A/N: I got stuck on the north mountain?... for a year...?

I still don't own frozen.

Thank you for all the lovely reviews that made me come back to this. :)

Chapter four

Fire and Ice
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If anyone happened to be riding by, or maybe just wandering lost, dehydrated and horribly frost-bitten up the North Mountain that evening, they might've stopped to wonder about the Pine tree that seemed to be glowing from the inside. They might call it witchcraft or blame it on their hallucinating mind, then totter off in hopeless agony. The two figures inside this particular tree were oblivious to this possible spectacle.

Elsa in particular.

The fire seemed to fill her with a feeling greatly unknown, yet wonderfully divine. She wished to speak, ask him the questions that such a thing would encourage, but she couldn't move. She was mesmerised, and the peculiar feeling made her breathless.

Hans noticed this hesitation and thinking she might be frightened, began to close his hand. He definitely looked most surprised when the Queen of Arendelle, so averted to touch, so cold to him, raised her hand to stop this with a grip so urgent it actually hurt. He stared at her face, illuminated by his fire, and found himself just as speechless as she.

Her hand was now clinging to his, and the sensation of hot against cold heightened the sense of it. Something delicate hung between them. It was a fragile cobweb that could break at the slightest of movements, vanish with the gentlest of breaths. Elsa was utterly, immovably transfixed by the flame he held as easily as she did ice. Understanding seemed too weak a description. This was so much more.

Merely two hours ago she had been alone in her ice palace, guilt-ridden and distressed, and then she had been attacked by an army. She had been deranged with fear, her mind so blackened by its loneliness and self-hatred, she felt she would never know herself again. No creature was as alone, as awful, or as frightened as she.

The Queen lifted her gaze to meet his.

She had never felt the power of anyone's eyes the way she felt his. Heat blazed in them.

It would've been unbearable, had it been completely unpleasant. Elsa could not pretend it was so. The touch of their hands, the caress of the fire on her skin, the closeness she suddenly found herself in. The entire world seemed on fire.

He could kiss her now with just the smallest move. The more she thought of this, the more convinced she became of its happening. Neither really sure of what either thought, they stayed in a frozen state of awe until Hans inevitably twitched and threw Elsa's heart into violent panic. The wave of fear rose from its brief stillness and swept over her once again, freezing his hand and extinguishing the flame.

The fizz came first, then Hans cried out.

Elsa had broken the cobweb.

"Oh my god! Hans! I'm- I'm so sorry, oh my god, are you okay?"

Hans groaned, clutching his frozen hand with an expression of obvious pain. Why, he thought for a moment, does she keep injuring me?

"I'm fine, don't worry." He forced through clenched teeth. "It doesn't hurt that bad." Elsa however, was inclined to worry greatly, especially when she found she'd hurt someone - even him. Her heart couldn't bare it. She blamed herself too much and feared it, ever since little Anna fell on the ground like a doll.

"How can you say such a thing!" She gasped, rushing over to grab at his hand once more. "Oh you poor thing! This is why you must stay away from me, I'm such an idiot-" She turned over his palm and was momentarily baffled to find it was already thawing. The melt water dripped down her wrist. She stared.

Hans burst out laughing.

"Oh my god." Elsa said stepping backwards, completely mortified.

"You really are an idiot." Hans said.

Hearing the grin in his voice, Elsa shot him an absolutely filthy look and it was dropped in an instant. Hans cleared his throat.

"Sorry." He ventured awkwardly. She crossed her arms. "Sorry, your majesty." He corrected. "I don't think you're an idiot. You're very clever. Probably."

Then, risking a smile. "But you did just literally discover I had fire powers."

"I hate you so much."

With that, Elsa parted the tree branches and stepped out into the clearing. Hans, of course, followed after her, grinning, and continued to amuse himself.

"It was right in front of you! And it's not like you didn't take your time - queenly time- gawping at it."

"I do not gawp." She said firmly.

"Oh sorry, no... you save that for me, prince charming!"

"I will freeze your mouth."

"See! You can barely restrain yourself!" He was especially proud of that one.

"I'm not listening to you anymore, by the way." She said with cool indifference, standing at some distance with her hands laced in front of her.

It was a few seconds before she heard him stamping through the snow beside her. They stood quietly for a moment or two, looking up at the night sky. The northern lights where starting to fade a little, but their beauty was still a sight, and combined with the magnificent landscape before them, the view humbled their minds and soothed it. The bitter wind, always incessant, blew, causing snow to drift a little down the mountain. Elsa watched it with some detached interest and Hans feared they might become completely buried if they stood too long.

Only one shivered.

Hans lit a small fire in his hand and covered it as one would a candle flame. He watched the light seeping from between his fingers, like a lantern, onto the sparking snow. He waited, with some anticipation, for the shafts of warm orange to stir Elsa. She never did notice though, and if she did, made no acknowledgement. He crushed the flame in his hands.

"At least you know you can never hurt me." Hans said, his breath clouding in front of him.

Elsa turned now, looking at him with some surprise. "What?"

"...I thought you weren't listening to me." He had a small smile as he spoke. It was a strange thing when he smiled. Elsa couldn't tell exactly how or why; whether it was from genuine admiration, some secret joy or just cruel mockery. She attributed it to her own inability to decipher. Not for a moment did she consider perhaps it was him.

"I wasn't." Elsa replied. "I just happened to overhear you."

He grinned this time, and maybe he looked pleased. "Of course." A beat passed. "And what did her majesty have to think?"

She was quiet for long enough to make him slightly uneasy. His grin dropped and he turned to look at her, just catching the far-away look in her eyes before she stirred and suddenly announced that they should probably get going.

"Get going!" Hans cried, laughing a little. It echoed through the air with disturbing length.

"My dear Queen Elsa, get going where? I can't go back to Arendelle, and neither can you."

She fixed him a fierce stare. "So what do you propose, dear Hans?" She replied bitterly. "We stay forever under a pine tree, arguing and irritating one another to an early grave?"

He looked somewhat offended, but said nothing. Elsa mentally added 'futile' to her list of Hans-descriptive words.

"I did not think to go to Arendelle." She explained in a softer, cooler authoritative tone. "But that we should find somewhere more suitable to hide. My palace is too dangerous now that the location is known."

Hans nodded "You're right, of course." His face was stony. The great graveness of the matter was heavily descending on them both. "We just seem to be lacking in any transport, since my steed was frightened off earlier."

Elsa thought she saw him slightly sad at this and endeavoured to comfort him a little. "I'm sorry. We might still be able to find him, if we try."

"I don't think it's very likely." He stated. This annoyed her. How could he be so matter-of-fact about it? So unwilling to hope? Not even a word of thanks to her in return, either.

"I know what you're thinking, Queen Elsa." He said a little drily. "But once you have borne as many disappointments in life as I have, you soon learn."

She was silent.

"I'm sure you know that."

Insufferable, hateful, cruel man.

And futile, she added after a moment.

To think he could've taken my little sister.

"I'll look for your horse" She stated rather impatiently. "You can just stay here and be miserable. Amuse yourself with your horrid thoughts. Maybe you'll freeze to death!" Elsa snarled, then stormed off in some random direction up the mountain. She was angry, very angery, but it was a type of anger which confused her, for it came from so many other emotions all she felt was a tangled mess. This prince was a dreadful catalyst to such a storm.

"I don't think so!" Hans yelled after her, tripping over himself to catch up with her billowing train and skirt.

Elsa whipped around, the wind carrying her braid and teasing a few escaped locks. He found himself stopped simply at the sight of her elegance and fierceness.

"Oh?" was all she said, a brow raised.

"Y-yes." Hans replied, then composing himself, declared "I would rather see you miserable too, your majesty, then bare it all by myself."

He came to face her, and added quickly, before she could get any more furious, "It's much less lonely that way."

She stared, determined to be hard, yet the glimmer of warmth in her eyes was not missed by him - just as she would predict so, and inwardly scold herself for being so weak for as they trekked together calling Sitrons name.

Elsa often hated herself, but she seemed to be regretting her every word, look and action in his presence. How on earth did Anna come to like him! Of all people... She continued to scowl at this for a while, but serious worry for the horse soon softened her thunderous expression into one of compassion.

"I don't think I'll ever see him again." Hans said rather quietly after a half an hour of this. Elsa, despite how much she despised feeling sorry for him after all he'd done to scare and vex her, couldn't help grieve for him. The loss of a dear friend, family or beloved horse, is a pain no one should suffer.

"We haven't looked over there yet." She told him, taking his cuff and gently tugging him along. She knew he was shaking his head. She dared not think he might cry. It was indeed all too miserable, and she was even starting to think he was clever to suggest they should be together for it. It certainly made it a little more bearable.

For poor Sitron was no where to be found.

Hans had become increasingly perturbed and distressed the more time eclipsed without finding him. Elsa, although understanding it to be a natural reaction to such an event, was a little surprised. He had been so sure of his indifference earlier. Hadn't he himself professed to have suffered so much disappointment, it no longer affected him?

Elsa had, in the short period of their knowing each other, frequently suspected him of concealing. Maybe just as she would. This was one of those moments.

When he saw her looking at him like that, he confessed his reasoning. "You... made me hope. You seemed so passionate about it all of a sudden I wanted to believe you. I did believe you."

This answer, along with the visible misery on his face, sent Elsa into an inner turmoil. The words made her tender towards him for longer that she felt she had ever been. Thinking it was surely a crime to do nothing, she patted his arm briefly. Then, somewhat hesitantly, she wrapped her own loosely around it and walked along with him this way. He understood this to be her attempt at consolation and, after a difficult moment, he thanked her awkwardly and smiled a smile she hadn't seen yet

She understood this to be his attempt at gratitude.

"Your light show was very pretty on the snow earlier." Elsa said, a sly smile of her own forming.

Hans blinked down at her. Oh what a wonderful expression it was!

"I. Knew. It!" He burst suddenly, the moon-light illuminating his silly grin to no benefit.

Hans watched it bounce off her silver locks and she simply said, coolly.

"You really are an idiot Hans." And then she proceeded to smile quite pleased, and very annoyingly, for a long while.

Neither would admit how pleasant it was to walk arm in arm with someone. Elsa would only quietly note how he didn't flinch away from her. She wondered if this was because he was generally warmer, so did not feel much of her cold, or whether he didn't want to show his discomfort.

Remembering the feel of his hand, she hoped for the former.

Anna would always jump a little whenever she held hers. One time, she had started to cry. It had scared Elsa very much- It was her fault for not wearing the gloves, for forgetting they'd just been playing snow games. Her hand was still caked in ice. Anna was only little - she didn't know when not to hold her sisters hand. Mother and Father never touched her, except for a few short and slightly stiff hugs and a hand pat (with gloves, of course). They tried to pretend. But Elsa knew they where terrified lest they freeze to death holding their own daughter.

Elsa realised, with alarming intensity, just how starved of affection she was.

Hans certainly wont have missed it. She could see he was sharp and there was a manipulative nature to his speech, which until now she dared not to ponder too deeply. She noticed her hand wasn't too far from the blood stain.

Murder. For her.

Her hand became a little looser, a sour taste in her mouth all of a sudden. Her heart pounded as if it wanted escape. Oh, she shouldn't like murder, and yet she had been swept up by his valiance effortlessly. She had cried in his arms!

Hadn't she been just about to kill a man?

Elsa wished to run again. Far far away from anyone, and since she'd already achieved that, then all she could think she desired was to get away from him. For any hand holding hers seemed too much and his eyes where too strong. She knew he was looking at her. It still burned.

A little horrified, she thought of how she had purposely not addressed his powers. That would mean a higher level of understanding. It would mean she was acknowledging she was not the only one. It would mean they might possibly share some feelings of a delicate, emotional nature.

It made sense then; why she would not trust him, why she was so bent on disliking him.

Elsa wanted to be alone.

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