(Hello! This is a story I wrote over the course of a few months, late at night after long days at work. It kept me happy and sane, but I know there are probably tons of errors and stupid things in it. Please ignore those! This is the first story I've completed in a while, and I'll be uploading a chapter every few days or so! Please leave reviews if you like it! Thank you for reading =] )

The Queen of Arendelle looked up at the clear, summer sky and smiled at the sun. She was know for her ice, for the winter, and though her magic was certainly easiest to associate with the coldest of seasons, she had a fond spot for the warm weather, as well. Maybe because he knew her magic was not limited, even in the sunlight: nothing could melt if she was there to keep it from doing so. Her creations were made of ice, and they shimmered like beautiful crystals, orange, red and purple as the sun moved across the sky.

Elsa was wearing a light orange dress, short and cut to fit her angular, small frame perfectly. She was a beautiful creature, with her silky white skin and piercing, icy eyes. Her hair was the lightest of blond, and the light color of her dress was perfectly complimented by her light features, and she bore a kind of ethereal, regal air about her. She held her hands in front of her, hands folded together and resting against her body, a light shawl draped behind her back, over her arms at the elbows. She smiled pleasantly as a young girl came up to her and bashfully said hello, nodding her head and making light conversation with the little girl until she was taken away by her parent with bashful apologies and deep, respectful bows.

Anna, the Princess of Arendelle, came up behind her sister and elbowed her lightly. She grinned broadly, having witnessed the little exchange. Her sister thought she was being composed and kind, and while the latter part was true, the former was anything but. Anna had seen the tension in her body, the small grimaces, the confusion and the fear of doing anything wrong. Elsa was far too nervous around kids.

"You need to relax," Anna said teasingly, and Elsa wrinkled her nose. "They're just kids! That little girl just wanted to meet the Queen."

"I was nice to her," Elsa said, looking a little worried, though she knew her sister was just giving her a hard time.

"Remember when we were kids? You just have to keep a little of that with you. You don't have to be the adult, not all the time, with them. You need to have a bit more fun. Actually, that's probably a good note for you, you know. For all the time. Loosen up!"

Elsa sighed, though she supposed Anna had some small semblance of a point. The Queen took her role very seriously these days, and she did not want to hurt her reputation any more than she had on her coronation. It had all been one very large mistake that had spiraled out of control, but she carried the guilt of it even now. She did not forgive herself, not really, for running away from her problems, and for putting Anna in danger. She had let her fear get the better of her, and now knew better than to give in to it, than to let it control her as she told herself she was controlling it. Living in hiding, locking her fears away, had nearly undone her Kingdom and killed her sister. She was finding balance now, but she felt as though she had still not fully earned back the trust of her people, or her family, no matter how many times they reassured her that they were happy, and that she was doing a good job.

It motivated her to continue being the best monarch as she knew how, following in the footsteps of her beloved Father and Mother, lost to Arendelle for too soon in a tragic shipwreck. They had been the most well respected and loved rulers the Kingdom had seen in ages, and Elsa did not think she was yet able to fill the holes they left behind. She was trying, but she was only one person.

With magical ice powers, but they were not really that useful when it came to the day to day life of a Queen.

"I'll try," Elsa said at length, with a put upon sigh. She glanced at her sister, who was making a face at her, holding her breath and puffing out her cheeks. It was the face she usually made when she was trying too hard not to say something painfully sarcastic. Elsa squinted at her. "You could do with having a little less fun, you know."

"Well maybe if I ever have to be Queen, I'll keep that in mind," Anna winked at her sister and gave Elsa a playful shove, before bouncing off and away from her. She waved to someone across the way, and Elsa followed where her sister's gaze was leading to spot Kristoff, Anna's boyfriend. The love of her life, as she often said, but Anna had a way of letting her love get ahead of her. Her feelings were wild, and she was very free with giving them. That had gotten her into trouble once before, and though Elsa knew that Kristoff was honest and his love was true, and one day they would be married. But that would be one day: Elsa was in no hurry to give them her blessing.

She'd learned her lesson from the last one.

Elsa shook her head and turned, moving from the plaza. There was an open market in full swing today, and everyone was out in the sun to enjoy it. The Queen and Princess made regular appearances in town for gatherings like this, and it helped them maintain a close relationship with the people of their Kingdom. As Elsa walked from the plaza, people smiled and waved at her, bowing their heads respectfully and wishing the Queen a good day. She smiled and nodded back, but something inside her stirred. She was feeling listless now, something having set her off kilter. Maybe Anna's bubbly enthusiasm, or her pointing out how awkward she was with kids.

No, Elsa knew it was something else. A loneliness she did not like to think about. A small jealousy she did not want to admit to. She moved away from the happy scenes, the couples out on a date in the sunshine, the families shopping for presents and surprises, to be alone. Sometimes, it was just easier for her to find a quiet place to clear her head and master her emotions. She crossed one of the grand bridges, into the forests just beyond the Kingdom.

It was not wise for royalty to wander alone, and not too far from the Kingdom, and she bore that in mind. She found a small clearing near enough to the road for her to not forget where it was. Sighing, she took a deep breath and turned her face up toward the sky, eyes closed, feeling the warmth of the sun as it shimmered down on her. Opening her eyes, she lifted her hands and called a sheet of snow over the ground, painting the trees with hanging icicles. She crafted each one with smooth sides, like crystals, and watched the way the light reflected off and through them, dancing on the snow. There was a soft wind that made the colors dance, and Elsa smiled as she watched it.

Using her powers used to be a curse. She was scared of herself, of what she could do to people if she was not careful. All her young life was spent hiding her powers away, even being ashamed of them. What sort of a Queen was meant to rule over both people and ice? Who would want a sorceress as their ruler? And how could she control the lives of hundreds, when she could not even control her own magic? She had feared the throne, as much as she had feared her abilities. Now, however, she used her skills to calm herself, to practice control and to simply feel more at one with who she was.

She did not have to hide any more. Even if she still, more often than not, found herself alone.

"Still bringing winter where it doesn't belong, I see."

The voice startled her from her peaceful musings, her heart leaping into her throat as she turned suddenly to see the source. He was standing just where her blanket of snow ended, not stepping in the white powder, and for that not alerting her to his presence before he spoke. She was connected to her magic in many ways, and he seemed to understand that, watching her with his cool, smarmy grin, his eyes wicked and his contempt for her more than obvious.

Hans, thirteenth son of the Southern Isles, hated Arendelle and its sister royalty with everything he was. They had ruined his life, they had sent him back to his Kingdom shamed and the subject of ridicule once he returned to his own country. His brothers tormented him relentlessly about his failure, about his efforts to take over another Kingdom. His father hated him, disowned him, for his treason and the damage he caused between the diplomatic relationship between the two Kingdoms. He was stripped of his title and banished from his own home, a villain in the lands of his youth, in the eyes of his family. He was not allowed to be where his heart yearned, and his wandering had brought him here. Once a Prince, now a bandit. It was disgraceful, and he hated every moment of his new existence.

And he blamed it all on Anna and Elsa.

"What are you doing here?" Elsa breathed, her voice catching in her throat. Hans had very nearly destroyed her life. His efforts to use Anna, to take the throne from her by tricking her into marriage, had been terrible enough. But he used Elsa's fears, her powers, against her, and almost made her kill her own sister. Not to mention the fact that he had tried to murder the Queen himself. He was a monster, who had no heart and had not felt any guilt in his quest for a throne.

She had almost lost everything to him. Sending him away seemed like the answer, as she had hoped the King of the Southern Isles would have taken care of him there. Sealed him away, or at least made sure he never returned to Arendelle. Instead, Hans was standing here now, sneering as if he knew something she did not, holding some invisible power over her. He was cocky, and she did not mistake the dangerous glint in his eyes as he looked her over.

"You know, I never stopped to admire how beautiful you are, Elsa. Your sister is pretty, don't get me wrong, and was very fun to be around. But you? Your beauty is unmatched. That color suits you."

Elsa felt her skin crawl with his compliments, and she held her hands in front of her protectively.

"What are you doing here? You are not welcome in Arendelle. You should be imprisoned for daring to show your face in these lands."

Hans pouted at her, shaking his head slowly and waving his hand dismissively. The ice at his feet melted away with his gesture, and he stepped forward onto the grass it revealed. Elsa's eyes widened in surprise, and she took an instinctive step backwards as a result, short spires of ice raising out of the ground in front of her, jagged and twisted. Hans glanced at the ice and chuckled, shaking his head.

"I understand you better now, Ice Queen. I've spent a lot of time, in fact, learning about you. About your magic. You are such a scared little girl, I can see it in your eyes. You don't have to be afraid of me, Elsa. I'm not here for your Kingdom."

He motioned with his hand again, more forcefully than before, and more of the snow on the ground melted away, revealing a foot or two of green grass. He moved forward over it, stopping once again when he came to the line of snow. They were only a few feet apart now, and Elsa backed up again, shaking her head slowly.

"I don't know what you've done," she said slowly, trying to master her emotions but fear creeping into her voice as she spoke, making it tremble, "but you've made a mistake in coming here." She felt her back meet a tree and she jumped at the contact, immediately feeling trapped. Jagged ice rose out of the ground, twisting around her, creating a dangerous, spiny shield between her and the exiled Prince. She took a breath, looking at the nice, not having put thought into the construction, but feeling safer for it. She could see through the ice, as clear as crystals, and she watched as he stared at her, his eyes burning. There was something strange in them, she realized now. Something unnatural. "Hans..." she said slowly, her voice barely above a whisper, her body shuddering, "what have you done?"

Hans grinned at her then, his expression terrible and lacking anything close to human warmth. There was no compassion, no joy: nothing that seemed to reflect any kind of a soul in his face. He lifted his hand with an easy shrug.

"Let me show you," he said, with a calm air that pierced Elsa and made her blood run cold. That was a strange sensation. Though she was known as the Snow Queen, she could not feel the cold. She was a gentle and warm creature, and only through fear did she understand what ice could really feel like.

Her gaze focused on his hand as he lifted it, as if he were moving at a fraction of the normal speed of the world. Small sparks shimmered around his palm, which was flat and facing toward her, then a deep orange flame curled through the air, thin like a serpent and moving like oil. It curled around his hand without leaving any marks, and he showed no sign of pain. With a hiss, it leapt forward and slammed into the ice barrier, blazing heat bursting through the shield as it shattered like glass. Elsa let out a short scream as it rushed in toward her, slamming her back against the tree. Her head bashed back with the jolt, fire blazing by her, curling around her body and vanishing behind her. The tree did not catch it, standing with no burns as Elsa fell away from it, crumpling to the grass.

She saw her own blood spreading away from her, and felt it running warm down her smooth skin, seeping into the light fabric of her summery dress. Her arms throbbed from the burn of the fire, and she could not move as she heard Hans' footsteps drawing nearer to her. He kneeled beside her, bending to put himself in her dimming line of sight, and her scared gaze shifted up to his face as he smiled at her. He reached out and caressed her cheek. His touch was hot and she flinched, whimpering softly.

"I'm going to show you everything," he said quietly, as Elsa felt her tenuous grip on consciousness finally slipping. The pain in her body was too much, and she closed her eyes despite her best efforts to fight against the urge. Darkness took her shortly after, the world growing quiet, and the fear, at least, leaving her for now. Until she woke up.