Chapter 22: The deal.

Anna didn't see her sister again after their little fight. At first she was too mad to care, and took the intensified coldness at the ice palace as a sign that Elsa just trying to further irritate her. That is, until dinner time came and she noticed only Percival was in the dining room.

He looked at her with blind fury, but said nothing when she took some salmon from the stove, sat down in front of him and started eating. But the silence made her uncomfortable and so, despite knowing it probably wasn't a good idea, after a few minutes of trying to ignore Percival's death glare, she looked up and tried to give him an intimidating look as she spoke.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked, and to her surprise he just shrugged.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you made Elsa so angry she's locked herself in the library and has caused a storm to envelop the Northern Mountains." He answered coldly.

"It wasn't my fault!" Anna protested, wanting to convince herself as much as Percival. "She gets angry very easily, you know that!"

"Yes, but never without reason." Percival retorted, narrowing his eyes. "What . Did. You. Do?"

"Nothing!" She protested, and the prince just sighed, obviously not believing her.

"Alright." He decided to drop the subject, knowing he probably wasn't getting anywhere with such a stubborn princess. "But I warn you that if the storm is still there tomorrow, I will personally kill you." He then said with a threatening voice. Looking into his eyes, seeing the hatred and madness behind them, Anna had no problem believing him.

She gulped. Even before Percival told her, she knew she'd screwed up and had to do something fast, but what? She had no idea. She didn't know how to deal with Elsa, more so now that she could probably kill her without hesitation if she overstepped her boundaries, so… was she willing to risk her life to calm her down? But then again, if she didn't, she'd probably end up dead anyways, only at the hands of Percival instead of Elsa. She couldn't decide which one was scarier.

At the end, she decided to go to sleep and pray Elsa would calm herself down by morning. Unfortunately, when she woke up in the middle of the night shivering because of how cold it was, she knew that was likely not going to happen. Still, she was too tired to care and tried to get some more sleep, but when she just kept shivering in discomfort, she decided it was probably not going to work. And so, she got up, put on her very fluffy boots, and went to the kitchen, wanting to prepare herself some hot chocolate in order to warm up from the inside (and also in case she died tomorrow; she wanted to taste chocolate one last time).

And so, she started descending the stairs, careful not to slip with all the frost that had been formed, or get impaled on the multiple new icicles. She soon noticed that, the more she descended, the colder it got, and the stronger the roaring sound of the storm outside grew. It also didn't take her long to realize that, even in that very moment, new icicles kept protruding from the walls and floor.

More so, her breath soon started forming little clouds of mist in front of her, and frost began accumulating on her skin and clothes, burning her out of sheer cold.

She was considering just going back up, to the relative safety of her room, when she suddenly saw light coming from under a door. Not the yellow light of a fireplace either, but blue, almost spectral light, coming out in erratic waves. She instantly knew what it was, and the knowledge almost made her run away. Magic. Elsa's magic.

No wonder it felt like the storm was literally at the other side of the door; it probably was.

She briefly considered just ignoring it and going back to sleep, but… she felt kinda guilty. Sure, Elsa maybe had no self-control, but if she was angry in the first place, it was at least partially Anna's fault, and she felt a little responsible. Plus, she had no intention of dying at the hands of some crazy prince, so she decided to swallow her fear and knock.

At first, nothing happened. Elsa didn't answer, and Anna wondered if she had even heard her knock, which made her hit the door again, this time harder. Again, her older sister didn't even say a thing.

Oh, well. She had tried, right? It wasn't her fault that her sister was so stubborn. Anna was just turning around to run upstairs as fast as she could, when suddenly the door opened on its own. The princess wasn't sure if it was magic or just the sheer strength of the storm inside that opened it, but she sure as hell felt the change immediately once it wasn't there preventing her from facing the storm directly.

The wind hit her face, making her shut her eyes tightly and try to cover her face with her hands. Tiny snowflakes got stick on her skin, making her body numb with cold, and she started trembling even more. Thankfully, this cold assault didn't last long, and soon the roaring wind calmed down enough to let her open her eyes end see her sister, staring at her from the middle of her own mini snowstorm. Anna was also able to recognize the room she was in; it was the same one Elsa had abandoned her in after their little argument. The great balcony was unmistakable.

"Anna?" Elsa asked, using a tone that made it clear she had been expecting someone else.

"Uh… hi?" She answered awkwardly.

"What are you doing here?" Elsa asked in an annoyed tone, though at least the wind stopped roaring, even if snow continued falling.

"Well… I was just going to the kitchen when I saw light coming from under this door. Are you okay?" She asked as she started approaching her sister. Elsa, however, turned around when she saw this and walked towards the balcony. Anna didn't let this bother her.

"I just… I wanted to say I'm sorry. I know what I said earlier bothered you and that wasn't my intention." Anna said, trying to be the mature one in this situation, as she came to stand next to Elsa at the balcony. Here, the cold was a lot stronger, as the storm kept going outside the castle, but she tried not to shiver much. Elsa sighed and gripped the rail, frowning, and Anna feared for a brief second that she was going to snap again. Thankfully, when she spoke, she sounded calmer than she looked, if a bit awkward.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too." She said with a grimace. "I'm not very good at controlling my emotions."

"I've noticed." Anna chuckled, but got quiet quickly, fearing she'd upset her sister once more. After that, they fell silent, just staring at the roaring storm outside. Anna wanted to say more, to amend things with her sister. She knew much of their fighting was because they didn't understand each other, and that to do so, they'd need to talk things out. But with Elsa she was quite literally walking on thin ice, worrying everything would break apart at any second. So instead, she took some time to think about what she'd say.

"Just spill it." Elsa said after a few minutes, probably noticing Anna's struggle. "I promise I won't cause an even bigger storm."

"Uhm, well… I was just wondering, why did you freeze Arendelle?" Anna asked the first thing that came to her mind.

"I already answered that." Elsa said, finally turning to look at her and raising her eyebrow.

"Yes, but revenge? Revenge for what? What did those people do to you?" Anna just couldn't understand what her sister had against the whole kingdom. Sure, maybe she was mad with some of the people she met, but all of them? And so mad that she wanted to kill them? No, she wasn't buying it.

"They didn't want me to be their queen." Elsa said, glaring at the distance. "Even when they didn't know anything about me except that I have magic, they still chose to have literally anyone else take the throne." She paused, obviously struggling to reign her anger. "I worked all my life, studying without rest, all in hopes of being a good queen, one that would be remembered forever. And yet, it was all taken away from me because a kingdom filled with fools believed in a dumb prophecy."

"Being queen isn't that great, believe me." Anna said with a bitter laugh. "And besides, the prophecy was true, wasn't it? You're the ruler with a frozen heart that caused an eternal winter."

"I wouldn't have caused this winter if they hadn't taken my crown away from me!" Elsa pretty much screamed, clearly furious. "Being queen was all that I had to look forward as I grew up! Everything I endured was solely because I knew one day I'd have power and be able to make a difference, and now… now it's all gone!"

"Everything you endured?" Anna asked in disbelief. "What? Living in a palace surrounded by servants that fulfill your every wish and more riches you could ever spend wasn't enough for you? You were a princess! You could have had all that, and none of the responsibility that comes with being a ruler. Why did you want more power anyways?"

"Now, here you go again. Assuming that just because your childhood was great, mine was too." Elsa sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Well, then enlighten me. What made your childhood so bad that you're willing to make a whole kingdom pay for it?" She answered, trying to stay calm and keep an open mind, despite everything. Granted, she wasn't doing a very good job at it.

"Don't tell me you don't remember." Elsa said with a grimace.

"Remember what?" Anna answered trough gritted teeth, fighting hard not to get to the logical conclusion Elsa was probably asking her to get to. Her sister chuckled bitterly.

"Deny it all you want, Anna, but I knew you saw my wounds. Not one, not two, but multiple times." When the redheaded princess just turned to look outside with a sour expression, Elsa kept talking. "Yes, maybe the first time you believed it was an accident, but surely after the second time you realized what was really happening." She paused, waiting for her to confirm her words, but the younger sister still refused to meet her eyes or say anything, yet her jaw was tense and her lips formed a thing line. "Anna?" She prompted her.

"Okay, our father hit you, so what?" She finally said, turning to glare at Elsa. "Many parents hit their children when they're being brats."

"And you were never a brat?!" Elsa yelled, mad that her sister wanted to excuse anything the others had done, yet dared to judge her for what she had done. "Heck, half the time it was you who got me in trouble!"

"I wasn't!" Anna answered offended.

"Yes, it was." Elsa rolled her eyes. "All children misbehave sometimes. The difference is that whenever you did something wrong, they'd gently try to correct you, and when I did something wrong I was either hit until my hands bled, or thrown in a dungeon for a week."

"Now you're just exaggerating." Anna sighed, knowing her sister had never been in a dungeon. Truth to be told, she was just trying hard not to feel too guilty about what her sister was telling her. Even though she wasn't sure it was actually true, her heart still hurt a little at her words, more so when she remembered the few times she saw her wounds.

"I'm not." Elsa frowned. "Remember when I froze Hans' arm off? That's when father decided it was okay to lock me in a dirty prison cell. Not only that, but it obviously had been specifically built for me, and had a pair of special shackles able to contain my powers!"

"I-I… I can't believe that! Father wouldn't do something so horrible!" Anna argued, convinced her sister was only telling her such things to make her feel bad for her.

"Father was an asshole, incapable of loving his own daughters." Elsa shot back, practically sneering at her sister.

"Of course he loved me!" The princess said angrily, only to realize what she'd said a moment later and correct herself. "Us. He… loved us." Even to herself that kinda sounded like a lie. Maybe love wouldn't be the best word to describe what her father felt for Elsa.

"Stop pretending, Anna." Elsa rolled her eyes once more. "He didn't love me, and he didn't love you. Sure, maybe he liked you more, but if he had loved you, he wouldn't have sold you off to a jerk of a prince."

"He only did that because he needed to maintain peace with the Southern Iles after you injured Hans." Anna argued, though it had been difficult for her to justify that decision even back then. Much less now after all she'd suffered at the hands of Hans.

"Whatever." Elsa huffed. "You have no idea how much pleasure it gave me when he finally closed his eyes forever."

A chill ran down Anna's spine when she heard those words. Sure, she knew her father had died at the hands of her sister, but a part of her hoped it had been unintentionally, or at least indirectly. Like, that maybe the cold of the mountains had killed him. She liked to imagine that maybe Elsa had felt at least a bit sad about it, not that she'd felt pleasure!

She didn't knew what she wanted to do more; if punch her sister, run away as fast as she possible could from this crazy psychopath, or cry until she had no tears left. At the end, she didn't do anything; she was in shock. Apparently, Elsa took this as an invitation to continue.

"I still remember that day." She said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I had been sending him letters for months, ever since I discovered you were going to marry that stupid prince. Of course, the only answer I ever got was him sending troops to kill me and, when they all died at the hands of my snow monsters, he finally decided to come himself." She paused. "I never quite understood why, since he was always a coward. Maybe he thought he scared me enough for me not to kill him on sight." She shrugged. "But what's certain is that, the moment he entered my palace, he was unrecognizable. He tried to hug me, he apologized, he said he'd missed be… but I saw through his lies. Still, I decided to play along."

Anna listened intently with morbid curiosity. She always wondered how were her father's last moments, yet listening to Elsa describe them almost felt wrong. Like she was hearing a secret she wasn't supposed to hear. A part of her wanted to believe that her father wasn't lying, that he was being honest when he apologized, and in her sister's tortured gaze, she saw that, at the time, she had wanted to believe that too.

"I invited him to have dinner, and he told me you were happy with Hans, and were marrying him on your own will." Anna's eyes widened at her words. That was a blatant lie! She couldn't count the many times she'd begged her father to find another solution and let her cancel the arrangement. "Of course, I didn't believe him. We ended up arguing, and then I went to sleep, not wanting to deal with him one second longer, yet sparing his life in hopes he'd change his mind about you." Elsa sighed. "I should have killed him then."

"You see, I woke up when I heard swords clashing, and soon found him fighting with Percival in my room. Apparently, he had tried to kill me in my sleep, but Percival had stopped him." She pursed her lips, and the air grew considerably colder. "I sent an icicle through his heart, and that was the end of the story. I showed him way more mercy than he deserved."

"I-I… I can't believe that!" Anna finally said, shaking her head as tears starting falling from her burning eyes. "He… he wouldn't…"

"Oh, but he did." Elsa smirked maliciously. "And it's about time you open your eyes and see him for what he really is."

"I'm sure you will say the same about me after you kill me!" Anna yelled, shaking from her sobs. She wasn't quite sure why she was crying. Perhaps it was the intense fear she felt in her gut, or the pain it gave her to hear her own sister confessing she killed their father, or the thought that most probably she would soon share the same fate. Whatever it was, was making her sob so hard she had to stifle her sobs with her hand, so that Percival wouldn't hear her. She really didn't want to deal with him in that moment.

"Only if you try to kill me in my sleep." Elsa chuckled, but when Anna just glared at her through her teary eyes, she realized she probably shouldn't joke about this, softened her expression and adopted a slightly gentler tone. "Look, if I killed father it was partially because I was trying to help you. I didn't want you to spend the rest of your life with Hans. I want you to be here with me. Forever. There's nothing I've ever wanted more."

Anna looked deep into her sister eyes, trying to catch even the smallest hint of deceitfulness. To see if she was just luring her into a trap, if she truly hated her and wanted to kill her. But she found none of that; in those hard and icy eyes of her sister she only found honestly, and longing. And, as terrifying as the prospect of spending the rest of her life living with a serial killer with incredible powers, she still found herself taking a few moments to calm down before wiping her eyes and asking:

"You want it more than revenge?" Elsa took a few seconds to respond, but at the end answered with conviction.

"Yes."

And so, Anna decided to make a deal. It wasn't one she particularly liked, but she knew she had to make sacrifices for the greater good. And besides, that's what she had been sent to do in the first place; to stop this winter.

"Then you shall have it. I'll stay here with you… as long as you promise to thaw Arendelle."

At this Elsa paused. She was visibly hesitating, trying to decide between her two major desires. Between revenge and love. Before making any promises though, she questioned Anna.

"Do you promise to never leave me again? To give up on your title as Queen of Arendelle and, therefore, your past life? Would you really do that in order to save a bunch of ungrateful assholes?"

"It's the right thing to do." Was Anna's sole answer. Still, Elsa continued with her questions.

"Will you give yourself to me in soul and body? Do you promise to do anything I ask of you?" Anna paused to think about this. She had made such promises once before. To Hans. And she'd hated every second of her life with him, but… she doubted her sister would be worse than him. At least she claimed to love her, right? And she had mostly treated her with respect so far. As long as she didn't make her mad she had nothing to fear. Plus, it's not like she had something to go back to in Arendelle. And she did want to stop the winter. What was her freedom compared to saving thousands of lives?

"I promise." She finally said, and instantly Elsa's gaze softened and turned almost loving. The storm outside stopped, and the temperature rose considerably.

"Then it's decided." Elsa smiled. "Come on, let's go get some sleep. You're freezing here, and you look tired." As she spoke, Elsa offered her hand to Anna, who took it hesitantly. Once they were holding hands, however, Elsa's smile widened even more before she gently started leading her upstairs.

As she walked trough the dark and empty ice palace, which at night seemed to be made of black glass, Anna hoped with all her heart that she had made the right choice by giving herself to the Ice Queen.

A/N: Merry Christmas! I hope you liked this chapter and, if you did, please leave a review? I really like reading them :D. Thanks for reading and see you soon.

Thanks to my beta reader moonwatcher13.