Deadlock

Chapter ONE, The Proposition of Proposal

The lack of the sled outside should've been her first clue as to what was to come.

"Kristoff?" The Princess of Arendelle asked, breaths spilling from her mouth loudly while she looked around the, now empty, cabin. "Kristoff, are you here?" She didn't know why she was yelling anymore, the cabin was small and humble enough for even her voice to carry throughout it without any effort. "If you're trying to get back at me for everything, its not funny!"

Unfortunately in order to be playing some sort of gag on her, Kristoff actually had to be within the vicinity. And with a further lookdown of the small cabin, it was clear that he wasn't. "Where did you go?"

What she really should've been asking herself was why it had taken the auburn-haired girl so long to realize how much she actually cared for the man in question. It wasn't entirely her fault though, because how was she supposed to foretell this? Sure, she could kind of see that her and Kristoff's budding romance was being cut short as her sister and herself had to put their lives on hold to pick up pieces of a broken Kingdom, which had been shattered by the spawn of Satan in the flesh.

Her lower lip pushed into a frown at the thought.

But it wasn't like the transition had been sudden, oh no, Anna had let the burly, blonde mountain-man slip out of her fingers slowly. So slowly, that she hadn't even realized he had been gone by the time she noticed that there were no traces left of him on her fingers. And it was only after that realization that she heard her heart screaming something about much it needed him.

So now she was here. Tired and flush faced after running to his cabin to tell him something—anything—and finding that he had left her in the dust. Or, that she had let him do such while caught up in the fantasy her own little world.

"Kristoff…how could I have let you go?"

Somehow she figured that this wouldn't be the last time that this question would come back to haunt her.

"Is this the part where you tell me I was right all along?" Elsa took a sip of her tea as she looked down at her sister…who's head was currently face-down on the table while her hands entangled in a mess of a mane that once resembled hair.

"Elsaaaa, I'm so stupid!" The reply was muffled against the tablecloth, but came nonetheless.

Her sister only responded with what sounded like a sigh, shoving a cooling glass of tea in Anna's direction. "Here, drink. It'll make you feel better."

"It wasn't like I meant to leave him or anything! There was just so much going on with the Kingdom, fixing all those relationship-things with those…guys—"

"You mean the dignitaries Mikahail and Boris from the Kingdom of Krovnia. The ones we spent 3 weeks fighting about trade routes with."

"See!" All at once she flung her body up and backwards, in a stunt that startled Elsa and almost made Anna topple over in her chair. "I'm so wrecked I can't even remember their names!"

The worst part of this all was that Elsa had foretold this. She had said that Anna was treading dangerous territory by taking on the same load as her sister, because to someone not engrossed in the politics of it all (Kristoff), her business could have been taken as indifference towards them.

Anna waited for that moment, the moment when her sister would finally coo 'I told you so' into her ear...but found the sensation of another hand on her own instead. "He can't be gone forever Anna, he probably just needed to get away for a while." Despite the surprise, Elsa's words didn't seem to sooth the pronounced frown on the younger sister's face any. "If you really love him that much…maybe you should go after him."

This time the response from Anna was quite different, eliciting a pause in her crocodile tears as she looked towards Elsa with a pair of puffed up eyes. "Go…after him?"

Elsa nodded, moving her hand back to her cup of tea. "He can't have gotten too far while lugging Sven around, right?"

For a moment there was silence, Anna staring at a spot on the wall in a way that Elsa recognized all too well. "That's it."

The queen shot her sister a cautious look. "That's what…"

"That's it, Elsa! I'll go find him! Like you said, he couldn't be too far and I'll just tell him everything that happened and then—" Anna looked directly towards her sister with a mischievous glint that made her regret saying anything at all. "I'll propose!"

Instantly she coughed, choking on what was left of her tea. "You'll—you'll what?!"

"Yes, I'm going to do it! I'll walk right up to him, tell him exactly how I feel—well, after I buy a ring of course—and say, 'Kristoff, I was a complete idiot, come back to Arendelle and we will be wed on the 'morrow!"

"Anna you can't just propose to a man just because he up and leaves town!"

"Why not? I mean, he left because he thought I was indifferent, right? So if I go and let him know I'm serious he has to come back!" For the first time in a long while, a smile curled at the edges of her lips. "Elsa, please. I swear I wont be reckless, this is just something I have to do." She reached out a pair of small hands to grab Elsa's, taking note of how delicate they felt against her own. "I know you're afraid because of what happened with Hans, but it's different this time. Kristoff isn't Hans, I can trust him." Her eyes turned downwards as she bit her lip to contain her smile before veering her pupils back up towards Elsa. "I really love him. If it doesn't work out, then that's fine…but I at least have to try."

She knew Elsa couldn't help but grant her wish with how intensely Anna was staring at her. However, it still took a few wavering moments for her to finally nod, causing a frantic flurry of emotions from Anna while she jumped around and danced with various butlers giddily on the way to her room.

"Thank you Elsa! You won't regret it!" With a wave and a nod the feisty girl skipped out of view, no doubt to start planning scenes of a grandeur engagement to the Official Arendelle Ice Master and Deliverer.

Elsa moved a hand to her forehead. "What have I just done?"

How a large, stocky man such as Kristoff could seemingly have left Arendelle without a trace was beyond her. Looking through every nook in cranny the Kingdom had to offer only proved to be quite tiring and fruitless. And, in addition to having to talk to every weird-o and drunkard in town (one of which had claimed he saw Kristoff being carried away to the moon by a fork,) she was almost trampled by three horses, cursed out by five people who didn't agree with Elsa's decision concerning the Russian dignitaries, and had stepped in one meaty pile of animal poo that had been nestled nicely in a hidden notch on the side of the road.

So yes, by that point Anna had felt quite ready, and entitled, for a plate of chocolates and a nap.

In a fit of anger, she took the warm winter hat on her head and threw it to the ground. "Why is this so hard!" With a grunt she sat down, clearly frustrated as she looked out towards the docks. Wasn't this whole thing a little dramatic? Kristoff leaving the Kingdom just because he was, unintentionally, not receiving any attention?

Jeez. She let out an aggravated breath. He really was as much of a child as she was.

"My dear…" A decrepit voice shook from behind her. "Princes Anna, what has you wandering around our parts?" The offending speaker was so old and fragile that Anna was afraid she might crumble if she were to touch her.

"I'm looking for something I've lost." She sighed, turning back around and resting her head on her hands in a defeated motion.

The woman smiled, hobbling to her beside while shaking. "Ah, I see…something you've lost from long ago."

"Um, no its something I just realized was missing I guess…"

"Mhmm."

The way she had said that made her feel like she knew something that Anna did not.

"If this is about that nice blonde boy you used to walk around here with, I believe he left on boat not four days ago." She coughed. "He paid a few people around here to keep quiet about the departure, but you seem very distressed."

"I…" She shook her head. "You saw him leave? Are you sure?"

"I would never forget such a love-sick face. Yes, I remember because for a moment I thought that he would jump back off and swim to shore after the boat had already left the dock!" Despite her chuckle, Anna didn't find any of this very funny.

"So he's not here? You saw him, that's wonderful! Where was the ship going, do you know?"

Somehow her excitement made the old woman chuckle even harder. "Oh, how confused you are!" Anna didn't understand the comment, but let her continue without interruption. "Unfortunately I didn't hear where the ship departed to, you see my hearing isn't what it used to be."

Within a single moment, she could feel herself deflating. She had come so far and was so close just to realize that she would have to start right back at square one.

"But I think if you go back to his cabin again, there might be someone there who can help you. I saw a strange white man with an orange nose head that way—"

"Olaf, of course!" Her face brightened up again, hopping off the stone ledge. "Thank you, thank you so much!"

Her feet carried her as fast as humanly possible because Anna knew that she had no time to waste. Four days was a long time as far as she was concerned, considering that she had found, lost and then found love again all within a two-day span during Arendelle's 'winter dilemma.' If it had only taken her and Kristoff 2 days to realize they loved each other, then who's to say it wouldn't take him the same amount of time to fall out of it? The more time she spent, the more boats he could take, and the more boats he took meant the less likely it was that she would ever find him.

"Why a mountain of all places?" She huffed, noticing the small, familiar cabin in the distance. For some reason he still had preferred the isolation after Arendelle was restored, talking something about how his family would cry if he were to move any farther away. No, she was not about to fight that; for fear that they may all topple on top of her and force Anna to move in with Kristoff in lieu of a 'honeymoon.'

"H—" She slipped on a nearby moss-covered rock, covering herself in thick, slimy mud. Somehow she was definitely going to make Kristoff pay for this after they were married. "Hey!"

"Anna?"

"Olaf!" She pulled a leaf out of her hair before running towards the cabin with a smile.

"Anna! Wowww, you look so…love…ly…" His twiggy arm smudged a brown spot on her skirt. "Is that a new…perfume you're wearing?"

"Okay no—well, yes, but its not perfume—that's not the point Olaf, I need your help!" She crouched down to be at eye level with him, allowing the unfortunate aroma of poo fill her nostrils as well. "Wait, why are you here anyways?"

"Oh yeah, Kristoff told me to check up on his place while he was gone!"

"…You knew he was leaving?"

"Oh I don't think I was supposed to say that…"

"He told you not to say that?" Now she was confused, because she couldn't figure out for the life of her why Kristoff would want to keep this a secret.

"Yeah, just like he didn't want me to tell you that he was going to the South Fern Aisle…wait…" A static hand touched his mouth…or whatever that slit on his face was.

She shook the thought and shot him a baffled look. "The South Fern Aisle?" She had never heard of that one before. It seemed like a pretty silly name for an island, maybe their King was crazy? Or he just really liked ferns, or they had a lot of ferns, or— "Wait, South Fern Aisle!?"

"Yep." Olaf told her, matter-of-factly.

"South Fern Aisle, The Southern Isles! He went to the Southern Isles!"

"Yeah, that's what I said! Anna, are you sure that everything is ok? Like, you didn't hit your head really hard or something?" His hand (arm or whatever) moved to her back. "Do-you-understand-me?"

"Olaf, I'm fine I've just had a weird day."

"Yes! I-understand-you, I'm-sure-its-been-a-very-strange-day-for-you!"

She didn't appreciate that he was talking to her like he was talking to Kristoff before it had been revealed that the rocks he claimed to be his family were in fact trolls. "Just tell me how long he said he was going to be gone."

"He told me not to say anything, I can't betray his trust like that! We're pals, amigos, best of buddies, we're—"

It seemed Olaf had gotten off his soapbox real quick after Anna, literally, took his nose right off his face. "You wanna re-think that?" She tapped the carrot on her shoulder while standing up to keep it out of his reach.

"Anna, no! Bad Anna! I need that back, I promised!"

"I'm being serious Olaf, I need to know where he is because I have to tell him something important!"

He stopped the frantic waving of his arms, moving them to his side. "Something important?"

"I'm going to…" She smiled a bit. "I'm going to propose, to Kristoff."

"You're engaged! Congratulations, oh Anna I'm so happy! Mmmm!" She felt the cold of snow on her skirt as he pressed himself against it in a hug.

"No," She laughed out the word. "I'm not engaged—well not yet, but I will be! So I really need to know how long he will be gone so I know how to find him." Lightly, she shoved the carrot back into his face after she had bended back down.

"Well…he didn't tell me exactly how long." There was a pause while she let him think, which was still a process she didn't quite understand. "He said it was a while though, like a few months?"

"So then I have to go after him." If she didn't, he may like it so well in the sunny Southern Isles that he may very well just not come back. She couldn't blame him; she'd probably go on vacation herself if someone she loved suddenly abandoned them in their time of need. "I have to go now, I must! I've…I've got to get packed, there's so much to do!" In a whirl of emotions she spun around with her hands on her head, trying to get it all in order. "There's no time to waste, thank you Olaf!" She pressed a pair of red lips on his cheek, feeling the coldness of the ice crystals against her skin.

"Woah, woah! Don't put me in that position Anna, Kristoff's my best friend!"

"No, Olaf, I was just—never mind! I have to go, but if you see him tell Kristoff this: I'm coming for you."

And coming she was. Whether he liked it or not.

Notes:

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I posted anything, and I even made a new account to kick off the event! (The old one I had is really, really, old) I'm always hesitant to post stories with multiple chapters because I tend to go into things without a plan and then end up biting more than I can chew. So I told myself I would only post the first Chapter if I had 3 solid chapters written out, knew my ending and had, had at least up to Chapter 6 planned out.

And guess what? I did all that! I'm very committed to finishing this, writing it has almost become an addiction and I'm excited to take you all on this journey with me.

The story is based slightly on the idea of the movie Leap Year, if you've seen it. I have wanted to write a Hans/Anna story for a while but couldn't figure out a good plot until I was lazin' around one day and this movie came to mind.

I've really wanted to see some interaction between these characters (Hans and Anna) where they are together, but also where all the events in the movie took place and its not totally AU. In most scenarios things end up dark (because that is the much more realistic option) and we never truly get to see the characters have a good ending so I decided to try and figure out a scenario where that would happen and this is the result.

I am not a writer, I will never be a writer and have never claimed to be a writer so please don't go too hard on me for this. I'm really just writing this for fun and I thought some others might like to see this work too so I decided to post it here c:

Phew.

Anyways, if you've made it this far I am very grateful for the time you took to read my story. I have been averaging about 4 days to write each chapter, so I can at least promise I will have one up a week. If writing goes well then I'll post them closer together, and if school suddenly gets crazier then they'll be closer to the week range. I have a lot of ideas for this and I'm really excited to get into the meat of it all. I plan on this being around 8 or 9 chapters at the moment, so I hope you will stick with me through then!

Thank you so much, I look forward to hearing from you all!

-Britt