A/N: I don't own Frozen, or any franchises that I may use as cameos or include elements of!

Ice Guardian

Time: Unknown

Once, deep in the bowels of hell, there resided a demon that was hated by his fellows; some for his abilities, for he was quite skilled with his favored weapon, but the vast majority of hate was reserved for his disposition. You see, he did not hate or lust for the surface world, or wish to further the Demon King's agenda; in fact, he was shunned simply because he wanted to be left alone.

For years, his wish held true: he was ignored by all that shared his clan-name Vindoc, and others were never near enough to discover his peculiar disposition. For decades, he was… content.

Then came the upheaval.

The plane of the damned SHUDDERED, as if an angry giant had vented his rage on the very fabric of reality itself. A rift opened in the plains near his abode, and he saw his chance: a chance to leave his lonely existence and find a new place. He jumped through, carrying only his Zanbatō, and disappeared from his home dimension forever.

Arendelle, 20 years before the King and Queens demise:

A cold night was upon the kingdom of Arendelle, and the townsfolk had shuttered up their homes for the night, content to wait out the cold in warm beds with family. Up in the mountains, the trolls were working to clear the path into their grove, as enough snow had fallen to close up the pass. As they moved pile after pile of snow, their leader, Pabbie, was overseeing the effort and directing labor where it was needed most. While he appeared confident to the other trolls, he was in fact deeply troubled. He had been up later into the day than most trolls can withstand, and had been the only one awake to sense the massive flare of arcane energy focused around the North Mountain. This in itself would not be a cause for alarm, as the mountain was a natural focus for magical phenomena. It was the only reason the trolls were even this close to a human settlement, as humans tended to run them off land that suited them.

No, what disturbed Pabbie was the fact that the energies were deeply rooted in the elements of fire, darkness, and the Aether, the magic of the body. The combination of the first two would indicate the arrival of a shade or a minor dark creature, but with the inclusion of Aether magic, the result would be much more dangerous; it indicated an infernal being, one powerful enough to rank as a Lord in the infernal circles, and an incredibly powerful one at that. The burst of energy was brief, yes, but it was more than enough for a single creature to come through.

If Pabbie had known the one who came through had no desire or other drive to harm others, you could have knocked him over with a feather. As it was, he set himself about to strengthening the tribal wards the trolls maintained, for he feared an invasion of their land. Turns out, he needn't have bothered.

The vortex was a powerful manifestation of the primal force of magic, and was most certainly not gentle on its traveler. The lonely demon was pressed on all sides by cutting wind, blasting fire and bouts of sudden, rending emptiness. When he exited the portal, it was all he could do to force his form into that of an exceptionally tall and rugged looking mountain man before he passed out from his many wounds.

A short distance away…

Even though it was the dead of night and freezing on top of that, a young woman was out in the snow. She was a tall blonde, a beautiful woman with a heart shaped face and full lips giving her a face to drool over, but no-one would ever make a comment about her intelligence, or say she earned er keep through looks. Not if they wanted to keep their insides… Well, inside. She was out looking for some firewood, as her current stores were running a bit low and she wanted to be sure not to run out before daybreak. She was used to late nights out in the knee deep snow, as her trade in life was pelts and other animal products. She was a huntress, and was proud of her nomadic lifestyle.

Her keen senses picked up on a distant rushing noise, and after determining that it was not an avalanche barreling down on her, she decided to investigate the strange sound. As she zeroed in on the noise, she was almost blinded by a dazzling red flare on the forest floor. Once her eyes had once again adjusted to the darkness, she crept up to get a better vantage.

Imagine her surprise to find a lacerated, bleeding seven-foot tall brick-house of a man laying out unconscious on the bare ground!

She had no idea where this man had come from, as there was no outpost anywhere close enough to get to this remote area easily, let alone stark naked and wounded. After gawking for a split second, her better nature took over. She bandaged the man's wounds as best she could, using skills learned from years of self-sufficiency. After stabilizing him, she strapped together a makeshift gurney and towed the man and the small amount of firewood she had collected home to her cabin.

If she had known she was dragging her future husband home, she might have avoided some of the rockier areas she towed him over.

Arendelle, Elsa's 1st birthday, 14 years before the Royal's death

The King and Queen were concerned. Their child, Elsa, was showing more and more of her powers as she grew. They were still not anything more than chilling a room or freezing a bottle, but enough to cause worry about prying eyes. As the royals worried about Elsa's future, an unlikely couple was bringing their child into the world…

North Mountain, Summit

"AAAAAAAAAAHGGHH! Damn it, if you had told me giving birth to a half-demon would be so PAINFUL, I would have never married you, Ascalon!" shrieked the soon-to-be mother as another powerful contraction wracked her body.

"Now Fyrea, you know that isn't true. Now come on, I can see the head! One more push! Come on love, I know you can do it!"

'Easy for you to say, you aren't the one in labor.' grouses the blonde. Nevertheless, she braces herself for the final push…

"WAAAAAAAAAA! WAAAAAAAAAA!" cries the newborn, announcing his entrance into the world.

"Oh, Ascalon, he is beautiful! A healthy baby boy… Oh, my." Gasps Fyrea. "What? What's wrong?!" Ascalon rushes over in a panic at his wife's words, abandoning the rags he was washing from the birth.

"Nothing, love. I just saw his eyes! A lovely molten gold like his fathers, although they are a bit… slitted."

Ascalon suddenly stills. "Gold… Already? AND Slitted? Are you sure?"

Mildly alarmed, Fyrea answers; "Y-yes, is that a bad thing?"

"…. No, just startling! Only the most powerful of demons from my plane are born with their pupils slitted, and even then, the eyes still take time to color in, their power just isn't strong enough at birth to show their magical talent. Ha! I guess my baby boy is already ahead of the pack, and an Aether Child to boot!"

"Honey, you can preen about your prodigal son once we have named him."

"…Oh. Hehe, yeah, sorry. I STILL can't believe I'm a dad!"

She smiles softly. "I know, honey. Now, what about Faelin? That is a good, solid name, like him and his father."

Ascalon looks a bit taken aback by the suggestion. "While that is a good name, and thank you for the compliment, it has an unfortunate rhyme that would follow him through life and I wouldn't want him to go through that."

He thinks for a moment. "How about Kai? In the language of my origin, it means release and to begin anew."

She nods. "It is a good name, but bears a bit of… heavy feeling about it. Let's save it for a bit. Maybe… Atreyu."

"Bold guardian, eh? It suits him."

The couple locks gazes and grin. "Atreyu it is!" they chorus. And thus, the story of Atreyu, the Ice Guardian… begins.