COLD. Cold and hard. That was all she could feel beneath her as she awoke uncomfortably on her back.
Hannah opened her eyes and stared directly upward at the crystal chandelier that hung from the ceiling way above her.
So she hadn't hallucinated the ice palace after all.
She assumed that Jess had brought her inside at some point, and she cringed imagining how awkward it must of looked as she was dragged across the snow and up the solid ice staircase.
She then looked to her side at the floor and ran her hand across it to feel the smooth, pure ice of Elsa's fortress.
Hannah couldn't even believe that she was just laid out right where the queen had stood to sing the world phenomenon Let It Go.
Jess's eccentric voice came bellowing from the balcony that overlooked the canyon.
She was carefully peering over the side of the railing. To her left stood a snowman, Olaf, who was just as excited. Although he had seen the view multiple times.
It appeared that Hannah hadn't hallucinated him either.
She carefully moved to a standing position, and made her way over to the balcony.
When she got to about four feet behind the pair, she stopped. Her social anxiety kicked in again and she was left with the desire to speak words but didn't know which ones.
So now, quite an awkward situation was established where Jess and Olaf stood talking and poor Hannah just standing behind staring at them.
Olaf suddenly whirled around when he noticed someone was watching them. "AHHHH It's the walking dead!" He wailed to Jess in a high pitched squeal.
"Hannah you're awake! No Olaf she was never dead, just unconscious." Jess corrected him.
"Ohhh I see, so she's a walking unconscious person." Olaf restated cheerfully.
"Uhh n—" before Jess could reply she was cut off.
"Anyways, I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs! Jess over here is very talkative, she's told me all about your adventures and I told her how I've been here spending time with my little brothers! They get lonely all the way up here." He rattled on obnoxiously.
Hannah just stood there staring down at him. She didn't know what to say to humans let alone snowmen.
"Are you ok?" Jess asked, sensing the tension in her attitude.
"I-I just don't know what to say. I never thought in a million years I'd be standing in front of Olaf in the middle of Elsa's ice palace. This is like, a surreal experience for me you know." Hannah revealed.
"I know exactly how you feel. TRUST ME." Jess laughed, sharing her friend's love of Frozen.
Hannah walked out onto the main part of the balcony and gently peered over the side, then retracted backwards quickly.
"I know, it's so high up! I told myself not to look down, but you know that doesn't work for me." Jess announced.
"It's so beautiful up here though. No wonder Elsa ran away, this view is incredible." Joked Hannah, finally loosening up.
But her relief from her anxiety was short lived.
A flicker of light, not quite a spark, sprang up in the air near the ground at the perimeter of the ice palace.
It expanded with great intensity, and instantly magic wielders began to materialize at the base of the staircase. Garth, of course, was among them.
Jess, Olaf, and Hannah stood watching this entire situation play out, completely powerless to do anything.
"THEY FOUND US! We've been here too long!" Hannah screamed at Jess as she bolted in towards the center of the room, out of the wielders' vision.
"You were knocked out for hours, was I expected to just lug you down the mountain?!" Jess screamed in retaliation.
"Excuse me I lugged you for miles upon miles, and UP the mountain I might add." Hannah interjected.
Jess shut up knowing Hannah was right, but she wasn't happy about it.
"WHAT DO WE DO AHHHH?!" Jess began screaming fearfully as the men broke down the doors of the palace and were running up the stairs.
Hannah joined her in screaming and so did Olaf.
"I DONT KNOW WHY WE'RE SCREAMING BUT IM DOING IT ANYWAY AHHHHH!" Olaf exclaimed.
Hannah and Jess stood on the snowflake in the center of the room back to back.
"This is it Jess. This is how we die. It was my greatest pleasure knowing you, I'm so glad we became friends." Hannah began, her voice cracking.
"No! Don't talk like that. We are not going to die right now, I don't accept that statement, please try again." Jess said in one last attempt to lighten the situation any way it could be, but even her breath was shaking now.
Garth appeared at the top of the stairs and smirked when he spotted the girls. "Well, this is just pathetic." He spat out at the poor girls huddled together on the floor, trembling.
"It's hard to believe that you two are the reason the fabric of our universe is hanging by a thread." He continued, taking his time with the murder, it would clearly be no trouble for him. With each word he spoke he stepped closer to them, with his army backing him.
"I can't wait to see Queen Elsa and Princess Anna's faces when they find out I've succeeded. I'll be hailed a hero throughout all kingdoms! Of course it all begins right now. Seize the girls at once." Garth ordered toward his men.
A large shadow suddenly overshadowed the mere men as Marshmello came pounding over to stop them. Alas, a simple spell cast by one of the wielders sent the icy guard hurling across the room and over the side of the balcony.
"NOOO!" Olaf cried out from the corner in which he cowered in.
A wielder grabbed Hannah by the arms and pinned then behind her back violently and held her on her knees facing away from him, and the same was done for Jess.
Hannah lowered her head, even in a moment as traumatic as this, she was embarrassed that she was crying.
Jess was sobbing too. She was out of optimism, this time.
"Pl-please no.." Hannah spoke to Garth at barely a whisper when he had come to a stand still peering down at her.
He responded with a steady kick to the mouth, causing Hannah to jolt backwards, then forwards again with a piercing cry.
Blood came trickling down her chin, staining the beautiful ice floor, and she didn't dare speak another sound.
"Now I could kill you with magic, but that's too quick- too easy. I want you to feel the destruction you are causing our world in the very depths of your bodies. My sword Xavier." He beckoned to his friend who unsheathed the only sword being carried in the room, handing it Garth.
He walked around circling the girls for a few seconds, like a vulture eying his next meal.
"Who to kill first? The decision is a hard one I must admit." He patronized them to his own amusement.
He stopped his circling in front of Jess, walking close, then at the last minute turned to face Hannah.
"I've hated you since the first time I saw your face, you disgusting little fool. It will be my greatest accomplishment to take you out of this world. I guess you shouldn't have spent so much time on silly dreams."
Garth gripped the sword tightly and raised it above his head, ready to strike down on Hannah's neck.
Hannah wasn't even there mentally though. She could barely hear Jess's pleas to Garth to stop. Fear had transcended her to the depths of a place that was familiar. And familiar was the only thing that provided her comfort now.
She squeezed her eyes shut so tight and no more tears fell. She was ready to die.