Hey guys I'm back. I'm really sorry for the very long wait there was school and other stuff. So yeah… please don't hate me for that. Don't worry, the story will still continue- you are all in for a big surprise at the end of the story. But don't worry, that is still a long way to go. I really like the suggestion that someone gave me in my reviews, and I plan to do their idea in a later chapter. So if any of you have suggestions please message me, all ideas and comments are welcome. Anyway, enough talking, lets begin with chapter 8.

Ice Harvesting

Ice

Cold

Tired

Angry

These were the only things that could describe what Shane was feeling at the very moment.

He fumed as he picked up his what-felt-like-a-10 tonne pick axe and swung it down on the massive ice cube in front of him.

Clang

The sound was literally deafening to his ears. Shane gasped as he felt the air knocked from his lungs. He looked down to see his handiwork. He cursed out loud… He missed. From a distance away, he could hear Kristoff's loud, booming laugh directed toward him. Shane scowled and bit his lip. He was going to do this. He was going to show Kristoff that he could cut ice.

Shane swung his axe down again.

Clang

The axe hit its mark and the ice started to split. Shane cheered internally and swung his axe down again.

Clang

The ice cube split and Shane yelled his victory. He dropped his axe and nearly fell. Both his arms and legs felt like strings and he felt as if his lungs were burning. But man, did Shane feel victorious.

He laughed shakily as the mountain man approached him. Kristoff laughed and clapped Shane on the back.

"You're already tired? We just started ice harvesting 30 minutes ago, and you're only on your third ice cube."

"At least- I- still managed to- cut the ice…" Shane puffed. Anymore of this, and Shane would probably pass out from exhaustion.

Kristoff laughed, " Ok, Ok I get it. C'mon we should be heading back to the castle now. It's getting late and you are dead tired."

"Says who?" Shane countered, "Just because I'm tired, it doesn't mean that I can't cut ice.

"Besides… how hard is cutting ice? Its just ice, right?"

Kristoff just snickered like an idiot and walked off to eat some carrots with Sven.

'It was so typical of him' Shane thought, 'just walking off to talk to his weird cow… wait… reindeer-cow, it doesn't really matter. What was even worst was that Kristoff actually shared carrots with his pet. Who does that?'

The more he thought about it, the more it confused him. For now he had more important things to do other than worry about some guy who talks and shares food with his reindeer or cow. Getting back on task, Shane picked up his pickaxe and took a deep breath.

This was it; time to show Kristoff that he wasn't completely useless at all.

With a new sense of pride, Shane closed his eyes and swung his pickaxe down hard on his small target.

CRACK

SMASH

Shane opened his mouth only to feel ice-cold water gush in. His body instantly tensed, and he felt as if thousands of daggers were all at once piercing it. His lungs burned and felt as if like they would explode. His whole body felt like an ice cube. What was worst, was that Shane couldn't breathe…

He couldn't do anything. He was helpless. Slowly drowning in ice-cold, freezing water, unable to see anything but knowing that he was seconds away from dark, painful death. A few seconds before, he was standing above the ground, about to crush that stupid ice cube-trying to prove to Kristoff that he could actually ice harvest. Now, he was practically freezing to death, meters beneath the surface, in below freezing ice water. He was practically already a dead corpse.

It was the reality that really terrified Shane. Down under a ton of ice, and practically being able to see nothing but darkness, it felt like being in a different world. It only seemed to replicate death even more! Yes, He'd been in some life risking situations before. But being so close to dying? It really scared him. This was one experience that Shane would never want to happen to him again, well… that is if he got out of this one alive of course. He didn't want to die like this. No! Shane would die either a hero's death or of old age. He had promised his father that. His father had died a hero, trying to save his family. Shane wouldn't die in just some dumb accident, freezing, practically blind, and unable to breathe. It would be failure.

He couldn't accept failure…

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Back at the castle, a few minutes earlier

"Damn it!"

Elsa yelled in frustration and slammed her fist down on her desk. Today was just not going the way she wanted it to go. There were many dignitaries requesting to see her about the preparations of the upcoming ball. The council was still pestering her about assigning more guards at the ball, which Elsa knew she really didn't need because she had Shane who had proved himself very useful in defending her and Anna. But what really bothered her was the number of suitors wanting to see her and try and win her hand in marriage.

Those damn guys act so desperately to find someone they can marry. Earlier in the day, she already had to meet a suitor by the name of Prince Richards, who apparently was the most arrogant person Elsa had ever met.

He had already requested a private meeting early in the morning, spent the whole hour describing his whole life story to her, ate everything on the table like a wild pig, then went and asked her if she wanted to go out with him to dinner. Well, of course, she had politely refused saying that she had a lot of things to do for the upcoming ball. But it wasn't over, Prince Richard had still persisted that she go out with him, and when she had refused a second time, he had called her an unsociable witch. That had really set Elsa on the edge. It had taken everything not to turn that arrogant prick into an ice cube.

Speaking of ice, Elsa wondered how Shane and Kristoff were doing. They had said to her the night before that they were going to go ice harvesting. Elsa, being very busy that morning, did not have time to personally greet Kristoff and Shane before they left. She would now have gladly taken any free offer to trade places with them. Anything other than staying in this stuffed office, seeing officials and playing 'polite Queen Elsa' to desperate suitors who wanted nothing more than the throne.

A loud knocking on her door suddenly shocked Elsa and interrupted her from her slumber state. Without even Elsa realizing, ice had started to spread all over her wooden table.

"Yes! Who is it?" Elsa half yelled, a bit to harshly. It was a second later that she realized her mistake. A worried looking Anna slowly opened the door and peered inside. Nothing but concern etched all over her face.

"Elsa? Are you ok? What's wrong?" She made her over to her older sibling and hugged her. "I heard you yell something out loud and went over to check on you."

"Thanks Anna, it's just been a… very tiring day, that's all. I mean there were a lot of foreign dignitaries and officials that needed attention. Not to mention the meeting with that sloppy prince." Elsa said the last words with distaste clearly in her mouth.

Anna couldn't help but giggle at her sister's bewildered expression, " I take it the breakfast with Prince Richard didn't go as expected."

"Don't ask," Elsa managed a small laugh, "that prince managed to eat all the food on the table and then asked me out on a date. Clearly I was going to say no."

Anna laughed, "Ok. Ok Elsa, I get it, you clearly had a really busy day. By the way, have you seen Shane and Kristoff. I haven't seen them at all today."

"They went out to go ice harvesting together. Kristoff said he wanted to Shane how to ice harvest."

"Awww that's sweet. Kristoff finally makes a new friend."

Elsa couldn't help but laugh. Anna could always lighten up the mood for her. She wondered how she managed to always be so positive. It could be so infuriating at times.

"You know, Elsa," Anna continued, "I really don't think Shane is that bad as a person. I mean sure he could be violent when he fights, but that's what an assassin does, right? And it also seems like he wants to redeem himself for something that he's done previously. And, Shane is kind of hot." Anna added the last part with a seductive tone

Elsa had to admit that Anna had a point. Shane clearly didn't have any bad intentions toward them, and he was actually a kind and nice person, except for those times when he had to fight the enemies. But for some reason, Elsa could never seem to get her eyes off him. His toned and muscular body seemed to always draw her attention. Whenever she was around with him, she seemed to always lose her air of dignity. She would start to stutter when she was around him, and she would blush when he looked and smiled at her.

She couldn't have possibly fallen for him… had she?

"Elsa" Anna's voice seemed to wake her up from her daydream. "You're blushing," she giggled, "Is it something I said about Shane?"

Elsa didn't know if her face could get any redder from both embarrassment and the actual truth. She just put her face in her hands and looked down, hoping to somehow disappear.

Anna took this in immediately, and a light bulb seemed to have appeared above her head. Her eyes went wide and her mouth formed a massive O. She just stood there on the spot for a full second without saying a thing.

"What?" Elsa was confused.

"Elsa! You like Shane, don't you?"

"Wh-what…I-I…" Elsa couldn't deny it. Now that truth had been exposed, she had to admit that she did like Shane. Why can't this all be a dream, and when she wakes up, it will be as if nothing had happened.

"Ohmygosh, you actually like him!" Anna had now gone into ecstatic mode. She was jumping all over the room with a massive half-moon smile plastered on her face. "Elsa! Why did you never tell me this? I could've you know, given you some girl advice."

Elsa face was now redder than a tomato from some serious furious blushing. "Anna," she hissed, "ssshhh, people will hear us talking."

"I don't care! Ohmygosh Elsa! You like Shane. I knew you had it somewhere inside you."

Before anyone outside heard their sisterly talk, Elsa quickly clamped Anna's mouth shut with her hand, trying to muffle the sounds coming out of her mouth.

"Mmmf- Els-mmmf? Wha-mmmf are mmmf doin-mmmf?" Anna looked upset that she could now no longer tease her elder.

"Anna," Elsa said slowly, "I'll take my hand off your mouth if you promise not to talk loudly."

Anna nodded and mumbled something that sounded a bit like an 'ok, I promise' type of phrase.

Elsa took her hand off Anna's mouth and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Ok, you were saying…"

"Elsa I never knew you liked him. Why didn't you tell me?"

Elsa sighed, "It's just because I was embarrassed about it. I didn't want Shane thinking I was awkward or anything like that."

"Elsa! For all I know, Shane might just as well like you. You're a gorgeous person, and many people have already fallen for you. It's just that you turn them down because you want to get the perfect man in your life. I totally understand that. At least you didn't rush and instead found a jerk like Han's. I really think that Shane is a good guy."

Elsa looked down to hide her embarrassment. Anna really could tease her well. "Thanks Anna, I was actually planning to assign him as my personal body guard. I don't think that Captain Elias is as good as he is in defending me."

Anna snorted in a very unladylike manner.

"Yeah, you can replace that arrogant pig with Shane. What does he do other than sit around and boss the soldiers around? Nothing!"

What Anna said was mostly true. Captain Elias of the Arendelle guard and Queen's personal guard was hired when the former monarchs were still alive. His arrogant and proud attitude made him an unpopular figure among the guards. But his knowledge in both politics and warfare, as well as his skill in fighting made him a superior person in the kingdom. Elias was immediately promoted to become the Queen's personal guard after the formers passed away. But over the years, Elias had proved himself useless in actually defending the Queen. He was too much in to politics and his social rank to care about his actual duty-protecting the Queen and all of Arendelle.

Elsa sighed as she thought of how hard it would be to relieve Elias from his position. He would probably go on about boasting about his skill and rank.

"Anna, you know that he would probably just go on and on about why he should stay as my personal guard. It would be nearly impossible to try and talk him out if it."

"Elsa!" Anna said exasperated, "You are the Queen of Arendelle. You can do anything you want. So if you want to make Shane your personal bodyguard and get rid of that Elias guy once and for all, then do it."

Elsa had to admit, Anna had a point. She was indeed the Queen of Arendelle. She had the full authority over everything. She could very well relieve Ronald of his position if she very well pleased.

As the two sisters continued to talk about their current situation, little did they know, that the man they were planning to assign as a personal guard was drowning in a lake of ice.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Panic had now entered Shane's world of fiasco. He was now moving furiously with the last ounce of whatever energy he had left to reach the surface. It was useless. Shane's heavy clothes and weapons only proved to be dead weight in his vigorous struggle against the icy water. Time was running out, fast. Shane could feel his body quickly shutting down. There wasn't long left. This was it. This was where he was going to die. In an icy lake, alone, with no one going to rescue him. Shane didn't even get to even see Elsa one last time. He was supposed to be protecting her, defending her and her sister from any harm that could come her way. Yet here he was dying, without even achieving one of his goals. It was a failure.

Just as Shane gave up his struggle for survival and waited for the eternal darkness to envelop him, he felt a strong pair of arms pulling him up to the surface and out of the water. Many things happened all at once. Shane coughed violently and spat out water as cold air surged into his lungs. He felt a strong pair of hands compress his chest and what felt like a distant voice call out his name, telling him to wake up. And he felt a strange slimy object that felt like a tongue licking his face, with reindeer stench all over it. That seemed to wake Shane up.

Horrified that his predicament of a reindeer licking his face may be true, Shane's eyes shot straight open and was instantly met with a slimy red tongue running all over his face a second time. It seemed that his hypothesis had been correct.

"Ahh- what the-" Shane words were muffled by Sven's tongue as he went for another round of vigorous licking. "Get this- th- off me…"

"Sven, that's enough, let the poor guy breathe." Shane wasn't even aware that Kristoff was watching silently as his pet slowly tortured him with his drool. And he didn't even bother to say anything! Shane didn't know what to do. He felt like hugging Kristoff for saving him from drowning and strangling him at the same time for letting the reindeer lick his face. Thankfully he didn't have to do either because Kristoff had already started to ask questions.

"Shane. Are you alright?" His voice was laced with concern. "You had quite a rough fall."

"What happened? How did I fall in?"

Kristoff looked confused, "You were about to cut the ice cube like you wanted to prove. But you missed and instead hit the frozen lake. You went down so fast that I didn't even realise until Sven alerted me."

Shane was shocked. How close had he been to death? If it hadn't been for his friends, he would already be frozen, sinking to the bottom of an endless abyss.

He realised that he actually owed Kristoff and Sven for saving his life. He made a mental note to get them something nice for helping him.

"Kristoff. Thanks for saving my life, man. I wouldn't be standing here if you weren't there." Shane pat the big mountain man on the back.

"Na, it's ok. You're a friend. Of course I'd help you."

Shane didn't know what to say so he just stayed silent.

"C'mon, we should start heading back to the castle. It's getting late. It's a shame we didn't get to visit my family- the troll rocks. I guess we'll go next time" Kristoff sighed, "Bulda and Grand Pabbie must be dying to see me."

And so…off the trio went on their long journey back to castle Arendelle, silently praying that the Queen and princess wouldn't physically kill them for being so reckless.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was late when a grumpy mountain man, a tired reindeer, and a shivering assassin finally entered the gates of castle Arendelle.

The group knew what they were in for when they saw Elsa and Anna waiting at the entrance, hands folded, scowls plastered onto their faces. Kristoff was the first to reach the group, which was a bad thing because he got a resounding slap on the face from his angry, fiery girlfriend.

"Where were you guys? You said that you'd be back before dark!"

"Um… oh well, hehe, you know, we were tired so we took it slow and easy…"

Anna didn't look impressed, "You are going to have to give me a much better explanation, Bjorgman!"

Kristoff shrunk back and gulped.

"Well we had an incident earlier, Shane apparently fell in…" Kristoff instantly clamped his mouth shut, realising what he was just about to say.

But the damage had already been done.

Elsa, who was quiet during the whole encounter, instantly perked her head up as soon as Kristoff stopped short.

"What? He fell in what?"

"Well… um… it's really nothing to worry about"

"Kristoff tell me!" Elsa's blue eyes seemed to pierce like sharp icicles straight through him.

"He fell in a frozen lake…"

"He what?!"

"He fell in a frozen lake and nearly died if we weren't there to pull him out in time."

Elsa was silent for a moment, as if trying to process what she had just heard.

"How?" She finally turned to look at Shane, "How did you fall in?"

"I… wanted to prove to Kristoff that I could harvest ice… and I kinda missed the ice cube and hit the frozen lake instead."

Elsa felt like pulling her hair out. Why does a guy, who is a professional at fighting, an expert in weapons, and a silent killer have to be so childish? It seemed such a small thing to fuss over. Really? I wanted to prove to Kristoff that I could harvest ice… Sometimes, Elsa never really understood men.

"Ok, Ok," she shook her head, "You two better get some rest. You had a long day. Shane, tomorrow come and meet me at the barracks early in the morning after breakfast. I have to… discuss some important business with you."

Shane looked puzzled but decided not to comment or question any further. He had already pissed off an ice-wielding Queen. To annoy her even more would surely be suicide.

As he, Kristoff and Sven started toward the castle doors, Elsa turned to look at them one more time, "And please, try not to kill yourselves next time," she said in a more sarcastic tone.

Shane and Kristoff did their best to hide their smirks as they hurried inside. When they were gone Anna turned to face her elder sibling.

"So… important business, eh. Why didn't you just tell him about the whole bodyguard thing?"

Elsa sighed, "I just don't want to pressure him at the moment. He already had a near death experience today."

Anna nodded, "I understand, but we've got to brief him about his new position you're offering and replacing Captain Elias."

"Yeah, I'll tell him tomorrow when I see him."

Anna then announced that she was going to bed early and hugged her elder sibling. As her footsteps finally faded into the quiet darkness, Elsa looked up toward the stars. She began to replay the events of her day. The meeting with Prince Richard, her decision on replacing the captain of the guard and finally her shock of finding out that Shane had nearly drowned because of stupid challenge he took. She sometimes wondered why on earth she was destined to be a queen and not some ordinary person living a normal life. Sometimes she really did feel like banging her head against a wall. Dealing with the problems of this life can really be a hassle.

Guys, once again I'm sorry for the really long wait. I've been really busy. Also I know the ending Is pretty brief but I will improve it a bit later on. Anyways thanks all for reading, please review this chapter. See you guys at the next chapter.

RT_OneZer0