Elsa ran faster than she ever thought she could. The events of the past few hours seemed to come from a terrifying nightmare. Now all of Arendelle knew exactly what she was: a monster. Tears began to cloud her vision as she kept running through the forest, away from the fjord, away from everything she knew. Monsters didn't deserve to live among normal people...

As she ventured through the forest, Elsa came to a quick stop at a clearing. It was quite picturesque: covered in a blanket of snow, void of all trees, and a thin winding river that snaked from one edge of the treeline to the other. Elsa would have thoroughly enjoyed the scenery if she wasn't here on her own forced exile. She sulked over and sat upon a large rock just by the water's edge as she embraced herself. What were her options now? Hide in the mountains for the rest of her life? Disguise herself and live amongst the local population? Take her own life? She didn't know. All she did know was that returning to Arendelle was never an option, for its sake and for Anna's sake.

...Anna…

The thought of her sister being alone again tore through her heart like an icy spear. After all these years, she hated how she had to isolate herself from her own family. But it was for the best, so that she would never hurt her sister ever again. The idea stung worse than the cold around her. Anna, she thought, tears streaming down her eyes, I- I'm sorry…

As she was wallowing in her own sadness, Elsa's heart skipped a beat when she heard footsteps in the snow. Wolves? Soldiers coming to arrest her? She wasn't certain. She leaped off of the rock and raised her ungloved hand. "S-stay back!" She shouted weakly, "I can and will hurt you!" The sounds grew louder as she tensed up. Elsa squeezed her eyes shut, ready to accept her fate. Just then, a gruff masculine voice called out to her.

"Hey! What are you doing up here alone?"

Elsa slowly opened her eyes to assess where the voice came from. In front of her, just across the river, a large man wearing a thick leather coat sat in a large brown sled pulled by a lone reindeer. His face was covered by a large cloth caked in snow, except for his large brown eyes, which were narrowed onto Elsa. He held a large rusty lantern in his hand, thrusted forward to Elsa's position.

"Well? Are you just gonna sit there or are you gonna answer me?" He asked. Elsa quickly wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I-I'm fine," she choked, "Don't worry about me."

The mystery man hopped out of the sled and waded through the snow towards Elsa. He said nothing as he crossed the small stream and carefully studied her. "You… don't look like you belong here," he said hesitantly, "where are you from? Are you hurt?"
"You could say that…" Elsa replied, holding back tears, "Look, I just want to be alone right now so-"

"You won't last long out here," the man interrupted, taking large steps towards her, "Look, the city isn't too far from here let me-"

"NO!" Elsa began to back away from the man. Tears began to form in her eyes again. "I can't go back there."

"So you'd rather deal with the wolves?"

"Arendelle is safer without me! I can't go back!"

"And why exactly is Arendelle safer with you gone?"

Elsa opened her mouth retort when she noticed the man's reindeer perk up. The man quickly pivoted and held his lantern up high, scanning the tree line. A howl broke the silence between them.

"Get in the sled," he commanded.

"What?"

"Don't argue, just get in!" the man grabbed Elsa's ungloved hand and bolted towards the sled. He threw her in the passenger seat as he gripped the reins. "Move it, Sven!" he shouted. With no hesitation, the reindeer bolted away.

Looking behind at the forest whizzing past, Elsa let out a small gasp. Five wolves started chasing them, their gray fur almost blending in with the snow. One of the beasts rushed up to the side of the sled and snapped its jaws at the blond. Elsa raised her hands to shield her face as she felt a surge of magic blast from her palm. Ice covered the wolf's face as it tumbled away with a whimper.

Looking off to her right, the man was having his own troubles. He struggled as he tried to reach for his lantern as he was holding a wolf back with his hand. As soon as his fingers wrapped around the lantern's handle, he swung it violently at the wolf. She heard a loud THUNK as the wolf fell with a yelp.

"Do you have a plan to get us out of this?" Elsa asked nervously.

"There should be a road around here," the man said as he gripped the reins, "They tend to stay away from the… Dammit!"

Looking ahead, Elsa's eyes widened at the sight before her. A massive gap, almost 30 feet wide, sat between them and the next stretch of land. The man pulled back on the reins, bringing the sled to a complete stop.

Elsa's heart sank at the situation. I'm going to die, she thought as her body began to shake violently. She shut her eyes, ready to accept her fate to the wolves, when she heard what seemed to be shattering glass followed by a series of animalistic whines and yelps. As she cautiously opened her eyes, she saw the man beside her, mouth agape and eyes wide like dinner plates. Elsa looked around her and was mortified at the sight. Large jagged ice spikes jutted from the ground, each looking gnarled and sharp. Turning around, she saw one of the few remaining wolves impaled through several pikes, its blood coating each icy spear that ran through it. Elsa's body began to shake furiously at the sight. Time felt like it had stopped as she cradled herself in her arms again. It wasn't until the man decided to speak that Elsa came back from her panic.

"That…"

"I know," Elsa choked.

"WAS INCREDIBLE!"

"Wait, what?" Elsa snapped her head to stare at the man, giving him a confused look.

The man quickly jumped off of the sled and ran towards a nearby spire. He removed one of his gloves and ran his bare hand up and down the icy spear. "You have ice magic? How?"

The young queen was taken aback by the man's question. "Well, I, uh, was b-born with magic." She stammered, unsure of the man's intentions, "It's more of a curse than anything…"

"Well that 'curse' of yours just saved our lives!"

Elsa began to protest, but abruptly stopped. In a way the man was right. If her powers hadn't flared, the three of them would have been wolf food. It made her feel slightly better about herself. The man continued to gush over the newly formed ice.

"If I could control ice like that, it'd make my job a hell of a lot easier. You see, I'm an ice harvester and-"

"Weren't you listening?!" She snapped, "It's a curse! I can't control it, all it does is hurt people…"

"It didn't hurt me, though. And Sven is scratch free, too."

The two of them turned to the reindeer, who had his tongue stuck to one of the jagged spears. The man dashed over to his animal companion and yanked it free of the ice.

"Look, I can take you as far away as the North Mountain. There's a village nearby if you need anything. It's the least we can do to thank you for saving our lives, right Sven?" The man bent down near the reindeer's head

"SuRe tHiNg!" The man replied in a goofy tone, as if he was speaking for the reindeer. Elsa let her jaw go slightly agape at the sight. A part of her found it quite amusing. The other part was terrified beyond words.

"Uh… t-thank you." she finally said after a moment of silence. The man walked over to Elsa and extended his hand.

"The name's Kristoff," he said warmly. Elsa gingerly clasped her gloved hand in his massive palm giving him a warm smile.

"Elsa… and thank you."

With that, Kristoff and Elsa slowly walked back to the sled. All the while, Elsa's thoughts raced inside her head. All her life she felt like everyone would turn on her when they found out the truth. She always thought people would rally to burn her at the stake for witchcraft or something like that. Now there was someone not only accepting of her powers, but also excited by them! She eased the tension in her body as she hoisted herself back into Kristoff's sled (with his help, the gentleman that he was.) With a quick snap of the reins, Sven turned and bolted through the snow, carefully as to avoid the jagged ice that now surrounded them, as they made their way to the North Mountain.