Anna stirred in her sleep.

She wasn't sure what caused her sudden partial return to consciousness. The Knight had been dreaming about something pleasant- she couldn't remember what- and then a distant sound had just managed to reach her ears.

Focusing on this puzzlement allowed the rest of Anna's mind to return to wakefulness. Elsa's arms were still wrapped around her, and the memories of what they had done hours ago filled the Knight with a sense of satisfaction.

But none of this answered the question of why she was awake. Anna didn't feel like she had to use the toilet, and the room was still a comfortable temperature. Her eyes fluttered open; nothing in her vision seemed amiss. Silence reigned.

Scoffing at her hyperactivity, the Knight settled back into her Queen's arms. The Castle was filled with hundreds of visitors; perhaps one of them had made a sound capable of rousing her from sleep. Usually, the Royal Wing was isolated from the noises of the rest of the Palace's occupants, but the building was currently filled to capacity, after all.

Smiling, she shifted ever so-slightly in Elsa's arms and prepared to shut her eyes.

Creak.

Anna's eyes opened with a flash. She waited a moment...nothing. Then their large bedroom door began to slowly slide inward. The Knight's heart began to race...was she still in a dream?

Then the door fully opened; the motion was completed carefully enough to not make a sound. Standing in the doorway were two unfamiliar men, their visages illuminated by the bright torches that hung in the hall outside.

In each of their hands was a loaded crossbow.

"Elsa!" she cried, but already the men had fired. One bolt was aimed for the Queen's head, the other for Anna's.

She couldn't have done it a month ago. But every day, Elsa had been filling her with magic, and Anna's strength, speed, and reflexes had continued to increase. As the two bolts shot forward, Anna was already springing into action.

The Knight moved to the left, towards the Queen's body. Her fist lashed out. Despite the adrenaline running through her, Anna's timing was perfect. Knuckles made contact with metal as her hand deflected the bolt aimed for the Queen.

Pain! The bolt's head only scored a glancing blow on her hand, but that was still enough for it to rip through the skin as it sped past.

"There's no escape, Anna. This is only a taste of what I can do," Jocasta whispered soothingly as she applied the brand to Anna's chest. The attendant screamed in- No! Not now.

Anna's momentum carried her over the Queen; she fell to the floor on the left side of the bed. A thunk sounded as the bolt that had been aimed for her face smacked into the headboard.

Anna looked up from her spot on the floor. The two men were rapidly reloading their bows, and behind them the Knight could see several accomplices standing ready. The two shooters prepared to fire again, their weapons both swinging in Anna's direction.

A wall of ice sprouted up in front the doorway, sealing them off. Anna jumped to her feet as the Queen climbed out of bed, her hands forming a more practical ice dress. Outside, the men began to pound against the barrier.

Anna darted to the other side of the room, hurriedly grabbing her sword before facing the doorway. Elsa stood ready; her palms were facing the entrance.

There was no time to figure out what was going on. All that mattered was survival. Their Castle was under attack, and it was Anna's job to defend its occupants.

She leapt into the air, splaying out her right foot and kicking the ice barrier with all the force she could muster. Elsa's ice could withstand the strength of normal men for several hours, but it certainly wasn't Anna-proof.

A loud crack echoed through the room as the ice splintered. The wall fell forward, crushing the two crossbowmen beneath an icy grave. But there were at least another dozen men in the hallway. Each was armed with a sword from the Castle's armory, but their clothes were certainly not those of the Palace Guards.

What the hell is going on?!

She charged forward. For an instant, her dislike of killing warred against her instinct to protect Elsa, but it was a brief battle. Anna's sword cut through the head of the first attacker before he could hope to react. She jumped into the air and spun to the right, avoiding another man's downward swipe and lashing out with a kick to his ribs. He went rocketing into the wall behind him, possibly dead and certainly unconscious.

"Anna, down!"

The Knight dropped to the floor. Her duty was to protect Elsa, yes, but that did not mean she would protest the Queen acting in her own defense. Elsa's magic was the most powerful protection she had, and it would be incredibly foolish to argue against utilizing it.

A torrent of icicles shot above Anna's head, impaling another four attackers. When the magic stopped, the Knight sprang to her feet and raised her sword defensively.

The closest man began to step backward warily, but he raised his sword in a ready position. Elsa now standing beside her, Anna began to step forward-

No!

/

"No, please...stop!" Anna cried desperately. Her sword hit the ground with a noisome clang. Horrified, the Queen turned to her left, thinking her lover had somehow been hit.

But the Knight was fine. Save for the small cut on her hand, she was unwounded, and her near-immunity to poison would be shielding her on the off chance the bolt had been laced with a deadly substance. Yet Anna's eyes were staring a million miles away, filled with nothing but pure terror. Her body began to shake as she automatically began to sit on the floor.

Then Elsa saw it. A bright light was shining on Anna's eyes. One of the soldiers was holding his weapon out in front of him, and the unrusted steel was more than capable of reflecting light. By pure luck, he had managed to reflect the glare of one of the bright torches into Anna's eyes.

The Queen conjured up five creations- a phalanx of tall icy warriors, and set them upon the invaders. As they charged towards the terrified men, Elsa erected another barrier of ice behind them, sealing herself and Anna from the fight.

"Anna, you're fine! She's not here! Please, I need you!" she pleaded. Elsa might as well have been speaking in another language. The Knight continued to stare aimlessly into the distance, her eyes filled with horror. The Queen had seen some of Anna's past flashbacks, but nothing that could compare with this episode.

I suppose it makes sense. She just woke up and she's filled with stress and adrenaline. Throw in combat and the light of a fire...But that didn't give Elsa any inclining on how to break her out of it. Screams continued to sound from the other side of the wall as Elsa's creations made quick work of the attackers.

She shook the Knight desperately, but Anna remained off in her own world.

Elsa's teeth clenched. Right now, there were larger problems to deal with, and unfortunately it looked like she'd be facing them without Anna by her side. Sensing that her icy soldiers had been victorious, the Queen dispelled the barrier and quickly sealed the wound on Anna's hand with her magic.

"Take her to our chambers, hide her in the back and keep her there until I return," she ordered. She watched with a heavy heart as a distraught Anna was half-carried by her soldiers back into the Royal bedroom.

In front of their door, Elsa materialized a massive barrier of ice that would take even the strongest man an hour to break through. It was reckless, she knew, to be leaving all five of her active creations to guard Anna, but the Queen didn't care. She'd rather die than come back to find Anna killed thanks to a shortage of protection.

Ice sprouting beneath her feet, Elsa took off flying down the hallway. Her control was perfect; she could maintain flight even around corners and down flights of stairs.

She could hear the screams and clash of metal even before she reached the next floor. The monarch's heart filled with dread. How? How could this be happening?

By the time Elsa reached the floor below the Royal Wing, she had already passed two checkpoints of Royal Guards. All four of the men stationed there were dead, clearly having been caught by surprise and overwhelmed by numbers before they could raise the alarm. Her anger rising to the boiling point, Elsa flew out into the Guest Wing and towards the din of battle.

Near her study, three Royal Guards were locked in combat with seven invaders. And when the Queen had another chance to look at the clothing worn by the attackers, all of the pieces finally clicked together.

She'd been betrayed. Not just by a single guard or cook, but by a large contingent of the country's nobility. The servants some had brought in weren't servants; they were trained warriors disguised to infiltrate the Castle. And somehow, they had snuck into the Palace armories and gotten their hands on weapons. Thanks to an inside man in the Castle, no doubt.

That's why I thought the visiting servants looked so inexperienced. I've been surrounded by traitors.

White-hot fury radiated through her entire being. They would pay...they would regret ever daring to challenge her reign.

Razor sharp icicles exploded from her palms, fatally impaling four of the invaders before they even knew she was there. That was all the opportunity the Royal Guards needed; they struck the other three down with seconds.

"Head down to the main hall," Elsa ordered. "I'm going to sweep the rest of this floor." Not giving them a chance to respond, she took off gliding through the air.

It was almost certain that the entire Castle was under attack. Anyone hoping to usurp her rule would need to put the entire building under their control. The Queen hurried down the hall, knowing that whoever was behind such a grand attack would likely be targeting some of the loyal nobility as well.

Elsa flew down the next flight of stairs, hearing the sounds of a sizable battle below. Coming to a stop at the bottom, she was greeted by the sight of perhaps a dozen Royal Guards clashing with fifty armed men. A few weaponless nobles and Castle servants were swept up in the chaos, doing their best to not be struck by either side.

Many aristocrats were likely cowering in their bedrooms, hoping to wait out the fighting. Teams of Royal Guards were clumped together, desperately holding back the invaders, but they were outnumbered at least three to one.

Elsa had made sure to give every soldier a chance to surrender when she had assaulted David's tower. But there would be no such mercy here. These men were doing far more than just following orders. They had agreed to assault her Castle, her guards, and all of her faithful subjects, and for that they would pay the ultimate price. She would not waste time giving their pitiful lives a chance when every second wasted could result in the death of another innocent.

The Queen struck them down without hesitation. It was too late to save some of the guards. Skilled as they were, even the most proficient swordsman could not hold out against such overwhelming odds for long. But the survivors fought on with renewed hope as their attackers were suddenly pierced by shards of ice or crushed by waves of snow.

It only took a minute. Some of the attackers tried to break off and attack the Queen herself, but she brushed aside their efforts contemptuously. A final torrent of ice was launched from her hands, and it was all over.

"Get to the main hall, hurry!" she ordered the remaining guards. Not waiting for a reply, Elsa took off gliding down the hallway. A lone invader was standing guard by the flight of stairs, but with a quick wave of her hand he was fatally launched down he stairway by a powerful gust of cold air.

A shout sounded to her right. "No, please! Don't!" It was coming from the door to a side parlor. Stopping her flight, Elsa blasted the wooden barrier with another gust of cold air.

It was Kayla, one of the maids that Anna had taking a shining to. One of the attackers had the young girl pinned to the sofa; he was leering at her triumphantly as he began to remove her shirt. The maid was kicking at him desperately, but her struggles were only amusing him. Her eyes were wide with helpless panic.

He was a hired mercenary, no doubt attempting to take advantage of current circumstances to have his way with some of the staff. Elsa's rage rose to a fever pitch as she witnessed a young woman- not even in her teens- seconds away from being scarred for life.

A single large shard of ice shot out of her palm. Elsa consciously gave it less momentum than usual, so that it only pierced the man's chest without continuing onto his intended victim. Kayla screamed as the body slumped to the ground beside her.

The maid turned to look at her. Shock, terror, and relief shone in her eyes as she began crying. Elsa's heart ached to comfort the girl, but the monarch knew that such an act could cost a dozen innocent lives as the battle raged below.

"G...Y...Your Majesty?"

"You're safe. Stay here," Elsa commanded.

\

As chaotic as the fight in the upper halls had been, the battles there had been nothing compared to the vicious battles of survival that waged throughout the bottom floor. Conflict waged throughout the entrance hall, the ballrooms, the dining rooms, parlors, libraries, kitchens, galleries, and even the throne room. In all places, her men faced even odds at best. The Royal Guards stationed in the Palace were numerous, but many had not been on duty when the attack began. Some were not even clad in their armor as they fought.

The Castle's other residents ran through the chaos, simply trying to survive. The maids, cooks, and other servants were mostly being ignored, but the enemy was not taking care to avoid striking them down. Screams of the innocent echoed through the night.

The invaders were not skilled enough to match her men in one on one combat, but they were certainly experienced swordsman. As a whole, they probably outnumbered the Royal Guards stationed in the Castle by a two to one margin. There were enough of them to comprise the servants/escorts of at least forty nobles.

How could they all betray me?! Protesting Anna is one thing, but this...

They had come up with a clever scheme, she had to admit. But there was one fatal flaw: they had assumed she would be dead. Anna had woken up, somehow, and that small twist of fate had perhaps changed the fate of Arendelle forever.

A protective cyclone circled around her, protecting Elsa from the attackers using crossbows and throwing knives. Swordsman who attempted to approach were slowed to the extent that it was easy for her to strike them down before they got within killing range.

She started in the ballroom, striking down any attacker who crossed her path and saving as many innocent lives as she could. Wherever Elsa went, the battle immediately changed in the defenders' favor.

The invaders, many of whom were stunned by her survival, either attacked her with suicidal desperation or tried to flee as fast their legs could carry them. But only a scant few managed to escape her wrath.

Entire groups of attackers were sent to the floor as sheets of ice sprouted beneath their feet, leaving them easy pickings for the Royal Guards. Elsa trusted that her men would leave some of their enemies alive. She couldn't care one iota for their lives, but when this was over Evangeline would need prisoners to interrogate. The Queen made a solemn vow to ensure that every perpetrator was hunted down and brought to justice.

At the back of the Grand Ballroom, General Kale and three of his fellows were beset by eight invaders. Despite the general's advanced age, he was holding his own against the mercenaries even as he and his men were pushed further into a corner.

Elsa raised both her arms high. A three-meter high wave of snow erupted at her feet and sped at the mercenaries. The wall of white took them from the side, slamming every last one of the attackers into the wall before they knew she was there. A pair of stragglers behind Elsa attempted to take advantage of the distraction, even as they were buffeted by the cyclone.

She turned around, creating a compressed blast of air and sending them flying across the ballroom.

"What happened?" she questioned Kale immediately.

The general shook his head helplessly. "I...don't know, Your Majesty. One minute, everything was under control, the next we were fighting for our lives."

Sighing, she turned to leave, but a raised hand from Kale stopped her. "One more thing, Your Majesty. They were targeting me in particular; a group of them tried to assault my chambers. Thanks to the guards in the area-" he indicated the men surrounding him, "I was able to fight them off and get here. But if they were aiming for me..."

Elsa knew what he meant. The invaders weren't just targeting herself and some of the nobility; they were targeting her administration. This was not good news. Most of them, unlike Kale, we're not fighters. If they were caught unprepared and without guards...

"Understood," she replied quickly before taking flight once again.

/

Her purge of the Castle' lower levels was relentless. Dozens of men were crushed beneath bales of snow, sent hurtling into the air by gusts of freezing wind, or simply impaled on stakes of ice. All attempts at retaliation proved useless against her rapidly circulating cyclone and well-practiced aim.

Surviving wasn't the hard part. Her abilities provided her more than enough protection. But every corpse she saw on the ground...guards, servants, soldiers...made her feel as if she had just taken a knife to the heart. Three thousand individuals, counting the roughly two thousand guests of the Solstice, had resided in the Palace tonight. Based on the casualties so far, Elsa couldn't help but suspect that at least a hundred innocents would perish in the attack.

She had so much power…but she couldn't save them all. And this battle was far from over.

Responses:

WhiskeyDragonette: Never said I was fair.

Piccolover: Yep.

WinterWolfDragon: It probably won't go down as a success.

SleepingZombie: Thanks!

Guest 1: I think that's a little far off.

Raven: By realistic, I mean keeping things consistent within the world you've created. And make your characters behave as normal people would if they've thrown into a situation. It's more believable to have lots of magic and realistic personalities than no magic but characters who don't act as you would expect.

JPElles: You never know, but I'm not sure I would go down that route.

BlackMistBeast: All will be revealed in time.

3Gs: Don't worry, they'll come together eventually.

MasterBlackCrow: Thanks! No spoilers.

TrickMaster42: There was a plan this chapter…

Shtoops: I get it!

Freelance-Bum: Fair point, but she was referring to the fact that the Castle's staff is always on time and competent.

ClaireCooper: The ride just hit a bump.

Guest 2: You'll have to ask Elsa and Anna.

Moonwatcher13: Or someone let them into the armories.

Jascmaster: I wouldn't want to be them right now.

Mpsantiago: Really wish I could answer your question. Suffice it to say that I am completely certain that you won't be disappointed. Make of that what you will.

: Thanks! That balance is important.

Leelan: Well, something happened.

Knziewrwlf: You're welcome!

ObsessiveImaginings: There's the trap.

PascalDragon: Not quite without trouble.

DarthVaderisNotme: I love the long reviews, and I can't wait to see the art!

CorderoKnight: Type your response here. Thanks a lot! Getting those two right is one of the most important things in the story.

RR: Yes. It hasn't been mentioned in awhile, but you can be certain that she still has been getting a dose every day.

Priscilla: Here's some action!

MeltingHeartsandMinds: The ending might kill me.

MegaTank: I'll do my best!

No.18: She was taking it easy. Didn't want to scare the Queen away…

MJ:….I'm sorry.

Malekoydaerb: Yep.

Betagamma: You're right about that!