It was winter. Her season. The only time of year where she could let loose and have her powers blend right into the norm. Not that anyone minded her mid-summer ice rinks, not anymore, but it was still nice to not have to worry too much about limiting her icy output. She'd gone wandering up through the mountains, curious to see how her kingdom of isolation had fared since she'd gone back to ruling Arendelle. It was her first day off from meeting with dignitaries and negotiating trade partners in a very long time, so she decided to spend it by herself. As much as she loved her sister and Olaf, they were both a bit too excitable and talkative to stand being around all the time. She was more subdued, herself, apart from her powers, of course. The snow fell lightly around her and she smiled, loving the fact that she needn't wear a cloak. Avoiding such cumbersome garments was certainly one advantage of never being cold.

After a few hours, she looked up at the sky, realizing that it was well past noon at this point. Her castle hadn't seemed nearly so far when she first created it; then again, much of that night was a blur. With another glance at the quickly darkening sky, she decided to trek only five minutes longer. If she still hadn't come upon her crystalline staircase by then, she would head back.

No luck. Sighing in defeat, she turned and began her return to her kingdom, back to paperwork and visiting royalty and never-ending expectations. Above her head, the first stars began to shine. Soon enough, the light of the moon became her only guide. Oh, why hadn't she thought ahead to a situation like this? She was usually so well-prepared! She heard howling in the distance as she grew increasingly wary of her situation. She could've sworn, for a moment, that she saw several sets of eyes watching her as she made her way down the mountains but shook off the thought. That idea was too terrifying for her to ponder for too long. She soon realized that she should've worried about it a little longer; if she had, she may have been prepared for what was to come.

Before she could register an oncoming attack, there were more than a dozen wolves jumping on top of her. In her adrenaline-fueled panic, she iced a couple of them, no problem, but they had her outnumbered. She felt one tear into her side with its teeth and she cried out in response. As she weakly kicked it away, another clawed at her head, practically ripping her cheek and the side of her head to shreds. She felt her hair grow warm, and realized that it came from the blood that was beginning to pour from her head. This was it. She was done for. But, just when she thought that they were going to end her for good, she noticed a tree towering over where she now lay. Conjuring up all the strength she had, she used her magic to bring down the snow on the tree onto the pack of wolves. Frightened by the cold material that spread across their backs, the wolves hightailed it away from her even faster than she could have hoped for. She had a moment of reprieve from the battle, before all the pain set back in. She tried to push herself up from the ground, but only ended up collapsing back to the ground in a heap, moments later.

Time passed, she had no idea how long, and she felt herself slip away. There was nothing she could think of to do to help herself. She was truly alone. She was going to die here, where no one would ever find her. It was all over for her. Just as this terrifying thought began to set in, she heard a someone, or something, approach.

"Hey! You! Are you- wait a sec, Elsa? I mean, Your Majesty! Hey, is that you? What're ya doing out here in the snow?"

Her whole body, her brain included, felt like mush. She tried to respond, but instead found herself only able to emit a soft moan. The half-visible face of the man before her swam in and out of focus and, somewhere deep inside her, she realized that she recognized him. He was Anna's friend. Good guy. Ice guy. Spent too much time with his smelly moose or whatever. But, for the life of her, she couldn't focus enough to remember his name. The more she thought about it, the more frustrated she became with her mush brain and she writhed in annoyance.

"Hey, hey, hey, stop. You're gonna hurt yourself and- Sven, move your furry butt!- oh man." He shoved his companion out of the way and stopped in his tracks when he realized it was already too late for that. The snow around her was soaked a deep crimson and much of her usually light hair matched. Her clothes were torn and she seemed to be mumbling nonsense; her usually regal composure clearly had dissipated in the night's events. He instinctively stepped forward, reaching out towards her, but the tattered girl before him sensed the movement.

"No. Please. Don't," she pleaded, with as much force as she could muster.

He stopped, reluctantly. "Your Majesty, you need assistance. I can take you back to the castle if you would like or-"

"Please, just leave," she mumbled sleepily.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. Why won't you just let me help you?" He jumped back suddenly as a dozen razor-sharp icicles erupted from the ground, nearly piercing him in the chest, and cutting him off from the queen. "Hey! Watch it!"

"I'm…s-so sorry. C-can't s-s-stop it. Please. Ple..a..se. Go. G-o." Her words were becoming increasingly slurred, he noticed, and this terrified him.

"I'm not going anywhere. Now, come on, deep breaths, I'm coming, okay?" He pulled out his ice-pick from his sack and began hacking at the ice barrier before him.

"N-no!" Her confused state of panic was only making the situation harder as the snow flurries picked up ferocity and ice spikes continued shooting up from the ground, only now they were closer to harming her than him.

"Elsa! You need to stop! You're going to kill us both!" He warned, before it dawned on him that a lack of caution on her part wasn't the problem.

"I'm so sorry!" she cried out quietly. Hurting him was exactly what she was afraid of, why else would she insist that he make a hasty retreat? She didn't particularly want to die here alone but, if it meant keeping his sister's friend safe, then that was what needed to happen.

"No, no, it's fine, Elsa! It's fine! I'm fine. We're fine, see? Breathe. Just-" he neared her, having gotten past the most significant icicles, but she fought against him as he pulled her to her feet. He was supporting most of her weight to keep her up, but she wasn't making it easy on him. "Damn it, Els. Work with me here!" he insisted but she was having none of it. He had no other choice. 'Man, I'm so gonna get arrested for this,' he thought as he pulled off his hat. Pulling her close, he forced the hat across her face, keeping it there as she struggled to get away. Before too long, she slumped into his arms, completely unconscious. He removed his hat as quickly as possible and laid her gently across the snow, noting that the flurries ceased their wild attack and settled into the gentle falling that had been occurring throughout the day, prior to this madness. His large hands grasped at her delicate wrist searching for a pulse. He momentarily drew back in shock at just how cold her bare skin was to the touch, but, then again, he'd heard that was natural for the Snow Queen. He tried again, this time filling with relief when he found the slightly less-than-steady beat of her heart, matched with her labored, but still there, breathing. "All right," he said, mostly to himself as he slid his arms underneath her and staggered to his feet, unsteady in the deep snow, "let's get you some help, Queenie."

He made his way over to his trusty steed (Okay, so his trusty steed was a slightly smelly reindeer. So what? It's not like anyone really was expecting him to be Prince Charming or anything, right?) and pulled himself up onto his back, nestling the platinum-blonde girl between Sven's neck and his protective arms. "C'mon, buddy. Get us back to Arendelle, and fast!" Sven nodded in agreement (or was that just Kristoff imagining his pet's understanding again?) and off they went, the cold air stinging the large man's face as they sped out of the mountains and towards the cobblestone streets of her kingdom.