This wasn't like her. Normally, prolonged silence would have prompted Anna to rattle off a mile a minute about, well, just about anything. But once she and Hans determined to gather the mirror fragments into her cloak, they both grew quiet; it was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop... or just the quiet shuffle of their boots as they dragged the pieces into a pile on Anna's cloak lain out on the floor. The mirror looked massive put together on the floor, but the pile itself only took up a small section of her cloak. Together, they were able to carefully wrap and tie it into a secure bundle. Hans was the first to speak.

"There are still some missing," he noted, his voice startling her.

He was right. Where were the remaining few pieces? What trouble would they cause if they weren't found?

"They won't do much harm as long as they're not put together. I think."

She expected Hans to call her overconfident. Instead, his lips quirked into a smile as he said, "You always find me."

Her face brightened at that. Once upon a time, the romantic in her would have believed that this—all of it—had been fate trying to push the two of them together. But their adventures in the past had taught her that the world was a whole lot bigger than just her and Hans.

Luck had nothing to do with it. She was able to find him because she wanted to.

She glanced off bashfully, giving the cloak knot a test tug to be sure it would not come undone before she gathered it up into her arms. The cloak was thickly insulated, so she wasn't too worried about the pieces cutting through. There was no other way she could see for them to transport the pieces elsewhere.

"I had the mirror's help this time though," she answered with an airy laugh. Hans's brow furrowed and she quickly added, "I'll explain it one day."

"I'll hold you to that."

She grinned at the humorous lilt in his voice as they walked the perimeter of the hall, searching. There were no grates or pockets in the walls to serve as hiding spots for the cursed mirror. They left the hall side by side and began a search throughout the fortress, finding room upon empty room. Hans suggested that they search the whole place before hiding any of the shards. The outer hall traveled in a rectangle around the central hall where the mirror had been. Many of the smaller rooms looked like they were meant for storage with empty shelves within the walls. Some resembled guestrooms, but it was difficult to imagine the Ice Maiden acting as a hostess.

By the time they reached their starting point again, one thing became clear to Anna. Hans was the one to say it though.

"No where in this place is ideal. Someday, someone might find this fortress."

Anna sighed. "I was just thinking that. But what else can we do?"

Hans said nothing as he ran a hand through his hair. He led her outside the fortress where Anna was relieved to see the snowmount still waiting.

Anna glanced up and frowned. "I'm not sure how much time we have. Kirsten was very weak when I left Arendelle."

"What if we give the mirror shards to the trolls?"

She almost fell over in shock.

"What?! Look what one shard did to Volco," she snapped more severely than she wanted to. But really, what was Hans thinking?

He did not look perturbed.

"Yes, but Pabbie's different, isn't he? Anyway, they're attuned to the earth, right? They may know the best place for the shards."

Actually, that wasn't a crazy idea. She chewed her lip while considering it. And if Hans was wrong, they would singlehandedly deliver most of the mirror to a group of magic users. But then Anna thought of the shard the trolls from the future had used to transport her. They could have succumbed to the single fragment, yet they hadn't.

After some hesitation, Anna nodded and strode toward the snowmount. The snow tugged at her boots with every step, so much that even the short distance was tiring. She didn't realize how drowsy she was until she mounted the reindeer. She started when she felt Hans's hand on her arm, looking down to find his scrutinizing green yes on her face.

She blushed. "What?"

"Close your eyes. I'll get us there," he offered as he swung up behind her. This time, she smiled when she felt his arms slide around her. Hans grabbed the reins and gave the snowmount a gentle kick to get them moving.

As much as she'd have liked to sleep, Anna couldn't take her eyes off the world beneath them covered in white snow and ice. The land was vast and lonely, reminding her of her sister, whom at this point she wasn't even sure she would see again.

"What are you thinking?" Hans raised his voice behind her to talk above the wind.

"Nothing," she lied, afraid now to find out what Hans would think about going home. "Look!" She pointed to a gleaming blue river rushing past a plateau of ice below and heard Hans gasp. Her cheeks grew rosy at the sound. Supposing his trance was too deep when he'd fled north with the Ice Maiden, that would mean he was seeing all the beautiful sights for the first time with Anna.

By the time the north sea came into view, Anna's eyes grew heavy. She leaned her head back and tried focusing on the horizon to stay alert. But it was too easy to fall asleep with her head back upon Hans's shoulder as they rode south for Arendelle. The cold couldn't even keep her awake.

Anna was rudely torn from a drool-inducing dream about chocolate when something thudded below and shook her. She panicked seeing the snow-draped trees all around and the pair of silver-white antlers in front of her. Then, she remembered everything and turned back as she felt Hans move behind her. He dismounted and held his hand up for the bundle she'd tied to herself.

Anna stared at Hans dumbly as she loosened the cloak chord from her arm and retied it to bundle before handing it off to Hans. He set it down carefully and offered up a hand again to help her down from the snowmount; he did not release her hand as he crouched to pick up her cloak.

Together, they took the path through the trees and entered the valley. Hans did not react this time when the landscape around them darkened into twilight.

As they came out of the trees, Anna and Hans found that the trolls were not in hiding as usual, but strewn out across the rocky terraces. A group of younger trolls higher up spotted the visitors first and, jumping and shouting in excitement, scurried off into one of the caves. Anna exchanged a confused glance with Hans as they looked around at the remaining groups of trolls. Most looked pleased to see them, but a few looked wary. Perhaps they had been close followers of Volco. Anna tried not to worry about it.

Instead, she watched Hans gaze around the valley as if for the first time. Gone was his former steady calculation as he glanced from group to group of trolls. When his eyes stopped to rest on her, his entire face lit up in a way she hadn't seen since the coronation ball. It made her knees weak. But at the same time, she couldn't quite shake away all the bad blood between them. Hans may have been under an influence, but bad things had happened nonetheless.

With a guilty twinge in her chest, Anna looked away. She caught Hans frowning at her in the corner of her eye as Pabbie emerged from one of the caves to greet them.

The troll looked almost solemn as he stopped before the pair and said, "Volco did not return."

There was a lot left to be said. Anna exchanged an uncertain glance with Hans before Pabbie addressed them again.

"It's not your fault. The old Volco was lost to us long ago. But I will have to tell his son..."

Anna covered her mouth, having forgotten about the young troll Hilco.

Hans cleared his throat. "The king of Arendelle... he wants to make peace with you all.

At first, hope crossed over the troll's face. But it was quickly replaced with doubt.

Worried, Anna chimed in. "It's true! He wants to establish mutual borders for your lands..."

Pabbie narrowed his eyes at that. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

Unable to lie, Anna bit her lip. "Well, we hope it's mostly because of his daughter. But he may be just a tincy wincy bit interested in your magic."

"Humans. So predictable." The troll rolled his eyes.

Anna almost giggled at the look of offense on Hans's face, but then she remembered why she and Hans had come to the valley.

"Speaking...of magic," she said, figuring now was the best opportunity to mention the mirror. "We discovered that Volco had a shard from an ancient mirror on him. We believe that's what made him so powerful and...volatile."

"An ancient mirror, you say?" Pabbie raised one of his furry eyebrows.

Instead of elaborating, Anna merely nodded to Hans. The prince took his cue to crouch down and slowly, carefully unwrap Anna's cloak. As he lay it flat, he revealed the large pile of silver, glinting mirror pieces within.

Pabbie inched closer, mumbling so low that they couldn't understand him.

"This is an object of great power... and great danger."

The redheads furrowed their brows and murmured in agreement.

"It's absorbed a lot of dark energy," Pabbie added.

"Huh?" Both Anna and Hans looked at the shards.

"You can see that?" Hans asked.

First, Pabbie squinted up at them. "You can't?" Then, his narrowed eyes darted back down to the shards.

"Err... no?" Anna answered, sounding more certain when she caught Hans shaking his head.

"Hmmm... I suppose humans cannot see all we can see," Pabbie said, sounding as if he was talking more to himself.

Anna shrugged and tried looking more closely at the shards, but it was no good. She didn't even know what dark energy was supposed to look like. Shadowy? Black? Invisibly ingrained in the hearts of people?

She thought of the time Pabbie removed the ice from her head. Blinking, she wonderd if...

"Pabbie... are you able to take the darkness out of the mirror?"

At first, the troll leader looked bewildered. Then he narrowed his eyes, contemplating.

"What an odd idea! I think that may actually be possible... but stand back!"

When Hans didn't back away quickly enough, Anna dragged him back by the elbow. She worried at first that she'd been too forward, but he chuckled at her forcefulness before he turned his eyes back to Pabbie, who pinched his stubby fingers up into the air and drew his hand over the pile of mirror shards. A blast of wind swept across the valley, making Anna yelp with surprise as she grabbed for Hans's arm again. But that wasn't all. The mirror shards began to glow all hues of red, green and blue. Unintelligble whispers drifted up from the lights as they floated up toward the night sky.

"What...?" Anna mumbled, squeezing Hans's wrist until he groaned in protest. Mortified, Anna let go of him.

"Look!" Pabbie pointed to the glass shards.

The mirror, though broken, reflected as if it was whole. It showed Hans, Anna and Pabbie staring down with a tree high above them. Anna looked up and back down again, puzzled. There was no tree behind them.

Frowning, she asked, "What's with the tree?"

"Oh, you can see that, can you?" Pabbie asked. "This is what it's supposed to be reflecting." He mumbled something about the mirror's true state, which made Hans and Anna gawk at one another to see if either knew what Pabbie was talking about.

Finally, Anna shrugged. "What will you do with all these shards, Pabbie?"

"It's still dangerous, this mirror. I think it would be best to hide it where even my people can't find it."

It was then that Anna thought to ask Pabbie to send them home.

"Home? Your home isn't Arendelle?" he asked.

Anna tilted her head, thinking of how best to answer. "Well... erm..."

"No matter. I think I know a way, using this mirror. Let me see..." Pabbie turned away from them, muttering in deep thought.

Hans took that moment to take Anna aside. He looked her squarely in the eyes. "Are you sure you want to go home?" he asked, almost sorrowful.

They could not be sure what they'd be going home to, whether all they'd been through had made any impact on their future. Would Hans still be arrested? Would the trolls be friendly with Arendelle?

...would there even be an Arendelle for them to go back to?

Anna gulped. "We can't stay here, Hans."

"Who says we can't?" He smiled at the growing confusion in her face. But she sensed fear in that smile of his.

"Have courage," she said, taking his hands into hers. "I'll be with you."

"If that's what you want," he answered, relaxing somewhat.

"I've got it!" Pabbie suddenly squawked at the two of them, making them jump. "But it's a little complicated transporting two people at once. You'll have to follow my instructions closely."

They paused, hand in hand, one heartbeat, staring into each other's faces as they held their breaths, each bracing themselves for the next part in their adventure.

"...hello? Are you ready?"

Anna smiled before she turned toward Pabbie and nodded. "What do we have to do?"

Pabbie looked down at their joined hands and raised his eyebrow. "Well, you've got step one already. Holding hands. Now, you must both think back to the last place you were at home together. Focus on that."

Anna held back a dark laugh as she remembered the moment she punched Hans into Odin's fjord. Not exactly a happy memory! But if it would take them home...

She looked up into Hans's green eyes, vaguely aware of Pabbie murmuring in a strange, earthen language. There was a light pressure around her hands and she looked down to see Hans holding hers tightly. He looked worried again.

"I'll be with you," she mouthed to him, for she found her voice would not come out as a great, white light enveloped the two of them. Strange cracks in the air filled her ears. They grew louder and louder until they sounded like roaring. Anna strained her eyes to keep them open as long as possible so she could see Hans.

But then she blinked.

A/N: The ending didn't feel right included in this chapter, so it will come out separately sometime next week. Still wrapping it up. Thank you for reading!