Hi...

If anyone is stil reading this or even remotely cares about it, just know that you are the bestest person ever and I love you and will give you a thousand hugs. My tumblr has through chapter 20 of this story so I really need to do some updating. So, thanks :-) enjoy!

Kristoff felt blood coming from his wrists. He must have tried separating them to many times as he slept and while he was awake. His wrists had been tied together for days, making them very sore and now the sores were bleeding. He could already feel even more sores on his arms and torso from where the ropes around his body had been rubbing him day after day. He also felt the sore on the back of his neck beginning to worsen as well from where the knot in the material had dug into his skin.

He looked over at Sven, grateful that the ropes on his snout had not rubbed any sores into him. Kristoff turned his head and looked around at the tower, seeing nothing but gray bricks in the wall and the stairs. It had been a lifetime since he last saw natural sunlight or felt it on his face. Ordinarily, he preferred shady spots due to the heat, but he would give anything to just feel the sun on his face.

Kristoff felt the blood on his wrists run down his hand and groaned into the gag. He did his best to try and hold pressure on the wound with the sleeves on his sweater, but he wasn't sure if it worked or not.

Suddenly, the door next to him opened. He snapped his head around to the door to see Hans enter, a strange look that Kristoff hadn't seen before on his face.

He looked like he was scared of something. Kristoff watched, his brown eyes following Hans as he paced about the room, muttering to himself. Kristoff strained to hear what he was saying, but only made out a couple of words.

"...how could he have found out? No, he couldn't have. There's no way. Nobody saw us it's impossible and now we have to pack up and leave again..." he heard Hans muttering. He furrowed his brow and made a few muffled sounds through the gag as Hans turned towards him. He began to say something as Erik came in.

"You're back. Good. Now we-"

"Shut up." Hans barked, holding up a Hand as he approached Kristoff and bent down, "Look what you've gone and done now, Kristoff." he snarled. Kristoff kept his brow furrowed and struggled to speak before Hans cut him off.

"Apparently we've been found out." Hans said.

"What? Impossible. How?" Erik asked.

"I don't know... but apparently that Prince, Eugene knows that Kristoff and his pet are here so it's only a matter of time before they find us. We have to leave. Tonight."

Kristoff's eyes went wide. Eugene? He remembered Anna saying that her cousin from Corona, Rapunzel had a husband named Eugene and this particular Eugene was a prince. Surely he had to be the same one.

He was in Corona. That's where Hans had brought them.

"What do we do, Prince Hans?"

Hans got up and looked down at Kristoff. "There's a ship out where we docked. Get everything ready. Get this one and the reindeer to the ship. Don't be seen." he demanded before storming off. Kristoff watched him leave as he heard Erik rustling and looked over, seeing that he'd gotten the black hood yet again.

"Say good night, goldenrod." he said before he put the hood over Kristoff's face again, leaving him in total darkness as he hoisted him over his shoulder, disorienting Kristoff again. He heard the door open and felt as the man began to run, his shoulder digging sharply into Kristoff's abdomen as he ran, causing Kristoff to let out muffled grunts of pain as the man ran. Within a few minutes, he felt him slow down as he heard the water rushing below them. They must be at the ship. He felt the man carry him down the same flight of stairs and deposit him on the ground in the same dank cell as before. The man took off Kristoff's hood before shackling him to the wall. Kristoff tried to sit up as the man left, locking the cell behind him.

Once again, he had no idea where they were going, but now he was sure he wasn't going to see Anna and Elsa again.

And it hurt.

After Eugene had figured out Hans was not only in Corona but that he had seen Kristoff and Sven, he rushed to Rapunzel and told her. Rapunzel had insisted on taking immediate action herself, but Eugene had managed to calm her down, convincing her that Hans was too dangerous. Rapunzel reminded him of her skills with a frying pan, but Eugene had none of it. He ended up almost begging for Rapunzel to let him handle it out of fear that she would get hurt. Reluctantly, Rapunzel agreed and within the hour, Eugene set off to find Hans with a few of the castle's guards and Maximus. After searching the inn and finding no trace of Hans, Eugene thought about the one place that anyone could use to hide:

Rapunzel's tower.

He quickly mounted Maximus and took off towards the forest.

Down in the cell, Kristoff lay on his side, being careful not to irritate the bleeding sores on his wrists. He wasn't entirely sure, but he thought he could feel blood on the back of his neck where the knot of the gag irritated the sore that had formed. He tried to avoid moving his head on the account of every time he turned his head, the sore stung like fire. Erik and Francis sat at a table outside the cell, playing cards by the light of a lantern. They'd been assigned to watch over Kristoff and Sven for the night. Kristoff had heard only pieces of their conversation, but one sentence caught his ear and sucked him back in.

"So, what exactly did the note say?" Erik asked.

"Said that when the time is right, we should consider getting rid of the reindeer boy and his pet."

Kristoff's eyes went wide as he quietly gasped into his gag. Get rid of him? So it was true...

"Hans know about this?"

"Hell no he doesn't. We'll have to do it when the time is right. Plus, we don't work for Hans. And you know the Duke never fully trusted him to begin with. As a matter of fact," the thug continued, motioning for Kristoff's handler to lean in close as he whispered, "He said we should consider taking out Hans as well."

Kristoff furrowed his brow out of confusion and fear as he continued to listen, craning his neck to hear better, the knot of the gag irritating the sore on the back of his neck.

"Take out Hans? But why would we do that?"

"So the Duke can take Arendelle for himself after the Queen and Princess are dead. And Hans is too much a 'loose cannon' the Duke said."

"How's the Duke going to get control of Arendelle without Hans?"

"He's going to gain control of Arendelle with Hans before he has us take him out. The Duke can explain it better than I can."

"Well damn, I sure hope so." Erik muttered before looking over at Kristoff, who had his back to them. "Should we really be talking about this in front of him?"

Francis laughed, "Why? Not like he's gonna be talking to anyone. Hans has had him gagged like that since he got here. Apparently he's a real mouthy one."

Kristoff narrowed his eyes and let a quiet growl escape his throat. So was that the reason why he had a burning sore on the back of his neck? Because Hans thought he was quote, "mouthy"? It didn't surprise him in the least.

"And besides, it's not like Hans would believe him if he did ever get the chance to say anything."

"Yeah, guess you're right."

Kristoff heard the door open and saw Hans descend the stairs. He pointed to the door and gestured the two men out.

"I'll take it from here. You're dismissed." he said. The two got up and left as Hans took a seat. Kristoff never heard the door to the deck of the ship close.

"Evening, Kristoff." Hans said. Kristoff said nothing. He didn't even turn around. Maybe Hans would think he was asleep. "I know you're awake. Your fingers are twitching."

Damn it. Kristoff still said nothing. He was debating on telling Hans about what the men had said, but thought against it. Not only would the bastard not believe him, but he would probably laugh and demean him about it. And Kristoff didn't like Hans in the first place. If the Duke made him pay, he wouldn't really care one way or the other. He closed his eyes and tried his best to shut out Hans, his bleeding wrists and the stinging sores on the back of his neck.

Surely Hans would keep him alive. That was his plan after all, right?

Right?

Eugene approached the tower on Maximus' back, taking the lantern from the horse's saddle and swinging himself down off of the horse's back.

"Max, put that sense of smell of yours to good use. I've got a feeling he's here. Don't hurt yourself." he told the horse. Maximus snorted as he began to sniff the ground around the tower. Eugene circled the tower, looking for a door. He found it hidden in the back of the tower, slightly ajar. Eugene pulled open the door slowly and whispered over to the guards he'd brought with him, "Hey. Over here."

He waved the guards over to the door, their weapons ready. Eugene pointed to the doorway as the guards made their way inside, looking for any sign of movement. Eugene followed behind them with the lantern. He looked around the room and over at the staircase.

"Check upstairs. See if they're in the tower." he instructed as two guards made their way up the stairs and through the trapdoor. Eugene looked around the room, not finding much of anything.

"Are you sure they were here, Eugene?" the guard asked him. Eugene was about to answer "no" when something caught his eye. He looked down and saw a dark, charcoal colored puffball hat lying on the floor. He sat the lantern down on the ground beside the hat as he took the picture of Kristoff out of his pocket and unfolded it. In the picture, the top portion of Kristoff's head was covered by a hat.

A hat with a puffball on the top.

"They were here. They just left is all." he muttered as he picked up the hat and stuffed it into his satchel. He heard the guards come down the stairs as Maximus let out an alarming whinny from outside the door. Eugene looked his way to see that the horse was rearing back on his back legs and scraping his front hooves at the ground, indicating that he'd found a trail.

"Come on, outside, now, Max found something!" he told the guards as they made their way over to the horse, "What'd you find, pal?"

Maximus snorted and nodded towards the woods. Eugene could see footprints imprinted in the dirt. He put his foot in the stirrups of Maximus' saddle and urged the horse forward. "Follow those fottprints, Max. They couldn't have gotten very far. You three, come on!" he yelled over to the guards, who mounted their horses and followed Maximus and Eugene through the woods.

As morning approached, Elsa crossed the hall to Anna's room. She saw that the ice had melted away from the doorknob. She wasn't sure if she had done it out of guilt or if the ice had melted by itself. She knocked on the door and leaned towards it.

"Anna? Are you awake?" she asked.

No answer.

Either she was ignoring her or she was asleep. Elsa quietly turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. She just had to see if she was okay. She looked inside at Anna's bed, which was empty, the sheets made up. She couldn't have been awake already... it was too early for Anna. Elsa's throat tightened as she looked around the room with worry.

"Anna?" she called, looking around the room. Worried, she made her way out and down to the washroom and looked inside. She wasn't in the washroom, nor had she been in there that morning. Everything was still neat and in place. Normally when he went in there, it looked like a storm blew through it.

"Anna?" Elsa called again, making her way down the hallway. She knew she wasn't in her room, nor would she be visiting with Henrik. She knew how she felt about him... That left Kristoff's room.

Elsa rushed down the hall, her long braid swinging against her back as she approached Kristoff's room. She hadn't been in there since he'd disappeared. His door was closed. She put her ear to the door and heard nothing.

"Anna?" she called through the door as she turned the knob and pushed it open. She looked around the room, her eyes finally finding her sister curled up in Kristoff's bed, her arms wrapped around one of his pillows, an old tattered tunic also in her arms. Elsa sighed sadly as she watched her sister's chest rise and fall with each breath she took. Her hair wasn't it's usual rat's nest, indicating that she had barely moved all night. Elsa gently pushed open the door and entered the room, quietly shutting it behind her. She approached a chair beside Kristoff's bed and pulled it over closer to the bed. She sat down and brushed her sister's strawberry colored bangs from her face as she slept soundly. Elsa ran her hand carefully down her arm, her hand taking Anna's. Elsa gently rubbed her forearm and hand with her other hand, looking down at her sister and suddenly felt so guilty for what she had done. She looked down at the old tunic Anna had. Part of it lay under her head and on her pillow, the other part under her hand.

"I'm sorry, Anna." she whispered as Anna stirred in her sleep. She mumbled something in her sleep Elsa could not make out. She leaned closer as Anna's eyelids moved rapidly, her hand gripping Kristoff's tunic in her sleep.

She was dreaming.

Elsa listened as Anna began to mumble into Kristoff's pillow, clutching the tunic even tighter.

"...kristoff...where are you kristoff...come back..." Elsa heard. "...please...come home please kristoff please..." Anna continued as she turned her head, her hair falling over her face as she began to toss and turn. Elsa suddenly let go of her hand as her tossing and turning became faster.

"...let him go..." she heard Anna say, "...let go of him you bastard...don't you dare...don't you hurt them!" she heard Anna say more clearly now. Elsa put a hand to her lips and gasped. What was she dreaming about? She had to wake her up... she had to. She couldn't stand it...

"Anna. Anna, wake up." she said, gently shaking her sister.

"Let him go!" Anna screamed in her sleep.

"Anna! Wake up!" Elsa said, louder this time as her sister's eyes opened and stared at her for a moment before Anna gripped Kristoff's tunic in both hands and held it to her chest.

"Elsa?"

"Are you okay, Anna? You were dreaming." she said. Anna looked around the room.

"Oh... was it that loud? Did I wake you up?"

Elsa shook her head. "No. I was... worried about you so I came to find you but you were in here. I came in and you were dreaming."

"Oh..."

"Are you all right?"

Anna sat up and ran her fingers through her hair. "Y-yeah... I'm okay." she lied. She'd dreamed of Kristoff. And Hans. And he was hurting him... badly.

"It was about Kristoff, wasn't it?" Elsa asked. Anna looked down at his tunic, sitting in her lap and swallowed hard, her eyes welling up. Suddenly, she wrapped her arms around Elsa and squeezed her, taking Elsa by surprise as her body shook with sobs. "Oh Anna... what happened?"

"I... I dreamed he was being hurt... and... I think my dream might be right..." she cried into her sister's shoulder.

"Aw Anna... why would you think that?"

"Because I think I know what happened to him and Sven..."

Elsa's icy eyes went wide as she let go of her sister and looked her in the eye. "What? How? Where are they, Anna?"

"...I..." Anna began, "...I think Hans has them..." she whispered.

"Hans? Anna, that's impossible. He's-"

"Elsa, he's not in the Southern Isles. He was in the town just across from us the same day Kristoff left here. I... I went there and asked around... and they said they saw him there and that he was glaring at Kristoff... and I think he might have taken him to get to us and... I don't know Elsa, I'm just so scared..." she cried, flinging her arms around Elsa again. Elsa brought a hand to her cheek and wiped away a stray, icy tear.

"We will find him Anna. If it's the last thing I do, I swear to you, we will find Kristoff and Sven and we will bring them both home safely."

Anna looked at her, wiping the tears away with Kristoff's tunic. "We will?"

"Yes, Anna."

"Promise me."

Elsa kissed her sister's forehead and brushed her hair out of her face.

"I promise."