Chapter 11

"Whoa," Anna muttered to herself as she looked around. The inside of the palace was just as impressive as the outside, with a giant ice foyer leading toward a grand ice staircase. The ice was inlaid with beautiful designs all around, that reminded her of the paintings decorating all of the walls and window shades of their palace back home. Only those designs were mostly floral, and the designs in Elsa's palace were more geometric.

"Elsa?" she called out. "It's me, Anna."

She slipped a little bit on the ice, but caught herself on the banister of the grand staircase.

"Anna?" Elsa called incredulously from above her head. Anna looked up and sucked in a quick gasp. Elsa was wearing a beautiful dress that Anna had never seen before – and it almost looked like it was made of…ice? How was that possible?

"Wow, Elsa, you look…different," she stammered. "It's a good different. And this place! It's amazing!"

"Thank you," Elsa acknowledged, looking around. "I never knew what I was capable of." Neither did I, Anna thought.

"I'm so sorry about what happened," Anna apologized. "If I'd have known…"

"No, no, it's okay," Elsa said quickly. "You don't have to apologize. But you should probably go, please."

"But I just got here," cried Anna, aghast. She'd worked so hard to get here – how could Elsa already be tired of her?

"You belong down in Arendelle," Elsa said.

"So do you!" Anna retorted.

"No, Anna," Elsa said sadly. "I belong here. Alone. Where I can be who I am without hurting anybody." And Anna's heart broke for her sister all over again.

"Actually, about that…" Anna started, not knowing how to break the difficult news to her sister. But they were interrupted before she could try, by Olaf, who must have determined that his one minute was up.

"Wait, what is that?" Elsa cried, spotting Olaf as he came through the door and started running toward her in excitement.

"Hi, I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!" Olaf exclaimed, coming to stand by Anna.

"Olaf?" Elsa whispered.

"You built me," Olaf informed her. "Remember that?"

"And you're…alive?" Elsa looked at her hands in trepidation.

"Um, I think so?" Olaf patted his body down, as if he was checking for his own vital signs.

"He's just like the one we built as kids," Anna reminded Elsa.

"Yeah…" Elsa smiled doubtfully.

"Elsa, we were so close," Anna pressed. "We can be like that again!" Anna watched as Elsa's eyes widened and filled with terror, and she looked around frantically – but there was nothing here to be scared of. When she turned back around, Elsa had already turned and was walking away up one of the many ice staircases.

"No, we can't," Elsa said. "Goodbye, Anna."

"Elsa, wait," Anna begged, following after her. Now that she knew Elsa's secret, there was no more need for them to be separated. She knew Elsa was worried about her safety, but she didn't care. She refused to let her sister isolate herself and sacrifice her own happiness when it wasn't necessary.

"No, I'm just trying to protect you!" Elsa yelled, running faster up the stairs. Anna sped up too, trying to catch up to her.

"You don't have to protect me! I'm not afraid," Anna cried as she chased after Elsa. "Please don't shut me out again. Please don't slam the door! You don't have to keep your distance anymore. 'Cause for the first time in forever, I finally understand. We can fix this, hand in hand. We can head down this mountain together. You don't have to live in fear. I will be right here!" She followed Elsa into one of the upper chambers of the ice palace, a beautiful room with a view of the sun setting over the mountains.

"Anna, please go back home," Elsa turned to her sister. "Your life awaits. Go enjoy the sun and open up the gates."

"Yeah, but…" Anna started.

"I know you mean well!" Elsa almost yelled. "But leave me be – Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free! Just stay away, and you'll be safe from me."

"Actually, we're not," Anna sighed, wishing her sister would listen so she could explain this more gently. She didn't want Elsa to think she was blaming her.

"What do you mean, you're not?"

"I get the feeling you don't know," Anna waffled.

"What do I not know?" Elsa looked terrified.

"Arendelle's in deep, deep, deep, deep…snow," Anna finished weakly.

"What?" Elsa was shocked.

"You kind of set off an eternal winter…everywhere," Anna said gently.

"Everywhere?!"

"Oh it's okay," Anna breezed. "You can just unfreeze it."

"No, I can't," Elsa breathed, as snow began to fall within the palace. "I – I don't know how." A strong wind began blowing the snow in circles around Elsa, so it was hard for Anna to see her.

"Sure you can," Anna encouraged her, fighting her way through the wind and snow to try to reach her sister. "I know you can, 'cause for the first time in forever, you don't have to be afraid…"

"Oh, I'm such a fool," Elsa lamented. "I can't be free. There's no escape from the storm inside of me."

"We can work this out together," said Anna, still trying to fight her way to Elsa even as the wind and snow increased in intensity.

"I can't control the curse!" Elsa cried.

"You'll reverse the storm with me," Anna strove for an optimistic tone.

"Oh, Anna, please, you'll only make it worse," Elsa said dismissively.

"Don't panic!" Anna said to herself and to her sister as Elsa continued to back away. "We'll make the sun shine bright."

"You're not safe here!" Elsa called frantically to Anna. But Anna wouldn't stop. She wouldn't give up on her sister.

"We can face this thing together. We can change this winter weather, and everything will be all right," Anna cried, reaching out toward Elsa. She was so close…

"No, I can't!" Elsa screamed in panic. For a moment, all the snow in the room stopped moving, and Anna rushed toward her sister – until ice shot out suddenly from Elsa once more, flying all across the room, and Anna felt a shock as a jolt of Elsa's ice power hit her in the center of her chest, knocking her to her knees. She put her hand over the sharp pain in her heart and tried to struggle to her feet. She didn't want Elsa to feel guilty for hurting her, and she was sure it wasn't serious anyway. But it was so cold.

Suddenly, Kristoff was there, sliding toward her across the ice, panic in his eyes.

"Anna! Are you okay?" he demanded, grabbing her gently to help her up and frantically running his eyes over her to check for any injury.

"I'm okay," Anna reassured him, trying not to lean on him too obviously as the pain in her chest receded to a more tolerable level. The cold remained, though. "I'm fine," she said, more strongly, to both of them.

"Who's this?" Elsa asked, looking at Kristoff with mistrust in her eyes. "Wait, it doesn't matter. Just – You have to go."

"No," Anna protested. "I know we can figure this out together." She felt Kristoff's arm tighten protectively around her as the room darkened with icy shadows.

"How?" Elsa asked. "What power do you have to stop this winter? To stop me?" Kristoff was now actively pulling at Anna, trying to move her toward the exit, but she wasn't leaving.

"Anna, I think we should go," he urged, eyes wide.

"No," she stood her ground as he continued, desperately, to try and pull her away. "I'm not leaving without you, Elsa."

"Yes, you are," Elsa insisted, and flicked her wrists. Suddenly, a giant, angry white snow monster sprang up between Anna and Elsa. The snow monster tried to peel Kristoff away from Anna, but he wouldn't let go of her, so it picked both of them up in one hand, and snatched up Olaf with the other.

"Stop! Put us down!" Anna yelled.

"Go away," the snowman said in a low voice, sounding like he wasn't made for speaking much at all, and he tossed both of them to the ground at the bottom of the palace steps.

"Heads up!" cried Olaf as the giant snowman tossed him, in pieces, out of the ice palace after them.