A/N: I literally came up with the idea for this chapter in the shower not but an hour ago. I knew I immediately had to write it down. And so, here we are!

I thought about lengthening it. But as I read over it, I decided not to. As it stands, it's more of a glimpse rather than a full view. And I thought it fit well.

Enjoy!

"You know that shit will give you cancer, right?" Aleks spat in disgust as she buried herself into the nook between the car seat and the door.

Rolling his eyes, Hans cracked the window and flicked the cigarette outside of the car. "You have to die eventually, right?" He said in a condescending tone as he squinted his eyes and gazed about the neighborhood. "Besides, I don't think you're in any position to be judging me for driving you out this far from campus."

"Hey." Aleks curtly responded as she slammed her hand on the dashboard. "You'd still be in that shitty rental if it weren't for me, and Gaston would still be living with his mother." She sunk back into the nook and a smug grin grew across her face when she saw Hans wave her off. She won, and he damn well knew it. As the grin slowly dissipated, she leaned her head against the glass. The gentle vibrations against the side of her head caused the passing houses to be blurry, but she was still able to recognize where they were. The familiar sidewalks that she and Elsa would walk between home and school every weekday since the death of their father. "You're going to make a left here soon; it's about a mile up the hill." She muttered underneath her breath as she spied a bus stop on a corner, which brought back bittersweet memories of avoiding the other kids.

"What are you looking for by coming back here?" Hans asked, eying Aleks from the corner of his eye as he rolled through the intersection.

"Houses cost money, Hans." She replied, bringing her knees up toward her chest. "It's the one on the top, with the fence around it." She pointed out as Hans pulled into the driveway and turned the car off. Aleks slowly brought her legs down and undid her seatbelt. She hesitated before opening the door, a feeling of anxious nostalgia in her stomach as she laid her eyes on the house. It wasn't a large house by any means, just the standard two story suburban home. In a lot of ways, it was a prison to her and her twin. In many other ways, it was the only thing that actually felt like a 'home' since the death of their father.

"You have a key?" Hans called back as Aleks saw him mess with the doorknob, failing to open it.

Aleks eventually made her way out of the car and used the opportunity for a stretch, shivering when she felt cracks travel down her spine. The evening sky brought with it a comfortable breeze as the setting sun cast everything in a light shade of orange. She readjusted her windbreaker and strolled toward the front door to meet up with her boyfriend. "It doesn't need one." She mentioned, a smile cracking on her face when she saw the look of confusion on Hans'. She lightly pushed the man out of the way as she pressed her palm against the deadbolt.

"Of course. The ice thing. Why wouldn't it be the ice thing?" Hans scoffed and continued to mutter to himself as frost started to coalesce around the rim of the deadbolt.

As soon as Aleks noticed solid ice starting to spill out from the keyhole, she twisted her palm and chuckled to herself when she heard the click that let her know that the door was unlocked. Turning the knob, she made her entrance into the familiar foyer. Running her fingertips against the wall, she smiled to herself as she looked through the hanging portraits. Among the portraits were her and Elsa's High School graduation pictures, and old black and white photos of their grandmother. She looked back at Hans and noticed him picking at the peeling wallpaper, rubbing it in between his fingers.

"What caused this?" He asked when he noticed her stare. He picked off another piece of the wallpaper before dropping it onto the carpet.

"Water damage." Aleks replied in a steady, but low tone.

"Ice thing. Right." Hans scoffed again as he leaned against a blank spot on the wall. "I take it this is your father?" He asked, pointing toward a picture opposite of him.

Aleks backtracked slightly, her heartbeat quickening when she realized the portrait that Hans was referencing to. She made it to his side and gently grabbed the picture, pulling it off of the wall and brushing the dust off of the opaque glass with her jacket. She scowled when she locked eyes with her father, his cold and lifeless expression staring right back at her. It was an old family portrait that was taken soon after the cruise that ended her mother's life.

Although there were smiles on all of their faces, it was obvious that the death was affecting everyone in separate ways. Her own smile was obviously strained, although it was such a long time ago, she remembered being angry. Elsa, standing right next to her, looked much more collected despite her downcast eyes. For a long time after the death, Elsa refused to look anyone in the eyes. There was no exception for the photographer. When her eyes found their way to their father, she clenched her hands around the wooden frame. Her father was stiff. Stout, even. His hands gently placed over his daughter's shoulders. The smile on his face, oddly enough, didn't seemed force. By all accounts it matched Aleks' more fond memories of her father perfectly. It was his eyes though. There was no light in them, no real reason in them. The more the lifeless photograph stared back at her, the harder she could feel herself clenching the wooden frame.

Hans noticed this, gently reaching his arm around Aleks' side to try and grab the photograph from her. Feeling his arm brush against her own, she jerked back. And with a sudden surge of adrenaline through her veins, flipped the portrait around and slammed it into the wall, causing a deafening crash to tear through the air as the glass shattered. The disturbance caused a few other pictures to fall off of the wall and onto the carpet. Letting the portrait fall to join the others, Aleks swept her hair back before striding around a corner with Hans in tow.

"The hell was that about?"

"That picture signified one hell of a turnaround in me and my sister's life." She answered curtly through her teeth, ascending the staircase. "Soon after that picture was taken, he started to drink more."

"And so that's when the beatings began." Hans concluded, talking Aleks' tensed shoulders as the answer. "But that was so long ago." He muttered softly when they stopped in front of a door, presumably Aleks' as she ran her fingers over the doorknob and leaned her head against it.

After a brief silence, Aleks rubbed her temples with a deep sigh. "Whatever. I know what we're here for, let's get it and go."