These next three chapters AKA chapters fourteen through sixteen are based upon a different Frozen fanfiction than 'Worth Mining' originally by classicdisneyFTW. chapters fourteen through sixteen are based upon a one-shot Frozen fanfiction on this site by a different blogger who writes under the penname of ubermooo. ubermooo's Frozen one-shot which I have chosen to base chapters fourteen through sixteen upon was literally titled 'Fire and Ice' by its blogger. I simply chose to incorporate ubermooo's 'Fire and Ice' into my fanfiction and mesh it together with classicdisneyFTW's own work of fanfiction artistry which was titled 'Worth Mining'. classicdisneyFTW's title was like the title of my story here, only shorter and, in retrospect, easier to type up on the computer. this chapter is titled 'Fire and Ice: the First'. chapter fourteen titled 'Fire and Ice: The First' is one-thousand-two-hundred-ninety-nine words worth of pure storyline based upon ubermooo's own 'Frozen 2013' one-shot, 'Fire and Ice'.
disclamation I do not own Disney's Frozen in any way, shape, or form other than owning the film on Bluray and DVD. all rights for the movie's creation and production, however, are reserved solely for the good folks of Walt Disney Studios Company. I also confess to not even owning the storyline for my own fanfiction. as said above, all rights for these next three chapters' storylines deserve to be credited to another fanfiction blogger under the penname of ubermooo. I shall just distribute credit where credit is due, though. at least until I can come up with my own plotlines.
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 stride 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 up instead of descending down. 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 a full 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 can 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 just as soon as I sat down on the rocks along with her and offered her some of my 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 after finally eating even a bit of it.
"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, it could even be reindeer?" she suggested in mock horror.
"I'd prefer it to be wolf over that," I muttered, and she laughed again.
"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 part of this journey didn't go wrong for me, 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 I ran into on my journey to find my sister and end this winter, 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 there had been somebody else in the barn the prior 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 face than me? She probably would have just 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. Nothing to it, however, 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 about her, but that warm liquid look in her eyes makes me feel as though whatever good she did manage to see in me might have actually been good enough for her to have even as just a friend.