Chapter Seven - The North Mountain

Within the next fifteen minutes, Aaron and Krista were speeding off into the mountains, Sven pulling the sled, their destination; the North Mountain. Two lanterns swung at either side of the wooden contraption, lighting their way, and Aaron struggled to stay steady as the speed of the sled raced past the rocky cliffside.

"Hold on, we like to go fast." Krista called over the noise of the friction.

"I don't like fast!" Aaron exclaimed as he gripped the sled with his arms and legs.

"Woah woah, get your shoes down. This is fresh lacker, I just polished it! Seriously, were you raised in a barn?" Krista batted Aaron away as she wiped down the wood with her glove… then her spit.

Aaron cringed. "Nope, I was raised in a castle…" he said, wiping bits of spittle off his face. He managed to steady himself in the seat and the two rode on, until Krista finally sparked up a conversation.

"So," She began, "What made the King go crazy?" she said with a snicker.

Aaron felt the guilt wash over him again. "Hey, he's not crazy. And besides, it was my fault. I got engaged, but, he freaked out because I had only just met her, you know, that day, and-"

"Hold on..." Krista interjected, shifting to hold the reigns with one hand so she could face him, "You got engaged to someone you only met that day?"

"Yeah. Anyway, he yelled at me, and then I yelled at him, and I grabbed his glove, and-"

"Hang on! You mean to tell me that you got engaged to someone you had only met that day?!"

"Yes, pay attention! You see, the thing with the gloves was that he wore them all the time, so I thought, maybe he was just a germaphobe, and-"

"Didn't your parents every warn you about murderers you never met before?!" there were a few seconds of silence as Aaron subtly shifted farther away from Krista.

"Well, I always had guards to protect me. But Harmony is no murderer. Or even a stranger!" he argued.

Krista smirked. "Oh yeah? What's her last name."

Aaron scoffed. "Of… The Southern Isles…"

"What's her favourite food?"

"Pizza."

"Best friend's name?"

"Probably Mary."

"Eye-colour?"

"Sparkling…"

"Cup size?"

"What? Hey, that's disrespectful!"

"Only if it's a dude asking. Have you had a meal with her yet? What if you hate the way she eats? What if you find out something you totally hate about her a week into your marriage that's a total deal breaker?"

"Excuse me, she is a princess!"

"Every woman has her secrets."

"Really?" Aaron questioned. It wasn't that he was completely clueless about women. He had just lived a very sheltered life. But still, if his own brother had kept such a massive secret from him for all these years, what could someone he'd only known for a day be hiding? Aaron shrugged off his doubts. "Look. It doesn't matter, we love each other!"

"Well, it doesn't sound like you love each other." Krista retorted.

Aaron laughed. "What, are you some kind of… expert on all things love related?" Krista cocked her head from side to side, seemingly taking his question seriously. Aaron smirked at her response.

"Well, no. But I have friends who are."

"You have friends that are experts on all things love? I'm not buying it."

"Stop talking." Krista said suddenly, pulling Sven to a stop.

"Nope. You know what, I'd like to meet-" Krista slapped her thick glove over the Prince's mouth. He shrugged it away, confused by her antics. "Hey!"

"Ssssh!" she exclaimed, and picked up the nearest lantern from its hook. She turned behind her to investigate. She swore she had heard something. Slowly but surely, glowing yellow eyes emerged from the dark woods behind them. "Sven, run!" Krista exclaimed, and the reindeer sped off.

"What? What's going on?" Aaron asked frantically.

"It's a wolf chase."

"Wolf chase?!"

"Don't worry!" said Krista as she grabbed a stick from the back of the sled and set it ablaze with the flame inside the lantern. "Just hang on, and don't get eaten, for the love of god!"

"No, I'll help you!"

"Please don't!"

"Why?!"

"Because I don't trust your judgement!"

"Excuse me?!" Aaron exclaimed, standing up.

"Who marries someone they just met?!" Krista cried as she kicked an oncoming wolf right in the stomach.

"We love each other!" Aaron exclaimed, picking up the pickaxe and swinging it right at a wolf who had jumped on the sled, hitting it right in the eye.

Krista took a moment to admire his reflexes. Maybe this prince wasn't such a wimp after all. But she didn't have time to admire the red-head's valiant swing before a wolf caught part of her uniform in its teeth, causing her to fall off the sled and drop the stick, which Aaron luckily caught. Krista now trailed behind, dragging on the ground, her only salvation being a rope that she had managed to grab onto.

"Kristina!" Aaron called after her.

"It's Krista!" she called back.

Aaron's eyes widened in horror as the wolves began to snap their jaws at her, clutching onto her leg with their teeth. Krista screamed. Spying a rolled up sleeping blanket, Aaron took the flaming stick and burnt it, causing the fabric to catch fire immediately. Before it became too hot to hold, Aaron held it over his head and threw it to the wolves, where it hit three of them in a row as it rolled down the hill behind them.

Using her upper body strength, Krista climbed up the rope and back into the sled where Aaron hoisted her up the rest of the way. "Here's a story! The Prince of my country almost set me on fire!" she cried.

"But he didn't!" he said with a huff as he pulled the taller woman back over the side. Sven raced on but the rest of the wolves were gaining, and they were running out of mountain. For up ahead, there was a large canyon that they could very well be at the bottom of in the next few seconds if they didn't think of something.

Aaron called to the reindeer. "Get ready to jump, Sven!" to which Krista just scooped him up in her arms.

"Hey, you don't get to tell him what to do, that's my job!" she said as she threw the smaller person onto Sven's back. "Jump, Sven!" Krista called as she cut the reigns with a switch knife.

The animal did as instructed, and leapt right as his hooves grazed the edge of the cliff. With one huge jump that seemed to take place in slow motion, the reindeer and the Prince were flying through the air, and all of a sudden, Aaron was taken back to his childhood. The snow mounds he had jumped off of, the time he and his brother had spent setting them up in the snow outside, each one taller than the last. That had been the closest thing to what flying felt like… up until now.

With a hard thud, Sven just managed to land on the other side, Krista in tow as she abandoned her sled as it fell to its death hundreds of feet below. She managed to jump off the very edge of the wood to propel herself forward, and gripped the cliff's edge just in time, moments after Aaron and Sven did. Looking down at her beloved sled that she had just bought second hand, her heart sank to see it fall… then crash… then burst into flames.

"Oh no, now Igor will know I took it..." she whimpered. Suddenly, her smooth gloves began to slip on the snow, and she felt the force of gravity wrap around her waist and begin to pull her down. "Oh no. Oh no, no no, no!" she cried as she tried desperately to grip the mountain, snow flying everywhere. Suddenly, the pickaxe connected to a rope landed right in front of her.

"Grab on!" Aaron cried, and Krista reached out with all her might and grabbed the instrument, letting herself be pulled to safety by Aaron and Sven.

When all was safe, Krista turned over on her back as heavy breaths escaped her lips, puffy clouds of vapour protruding from her chest. Aaron peered over the side of the mountain at the wreckage so far below.

"I'll replace your sled, and everything in it. I promise," he said. Krista didn't reply. "And… I understand if… you don't wanna help me anymore…" Aaron turned to leave, an optimistic mindset leading the way. He could find the North Mountain on his own… right?

Hold on, Erik… Aaron thought. I'm coming…

But he knew he wouldn't make it there anytime soon without help. Still, he needed to help his brother, to say sorry for driving him away. If it took him all year, he would bring his brother home.

Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned around to see Krista. "Look. You're gonna get eaten alive out here without me, and that would be on my account. I'm coming with you."

Aaron smiled warmly, his face full of thanks. "Thank you, Krista!" he said.

"Besides. I won't get my new sled if you're dead." she chuckled, and Aaron laughed nervously in response.

"Are you sure you wouldn't just steal another one?" he asked jokingly.

"Nah, too risky twice in a row. I can't go back to jail."

Aaron laughed, and the two set off, their journey only just beginning. When suddenly, Aaron turned to face Krista. "Wait… jail?"

Erik gazed at the sun as it once again rose in the sky. It was amazing to think that no matter what happened in the world, whether wars raged on or people shot icicles out of their hands, that the world always kept on going. The sun and moon would always rise and fall no matter what mistakes Erik made. No matter what mistakes anyone made. It was comforting. His first day in freedom had been his happiest in a long time. Instead of waking up and dreading if he would reveal his powers that day, he could actually exit his room without immediate reason. Instead of lock himself behind a bedroom door, he could practice his magic freely. He still hadn't decided what he was going to fill the many rooms of this castle with, as there were more than he knew what to with. He had made a bed out of ice and a blanket out of the same material as his cape, but nothing else came to mind. It was comforting not having his future set in stone. But there was one thing he knew for sure; he was never going back.

Just thinking about the Arendelle castle sent shivers down his spine as he remembered all the years he had been locked inside it, only allowed out for private tutelage lessons or if his father permitted it. He couldn't help but think that his father had been embarrassed by him, that his own son was a freak of nature with a curse no one understood. Was that why he had always been so determined to keep him away? The thought made him sick to his stomach.

For over a decade, he had praised the memory of his father, always thought that he had known what was best for him. But now, all he remembered was a tyrant, someone to fear and never question. It was only then that he remembered his mother alongside him, always silenced in his presence, always seemed to be uncomfortable with his actions. He had cried for days once he received word that his parents would not return home. But after looking back on his childhood from an older, more mature point of view, Erik began to believe that his father got what he deserved.

I'm never going back… He thought as another cold breeze flew through his porcelain coloured hair. Never…

As he looked back on his childhood and how his father had taken over his life, Erik felt a painful anger begin to rise deep down. Why had he shut him away instead of teaching him to control the gift he had been given? Why had he forbidden him from seeing his brother as if he could kill him at any moment? He would never do that. He felt his head go hot, and as the anger and guilt and regret coursed through him, the castle itself seemed to be taken over just ever so slightly by a new layer of thin, red ice.

Erik saw the hue begin to form along the balcony railing, and immediately crushed his thoughts. No. He wouldn't let his anger get the better of him, not again. Not here. Taking slow breaths, he calmed himself, refusing to let the fear takeover.

"Control it…" he told himself. "Control it…" despite his efforts however, tiny, jagged spikes of ice began to form on the railing, the red hue glowing brighter...

Author's note: Half way through, guys! Really hope you're enjoying it. I wanted to give Erik more of a character arc where, like so many people who didn't know they were being abused until years later, look back and realise that the people they idolised were actually mistreating them. I always thought it was ridiculous that the parents decided to split up Anna and Elsa in the original. Lol, as if they wouldn't miss each other, what's wrong with ya! Anywhoo, on with the fic, beautiful readers!

;)