until finally… I saw this little boy seated on the shoulders of a very towering man.

I smiled.

"Ah, my little one," I began softly, feeling my eyes beginning to sting when the little boy began crying harder, dropping his chin to his chest. He tried to blindly hand me the ticket but I didn't take it. "No need to be frightened…." I told him, placing a finger under his chin and guiding his gaze back up.

"I didn't, um…. I love Arendelle, my Queen, and I—I love you, too," the boy stammered out. "It's been pretty dark f-for me most days… months even, b-but whenever you'd talk to us, it wouldn't be so dark, 'cause you were my l-light, you made it not hurt so much and… and I… I just wanna say thank y—"

My body moved before I knew what was happening, before I could comprehend this burst of maternal fervor that compelled me to take the boy into my arms and hold him tight, tight enough to let him know that, yes, I was here, and that his suffering had come to an end. I didn't know how I would be able to do it, or what it would take, but this child… this shivering child nestling himself into me….

I thanked the little one for his overwhelmingly kind words as best I was able, hoping to speak as quickly and as clearly as I could before I broke down with the sobs tightening my chest.

"And, if I can ask, what is your name?"

He nodded like that simple question had made his dreams come true and his innocence, his determination to remain upbeat in the face of such a harsh life, I felt a tear escape, curving down my cheek.

"You can ask me anything, my Queen! My name is Gray!" And as he said told me, he seemed to shrink in on himself with embarrassment. "L-like the color…? I, uh… I hope it's not stupid o-or anything…."

The crowd was already chanting his name; fists were striking the air, feet were stomping to a rousing tune….

"It's a wonderful name, Gray," I told him earnestly, bringing my hands up to cup his damp cheeks. "Now, let's go enjoy the day together. Would you like that?"

He gripped me by the wrists, almost like he were afraid to let go, and nodded happily. "Please, y-yes, please!"