A/N: Hello everyone, and welcome to my newest Hansanna fic! The basic idea for this one came from binge-watching "Hogan's Heroes", an older TV show from the mid '60s about a POW camp in Germany during WW2. Basically, allied prisoners of war operate from their camp to get other escaped prisoners out of Germany and back to England, all right under the enemy's noses. (It's a great, funny show. If you haven't seen it, I totally recommend!) I liked the idea of doing a wartime/WW2-esque fic but set in Frozen's timeline. Because I don't think any of us are ready to see Anna behind the wheel of a 20th century escaping get-away car.

I will be recycling the same Westergaard princes and related OC's from "Love Will Thaw" into this fic. Their basic bios are on my profile.

Disclaimer: I don't own Frozen. If I did, Hans would never have turned into an asshole, and he and Anna would have lived happily ever after just like she always dreamed. Instead, well... y'know. Frozen belongs to Disney.

NOTE: This will be rated T, though there will be mentions of violence and sexual themes. Nothing super explicit though, at least for now. I'll switch it to 'M' later on if necessary.

**I also want to give a shout-out to my lovely friends xSerpx and glm-mer on tumblr for their help on this first chapter!

Summary: In the blink of an eye, a festive event held in a neighboring kingdom turns disastrous, and Princess Anna is taken prisoner. Trapped deep behind enemy lines, her only hope of surviving is to find a way back to Arendelle. There's support in an unlikely ally, but their shared history only makes a tense situation all the more challenging….

Prologue: A History of Kingdoms

If there was a present sentiment shared among all of the kingdoms scattered across the realm, it was the importance of friendships. Allegiances. Allies. No one kingdom could survive solely on their own and maintaining peace with neighbors near and far was the key to prosperity and survival. Many of the interkingdom relations spanned through generations, and each was unique.

The realm could be broken into two main regions: the northern land masses and islands, and the main southern continent. In the north, one larger landmass was divided by two kingdoms: the kingdom of Arendelle, ruled by Queen Elsa, whose main city, small towns and overall territory took over the majority of the land. They shared a northern border with Vallacia, a fortified city-state led by King Argus, that included stretches of forest and farmland between its city gates and the base of their sides of the mountain range. These two governments were always amicable towards each other, being closest neighbors, and were always on hand to support the other with any international issue that would arise.

The southern edge of the northern region contained a series of islands. The royal house of Westergaard controlled these islands and shared their own connection with city-state to the extreme north, one through marriage, for the Crowned Prince Frederick had taken the hand of Charlotte, Vallacia's only princess. The Isles also shared a history of friendship with Arendelle, as one of their former queens was an aristocrat from the northern kingdom.

Weselton was an island to the extreme west, a Duchy governed by Duke Reginald Spencer. Being so far and isolated, their economy relied heavily on imports and exports from the surrounding kingdoms.

The southern portion of the realm contained the main continent, housing several of the larger kingdoms. Rheland, to the east, was one of the oldest kingdoms in all of the realm. The royal house of Edvard served the people for centuries, receiving the praise and adoration of not only their people, but of their allies for maintaining an era of peace and prosperity for so long. King Wilhelm's charitable nature and involvement in the workings of the lower classes has made him a true father figure to the people.

The kingdom of Corona was to the western side, the most neutral of locations. Friendly and trading with everyone, and sometimes no one should conflicts arise, the people admire King Frederic's desire on keeping out of foreign affairs if and whenever possible, so long as the kingdom isn't in a direct line of fire.

However, the realm wasn't always in a state of peace. With the rise of Queen Elsa of Arendelle, Weselton found itself in hot water after Duke Spencer's attitudes and actions towards the new queen left his Duchy without a major trade partner. And Prince Hans' attempt to murder the Queen and usurp the throne marred the Southern Isles' reputation, and their relationship with Arendelle was left strained, to the point of severing.

But these instances were rather minor compared to the history of one particular country, one that was more troublesome than all of the rest.

Alvania.

Sandwiched between Corona and Rheland, Alvania was once a powerful kingdom, led by stern, ruthless kings for so many generations. The military was strong, and the lower and working classes were essentially forced into the role of servitude for the upper aristocracy. Select freedoms were enjoyed only by those wealthy enough to buy into them and worm their way into the royal house's good graces. In spite of such harsh environments, the monarchy's political relations with their neighbors were fairly neutral. Alvania traded steadily with their border-neighbors, and kingdoms across the seas often remained up-to-date with their commercial policies. After all, traded goods were important to keeping the kingdom afloat. Of course, only those wealthy enough could really enjoy the treasures shared by their neighbors. Taxes were high, and those who paid the most were often the ones who had very little income to spare.

Things started changing for the Alvanian people in the mid 1700's. King Gustav ascended to the throne, and with him brought a drastic shift in domestic policies. The royal army was downgraded, and more freedoms and opportunities were granted to the common man. King Gustav even negotiated a new agreement with Rheland, their oldest and closest ally, and taxes were lowered on all traded goods over their borders, and passage to and from the kingdoms were welcome and encouraged for the first time in so many years. While many praised the king for his giving nature and genuine concern for the lower class, there were several in the upper circles who criticized the monarchy for rendering Alvania soft and weak.

However, in 1775, Alvania's real troubles began. The current monarch, King Gustav II died suddenly after only two years on the throne, and at the tender age of twenty-three. His arranged marriage to Rheland's Crown Princess Alexandra was never finalized. He died without a wife, nor children, nor heir to the throne. The king's mourning period brought on an emotional and political crisis for Alvania. The late-king's advisors rushed desperately to find any link of relatives, no matter how distant, to claim lineage. They found a fourth cousin, a Duke governing a small territorial island off Alvania's southern coast. He was the closest male relative, and so once the mourning transition period ended, up rose Albert Mathias, the new king.

Unfortunately, this new monarch was not what the majority of the people envisioned. He certainly didn't live up to their expectations, nor did he follow in the charitable footsteps of his two predecessors. King Albert was self-indulgent. He was greedy. And he made sure his new royal promotion granted him every luxury the kingdom could possibly offer, regardless of the cost. Aside from his royal advisors—positions filled by his closest friends from his time as Duke, rather than men of qualified merit—he filled his court with women. Young, fair, exotic women from all over, some even from other kingdoms and territories. His time as the Duke offered him plenty of chances to court, entertain, and seduce, and it was one of his favorite pastimes. He was known to his region as the royal womanizer, and that carried through into his reign. During his early tours of the kingdom, any beautiful maidens that captured too much of his attention were invited to Warrick Castle in Ordoff, the capital city, with the remote possibility of becoming the future queen. King Albert rarely spent nights alone, and he would rotate which women were granted the honor of sharing his bed, sometimes two in a night if he was feeling particularly lustful. He encouraged competition in his mistresses, determined to make the winner his bride. And when he tired of a woman, or if she became pregnant, she was dismissed from court and he would exchange her out with someone new. These women were toys to him, objects to gratify the throbbing of his loins, and he only wanted to be serviced by the best the kingdom could offer. In return for their affection, he adorned them with expensive clothing and jewels, and let them parade about the castle as if they truly belonged there.

To finance his lavish lifestyle, taxes were hiked all over the kingdom, and once again, the common people felt the worst of the increase. Prices of imports and exports were also raised to cover costs, with the surplus going right into the royal treasury.

As the years went by, the new comforts of the citizens dwindled. Wealthy aristocrats and nobility were able to maintain their high standards of living by showing excess allegiance to the king, but the steady middle class slowly blended into the working class, and poverty levels began to rise. By 1780, the class divide was larger than it ever had been before, and those most affected by the king's biased laws and policies had had enough. Whispers of rebellion formed in the dark alleys of some cities and towns and in some regions, even the aristocrats who were tired of sucking up to the king with nothing to show for it were ready to join the revolution, and they became the funding behind the movement.

1782 was the year King Albert made his most grievous error.

In April, Rheland's Queen Alexandra ascended to the throne at the young age of twenty-five, and she was scheduled to make a state visit to Alvania to commemorate the lasting friendship between the two kingdoms. Naturally, King Albert had an evening celebration planned at Warrick Castle, and with the party, he had his own personal agenda. He had grown tired of his mistresses, even the newer ones, and felt it was time a king settled his future. During the grand party, he made sure to bolster his appearance, and his ego. He made sure the young, beautiful Queen was given the best Alvania could offer in terms of food, wine, and company. He spent half the evening dancing with Alexandra. He interpreted every polite smile and gesture she gave him to one of personal flirtations, and it only spurred him on further. She retired from the party early, and he was left with the company of his mistresses and his wines until the party's true end.

And then he made his move.

Late that evening, he slipped into Queen Alexandra's bedchamber with the proposal of joining their kingdoms. After all, she was meant to be wed to his predecessor and their kingdoms united. What difference would it make for her to wed him instead. He would benefit from a younger queen and bride to please him each night, and their union would naturally bring about a slew of healthy male heirs. Alexandra, on the one hand, found the discussion valid to a point, however, this was certainly neither the time nor the place. She was a proper lady through and through and refused to entertain him at this time of night. Albert, far too inebriated from the party to act rationally, would not relent. He was used to getting his way, especially from the women in his castle, and tried again. And again. He would not take no for an answer. Only instead of using rational words, he used brute force, and managed to get her down onto the bed underneath him.

Despite the castle's attempts to keep the king's immoral behavior within its walls, word quickly spread throughout the city, especially when Queen Alexandra and her entourage were seen hastily departing early that morning, the rest of her state visit canceled. In the days that followed, stories were printed in both Rheland and Alvania's press of the horrifying incident, but more importantly, how Rheland severed the long standing trade relationship with Alvania. And with the kingdom's largest supplier of trade gone, prices took yet another rise for imports from other lands.

King Albert led a vicious verbal attack against Alexandra, calling her claims of assault and rape slanderous, and her sudden termination of trade to be a vile act against the Alvanian economy and her people. The feud between monarchs never relented, and with each press report on the King's behavior, the Alvanian people's desire to revolt only strengthened. In the months that followed, Queen Alexandra's royal guard captured and executed a slew of spies sent from the Warrick castle. Albert considered the spilling of blood an act of aggression and demanded justice. She responded with a declaration of war—the first direct confrontation the kingdom has engaged in centuries.

News of war divided the Alvanian people. There were the minorities who were loyal to their king, they jumped at the opportunity to put a young queen in her place. The majority, however, refused to fight a war for the king—a war only brought on by his lack of self-control. Instead of marching to the battlefield, they used the opportunity to officially band together and start their revolution. King Albert soon found himself facing a war on two fronts—the Rheland border, and in his own cities, especially ones closest to the capital. The constant rioting in the streets forced his soldiers to retreat to protect the castle and his own interests.

Queen Alexandra didn't exactly have a large army at her disposal, but she didn't need one, either. She knew going into the conflict that the majority of Alvania held no support for their monarch, and she was correct and anticipating the start of their revolution. As her soldiers advanced into Alvanian lands, they were met with disgruntled farmers and working class, and the numbers advancing on Ordoff were staggering.

The war lasted just under a month. Rheland suffered very few loses in a combat environment. Alvania didn't fare much worse. The majority of the casualties came from the king's royal guard, but the greatest loss, if one could really consider it a loss, was that of the crown. When Rheland's guard captured Warrick castle, they found King Albert's naked body and that of one of his mistresses, tangled in his bedsheets with spilled wine dripping onto the floor beside the bed.

Wine laced with poison.

The mystery of who killed the king was never officially solved. Some believed a disgruntled servant went too far. Others put the blame on the revolutionaries. A rumor of assassination on Queen Alexandra's behalf even circulated inside the castle walls. But as a whole, the people didn't dwell on the matter for too long. Once again, Alvania was left without a proper king. Only this time, instead of combing the countryside and territorial lands for an ill-equipped lord or duke, the members of the royal staff turned to the victor of war for answers.

Queen Alexandra had returned to Warrick castle after the news of King Albert's death reached her in Oskberg, Rheland's capital. She brought with her a select group of her advisors and temporarily occupied the foreign residence so talks could begin between the two governments. An agreement was made before too long, that Alvania would fall under Rheland's imperial rule and would be looked after by a governor appointed by the queen's advisors. To satisfy the common man, they would benefit from the same privileges that any citizen of Rheland would—lower taxes, an increase in trade, and once again, free and easy crossings over the Alvanian-Rheland border. The people seemed happy with this solution. It gave the working class hope that their lives would revert back to the relative ease and prosperity that they were just starting to enjoy.

The first few years went by well. Queen Alexandra's policies and promises were upheld for the Alvanian people, and those worst-affected prior to the take-over were once again rising back into middle class status. As a whole, there was support for Lord Hostetter, the appointed governor, and by extension, support for the crown as well. Alvania even got to take part in their own celebrations when the monarch married Georg Von Falkner, a ranking lord from Oslo, a small imperial territory to Rheland's south. And with their union, the news of a royal baby brought even more excuses to celebrate, as well as another kingdom-wide holiday.

The turn of the century also brought about another change. The birth of a second royal child shifted some of Queen Alexandra's priorities from politics to motherhood, and her husband, Prince Georg, assumed the unofficial role of overseeing the affairs of the imperial kingdom. It also brought on a change in leadership for Alvania. Lord Hostetter resigned, and the Prince appointed Baron von Streiff, a member of his staff, to serve as the replacement. The new governor didn't do wrong by the people per say, but his nonchalant attitude towards the common man and their troubles left them wanting. It posed the question if Rheland still cared about the welfare of Alvania's citizens.

Men who served under the kingdom's previous monarchs started meeting together in Ordoff. They proposed the idea of traveling to Oskberg to see the Queen about letting Alvania exist independently once more. The economy was stable, and the majority of the citizens would approve of the idea, especially after the way they banded together to revolt King Albert's government.

The meeting in Oskberg didn't go as planned, but it wasn't a complete loss, either. Queen Alexandra was concerned that the officials were making assumptions about their people and proposed an alternative. If Alvania should be an independent country, the freedom should be earned, especially since there had never been a stable government without a ruling monarch. Candidates should be selected to travel the land to gain the trust of the citizens and an election would be held against the governor in office. Alvania would become free of imperialist rule only if the candidate could win the election. Before the Alvanian officials left, she urged them to have a plan of government in place before setting the time for a vote.

The Alvanians found campaigning harder than they originally thought. While they easily gained support from most of the lower working classes, the middle and aristocrats were a lot harder to convince. Many of them were sticklers of tradition, and sworn monarchists, regardless of where the crown resided. Queen Alexandra made their lives relatively comfortable, and they were content leaving things as they were and not risking another change in power.

Alvania lost the first election by a landslide, and as per the agreement made, the next would have to wait three more years, to give a chance for another suitable candidate to rise. Unfortunately, the second election was also lost to the Rheland governor, though the results weren't as depressing for Alvania this time. To increase their chances, additional educators were brought into schools and upper universities as public policy and politics became increasingly popular studies. Divisions also began forming among the people into two parties: the monarchists and the anti-imperialists.

Anti-imperialist sentiment gained momentum in 1810, when the Rheland heir, crowned prince Wilhelm took a massive kingdom-wide tour. While he visited every region in Rheland, he only spent part of a day in Alvania. The people had been looking forward to his visit and felt incredibly snubbed with the lack of attention. They pressed the governor for answers, and all that could be offered was a last-minute-change in schedules. But the prince didn't seem phased at all on his return trip to his homeland. If this was how the future king would treat territorial citizens, perhaps it really was time to press harder for a free Alvania.

Resentment grew when each election held ended in failure. They suspected the governor was somehow involved in the election process to keep himself in power. And he wasn't the only one. Prince Georg was not keen for Alvania to stand on its own after being under imperial rule for so long. Promises made by the Queen were slowly being recanted and stricter policies were put into place as a subtle means of punishing the territory for causing domestic unrest. But stricter laws didn't stop the working classes from regrouping and trying to overcome their challenges. In 1827, Queen Alexandra died. Prince Gregor lost his anchor in his administrative duties, and the crown was passed to his son and heir, Prince Wilhelm.

The new monarch had tried to appease the Alvanian people by rolling back a few recent restrictions, but it was too little, too late. The prior years of neglect helped pave the way for one glimmer of hope.

Compared to the older candidates with political experience under their belts, Viktor Beker was a much younger man and relatively new to the political atmosphere. His knowledge of the kingdom and policy came from years of rigorous university study of politics and history, and he was a natural at giving compelling and moving speeches. His goal was to rally all of Alvania together. He campaigned strongly and his tours through the land focused on returning Alvania to its former glory. Years of being ruled by a woman figurehead made Alvania a crumbling shadow to the way it used to be, and he was determined to revive the vigor of the kings of old, only without the stigma of an out-of-touch monarch. Never again would the working classes be subjected to unfair treatment from laws only benefiting the wealthy. He promised to revive the traditions and customs that Alvanians used to enjoy for generations and could no longer due to the imperialist restrictions. He promised opportunities and prosperity to the people, and an increase in the military to ensure no other kingdom could take advantage of Alvania ever again. With each town he passed through and every speech he gave, he gathered more and more supporters. His words were sweet music to everyone's ears.

In 1835, Beker won the election against Baron von Streiff. For his part, King Wilhelm upheld the agreement signed by his predecessor, and pulled his government and soldiers out of the territory. Alvania was a free country at last.

Independence came at a price. The rocky relationship between Rheland and Alvania had been observed by the other kingdoms, and their leaders were left wondering how this new country would operate throughout the realm. Trade agreements that were in place before Rheland's take-over were reinstated, albeit a bit warily, as a means of gaining a new ally.

Alvania did lose a trade partner in 1839. Arendelle. Beker had attended Queen Elsa's coronation and was appalled at her display of unnatural abilities. He denounced her of not only being a coward and abandoning the throne, but of being a witch in possession of unholy magic. His strong opinions were shared by the delegate from Armensgrad and by Duke Spencer of Weselton. All three kingdoms severed their ties to Arendelle once the summer was thawed, and their own allegiances strengthened as a result. To make matters worse for Beker, his ship was one of many that were destroyed by the frozen fjord and violent unnatural storms. He took the accident as a personal attack, and for the fact that he was put into the embarrassing position of asking Princess Rapunzel and Prince Eugene of Corona for passage back to the continent.

As the remainder of the '30s passed, Beker put his plans into immediate action. Alvania's armies grew exponentially thanks to the incentives offered to the lower class citizens, and Beker's anti-monarchist sentiments fueled fire throughout the country. Nearby kingdoms were left speechless at the way the Alvanian people clung to their Chancellor's every word. They all kept close, cautious eyes on Alvanian news as it traveled through the realm, but none more than King Wilhelm, for it was no secret that Beker shared no ounce of friendship for him or his kingdom. Beker's grievances against the king were so deep and so personal that only a select few on his staff knew the truth. Trade policies remained in place with Rheland only to benefit the needs of the people. The two leaders refused communications with each other unless it was absolutely necessary.

But, with a few years of neutral peace under Alvania's belt, the rest of the realm was at relative ease for the time being. Autumn was now approaching, and royal representatives from kingdoms all over were looking forward to flocking to Rheland for an event not held in so many years: The Fall Harvest Festival….