A/N: Lot of skipping around this chapter. Next chapter, the action starts and the plot really kicks in. Also, to satisfy any fluff cravings my readers may have, I'm working on another Bonus Scene.

December 28

The spymaster did not look happy.

"Is there a problem?" the Goddess questioned simply.

Evangeline bowed. "Yes, Your Worship. The Coronan bitch is here. She arrived unannounced an hour ago. Even now, she's making her way through the Palace. Very soon, she will be asking to speak with you."

Elsa scowled. This was a problem. Rapunzel posed no threat to her alone (how could a healing tear bring any harm upon a Goddess?), but she possessed the capacity to rally the entire nation of Corona against her. If the Princess returned to her country with knowledge of the truth, it would not be long before war was upon her. Likewise, imprisoning or killing her was not an option.

She'd wanted to avoid this scenario. Corona represented perhaps the only real threat to her plans. Still, this situation was by no means fatal. The Goddess had pretended to be a loyal servant to the King of the Gods for thousands of years before revealing her true colors. She was more than capable of putting on a convincing act for the Princess. And with her access to all of this body's memories, Elsa knew exactly how the Princess would expect her to act.

"Very well. She will expect me to meet with her immediately, and so I will. Continue to go about your daily business as if nothing is amiss. I will summon you if anything changes."

Evangeline bowed. "As you command, Your Worship."

\

"Elsa, it's me!"

A brief yet heavy pause settled into the air before the woman inside finally responded. "Rapunzel?! What are you...never mind. Come in." Sighing, the Princess nodded before opening the heavy oak door in front of her. Her heart was beating fiercely. A large part of her still hoped that the letter had been a ruse, and that Elsa would welcome her with a surprised smile with Anna standing right by her side.

Immediately, her hopes were dashed. The redheaded Knight was nowhere to be seen inside the room. All that awaited her was Elsa sitting behind her large desk, wearing a subdued yet clear look of grief.

"Is it true?" Rapunzel asked immediately. She looked to the monarch pleadingly, begging whatever gods existed that her cousin would have no idea what she was talking about. After all the three of them had gone through together, Anna simply couldn't-

Elsa stared down at her paperwork. "Yes," she finally replied. "Part of me still doesn't believe it, but...Anna never cared about me. Or cared about us. Everything she did...saving both our lives...it was all to please her true King."

"No!" Rapunzel protested. "That doesn't make any fucking sense! Anna went through hell for us. I watched her with my own eyes as she stayed behind to fight a hundred soldiers to the death just so the two of us could escape. Gods, Elsa...she withstood torture for you! And then it turns out she was loyal to someone else the entire time? No. There's something else going on here! I'm not sure what...maybe someone was blackmailing her or something-"

The Queen shook her head sadly. "How? Anna's probably the most deadly woman in the world apart from myself. Who could ever have threatened her, especially when she had my love and support standing behind her? When Evangeline first told me about Anna's treachery, I thought she was wrong. I questioned Anna, yes, but I expected her to prove me right. But she admitted it. She mocked me for being so easy to fool...for believing that anyone would ever love a woman as cold as me.

"Elsa..." Rapunzel walked forward, taking two large steps towards the Queen's desk. Gently, she placed her warm hand over her cousin's cool slender fingers. "There must be another reason. I don't know what it is, but we're going to find out. We need to find Anna."

Now, Rapunzel could see tears beginning to well up in Elsa's eyes. "...Rapunzel, I appreciate it. But I just can't...I don't want to give myself false hope again. Evangeline's spies within the Royal Court of the Southern Isles found out a lot about the King's dealings. Agents like Anna are brought up to serve the Royal Family from birth; they're raised to be fanatically loyal and unquestioning operatives. You could probably call it brainwashing. All of that loyalty that Anna showed us was real...it just wasn't loyalty to me. Anna was willing to sacrifice her life, yes, but it was for a different King. If I died, then her mission for him was a failure."

Then she was rising from her chair and leaning over her desk. Surprised, Rapunzel nonetheless welcomed the Queen into a loving embrace. "I don't know if I'll ever really recover from Anna," Elsa admitted as she wrapped her arms around the Princess. "But still...I'll always have family."

"Of course," Rapunzel promised. "I'm here for you. Thomas and Eugene wanted to come; I had to practically shove them off the boat before I left. But we're all here for you." It was true. The Princess would always support her cousin.

Especially when Rapunzel thought that she might be wrong.

Anna's leaving had obviously broken something within the Queen. That was plain for all to see. But that didn't mean that Rapunzel was completely convinced that Anna was indeed a spy for the Southern Isles. It wasn't...how could anyone ever put up an act that good? No. There was something else going on here. There had to be.

Elsa's guards were already looking for Anna, and there was little more that Rapunzel could do at the moment to search for the truth. But she would make inquiries when she returned to Corona...ask her father to take a closer look at the Southern Isles and, if possible, smuggle in a few spies of their own into the backwater kingdom. It might risk pissing the King of the Isles off, but so what? Corona barely conducted any trade with the Southern Isles, and militarily there was no comparison between the two.

For now, she had no choice but to wait. Inserting spies and gathering such sensitive information would take time. But Rapunzel was willing to wait as long as it took to discover the truth. Until then, she would not...could not believe that Anna was a traitor.

\

January 10

Living in the Royal City was extremely stressful for Kristoff. Although there were no wanted posters bearing his face, he knew that Queen Elsa would be more than happy to have him in her custody. The monarch was no fool. There would be no doubt in her mind that Kristoff was responsible for Anna's escape and likely knew the former Knight's current location.

It was imperative that he stay out of sight.

He found work outside the city, doing a variety of odd jobs. Unlike Anna, Kristoff was easily hired by prospective employers. His prodigious strength was clear for all to see, and the ice-harvester put it to good use when working for the locals. Although he wasn't rich by any means, his work gave him a steady stream of income; it was more than enough to rent a tavern room every night.

It was too dangerous to go back to ice-harvesting at the moment, and retuning to his shop would almost guarantee his capture. For the moment, however, he was stuck in the city. If Elsa ever decided to send out soldiers against the trolls, then Kristoff would be their only hope of an early warning. Any force sent out with sufficient numbers would be easy for all in the city to see. With his skill at traversing through the winter, Kristoff was confident he could outpace any force sent to the Northern Mountains.

Of course, there was always the possibility that Elsa would decide to attack the trolls herself. If that occurred, Kristoff would be utterly helpless. Pabbie did not think that likely. If she had intended to battle the trolls herself, she would already have done so. It was probable that, not knowing exactly what the trolls were capable of, the Queen did not want to take the risk of confronting them herself.

It was also possible that Elsa would never try to attack them in any way. But with what Anna had revealed about her true personality, they couldn't take that chance. If Elsa was as cruel and petty as Anna had described, she was probably not very keen on having a race of potentially dangerous magic wielders living within her borders. Especially since they had aided her escaped prisoner.

For now, all he could do was wait.

\

January 23

Something wasn't right.

He did not consider himself the Queen's closest advisor, but he was perceptive enough to notice that her behavior had changed over recent months. She never left the Palace grounds, was less patient with her servants, and seemed much less attentive at Council meetings.

Most would assume that this was due to Anna's betrayal, a natural reaction to having her heart ripped out by the woman she'd loved. And while Kale normally might have agreed with that assessment, there was one major problem with that version of events.

Anna wasn't a traitor. She couldn't have been. Supposedly, the former Knight was a fanatic operative of the Southern Isles sent to woo the Queen and bend her to her will. Her every action since arriving at the Castle, whether it had been saving lives or parading about like a ditzy girl, had been designed to further that mission. Anna had been willing to do anything to win a place at Elsa's side in order to influence her policies.

Yet he had been there the night Drell had revealed his true loyalties. He had offered to let Anna live and join his cause...if only she killed Kale to prove her commitment. If Anna had indeed been the spy that she was now painted as, the general would have met his end that night. Anna would have struck him down without hesitation, then returned to the Queen and informed her of Drell's treachery. It would have guaranteed Anna's survival and continued place at Elsa's side; instigating a fight had been a far more risky proposition.

Kale had never liked Anna. He still didn't. She was a young, foolish girl involving herself in matters that women should have no place in. He would never forget the sight of her prancing around the Castle, flaunting her status as the Queen's pet and spitting in the face of hard-working soldiers who had served the Royal Family for decades.

Still, none of that meant Kale did not acknowledge her bravery that fateful night. She had chosen to let him live when it would have been much easier to let his blood run red on the snow. Anna had not owed him anything. And, if nothing else, she was clearly loyal to Queen Elsa.

She would never have betrayed the Queen.

Someone was clearly lying...manipulating events to suit their own purposes. Kale had his suspicions. He had lost a lot of respect for Queen Elsa after watching her dote on a former thief for months on end, but he still knew his duty to the Royal Family. The general would do everything in his power to get to discover the hidden machinations behind Anna's fall, and if the person behind them intended to harm the Queen, then Kale would show no mercy.

He had a good idea of where to start.

\

January 29

"It can't be done, Evangeline," Elsa was saying. "I'm sure she was a devoted member of the Faithful, but there's nothing I can do for her. Even if I was at full power...it's beyond even the power of a goddess to bring one back from that realm."

The spymaster grimaced. Finally, she had worked up the courage to ask her goddess about a possibility that had entered her dreams some months ago. Even though it had been over a year since that fateful night, Evangeline still pined for her lover. She would never forget holding Vlora in her arms as the older woman bled to death, struck down by Drell's monstrous band of assassins. Although it was comforting to know that the Arms Master was still suffering in the worst prison in the country, nothing would ever be able to fill the hole in Evangeline's heart left by the death of her lover.

Vlora had been her mentor, having both taught her how to navigate the Royal Court of Arendelle and assisted her rise through the ranks of the Faithful. Although Vlora's middling level of magical power had meant that Evangeline eventually surpassed her in rank and became leader of the group, the Councilor's advice and company had always been extremely valuable to her. Nothing had been the same since her death.

"I would love to have the ability to bring back my devoted servants," the goddess continued. "But once one has entered the Realm Beyond, they cannot return to this world. Even all of the gods and goddesses working together could not accomplish such a feat. She's certainly been in the Realm Beyond for several months now, and only a single second spent inside its walls is sufficient to keep a soul there forever. "

Evangeline frowned. "I feared as much. But what about Anna? Her status as your consort allowed her to return from death."

Elsa shook her head. "Anna was on the brink of death; she had not entered the Realm Beyond. If a human consort was chosen fully by a god and accepted that bond, he or she would be made immortal and never have to fear journeying to the Realm Beyond. But once already inside that realm, even a consort of a goddess cannot hope to return. Only by achieving immortality before entering that realm could a consort hope to remain on earth forever. For one who has already completed the walk of death, such as Vlora, there is nothing that can be done...even when I am at full strength."

"I understand, Your Worship," the spymaster sighed. "I thank you for taking the time to explain this to me. I must admit, however, there is something else I would like to know...if you would permit me. What is life inside the Realm Beyond?"

Again, the Goddess's answer disappointed her. "I do not know. No one does. The Realm Beyond was a mystery even to the King of the Gods. All any of us knew was that it was located on a separate plane of existence...the final destination for human souls following their deaths. The King eventually created a spell that sent the other gods and goddesses there, but it was a one-way journey. He did not know what awaited him and his brethren upon arrival. It might be paradise. Or oblivion. The only thing certain about that realm is that no return from it is possible."

Closing her eyes in frustration, Evangeline again managed an appreciate nod. "I-"

A polite knock on the door of the study interrupted their conversation. "Enter!" Elsa called. Quickly, the door opened to admit Kayla. Instantly, her presence brightened the spymaster's mood. With magical power unrivaled among the Faithful's youth, Kayla was posted to rise as one of the Goddess's most favored servants. At the moment, however, the servant girl's face wore a look of some distress.

"Forgive me, Your Worship, but you...have a visitor. It's...Miss Gerda, Your Worship."

\

Elsa nearly swore to herself. She'd taken care of Anna, allayed Rapunzel's concerns, and put on a convincing act for her Council, but even a Goddess was capable of mistakes. The issue of Gerda had slipped her mind.

The memories came to her mind quite clearly now. After Kai's unexpected death, the head of the Castle's staff had been so shaken by her husband's demise that she'd been granted time to spend with her family. If Gerda had returned, it could only mean that she felt ready to resume her duties in the Palace.

Which, of course, was a disaster. Gerda had known Elsa better than almost anyone. It was doubtless that the woman was here to retake her place as the head of the Castle servants. With over ten more months until the ritual was ready, the potential for her to realize Elsa wasn't her old self was far too great. It was the same exact reason that Anna had been a danger.

Something would have to be done. For now, however, the Queen would have to put on a good show.

"Gerda, I'm so glad to see you!" Elsa gasped as the older woman walked through the door of the study. "With everything that's happened...Anna betraying me...I'm just really glad that you're back." Throwing off royal decorum as her mortal personality certainly would have, she wrapped her arms around Gerda.

The head servant returned Elsa's embrace, but the Goddess could immediately sense that something was wrong. Gerda's arms seemed weak and hesitant; it was a far cry from the bold yet caring woman that her memories described.

"What's wrong?" Elsa asked. "Is it Anna? I can't believe it myself-" She stopped as Gerda stepped out of the embrace and shook her head.

"Your Majesty, the last thing I wanted was to add this to your problems, especially after everything that's happened, but..." she paused, gazing into Elsa's eyes. "I am out of time. I began to feel ill soon after returning to my family. I wanted to return sooner, but months passed and it only grew worse. I barely had enough energy to rise in the morning; pain began to spread into my bones...some days the agony is almost unbearable. When I had a physician examine me, he...he said it was cancer. At best, I have a month left."

For a moment, all Elsa could do was stare at the woman in front of her in shock. Then, gradually, the truth finally began to set in. Gerda was dying. And that meant that one of the Goddess's major problems had just solved itself!

Tears began to leak out of the older woman's eyes. "I'm sorry. I wished I was here to resume my duties, but I'm here to...say goodbye. I've been given a month to live; there's no cure. The pain is becoming unbearable." With a trembling hand, Gerda reached inside her coat pocket and pulled out a bottle of dark green liquid. "This is concentrated hemlock essence. If drank it offers a quick, painless death. I will spend my last days in the Castle, but I refuse to die in agony. When the pain becomes too much..."

What luck! The Queen couldn't believe her good fortune. What had been a potential disaster was now nothing more than a minor nuisance. And she would deal with it as quickly as possible.

\

There was no point in taking any chances. The longer Gerda lingered in the Castle, the higher the chances were that she would get closer to the truth. If the old woman was going to die, then Elsa would simply have to help her along.

That night, after Gerda had made her rounds breaking the news to her friends in the Palace, Elsa ordered a messenger to summon the head servant to the Queen's chambers. It was not long before there as a soft knock on her door.

"Enter."

Gerda walked in, a sad yet warm smile on her face. "Your Majesty, I...it's good to see you. If it weren't for this disease, I would have returned far sooner. But no matter what's happening to my body, Kai would never forgive me if I went to the next world before helping you in any way I could." She walked forward, placing a comforting hand over Elsa's fingers. "I can't believe Anna would...are you absolutely certain she..."

Elsa smiled. "You're absolutely right. Anna is not a traitor. She was loyal to me until the end." At that, the Goddess couldn't completely suppress a small smile at the open-mouthed confusion that appeared on the other woman's face.

"Then why...is she...?!"

The Queen shook her head. "Dead? No, despite my best efforts. She's lost in the wilderness somewhere, probably without her memories. For the moment, the girl is no concern of mine."

Gerda took a horrified step back, retracting her arm from Elsa's pale skin. "Elsa, what-"

She wasn't quite as strong as she had been two months ago, but it still only took a flick of Elsa's wrist to seal both the door and windows under a layer of thick ice. Now, Gerda couldn't leave this room unless the Goddess allowed it, and no one on the outside would be able to hear this conversation.

"The Elsa you knew is gone. She was only a pale imitation of what I am. Millennia ago, traitors turned against their Goddess and scattered her essence. Her divine potential was eventually reborn in your Queen, and thanks to my faithful servants, my true personality has come to inhabit this body. The pathetic woman you knew no longer exists," she revealed.

The older woman stared at her with wide eyes, taking an involuntary step backwards. Satisfaction rippled through Elsa. For months, she'd had to put on a facade for the mortal around her...concealing her contempt for their weakness and pretending to adhere to their banal beliefs about morality. She did not have to put up an act for the Faithful, of course, but they were perhaps the only humans on this planet she didn't intend to punish. Seeing Gerda's fear was the most refreshing thing to happen to her in millennia.

And it was only the beginning. Once her divinity returned, the rest of humanity would share in that horror. As they suffered for the sins of their forefathers, the mortals of this planet would come to know the costs of displeasing a Goddess.

"You...you're..."

"I had feared that you would interrupt my plans before the ritual was complete, but you've done all my work for me. All I have to do is convince the staff that your pain convinced you to drink that little bottle a few days early, then put on a frown as we bury your body. Although you don't know it, you're actually one of the fortunate ones," Elsa continued.

Gerda simply stood there, hands shaking in horror as she beheld the Goddess in front of her.

"Now, you will-"

"No!" the head servant suddenly shouted. "Elsa, I loved you as a daughter. I watched you grow from a sweet, adorable child into the strongest and fairest Queen this kingdom has ever known. And if you're still in there, hear me now! Fight this bitch and take back control!"

Elsa chuckled. "She's gone, I'm afraid. Now, please take the quick end I'm offering you and kindly crumple to the floor. You're giving me a migraine."

Gerda's fist clenched, though the Goddess could see the pain that such an action caused her. "Never. Not while the woman I helped raise is possessed by a monster. Elsa, your parents loved you. Kai loved you. I love you. Anna loves you. Don't make all of our lives be for nothing! We all believe in you. You can't be gone...I won't accept it."

"Is that so?" the Goddess asked. "Let me describe to you the little ritual I'm preparing. In less than a year's time, I will have enough energy built up to submerge every man, woman, and child in winter. But this will be no ordinary blizzard. My magic will sweep the earth, turning every mortal it touches into an icy statue. When snow is falling at every corner of the world and my power holds dominion over every living thing on the planet, the divinity I once possessed will resurface and flow back into me. After that, I will allow much of humankind to unfreeze, but many will remain frozen to remind my subjects the cost of rebelling against me. The Kings, Queens, and priests around the world will be among those who stay trapped, including my so-called family."

It was simpler than it sounded. For the divinity of the Goddess of Winter to reawaken, winter must reign utterly supreme across the entire planet. Her divine essence had lain dormant for thousands of years; nothing less would be capable of reviving it. But as soon as it occurred, it would flow into the Goddess's reincarnation immediately. The last piece of her essence would automatically seek to reunite with the whole...and complete the natural union that had once been torn asunder.

"You're insane!" Gerda gasped.

Elsa smiled. "How cliché," she noted. "But, as the most powerful being in the world, I decide what is classified as sane. Now, answer me this. If the Elsa you knew really was still here, do you think she'd allow this to happen? Would someone of her weak sentimentality allow this ritual to pass?"

Gerda said nothing, her face now stark white and frozen in fear.

"No," Elsa answered for her. "And the ritual will succeed. The return of my divinity was pre-ordained two thousand years ago, and no prophecy has ever been wrong. There's nothing that can prevent my reign from coming to pass, least of all you. Still, you'll be lucky enough to escape it. Drink the poison and put yourself out of my misery."

"I-"

Sighing, the Goddess raised her hand and pointed a finger at Gerda. Instantly, a long, thin spike of ice materialized in front of her finger and crept towards Gerda's neck. "Drink the poison. Now. I'd rather you die cleanly; it will mean less work for me. But if I have to, I will inflict a considerable amount of pain upon you before making you drink regardless. Healing the wounds I give you will be an annoyance, but by morning nothing will remain of them. There's nothing you can do to hinder my plans. The only choice you have left is to decide how painful your death will be."

Once again, Gerda reached into her pocket and extracted the small vial of dark green liquid.

"Elsa, please-"

The icicle grew longer, slipping under Gerda's chin and pricking her neck. "Now."

Closing her eyes, the older woman brought the bottle to her lips. A single gulp was all it took for her to down the entire bottle. Tears dripping to the floor, Gerda stepped back and slumped against the wall.

The head servant raised her eyes and stared into the Goddess's gaze. "Elsa, don't-"

That was all she managed before her breathing stopped. With a loud thud, the body fell to the side and collided with the floor.

With a sigh, Elsa waved her hand and dispersed the ice around the room. All she had to do now was summon the servants, explain that Gerda had chosen to die in the presence of the Queen she'd helped to raise, and feign grief as they took the body away. Then, finally, Elsa could get to bed.

She had a terrible headache.

Responses:

WinterWolfDragon: Thank you!

Jydr: They know she's smart enough to sneak away on her own and determined enough to do it, pregnant or not. Might as well give her a ship and make her as safe as they can.

Shtoops: Not much she can do, at this point.

DimmensionalLover: Me too!

TheTrueKilljoy: You'll see.

Punky32: Mine too.

AlbinoPanda: Nope.

CoolNickNack: Possibly in the future.

3Gs: Thanks!

Arekanderu: She's fine; Elsa doesn't want to risk hurting her.

BreeBear98: My pleasure!

ClaireCooper: What false promises?

Hispalypatia: Hang in there!

Henderson94: Yes. The Faithful were wrong about that part. The Goddess has the real Elsa's memories because it's the same body.

ObsessiveImaginings: She doesn't remember having that training. No one hires a young girl for that kind of stuff unless they show great skill, and Anna doesn't know she has that.

SummerStormWar: So many hopes.

PascalDragon: You're right; I changed the time to make it more consistent.

Guest 1: Yes, she was wrong.

FreelanceBum: Which she's forgotten.

Coincidencless: Pabbie did warn her…

DVINM: Anna is certainly going through hell at the moment.