Chapter One: The Awakening

"Hey!" A male's voice that she could not recognize flooded through her cloudy ears, slurred, crushing the almost eternal sleep Elsa had been in and ruined the good dreams that had finally come after all the years of fear and sleepless nights.

"Natsu, shut up!" A female, or more like a whining little girl, shouted. Elsa wanted to curse whoever these people were. They were too loud and their bickering caused her mental pain.

"But I want to know-"

"SHH!"

"Who's being loud now!?"

The voices went back and forth. One male, one female, their words slightly blurred by the pounding that racked through Elsa's head. They made her head hurt even more than it did already. Elsa tried to open her mouth to ask them to be quiet while she slept (nicely of course, she was the queen, ex-queen, of Arendelle), but her mind wandered to another subject, very important one in fact.

Where was she? All she could remember was Hans standing over her with his sword drawn; bringing his sword down to clear her neck of her head, feeling the cold kiss of the metal on her skin was colder than ice ever was. Was she dead now?

And Anna…

A tear froze at the edge of her eye, spreading like a small snowflake before flaking away when a small breeze brushed her face.

Was Anna truly dead, frozen by Elsa's own magic when Elsa hit her heart with ice? Was she really gone? Did Hans speak the truth before he killed her? The breeze in her mysterious place picked up slightly, ruffling her hair.

Was Elsa finally dead, at peace from her own magic, killed by the sword of Prince Hans of the Southern Isles? Was she finally free from everything?

Elsa wanted to ask the mysterious voices about her sister, but her throat was so dry and clammy that no sound came out. Only strange mouth movements while she struggled to open her eyes.

"Look! She's trying to say something!" the male commented.

"We know! Shut up Natsu!" the high and slightly obnoxious girl voiced again.

"Both of you! Quiet!" A woman's voice, deep with power but smooth like Trellian (1) silk, told the others.

"S...s...sorry Erza."

A tremor overtook her body, and Elsa, the Ex-Queen of Arendelle, felt herself go back into a deep sleep, only this time it was filled with nightmares of blizzards and Anna.

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When Elsa woke up, she had no clue where she was.

She opened her eyes to a stone ceiling, her whole body feeling wet and damp, as if Anna had pushed her into the fjord again when they were playing outside.

Wait. Where was Anna?

Elsa sat up quickly, before laying back down at the same speed.

Dear Arendelle, her head hurt.

"Hey! She's awake!" Elsa knew that voice.

She was NOT expecting that the voice belonged to a pink-haired man.

He seemed to ignore her surprised stare as he got into her face, his bright pink hair sticking up at odd angles that seemed to defy gravity. He wore a vest that showed his entire chest (that made Elsa blush despite the situation), and pair of baggy white pants. His scarf looked almost like the scales of the imported Fire Lizards (2) that roamed the gardens of the palace, and a symbol lay on his shoulder in bright red.

He backed up when he saw Elsa's eyes open, giving her enough room to sit up slowly and glance at the surrounding area for a second.

She was in a large cave, the floor in water that lapped at the edge of her once-beautiful-now-ripped blue ice dress. A large, black shape lay behind her, sprawled on the ground. Elsa couldn't tell what it was, but it was covered in a thick, tough, black skin that Elsa had never seen before in her studies (3).

But Elsa was not scared of not the large body.

A giant shard of blue-white ice stood, slowly melting into small streams of water that trickled down the side. Elsa could her magic lacing like spider webs through the veins of the ice, keeping it alive. It shimmered blue, power seeping through the cracks in the surface. But she felt another presence in it, another soul inside. Was someone else in there with her?

"How did you get in the ice?" Elsa's attention snapped back to the man with the strange pink hair, who was inching closer to her. She looked at him, her eyes widening as she stiffened like an ice sculpture.

"Do I need to ask you again, lady? . . .Ice?" he punctuated every word. "And why are you wearing a dress?" Elsa froze. Did she lose control? Did she let it all go again? What had happened after Hans came at her? Elsa was so confused. Where was she?

Her breath hitched slightly as the question's filtered through her mind like Anna on a sugar high, a mile a minute. She was so scared of herself, of the power that flowed through her veins.

"Natsu! Calm down. She's obviously traumatized." The powerful voice that Elsa could remember hearing when she first woke up came from behind her.

Elsa turned around to see even more people than she would like around in her current state.

One was a blond female, wearing an outfit that would have definitely been deemed inappropriate in Ardenelle, with a blue and white vest-like shirt that covered her…large assets. A short skirt covered part of her legs (shorter than any Elsa had ever seen). A whip and a set of keys that seemed to glow lay in her hands. Her large eyes reminded Elsa of Anna. A pang ran through her heart. On her hand lay a symbol of pink flames, just like the pink-haired man, now named Natsu (what a strange name) had on his shoulder.

The second was a woman who literally radiated with pure power. Her gray chest plate shone, a golden, sideways cross lay across her chest, overlapping a strange red symbol that resembled fire, just like the other girl. A blue skirt and crystal earrings completed the outfit; along with a pair of long black boots.

She had dark red hair like blood, and brown eyes like the hot chocolate that the cooks used to give Anna and Elsa after they had finished playing in Elsa's snow.

The last person was a male. A male with dark black hair like the nights of Arendelle and dark blue eyes that bore into her, questioning her motives of even breathing.

But he wore no shirt. Elsa's face colored slightly. Why did he not have a shirt on? His chest was bare of any clothes, revealing the same strange mark that the red-haired woman carried on her breastplate, the blond on her hand, and Natsu on his shoulder. Why did they all share that mark? Were they a gang? She didn't have anything but ice to offer them…

"Hello. I am Erza Scarlet. May I ask your name?"

Elsa ignored her question, "Where… where am I? If you do not mind me asking…" her smooth, regal voice filled the air, her breath coming out in icy puffs. Erza's smile was comforting to Elsa, yet discerning, making her question the blood-haired woman's motives.

"You're on Galuna Island. Can I ask how you got into the ice?"

"What is Galuna Island? Is that in the Southern Isles? In…in the ice? What do you mean?" Elsa turned around to the remains of a glacier behind her. Elsa could see her magic winding through the veins of the ice, keeping it from freezing, along with the other's magic. But how did she get in the ice? Did she lose control again? Did she hurt someone again?

Elsa's mind swam with all the questions she had no answers to.

"How…how did that ice get there? I didn't… no…I can't…remember…anything…" Elsa's mind began to race at the thought of hurting someone… again.

Memories of Anna flashed before her eyes. Those eyes staring into her soul, trying to convince Elsa that she wasn't a monster, that she wasn't evil. A light leaving those same beautiful eyes as the blizzard Elsa's emotions had created froze her to death, the magic in her heart spreading to encase her limbs and her head.

WHY? WHY? WHY?

The air grew colder as Elsa lost control of her emotions; ice covering the edges of her fingers as her face grew more distressed. A single, frozen tear trickled down her face, turning to frost and sticking to her face. She brushed it off quickly.

NO! Elsa shouted in her own mind, her eyes searching for an escape route before her powers released themselves.

Eyeing the cavern's opening, Elsa felt her pulse speed up slightly. Erza's gaze followed hers. Sensing that Elsa was going to run, she reached out to grab Elsa's arm, but Elsa pulled back, her fear of hurting someone again grabbing hold of her powers.

No one should be near her. She was dangerous!

And so Elsa ran away again.

And she ran.

And she ran.

She had to get away. She was too dangerous to be around. She was a monster, a witch. No one deserved to be hurt by her magic, not even her worst of enemies deserved to die by Elsa's magic. The pain and the cold the raged in storms in her own mind and heart needn't be passed to others.

She didn't deserve to be around people. She was a monster who hurt her little sister, who caused everyone around her pain all because she was cursed with this magic. The monster that cursed her own kingdom with an eternal winter that raged because she couldn't hide her emotions.

Conceal, don't feel.

Elsa could hear the strange people calling her, chasing her down like an owner chasing after a dog that had escaped from its leash.

Probably to burn me for being a witch, she cried out inside, like the others! Wanting to end me and watch me go up in flames!

The ice on her fingertips grew longer, her dress that had ripped in the ice was patching itself up as she tried to escape, shimmering again like it had back when she was in solitude. Where she was far away from people that she could hurt, in her nice ice castle that protected everyone from her, and her from everyone.

Conceal, don't feel.

She needed to leave now before she could hurt anyone else. All she needed was to get off of this so-called island.

At that moment, Elsa realized that she could never truly be free from her curse, and neither could those around her.

And again the snow fell around Elsa.

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Trellian silk- named after the country of which it was created in, Trellia.

Fire Lizard- Lizards with thick white scales repellent to fire. Native to the Southern Isles.

While in solitude, Elsa had taken to studying the native animals of Arendelle and its surrounding countries.

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Thanks for reading. Please review.