She was sick, and lay dying in her bed.

Her forehead was sweating, her lips were trembling, and her body temperature was very low.

Too low.

He held her hands tightly between his, and whispered sweet nothings into her ear. She had just given birth to a healthy child – his child. However, although the new addition to their family was well, fate would not be so kind to the mother. A life for a life, she mused.

He inhaled sharply. She had not realized she had spoken her thoughts aloud. He started crying then, but not the loud, blubbering kind. He cried the silent kind, the kind where, if you were careful, you could blink away the tears. Alas, he could not stop the few drops that did escape his eyelids, which she slowly wiped away with her freezing fingers.

Elsa, he breathed. He told her he loved her, and that she couldn't leave. He reminded her that they had just started a family, and that the child needed her – he needed her. She could feel herself slipping, so she gazed into his eyes, and asked him to tell her of old times, of happier times. He did as she wished.

He told her of their first dance, of how she had made him smile when she stumbled through the moves, like a deer learning how to walk. He had enjoyed teaching her the steps, and was so proud when she was finally able to glide fluidly throughout an entire song.

He told her of their first kiss, of how he had never been more surprised – yet pleased - when she leaned in first. The first taste of her lips, he said, was like the first breath of air. It was to be the first kiss of many, and for the first time in a long time, they had not felt alone.

He told her of their first night together, of how he had never been more in love. He told her he thought she was beautiful as she blushed in the moonlight. She was shy with being so intimate, so they took their time. In the morning, they had woken up in each other's arms, and he vowed to make sure he would always keep her safe there, where she belonged.

He smiled as finished telling the story of their love to her, and his content expression morphed into one of horror as he gazed into the lifeless eyes of his beloved, a soft smile bestowed on her lips. He gave out a loud cry, and wept bitterly as he gathered her up into his arms.

She had left him, left him alone in the world. But a world without his love, oh, he did not want one. She was pried from his shaking arms, covered with a delicate sheet, and taken from the room. He sat on the freezing floor of her bedchamber, which smelled like her and just cried. Everything inside him had broken. His heart had shattered inside him, and the sharp shards cut through him, making him bleed with a relentless sorrow. Nothing could cure this sadness, he was sure of it. But…

Her sister brought to him a small bundle, a remedy of sorts for his aching heart, and placed it in his arms. In a daze, he looked down, and gazed into the ice blue eyes of his daughter.