Quick shoutout to Chantelle! Thanks for reading girl! :)
*BIG dialogue chapter... enjoy!* Oh, and I need opinions, do you guys like the new picture for this story?
Disclaimer: I do not own Disney or Frozen
A cold wind bellows through the cave, almost howling in a foreboding manner. Elsa touches her cheek, still fresh with tenderness. Her powers can only do so much to soothe the pain, hopefully they'd be back to the castle soon enough.
She glances briefly to her right where a man illuminates the darkness of this cave with his hands. Everything made sense now. His gloves. The sauna. And yet he had lied to her about something they both irrefutably shared in common.
The prince walks swiftly, searching for his horse as he looks for the creature around every corner - ready to leave the cave behind. Elsa almost needs to double her stride to match his pace. His mind races with emotion as he tries to ignore the words that echo through his head. His brothers had warned him of all this. Of bears, of beasts, of danger... brothers know best, they said... Maybe they just never wanted him to leave the castle... but to some extent they had been right. The world was filled with cruel creatures and people and Hans just wanted someone to break the whole pattern.
"Hans, look! The light!" Elsa picks up her speed, almost skipping towards the godsend that sits as the exit of this cave. Her dress bellows behind her as she skates on the icy cave rocks for the end.
Hans follows, "Sitron," he whistles, "where are you boy?" They enter a clearing, with slight mossy hills. Rocks sit together, amidst a tiny layer of snow. For all Hans could see, there were no trolls. And he couldn't see his horse either.
Elsa's head whips around, looking for the same as Hans. She even brings herself to call the horse's name in tune with Hans. With everything she had read and remembered... there should have been trolls here, where were they?
The Prince almost can't seem to help the little well of water that forms at the bottom of his eye lid, he calls out again, his voice strained. No. He couldn't possibly have lost his horse?
Elsa turns to the disheartened Prince. If this was it, and there weren't any trolls, they couldn't save Anna, "Hans, I swear this is the Valley of the Living Rock... I know it is..."
He had lost everything. Anna. Sitron. His secret. His brother's were right, he should have stayed locked up in the castle all day, he should have never came to Arendelle. He turns to give up, to throw in the towel and chalk it all up to his lack of living. But then his skin jumps at the odd touch scraping his lower calf.
"Excuse me, is this yours?" The small ball of rock stares back up into the confused human eyes. Slowly the green eyes match the stone hand to the reins, then to the horse attached to them.
"Sitron!" Hans's smile beams almost ear to ear as he goes to greet the horse. He scratches behind the creature's ears as the horse happily nudges his long nose into his friend's chest. Hans pulls the horse's face out to meet his, "I thought I had lost you, buddy."
"You're a troll," Elsa smiles, pointing out the obvious as she observes the rock creature alongside the horsey reunion.
The creature holds out his hand, his blue gems clinking on one another as his body sways, "Name's Cliff, nice to meet you, Queen Elsa."
Elsa smiles a moment in brief confusion taking the rock's hand, "You know who I am?"
"Of course," the troll nods to behind the two humans, "we all do." The pair turns and is absorbed in the scene of hundreds of mossy rocks standing side by side as they in turn observe their Queen. All of the strange beings wear gems around their necks. Some carry staffs, others are free-handed and merely stare in awe at the foreign creatures.
A troll with fern jutting from his scalp and beard hobbles out from the crowd, his yellow beads shining as he speaks, "What do we owe the visit, Queen Elsa?"
Elsa moves closer, squinting as if connecting memories, "You helped me with my powers."
She recalls her younger self standing before the trolls, of course back then they were all closer in height - now it's as if she towers above them all. She had made the mistake she repeated a few days ago, she had struck Anna. Her eyes flash before her blue gloves, why was she so bad at controlling herself?
"Helped you with your powers?" Hans asks stepping up beside her. The Prince pulls down his coat, almost bolstering himself in the chill of the coming wind. His interest was piqued. How special were these creatures Elsa relied on?.
"Yes, there is fear still inside of you... Elsa," the troll sage pulls out a magic in the air and waves images before the surrounding crowd, "this winter you have caused, is grave for Arendelle if it goes unchecked. You need to open yourself to love and forgive those you may have felt betrayed by. Come here child, let me see your face."
Elsa holds her face, offering it for the troll who simply blasts the skin with magic of green. She watches the shadow continue to dance in the troll's magic mist shooting ice from her palms. The girl, with braided hair topped with crown, holds her head as she shakes it in pain. Suddenly she is taken into a man's arms and relaxed. None of this helped her, it never did, because she was always unsure of how to interpret it. The Queen shakes her head, "we're not here for me, we're here for -"
"What about me? Is there any way to get rid of this curse?" Hans interjects in a nervous manner, throwing his glove to the ground as Elsa searches his pleading face. He was so desperate to be normal and fit in, like she had been at a younger age.
The troll shakes his head as he feels the Prince's hands and bloodline, the branches atop his head rustle, "A curse is near impossible to cure, however your power is much more tamed than Elsa's. That being said, fire is a dangerous element connected to destruction and pain. Your father chose you for this curse, as the woman expected, your greatest trouble will be loneliness which you have suffered through most of your life."
Elsa looks up at Hans his eyes flickering in the snowfall at having been told a curse is near impossible to cure... she feels as if she shouldn't listen to his reading. She shouldn't inquire about his strange past. But every little detail the Prince lets on about himself leaves the Queen hungering for more.
"I'll always be a disappointment..." Hans whispers the words to himself as he stares into the palm of his hand.
"Let me heal your arm," the troll king takes the misplaced bone from the distracted Prince as he tries to mystify it back into its proper place. Hans struggles to keep a friendly face as angry thoughts fill his mind.
Elsa feels guilty for ever pushing him in the first place to explain himself. His horse tries to cheer his master up by tickling the back of his neck, but Hans remains still as a statue. The silence brushes over the hills until a loud thumping is heard from around the east bend.
"Your arm will take a while longer to heal, but just be careful," the yellow beaded troll speaks with calmness as he pushes the bone back into a lower position in the arm. Hans squints with slight pain and disgust. The lump is gone, but a sore feeling is still drumming into the bruised muscle.
A man emerges, loudly – gathering everyone's attention, covered in head to toe with snow. He grunts as he pulls the heavy sack of lumber down into the valley - his mind was still filled with thoughts of an amazing girl he had met not too long ago. Someone who was probably too good for him anyway... Elsa squints to identify the large creature lulling itself behind the man, it almost looked like a reindeer. The rock trolls turn, some of the younger, smaller looking ones jump with excitement.
"Kristoff is home!" One claps.
Elsa and Hans share a look of disbelief and return to stare at the approaching man in hopeful smiles. The man pulls his reindeer's reins down to the center of the valley, "Queen Elsa... nice to meet you again."
The Queen shakes her head trying to connect that voice to the many events that had been thrown at her these past few days, "Were you the man accompanying Anna?"
He's quiet for a moment. He takes this time to shake off the snow from his furry uniform, slowly he wipes his nose and smiles, "Yea..."
Hans sighs inwardly as he tries to keep a princely manner in front of this man that had stole his true love from him, "We need you back in the castle to save Anna."
"Who are you?" He asks. The man pulls out a carrot and places it in the reindeer's mouth before pulling it out and finishing the rest itself. Elsa and Hans both try to hide their faces of disgust while simultaneously keeping their meals in their proper locations.
"I'm Prince Hans," he bows slightly, not wanting to waste any time on conversation now.
Kristoff squints, "What? But you were supposed to give Anna true love's kiss? You were supposed to thaw her freezing heart!" He starts getting very defensive, as if he assumes Hans has hurt Anna.
Hans turns away and laughs, "Well, that didn't work, Kristoff," he almost spits the name out in a cruel manner. Elsa steps closer to Hans, almost as if she was ready to restrain him if the Prince's temper became too upsetting. Hans relaxes himself, "she loves you..."
The boy's eyes light up as he pushes his blond hair back as a blush crawls up onto his face. The reindeer at his side smiles widely as if chuckling happily for his friend. Trolls start gathering closer and whispering. Kristoff has a girlfriend. Kristoff's in love.
"So I guess one day engagements don't equal true love?" Kristoff confidently jokes.
Hans frowns, his fist tensing, "And how long did you know Anna?"
"Boys!" Elsa cuts them both off from a major argument, "If we keep this up there will be no Anna to fight about, we need to get back to the castle as soon as possible."
"Kristoff, Sven, babies," the troll mother's voice sings out over the human's interactions, "Mama made some dinne-" Her eyes grow wide as she recognizes the Prince's auburn hair. She drops her leaves filled with steaming fish and stands protectively in front of Kristoff pointing accusingly at Hans, "What are you doing here? How do you know about what I did?"
"What? Who are you?" Hans asks, his brow creased in complete ignorance.
"Oh," Bulda steps backwards taking a nervous laughter, "never mind..."
Kristoff turns to her, in cocked eyebrow, "What are you talking about, mother?" He lowers his gaze, "What did you do?"
She shakes her head as the troll king and her husband, Cliff, start closing in on her, "I didn't do anything... I just helped along true love!"
The troll king shakes his head, not understanding, "Who's true love?"
Bulda looks away with a sly glace, "Kristoff's."
"Anna's my true love," Kristoff adds trying to put together the puzzle spilled out before them by Bulda, "isn't she?"
Hans shakes his head as he folds his arms, "She should be my true love, but the kiss didn't work for some reason."
"The kiss didn't work!" Bulda's eyes grow wide with joy, the humans turn to stare at her, "I mean... so, that must... mean Kristoff is her true love then."
The troll king steps forward in the close circle, "did you mess with someone's love?"
Bulda shakes her head, "No I -"
Elsa throws her arms to the side, accidentally freezing the falling snow in mid-air, "If we don't leave now with this man Anna will die. Even if he isn't her true love, we can't take any more time. We'll come back and solve this mess after we save her."
"After we bring back summer," Hans adds, instinctively grabbing Elsa's shoulder.
A chill runs through the ice Queen's blood at his touch, she turns, "Kristoff, we really need to leave now."
"Well, I'd be able to get us down the hill in no time if I still had my sleigh, but I don't," Kristoff stares at the Prince with disdain as he tries to hold some politeness for the Queen.
Elsa sighs as she tries to swirl her magic around in circles icing the air and forming a large block of ice in the center of the clearing. Hans's eyes grow wide as he watches the girl in action, her powers towering in the air and the snowflakes falling in place. She blasts the ice and shapes its corners. A sleigh.
"It's beautiful," Hans almost whispers it, but Elsa can't help the smile creeping up onto her face.
"Well," Kristoff stands impressed along with the others, "let's go save Anna, then. You can hook up your horse and I'll hook up Sven."
Thanks for all the reviews and comments - keep 'em coming, they help me write and come up with ideas! Thanks everyone!
Troopper17 - I am glad my explanation worked! I'm planning to go into more detail a little later, because he'll have to have a little more one-on-one time with Elsa when the adventure dies down of course! :D Thanks for reading!
JavertInMinature - Gaaah, don't spoil it! Of course they were going to heal her! ;D Hahaha, nothing could injure that perfect little face! I hope the horsey reunion was good enough! Thanks for reading! :)
Myths And Madness - Hahhaah, we'll have to see! Hopefully they get to Anna in time now! Dun dun dun. Thanks for reviewing I really appreciate the feedback and knowing what direction people like me going in!
Exadius - Hahah! The trolls! Did they redeem themselves a little in this chapter? ;D
ThePhantomWolf - Adorable Naruto pic, by the way, glad you're understanding! I still like giving you guys something to read every few days since you're all so nice to me! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. It was a little more exposition then action, but we'll get a lot of action next chapter!
Rhika - Yay! They're my OTP too! So happy you like it! I try to update regularly, here's another chapter!
Thank you all again! Happy Easter/Passover/Egg-Hunting-Day/whatever you celebrate! :)