Kristoff looked out at the ocean at Eric's boat. Waves were knocking it every which way as the rain began to pour and thunder boomed, making Kristoff jump. He felt a sharp tug on his sleeve and looked back to see a frightened Sven with his sleeve in his mouth, whining at him.

Come on, Kristoff! We need to go!

Suddenly, a strike of lightning struck the sails, setting fire to the ship. Kristoff stood, frozen as he watched flames engulf the ship, people climbing into lifeboats to escape the ship. Without warning, a loud boom, louder than the thunder rang out through the storm as part of the ship exploded. Kristoff shielded his eyes from the brightness of the blast and stared out at the ocean before the storm worsened, making him turn and hurry Sven along, looking back at the fire as he ran back inside the castle.

Ariel had seen the ship explode as well. She had been sitting outside the ship, watching Prince Eric's birthday celebration and talking to her seagull friend, Scuttle, who claimed to know all about humans. She had been leaving when she saw the blast.

Oh no... ERIC! She thought, diving under the water. She swam around the wreckage of the ship, searching desperately for Eric and finally found him, unconscious and slumped over a barrel.

Was he alive? She didn't care. She grabbed the prince and swam away from the wreckage as fast as she could. What is it with her and saving men out in the ocean? If her father knew about this he would be absolutely furious...

She didn't care. She couldn't just let an innocent person die, just like with the blond man she'd saved before. As she reached the shore, she laid Eric down flat on the beach and tried to rouse him, but nothing happened...

She had to find Scuttle.

Anna stared blankly at her plate full of eggs, her hair still a wreck from sleep. She had slept in Kristoff's room again, like she had for the past few nights. She wouldn't let herself believe it.

Across the table, Elsa slowly ate breakfast, looking between Anna and Henrik. Henrik even seemed a little on edge.

"Anna, is everything okay?" she called across the table.

"Huh?" Anna said, looking up from her plate and at Elsa. "Oh. Yeah... everything's fine... I guess."

Elsa looked doubtful. "You've hardly touched your food." she pointed out. Anna took her fork and ate a few forkfuls of eggs.

"There. I'm okay, honestly." she said dryly.

"Okay... just making sure..."

Anna continued to eat slowly as everyone sat in silence. Her eyes shifted back from Elsa to Henrik, angry Elsa had shared this information with him and not her own sister... and she was the one who had been busting her ass to look for Kristoff the whole time! She deserved to know the truth! But nonetheless, Anna swallowed her pride and finished off her eggs, glaring over at Henrik.

"So... lovely morning, huh ladies?" Henrik asked awkwardly. Anna narrowed her eyes as Elsa shifted hers over and gave Henrik an unsure look. "A nice, autumn day."

"Yeah... shame someone isn't with us to enjoy it." Anna mumbled.

"What was that, Princess?" Henrik asked. Anna shook her head.

"Nothing you'd be interested in. Nothing at all, really." she lied. Elsa looked over at her.

"Anna, what did you say?" she asked.

"Let him ask me, Elsa." she said, "If he wants to know so bad, maybe I'll tell him. Or maybe I won't."

Elsa was dumbfounded. "Anna... you don't have to-"

"I'm done actually, I'm going to go freshen up." she said, taking her dish as she got up and walked off to the kitchen. Elsa looked over at Henrik.

"Henrik… do you think she knows?" she asked.

"How could she?" Henrik said, "We were the only two people in the study and you burned the letter. There's no way she could know."

Elsa took a small bite of her food. "I know that but… I just can't help but feel that she does know. I hate not telling her… but I… I just can't hurt her again…"

Henrik laid his hand atop Elsa's and stroked her fingers with his thumb. "You wouldn't be hurting her, Elsa."

"Yes, I would…" Elsa insisted, "You don't understand, Henrik." She pulled her hand away and pushed back from the table, pacing around her chair as she sighed, "I hurt her twice already… in fact… I almost killed her. Twice."

"How?"

"With this." Elsa said, conjuring a few snowflakes with her hand. "I struck her in the head when we were kids and then in her heart just a few months ago when everything froze and I… I've never been able to forgive myself for it."

"Has Anna forgiven you for it?" Henrik asked.

"Yes, of course she has. She keeps insisting that it wasn't my fault but… it was. I should've maintained control over my powers… but I didn't." Elsa said, sitting back down and putting her face in her hands.

"Would she forgive you if you told her about Kristoff?"

"I don't know… probably later on, yes, but she'll never accept it." Elsa said.

"Why is that?"

Elsa thought for a moment about Anna and her relationship with the ice man. Over the past few months, the two had spent nearly every day together. One time Anna even convinced Kristoff through much nagging and pestering to let him take her with him on an ice harvesting trip. Elsa remembered she had come back ecstatic that she actually cut her own ice block. She also remembered all the little things she had bought for Kristoff just because she wanted to such as newer clothes to replace his older, rougher looking ones (much to Kristoff's dismay, she could tell he wasn't used to receiving presents like this), a new harness for Sven, countless carrots and snacks, a new ice pick which he had loved and numerous other things. She also noticed Kristoff tried to pay her back as best he could by helping her decorate for Anna's party, even managing to wrangle all of those little snowmen she had sneezed out throughout the day and taking them up the North Mountain to Marshmallow, a huge snowman she had created. He was always willing to help them out in any way he could to "pay them back for the sled" or "all this new stuff", but Anna insisted that she had owed him and he deserved all those nice, new things because he had done them a great service and he grew up never really receiving things such as this. Kristoff would always end up blushing and letting Anna win the argument. Elsa was quite sure on one thing:

Kristoff not only adored Anna, but he loved her. He actually, truly loved her. Elsa had caught him looking at Anna in that way at least a dozen times a day. When Kristoff caught Elsa looking over at him when he did that, his cheeks would always turn pink and he'd look away, embarrassed.

It wasn't only about Kristoff, though. Over the past few months and the past few days especially, Elsa had seen a change in Anna. There was a while, after Hans that Anna was afraid nobody would ever fall in love with her and the whole time she stressed over it, Kristoff was there to listen to her. He would occasionally throw in something comforting but above all, Elsa observed that he listened. He already wasn't much of a talker, like her, but when he had something to say, he would say it whether someone liked it or not. He'd told Anna like it was a few times to Elsa's surprise and after a minute or so of convincing, Anna eventually always admitted Kristoff had been right, making him smile smugly at her.

Anna was falling for him, too. Elsa could see why. Sure, Kristoff might have lived with a bunch of trolls, smelled like a musty old barn, didn't have the best table manners, wasn't good with people and his hair was always a mess, but above all that, he was also a kind, understanding and handsome guy, Elsa thought. She had no interest in Kristoff herself, having struck too much of a chord with him as friends mainly because of the ice. When he first started living in the castle, he would always try and nonchalantly beg for Elsa to show him her ice magic. She would laugh and watch his eyes light up, like he'd seen the greatest thing life had to offer. Sometimes a small flurry would follow Elsa while she was busy and she would catch Kristoff trying to follow quietly behind her just so he could see the ice following her. She'd also caught him trying to sneak Sven into the castle a few times, the large reindeer knocking over pedestals that held family heirlooms on them and poor Kristoff having to scramble to stop them from falling over and smashing to pieces.

"Because... I think she loves him..." Elsa said at last, realizing that her baby sister might, indeed, be in love.

And now he was gone.

Kristoff hadn't slept well. The storm had lasted a while with no signs of Eric. The rest of the ship had come back, including Grimsby, but no Eric. That morning, everyone had gone out to the beach to search for any sign of him. Kristoff stared up at the ceiling in the bedroom he'd been put in, Sven snoozing on the floor beside him, snoring. He reached down and petted his head. Eugene had said if the weather looked good that they would leave today. Kristoff was excited to finally get back home... but still, he worried about Eric. The man had taken him, bloodied up, bruised and almost dead, from the beach and allowed him to stay in his home. Kristoff was never going to be able to repay him for that... Suddenly, he heard the front doors open and got up, listening as he heard Grimsby's voice.

"...come on now, Eric, let's get you taken care of." he heard him say. Kristoff got up and ran over to the stairs to see Grimsby helping a dazed Eric inside.

"...Grim... she was beautiful, I tell you. And she was real..." Eric was muttering. Grimsby chuckled.

"Oh Eric, I think maybe you swallowed too much seawater now come along."

Kristoff made his way down the stairs and over to Grimsby and Eric.

"Eric?" he asked as Grimsby turned around.

"Oh, good morning, dear boy." Grimsby said.

"Morning. I saw what happened last night during the storm. Is... Eric okay?" he asked, looking over at Eric.

"Oh yes, thank goodness. He'll be all right. Although he's been going on about some girl. Some girl that apparently 'saved his life' and 'sang to him' or something. I don't know, I think the boy might be a little delusional." Grimsby chuckled, "Excuse us please, I've got to get him cleaned up."

Kristoff stood in silence, shocked as Grimsby led Eric away.

A girl? Was it... the girl? The one that saved him? It had to be... whoever she was, maybe she was still down there... if so, he had to find her. He had to thank her before leaving.

In a flash, Kristoff rushed back up the stairs, regretting that decision as his body ached from running so fast. He pulled on his boots and woke up Sven, giving him a carrot to eat before taking him with him. Kristoff decided he would eat something when they got back.

"Come on, boy. We've gotta see if she's still here."

Eugene was not happy. During the storm, the mast of the ship had gotten damaged and would take a day to repair. He watched over the ship, irritated. He eventually grew bored and got up and made his way down to the brig, where he found Hans brooding in his cell.

"Hello, handsome. Or... should I call you... HANSome?" Eugene said, giving a loud, fake cackle before stopping abruptly.

"That was a ridiculous joke." Hans pouted. Eugene shrugged.

"I'm a ridiculous person. Now, let's talk about you." he said, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. "Now, why did you have to go and kidnap poor old innocent Kristoff and his big, fluffy reindeer? They did nothing wrong to you."

"Of course they did!" the Duke's goon spoke up, "They severed ties with Weselton! We had every reason to keep that smelly idiot and his pet tied up for so long."

"Er, don't you mean 'Weaseltown'?" Eugene asked, "Cause I hear that's all you have over there. Bunch of weasels." The goon grabbed the bars in front of Eugene, bowing up at him. Eugene barely even flinched.

"You'd better watch your mouth, pretty boy." the goon snarled. Eugene raised an eyebrow.

"Why? You gonna do something? Oh my, I'm so scared. You're in there, I'm out here and you have nobody to let you out so, I'd watch my mouth if I were you. I am a prince, you know. I've got power."

"So does he!" the goon shot back, gesturing to Hans, who remained quiet. Eugene looked over at Hans and suppressed a chuckle, making a strange snorting sound with his throat.

"Are you kidding? He's 13th in line and on probation. He couldn't do anything to me if he tried."

The goon grinned at him. "Just you wait, boy. The Duke will-"

"Don't threaten me with your Duke. He's a harmless, old man." Eugene countered, uncrossing his arms as he prepared to leave. "I hope you two are ready for tomorrow. We're going straight to Arendelle. See what the Queen and her sister will have to say about this." he said, smirking a little as he made his way up the stairs.

After a while of searching the beach, Kristoff decided it had been a bad idea to leave without eating breakfast and started to make his way back to the castle, his stomach rumbling. He made his way back in and saw Eric sitting at the table, Carlotta giving him a plate of food.

"Oh, hello there, Kristoff!" she called over, "Are you doing well today?" she asked, coming over to him and lifting up his bandaged wrists.

"I guess so. I missed breakfast though..." he admitted. Sven gave an "I told you so" sort of grunt from beside him.

"Oh, that's no problem at all, dear. Eric did as well. I'll get you something to eat and then after, we've got to change those old bandages." she told him before rushing off to the kitchen. Kristoff looked over at Eric and awkwardly lumbered over to the table, taking a seat opposite the prince, who ate in a state of awed silence.

"Are you okay, Eric?" Kristoff finally asked.

"Huh?" Eric said, snapping back from his daydream, "Oh, yeah. I'm okay, thanks."

Kristoff furrowed his brow. "What happened last night? I saw the fire from the beach. How did you get out?"

Eric finished off his food and leaned on his hands, his elbows resting on the table. "Well, I went back up onto the ship because Max was still there and I couldn't leave him. I guess while I was up there, the fire got to the gunpowder we used for the fireworks and just sort of... blew up the ship. The next thing I remember, I'm waking up on the beach this morning and this... beautiful girl is... singing. To me. She had the most beautiful voice..." Eric explained, in awe of the mysterious girl.

Kristoff listened closely, hoping to hear any details about the girl so that maybe, just maybe he could find her.

"Eric... this girl, what did she look like?" he asked. Eric shrugged.

"I... think she had red hair... and her eyes were blue... I think. They could've been green... why?"

Kristoff took a deep breath and looked over at Eric. "Because I think the same girl might have saved me, too."

Eric tilted his head quizzically. "Really?" he asked, "You never did tell me the whole story... what happened? If you don't mind my asking."

Kristoff sighed and leaned back in his chair as Carlotta brought in a plate of food. He took his fork and picked at it, remembering what had happened.

"Well, I was going on a trip with Sven and we needed a place to stay for the night." he began, "There's this old cabin we always used to use when we went on trips. Nobody else was really using it so we figured we'd put it to good use." he rambled, taking a bite of his food.

"Anyway, we got there and that prince that doesn't like my frie- family that I mentioned turned out to be there and had his brute friends keep me and Sven tied up forever and ever. Then... I don't know... I guess he got found out cause we left there and went to some...tower, I think... then I think he got found out there by Eugene so we started off somewhere else when... I guess it was Eugene that found him, but someone blew holes in the ship with a cannon and one of those brute friends of the prince pushed me in the water to let me drown... and then..." he said, continuing to eat, "then that girl found me... and then you found me."

Eric looked at him, surprised. "Wow..." he said, "I'm... sorry that happened to you..."

Kristoff shrugged. "It's over now... I hope."

"Well, just know, you have my support if you should ever encounter this prince again. Actually, I think your friend Eugene said he had some prince locked up in his ship."

Kristoff dropped the food on his fork and looked up at Eric. "Wait, what?"

"Yeah. Said his name was... Hans from the Southern Isles or something?" Eric explained. Kristoff's eyes were wide as he leaned down and wolfed down the rest of his food. If Hans was really locked up, he wanted to give that good-for-nothing-son-of-a-bitch a piece of his mind.