Late update, I know, sorry just been busy a lot.

P.S; This is the longest chapter I've ever written…

Chapter Eleven

After their make out session, both went on a really long walk around town, talking and sharing their own stories, Elsa enjoyed every moment of their walk. Whereas Connor felt a bit anxious, not due to fear of an attack but due to the looks the people gave him watching him talk to Elsa in such an informal way. He never was the person to open up to someone, Elsa was the first one he'd told about his powers and shared his past with, of course he was considering about telling Anna and Kristoff since they were practically his friends and they were open to him but he was still a bit afraid of what they might think of him, although Anna did know about his past with the Outcast.

Looking at his pocket watch he noticed how much quickly time had passed, their walk had took them until midnight to complete. They both hurried back to the Castle before the guards decided to search out for the Queen. Stepping inside of the Castle she let out sighs of relief and quickly got lost in her thoughts, Connor ignored for a while but he couldn't resist asking what was going on with her.

"Oh, nothing, just thinking of something..." she answered to his question, which was a lie. He quickly caught this.

"You're lying" he stated, "You are too easy to read Elsa"

"It's... the Council Members want me to marry a Prince Andrew and when I told them that I am dating you, they kind of told the King about it and he got a bit mad... and now he's sending his son here at the Christmas Ball to impress me"

He didn't know how to answer to that, the best he could give was an "Oh"

"Hey, I won't break up with you. The guys a jerk, even bigger than Hans. I promise what ever he does I won't leave you"

"...and I'm guessing after that the whole town will know about us being together"

"You say it like it's a bad thing"

"Sorry, your majesty. And I shall be looking forward on meeting this Prince Andrew and tell highly about your kissing skills" he said in his best regal voice making Elsa laugh. The laugh he never grew tired of hearing.

"Okay, you've had your fun" he said as he gently pushed her down the hall towards her room, "Now, if I may be excused. I have a bed that is desperately waiting for me to lie on top of him"

"Wait..." she closed her eyes thinking about what she was about to say, "Today was one of the best days I ever had. I always feel safe around you and... and I was wondering if you could stay in my room for the night? Nothing has to happen, I just want you near me..."

"Of course" he replied and headed into her room, "Only I need to change"

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The next day doesn't start out with Elsa or Connor, but it starts with an impatient Anna. Anna had always been forward with Elsa's love interests and always forced her to not turn away suitors after spending a few hours with them. But now she was finally content that Elsa had finally found someone she loved.

The previous day had been extremely long for her since there was no one around, Elsa and Connor were on their date and Kristoff was on his ice gathering trip and Olaf... well he disappeared entirely. Almost the entire day she kept waiting for Elsa and Kristoff to return — which he did, but was too tired to spend time with her, and went back to his room and without a notice went into slumber — so Anna waited for Elsa to return, but the wait had sent her to sleep right before midnight.

She woke up right at the egress of dawn, which for her was new as she always woke up about fifteen minutes before breakfast. Yawning heavily she sat up on her bed, and viciously rubbed her eyes to clear her vision. Following her daily routine she took a bath and searched for a dress to wear — which for her was the biggest challenge of the day — "Nope. Too red. Too blue. Too white. Too revealing. Too tight. Too dressy..." she continued her search. After that was another half hour of braiding her hair.

The Castle at that time was entirely dead, there were no servants, no noises, only a few guards patrolled the Castle in case someone tried to attack. Whilst strolling the hall she came near Elsa's room. Normally she wouldn't disturb her but today she thought of taking a little revenge on her sister. And that was to scare her, which she had done about twenty times, and each time she would either scream in her ear or by yanking her legs.

She silently opened the door and silently walked towards her bed only to find her sound asleep with her boyfriend. She laid there close to him as it was physically possible, her head resting on his chest, one arm wrapped around his torso and her leg propped halfway over his leg. Anna had to cover her mouth to suppress her laughter, Elsa cuddling with her boyfriend, that was one sight Anna thought she was never going to see.

Silently she crept out of the room and let out a squeal so loud that only dogs might have heard her. Not knowing what to do, she ran towards Kristoff's room and decided to scare him instead of Elsa. Unlike Elsa, Kristoff was a much light sleeper, just as Anna entered into his room he woke up. "Aww..." Anna complained disappointed. "What is it fiesty pa-" before he could react Anna threw a light punch at his arm. "What was that for?" he complained.

"That was for leaving me bored the entire day. Now quick get up, I have to show you something" she grabbed his arm and pulled it in order to make him stand up, but he didn't move an inch. "What?" he said, still groggy.

"Elsa and Connor are sleeping together...". Kristoff's eyes flew open and gave her a look which clearly meant 'No way!'

"Come on...before... they... wake... MOVE ALREADY!" she still didn't stop pulling his arm until he finally got up from the bed. Anna yanked him out of his room and ran towards Elsa's room. Silently they both entered and as soon as Kristoff saw them both cuddling he almost burst into laughter. They both went out and ran back to Kristoff's room.

"Do you think she'll be mad when she finds out we saw her?" Kristoff said as they both entered his room.

"That's why she is not going to find out" Anna commanded, pointing a finger at him. "Why would I ever tell her that? Like I want to get into trouble" he retorted.

Back in Elsa's room Connor woke up startled due to his fresh nightmare. It was a different sort of nightmare, not one where he was reminded of what monster he was, but in this he was reminded of a family picnic he had. To others this might be a good dream but to him it was a nightmare. Any dream where he would see his parents would be a nightmare for him, because it would always remind him of his past, one which he was desperately trying to escape but was failing. Snapping back to reality, he felt something cold around him. He looked around and saw that it wasn't his room and next to him — or practically on him — laid Elsa

He simply stayed there, not moving a muscle just looking at her. She looked so peaceful and he didn't want to wake her up. So he just waited for her to wake up.

After thirty minutes or so Elsa finally woke up. For the first time in her life she slept this peacefully. "Hey, you're up" Connor spoke, "I thought I'd die here waiting"

"You were waiting for me to wake up?"

"What can I say, you looked so peaceful. I didn't want to..."

"Sorry..." she sat up on the bed, "How was your sleep?"

"It was good" he lied, it was partly good and partly bad. Bad due to his pleasing nightmare, which he wasn't going to tell Elsa about, "How was yours?"

"It was one of the best sleep I ever had" she leaned in for a kiss, which turned out to be multiple kisses.

After their brief make-out session Connor got up from the bed and headed towards the door. "I'll let you get ready" he said. Elsa only smiled at him.

"Oh and... mind brushing the jungle on your head" he added right before he headed outside. She looked into the mirror and saw her hair entirely messed up. It almost looked like Anna's hair after she would wake up. "Jungle..." she said as she got up.

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Breakfast was practically the same. The only new thing this time around was the huge grins on both Anna and Kristoff's faces. Elsa and Connor ignored them in the beginning and Kristoff's grin faded whereas Anna's only got bigger. Elsa knew something was off today, she was expecting Anna to continuously ask her about her date but she was just sitting there grinning. Connor decided not to ask her, since that grin always meant trouble. After breakfast it was time for Elsa to head to the throne room and listen to people's troubles, only this time she forced Connor to come with her.

In the throne room, Connor stood about a few inches away from where Elsa was sitting. The hour went on and on with people complaining about the winter and how it was affecting their lives, commanding her to stop the winter — After Elsa had thawed Arendele, most of the people believed that she could stop the winter at any time. Her reply would be the same that she can only stop winters caused by her and not by nature — and of course there were suitors. Each day she would be greeted by a number of suitors who would wish to court her, only to be denied by her. Today was the same. There were five suitors, three left disappointed after Elsa told that she was in love with some one else, but out of the remaining two, one was stubborn and the other was, well, extremely stubborn. The less stubborn one was dismissed quickly but the extremely stubborn suitor wasn't planning on leaving. "I can offer you all the jewellery you could wish for" he said. "How many times do I have to say, No" Elsa spoke tired of the argument. "But your Majesty, just think, any type of jewellery you could wish for"

This went on for about fifteen minutes. Elsa, being the Queen, couldn't kick him out as it would send a bad image of her to the people. Finally growing tired of the on going argument Connor decided to intervene. "The Queen is not an object that you can buy with jewellery. She is a human being, and if she says No, then that means no. And a word of advice, if you speak another word, I swear I will cut off your tongue" he said in a heavy voice whilst drawing his dagger near his mouth. The suitor whimpered and ran out.

"God Damn it, that was annoying... can I set his pants on fire?" he said turning towards Elsa.

"Thank you" she said, "And no, you can't set his pants on fire"

"Fine..." he said disappointed, "Just his hair?"

"No"

"Pants?"

"No"

"Anything?"

"NO"

"Okaaaaaay"

The next and final person came. He was an old man in his sixties, and had a worried look on his face. He complained that a few weeks ago, bandits had attacked his house and taken all of his valuables, but to make matters worse they also kidnapped his daughter. He pleaded Elsa to send some guards in order to save her, but Connor volunteered to go alone instead. Saying that "More guards means less chances of the daughters survival" and also that the guards wouldn't know how to attack the bandits, "Never attack them head on. Always surprise them, that way they won't know what's coming at them" he added.

Elsa, however did protest, saying that he wasn't in his best condition to go out and fight bandits all alone. But at the end, she had to agree, "Take Kristoff with you. He'll help you navigate through the forest" she said.

"Fiiiiiiiine. And I promise I'll be back before dawn" he said. Before heading out, Connor took a few weapons from the armory. He was quite surprised to find that almost all of the weapons were crafted extremely carefully. The swords were sharp, light weighed, and balanced. The daggers were small but sharp too. And also a few crossbows and flintlock pistols and muskets were there, but he didn't take them. He preferred using his bow than a crossbow or a pistol.

He armed himself with a sleek and sharp sword, two daggers and a few throwing knives, as well as his bow and new arrows. Before he headed out he went to say goodbye to Elsa, who gave him a slap, hug and a few kisses. Outside the Castle Kristoff and the old man waited for him to come. "Man, I thought I'd die here" Kristoff commented as he saw him come.

The trio settled on Sven's sled and rode off into the mountains. The journey to their took them way beyond than Kristoff or Connor had even went. This part of the forest was more dense and dark, there were thick bushes every two or three feet apart, fungus covered most of the trees and there was deep silence. The perfect place for bandits to hide.

Almost about seven hours of riding through the forest they had finally reached their destination. "Whew, never been to this part before" Kristoff added.

"Yeah. Definitely, I wouldn't wanna be here either" Connor remarked.

Not far from them was a cave, where the man said the bandits were hiding. From outside the cave looked abandoned, but that was something he knew better of.

'Lesson number one, if you are planning to hide, always hide somewhere where your enemy might least expect it — that means even under a bed, in the closet, the bathroom, behind the curtains, any place where you enemy might least expect you to be.'

That was true, if the bandits were hiding anywhere in the forest, it would be inside the cave. "Kris, take Will back to village. I'll meet you there... hopefully" Connor said to him. Kristoff immediately interposed, "Hell no, I'm not going to let you fight them alone. You're not even a hundred precent"

"I can take them all" he argued.

"No. One against, I don't know how many but there are bound to be a dozen of them"

There was no point in arguing. Kristoff would only be an obstruct, he didn't know how to fight, he would die in there. "I'll be fine... you don't know how to fight Kris, you'll die in there. And the last thing I wanna do is get killed by Anna... so please"

Kristoff thought for a moment, but he had no other choice. "Alright. You win. I'll be at the village"

"Oh and don't wait for me. Head back to the Castle after nightfall."

"Gotcha" he spoke and then rode off with Will.

'Lesson number two, always and always look for traps. Because if your target is expecting you he will do anything he can to stop you, and that even means setting traps, luring you into a dead end or even playing mind games with you. Never underestimate them, always think one step ahead of them.'

Traps. There had to be traps, if the bandits were as dangerous as they sounded, they would set traps. He looked around, took each step with caution and even lit his hand on fire to see better. To his sight, he saw no traps set. Maybe the bandits weren't as dangerous or intelligent as they sounded or maybe the lessons Amicus gave were a bunch of rubbish. Still he couldn't underestimate them.

He stepped inside the cave, distinguished his fire, and headed on. He walked for about ten minutes or so, and the entrance still kept going. The cave seemed like a never ending one. But then, almost out of nowhere, he heard a group of people chatting, laughing and even the screams of the girl. He rushed forward.

They cave was enormous, no wonder they chose this as their hideout. It not only gave the expression that it was abandoned from the outside, but the extremely long entrance route was sure to set people out. Their cave, however, had two floors. One was where Connor was right now and the other was another floor located about thirty feet below. On which they were having a party of sorts.

Quick enemy analysis; Sixteen bandits in sight. Seven of them wielding swords, and wearing light steel armor. Two brutes, wielding boarding axes and no armor. Three extremely drunk. Three agiles, who wielded short blades and daggers. And one, who must be the leader, was enjoying the girl.

He had a slight advantage over them, the element of surprise. Now all he had to think of was his strategy. Attacking head on was a death wish, but it was the only option. He cursed his ego, Elsa wanted to send a few guards with him but he declined, and now he had to face them all alone.

He came out of his hiding place, took his bow out and aimed an arrow at the brutes. It was a great distance for the arrow to cover and he hoped that it worked. He pulled the string back, readied his aim and let go.

A direct hit, the arrow impaled the brutes chest, and before the second could react he also got impaled by it. They both laid on the ground, holding on to whatever life they had left in them. To his surprise, not one bandit saw them. He quickly aimed another arrow and shot it at the leader, only this time it hit his leg and the bandits went on full alert. He ran to the below floor, he didn't know why he ran into the hornets nest, but at that time his brain had went full automatic.

The first three men were taken care of easily, before they knew it he had slit their throats. The remaining weren't going down so easily. Two of the sword-wielding bandits came at him, they were slightly drunk giving him an advantage over them. The first one decided to strike at his left arm and while the second aimed at his sword arm. He quickly reacted by countering the first one's strike and throwing him towards the second. Next came the agiles, who didn't waste any time in throwing knives at him. One of them impaled his right arm, causing the sword to fall out of his hand.

'No other way to end this' he thought.

Like said before, his brain was in full automatic and he didn't know why he did it but he just did.

While the bandits surrounded him, he concentrated on his flames, slowly his hand went ablaze and he wasted no time in firing a fireball at the ground. The bandits backed away in fear. "Devil..." one of them commented. Most of them dropped their weapons and ran out of the cave in fear, now only five of them remained. Three bandits who were drunk were busy fighting their buddies, so they were considered out of action by him.

Now only two were remaining for him to deal with. One was the leader, who had got his leg impaled by him and the other was another sword wielder. "This doesn't need to end in bloodshed..." Connor spoke to him.

"You killed our brothers... and now you will pay for it" he growled and ran towards him. He first strike was aimed directly at his shoulder. Connor had no sword to defend himself with, only daggers. He unsheathe his daggers and managed to stop the attack, but the force of his strike made him lose his balance. The daggers fell out of his hand and now he was entirely defenseless... but still had his powers.

Before the bandits second strike hit him a shield of flame formed in front of him and sent the bandit flying away. He was knocked out cold. He fired another shot at the three drunk bandits sending them out cold. Now his attention was diverted to the leader. He sat there moaning in pain. "What do you want?" he spoke in a broken voice.

In a quick flash, Connor felt his entire body heating up intensly. He didn't understand what was happening to him, he felt immense pain in his head, arms, legs, every part of his body. He grunted as he fell to the floor. Slowly his entire body began to cover itself with fire, every inch of his body, covered with fire.

For Connor this was nothing more than strange. He had this experience before but at that time he lost complete control over himself, and now he had control over himself and his powers. The leader whimpered in fear, Connor looked at him with his eyes that were ablaze, "Now listen to me" his voice sounded like three men talking at the same time, "You will never, harm, or steal from people again..."

The leader couldn't stand the sight and immediately went out cold.

Connor concentrated on his powers to revert back to his original form, his human form. But at that time nothing was happening, he wasn't turning back to his human form. He concentrated again, this time harder and felt his flames die a bit, slowly his body reverted back to his human form. "Whew... how the hell did I do that?" he asked himself in astonishment.

His clothes however were burned, and at that moment, something completely new happened to him. Flames automatically wrapped around his body and formed a new robe on him. Much similar to what Elsa could do. He was quite astonished at what just transpired, his new robe was completely black with red trails at the bottom.

He headed towards the girl who backed away in fear, "Hey, I'm here to help..." he said, "I won't hurt you"

"How did you do that?" she asked, stepping forward.

"Just think of me like the Queen, she has ice power, I have fire. But you cannot tell this to anybody, uh..."

"Caroline"

"I suppose we should get you back to your father. He was quite worried about you" he said, as they both went out of the cave. Connor felt the fresh air enter into his lungs and also the cold. "Do you know the way?" he asked her.

"Yes, just west of here. About two hours on fo-"

"THERE!" they both heard someone shout not too far from them. He noticed a number of men running towards them, "Look. I need you to make a run for it. I'll try to keep them at bay. Now RUN!" he commanded her. She ran away.

There were about twelve bandits this time. Each one of them surrounded him, ignoring Caroline as she ran away. "I'll give you one last chance, leave now or I'll give you the worst burns you ever had..."

The group laughed in unison. They didn't know about his power. Yet.

He concentrated on his flame. But this time nothing happened. He continued for a few seconds but this time luck was not on his side. "There seems to be a bit of problem..." he nervously spoke, and before any of them could react he ran away. The bandits chased him, but lucky for him they weren't fast enough to keep up with him. He soon lost them, but now matters were even worse, he had absolutely no idea where he was.

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Kristoff waited in the village, pacing back and forth in the snow filled land. He had a bad feeling about leaving him alone, but he had no other choice. It was almost nightfall and there was still no sign of them, the old man — Will — was worried even more for his daughter's safety and even tried to go back to the cave to look for her, but Kristoff managed to hold him

Caroline ran as fast as she could to run away from the bandits, she didn't stop at all and after three hours of running continuously she finally managed to reach the village in safety. Her father saw her and immediately ran and gave her a tight hug. The entire village gathered around them happily watching them and called for a celebration. All of them headed towards the tavern while Will and Caroline headed to Kristoff.

Hearing the cheers form the villagers Kristoff finally breathed easily knowing that now he could finally return to the Castle. He headed outside but found no trace of Connor, only saw Will with his daughter. He ran towards them hoping to find news that Connor had left or anything to ensure him that he was alive.

"Where's Connor?" Kristoff asked Will.

"I don't know… I didn't see him come… Caroline where is the man who saved you?" Will asked in concern.

"Dad, when we got out of the cave there was an ambush waiting for us, he lured the bandits to him so I could escape…" hearing this Kristoff mentally slapped himself, how could he be so stupid to let a single man face an entire gang of bandits, "But there's more. Dad he's just like the Queen, in the cave I saw him shoot fire from his hands and even cover himself in fire. That's how he managed to save me… that was supernatural…"

Both Kristoff and Will weren't understanding what she had just said. Shooting fire from his hands and even covering himself in fire, it couldn't be real, "Are you sure?" Kristoff managed to speak.

"Y-yes, I saw him with my own eyes…"

"I'm going to look for him, and if he comes back tell him that I am going to personally kill him…" he said and without waiting for their reply he rode off back into the forest to look for him.

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"I came from here and headed there, wait, did I come from here?" Connor spoke to himself. He was confused, or rather he was going insane. This part of the forest was a complete maze, every turn took him somewhere new. "Please let it be this way…" he treaded down a hill in hopes of finding some civilization. Halfway down he lost his footing and fell the entire way down, lucky for him the snow broke his landing.

"I hate myself…"

He slowly got up from the snowy ground, dusting snow from his new fire made robe. He continued his way forward in search of finding another fellow human who could possibly show him the way, but his search was still in vain, he continued walking.

Back at the cave Kristoff began his own search to find him, he saw no signs of the bandits or Connor. "Sven, pick anything?" he asked the reindeer, which gave a small grunt and shook his head in disappointment. He still surveyed the entire area in hopes of Sven catching his scent but there was no sign of him there. Defeated, he had only one choice, to head back to the Castle hoping that he was there.

Connor still didn't give up, he still continued his search in hopes to find the village, or any village. He had been continuously walking for five hours and now he was at his most vulnerable, he didn't have any energy left in him to fight or to use his powers, and to add up more troubles the cold was getting worse and worse each second. But just as he was about to give up, his hopes were renewed. Not far from him, he saw a hut. For a moment he thought he was hallucinating, besides could he not be, he was fatigued, frustrated and scared, scared that he might not see Elsa ever again.

Being back alone in the forest reminded him of his past life, every day of his life would be spent like this in total isolation, because he was afraid of himself, thinking that if would ever come near someone he would end up hurting them, his life was no better than Elsa's.

He hesitated before knocking, somehow whenever he would stumble upon a hermit's hut he would always be reminded of Hansel and Gretel. The door opened and in front of him a large man of about seven feet tall approached to him. The hermit wore a mask that covered his face, and a really large poncho that extended to his feet. He used his stick to support him in walking.

"Yes?" he spoke in an old and clear voice.

"I was wonder-"

"Wondering if I could tell you how to reach Arendele?"

Connor was shocked hearing the hermit speak his mind, but also became more alert. "Come in, come in… I see we have a fellow fire wielder…"

"How did yo-"

"How do I know of your powers?"

"Ye-"

"I know a lot of things, I know everything about you…"

Now Connor was regretting his decision to enter the hut, he could've just run away when he had the chance. "Who ar-"

"Who am I?"

"Okay for the love of-"

"Stop finishing your sentences?"

"Yes. Stop it's annoying…" he waited for the hermit to finish his sentence but the hermit didn't speak, "Thank you"

"Look, I just want to know how I get to Arendele, that's it"

"Is that really all you want to know? Not of your powers? Of your past? Of your mistakes? Your fear?"

"Who are you?"

"Sit down, I will tell you all…"

Cautiously Connor sat down opposite to the hermit, "You run from your past, am I correct?"

"Yes…"

"No, you are wrong. You choose not to run from your past"

"Talk sense, man" Connor demanded. The hermit gave a small and dry laugh.

"You are given opportunity to run from past, leave behind everything you did and start a new fresh life, but you choose not to"

"How do I choose not to?"

"Because you are afraid, afraid that if you open up your past people might exile you again. You are afraid of yourself, afraid that one day you might hurt people you love, afraid that you might turn into the same monster you were before. You are afraid of yourself"

"…yes I am, I'm afraid of myself. I'm afraid that if Elsa ever gets too close to me I'll end up hurting her. Don't you see, I'm a monster and nothing you or anybody can do will change it, I've been cursed" Connor almost yelled at him, the hermit remained in calm.

"You see, every human that lives on this planet has a sole purpose. Some are born leaders, some are born kings, some are warriors, some are kind, generous, strong, afraid, alone, scared, but they all have one thing in common. They all make mistakes, and the way I see it, the mistakes we make allow us to become stronger and better. It is way of life"

"Some mistakes cannot be forgiven!"

"That you think. But all mistakes can be forgiven, we are humans after all, weak and pathetic, we are made to make mistakes. Heed my words, your past was not the brightest, it was filled with sorrow, death and loss, but that doesn't shape your future. You can still change everything, you just need to open up…"

"Who are you?"

"I am nothing but you imagination, all of this, is inside your head. The answers to your questions, they are hidden inside your mind, you just need to find a way to unlock them…"

"But how?"

"That, my friend, is up to you to find out"

The hermit slowly started to dissipate, his words were like a cluster inside of his head. Nothing but your imagination, what did he mean by that? Was he dead? Or just gone insane? He didn't know what was going on, but there was only one thing on his mind, Elsa.

Sorry if you didn't like this chapter, it was difficult to write (clearly because my vocab sucks) but I gave it my best shot. Still am a bit cautious of how to write chapters. Anyways I will try to write the next chapter as soon as possible.