Upon opening her eyes, Elsa, for the first time in her life, could confidently say she felt...cold. Not in the literal sense, her thin dress and exposed skin reflecting little of the temperature around her, the cold, stones of the dungeon bearing no warmth of their own as she came to.

That wasn't what she'd meant.

There was a freezing sense of disorientation that made her memory hazy, the deposed queen coming to a sit as the blanket that had been set upon her fell on her cot. She took a moment to get her bearings, eying the dark room carefully as she senses came back to her.

She could recall being in her palace, the guards, the chaos...Hans. There was a split second when the visage of the chandelier came rushing in, the grand ice artifact having been shot down, it fell...then...nothing. The rest was murky at best, and as far as she could tell, they wasted no time getting her back to Arendelle...the last place she wanted to be.

Then it clicked, her eyes snapping over to the window.

No.

No, she shouldn't be here. It couldn't be -

Despite having only just awakened, Elsa was quick to her feet, pushing off from the bed, and running towards her only visage of the outside; in fact, she was so consumed with this, she didn't even notice that her hands had been bound, contained in iron gauntlets that were chained the stone floor beneath her feet.

'What? Why am I - ' She didn't have to think too hard about why it was that she was restrained like this. She'd spent the better part of her life with her hands concealed, and for good reason: her powers were nothing something to be toyed with. Elsa could imagine that they didn't want her making a mess of the place whilst they waited for her to awaken, and the only way to make sure of that (at least, as far as she knew) was to keep her powers under control. In fact, she couldn't even say that she was even upset at them for doing this, honestly; she'd probably do the same if she were in their position, too.

But that wasn't what upset her.

Stepping over the chain, she repositioned her hands, allowing to step just a bit closer to the window and lean forward, craning her neck to face the panes that led out into the fjord. Where idle ships and still water once rested, cradled by dawning sunlight and warmth, her eyes only hailed misty flurries beyond the window. Ice and bitter cold filled the docking areas, frost tipping vessels and sails with prickling, frigid fingers, a far cry from the kind weather that had been just day prior. It occurred to her immediately that this...was her doing.

All of this was clearly happening because of her own powers.

"N-no...what have I done?" She whispered softly as she stumbled back from the window pane.

How could this be? She never intended for any of this to happen! She only wanted to be free, she only ever wanted to be left alone, so how?! How could her horrid influence spread this far, this quickly...this intensely? The queen couldn't even recall what she'd done to cause this, but what else could this be but the manifestation of her own powers? Somehow, someway, she'd brought the end of summer.

It wasn't long after this realization that a panic rose in her chest.

What if her being in Arendelle was making all of this worse? Did this start when she came back? Did she do this before she left?

The last few days had, admittedly, been a blur, though, she remarked to herself, she had enough faith in herself to believe that she would have noticed if she'd cursed the entirety of their home in the process. There was nothing that could lead her to believe that she would do this intentionally!

Never!

She loved her people, she would never want to do them harm -

'Even though they only really loved me because they don't know what I was...but now...' Her mind whispered back, cold words placed on her fears, her insecurities, she understood that, and as such, she pushed them to the wayside, vehemently ignoring them. Now was not the time for these sorts of thoughts, the queen chided herself as she turned her attention to her bindings, pulling against them as her apprehension grew...but that didn't make the thoughts stop. They'd locked up down here, hadn't they? Of course, by now, the entire kingdom must know about her...affliction, didn't they? Why else would she be down here but to spare her people the distress of seeing a monster like her?

Right?

But then...why bring her back? Why put the entire kingdom at stake if all of them believed that she was dangerous? Especially now, when her powers were at their strongest? Hell, she wasn't even sure these little cuffs would be enough to contain her, no, she was sure they wouldn't be; she could feel the crawling sensation of magic and need creeping through her veins as beads of ice and frost dazzled the edges of the her binding.

"No, no, no! Please...stop..." She whispered desperately, doing whatever she could to will it to halt its crawl along the metal cuffs, though its march seemed to be unabated. She couldn't afford to make more trouble than she already had; especially since this mess was all her doing from the start. She'd at least had time to figure out in the last few days that much of her power was tied to her emotions, though to be fair, that much should have been obvious to her. If she wanted it to stop, she figured, than she would have to be calm, the young woman uttered to herself as she tried her best to stop panicking, drawing in a shaky breath to easy her quaking heart.

Just as she had done when she was child.

"Breathe...just...b-breathe..." Elsa spoke to herself, closing her eyes and focusing solely, entirely, on her breathing, something, she could remember faintly, her mother and father helping her do all of those years ago. She could see them now, rubbing her back in small circles as a smaller her struggled to get a hold of her breathing. She gasped, pulling in another breath as the frost and ice began to slow, trickling to a hesitant stop only moments afterward, and it was a moment or two longer before she opened her eyes again, and she allowed herself the second or so of happiness that came with the success of control.

That wasn't a victory she got to have too often.

Despite this, there was still a sense of worry that couldn't be quelled, even in a moment such as this.

Arendelle was still in danger.

Her subjects were still in danger.

And her being here was only going to make this worse.

'I have to get someone, anyone!' She thought, eying the door and the dark beyond solemnly as she began to step towards it, but only when she was sure that she could keep her powers in check. Though she knew she wouldn't be able to to get all the way to the door, she knew, at the very least, her voice could carry forth into the hall from the door if she just shouted loudly enough...right? It helped that steel grating covered a window in the door, and an opening above it, too, allowing it to travel further than it would if it were all covered. Steeling herself, she breathed in, calling out as loudly as she could into the unknown.

"HELLO?! Please, is anyone there?! You have to let me go! You can't keep me here, I'm not supposed to - " In the middle of her words, she heard a shuffling, far off to the right of her cell, and for a moment, she felt surprised that someone had answer this soon. Usually, she figured, it would have taken longer to get the attention of someone else, especially at a time like this, but she thought it mighty convenient that someone's attention could have been captured so soon. However, she figured out rather quickly that the shuffling and noise wasn't coming from those going to her door...it was coming from guards going somewhere else. Despite her situation, Elsa couldn't help her interest int he commotion as there was quite a bit of it, too, as it sounded as though there were a few voices, maybe two, three, that she could pick out, but really, she wasn't sure. Regardless, she could hear something else, something that sounded like...dragging? As the guards were pulling someone along...but why now? They must have made an arrest, but of whom?

That, she couldn't guess.

But she found her thoughts interrupted when she could hear them speaking. Well, speaking was generous of her to think.

It was more akin to shouting as she could hear struggling, sounds akin to someone...trying to speak, but...sounding as if they couldn't? However, she had little issue making sense of the words of the guards, with one of them screaming at the presumed prisoner, clear as day, 'You're lucky we haven't slit your throat right here, right now, you fuckin' dog! Shut your goddamn mouth before we make you!".

This was only met with more groaning, the voice, a young man's as far as she could tell, sounding as if he were trying to say something, but they didn't seem to give him the time of day.

"We said shut the hell up!" And with that, she heard something hit another, flesh muffled by glove, and someone crumpling to the ground with a crude thud as the groaning became louder, as if someone were in...pain. What were they doing? Why were they treating him like that? She almost felt herself call out to them, to tell them to stop, anything, really, but something in her gut, a sort of inclination, told her to remain silent as she heard shuffling, presumably them pulling him from the ground, it seemed. Stilling her breathing, she could still hear them speaking amongst themselves, this time quieter as one of them, as far as she could tell from the jingling of keys, motioned to open the cell door beside hers.

"You know, we probably have a few minutes, yeah? Figured we could blow off some steam, teach this stinking mutt a lesson. I'm sure Prince Hans wouldn't mind too much if we're quick about this." A deep voice remarked, chuckling as the door opened and the dragging sound continued.

"You know what? I think that's a good idea, what do you say, dog? Think you could entertain up a bit before we head back up? Figured you could use it, you fuckin' animal." The other mused, receiving no response but a small whimper from the young man, Elsa's own hearth thrumming wildly in her chest as she heard the door slam shut. Despite this, she didn't move, breath hitching when she heard the first hit land, the young man seemingly struggling against it as a hoarse voice echoed weakly through the chamber.

The two seemed to continue their onslaught for what felt like minutes, each taking their turn to beat into the prisoner without stopping for even a breath. She could hardly believe it, even as she heard it; surely these weren't her guards, was it? They would never brutalize someone like this, criminal or not, would they? This wasn't what they believed in, this wasn't...just...none of this was what their values believed in! Yet...there they were, beating a man senseless in the cell right beside her own.

This was wrong.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Backing away from the door, she tried to block out the noise, the crying, the hoarse cries that were too weak to be screams. Part of her wondered if they would ever stop...and thankfully, they would...though she wasn't sure how much time had passed. Minutes, hours; however long it had been, she only really tuned back in when she heard the door open up again, the two guards speaking amongst themselves once more.

"Now, we were supposed to get to the...west line, right? Over the fjord, I think?" The same, deep-voiced guard remarked, taking the set of keys and locking the door back as it was slammed shut. Something in their candidness, their...nonchalance...after having brutally beaten a man disturbed her, but with that, she couldn't help her piqued interest.

The West Line? What was happening there? Why were they coming...in this direction, she asked herself, eying the fjord outside of her window.

Was something...supposed to be happening out there?

She wouldn't get the chance to really think about this for too long. A bit of time would pass before she heard footsteps again, a single pair as they, again, came from the right end of the dungeons where, she assumed, the entrance would be. She'd never really been here too many times since her coronation, not that that was entirely an accident. Elsa had made it her business to never come down here unless she really, really had to, so, of course, she didn't really know the layout too well.

Not that it bothered too much that she didn't.

Again, the footsteps didn't come to her door...at least, not at first. Whoever it was this time made certain to stop at the same cell as the guards had come from before, where that prisoner had been placed and left. That same jingle of keys, the door opened again, and closed just as quickly.

In the back of her mind, she was afraid that she'd hear them begin again, hear them beat the young man as they had before...but this time, that didn't happen. No, there was only, as far as she could tell, motionless silence, the passing minutes painful, terrible, with suspense she couldn't resolve.

What was happening this time?

She couldn't tell.

What was happening this time?

She couldn't tell.

But she could hear something. Something...like a struggle, but...it was different this time. She couldn't tell how, but...there was a strange shuffling, and odd silence as she tried to listen for anything distinguishing that she could point out.

Then she heard it.

An impact, as if someone were being hit again, and her stomach twisted knowing that this person, whoever they were, would suffer at another's hands whilst she could only listen, and though in her mind, she considered her hands, the frost and sheer power that rested within them, she knew that wasn't what was best, even when her heart ached at the sounds of pain just a short distance away.

Their groans.

Their cries.

It made her sick to listen to.

But then it stopped, if just for a moment as the shuffling began again, and she found herself confused as something new parted the air, a slick, textured sound that almost made her double back with confusion.

It was like...someone was...gagging?

No, no, it sound like...choking?

Doing what she could to strain her ears to hear what she could, to make sense of the strange sounds when she could just pick it up. Someone was...grunting? She could hardly hear it, it was easy enough to miss, but...what was that? What was going on?

She...she didn't like this.

She...didn't like this at all. Something about this felt...wrong.

And it disturbed her, knowing that it was happening right next door to her, yet all the same, she couldn't tell.

And that scared her more.

'Just what happened while I was out...this...Arendelle isn't what I remember it to be. Something strange, something...unnatural is happening...I don't...I don't understand...-' Elsa froze.

She wouldn't get to find out, either. Just as quickly as they'd come, the door opened again, it was shut, and the keys locked the door. Like clockwork, it seemed.

Whilst the other times, the footsteps would retreat back the way that they came, this time? They walked towards her own door, and just as they had with the other door, the keys jingled in the hands of the holder, slipping quietly into the lock and turning, unlocking her cell. In a sense, the queen felt herself brace for the same treatment that other prisoner had received, and though she knew she was almost entirely defenseless without her hands, she figured she would have to try something at least, standing defensively against her intruder as she prepared for the worst.

However, the face that appeared on the other side, his gentle, knowing expression, sent shivers of surprise down her back.

"Hans?" She spoke softly, some strange mixture of relief and uncertainty laced in her voice.

The young man smiled, setting the lantern in-hand down on the stone bench beside the door.

"Hello, Queen Elsa." And the door was shut behind him