Someone—no, something—was in the passage with them. Anna could feel it in the air. She could smell it, the pungent scent of damp, rotting earth and stagnant water. It assaulted her nostrils, and she gagged.

She hadn't imagined that terrible, gravelly voice from before. It was here with her now. And it was real. She felt the cold breath on her ear and neck as those horrible words were hissed at her again.

'One that should not be!'

Panic took rise when she could hear it laughing all around her; circling her as a predator would. Ancient, malicious, and mocking, as if it somehow knew she'd just realized it was real and not something she had made up. Everything went cold. The laughter came from every which way, startling her in each new direction she turned. She had to get away, she had to run—

"Come on already!" Hans's irritated voice broke through the laughter.

Everything stopped.

Everything went still.

Whatever had been in the passage way was gone. Anna could feel no trace of the presence anymore. Everything felt normal again.

"It's not that far down, now come on!" Hans snapped.

Anna stood dumbfounded, her heart pounding in her chest. She wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead. Hans was speaking to her as if nothing had just happened.

"Y-you didn't hear it?" she asked, hardly trusting her voice to work. "Smell it?"

"What are you talking about?"

Oh God. I'm going crazy, she thought, rubbing her hands over her face. I'm losing it.

"There was something in here just now…" her voice trailed off. Her body shook just thinking about it.

Hans groaned, clearly at the end of his patience. "There is nothing in here. Your mind is playing tricks on you—"

"It told me I shouldn't be," Anna murmured, more to herself than to Hans.

"What?" he asked sharply.

"One that should not be," she repeated slowly. "That's what it said to me."

Hans didn't answer her, or say anything to her right away.

After a moment, he spoke, "Follow my voice to ledge, Anna. We're almost out."

It was strange how quickly her fear ebbed, and melted away, as if it were nothing. As if it had all been in her head.

Yes, that must be it, all in my head. It's everything that's happened. I'm in shock.

Shock.

The thought lulled her into a sense of security. It made sense.

It was shock.

She was in shock.

Her mind was just trying to comprehend, trying to deal with everything that had happened since the ball. Her brain was trying to cope with trauma. It was manifesting these irrational fears of the dark, this anxiety at being alone, the voices…everything.

We're not out of this yet, she told herself fiercely. Keep it together. Get to Elsa.

Elsa.

The thought of Elsa her gave her courage, renewed her strength. She had to keep going because Elsa would need her help, and Elsa would need to know that Anna was okay. Whatever they were going to face, they would do it together. She had to get to Elsa no matter what.

Without another thought on the matter, she continued to move towards where she had heard Hans. She found the ledge safely, and sat down, dangling her feet over the edge.

"I'm here," was all she said before she pushed off, slipping her bum over the edge. She dropped down, and Hans caught her before her feet hit the ground. It was strange landing in his arms, especially in the dark, where she couldn't see him and could only feel him.

Anna hated to admit that it felt safe and warm in his arms, a sort of reassurance she didn't know she needed. She nervously brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, clearing her throat politely when Hans didn't release her right away, holding her longer than she had expected.

"There now, see?" he said softly, finally putting her down. "Not that far of a drop at all. After this landing, the rest of the stairs are still intact."

He retrieved his sword from the ground before taking her hand again with his free one. The immediate contact had her instantly at ease. She just felt safer this way. Anna wasn't sure, but she thought his grip was tighter than it had been before.

Hans was right, from there on, it was a couple small flights of steps down, and a bit of a ways along a corridor before they reached an exit. Hans stopped suddenly again, this time with Anna actually bumping into him. She immediately backed up. She felt nervous touching him, like she shouldn't be initiating it, even by accident. And yet she had allowed him multiple liberties with her person.

That's different, she argued to herself. She hadn't done it out of want, but out of necessity. Any time he'd touched her, it had been necessary. He was simply keeping her with him, simply keeping them safe.

"Be ready," he cautioned in a low voice. "We'll head towards the armoury, then make our way through the barracks, and to the stables."

"I need to get to Elsa!" Anna said in hushed tones.

"Anna," he replied tensely, "we don't have time. We don't know how badly the palace has fallen, we don't even know where your sister is. Our first priority is to get the hell out of here."

"That's your first priority." Anna huffed angrily, still keeping her voice low. "Mine is finding Elsa."

"You're going to get yourself killed!"

"I'm going to find my sister!"

Hans sighed in frustration. "You're no good to either of us dead!"

His comment was like a slap in the face.

Anna halted, swallowing hard and ignoring the sting of his words. "I don't care. Elsa needs to know I'm all right, and I need to know she's all right."

"This is suicide!"

"You don't know that!" Anna argued back. "How do you know your route is safe? You don't! And besides, if I can thaw you, don't you think I should at least try it on your brothers?"

"Try it on my—have you gone insane?" Hans practically shouted, before quickly taking his volume down. "You couldn't get near Ulrik or Georg without them trying to lop your head off! Ulrik bent an iron cage! I cut off Georg's arm, and he put it back on like it was nothing!"

"But you can match them! I saw you! You could distract them while I—"

"—Absolutely not!"

"We have to try!"

"Oh my God." He groaned. His voice was muffled, as though he was running his hands down his face in frustration. "Will you just stop and listen to yourself? We are no match for them, okay? I barely got us out of that. Do you understand? We just barely survived two of them."

"But you did match Georg! Not even the guards could do what you did—"

"Listen to me," Hans bit back harshly, "because I will only say this to you once; I am the thirteenth prince. I am the youngest. I am the weakest. There is absolutely nothing I can do, regardless of how hard I try, that one of my brothers does not do better. Does not excel in. Understand? I'm the throw away, I'm the nobody. The unlucky one. I cannot best any of them."

Anna was speechless. Surely Hans didn't really believe that? That went against everything she knew about Hans. Hans was always so confident, so self assured. He was quicker and cleverer than anyone she knew. He was diabolical, calculating, ruthless—how could he possibly think he was inferior to his siblings? She wished she could see his face, read his expression, but in the dark, all she had were his words and inflections.

"Look…" He sighed in resignation. "If it's safe to search for your sister, maybe we can look around, but we stick to my route, got it?"

"Thank you." Anna smiled with relief. She had expected to have to fight him on finding Elsa. Instead he was being agreeable. It was not what she had expected from him.

"Ready?" he asked before slowly sliding the panel door open.

Anna took a deep breath as the light blinded her briefly. She blinked a few times, adjusting to the sudden brightness of the castle, then laughed to herself. It wasn't even that bright, just lamp light from the sconces along the walls. She followed after Hans, stepping gingerly out from the passageway. Once they were out, Hans slid the panel shut. The entrance blended perfectly into the wall.

It should have been a relief to be out from the narrow passage in the walls, but once out in the main hall, Anna felt exposed. She kept close to Hans, who motioned to her to stay behind him as he kept his sword ready. The hall was empty, and surprisingly quiet, but the evidence of battle was clear. At least a snow battle. The hall was covered in large snow drifts and icicles.

Anna wasn't sure whose snow it was. There was no way of telling whether this was Elsa's work, or the witch's…or both.

Anna gulped. She hoped Elsa was okay.

Hans swore under his breath as he surveyed the snow. "There goes sneaking around. We can easily be followed now. Try and step in the places where the snow hasn't drifted."

Anna stared down the hallway. It was an impossible task, there were hardly any places on the floor that were untouched by snow.

"It's too quiet," Anna noted, following Hans, only hearing the crunch of their feet in the snow as they made their way down the hall.

"Yeah," he breathed. "Just…stay close."

Anna shivered the further down the hall they went. The temperature had dipped considerably from where they had begun. The snow drifts had gotten higher, and the floor was completely blanketed in snow. There was no way to avoid stepping in it now.

Hans took the first step into the deeper snow. The moment the weight of his foot hit the ground, something shot up from beneath him out of the snow. He gave a startled cry, and jumped back, nearly knocking Anna over.

"Son of a bitch!" His sword wavered slightly as he kept it directed at the object in front of them.

Anna frowned at the thing they had just unearthed. It had sunk back into the snow mound when Hans had stepped back, but not entirely. Part of it was sticking up like a gnarled branch, except it was the wrong colour for a tree, and it seemed to be wrapped in fabric…

"Oh God!" Anna inhaled sharply, her hand covering her mouth in shock as she realized what it was she was looking at.

An arm.

A frozen arm had shot up from the snow.

It wasn't moving, even with Hans tentatively poking at it with his sword. He was jumpy, and rather ungainly while he inspected the arm sticking up from the snow. Hans was just as rattled as she was. That should have been a comfort to her. It wasn't.

"It's a palace guard sleeve," Hans commented. He stuck his foot out, using it to shovel snow from around the arm. Anna watched, appalled as the body of a man was slowly revealed from Hans's digging.

The guard was most certainly dead, she could see that as Hans carefully stepped down on the frozen man where his boot would have landed the first time. The body rocked, frozen stiff, the arm jutting up as Hans stepped down on the torso—like a seesaw. Hans tested the weight of his foot on the body a few more times to make absolutely sure the man was not alive, and that it was not some sort of trap, but an unhappy accidental step.

"Stop it!" Anna cried, unable to watch anymore. "He's dead, okay?"

"Hmmm?" Hans stepped off the body, leaning his weight back onto his other foot. He stared down at the man, seemingly lost in thought. "What an unfortunate end."

"Come on," she said, as bravely as she could muster. "We have to find Elsa." She tugged on Hans's sleeve when he didn't immediately turn away from the body. "Hans?"

"I knew him," Hans said quietly. "I recognize his face, but I don't know his name."

"I'm sorry," Anna answered truthfully.

"It's no matter." Hans shrugged. He stepped away from the body, and began moving forward through the snow. "It's not like I knew him well or we were friends."

They continued on in silence, trudging through the drifts until they heard the sound of clashing swords and shouting in one of the adjoining rooms. One voice rang out above all the others, and Anna instantly recognized her sister belting out orders.

"Elsa!" Anna shouted excitedly, beelining her way towards the door as quickly as she could.

"Anna!" Hans cried in alarm, clumsily trailing after her. "Wait!"

But there was no stopping Anna. She was singular in her desire to reach her sister, and nothing would stand in her way. Not while she was so close. As long as she was with Elsa, she would be fine. She was sure of it. Together they would come up with a plan to stop the witch and break the curse.

The double doors were blocked by a small snow drift, but the doors would open easy enough against the powdery snow. She grasped the handles in both hands, and proceeded to pull them open. The snow drift stopped up the doors as she tugged them opened, but there was enough room for Anna to squeeze through.

She entered a room of pure chaos. No one had noticed her entrance as she scanned the gigantic room. A thick blanket of snow covered the entire floor. Snow and ice swirled manically through the air, pelting her face as she searched for Elsa. She noted vaguely that this was the throne room, though it was hardly recognizable.

Almost immediately, Anna found Elsa at the far back of the room, this time with multiple 'Marshmallows', or giant sentient snow monsters, at her side. They were protecting Queen Grete, and a number of palace guards. Anna did a quick tally of the princes, counting ten in all, and no sign of the witch.

Three adversaries at large, she decided before making her way into the room towards Elsa. The princes were preoccupied with the snow monsters and a number of guards. Anna wondered if she could sneak up behind one of the princes and see if she could thaw them too. They were distracted, and Anna decided she was quick enough to at least try.

The one closest even had his back turned to her. It would be so easy as long as she was fast enough. She could try thawing a prince, and then rush to Elsa. She could already see which path would work best.

But Anna was terrified to get closer. Remembering her earlier encounter with Ulrik and Georg made her legs weak with dread. Her conversation with Hans on the matter wasn't helping either. She took a deep breath, fear would not save the Southern Isles. She had to be brave. She had to be like Elsa. She had to do this. If this worked…

She counted to ten slowly in her head, tying to muster up the courage to move. She was about to take a step towards the prince closest to her when a hand grabbed her arm roughly from behind. Without hesitation, her captor yanked her backwards while simultaneously moving themselves forward and in front of her. He maintained the position of her protector, just like he'd been doing the entire she had been with him.

Anna wasn't sure how she could have forgotten Hans so easily. She'd spent the entire evening in his company, and they'd just been through hell together. She knew that he'd follow her, having no choice in the matter. His life and freedom depended on her.

Still, she was shocked that he would willingly step into harm's way, and help her reach one of his brothers. She was slightly ashamed of herself for abandoning him so quickly when she found Elsa, and admitted silently that it had been a rude thing to do, even to Hans.

The two silently crept up on the prince, Anna much braver now that she had Hans and his sword there. She felt confident that this would work. If it was true that she held on to some residual magic as Grete had suggested, then she should be able to thaw a prince just as she had done with Hans. A single touch would be all she needed.

Closing in quickly, Anna was now within reach to grab at the prince's face from behind. Hans moved silently, and slightly to her side to give her the best advantage. Before her nerves got the better of her, she reached up towards the unsuspecting man and grabbed his face from behind with both hands.

Unbearable cold pain shot up her fingertips the moment she'd made contact. Anna cried out in agony, snatching her hands back almost immediately. She clasped her hands to her chest, shivering. Her fingers went completely numb as her hands ached in pain from the intense cold. She stared at her hands in disbelief.

It didn't work.

The prince rounded on her with ungodly speed, only to be blocked by Hans. She recognized him as Lennart, the pompous and needlessly petty prince from the ball. She staggered backwards, hastily trying to gain distance from him as he and Hans clashed swords.

One of Elsa's snow monsters crashed across the floor, intercepting Hans's fight with Lennart. The giant creature plucked Lennart from the ground, and hurled him towards the wall opposite of Anna. Hans used the opportunity to rush back to Anna's side.

"Anna!" The look of horror on Elsa's face was palpable as she recognized Anna amongst the battle. "Oh my God, Anna, you have to get out of here!"

"No!" Anna shouted back, still clasping her hands, and fighting the pain as she made her way towards Elsa. If she broke into a hard run she could probably make it.

"You have to!" Elsa pleaded. "I can't keep you safe!"

"No! I'm not leaving you!"

Elsa straightened up in the most queenly, commanding pose Anna had ever seen. She squared her jaw, tipping her chin up with such severity that Anna cringed when her sister opened her mouth to speak to her, but Elsa's steely gaze shifted from Anna to Hans.

"Get her out of here," Elsa commanded in the sternest, coldest voice Anna had ever heard. "Now."

Before Anna knew it, she was being hoisted from the ground, and flung over Hans's shoulder. He held her firmly, and headed wordlessly towards the door they had entered from.

"No!" Anna shrieked, kicking and squirming to get free of Hans to no avail. She pounded her fists against his back. The more she beat him, the more agonizing the pain in her frozen hands became, but she continued to fight him. She needed to be with Elsa. They were supposed to face this together!

"Let me go! Elsa!" She stared at her sister in desperation as Hans carried her further and further away. Elsa would not look at her. Instead, Elsa continued to hurl icicles and pull up sheets of ice to aid Hans in his escape with her.

Anna continued to scream at her anyway.

"Elsa, don't do this! Please! Elsa!"