(This chapter has been revised on 6/25/2024)

Nightmares & Bad Memories

Meanwhile...

The blizzard raged throughout the kingdom of Arendelle. The streets lay deserted, as many had taken shelter from the storm in their homes. The castle's inhabitants were no different, though the cold was the last thing on everyone's minds within the castle walls.

Many were still worried about Princess Anna's current well-being. They all hoped for the princess's safe return. However, given the circumstances, few were starting to doubt that she was still alive. They can't know for sure until the raging blizzard clears.

Idun was in the dining hall eating the food on her plate. Kristoff was at the same table with her. Knowing his living habits, Idun and her husband were kind enough to give the young man and his reindeer shelter from the storm. It was the least they could do since he was helping with the search for Anna and was her best friend. It would've been cruel to leave him to fend for himself in the blizzard.

No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't eat much off their plates. They both ate rather slowly since their mind was still on Anna.

Kai entered the room. "Your majesty."

"Yes, Kai?" Idun responded.

"Your husband wanted me to inform you that he won't be able to attend dinner. He's rather...busy in his study at the moment."

It was the words Idun didn't want to hear.

"Have someone bring some food to him at least. I don't want him to go hungry."

Kai lightly bowed his head. "Of course, your majesty."

The servant left the dining hall, and Idun returned to her thoughts. Her worry for her husband grew as she recognized the signs. She had seen this kind of behavior before.

"He's shutting everyone out and refusing to eat. Just like before, after Elsa..."

Even though it's been years, Elsa's disappearance is still a sensitive subject, especially for those close to her. But no one had been affected as Agdar was. Agdar loved his family very much. So much that Idun firmly believed that he loved them more than his own life. He and Elsa had a close relationship. Even before Elsa was born, Agdar had already adored her. He spent every moment he could bringing Elsa all his attention and doting her with his love. They had an unbreakable bond. When Elsa had been stolen, it had changed him. It only got worse when he had to call off the searches.

15 years ago...(April 1821)

Idun walked through the halls. The sun outside blocked the clouds, leaving a gloomy sky that perfectly reflected the mood. It had been about two months since Elsa was taken, but it felt like yesterday. She had not seen her husband today, which worried her. Just yesterday, he made the difficult choice to end the searches since they were going nowhere. No one had seen him since.

When she arrived at the door leading to Agdar's study, she felt a kick in her pregnant stomach. She placed one hand on it and gently rubbed it, using the other to knock on the door.

"Agdar?" There was no response. "Please, I know you're in there. People are asking how you've been."

No response.

"You're distraught, and I am too. I'm right out here for you. Just let me in."

Still no response, Idun leaned on the door on her side.

"We're not going through this alone. Not just you and me." She rubbed her stomach. "What are we gonna do?"

There was still no response. Idun slid down to the floor. She decided to try one more thing to get him to come out.

"Do you wanna pick baby names?"

The continuing silence had finally made her slightly break down. She knew saying something like that was dire, but Idun didn't know what else to do.

On the other side of the door, Agdar sat with his back against it in an almost catatonic state. Dried tears stained his cheeks. He listened to his wife's pleas but could not find the strength to respond. In his hands, he clutched a stuffed doll that resembled a puffin. The king brought the toy close to his chest, lowering his head as he let out quiet sobs.

All the while, his wife remains shut out on the other side.

"Queen Idun?" Kristoff's voice snapped Idun out of her thoughts. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I am," She answered in total confidence. "And Kristoff, I've told you before that you don't have to refer to me and my husband by our title in private. You are my daughter's friend, after all."

"Right, sorry. Anyways, are you sure you're fine? You look…unsettled after Kai left."

"I'm just worried for Anna."

"And Agdar as well."

"I should've listened to Sven and gone with her," Kristoff expressed regretfully.

"This is not your fault. You had no way of knowing what would've happened." Idun said to him in a comforting tone. "What we can do is think about what happens next."

"Do you think she's okay?"

For a moment, Idun didn't speak.

"I do hope so. But we can't be certain until the storm clears up."

Kristoff seemed to agree, and they both resumed eating. As they did, Idun wandered in her thoughts about Kristoff's words. The past 15 years have taught her to not let her hopes rise up and to always be prepared for any possible outcomes in any type of situation. But like any mother, she wanted her baby girl to be okay and return safely.

Agdar, on the other hand, would no doubt not stop unless he had concrete proof that Anna was dead. Idun knew very well how stubborn and feisty he could be. Anna tended to be the same. Contrary to what some may think, Anna was like her father in some ways. Stubborn & hardheaded, but also determined & passionate. She could only hope those traits would help Anna get through this storm.

All she can do for now is wait and hope for the best.

Darkness…

It was the only thing Agdar could see. He walked around, hoping to see something. When nothing still didn't turn up, he decided to call out.

"Hello?" Only silence had responded. He decided to try again. "Anyone there?"

"Papa?" Came the voice of a young girl who sounded afraid. One that Agdar recognized.

"Elsa?"

"Papa, where are you?"

"Hold on, I'm coming!"

And so Agdar ran in the direction of Elsa's voice. He kept running and running. Then, he stopped. In front of him was a 3-year-old Elsa. Fear was written all over the young girl's eyes.

"Papa?" Elsa looked at her father with tears pouring down her cheeks. "I'm scared..."

"It's okay, Snowflake. I'm here now," Agdar knelt to her level.

"Don't go away, please."

"I'm not going anywhere." Agdar stroked her cheek. "Everything is okay now."

Agdar then wrapped his arms around Elsa. She vanished into thin air when he tried to pull her into a hug.

"Elsa?!" Desperation & terror overfilled him as he frantically looked around. "No. No! NO!"

"Tell me. How does it feel?" A dark feminine voice spat, speaking with venom that sounded familiar.

"Who's there?" Agdar called out.

"How does it feel to be responsible for the loss of your child once again?"

"What do you m-?"

"You failed her. Just like you failed Elsa. It's because of you that she's gone." The voice sounded closer, but Agdar couldn't see anyone.

"No! What happened to Elsa wasn't my fault!"

"What about Anna?" The voice was brought up. Agdar grew silent. "Ah, yes. Poor sweet Anna is lost out there. Probably most likely dead, just a few months before turning 15. True, she should've listened to your warnings. Then again...she only went to the woods because of you."

Footsteps then echoed. Agdar had no idea which direction they came from.

"You drove her into those woods. You put pressure on her, and now she's gone too. You call yourself a good king, yet you can't protect your daughters. Anna was your second chance, and you blew it. How many more children must you lose due to your carelessness?!"

The footsteps got closer until they finally stopped. Agdar turned around. What he saw was genuinely horrifying.

It was a teenage girl, but her appearance frightened Agdar. Her left side had her dress torn up, and her body was covered with cuts, huge gash marks, and savage wolf bites. Her left braid was messy, and her face had a claw mark on her eye, leaving her pupil colorless. The right side of her body was different. Everything else looked perfectly normal—except for the fact that her entire right side was made of ice.

Agdar couldn't move. He cannot look away from the half-mauled, half-ice girl. He was further horrified once he realized who the girl was supposed to be.

"Anna?!" Agdar muttered, wholly speechless & terrified.

"This is your fault," 'Anna' said in her left hand, holding a sharp-looking object. She started walking towards him.

"No."

"You did this to me." 'Anna' kept walking.

"No…" Agdar attempted to move, but he couldn't.

"You failed me, just like you failed Elsa." Anna lifted up the sharp object. Agdar could see it was an icicle in her hand.

"Anna. Please, no."

"Shut up and admit it!" 'Anna' grabbed him roughly. "Your daughters are gone! Because of YOU!" That was the last thing she had said before she shoved the icicle into his heart.

"ANNA!"

Agdar bolted up, clutching his chest. He breathed heavily and was covered with cold sweat. For a moment, he sat still in confusion as he looked around. He was sitting at his desk in his study. That, along with some drool he felt on his face and a small puddle on his desk, was enough to realize that everything he was was just a dream, and he took a breath of relief. He most likely had dozed off while looking over the map on his desk. On it were locations where he had planned to look for Anna, while others had been crossed out.

A knock on his door snapped him out of his daze.

"King Agdar?" A voice echoed from the other side.

"It's open." Agdar quickly wiped the drool off his face with a handkerchief.

Gerda entered the room, holding a tray with some food. She gave the king a concerned gaze.

"Are you alright, Your Majesty?" Gerda asked. "I thought I heard a shout coming from in here."

"It's nothing, Gerda. I'm alright," Agdar lied. "What brings you here?"

"Your wife was concerned that you would go hungry, so she wanted some food sent here."

"Of course she did. God bless that woman," Agdar thought.

"Give her my thanks, please."

"Will do. Anything else I could do for you while I'm here?"

"No. Thank you, Gerda."

Gerda was unconvinced, though she did not show it. Nonetheless, she respected Agdar's wishes and left. Once again, Agdar was alone. He glanced over at the food on his tray. There were a couple of small sandwiches. It's one of his favorites, next to chocolate. Yet he managed to barely get a nibble.

His thoughts were on his terrifying nightmare. Agdar was, unfortunately, no stranger to nightmares. They were common during the first few months after Elsa's disappearance. He remembers waking up in the middle of the night, practically screaming Elsa's name. Over time, they dwindled down, and he would get them only occasionally. Most of which were the same.

This nightmare was different. It had started like his usual ones: With him looking for Elsa, only for her to disappear again. The other half made it completely different. Seeing Anna's half-mauled and half-ice-covered form was truly haunting. That image will undoubtedly stick with him for a good while.

Though it was just a dream, it felt all too real. Agdar can still remember the words that had stung. Almost every one of them. One sentence had stuck with him the most.

You failed me. Just like you failed Elsa.

Elsa…

Even though it had been a decade and a half, it still felt like yesterday when his eldest daughter had been stolen. Agdar would've lied to himself if he said he didn't blame himself. Despite everyone he knew saying Elsa's disappearance wasn't his fault, even when Agdar knew that very much, part of him never really stopped believing it.

Hearing Anna in the dream say that he had failed her and Elsa had just broken his heart hurt even more. Agdar had not told Anna about her lost sister. As Anna got older, Agdar kept holding back, believing that she wasn't ready to know. Now, she may never know.

And it was all his fault.

Gerda had been walking in the halls back to the servants' quarters. It was eerily quiet in the castle halls. 15 years prior, the same type of silence had plagued these halls. Gerda certainly hoped that it would never come back. As she walked, she saw her husband, Kai, who immediately noticed her.

"Hello Gerda," Kai greeted.

"Hello dear," She gave a quick peck on Kai's cheek. "I just delivered the food to the king."

"How is he doing?"

"Insisted that he was fine, but we know how poor of a liar he is."

"How bad?"

"He had bags underneath his eyes. And judging by the drool puddle he left on his desk, I think he had dozed off before I came in."

"Well, our king does have a terrible drooling habit whenever he sleeps."

Gerda couldn't help but chuckle at Kai's remark. Given how the past two days had been, some humor didn't hurt. Her face twists back to a frown.

"I'm worried about him, Kai. I haven't seen Agdar like this since...you know." Gerda let out a pause. "I still remember how he was after the search for Elsa was called off."

Kai didn't need to be clarified about what his wife meant.

The longtime servants were very fond of the lost princess. They had even seen her as a daughter they never had, especially since they could not have their own children. Come the day Elsa was taken, Kai & Gerda were just about as heartbroken as Agdar & Idun were. They could not imagine the pain of losing a child like that. When the search for Elsa was called off, things had only gotten from bad to worse.

They remembered Agdar had started behaving differently. He refused to leave his study except for meals, meetings, and sleeping. He practically shut himself out from the world. When he was out, it was different.

He became somewhat short-tempered and a little impatient. The couple would remember moments when Agdar would slightly lash out at others for small things. It wasn't anything cruel, and he would always apologize soon afterward. As the days went on, he seemed to become angrier. Seeing a kind man like Agdar going down that path truly frightened them.

Yet, they couldn't blame him. While Agdar was a man of high status, he was still human—not just a human but a father who was angry and hurting.

Then came a day that would forever haunt those close to the king, even Agdar himself. It was dubbed as 'The Incident'. It was the dark memory that Kai & Gerda would rather not revisit.

Kai wanted to assure her that everything would be fine, that Agdar wouldn't allow himself to go down that dark path again. Yet, he couldn't. He was afraid of the aftermath, especially if things didn't turn out well. Anna's birth was all it took to bring back the man the servants knew before Elsa's disappearance. Her death could bring back the person they feared. And this time, Agdar may never come back.

So here we get an insight on how Elsa's kidnapping had affected those close to her. I'm no parent but I can very well guess that losing child is a pain that is unimaginable. Its more likely worse when said child is taken, with the parents having no idea what fate their child had met.

I figure a nightmare sequence was inevitable for this story (Just in time for Halloween :P). Who better have it than Agdar himself. Hope I didn't made his dream too scary for you guys. Anyways, I always figure that he and Elsa were very close. The movie implied that Elsa was somewhat of a daddy's girl (Aww!). So Agdar took Elsa's disappearance REALLY hard. (I'm really making the poor guy suffer a lot through this fic, aren't I?).

I would also like to say that I suck at writing songs (nonetheless making parodies of them) but I really wanted to add it. I do hope you like this fics version of the final verse of 'Do Wanna Build a Snowman' though (whether Idun was singing or not is up to you). You guys are welcome to suggest better versions for this fic if you want. Maybe other songs as well.

Originally the chapter was suppose to end with Agdar, but I realized Kai & Gerda had barely appeared in this story. So I decided finish the chapter with them.

Thank you for the favs, follows, and reviews. Happy reading.