The queen cringed uncomfortably as she awoke. Partly because the morning sunrise was beginning to break through the glass paned window, beating down on her eyes, and partly because she had rolled over on her healing wounded shoulder.
She overheard a few ice harvesters rummaging around outside, hitching up the sleds for their departure. She reached up, tugging on Anna's hand, which was hanging over the side of the top bunk. The redhead groaned as she was ripped out of sleep.
"Anna, time wake up." Elsa giggled, ripping back the covers and turning to set her feet on the floor as her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room.
That's when she noticed.
The bunk bed once containing Jess and Hannah was unoccupied. She narrowed her eyes and surveyed the room looking for them.
"Huh." Elsa muttered shrugging, turning to tug at her sleeping sister again.
"What is it?" Kristoff questioned as he sat up scratching his head groggily.
"Hannah and Jess aren't here." She gestured toward their bed.
"What?" Benji said jumping to a start.
"They're probably just downstairs already." Kristoff suggested blankly as he pulled on his boots.
Although, this was not the case.
The group looked around the downstairs area finding only some ice harvesters scattered here and there, packing up the last of what was able to be taken with them.
"Hannah? Jess? Where are you?!" Anna called out, cupping her mouth to elevate the sound of her voice.
"Lionel have you seen the girls?" Elsa asked the doctor as he was exiting the lodge carrying a box of medical supplies.
"My sincerest apologies your Majesty, I have not seen them since we last spoke. Is everything alright?" He replied growing with concern.
"They're missing." Elsa informed him, quickly walking out with the others to scope the outside perimeter.
Unfortunately, there was no sign of them there either.
Upon sight, Sven bolted up to Kristoff knocking him in the side, grunting fervently.
"Hey, hey calm down, what it is it buddy?" He said, eyes wide. Kristoff then began to create the reindeer's "voice" with his own.
"The girls! They've run away because they think it will protect you guys! I saw them leaving last night, and I tried to stop them. I'm sorry Kristoff." Kristoff finished saying as Sven lowered his head.
"What?! Are they crazy? My brother will hunt them and kill them in an instant!" Benji raved.
"Did they say where they were going, Sven?" Anna said laying a hand on the reindeer's back.
He made a few more various noises.
"He says they plan on staying on the move, to keep one step ahead of Garth. He said they went that way." Kristoff pointed in the opposite direction of the lodge.
"We have to find them." Anna offered up.
Elsa nodded. "Lionel!" she called out to get the man's attention.
"How may I assist you, Queen Elsa?" He answered when he was within speaking distance of the queen.
"I'm afraid we cannot go with the ice harvesters. Our friends are in danger and we have to search for them before they are discovered by Sir Garth of Cattarri." She said gravely.
"Not to worry your majesty. I will ensure that they all arrive to safety. Best of luck to you- and your friends." He smiled, kissing the top of Elsa's hand politely.
After many thank you's and and goodbyes the group was on their way in Kristoff's sled, following the perimeter of the ravine.
/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
Hannah's feet moved like lead and her mind was shutting down.
The girls had elected to not stop for sleep all night, since they knew Garth was most likely on their trail.
They had kept walking to cover more ground, but as the sun rose higher and higher in the sky, Hannah began to realize that was not the best plan.
At some point in the early hours of the morning, before it had become light out, Jess was practically toppling over onto the snow from lack of sleep.
Hannah tried various attempts to keep her friend mentally stimulated as they walked along by talking to her and shaking her shoulder, but it eventually proved too hard for Jess.
So Hannah had no choice but to carry Jess on her back, piggy-back ride style.
Hannah huffed deeply as she trudged through the snow, her legs carrying the weight of two people.
Jess' head was resting on her shoulder as she slept, and the loud snoring that echoed from her mouth was barely an inch from Hannah's ear.
"MUST. KEEP. GOING." Hannah hissed encouragingly to herself.
Her toes and fingers had gone numb from the cold hours ago, and she had laughed at how enraged Garth would be when he discovered hypothermia was the thing to kill the imbalance and not him.
But now she was just too miserable to find humor in it. The ground beneath her feet seemed to be increasing at a subtle incline, so she judged that she was walking at the base of a mountain.
If she had been awake enough, she would have realized that this was not the best direction to be headed, since when you're cornered at the top of a mountain, there's no where to go.
As far as Hannah was concerned, she just had to focus on whether she was walking or not, rather than where she was walking.
After hours- or minutes, she wasn't sure, the concept of time had been lost to her, Hannah's knees gave way. She yelped as her knee caps crunched down on the ice patches in the dirt.
Jess groaned with the sudden motion and snuggled tighter into Hannah's shoulder.
Hannah's sight was beginning to go blurry, and in one last attempt to regain her bearings, she looked up around her.
At first she thought she might be having a hallucination. That was a side effect of sleep deprivation after all. And if she was going to hallucinate something, it would probably be this.
Hannah sat clutching Jess' hands which were wrapped around her. She stared up at the the magnificent creation in front of her.
She didn't even notice that her jaw had dropped to the floor.
It was the most beautiful thing she had- ever seen. The blue light that reflected off every wall was mesmerizing, it stood tall and strong and extraordinary and powerful, like the woman who rose it from the ground- Elsa's ice palace.
Hannah's emotions conflicted with each other for awhile, and then a sob burst from her throat. She didn't even care if she died right now, she had seen EVERYTHING.
She attempted to stand, but her aching muscles just couldn't do it, and she came crashing to the ground. Hannah felt her lights going out, but she couldn't fight it anymore.
As her eyes drooped closed, a small figure leaned down and laid a hand on her head- or rather a stick hand.
"Hi, I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!" he sang out jovially. "Are you ok? You look like you could use a hug."
And that was the last thing she saw as her eyed closed, and her mind slipped into darkness.