The sun had began to try and come out as Anna approached the Valley. She dismounted her horse and went to the center of the Valley, among the trolls and called out, "It's me, Anna. I'm back."

Se felt the ground tremble as the trolls rolled towards her and unrolled all at once, looking up at her.

"Have you heard anything about Sven and Kristoff?"

"Are they okay?"

"Please say nobody hurt them."

Anna held out her arms to quiet them, "I haven't heard anything yet... where's Grand Pabbie?" she asked as the old troll rolled out in front of her, carrying Kristoff's tattered shirt. He did not look pleased.

"Well?"

Pabbie closed his eyes and shook his head, gripping the tunic in his hands. "I am sorry, Anna. The spell did not work... I found no sign of Kristoff or Sven... I truly am sorry..." the troll said, a tear forming in his eye. Anna bent down and put a hand on his shoulder, knowing that if it was painful for her, it was worse for him. These were his grandchildren they were talking about and not knowing where they were or if they were in danger must have been the worst feeling in the world.

"It's okay, Grand Pabbie..."

"I am so worried, Anna." he said, taking her hand in his, "I did manage to get some sort of sign though..."

Anna's heart skipped a beat. "What sort of sign?"

Grand Pabbie looked up into her eyes and told her, "Kristoff and Sven are in great danger."

Anna swallowed hard. "But... they're alive?"

Pabbie nodded.

"I have to find them." Anna said, getting up from the ground and taking Kristoff's tunic with her. She started walking towards her horse.

"Anna, be careful. If they're in danger, imagine what could happen to you." Pabbie called after her. She turned back and looked at him.

"I don't care. I'm going to find them, one way or the other. Thank you for your help, Grand Pabbie." she said before starting back towards her horse and riding away from the valley, leaving the trolls staring in shock and confusion.

As Anna rode back to Arendelle, she could only think of Kristoff and Sven. They were alive, clearly, but she had to find them and find them fast. Her thoughts buzzed around like a swarm of angry hornets, allowing her to miss the fact that she was being watched. She hadn't taken notice of the footsteps behind her, but was surprised when her horse jerked to a stop.

"Whoa, what is it, girl?" she asked the animal. The horse whinnied anxiously. Anna looked around and saw nothing.

"Why, 'ello there, little lady."

Anna turned her head to see a slender man, clad in dark clothes with long, greasy brown hair grinning at her.

"Um... hello."

"Where you off to all by yer lonesome?" the man asked, his accent strong as he stepped towards her horse.

"Just into town is all. Nowhere in particular."

"Well, which one?"

"Beg pardon?" Anna asked. The man shook his head with a smirk.

"Which one is it? To town or nowhere in particular?"

Anna felt a chill run up her spine. She hadn't brought anything to defend herself with... dumb move there. But she did have her fists and apparently she was very good at punching people.

"Can't it be both?" she asked the man bravely, not showing any signs of fear. The man tsked and stroked her horse, making the animal snort nervously. Anna touched the man's hand. It was rough and calloused over. "Please don't touch the horse."

"It's a beautiful animal, love," the man said, "Not as beautiful as you though."

Anna chuckled uncomfortably. "If you're trying to reel me in, it's not working. Sorry." she said. The man grinned.

"Ah, come on darlin', don't be a prude."

Anna looked at the ground to see more shadows approaching. She looked and saw two other men, both of them large, six foot men who looked like they could eat her, Kristoff and Elsa for dinner and still be hungry.

"Friends of yours?" she asked, eying the men cautiously.

"Guess yeh could say tha'." the greasy haired man said, "Now, let's turn out your bag before anything bad happens."

"In your dreams. I don't have anything of any value to give you if I wanted to." Anna said defiantly.

"You're a bad liar, love." Greasy said to her, eying her up and down, "Anybody in them type a clothes' bound to have something in her handbag. Wha' you say, love dove?"

"I suggest you do what he wants." one of the large thugs growled, "It could end very badly for you, dearie."

Anna sneered at the man and turned back to Greasy. "Not as bad as it's gonna be for you. Do you have any idea who you're talking to, you two?" she asked.

"Sure we do. A little sweet lady." Greasy said, nodding to his friend who suddenly seized Anna around the waist. Anna yelped and tried to get away from him.

"Put me down!" she screamed as he let her go. She looked at the large man and scowled, "That's no way to treat a lady, sir!" she barked. Suddenly, she heard Greasy's cold voice behind her.

"And you know the right way to treat a lady, love? Tell me, wha's the right way to treat a dame like yourself?" he crooned into her ear, running his fingers through her hair. Anna shivered as he brought his hand up to her head again and got an idea. She intertwined her hand with his.

"I'll show you." she said in a voice just as cold as his as she placed her other hand around his, taking his middle finger and jerking it backward as hard and fast as she could, making Greasy scream out in pain as he backed off, nursing his finger. Anna took advantage of the opportunity and wound up, socking him right in the jaw. She watched him spit blood and a tooth as his head flew back from where she'd hit him. Without warning, the large man grabbed her from behind as the other stood in front of her.

"Let me go you... bastards!" she yelled, remembering the words that Kristoff often used when he was angry.

"Shut your trap, woman!" the man screamed back at her, slapping her across the face, "We'll teach you to lead a man on!"

"Go to hell!"

"Right behind you, sweetheart." the man grinned as he took out a large knife and brought it to Anna's face.

"Hold it right there, dirtbag."

Anna felt her heart lurch into her chest as she looked over to see none other than Henrik Westergaard atop his horse, holding his sword to the man's back. "If you three have any sense whatsoever, you'll turn around right now, release the girl and go on your way."

"Oh yeah, what are you gonna do about it, pretty boy?" the large thug demanded.

"I'll start by cutting off each of your legs followed by your arms, then probably your noses and eyes. I could go on if you like." Henrik said, "I could plunge this directly into your heart, put it through your eye and by the time greasy hair over there has time to think, I can separate his head from his neck. Which one would you guys like? Let the girl go or the latter?"

The large thug holding Anna sneered and dropped her to the ground as the other went to help the whimpering greasy haired thug.

"We're gonna get you for this you son of a bitch." one of the larger thugs growled. Henrik smirked.

"We'll see about that then, won't we?" he grinned as the three men turned and stomped away. Henrik turned to Anna and looked just as she was straightening out her dress.

"I had that under control." she snapped.

"You know, you could say 'thank you'." Henrik fired back, putting his sword away, "After all, I did just save you from being ravaged and beaten by three dirty thugs."

"I can take care of myself, I don't need your help." Anna insisted. Henrik chuckled.

"Are you joking? Those guys would have killed you."

"I hurt one, didn't I?"

"And what about the other two?"

"I would've figured it out!"

"Well, Princess, it seems to me that you need to be a little more grateful to those who try to help you. And here I was, out here searching for your friend and his reindeer to try and help you and your sister out and this is the thanks I get?"

Anna was shocked. He was out here looking for Kristoff and Sven?

"You were looking for Kristoff and Sven?"

"I was, until I found you." Henrik said. Anna shook her head, dumbfounded.

"Why?"

"Because your sister asked me to. She's worried about them. And about you." Anna raised an eyebrow.

"You sure she didn't just send you out here to keep tabs on her clumsy, irresponsible little sister?" she asked, suddenly irritated again. Where did Elsa get off asking him to come find her? A perfect stranger?

"No, that's not the reason at all. I would explain if you would just hear me out." Henrik explained.

"No, it's fine. I think you've said enough." Anna said hotly as she swung herself up on her horse. "Thanks for getting rid of those thugs. I'm sure it made you feel all heroic inside." she grumbled, urging her horse and taking off back towards Arendelle.

After what seemed like forever, Kristoff finally felt as the man carrying him put him down. Kristoff shuddered a little as he touched what he guessed was the floor. Unlike the wood, it was cold, like stone. Where the hell were they?

He listened out and heard as they shackled his chain to the wall and brought in Sven, who, surprisingly, wasn't giving much of a fight anymore.

"Welcome home, ice boy." he heard the man say as he untied the hood from his head and yanked it off.

Kristoff looked around at his new surroundings, seeing that wherever he was, it was still dark, no windows at all. The walls and floor were completely made of stone, almost like some sort of place designed to be a dungeon. However, he looked up to see a long, spiraling staircase leading to an upper level that was blocked off by a trapdoor. He was in some sort of a tower, he guessed. If it was a tower, it was the very bottom. He wondered if Hans would make a reappearance for his daily dose of teasing, but luckily, he didn't see him anywhere around.

"Enjoy your new home, kid." the man who carried him in laughed, ruffling Kristoff's hair again. Kristoff let out a low growl that was muffled enough by the gag that it was inaudible to the other man. He hated when they did that...

Kristoff looked over and saw that Sven was actually within his reach. Hoping his chain wouldn't stop him, he laid back down on the floor and did his best to try and crawl towards Sven, this proving to be difficult due to his hands being bound behind him. Sven looked over at Kristoff and whined as Kristoff finally made it over to him. Sven whined again and nuzzled Kristoff's head. Kristoff sighed and rubbed his cheek against Sven's snout, trying his best to pet him without his hands. He hadn't talked to the reindeer in days and it bothered him to no end. He talked to the reindeer every day and always vented his problems to him, mostly because Sven listened so well, partly because he didn't talk.

He remembered back to when he and Sven first met. Kristoff had only been eight at the time, usually hanging around with the ice harvesters. He'd been in and out of various orphanages after his father, also an ice harvester, had gotten sick with pneumonia and passed away. His mother had contracted hypothermia one day and took Kristoff to an orphanage before she died, promising him that she would see him again one day as she wiped away his and her tears.

None of the orphanages had bee particularly nice, so Kristoff often snuck out and ran around in the forest, playing with various animals. One day, he was running around in the snow and heard what sounded like an animal whimpering. A little nervous, Kristoff followed the sound, taking a stick with him in case it was something scary. Sure, he might be on the small side since he was only eight, but he was sure if any animal tried to eat him he could fend it off with a good thwack.

"Um... hello? Who's there? I have a- a... stick." he called out. He listened out and heard as the animal cried out again. He cautiously peeked around the corner to see a small reindeer calf with his tongue stuck to the ice. The poor little thing must have not realized it was frozen and gotten himself stuck. The little reindeer looked at Kristoff sadly and whined, as if asking him for help. Kristoff dropped his stick in the snow and went over to the reindeer.

"Hey there, little guy." Kristoff said as he bent down and looked at the reindeer's tongue, "What's wrong, you got stuck?"

The reindeer snorted and wagged his tail as he eyed the ice then looked back at Kristoff.

"Um... okay. I'm gonna help you. Now, on three we're gonna pull together, you and me." he explained as he wrapped his arms around the reindeer's body, "Ready?"

The reindeer snorted again. "Okay, one... two... three!"

Kristoff pulled at the reindeer's body as the reindeer pulled his tongue clear off the ice, sending them both falling backward into the snow. Kristoff sat up, snow all in his messy blond hair. He began to brush off the snow as the reindeer ran up to him, panting happily.

"Well, hi there. Feel better, little guy?" he asked as the reindeer suddenly tackled him, making him fall back in the snow as the creature licked his face gratefully, covering him in slobber. Kristoff yelped in surprise before smiling and scratching the reindeer behind the ears.

"Oh thank you, little guy. That's sweet of you." he said as the reindeer stopped and panted at him. Kristoff looked around and saw no other reindeer around. Where were his parents?

"Where's your Mom and Pop at, little guy?" he asked as the reindeer tilted his head sadly and whined and Kristoff realized the poor thing must have no parents.

Like him...

"Oh... are they... gone?" The reindeer hung his head sadly. "Aw, it's okay," Kristoff assured him as he scooted over closer to the reindeer and petted the top of his head.

"My Mom and Pop are gone, too. Do you have anywhere to go?"

The reindeer whined and hung his head again, indicating that he had no place to go. Kristoff wanted more than anything to take him, but the orphanage would never allow it.

You know what, to hell with them. Kristoff thought. They don't even take good care of me anyways.

"It's okay. You can come on with me, little guy. Would you like that?" he asked as the reindeer, who bounced around happily, panting like crazy as he licked Kristoff's face gratefully. Kristoff smiled and looked at him.

"Well, one thing we gotta do first. You need a name." he said, "Now... let me think..." Kristoff went through names of people he knew in his head, none of them really worthy for a reindeer this sweet to be named after them.

Then he thought about his father.

"How about Sven? Do you like that name? Sven?" he asked. The reindeer tilted his head and whined, letting his tongue hang out of his mouth as he panted happily. Kristoff smiled and nodded his head. "Okay Sven, so what do we do first?"

The memory of meeting his best friend brought him some sort of comfort. If he could've smiled, he would have. Grateful to still have the reindeer by his side, Kristoff curled up as best he could beside the reindeer, trying to imagine that his body, hands and mouth were free. He hear Sven's heartbeat against his chest.

The beat soon lulled him to sleep.

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