Even death proves to be a cold, dark place for Elsa, no different from what she had lived her entire life. The pain lingers in her body as she lies beneath the pitch black canvas above her.

Is this what death is like? Elsa thinks, looking up at the starless sky and waiting for that familiar darkness to swoop in and whisk her mind away somewhere it couldn't be hurt. Except this time it'd be forever.

A siren's noise still rings in her left ear, but Elsa slows her breathing and refuses to budge, as though the slightest movement would bring her back to life, and she'd have to face the men hunting her. The seconds tick by, and a white light falls upon her. Heaven? No, she'd see her parents if she were there. Instead of their kind faces, Elsa sees a helicopter, its pilot yelling at her to surrender. Rage builds up within Elsa when she realises that even her attempt at suicide had failed. Flexing her fingers, her muscles shiver when they come away with clumps of snow in her hands. Elsa jerks upright and gasps as she comprehends the bed of snow beneath her back. It's impossible, Elsa thinks, I swear there was nothing but concrete when I looked down.

Despite the soft, powdery snow falling through her fingers, Elsa fails to feel the slightest tinge of cold returning to her. She doesn't feel anything else either, save for the rumbling in her belly and the rage boiling within her at every injustice she had endured. Hurling the lumps of snow away, Elsa rises to her feet and begins to stagger forward, ignoring the yelling and rattle of helicopter blades. The thunk and hiss of a tear gas canister landing beside her forces her steady stroll into a full sprint.

The icy wind brings tears to Elsa's eyes as she picks up speed. Tendrils of night fog fly past her eyes, and she makes out an towering chain-link fence before her, separating the prison compound from the outside world. Elsa grits her teeth; she attempts to summon ice into her hands, but nothing comes, and the sleet drifting past her face could very well be winter's first snowfall. Nonetheless, she narrows her gaze at the fence. Her bare feet kick up blades of grass as she charges the fence, and the helicopter pilot keeps his spotlight beamed directly on her. Beneath the beam of white light, Elsa's blonde braid flutters behind her, shedding snowflakes into the wind.

With a screech that sends crows fluttering from the razor wire, Elsa tears through the fence as it freezes over at the very last second.

An orange glow peeks through the clouds as Merida saunters down the house's driveway. She slings her rifle over her shoulder and looks around at the host of animals behind her: lions and wolves, clad in composite armor and ready to pounce. Falcons with steel talons fitted over their feet circle over Merida's head, keeping a watchful eye on their mistress. Her frizzy red hair flutters in the morning breeze. She had always approached her missions with gritty determination, but this time, her fingers tremble when she feels cold leeching into her hands from the door knob.

"Elsa?" Merida calls out, hoping in the back of her mind that her friend would come out and save her the agony of the inevitable.

Merida knocks and tries the knob again, grunting as she fails to budge the frozen metal. Sighing, she raises her rifle and aims the butt towards the frosty knob, but a growling noise behind her makes her reconsider. The beast's towering shadow blots out the sun, but Merida doesn't flinch when she turns around to face its hulking frame.

"Alright, perhaps you can give it a shot."

Stepping aside, Merida allows the eight-foot tall polar bear to step up to the door. Clad in body armor bristling with spiked metal plates, the beast rips off the knob with one swipe of his fuzzy paw. The metal piece shatters into icy shards as it hits the concrete porch.

"Good job," Merida says, standing on the tips of her toes and rubbing his fuzzy chin, "would you mind giving me a minute? I have to try and reason with her first."

The bear steps down from the porch with a grunt, and orders the other animals to lie still on the lawn. With her heart pounding, Merida edges the door open with her rifle, recoiling from the blizzard billowing within the confines of Elsa's home. Icicles hang from the ceiling in glittering hues of red, and every inch of the ground is covered in frost. She squints through the clouds of snow at the storm's source, and spots Elsa curled up against her kitchen counter. Crossing her arms against the violent cold, Merida shields her eyes from the blizzard and approaches Elsa, taking care to avoid the shards of jagged ice sprouting around her.

"Elsa!" Merida calls out, a second before she notices a kitchen knife on the floor, and scars on Elsa's wrist, "Holy shit, did you do that to yourself?"

Elsa shakes off Merida's presence, muttering, "No, not you. I hoped they'd send someone else."

"Look, you need to come with me at once," Merida says, kneeling to Elsa's side and brushing the hair from her face, "Hans wants to speak with you."

"Is he going to give me a medal for killing seven soldiers and destroying a helicopter?" Elsa whispers, turning so that Merida can see the electric blue radiating from her eyes.

"Yea, that too," Merida says, pondering on what to say next, "you really should come with us."

"Us?" Elsa asks, "Is there an entire battalion of soldiers outside?"

Merida remains silent, staring at the frost creeping from Elsa's feet.

"Why did they send you?" Elsa grumbles, "Why not someone else?"

"Because he knows you'd listen to me," Merida says, putting on a pair of gloves and grabbing Elsa's thin wrists, "And I'm the only one who can stop you too."

"Lucifer or Hades can stop me."

"Hades isn't willing, and Lucifer would kill you while doing it. Hans needs you, we all need you. The state needs you."

"He shouldn't have suppressed my powers," Elsa complains, holding out her hands in front of her, curdling with unstoppable frost, "there's so much of it now that I don't know what to do with it."

"Maybe Hans can figure out what to do-"

"What if I don't want to go with you?" Elsa asks.

"Please don't do this to me," Merida says, "Hans is watching us now."

"Would you hurt me?" Elsa asks, squeezing Merida's hands, "After everything we've been through together?"

Merida shakes her head, sending flecks of snow tumbling from her frizzy hair, "No, not in a thousand lifetimes, but he will."

"Good, that's all I needed to know."

A shudder breaks out on Merida's lips, "So you've made up your mind then?"

Elsa nods, releasing Merida's hands and crossing her arms.

"I'm sorry," Merida says, as she feels her willpower ebb beneath the impenetrable force of President Hans entering her head.

"I'm sorry for hurting your animals," Elsa says, watching Merida's eyes flashing hues of blue and red all at once,

Merida crumples to the ground on her hands and knees. She clutches at her hair. A growl emanates from the pit of her throat. When she looks up at Elsa, the gentle look of concern is gone, replaced with a grimace, and eyes glowing red with hatred.

"You're coming with us!" Merida shrieks, her voice low and ominous. Merida slaps a pair of handcuffs on Elsa's wrists, only for the metal to disintegrate in a spray of frozen shards. Elsa leaps to her feet, and promptly get slapped across the face.

"What the-"

"Fuck you!" Merida spits, shoving her hard, "After everything I've done for you?"

"No, stop, Merida, I know this isn't you!" Elsa pleads, struggling to hold her off.

Merida punches Elsa hard in the gut, before picking her up and hurling her to the ground in a Judo throw. Ice sprays in every direction when Elsa hits the ground, a shard cutting into Merida's shin. Merida yelps in pain, eliciting a cry of terror from Elsa.

"Oh no! I'm sorry I hurt-"

Waiting for Elsa to come closer to inspect her cut, Merida waits until she's almost at her knee level, before rearing up her other leg and smashing her boot into Elsa's face. Blood drips across the tiles when Merida kicks her again with her steel-toed boot, but instead of fighting back, Elsa crawls away on the shards of ice, wiping the blood from her face.

Merida approaches Elsa like a cornered animal, growling, "I should have let you rot to death in Grimfold!"

"No, please, Merida, why are you doing this to me?"

"I gave you a life, and you betray me for some peasant slut?"

Elsa snaps her gaze to Merida's eyes. At once, she sees the truth behind those eyes. Hans is inside her head.

"Get out, this has nothing to do with Merida," Elsa growls, rising to her feet and intensifying the blizzard around her, "I don't want to hurt her."

"She belongs to me," Merida growls, reaching for the gun at her hip, "and so do you!"

Elsa waits until the last second, right before Merida's about to pull the trigger, before shutting her eyes and blasting her with ice. The magic sends her sailing through the living room and out the front door, ripping the steel from its hinges in the process.

"No!" Elsa screams, dashing after the foggy trail of frost Merida's body left through her home. Her attempts to dash through the broken doorway are cut off when a polar bear smashes into her, picking Elsa up like a rag doll and hurling her into the wall. Elsa leaps from the bed of snow and summons a craggy ice wall for the bear to collide with.

"Please don't, please don't, please don't," Elsa pleads, watching the beast pound at her ice wall, each swipe of its iron-clad paws spreading more and more cracks.

With a roar that rattles the window panes, Merida's polar bear breaks through the ice and promptly charges Elsa. Each step it takes smashes a crater in the tiled floor. Her eyes flashing a mix of fear and desperation, Elsa allows her instincts to take over. She throws her hands out in front of her, sending a hail of icy arrows at the bear. Her deadly assault peppers the bear with wounds in between sections of its armor, sending it tumbling over in pain-fuelled rage. Gnarling, the beast attempts to right itself up, grunting as the jagged ice arrows pierce further into its joints with each movement it makes.

Adrenaline buzzes through Elsa's brain; she charges at the bear, before stabbing a six-foot ice-spear into its left eye. The beast roars and swats Elsa from its path, right before she sends more and more icicles stabbing through its furry limbs. By the time it stops struggling, all that remains is a frozen polar bear impaled upon dozens of ice shards, slowly bleeding out.

A roar snatches Elsa's attention; she whirls around long enough to spot a lion ripping up furniture as it charges headlong towards her. The armor-clad lion leaps at her, before being blasted away with ice. Unencumbered by Elsa's magic, it immediately recovers and unleashes a ferocious roar, sending a pack of beasts through the front door. Shrieking, Elsa blasts more and more ice at the wolves and panthers leaping over each other in an attempt to tear out her throat. Their sheer numbers win out; amidst the violent snowstorm, she mistimes her magic and gets tackled by the lion, sending her crashing out the front door.

Only Elsa's wits save her from being eaten alive at the very last moment. Levitating herself on a swirling cloud of ice and snow, Elsa hovers above the swarm of beasts. Flecks of snow scatter from her slender fingers, each one sprouting into a snowy animal, ready to take on its armor-clad opposite. Fur and ice collide in a catastrophic roar of destruction; icy fangs rip into kevlar, metal-clad claws rip through snow. Above them all, Elsa watches on a cloud billowing fog and frost. She attempts to make out a plume of red hair through the chaos, but sighs when the only red she sees are Merida's animals bleeding out from the death she had wrought upon them.

A low snarl behind Elsa sends her whirling around. On the roof of her house, Elsa makes out Merida; sitting astride an enormous white tiger. Her eyes glow the same fiery red as her hair, fluttering in the wind.

"Oh my god, Merida," Elsa exclaims, staring at the feathery wings extending from Merida's back. Rippling muscles have erupted from her once-slender arms, fraying her sleeves and lending a bestial quality to the woman. A five-foot long composite bow held aloft in Merida's hand completes the hunter's outfit.

"You have no idea what she's capable of," Merida's voice reaches Elsa's ears, a second before she takes aim.

"No, stop!" Elsa shrieks, too late to stop her from shooting. The arrow splinters into shards of ice, right before the tiger lets out a roar and leaps at Elsa. Distracted by the enormous wings flapping ice into her eyes, Elsa gets tackled by the beast, sending her crashing to the ground below. Her fall takes out a half-dozen animals amongst the others still brawling on her lawn, and she executes the tiger with an ice blade right before it's able to bite her head off. Unfortunately, the 400-pound beast flops on Elsa the moment it dies, crushing every ounce of air from her lungs.

Merida's face appears over Elsa's eyes as she struggles to free herself. A gloved hand closes around Elsa's throat, and before she's able to utter a cry of protest, the stronger woman yanks her from beneath the tiger's corpse and hurls her to the ground. At once, she's beset upon by a pack of wolves - only a desperate blast of ice manages to hold them off.

"Oh god, what did you do to Merida?" Elsa exclaims, clutching her bleeding shoulder and crawling away from Merida's bestial form striding towards her, bow in hand.

"What I should have done to you a long time ago," Merida answers, nocking three steel arrows in her bow. "genetic engineering,"

"You can't be serious-"

"Oh Elsa, if only your powers were stable enough like hers'," Merida says, taking aim at Elsa, "you would've experienced the full majesty of the plans I had for you."

"That is sick," Elsa snarls at Merida, her face blotting out the sun as she stands over her, "why can't you just leave people alone?"

"If I can't have you," Merida says, her breathing slowing to a snail's pace, "no one will!"

Elsa ponders death beneath Merida's steel-tipped arrows; three of them - aimed straight at her head, chest and gut respectively. It wouldn't be so bad, dying beneath the one woman who had looked after her for most of her life, even if it really was Hans killing her. There'd be a twitch of pain, and then the warm gush of blood running down her face. It'd be over soon. Anna is probably dead. Here is her chance to complete what she failed to do earlier at the prison. There really isn't any reason to go on living. Is there?

Hope.

The one word filters into Elsa's mind as she hears the snap of Merida's bow. Arrows streak forth, merely a blur in Elsa's eyes. The tip touches her nose before everything in front of her eyes melts away in one singular explosion of sheer cold. The shockwave of ice sends everything flying away in a hundred yard radius, taking with it the roof of her house and three helicopters observing the battle raging below. The broken bodies of Merida's beasts scatter the lawn, along with the icy remnants of Elsa's animal army. With her chest heaving, Elsa gasps when she realizes that Merida is gone too. Bolting upright, her chest clenches when she spots her figure slumped beneath a tree.

"Oh no," Elsa stutters, clutching her crushed rib and staggering towards Merida's shivering body. As she nears her, Elsa notices that the glowing red in her eyes has gone, replaced with the glazed look of a woman nearing her death. Merida's wings have been torn apart by the fury of Elsa's magic, leaving clumps of frozen feathers strewn around her feet.

"Elsa, Elsa, I'm so sorry," Merida pleads, as Elsa falls to her side, "I tried everything I could to resist him."

"No, no, you're hurt," Elsa says, clutching her shaking hands. The multitude of frozen shards embedded in her abdomen come into view, and Elsa shrieks at the damage she's done to Merida. She doesn't need to look at the pink snow beneath her body to know that it's too late - not even Rapunzel could save her.

"I'm glad it's you," Merida says, "I'd rather die by your hand than some bastard rebel in the field."

"No, please Merida, I shouldn't have. None of this should've happened," Elsa stutters, passing her hands over Merida's body and trying to dispel as much of the ice from her wounds as she can muster.

"It's no use, just let me go," Merida whispers, "just promise me, that if it's ever down to you and...and Hades, that you'll...you'll…"

A tear drips down Elsa's cheek, she tightens her grasp on Merida's hands, the shaking within them fading into stillness.

"You'll make it quick for him."

"No!" Elsa shrieks, "I don't want to kill anyone anymore!"

Silence replies Elsa's words. Beneath the frozen pine tree, Merida's lips let out one last foggy breath, before going still. Releasing her comrade's limp arms, rage boils over in Elsa's veins. She rises as the sun beats down on her face, and grimaces at the other two helicopters backing away from her.

"Are you happy now?" Elsa yells, directed at the omnipresent power of Han's will.

Heaving breaths of foggy air, the tears on Elsa's face freeze over, before dispelling into the frigid air as snow begins drifting down around her. As she stands in the sun, ice materializes on Elsa's shoulders in a fabric-like material, cascading down her body in a crystal gown. The icy garment shimmers in the sun, and wings sprout from her back like those of an angel. Gritting her teeth, Elsa stares at the noon sun, its blinding wrath equalling that of her own.

"I'll make you pay," Elsa grunts, before leaping into the sky on her winter's wind, ready to claim her debt from Hans.