The morning sun shone bright. It illuminated a face with bluish-silver eyes staring in the direction of the sleeping family. It was almost 9:15 in the morning. Alex had a good night's sleep and felt much better than he had for the last few hours before he slept. Though he had slept at 2:00am, he had gotten enough sleep till 9:00am. He just looked at them smiling warmly. Anna and Elsa were sleeping between their parents. Anna kept her head on her father's chest while Elsa lay gently on her mother's arm. She was sleeping on her side, one of her arms on Anna's belly and the other wrapped in Iduna's. Kristoff leaned against Sven and Olaf leaned against Kristoff. They were all sleeping peacefully with the occasional snore from Anna and Agnarr. Alex had made sure daylight wouldn't interrupt the dreams they had by closing the curtains. Afterall, killing someone...anyone for the first time in one's life can virtually put one in so much guilt, that they can go crazy after a few hours. Though Anna and Elsa had valid reasons, it would still haunt them for the rest of their lives. As his experience went, when he had just begun, he had killed someone in defence. He had terrible dreams for the rest of the week, to the point that he was afraid to sleep. Overtime, it wore down, but the guilt never died.

After his parents died, an orphanage took him in. They didn't know anything about him as when they found him, he was just a year and a half old. They decided to call him 'Alex'. No one knew where he was from or when he was born or who his parents were. As a result, he himself had no idea of anything. He only remembered a distant blast and a blackout from the shockwave hitting him.

He devoted his life to fighting crime after remembering the fire engulfing the outstretched hand of the person who he believed to be his older sister. He remembered it in detail. The blistering popping hand getting skinned right infront of his eyes. It was horrible to even imagine the pain and more so to watch it happening. It was a memory burned in his mind. He closed his eyes to let it flow. He was going to make sure that nothing ever happened to the family infront of him. His family.

He didn't fight crime as a soldier as he had already had experienced being one for a king who didn't care for the crime that happened in his kingdom. The criminals were on the lose everywhere and there was no one there to stop them. The king never agreed to punish the criminals. He had resigned and taken it to himself to wipe the slates clean of all crime. He got a more experienced fighter and hunter in little time. He got to know how criminal minds worked and prepared himself against it. He had a few good learning curves and practiced on improving his skills daily. He was a popular guy in the underworlds. Those who messed around with him, regretted it badly. He never delved into criminal stuff himself, but was aware of the happenings around him. He was a mercenary, assassin and a fighter. And a good one at that too.

Sometimes, the killers were so bad, that they tortured their prey and left them there to die before he reached. It was always a bloody sight and most never made it back alive and the few who did, did not live long or happy lives. He had seen many men and women getting tricked like Anna had been by Hans, though not for an entire kingdom.

He opened his eyes to be greeted with the same snores and peaceful sleeping faces. He smiled and got off the bed. He got fresh, and dressed up. Wearing a black jacket on a red coloured shirt and black pants, he wore the belt of his staff diagonally across his shoulder. The staff protruded on his right side from behind his back. Easy to reach, won't trouble his wound from the day before. He silently made his bed and left the room. He needed reports from Mattias and Yelena.

He turned around the corner and almost walked into the running form of Rapunzel.

"Oh, hi!" She greeted him brightly.

"Hi." He smiled.

"Uhm...is Anna and Kristoff awake?" She asked.

"No...I don't think so. Why?"

"Nothing, just wanted to check on them if they were alright. You know, after what happened yesterday with your speech and no one saw them together after that." She laughed nervously.

He laughed.

"Oh they're both very much fine, you don't have to worry."

"Oookay. Where are you off to?" She asked suspiciously narrowing her eyes at him.

He realized she still hadn't let go of the rumor about him and Elsa being in love with each other. Well, the guy who spread the rumor was going to be disappointed. "I'm just off to meet Lieutenet Mattias."

She looked disappointed. "Okay then, I'll just go." She started off toward Elsa's room.

"Oh, Elsa's not there in her room. Maybe she's at the docks, who knows?" He tipped her off.

"Ok...that direction right?" She was still not being able to navigate her way around the castle.

"No. Take that way, two lefts and a right and go straight. That'll get you to the docks. Oh, and I recommend against going to Anna's room. It's their first night after the wedding you know." He smirked and winked at her making her blush.

"Hehe...right." She gulped as realization struck her.

The trip to Mattias's wasn't long. He weaved through the crowded streets up north toward the small house where Mattias stayed. He was an early riser so Alex wasn't sure if he'd find him there but it was worth a shot. He was almost there when he heard someone call out his name from behind. He turned to greet Mattias.

"Did you find them?" He asked eagerly.

Alex smiled. "They're sleeping right now. They've all had a pretty hard day."

Mattias closed his eyes and thanked heavens for seeing to it that they were safe. They started walking to the Northuldra camp.

"Did you find anything?" Alex asked him.

"Well, the sources are pretty official. The handwriting and styles of writings match the kings and queens who wrote them. We haven't got any hard evidence on anything yet. The rumors have been spread, and they're actually spreading like wildfires on a dried forest."

"Good. Who else knows about this?" Alex appreciated him for all the work he'd done.

"No one knows about anything that happened yesterday, so the rumors are pretty much baseless except for a few eyes who saw them in the eastern forest."

"Is Halima included in this 'no one'?" Alex asked testingly.

"Yes. Even she dosen't know." Mattias replied not minding the testing tone of Alex. He knew it was for the best.

Alex wasn't surprised. He knew Mattias would give his life to keep the word he gave. And that meant even keeping huge secrets from his wife.

"Did they say anything about why they didn't come back?" Mattias asked him.

"They did. But I'm sure that Agnarr will be more than happy to tell it all to you himself." Alex said.

Mattias beamed.

They had reached the camp.

Yelena was monitoring what everyone was doing with occasional helping around.

"Yelena." Mattias called out to the elder.

She turned around and smiled. She put Honeymaren in charge and walked over to them. They set down an isolated patch of the forest.

"How are they?" She asked.

"They're all asleep in Anna's room. They are both alright." Alex said wondering if she already knew that they had found them.

She caught his tone and elaborated. "I got it that you found them from your beaming faces."

This made them both smile bigger.

"So, did you find anything?" Alex asked her.

"Forest reports say that they haven't seen any movements in the Nightscalers. The spirits have been keeping an eye on them." Yelena told him.

Alex stayed quiet for a minute trying to connect the events together. Nothing was fitting together.

"Um...Alex? Do you have a plan?" Mattias asked.

Alex frowned. He did have a plan, but it was completely squashed yesterday with the entry of the unknown army.

"No. But like you said; someone is doing all of this for a purpose. And I can't quite place what that purpose is." Alex told them.

"Money?" Mattias hazarded a guess.

"No. It's not greed, nor is it revenge. If it was, the guy who put that page of Agnarr's diary in the cards might have had a chance to take his revenge and get rich at the same time. He pulled back. Why?" He asked out loud.

Yelena looked confused and incredulous. "Pulled back!? How much more worse could this situation have gotten!?"

Alex explained. "If the guy who put the note had access to Agnarr's diary somehow, and the stack of cards of the people who were not going to be able to come to the wedding, which was heavily guarded, we can assume that he had access enough to be able to capture Agnarr and Iduna and ask a ransom from Anna for them in exchange. And choosing between the fate of an entire kingdom and family is not a good experience."

They both had their eyes widened as they grasped the seriousness of the situation they could have been in. But the question remained. 'Why?'

"Yesterday, when we got there, we were caught in the middle of a battle..." Alex told them. "...Agnarr and Iduna were fighting on one side. Elsa revealed her powers at a point, and so the fighting stopped due to shock. There were approximately 200 people on each side, and they weren't holding back from digging their swords into each other. We got the fact that they were the Glitharis, but they were divided among themselves. When they started getting a little bit agressive, I called Gale to get us and Agnarr and Iduna out of there. But suddenly, they were getting slaughtered by bolts fired from modified crossbows. Each bolt was tearing through the vertebral column and all, and still had enough momentum to dig into another person in the line of fire."

"No way! The bolts should have broken if they hit the spine. Even swords break!" Mattias exclaimed.

"Unless they're made of this." Alex pulled out a sharp object from his pocket. It looked like a shortened arrow, with no feathers on the back. The wood of the shafts was unbending, and unbreakable with bare hands. The tip was made out of hardened steel and the tail was also made heavy with steel so that it wouldn't rotate mid-air due to balance difference. It was even heavier than an entire arrow, and much heavier than a standard bolt.

Mattias gaped as he held the bolt. "It's a Steelwood Arrow."

"It's a bolt." Yelena observed.

Mattias explained. "It's called an arrow. I know it's not one, but it's just as lethal as a full sized arrow. There's no way an entire army can afford that. How big was that army?" He asked Alex.

"Well, considering that they could slaughter 400 people in less than 30 seconds, I'd say that they were a pretty huge army." Alex said grimly.

"FOUR HUNDRED PEOPLE IN THIRTY SECONDS!" Yelena was more than shocked though she kept her voice at a high intensity whisper.

"You mean they're all dead? All of the remaining Glitharians!?" Mattias was no less astonished than that of Yelena.

"Yes." Alex replied to both of them.

Yelena slapped her hand over her mouth. She looked nauseous. Mattias looked concerned both, for her as well as the kingdom.

"Alex. This is a big threat. For everyone...especially the Northuldra." Mattias was horrified.

"Elsa's walls will be able to hold against the barrage of these arrows. I'm more worried about the spirits. They don't like violence, but that's not going to stop this unknown army from trying. I don't know what their next plan is, but maybe Agnarr and Iduna might be able to fill us on something." Alex hoped.

They both nodded.

"I'll meet you at one in the afternoon in the conference halls. I think we all have a few things to discuss." Alex told them.

"Okay." They both agreed.

When he got back, and was just going to his room diagonal to Anna's, he heard Agnarr yell out loud. He was alarmed and rushed into the room.

They were all sitting up, awake wide-eyed looking at Agnarr who sat there holding a carrot and a hand to the side of his face. The room was cold, as ice had spread everywhere along the walls.

Elsa was the first to snicker.

Apparently, Olaf had sneezed in his sleep and his carrot nose shot out and hit Agnarr square in the face. It had happened quite a few times before and Elsa had the experience of being hit by that carrot in the stomach once. Though not when she was asleep...thankfully. It was unpleasant and painful to say the least.

They all started laughing as they realised what had happened. Agnarr joined in too.

"Olaf! You're not an alarm clock!" Anna groaned as she rubbed her tiny nose where the carrot had fallen after bouncing off Agnarr's face.

This just made everyone including Olaf laugh harder.

Elsa swept her arm once and all the ice disappeared making the summer shine again.

Sven knocked off Olaf's head with his antlers, annoyed.

It flew toward the door and Alex caught it raising his eyebrows at everything that had happened.

"Oh hey Alex. I see you're up early." Olaf greeted.

"I'm an early riser." He told him, fitting his head back on his body.

Elsa looked at him suspiciously.

"And, I got a full night's sleep this time so don't worry." Alex told her quickly.

She relaxed.

"What time is it?" Anna wondered

"It's 11:30 right now." Alex told her.

"ELEVEN THIRTY!" Anna repeated disbelievingly. "Oh no! The guests, the kingdom, and then there's enemies and stuff we have to do...!" Anna was ranting on and everyone else was looking confused.

"H...hey...Anna!" Alex grabbed her attention.

She looked at him stopping mid-sentence.

"Relax." He said half laughing. "The kingdom's not gonna fall in ruins if you just oversleep for a day!"

She saw a point. "Hmm...it isn't? Well...then, I'll just..." And she fell back on her pillow...or at least what she thought was her pillow.

Elsa knew her so well, that she had already made it snow on the pillow before her head flopped in it.

"YIKES!" Anna yelled as her head went directly inside a mound of cold snow and she sat up looking reproachfully at Elsa.

Kristoff was rolling on the floor with laughter while Elsa and Iduna got stitches in their sides. Agnarr and Alex were amused.

Anna narrowed her eyes at them and got up to get ready shooting a glance at Kristoff which immediately made him stop laughing. Technically, she could still take his sled back.

Anna chuckled shaking her head. "Well, I guess we'd better get ready. We still have a lot of stuff to do."

Agnarr and Iduna hesitated.

"What?" Anna asked them.

"Well, we can't really get out can we? I mean if the castle staff sees us, it will be a catastrophe." Agnarr said.

"I'm pretty sure Kai, Olina and Gerda will be more than happy to see you..." Alex told them. "...Besides, there are a lot more pressing matters than that at hand. We need to discuss those too. The castle staff needs to know of your return. They'll be able to keep this a small secret for a little while, won't they?"

"Uhm...how're we gonna do that?" Elsa asked.

"Well, I guess a pleasant surprise visit should do." Alex grinned.

"Sir, why are you leading us to her majesty's room?" Olina asked Alex nervously. Kai and Gerda looked for an answer on his face but it just remained smiling and secretive.

"We have a surprise for you." Alex thought it best to warn them that it's going to be a surprise though he knew it was going to be a huge shock for them.

They should all be dressed up by now.

He knocked 4 times on the door to Anna's room. It opened to reveal a brightly dressed Anna. Her dress complimented her smile which stretched from one ear to the other. Alex gave room to the three to enter and went in after them. Anna quickly closed the door incase one of them screamed. And one did.

The room filled up with an ear-splitting scream as Olina saw Agnarr and Iduna standing nervously a few feet away.

They both jumped, shocked by the sudden outburst from their favourite chef.

Elsa rushed over to calm Olina down.

Olina slapped a hand over her mouth and started hyperventilating as Elsa reached her.

Kai had his eyes turned to saucers and Gerda looked like she was going to faint.

"Y...you...what?" Kai blinked trying to process the information. "So...the rumors were true!" He didn't know to laugh or cry so he did both.

It invited a teary happy hug between all the five people. Olina straight away sobbed with joy in Iduna's arms and Kai and Gerda embraced Agnarr.

After a while, they broke apart, still teary. Kai was trembling slightly.

"I...I...don't know what to say." Gerda was speechless.

Iduna smiled at them warmly. "You don't have to say anything. It's we who have something to say." She looked at Agnarr for a second who nodded. She turned to look at them.

They gave her their rapt attention.

"Kai, Gerda, Olina...I have no idea how to thank you for taking care of them." Iduna gestured to Anna and Elsa who beamed.

The trio glowed with faces brighter than the blazing sun.

"It's the greatest honour ma'am." Kai responded.

They smiled. The honour was theirs.

The trio never asked why they had stayed away for so long. They knew it wasn't their place to ask and Agnarr and Iduna were not keen on telling them either. The less the people knew, the better for them as well as Anna and Elsa.

"Well...They were quite happy to see us, but I'm not sure about their initial reactions." Agnarr said after the three had departed from the room.

"We should have probably given them more time." Kristoff thought out loud.

"Time, is not something we have enough left to spare Kristoff." Alex said grimly.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly turned to that of tensed compared to the light happy one.

"I think we have some things to figure out first." He said looking towards Agnarr and Iduna.

Iduna went tense and Agnarr gave him a calculating look.

"But, before that, there are two people who would really like to meet you both in the conference room." Alex told them.

They relaxed and the atmosphere was restored to a light happy mood.

"Yes! Come on!" Anna grabbed their hands and dragged them out of the room while they told her in vain to slow down.

Elsa saw what Alex did there. She raised an eyebrow at him as he passed by with Olaf trailing him. He HAD to get them into the conference room, did he!? Nevertheless, she followed them. He can get a little too pushy sometimes, but as her past experiences went, it was always for the best. And not to mention the fact that he always gave her time to catch up to the stuff that she had missed in such situations after it had been handled. She'll get time with her parents later. Probably in just a few hours time; but first was the safety of the kingdom.

Anna still holding their hands was dragging them at a pace that they could barely keep up with. They came to a 'T' shaped part of the castle. Anna had to go straight, but she missed a confused voice coming toward them from her right side. She realised her mistake a little too late.

"Blondie, this is a huge castle, we're never going to find where anything is kept without asking anyone." Eugene was saying.

"Okay, but there's no one aroun...Oh, wait ANNA!" She called out loud to the woman Infront of her who stopped abruptly and slid a little as if she had been running before.

At the angle of the bend, she was unable to see the people behind her, but she quickly went over to her friend.

"Oh thank goodness; we're a little lost, can you hel...p...us?" Her last words were completely lost when she saw and registered the people behind her who looked just as surprised as she looked.

Her eyes widened and she gaped as she looked at Agnarr and Iduna.

There was a loud crash as the delicately made glass object fell out of Eugene's limp hands and Pascal who was on it jumped onto Cassandra's sword hilt. Cassandra was frozen solid in her place.

All Anna could think of, was, 'Oops!'