A few days pass, neither of them ever once saying a word to each other. Instead, they just sit on their beds, sleeping as much as they can to kill time.

Bryn finally breaks the silence, sitting up from his makeshift bed. He clears his throat, and his brother opens his eyes, somewhat startled at the sound of Bryn's voice.

"Uh… Hey," Bryn says, his voice raspy and hoarse.

His older brother takes a few seconds to reply, but barely manages an equally raspy, "Huh?"

"How long have we been in here? It feels like it's just been one long day."

"Three days..."

"Shit… Well at least the winter thawed shortly after we were thrown in here, we'd still be freezing otherwise."

Ares, wanting to get back to his own thoughts, "Mhm, I guess."

Bryn still replies, desperate to keep their conversation going, "The winter ending... Do you think.. Do you think it means the Queen's dead?"

"No."

"Why's that?"

"Hans said he would come down to finish us off after he'd dealt with the Queen, we're still alive, and to be honest, something tells me she's still alive."

"Hmm…" Bryn mumbles, happy to see his brother still optimistic, even after what he'd said.

An hour passes, the silence making it feel like days. Bryn tries to start a conversation again, hoping for better this time, "Can I ask you something?"

Ares, reluctant to reply, "Ugh, what do you want?"

Bryn chooses his words carefully, not wanting to push his brother further away, "Why are we orphans, what happened to our parents? You've never told me. I'm grown, I deserve the truth, please… Just talk to me?"

Ares takes a few seconds to gather his thoughts, before finally speaking up, "Our father... He was an ice harvester, died when you were three. He fell into the water and died of hypothermia. With no man to put food on the table, and unable to find work, Mom… she became a whore." Tears begin to fill Ares' eyes, as he remembers what Bryn had called Hans. "Hans is no whoreson..."

"I didn't know!"

"It's not your fault Bryn! It was mine..." Ares recollects his thoughts, regretting ever pulling Bryn back by his cloak, and continues.

"One day when you were four, and I seven, she brought home a client. I hated being home while she 'worked', so I left the house, and as I walked out the door, I got a good look at the man's face. I'll never forget it, it's like his face is burned into my mind... Now, this fucker had the nerve to casually introduce himself to me. Like I didn't already know why he was there. Mom made me shake his hand, she always tried to make it seem normal, and he said his name was Cedric. The eldest brother of the Southern Isles' royal family, the heir to the throne."

"Isn't Prince Hans one of the…"

"Yes," Ares quickly answers, then continues on with his story.

"So I would go to the pier, and watch as Arendelle's old brotherhood glided across the rooftops. Watching them was like watching birds fly, they were free, and I wanted that freedom. I remember how badly I wanted to be one of them. After a while, I returned home, Mom would've been done by then." Now fully in tears, making it harder for him to speak. "She was dead, a knife shoved through her chest. I remember her body laying there, there was so much goddamned blood... I heard the closet door open behind me, and turned around to see you standing there, you were too young to understand what was going on, too young to remember. I grabbed you and we just ran, I didn't know where I was taking us, but I knew I would never go back to that house. For years I took care of you, until Alex found us, your hero, and now it's my fault he's dead."

"It's not your fault! I didn't mean it, and yeah, I'll always be grateful of Alex taking us in, but he wasn't my hero, you are," Bryn said, tears now filling his own eyes.

"I… I am?"

"Yeah man, you've taken care of me since I was four, you've always looked after me and put me first, I remember every little thing you've done for me."

Ares stands up, and grabs his brother's arm with his own, Bryn doing the same, the barred window between them no longer a barrier. "We're getting out of here, we're going to go to the Southern Isles, and we're going to find Prince Hans. He'll soon know what it's like to not have a family. We'll avenge Alex, I promise you that."

"You're damn right we will."