Author's Note: This is the sequel to Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart, my entry in the first sequel contest. It takes place 10 years after the end of Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart (roughly 12 years after Frozen). For those who weren't here for the first contest and wish to read it, the story is posted here:link link.

Otherwise, there are a few key details you must know to avoid being confused by this story: Hans's mother died giving birth to him, and his father was so mad ith grief that he struck a deal with the dark wizard Valberg to conjure an amulet with the power to bring back the dead called The Frozen Heart. In order for the magic to work, another life must be exchanged for the queen's, and it was decided that Hans would be sacrificed to the amulet once he'd reached the proper age. In order to keep Hans's sudden death from arousing suspicion, Valberg and the king realized they must make the people despise him first, so with the help of the eldest prince, they tricked Hans into taking over Arendelle. When he returned home, he was imprisoned and reunited with his childhood friend Helga, who just happened to be captain of the guard. Helga found out about the amulet and went to Arendelle to seek help for Hans. After being rejected by Anna and Elsa, she returned to save Hans herself. In the ensuing battle, she destroyed the Frozen Heart but was fatally injured by the king. In a desperate attempt to save her, Hans placed the ruined amulet around her neck and refused to leave her side, even as the dark magic released when the amulet was destroyed cause the castle to collapse. This awakened dormant magic in the amulet that protected Hans and revived Helga. They emerged the only survivors of the castle collapse, thus Hans was crowned king of the Southern Isles.

The Characters
(all returning characters from Frozen and Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart [with one exception] keep their original voice actors)

Hans – the antagonist of Frozen and protagonist of Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart; one of the story’s protagonists. At the time the story takes place, smart and charismatic Hans is 35 years old and has been ruling the Southern Isles for 10 years. Although he was able to redeem himself, he still bears emotional scars from the events of Frozen and Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart.

Helga – Hans’s wife and former captain of the Southern Isles’ royal guard; deuteragonist of Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart, reduced to a more minor role. She’s about the same age as Hans. Tall, slender, blonde-haired, and gray-eyed. Helga is courageous, open-minded, compassionate, and fiercely devoted to her husband and family.

Vilhelm – Hans and Helga’s son and twin brother of Edith; one of the story’s protagonists. He is 9 years old, tall and ungainly with auburn hair and gray eyes. Vilhelm is brave, fun-loving, and loyal, but he hides a magical secret.

Edith – Hans and Helga’s daughter and sister of Vilhelm. She’s Vilhelm’s twin, but they’re polar opposites in looks and personality! Edith is petite and dainty with curly blonde hair and green eyes. She’s timid, serious, girly, and a little judgmental.

Valda (voice of link) – the antagonist of the story; a dark sorceress who masquerades as a healer. She’s 47 years old, tall and angular with violet eyes and white-blonde hair with a black streak on one side. Valda is calm, calculating, determined, ruthless, and she has a connection to one of the antagonists of Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart. She blames King Hans for ruining her life and casts a terrible curse to destroy the last of the Westergaard line.

Elsa – the ruler of Arendelle; deuteragonist of Frozen and supporting character of Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart. Elsa is powerful, dutiful, and more than a little insecure. Throughout the course of the story, she forms a bond with Vilhelm.

Anna – the protagonist of Frozen and supporting character of Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart. Anna is optimistic and feisty, and although she still hasn’t fully forgiven Hans for his actions, she’s been able to come to a sort of reconciliation with him.

Kristoff – main character of Frozen and supporting character of Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart, reduced to a more minor role. Kristoff is strong, practical, guff but kind.

Kristianna – Anna and Kristoff’s daughter and friend of Vilhelm and Edith. Kristianna is 7 years old and has strawberry-blonde hair, brown eyes, and lots of freckles. She’s spunky, enthusiastic, caring, and she idolizes Helga.

Olaf – main character of Frozen and supporting character of Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart. This little snowman is fun-loving, optimistic, and a little naïve, and he enjoys playing with Kristianna, Vilhelm, and Edith.

Grand Pabbie – supporting character of Frozen and Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart; Kristoff’s grandfather figure. Pabbie is knowledgeable in all areas of magic and provides vital information on defeating Valda’s curse.

Klaus and Karl – co-captains of the Southern Isles’ royal guard and friends of Helga; supporting characters of Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart. Both are about 35 years old, tall, muscular, and dark-haired. They are strong, authoritative, and somewhat bumbling, though Karl is quieter and more submissive than Klaus.

Valberg – one of the antagonists of Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart, reduced to a more minor role. A dark wizard once imprisoned for using his magic to wreak havoc on the Southern Isles and beyond, Valberg is powerful, cunning, snarky, and has a penchant for causing chaos. (Appears in the flashback scenes only)

King Gunther (voice of link) – Hans’s father and main antagonist of Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart, reduced to a more minor (and less antagonistic) role. For most of the time he appears, Gunther is 45 years old, tall with auburn hair and blue eyes. He is stern, reserved, and prone to fits of anger. (Appears in the flashback scenes only)

Queen Edith (voice of link) – Hans’s mother, a background character of Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart, given a slightly bigger role. Edith, like her namesake, is a green-eyed blonde. She is kind, compassionate, motherly, and brings out the best in her family and the people of the Southern Isles. (Appears in the flashback scenes only)

Captain Vilhelm – Helga’s father and supporting character of Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart; former captain of the Southern Isles’ royal guard. He’s about 25 years old, tall, blond, and gray-eyed. Vilhelm is strong, protective, and compassionate. (Appears in the flashback scenes only)

Astrid (voice of link) – Helga’s mother and Queen Edith’s lady-in-waiting. 22 year old Astrid is a blue-eyed brunette; she is kind, hard-working, and perceptive but becomes the first casualty of a terrible curse. (Appears in the flashback scenes only)


The Story

It’s the tenth anniversary of King Hans’s coronation, and everyone on the Southern Isles is gearing up for a huge celebration. Servants bustle about the castle while Klaus and Karl, now co-captains of the guard, go through a few last-minute drills. Various citizens gossip amongst themselves in anticipation as they decorate their homes and shops with blue and magenta banners. Ships carrying guests from faraway kingdoms dock in the nearby harbor, among them one bearing the green and purple Arendelle flag; Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf disembark. Olaf spots a group of children playing nearby and waves, but when he tries to join them, he’s almost squished by a passing cart. Elsa pulls him back just in time. Elsa remarks how much the Southern Isles has changed under Hans’s rule, and Anna exchanges a look with Kristoff as she says she never would’ve guessed they’d be celebrating Hans’s coronation. Kristoff suddenly notices their daughter, Kristianna, is missing and they frantically search for her.

While they’re distracted, Kristianna runs down the gangplank. She’s wearing a blue and black cloak that resembles the Southern Isles’ royal guard uniforms, and she has a small wooden practice sword tucked into her belt. While everyone’s distracted, she sneaks up behind them and shouts “Boo!” Kristoff scolds her for running off, but he can’t get a word in edgewise once Kristianna starts talking enthusiastically; Anna just laughs. She wants to ask Queen Helga to teach her to swordfight, but Kristoff warns her not to bother Helga too much since she’s busy with the celebration. Kristianna draws her sword with a dramatic flourish but accidentally jabs the official who’s come to escort them to Castle Westergaard. As they go, she says she hopes the party will cheer King Hans up; when Anna asks what she means by that, she says Hans always looks so sad and asks why. Anna and Kristoff look at each other, unsure how to answer. It’s finally Elsa who tells her that Hans hasn’t had a very happy life.

Meanwhile at the castle, Hans, still wracked with guilt over the events of Frozen and Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart, stares blankly out a window at the twelve black flags flying from the castle towers (one for each of the brothers lost in the castle collapse at the end of Broken Shards of a Frozen Heart). Helga comes in and holds him from behind. When she mentions the people outside clamoring for a glimpse of their king, Hans pulls away and angrily replies, “Why can’t they understand? I don’t deserve to be their king!” He tries to leave, but Helga blocks the door, reminding him how awful things were during his father’s reign and how far they’ve come since then. Hans starts to kiss her, but they’re interrupted when their children burst into the room. Vilhelm approaches first but trips and falls, Edith helps him up before their parents can react, but when he touches her, she screams and draws her hand back. Hans inspects her hand to find a red mark that looks a lot like a burn. Vilhelm tries to apologize, but Edith doesn’t forgive him. Hans assures her there’s no way Vilhelm could’ve done that, but she doesn’t believe it and runs away. Vilhelm tries to go after her, but Helga stops him. She gives Vilhelm a hug and notices he’s burning up. Thinking he’s sick, she sends him to bed.

Later, the king and queen go on a carriage ride through the kingdom to greet their subjects. Hans smiles and waves to the crowd, but his mind is elsewhere. A tall woman in a hooded cloak (Valda) appears in the crowd, but unlike the others, she doesn’t cheer and wave; just glares icily at Hans. The horses pulling the carriage rear up suddenly. Everyone gasps as the carriage bucks, throwing Hans and Helga backwards, and Valda is knocked down and nearly trampled. Hans helps Helga up and checks her over for injuries before going to calm the horses. Helga reprimands the driver for “nearly killing someone”, notices Valda sprawled on the ground, and jumps out of the carriage to help her. She apologizes profusely for hitting her with their horses, but Valda just stares past her to Hans. For a split second, Hans’s face morph into that of his father, King Gunther, then changes back just as quickly. Helga’s voice jerks Valda back to reality when she asks if she’s alright; she insists she’s fine.

As Helga helps her up, Valda’s hood is knocked back, revealing the black streak in her hair. Hans stares blankly after her as she leaves; there’s only one other person he knew who had white hair with a black streak! Helga places a hand on Hans’s arm and asks him what’s wrong. He says he thought he just saw Valberg, the dark wizard who his father appointed royal chancellor. Helga reminds him that it’s not possible; Valberg’s dead. Hans concedes that she’s probably right but says it’s odd that the horses just happened to get spooked when a woman with black and white hair appeared. He follows Helga back into the carriage but takes one last look back at Valda as she disappears back into the crowd.

Valda ducks around a corner, mumbling, “Sure you’re sorry now, but not half as sorry as you’re going to be, Your Majesties.” She retreats to her home, a small run-down cabin cluttered with spellbooks, cauldrons, and various potion ingredients and other magical artifacts. As she’s flipping through a spellbook, her eyes fall to a broken three-pronged stick on the table in front of her, and the scene dissolves.

35 years in the past, The Southern Isles are in chaos. Strange weather patterns bringing fire, floods, tornados, and rock slides have ravages the land, leaving its citizens starving and homeless. King Gunther and Queen Edith visit one of the most devastated areas to aid the people, accompanied by their 12 sons, Captain Vilhelm, his wife Astrid, and their baby daughter. The older half of the princes hand out food and supplies, and the younger half play with the local children while King Gunther fields complaints from concerned citizens and a pregnant Queen Edith comforts those who have lost their homes and/or loved ones. Captain Vilhelm oversees the distribution process and controls the crowds while Astrid holds Baby Helga.

A 12 year old Valda watches from the crowd as King Gunther looks around at the destruction with an overwhelmed expression. Queen Edith notices and hugs him, offering words of encouragement. King Gunther gives her a kiss on the cheek, and Valda makes a quiet gagging sound. Valberg appears behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder. He remarks that the royal family looks entirely too happy and suggests they do something about it. He points his staff at two of the princes, and they immediately start fighting. Several people in the crowd gasp and take a step back as the princes tackle each other. King Gunther pulls them apart, scolding them for their unprincely behavior in public, and Queen Edith gently reminds them that brothers must treat each other with kindness.

Valda laughs and asks if she try. Valberg nods and pulls a three-pronged wand out of his pocket; Valda just stares in awe at her new wand for a few moments. Valberg suggests she start out small, and Valda points her wand at Captain Vilhelm and Astrid. Baby Helga starts to cry, and Astrid bounces her up and down in a futile attempt to quiet her as she and Captain Vilhelm exchange a confused look. Valberg smiles and congratulates Valda; they leave but not before Valberg aims his staff into the sky, causing it to hail. They both laugh as everyone panics and runs for cover, and Captain Vilhelm watches them with suspicion as they go.

When they return home, Valda is still amazed by Valberg’s hail spell and begs him to teach it to her. He just scoffs and says that was nothing compared to the spell he’s been working on. He opens a spellbook to a page written in an ancient language. Valda tries to read the spell but can’t and asks what it does. Valberg tells her it spreads an incurable deadly sickness, then laughs and says this place won’t know what hit it. Valda offers to help, but Valberg declines, saying the spell is complex and took him years to master. Valda watches as Valberg casts the spell. A thick fog fills the room as he recites the incantation, and a bolt of lightning erupts from his staff.

The lightning from Valberg’s spell strikes one of the towers of Castle Westergaard with a loud crackle. Astrid hears the noise and, fearing another freak weather event, peers out the queen’s bedroom window, but she doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary and assumes she must’ve just imagined it. Queen Edith asks her what’s the matter, and she says she thought she heard a strange noise. Astrid suddenly turns white and starts trembling; she wobbles and has to grab onto a chair to keep from falling. At that moment, King Gunther enters the room, notices Astrid, and exchanges a worried look with his wife, and they help Astrid to the infirmary.

King Gunther and Queen Edith try to comfort a distraught Captain Vilhelm as the castle doctor tends to Astrid. The doctor emerges, baffled by Astrid’s condition. He says he’s tried all the usual remedies, but nothing seems to be working. The only thing to do is let the sickness run its course. Captain Vilhelm rushes to his wife’s side. Astrid reprimands him for bringing their baby daughter to the infirmary with him and insists they leave before Helga catches her illness. Captain Vilhelm kisses her cheek and assures her she’ll feel better soon, but as the days pass, Astrid’s condition worsens.

A few days later, King Gunther and Queen Edith are relaxing in the library when Captain Vilhelm bursts in. Instead of his normal guard uniform, he’s dressed in black, and he holds a wailing baby Helga. The king and queen immediately realize something’s wrong and exchange a worried look. Captain Vilhelm resigns from the guard, and King Gunther, completely flabbergasted, demands an explanation. Captain Vilhelm looks up with tears in his eyes; one look in his eyes is all it takes for the king and queen to figure out that Astrid has died. Queen Edith hugs him, weeping with him, and King Gunther stands back, at a loss for words. When Captain Vilhelm regains his composure, he explains that he can’t fulfill his duties to the guard and to his daughter, but King Gunther refuses to accept his resignation, insisting they can work it out. He first suggests appointing an interim captain, then asking the royal nanny to care for Helga, but Captain Vilhelm rejects both ideas. This gives Queen Edith an idea, and she offers to look after Helga herself. King Gunther tries to talk her out of it and Captain Vilhelm insists he doesn’t want to impose, but Queen Edith says it’ll give her something to do.

Baby Helga suddenly wails even louder than ever. Captain Vilhelm tries unsuccessfully to hush her for a few minutes before allowing Queen Edith to hold her. Once in the queen’s arms, Helga quickly settles down. Queen Edith pats her stomach and tells Helga that she’ll soon have a little friend to play with. Helga begins to coo and giggle, and King Gunther and Captain Vilhelm exchange a look. They’re surprised by how quickly Helga took a liking to Queen Edith! Captain Vilhelm agrees to the queen’s proposition if the king will allow it, and King Gunther reluctantly gives his approval.

The sickness that killed Astrid spreads throughout the kingdom until only the king and princes are left unaffected. King Gunther tries to combat the disease by placing those affected under quarantine, but it has little effect. Captain Vilhelm and Helga are taken ill but are among the few to survive. Queen Edith tends to the sick as much as she can but eventually catches the disease herself. The castle doctor examines her and comes to the surprising conclusion that although Queen Edith is severely weakened, the sickness seems to have no effect on her unborn baby. The sicker she gets, the more desperate King Gunther becomes. When the doctor says there’s nothing more he can do for the queen, he angrily berates him. The doctor replies that he’s never seen anything like this before; it’s as if the disease spread like magic! Captain Vilhelm overhears and suddenly remembers seeing Valberg’s hailing spell. He tells the king what he saw; King Gunther is skeptical at first, but the more Captain Vilhelm explains, the more it starts to make sense.

Valberg is at home giving Valda a magic lesson when a group of guards, led by King Gunther, break down the door. Valda frantically hides her wand behind her back and looks nervously at her father, Valberg assures her he’ll handle this and stands between her and the king. Several guards surround him, swords drawn, and Valberg brandishes his staff. He demands an explanation for the “unwelcome intrusion”, but King Gunther just scoffs and tells him not to play dumb. When he asks if Valberg honestly expected him to believe all these disasters just happened, Valberg laughs and says it was all in good fun. They continue to antagonize each other until Valberg causally mentions that it’s a shame about Queen Edith; she was the only member of the royal family he sort of liked.

King Gunther loses his temper and attacks Valberg. Captain Vilhelm and Valda watch in horror as they wrestle on the floor. Valda screams at them to stop it and starts to draw her wand, but Valberg warns her with a stern look not to reveal her powers. He jerks his head toward the spellbook on the table, and Valda grabs it while everyone is distracted by the fight. Captain Vilhelm’s eyes dart from King Gunther and Valberg to Valda; he is conflicted. A part of him wants to let King Gunther tear Valberg apart in revenge for Astrid, but he also knows that Valda is an innocent child and watching the fight must be traumatic for her. He pries the two apart, and when King Gunther reprimands him, he reminds him that Valberg has a daughter. King Gunther callously replies that she’s better off without him and motions to the guards. Valda screams for her father as he’s led away in chains, and Captain Vilhelm has to physically restrain her to keep her from running after him.

Valda is taken to an orphanage where she’s quickly ostracized. Some of the other kids think she’s weird and make fun of her, while others have lost family members to her father’s dark magic and blame her. As one of the oldest, she’s treated like a servant, forced to do all the chores and take care of the younger kids. In what little spare time she has, she practices her magic… until somebody tattles on her.

The caretaker catches her with her wand and spellbook one night. She insists all magic is evil and snaps Valda’s wand in half as punishment; the others laugh as they watch. Valda’s expression hardens, and a beam of purple light suddenly erupts from her hand. The kids who here laughing at her are thrown into the wall by the blast and knocked out cold, and a black streak appears in Valda’s white-blonde hair. Valda realizes she doesn’t need her wand to create magic anymore; she’s become even more powerful than her father!

The caretaker yells at Valda to get out. She picks up her spellbook and broken wand and storms out without so much as a look back. Once outside, she casually waves a hand, and the building catches on fire. Panicked screams echo from inside, and Valda walks away with a triumphant smirk. She sneaks away unnoticed, breaks into her old house, and resumes her studies, determined to get back at King Gunther for taking her father from her.

Valda spends the next 18 years honing her father’s sickness spell. The opportunity to test it out arises during a parade for King Gunther’s birthday. She inconspicuously joins the crowd gathered and as the king appears, aims a blast of magic at him. Captain Vilhelm unwittingly steps into her line of fire and is hit instead. King Gunther notices Captain Vilhelm looks uncharacteristically sickly and asks if he’s alight. Captain Vilhelm insists he’s fine but soon falls off his horse. Two other guards help him into the royal carriage, and King Gunther orders the driver to return to the castle. Valda watches the scene unfold before turning away, fuming at her failure.

Back at the castle, the doctor tends to Captain Vilhelm and informs a shocked King Gunther that the captain’s symptoms are identical to the magic sickness from years ago, but having the disease before has made him more vulnerable to it this time. The king immediately confronts Valberg, now the royal chancellor, but he insists there must be some mistake, He examines Captain Vilhelm himself and comes to the same conclusion as the doctor. He realizes there’s only one way that could’ve happened, but it seems impossible… he thought Valda died in the orphanage fire years ago!

Valda opens one of the spellbooks to the sickness spell. All her practicing has paid off; she’s finally perfected the spell. All she has to do is cast it and finally avenge her father by destroying the last of the Westergaard line, and the timing is perfect! With all the foreign guests attending Hans’s anniversary celebration, the spell will spread farther and faster (and take out more people). A flash of purple light erupts from Valda’s hand as she recites the spell and strikes the tallest tower of Castle Westergaard, just as her father’s spell did, but this time no one inside the castle notices. They’re too distracted by other strange things happening!

Hans’s enchanted rose, which has been blooming since the castle collapse, appears to be dying, and no one can figure out why. While Klaus is trying to solve that crisis, someone frantically bursts into the room calling for the captain of the guard. Karl follows the intruder to find Vilhelm’s room in flames. He and some of the other guards manage to contain the fire, but the room is destroyed. Karl comforts a frightened Vilhelm and asks him what happened. Vilhelm says he was taking a nap, and when he woke up, the room was on fire. Karl is skeptical, but before he can press him for more information, Vilhelm notices Edith watching with a panicked expression and runs to her. He tries to talk to her, but she still blames him for injuring her earlier. He insists he didn’t do it, but she doesn’t believe him and says it’s weird that he burned her and his room just happened to catch on fire.

Hans and Helga are horrified to learn about the fire upon their return and rush to their son. They’re relieved to find him unhurt and shower him with hugs and kisses. Hans demands an explanation, and Vilhelm tells him the same story he told Karl earlier. He asks Vilhelm if he’s sure he wasn’t doing something he wasn’t supposed to, like playing with matches, but Helga notices Vilhelm’s sad expression and tries to steer the conversation in a different direction. She says the fire was probably caused by a stray ember from the fireplace. Hans agrees so as not to frighten his family, but deep down, he suspects Valberg of causing the fire, though he’s not sure if it was just to cause chaos or an attempt to kill his son.

A servant appears in the doorway and tells them their guests from Arendelle have arrived. They find Anna, Kristoff, and Kristianna in the parlor talking to Edith. Helga greets them warmly, but Hans is ill at ease around Anna and Kristoff, believing they’re still angry at him. Kristianna hugs Hans and wishes him a happy anniversary, but he draws back. He can barely bring himself to look at her; she reminds him too much of Anna. Kristoff reminds her of her manners, and she curtsies to Hans and Helga, greeting them as “your majesties”, but this moment of decorum doesn’t last long. Kristianna stares starstruck at Helga for a few minutes. When she eventually finds her voice, she tells Helga that she wants to be a guard just like her when she grows up and asks if she’ll teach her how to swordfight. Helga hesitates, but upon noticing Hans’s discomfort around Kristianna, asks if she’d like to see where the guards live.

Before she can summon Klaus and Karl to show her around, Elsa and Olaf come in. Olaf waves enthusiastically to the children, and they gather around him. Kristianna and Edith each hug him without incident, but when Vilhelm has his turn, Olaf begins to melt. Edith panics and screams for Elsa while Kristianna just stares at Vilhelm with an unreadable expression. All the commotion alerts the adults. Hans demands to know what happened, and the children all start talking at once. He has to shout over them to speak one at a time. Vilhelm apologizes profusely for melting Olaf and says he doesn’t know how it happened. Elsa assures him there’s no harm done, and with a wave of her hand, a blast of cold air ripples through the room and Olaf regains his shape. He laughs and makes a joke that he likes warm hugs, but that one was a little too warm.

Edith invites Kristianna to play with her but throws a reproachful look back at Vilhelm, as if warning him not to follow them. Vilhelm rushes after her, once again insisting that he didn’t mean to hurt anyone, and begs her to believe him. Edith ignores him, and when he persists, she asks Kristianna if she heard a strange voice just then. Hans overhears, but all he can do is stare in disbelief at his daughter. This reminds him a little too much of the way his brothers treated him! Helga scolds Edith and says she can’t attend the ball later if she doesn’t start being nicer to Vilhelm. Edith apologizes to Vilhelm, though her smile is tight and forced, and she still glares angrily at him. She tells Kristianna to come with her, adding in an undertone that Vilhelm’s dangerous. Kristianna says he isn’t dangerous; he just has fire powers. She asks Vilhelm why he didn’t tell her about his powers, but he says it’s impossible.

Kristianna doesn’t know whether she should stay with Vilhelm or go with Edith, but before she has to make up her mind, Vilhelm leaves. Hans goes after him and tries to comfort him. Vilhelm asks why this keeps happening to him, and Hans doesn’t know what to say. He tries to assure Vilhelm that all these weird happenings aren’t is fault, but he’s not convinced. He asks if he thinks Kristianna’s right about him having fire powers; Hans says he doesn’t know, but fire powers or not, he’s his son and he and Helga love him. Vilhelm pouts and says Edith doesn’t; she hates him. Hans’s heart goes out to his son, for he knows how it feels to think you siblings hate you. He hugs his son and assures him that Edith doesn’t hate him; she’s just scared but she’ll come around.

That night, Valda crashes the anniversary ball to see her handiwork, but she’s surprised to find nobody has taken ill yet. She notices the wilting enchanted rose and assumes it’s the reason her spell didn’t work. She plans to slip away from the party, steal the rose, and recast her spell. Meanwhile, Vilhelm tries to patch things up with his sister by asking her for a dance, but she again ignores him. Kristianna offers to dance with him, but he politely declines. When he persists, Edith scoffs and says she doesn’t want to wind up like Olaf. Vilhelm tries to convince her that he’d never hurt her, but she reminds him how he burned her hand, set his room on fire, and nearly melted Olaf. She turns away, telling Vilhelm that she doesn’t want anything to do with him and wishes he wasn’t her brother.

This pushes Vilhelm too far. “It’s not my fault!” he yells, and flames leap out of his hands. Several of the guests gasp and scream, frantically running in all directions, while Vilhelm just stares in horror at the wall of fire in front of him. Hans pulls him back, and he and Kristoff eventually manage to extinguish the fire. Vilhelm overhears some of the guests call him a witch and accuse him of trying to kill everyone. He gasps, staring at his hands as sparks fly from them, and runs away.

Hans suspects Valberg of cursing his son with fire powers and summons the guards, vowing retribution. He leads the guards out of the room, ordering them to search the castle grounds for Valberg, but Helga stops him. She’s still skeptical about Valberg’s involvement and tells Hans that it doesn’t matter how Vilhelm got fire powers; the important thing is that their son needs them now. Hans agrees, but when they turn to their children, they notice Vilhelm is nowhere to be found. Hans and Helga panic and order the guards to search for their son; several guests, including Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and Kristianna join the search.

The search for Vilhelm provides the perfect distraction for Valda. While everyone else is busy looking for the prince, she sneaks into the throne room and grabs the enchanted rose, hiding it under her cloak. She wanders into one of the castle courtyards (what used to be the throne room in the old castle, now a memorial to those who died in the castle collapse) and finds what at first appears to be a statue. Upon closer inspection, she realizes it isn’t a statue at all; it’s Valberg’s frozen form. Valda gasps and for a moment looks like she’s about to cry, but her expression turns angry. She touches Valberg’s cheek and vows revenge against King Hans. Voices rise suddenly, and Valda panics. She vanishes in a puff of smoke before she can get caught, taking the enchanted rose and Valberg with her.

As Valda disappears, dark clouds surround Castle Westergaard. Thunder roars, and lighting strikes the towers. Hans and Helga, each on opposite sides of the castle, notice the strange weather and worry their son might be caught in the storm. Helga turns pale suddenly. Klaus asks if she’s alright, and she insists she’s fine, just worried for Vilhelm is all, while Hans orders Karl to double the search efforts. Klaus and Helga search the throne room. They don’t find Vilhelm, but they do notice the enchanted rose is missing. Helga can’t imagine why anyone would want to steal the rose; it was a symbol of her love for Hans but has no real value to anyone else.

Meanwhile on the other side of the castle, Hans and Karl come to a frightening discovery. They approach the courtyard to find Valberg’s frozen body missing. The guards exchange confused looks and whispers. It looks like Hans was right; Valberg really is back! Hans assumes the worst, fearing Valberg has kidnapped Vilhelm, and orders the guards to find his son, even if they have to tear the entire kingdom apart.

It’s eventually Elsa who finds Vilhelm in the castle garden. He warns her to stay away from him, but she ignores him and sits beside him on the bench. He shies away from her, saying he doesn’t want to hurt her like he did Olaf and Edith. Elsa assures him he won’t hurt her, that Olaf’s fine now, and she knows he didn’t mean to burn Edith. She sympathizes with Vilhelm, for he’s around the same age she was when she accidentally struck Anna.

As they’re talking, Elsa learns that Vilhelm’s powers are tied to his anger. She tells him he can learn to control his powers by learning to control his anger and offers to teach him, but Vilhelm is skeptical. Elsa tells him to try to set fire to a nearby tree; Vilhelm looks at her like she’s crazy but still obeys. Just before the flames hit the tree, Elsa deflects them with her ice powers, and Vilhelm watches in amazement as they disappear. He realizes that he really can’t hurt Elsa with his powers and agrees to let her teach him. Elsa gives him a hug, and they go back inside.

Hans and Helga are relieved to find Vilhelm with Elsa. Hans scolds him for running away, but Helga is overjoyed to see Vilhelm safe and sound and thanks Elsa for finding him. Elsa proposes taking Vilhelm back to Arendelle with her to teach him to control his fire powers, but Hans and Helga have their doubts. Helga doesn’t like the idea of Vilhelm being so far from home for an indefinite amount of time, and Hans worries that the people of Arendelle may hurt his son in retaliation for his past actions. Anna and Kristoff join Elsa and try to ease Helga’s mind by assuring her that Vilhelm won’t be alone. Kristianna squeals and hugs Vilhelm, forgetting about his fire powers, and says they’re going to have so much fun together. Vilhelm tells his parents that he wants to go to Arendelle so he doesn’t hurt anybody else, and Hans and Helga eventually agree on the condition that Vilhelm is protected at all times. Elsa promises her guards will look after him, but Hans doesn’t trust them and assigns Karl to protect Vilhelm.

Helga hugs Vilhelm and praises him for making such a grown-up decision, but as they break apart, Helga staggers backward. Hans catches her in his arms as she faints, and Vilhelm stares at his hands, horrified to think he’s injured his mother with his powers. Suddenly Kristoff also collapses, and other people start exhibiting weird symptoms; Vilhelm realizes he can’t possibly have hurt all these people! The guests begin to panic, and Hans frantically tries to restore order. He orders his servants to bring blankets and pillows for the sick, and soon the ballroom is turned into a makeshift infirmary. Hans helps Helga to bed and summons the castle doctor. After examining her, the doctor determines that the disease is affecting her worse than the others because she’s had it before. Hans is shocked and presses the doctor for more information, but he’s too distracted by his other patients to elaborate.

Castle Westergaard is cordoned off as a quarantine area, but it does little to keep the disease from spreading throughout the Southern Isles. Soon only Hans, Vilhelm, Edith, Anna, Elsa, Olaf, and Kristianna are left unaffected. Hans barely leaves Helga’s side, and the others try to care for the sick the best they can but it’s almost too much work for them Meanwhile, Valda, the only other person who hasn’t taken ill, decides to get a front row seat to the damage she’s done and goes to Castle Westergaard to offer her healer services. Hans is immediately suspicious of her and dismisses her, but Anna and Elsa persuade him to give her a chance, reminding him they need all the help they can get. Valda makes only a halfhearted effort to help; she’s able to keep the patients from getting worse but doesn’t do anything to make them better.

Soon a message arrives for Elsa saying that Arendelle has been overtaken by a strange incurable sickness. She’s baffled that a disease that originated in the Southern Isles could spread so far so fast… until Anna offhandedly mentions that it’s a shame Grand Pabbie isn’t here to heal everyone. This gives Elsa an idea: maybe Grand Pabbie can help them figure out how to cure the mystery disease. She wants to return to Arendelle as soon as possible, but Anna worries that Kristoff isn’t well enough for travel. She offers to stay behind with him, but he assures her he’ll be fine and tells her to go back to Arendelle and find some answers.

Kristianna walks into the room, and Anna tells her to go and pack; they’re going home. She pouts and says she wants to stay and play with Vilhelm and Edith, and they argue. Olaf overhears and offers to look after Kristianna, but Anna says she’d feel better if there was an adult around. At that moment, Valda appears and puts a hand on Kristianna’s shoulder. She assures the sisters she’ll take care of Kristianna while they’re away, and they exchange a look. Elsa is initially skeptical, but Anna reminds her how helpful Valda’s been and she agrees.

The sisters find Hans at Helga’s bedside. Elsa tells him what happened, and they say goodbye to him. Hans is confused and asks who’s this Grand Pabbie that they keep talking about, but no one bothers to explain it to him. Anna warns him not to let anything happen to Kristoff or Kristianna or she’ll punch him again. Elsa gasps and scolds Anna, but Hans just rolls his eyes. Hans asks Elsa to let him know if they learn anything useful, and Helga tells him to go to Arendelle with them. He refuses, worried for her deteriorating condition, and says he can’t leave her, but she reminds him that as king, it’s his duty to put his subjects first and if there’s even a chance he could find out how to cure everyone, he has to go to Arendelle.

Hans really does not want to leave Helga and tries to think of an excuse to stay. He asks who’ll look after the kids if he goes, and Anna tells him Valda is already watching Kristianna for her so she’s sure she won’t mind looking after Vilhelm and Edith too. Hans is flabbergasted that Anna left her daughter with Valda and warns her that she can’t be trusted, and they start to argue. Helga and Elsa exchange a look, and Elsa breaks them up and tells Hans that Helga’s right. Hans looks pleadingly back at Helga, but one look in her eyes, and he knows it’s useless to argue. He kisses her goodbye, and as he turns away, an idea occurs to Helga and she suggests taking Vilhelm with him.

Later, Vilhelm is packing to go to Arendelle when Edith comes into his room. She asks if it’s true that he’s leaving, and he says yes. Edith pouts and says it’s not fair that Vilhelm gets to go to Arendelle while she’s stuck here taking care of sick people, just because of his fire powers. Flames appear at Vilhelm’s fingertips, but he manages to reign his anger in just in time and they recede. Vilhelm tells Edith that she’s the whole reason he’s going to Arendelle; he wants to learn to control his powers so he doesn’t hurt her again. This strikes a nerve, and Edith’s expression softens. She tells Vilhelm she’ll miss him while he’s gone and gives him a little hug before leaving the room.

Hans, Vilhelm, Anna, and Elsa arrive in Arendelle to find the streets completely deserted – and so is the castle! Elsa and Anna panic and search the rooms for people. They eventually find their servants in the throne room, which like Castle Westergaard has been converted into an infirmary, and try to tend to the sick the best they can, but there’s little they can do. Hans reminds them that the best way to help them now is to seek answers from Grand Pabbie.

They go to the courtyard and find Kristoff’s sled, but without Kristoff, no one knows how to drive it. Hans tries to hitch a reindeer up to the sled, but it refuses to co-operate; it takes both Anna and Elsa to hitch it up. Hans sits in the driver’s seat and grabs the reigns, but nothing happens. Anna shoves him aside, nearly knocking him out of the sled. Hans makes a remark about that being uncalled for, and Anna apologizes with a roguish wink. She snaps the reigns, and everyone is thrown backward as the sled peels out at a breakneck speed. The force startles Vilhelm, and sparks shoot out of his hands; one hits the reindeer, causing it to run even faster. They go careening through the streets of Arendelle and into the mountains, nearly crashing into various buildings and trees along the way.

When the sled eventually screeches to a halt, Hans and Elsa go flying forward and tumble out of the sled. Vilhelm rushes to them and asks if they’re okay, and Hans brushes himself off and makes a sarcastic remark about Anna’s driving being more deadly than the sickness plaguing their kingdoms. He looks around to find nothing but a bunch of rocks and accuses Anna and Elsa of dragging him away from his ailing wife for a figment of their imaginations. Vilhelm tries to diffuse the situation, but before an argument starts, the rocks suddenly roll forward. Hans and Vilhelm gasp as the trolls spring to life; Vilhelm is intrigued by the trolls, but Hans is creeped out. The trolls crowd around Anna and Elsa, hugging them and making small talk, but upon seeing Hans, they all stare at him and start whispering, He gets annoyed by this and asks if someone will please explain what’s going on.

At that moment, the crowd parts as Grand Pabbie appears. He says he already knows why they’re here and he fears this is even worse than the last time the sickness struck. Anna and Elsa are shocked to learn it’s happened before and ask Pabbie to tell them about it. Pabbie conjures a vision of three men (one with strawberry-blond hair, one with auburn hair, and one with white-blond hair) and tells them an ancient story of three princes who once saved the trolls from a terrible monster. In return, the trolls bestowed magical powers upon them. The eldest brother was given the power of ice; the middle was given the power of fire, and the youngest was given the power of light.

The youngest prince wasn’t content with having just the powers of light, however, and wanted to harness the powers of all elements. In his thirst for greater power, he began to dabble in darker and darker magic. The two elder brothers were divided on how to handle their sibling’s growing darkness. The first still hoped for some sort of reconciliation, but the second favored more drastic measures. Two factions formed within the kingdom, and eventually the rift became so great that the princes parted ways, essentially splitting the kingdom in two. The eldest brother ruled the northern half of the kingdom while the middle brother ruled the southern half, and the two new kingdoms became Arendelle and the Southern Isles.

Meanwhile, the darkness continued to poison the youngest brother’s mind to the point that he suspected his brothers of plotting to usurp his power. In an act of revenge he cast a terrible curse to spread incurable sickness throughout both kingdoms, and the moment the curse was complete, a black streak appeared in the youngest prince’s hair as a lasting mark of his darkness.

Everyone is staring at Pabbie in disbelief as the vision dissolves. “So I’m related to Valberg?!” Hans demands incredulously, to which Anna replies, “I’m related to Hans?!” and they look at each other in disgust. Vilhelm asks Pabbie if that’s why he has fire powers; Pabbie nods. Hans is confused and asks how Vilhelm can have fire powers when he, his brothers, and his father didn’t, and Pabbie explains that the magic often skips several generations.

Elsa, who has been silent this whole time, asks what happened to the kingdoms during the curse. Pabbie says the curse ravaged both kingdoms and left few survivors. In an ironic twist of fate, the two kings, at whom the curse was directed, were spared from the sickness because their powers gave them an immunity, an immunity that all direct descendants of the three princes share. Anna realizes this must be why she, Elsa, Kristianna, Hans, Vilhelm, and Edith were spared, but Kristoff and Helga weren’t because they married into the families!

Hans points out that it doesn’t make sense why Helga got so much sicker than Kristoff if that’s true, and Pabbie tells him that being affected by the curse before has weakened her to its effects this time around. Hans says he doesn’t remember Helga ever being sick like this and demands to know when the curse happened before. Pabbie tells him that the last time this happened was 35 years ago, just before Hans was born. He says the last time it happened, one of the two kings rose to power while the other fell into madness. He conjures a vision of Anna and Elsa’s father being crowned; it dissolves and is replaced by a vision of Hans’s father standing over a bassinet wielding a knife.

Hans gasps, and the others look at him sympathetically. He stands frozen in shock long after Pabbie’s vision fades and is only brought back to reality when Vilhelm holds his hand. Hans turns away sadly. All his life he thought it was his birth that killed his mother when it was Valberg all along! Pabbie senses Hans’s torment and reassures him that his mother’s death wasn’t his fault; in fact he was the reason she held on as long as she did. His immunity protected her as long as he was inside her. Hans’s hands clench into fists, and his expression hardens as he vows revenge on Valberg.

Vilhelm’s shrinks back at his father’s fury, and Elsa comforts him while Anna shoots Hans a reprimanding look. In an effort to disuse the tension, Anna asks how Valberg can be back when they all saw him die. Hans scoffs and says it’s obvious that it has something to do with Valda. Maybe Valberg’s possessed her and is forcing her to do his bidding… or maybe he’s found a way to reincarnate himself? Pabbie shakes his head and says the answer isn’t as complicated as all that. He tells them that when Valberg was imprisoned for his magic, he left a part of himself behind. Then he conjures a vision of Valberg with a young Valda. Guards swarm around them, dragging Valberg away. Valda reaches out to him, but his hand is torn form hers, and she breaks down sobbing. Everyone exchanges disbelieving looks at the revelation that Valda is Valberg’s daughter!

Once the initial shock subsides, Elsa asks how to stop the curse. Pabbie reminds them of the enchanted rose and says that when Hans placed the rose in the dying Helga’s hand, it absorbed some of the Frozen Heart’s magic. Hans is confused and asks how the rose can be dying if that’s true, and Pabbie’s expression changes as he realizes what happened: Valda cast the curse more than once, and the rose was too weakened after the first curse to absorb any more of her dark magic. He says there is a way to revive the rose, but only a descendant of the three princes will be able to do so. Hans makes a sarcastic remark that that would be useful if they still had the rose, and Pabbie looks absolutely panic-stricken.

The others immediately realize that Valda knows about the rose’s power. Hans points out that it doesn’t make sense for her to take the rose when her first curse already weakened it, and Pabbie asks if he can think of another reason she’d want it. Pabbie’s words about the rose absorbing the Frozen Heart’s power replay in Hans’s mind as he recalls searching the courtyard to find Valberg missing. He realizes Valda took the rose because she plans to revive it and use it to resurrect Valberg!