Chapter 1: Why?

"RUN!"

Everything was a blur. I was running as fast as my legs would take me, trying to escape the men in armor trailing after us. I looked to my left and I saw Kristoff shouting something to me, but I couldn't hear him due to all the shouting the men behind us were doing and also to the blood roaring in my ears.

Then, I felt a sudden push towards my side.

SMACK!

My back had come to contact with a tree. Already I could feel the bruise forming there. Before I could contemplate any farther on the matter and react, I felt a pair of strong hands pull me and proceeded to take my down a hill, dragging my feet down the whole way into the Forest of Lost Souls. Well, it was just an assumption.

After what felt like 20 minutes of agonizing pain, we arrived at a small opening where a big boulder was placed close to a stream. Sun rays were shining through the trees and birds were singing, oblivious to all of the chaos that had just occurred.

I realized that Kristoff still had a grip on my arm and I immediately started to wring out of his grip, but before I could let myself be free, he faced me and put a massive hand on my shoulder and lightly squeezed it.

"Are you alright?" He asked with worry written all over his face and concern lacing his words.

Trying to comprehend all of the events that had just happened, I blinked several times before answering him. "Yeah, I'm fine. In fact I've never been better!" I grinned up at him and gave him a thumbs up but all he did was furrow his eyebrows and sighed heavily.

He let go of me and turned his back towards me, facing the way we had just come from. "Anna this is serious, you could have seriously gotten hurt. I kept trying to warn you that one of the men that were chasing us had a bow, and he was aiming at you."

He began to clench and unclench his fists repeatedly for several seconds before facing towards me again and I noticed the rise of his voice due to the anger. "If I hadn't been there to push you out of the way, you could have been hit!"

I stared down at the ground while wringing my hands, "I'm sorry Kristoff," I said meekly. "The adrenaline just got to me I suppose."

Sighing, he started to rub his temples. "This isn't a game Anna. You have to stay focused and rely on your instincts or you won't survive." He had said the last part so low, that I barely caught it, but what he was implying was true..

He's right, I thought. I hate to admit it, but he's right. If I don't start taking this seriously, I could get myself killed. Or worse, get whoever is with me killed too.

"Look, why don't we get back and report to Grand Pabbie about the situation in Arendelle. The men that were following us before wouldn't dare enter this forest due to the rumors circulating around in the city about this place."

Ha, my assumption was right. I began to grin like an idiot but my grin dropped suddenly when I quickly remembered something that had been racking in my head for quite some time now.

Kristoff, noticing that I hadn't said anything in a while, looked over and stared at me with confusion. "What's wrong Anna?"

I couldn't seem to comprehend why we were chosen for this type of job, let alone understand why Kristoff even accepted it. "Hey, why did you accept this job anyways? Also, why'd you drag me into this? It doesn't make any sense. We're hunters, not whatever this is we're doing and besides, I'm still pretty new to all of this stuff."

As soon as what I said was out in the open, the blonde man's expression had changed to a grim one. He walked towards me and once he had reached me, he brought his dirty hands up to my shoulders and slightly started to shake me while he spoke.

"Don't you understand Anna? She has made life for the residents in Arendelle a living hell," he sneered.

I couldn't help the chuckle that had escaped due to the irony of his words, but the poor clueless behemoth of a man, couldn't seem to comprehend my sudden outburst.

"This isn't funny kid."

"Granted, it isn't. I just find it ironic though, that you seemed to use the word hell for someone that is supposedly as cold as ice is all." I grinned up at him and managed to get a smirk back. "Also," I pouted and crossed my arms, "You're only one year older than me, so don't go around calling me a kid!"

The big lug had stopped shaking my shoulders a while ago, but still had his hands placed there. Though when I had pointed out the whole "kid" situation, he let go of me and began to laugh.

"Trust me, you'll always be a kid to me," he tussled my hair and just kept laughing. After a while I joined in too, forgetting the whole ordeal that had just occurred barely an hour ago.

Remembering our earlier discussion about her, I stopped laughing and looked down and said reluctantly, "You know Kristoff; maybe… she isn't as bad as people say. The people is scared and m-maybe she's just misunderstood…"

He stopped laughing and sighed. "If you say so kid. C'mon," he put his arm around me and we began walking. "Let's go back, it's getting late and we still have to tell Grand Pabbie about everything. Oh, and Anna," he stopped walking for a sec and turned to me to say, "Maybe we'll be lucky about you being right."

And just like that, we started walking back home, with so many questions aching to be asked and answered in our minds.