Into the Unknown (A Frozen Fanfic)

Chapter Thirty One

ELSA'S HANDS SHOOK as she grasped her sister's free hand tightly. Anna coughed and spat blood, her other hand clenching her wound. Blood seeped between her fingers and she grimaced. Anna lifted her head off the ground, looking towards her injury, and chuckled as her head flopped back down.

Elsa, shaking violently and tears streaming down her face, looked down at her sister puzzled and confused. "W-why are you laughing?" Her voice quivered.

Anna gazed up into the sky and shook her head. She smiled revealing a set of crimson teeth. "I deserve this."

Elsa's eyes bulged open. She gripped her sister's hand tighter. "You do not deserve this, Anna. Why would you even say that?"

"Because of what I've done." She slowly turned her head in Elsa's direction. "I tried to kill three people. I would've killed more if you and Kristoff hadn't stopped me." Her voice lowered. "I would've killed you. Isn't death what I deserve?"

Elsa lowered her face inches from Anna's and grinned. "Never. It wasn't even you. You never would've tried to harm anyone if Hans had never taken advantage of you."

Anna chuckled once again and looked away. "Yeah, and what a fool I was." She closed her eyes and sighed. "You were right. All along, you, Papa... you were all right. I never should've gotten attached to Hans. I should've trusted you."

Elsa's grin dipped into a frown. "But... why should you trust me?" She looked down at her hands, now stained with Anna's blood. "I've given you all the reasons not to."

Anna squeezed Elsa's hand, and Elsa looked back up. "I was mad and upset. And that's what led to me being so angry that those elements easily took over." Her gaze shifted back to Elsa. "I'm done being angry," she whispered. "I don't want my last moments to be filled with hate." Her bottom lip quivered.

"Anna, don't say that—"

"You've given me plenty of reasons to trust you," Anna continued. "You've been by my side since we were little girls. You've listened to my crazy ideas and always backed me up. Even when you should've just told me it was a terrible idea." She smirked. "Like when I decided to ride my bicycle down the stairs." A weak grin tugged at the corner of her lip. "I'm proud... to call you my sister." Her breathing began to slow and her eyes slowly fluttered closed.

"Anna?" Tears welled in Elsa's eyes as she watched Anna's eyes finally close and a small gasp escaped her lungs before her chest ceased its movement.

Elsa's shaking increased as tears flooded her vision and she drew her sister in close to her chest.

"Anna!"

She didn't glance up, but she heard Mama and Papa's voices in unison. She continued to weep but someone pulled her away from Anna and she let them. She felt too weak and broken-hearted to fight them.

She finally looked up and, through her tears, found her parents holding her dead sister. She placed a hand over the hand on her chest and felt the wrinkly skin recognizing it as Yelena's — it must've taken her a while to cut her parents' bonds.    

She watched as Mama and Papa wept bitterly for their daughter, and Anna already looked so pale, her hand having fallen to the side painted in red.

Looking to her left, she watched as Hans came tumbling out of the bushes and landed on his face, Kristoff behind him with rage on his brow. Kristoff's eyes ventured towards Anna and his expression immediately saddened.

Elsa, feeling her blood begin to boil, thrust Yelena's arms off from around her and climbed to her feet. They felt like jello below her but she was determined to get to the man who had murdered her sister.

Angrily, she stormed his way, seeing that he was unconscious on the ground, but whatever Kristoff had done to him, it wasn't enough. That man had to pay. A life for a life. As she stomped his way, a shard of ice formed in her grasp and she made sure that it was the sharpest one she had ever created.

All of a sudden, Aloni jumped in front of her, halting her. "Don't!" she shouted, her arms outstretched in a warning.

Elsa gritted her teeth and clenched the shard tighter. "Why not?" She looked past Aloni's shoulder down at Hans. "He killed my sister!"

"Because I know what the hatred will turn you into," Aloni responded, softly. Elsa's anger never wavered. "Please. It is not a path you want to go down." She placed a hand over her chest. "It is the darkness that consumed me because I wasn't meant to be the true fifth spirit, but it can consume you too. Especially if you start out this journey by darkening your heart."

Elsa glared Aloni's way, knowing that she couldn't have been telling the truth. Being consumed in darkness for thirty-five years... there would be no way of returning from that. Aloni was just lucky that Elsa didn't plunge this shard into her chest for everything she had done to the forest and other spirits; gaining power for decades.

"You were born to be the fifth spirit," Aloni continued, "but that doesn't mean that it can't control you as it did me. You are stronger than the rest of us, and have a better chance of withstanding the power, but it can happen if you don't keep your heart pure."

"Listen to her, Elsa." Elsa's head twisted to the left and she found Olaf slowly taking a couple steps her way on his snowball feet. He folded his stick hands in front of him. "She's right. You can end up just as she did. You must keep yourself pure, and that would mean sparing Hans's life."

Elsa continued to shake as tears again welled her eyes. "And what? I'm supposed to believe you? Because you're the fifth spirit's guide?" She scoffed. "You did a bang up job with Aloni." She flung her free hand in the air and jabbed a finger at Hans. "My sister... He killed her."

"Elsa, please." She looked back at Aloni as the previous fifth spirit shook her head. "Don't do this."

Glaring down at Hans, Elsa's fist shook as it clenched even tighter around the shard. So tight, that it snapped in half. She knew Anna wouldn't want her darkening her soul just for her. Anna wouldn't want her seeking out revenge anyway. Anna was a loving and caring person. Even to those who didn't deserve it. Until her dying breath.

Releasing her grip on the broken shard, it evaporated. She stood tall, her jaw clenched, and she eyed Aloni. She gave a nod in silent gratitude, thanking her for keeping her from going down the same path, before turning her back on Hans.

She looked back down at Anna, already so pale and lifeless, in her father's arms as Mama pushed some of her red hair out of her face. Slowly, she staggered her way back over to her sister and collapsed to the ground beside her. Ignoring her parents' cries, she caressed her sister's cheek.

"I love you, Anna," she whispered, her voice cracking. Her bottom lip quivered as she gently bent forward and tenderly planted a kiss on her sister's forehead in goodbye.