And so begins the sequel to "Hungry Moon". If you haven't checked out that one yet you need to do so to better understand this one.

As usual reviews and feedback are always welcome and, but more importantly enjoy.

On with the show.

Chapter 1: Black

Letting her hair down was a rarity for her, unless of course she was bathing, but most of the time, Elsa's long lock would be found in its usual braid. As the wind rushed passed her She took a deep inhale of the cool Arendelle air, feeling it's calming effect fill her entire being. Freedom in its purest form.

She threw her arms out weightless from the world being removed from her shoulders, and let out a loud, "RAAAAAAAAR!" Into the night. Taking another inhale through the nose, she allowed a small flurry of snowflakes to begin falling from her fingertips to the earth below. It's not pure freedom unless your able to embrace every aspect of yourself after all.

His wings beat against the wind beneath her, giving her a small jossle, startling her and forcing her to grab onto his scaly neck.

"Sorry," she laughed as Another gust of wind shook her. "Wow where'd that—" Another jerk nearly pushed him off his neck, followed by a strange voice floating on the wind.

"Queen Elsa? Queen Elsa?"

—:0:—

Elsa jolted awake, frantically searching the faces that were staring at her with worry and confusion. She felt the hand of her servant Kai move off of her shoulder after apparently shaking her awake. Thinking as quickly as she could, she remembered it was her weekly meeting with Arendelle's higher ups, and one of them had just asked her a question.

She just couldn't remember which one.

"Oh, um, yes!" She stated confidently, "yes let's do that! Sounds like a great idea."

The men and women in the meeting room all exchanged worried looks as if their queen had lobsters crawling out of her ears. Kai cleared his throat and leaned towards her.

"You were just asked if we should cancel the choir recital for this weekend due to budget restraints?"

His words made everything start coming back to her. Her eyes flitted to an elderly woman, named Marium, at the end of the table, the overseer of the community projects for the kingdom. She looked aghast, holding her chest in shock and hurt.

Elsa quickly backtracked. "Oh no! No, no, no, no, no. No, we'll move things around so that the recital continues."

Marium sighed with relief. Phew, That was a close one.

Someone on the other side of the table cleared their throat. "If I may speak freely." Elsa's attention was drawn to the man she knew as Simion, her financial advisor, and trade expert. A tall, slender man with a face shaped like an upside down triangle with a sharp nose and chin with a black hair and matching goatee. She knew him well, seeing as he served as her parents advisor as well. She liked him just fine, but she couldn't help but cringe when he began to speak about finances. "But the kingdoms financial status is becoming a bit strained."

Elsa did her best to wave away his concerns. "I understand, but Surely we should have enough in the budget for the recital. It's one of Arendelle's prized traditions after all."

He shrugged a shoulder. "True. The treasury is fine for such a minor affair, but we need to be frugal. It pains me to say this, but trade hasn't been as fruitful over the last few months." He pushed his chair out so he could stand and began passing around papers to all those in attendance. "This being the case we're beginning to struggle financially."

Elsa's stomach dropped when she saw the numbers scrawled out in front of her. "I don't understand," another member in the meeting said, "we've never been this strained before."

Simion nodded his head in agreement. "Our economy has always been stable, even after ceasing trade with Wesalton and the Southern islands. As you can see These numbers have been on a steady decline over the past few months. Specifically since the werewolf incident." There was a collective shudder through the group. It had been three months since Arendelle had been terrorized by the werewolf, and it's citizens were still trying to get over the trauma.

Simion continued. "Since then we've had to hire and train more soldiers, citizens have left, we've implemented new, and if I may add, unusual methods of guarding our borders against unknown threats." He glanced at Elsa's captain of the guard, General Bjorn.

The large dark skinned back puffed out his massive chest. "All necessary means. Extra men to patrol the forests, fitted with silver weapons to combat any threats."

Simeon raised a hand as if to stop any potential arguing. "Be that as it may, We've also had to replenish our herds and other supplies the wolves had mangled in their reign of terror. None of which were cheap, I'm afraid."

Elsa finished looking over the papers before setting them down. "What about casting a wider net, so to speak, with trade."

He nodded. "We've already sent messages far and wide from the kingdom of Corona, to the Scottish islands and we're still waiting to hear back."

Elsa nodded when another thought occurred to her. "What about the royal treasury?"

A heavy silence befell the room as Simion's eyes went large. "I'm sorry, the r-royal treasury? Apologies, but That was set aside for you and your sister and only you two. The instructions your parents left were very clear."

Elsa thought back to the inheritance she and Anna had been given at their parents death, other then a few other trinkets and paintings, she didn't have much to remember them for. The royal treasury was enough to help keep the kingdom afloat for at least another few months. Still she shouldn't make a decision this big without Anna's say.

"I will speak to Anna about how we decide to use our inheritance, but whatever we choose to do, it will be followed to the letter, regardless of what our parents have asked, understood?" Simion hesitated for a moment, but after a minute he responded with a curt nod. "Thank you. Is there anything else that we need to discuss." The meeting continued for another hour or so, with Elsa drifting in and out. Something about fishing not doing well, and Dr. Rolf treating an unusual number of patients, but Elsa couldn't help her eyes drifting out the window to the wide open skies.

—:0:—

Anna let out a long drawn out sigh, the snowman Olaf, with his head in her lap, repeating the action. Down in the stables Anna and Olaf and wondered inside to try and alleviate their boredom only to find that Kristoff and Sven were hard at work loading ice and hay into his sled. Without much else to do, Anna and Olaf sat in the driver's seat of the sled and waited.

"Are you almost done?" Anna whined impatiently.

"No Anna, I'm not." He said with a roll of his eyes. "You can help me deliver if you'd like."

She threw her head back letting out a loud, "UGH". "But I don't wanna do any actual work!"

He stopped what he was doing and positioned himself in the sled so that he was looking down at her while her head was leaned back. He spoke with a slightly amused smirk. "Let me get this straight. You don't want to be bored, but you don't want to do anything that could possibly help you not be bored anymore?"

Olaf raised his hand and let out a drawn out. "Exactly."

She smirked and pointed down at him. "What he said."

Kristoff shook his head, more in love with her then ever before, and gave her a kiss. "When I'm done we'll do something, promise."

She grinned giddily up at him before returning the kiss on his lips. "Yay."

Satisfied that he had pleased his girlfriend, for the moment, he went back to work. To kill the time, Anna dipped her hand into Sven's carrot bucket and started nibbling on one. The reindeer snorted, but Anna simply stuck her tongue out and went back to her carrot.

"Is Anna letting you get any work done?" Everyone faced the stable doors seeing Elsa step towards the sled and take a seat beside her sister.

"Nope." He responded casually.

"What can I say?" Anna took out another carrot and handed it to Elsa, "I'm a pest when I'm bored."

Elsa took a bite of her carrot. "Don't I know it." Anna playfully smacked her sister in the arm. "Do you not have anything better to do then pester Kristoff?"

Anna shrugged. "Olaf and I got our chores done early and we came down here. Though I'd prefer to watch Kristoff work in the summer. I like it when he glistens." She chewed suggestively on her carrot causing both Kristoff and Elsa to blush horribly.

"There's something I could have gone my whole life never knowing about."

Anna shrugged, obviously not the least bit sorry for her comment. "You know," she chewed noisily, "we've made up for everything we've missed out on over the years, except for one thing," she pointed her carrot at Elsa's face, "boy talk."

Elsa nearly choked. "Boy talk?"

"Yeah you know. Where we sit around and just talk about cute boys."

"Oh, oh, oh," Olaf raised his hand, "I'll go first. Um," he looked around, tapping his chin. "Sven and Kristoff are boys."

There was a collective facepalm including one from Sven.

"Not quite Olaf," Anna corrected, "boy talk is something usually between girls, and we talk about who we think is cute or buff, who has nice hair or has a nice butt, stuff like that."

Elsa and Kristoff continued to get redder and redder the more she explained, Olaf meanwhile tried to figure it all out.

"Anyways!" Elsa stated loudly. "Of all things 'boy talk' was never high on my list of things to do with you."

Anna stuck out her lower lip. "Awe why not? There's gotta be soooooomebody you find attractive."

Elsa could tell Anna was fishing, but for what she didn't know. "Of course I find people attractive. Kristoff is attractive," she motioned towards him before a forlorn expression haunted her features, "I thought Joey was attractive." Anna put a hand on her shoulder, both remembering the shepherd boy who was about their age, killed during the werewolf attacks.

Elsa cleared her throat. "Sure I find people attractive, I'm just not attracted to them." She nibbled on her carrot some more. "It just wasn't something for me, and I'm okay with that."

Anna recognized the state her sister was in. Arms tucked in close to her body, eyes and head pointed downwards, this wasn't the time for this conversation. Anna fought the bubbling feelings of frustration in her belly. She loved her sister unconditionally, but sometimes she wished she didn't have to tiptoe around her feelings all the time.

There was a loud final thump as Kristoff added the final barrel into the sled. "Alright. All done."

Anna finished her carrot. "Finally!" She shooed Elsa and Olaf off of the sled. "Food for thought Elsa," Elsa waited while Kristoff hooked up Sven to the sled, "when you daydream, ya know the ones were your flying, your never alone."

Elsa furrowed her thin brows in thought and remained so even until Anna, Kristoff and Sven has left the stables.

"Elsa?" Olaf asked as he grabbed her hand. "You okay?"

She shook her head, freeing herself from her stupor. "Yeah Olaf. Come on, let's go back." Hand in hand, the pair made their way back to the castle, all the while Elsa thought about her sister words. Of course I'm not alone in my daydreams. I can't fly by myself.

—:0:—

Unlike the dazzling, extravagant buildings of Rome or England, the local church was a modest one story structure, but still large enough to fit Arendelle's residents. Elsa sweeped the inside with her aqua blue eyes, thinking back to her coronation with a small shudder. The day she was coronated was both a horrendous, and somewhat freeing occasion. Sure it was the day her magic had been exposed, but also the day she didn't have to hide anymore. Not from her people and not from her sister.

Taking her seat at the front of the church, she and Anna watched people begin to fill the pews. Tonight was a night as popular as the harvest festival, but not as much as Christmas. It was so popular in fact, Anna and Elsa were apart of it when they were children. This of course was the proving ground for the sisters to develop their singing talents, and as an adult, Elsa would even give lessons whenever time allowed.

The bell tower began to chime, signaling that it was time to begin. Elsa stood, extended her arms, and began opening ceremonies for the evening. Once she had finished, she and Elsa took seats at the pews to watch from the audience.

As the music began the sisters whispered to one another reminiscing about their time as children.

"It feels like only yesterday that we were also standing up there. Huh Elsa?"

A fond smile spread across the queens lips. "It sure does. But mostly I remember you wriggling the entire time, because you had to use the bathroom as soon as we got up there."

Anna gasped before smacking her sister in the arm. "I did not!"

"Shh!" Someone behind them shushed they sisters. Elsa placed her hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter.

Anna, still in a rage, lowered her voice as best as she could. "I did not do that."

"Oh please. Mother had to take you to the bathroom five minutes into the performance." Anna sputtered but couldn't think of a retort. Instead she folded her arms in a huff and tried to pay attention to the singing.

"Where's Kristoff?"

Anna looked around as if just now realizing he wasn't there. "Not sure. In fact, I haven't seen him much since we made deliveries a few days ago."

Elsa felt that was odd, but seeing that it didn't seem to concern Anna, Elsa shrugged and went back to the music.

The adult choir sang for about half an hour and once the last note rang, the church sprang into applause. The choir bowed before excusing themselves, followed soon by the children, what was widely considered the highlight of the evening.

"Here they come." Anna squealed. Elsa watched their young faces, filled with child-like apprehension, thinking back to the time she found herself among the small crowd. She had a few passions in life, but the one thing that brought her the most joy, was her voice. The melody from the children filled her with the same happiness, causing her eyes to flutter close so she could experience the harmony to its fullest.

Her musing was interrupted when a sudden retching interrupted the melody. Throwing her eyes open the choir of children were scattering, trying to get away from a little girl that was bent over. Vomiting.

Anna put her hand to her chest. "Oh poor thing. She probably just got nervous."

"At least no one had to drag her to the bathroom." Anna slapped her sister again, narrowing her eyes at a smirking Elsa.

Suddenly the worried yelling became terrified screams, Marium and the girls parents ushering the other children away from the stands. Elsa, on instinct, stood from the pew and headed into the stands with Anna hot on her heels.

"What is it—" the sisters froze in place, both of them having to hold their hands over their noses and mouths to keep themselves from gagging.

The little girl was pulled to the side and away from the puddle of vomit she had spewed, but what was more alarming was the color. An inky black that would be unnatural by any standards and a foul stench that hit them like a mallet.

Elsa kept her watering eyes away, trying to keep her attention focused on the little girl.

"Is she okay?" She asked as she knelt beside them.

Marium, and the girls parents, tried to diffuse the situation. "She's fine." The mother said. "Just jitters is all."

"Oh god! Elsa!"

Elsa turned her head to her gagging sister, who had pointed her finger back at the black regurgitation that was squirming with black worms.

It was a reflex, like squashing a spider, and amidst the screams and revulsion Elsa covered the offending sludge in a thick sheet of ice. The worms froze while they were trying to squirm away from the sludge. Elsa gagged again. "That...that was in—". Elsa had to pull her eyes away and forced them back on the little girl. "You need to get her to Doctor Rolf."

—:0:—

Needless to say the recital had been canceled for the remainder of the evening, which was fine for the now queasy feeling sisters.

Anna shuddered. "What was that?"

Her sister shook her head. "Whatever it was, I'm sure Dr. Rolf will figure it out."

Anna had her arms wrapped around herself, an unusual feeling for her. "Shouldn't we have gone with them?"

Elsa shook her head. "She's just sick. It doesn't have anything to do with us."

"I agree one hundred percent." The sisters shared a shiver and continued making their way back to the castle, until Anna began to veer off the stone path. "I'm going to go see if Kristoff is at the stables. I'll catch up." Elsa nodded and continued to the castle.

Anna tried her best to shove the revolting thoughts from the evening out of her mind, but having never seen anything so disturbing before and she was finding it difficult. She took a deep breath through the nose before releasing it slowly through her mouth.

"It's okay. Just find Kristoff, you'll talk about it, unburden yourself, and everything will be okay. Simple." She came to the stables and began poking her head inside the various stalls. "Kristoff? You here?" It took her a stall or two, but she finally came to one where she found him crouched down, he an Olaf tending to something in the shadows.

"There you are. Ugh you will not believe the night I just had. Well actually it started off well at first—"

"Anna,"

"—we were at the church and the choir was singing, and the first part was awesome until Elsa mentioned I had to pee when I was in the choir, I didn't by the way—"

"Anna,"

"—then it was the kids turn and everything was going great until one of them started puking and at first we thought it was just nervousness, but then—"

She suddenly felt a stick hand interweave with hers. "Anna." She looked down into the sad eyes of Olaf making her forget her evening entirely. "It's Sven." Confused she let herself be led to Kristoff who had been kneeling down by his best friend. Anna gasped, putting her hands over her mouth and fighting the tears.

Sven was pale, with his eyes glazed over, missing patches of fur and was letting out small, shallow breaths. She got to her knees, putting her hands onto Kristoffs broad shoulders. Looking at his face, his eyes were swollen and red from tears.

"He-he just got sick the other day. He's been sick before, but never ... never like this." Anna put her hand on Svens neck and gave him a comforting rub. Sven moaned, uncomfortable, but had a smile as he leaned into her touch. Looking more closely, she noticed the hair around his mouth and tongue were black.

She furrowed her brows. "Did Sven throw up?"

Kristoff nodded, but didn't take his eyes away from Sven. "Dr. Rolf was here earlier. He said most of the animals around here have been the same." He wiped his nose again and motioned to a bucket in the corner. "I think the water is contaminated."

Anna got to her feet and hesitantly approached the bucket, Olaf standing beside her. He pulled off one of his arms and stuck it into the water.

"I may not know a whole lot," he said, "but I'm fairly certain water isn't supposed to look like this." He pulled out his arm, a long line of thick slime dripping from the branch. Anna's gag reflex kicked in.

"It's…. black?"