A/N: These next three chapters are based on another Frozen fanfiction I had favorited in the beginning. It's called, you guessed it, 'Fire and Ice' and it was by a writer under the penname of 'ubermooo'. I divided the plotline from that story up into three chapters. three chapters that I wasn't gonna even send to my document manager until I was finished with all three of them.

disclamation: I don't own Frozen at all. the rights of such are reserved solely for Disney Animation Studios.

The further we got down the mountain, the more Anna stumbled over things that did not actually seem to be there. She followed right behind me, fitting her strid into mine so that she could use my footprints as stepping stones. Even though I took smaller and smaller strides, it just continued to get more and more difficult for her by the minute.

She had no trouble keeping up with me on the way up the mountain, yet here she was breathing heavily and taking uneven, labored steps as if we were climbing instead of descending. I would have gotten her on Sven to ride him, but he and Olaf had gotten so far ahead of us, completely unaware of our slowing pace. I was about to flag them down to suggest that we take a break when I heard a whooshing crunch along with a burst of giddy laughter.

When I turned around, Anna was two feet away from the trail I made for her buried to her hips in snow. "Whoa, hang on there!" I called out to her. I quickly retraced my steps, got to her and pulled her back onto the trail.

She winced, clutching onto her chest. "Thank you," she said to me, giggling breathily. She also bore a strained smile on her face.

"Come over here and rest for a bit," I told her.

Anna pointed ahead of the two of us. "But, what about Olaf and_" she began to ask.

"Let them go," I told her swiftly, shrugging. "Sven knows the way and he take Olaf there, himself." I found some rocks protruding from a rock wall just uphill from us and made sure she sat down on one of them. Then, I pulled out my canteen and some jerky from inside of my coat and offered her some food and water from both.

Her blue eyes sharpened in alarm. "No, Kristoff," she protested. "I'm fine. That's all you have."

"There's more where we're headed," I assured her. "Eat."

"Only if you eat, too," she conceded. With a sidelong glance, she took the jerky from me, bit off a chunk of it and handed it back to me. She watched me sternly without so much as chewing until I followed suit. "What is this stuff, anyway?" she asked me.

"Well, judging by the flavor, the texture, and the seasonings… I'd have to say," I sniffed the jerky then held it out, scrutinizing it theatrically. "That I have got absolutely no idea whatsoever."

Even through her fatigue, Anna could still find the strength to laugh out loud. With her voice echoing musically off of the snowy canyon beneath us, I could not help but smile a little… just a little.

"Elk? Venison? Bear?" I guessed three times in a row. "Who knows what it is, really?" I finally conceded.

"Maybe Reindeer?" she suggested in mock horror.

A/N: that sounds awful.

"I'd prefer it to be wolf over that," I muttered, and she laughed again.

A/N: I'm sure you would.

"So do I," she stated, responding to my metaphorical shout out to the wolf attack we endured at the beginning of our journey. "Well, it's pretty good, whatever it is," she said. I handed her another strip of it so that she could take another bite.

"You're just saying that because we haven't eaten a single thing since breakfast," I grumbled at her, not completely believing what she just told me.

She lowered her eyes and her smile faded. "Yeah… sorry about that," she apologized. "I really could've planned this journey a lot better than I did. I'm so sorry for dragging you into this."

For several moments, we chewed the jerky in silence as I searched for something to say to make Anna feel any better about it all. I wanted to say that I did not mind being chased by hungry wolves and enchanted snowbeasts, but there were three perfectly good reasons as to why I could never say such things in this life.

Reason number one; it would have been a total lie. Reason number two; it would have come off as a stupid and exceedingly lame thing to say in response. Reason number three; it would have been so cheesy if I were to say that her company would have been enough to make the wilderness a lot more enjoyable because that was far too true for my comfort at that moment.

I was clearly way out of my element with human interaction in addition to being completely out of practice with such a thing. In the end of it all, I just settled for staring into the snow and shrugging like an idiot.

"This whole adventure was a terrible idea," she sighed miserably, one of her gloved hands pressing unconsciously at her sternum again, the other supporting her head as it sunk sullenly to droop over her lap once again. I saw a few more of her fiery strands of hair glimmer as they turned white from root to tip. I swallowed uneasily.

"I had absolutely no idea what I was even doing, never mind what I was getting myself into," she continued on. "I just blazed out here like I could solve it all in a couple of hours. I didn't think even once about anything that could go wrong. Then, it all did go wrong." She reached for the canteen and sipped it elegantly. Then, she paused for a bit as though she were thinking about something. "Well, I guess I could've gotten help from someone who was just awful. That didn't go wrong, at least."

She lowered the canteen into her lap, then turned and raised her head to face me. I was startled enough by her veering train of thought to look directly back at her. Her eyes gave an insistent and serious look to me. "I'm so grateful that it was you, Kristoff," she said simply, extending her hand to rest on my shoulder. "I'd probably be dead if it weren't." I cowered under her unabashed sincerity and mumbled something incomprehensible about my civic duty. "No," she insisted. "Thank you."

At that very moment, I began to wonder who else might have helped Anna out here, if anyone at all. What would have happened to her had I skipped the trading post and been somebody else in the barn that night? I just know she would have trusted them with as much blind determination as she did me. Or worse, what would have happened to her in the absence of a lousier jerk than me? She probably would have gone to the North Mountain all alone, is what she would have done. I shuddered at the very ideas of such things happening to her.

If I were smart, I would have averted my eyes at that very moment. But, nothing to it because I found myself trapped within her gaze and could suddenly see what her prince must; beautiful, vivacious, impulsive, so eager to love and to be loved, naïve, trusting, and determined to see the absolute best in everyone she meets, even me. It was strange to say this, but that warm liquid look in her eyes makes me feel as though whatever good she did see in me might actually be good enough.