A/N: Okay, so not really a lot of hype on the last chapter... I know it was a little different, but I can promise that Hans has plenty of humiliation coming up in the future. He hasn't apologized yet, but it will come. Just probably not anytime soon.

Now, this is a really long chapter and I had SO much fun writing it. Hans and Kristoff's relationship is hilarious and I really think has lots of potential. As for Kristoff's character, I adore him. He's a big tough guy with goofy moments and I tried really hard to do justice to that, as hard as it is to write. Please let me know what you think!

They trotted along in silence for the first few hours. It was a spacious sled, and the single reindeer seemed to have no problem pulling it. It had taken Hans a bit of time to grow accustomed to the icy wind in his face, but once his nose and cheeks finally went numb, it became sort of refreshing. Kristoff pulled a cloth up over his nose and mouth and tucked his hat to his eyebrows so only his eyes were visible. Very obviously not in the mood to talk.

Hans stretched out as well as he could, searching for a comfortable position. He was still wondering if he had made a very poor decision in kissing Elsa goodbye, but he couldn't bring himself to regret it. He could still feel an icy chill in his lungs and he knew that it wasn't from the mountain air he was breathing in. Elsa was like drinking in that mountain air, the smell of fresh pines and clean, icy wind. It made him feel alive.

Besides, she had a whole month to forget about it. Or at least to stop fuming about it. Hopefully not to just get more worked up about it. Caught up in his own thoughts, Hans didn't realize they were slowing until the sled came to a stop.

"Hope you didn't mind the speed. We like to go fast." Kristoff's voice was muffled under the handkerchief that covered his mouth, but Hans could still understand him.

"Best way to go." Hans agreed. He always preferred galloping when he had Sitron, and the two of them together could outrun anyone, besides perhaps professional racers.

"So what are we doing here?" Hans asked, glancing around. There wasn't anything nearby that he could see, no reason to be stopping. Kristoff had said that the way up took at least a day, so he knew they weren't actually there yet.

"This is where I dump your body. Hand me the pickaxe." Kristoff held out a hand and Hans grasped the pickaxe beside him, holding on without any intention of handing the thing to Kristoff.

"Um…" He really didn't want to die by pickaxe. That had to be in the top ten ways that he didn't want to die.

"Kidding." Kristoff flicked his head towards the woods, leaving the reins draped over the top of the sleigh. "Bathroom break." He informed Hans.

Hans took a look at the line of trees. He sighed. And they were off to a great start.

The next time they stopped, it was dark. There was a small cabin that Hans could just barely make out in the dark. Kristoff hopped out of the sleigh and started unhooking the reindeer from the front.

"Hans is a lot fatter than Anna."

Hans was caught off guard both by what Kristoff said and the strange voice he said it in, leaning over his reindeer.

"Hey, whoa there Sven, no need to be rude about it." Kristoff replied in his normal voice. Hans raised an eyebrow, glancing back and forth from reindeer to man. Was he supposed to be talking for the reindeer?

"But I'm tired from the long trip. And I want my dinner."

"What's the magic word?"

"Please?"

"Alright buddy, let's get you inside and we'll get your dinner."

Hans stepped out of the sleigh, giving both Kristoff and the reindeer a way look. "Um.. You want me to put Sven up for the night? Does he had a stable, or does he just sleep outside?" He asked, choosing to just ignore the entire 'conversation' that had just occurred. Things were getting a little too strange for his liking.

The reindeer's head turned, and Hans could have sworn it gave him an affronted look. Kristoff looked just as upset.

"Sven sleeps inside. I made an especially wide door so that he could get in. Not like there's much inside, anyway. It's just a spot to drop off sleeping supplies and food before we go out for the night."

"We're going out for the night? Shouldn't we rest up for the morning or something?" Hans suggested. He hadn't done much, just sitting in the sleigh all day. But it had made his limbs stiff and the wind had all but sapped his energy. He was ready for a good night's rest before anything else. Besides, it was already dark, how much could they actually do?

Kristoff laughed. "It's just beginning. Now is the perfect time to get out there and create an ice channel. It's less likely to freeze back over during the day, so we'll get in a few hours tomorrow. Time is a precious commodity from here on out." He threw a couple packs over his shoulder and started walking towards the cabin. "Get your stuff out of the sleigh. We need the space on there and Sven needs all his energy. We'll stop and eat something real quick, put Sven's ice shoes on, then it's off to work."

Hans grabbed a the two bags of food from the back, lugging them towards the cabin reluctantly. He was very quickly beginning to think that he had made a terrible mistake in deciding to come with Kristoff.

Hans had never been so cold. Or so tired. The sun was finally beginning to rise in the distance, and he could only pray that meant they would be going back to the cabin for some rest. But Kristoff just kept going, sawing at the ice. It had been a long process of clearing the snow off of the frozen lake. Then they had to cut lines into the ice. Then an ice plow attached to Sven had cut through about half the thickness of it, and finally they were working on cutting all the way through it. Finally, they had a long strip leading up to the shore that they would be able to push ice through in order to pull it out.

Now they were cutting the ice that was still left in the channel into blocks. Hans had long given up on trying to talk, though Kristoff had sung a few songs intermittently through the night. One last stroke and the final block of ice was free. Hans stepped back and breathed a sigh of relief, his muscles aching in protest of the impossibly hard work.

"Let's get them out of there, now." Kristoff said, marching over to put the ice saw back in the sleigh. He pulled out a bundle of thick rope, an odd looking pulley system and a couple pairs of tongs and called Sven over.

"We have to harness the ice, then Sven will help pull it out will a pulley system. From there, we'll cut it into smaller blocks and stack it in the sleigh. We'll drop it off back at the cabin and get a few hours of sleep hopefully before the sun sets. All depends on how fast we get this done." In what seemed to be a second thought, Kristoff reached back into the sleigh and grabbed a couple biscuits, one of which he tossed at Hans.

"Eat that and get something to drink. It's way too easy to get dehydrated up here in the cold. Most people worry about the heat, but it's the cold that can get you before you realize it." He ordered.

Hans didn't give him time to change his mind. He practically fell into a sitting position on the ice, polishing off the biscuit in a few quick bites and then grabbing the flask Kristoff tossed at him and drinking down the water. It was icy cold and hurt his throat to drink too quickly, but he did anyway. He was too tired to say much beyond a muttered thanks, refusing to get up from his spot until Kristoff forced him to. Surely, surely the man was just testing him. There was no way that ice harvesting was always so brutal, he wouldn't able to do it alone if that were the case.

Yet, the other man seemed perfectly at ease with the lack of sleep and harsh conditions. Hans hadn't caught him stretching or rubbing at sore muscles like he constantly was. It would explain why Kristoff's shoulders were as wide as Sven's. But it didn't explain why he chose to still harvest ice, because there was no possible way that anybody could ever enjoy the work that they had been doing.

"Let's get back at it!" Dammit if his voice didn't actually sound cheerful. Hans muttered a curse under his breath, pushing to his feet. Well, this would be the last trip he would make outside of the castle in a long time. He never should have accepted this one.

Except when he thought of that, he thought of Elsa's smug look as she told him that she didn't think he would do it. That she thought he wouldn't want to do that hard work. Memory of that look drove him to his feet and Hans nodded.

"Back to work."

"Born of cold and winter air and mountain rain combining, this icy force both foul and fair has a frozen heart worth mining."

It was about the third time Kristoff had sung the same song, but Hans didn't mind too much. It was a break from the monotony of the silence and helped him fight the sleep. Hands gripped around a rough rope as Hans gave a tug and called for Sven to pull. He was finally getting used to the motion of pulling ice from the lake. It had to be fast and efficient, and very strong. He then pushed them to Kristoff, who cut them into smaller blocks and stacked them into the sleigh.

Hans missed the snapping sound in the air as he tugged another block out. He was standing almost completely under it now, getting ready to lower it down.

"Whoa! Move!"

Before Hans could even respond to the shouted words, a hand on his arm yanked him to the side and the block of ice came crashing down. It shattered into several pieces, leaving a healthy dent in the ice below it. It would have crushed Hans had he still been standing under it. Kristoff yanked him, shocked and dazed, to his feet, holding him by the front of his shirt.

"You always check the rope!" The man shouted angrily. "Always check the rope before you start pulling, or it will get you killed. This place has no mercy and it doesn't care who you are or what you've done or who you've got waiting on you, it will kill you."

Hans' wide eyes were flicking back and forth from Kristoff's angry face, to the spot where he should have been lying dead. Well, that answered his question on whether or not Kristoff was trying to kill him.

"I didn't think.." He finally managed. Kristoff dropped his hand and Hans stumbled a few feet back, too tired to really catch himself.

"Not thinking here will get you killed. You've got a brain, use it. I don't make a habit of saving men that once broke my wife's heart." He stalked off, picking his ax back up and going back to splitting apart the blocks of ice still left out. Hans shakily returned to his own post, pulling out a new rope and checking over it carefully. Obviously Kristoff had seen some lost in his line of work. It was the way to explain his sudden and explosive anger about it. Hans wondered if it had been somebody close to him.

"So cut through the heart, cold and clear. Strike for love and strike for fear. There's beauty and there's danger here…"

It was early afternoon when Hans was finally allowed to sink into the thin cot in the corner of Kristoff's cabin. He was sure that under any other circumstances, he would have complained about the way he felt springs sticking into his side, or that the cloth over it was a scratchy wool. As it was, it felt like the softest thing he had ever lain on.

And seeing Kristoff settling on the floor to give him the cot was enough to keep his mouth shut of any complaints. The reindeer settled on the floor beside him and Kristoff pulled out a lute, starting to play on it lightly as he leaned back against a pile of hay.

"Reindeers are better than people. Sven, don't you think that's true?"

The start of the song drew a chuckle from Hans. Then Kristoff switched his Sven voice, something he was slowly getting used to.

"Not Anna or Elsa, even Hans sometimes, and especially not you."

Kristoff patted Sven's side briefly and Hans rolled his eyes.

"So we might have been wrong at one point...But I think it's safe to assume-"

"Hans can't be trusted, and we'll toss him in the ice once we've gotten our use."

Hans shifted to give him a dry, annoyed glance. Kristoff hooked a thumb to point at Sven, feigning an innocent look.

"He said it, not me. Sven, harsh turn there." Kristoff tsked and shook his head. Hans let his arm rest over his eyes to shut out the light, feeling himself start to drift.

"Fine then, let's call it a night."

"Goodnight."

"Don't let the frostbite, bite."

The song faded to silence and Hans was asleep within seconds.

No more than four hours later, Kristoff shook him awake. They started the process all over again, working out from the center of the lake and sending blocks of ice down the channel they had created the day before. Days blended together liked that, working through the nights with lanterns and into the morning. Sleep was short but heavy, and Hans slowly found himself changing. He had already been a well-built, strong man, but his shoulders still grew wider. The ice began getting lighter, and he wasn't so painfully sore all the time.

Conversations were rare and short, but he began to appreciate Kristoff's dry wit. Topics varied from weather, to ice, to the occasional serious topic. Hans spoke briefly about his family, his father's distance and his countless brothers.

"Family is never to be taken lightly." Kristoff snapped in reply. It caused Hans to look up in surprise, unused to that tone.

"Where is your family?" He found himself asking, suddenly realizing just how little he knew about the man he had been working with. Kristoff took a long moment to respond, ax swinging with a solid thunk and breaking apart the block of ice in front of him.

"Dead." He responded shortly. "Mother died in childbirth, father died out here somewhere. Told you, ice doesn't care if you've got someone waiting on you." He swung again and Hans turned back to his own work, taking that as the end of the conversation. He didn't know what to say to that anyway.

The next serious conversation broached had Hans as the uncomfortable one. They had been working in silence for several hours when Kristoff spoke up.

"So what's up with you and Elsa, anyway?"

Hans glanced over. "We're married?" He tried, unsure of what else to say. "Oh, and she also hates me. Understandably so.."

"Right. But that was kind of an interesting goodbye."

Hans turned sharply, leaving what he was doing. "What do you mean by that? We hardly said a goodbye." His eyes narrowed, wondering what exactly Kristoff had seen.

"Yeah, hardly said a goodbye…" He trailed off, giving Hans a pointed look.

Hans groaned, realizing that Kristoff and Anna must have come out of the courtyard before him and Elsa realized it. He pitied Elsa more, having to hear Anna go on about it.

"Anna didn't see anything. If that's what you're worried about." Kristoff said before Hans could ask anything.

"It was nothing." Hans snapped.

"Doesn't sound like nothing to me." Kristoff shrugged, continuing to try and break through the ice. Hans grunted, going back to his own section.

"What, are you some kind of expert on these things?" He asked, tone thick with sarcasm. Sure, Kristoff was the one of the two of them that actually had a successful marriage, but that was just pure luck. Anybody could get along with Anna.

"No." Kristoff answered again, looking a little more uncomfortable. "But I have friends that are."

"You have friends apart from Elsa and Anna? I find that hard to believe." From everything he had seen, Kristoff was a loner. He avoided people at all costs, went on about how awful most people were and how they would cheat you if they had a chance. That didn't sound like someone who had a big group of friends.

"Okay, I think it's time to go back to work."

The rest of the day passed in silence. They avoided more serious subjects after that, sticking to surface things.

Hans finally felt that he was getting his footing on the ice after three weeks of the work. He knew enough to keep ropes from fraying on the pulley, to hit the blocks right and keep them from shattering, to see sections of of fragile ice and steer clear of those spots.

He knew enough to recognize the sound of ice cracking, catch sight of cracked veins running through it, towards Kristoff off a few yards.

"Stay back!" The man shouted, throwing out a hand to warn Hans off. Hans inched forward, ignoring the warning. There were no clear signs of cracking under his feet, the ice was still too thick where he was at for that.

"Hans, move away." Kristoff ordered, arms spread out as he looked around. He didn't have the rope around his stomach as usual. Hans did, he didn't know how Kristoff had forgotten his.

"I'm a prince, you can't tell me what to do." He replied snarkily, still inching forward slowly. He wasn't too far away now, only a few feet more and he would be able to reach Kristoff. The other man took a cautious step towards him as well, and spiderwebs spread out from his feet.

"Hans, this is going to go at any minute. You need to back up. We can't both go in."

"No we can't." Hans agreed. He took the last step, reaching out and grabbing Kristoff by the arm, gathering up enough strength to throw him to the side. Kristoff skidded to a stop several yards away, just as the ice below Han's feet gave away.

"Hans!" Something sharp bit into his waist. Hans tried to convince his arms to move, but everything felt numb. His eyes turned up to the light above him, concentrating on that, even as everything started to go numb. He kicked weakly, feeling himself pull to the surface, where broken ice was scattered and crashing together.

"Hans!" He broke through the surface, gasping for air. Cold cut through him like a knife, and Hans scrabbled for a hand hold on the smooth piece of ice nearest to him. He dunked back below the water, slipping off. Something tugged insistently at his waist, yanking him up again.

"Don't you go under again!" Kristoff's harsh voice reminded Hans what was keeping him up. He still had a rope around his waist, keeping him from drifting back down and pulling him to solid ice. He reached the edge of ice still in tact with the rest, hefting himself up. It cracked again and he was dumped back into the water. Kristoff kept pulling. Hans tried again, finally managing to pull himself up onto the surface. He dragged himself forward, staying low until he reached a more solid spot, where he collapsed and shut his eyes.

"Oh no, you don't get to sleep yet." Kristoff slapped his cheeks, pulling him to his feet. Hans stumbled, but let the other man drag him to the edge of the lake and toss him into the snow.

"Strip down, pat yourself with the snow to dry off. I'll get dry clothes from the sleigh." He ordered, disappearing as soon as he spoke the order. Hans reluctantly peeled the wet clothes off of him, body wracked with shivers as the cold set in. He did as he was told, as insane as it sounded. But he couldn't actually get any colder, at least. A stack of clothes hit him in the head and he heard Kristoff shout,

"Put those one, I'm going to get a fire going."

Hans clumsily jerked the dry clothes on, fingers too numb to tighten the laces on his boots or fasten the buttons on his jacket. But he had clothes on, and that would have to be enough for the moment. He fell back into the snow, eyes shutting once more.

"Dammit, stop that!" Kristoff interrupted his nap again, pulling him to his feet and dragging him away. He dropped him in front of a small, crackling fire on the edge of the lake.

"You stay awake. I gotta get more firewood." Kristoff darted off again and Hans crawled as close to the fire as he dared, slowly stretching out his numb fingers towards it. He gasped with pain as the action sent burning pain up his arms, but kept them there anyway. Kristoff came back a few times, throwing more wood on the fire until it roared to a higher blaze and Hans was forced further back. He fought sleep as hard as he could, dimly watching as Kristoff hurried around, moving different things around. Finally, he came back, hauling Hans up and practically throwing him over his shoulder.

"Come on, time to go." He said, throwing him into the back of the sleigh. Instead of the ice that was normally there, there was a pile of blankets that he landed on. A few more were tossed overtop of him, then Kristoff disappeared again. With a loud, yah!, the sleigh rocked into motion. Hans tried and failed to keep his eyes open. He shivered under the blankets, still feeling the biting cold reach through them. Darkness came, black as the water he'd just been pulled from.

He was warm, when he woke again. The events of the day caught up with him in fragments, but Hans could remember throwing Kristoff out of the way, then falling into the ice himself. He remembered a fire, then riding in the sleigh. After that was blank. Hans pushed himself up, eyes adjusting to the darkness around him.

It wasn't Kristoff's cabin, like he had been expecting. Everything around him was dirt, and steam rose from the floor. Some light was let in from a tunnel that seemed to lead up, away from the small room he was in. He had to be in some underground room, as far as he could tell. Hans pushed unsteadily to his feet, taking a few precautionary steps forward. His legs seemed to work alright, though he was a bit wobbly.

He could hear voices outside, so Hans pushed towards them. He stepped out unnoticed at first, staring out and blinking to let his eyes adjust back to the light. Little stone people surrounded Kristoff, all of them talking at once. Was he still asleep, dreaming? Maybe hallucinating? He'd heard tales of such creatures, but never actually believed in them.

"Trolls…" Hans muttered quietly. He laughed in his own incredulity. "They're trolls." He repeated, still convinced that he was going crazy. Odd little squat people with big ears and noses, covered with moss clothing and shifting in and out of stone shapes. And almost all of them turned to look at him.

"You! You big bully!"

Hans looked down at his side where a...snowman? Was attempting to pummel him. His mouth gaped open, more certain than ever that he was losing his mind. Well, he flashed back to after he'd woken up the last time he'd been in Arendelle, before Anna punched him. He thought he remembered seeing a snowman standing beside Elsa, but he hadn't been sure. Of course he had actually battled one of her creations, but this little thing wasn't anything like the giant snow beast he had fought.

"Olaf, leave Hans alone." Kristoff walked up, pushing the snowman away.

"He left Anna to die!" Olaf protested, angrily straining around Kristoff.

"Yeah well, he also just save my life, so we're gonna give him a little slack alright?"

Hans was too busy trying to figure out the way it worked to defend himself, or to wonder why he had saved Kristoff in the first place. Olaf did calm down at that, though. But the snowman kept a wary eye on him, waddling a few paces away.

"Fine," He said, arms crossed. "But if he tries anything…"

Kristoff rolled his eyes, walking up beside Hans. "Everyone, this is Hans. Hans, this is...my family."

Hans cast a skeptical glance at Kristoff, but was cut off before he could say or ask anything. Trolls rolled over and surrounded him, stacking up on top of each other to get eye to eye with him.

"So this is Hans?"

"He's the one that tried to take the kingdom?"

"And left Anna alone?"

Hans took a step back, tripping over one of them behind him. Okay, things weren't going as well as he would have liked, and he hadn't even said anything to them yet. Of course he was still trying to get his head around the fact that there were trolls living in Arendelle and they were apparently Kristoff's family and they lived with a walking talking snowman. All of that together made Hans want to go back to sleep.

"Guys, give the man some space. He just nearly froze to death, can we try to act a little normal?" Kristoff broke in.

"Pick me up!" One of the smaller ones practically threw itself at Hans. He barely managed to catch it, nearly toppling forward with the sudden weight. They were a lot heavier than he expected.

"Me too!" Another little one jumped up and grabbed onto Hans' arm, making him sway to the side a bit.

"It's um..nice to meet you all." Hans got out, handing the rocks off to Kristoff who set them on the ground again. A tower of three trolls formed in front of him, the one on top leaning a little too close for comfort. Hans leaned back as far as he could without actually falling over.

"So what are you doing here, Prince Hans?" She asked. She didn't necessarily seem angry, just mainly inquisitive. Hans' mind went blank for a moment.

"Uh… I'm married to Elsa."

A collective chorus of gasps rippled through the crowd of trolls. Kristoff groaned, shaking his head. Every eye in the place was suddenly fixed on him.

"Is this the part where I run?" Hans whispered over to Kristoff. The other man just shrugged.

"There's no use."

"So first you try and marry Anna, and when that doesn't work, you come back for Elsa!" One of them shouted.

"Whoa whoa whoa," Hans held out his hands, ready to defend himself. "Look, she asked me-"

"He's still trying to take over Arendelle!"

"Hey, I didn't-"

"Are you going to try to kill Elsa again?"

"That's definitely not-"

"Did you threaten her to get her to marry you?"

"I wouldn't have to-"

There was a small tug on his pants, making Hans look down at one that was obviously still a child, looking up at him with inquisitive eyes.

"Did you marry her for true love?" He asked. The rest of them fell into silence, and Hans knelt down, smiling briefly.

"I married her so that the Southern Isles would make an alliance with Arendelle. Elsa won't ever love me." He admitted, finding that the words did sting a little.

"See guys? Hans has changed." Kristoff cut in briefly. The-trollwoman?- that had first spoken to Hans made a dismissive noise and waved her hand.

"People don't really change."

"Well that's not true." Hans blurted out the protest, trying to ignore the fact that he was literally arguing with a rock. She turned back to him and suddenly they were all staring at him again. Hans got the feeling that people didn't really contradict them often. He would definitely need something to back up his idea.

"Kristoff isn't a solitary mountain man who hates all people now, he likes Elsa and Anna. Elsa isn't locked up in her room constantly anymore, and her and Anna are friends again. Anna is, well Anna's pretty much the same. The point is, I've seen a lot of people change, so I know that it's not impossible." It wasn't his most winning argument, but it would have to do. The trollwoman took a few steps closer, hands on her hips as she eyed him.

"And have you changed, Prince Hans?" She challenged.

Hans paused, unsure of how to respond His mind flicked over recent events, wondering if they meant that he was changing. Yes, he regretted what he had done the first time he came to Arendelle. But was that just because he got caught or for deeper reasons? He didn't think he would try something like that again, but he wasn't sure if it was because he was better or just because he'd gotten smarter. Or maybe he just lacked the motivation, now.

"Do you think he would have taken a dunk in the ice to save my life if he hadn't changed?" Kristoff spoke up, butting into the conversation.

"Not like I could get down off this mountain with you dead." Hans crossed his arms and protested on instinct. He glanced back at the accusing face of the trollwoman and coughed uncomfortably. So he hadn't changed a lot. But maybe a little?

"I think I'm starting to…" He tried. That was apparently enough, because her face split into a smile and she held her arms out.

"Then welcome to the family!"

They stayed there for the day, and Hans slept a few more hours. He could have slept a week had Kristoff let him, but the man announced that they needed to go. He gave Hans the choice of whether or not they should go straight back to castle for him to recover, or return for their crop of ice. The second option added a day or two and meant that Hans would have to push his body even further and help load all of the ice they had harvested over the three and half weeks they had been by the frozen lake.

He wanted to choose the first. Every one of his muscles ached and he wanted nothing more than to sleep for at least two weeks and eat some good food again. Kristoff's cooking wasn't anything to boast about, if he ever actually cooked. Mainly it was hardtack and water, sometimes some watery coffee. Kristoff had actually pushed him harder than he had even been pushed working for his brothers back home, but he didn't feel quite so bitter about it. At least he had seen that the other man was working even harder than him.

For that, he had to pick the second option. It was only an hour or two back up to Kristoff's cabin, but that was enough to set the cold back into Hans' bones. He'd developed a cough already, as hard as he tried to hide it. His throat burned every time he tried to swallow and his head felt thick and heavy. But he kept it all to himself, refusing to be the reason they lost everything that they had killed themselves for three weeks to get. Forget the fact that the kingdom didn't actually need it and Elsa could actually create more than enough ice for Arendelle. But he was beginning to understand why Kristoff still insisted on working.

It was dark by the time they got back. Hans' limbs were stiff and heavy and he felt dizzy, but he followed Kristoff to work. First they got what was left from the lake, then took the short trip back to the cabin where the bulk of it was left. Hans helped with about half the load before Kristoff ordered him inside, saying that he was only getting in the way. Hans' protests died on his lips before they ever got out and he trudged back to the cabin.

He had to ride in the front on the way back to Arendelle. Sven was forced to go about half the speed, with such a large load on the back. Hans pulled as many blankets as he could over himself, trying to block out the cold mountain air. Kristoff was back to silence, his handkerchief pulled up over his mouth and his ancient hat pulled down. Hans was grateful for that, he wasn't up for much conversation.

He drifted in and out of consciousness the whole way, having strange dreams of ice monsters and small snowmen trying to destroy him, while Elsa paced in the distance, wringing her hands and pleading with him to watch after Anna. He wasn't really sure how much time had passed by the time Arendelle came into view, but he did notice that Kristoff had a growing look of worry on his face every time he looked over. He urged Sven on, shouting for the reindeer to go faster.

Hans shut his eyes again, still shivering even though the temperature was significantly warmer back in the valley that Arendelle rested in. He could feel them slow again when they pulled into the town. The sun had rose some time earlier, hanging high in the sky by the time they reached the castle. Kristoff called for the gates to be opened and Hans struggled up into a straighter position. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead, but he still felt cold.

"I think we'd better get you inside pretty quick." Kristoff said, hopping out of the sleigh. Hans climbed down a little more carefully, keeping a hand on the side of the sleigh to keep himself steady.

"I'm fine." He said, swaying a bit. "I just need to sleep. For a year."