AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing! Sorry it took me almost a year to continue this – grad school and Star Wars fics delayed it.

"Beware the Frozen Heart"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 3

Eight years later.

"Okay kids, bedtime."

"Aw Moooom," Kris groaned in the exaggerated way kids groaned at bedtime, his lips pouting as he threw down the jacks ball and it went bouncing across the floor. "Can't we go skating first?"

"We can go skating tomorrow," said Anna.

"Promise?" Elsie asked, making her blue eyes as round as she could.

"Yes, promise – but only if you get ready for bed right now."

The twins immediately leapt to their feet and went running upstairs, leaving their parents to laugh after them. As Anna gazed after them, she felt her husband's hand on her shoulder. She looked over to see Kristoff grinning at her. "It's your turn to tell their story, sweetheart," he said.

Anna gave an awkward grin. "So, my turn to make up something on the spot and hope it's good enough?"

"Yup."

"It would be nice if they still liked to be read to." She poked her husband's shoulder. "I blame you for that."

"Hey, I got tired of reading The Princess and the Pea all the time and decided to spice it up a bit. It's not my fault they liked it so much!"

Anna giggled as she followed the children up the stairs to their room.

. . .

"Elsie, look! I just learned a new trick!"

Anna entered the twins' bedroom just in time to see Kris waving his hands in front of Elsie's face, creating streaks of ice in the air as Elsie giggled.

"I wish I had powers like yours," Elsie was saying, making a sudden chill run down Anna's spine. Kris was eight – the same age Elsa was when their parents shut her away. What happened back then? Anna didn't remember anything being wrong – it was just one day they were a normal family and the next day Elsa moved out of their shared room and stopped playing with her.

What could have happened?

And would the same thing happen to Kris?

Anna shook her head as if trying to deny that notion. Kris was happy. Nothing was going to happen, and even if it did, they could handle it.

Right?

Anna cleared her throat. "All right, who's ready for a story?"

"Can you tell us about our aunt?" Elsie asked in an earnest voice, the kind of child intonation that wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Yeah," said Kris. "Could she do the trick I just did?"

Anna took a deep breath as she gestured for the twins to sit on Elsie's bed. "I'm sure she could. She could certainly do a lot of other stuff."

"I wish we could meet her," said Elsie as she leapt onto the bed.

Anna tried not to think about the last time she saw her sister, but the image of Elsa disappearing forever into the snow insisted on overtaking her mind. "I do too, sweetheart."

"Why did she leave?" Kris asked as he settled himself next to his sister.

"You know why," said Anna, trying to ignore the twist in her stomach. "She thought it was the only way to stop the eternal winter."

"But we've still got snow," Kris persisted.

"Yes, but it was much worse before. At least now we can survive." Survive like animals hunting for food, she secretly thought.

Kris looked down at his hand, where a few snowflakes appeared as he wiggled his fingers. "Do you think I could make a big winter like that too?"

Anna did her best to ignore the tightening of her muscles with little success. "I don't know why you would want to." She attempted to keep her voice lighthearted while her mind was panicking. Why would he ask something like that?

Kris shrugged, waving his hand around and blowing the snowflakes around with it. "Well, no, I don't want to, but that's something I don't get about Aunt Elsa. Why didn't she see how neat these powers are?"

Anna took a deep breath. "Her powers scared her. She worried that she's hurt someone with them." What else could she say? If she emphasized Elsa's fear of her powers too much, that might make Kris scared of his own powers.

Kris tossed up a handful of snow that hovered in the air. "Well I'm not scared."

Anna wasn't sure whether to be relieved or frightened.

. . .

"Kris?" Elsie asked after their mother had left and the room was dark.

"Yeah?" Kris whispered back.

"I wish I had powers like yours and Aunt Elsa's."

There was a moment of awkward silence after that as the boy pondered what to say. "Well . . . it's just how things worked out. I was born with the powers and you weren't."

"I know, I know." Elsie rolled over to face her brother's bed. "Do you think you'd ever get scared of your powers like Aunt Elsa was?"

"No," Kris said almost instantly. "I like having powers."

"But what if you hurt someone like how Aunt Elsa hurt Mom?"

"I wouldn't."

"How do you know?"

Kris shot up to a sitting position. "Look, I could fill this whole room with ice and you wouldn't get hurt!"

"Really?" Elsie raised her eyebrow as she sat up as well. "Prove it!"

Kris gave a wide grin, his eyebrows waggling in excitement for the challenge. "Okay, I will!"

. . .

"MOOOOOOOOMMMMM!"

Anna and Kristoff rushed into the twins' bedroom as soon as they heard the horrible scream from their daughter. "Elsie!" Kristoff shouted. "Elsie, are you all right?"

The children were on the floor sitting in a patch of ice, Kris sobbing and mumbling that he was sorry and Elsie gripping her left arm. "What happened?" Anna shouted, diving to the floor and wrapping both her children in her arms, ignoring the ice. "Come on you two, tell me what happened!"

"I-I . . ." Kris sputtered between sobs, ". . . sh-she wanted me to fill the room with ice and . . ."

"What?" Kristoff shouted, sliding down onto the ice next to them. "Kris, what happened?"

Kris responded only in more sobs and Elsie whimpered in pain, still gripping her arm. "Sweetheart, sweetheart," said Anna, stroking her daughter's hair. "please, let me see your arm."

The girl was shaking in her mother's arms as she slowly stuck out her arm.

Which was turning icy blue.

Kristoff screamed, Anna gasped, and Kris reached out to his sister. "Elsie," he sobbed. "Elsie, Elsie, I'm so sorry." He grabbed hold of her frozen pinky finger.

The finger snapped off.