This chapter is a bit on the long side, but for good reason. It's an intense one ;-) don't hate me by the end lol

Maximus stopped at the edge of a dock, indicating that the trail had gone cold. Eugene had seen this dock before, usually it was where people who didn't want to be seen docked when smuggling things into Corona. He got off of Maximus and saw that ropes were still tied to the dock's posts. Someone had left in a hurry. Eugene scanned the water for any sign of a ship and spotted one off in the distance.

Gotcha.

"Eugene?" he heard one of the guards say, "What is it?"

"Get back to Corona and get a ship ready double quick. We're going after that ship."

On the ship, Hans paced nervously in front of Kristoff's cell. Kristoff was awake, still listening as Hans continued to mutter to himself. It started out as sort of amusing due to him being in distress over... whatever it was but now it was starting to get annoying.

Damn, don't you ever shut up?

Kristoff managed to roll over, facing Hans, who stopped and looked over at him, struggling to roll over against the ropes.

"What's your problem?" Hans asked. Kristoff said nothing, "Why's that girlfriend of yours have to be so persistent?"

What the- girlfriend?!Was he talking about Anna? Sure, they were friends, but... Kristoff wasn't sure she considered him a boyfriend. He only responded to Hans with a roll of his eyes as if to say, "Well, what do you expect?"

"You sure don't talk much, do you?" Hans asked. From the tone in his voice, Kristoff couldn't tell if he was poking fun at him or not. He said nothing.

"I never took Anna to like the strong, silent type." he said. Kristoff said nothing. "You ever think that maybe, if things hadn't gotten so rocky, that you and I could've been friends?"

Not on your life.

"I guess you never know." Hans said, "It could've happened."

Kristoff tried his best to ignore him. He wanted to ask where they were going, but couldn't so he stayed silent. He watched as Hans take a seat and prop his feet up on the table.

Seems like he'd be in for a long night.

Eugene loaded the guards onto the boat, leaving Maximus behind to protect Rapunzel. He didn't have time to tell her and that thought burned at him. She wasn't going to like it, but she would understand. As they pushed the ship from the dock, Eugene pointed them in the direction they'd came from.

They were going to save this poor guy and his reindeer tonight if it killed him.

Elsa waited patiently in her office, organizing files on her desk. She had sent for Henrik to come and speak with her. She trusted him to some degree, but she just had to double check. For Anna.

"My lady." Henrik called into the office. Elsa looked up from her work and motioned for him to come inside. "How are you this evening?"

"I have a question for you, Henrik." Elsa said, ignoring the question. "Where is your brother?"

"Which one?"

"I think you know which one."

Henrik thought for a moment. "You mean Hans?"

Elsa nodded, losing her patience. He was stalling and she knew it. "Yes, Hans. Where is he?"

"Back in the Southern Isles, of course. Where else would he be?" Henrik asked.

"Is he still in custody?"

"Well, no. He served his sentence."

Elsa furrowed her brow. "It seemed like a pretty light sentence for the person who wanted to marry into the throne just so he could kill the Queen and her sister and be King."

Henrik shrugged. "Most of my brothers decided on a shorter sentence. They couldn't let their baby brother rot in prison."

"And you could?" Elsa asked.

"He did something terrible. He should have to pay for it." Henrik said matter-of-factly. "What makes you ask, my lady?"

"According to recent accounts, your brother was spotted in a bar one town over from Arendelle a few nights ago. The night our ice master disappeared."

"That's impossible. We didn't allow him to travel for at least a few months." Henrik insisted.

"Do you really think that stopped him?"

Henrik thought for a moment. "Hans never was a very good listener..."

"Exactly. Now, I take it since you doubted he was even out of the Southern Isles that you have no idea where he is now?"

"Yes, my lady."

"Are you lying to me, Henrik?" she asked, the desk freezing over with frost under her hands. Henrik looked down and jumped in surprise.

"Never, my lady."

"Good because let me assure you, if I find out that you're lying to me, I promise you, I will make your life a frozen hell that you won't be able to escape from. Do I make myself clear?"

Henrik looked surprised. "Clear as crystal, my lady."

"Good."

As the morning turned into the day and the day began to turn to dusk, Kristoff tried to see out of the port window. He saw the sun begin to set. Wherever they were going, it was clearly not close to Corona.

Hopelessly, he laid his head back down on the floor, his mind wandering back to Anna. He thought of right after he and Sven had come to live in the castle. Kristoff had insisted that he and Sven were fine and Anna didn't have to let them live there, but there was no talking to Anna. When she set her mind to something, she got it done and in a matter of days, Kristoff had his own room, something he'd never had before. Before he lived with the trolls he'd been in and out of various orphanages, often sharing a room with another or multiple other children. After he lived with the trolls, he usually ended up sleeping with all of the other troll children, although they had done their best to make him comfortable due to the fact that he wasn't made out of rock.

He had to get used to not sleeping in the same place as Sven, which was difficult because Sven was usually what kept him warm when it was cold. Although he would've never admitted to anyone, not even Anna, but he had been nervous the first few nights about sleeping all by himself in a new place. For years he'd either slept curled up next to Sven or in a huge group of trolls, which always made him feel at ease. Sure, the castle was nice, but in the total darkness it could get sort of eerie. He'd made himself feel a little better when he thought Sven might be having the same problem. One night he'd even made his way down to the stables to find Sven awake and on alert because he'd had a nightmare. Kristoff had ended up groggily singing him back to sleep that night and falling asleep slumped against the reindeer's warm fur. Kristoff then realized he hadn't been able to sing Sven to sleep since...

How long had it been?

His mind wandered frantically, trying to think of how long he'd been imprisoned, but the days all ran together. As waves crashed against the ship, Kristoff saw no sign of Hans. Maybe he was asleep. However, he did hear as the door to the deck of the ship opened as Erik and Francis came down. Kristoff quickly closed his eyes, pretending to sleep as they came down the stairs.

"Oh look, isn't he just adorable. Sleeping like a lamb." he heard Erik say.

"What do you think we should do before we throw him out?" the other asked. Kristoff inhaled sharply through his nose, his eyes still closed.

"Well, this little shit's made our lives hell for the duration of his stay. I think he deserves to be taught a lesson before we feed him to the fish." Erik stated. Kristoff heard Francis chuckle ominously.

"Sounds good to me. I'd much rather be back in Weselton doing what I love then be here doing the Duke's dirty work by watching over this musky rat."

Kristoff shut his eyes even tighter as he heard the cell's door open. He heard the men's heavy footsteps next to him and felt as they made the floor boards tremble with each step. He heard something that sounded like a wooden pole scrape across the floor and then the sound of wood splintering as one of the men grunted with effort.

"Found something. Old net for fish. Won't be needing the net part." he heard Francis say.

"Give me it."

"You think we should wake him up?"

"No... this'll wake him up just fine..."

Kristoff gulped. He could feel the two men standing over him. It was now or never. He snapped open his eyes and with every ounce of strength he had, swung his bound legs at Erik's legs as he raised the pole of the fishing net, about to bring it down on Kristoff. Erik landed with a loud thud against the floor, dropping the pole. Kristoff turned his head to the other thug, who made for the pole. Kristoff grunted in pain, his bruises and bleeding wrists burning as he managed to kick Francis square in the face.

As Francis fell, Kristoff turned back and squirmed for the door on his belly, grunting with effort through the material that gagged his mouth. Suddenly, his attempt to escape was halted as Erik let out a growl and grabbed the ropes surrounding Kristoff's body and threw Kristoff back against the wall as if he weighed nothing at all. Kristoff's back hit the wall first followed by his head snapping back and hitting the wall, making him scream out in pain.

"What the hell is going on-" he heard Hans scream from the deck as, suddenly, a loud boom was heard and a large, lead ball flew through the side of the ship next to Sven's cell.

Someone had found them.

Hans flinched as the boom went off and stared as the canon ball sailed through the side of the ship. He whipped around to see another ship approaching and someone very familiar standing atop one of the sails.

"Eugene." he muttered.

"Ahoy there, Elias!" Eugene called down happily, "I believe you have something that doesn't belong to you aboard that ship! Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. I wouldn't suggest the hard way because it would make us do a lot more work but then I wouldn't suggest the easy way because then we couldn't come aboard that ship, beat all your little friends till they can't see straight and take back what doesn't belong to you. And here I thought you were traveling alone?" Eugene chuckled. "Silly me."

Hans inhaled sharply. "I've no idea what you're talking about." He watched as Eugene raised an eyebrow.

"Well, all righty then. Guess that settles that." Eugene muttered as he took a frying pan from his satchel and tossed it between each hand. "Boys, you know what to do. Get 'em!" he called down to the guards, who did as they were instructed, jumping between the two ships, attacking the few men Hans had left.

Hans quickly turned back and ran for the wheel, taking a sword from a nearby table before he began to try and steer the ship away from Eugene's. Up on the sail, Eugene smirked.

"I don't play well with liars." he muttered to himself as he took a rope from the sail and grabbed on and jumped down, swinging his way towards Hans.

Down in the cell, Kristoff felt a trickle of blood run down the side of his head as Erik approached him with the pole in hand and swung it hard until it connected with Kristoff's ribs, making Kristoff let out a muffled scream of pain as another boom went off.

"What the hell'd you think you were doing? You little pain in the ass!" he screamed as he delivered another blow to Kristoff's ribs, causing Kristoff to writhe in pain on the floor, unable to defend himself due to the shooting pulses of pain in his ribs.

"Do you know what I do to the people who piss me off?" he screamed again, delivering three sharp blows in a row. Kristoff's vision began to blur, the sores on his wrists splitting open again as he struggled against the ropes. He felt blood come from the sores and from his head. Erik hit him another three times before stopping, each blow more painful than the last until he finally stopped to catch his breath.

Kristoff could no longer hold it in. The stinging of the sores on his wrists, body and neck, the pain from being hit so many times combined with being thrown clear across the room had taken their toll. Whimpering from the pain, he felt a few warm tears escape his eyes as he closed them tightly, hoping it would finally stop. He heard as the guard fastened a new shackle around his ankle and felt the weight of what sounded like a lead ball, rolling across the floor. He opened his eyes, the tears making his vision blurry as he saw another canon ball sail through the wall of the ship and go right through the bars of Sven's cell. The reindeer snorted and flinched from the impact then shook it off quickly. Kristoff knew that Sven knew...

He could get out.

He looked over at the reindeer and saw him scrape the floor with his hoof and snort angrily. Erik turned, but it was too late. He watched in horror as Sven came barreling towards him. Kristoff watched, his eyes wide as Sven charged the man. Erik barely had time to curse before Kristoff heard the sickening sound of flesh being pierced as Sven rammed into the man, slamming into the wall, his antlers piercing clear through the man's chest and out his back. Kristoff gasped into his gag, attempting to catch his breath as he watched the man's crimson blood run down Sven's antlers. Sven huffed in determination before backing away, his antlers sliding out of the man's torso. The bearded man fell to the ground hard, his eyes wide open.

But they saw nothing. Dead.

Kristoff looked over at Sven, whose determined expression had suddenly turned scared and fearful. He'd never killed anything in his life... Sven would've never hurt a fly. Kristoff tried to crawl towards him, the lead ball attached to his ankle weighing him down. Sven started towards Kristoff just as Francis kicked the reindeer hard in the snout, making the poor animal yelp.

Kristoff screamed muffled curses in pure anger and hatred at the man as Sven backed away. As Kristoff lay screaming, Francis ignored him and seized a good portion of Kristoff's hair as he dragged him over to the hole in the ship the cannon balls had blown in, Kristoff screaming in pain, the lead ball scraping along the floor. Kristoff felt his throat burn as Francis let go of his hair and grabbed the ropes around Kristoff's body before bringing Kristoff up to his level.

"See you in hell, ice boy." he growled before he kicked the lead ball over the side of the hole and shoved Kristoff through, the lead ball hitting the water, dragging Kristoff down with it.

Eugene hung onto the rope from the sail, swinging until his foot connected with Hans' chest, knocking the prince away from the wheel. As Eugene got to his feet, he quickly made his way to Hans as he was reaching for the sword and smashed him across the face with the frying pan.

Rapunzel had been so right about these things...

As Hans yelped in pain, blood sprayed from his nose as he fell to the ship's deck. Eugene seized the sword Hans had gotten after dropping the frying pan into his satchel. As Hans began to get up, Eugene brought the sword to his throat.

"Might want to rethink your next move. Hans." Eugene said. Hans looked around. The small group of men the Duke had left him with were gone, knocked out by Eugene's guards. There was no one to help him. Hans suddenly heard heavy footsteps coming up the steps from the cells below to see the last remaining man get smashed in the face by one of Eugene's guards, knocking him out cold.

"Now, give us the ice man and the reindeer and maybe I'll be nice and let you ride up front with me when we take your sorry ass back to where you came from."

"He's below deck. In the cells. With the reindeer." Hans mumbled.

"Thanks, buddy." Eugene said before hitting Hans over the head with the hilt of the sword, knocking him out. Eugene crossed over to the door leading down to the cells.

"Get him and all these other guys on the ship. Be sure they stay there." Eugene called to the guards as he descended the stairs.

As he entered the cells, he felt a warm, wet liquid pool around his feet. Eugene looked down and let out a gasp. The floor was covered in the blood that belonged to one of the Duke's thugs, who lie sprawled out dead to his right. Eugene scanned the room and found no sign of Kristoff. He flinched as he heard a loud, crying sound. He looked over to see the reindeer, standing by the hole they'd blown in the ship, his eyes wet with tears. Eugene cautiously approached the poor animal, reaching out slightly as the creature let out another long, sorrowful whine.

Where was that Kristoff guy?

He approached the reindeer and gently stroked his back. The animal spun around, frightened at first, then snorting harshly at Eugene, his great antlers slick with blood.

"Whoa boy, whoa, it's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you." Eugene assured the animal. The reindeer snorted, tears still running down his face. Eugene reached out towards the reindeer's snout, which had been bound by rope. Amazingly, the reindeer allowed Eugene to touch the ropes surrounding his snout.

"Good boy." Eugene whispered as he cut through the ropes and pulled them from the reindeer's snout. The reindeer hung his head and snorted sadly. Eugene petted his head. "You must be Sven."

Sven snorted a little in reply. Eugene stooped down and looked Sven in his big, brown, saddened eyes.

"Well if you're here... where's your master? Where's Kristoff?" Eugene asked. Sven snorted again and nodded over towards the hole. Eugene went over and looked over the edge, seeing only water.

Oh shit... no...

"Oh my God..." Eugene mumbled as he realized what had happened. He hung his head in defeat as Sven let out one last, long, sorrowful cry.

Water.

That's all he saw. Before he was shoved off of the boat, Kristoff barely had time to take a breath before being dragged into the deep, blue water below, bubbles coming from his nostrils instead of air. As his eyes began to adjust, blurry from the water, he felt himself being weighed down by the lead ball, the pressure of the water making his head ache even more as he descended faster towards the ocean's floor. Struggling to break free of the bonds, Kristoff thrashed against the rusted chain around his ankle. His shackle on his ankle felt looser as he had approached the ocean's floor, as if a bolt had fallen out during the fall. Kristoff tried moving his legs even more, his ankles still bound by the rope. Eventually, he felt the shackle's old, rusty lock break, allowing the chain to float to the bottom.

Kristoff began to feel lightheaded as he tried in vain to work his way back up from the ocean, grunting in effort into the gag. As he tried to move his arms, he felt a sudden tiredness as he began to run out of breath.

No... no dammit... don't do this... not to Sven... not to Anna... not to yourself. Don't you give up, dammit! Stay awake! He screamed at himself as he felt the tiredness wash over him, his breaths becoming shorter as he felt his eyes begin to close, and his vision blurrier than before. He never would've guessed it would end this way... bound, gagged and helpless at the bottom of the ocean... not even able to tell the ones he loved goodbye...

These thoughts swallowed Kristoff as he felt his eyes drift closed, his last thought before he lost consciousness being that they would never open again.