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Back in the mountains, Anna, Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf moved through hostile terrain. The wind had swept so quickly that icicles were faced horizontally. Kristoff asked Anna, curious,

“So, how exactly are you planning to stop this weather?”

“Oh, I’m going to talk to my sister.”

Kristoff wondered, “That’s your plan? My ice business is riding on you talking to your sister?”

Anna replied casually, “Yup.”

Kristoff was so stunned that he didn’t look where he went and ended up with an icicle to his nose. Noticing it just in time, he moved carefully around the spike. “So, you’re not at all afraid of her?”

Anna answered quickly, “Why would I be?”

Olaf agreed as if it was obvious, “Yeah. I bet Elsa is the nicest, gentlest, warmest person ever.” Not looking forward, he backed right into an icicle, which ran right through his torso. “Oh, look at that. I’ve been impaled,” said Olaf, laughing it off.

Later, Anna and Kristoff reached what looked like a dead end. Anna was worried, “What now?” Kristoff looked around, sighed, and dug his rucksack.

“It’s too steep. I’ve only got one rope, and you don’t know how to climb mountains.”

Anna argued, “Says who?”

Kristoff didn’t see Anna standing there anymore. Sven nudged Kristoff. When he looked up, he saw her trying to climb the cliff’s flat face. Finding her ridiculous, he asked, “What are you doing?”

Anna replied, straining, “… I’m going to see my sister!”

“You’re going to kill yourself.”

He stood there and watched her search for footholds and handholds. He continued, “I wouldn’t put my foot there.”

Anna said from above, “You’re distracting me.”

Kristoff went on, “Or there. How do you know Elsa even wants to see you?”

Anna got annoyed and said, “I’m just blocking you out, ‘cause I gotta concentrate here.”

Kristoff replied to her, “You know, most people who disappear into the mountains want to be alone?”

Anna declared, still struggling to go up, “Nobody wants to be alone, except maybe you.”

Kristoff responded, “I’m not alone… I have friends, remember?”

Anna kicked a foot above her head to catch a foothold.

“You mean the love experts?” she inquired.

“Yes, the love experts.”

Soon Anna found out that she was stuck. “… Please tell me I’m almost there.” Unfortunately, she had climbed barely six feet.

“Does the air seem a bit thin to you up here?” she continued.

Kristoff stood below, smiling. Anna realized she was getting nowhere.

“Hang on,” Kristoff told her and then pulled the rope out of his bag. In the meantime, Olaf stepped out from behind a rock and waved to him.

“Hey, Sven? Not sure if this is going to solve the problem, but I found a staircase that leads exactly where you want it to go.”

Anna was delighted. She expressed, “Haha. Thank goodness, catch!”

Saying so, she dropped off the cliff, and Kristoff caught her.

“Thanks! That was like a crazy trust exercise.”

Anna hopped down, brushed her dress, and bounded off. Kristoff just stood there and watched her walk, wondering if any challenge ever scared her.

Soon Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf approached the ice palace. “Whoa!” exclaimed Anna.

“Now that’s ice. I might cry.” Kristoff warned in awe.

“Go ahead. I won’t judge.” Anna said brightly. She climbed the stairs with Olaf. Sven tried to follow, but his hooves slipped out. He scrambled yet couldn’t get traction. Kristoff ran to his side.

“All right, take it easy. I gotcha.” he eased the reindeer, helping him down the stairs, and patted him. “You stay right here, buddy.” He advised. Sven obediently stood by. Kristoff climbed the stairs, admiring the details. “Flawless,” he uttered to himself.

Anna arrived at the door but hesitated to knock.

“Knock…” demanded Olaf impatiently. “Just knock…” he repeated.

He asked Kristoff, “Why isn’t she knocking? Do you think she knows how to knock?” Anna finally knocked, and the sound echoed inside.

“Ha. It opened. That’s a first.”

Anna walked in, and Kristoff followed. A thought struck her, and she stopped him. “You should probably wait out here.”

Kristoff was not happy. Surprised, he asked, “What?”

“Last time I introduced her to a guy, she froze everything.”

Kristoff begged, “But it’s a palace made of ice! Ice is my life!”

Olaf cheekily commented, “Bye Sven.”

He, too, was stopped by Anna. “You too, Olaf.” directed Anna.

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“Me?” he wondered.

Anna told him, “Just give us a minute.”

“Okay.” the disappointed snowman agreed hesitantly. He took the phrase literally and began to count, “One… two…”

Kristoff joined in, “Three… four…”

Anna walked into a grand foyer beyond the massive palace gates. Yes, the place was beautiful, but also eerily quiet.

“Elsa? It’s me… Anna.” she slipped but quickly steadied herself.

“Anna.” pronounced a voice from within.

Elsa stepped out of the shadows and onto a balcony. She longingly looked at her sister. Anna couldn’t help but be struck by Elsa’s beauty.

“Elsa, you look different… It’s a good different. And this place is amazing.”

Elsa replied politely, cautious about the distance she had to maintain.

“Thank you. I never knew what I was capable of.”

Anna started to climb the stairs, “I’m so sorry about what happened. If I had known--”

Elsa backed away. “No, it’s okay. You don’t have to apologize… But you should probably go, please.”

“But I just got here,” Anna complained.

Elsa told her sister, “You belong in Arendelle.”

“So do you,” replied Anna.

Anna took one step more, and Elsa retreated further. “No, I belong here. Alone. Where I can be who I am without hurting anybody.”

Anna started hesitatingly, “Actually, about that--”

Olaf soon found his way in, “Fifty-eight… fifty-nine… sixty!”

“Wait. What is that?” wondered Elsa. Olaf ran in and waved to her.

“Hi, I’m Olaf, and I like warm hugs!” announced the snowman.

“Olaf?” she was shocked.

Olaf continued bashfully, “You built me. You remember that?”

Elsa was astonished. “And you’re alive?”

Olaf answered, “Um… I think so?”

Anna knelt down beside Olaf. “He’s just like the one we built as kids… We were so close. We can be like that again.”

Elsa smiled briefly, but a childhood memory instantly played back in her head—the one where she accidentally hit her sister with her powers and almost had her killed.

Her face fell, “No, we can’t.” Elsa headed up to the second story steps.

“Goodbye, Anna,” she said with finality.

Anna still didn’t give up, “Elsa, wait--”

Elsa looked away and swiftly moved up. “I’m just trying to protect you.”

Anna pursued after Elsa. Not long after, both the sisters reached the top floor. Elsa begged her to stay away, but Anna didn’t leave and told her that she was not afraid of her. Eventually, when asked, Anna revealed that Arendelle was in deep snow.

“What?!” Elsa’s eyes widened.

“You kind of set off an eternal winter… Everywhere.”

Elsa exclaimed in disbelief, “Everywhere?!”

Anna tried to ease her calmly, “It’s okay. You can just unfreeze it.”

Elsa confessed, “No, I can’t. I don’t know how to.”

Anna stayed positive, “Sure you can. I know you can.”

Soon, snow signifying Elsa’s fear started to swirl around the room. Elsa’s fear only grew, and she sucked the entire blizzard into herself and burst it out, unwittingly like a sharp snowflake. Panting, Elsa looked up from her outburst. She glanced back at Anna, who was bending over. Elsa was horrified, realizing that she’d struck Anna amidst the discharge.

Anna stumbled and fell on her knees. Elsa gasped and stared in bewilderment at what she had done, unintentionally. Just then, Olaf and Kristoff ran into the room and to Anna’s side.

“Anna, are you okay?!” cried a worried Kristoff.

“I’m okay… I’m fine,” she assured. But she was not. She stood up with much effort, determined to hide the pain.

“Who is this? Wait, it doesn’t matter, you have to go.” declared Elsa.

“No. I know we can figure this out together.” Anna tried persuading.

“How? What power do you have to stop this winter? To stop me?”

Anna clearly didn’t have an answer for that. In the meantime, Kristoff noticed spiky ice shadows creeping down the wall and put a protective arm around her. “Anna, I think we should go,” he advised.

“No, I’m not leaving without you, Elsa.” declared an unusually determined Anna.

With a heavy heart, Elsa commanded, “Yes, you are.”

With a wave of her hand, Elsa built a giant, menacing snowman called Marshmallow. The giant held Anna and Kristoff by the scruff of their necks in one hand and Olaf in another.

“Stop it! Put us down!” cribbed Anna.

“You’re a lot stronger than I think you realize,” Olaf added with impudence. Marshmallow tossed Kristoff and Anna down the steps. Like a bouncer, he spat,

“Go away!”

Anna and Kristoff slid past Sven, who had his tongue stuck to the railing for some reason.

“Heads up!” Olaf called out as his head smashed into a snowbank behind them.

“Watch out for my butt!” he warned as the rest of his body came flying in the same direction. Anna and Kristoff ducked out of the way just in time. Thinking his job was done, Marshmallow started to go back into the palace. Incensed, Anna tried to march back up the stairs. Kristoff grabbed her and pulled her back.

“It’s not nice to throw people!” Anna picked up a chunk of snow and prepared to throw it at Marshmallow.

“All right, feisty pants. Calm down. Woaw. Just let the snowman be.” Kristoff tried to cool her temper.

“Let me at him. I want to get him. I… Okay. I’m calm.” replied Anna, seeming to be appeased. As Kristoff eased his hold, she took her opportunity and threw a snowball at Marshmallow.

The tiny little ball hit Marshmallow, not even making the slightest dent. However, it was enough to infuriate him. He roared, and ice spikes shot out of his joints.

“Uh-oh. Now you made him mad!” said Kristoff as he pushed Anna along and broke into a run. Sven ran in the other direction, and Olaf’s body followed Sven.

“I’ll distract him; you guys go.” ensured Olaf’s head. “No, no, not you guys,” he continued, watching his body parts scramble. Marshmallow went charging behind Anna and Kristoff while Olaf’s head landed flat on the snow.

“This just got a whole lot harder.”

Anna and Kristoff left and slid down a steep slope. They tumbled and stopped at the bottom, but Marshmallow landed hard, right behind them. They were off again, through a maze of conifers with Marshmallow on their hot trail.

“This way!” cried Kristoff, leading the way.

Anna grabbed a branch of a snapping tree and released all the snow onto Marshmallow.

“Ho-ho-ho!” exclaimed Kristoff, impressed.

“I got him!” celebrated Anna. Both of them then burst out of the forest and almost ran right off a cliff. They stopped short with toes on the edge.

“Woah, stop!” warned Kristoff.

“It’s a hundred-foot drop.” guessed Anna.

“It’s two hundred.” Kristoff corrected.

He tied a rope around Anna and pulled it tight. “Ow.” She was fastened tightly. Kristoff dropped to his knees and started digging a u-shape in the snow with a pickaxe. “What’s that for?” asked Anna.

“I’m digging a snow anchor.”

Anna did not entirely trust this. “Okay. What if we fall?”

“There’s twenty feet of fresh powder down there; it’ll be like landing on a pillow… Hopefully,” explained Kristoff. Both of them heard Marshmallow’s roar coming closer.

“Okay, Anna, on three,” Kristoff instructed.

Anna prepped like a boxer, getting ready for a fight. “Okay, tell me when…”

“One,” counted Kristoff.

Anna started to pump up. “I’m ready to go.”

“two,” he continued.

“I was BORN ready! Yes!” exclaimed Anna. Kristoff found that she had lost focus, maddened in her excitement.

“Calm down,” he advised.

A tree soon flew toward them. “TREE!” shouted Anna.

Kristoff’s eyes widened, “What the--?” She pulled him over the edge with herself. They soon hung upside down over the cliff; the rope caught their fall. “That happened.”

Back on top, Olaf emerged from the woods. He was a mess—all his body parts were in the wrong places. He huffed and puffed, struggling to run. “Ah. Man, I’m out of shape,” he said to himself. He stopped for a while and put his body together in the proper order. “There we go. Hey, Anna! Sven! Where’d you guys go? We totally lost Marshmallow back there!” At the instant, Marshmallow stepped up behind him. Olaf spoke happily, trying to convince the giant snowman. “Hey. We were just talking about you. All good things, all good things…” It didn’t seem to work. Marshmallow ignored him and continued toward Kristoff’s snow anchor. “NO!” cried Olaf, as he jumped onto Marshmallow’s leg, trying to stop him. He accepted, “This is not making much of a difference!” Marshmallow flicked Olaf off his leg and right over the cliff. Falling, he passed by Anna and Kristoff.

“Olaf!” called Anna.

“Hang in there, guys!” he returned as his disintegrating body sped down the cliff. With a start, Marshmallow began to yank Kristoff and Anna’s rope up.

“Wait, what?” Anna wondered. Kristoff’s head hit the cliff.

“Aargghh!” he cried in pain and passed out, hanging on the rope like a rag doll.

“Kristoff!”

Marshmallow pulled them up. He roared and breathed snow all over them, “DON’T COME BACK!”

Grossed out, Anna ensured, “Ugh. We won’t.”

She unsheathed Kristoff’s knife as they hung upside down. She cut the rope, and Kristoff regained consciousness as they fell. They both screamed.