Author's Note: Hi! Hello! Welcome, and thanks for giving my quirky little story a chance! It might seem a little slow at first (or maybe not?), but please at least give the first 3 or 4 chapters a try before making up your mind about it, they go fast, I promise! And please keep in mind that this is an AU, which goes for both KH and Frozen, and thus while some things will be the same, other things will be very, very different. You've been warned.

Quick Disclaimer: Just stating this here and now for the entire story - I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Frozen.

THE HEART OF ALL WORLDS: ICE BREAKER

~*~

The hot and the cold are both so intense
Put 'em together, it just makes sense!

~*~

Elsa awoke with a start, breathing heavily, her heart racing. It took her a few seconds to realize that she had been dreaming and that she was safe and sound in her bed. She propped herself up on her elbows and rubbed her tired eyes.

What had her nightmare even been about? She could not recall. In fact, she could never remember them, though bad dreams had been disturbing her out of her slumber a lot lately. She was beginning to get seriously sleep deprived.

She glanced at her clock and saw that she still had another hour before she had to get up for school. Yawning, she began to rest her head against her pillow, but jolted up again when she realized it was like lying on a cinderblock. Reaching for the light on her nightstand, she turned it on to see that a section of her pillow had been frozen solid.

"Stupid powers," she grumbled, throwing the stiff pillow off her bed and reaching for another one.

Once upon a time, she had been a normal girl with a normal life, no out of the ordinary abilities to speak of. Then, one day at the age of seven, her "gift" had spontaneously developed when she accidentally froze a class bully's tongue into a water spray from the drinking fountain he had been trying to take a sip from.

At first, being an inquisitive child, she found her new ice powers to be interesting - a new toy to be played with. But then an accident occurred that proved nearly fatal, and she began to see them as more of a curse to be feared. From then on, she had been doing everything she could to suppress her ability. It apparently was not proving to be enough however, if a chilled pillow was any indication. This was not the first pillow she had iced over in her sleep either.

Try as she might, she could not get back to sleep. So with a heavy sigh, she instead decided to get up early and take an extra long, extra hot shower.

She took her time getting dressed afterwards. Just about ready to head downstairs, she glanced in the mirror. Her gaze met the reflection of her own crystal blue eyes before taking in the rest. Her platinum blonde hair was not a mess. Good. Her outfit was fine too, there was just one thing missing.

Opening the top drawer of her dresser revealed far more gloves than any one person could possibly ever need in one lifetime. Elsa had found over the years that wearing gloves somehow seemed to help her rein in her powers. And somewhere along the way, they had become a bit of an addiction for her - no visit to a clothing store was complete without a new set of gloves. She grabbed a pair from the drawer, slipped them on, then left her room, closing the door behind her.

As she walked down the long hall, the plush rug cushioning her footsteps, she crossed paths with the butler. "Good morning, Olaf," she nodded.

"And a pleasant morning to you as well, Miss Elsa," he returned her greeting kindly with a bow.

Elsa was fond of the rather short, rather round man. He always had a warm smile for her. "I hope you have a great day," she said, giving him a quick curtsy before jogging down the grand staircase.

"You do the same, young Miss," she heard him call after her.

She entered the dining room. Sitting at the long table in the center were her parents, one at each end. Her father was reading the newspaper and her mother was tapping away at a laptop. Both had plates of untouched food before them. At the center of the table was Elsa's own breakfast.

"Morning, Mother. Morning, Father," Elsa greeted as she took her seat.

"Morning, sweetie," her mother responded distractedly, not looking up from her screen. Her dad muttered something that was possibly a greeting as he turned the page, papers rustling.

Her mom was a chief legal officer and her father was a financial adviser. Thus it would be a safe assumption that her family was considered well off. It was also a safe assumption that their high power careers left them little time for the less important things, like developing relationships with their children.

Given her uncanny ability to freeze a lake into an ice rink, Elsa had been just fine with this. Even at the young age she had first discovered her powers, she knew that they would be best kept to herself. Thankfully, her parents' busy jobs had made hiding it from them easy.

A big screen TV was affixed to the wall and was currently on, broadcasting the morning news. A reporter was speaking and displayed behind her were images of an empty ocean. The sound was muted, so Elsa could not hear what the woman was saying, but she glanced at the headline scrolling along the bottom of the screen.

Day 7 after disappearance of tropical archipelago Destiny Islands. Scientists still baffled.

So that was still a hot topic, Elsa mused as she ate. True, a whole string of islands going missing would be big news, but she was sure it would have just been revealed to be a hoax by now. She was not sure how something like that would have been pulled off, but come on, islands didn't just vanish into thin air.

Taking her eyes off the television, she looked across from her to find an empty chair. "Where's Anna?"

"Hm?" her mom hummed, clearly preoccupied. "Oh, your sister already left for school. A friend picked her up, I think."

"Ah," was Elsa's only response. She picked at the remainder of her food in a silence that was only punctuated by the sound of her dad turning another page in his newspaper.

The bell rung for lunch and Elsa's classmates herded out of the classroom. She hung back, taking her time to pack her stuff up before leaving. She generally tried to avoid getting wedged in the middle of a bunch of people wherever she could, as the presence of so many invading her personal space made her nervous. She did not like inviting the chance that her touch might unintentionally give someone frostbite, or worse.

"Elsa, my Love!" she heard a familiar voice exclaim as she exited into the hall. An arm slipped around her shoulders and squeezed them in a hug. Another hand was presenting a small daisy to her face. She took the flower gently and smiled up at Hans, the tall, brown-haired, green-eyed senior who also just so happened to be her boyfriend.

Given that it was common knowledge that her family was rather wealthy, Elsa had developed a bit of renown in her school despite her antisocial tendencies. That being said, she still had never really been considered one of the popular kids. She was more of a curiosity, a mystery - someone that other students gossiped about. That's why it was a surprise to everyone, including and especially Elsa, when Hans, the most popular boy in school, had taken an interest in her last year.

He had just started talking to her one day out of the blue. Sitting next to her at lunch; passing her notes in a class they shared; not leaving her side after bumping into her by chance at the mall. His sudden attentions were confusing, but not entirely unwelcome. An uneasy friendship formed - uneasy on Elsa's side of it at least, Hans seemed to be having no trouble at all. Then Hans had started shamelessly flirting with her, which had made Elsa laugh at first. When she realized he was serious however, she started steadfastly refusing his attempts to ask her out. Friendship was one thing, but dating? Out of the question.

He did not give up however. He was not pushy, just persistent and even ridiculous in his attempts, which never failed to make Elsa smile. After months of him pursuing her however, she knew this had to come to a stop. So she had sat him down and told him the closest thing she could to the truth without actually revealing her powers. She told him she could not handle skin contact with other people, that the barest touch could cause her panic attacks. So she explained that a proper relationship could never occur between them - after all, how could they ever truly be boyfriend and girlfriend if she would not even allow them to kiss?

She was shocked when Hans had responded that he did not care about any of that stuff. All he cared about was her, and the fact that he wanted to be with her. The rest was not as important. He was patient and could wait for her to be ready, and in fact, he would be okay if she was never ready. It was her choice.

Elsa had been left speechless. When she had finally found her voice again, she had relented and agreed to giving it a try. Secretly, she was sure that with enough time to see that she had not been exaggerating about her idiosyncrasy, Hans would change his mind.

But here he was six months later, still giving her flowers.

"How has your day been so far?" he asked her as she rested her head against his shoulder.

"Boring beyond belief," she admitted. "All my finals are finished, so all my classes involve just sitting around either learning stuff we won't be quizzed on or watching movies I don't care about. What about yours?"

"Same, except I have one final left in Trig this afternoon, which I haven't prepared for at all. I'm going to be using the lunch period to get some last minute study time in."

She snorted. "30 minute cram session before the big Trig exam? You'll ace it, no problem."

He gave her a wink, "That's the plan. Wish me luck."

"Good luck. You'll need it."

"Gee, thanks," he laughed. "I've got practice today after classes. Will you still be around afterwards?"

She nodded, "I'll be in the library."

He planted a kiss on the top of her head and said, "See you then."

She waved good bye to him as she watched him run off to join his brothers. Hans actually had twelve older brothers, a fact that made Elsa feel sorry for their mom. Most of them had already graduated - the only ones left were his older twin brothers and Hans himself. The twins were remarkably similar. Their grade point average had held them both back a year, which is why they were still in school when they should have graduated a year ahead of Hans. They were also both fantastic football players for the school team, which is why their coach didn't mind them sticking around for another year.

A few minutes later, Elsa was in the crowded cafeteria with a tray full of food in hand, looking for a seat.

"Hello, Elsa!" a random girl said as she walked by in the opposite direction of her.

"H-Hello," she muttered in response.

Another girl seated at a table she was passing looked up at her. "Love your shoes, Elsa."

She glanced down at the rather unremarkable pair of black boots she was wearing before responding, "Uh… thanks."

Yet another female student told her, "Can't wait for Prom. You totally got my vote for Queen."

"Thanks, but that's not necess-" she tried to respond, but the person had already disappeared into a group of her friends. So the sentence died on her lips in a sigh.

It was true that Elsa had never been what one would consider one of the "cool kids." Or at least that was the case up until she had become Hans' girlfriend. After that, she had been enjoying no small amount of sudden popularity. No, enjoying wasn't the right word. Enduring was a better way to put it. With students that she had never spoken to before now all acting like they were her closest confidants, Elsa found the situation very unsettling and uncomfortable. And yes, she was even in the running for Prom Queen, which she sincerely hoped she would not win. Standing in front of that many people while trying to remain calm and keep her powers under control? The whole thing was just asking for trouble.

With no one demanding her attention anymore, she was free to look around again and spotted amongst the sea of seated people an auburn head of hair that she recognized. With a tiny, hopeful smile, she walked in that direction and sat down across from her sister.

Anna was at the table by herself, flipping through a magazine, her lunch half eaten. She did not look up as Elsa joined her.

Elsa cleared her throat. "Hello, Anna."

"Hey," she responded flatly, eyes still trained on her periodical as she flipped a page.

There was silence for a minute. Then she asked, "How have your classes been so far today?"

"Fine," Anna gave another single syllable response.

To say Elsa's relationship with her sister was strained would be putting it mildly. When they had been younger, they had been inseparable, the best of friends. They had shared every secret between them - every secret that is, except for Elsa's powers. She had actually planned to tell her sister, but then the accident had happened that had caused Elsa to fear her abilities. It had been winter time and snow had coated their city in white, making it much easier to get away with using her powers undetected. So she had gotten more bold with them. Bold, and careless.

It had happened during a snowball fight between them. Suddenly Elsa had decided that it took far too long to actually make her ammo by hand, and had started shooting off magically generated snowballs from her fingertips. It all had been happening so quickly, Anna had not even noticed that the snowballs were literally flying from Elsa's hands. But then something had gone wrong. Instead of a snowball, an arctic blast in the form of a hazy, blue beam and snowflakes had launched from Elsa's hands and struck Anna hard in the face. Her little sister had then collapsed like a bag of bricks.

Anna turned out to be okay in the end. She had required a trip to the hospital and a few days of recovery, but she had suffered no serious injuries and it wasn't long before she was running rampant through the halls of their home once more. But the damage had already been done to young Elsa. She thought herself a monster, a freak. She hated her powers… she hated herself. And that was when the wall had started to erect between the two sisters.

For many years afterwards, Anna tried to regain the friendship she had once had with her older sister, but Elsa shut her out at every turn. Eventually, she gave up. With parents who were always engrossed in their work and an estranged sibling, Anna had grown into a rather wild teenager. Rarely home, staying out all hours of the night, doing who knows what.

Though Elsa knew she was responsible for the distance between them, she often found herself missing what they had once had. And so, it was moments like these, where she had precious alone time with Anna, that she somehow found the strength to temporarily put aside her fears and tentatively reach out to her.

So, Elsa tried again. "Alone today? I usually see you surrounded by a bunch of boys."

Anna rolled her eyes as she said, "I'm not such the attention whore you make me out to be."

She blinked in surprise. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Relax, Sis," she waved off her words with a grin. "I was kidding. Seriously, you need to learn to chill."

Elsa shyly returned the smile before taking a bite of her food. The two sat quietly, but at least it now felt more comfortable and less awkward. It was a start.

She suddenly had the strange feeling that someone was watching her. Turning her head, she scanned the cafeteria. Nothing seemed unusual, just other students interacting and eating their lunches.

Then her gaze locked with a pair of bright, christmas-light green eyes looking directly at her. They belonged to a tall, slender boy with blazing red, shoulder-length hair that was styled back into spikes. His shirt had some rock band logo on it and he was wearing earbuds, which were connected to his phone that he held in hand. And he was just staring directly at her.

Panicking, Elsa broke eye contact immediately to look down at her lunch. She reached her hands out on the table towards her sister and whispered, "Anna."

She quirked an eyebrow and mock whispered back, "What?"

"Do you know who that boy is?" she nodded her head slightly in his general direction, eyes still glued to the table.

Anna looked and smirked. "Who? Tall, red, and handsome?"

Her eyes shifted about in confusion. "I guess… maybe?"

"Well, well, Sis, I'm surprised! Getting tired of Hans already?"

"What? No, it's not like that. It's…" She found the courage to glance his way again. He was no longer looking at her. He was instead eyeing his phone, his thumbs tapping away at the screen.

What should she say to Anna? That he had been staring at her? Anna had not seen that, so Elsa felt she would probably just come off sounding paranoid.

"Of course it's not. Uh huh. Your secret is safe with me," Anna replied with a wink when Elsa never finished her sentence. "I don't know his name, but I've seen him around. He used to be a bit of a troublemaker. Class clown, a real loud mouth, you know?

"But one day he came in, and he was different. Something had gotten to him, messed him up. I'm not sure if this is true or not, but word is his mother died from some terminal illness or other." Anna frowned for a second, then waggled her eyebrows at her sister as she said, "Depressed guys are easy. I can help you if you like."

"Anna," she hissed disapprovingly. "That's not what this is about. I just-"

"Elsa, are you ready for Prom? I can't wait to see your dress, it must be stunning!" another voice suddenly interjected into their conversation. A girl that Elsa did not really know but somewhat recognized from around school was taking a seat next to her.

The clatter of a tray hitting the table alerted Elsa to another student sitting down on the other side of her. "Oh, believe me it is, I've seen it," this one said. Elsa knew for a fact this stranger had not actually seen her gown.

A few other girls joined the tabled and started talking around her, pretending to be her friends. She hugged her arms around herself, concentrating on maintaining what little space she could between herself and the rest of these new bodies around her. She looked across the table to her sister for help, but her eyes met nothing but air. Anna had left without so much as a good bye. Elsa sighed and hung her head.

Exhaling a heavy breath, Elsa turned the page of the textbook before her. Chin propped in hand, she scanned the words, but they did not really register in her mind. She supposed there was not really a point to studying any more anyway, she was basically done with school for the year. She was not even sure why she had stayed after school to hang out in the library. Force of habit was her best guess.

She shut the book with a thud, revealing a small stack of comic books on the table beneath it. Yes, her school library stocked comics as well. She was not sure exactly what sort of educational material they were supposed to be supplying, but she was not complaining. They were kind of a guilty pleasure of hers.

The top comic was of the X-Men variety, the cover sporting Iceman duking it out with a super villain of some sort. As if moving of their own accord, her fingers traced along the lines of the artwork on the cover.

Sighing again, she glanced out the window at the clear, blue sky. If only there was an Xavier Institute out there somewhere for people like her. Really, if it came down to it, she would give up her powers in a heartbeat if she could. But since that didn't seem to be an option, finding some place to train them, to give her more control over them, to suppress them… that idea seemed like the next best thing. A place where there would be people like her. Where she wouldn't feel so alone...

If only…

But there was no use daydreaming. She stood up and stretched, wondering how much longer Hans would be. Gathering the books and comics together so she could return them to their shelves, she took a look around the library and stopped.

When had he gotten here? She thought she had been all by herself in here, but sitting a few tables over from her was that redhead she had seen at lunch, flipping through a book. Rooted to her spot, Elsa watched him. How had she not noticed his arrival and how long had he been there?

His eyes shifted up to look at her. With a start, Elsa hastily finished gathering the books together on her table, picked them up in a stack, and practically ran behind the nearest bookcase.

Out of sight, she shakily placed the books and comics back where they belonged as she regained her composure. What was she freaking out about anyway? He was just some strange boy. There was nothing to worry about, right?

Her hands empty now, she wrung them together. She still did not know when Hans would finish his practice and come to meet her. So, with a lack of anything better to do, she grabbed a novel from the fiction section without really paying attention to what it was and began to return to her table. She stopped behind the last bookcase, tentatively peeking her head around the corner.

His table was now empty and he was nowhere to be seen. She was not sure whether that was a good thing or not. On the one hand, he might have simply left. On the other, he might still be here and now she had no idea where he was.

Stop thinking like that, she berated herself. Elsa straightened up and walked back to her table, cracking the novel open to its first chapter.

Just as she was about to take her seat again however, the sound of something falling could be heard from somewhere else in the library. Elsa jumped, closing the novel once more and looking around. Nothing.

"Hans? Is that you?" she asked hopefully.

Silence answered her. Then a few seconds later, there was another sound - possibly a bookcase rattling?

"Whoever's there, if this is a prank, then trust me when I say you're messing with the wrong person," she threatened, her words belying her dread.

Still no one voiced a response. But she finally spotted movement. A shadow was stretching around the floor from behind one of the bookcases. She clenched her fists, preparing a withering scowl for whoever that shadow belonged to.

The shadow finished turning the corner - but nothing else did. It seemed to be… moving on its own? With a gulp, Elsa took a step back and slowly, reluctantly looked up. No, there was nothing crawling along the ceiling lights and casting that shadow. That at least was a relief, however small. She looked back down and saw it was still closing the distance between her and it. She edged further back, gripping the book in her hands until her knuckles began to turn white.

Suddenly, the silhouette stopped and began to quiver. Elsa gasped as it erupted, like a small geyser of oily liquid, and the shadow started to take the shape of some sort of creature, no longer flat on the ground. The form it took began to look vaguely humanoid, except smaller and jet black. Its fingers ended in razor sharp points. It had pair of antennas, the left one bent crooked in several places. It had no face, just a set of eyes that glowed a noxious yellow as they stared up at her.

Elsa found she could do nothing as she looked back at it, her body feeling like it had turned to stone. Nothing, that is, until it brandished its claws at her and started making a sound that was anything but friendly. That sound was interrupted as a novel hit it square in the face, knocking it off its feet.

Arm still outstretched from throwing her book, Elsa slowly straightened up again. The strange shadow monster woozily got back up to its feet and shook its round head before its eyes shot back up at her with what could only be described as a death glare. It then leapt at her, claws outstretched.

With a squeak, she bolted. She started knocking over the smaller library desks behind her as she ran, trying to slow it down. However, glancing over her shoulder, she saw that the monster merely slipped into a flattened shadow against the ground once more and slid unhindered beneath any obstacles she created.

Ducking behind a shelf, she pressed her back against the books, hoping for just a second to hide. What was that thing? It did not matter, she needed to get out of here! She looked around and hissed in agitation. She was nowhere near an exit. She'd have to go back the way she had come. Back past that thing. Gritting her teeth, she turned and began to sprint.

And immediately tripped and fell flat on her face.

With a wince, she propped herself up on her elbows and rubbed her head. She then looked up and her eyes widened. The little beast was on top of the bookcase across from her. It began creeping down the book spines, like a spider crawling down a wall. She found she could only manage to sit up and push her back against the opposite bookshelf, watching it as it drew closer, her heart pounding in her ears.

It paused momentarily to study her, its disfigured antenna shuddering. Then it launched itself at her.

Elsa's hands flew up in front of her protectively. From them, a spray of ice blades shot out like a rain of arrows, slicing through the air with deadly grace.

Unfortunately, none of them hit the creature as it easily dodged out of the line of fire and landed next to her in a crouch. What the frozen shards did hit however was the bookcase across from her. They struck with loud cracks, tearing at the tomes and rocking the giant shelf backwards. It did not quite fall over however, not just yet. It stopped, managing to balance on its back edge. Then it swung back, now leaning slowly forward.

Elsa had been scooting away from the little monster as it stalked slowly towards her. However, both their attentions were drawn to a new creaking sound coming from above them. They looked up to see the bookcase beginning to topple towards them, gravity sliding the books out and dropping a few of them to the floor around Elsa.

Rolling over onto her hands and knees, she half crawled, half stumbled out of the oncoming disaster. She barely got out of the way as it crashed into the bookcase across from it, books avalanching onto the ground and causing it to rumble.

Silence filled the room once more, except for the sound of Elsa's panting. She turned and looked at the mess. The second bookcase that had caught the first stood fast, now supporting the weight of the other. The books were in an undignified heap on the ground. The shadow beast was nowhere to be seen.

Her breathing slowed and she chewed her lower lip. Was it gone? Had it gotten crushed to death under the onslaught of textbooks? Or…

...had she just imagined the whole thing?

What was she thinking, of course she had imagined it all! Shadows did not simply move around with a mind of their own, taking shape and attacking people! But then… she did not know how much better it made her feel to think that she might just be going crazy and hallucinating.

She hesitantly rose to her feet and inched towards the pile of books. She halted briefly before summoning enough bravery to nudge it with her shoe. A few textbooks slid down from the top of the pile to the floor, but nothing else happened. No sign of the monster, no shadowy foot sticking out at an odd angle, no antenna emerging from between the tomes. She lifted her foot to prod the book pile again.

"Elsa? What happened?"

She jumped and nearly fell over at the sudden sound of the new voice. Looking around, she saw Hans standing towards the middle of the room, looking at the desks she had overturned. He glanced up at her, then behind her to the leaning bookcase and the mass of books in disarray on the ground and his eyes widened. "Are you okay?"

"I- I'm fine," she responded shakily as he rushed over to her and hugged her.

"What happened?" he repeated.

What to tell him? Surely she could not say anything about what she had seen - or rather, thought she had seen. All this over a figment of her imagination? He would have her locked up in the loony bin. "I, uh… I sneezed." She winced. That was the best she could come up with? Really?

"…you… sneezed?"

"That's right, I sneezed," she nodded enthusiastically. "And I, er… that caused me to trip and fall against this bookcase and knock it over."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You… were able to knock over a bookcase all by yourself?"

"Yup. Guess I don't know my own strength," she laughed weakly.

"What about those desks?"

"Those? Oh, ah, those… fell over on their own… when the shelf fell! You should have seen it, the way the whole room shook."

"Is that right?" he asked. She nodded again, then shrugged. He frowned and shook his head. "Well, I'm just glad you weren't hurt. Come on, I'll help you clean this up so you don't get in trouble."

She smiled. "Thanks." With some effort, she and Hans were able to right the bookcase. She then knelt down and began to gather books.

Hans was still eyeing the empty shelves, running his fingers along them. Then she heard him ask, "…is this… ice?"

She paled.

"Oh, um… yeah. I think someone must have spilled their drink there."

Author's Note: Yes, very little Kingdom Hearts at the moment, but don't worry, it's coming! I know the concept is a little weird, but trust me, if you keep reading, you won't be disappointed! I hope you enjoy it!

Pretty please leave a review! You may not think it, but every review matters! No matter how long or short, positive or negative, many or just one! They're all unique and beautiful, like a snowflake!