Ava's POV
"Erik, how'd you even get here?" I asked startled by my brother suddenly entering.
"Are you some kind of moron!?" He shouts at me angrily.
Anna Chimes in, "Emily, this is your brother?"
I nodded. "Emily?" Erik repeated looking down at me.
"I suppose you too would like to talk in private, we'll be outside." Anna grabbed her three children and walked out of the cabin with them.
"You changed your name?" He asked.
I nodded.
Erik looked down for a moment, "I've been looking for you for hours, I had to sneak out, like you."
"Erik, I'm sorry-"
"Did you even think about mom?"
"I did but... Erik, I just had to leave."
"She was crying this morning when she found out you were gone."
I start to tear up. "Stop it, I'm not going back, you know the only reason I left is because of... our father, but mom won't leave him, she knows how terrible he is, but she won't leave him, so I have to leave."
"But mom's here for you, and I am too."
"No, she's not, she works to make up for his laziness, and you have no idea what he puts me through..."
"What does he do?" Erik asks me gently.
"I don't want to say, but... it hurts, okay?"
Erik nodded in understanding. "Please don't make me go back," I pleaded.
"Okay but, you can't stay here forever."
Just then the little girl, Daisy, runs in and her older brother, Max, runs after her laughing.
Anna bursts in, "What did I tell you!? Emily and her brother are trying to have privacy!" she shouted.
"We're done now," Erik says.
"Oh, okay, so where are your parents?"
I jumped in before Erik could, "We still don't know."
Anna sighed. "My husband, Kristoff, goes into the woods a lot, he might find them there."
I nodded. "Thank you, ma'am," Erik says to Anna with a smile. "Your welcome, I'm Anna by the way, and from what I've heard you're Erik, have you met my children?"
"I met Summer at the village."
"Oh, Summer didn't tell me, but my son is Max, and my youngest daughter is Daisy, they're playing right now."
The two kids ran again back outside. Erik gave a small chuckle.
Kristoff's POV
After a long day, I whistle to call Sven over by the sled. Sven runs over, as I hook him up to the slay I say, "Today has been weird."
Sven nods.
"Want a carrot?"
Sven nodded vigorously. I gave him a bite of the carrot then bite off of it myself. I get in the sled and start going home through the woods as usual.
Everything's fine till I see some palace guards walking and riding around. I tense up, so does Sven, he tries to avoid them by going slower and more quieter. They'd gone through the woods before but this time it feels like there are more of them. I haven't really been on good terms with the kingdom since... Elsa's marriage.
A guard riding on a brown horse orders me to stop. Sven stops. The guard comes riding up to me. "Have you seen the princess or prince, they've been missing since this morning."
Those kids could be the prince and princess... If I say 'yes' and it's not them I could be thrown in jail for trying to trick the guards, if I say 'no' and they find them in my home I could still be thrown in jail. "No," I answer.
Before the guard says anything he is called over to look at something, he turns around and leaves. I sigh relieved and make my way back home.
My children and wife greet me as usual (except Summer who's in the village) I smile and kiss all their heads. After I greet my family I turn to the boy and girl who are still in the living room. "This might be a weird question but, you aren't the prince and princess are you?"
"No," the girl answers.
"I just wanna make sure cause, when I was leaving work, there were some guards patrolling around looking for the prince and princess."
"They aren't looking for us."
"Okay... I trust you."
Ava's POV
I lay in my little makeshift bed next to my brother. I can barely make him out in the darkness. "Erik..." I whisper.
"Yeah?" he whispers back, I can tell he hasn't been sleeping either.
"Did I do the right thing?"
"What do you mean?"
"When I lied to that man..."
Erik hesitated. "I don't know."
"This is so hard, I don't want to go back home but I don't want to hurt these people either."
"I know... it's going to be okay, I have a plan."
"You do?"
"Yeah, so don't worry."
I said nothing. I couldn't tell if he was being honest or not, I really hope he is...
Anna's POV
I wake up in the middle of the night to loud knocking. I look up at Kristoff who is already sitting up, it must've woke him up too. Daisy and Max walk into our room.
"What's going on?" Max asks worriedly.
"It's just knocking, maybe someone got lost," I say trying to calm them.
"Open up in the name of the king!"
"I'm scared," Daisy whispers.
"Me too..." Max says.
"It's going to be okay," I reassure them.
They crawl into my lap as Kristoff gets up from the bed exchanging a worried glance with me.
Summer's POV
As soon as they say they're guards I shoot up from the bed into the living room. "You guys need to hide, come on," I whisper urgently before my Papa enters the room. They hastily follow me. I hide them in the cellar which I lock once they're inside and then stand close by the front door which Papa has already answered. A tall soldier stands in the doorway. "We're searching every home to find the prince and princess," he says in a commanding tone. Papa says nothing and only steps aside as he and three other guards enter the house.
I try to remain calm but my stomach churns once they get close to the cellar. The cellar creaks under one of the soldier's feet and he seems to notice. He starts to feel around, "This is a cellar," he states. He then tries to open it. "It's locked."
"Where's the key?" he asks Papa.
Papa looks at me, "Summer do you know where the key is?"
When Papa says this the soldier turns the lantern to my face. I shake my head no.
"Empty your pockets," the soldier commands.
I slowly feel around in my pockets until I feel the key, "Oh there it is," I say pulling out the key pretending I didn't know.
The soldier snatches it from my hand.
He unlocks the cellar and walks down. I already know there's no place for them to hide. I hold my breath and count. one... two... three... four... five... six... seven-
"I found them!"
The soldier comes up from the cellar with Ava and Erik. "Hid away in the cellar."
The twins looked down as if they were ashamed.
"What should we do with the family?" A soldier asks.
There was a pause, "take them to the castle, the whole family, they'll have to explain themselves to the king, he'll know what to do with them."