Kristoff, Anna and Sven plowed through Elsa's snow trail. Kristoff was still trying to soak in Anna's tale of what had happened at the coronation. The sun was beginning to set and Sven was starting to tire. They had been galloping for a couple of hours now, and so Kristoff decided to give Sven a break and have him trot for a while. Kristoff took advantage of the smoother ride to continue talking to Anna who was sitting behind him holding on.
"So… Queen Elsa… I suppose that could explain why she had always remained reclusive to her people. Why would she hide something like that from you?"
"I don't know. Maybe she didn't want to hurt me. Maybe she just wanted to be the role model to me as well as our people and didn't want to scare or have anybody lose faith in her. I just don't understand. I thought we were close. Why would she run away from me? Do you think she would think that I would think any less of her? Or love her any less?"
"I think those are all very good questions. You should ask her when we find her." The frozen path that Elsa left behind had the pair scale a small mountain. The ascent caused their pursuit to slow down even more so because of the climb. "I really hope we get to her soon. We should probably set up camp soon. The sun is starting to set and I doubt we will be able to see this path for long."
Anna sat up, alarmed that his intentions on finding Elsa did not match her own, implored, "Please, we can't stop! She can't be alone. I need to support her through this and tell her I love her."
"Alright, alright!" he answered trying to calm her, "I was just making a suggestion and exploring our options. We won't stop."
Silence passed between the two as Kristoff thought happily to himself over the broken engagement to Prince Hans. He smirked to himself over the thought.
"So, ahem… Prince Hans," he remarked with intents on changing the topic of conversation. He spoke trying to hide his bias through his elated smile.
"Oh shut it," she said embarrassingly, not wanting to admit fault on a hasty decision.
"What?" he replied feigning innocence.
"You were going say, 'I told you so', weren't you?"
Kristoff turned his head to look at Anna, "I was only going to say-"
"-Wait! Look!" said Princess Anna interrupting Kristoff from his thought. Sven had reached the summit and they could see a Castle nestled below in the valley. "She's there! I know it!"
"C'mon Sven!" Kristoff shouted at Sven and the pair took off down the mini mountain side toward the Castle. The run descending the mountain side went a lot quicker than the ascent and they were at the castle in less than an hour. Both Princess Anna and Kristoff hopped off of Sven upon reaching the castle's front entrance. The horse trotted over to a nearby stream to relax and drink its share of runoff water from the surrounding ice melting from the castle.
"Are you sure your sister is here?" asked Kristoff, weary from the quick travel.
"I'm positive. Look," she pointed to the ice, "her snow trail ends here." She said marching bravely forward toward the big oak doors. She plucked up the courage, balling her fists and began pounding on the huge doors. She shouted, "Elsa! Elsa come on out! I know you're in there. It's me, Anna. I know you're scared, but you don't have to be. I'm right here! We can get through this together! Open up your doors please and let me in!"
The doors opened on their own merit and a man with gold skin stepped through the door's threshold. Surprised and confused, Anna asked the strange man, "Who are you?"
"Who are you?" the gold-skinned man asked back.
"This is my sister's castle. My sister, Queen Elsa, is here. She left her kingdom leaving a trail of snow leading up to this castle. Where is she?"
"What makes you think this is her castle? There is no Queen Elsa here," said the man with gold skin, making a point that even Kristoff was beginning to wonder too.
"You're lying! She's here. How else do you explain that snowman over there?" said Princess Anna pointing to Olaf still perched by his doorstep. "I know you're lying because my sister and I would make a snowman exactly like this one when we were kids growing up."
"You caught me. Your sister was here. But now, she's gone."
"What? Where? She disappeared?" she said disbelievingly.
"Yep never to return."
"No way," she said confidently. "She will return. Her trail ends here. I'll stay here forever if I have to."
"Please don't do that. I don't need another garden gnome. If we're going to continue this conversation, Let's do business inside, it is getting frightfully cold out here," he said giggling slightly. He gestured to them to come inside, "Don't dawdle dearies. In some lands loitering is considered rude."
Anna and Kristoff entered The Dark Castle. Kristoff looked around him checking out his new surroundings, while Anna remained focused on the strange man, determined to not lose sight of him. They walked past a grandiose staircase while the stranger continued, "If Queen Elsa is your sister, then you must be… Princess Anna."
"Yes, and who, might I ask are you?" asked Princess Anna as the three of them entered a giant room with a long dining table at its center. In the far back corner sat a spinning wheel. Kristoff stared at the spinning wheel trying to make sense of why such an odd object would to be placed in a dining room.
"My name is-"
"-Rumplestiltskin," finished Kristoff. "You're the Dark One. The Village Spinster and the maker of impossible things possible."
"Well it is certainly nice to hear that my notoriety has improved," Rumplestiltskin remarked, "and in such little time, I might add."
"Princess we should leave," warned Kristoff.
"Why?" asked the Princess.
"Because Rumplestiltskin is also known to be quite the monster for hurting or killing people who cross his path."
"Well I'm not afraid him."
"Now tell me Princess," interrupted Rumplestiltskin, taking note and admiring Princess Anna's bravery, "What makes you think I won't hurt you?"
"Because only a monster would do that and I don't see a monster. I see a misunderstood person afflicted by a curse, just like my sister."
"Well, well, aren't we trusting? Word of advice dearie, don't allow your naivety to justify bravery, your inexperience will be your downfall… but you have my attention and since I'm in such a receptive mood I'm willing to make you a deal, but first… tell me, what are you willing to give up to see your sister again?"
"I would give up my life for her," she replied absolutely, her response unwavering.
"Really?"
"Haven't you loved someone that you would do anything for?" Princess Anna waited to see Rumplestiltskin's reaction to her response. He seemed to have taken pause to her last statement, masticating on the thought as if difficult to swallow. The truth was, he did understand. With the recent loss of his son he felt more inclined to assist her. When he didn't respond, she continued, "I love her."
"I see…" he replied more seriously, curling and playing with his fingers. "Well, obviously I must assist you, otherwise how else will you ever leave?" He contemplated how to assist her, "I can reunite you with your sister, but there's a price… the cost could mean giving up this life for the next."
"But… I'll be with my sister again," said Anna acknowledging the end, but not the means.
"No! Anna don't do this! He means to take your life," pointed out Kristoff, holding on to Princess Anna's shoulders as if to protect her and looking into her eyes.
"No, he means to reunite us," she said shrugging off Kristoff's protective grip. "Elsa is all the family I have left in this world." She turned to look at Rumplestiltskin, "I'll do it."
"Princess… Anna, please?" Kristoff pleaded, begging for her to see reason.
"He's right, you know," Rumplestiltskin said popping up inconveniently next to them, "the spell I plan to enact will undoubtedly freeze your heart." They both turned to look at him, "What can I say? You're sister inspired me. And!" he said, walking in between the two to redirect the focus on him, "until your dear ol' sister breathes your name out of… love, will you then be reunited with her. But I must warn you, a person cannot live that way for long. That is the consequence of a frozen heart."
"If she can freeze things, then she can unfreeze things. When we are reunited I'm sure she'll find a way to unfreeze my heart."
"I take that as a 'yes' then?" to which Anna replied with a nod of her head. "Excellent."
"No!" pleaded Kristoff. He ran forward to intercept any magic Rumplestiltskin was going to cast on Anna when all of a sudden he felt an invisible force halt him in his tracks. He looked up and saw Rumplestiltskin hold up his hand, using magic to keep him stationary.
"It's no use laddie. The deal has been struck."
Kristoff helplessly watched as Rumplestiltskin directed his purple smoke at Princess Anna's heart. She closed her eyes as the magic impacted her heart. Within seconds, her form solidified and became transparent. She had become a beautifully enchanted ice statue.
Tears formed in Kristoff's eyes as the temporary magic that kept him still wore off. He stormed over to Rumplestiltskin "I want to make a deal! Freeze my heart!" he demanded emphatically.
"The spell only breaks if someone speaks your name out of true love. She…" he said pointing at Anna's ice sculpture, "…does not love you, so it won't work dearie. Besides, you have nothing I want."
"There must be another way!" he pointed out, clearly upset.
"Why don't you run along and do… whatever it is that you do. You have no kingdom or title, therefore, nothing to trade or anything I want. No deal."
"Why were you so inclined to help Princess Anna, then?"
"She was persistent and bothersome. She said so herself, 'I'll stay here forever'," said Rumplestiltskin mockingly.
"What did you do to Queen Elsa?" demanded Kristoff.
"I sent her away, like I did to her sister. Now if you don't leave, I'll turn you into something you'll soon regret."
Kristoff didn't doubt the validity of his statement. He had heard of the cruel and unusual acts he committed, terrorizing the village of his previous residence. He backed away from Rumplestiltskin, fighting back tears that were in his eyes, "I'll be back for her, for both of them."
"Ooh! That sounded more like a threat. I'd like to see you try," Rumplestiltskin taunted.
"It was a promise." Kristoff mounted Sven and galloped away into the forest. It was only when he was miles away from the Dark Castle that he allowed the tears that he had held for so long to fall. He was broken. No kingdom, no home, everyone he cared about or knew was frozen. He had lost hope.
Night had fallen. Sven and Kristoff trotted off into the wilderness. The moon was high in the sky shedding dim light to the ground below. He had no idea where he was and didn't really care. He was in every sense, lost. He practically fell off of Sven and collapsed to his knees out of despair. Head spinning, eyes red and swollen, he looked up at a particular blue star in the sky. "Please…" he called out into the night sky. "…end my misery. I've got nothing else to live for."
"…But you do have something to live for…" He turned to see a Blue Fairy hovering close to him. Her heavenly glow was a welcomed sight for his sore eyes. "…you have hope."
"What hope? My kingdom is frozen, I have no title, and no home. The love of my life was tricked by Rumplestiltskin and turned into a statue," he sighed before continuing, "I should just go back to Rumplestiltskin and have him decide the rest of my fate."
"Well, I cannot bring back your loved ones," the Blue Fairy began saying. Kristoff laughed hysterically over the disparity of his situation. He wasn't laughing at the fairy, but laughing because he had exhausted all the rest of his emotions. "But…" she continued, "…I can bring you hope, thus your reason to continue living."
"Why do you care so much about what happens to me? What do you get out of it?"
"You're accustomed to dealing with Dark Magic; prices, bargaining. My magic is the antithesis to Dark Magic," she explained.
"Light Magic?"
"Some would say that. I work with Fairy Magic. We strive to balance out the forces in nature, both light and dark magic. Here…" the Blue Fairy said tossing Kristoff a flower of some sort.
"What is this?" he asked.
"A Poppy Flower, eat it. When you consume it you will fall into a deep slumber. You will wake when Snow touches your head and when you do you will find your hope."
"But… I'm just a stable boy. I'm not worth anything. I can never repay you for your kindness."
"Didn't you know? When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are, anything your heart desires will come to you."
He looked down at the flower for a brief moment and smiled. Hope. He looked back up to thank the Blue Fairy, but discovered that she had disappeared. He got up and approached Sven, removing his saddle and anything that would weigh the horse down. "You're free boy. Go find your happily ever after."
The horse snorted, as if asking what Kristoff was going to do. "Don't worry about me. You've been a faithful and loyal friend. I'm going to go fall sleep. When I wake I'm going to find my happily ever after. Now go!"
Kristoff slapped Sven's hindquarters causing the horse to gallop towards his freedom and into the darkness. He looked down at the Poppy Flower and popped the magical plant into his mouth. It didn't take long for the plant to take effect. Kristoff staggered this way and that. His arms extended haphazardly looking for a sturdy tree and found the closest one. He leaned his back up against it and slumped all the way down its trunk. He laid his head against the bark and his eyes immediately closed.
… …
…Fairy Tale Land… Decades later…
"You know, with your condition, I think we should stop these constitutional rides into the wilderness."
"Charming, I'm pregnant, I'm not an invalid." Prince Charming was walking gently holding onto the reigns of the horse carrying his wife.
"I know, but Snow… what if you go into labor out here in the middle of nowhere?"
"So what? Then I go into labor. We'll figure things out like we've always done, together. Besides, I was going to pull my hair out if I stayed inside for another day. I swear, at one point I thought I was going to strangle our wet-nurse." Charming looked back at his wife skeptically. "Seriously, I was. Telling me what needs to be here, what to expect when, what I should do if this... Ugh!" Snow looked down at her husband who was still looking back at her with a cynical look. "I know, I know. She is only doing her job and I give her credit for that. However, to me she's suffocating. But here…," said Snow White closing her eyes, breathing in the forest air, "in these woods, I feel free. Like back when I was a bandit and the Evil Queen was hunting me down." Snow White then chuckled to herself.
"What's so funny?"
"For all intents and purposes, I felt free. I was freely roaming around the woods, free from the ties of royal responsibility, free to do… pretty much whatever I wanted. But… ironically, I was enslaved to the hunt. I was perpetually evading, escaping and avoiding." Her face had fallen for a moment.
"Well thank goodness that's not the case anymore," stated Charming out loud, changing the tone of the conversation, "because frankly, I was getting tired of being good at finding you all the time."
"I suppose that's why I stopped running." Snow looked at her husband with a warm smile. "Still, there's something about these woods that allows me to hear my own thoughts again."
"There's a reason why they call this The Enchanted Forest."
She stretched out her arms and rolled her neck. She turned her head to the side and saw something from the corner of her eye. "Charming, stop."
"What? What is it?" he looked nervously about them. Snow pointed toward the strange mass leaning against a tree. "There, over there. Can you see it?"
Charming instinctively drew out his sword to protect them as he craned his head in the direction Snow was pointing at. "It's… it's a man. He's sleeping."
"Help me get down." Charming placed his sword back into its sheath and helped his wife off of the horse. They moved slowly toward the sleeping man. "Hello? Sir?" called out Snow to the stranger from a safe distance. The stranger remained still in his peaceful slumber. Charming took the end of his foot and tapped it against the bottom of the stranger's foot. No reaction. "He might be dead," Charming concluded.
"That can't be, he still has color in his face. Let me check his pulse." Snow knelt down beside the stranger and reached for his head. Snow carefully placed one hand on his forehead and the other around his neck and upon contact his eyes fluttered open. His sudden awakening startled everyone. He fell away from Snow White, bewildered and confused. He was expecting colder weather. He looked around at his surroundings looking for snow, but there was none to be had. Was it the morning? He thought. "Who are you? What's going on?" the stranger shouted.
"I'm Snow White and this is my husband Prince James."
"Snow…" said the stranger slowly clutching his head, "so that's what the Blue Fairy meant."
"I'm sorry, have we met before?" asked Snow.
"He's met Blue," pointed out Charming.
"I'm… um… my name is Kristoff. I'm just a stable boy from the kingdom of Arendelle."
"Arendelle…" repeated Snow, trying to remember where she had heard that name before.
"I've never heard of this kingdom," stated Charming.
"That's because it fell prey to a curse and has since been a legend. The Lost Kingdom of Arendelle. My mother told me this story when I was just a child, but if you're from there, then it must not have been a story. Arendelle actually existed at some point in time. Kristoff, how long have you been sleeping here?"
"Apparently long enough for it to become a legend."
"Come then," said Charming offering his hand to get Kristoff back on his feet, "you have much to tell us on the way back to our palace."
"Indeed," said Kristoff stretching from an incredibly long slumber. Charming helped his wife from the ground and hoisted her back on the horse. Kristoff told the true tale of The Lost City of Arendelle. He told the Charmings of Princess Anna and how he came to be in the kingdom's employment. He explained the fateful day of her sister, Queen Elsa's coronation, retelling the events of what happened through Anna's point of view. He told them of his feelings for Princess Anna and how he came to be outside the frozen kingdom at the time the curse hit. All the while, he felt like he was simply explaining yesterday's events. When he came to the part in his story involving Rumplestiltskin, Charming interrupted, "Why am I not surprised?" To which Snow quickly hushed her husband, allowing Kristoff to continue and finish his tale. He explained how Rumplestiltskin claimed to have gotten rid of Queen Elsa, but wasn't clear as to how. He explained the deal Rumplestiltskin made with Princess Anna and how he was unwilling to deal him because he had nothing Rumplestiltskin wanted. "So wait…" he said, digressing from his story, "You know of Rumplestiltskin?"
"You don't have to worry about Rumplestiltskin anymore," assured Snow.
"What do you mean? What happened to him?"
"We finally caught him in a trap while he was making another deal with a friend of ours. He's locked away in a cell now protected by magic. There's no need to fear him any longer and if you ask me, he got what was coming to him," Charming stated boldly. Kristoff, comforted by Rumplestiltskin's current status, continued, "Anyways, I took off into the woods with nowhere to go. Arendelle was the only home I've ever known. I was lost. Then the Blue Fairy found me and gave me a Poppy Flower to ingest, telling me that I would wake up when Snow," he nodded towards Snow White, "would touch my head and that when I woke up, I would find my hope. Honestly, I thought she meant snow… as in, you know, the cold white puffy stuff that falls from the sky and not an actual person named Snow."
"That Blue… she really is something, isn't she?" said Charming looking fondly over at Snow.
"She's been a real ally to us as well as a good friend," said Snow. "Well, I'm so sorry about what happened to your Queen and Princess Anna. You are more than welcome to stay at our castle and start over."
"Speaking of which…" said Charming looking beyond a clearing and onto a castle with a long bridge leading up to it.
A new home. A fresh start. Hope. He wasn't sure if this was exactly what the Blue Fairy meant. However, it was definitely a lot better than what had happened during his 'yesterday'. His meeting Prince James and Princess Snow White wasn't exactly what he was expecting, but he was glad to have met them. Kristoff couldn't quite put his finger on the feeling, but there was an internal optimism about them that was quite contagious. He could see why they were so incredibly blessed. They were hopeful. They pressed on with one foot after the other, heads held high. It wasn't much, but in the end he ended up being hopeful after all.
Another shout out thank you's to Montreat11 and Grace5231973. It was really awesome connecting with you guys again. Just one more chapter in FTL and then on to Storybrooke! And any new Oncers that braved reading this, please review! I'll love hearing from you.