Chapter 8:

Revelations

A/N: I am so sorry that I didn't publish this chapter sooner. Certain events prevented me from taking the time to sit down and write it. Without further ado, here is the final chapter.

As Elsa stared out the window at her ice palace at the distance, she almost didn't hear a knock on her door.

"Queen Elsa, there is someone here to see you," Kai called out.

Elsa sighed. "I told you that I don't want to see anyone right now. Tell whoever it is to go away."

"But Queen Elsa, this is Mrs. Hawthorne. She desperately wants to speak with you."

Elsa's eyes widened. No. There was no way she could face the wife of the man she killed. It was impossible. She couldn't bear it.

"Tell her I'm not available," Elsa said.

"But she insists on seeing you, Elsa, she says she has something important to tell you."

Yes. She wants to remind Elsa of how she ruined her family's life. Elsa could already picture the look on Mrs. Hawthorne's face as she screamed at her for killing her husband. No. She simply wasn't going to let it happen. Besides, in a little while, Mrs. Hawthorne wouldn't have to worry about her being queen any longer.

"Kai, please tell her to go away!" Elsa called out.

"With all due respect, Your Majesty, you must hear what she has to say. Please…it's very important that you hear this."

Elsa sighed. She didn't feel like arguing with the man any longer. She gave word for Kai to send Mrs. Hawthorne into her office. As Elsa waited for her to arrive, she set out a small table with two chairs, along with two glasses, and a bottle of whiskey.

When Mrs. Hawthorne entered, Elsa was surprised to see that instead of looking like a woman full of rage, she was very sad. Still, she managed to greet Elsa with a sense of respect that surprised the queen.

"Good evening, Your Majesty. I'm sorry to come at such a late hour, but I felt that I had to speak with you at once.

Elsa tried to maintain her regal composure, but it was difficult, while standing in front of the wife of the man she killed.

"Of course. Please, have a seat," Elsa said.

Mrs. Hawthorne took a seat opposite of Elsa. The queen poured herself and Mrs. Hawthorne at glass of whiskey, the latter of which declined to drink it.

"I came to you today, because I had information regarding my husband, Fredrick."

Elsa downed her glass faster. She was ready for the painful blow, but she still wanted to numb the pain.

"Queen Elsa, I know that you must feel terrible for what you've done, and I don't blame you. I can't imagine how it must feel to take another person's life. You probably think I hold some kind of grudge against you for what you've done, but I don't."

Elsa put down her glass. There was no way she was hearing this correctly.

"I don't blame you for what you did. Fredrick was my husband, but he was also something else. He was a dangerous man, who preyed on women."

"Mrs. Hawthorne…

"Please…call me Isabelle."

"Isabelle, there was no evidence that your husband raped any of those women. I let my anger and frustration on failing to catch the rapist. In my opinion, I believe he was innocent."

Tears fell from Isabelle's eyes, but they weren't tears of sadness for the loss of her husband. They were something else.

"No. He wasn't innocent."

Isabelle reached into her pocket, and pulled out a small leather back book.

"This is Fredrick's journal. He wrote it in every day. I never read it until after he died, but when I did, I found what I feared to be true."

"What's that?" Elsa asked.

Isabelle began to cry again. "It's best if you read it for yourself," she sobbed.

Elsa took the book in her hands, flipping through the pages until she saw that one of them had been bookmarked. The passage was dated the day of one of the rapes. In the entry, there was a detailed account of Fredrick's raping of the woman. The final sentence in the entry read "The pleasures had I had while inside of her were unbelievably rich."

Elsa put down the journal, unable to grasp the reality of what she had just read. Isabelle could tell that she was shocked.

"There are other entries just like it," she said. "Each more horrible than the last. I thought I knew my husband, but now I see that I was very, very wrong."

Elsa still couldn't speak.

"There's something else as well. One night, about an hour after I had gone to sleep, Fredrick came home late. I woke up to see what had kept him out so late, and I noticed that he had an unusual looking piece of cloth in his hands. It wasn't until later that I discovered that it wasn't cloth at all, but a piece of a woman's dress."

Isabelle took out the piece of the woman's dress from her pocket, handing it to Elsa. Elsa instantly recognized it. She had interviewed the woman who was wearing the dress the night she was raped.

"I know that you feel terrible for killing Fredrick, but there is no mistaking that he was the Arendelle Rapist."

"But…he was your husband," Elsa stammered.

"And I loved him. But he was a monster," Isabelle said, firmly. "What he did to those women was unforgivable. He deserved to be punished."

Isabelle stood up, saying her goodbyes.

"I don't hold anything against you, Queen Elsa. You're a good woman, and a fine ruler. I know that you only did what you thought was right. Thanks to you, the women of Arendelle can finally feel safe."

Isabelle left the room, leaving Elsa alone with her thoughts. After the discovery of new evidence, there was no denying that Fredrick Hawthorne was the rapist, so in a sense she should be relieved that he was off the streets. She shouldn't be upset anymore over having killed him. Nevertheless, she still felt bad. Ever since she was little, she was always told that it was wrong to take a life, except in the cases of self-defense or if the law had sentenced someone to death. However, she was the law as she is the ruler of Arendelle, so her execution of Fredrick could be seen as her enforcing the law. The crime of rape was a capital offense in the country, one that would certainly warrant an execution. But even though Fredrick was guilty, Elsa couldn't help but feel sorry for the man she killed. If she hadn't lost her temper, she might have been able to find out what drove this man to commit such unspeakable crimes.

With this new evidence, the people of Arendelle who feared her would realize that killing Fredrick Hawthorne was justified. In truth, Elsa felt only somewhat relieved. She didn't think she would ever get over the fact that she killed a man, even if that man was a rapist. The Duke of Weslton's words of her being a monster still pounded in her brain. And she believed that probably always would. But that didn't mean that she had to let them dominate her life.

Looking out the window at her ice palace, Elsa breathed a sigh of relief. Tomorrow was a new day.

A/N: And we reach the end of our story (Though I am considering writing an epilogue). Thank you for taking the time to read and review. I appreciate it. My next full-length Frozen story should be coming up sometime soon.

PS: I took inspiration for the journal from an actual murder that happened in England in the late 19th century. The killer was convicted because he wrote about it in his diary.