The winter winds blew cold in Arendell, the sky a cloudy grey. The marketplace was busy with people stocking up on supplies; a blizzard was here. It had frozen everything it could, the wind would howl in the night. The townspeople were expecting an announcement from their new Queen, Anna; perhaps that her sister would save them from the storm. They gathered in crowds outside the castle, anxious to hear what she has to say.

In the crowd there walked a man in a grey cloak, with red and gold trim around the edges, lined with the fur of foxes. His eyes were grey and focused as he squinted up at the castle that loomed in front of him. A smile crept over his face as he strode towards the wide open gates.

"I don't think I can do this. They're- they're going to hate me! They're going to riot and take back the crown!" Queen Anna was breathing hard, waving her hands frantically around her head as she paced the parlour floor. Kristoff, her fiance, stood in the middle of the room with open arms while she circled him.

"Anna, it's just a speech; no one is going to hate you, and they certainly aren't going to riot! . You're amazing at talking, you do it all the time!" He smiled. Anna shot him a look "You think I talk too much?" Kristoff's eyes widened and red flushed across his face. "No that's-that's not what I meant, I just mean that you-...you're a great Queen! Everyone in the kingdom loves you. All you have to do is go out there and explain to them that the fjord has frozen over...again…" he trailed off and looked her in the eye. They hadn't seen a storm like this since the first time Elsa lost control, and Kristoff knew Anna was worried that something had happened. Anna looked to the floor, but Kristoff stooped so they were eye to eye.

"Anna I'm sure Elsa is just fine. This is just your regular, run of the mill non-magical blizzard." he placed his hands on Anna's shoulders. She allowed herself to be pulled into a tight hug, relaxing against him.

Taking a few deep breaths, she moved away from him and did her best to smile brightly. "You're right. We've got nothing to worry about...we have plenty of supplies here in Arendell, at least enough to last until the thawing…" she began to pace again, but this time with more purpose. Kristoff smiled to himself; this was the woman he was going to marry- strong and determined and so caring towards her people. He couldn't believe he was so lucky.

Just then someone knocked on the door. Kristoff strode over and opened it- there stood a snowman who was only about as tall as Kristoff's knee. "Olaf." "Kristoff." Olaf nodded formally before skipping past him into the room. "Hi Anna!" "Hi Olaf." Anna paused her pacing to drop to the floor and give the snowman a warm hug. "Are you okay? You look all…." he waved his stick arms in the air and rolled his eyes. Anna laughed "Oh no I'm perfectly fine, Olaf, just a little nervous about this speech." "Oh that reminds me. The General says they're ready for you." Anna took a deep breath and looked at Kristoff, who gave her a reassuring thumbs up. She smiled and allowed herself to be led out of the room by Olaf, stopping only to give Kristoff a kiss on the cheek.

Anna delivered her speech wrapped in an emerald green cloak lined with rabbit fur, looking out over a sea of her loyal subjects. After the speech she walked into the crowd to answer questions and console her people. "When will the fjord thaw?" "Will the kingdom be safe?" "Will your sister return to help us?" People surrounded her and she hated the worry in their eyes; so she tried to assure them as well as she could that they would be just fine, and the thaw would come before they knew it. She avoided saying anything about her sister.

Elsa was a bit of a mystery lately. The letters had become less and less frequent, and when they did arrive they offered no news, but simply answered questions posed by Anna and reassurance again and again that all was well.

Anna hated to think that Elsa would keep something from her, again, but she didn't have the time or the heart to worry about it. She was sure that if something was wrong, Elsa would tell her, right?

Anna returned to the castle, windblown and thought consumed. She wanted to find Kristoff and talk to him about what they could do about the frozen fjords, but the guards said he had left soon after the speech. Instead she walked to her study, closing the door behind her.

"Hello darling."

A voice from the shadows. A tall man with bright red hair and a crazed glint in his eye.

"Hans!"

Anna didn't hesitate, she grabbed a poker from the fireplace and swung at him. The poker grazed his cheek and blood ran down his face. He screamed. With a wave of his hand, a circle of fire sprung up around Anna, who had to step back to keep from being burned. Anna gasped. "What are you doing here!? How…!?"

"I came here to finish what we started, darling." he sneered, advancing through the flame towards her, backing her into a corner. Anna continued to swing the poker, trying to keep him at bay.

"If you call me darling ONE MORE TIME…!" Anna stabbed at him, but he moved easily out of the way.

"Right, that's enough of that." he said, eyeing the poker. He pointed his finger at the weapon, and Anna felt it change under her skin.

"MY HANDS!" Anna screamed, dropping the poker, which now glowed with heat, and fell to the floor. Her hands, usually pale and small, were now swollen and bright red. She looked up at him with pure shock.

Hans laughed. His hands behind his straight back, looking down his nose at her.

"There. Now will you play nice? It's not polite to treat your superiors like this."

Her face changed to loathing.

"You bastard." she seethed. She fell to her side, sweeping her leg under his feet, knocking him to the floor into his flames. He screamed for a moment before the flames parted for him. He looked more mad now, with his face streaked in blood.

"That's it."

He lunged for her and began to claw at her legs,sparks catching on her tights and dress.

Anna kicked and struggled, her eyes closed against the bright heat of the flames that would soon engulf her...and then...nothing.

Anna opened her eyes. Kristoff was standing over her, Hans held up off the floor by his neck. She had never seen Kristoff look this angry. He was furious, his eyes slits on his face, glaring at Hans, who was struggling to pry Kristoffs fingers from his windpipe, but Kristoff just squeezed tighter.

"If you ever, and I mean EVER, come near my family again I will make sure no one ever finds your body. Do I make myself clear."

This wasn't a question.

"Lord Kristoff- put him down please." the steady voice of General Mattias came from the doorway. He was flanked by two Adrendellian guards.

Anna saw Kristoff's eyes flicker, like maybe he wouldn't, and would simply kill Hans then and there. She couldn't let him do that.

"Kristoff. Put him down." Anna said quietly.

Kristoff hesitated. Hans was turning blue...

"Kristoff STOP."

Kristoff looked Hans up and down before dropping him completely. He crumpled, gasping for breath. Kristoff stepped over him without giving him a second glance.

"Are you okay, Anna?" Kristoff's face, now that he was so close,she saw was riddled with worry. "I'm okay...except for my hands…" Anna held them out to show him, both of them ignoring the sounds of chains rattling and maniacal laughter as the guards took Hans to the dungeon.

Kristoff took her hands to his lips and kissed them.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there." Kristoff spoke first.

That night, they both lay awake in Anna's bed- she couldn't sleep alone tonight. . The Northern lights danced behind the snowy clouds. The wind howled and rattled the windows.

"Wait what? Why?" Anna asked.

"I- if I had just been there...this wouldn't have happened." he gestured to her hands, which were now bandaged, with little specks of blood seeping through. Anna stayed silent. Then asked-

"Where were you? I looked for you when I got back"

Kristoff exhaled. "Stables. Sven had eaten all the carrots in the stock. Greedy reindeer gave himself a stomach ache." He chuckled dryly. Anna gave a small smile. "Poor Sven." she paused then said "And Kristoff? If you had been there, he...he would have killed you. It's only because he wanted to taunt me that I'm still alive at all..." Anna's voice was small- for the first time all day she didn't sound like a queen, but the girl he met three years ago. Scared and alone.

Well he wouldn't let her be alone anymore

"Hey…Come here. I'm here. We're both okay." Kristoff wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him. He held her to him until he felt her breathing slow, and they both fell asleep.

Anna's dreams were filled with fire and ice. Hans' face loomed from a cloud of smoke over Elsa's frozen body. Kristoff and Sven burned. Anna's feet were frozen to the floor...he was coming, closer and closer, the heat was getting stronger...the sword was coming down…

"ELSA!"

Anna sat straight up, her heart pounding and tears streaming over her cheeks. The room was filled with the grey early morning light. The blizzard had worsened, and the kingdom outside was blanketed in white drifts. She looked to her left and saw Kristoff sprawled out on his side of the bed, sleeping deeply. She smiled at him, then swung her legs out of bed. Wrapping herself in her dressing gown, she left.

She walked through the halls she had wandered when she was young. She knew the castle so well that she could walk through the whole palace with her eyes closed. Actually she had at one point when she was small, though it had resulted in a nasty tumble down the stairs ...Anna touched her head at the memory.

Her tired feet brought her to the library. The vast room full of portraits and books always comforted her. The silence that followed the closing of that door, the hours that stretched here. "Hi Joan." she whispered as she walked under the knight's portraits.

She had been thinking yesterday over. The white of her bandages was stark against the dark of the room.

Running her fingertips over the book's thick leather spines, she spoke aloud to herself.

"Where did he get magic?" she asked the empty room. "He certainly didn't have it...before..." Then something clicked in her head, a distant memory, and she started moving through the shelves quicker, pulling books out almost at random.

"Yes!"

A large volume, a story book, that she had read when she would spend hours outside Elsa's door. She turned the familiar heavy pages, the ink shone in the half light. There were stories about the Northuldra, the Dark Sea. things she had thought were fairy tales before...now she knew it was all real. She skimmed the pages until she found what she was looking for. The story of a illustration was of a tall man with a long beard and a staff, but his eyes in the image were bright and intelligent. The story says he was the advisor to a king, but in his temper had turned against him and had been banished. Anna read and re-read the story, but nothing new stood out to her.

But then something ignited. A small, burning memory.

Kristoff had had a nightmare.

He and Anna were in the Forest. The mist had descended and made the ground nearly invisible. He was walking beside her when suddenly she wasn't there anymore. He turned to see sher was behind him, reaching for him- her hands had turned an icy blue. "Kristoff!" she had called, but that was all she could say before she was frozen. He had run to her, wrapped his arms around her, trying to bring her back. He said her name over and over, but she stared back at him with eyes full of fear, unable to say a word. Then, under his hands she burst into flames. She screamed as they engulfed her, Kristoff powerless to stop it.

A maniacal laugh echoed, and Hans emerged from the flames. Anna had dissolved into dust.

Kristoff woke up slowly... for a moment he forgot where he was. The empty bed beside him startled him awake. "Anna?" he said groggily, but when she didn't reply he became more worried. "Anna!?" He started to walk, then run through the castle halls, looking for any sign of trouble or where Anna could have gone. Finally he ran past the library door, then stopped in his tracks. Someone inside was talking.

He slowly pushed open the heavy door and his heart slowed again. Anna was sitting in the window seat, her eyes fixed on the heavy book in front of her, then shook her head and turned the page, nodding slowly. Her red hair glowed in the half light of the morning.

Kristoff sighed in relief. "There you are." Anna started, looking up.

"Here I am." She said, smiling when she saw it was him.

"What have you got there?" Kristoff walked over and sat down beside her, the two of them cozy together. The snow tapped on the glass of the window as the weather worsened.

"I was thinking...about Hans, and how he got powers. And I think I know."

Kristoff took the book from her hands. "Göran? But he's a myth, a story!"

"I don't think he is. Look at this." Anna got up and brought over a small tower of books she had collected that morning. "Histories of the Palace, the Kings advisors. Stuff that no one else knows about." Kristoff took a book from the top of the pile in his hand and turned it over. The cover was leather with gold and silver thread intertwining. It felt oddly heavy.

"How did you get this?" he asked quietly. Anna gave him a look. "Well I am the Queen." She took the book from his hands and continued "And besides, I don't think Mattias will notice these are gone until he wakes up. Did you know he snores?" Kristoff laughed, shaking his head.

"I-I did not. Did you really need to sneak into his room? Like you said, you are the queen- you could have just-" he gestured "Ordered someone to go find them for you."

Anna shrugged, pretending to read the book titles. In truth, she had never liked bossing people around, especially this early.

"Look here." she held out a large book; inside was an image that looked like a family tree, but from each king and queen there branched a name to an image.

"These are all the kings and those who advised them during their rule. But look...there."

She trailed her finger down the page, tracing the line between King Runeard and his advisor…"Göran" Kristoff said, surprised. Anna nodded solemnly, but her eyes sparkled with glee. "See!? And look look look…" she snuggled closer and placed the book over their laps.

"See here? The line to Göran is only this long, while the others are much longer, and then after that, there are no more advisors."

Kristoff looked at her, bewildered.

"Wait, hold on. So after your grandfather supposedly banished his evil wizard advisor, none of the other kings had one?" Anna shook her head. "The last ruler before me was Father, and he never had one either. See? He's not even listed in the book." She showed the line from Runeard, and it stopped at the bottom of the page.

"And you think this wizard...gave Hans powers?" Anna shrugged. "It's the only thing that makes sense to me right now."

She showed Kristoff all she had found, all the dead end stories that maybe weren't dead ends. And that was how Mattias found the two of them; reading and discussing things in hushed excited voices, and he smiled at the scene. He coughed quietly to make his presence known

and they both looked up. "General Mattias!" Anna smiled, moving some of the books behind a cushion. "Did you sleep well?" Mattias smiled. "I did, thank you. But, my Queen- The royal messenger has just delivered this to me, and I assumed it was urgent." he walked over and held out the letter to her, then the books caught his eye.

"Are those from my room?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Anna pretended not to hear him- she was busy delicately opening the envelope, the ice that sealed it melting at her touch.

"It's from Elsa." she breathed. Anna opened it slowly, as if it might shatter in her hands.

"Dear Anna-

Everything here in the Forest is wonderful- the people are preparing for the winter, and Atahallen has given me more comfort in my powers than ever before. Thank you for asking.

I hope you and Kristoff, along with Olaf and Sven, are well and keeping warm in this freezing time.

Arendell is lucky to have you. As are we all.

All My Love- Elsa.

Ps. Please do not worry if you don't hear from me- we are busy preparing for the incoming storm, but we are all fine, I promise."

Anna remembered the last letter she had sent her sister. It had been three long pages of questions and confirmations that they would see each other again. That everything in both kingdoms was well. And she had answered...two of them. A small flame of rage lit in her stomach.

"Take this please, Mattias. I wish to speak to Kristoff alone."

She thrust the letter to Mattias, and waited until she heard the door shut. Kristoff walked towards her. "Are you okay?" Anna brushed him off. "NO. No I am not. She's not talking, something's wrong. I can't-I can't right now. Hans is HERE. Elsa is gone, again. I just...I need to think- I'm going to write her another letter." She gathered up the books and marched out of the room, her night dress flowing behind her, leaving Kristoff alone in the dark.

-In the dungeons-

Hans was shackled, sitting in the cold dungeon where he had locked Elsa those years before. His hands were confined, but warm. He was waiting.

A clashing of keys and one of the guards, a young man named Samuel, came through the door.

"The guards are coming to return you to the courts, where you will be charged with attempted murder of the highest order." he announced, staring at the wall behind Hans, avoiding his eyes.

"I can't go."

"No one can help you now. You have failed; you'll be sent back to your country a traitor and a fool." The guard looked smug. "The princess is somewhere you'll never find her. And the Queen is under our constant protection." Hans hung his head, thinking.

"Do you know where she is? The Princess?" he asked quietly, his eyes downcast.

"Yes. Everyone does." The guard was wary. Hans lifted his head and smiled. Samuel stepped back in fear.

"Tell me."

When the guards arrived to take Hans to the courts, they were met with a terrible sight. Samuel lay on the floor, his uniform scorched with blistering burns beneath. Hans' was no where to be seen, his chains in a mangled heap on the floor.

"Help…" Samuel whispered. He was bleeding, his hands clutching his sides. "Where is the prisoner?" The guard asked, dreading the answer.