Love Turned Cold

Chapter 4

Mere moments after gunfire was heard, the sounds of screaming and scrambling around soon died down. It became evident who the perpetrator was, and Robert stared at his father in pain, betrayal, and disbelief. There was never a letter from his mother. His father had been preparing to assassinate Kjerstin. A final point.

There was dead silence save for the sound of quiet sobbing.

Elsa was clutching the nearly gone form of her husband. Conrad was still clinging onto life as much as possible. Signe screamed and ran to her eldest brother's side, and Oliver followed.

"Conrad? No no no no no.... Please please don't- CONRAD!" Signe shouted. Kjerstin and Jonis joined their mother's side, also in disbelief of what happened. Elsa looked up at Hans, who had the look of the Devil himself smeared across his face.

Grief warped into a pure, raw, rage. The Snow Queen stood, her hands violently shaking.

"You." She said. So coldly that everyone felt the temperature drop in the room.

"I... welcomed you. Anna and I welcomed you into our kingdom." Elsa hissed. Hans's stare had not broken, it had not faltered from his action.

"We welcomed you into our home, allowed you as part of our family- and you- MURDER MY HUSBAND." The Snow Queen shrieked, attacking the 13th Westergaard. Kristoff and Ryder quickly grabbed Elsa and pulled her back as guards quickly took hold of Hans. Elsa whipped around, seeing Signe sobbing into her brother's chest, not caring about the blood staining her dress.

Elsa kneeled down, caressing Conrad's face... she knew he was gone.

Elsa let out a chilling wail, sending shivers down the spines of everyone in the room. Beside her, Kjerstin and Jonis sat there in disbelief, unable to process that their father was murdered in front of them.

Kjerstin did not want to believe it. Her beloved father... was gone, in the blink of an eye.

Jonis broke down first and hugged his older sister tightly, sobbing. Guards quickly cleared the ballroom and escorted Hans to the dungeon.

Anna was the first to notice ice creeping down the ceiling of the ballroom. Her breath fogged up, she was actually scared of addressing her sister, she had never seen her sister so... angry before. Pure rage. It was frightening.

Kjerstin was the only one who felt brave enough to address her mother.

"Mom...?" She whispered. Elsa swallowed hard and backed away from Conrad's lifeless body. She backed into the throne accidentally, flashes of memories darted through her mind as she tried to snap herself back into reality, but it wasn't enough. She had to get away from here.

She sprinted out the ballroom and through a corridor that led out the back of the castle. She heard her sister and children shout at her to come back, but the cries went in one ear and out the other. Elsa looked down at the fjord, took one step on the water, and without hesitation, vanished into the night once more.

Anna's memories became overrun with her sister's coronation night. It was happening all over again. But so much worse... it was so much worse.

In tears, Kjerstin cried out for the vanishing figure of her mother, hot tears streaming down her face. Her brother at her side, calling out Elsa as well.

Anna knew there was nothing they could do right now. They had to gather themselves and get Conrad out of the ballroom. She wanted to go find her sister, but the priority right now was exacting justice on Hans for his actions. And this time, Anna would not be kind.

Elsa ran and ran and ran until she couldn't anymore. The sight of her glittering ice palace soon welcomed her with open arms. Her need for isolation soothed her grief enough to get inside and seal herself away. The grief was too much to bear, she fell to her knees in the grand entrance, and cried. Outside, a heavy winter storm began to brew over the spires of the castle. The clouds grew and became heavy with snow and ice.

A barrier formed outside the castle too, preventing anyone from getting inside. But ice traveled far and wide, further than the first eternal winter Arendelle had faced over 20 years ago.

In a tiny village, not far from Arendelle, a young boy named Kai noticed sleet falling heavily from the sky. He was understandably confused, as this was summertime.

"Mama, it's sleeting outside!" He exclaimed. He ran outside before his mother could warn him otherwise. The sleet had a strange element of magic to it, he felt.

Suddenly, a giant spike of ice burst through the ground, poking Kai in the chest. He jumped out of surprise but did not feel any pain. He took that as a sign to get back inside as the ice became bigger and bigger. He heard his fellow villagers cry out as ice formed around their houses and heavy snow fell to the ground.

"Mama? What's happening?" He asked. His mother, who had a cousin living in Arendelle at the time of Queen Elsa's coronation, told him the tale of the Eternal Winter. And she felt that the queen was back, more powerful than ever.

"You stay inside Kai, we do not know what is happening in Arendelle, but I imagine that it cannot be good."

Elsewhere in the village, a young girl named Gerda also watched the weather transform too.

"I hope Kai's okay." She said, mostly to herself. Like Kai's mother, Gerda's warned her to not go outside until the weather calmed down and she could go see Kai.

Back in the Ice Palace, Elsa saw Marshmallow and a few of the Snowgies approach her with concern on their faces. Marshmallow's gaze softened seeing his creator in a kind of pain he did not recognize. She watched them for a few moments before more tears threatened to fall. She squeezed her eyes shut and pulled herself back up. Her creations looked at her, trying to understand what was happening.

Elsa shook her head and vanished up the staircase. Ice sealed off the staircase, indicating she was not to be bothered.

Far away to the north, in Ahtohallen, the spirits stirred at sensing the Fifth Spirit's unrest. Something was terribly wrong.