Anna shouted, sliding in front of Elsa as the blade began to fall. She raised her hand to stop him and felt the ice spread from her chest to her extremities. Her fingertips connected with the sword just as they froze, shattering the blade into pieces. A shock wave seemed to emanate from her frozen body, sending Hans flying backward.
Anna exhaled a last breath that evaporated into thin air.
The vibrations rocked the ground, startling Elsa, who had been lost in her own thoughts of despair. The storm had suddenly ceased, along with the snow. Flakes were suspended in the air as if time had stopped. It took Elsa a moment to realize why.
“Anna!” she screamed, jumping up.
Her sister had turned to ice.
Anna looked like a statue, forever preserved with one hand outstretched to the sky. Her cape was frozen in motion, like she had run to Elsa’s side to protect her. Hans lay a few feet away, his sword near his side. Realization struck her: Anna had stopped Hans from hurting her. She had given her life to save Elsa’s.
Elsa gingerly reached out to touch Anna’s frozen face. “Oh, Anna. No. No. Please, no.” Her hands caressed Anna’s icy cheeks.
The curse had lifted a second too late. How could magic be so cruel? Anna. Sweet, beautiful Anna, she thought. It’s not fair. Don’t leave me.
Elsa threw herself at Anna’s frozen sculpture, crying with abandon. She didn’t hear Olaf walk up beside her. She barely noticed the devastated blond man who had just arrived with a reindeer. Through the haze of the unearthly stillness, she thought she saw Lord Peterssen, a bandage around his right arm, and Gerda, Kai, and Olina on a castle balcony, watching from above. But what did any of it matter?
Perhaps the entire kingdom had just woken up from a dreamlike state and remembered: Arendelle did not have one princess. It had two. They’d found their lost princess only to lose her all over again.
I’m so sorry, Anna, Elsa thought as she clung to her sister and tears streamed down her cheeks. I love you more than anything in this world, and I always will. Suddenly Elsa heard a gasp and felt Anna collapse in her arms. She was alive! Her body had thawed completely. Even the white stripe in her hair had disappeared.
“Anna!” Elsa cried in surprise, looking into her sister’s eyes.
Anna gripped her. “I remember you. I remember everything,” she said, and finally they were able to embrace.
When Elsa finally pulled away, she looked at Anna with fresh eyes. “You sacrificed yourself for me,” she said softly.
“I love you,” Anna said, holding Elsa’s hand tightly in her own. She noticed Elsa staring at something and turned around. “Kristoff!”
“Princess,” he said. “There was a Princess Anna, and you’re her. I can’t believe it. I mean, I can, but…you’re actually a princess! Am I supposed to bow? Kneel? I’m not sure what to do here.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! I’m still me,” Anna told Kristoff with a laugh, and hugged him.
Elsa couldn’t believe what she was hearing. If Kristoff knew who Anna truly was, then all of Arendelle and the kingdom did, too. Her eyes filled with tears.
“Grand Pabbie was right—love can really thaw any curse,” Kristoff said.
“Love can thaw…” Elsa repeated. “Of course!”
All that time she had allowed herself to be wrapped up in fear—fear of being alone, fear of never finding Anna, fear of destroying the kingdom with her powers. That fear had held her prisoner since she had learned she had magic inside her. It was just as Grand Pabbie had said: she needed to learn to control her magic. If only she embraced the beauty in her life and the magic she’d been gifted—gifted, not cursed with!—then she could move mountains.
Or at least thaw out the countryside.
Elsa stared at her hands in wonder. The answer had been right in front of her all that time. “Love!”
“Elsa?” Anna questioned.
Elsa thought hard about what she was feeling; it was pure joy mixed with the greatest love she had ever known. She had a sister she loved fiercely. Focusing on that love and the love she had for her parents and her people calmed her once-frightened soul. It was her job to protect her kingdom, and she could do that now.
Her loving thoughts made her fingers tingle like they always did when she used her magic, but this time her body felt different. Her fingers began to warm.
Elsa lifted her hands to the sky, and snowflakes began to