A/N: no. why…

CASE 01: Hope(less)

All things truly wicked start from innocence.

- Ernest Hemmingway

THE SNOWDROP KILLER STRIKES AGAIN!

At 6:30am Monday morning, a body was found at the North Mountain Ice Rink by employee Kenny Stevens. While the details of the murder have yet to be disclosed Commissioner Oaken has confirmed that it was the work of the infamous Snowdrop Killer. Previous to this the Snowdrop Killer has three other victims: Olsen Tudyk, Gregor Lundberg and Matias Weselton.

There is still no news on the abduction of previous lead detectives Hans Isles and Anna Christensen…

Anna threw away the paper unable to read anymore. She knew who was dead and didn't even know if could bring herself to care. When Commissioner Oaken opened up that hatch Anna was so glad to be alive. So glad that it was his face she saw and not that cold, faceless mask of the killer.

His strong arms were more than enough to lift her out of that decrepit, dank, hell that was her cell for the past few days. The only way she could get out was through the ice rink. She'd seen many dead bodies during her years as a beat cop and detective. Each scene filled her with various levels of disgust and horror. But this time… this time a different feeling coursed through her veins.

Justice.

There impaled by ice, forced onto his knees, heart in cupped hands and body pinned in eternal submission was her partner.

Hans Isles.

6 WEEKS PRIOR

A shrill ring cut through the room causing a mass of blankets and hair to rise out of the bed like a zombie. Yawning the ginger clumsily reached for the ringing phone beside her.

"You've got Christensen."

"Anna? Are you awake?" She frowned before attempting to disentangle herself from her sheets.

"No Hans, you're speaking to my voicemail, please leave a message after the- oh shit!"

Anna was sprawled on the floor, the very blankets that tripped her falling haphazardly around her. Groaning she quickly untangled the sheets and picked up the fallen phone. The laughter did nothing to improve her mood.

"Did you just fall out of bed?"

"Shut up Hans." There was a chuckle on the other end.

"We've got a case, very hush, hush. Be ready in ten and dress warm."

She glared at her phone in a vain attempt that it could somehow transmit her foul mood to her partner. It was way too early to be awake but murderers and psychopaths never really followed nine to five working hours.

—

Anna, wearing a light coat, was standing outside of her apartment complex when Hans drove in. She quickly got inside taking the offered cup as put her seatbelt on. She felt a little more human when the taste of chocolate and coffee hit her mouth.

"What are we dealing with?" she asked.

"A multiple homicide- but get this, cause of death? Ice."

"Wait, what? Ice? It's the middle of summer!"

"Yeah, one of the reasons why the Commissioner wants to keep this investigation quiet. This isn't your typical murder."

The information swirled around her mind, speculations churning her stomach. Anna agreed something about this case didn't sit right.

"Where we headed?"

"Fractal Towers."

Nodding Anna focused on the road a companionable silence filling the car. It didn't take long to get there the sun was just beginning to rise and there was hardly any traffic. Fractal Towers was a looming structure dwarfing those around it, boasting 102 floors. Of course the murders themselves just had to occur at the topmost floor.

A brief sense of vertigo later and Detectives Christensen and Isles entered the crime scene.

"Fuck it's freezing!" Anna exclaimed Hans smirked as he tugged on his winter coat.

"Told ya."

"Detectives!" Cried an officer, "Officer Cole Regan first responder."

"Detectives Isles and Christensen, this crime scene has been locked off right? Commissioner Oaken wanted no information leaked to the press."

"Yessir it's been done."

"Good." Anna cut in, "Isles here will talk to the witness, if you could take me to the body Officer Regan?"

"Of course, right this way."

Hans and Anna shared a nod before parting ways. With his easy smile and charm Hans was always the better candidate to talk to shocked witnesses. Anna could get a little… volatile at times. Weaving through forensics and CSIs Anna took in the sight before her.

Two men were impaled upon spikes of ice facing each other across the room a gun in their hand. The ice went right through their body and out through their mouth. Some type of flower sprouted from their breast pockets. Each body was missing an arm but their spare was aimed at an ice sculpture in the middle. The sculpture was of a pregnant woman fondly holding her belly; the crystal clear ice was beautiful.

Anna needed more information and spotted the coroner, Olaf Ludwig, coming her way.

"Hey Olaf, what do we have?"

Olaf himself was a short but thin man with scraggly brown hair; large glasses perched on his unfortunately crooked nose. He approached Anna with a beaming smile and opens his arms for a hug. The coroner of Arendelle Police was eccentric to say the least but undoubtedly the best in his field.

"Anna!" he cried before engulfing the detective in a strong hug, "You would not believe what I found!"

The strawberry blonde let loose a chuckle, "I'm sure I'll be amazed."

"The one on the left," a man whose sideburns almost rivaled Hans', "Gregor Lundberg, 28, and the other guy is Olsen Tudyk, 32. Their cause of death? Impalement. And- judging by the blood patterns these guys didn't go through the icicle, the icicle went through them!"

"What? That's impossible." The icicles were thick and tall, easily lifting the bodies off the floor, how could one just summon the ice from the ground?

"Yeah well, that's what the evidence is telling me. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. You see these bodies are frozen solid. Their blood hasn't even drained out yet! It's as if they were doused in liquid nitrogen, they're in perfect condition-"

Anna's eyes widened, "They're frozen at the exact moment of their death…"

"Huh? Yeah, they could be. But their missing arms were done post-freeze see-" Olaf gestured to the smooth laceration, "cut right through and no evidence of bleeding."

"Can you determine a time of death?"

"It depends on what they were frozen with." Seeing Anna's confused look he continued, "If liquid nitrogen was used it'd take around 3-4 hours for them to thaw. But I don't think that was the case," Olaf scratched his head, "it's already been an hour since I've been here and there is absolutely no evidence of thawing."

"This case keeps on getting weirder and weirder." Seeing Hans coming over Anna quickly asked one last question, "Know anything about the flowers?"

"Nope."

Anna shrugged, "Worth a shot. I'll see you later Olaf."

Olaf grinned before hurrying off. For some reason the cheerful coroner had a strange aversion to her partner. Whenever Anna tried to ask Olaf the coroner would just clam up. Hans hadn't a clue either. They both just chalked it up to one of Olaf's eccentricities. Once Anna finished relaying the information Hans added his own.

"Well our witness can confirm that our victims are wearing the same clothes from yesterday. So we can assume they were killed late last night or early in the morning. She came in early today because of an important meeting between Weselton Trading Corp. and the Southern Federation."

"Sounds big."

"Sounds like motive."

Anna nodded in agreement before focusing on the scene.

"Got anything?" Hans asked.

Anna was young for a detective; at 26 she was the youngest homicide detective at the precinct. Yet her tenacity and observational skills helped her rise through the ranks and earn her badge. Anna made connections quicker than anyone Hans knew; she was invaluable to the force, invaluable as a partner.

"Yeah, you and Gregor over here probably go to the same hair dresser."

But still a brat sometimes.

"So funny princess." Anna shot her partner a smirk before continuing her inspection.

"Sideburns and Grumpy Cat here became human shish kebabs before they lost their arms. Don't know what our killer wants with those yet, trophies maybe. But the guns… they're different, put on after they were killed. Frozen to their hands. These flowers too, they're…"

The drooping flower looked familiar. Childhood memories, vague and ephemeral, fogged her mind.

"Snowdrops." Anna whispered.

"Sorry I didn't catch that," said Hans. Anna's brows furrowed as she inspected the flower, it was wilted, crushed.

"The flowers are snowdrops, flowers that bloom in the cold, they mean-"

Anna's eyes widened and she turned striding to the ice sculpture in the middle of the room, Hans scrambling after her. Anna bent down to study the belly of the crystal clear sculpture. There in the womb of the sculpture was a snowdrop.

"Hope. Snowdrops mean hope."

Anna quickly stepped back, stopping when she could fully see the scene. Hans sighed, when his partner got like this nothing could get through to her. But he followed her anyway, trying to find the pattern so glaringly obvious to the strawberry blonde.

"Since when did you become a florist?" she ignored him as expected, leaving Hans to cross his arms and wait.

"Hans."

"What?"

"This is a message." Anna got out her notepad furiously writing notes, "Run a background check on these men, they're not as innocent as they seem. Check the guns as well, they're probably unregistered and linked to a cold case. Most likely one involving a pregnant woman's death."

She snapped her head up and begun pacing around the sculpture.

"What was this for you?"

This was retribution.

These men in their tailor suits and obnoxiously maintained facial hair were living a guiltless life. But their hands were stained with the blood of innocents. Their suits built upon the bodies of 'lesser beings'. Their status and standing gained through stabbed backs and lies.

These men did not deserve to live.

Not when they shot Marina down in cold blood. Not when they killed both her and the life she carried. Justice had been robbed.

This was retribution.

This was vengeance.

A/N: Uh yeah so serial killer AU anyone? I tried really hard not to write this but this idea was literally stopping me from doing any other type of work so it just had to come out. This was very rushed and I have no beta so um, some feedback would be like rad cool…

Thanks for reading!