The Meet-Cute

Welcome all to chapter 8! Before I go any further, quick bit of trivia for you. In the last chapter I reiterated quite a bit that Elsa looks just like her mum, Idun. This is actually true! If you look at both characters in the film, they are identical apart from the hair and the eye colour. This is because Walt Disney actually used the same character model for both Elsa and Idun and just swapped around the hair and iris colour!

Well I found this interesting anyway, let's get back to poor Krissy…

Ah man, my head and my chest are on fire! The flavour of the saltwater still remnants in my mouth and sinuses; every inhale fills my chest with freezing cold and very moist air, almost like breathing through wet clothes! Wait- what's this on my head? Is this a knapsack or something? I can barely breathe as it is with the shape my lungs are in, this thing just makes it even harder and especially with how wet it is!

What happened anyway? All I can remember is being chased by an enormous wave through that valley, we go under, then somehow manage to find the surface again. Then I'm pretty sure someone found me and Sven before we- Sven! Oh no, what has happened to Sven? He was with me when we got out, but I don't remember, oh man if anything has happened to him…

I think it's safe to assume that the people at the inn responsible for the fire were also responsible for that wave. So there are at least two people that can control elements like Elsa can, and they are clearly the 'bad guys' here. But what do they want with me? I'm just an Ice Master; I'm of no use to any-

They spoke about Anna! That's why they have taken me; they must be using me to get to her, but why? How can anyone want to hurt her? This must be some kind of plot to get to the royals and Arendelle? Oh no what have I gotten myself into here?

I now use my other senses to take in all my surroundings as best as I can. It's cold, very cold. I can almost feel the waves of sheer frost resonating from the floor as it creeps up my back. Or that could be the wind? I am sure I am outside because I can feel the unmistakable mountain air slash against my flesh, which then makes me realise I am not wearing a shirt here. My arms are free, but I can't feel my legs! I can't move them at all! All in the space of a second I go from absolute terror, to quaint reassurance, as I reach to feel my legs, only to hit a mound of ice that seems to have swallowed my lower half, rendering movement there impossible- for goodness sakes Kristoff your hands are free! Take off the bag I think to myself. Wow, how did I miss that? I yank off the bag over my head, in slight embarrassment, and have to shield my eyes as they adjust to the sight that makes me gasp, sending another pulse of pain through my lungs.

My hunch was right in the fact that I am on a mountain. I'm literally frozen in a tomb of ice from the waist down on a snowy verge overlooking the ocean from a great height. So that's why I can still smell it! Seeing as my hips can't move I have to awkwardly rotate my body around to see what's behind me, but I can only make out that I am on a mountain shelf that spans off of the vertical side of it. I can look above and behind me to see that the mountain towers over me, it actually seems to be leaning over somewhat. Man I hope it's stable! This is nothing like the mountains around Arendelle; in fact I don't recognise these arrangements at all! The ocean I am overlooking is more of an enormous lake that is surrounded by a circle of a jagged, almost serrated mountain range, with a gap on the very far end that provides access to the ocean, I guess anyway, it's a little too far out to make out fully. Behind me I can just about see that there is a large ice wall that stretches up high into the face of the mountain with carvings of strange designs in it, is there some kind of door there as well?

This is ridiculous. My entire life I have been in command in the battle against ice, cracking it in half for transport and selling it on, and now it holds me in place, completely at the mercy of my captors. I will not stand for this. In my years as Ice deliverer, before Elsa made me Master of the stuff, I have perfected more than eighty different techniques for breaking different shapes of ice and snowy formations to cut them in certain ways. Of course the majority was with the use of tools, and I don't have that luxury here. That still leaves about thirty -odd ways with bare hands, but I have never done that because when the ice breaks, it falls apart in unpredictable shapes and it makes it very difficult to transport around. But that's the least of my worries right now, right now I don't care what it looks like, so I don't care how I smash this. I use my left hand and make a specific shape that involves having my middle finger's knuckle aimed directly into the main body of the ice, with my index and ring finger formed behind it for support. I then make a fist with my right hand and position my left in a point I decide is the most structurally unsound area. I raise my fist above my head and brace; this always hurts. With all the power my torso and arms can bring me I slam my fist down onto my left with incredible force that sends a sharp pain into my hand, but the ice hasn't budged! There's not even a small crack or an indent! I shake of my left and now try a similar method on the right side, but only to be meted with the same result. I then throw method out the window and start slamming the ice with both fists. The pounding I give actually reverberates around the shelf and mountain face, but still nothing.

Just then I hear a creak and a bump behind me, did I just open the door behind me? That would have been a good moment for me, but sadly it wasn't. I hear footsteps approach me, and a man with a slight English taint to his accent speaks:

"Yes, I thought you might try something like that when you awoke." He spoke with such authority in his voice.

"Who are you?" I say, displaying anger in mine, "Come on! Show yourself coward!"

"A coward he calls me?" the man now makes his way to my front, and I am sure this is the man that stood over Sven and I after our narrow escape in the valley, "I assure you that I am far from it."

I see my captor for the first time. I'm too angry to pick out specifics, but from what I can tell he is very muscular, very tall, and had peculiar spiky black hair that seemed to glow with a purple tint. This reminds me that he is no longer wearing the purple jacket he once wore; instead he is wearing a fine white shirt with golden buttons and coloured stripes running from top to bottom on one side. He is also wearing a large ring with a gem in the middle that's changing colour? That's new.

"Right, so that's not the reason you've encased me in this? You're too scared to fight me like a man!" Fury is getting the better of me now.

"That's for your own good friend," he said tapping the ice, "I assure you, you don't want to fight me."

"Oh I disagree," I say through gritted teeth, "Who are you?" I repeat myself with a bite.

"I am Lord Cyril of the High Islands, first of my name, Controller of the Elements, Commander of the Gremlin Empire & Captain of the Iceblade Vessel, but you can call me Lord Cyril." Is this guy for real?

"I know exactly what I want to call you, and it's far from any lord." I am losing patience with this guy already, "Well I'd hate to burden you any further, so it'd be best if you let me go because I won't be telling you anything you want to know"

"I recommend you treat his lordship with more respect." A voice said behind me that I recognise, as it makes its way around to my front also.

"Yeah I wondered when I'd see you again Shamus, if that's even your real name."

"Shamus?" Cyril turns to him, "It's been a while since you've gone by that name hasn't it Shade?" he chuckled.

"It has my lord." Shade replied, but he had no emotion in his voice, this guy looks brainwashed.

Cyril leans back to me, "Believe me Kristoff, if you were of no use to me, and you found your way this close to me, you'd be dead already." Something in his words sang true, and it does scare me a little. Maybe aggression isn't the way here.

"So, Cyril, why am I here than?" I ask in a calmer voice.

"Lord Cyril" Shade corrects me with a strong tone.

"Fine, Lord Cyril." I can't help but pronounce 'lord' in the same, exaggerated way Shade did.

"Simple insurance friend, a bargaining chip for something I want. As long as they provide you'll be released back to go as you please."

"So do I at least have the right to know what that is?" I ask, becoming more and more curious with this man's intentions.

"Of course, you are playing a valuable role in this scenario aren't you?" He looks to me like he's expecting a reply?

"I don't really know to be honest…"

"Well you are my friend." He assures me as he takes a deep breath in, "I wish to expand my knowledge of these elements I currently control. As you are aware, I currently harness the power of Ice, Fire and the basics of water-"

"That, in the valley, was basic?"

"Don't interrupt his lordship again." Shade warned. He's really getting on my nerves.

"It was actually, yes. But I won't go into detail as to how powers work; Elsa would know what I mean."

Elsa? "Okaaay…" I take his word for it.

"But permanently residing in this climate is proving difficult for my friends here in the mountain." He does have a point, It is winter in Arendelle (the real winter), but it's much colder here, and the snow looks as though it has been here for a long time. "I would like a chat with Elsa to discuss removing the storm she has created, and allowed to batter its way through my kingdom."

"The storm?" I question, "She thawed that a long time ago though? This isn't her work!"

"Yes it is, the blizzard she apparently dispersed in what you call 'The Great Thaw' actually just got pushed out here, and I want it gone."

"If you're as powerful as you say, why can't you do it?" I ask, though I think I already know the answer.

"A very good question, you see as ice is her sole element she controls, her power is far greater than mine."

"So you can't really control ice that well then?" I tease, "Is that why you've taken me, because you're too weak to take on Elsa by yourself?" Cyril simply smiles at my statement, and holds an arm out to prevent Shade moving towards me in defence of his lord, or maybe owner is the right word for that animal…

"Calm Shade, calm." He turns back to me, "I wouldn't aggravate him; I can only restrain him for so long." I grunt at Shade who, again, remains completely motionless and blank of emotion.

"So," I return to Cyril, "you were saying about Elsa?"

"Yes I was," he began, "but in answer to your previous statement," he turns his back to me and steps further out to the edge. He then suddenly cloaks himself in a frosty mist and fires a huge beam of ice into the sky! When the beam hits what I assume is a cloud, a circle of light starts to span out from its contact, slicing through the blizzard and letting the sun shine through the gap, bringing me a temporary respite from the cold. "I have an extraordinary amount of control over ice."

"Okay point made, but why do you need Elsa if you can do that?" I shout over the sounds of his power.

In answer, he stops generating the beam and turns to me. The blizzard immediately re-establishes itself back to how it was, shutting out the sun again. "It is only temporary you see, I need to harness Elsa's power also to remove it completely."

"Harness her powers?" I repeat, "Why can't you just tell her the blizzards here and I'm sure she'd get rid of it?" though when she hears of his actions, I think she'd be a little less eager to help out now.

"Because as I said, her power alone still isn't enough to completely disperse the storm, it only pushed it somewhere else. When I absorb her power, I'll have more than enough of it to finally remove this weather."

"So why me? Why don't you just grab Elsa if it's her you need? Oh wait," I interject, "too powerful for you, now I get it."

"You're trying my patience boy." Cyril said with a bite. "Remember that thus far I have allowed you to keep your life. How difficult I allow it to become however, is a different matter entirely." He threatens.

"So I'm your bargaining chip against her? You want her to come to you? Because if so, I seriously doubt that will ever happen."

"You are correct, but mistaken at the same time. You see it's not Elsa I expect to come after you." he grinned.

These words struck me hard. All the fury that had subsided has now returned. "If you lay a finger on Anna I swear to you-"

"Bingo! You've clicked!" He interrupted, "Anna will come running to find you, and then I take her and use her against Elsa! Clever isn't it?" he smiles.

"You think Anna won't come prepared? If you think this storm is bad, you won't be able to handle the one she brings."

"Oh please, you overestimate your pathetic princess; she is a child that only has her own selfish interests at heart. If I had my way, she'd be cast to the bottom of the North Sea where she can't poison anyone else's lives."

"YOU MONSTER!" I scream out in fury and lose control, swinging out with my right fist and slamming it into his face, sending him flying back and almost over the edge. So close! Shade reacts immediately and grabs both arms and twists them behind my back, sending searing pain through my shoulders.

"Shall I take his arm my lord?" Shade asks.

Cyril gets back to his feet and recomposes himself, "No, I made a promise to someone that I'd keep him in one piece," he spits at me, but then a sinister grin creeps onto his face "but I have made no promises about Anna."

Oh no, Anna! What have I done? I've just put her life in danger in an instance. We always usually have an answer for any problems we faced, usually down to sheer determination on her part, but not here. We are both at the complete mercy of the sorcerer I just punched in the face. At that point Cyril waves his arms and two clouds of frost appear on either side of me. When they pass, they leave behind two pillars of solid ice with Iron loop shackles on top appear either side of me. Shade then emerges with two thick chains and latches them to my wrists on one end, then toe other he threads through the top of the pillars, which are about waist height. He pulls them tight so My arms are held out parallel to the floor and Cyril casts two balls of ice that freeze the chains in place, keeping me in this stance. I don't struggle, not anymore, there's no point. Any other problems I cause will just backlash to Anna.

"This is for your own good," Cyril sneers as he points to the area on the floor where the shelf meets the mountain face, "your pounding on my ice has tested it's integrity. We wouldn't want you to fall now would we?" I notice that there is a small crack starting to develop where this joint margin is.

I think of her now, her warm smile as she gleams towards me, like she always used to do whenever we were together. I wonder if she even knows what's happened, and even if she would come after me. I only said that she would to keep Cyril happy, but I hope she doesn't. This man means business, more dangerous than Hans ever was because he doesn't need to hide anything, whereas Hans had to create an entire alter ego to get close to Anna. I just hope that Elsa is ready for whatever she may have to do to keep her sister safe. Just then I remember Sven! My poor old buddy, what has happened to him?

"Where's Sven?" I shout out to them as they leave.

"Who?" Cyril asks in a rather taken aback way.

"Sven, the reindeer? What did you do to him?"

"What did I do to him?" He repeated, "What do you think I did? I set him free out into the wild before we left for here! You think I'm some kind of monstrous villain? He's an innocent animal and I am not a malicious man," he turns to the door behind me, "unless provoked." He retorts.

I hear the door close behind me, and I'm brought back to reality, where the freezing cold temperature of the salty sea air is having its brutal way with my body. I am sore all over, and the momentary warmth that my thought of Anna had brought to me is proving very ineffective to the cold here, and now I have been robbed of the ability to quickly rubbing my hands across my chest and arms to cause heat. Boy what I wouldn't do just to have a cup of cocoa with my Princess right now, gosh I hope Elsa stops her from coming out to find me...

Her beautiful face is the last thing I see before, yet again, I pass out from the cold and exhaustion.

I wake up to the sound of every single heartbeat ramming its way through this lump on the back of my head; I must have smacked it as I fell. I wake up in my bed, Kai and Gerda are sat on the edge waiting for me to stir, though they haven't het noticed I'm awake. Elsa is by the door talking to someone, he's taller than her, wearing the Arendelle guard uniform but with a red brassard over his shoulder, bearing the coat of arms; he's the captain of the guard. I wince in pain as I gently lift myself to an upright position, raising my heavy head.

"Oh sweetie, you're awake!" Gerda starts', making Elsa switch her attention to me and runs over, locking her arms around me, completely cutting off whatever that guy was trying to say.

"Oh Anna," she sobs into my shoulder, "I'm so sorry for this, it's all my fault! I'm so sorry!"

"Elsa it's not your fault, it's okay" I say to her, it would have been more convincing if I hadn't been sobbing also. Gerda scoots closer and puts her arm over my shoulders as Kai hands me a mug of hot cocoa.

"We're doing everything we can to find him Anna" Kai said, "We've scouts all over trying to find information."

"What was with that note though? He took Kristoff because I'm not a good enough princess? Who would say that?"

"I don't know, but it can't be anyone local because they all know of how much of a warm, loving person you are. No one would dream of doing this to you of all people." Kai summarized.

My mind is racing. I keep going over the last line of the letter: 'love for the sake of love'? What does that mean? And how does this guy know about Kristoff and I? Only people in the city can really know about us, and all of Arendelle's people are so nice to us, it couldn't be!

"What about that Matt guy?" Elsa asks, releasing her grip from me, "Didn't he know anything?"

"Matt talks of a sorcerer that ambushed Kristoff in his room your majesties" the captain started, "he thought something was odd when they all crowded around his room and he heard the door handle moving. When he asked if everything was okay, the man in purple shot a fireball out of his wrist! The whole place went up in flames. Luckily Matt and all the residents there escaped with the innkeeper through a back entrance. That's where he saw Sven running franticly about."

"Oh my- this is horrible! Why would someone want Kristoff? He's done nothing to hurt anyone!"

"We don't know sweetie. That's what we're trying to find out." Gerda said, still with her arm over my shoulders.

"Who even is this 'Lord Cyril'? Is he on record? Don't we have the residences of all Lords on file?" I desperately ask.

"That's the thing, his name doesn't come up anywhere, so we have no way of locating him." Elsa explains.

"It doesn't make any sense. He kidnaps Krissy, to teach me a lesson? I haven't done anything to hurt anyone! Wait-" a horrifying thought creeps into my head, "Do you think it's him? Do you think Hans want's revenge?"

"No way" Elsa said, "No way could he get out of that ship. He'll be in some Southern Isle's prison right now, where he should be."

"What about his brothers? Could they want revenge because his scheme's failed?" The captain asks.

"Not them either," answers Elsa, "I have been swapping letters with the second-eldest Andrew. They aren't like Hans, they're absolutely disgusted with his actions, and relentlessly apologise on his behalf. They're actually really nice! And besides, none of them are called Cyril"

I decide to give in to temptation and allow myself to take a sip of the warm cocoa that Kai had made for me. Its soothing warmth does little to calm my upset towards this revelation that someone has my Krissy, but it does bring me to my senses a little more. I try to figure out who could be behind this, when the guard captain grunts as he is pushed aside by a small snowman running at speed to my bed side. "Anna! Are you okay? I heard there was a commotion in the square so I came running! Then I saw Sven in the royal stables! You know Kristoff's back already? But I couldn't find him anywhere so I went asking around and people said you fainted?"

"I'm okay Olaf," I smile, "but no, Krissy's not back yet."

"Well where is he? If Sven is here then he will be too Anna! Maybe he's playing hide and seek again! I'll go hide too!"

"No he's not playing little guy." I say before he turns and bolts out of the room.

"What?" he looks heartbroken, "well where is he?"

"We think he might be in trouble Olaf." Elsa explains, "Someone has taken him and they left this with Sven." She hands him the note.

But then something else happens, as he takes hold of the note it starts to react to his snowy flurry above his head. The snow falling on the note instantly melts into it, but only in certain places. Elsa leans in and starts to notice something.

"Quick Olaf, put it on the floor!"

"Okay!" he says, dropping it like fire.

Elsa then holds her hand over it, I also notice that the crystal around her neck is glowing a little more than usual. Elsa then begins to pour snow onto the note in a pile, which sure enough quickly melts into it, but instead of the note falling apart from all the moisture, the damp and dry areas seem to align like something I recognise. Elsa seems to know it also, as she hurries out of the room and down the hall.

"Urrmmm… What just happened?" Olaf asks, scratching his head, causing little snowflakes to fall.

"I think it was a little bit of Idun's wisdom!" Gerda says with a smile.

"Who's Idun?" Olaf asks, but Elsa returns before we can answer with a book in her hand, and throws it open onto the bed. She then frantically flicks through some pages until she finds the one she'd been looking for.

"Aha! I knew I'd seen this marking before!" She says excitedly.

"Elsa?" I ask, desperate for her to enlighten me. In response, she holds up the page with the same marking as that left on the damp paper.

"This is a form of paper made from the Whispering trees from the woods around The High Isles."

"Magic paper?" I summarise, "What do you mean magic?" I can't believe all this stuff even exists!

"It's paper that can be used for other stuff as well as just writing on. Some kings and queens often take some from a wizard to write letters to other countries. The paper can change the words and completely translate it into a different language!" This must be something she studied in those books of hers, and I can tell she's enjoying knowing all of this.

"Wow, that's really clever! How did you know all this Elsa?" Olaf asks

"I read about it in one of the books Mother bought me," she takes the note and begins looking it all over, "could it be?" she says to herself.

"Elsa c'mon, not all of us here are majored bookworms, what do you see?" I say, trying to hurry her on a bit.

"I think it may have a secret map on it! I don't know how, it just feels like there is something else here."

"I know how!" Gerda says excitedly as she points to Elsa's crystal pendant, which is glowing a lot brighter now.

"Can you get it to like, I don't know, show itself?" I eagerly prod.

"I can't no. We need a sorcerer to do it, someone who has studied the art of magic for a long time."

"Oh sweetie the last wizard around Arendelle died a long time ago!" Gerda exclaims.

"I don't know of any witches or wizards around here either," Kai said, "my brother in the Scottish Highlands, but she only really specialised in transfiguration. Besides Scotland is many a seas away and full of those bear creatures!" I've read about those in books, creatures with the strength of ten men and tower as tall as trees.

"We haven't got time to go all the way there! We need one closer!" Elsa says.

"What about Pappie?"

Everyone turns to the little snowman whose voice made that last remark.

"Who?" Gerda queries.

"Pappie? Kristoff's troll grandpa, he's magical isn't he?"

Everyone looks around confused but I know who he means, "Elsa! The troll family that live in the forest! They must know something about this!"

"Of course! It was he that Mother and Father sought out about my… problem."

"I'll arrange transport immediately and gather a patrol party your majesty." Says the guard captain, but Elsa holds out a dismissive hand.

"Oh no there's no need for that, it's only a short ride into the forest and a patrol party would slow me down." Me?

I straight away get out of bed and hand Kai the empty mug I had just finished, "You seriously think I'm just gonna sit here and let you go by yourself?" getting up this quickly gives me a bit of a head rush.

She held up a hand as though to say something in defence, but after much thought she simply sighs out, "No…"

"Can I come too?" Olaf asks.

Elsa takes to one knee, "I need you to watch over the people of Arendelle while I'm gone little guy!" she says sweetly.

"Aww come on I wanna go see the troll people too! I miss them!"

"Sorry Olaf," I say in remorse, "we won't be gone for very long!"

I grab my winter dress that I bought from Wandering Oaken's trading post, where I first met Kristoff. I slip on the boots as well and turn to Elsa, "C'mon then, let's go!"

"Could we have a little privacy guys please?" she says to everyone else, and they all turn and leave the room, apart from Olaf who just stands with a lost smile.

"You too little man! I'll catch up with you later!" I reassured him.

"Oh, okay." He replies and slowly waddles out the door, clicking it behind him.

"Aww, I hate letting him down like this-"

"Anna I don't want you to come with me."

"What?! Why not?" I genuinely feel hurt at this.

"Look, I've put you through enough already, by taking you with me I'm just putting you at risk again, same as last time!" she walks over and holds my elbows in a kind of half-hug, "I don't want any reason to feel like I could lose you, not now that I have you back."

"Elsa," I say, holding my sister in a similar fashion, "Nothing is going to happen like that, we're just going to go for a short horse ride through the forest paths, like we always wanted to do when we were kids! You remember? We could never climb off the horses because we always got scared of the heights?"

"Yeah, I do, but that was you! I grew tall first!"

"Okay fine it was just me, but at least now we can do that now!"

"I don't know, I still think it's safer for you to stay here, at least that way you can be in Arendelle." She then starts to head to the door, "Why don't you go find Olaf and keep each other company? I think he'd really like that-

"ELSA THERE IS NO WAY I'M STAYING INSIDE WHEN WE CAN FINALLY BE FREE OUT THERE TOGETHER!" these words explode out of me as Elsa spins around in shock. I'm not too sure when it happened, but I find myself pointing out the window, and off into the lush green. I think my words have weighed heavy on her as she slowly removes her hand from the door, leaving it closed and keeping us together, locked in the tense atmosphere.

"Anna!" Elsa exclaims with a mild frown on her face, but I don't let her get a word in. My voice takes a fast, irritated tone.

"Elsa I have spent most of my life living in a huge palace with a sister that I loved so much, but could never even speak to, and I didn't know why-"

"Anna,"

"NO! I'm not finished!" I raise my voice now, she needs to understand what has been going through my mind for the past decade or so, and she needs to know now! "I have all these memories of us playing together, and laughing and singing and dancing, playing in the snow together, only to be slammed back into this reality, where my 'loving' sister won't even TALK to me? We had dinner at different times, we haven't rode our bikes together since our Mother bought them, we could NEVER go and play in the snow ever again and we never even… well… we never did ANYTHING I wanted us to do! I have been sat outside your door for years and years trying to get you to even talk to me; you remember all the times Kai used to rush into your room for no reason? That's because I thought you were dead! There was never any sound from your room, not ever, and I even forgot what your voice even sounded like. And then when mother and father died," I swallow and keep it in, "I had no one! No family I could turn to! Kai and Gerda were always there, but I wanted YOU Elsa, I wanted my own sister to open the door and let me in just once, and now we have a chance! I finally have my sister back in my life, and the last few days have been so nice, but I'm not about to let that change now. We're both going to go to the trolls whether you like it or not, and I promise you that I will never, EVER, let you slam the door in my face again!"

It takes a minute or so of nothing but the sound of the raindrops on the window for my words to sink in. I just want her to feel the cocktail of emotions that I have had to deal with for the majority of my life! As I look into her deep blue eyes, I feel my heart sink. I have never felt the need to raise my voice at anyone, yet I've just shouted at my own sister that I am desperate to never let go again. I see her eyes are now as watery as the window outside; I have brought tears to my own sister's eyes. What kind of sister does that make me?

"Elsa I'm sor-" but she interrupts me by grabbing and pulling me into a tight embrace.

"Oh Anna," she says through sobs and sniffs, "I've been so selfish, I've always obsessed over making sure that you stay inside to be safe, but I've not once ever seen it from your point of view. I've been shutting you out for so long!" She pulls away now, her eyes are very bloodshot, and my shoulder is soaked, "I promise I will never make you feel like you've been shut out ever again, there'll never be another wall between us ever again, I swear it."

"You mean it, never again!?" I had never truly gotten over the pain that I felt when her bed and cabinet was moved out of my room and into her own.

"Never. Well, too an extent. I won't be sharing a room with you and Kristoff if you don't mind" she grinned.

"I think that's reasonable," I smile back, "Now how about we go save my Krissy, together?"

"Of course," Elsa said back, returning her look to a more serious one, "Let me just get some things together and we'll head off. Can you go shout the captain to prepare our horses?"

"Absolutely!" as heartbroken as I am that something this terrible has happened to my Krissy, I am looking forward to this short trip out with Elsa so much, mainly because it is something we had fascinated about when we were kids; jumping on our horses and riding away into the forest, albeit under different circumstances.

I open the door to see two of two of the palace guards right outside the door, both looking rather concerned.

"Is everything okay your majesty? We heard shouting?" one asks.

"Yes, sorry. Everything is okay now," well, considering… "Could you prepare our two horses for travel into the forest?"

"Right away your majesty" the both answer at the same time and head down the hall. Aww cute!

I turn and head back into my room to find Elsa with her back to me, reading through the note 'Cyril' left. She is scanning over one line over and over, like she's trying to make sense of it.

"What are you thinking?" I ask.

"It just doesn't make any sense, he says he's taking Kristoff to remove your main distraction, yet then he invites you to go look for him with no directions? Why would he do that?" I notice the crystal is glowing faintly again.

"I'm not sure… You're right that doesn't make any sense at all? It's like he's enticing me out to him."

"But why? Why kidnap the man of the princess, and then ask you to go get him? And this line, 'love for the sake of love'? What does he mean by that?"

"'Sacrifice love for the sake of love'," I repeat again in hope that it would suddenly make sense, but it doesn't, "Love for love…"

"Trade love for love?" Elsa says.

"Yeah that sounds about right." I respond.

"Oh no…"

"Elsa? What's wrong?" With one hand on the note, she raises the other to her head in disbelief.

"Trade love for love! Anna this is a ransom demand!"

"What!? He wants me to love him, and then he'll let Kristoff free? That's not how love works, I know that much!"

"You're being too bland about it," that crystal is almost shimmering now, "think Anna, who are the two people in your life you love the most? You said it yourself!"

"Oh no…. no no no no no no!" I start sobbing know at the realisation of what she's saying.

"That's why he had taken Kristoff, that's why he enticed you to track him down, it's nothing to do with you Anna, it never has. It's me."

"Oh Elsa…" My mouth is wide open in shock.

Elsa drops the note and it slowly see-saws through the air and rests on her foot.

"He wants to trade Kristoff for me."

Finally, Anna got to tell her sister exactly what it has bee like for her all these years! Bet she feels 10x times lighter now!

While I think about it, what would you guys think if I threw out the idea of making the story slightly 'interactive' to you? There are some big events coming up that I want to hear what you want to happen in the story, so if the opportunity arises, would you like me to get you guys to make the decisions?

For example, right now Kristoff is being held in Cyril's lair, and no doubt soon he will meet Hans again, for the first time since he tried to kill the love of his life.

My question to you is: How would YOU what their first encounter to go, bearing in mind that Kristoff will still be in his restrains, and how would you imagine Hans would converse with Kristoff given the circumstances?

Give it some thought, and let me know what YOU want to happen in a review or a PM!

See you in chapter 9!

-Dan