A/N - Save for the moment when Elsa enters the caboose at the start and when the North Pole comes into view at the end, this chapter is mostly created from scratch and serves to develop three of our four main passengers some more before we get lost in Santa's workshop. Hope you like it. :)

Also, huge shoutout to this story's two followers: The Whip and Frozen789. You guys are awesome!

Elsa pulled the brown sliding door on the other side of the swinging door to the caboose open, stepped in, and closed it. She sighed in relief for the peace and quiet that came with the caboose. She walked down the middle of it between the sideways seats that faced away from the walls. Ten lamps, five on each side between every second chair, lit up the general area while some thin tube lights in the ceiling kept the upper area illuminated.

"What are you doing here?" Asked Honeymarren.

"I came here for the peace and quiet. I've had more excitement this past hour than I've had all year." Said Elsa.

"Well, it's only gonna come back once we get to the North Pole."

"I know, but for now I just wanna rest. Now my question is, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I really really don't want him to be alone."

Elsa looked at the seats. Kristoff was nowhere to be found.

"Do you even know where he is?"

"No, but he wasn't with everyone else. Worst case scenario, he's the one that fell off the train."

"I highly doubt that."

The back door that led to the patio steadily moved back and forth on its hinges. Elsa recognized the gray-blue color that appeared. She moved forward and fully opened the door. Kristoff was on the patio, leaning on the guard rails. Elsa slowly stepped outside as the train went straight through a barren desert of ice that stretched for countless miles on either side of the tracks.

"Hey."

Kristoff turned to his left as Elsa joined him in resting against the guard rails on his left side.

"Oh, it's just you. What do you want?"

"Same thing as you."

"To put some old doubts to rest and not have to deal with a lot of people while doing so?"

"In a way. Ever since last Christmas when my sister got most of the things I wanted, I doubted Santa's existence. I thought to myself: "If he can get anyone anything they want, why did Anna get most of the things on my list?" It kinda hurt."

"If your lists were similar that year, that would probably explain it."

"They were, but I was counting on him to be able to deliver for both of us. But maybe I was naughtier last year than I remember, 'cause it didn't happen. And I was so upset that I believed in him less and less in the months that followed. This is the first year that I didn't sit on any Department Store Santa's lap, and I didn't bother writing a letter. I made Anna put out the milk and cookies while I went to bed at 7. In the past, I'd be up until midnight, if not a little later, waiting for him. My father thinks it's the end of the magic of Christmas for me. I think that clipboard is right, my Christmas Spirit is at an all-time low."

"Mm-hm. So, knowing all that, I'm just curious, what made you get on the train?"

"Part of me wants the magic of Christmas to come back to me. When I saw this train, I almost didn't get on, just like you. But the chance of going to the North Pole and seeing Santa in person is what convinced me. I think that if anything can get my Christmas spirit back up, it's that. Now, what about you? Why did you get a last-second change of mind?"

"I don't know, there's not much to tell. I'm just a single child that lives in the outskirts of Grand Rapids, the poorest area in the entire state. My past Christmases have been nothing special for as long as I can remember. I'd do what everyone else does at this time of year, but no matter what we did or how well we did it in the days leading up to it, Christmas has never worked out for me and my family."

"How so?"

"Maybe our house is so far out that it's always missed. Even as I started writing shorter and shorter lists to try to lower my expectations, we'd be lucky if there was only one present under the tree."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. We've developed a pretty decent habit of using what we got to make the most of Christmases. It's not ideal, but it has brought us pretty darn close if I do say so myself."

"Interesting, but you didn't say why you decided to get on the train."

"I wanna find out why we've been so neglected by him. Is there something wrong with us? Are we not important enough when compared to everyone else in the world? And, how can we make it right? I wanna meet him and see if I can improve our situation while also getting some answers."

"I see. Honeymarren, what about you? Since this strain seems to be full of people low on Christmas spirit, what's your story?"

Honeymarren stepped onto the patio with them, leaning on the guard rails to Kristoff's right.

"Well, my story is a little cumulative, 'cause this is my fifth time on the train."

"Fifth? I was under the assumption that this is a one-time thing."

"What makes you think that?" Asked Kristoff.

"The passenger car closest to the engine is full of pictures of past passengers. I didn't see the same person twice." Answered Elsa.

"But did you look at the years beneath their pictures, or find mine?" Asked Honeymarren.

"Not really, I was kinda preoccupied trying to get away from any more excitement."

"Well, considering that we're on a train going over the polar ice caps, I don't think it's gonna stay away." Said Kristoff.

"Anyway, plenty of kids have been on this train multiple times, not just me." Said Honeymarren.

"Why does one person need to come here multiple times?" Asked Elsa.

"It's one thing to restore one's Christmas spirit, but keeping it maintained is another. Only when one's spirit is fully maintained do they no longer need to come on the train to restore it."

"What about your past trips? Remember them?"

"My first year, four years ago, I fell asleep before we got to the North Pole, and I didn't wake up until it was time to return to my house. My second year, the year after that, the train came back, and I fell asleep right as we entered the North Pole. Third year, I managed to stay awake, but I got too cold and went back into the car before Santa came out. My fourth year, last year, I came prepared. I drank the hot chocolate to help keep me awake, and I wore these exact same pajamas since they help against the cold big time. I finally saw him."

"What's he like?" Asked Kristoff.

"He's pretty much the way the stories and movies depict him. Big, white hair, wears red-"

"No, no, no, no, no. I mean, what's he like as a person?"

"I don't know, every kid only got to meet him for a few seconds. From what I remember when it was my turn, he seemed pretty nice, but is pretty serious about us improving our Christmas spirit."

"Mine will go through the roof if I can convince him to make this next Christmas different from all the others."

"Mine's probably gonna be maintained, I wouldn't bet on me having to get on this train again next year. What about you, Elsa?"

"Me? My Christmas spirit will get better once I can safely believe in Santa. And it sounds like once we reach the North Pole, I'll be able to."

Suddenly, bright lights flashed before their eyes.

"Look!" Said Honeymarren as orange, green, blue, and purple Aurora Borealis appeared and danced like wind-blown curtains in the sky.

"The Northern Lights!" Said Elsa.

"I never thought I'd see them this close, let alone so many." Said Kristoff.

Elsa then started shivering as the temperature dropped a full ten degrees.

"Are you alright?" Asked Honeymarren.

"Yeah, just a little cold." Answered Elsa.

"Hey! You three! We just crossed it!" Said The Conductor as he entered the caboose and approached them. "Latitude 66 degrees, 33 minutes, the Arctic Circle."

"No wonder it feels colder." Said Elsa.

"And do you see those lights in the distance?"

The four went toward the left side of the patio and looked at a collection of bright yellow lights in the middle of the vast ice.

"They look like the lights of a strange ocean liner sailing on a frozen sea? There...

is the North Pole."

The tracks then turned, and the train started moving straight toward the North Pole. Elsa gasped and turned to Honeymarren.

"I see it. And I believe it!"