There planned to be extra special guests arriving at the castle today, and Elsa, Anna, and you all wanted to look your best for it. Having only been there for a few months, under the special training of Elsa for your ice powers, Elsa had you in her room prepping and reviewing things you would need to know.

    "Remember your mindful breathing," Elsa spoke in her normal authoritative voice but had a hint of softness she only used to persuade you during your lectures. She stood in front of you as you sat on her royal bed, her arms behind her back to avoid distractions. "And whenever you feel the need to freak out, just remember to take a body scan and breathe. Taking control of yourself can help when it comes to using your powers." The freshly applied red glossy lipstick shined as bright as she smiled brighter.

    You nodded but sighed, patting over your stomach.

    "Kinda hard with the corset," you admitted with your low and shy voice.

    Elsa had to drop her head as she shook it with the smallest grin tugging her lips; she couldn't and wouldn't believe you. "Leave the room if you have to," she continued as a gentle reminder, "Don't feel forced to stay there."

    "I know, Elsa. But I feel calm today, so I think I'll go."

    Giving moments thoughts to Elsa's guests, you wondered who they were. Were they like you and Elsa with Ice powers? Or regular people that you knew not off? They could be another royal family—powerful in so many possible ways. The opportunities were endless.

    The thoughts provoked your anxiety—which was bad and really affected not only the control of your powers, but your health too, and the safety of the kingdom. You had to perish the thought. If you were lucky, you would only have a couple panic attacks a day; compared to living back at your kingdom, here was so much better since you could have so many that it took days to thaw the latches on your door.

    However, for the past couple of months now, you'd stayed in Arendelle to train with Elsa who had ice powers and controlled them amazingly; you longed to feel that control, and luckily lately you had. When you had no panic attacks, you felt free and carefree. For the past eight days, there had been no icy accidents and hoped you today—especially since company from elsewhere planned to appear—would be the ninth. It would be not only a great victory but an outstanding accomplishment. Just barely, you could smile at the thought.

    "I'm proud of you." Elsa placed her hand on your shoulder, sending confidence throughout your body and making you stand up straighter like a proper lady. "Keep it up."

    "I will, Elsa. Thank you."

    "Your majesty, your guests are here!" On the other side of Elsa's door, one of the many servants warned you two.

    Elsa looked to the door, then at you. "Finish up here and meet me in the throne room, OK? I'll keep the guests warmed up for you." She rubbed her hands together, about as ready as you were, cause she knew the accomplishment at stake as well.

    "Of course, ma'am." You nodded and watched as she left; Elsa gave you a thumbs up before she was out the door.

But you never knew that your confidence would leave with her.

    You took a deep breath in before you stood and prepared. You carefully laced up the silky dress brought in for you by the servants under Elsa's orders, and fixed your hair delicately up with your golden tiara. Your hair tangled at first with the crown, sending a small sense of dread throughout your body, especially through your nerves. Desperately wanting to fix it sent a nasty sensation up and down your arms. What if it didn't untangle by the time you left the room? Or if you pulled a clump of your hair out? You'd be disastrous and a humiliation to Elsa's side. God, you needed help running the brush through the back of your hair, but the thought of asking a servant scared you more than anything else. Other than Elsa and Anna, you didn't talk to others, really.

Oh God, that meant that you couldn't talk to these guests.

    Placing the brush down on Elsa's vanity, you took a long and hard look at yourself in the mirror and gulped. Were you good enough to go out there and face them?

    "Madam, are you ready?" Elsa's servant asked you again.

    You flinched at the sound of his voice and called out, "J-Just a moment! I'm fixing my dres—no, applying my makeup!"

    "Take your time, Madam."

But how much time? You asked yourself before you slapped on some of Elsa's lipstick and rushed out the door.

    To the right was the long way to the throne room, where you could escape through the ballroom under the eyes of no one.

    "The throne room is that way Madam," Elsa's servant pointed out before you could head your way. Dang, caught.

    Stopping in your tracks, you bunched your chest in a slight ball of discomfort and spoke out barely in a whisper, "I-I knew that."

    They nodded their head.

    You turned the right direction and held the edges of your dress as you tried to walk without your legs shaking—unsuccessfully. Once your legs began shaking, that's when you knew the ice caps would grow on you if you weren't careful, starting on your finger and toe tips. As calmly as you could, you lifted your chin pridefully and walked. You focused on your breaths mindfully, noticing your shaky breath as you forced it in and out. Matching your footsteps with your inhales and exhales as Elsa taught you, you closed your eyes briefly and tried to ignore the anxieties of the world.

    "Hey, do you know where the bathroom is?"

    The focus you had on your breath stopped abruptly as did your rhythmical walking. Your eyes shot open, thinking someone was talking to you. Your cheeks flared and your stomach twisted.

    But, oh how lucky you were. Down the hall, an unrecognizable man talked to one of the servants and not you. However, he stood at the top of the staircase you needed to cross to make it down to the ballroom—in your way. You noticed his strange attire for your land with these foreign clothes you had never seen before—a weird style of jacket you wouldn't expect anyone to wear in all the kingdoms over a flannel style shirt. His pants definitely were not formal and he wore boots that probably gave him an extra few inches to his already tall frame; he would tower you in a second.

    His hair was red, and not the color of red Anna had—fire red like flames danced off it.

    And suddenly you two met eyes. His were this emerald green that sparkled with something you couldn't put your hands on.

    The redhead's lips curled to a toothy grin before he ran a thumb over his bottom lip quickly.

NO. I can't do this, your mind screamed and you spun the opposite direction, racing off, not being able to face him.

    You couldn't see the man's face anymore but you could feel it haunting your mind.

    You passed Elsa's servant again—his head tilting in confusion. "Madam, where are you going?"

    "I... back to my own room..." You lowered your head in defeat since there was no use.

    "Why is that?"

    "I'm... feeling tired," you lied through your teeth, "So I'm going to take a nap."

    "A nap will make you feel better. But don't take a long one, yes? Dinner is in two hours and Elsa will want you there if you don't show up. now."

Why? "Okay. Thank you." You walked slowly at first, but once he was out of the picture, you raced down the hallways, faster and faster; the urge to get to your room grew as you ran faster with your heels screaming your arrival. As you near your room, you could feel the smallest amount of cold sprout at your fingertips. It was coming, and you couldn't stop it.

    Closing your eyes, you awaited the explosion of ice as it always came when you didn't want it to.

Bump.

    You collided into the body of someone small and screamed as you collapsed right over top of them. Your tiara flung off your body and rolled on down the hallway, reaching the spiral flight of stairs that ran down to the main level of the castle. You gasped and threw yourself off the body, seeing who you had run into. Was it one of the servants? Or worse... One of the guests?

    Anna groaned and rubbed her head with the palm of her right hand. It took you a few seconds of realization before you jumped into action.

    "Oh my god, Anna, I'm so sorry." You gasped and tried to help her up as you rushed to your feet.

    "Ugh... I think so." Her hands extended out to catch herself, but you were there to support her.

    "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to run into you."
    
    Anna took a moment to compose herself and you rubbed your hands together nervously. "Do you need help to the throne room?" You placed a hand on her back hesitantly.

    "I think... I'm fine!" She abruptly burst into a ball of energy, recovering almost instantly. "Hey, I'll meet ya down there, OK?" She smiled and raced down the stairs before you could say a word.

    Lucky you, Anna unknowingly saved you from an anxiety attack. You reached up and touched your hair, trying to adjust the strands until you realized: your tiara was gone.

    In an instant, your blood ran colder than ice and you slapped your hands over your mouth. Your tiara! It was a priceless heirloom passed down through all the princesses in your bloodline, and you just lost in a large castle.

    You dropped down on the ground and searched the area, trying to find it; under plants and under benches, but it was nowhere.Your knees scraped along the ground, eventually until—RIIIP. Your body lunged forward as your dress tore and gave out from underneath you, making you trip and land right against your chin harshly.

    Before you knew it, you were whimpering in pain. You gripped at the velvety carpet underneath you, turning it white with your ice. A stinging sensation burned through your knee as it had scraped along the carpet.

    You continued to whimper as you pushed yourself to your feet, watching your knees shake. One of them was red from a rug burn, where most of your weight had been.

    "No..." You complained to yourself and shook your head. Now your dress was ruined. "I'm such an idiot." You took a deep breather, trying to straighten out your composure. "There's no way I can go back to my room. I need to find my tiara." You told yourself and looked around the area for a few more minutes without any luck. You then took to the stairs and walked down them slowly, constantly checking over the rails to make sure no one was coming up. Occasionally you had to ignore the stinging pain that made you want to drop down like a spoiled brat and scream.

You'd already screwed up so badly. What would Elsa say?

    Stopping at the last step, you looked down the hallway. One end lead towards the ballroom (as it was the alternative route you originally were going to take), and the other towards another series of hallways you didn't care to explore yet. A few moments thought and you decided to near the ballroom, knowing there would be no one there.

    And boy were you wrong. You stopped yourself last second from entering the ballroom as you heard Elsa's voice speak. You covered your mouth in pure horror; she had already moved rooms, which meant you were late!

    You kept hidden around the corner and listened to them.

    "Thanks Sora!" Elsa said in a cheery voice that echoed off the walls, "The ballroom is the prettiest when it's lively and full of people. Hopefully next time you can see it that way."

    "That would be awesome!" A boy cheered. You barely peaked around the corner to see who it was—it was an equally cheery boy with brown hair and bright blue eyes that reminded you of the island waters back on your kingdom's shores. He too, like the redhead before, wore questionable clothing but with big boots. Who were they?

    He was surrounded by a few others. A girl with red hair and a short pink dress, and a boy with silver hair and... hoods? Attached to his jacket. They looked out of this world. You... kinda liked them. You barely noticed that there were... Animals behind him?! Wearing clothes? A duck and a dog! You couldn't believe it.

    You ducked behind the wall and covered your mouth. Who did Elsa invite? And why?

    "Elsa!" You heard Anna call out and looked in time to see her run to her sister's side and hunch over, her hands on her knees, "I can't believe you moved onto the next room without me!" She looked at the guests and threw her arms open. "Sora! Donald! Goofy!" She greeted them all. You spied as she individually hugged them and called them by their names once more.

    "It's so nice to see you again, Anna—"

    "Well, if you hadn't been so late, I wouldn't have moved on." Elsa chuckled. "Anna, I want you to meet Sora's other friend's: Riku and Kairi." She motioned her hand out to the two others around the brunette, who nodded their heads respectfully as their names were called.

    "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Kairi." The red-headed girl introduced herself with a bow of her head.

    The tall boy with the silver hair mimicked her. "And I'm Riku."

    "It's so nice to meet you both." Anna shook their hands in this exciting waythat she always had. She giggled and ran her hand over the back of her head, where she knew there was a bump forming. "Had a bit of a little run-in with Twix, but I'm sure she'd love these guys too. Wait! She hasn't seen Sora yet—" She gasped.

    You perked up at the sound of the nickname Anna had given you. She was talking about you.

    "Oh?" Elsa frowned. "Is she okay?"

    "Who's this Twix?" Sora asked. For a moment, you thought he had some disdain in his voice, but it was just his imagination.

    "Oh yeah." Elsa turned to Sora. "She's a princess from another country. I'm teaching her how to control her ice powers as I had."

    Sora's face brightened, proud. "You are? That's great! I'd like to meet her."

    "Yeah, Sora you always do—" The duck with a weird accent laughed and Sora elbowed him.

    "Shut up, Donald—"

    Riku and Kairi laughed.

"She's a great person—" Elsa touched her sister's back. "But where did she go? Is she OK?" Seeing the worry cross Elsa's face made you feel guilty—if only she saw you now. She would probably not feel as proud as she claimed to be. Why was she setting high expectations for them about you?

    "Oh, I saw her coming from my room. We kinda ran into each other. She was in a bit of a hurry to get somewhere."

    Elsa frowned. "But your room is upstairs and away from the ballroom. What was she doing so far?"

    "I... dunno..." Anna hesitated. "I think I should have stayed."

    Sora perked up, his face growing determined and protective. "Do we need to go find her?"
Elsa sighed and shook her head. "Let's give her a few seconds, OK? She sometimes gets too overwhelmed when she's near a lot of new people."

    "OK..." Sora didn't seem convinced, but you were glad he didn't jump straight up to find you.
What Elsa said was true—you really did get easily overwhelmed. Whether you liked it or not. Right now, you weren't even in the room with them and you wanted to have a panic attack. You pulled away from the wall and rushed down the hallway opposite of the ballroom, trying to get as far away as possible; their voices faded in the distance. You didn't want to be around people at all right now.

    You sat down on the nearest bench under a large painting and leaned your face into your hands, sobbing at how pathetic you felt. Eight days suddenly became none as you broke down right there. You don't know how much time had passed but when you tried to get up and go to your room, you realized you couldn't move.

    "Oh no..." You looked to your legs as ice encased them with a thick layer that would take hours to melt. Your butt had frozen to the seat during your breakdown, and you hadn't noticed. What do I do?! You screamed at yourself mentally, and the ice caps grew thicker.

    Cry. That's all you could think about doing, and all you were good at. So you leaned your head back down, not even controlling the sobs this time. You didn't care if you froze entirely at this point.

    A hand touched your shoulder and it felt warm and inviting. You looked up.

    It was that man again, with the red hair.

    "Hey, you doing okay?" He asked and leaned down onto one knee. "You look a little stuck there."

    You barely nodded your head. "I-I am.... Um... ice..."

    He chuckled. "I see that." He examined the area with a determined expression. "I think I can help."

    "No... you can't. I'm stuck here." You turned your head away, embarrassed he had to see you like this. "Trust me, it's happened before..."

    "Nothing I can't handle. Ah, but first..."

    He gently held your chin and turned your face with no space at all. He reached his free thumb up and licked it, then ran it under your bottom lip. "There we go—that was bugging me. I tried to tell you had a little lipstick there earlier. Guess you didn't see." He chuckled at the red flare that rose to your cheeks. "Now, for these..."

    The man had no personal space whatsoever and touched the ice over your legs. Not that you could get away, even if you wanted to. You dug your nails deep into the bench, making crescent indents with them.

    "W-What are you doing?"

    "Warmin' you up." A small spark of flames erupted from his hands, forcing you to cover your face as he did so. Then, you felt warmth over your legs as gentle flames started to melt away the thick layer of ice. It didn't take long before it was gone, melted. Your eyes widened. "And this might feel good too."

    Without asking, he took your hands and placed them gently over your knee. "Ow!" You whined and flinched. The moments of pain ignited your hands and then you felt—cold. Your powers were making the sting go away in your knee.

    "That feel better?" He smiled up to you.

    "I... Yes it does. Thank you so much." You bowed your head.

    "Oh, and this might belong to you." He took his hands away from yours. As your head bowed, he placed something metal on the area. You gasped and reached up to touch the object, feeling cold edges. Your tiara!

    When you met his eyes again, you saw that same spark, and you knew instantly what it was. Confidence.

    Yours was oh-so broken.

    "My name is Axel. Got it memorized?"