"A Frozen Heart Worth Mining"
"Kristoff..." A voice choked out. Kristoff could barely make it out in the howling wind that had reached vicious speeds. His heart racing from fear and breath shallow from lack of oxygen, he called Anna's name as he tried to make out the shapes around him. He had to find her. He had to tell her. He had to, even if it didn't make an ounce of difference and she ended up with Hans anyway, at least she would know. All at once, everything stopped. The wind ceased instantly and Kristoff could clearly view his surroundings. He heard his name again, a strained whisper. He squinted in the direction of the sound and saw her - a delicate, fragile silhouette against the backdrop of the powdered white blanket that covered Arendelle. She was making her way to him, sluggish and weak; she had yet to discover the act of true love that was to save her. He used every last bit of strength to run to her; she couldn't die, he needed her.
He was getting closer and closer, his fear heightening because with every stride Anna's true state was made all the more clearer. The magic was creeping into her previously rosy cheeks, draining them instantly of color. Her hands were a mixture of ice and frost-bitten skin and she held them close to her heart. She was clearly in pain but she pushed on. It wasn't until he reached her that he noticed her breathing was almost nonexistent. He held her; she was shaking uncontrollably.
"Where do you think you're going?" He said semi-playfully, attempting to mask the trepidation in his voice. Then, a bit more seriously, "Anna you can't leave me... Who else will fix this fixer-upper?"
She looked up into his eyes and smiled feebly as she tried to respond. "Kris...toff... I-"
He stroked a strand of white hair behind her ear and kissed her - chaste at first, then passionately. He knew even before the kiss that he loved her. He had never felt this way about anyone or anything, not even in his childhood. Kristoff pulled back to look at Anna's face, to look into those beautiful ocean-blue eyes, but instead he was met with a dread that ran through his entire body.
She was the most beautiful sculpture he had ever seen; a true work of ice. It should have worked; he gave that kiss every bit of love he had in his body, but maybe that just was not enough to save her. He just stared in disbelief. He kissed her again and again, hoping the kiss just hadn't kicked in yet. She remained frozen, her lips slightly puckered and her eyes gently shut. She looked happy. a slight smile rested on her face, but it didn't matter if she was gone. Kristoff took Anna's frozen body into his arms and pulled her into his chest. He rested his cheek on her frosted head of icy hair and let the tears stream down his face. He'd never been one for crying, but then again he had never known Anna before either. He saw Olaf and Sven approach and watched as sadness and grief washed over their faces. Even the eternally happy Olaf could not smile.
Kristoff realized that he had never let anyone in before, only his family. Never another human friend. The men he worked with were never ones for friendship, instead they took on the personality of ice: cold and solemn. Kristoff grew up learning that solitude was the way to survive. So he pushed out any human contact and revolved his life around his work. Then he met her. Ice was his life, but it couldn't be. Not anymore.
He heard the unsheathing of a weapon and turned toward the sound in time to see Hans bring down his sword upon Elsa's neck. He watched numbly as the Ice Queen's head went rolling across the frozen fjord. Olaf gasped as it stopped to rest at his feet. He gaped at his creator's still facial features and fought the notion to try and put it back on her body. She was human; she was not made of snow.
Hans smiled a malicious, wry smile as he wiped his sword on one of his coattails. He picked up her body and turned to see where the former ruler of Arendelle's head had ended up and saw the freshly frozen Anna. He smirked and started towards the severed head and noticed that the odd little snowman was melting. Suddenly, the sheet of ice that covered the fjord began to break apart. Hans thought briefly on whether or not he should take the head back, or the body for that matter. Would the subjects even want a royal burial for her? He looked at the melting ice and decided to run for it. He was all Arendelle had left, he could not die - especially not after all of the work he put into obtaining his twisted dream. He noticed the ice becoming thinner and he knew he wouldn't make it with the extra dead weight on him. He threw Elsa's body behind him and made it safely to shore. Her corpse hit the ice with a loud thud then a crack. The ice below the Elsa's body opened up into a crevice that swallowed the body and let it sink into the depths of the dark fjord.
Meanwhile, Sven fruitlessly attempted to save Olaf; nudging him every which way, not noticing that the once jubilant, warm, kind-hearted snowman no longer held any sentience. Kristoff finally snapped back to reality and surveyed the ice below them beginning to thin and crack.
"Sven, go! I'll be right behind you! Get off of the fjord!"
Sven took one last somber look at his friend and then glanced at his master. He took Olaf's carrot nose in his mouth and carefully began to make his way off of the ice. Kristoff held Anna's cold, lifeless sculpture and attempted to escape the watery prison that lay just inches below their feet. He lifted her off the ice and started to cross the treacherous fjord; he could not – he would not – leave her behind. He was about a hundred yards to safety and he was losing sanity fast. He began to think of what might have been - what his life with Anna might have been. How was he going to He started to cry a bit and his eyesight started to blur. He misplaced his footing and his leg broke through the ice. Sven could only helplessly look at his best friend drowning. He tried so hard to keep his head above the water and he would have survived too, but he could not let go of Anna. The weight of the ice brought the star-crossed lovers deeper into the freezing water. Kristoff felt the pressure becoming too much for his lungs to bear, but he was oddly serene. He locked his arms around Anna and continued to sink. Although the pain was unbearable, he believed he could be with his love once more. As he began to drift into unconsciousness, he thought of Anna with open arms on the other side, waiting for him.