Elsa could not sleep and she hated it. The princess's ears heard a strange siren trying to call her, but she resisted the call. What was so important that this thought in her head had demanded her attention? She tossed and turned in her bed until her fingertips felt cold freezing water, enough to get up. By the time she did so, Elsa sat up to see three strangers made out of nothing more than snow. "What's happening?"

It was a good question given what was happening before her very eyes. The powers she burdened had been growing stronger over the years, but this was truly different than ice and snow getting out of control. Instead, she was looking at what appeared to be a scene that was about to occur. Then she raised her blanket to find a wet trail that reached across from her headboard and leak onto the floor. As her eyes followed the damp surface, Elsa noticed the trail breaking off into three paths which led underneath the positions of three strangers.

The princess scooted closer to the edge and noticed a boy sleeping on a cot while two men appeared to be talking. One man was wearing clothes she had never seen before while the second was armored, enough to suggest that he was a soldier of sorts. Her curiosity soon grew when her hand touched the wet and damp trail on her bed, which caused the water to freeze into ice and the people made out of snow become animated.

She was horrified about what she had done before her eyes noticed the two men start a conversation. The armored man rushed into the room and immediately approached the other man. "I came here as soon as possible when I heard the news of Timiryazevskaya station. Were you able to get them out?"

The other man did seem to have the words to speak as he lowered his head. "Hunter, I'm sorry. I was only able to get your son out."

This Hunter seemed to be distraught at this implication of what happened. "You didn't get my wife?" He grabbed him by the collar, "Sukhoi, I trusted you?!"

"Hunter, it's not my fault. I tried to get your wife out, but the rats were just upon us," He replied, "Your wife handed us your boy and threw herself just so we could get out. We barely got to this station alive."

The armored warrior just couldn't believe what he was hearing and grief had begun to overtake him as he released his hold. He sat down on the ground and started crying as the other man sat beside him and lowered his head. "Fucking fate… The world ends and you take my wife, damn you."

Sukhoi reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, "Here, I know you need it as much as your son - he's had it just as bad as you did. No child should see their own parent die in a horrible way."

Elsa couldn't help but sympathize with Hunter. Her heart was painfully reminded of a time when she received the news of her mother and father. Grief had overtaken the sisters where one had to step forward and show herself to the public while she could not have the courage to do the same. The princess huddled in her bed as she pulled out her mother's scarf from underneath her pillow. It was her way of saying she missed them.

"I know it's a terrible time to ask, but where are you and Artyom going?"

Her heart stopped at the mention of that name. Was she looking at Artyom's memory? Was this man his father?

"Hunter?"

The weeping warrior had let the handkerchief wipe his tears away. "Originally, I wanted to get Marya and Artyom to Polis after the bombs fell, but I don't think that is possible."

"What do you mean it's not possible?" Sukhoi asked, "Surely Polis would-"

"Polis and the Council are not taking refugees anymore."

The names such as 'Polis' or this 'Council' didn't mean anything, but it sounded like they were some form of authority. However, she wanted to know why Artyom wasn't allowed.

Hunter raised his head and looked at the boy sleeping quietly in her cot. "They think that it will lead to a large wave of unimportant personnel and they're being strict in every sense of that word. Even if I showed up with Artyom and said he's my son, they'll hassle me with papers and its too expensive to even try to do it legitimately."

"What? Why? They shouldn't be doing this anymore?" The unarmored man's reaction to the news was not pleasant, "Can't you convince them?"

"Not even the Spartan Commander is spared of this policy of there. Even if I somehow try to get Artyom and myself included in Polis, who would take care of him? You know me, I'm going to be on my missions and he's going to be all by himself. He's too young and I can't exactly trust him with another family and if I die on my missions, they might kick him out for good. There is just no good way to get through or around this issue."

He shook his head in disbelief. "Chyort, is there anybody else you can look to for help?"

"No. Most of my friends are in the Order and Marya doesn't have any extended family living in Moscow. There is nothing I can do."

"Maybe for you, but I think I can help."

Elsa noticed how he turned his head at the mere mention of a hopeful solution. Hunter's eyes lit up as he looked at Sukhoi. "In a few days, the rest of the guys I was with are going to the station underneath the Exhibition of Achievements. It's a bit isolated from the rest of the Metro, but a lot safer there since the defenses can be manned easily. Your boy can stick with me and you can visit us."

The warrior was in disbelief. "No, I already left the burden of you trying to take care of my family. This is my bitter right and my bitter right alone."

"I know, but you don't have much in terms of options," He replied, "I may be a train conductor, but I'll try my best in helping your son grow up and you wouldn't have to worry so much." Then he rose from beside his friend and rested a hand on his shoulder, "I better leave you and Artyom alone. You can probably make a decision after you're done grieving."

When the scene was finished, Elsa watched as the snows began to melt while the sleeping child that was Artyom was silent in bed. What did this mean and why was this happening to her?

Alex - or Artyom - was not in his room today and Kai was worried about his whereabouts. Was he out all night the entire time and possibly drunk on the job? The head servant looked around and as he walked out of the castle doors, he noticed the stable opened with the horses still in their places. Perhaps he was already up before everyone else?

Kai entered the room to find Artyom sitting in his chair, resting his head by the beam. He looked tired as he woke him up with a hand on his shoulder. "I already groomed the horses and taken care of their food. Just let me rest for a bit."

He was surprised by the young man's diligence in his duties. "What's wrong? You don't seem the sort of person to simply get tired all of a sudden."

Artyom opened his eyes and found the large man standing there. "Allow me to put it nicely, I had some bad dreams and couldn't sleep as well because of them."

"Really? Since you're finished with your work, why don't you take the rest of the day off?" He suggested. The young man looked like he certainly needed it.

"No, you don't have to do that. I'm fine."

"You look tired and should get some rest in the meantime. It's just one day, I'm sure you can spare yourself from work for just one day."

There was a moment of silence between the two, but the man's mixed expression seemed to be him arguing with himself without a single word. "Okay, I'll take the rest of the day off."

"Very good, but you should know that one of these days, I won't be as lenient."

"Crystal clear, I'll get to my room."

The young man rose up from his seat and was about to exit the stables; however, Kai noticed something was strange about the man's posture. It looked like he couldn't walk any further, even if he tried. He waited until he saw him stumble onto the ground effortlessly before the headmaster ran up to him with worry.

Several of the castle guards in the courtyard had run up to join the servant trying to help the stableboy. "Is there something wrong?" One of them asked.

Kai glanced up at them. "I don't know, but could you please help me to his room?"

Two guards helped Artyom off the ground as Kai opened the door into the castle as several of the servant staff in the entrance hall were taken aback by the sight. Gerda arrived in a timely matter and spoke up. "Is the young lad alright?"

"Fetch the physician, there is something wrong with him!"

The exploration of the D6 bunker was going well with supplies of ammo and weapons being a welcome addition to the arsenal of the Spartan Order. Yet, this boon also revealed vehicle depots of vehicles that seemed to be in working condition. Colonel Miller was pleased to know that they had a fighting chance against the rest of the factions if they tried to contest their spot as peacekeepers; however, he was not here for that. Uhlman and his group had discovered a place where strange machines resided and control rooms filled with ancient papers about research and development for the military. He had skimmed over most of the information they had in his D6 file, but there was one project that grabbed his attention. The grizzled commander had arrived at a place where several blast doors were closed while his men were waiting for him. "You guys should have tried to open it."

His subordinate turned away from the others and stood beside him. "We didn't want to spoil the moment, colonel."

"Report the situation."

His friendly tone had changed. "Vladimir and Idiot are busy with the door controls. I sense a big risk in using explosives given our previous encounter with the biomass."

He didn't want to be reminded of the slab of meat that fed on radiation. "So what are they doing right now?"

Uhlman pointed to two men huddling beside the door controls - one clad in the uniform of the order while the other was wearing a simple brown jacket and his fluffy hat. "Idiot, the colonel is here!"

The man in the fluffy hat received a gesture from the younger soldier as he turned away and revealed his senior age. Time was unkind to him, but appearances were a luxury in these tunnels as he walked up to the colonel. "The security measures are tight and it seems like if we play around with any of the hardware something else will override the doors. Whoever built this place had left plenty of security measures back in the day."

"Is there a way to open these doors?" He asked.

"It's asking for a code of sorts."

Miller reached behind his back and pulled out the D6 files. Then he flipped through the pages until he found a sheet filled with various codes. "Take a look. It seems like the government made redundant measures to make sure nothing was lost."

"I suppose it is a blessing of the Soviet Union," Vladimir commented, "Trust, but verify." The old man turned away from the commander and joined the young man at the controls, "Punch these codes in, see what works and what doesn't."

"So colonel, how many bullets do you want to bet on this place?" Uhlman asked.

"How about your entire wage?"

He laughed. "Something tells me that these vehicles are here to be transported rather than used. Where were these vehicles when we needed to get through the streets of Moscow and why was this place abandoned?"

"You make a good point, but let's not assume anything. Hell, the government might have taken notice about that biomass thing we fought a while ago and simply locked it up so it wouldn't spread."

"It's still odd if you ask me. There are only two access points into the vehicle bay with one leading to the surface and the one we're trying to open."

Vladimir voiced his opinion. "Perhaps it's a short-cut of sorts. If we ask the American - who is currently present - the Americans built the highway for military transportation. What if they expected something like the surface and anticipated it?"

The colonel looked to the clean-shaven American leaning against the corner. "Sam, what do you think of this situation?"

He was smoking a cigarette as he pulled the butt from its lips. "I don't know. The highways were built to make sure troops can get one side of the country to another, but this seems a bit too small-scale and the access doors are connected to a top-secret bunker-complex. Uhlman might have the right idea about this place."

Those listening or participating in the conversation were signaled by Idiot - who began to step away from the control panel. "The doors are opening, get ready!"

The entire group had readied their weapons and activated their flashlights as the large blast doors before them awakened. Barrels were focused on the opening as yellow lights flashed above and cautioned the newcomers of this unfamiliar section of D6. The colonel, Uhlman, and Sam were the first to enter as the rest followed them through. The darkness engulfed them as they slowly approached an open area full of dozens of skeletons that surrounded a strange piece of machinery that remained untouched. Miller shined his light on it and noticed that it was large enough to fit those tanks he had saw earlier, but this made him question more about this room and the vehicle depot discover answers.

A bestial cry echoed into the room from enclosed spaces as Vladimir shouted. "Nosalises, they're coming from the ventilation shafts!"

Colonel Miller didn't hesitate to reply to this new thread. "Comrades, open fire!"

Artyom found himself in his mind once more, this time he was placed in a room where two chairs sat across from each other. It was like looking into a mirror of his soul, the man he once was - clad in armor and adorned with weapons he had never seen before. All he could do was wait for something to happen until the personality across from him had spoken. "You look like you could use a little sleep."

He looked around with curiosity to see the room being empty. "What's happening to me?"

"It's wearing off."

"What?"

His former identity cleared his throat. "The… curse, spell, or whatever the hell happened to us seems to be wearing off."

"How do you know this?" Artyom wondered.

"There is not a lot I can tell. What I do know is that it's probably related to whatever… power that let us endure the paranormal," The former personality leaned forward and stared at him, "I'm surprised you haven't express your opinion on the matter."

"I don't know, to be honest. All of this seems like a dream that is too difficult for me to believe it is real, but yet, I feel like it is."

A smile was all he could offer. "You should be glad this is real. It means we're alive and we have a chance to finally be free from this. Our hesitation at that tower… it led to this, but perhaps this is better than making the wrong decisions."

Curiosity came from the newer personality. "A tower? Wrong decisions? What are you talking?"

"We had reached a point where a decision had to be made, but could not live with the consequences. In one path, we could have wrought destruction for our people and betray the truth. In another, we could have accepted the truth and betray our own people."

It wasn't a clear answer, but Artyom realized it was hinting at something. "Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Were we supposed to make a choice and live with the consequence - even if those consequences would haunt us?"

He nodded his head. "There was no good choices for us to make and it seemed wrong to take either of them, but a choice had to be made."

A piece of his life echoed at the back of his thoughts. There was a tower involved and now he knew what his former personality was speaking off, a place where he last left off, a place where it all began. What did this mean? Was he close to getting his memories back? "Is there a way for us to forcefully get it back?"

"You would have to confront the very issue itself."

Flickers of memories could be recalled in Artyom's mind, but he went further and somehow recognized a metal door of sorts and recognized it as his mouth spoke. "We should have never opened those blast doors when we were kids." Then he noted how far he could recollect yet not grasp the meaning of his life.

The elder person in this strange realm of thoughts had made a connection. "The blast doors. We were young fools who sought out to become stalkers, but only opened the door to Hell for our people. That's good."

"Is it? It seems like we did something that damned us and needed to pay for it."

"It had to be done. There is an amount of suffering that we endured as the price for our childish innocence and curisoity. This entire memory wipe was caused by that very action alone. If only we could turn back time."

"If only." The conversation with himself was a bit fascinated and somewhat disturbing the more he thought about it. Was this a new form of insanity that would befallen the stableboy.

"Just persevere, we will get out of this."

The few times Princess Elsa had walked outside of her room was always for a conversation with Artyom and that one time she spoke with Anna. For a moment, life seemed to be improved for a week since that night she and Anna had spoken since their previous interaction. Now they were acknowledging their existence in the hallways with Anna being told that she needed to be alone. It was a safe lie, but it ate away at her feelings. Did it always have to be this way?

The month of February was coming to a close with the winter getting tired and not being enough to change the course of oncoming spring. Yet, she took the opportunity to have her mother's scarf around her shoulders as she walked towards the dining room. The moment she opened the door and entered, she noticed that it was empty. That was odd, the servants were always on point when it came to her eating schedule. What was the source of their lack of preparation?

She heard footsteps in the hallway she just came from, causing her to turn her head and find a servant known as Gerda at the doorway. The old woman appeared to be in distress before she tried to regain her composure. "Your highness, I'm sorry for our lack of preparations. It's just that a lot has happened and got on everyone's concern."

Elsa was puzzled on what she meant. "What happened?"

Gerda paused for a moment before she took a moment to reply. "Well… you see…" Then she shook her head, "Something happened to the poor stableboy. God help us, but I think he's been possessed by some kind of witchcraft."

"Witchcraft? Is Artyom okay?"

She shook her head. "No, he's knocked out and we're trying to make sure that those shadows will leave us alone. The physican wouldn't even go near him and Kai is worried that we have to look for an exorcist."

The princess was in disbelief at her answer. "Surely, you must be seeing things."

"You have to see it for yourself. Even your sister believes us."

"Anna, what is she doing there?"

"She is just as worried about Artyom as with the rest of us."

Her sister was there. It sounded a bit like nonsense, but things could get back on schedule if she comforted them. "Lead the way, I'll follow."

The two women walked through the kitchen to see it unused with ingrediants left out on the counters and cutting boards. They were in the middle of making food when this happened, but she paid no attention to what was supposed to be her lunch as they shortly arrived at the servants' quarters. To her surprise, the princess found Anna and most of the staff reluctantly staying clear from a single room where a strange shadow stood at the doorway without a body to follow.

Gerda pointed. "There. That is the demon spirit that haunts Artyom's room."

Anna turned her head and took notice of her. "Elsa, I didn't think you would be here."

She joined her sister amongst the crowded quarters. "I was supposed to have lunch, but everyone is here. Do you have an idea what that is?"

"I am just as clueless as you are, but it seems to be guarding his room. Some tried to get inside, but the guys said it burnt them for a moment."

"Let me take a closer look."

"I don't think that it's a good idea," Anna said with concern, "It will even push you if you tried."

When the princess was standing in front of the shadow, she could see past it and find Kai and another man in the room while Artyom was in his bed. Kai spoke up out of concern for her well-being. "Your highness, you shouldn't be here. The physician and I are trying to get out, but this thing is in the way."

Elsa saw their worried faces as she looked at the shadow before her and heard strange whispers eminating from its form. "There has to be an explanation to all of this." She swiped her hand at the shadow only to see her gloves touch the being and see its head look down upon her. Ever since she was young, her father had taught her to control her emotions and hide her fear, but all of that was not enough to hide the terror on what had just occurred.

In a blink of an eye, the shadow disipated as it's dark aura formed a trail from the ceiling and started to lead out of the servants' quarters. The only person who had the courage to ask was Anna. "What did you just do?"

"I don't know, but we better see where these leads. I don't want it coming into my room."

The royals followed the trail as Kai guided the servants back to their work with comforting encouragement. As the sisters followed the trail, it strangely brought them into a room which had rarely been occupied for a long time. When they entered, Anna was surprised to find where the trail ends. "It… stops in father's study, but why?"

Elsa entered the room to find these dark energies take shape, but in a manner that they hadn't expected. There was a shadow of a man in a uniform; however, there were two more shadows that did more than just shock the princesses. "It's father and mother. Why did it shape our parents?"

"I don't know, but it seems important. Is it trying to show us something?"

Then she remembered what had occurred earlier in the morning at that one moment in her bedroom. Was this connected? The princess was about to take off one of her gloves, but it didn't feel right. There was hesitation that she would terrify and possibly hurt her sister in this moment; however, these shadow people needed to be addressed.

"It's probably me, but I just noticed something," Anna commented, surprising her reluctant sister, "Anyone who touched the shadow said they felt a burning sensation… except you. I'd call it coincidence, yet, it's not."

"It's not," She admitted, "Something strange happened in my bedroom this morning and I'm not sure if this is related to it or not."

Her sister raised her eyebrows. "What happened?"

Fear of the consequences took over. "I…" There was no way she could start her sentence.

Another pair of footsteps had arrived in father's study as they looked to see Artyom walk in. "What happened while I was gone?"

Anna was taken aback by his arrival. "You're alright? Do you know what happened to you?"

He shook his head. "No, all of this is just as strange to me as it is to everyone else. Gerda seems terrified and Kai is worried… what's with the shadows?"

Elsa took one long look at him. "A shadow appeared when we brought you to your quarters. Then it came here and seems to show our parents and this stranger."

Artyom walked forward to see the shadows first-hand as he inspected the unknown. His eyes shot up and seemed to react in the same manner as the girls. "Weird, it seems like I know him, but I just can't explain for some apparent reason."

"You know him?" She wondered. "Is this part of your memories?"

"I don't know. There is something familiar, but also foreign in this room. It's not easy to describe this feeling in my head." He reached out to touch the shadow.

Then Anna noticed his action. "Wait, don't touch-"

The shadows animated to life as the trio of people were surprised by their awakened state. Then the shadow of the stranger had begun to speak out, but his foreign accent being enough to distinguish his different origins. "King Agnarr, Queen Iduna, I know this is happening on short notice, but is there a place where we can talk privately?"

Shadows forming the woman that was Elsa's mother had moved. "Yes, I know a place. Dear, can we show this to him?"

The man that was the girls' father had nodded approvingly. "Of course, he's proven that we can trust him."

"Okay, just don't tell this to anyone else." The queen walked up to the bookshelf and reached for a red book that was separated differently from the books of different colors. When she touched the book, the shadows ceased to exist as the dark energies flew into the shelf.

Elsa just could not believe what she was seeing. "Something important had happened here."

"A private place to talk?" Anna questioned, "What were they hiding?" She walked up to the bookshelf and reached for the red book second from the top shelf. As she tried to pull it, there were strange mechanical noises coming from behind the shelf as it slowly moved away from the group and slide away - revealing an opening inside. "Woah, mom and dad built a secret hideout."

"The thing is, just what were they hiding and what kind of conversation did they have."

The young man amongst them had stepped forward as he became the first to explore what was in this place. "Weird… can you two see what's inside?"

"Not really." Elsa replied, "It's too dark. Why do you ask?"

"It's… it's like my eyes are adjusted to this kind of darkness."

"Then what do you see?"

He leaned forward to take a closer look. "It looks like this place was storing ingredients of sorts, a bunch of other stuff, and there is a lot of books here."

"Are the shadows there?" The young woman wondered.

"No, they're gone. I don't know where they went." Whatever they were, it seemed to leave more questions about who their parents were and what were they doing.