"Honeymaren?" Kristoff cautiously raised his finger to catch the tear that had begun to roll down her face.

A sharp breath brought Honeymaren back into focus and a sharp sniffle cleared her nose, "So, an eclipse? What does that mean? What did it say?"

"When the sun and moon switch places, on the longest night and the shortest day. Magic will be at the mercy of men. It is only at this time can one truly rid the world of its retched curse. A new order can be set in place, a new balance." Kristoff read from the book with deepening concern.

"Why is it written like magic is the enemy?" Honeymaren could still feel her soul breaking, the weight of Elsa's body still in her arms.

"Probably because most 'civilized' people fear what they don't understand and try to capture it for themselves." Kristoff spoke with a sneer, as a man of the mountains himself he never understood the opinions some people in the world he shared.

He distinctly remembered overhearing a conversation held by two diplomats that had come to the castle remarking how wonderful it was that Anna had unique control over Elsa, as though Elsa was a force to be considered dangerous. Their talks about using the power she wielded for political or economical gain. Thankfully, Anna had never heard them.

"Is there any mention of Ahtohallan?" Ryder was chewing his thumbnail now, he didn't much like what he'd found. Not in the slightest.

"Doesn't look that way..." Kristoff flipped back and forth between the pages before letting out a heavy sigh, "Still doesn't help us."

Honeymaren turned away from the book, she too feeling no comfort in the knowledge. Her arms crossed over her chest as she took a deep breath. Her eyes ping-ponged around the beautifully designed room. The inlaid shelves that reached up into the vaulted ceiling, the beautiful brickwork on the hearth, the elegant couch that sat facing the large window that exposed the Enchanted forest, the intricate iron work only serving to enhance the view.

A sudden thought sparked and her eyes widened, "Elsa knew."

"What?"

Honeymaren turned with her fists clenched tight in anger, in disbelief, "Elsa remembers everything she reads, she can basically quote every single book in here verbatim!"

Kristoff and Ryder both looked at each other, each one taking a subconscious step back. Though it was Kristoff who dared to speak what they were both thinking, "And...?"

Honeymaren could feel a deep cold forming in the pit of her stomach, "Oh, gods...she knew." Her stomach had begun to churn, not just from being empty, nor from the pain that was starting to crawl up her spine. No, this was deeper.

Ryder held out his hands in confusion, a look of concern over his face when Honeymaren's step faltered slightly in her pace, "What did she know?"

"That's why I found her on the beach! That's why she'd been at Ahtohallan! She remembered! She knew, saw it in the sky!" Her hand waved wildly towards the window before she had to take a moment to breathe, her chest growing tighter, tears that she refused to let fall choking her throat, "But then the men came...and then—that's why she believed Agnire so readily, it must have thrown a wrench in her plans...that's why and then..."

"Still trying to follow here." Ryder had moved closer, his fear for his sister's health growing as he tried to get her to sit down. Though as soon as he made to touch her she turned out of his hold to throw her hands up in the air with great proclamation.

"When I found her on the beach she was wet, she hates swimming. Nokk was already losing his power and so was Elsa! That—Oh..." The world gave a dangerous spin and her arms reached out blindly as everything seemed to tilt sideways. Thankfully, her brother caught her around the shoulders, and Kristoff was quick to bring over a chair. A deep breath lowered her head into her hands as she tried to get the world to stop spinning.

"If she wasn't already dead I'd kill her..." Her words tasted bitter, full of hurt and a twinge of betrayal though she knew there was so much more to the puzzle she was just now able to piece together. A heavy silence filled the room before her head shot up again, eyes wide though unfocused.

"Wait a minute...," Her stomach gave a riotous flip, "She's not dead."

"Wha-"

"When she goes into the spirit realm her body get's cold, goes very still like her 'spirit' is somewhere else. When I held her, she was cold. Cold! There is no way she would've been that way had she just fallen in battle! She was cold because she wasn't there!" Her body gave a mighty shudder, a fire like a snake slithering down her spine.

"So...we?"

"The rune...the rune on the...on the..." Honeymaren had quite literally run out of steam. Her body no longer able to support itself on the adrenaline that had roused her epiphany, "The arrow...the arrow is the key..."

Before she could pitch sideways out of the chair Kristoff caught her in his arms, his brow furrowed with concern, "She's burning up..." He pulled his hand from Honeymaren's forehead, "She needs to rest...Where's the bedroom?"

"This way..." Ryder helped Kristoff get a good hold on his sister before rushing forward towards the room he himself had never entered, he could only guess that it was where they needed to go.

Both men shared a glance at the other from the unmade bed, obvious that two people had recently shared the space. An unspoken glance between the men was shared, a shrug and grin from Ryder and a confused almost surprised raise of the brows from Kristoff before they remembered what they really needed to do,

"Take her shoes. Dead or Alive Elsa would kill us if we got anything in here dirty." Even outside of the castle, stepping inside Elsa's private space left Kristoff feeling extremely uncomfortable. Though the walls around him didn't feel oppressive they still felt sacred, precious.

Ryder sheepishly looked down at his own boots that had thankfully stopped tracking mud all over the house before he quickly moved to his sister who was held aloft in Kristoff's arms, "Right."

A shift and a tug later and Ryder was moving to pull the blankets back further, the soft scent of jasmine and herbs filling his nose. The combined scents leaving no doubt as to who had previously been inside.

"So, let's say Honemaren's right." Ryder helped to pull his sister into the bed and position her onto her side with a pillow between her arms to keep the pressure off the wound on her back, "What does it all mean?"

Kristoff let out a slow breath as he accepted the blankets from Ryder and laid them over Honeymaren, "It means we might actually be able to do something."

oO§Oo

Elsa found herself forcibly thrust outside of her earthly body, time around her having had stopped. Her spirit form turned to see into her own face of agony, frozen in time. She spun weightlessly, looking for those she had sought to protect. Instantly, she could see Honeymaren, her body still, her face twisted with hopeless despair. Another turn made her heart thump, where was Anna? Her eyes shot towards the cliff face but she did not see what she had hoped and her heart sunk even lower. Then, a hauntingly deep laugh from behind sent a chill through her entire being.

Just as she turned to address the voice the world flashed a brilliant white. Time had not stopped, not completely, rather it had merely slowed down. Her attention was now drawn back to her own body falling in slow spirals towards the ground. Her train wrapping around her form like broken wings. A heavy thump rippling through the world sending it spiraling forward in time.

'No...'

Elsa could feel her soul breaking as she watched the scene below, the deep red that had come to paint the valley shadowing her soul with pain. There was nothing she could do. She didn't even know how or why she was where she was. If she could go back—everything felt so cold...like the time she'd fallen too deep in Ahtohallan's river.

"No! No! Stop this! Someone please!" Elsa could feel her entire world crashing down around her. More and more of the people she had sworn to protect fell to their knees, broken, bloody. Everything she had been trying so hard to stop from happening was happening tenfold before her now and she was completely powerless to stop it.

"Everything I've done...was for nothing..."

A sickening weight ran through her body as she watched Honeymaren fall. Her arms still wrapped around her body. A pain starting in her heart and bursting through like a shooting star as she laid still. Her chest quivered as she turned to the sound of Anna's cry. Her heart no longer beating.

"Anna..." Her eyes closed tight. No, she couldn't watch her little sister die. Not this way, not because of her.

Then. Silence.

Elsa had been walking. Walking through the darkness. Searching for anyone or anything. Her body wary yet weightless. The burden that slowed her steps not of fatigue but a soul too worn to carry on. She was weak and lost. Had anything she had tried to do ever really worked out? Had anything in her life truly prepared her for success over failure? Why did she think, even for a moment, that she could be more? That she could do something that mattered?

Her steps faltered to a stop, round and round her mind had gone. Spiraling deeper and deeper into the darkness that had kept her company for so long. So many nights left wondering, why she couldn't be what everyone needed her to be. Why she couldn't just do better.

"Why did you warn me?"Elsa's voice held nothing but anguish, disappearing into the void where no one could hear her scream, "What could you have possibly wanted me to do!?"

She turned again, desperate for an answer, desperate for someone to hold her hand. To stand beside her, to tell her it would all be alright. Such lies to calm the hurt that surrounded every waking moment. Easy to lose oneself inside of. To pretend. To be perfect.

"I tried!" Tears wrapped tightly around her throat, "I tried!" Her voice rose to a new pitch, her hands coming to hold her heart inside her chest, "I tried so hard!"

Her eyes closed tight as her entire life flashed before her, every door, every glove, every daring attempt to be someone else. To live up to her responsibilities. The fear of freedom. Stepping into the light only to find a deeper darkness hidden behind it. The height love had brought to her wings only making the fall back down to earth all the more painful.

"I tried so hard...to be what you needed..." Elsa couldn't feel her knees beneath her. The darkness seemingly coming up to cradle her in its web. Her eyes closed tight as her arms wrapped around herself, holding tight, wishing that someone out there knew what she had done wrong. Where she had gone wrong. If there was any hope left...

"Why did you give me such happiness...? Such power?" Elsa could feel a coldness growing inside her chest. The same feeling she knew gave her power, "Why...did you choose me? What's so special about me?"

'Elsa?'

'Elsa!'

"Oh Anna..." Elsa brought her hands to her head, trying to drown out her sisters final calls, "I failed..."

"Why me!?" Her mood suddenly shifted from despair to years long anger and frustration. Her hands coming down by her sides where she felt the searing pain that jolted through her frame when she'd struck her sister in the heart with her magic, only this time. Nothing happened. No magic, no release of pressure or pain. Only the feeling of emptiness. A void inside her soul.

"I failed..." Her words sounded hollow, her eyes looking into the unseen distance, emotion devoid from all parts of her being. The mark of someone who had truly lost everything they had in one moment.

"Everything I am or ever was is gone..." Elsa looked down at her trembling hands, no magic there to bring her solace, "It's gone...all of it..." Her eyes turned up into the ever reaching blackness. Her mourning not just of her own magic but all the magic that had come to her. All the magic she was destined to bring together.

"Oh, Elsa..."

Her heart skipped, her mother's voice in the void. Her eyes widened but filled to the brim with shame. She could not turn to face her, to know if she was really there. A warm hand wrapped around her shoulder forcing her body to tense. She didn't deserve such kindness, such love. She closed her eyes tight as she felt her mother move, to stand before her but she could not raise her head. A child she was.

Warm hands cupped her cheeks and the tears that she'd been holding back could not longer be kept. Her heart shuddered and her soul cracked, the pieces like shards of glass falling to the floor.

"I can't..."

"You can."

"I'm scared..."

"You are so brave." Her father's voice.

"It hurts..."

"So strong." Gentle fingers wiped away the tears.

"It's gone..."

"It will never leave you."

"I'm so alone..." Elsa held her eyes tighter, her body curling in, her hands clawing at her heart begging for it to stop beating.

"You are never alone."

"Yes...I am..." Elsa pulled away from her parents, her eyes looking between their hurt faces, "And it's all my fault..." Their deaths, were all her fault. If she'd just been better, controlled her powers. Then they never would have left. They never would have tried to go to Ahtohallan. They never would have...died.

"Elsa," Iduan reached forward but her daughter only moved further away. The darkness around them twisting and moving like smoke, "Elsa, it wasn't your fault."

Elsa could feel a pain, sharp like the ice that had twisted her life and soul stick in her throat, "Stop lying..." She could feel the darkness reaching up towards her, the weight of it pulling at her arms and legs, "It's all my fault...Everything..." Her body turned, or was it pulled, her eyes looking through the never ending night. This was it, she was sure she was dead. Lost inside a forever listless abyss to pay for her crimes. For being born, this way.

The joy she had felt when she'd stepped into Ahtohallan for the first time melted away to a deep pain that had never truly gone away. Merely hidden in the shadows waiting to pounce. Waiting for her to be at her weakest, her most vulnerable. Yes, she knew who she was but it didn't change what she'd been.

The smoke ever creeped, weighing down her fleeing steps. Her body so heavy, so empty. Each breath harder to take than the last. Her vision twisted and warped, without a leigh line to guide her she was adrift. Caught in an endless tangled web. Her head turned up, but there as no light, no sound. Only the heavy thump of her ever slowing heart.

Then, a deep chuckle, one that raised the hairs on the back of your neck. The kind that was just outside of earshot that you weren't really sure if you heard it or not. The sort that left your pulse racing. Your skin cold.

Had the demons inside her finally come to claim their victim? Could she fight them anymore? Did she want to? The smoke cradled her motionless form. Embracing her tight in its weight. The long tendrils wisping slowly over her cheeks, like a long lost lover come home.

"Elsa." A soft wind blew, pulling away the smoke that threatened to swallow her hole. The voice soft as though carried along a gentle breeze, it's feminine tone familiar.

Gale? Elsa tried, she tried so hard to lift her fallen head but it was much too heavy.

"Elsa." A great push pulled her body from the floor, like a mighty ship rocking against the waves, her chest lurched forward. A deep, far away voice, like someone speaking underwater, their tone kind though rich.

Nokk? Elsa could feel her limbs pulling free, her back tightening as she tried to pull herself back to her feet.

"Elsa." Her toes dangled in the abyss, then slowly a ground began to form. Giving her purchase in the darkness. Though the smoke still held her down, she was back upon solid footing.

Jord...There was little question now, the spirits had found her. Had sought her out just as they had before. Reaching out not to be tamed but to be heard. To be protected. Her heart pulsed painfully, had they come to condemn her?

The world around her burst with light, the great fire washing away the smoke. Large pillar like thrones appearing in an arch around her, tall and impossible to reach. Her chest stuttered as the darkness that had been inside ran away, releasing its suffocating grip so that she could finally breathe. Her eyes rose, watching as the flame raced towards one of the glass-like pillars. Its flame disappearing behind with a flare of light before a small boy came around the other side.

"Bruni..?" She couldn't help but stare in disbelief.

Bruni smiled, his long fire-red hair messy and un-kept, wildly curled like his spirit-stood proudly before her. Though he resembled a human, his eyes glowed a soft amber, the color of flames dying in a hearth. His skin was tanned as though he'd lived only in the sun. His body small and nimble. His white clothes timeless and marked in the center of his stomach with his rune denoting his power.

Elsa could only stare in wonder as the other spirits came forward. Each one with bodies of their own. There was a flash of brilliant white light and her head pitched backward, each sat upon their thrown now.

Nokk, his eyes glowing bright like the horse he manifested in, his hair impossibly long and sweeping smooth as the waters edge. Dark like the waters of the sea. A crown of golden shells upon his aged face. Strong and wide but lithe and agile. His wisdom held in his jaw, in his straight back, his hands that rest on the arms of his chair. His rune marked upon his chest.

Gale, eyes white and rounded, kind and gentle. A crown of leaves and thorns resting so gingerly upon her soft brown curls. Her legs long and slider delicately crossed in a manner fitting of her position. Her features narrowed but her jaw strong yet kind. Her dress ever flowing, like a spring breeze. It's ethereal glow marking her rune upon its skirt.

Jord, powerful and strong. Wide though short. His body held proudly firm inside his chair. His feet firmly planted, a deep green illuminating his long beard and short black hair. His hands rested in fists upon the arms, each one nearly the size of a child's head. His rune proudly marked on the boots that covered his large feet.

Elsa felt much too small to be standing before them, her hands coming up to her heart as she feared their judgement. Stood before them as though she were in court. Then, a small movement just outside of her vision turned her head and her heart skipped. It was a throne, an empty throne. Its back marked with the most beautiful snowflake she could have ever imagine. Though unlike the others, it sat lower than the rest. As though she had not earned her right to sit upon it.

"I tried...I did..." She turned back, eyes wide with fear, her heart feeling three sizes too small. A coldness crawling over her back, a mark she could never see, forming upon her skin, "I'm so sorry..."

A long silence met her broken pleas of forgiveness, "Please..." Elsa could feel her feet leading her backward, her eyes never leaving the emotionless faces that looked down at her from above, "Please..."

Just before she was sure there was no where else to go her back pressed hard into something that felt much too solid. She spun, her heart still in her throat. A staggered step backward revealed another, another throne just as high as the others though it was broken and cracked, the chair that sat upon the pillar weathered and worn. Her head shook as she tried to understand, what did it mean?

"I don't understand..." She turned again, hopeful that maybe this time, this time she would have the answer. Then slowly, her eyes began to truly take in what was before her. Her breath quickened as all the small pieces began to slip into the right places. Her dreams, the memories, the whispered pleas. Her head tilted back to the last pillar, the last throne. Her mind screamed out, her soul desperate to understand.

When she turned around once more her heart turned to ice. The spirits were gone, their thrones vanished, the pillars broken. The balance shattered. It was all her fault. She had done this. She had lead the spirits, called them to aid her. She was responsible.

Elsa turned back towards the last throne. To whom did it belong? How could she possibly find another spirit in a world without magic? Why did she have to do this? Who was she?

A black sun was rising, washing away all the color in the world. Her fingers reached out as if commanded by another. The snow white fingertips pressing against the cool glass. Suddenly, a sharp flash rocked her very soul, stealing the breath in her lungs, a bright white light and the crack-of lightning. Then, the sensation of falling from the highest mountain engulfed her senses.