Firefly!AU! Fuck yeah! Technically I shoulda used Norwegian for the Galactic Language, but I've been waiting for a very long time (since I first started writing Frozen, tbqh) to use my Chinese in a story. So here it is. If you want translations, I can give them. I just didn't want to ruin the flow of the story (which is why I used pinyin, too, because I don't think many people can read characters?). Anyway! Written in an hour, not edited because I have to go to work. Enjoy :)

The vastness of space is one oft-travelled, and yet never becomes any less lonely. The only path is the path less taken, and the only ones you can rely on are your crew. Your friends. Your family.

Which was why Captain Kristoff of the Snow Queen was so annoyed.

"Sven!" he barked through the intercom. "Where is our good doctor?"

"Hummph. Her quarters," came the slightly fuzzy reply. Kristoff rolled his eyes.

They were on their way to Beaumonde to pick up some intel. Honestly, Kristoff was just feeling a little stir crazy, and he knew his crew was, too. Poor Olaf had been stuck in the engine room for over 24 hours because of an overheating drivecore (which they really couldn't afford to lose this close to the surface. Or ever). So, on top of the mission, he had to give Olaf enough time to salvage another one or find the pieces to fix it. None of that wouldn't have been a problem if the doctor was also doing her job.

Making his way through the narrow halls of the Snow Queen, Kristoff pulled up sharply at the sight of Hans leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Don't you have a job to do?" Kristoff asked. "The Reindeer won't stock itself."

Hans shrugged. "It's done. I, unlike you, want to stay alive."

Kristoff bristled at that. He took a step forward, using his wider bulk (it was muscle, he'd swear it) to press Hans back. "What does that mean?" he asked, knowing the answer. He was pitching for a fight, so sue him. It'd been a very long month cooped up.

"You know exactly what," Hans retorted. "You're the one making little miss crazy come along when we don't need her. What's the bet that instead of warning us of the Alliance, she calls them?"

"We'll be fine," Kristoff answered. "We always are."

And, naturally, that was the moment that a giant icicle tore its way down the hallway and lodged into the wall, followed by an echoing, "Tāmāde!"

"Elsa! Elsa, look at me. It's okay, see? Just a little scratch!"

When Kristoff burst into the dining room, he wasn't sure what he was expecting. Seeing Elsa curled in a corner, thick tendrils of ice spreading from her while her sister tried to calm her down, he realised that it was pretty much exactly what he was expecting.

These moments weren't uncommon.

"Anna!" he called out. "What the dìyù is going on here?!"

"It's nothing, she just- it's okay, I've got it just-"

Kristoff took a step forward at the same time Anna did. Elsa screamed out a, "No!", and suddenly the floor around them was covered in jagged icicles.

Anna herself seemed on the verge of tears as she tried to get closer to her sister. "Shh, shh, Elsa, it's okay. No more, okay, I promise? Elsa look at me. It's Anna. Nǐ de mèimei."

Slowly, Elsa's breathing calmed, and her eyes met Anna's never leaving. Her bottom lip quivered and her hands wrapped around her head.

"It hurts. The man won't stop drumming and gouging and eating me and I don't want him in there." She locked eyes with Anna. "Take him away. Take away everything. Shā wǒ sǐ le…"

And Anna couldn't keep still anymore. She moved towards Elsa, each step an eternity. Elsa gave no sign that she was aware of Anna's movements, having returned her face to the floor, swaying slightly as she muttered to herself in the Galactic language.

Reaching her sister, Anna knew that there was no way she was calming down. A battle raged inside her big sister and as much as she wanted to help, what she could actually do was very limited.

Those zázhǒng at North Mountain were going to pay.

But for now, she had a sister to comfort. Pulling Elsa into a warm hug, not swayed in the slightest by the lack of response, she whispered, "Do you want to build a snowman?"

Elsa was asleep before she'd finished the final syllable.

"See? I told you. She's too dangerous."

Hans' smug face desperately needed a fist in it, Kristoff thought briefly. When did his world become so confusing?

They were sitting outside the med bay, watching Anna totter around doing spirits knew what. Hans was speaking in a low voice—Anna wasn't even aware of the two men watching her. Elsa was tucked safely in bed, her plush snowman sitting on her bedside table, a small note from her sister, and a walkie-talkie. Anything to make her not worry when she realised the door was locked.

A loud clatter came from inside the med bay, and Kristoff and Hans paused their conversation to watch.

Anna was leaning against one corner, head buried in her hands as her shoulders shook. Kristoff glanced at Hans for a moment, taking note of the way his face softened at the display.

Sure, the auburn-haired man was far too trigger happy and loved complaining about the Àrnadalr sisters (and for good reason, if he were perfectly honest). But it was so easy to look past the genuine care and pain that Anna felt for her sister. Seeing that Elsa was aware of it and yet unable to stop it. The episodes would sneak up sometimes. Other times they'd be triggered. But then Kristoff would wander through the ship and chance upon the two of them sitting together, engaging in a conversation that was so normal it seemed abnormal. When Elsa would tease Anna about her time at university, getting into mischief. Or when Anna would get that glint in her eye and Elsa would catch it, springing up in an attempt to escape the dreaded tickle-monster that Anna had turned into.

Sometimes, Kristoff wondered if Anna should have been the elder sibling. He had seen the look on her face when Elsa was asleep. The worry that she refused to let Elsa see. The pain. His heart went out to both of them.

Suddenly, there was a crackle of static, and Anna's head shot up. She brushed at her face, taking a few calming breaths as she exited the med bay.

And she did see him and Hans standing there, meeting their gaze for a moment before closing the doors softly behind her and walking towards her sister.

"Come on, Hans," Kristoff said, moving towards the cargo bay. "We have a job to do."

Their family was little and strained and horribly broken. Anna's family was broken, her sister even more-so. But, she managed to hold it together. She managed to hold Elsa together when the latter seemed to just want to float away. He could admire that.

His crew. His friends.

His family.