Hey all!

The author's note is gonna be super quick today because I am unfortunately not dripping in time right now :(

But I promise my beautiful reviewers will be thanked in the next chapter!

I'm not so sure about this chapter... so any encouragement would be greatly appreciated! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen or any of that stuff. yup. same old same old.

again, please leave a review, follow, favorite, something to let me know you're reading/enjoying! (which i hope you are!) :)

"Alright, move in," Kirk whispered, a hand straying to his wounded side.

Three soldiers quickly moved to the back door of the medium sized building. It didn't seem like much; a larger house that had a small fish shop in the front. It seemed to be a popular haunt for sailors, even though it was the middle of the night...

They had come to the back entrance because of that reason.

Elsa couldn't help but think it was all very suspicious but little of it made sense.

Only through a lot of convincing had she agreed to not be the first person into the building. Kirk, despite his injured stage, had pleaded for her to consider what would happen if she, sole Queen of Arendelle, were to be killed.

What he didn't say, but they were both thinking, was with Anna gone and her return uncertain, she had no heir were she to die.

Elsa watched as the soldiers quietly picked the lock of the back entrance and slipped inside. Elsa started to move, but Kirk touched her arm and she nearly froze it off. She turned quickly to see what his reaction would be to the freezing jolt she knew she had sent through him but he was still staring at the building. He didn't seem to have noticed anything, and Elsa was once again reminded of the mystery that seemed to surround the man.

However this was not the time to ponder that.

Finally Kirk nodded and Elsa followed him across the yard and into the building.

There were beginning to climb the stairs when shouts from above where the other soldiers had ventured ahead.

"Come on!" Elsa flew up the stairs as a girl's cry filled the air, nearly drowned out by more shouts.

"Get out!"

"Put your hands up!"
"What is going on here?!"

Just as Elsa was about to turn the corner, she slammed into one of the soldiers, fainting recognizing him as Amund.

"I'm sorry," he stammered but grabbed Elsa's arm as she tried to move past him. "Wait!" the soldier was nearly fainting as he stopped her, but stood firm in her way. "You can't go back there!"
"Why not?!" Elsa demanded, her blue eyes flashing dangerously, barely restraining herself from freezing his feet to the ground and continuing.

"It's not decent," the soldier stammered. "You can't go in there, not till the others get the men out and dealt with..."

Elsa stared at him blankly.

Kirk suddenly appeared at her side. He must have somehow slipped past her.
"Elsa, it was a false lead," he sighed, his face sagging with exhaustion.

"What the heck is going on?" Elsa glowered. "Tell me what's in that hall if Anna isn't!"

"It's a brothel." Kirk told her plainly, his green eyes flashing with anger. "Not a voluntary one either, it seems they've been holding girls against their will. Not a suitable place for a queen... My men are getting the sailors out but..."

Elsa had already pushed past him, her head pounding with fiery pure anger.

Two soldiers were holding a heavyset man at swordpoint. Several girls were staring stunned at the soldiers milling about, some with blankets wrapped around them. A couple had soldier's jackets on, obviously given graciously for covering.

Elsa spied a girl who looked Anna's age, her blond hair tangled, clutching a blanket around herself. Another looked even younger, only a child... It was obvious the girls had suffered abuse by their thin forms and scared haunted countenances.

"This is the girl someone saw being taken into the building, the one we thought was your sister," Kirk led her to a redhead who was dazedly huddled with a couple other girls.

Elsa's heart ached at the resemblance. The girl had the same wild red brown hair and lithe form as Anna. But her eyes were green and her face did not look like Anna's upon closer inspection.

"Thank you for coming, Your Majesty." The girl's voice was soft but steady.

Elsa's world shook slightly. These girls had been through hell, through unspeakable horrors, under her reign. Why hadn't she known things like this were going on in her own country? What kind of ruler was she? She had failed to protect these girls, and her chest tightened painfully as she thought of how if Fate had worked differently, this girl could be her sister.

There was a soft warm touch on her hand. Kirk. Immediately the slight pressure removed.

"I'm only sorry we didn't come earlier," Elsa managed to say. "How old are you?"

"Sixteen, your Highness."

Elsa's vision clouded with rage. This girl was even younger than Anna. However there was the same spiritedness about her and unlike the other girls, she did not cower in fear although her hands trembled slightly.

"What is your name and where are you from?"

"Helje. I am from Akrenham, way in the north, your Highness. I came here seeking work to support my family and..." Helje's green eye's filled with tears. "Some men tricked me and sold me to Dovre. Please, you have to believe me that none of the girls here are here by choice, we all... None of us wanted to..." Helje couldn't keep going, her face filling with pain and haunted fear.

"It's alright Helje. You and your friends don't have to worry about anything. You're all coming back to the palace with me tonight, and then we'll work on finding your families. But tonight I'll make sure you all are well taken care of."

Suddenly Elsa found herself being tightly embraced by the sobbing girl. She sent a panicked look at Kirk who smiled slightly, his green eyes sparkling.

Oh God I don't know how to comfort people, especially girls, especially girls who have been through so much... what do I do?

Elsa slowly, slightly stiffly, wrapped her arms around the girl who was still desperately clinging to her.

"It's alright. You're safe now," she said quietly, hoping desperately the words were the right thing to say.

Suddenly disappointment and crushing fear began to creep into her chest.

They still hadn't found Anna.

Her sister wasn't safe yet.

"Queen Elsa!" a messenger came springing up, holding a small scrap of paper.

Elsa's large blue eyes widened as she quickly read the note.

On it were instructions for her to get Anna safely back.

It had taken all day, but Kristoff was fairly sure he had figured out which boat Anna was possibly being held on. He hadn't had a huge problem getting on unnoticed; merchant ships tended to have a lot of boxes and storage rooms to hide in. Plus, Kristoff had donned a sailor's suit for some extra camouflage. And for some reason, the deck was fairly empty. No, all of that had gone quite smoothly, far more smoothly than he had expected, up until the moment the boat started moving.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

Kristoff gulped as he watched the flickering lights of the port grow farther and farther away as they slipped into the darkness.

Now he was in trouble and definitely trapped.

He had been lucky enough to get this far but to be honest, it was pretty much a fluke. Now he was crouched behind a large crate and watching a large rugged man pace back and forth, with zero ideas on how to remain unnoticed let alone how to venture out and find Anna.

In his panic and fear for Anna, he had done rushed into drastic action without much of a plan.

It wouldn't be the first time... Kristoff reflected wryly. He seemed to lose his head whenever he encountered a situation where Anna was in danger.

Such as rushing headlong into a blizzard across a cracking ice ocean.

Now he was kind of regretting not formulating a better plan than get on the boat, find Anna, escape with Anna, kiss Anna.

Finally Kristoff spotted an opening as the thug stopped to pick up a beer on the other side of the deck. Quickly Kristoff crept across the deck, darting from barrel to crate. He froze, nearly barging in on a large group of men sitting on crate and passing around a couple bottles, laughing and talking loudly in a language that Kristoff didn't understand.
Yes!

That was good. Hopefully this meant that the rest of the ship was going to be less guarded.

Kristoff took a deep breath and darted towards the entrance to the hold of the ship.

Leaning against a dark corner, he held his breath as a man walked past.

Every fiber of his body was coursing with adrenaline as he crept through the dark passageways into the depths of the ship.

It seemed much larger than possible and so dark the air felt thick. It was only the occasional lantern that prevented Kristoff from running into things.
"Is everything prepared?" a quiet voice spoke, nearly causing Kristoff to shout out. He backed slowly into the shadow of a doorway, the metal door cold against his back.

"Almost."

Suddenly footsteps were coming closer.

Kristoff's brown eyes widened with panic. His hand landed on the knob of the door and to his surprise it twisted. Carefully he eased himself into the room, moving slowly and smoothly, as if he were on cracking ice.

Somehow he made it into the room and closed the door just as the footsteps went by.

The large blond leaned heavily against the wall as the sounds of the two people faded. He let his eyes close briefly in relief and let out the breath he had been holding.

When he opened his eyes again, he became aware of the bizarre room he was in. There was a table littered with strange instruments, a large cauldron thing, and...

Kristoff's world shook beneath his feet.
In the corner lay the still form of Anna.

Please leave a review? Please?
Hopefully this chapter wasn't too bad! I hope it was satisfying and I should have another chapter up in less than a week! :)