Arendelle's castle became cold and foreboding once everyone went to sleep, once all the furnaces had been put out and all the staff had retired to their rooms, only a crazy person would be up at that hour.

So naturally Prince Andy was wide awake. Waiting for the slit of light under the door to finally disappear had been torture, but the second it was gone the young prince pushed the heavy wool covers away and dropped down from his bed. He'd stopped hearing the soft snoring a while ago, so maybe his brother was awake? Or in a deeper sleep?

It doesn't matter, the 5-year-old thought, sleep is for the weak.

He climbed up the bed across the room from his so energetically you'd think it wasn't the middle of the night, which it was. Near the headboard, nestled between a few pillows, was his brother's sleeping form. Andy knew it wasn't the moonlight filtering through the window that made his brother's hair the platinum blonde that it was, he'd just kind of been born with it, and the paleness also wasn't the moon's doing.

"Psst, Elliott!" he whispered, crawling towards his brother, "Wake up, wake up, wake up!" His brother did not stir.

Frowning, Andy sat on top of him and poked his chin, "are you dead?"

Elliott groaned, "Andy, go back to your bed."

"I can't!" his brother complained, spreading his arms dramatically, "Sleep is for the weak! And we're not weak, so we have to plaaaaay."

"Right now I don't mind being weak," the 8-year-old rolled over, causing Andy to lose his balance and tumble off the bed. He landed on his butt, hard, and he pouted. Elliott was so mean! Dejectedly, he stood up and meant to go back to his own boring bed, when suddenly an idea struck him.

In a matter of seconds, Elliott felt the full weight of his little brother on top of him again. Andy lifted one of Elliott's eyelids, forcing the stormy blue eyes to meet his mischievous green ones.

"Do you want to build a snowman?"

Both stormy eyes opened. Elliott smiled.

• • •

"Come on, come on, come on!" now in full- or almost full - winter gear, the two brothers ran down the castle's spiral staircase, Andy's excitement getting the better of him and resulting in him almost tripping over many times, but Elliott would grab him by the arm trying to shush him, stifling giggles himself.

"The ballroom," Andy said, pushing open the door. Elliott obediently followed, and closed it behind him. The room was huge, granted the biggest in the castle, with high ceilings and arched windows that provided just enough moonlight so they could see. It would work perfectly for what the little princes had in mind.

"Elliott do the magic!" Andy cried, his voice echoing.

Elliott laughed and formed a good-sized snowball in his hand, and without another word, threw it right at his brother's face.

"HEY," the little prince complained, "that's not what I meant!"

"No?" Elliott feigned confusion, and then laughed at his brother's pout. "Okay, okay, hang on." This time when he formed the snowball, he threw it high into the air where it burst- making tiny snowflakes fall down.

"Yay! That's more like it!" Andy giggled, trying to catch snowflakes with his hands and mouth. The burst of magic spread to the whole room, creating not only the ice on the floor and the flakes falling but also a grand amount of snow.

And with that snow the brothers lost no time; they got down to business. To make things fair Elliott created two snow forts and a supply of snowballs for each, and the fight started. Elliott could create snowballs in his hand to rapid-fire, but Andy was quick and his aim was better. It went on for quite awhile, but eventually Elliott's obvious advantage got his brother to collapse on the snow.

"Had enough?" Elliott said teasingly, looking down at his defeated sibling.

"Cheater, cheat-er, you are a cheater." Andy said in a sing-song voice, as he made a snow angel from his spot on the floor. He jumped up to look at his handiwork and grinned.

Elliott smiled back, "Hey, watch this," once he got his redhead brother's attention he stomped his boot-clad foot and from that spot a thin layer of ice began to coat all the floor of the ballroom, forming a giant ice rink.

Andy clumsily tried to skate towards his brother, but ended up slipping and falling flat on his butt for the second time in less than an hour, with Elliott laughing the whole time.

"You're not going to make a good warrior this way," his brother chided, pulling the embarrassed prince back on his feet.

"Yeah? You're gonna make a stinky king!" Andy stuck out his tongue, sliding away and towards the pile of snow Elliot's magic had created, "The Ice cube King! That's pretty lame."

Elliott rolled his eyes and skated towards that pile, way more gracefully than Andy could ever hope to, considering his older brother wasn't wearing skates but boots. There they began to roll giant snowballs to build a snowman together. It wasn't a regular snowman, either, while they were building it Elliott kept saying, "this is what a warrior should look like!"

Instead of the typical three base-snowballs and buttons for eyes, they built a broad chest and thick snowy arms, Elliott using ice to glue them together in place. Andy plopped a large snowball to serve as head, and the brothers started poking around to make the eyes, the large nose, the solider hat. Andy even did the detail of decorating the snowman's chest with little badges, like he'd already won many battles.

"Ta-dah!" Elliott stood behind the snowman and with a flick of his hand an ice sword appeared in the snow warrior's hand, "Hello, Soldier Anders! I am General Winter! Salute!" he said in a grave voice.

"Sir, yes, sir!" Andy saluted, pursing his lips and trying to manage a serious expression.

"You wish to protect the kingdom, but what have you got to offer?" Elliott continued in the grave, hopefully intimidating voice of his creation.

"I can... um, I can..." Andy hesitated, "I've killed the Blizzard Dragon, sir!"

Elliott laughed in his normal voice, "there's no such thing."

"That's cos I killed him."

"Very well, solider. Let's see what you got," Elliott returned to the stern voice, "your training begins now!"

Elliott shot a weak beam of snow towards his brother, who easily dodged it. Then another. All of them he dodged with ease, laughing like the sleep-deprived person he was.

"Hey, I'm over here!" a weak streak of ice shot past him, "are you blind or somethin'?"

"Stop moving and die like a man!" Elliott said in the General's voice, "take this!" but just like the others, the shot of ice missed Andy by miles.

"Aren't you the king of ice and snow? Can't you hit me?" he mocked, now clearly talking to Elliott and not the snowman.

A flash of hurt crossed his brother's eyes, and suddenly the shots of ice got stronger and more precise. "is this better?" Elliott's eyes narrowed.

"If you were aiming at that column you just hit then, yeah, better!" Andy was still dodging everything, his clumsiness on the ice actually becoming an advantage as he slipped this way and the other at random, "come on!"

Growing angry, Elliott made a slash motion with his arm and a snow peak burst from the ground, and taking it as part of their game Andy easily climbed it.

"Next part in training," Elliott announced in the General's voice, "dodge and jump!"

Snow peak after snow peak Elliott created, shooting ice in his brother's direction but never hitting him, and Andy just kept jumping higher and higher.

"Maybe you weren't lying about the Blizzard Dragon," Elliott said in the low voice, but Andy was so high up he probably hadn't heard him. The older prince's eyes widened, "Wait- wait, Andy, that's too high!" he cried in his normal voice.

"Catch!" Andy jumped again, and Elliott had no choice but to create another snow peak so his brother could hop on. "you've stopped shooting, what's the matter, General?" he laughed prepared to leap.

"ANDY!" Elliott cried and tried to aim, as his smirking brother jumped yet again, Elliott experienced something he'd never experienced before- the feeling of slipping on ice. He felt the magic leave his fingers, but he didn't get to see where it landed as his head hit the cold floor.

Elliott heard the sound of a body falling. He sat up just to see Andy's unconscious form tumbling down the snow bank. "Andy!"

He ran over to his brother, taking the little prince in his arms. Elliott watched in confusion as a streak in Andy's usually strawberry blonde hair turned white. "No... Andy? Andy?" Elliott murmured, tapping his brother's freckled cheek, "are you dead?" he tried the line his brother had said earlier, expecting the eager puppy eyes to snap open and tell him he was kidding, but they didn't. A horrible feeling settled on the older prince's stomach. Was Andy dead because of him?

"MAMA! PAPA!" Elliott started to shake, and not from the cold. Below him he felt the ice become somewhat colder, and what had been the snowy playroom just seconds before suddenly became a frightening scene: spikes of ice began to jut from the ceilings and walls. One of said spikes impaled General Winter, destroying him into a sad lump of snow.

"You're gonna be okay, Andy... I got you..." Elliott's voice cracked.

There was a thump somewhere to his right, and Elliot realized, someone was trying to get in through the frozen doors. With a weak nod, making sure to not let Andy go for even a second, he made the ice crack enough so that the doors would open.

"Elliott!" came his mother, the Queen's, voice. Beside her was his father, The King. "Elliott, what have you done?" the King demanded, "this is getting out of hand!" he gestured at the scary spikes Elliott's fear had caused. They were both in their night outfits, with their hair wild in a very un-royal manner Elliott would've found funny in any other situation.

"Andy!" the Queen gasped upon seeing the younger boy. They both rushed over, almost slipping, to their two sons.

"I-It was an accident! We were playing..." Elliott watched helpless as the Queen took Andy from his arms and into her own, "I'm sorry, Andy..."

The Queen pressed a hand to Andy's forehead and glanced anxiously at her husband, "He's ice cold."

Elliott watched his father's face turn from worry to determination. "I know where we have to go."

Sorry for spelling errors, hope you enjoyed anyway :)