A/N: Hehehe, I like this chapter, so this is a fun update.

Last we heard from our intrepid princess, she and her ice harvester were off to find a mysterious man, Alvar. For those of you who asked, Alvar isn't a reference to anyone. Strictly an OC.

This chapter features that journey and its struggles, but our dear princess isn't the only one struggling.

Yes, Elsa is back. Obvs, given the nature of her situation, she won't have much to say, but darn it, I can't write a Frozen story without Elsa! You understand, I'm sure.

Plus a memory that some of you may remember from my other fic, Those Little Moments In Between. Kudos if you catch what chapter it's from.

Anywho, chapter aside. Next few updates may be wacky...will keep up the good fight though. Love the reviews, please share your thoughts.

Chapter 4

Elsa slowly, painstakingly opened her weary eyes, only to immediately brace against a maelstrom of intense heat.

Hot…it's too hot.

A low groan escaped her parched lips, one pale hand pressed to her head as it throbbed in a dull sensation. It felt like an anvil had been dropped on her cranium.

"W-Where am I?"

Aching muscles protested against the movement, but Elsa brought herself to sit upright, her vision blurring in and out of focus. What glimpses she could catch of her surroundings felt wholly unreliable, as if she were viewing her world through a dizzying kaleidoscope.

Wherever she was, she needed to go back home.

Because home…home was cold.

And this was far too hot.

Hands fumbled awkwardly before her as Elsa tried to feel out her location. The intricately graved metal armrests of her courtroom throne greeted her.

"Huh, I am home." She marveled, taking in the familiar, forever unbearably uncomfortable ache of her chair. "But if I'm home, then why is it so hot?"

She looked up, her vision clearing for the first time in minutes so that she could look upon the -

"FIRE!" She yelped, leaning back into her throne.

Somehow, she'd ended up in her throne room…but the chamber was up in flames, and she was trapped inside.

"HELP!" She called, but there was not a voice in response. "Help, please, the flames…"

But no one came crashing through the doors to save her.

It seemed she was on her own.

Elsa watched as the flames danced ever closer to her, thick curly smoke rising into the air as the room burned around her. The sight felt like something straight out of her nightmares, ones where she'd be burned alive for possessing her powers of ice and snow.

Her eyes widened dramatically. She smacked her forehead. "Ice and snow!"

She dug deep into her soul, searching for the magic she'd been born with. One hand came forward in anticipation as she readied herself to spew a blast of ice at the fire.

But she couldn't feel anything.

Elsa opened her eyes, her curious look drifting to her fingertips. There had been no familiar tingling of magic as it flowed from her soul into her hands, no gentle chill that accompanied any use of her powers.

Whatever unconscious link existed between her corporeal form and her mystical nature was gone.

In fact, it was almost as if she'd never had magic at all.

Saturday afternoon (somewhere in the Black Mountains)

"So…" Anna spoke, breaking the long silence that had existed since their departure from the valley, "Have you ever heard about this Alvar?"

Kristoff shook his head, surprised that Anna was willing to talk. "Grand Pabbie knows a lot of things…and people. But I've never heard about this guy."

Anna turned away, intrigued by the answer. "Do you really think he can help?"

"If Grand Pabbie said so, I think he can." He turned to Anna with a sigh, "We just have to convince him."

Anna nodded absently. She didn't quite know just what calamity had befallen Alvar to turn him away from his purpose, but whatever it was, how was she supposed to help him?

I can hardly help myself sometimes…

"What do you think happened to him? You know, to make him a recluse that lives in a treacherous forest."

Kristoff shrugged, "Something magical, probably. Must have been a big deal if he came to hide in this place. People usually come to the mountains to be left alone."

Anna couldn't help but crack a smile at his words. "You've said that before, you know."

He returned a cheeky grin, "Only cause it's true."

Indeed, it was. But whatever the reason for Alvar's self-imposed exile, Anna couldn't help but think about the ground-breaking potential his presence held.

Anna had once had a conversation, now several months old, with her sister about other magical beings. The words Elsa had said stuck with Anna ever since, because it seemed her sister had spent much of her life looking for other people with powers.

Other people like her.

((()))

Anna could feel her heart ache dully in her chest as she watched Elsa struggle to articulate her thoughts.

I think I'm the only person in the world with such powers, Anna. I've sent correspondences worldwide, following vague leads and whispered rumors…but the rumors were always unfounded. They were always just bedtime stories meant to scare children into obedience…tales about big, scary monsters…."

"Like me…" was the unspoken line that hung over the silent chamber. Anna bristled at the notion that Elsa would still consider herself a monster. But then, her sister continued.

"I don't know why I exist, or why I'm the only person to exist this way….I-I just don't understand."

The thought of Elsa spending years looking for someone like her broke her heart more than she could express in words. Her sister deserved answers, she deserved to find someone like her.

"I'll help."

Elsa looked back, "What?"

Anna straightened up, resolve clear in her shining teal eyes. "You've looked on your own for years, but I'll help you, Elsie. We'll find some answers together…I promise."

Elsa returned a small smile, "I appreciate the concern but-"

"Please, Elsie?" Anna cut in. "Now that I know how much this means to you, I want to help. Don't worry, I'll be careful, I promise."

((()))

Elsa had turned it down, making it clear that she no longer wanted to embark on such grand adventures and potentially sacrifice whatever relationship the sisters now had. And though that was a sentiment Anna could get behind, she also couldn't help but feel for Elsa.

Her sister had grown up thinking she was alone in her specialness. That no one else could understand her struggles.

But if the man – Alvar- was a magical being, then Elsa had a kindred spirit. Someone to confide her fears in, someone to help her understand her purpose and her full potential.

The thought brought with it a ray of hope and a newfound determination to find this Alvar, no matter where he was hiding.

Saturday evening (Arendelle)

Gerda pressed a cold cloth to the queen's forehead, but rather than cool her temperature, the cloth itself became unbearably warm, so much so that the poor woman had to cast it aside before it scorched her hand.

She exchanged a quick glance with one of the chamber maids, "Get me some colder water, Mary. This is far too warm."

The woman hurried off, leaving Gerda to turn to her charge with increasing worry.

The princess had set off to the Black Mountains to find a cure for her sister, but it seemed the situation had exacerbated exponentially in the few hours since the queen's return to Arendelle.

It was almost as if being here was somehow worsening her condition…

Gerda reached for a fresh cloth and pressed it to Elsa's forehead once more, a desperate plea on her lips. "Please dear, whatever this is, you must fight it. I know you can."

She heaved a shaky breath as she remembered the young, bright-eyed child she'd practically raised.

Visions drifted across her mind… of a bouncy three-year-old whose delicate hands she had grasped as the royal family waited for the arrival of a new princess, of a shivering eight-year-old who'd woken up screaming in the middle of the night as she relived the trauma of nearly killing her sister over and over again, of a terrified twelve-year-old who'd shied away from all contact, shunning even her own mother and the handmaiden that had bathed her for years. Of a freshly twenty-one-year-old woman, soon to be crowned queen, pacing her study like a caged animal and releasing snow flurries in her ever-growing panic.

The memories brought with them a swell of anger at the Almighty for letting things get this far. How fair was it that after all that turmoil, all that sacrifice and heartache and struggle, just when the sisters had found some semblance of happiness, they had to contend with this?

But deep down, she held onto hope, because her young charge was stronger than these challenges. She had seen that first-hand.

For that matter, both the sisters were unbelievably strong, and each willing to die for the other without a moment's hesitation.

And as Gerda had watched the sisters be born and grow up and fall apart and then join together again, she had realized that Elsa and Anna were two sides of the same coin.

One simply could not exist without the other.

And as Elsa lay before her, ashy pale and barely breathing, Gerda worried for the princess who was risking it all…only to potentially lose it all.

"Fight for Anna," Gerda whispered fiercely, "Fight for her just as she is surely fighting for you, and I promise you, you two will find your way to each other once more."

She placed the cold cloth on Elsa's forehead once more but missed the brief flicker of ashy gray eyelids that indicated her words had been heard.

Saturday night (back in the Black Mountains)

It was well after evening when Kristoff suggested hesitantly that they stop for the night.

When Anna turned to him, her eyes wide with disbelief, he sighed, "Sven can't keep up the pace anymore, Anna, and we're pretty close. We can afford to rest for the night."

The conflict was clear in her teal eyes. "But-"

"We can leave early at dawn and we'll still make it back to Arendelle with plenty of time to spare, I promise."

There was nothing but the huffy pants from a clearly exhausted reindeer to punctuate the tense silence as Anna glared at her boyfriend. Kristoff struggled to maintain eye contact, but he could no longer ignore his buddy's exhaustion, even if it meant a slight delay in getting help for Elsa.

To his utter relief, Anna broke first. "Fine… I suppose you're right."

As soon as the couple dismounted, Sven promptly collapsed onto the ground and fell asleep. Kristoff stooped down beside him, a soft smile on his lips, "You did good, boy. You deserve to take a break."

Anna began to set up camp, rummaging through the many supplies they'd packed for their initial weekend retreat.

As she looked at their stock of food – and the many treats she'd brought along in anticipation of their retreat – she found her thoughts drifting to Elsa.

Just one night ago the sisters had been laughing and sharing their excitement for their trip…and now…

What a difference a day makes.

Kristoff watched Anna unpack their supplies with a knowing, sympathetic expression on his face.

Since their brief conversation several hours ago, the normally rambling princess hadn't said a word, but then again, the ice harvester had expected nothing less.

Not when Elsa's life hung in the balance.

He reached over to grasp her hand, wrapping it in his big warm ones as he repeated, "She'll be okay, Anna."

The redhead responded with a slow nod before looking up to meet his gaze. "You really think so?"

"I know so." The mountain man pulled her into a hug. "Because I know you'll do anything to help her. She couldn't be in better hands."

When the princess stiffened in his arms, he pulled back, but her stormy teal eyes no longer met his. "Anna?"

She sighed and turned away to collect her belongings. "It's nothing."

But Kristoff knew her far too well to fall for that lie. "Anna…I know that face."

"What face?"

"That face." He replied, pointing to the crease in her forehead and the tense set of her jaw. "Something's wrong."

Anna just shrugged and turned away, but the ice harvester pressed on. "Aren't you the one who said concealing your emotions was a bad thing?"

Kristoff was sure that the icy glare he received from Anna would have made her Snow Queen sister proud, but he held his ground. "Anna…I'm here for you, but you have to be willing to let me in."

The glare narrowed as Anna drew closer. Just as the mountain man wondered if perhaps he should have left his girlfriend well enough alone, he heard her whimper and wipe at her eyes in response, and his heart broke all over again.

"I just…" Anna looked down, unable to meet his gaze as she asked, "What if Alvar doesn't want to help?"

Kristoff sighed. It was a fear he hadn't dared to voice out loud. "Grand Pabbie warned us he wouldn't be willing to, but if there's anyone out there who can change his mind, I'm sure you can, feisty pants."

To his surprise, the princess grimaced, "That's a lot of faith you're putting in me."

"Because I know you, Anna." He responded without hesitation, one hand gently caressing her cheek as he nudged her to look at him, "I know there's no one more dedicated to Elsa than you. And I know you'll do everything to help her…or anyone for that matter."

But is that enough?

"I know it is." He replied with a smile, startling Anna from her thoughts. "You have the courage to try, no matter how hard something is, and that's what will save Elsa now."

The princess smiled at the sentiment. She'd heard something similar from her sister once and couldn't help but wonder if the two had discussed this before.

"Thanks Kristoff," she whispered as she leaned against him. A fragrant wave of sunflowers and lavender reached his nose, sending him into a gentle lull of serenity.

If only the fate of the kingdom wasn't on our shoulders…

"I'm glad I could help." He leaned down to kiss her, his arms wrapping around her waist and tugging her just a little bit closer so that that their lips –

Grrr…

Anna's eyes widened. "Is that…?"

GRRROWL!

The ice harvester spun around, only to find a red, beady eyed creature emerging from the bushes, all seven feet of the hairy mass towering over the couple.

Kristoff cursed under his breath. He'd forgotten just how many animals prowled around the Black Mountains and he was paying for that ignorance now. A quick glance told him that his ice pick was too far away for him to grab in time.

And leaving Anna in the path of the creature was a non-starter.

"Hey, you!" He began instead, moving away from Anna and to her left as he tried to attract the bear's attention.

The bear tilted his head curiously, a frown settling on his features.

"Yeah, you! You big lug!" Kristoff continued, much to Anna's horror, "You want a piece of me?"

"Kristoff! What are you-"

"Don't worry! Just go, Anna!"

Teal eyes grew to the size of tea saucers. "Absolutely not!"

Unforunately, the shout attracted the beast's attention. It began to turn its head towards Anna.

Kristoff only yelled louder, "HEY FUZZBUCKET!"

The bear looked back at him curiously before taking another step closer, not yet sure if the man posed a threat.

Kristoff made the mistake of taking a step forward. Intimidated by the advance, the bear let out a gigantic roar, the vibrations bouncing off the nearby trees and causing a tremor beneath their feet.

A shiver trembled down Kristoff's spine. He stumbled back, but the hesitation was enough for the bear to step closer. With the big lump of fur blocking his view, Kristoff couldn't tell where Anna was. Hopefully somewhere safe.

"Anna, get out of here!"

Anna made to respond but -

"ROARR!" The bear took another step, crunching branches under its gigantic paw.

The mountain man scrambled behind him for a weapon, picking up a big branch and brandishing it in front of the animal. The gesture only angered the bear more. It took another step closer.

"Stay back!" He warned, swishing the branch pathetically before him, "I've got a branch and I'm not afraid to use it."

When the beast made another move towards him, he jumped up and prodded the beast with his branch, hoping to the gods above that the distraction would allow Anna to make her escape.

"ROAR!" The bear raised one heavily clawed paw and swiped the annoying branch away with a swift gesture, leaving the ice harvester more woefully unarmed than before.

An increasingly nervous Kristoff took another step back, one wary eye focused on the creature while he kept the other on Anna. But there was no more ground to cover and soon, the ice harvester found his back against a large boulder, and an increasingly irate bear before him.

This is it. This is how I die.

"Kristoff!" Anna watched with growing horror as the bear cornered her boyfriend. She couldn't just stand by and watch the bear attack him.

Think, Anna! What can you do?

A cursory glance around her spot revealed nothing but food. Food and…chocolate.

"Hey!"

Kristoff startled at the sound of Anna's voice, surprised that she hadn't made her escape. To his ever-growing horror, he found his girlfriend waving her arms to attract the bear's attention, a bar of chocolate in her hands. "Hey, bear, over here!"

"Anna!"

Anna stepped closer, brandishing the bar in her hand like a flag. "Over here, you big beast! I got some num nums for you!"

The bear cocked his head curiously, as if deciphering her words.

As a token of good will, Anna threw the bar before the animal. Got to earn its trust.

It sniffed the wrapping curiously, pawing at the food and then waiting, as if the thing would jump up and attack it. And then. to Kristoff's utter bewilderment, the bear ate it whole, wrapper and all.

It was with bated breath that the two watched the animal closely before exchanging nervous looks, but when the bear looked back at Anna with a miserable whimper, she replied in what she hoped was an authoritative voice, "There's more where that came from, but you have to leave him alone, got it?"

The bear turned to look at Kristoff, its red eyes narrowing as it studied the ice harvester…

Her hands came to rest on her hips as she frowned at the creature. "Leave him alone."

What could only be a sigh escaped the bear before it returned to all fours. Kristoff scrambled up from his corner of the rock, eyes cast wearily on the creature as he took a much-needed breath of relief.

"Good boy," Anna marveled at how easily the bear obeyed her before picking up another bar of chocolate. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist the chocolate."

As she watched the creature scarf down the rest of their sweet treats with relish, she smiled knowingly, "I know I can't."

Once the bear had had its fill, it looked to Anna.

"That's it, buddy. We're out. You're gonna have to find some other person to terrify twenty ways to hell."

Not that anyone else would be crazy enough to wander around this absolute jungle. Elsa so owes me a vacation when this is all over.

The bear tilted its head curiously, the makings of a pout on its furry features, and then it turned and lumbered back into the bushes, leaving them alone.

And awestruck.

"You-you…" Kristoff spluttered as he rose from the ground, "You saved me!"

Anna smirked, "And that's news to you?"

But the ice harvester could only shake his head and emit a surprised laugh, "I-I…wow, Anna…are you really going to tell me you still doubt yourself?"

"Huh?"

He pointed to the bushes, "You just sent a bear off after feeding it bars of chocolate, and it worked! I never would have guessed to try something like that…but you did."

When Anna shrugged the compliment off, he went up to her and grasped her forearms with a look of utter sincerity, "Your quick thinking saved my life, Anna. After everything that just happened, can you honestly say you don't have what it takes to save Elsa?"

As Anna looked into his eyes, she remembered Grand Pabbie's words.

I believe you will be successful in your journey, but you must also believe in yourself.

And she had been successful at something, hadn't she?

"No…" She replied in a soft whisper, "I don't think I can."

When Kristoff gave her a proud smirk, she poked him in the chest. "But don't make this whole 'putting yourself in mortal danger' thing a habit just to teach me valuable life lessons, because I do not want to relive that moment again."

In fact, the more she thought about it, the more Anna could feel her emotions swing wildly towards outrage.

"You know, for someone who claims to know the mountains like the back of his hand, that was the stupidest, most insane thing I've ever seen! I'm saying that! ME! Princess Jumps-off-cliffs-and-asks-questions-later! And don't think I'm just going to forgive you, you know, for scaring me out of ten years growth…in fact, I don't think I'll even talk to you again!"

Much to his amusement, she huffed and crossed her arms. "Yeah, that's right, I won't talk to you again and if you think you can just weasel your way out of this with some sort of romantic, sweet little gesture that'll make me weak in the knees or something, just know that I-"

Her next words were swallowed as Kristoff leaned in to give her the kiss that had been so rudely interrupted before.

When Anna moaned into the kiss, a smug Kristoff pulled back, much to her annoyance.

"Hey, what was that for?!"

He raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said you wouldn't fall for whatever sweet, romantic gesture I come up with."

She glared at him. One minute passed, then two.

"I'm still mad at you, you know." She finally mumbled under her breath.

He gave her a languid smile. "I know."

"I'm not talking to you until you apologize for putting your life in danger like that and giving me a heart attack."

"Okay. I'm sorry for putting my life in danger like that and giving you a heart attack."

The glare deepened. "I hate you."

His smile widened. "I know."

Crickets sounded faintly from the trees.

"I'm just glad you're okay." She cupped his cheek. "I love you."

"I know. I love you too." He smiled softly and kissed her again.