AN: Thanks so much for reading my story! I haven't gotten any more reviews, and I sure would appreciate them. That being said, I'm not begging for them, I'd just like to know what you guys think. A few other people have done this crossover, and they've done it differently, so I'm interested to know what you guys think of mine. I'm trying to stay true to the storyline of Frozen, so interactions between Rapunzel and Eugene and the sisters are being kept minimal (for now). As for this chapter, well… get ready for some drama! I hope you enjoy! The next chapter won't be too long, since I've already finished typing this up, I'm just trying to keep suspense. ;)

The next day:

Rapunzel woke early, but I slept late as a consequence of my few sleepless hours. When I woke, the space beside me was empty, though the blankets had been tucked back around me to trap in the heat. Still groggy with sleep, I pushed myself up to look around the dim room and found her standing by the window, one of the jackets draped around her shoulders. The snow storm had turned into a full on blizzard, and she watched as the snow steadily piled up on the ground.

The sound of the blankets rustling drew her attention as she turned back to me, running a hand over her face in attempt to rub out some of the lines of worry. "Good morning," she said quietly, giving me a small smile.

"Hey," I answered, my voice gravelly from sleep. In the dim light, her underclothes were almost translucent, and it made me wish to have her closer to me. "Come back over here," I said with a soft smile, "I'm cold."

She dropped the coat and quickly hurried back to me, sliding under the warm blankets. I took her in my arms and she gratefully curled against me, shivering slightly until the warmth seeped into her. I tried kissing her, but she was too worried to become distracted.

Looking me in the eye, she whispered, "Elsa and Anna still haven't come back. I asked one of the guards."

I tried to press the creases of worry out of her face with my fingertips. "Try not to worry," I said, even though I didn't see much hope for them.

She pressed her face into my chest and sighed hopelessly. "I wish I could help them."

I did, too. Part of me wished we had never come here, because she felt so helpless and I could do nothing to console her. I wished we were back in warm Corona, taking some boring lesson or preparing for some event. Anything but this frozen castle, as snow piled up, threatening to breach the windows.

"Maybe they have a library," I said, thinking only of something that could distract her. She froze for a moment, and I could practically hear the wheels turning in her mind.

She pulled back from me suddenly, causing cool air to leak under the blankets and between us. "That's a great idea!" She exclaimed. "We could look for a way to help Elsa!"

I hadn't even thought of that, but she had a point. Somewhere they must have ancient texts with legends of magical ice cubes or something like that. Somewhere there must be a clue that could help us. Rapunzel had already reached this conclusion moments ago, and was already leaping out of bed and throwing on her clothes. I joined her, helping her lace up her corset. I pulled on my boots, but left off the stiff shirt, throwing on the larger of the two jackets and buttoning it up to my neck. She pulled on the other jacket, but the sleeves were so long that she had to push her hands through, causing them to bunch up at the wrists.

When we exited the room and started off down the hall, we were intercepted by a butler. He told us that a breakfast buffet had been laid out in the dining hall, and though I could tell Rapunzel wanted to head straight for the library, her growling stomach suggested otherwise. We decided to have a quick breakfast, and the butler told us how to get to the palace library from there. Because of our late start, however, most of the buffet had been picked over and we had to settle for the heels of bread loaves and a small bit of fruit.

We ate quickly, and the moment I finished the last crust of bread Rapunzel was yanking me up out of my seat. She darted ahead of me as we headed for the library, murmuring ideas too fast for me to understand. Finally we reached the large, double glass doors and entered the room that was full of books but empty of people.

Here I was, stuck helping her research again, but it was much better than having to watch her mope around. We leafed through book after book, finding nothing but losing hours in the process. As the rejected books piled up between us on the table, her hope grew smaller and smaller and each trip back to the shelves took longer and longer. I was flipping through a book about winter rituals, finding nothing helpful, when Rapunzel returned with a book so heavy that it made the table shake when she dropped it.

"This one looks promising," she announced, more for herself than for me. She tried to sound hopeful, but I could hear the worry creeping back into her voice. I abandoned my book to stand by her side and watch her flip through the pages. The book was written in some ancient language we didn't understand, but there were illustrations that seemed slightly helpful.

She flipped a page, and we stared at a drawing of a woman with her arms raised and snowflakes shooting from her palms. Rapunzel gasped and I just stared at the image until my eyes blurred, because this was what we had been looking for this whole time. It had taken all day – so long that the sun was already high in the sky – but we had finally found something.

"I think this is it," she whispered, still in awe.

I could only nod, because I was trying to make sense of the text around the picture. I couldn't understand any of it, however, and judging from her frustrated sigh, Rapunzel didn't either. She pushed away from the table, her chair scraping the floor, and leapt up, hurrying back to the bookshelves.

"See if you can find a translation book," she called over her shoulder, rifling through some books on the far end of the room. I left the table and started on a closer shelf, picking up books, flipping through them, and shoving them back when they weren't what we needed. Unfortunately, the noise had drawn some attention, and I looked up as the library doors opened.

I suppressed a groan when I saw that it was ol' Mutton Chops himself who entered the library. The arrogant prince of wherever sauntered in, taking in the stacks of books on the table and the disheveled chairs. He glanced over at me, his nose still pointed in the air, and was about to say something when Rapunzel called out to him.

"Prince Hans, we think we can help Elsa!" She shouted, darting back over to us. I wanted to tell her that it wasn't a good idea to trust him, but she was already showing him the book we had found. I guessed she must have thought he needed to know, since he was in charge of the kingdom and now engaged to Princess Anna (we had overheard that during breakfast gossip), but I still didn't trust him.

He pretended to be interested in what Rapunzel was telling him, but I could tell he was thinking about something else. I returned to the shelves and listened to them talk until he spat out a forced "Thank you," and left the library. I watched him leave and close the doors behind him, then glance around before he pulled a woman aside to whisper something in her ear. He was definitely up to something, but I ignored him and returned to the books, hoping that between the two of us we could find something that could help us understand the text.

Hours passed as we rifled through the books, and the room was beginning to grow dim. I was about to suggest we give up and take a break to eat when I heard a triumphant, "Aha!" from a few aisles over.

"What did you find?" I called, hoping it was something that would get us out of this library soon.

"I think it's a translation book!" I abandoned my shelf to find her. She was standing a few aisles over with a small, raggedy book in her hands, squinting down at the pages in the dim light. She held it out to me, and sure enough the pages had the numerous symbols that we had seen in the other book with a translation into a more contemporary language that even I could understand.

We returned to the table and cleared a space. Rapunzel immediately began puzzling over the book, murmuring things under her breath and attempting to translate the ancient symbols. After a while, she gave up and said, "It's getting too dark in here, so why don't you try for a bit while I try to find us some lamps and food?"

I nodded and switched places with her, pretending to flip through the translation book but instead watching her bob away from me. The glass doors closed behind her, and I was alone. I sighed, then began to actually try to translate the text. I picked up where she had left off, the sentence partially scribbled onto a scrap of paper. It began, "A heart so cold but," and beside it Rapunzel had begun to make sense of the next few symbols. Each symbol seemed to represent a sound, but some represented a full word, making the translation difficult. I started flipping through the translation book, searching for the next symbol, but reached the end before I could find it.

I was moving on to the next few symbols, which were ones we had already seen, when the library doors reopened and a soft light illuminated the room. I glanced, up, expecting to see her short hair bouncing as she hurried over to me, but she wasn't there. Instead, a tall, shapely woman was striding confidently towards me. She had dark hair that was twisted up and pinned back on her head, and full lips that were twisted into a sinister smile. Alarms went off in my head when she set her lantern down on top of a stack of books, urging me that something was very, very wrong.

"Are you all alone?" The woman asked, her voice low and smooth.

I stood up from my seat and backed away as she closed in on me. Instead of answering her, I countered with another question, "Who are you?"

"Oh, how rude of me," she purred, laughing a dark, humorless laugh. "I am Greta, Duchess of the Southern Isles. But of course, I already know all about you, future King of Corona."

I took another step back, though I could sense that I was close to a wall. "What do you want?" I demanded, in no mood for the polite pleasantries of high society. She was advancing on me, her deep red dress flowing around her, her dark eyes locked on mine.

"Me?" She scoffed. "I want nothing from you. I am merely following the orders of my cousin, Hans." My stomach dropped. I had known she was trouble, and yet it had taken me this long to realize that she had been the woman Hans had pulled aside after leaving the library. I knew he had been up to something, but what? My mind reeled, but I still couldn't figure out why this woman was after me.

I took another step back and hit the wall. There was nowhere to go now, pinned in with a table on one side and a book case on the other, and she was quickly moving in to block me from the front. "Get back," I warned, but I had yet to come up with a plan. She smirked and only moved closer, so close that her hip brushed mine.

She pressed against me, turning so that the two of us were wedged in sideways between the bookcase and table. Her long, thin fingers ran over my chest and she leaned forward. My mind was foggy with confusion, but things were beginning to make sense. Things just hadn't clicked yet, and I shrank away from her touch, which only caused her to press in closer.

I could hear distant footsteps approaching the library as she leaned over me, causing me to shrink farther backwards until I was bent at an odd angle over the table. She stroked the side of my face with a long, sharp, blood red nail, as the footsteps outside grew louder. Suddenly, like two puzzle pieces snapping together in my mind, everything made sense with perfect clarity, but it was too late. Greta had me pinned, and I couldn't move away from her this time.

The doors to the library opened just as she pressed her lips against mine. Fuck, I thought, wishing I could move away from her. Finally, I wedged my arms between us and pushed her away, but instead of looking defeated, she only smirked at me.

"Eugene?" A small, broken voice called from across the room.

No, not her! My mind screamed, but when I glanced over, it was Rapunzel standing in the open doorway, a metal lantern in hand and a small loaf of bread tucked into the crook of her elbow. Greta began to laugh.

Finally, I recovered from the shock enough to speak. "Please, Rapunzel, it's not what you think! She –"

She cut me off, crying, "How could you do this?" Before I could stop her, she dropped the lantern and the bread, which rolled across the floor before the small flame winked out. I reached a hand towards her, but she had already turned and hurried away.

I pushed past Greta, who didn't try to stop me. Her job was already done, I realized, and this was it. I called after Rapunzel, but she didn't stop. She ran, her skirt flaring out behind her, and she was so far ahead of me that I couldn't catch up. She stopped at our borrowed room, fumbling with the door knob before throwing open the door and slamming it behind her.

By the time I reached the door and jiggled the knob, she had already locked it and I could hear the sounds of her cries from inside. I banged on the door, begging her to let me in. "Rapunzel, you have to believe me!" I pleaded, banging my fists against the wood until they became sore. And still I banged, at first to urge her to let me in and then to drown out her sobs. I stopped knocking and sank to the floor by the door. I pushed my face up to the crack and tried to look inside, but I couldn't see much in the dark room. I could only make out the dark shape of her huddled against the far wall, shaking as she cried.

I turned so I was sitting with my back to the door. Everything was wrong, and I couldn't spare a thought for Rapunzel's cousins now. All I could think about was how I could fix this, how I could make her believe me when I had another woman's lipstick smeared on my face. That conniving prince, with his stupid sideburns; this was all his fault! I didn't know why, but he had wanted us to stop looking for the answers. Rapunzel was the one driving the search, and so what better way to make us stop than to give her something else to worry about? Something much more important that would drive between us like a wedge. I knew he was untrustworthy, but this was beyond ruthless. But Rapunzel tried to see the good in everyone, so how could I convince her that he had done this? That that woman had cornered me at his orders?

I put my face in my hands as I listened to her cries. It physically hurt, a pain radiating through my chest at every sob, to hear her like this, so close to me but too far to comfort. I wanted to scoop her into my arms, beg her to forgive me, make her believe that I would never hurt her. But she had locked me out, and I had thrown away my lock picking tools ages ago. What could I do but sit here and wish for her to let me in?

People passed by in the hall, sparing me only a moment's glance before hurrying along. I heard people gossip, heard a flurry of activity and shouts as the castle doors opened and people rushed in. "They've got her!" I heard someone say, but didn't care enough to wonder who. From the shouts from the entranceway, it had to be Elsa, and she didn't sound like she had come back willingly. There was a rattle of chains and then the sound of dozens of footsteps before the shouts died down and the castle grew quiet again.

Inside the bedroom, Rapunzel was quiet, too. She had stopped crying, but I doubted she was any closer to letting me in. The new silence was almost worse than before, because I wanted desperately for her to open the door, allow me to apologize and beg at her feet until she forgave me with a kiss and took me in her arms. But as the palace grew darker and darker with night, I knew that it wasn't happening anytime soon.

After a few hours of waiting, I pushed myself up from the floor and decided that nothing could be accomplished from moping around. Maybe if I could translate the text for her, well…we'd see if that helped when I got to it. I kept my footsteps quiet until I was far away from our room, then hurried back to the library where the lamp and bread were still abandoned on the floor. The oil from the lamp had all leaked out, but the lamp that Greta had carried with her was still on the table where she had left it. I found a match and lit it, returning to the table where the enormous book still lay open.

It was late, and my eyes were growing heavy, but I continued on with the translation. It wasn't quite making sense yet, but maybe once it was readable, Rapunzel could figure it out. From what I could tell from the hushed conversations just outside the library, Hans had captured Queen Elsa and had locked her in a dungeon. They had found one of the sisters, but what about Anna?