Alex's head was filled with images of places he had never been to or met people who he did not meet personally. His mind was filled with familiarity as a wave of euphoria that somehow he made a breakthrough to his memory, but he did not know why it was so difficult to bring back the person he used to be. Every time he felt like he was close to success, he was always being shown a tower in a land of ruins. What was it and why was it important? These questions turned into an obsession where there was no answer in sight, but he will find out.

His dreams transformed from a series of images into a projection of himself inside of his head. The young man recognized the sight of the man-made tunnel architecture; however, it was well-lit and bright for him to see everything - even the place where he stood was clean of dirt and soot. Then a magic-like machine was passing by with glass panels for Alex to look through, only recognize the strange masked individual who 'saved' him from that alien creature that gave chills to his bones.

When the door to transportation had opened, the masked stranger stepped forward clad in what appeared to be in black armor as his weapons hung from his person. He claimed to be him, but Alex did not know what to believe and whether he should trust the hallucination within the domain of his mind. The strange silver machine drove away and left the duo alone. Then he took off his helmet and unstrapped the grip of his mask from his face.

It was almost like looking at a mirror of himself. The stranger was an exact copy of himself. "Who are you really?"

His question made the stranger grimace at the moment before speaking. "I am you before you lost your memory. There are a lot of questions you want to ask and I will do my best to answer them before time runs out."

"What do you mean?" Alex wondered.

His expression did not comfort him. "There is so much time for you to dream before the sun wakes you up. So I would start shooting right now."

The first detail that Alex wanted to ask was his identity. "Who am I?"

"You… we… are Artyom Alekseyevich Chyornyj, an orphan who is the adopted son of a station commander at Exhibition," He answered, "We are born on the surface of Moscow, but were raised in post-apocalypse tunnels of the Metro."

"Artyom… my name is Artyom." Alex said to himself.

"Yes. I am sure you will tell that to the princesses about the progress."

A question needed to be brought up, especially about the repression of memories that he wanted to confront. "Why is it that I cannot remember everything in a single moment? I have spent months in this place, yet, it will be ages until I am the person I was before."

The image of himself looked down in shame. "It is a punishment and mercy in a single package. You and I had attempted to do something terrible and our inaction was enough for them to take advantage of it."

Alex looked up. "Who are you talking about?"

"You will realize when you get your memory back."

"So when will I get everything that I once was?" He asked.

"I do not know, I will do everything I can to overcome this obstacle. We will return to the people we once were."

A tall and dark shadow appeared behind the warrior's back. "What is that?!"

Artyom turned around and clenched his fists. "It is a Dark One, but you can worry about that another time. Now, wake up."

Alex woke up in a wild fashion as he sat up from his bed. He breathed wildly as he noticed Kai, Gerda, and Princess Anna standing in his small room. "Is there something wrong?"

Kai stepped forward with reluctance. "We noticed that you were having trouble sleeping. You were tossing and turning in your bed."

Gerda also voiced her concerns. "Are you having nightmares?"

Alex shook his head. "Nyet, I think things are alright." He paused for a moment, the word he said at the beginning was not part of the Norwegian language.

Princess Anna seemed to have catch that detail as well. "Alex, what did you say earlier?"

"The nyet?"

"Yeah, it's not Norwegian at all."

He shook his head. "You are correct. I think I'm getting my memories back with bits and pieces coming back to me."

Kai smiled at the news. "That is good, I am glad you are remembering who you were even it is a strange way to find out. Hopefully, you will remember to fetch food for the horses." Then he glanced towards his fellow servant. "Let's go, we have our duties to attend to."

When the servants were out of the room, only the princess remained. "Alex, I am happy that your memory is coming back."

Now was the time to correct her. "My name isn't Alex."

"You're not called Alex?" She wondered as he shook his head. "Then what is your name?"

"My name, my real name, is Artyom." Then he looked to her with a smile. "I suppose that is worth calling it progress."

"It is. Perhaps it is a good time to celebrate for several reasons."

Artyom remembered what she was talking about. Anna was going to meet Elsa after all of these years of separation. She had every reason to be so happy today. "I do not suppose there is nothing wrong with that. What do you recommend?"

"Will you take me outside of the walls and let me explore the village for a bit?"

A smile was all he could offer. "Are you sure that you're allowed to do that?"

Anna placed her hands on her hips. "I am the princess of Arendelle. You tell me."

"Alright, I suppose Kai and Gerda can overlook my inexperience. If you get into trouble, I get the right to blame you."

The princess laughed. "Of course you get the right to put the blame on me. I owe you for doing this for me."

"No, you do not owe me anything." He replied.

"Why don't you get ready and we'll be on our way."

Colonel Miller had been brought to the legendary D6 bunker-complex. Many would kill to be in this position now that they were able to burn out the monster at the reactor. There was something holy about being in a facility that the pre-war government had in store for the children of the Metro. There were weapons and food rations that were stored away in various places, but he did not feel truly happy about it.

When the Spartan Commander had arrived here, he lost many men trying to survive the monster that lurked below and even a son of a rocket scientist. The colonel almost lost Artyom here and thinking about the young man, he felt somber about him being missing in action. The boy could have lived long enough to see the glory of opening the up the secrets that his ancestors left for him - including the unfired missiles that would have destroyed the Dark Ones.

His mind kept thinking about Ostankino tower, where Artyom was supposed to fight the Dark Ones from. They got to him first, but the designator was destroyed in the process. His blood boiled at his missing fate and he wanted some form of vengeance against the creatures, but his duties to the Polis Council came first as he looked around to see military and civilian personnel busy themselves in unlocking crates of ammunition to discovering classified files once meant for government eyes.

Uhlman walked past these men and joined him observing the various hallways and corridors through the cameras. "Good morning, colonel. Did you get your coffee?"

Miller turned his head towards him. "Do I look that bad?"

He nodded his head. "Do you want me to say it to you?"

"Permission granted."

"Honestly, colonel, you look like shit."

"Thirty bullets out from your salary."

"Come on, I am being honest."

The colonel laughed as he shook him on the shoulder. "I am just fucking with you. Besides, you deserve this for all of the puns I have to endure."

Uhlman shook his head. "Ladna, so what do we do? Open more and more of this place until every rock has been unturned."

"Yes," He answered, "The pre-war government is bound to have something the Order will need."

"Which is everything, da?"

"Basically."

"Before I came down here, I noticed all those armored fighting vehicles in what appears to be a vehicle bay. Do we have any clue why the government had what is essentially several divisions worth of equipment that particular place?" Uhlman wondered.

Miller crossed his arms. He always did this when he needed to think. "You noticed that as well? As of right now, I am forming up a team to investigate anything in relation to that matter. Vladimir was able to get some information saying that it was a preparation for an important project, but there was too much black ink for him to read through."

The lieutenant nodded his head. "I see. Perhaps I can take a look into that matter and check if there are any extra entrances leading into this place."

"You really want to do that for me?"

"Of course," He added, "You and Artyom were fighting a blob monster down below while I was busy on protecting our rocket scientist. Besides, you have other things to worry about such as reporting inventories to the Polis Council."

"Okay, I'm putting you on that assignment. I am sure several rangers will appreciate your puns."

Uhlman smiled. "I'll do my homework, Mr. Melnik."

The colonel pushed him away. "Okay, just go." Both soldiers smiled as they made their way to their respective duties.

When the horses were properly taken care of, Artyom had the privilege to eat at the same table as the royal princess - not that he complained. Much as the princess had a fine dinner, he obtained a smaller meal for himself as if an old habit was returning. Then the treats came forward with the blueberry pie that Anna got her hands on. It was one of those foods that satisfied his taste buds since he never had the opportunity to enjoy such sugar-invested foods. Once he finished his slice, he took a quick glance at the princess. "Thank you for the meal, your majesty. I suppose that is enough for one day."

The princess seemed disappointed at his acceptance. "You are not going to stay for the chocolates?"

"Tempting as that might be, I must go back to my duties at some point. Kai would have my head if I am not at the stables." He answered.

She dismissed his concerns with a wave of her hand as she sat across from him at the dining table. "You'll be fine. Kai is rather lenient on me ever since I was a child."

"There is a problem with that," He pointed out, "You are the princess of Arendelle, but I am the stableboy. He might not be so lenient on me."

Anna pulled out a box of chocolates on the table. "If he wants to make a fuss about it, he can talk to me. You can be assured by the number of excuses that I have in store for him in case trouble does come. So forget about that worry and focus on the now part. We have much to look forward to tonight."

"You are right on that, but it is not a guarantee that it will succeed. There is a chance to talk to your sister; however, it might not be the conversation you want to talk about."

"That is a bit philosophical for you. Is that you or your memory talking to me?"

He couldn't lie to someone so genuinely nice. "That is just me. I suppose my latest dreams are brushing off on me."

"Your dreams?" She wondered, "Are they the reason you're getting parts of your memory right now?"

Artyom shrugged his shoulders. "Probably, but I am not certain. I cannot tell if it is legitimate or a hallucination on my part. The mind can be funny like that."

"I really hope it does get your memory back. At the very least you get to realize who you are and possibly leave this place if you do," Anna replied, "So what do your dreams consist of?"

"Tunnels. That is what my dreams consist of, but these are not the tunnels that you can simply enter and discover for yourself. No, these seem to be carved up by men and I don't know why people would carve tunnels in the underground for any reason."

She leaned back in her chair. "That is truly strange. The only reason people would dig tunnels is if they're looking for something. I think you used to work in the mines, but it wouldn't make any sense since Arendelle doesn't have any mines at all."

He rose from his seat. "They're just dreams. It's not something both of us should dwell on."

"Is it time for Elsa to come down?" Princess Anna asked.

"Possibly. We should go to the stables and find a place for you to hide in." The stable boy suggested.

Then she rose from her seat and grabbed her box of chocolates. "Let's go."

The duo exited the dining room as the kitchen servants walked out to clean up their plates. They walked through the hallways and out to the courtyard just to find the stables just as they were. Upon entering, Artyom looked around to find where Anna could reside until he looked to a small area where the hay could hide her. "I should go fetch a couple of chairs, but could you stay behind there and wait for your sister to come down."

A shadow rose from behind the large pile of hay bales, catching him off-guard. "Why are you two hiding from me?" Yet, he was able to recognize the blue cloak being worn.

"Your highness?"

Anna immediately took notice and was just as surprised. "Elsa?"

The hooded figure lifted her hood off her head and revealed herself. "I came down to give you the name of my horse, but it seems like I am interrupting something."

"Actually, we were supposed to be interrupting you?" Her sister answered.

She raised her eyebrow. "Truly?"

"You see, I asked Alex-I mean Artyom, to catch you by surprise," Anna explained, "I wanted to talk to you after all of these years."

A flustered expression appeared on her face upon the revelation. "I don't think you want to talk to me."

"I do," Then she opened the box of chocolates, "We can start with this."

Elsa turned towards Artyom. "Alex, did you plan this?"

He nodded his head. "Your sister asked me and I thought it would be nice for you two to finally get into a conversation together about all the things you could do together. Also, it's not Alex, it's Artyom."

"Why the change of name?" The princess wondered.

"I'm getting bits of my memory back - my name being one of them."

She smiled. "Good for you. I suppose my sister and I could talk over chocolates. What are you going to do?"

"Take care of the horses." Came his answer.

"Speaking of horses, I have a name for mine. I'll name him Alastor."

Then he bowed. "As you wish, your grace. Alastor will be taken care of."

Seconds of conversation spilled into minutes and then those minutes turned into hours. The conversation between the sisters made Artyom smile as he busied brushing the hairs of horses. After all, he managed to get two siblings to finally speak after all of these years. Simply hearing them talk kept him in silence to learn more about the people here. He was beginning to like being the stable boy for royalty. Yet, he felt that his loyalty was elsewhere, but he could not figure out why.

The strange creatures that were sighted in Arendelle had forced Kai to send letters to the academics of Europe. These were far too alien for him to identify and hopefully someone would figure it out. The last thing his kingdom needed was an invasive species in the form of hunters who might live dangerously close the heart of Arendelle to attacking it if the weather forced them to attack any humans living nearby.

He was able to receive a letter and he hoped that someone would answer the situation. The servant opened the letter as he discovered the words that originated not from the south, but from the east. It was enough to catch his eye.

Dear Kai,

I have received news about your particular problem with this new species. My best recommendation is to simply prevent the corpse from decomposing to the best of your abilities until we get there. There are several favors I can get from my academic institutions, but the state of affairs in the tsar's court has complicated the situation somewhat. The means for me to arrive in Arendelle will take a while until I can find a ship or a land route possible.

Prince Vaska Dolokhov.

P.S. I am also bringing along my personal infantry and cavalry regiments. I got to leave an impression.

There was a sense of relief for Kai - someone had answered. The problem he had with this letter was the mention of the military regiments from the lands of the tsar. Arendelle did not really have much of a military to begin with and if they attacked there was nothing he or the royals could do. Hopefully, this would not be an act for war, but he couldn't be so sure.

The head servant put the letter on the empty space of his desk and looked to the rest of the letters he received. "Oh no, I forgot about the coronation. I better prepare."

Author's Note: Well, I neglected to update this story since I realized SpaceBattles is fifteen chapters ahead in terms of content. Hopefully, I can get to posting them every day.

Aren serathy: Historical error, perhaps. However, it is worth mentioning that Frozen is set in mid-1800s and given that this setting has soldiers with swords and shields while also having railroads and photographs I wouldn't put too much thought into it.