A/N: As a bonus chapter, this one will be shorter than usual and told from a third-person POV. Enjoy!

Bonus Chapter: Elsa's birth.

It was a cold night, the night of winter's solstice, year 1871. The castle was being pummeled by a storm, with gale force winds battering the windows as snow continued to fall. No one dared venture outside the safety of their houses, as getting lost in a storm like this would surely mean getting lost and dying of hypothermia.

It was in such a night that King Adgar of Arendelle was pacing back and forth in front of a closed door, anxiously waiting for his wife to give birth. He was nervous and impatient; it had been more than ten hours since the Queen's water broke, and the storm had done nothing but increase in intensity since the Queen went into labor (even preventing the doctor from getting to the castle). All of which had not gone unnoticed by the king. He knew it was not a natural storm, even if such a thing wasn't uncommon at that time of the year. This storm felt weird, menacing, like it was a prelude to something even worse. It had to be the ice-wielders' doing; he knew they were doing everything in their power to prevent the birth of a new heir to the throne. But he wouldn't allow it, no, he was prepared.

He had sent Kai, his most trusted servant, to check if everything was in order, and to report in every 15 minutes on the status of the castle. There were more guards on duty than usual, and most of them were positioned at the entrance of the royal wing, while the rest were distributed at every entrance to the castle, keeping anyone from getting in. The king just hoped this would stop any possible attackers.

Just as he was thinking on leaving to personally check on the guards and see if they had noticed any signs of invading ice-wielders, his wife's cries of agony stopped. Seconds later, the silence was pierced by a newborn baby's cry. Time stopped in that moment, as he knew that he was at one of the most important moments of his life; he was about to meet his first-born, he was a father now! From that moment on his life would change, he hoped, for the better.

"Your majesty." Gerda, the maid who had helped the Queen give birth, said with a big smile as she got out of the room. "It's a girl." Adgar's heart filled with joy at the news, and a big smile of his own appeared on his face.

"Are they alright?" He asked apprehensively.

"The Queen is exhausted, but she'll be fine." Gerda reassured him.

"And my daughter?" He pressed.

"She…" The maid hesitated, not daring to look him in the eye. At the end, however, knowing she couldn't keep him from seeing his own daughter, she sighed and opened the door, indicating him to get in. "It's better if you see her yourself."

Anxious because of the maid's words, he entered the birthing room and saw his wife, holding a tiny baby in her arms, trying to appease her cries. The weird thing though, was that the room was rather cold, considering the roaring fire in the chimney, and also… what were those shiny things floating over the bed? Were they… snowflakes?

"Idunn, are you alright? Why is it so cold here?" He asked as he got close, even if he already had an idea of what was going on.

"Adgar!" She exclaimed, a bit startled since she'd been staring at her newborn. Then she seemed to realize he'd asked her a question and her face fell, obviously not wanting to answer. "I-I… she just…" she stammered and then sighed, looking again at her baby. "We're fine." She just said.

"But?" Adgar pressed, getting even closer to get a better look of his daughter, but the blanket and Idunn's arm prevented him from seeing her clearly.

"She's not… like you and me." She finally admitted.

"Why? I don't understand. Is she sick?" He asked, not wanting to believe what his mind was telling him.

"No, she's just different." Idunn's voice wavered a bit as she pulled the infant closer to her chest.

"Let me see her." The king demanded, more and more anxious now that no one wanted to tell him what was wrong with his newborn.

"I will. Just promise me you won't do anything drastic." The Queen answered, fixing him with a stern gaze.

"I promise." He said, and he meant it; this was his daughter after all.

"Okay…" Idunn agreed, though a bit reluctantly, her motherly instinct telling her to protect her baby, and placed the little girl with the utmost care on her father's arms.

The first thing the king noticed was the almost abnormal temperature of the child; she was cold, not freezing cold of course, but still colder than you'd expect a baby to be. Then he saw her eyes. They were blue, like Idunn's, but paler, like a glacier. Still, that wouldn't be too weird if it wasn't for her hair, of a blonde so light it was almost white, which was odd considering his wife's hair was brown and his own was copper. Her skin was also too pale to be natural, and together with the other clues, it confirmed Adgar's suspicions: she was an ice-wielder. His daughter was an ice-wielder. The heir to the throne of Arendelle, the princess, had been born with ice powers.

"No…" He whispered, not wanting to believe that what he was seeing was true. He clenched his teeth. This wasn't how this night was supposed to be; it should have been a happy occasion, of joy and celebration for the whole kingdom. It was the night he'd become a proud father, the night his life should have changed for the better, and instead… he had an ice-wielder for daughter. An enemy to his kingdom.

"No, no, no!" He said once again in distress, tears forming in his eyes. The baby must have sensed his discomfort, because she started crying once again, her tiny body moving as if wanting to get away from the man that was obviously not pleased with her.

"Adgar?" Idunn asked, noticing her husband's stress.

"Here." He said, returning the child to the arms of his wife, knowing in his current state of mind it wasn't wise to keep holding her. When she looked at him apprehensively, however, he just deviated his gaze and walked to the window, not wanting to see the disappointment in her eyes. "I-I'm sorry." He chocked out, though he didn't know what he was apologizing for. Maybe for not being the husband Idunn deserved, a husband that could and would love their child no matter what.

"Adgar… what are we going to do?" She asked fearful of his answer, knowing no matter what she wanted, the King held all the power, and therefore his word was law. The only thing she could do was to try and make him see reason.

"You know what has to be done." He said gravely, and instantly his chest tightened at the thought.

"You can't be serious!" She exclaimed outraged. "She's just a baby!"

"Just a baby?!" Adgar retorted, finally looking back to his wife. "Have you looked outside?" He pointed to the raging storm that could be seen from the window. "It has to be her doing."

"You don't know that." She protested, holding the little girl closer, trying to stop her from crying.

"Yes, I do." He frowned. "Or have you forgotten about how ice-wielder's magic works?" When she refused to answer and just glared at him, he continued. "The younger they are when they gain their powers, the stronger their magic is. And she was born with it. She's dangerous beyond reason."

"She's not dangerous." Idunn protested. "She's powerful. There's a difference."

"She needs to be with her kind." Adgar tried again, with a different approach.

"She needs us." Idunn said, looking at him in disbelief. She knew he hated ice-wielders, but she thought he'd make an exception for his own daughter. "We're her parents. We can't just abandon her."

"I know." He sighed, feeling bad for having to do this to the person she loved most in the world. He also would have preferred to keep their daughter, ice-wielder or not, but he was a King before he has a father, and thus he had duties he couldn't ignore for his personal feelings. "Believe me, I hate this as much as you do, but the law says…"

"The law says?!" Idunn interrupted the King, looking at him with such anger he even flinched. "You are the King. You make the Law. Can't you make an exception for your own daughter?!"

"Idunn… it's not that simple." He tried to reason as he carefully approached to her. "What do you think the people would make of me if I'm not impartial when applying the law? If I made exceptions with my own family?" Idunn deviated her gaze, but he kept talking nonetheless.

"There have been parents who came here to beg me not to exile their children, just as you're doing now. I told them the law was there to protect us all, and had to be followed to the letter. I'd be the world's biggest hypocrite if I don't obey it now." His eyes were pleading, begging Idunn to understand this wasn't something that could be discussed.

"Well then. I see that your mind is settled." She glared at him as tears of disappointment fell from her eyes, and though it hurt him to see her like that, he knew he couldn't relent. "If you won't let her stay, then… exile me with her." Adgar's eyes widened at her words, not having expected her to say such a thing.

"What?!" He exclaimed, hurt and confusion clear on his face. "No, I won't do that. You're my wife, and you've done nothing wrong."

"Well, neither has our daughter, and yet you're willing to exile her." Idunn retorted with spite in her voice. "Plus, the law you hold so dearly says that, when exiling children, their parents shall be asked if they want to be exiled as well, and that's exactly what I want you to do." She said with such resolution it took Adgar aback, and he knew he wouldn't be able to change her mind, no matter what he said. But what could be do? He couldn't just exile the Queen; she'd be murdered as soon as she arrived to the Northern Lands.

"Let's not make rash decisions." He tried to appease her. "There has to be another way."

"There is. Just don't exile her." She demanded.

"I've already told you; I can't do that! The people would never trust me again, they'd throw us out at best or kill us at worst, including her." He exclaimed, almost exasperated, ignoring the child's upset cries that came whenever he raised his voice.

"They… they don't have to know." The Queen said quietly as an idea started forming in her head. When her husband just looked at her intrigued, she continued. "No one except us and a few trusted servants will be allowed to enter the royal wing. We could tell everyone our daughter was born dead, and make our servants swear not to say anything."

"But then she wouldn't be able to leave the royal wing." Adgar pointed out.

"Yes." Idunn admitted, looking at the little princess with a saddened gaze. "But at least she'd be with us."

"In that case, I think it'd be best if only Gerda, who's already seen her, knows about this. The less people the better." He reasoned.

"But we need more servants than just Gerda; she can't do it all. Not to mention the guards." Idunn protested.

"Then she'll stay in her room. It's safer that way."

"You can't just lock her up!" She exclaimed, horrified by her husband's idea.

"It wouldn't be forever; just until she learns to control her powers." He appeased her. "Then we could just dye her hair and pretend she's a distant relative that we decided to adopt. No one would ever know." Adgar said, obviously pleased by his idea.

"I… think it might work." Idunn admitted, even though she didn't like the idea of their daughter spending the first few years of her life locked up in her room. But she consoled herself thinking that, if she learned to control her powers quickly, she could have the life that she deserved.

"Well, then it's settled." He said getting up. "I'll go talk with Kai and Gerda to make the necessary arrangements. And tomorrow we'll make the announcement of our daughter's death." He paused, placing a hand on his wife's shoulder. "You should sleep; you look exhausted."

"I am." Idunn admitted, letting herself feel the effects of having just given birth now that her child wasn't in danger. She felt like an entire horde of reindeers had run over her.

"Well then, goodnight." He placed a tender kiss on her temple before looking down at their newborn baby, who stared back at him with those innocent eyes he hadn't acknowledged before due to his concerns about her being an ice-wielder. Now, he let himself feel, and he discovered he loved her despite her magic. As he reached and softly caressed her cheek, he silently promised he'd do anything to keep her safe.

"Goodnight to you too… Elsa." He pronounced for the first time the name he and his wife had chosen for their baby if she was a girl, not noticing how Idunn's face lightened up at this. "I'll teach you to conceal your powers. You'll live a normal life, I promise." That said, he straightened up and walked out of the room.

He just hoped he'd made the right decision and wouldn't regret it in the future.

A/N: Hope you liked this little thing. And sorry for the delay, I'm trying to manage my life between work and two fandoms: Frozen and Little witch academia (if you haven't seen that anime, I highly recommend it, btw), so please be patient.

Thanks for reading, and see you soon (hopefully).

Thanks to my beta reader moonwatcher13.