Sophie padded down the hall. She was hyperaware of her surroundings, and any little sound made her twitch with panic. If any of Hans' men caught her, she was as good as dead. She had to find her family, or Mattias, someone who could help.

Why did the halls feel so much longer than she was used to? Her fingers were so tight around the hilt of her blade that her knuckles had turned white. Years ago she wasn't holding a sword, but a stick. How strange that those memories were still so clear in her head.

"High!" Mattias would call out, slashing her head. The stick swords clacked as Sophie parried. "Right," he said, and "Low," and "Left," and "Left" again, faster and faster, moving forward. "Lunge." He warned, and when he thrust she sidestepped, swept his blade away, and slashed at his shoulder. She almost touched him, almost, so close it made her grin.

Sometimes, Mattias would trick her. "Left!" He said, and then he whacked the right side of her chest, leaving a bruise.

"Ow!" Sophie cried out. She made a face, "You said left!"

"I did, and because of that, you're dead."

"You said left and you went right, that's not fair!"

"Sophie, I might have said left, but see my arm and my sword. I was clearly intending to swing right."

"I was watching you every second!" Sophie argued, face heating up from the embarrassing loss.

"Watching is not seeing, jeune fille." He teased. Sophie had long outgrown that nickname, but to Mattias, she would always be a young girl. "All right, weapons down. That's enough for today."

"Will you tell me another story about France? Or before you got to be a knight?" She asked eagerly.

Mattias was surprised at her, "I thought you'd be sick of those by now."

"No. I love listening."

Such a charming little face... How could he ever say no? "Did I ever tell you how I came to Norway?" Sophie shook her head. "Well, I was already a trained swordsman when I decided to leave home. I went to England first, which is a ways west from here."

"I know that."

"I did mercenary work; whoever hired me to protect them, I did. From working-class families to aristocrats. I got to see much of the land."

"But then...?"

"It's not terribly exciting, so I'll keep it short. The last English Lord I worked for would have me travel to other lands and bring him back exotic animals; animals you probably haven't even seen. Not up close, anyway. Two-legged lizards, zebras, a giraffe... Then one day, he asked me to bring him a puffin."

Sophie didn't understand. They saw those all the time! "Why a puffin?"

"He'd not seen one before, and someone was offering good money for their feathers and meat. So I was sent back east, and it just so happened I docked ship here."

"What made you want to stay?"

"Again, to make a long story short, I fell in love with the land before I even met the king at the time. Something about this place hardens people into true warriors. When I went back to England with my Lord's prize in hand, he explained to me the real reason he'd made such a specific request. He'd lost a good portion of his money gambling, he was hoping the puffin would help repair some of the damage, but it barely gave him enough to last through the winter... I stayed with him until spring to make sure his family didn't suffer, but after that, I was let go since he couldn't afford my services any longer... I was free to come here then."

Sophie grinned.

A pair of doors slammed open and Sophie snapped back into reality; a sword was in her hand, not a toy. Whirling, Sophie looked for a place to hide before the guardsmen could see her. They were in a heated banter that Sophie couldn't quite make out.

"—What do we do if the Princess returns—"

"—How does he know he can keep that thing under control—"

"—When he said kill them, did he mean those children too—"

The children? They had her niece and nephew? Sophie had to follow to find out where they were. But right as she stepped out, she was greeted by not one, not two, not three, but five Danish guards.

"Sophie Overland." Said the man in front, "You'll come with us quietly."

Sophie clamped up, but she didn't step forward. She held up her sword.

None of them reacted. "Put down the sword, girl. We don't want to have to hurt you."

Her voice was trembling, but she said, "I don't want to have to hurt you."

The leader ran out of patience. "Take her." Three of the men stepped forward. Sophie was suddenly afraid, but she thought of her family to slow her racing heart. Her sword came flying up and she scarcely missed one of their heads.

The man yanked his sword free. "Bold bitch!" Sophie's thin sword moved again, blindingly fast. She heard a loud crack as the sword went clattering to the castle floor. The guardsman yelped, cradling his broken fingers. The four Danish guardsmen unsheathed their swords and the fifth, the one with broken fingers, pulled out a dagger from his belt.

My sword is my arm. Sophie thought. She didn't wait for them to reach her and she spun to her left. She checked one sword with her own and whirled away from a second. Off-balance, the second man lurched into the first. Sophie put her foot to his back and the Danes went down together. The third guard came leaping over them, slashing at the young woman's head. Sophie ducked under his blade and he fell.

Shaking so hard that she might almost drop her blade, Sophie span around and ran. It was best to get away while they were down. She plunged through the halls, blind with panic. The grip of her hilt was slick with sweat and she was breathing hard by the time she reached the dungeons. It was down there that she was met with an unkind voice.

"You." Sophie turned. Another one of Harald's—well, now Hans' men. "Prince Hans is looking for you." He was guarding the dungeon entrance; someone had to be in there he didn't want breaking out.

"Stay away." Sophie warned. Her fingers closed around her blade's hilt, making sure the man in front of her was well-aware of what he was risking. The guard shuffled towards her, readying his own sword. In that instant of sudden terror, Sophie forgot all of her training and she drove the blade upward with a wild, hysterical strength. The blade went through his chest and came out between his shoulder blades.

The guard dropped his weapon and made a soft noise, something between a gasp and a sigh. His hands closed around the blade. When Sophie took it out, he died. She knew he was going to try and hurt her, but to see her blade covered in blood...

"I'm sorry..." For a moment, Sophie stood still and frightened in the face of death, but the glint of the prison keys hanging on the wall brought her to her senses. Sheathing away her sword, she entered the castle dungeon—down there, she found not only Mattias, but all of Arendelle's royal guard... and they were equally surprised to see her, pale and shaken.

...

Although everything North, Jack, and Elsa explained was true, none of it made any sense to Anna. While she was sitting in a chair processing everything, the three were discussing what North had planned.

"We will keep the Angel distracted as much as we can while Elsa clears out whoever's left in the castle and destroys the chime."

Jack, of course, didn't like any of what he just heard, "And I'm just supposed to wait here?"

Elsa glowered, "What could you possibly do in the state you're in?"

"I can't let you go by yourself!"

North interrupted them, "Fight later! We're already losing time. Hans is giving the Queen until morning for one of you to return."

Anna blinked a few times and came back to reality; she still hadn't taken in that her brother was alive after all. Now she had an idea. "Wait, Sir." She said, standing up, "Let me talk to him."

Elsa, Jack, and North all said, "What?" At once. They looked at the Dane as if she'd lost her head.

"I don't know what's going through his head right now, but maybe I can stall him. I'm sure him seeing me alive and well will give us some time. I can keep him distracted."

Elsa chimed in, "And I can find our family and get them away from town!"

Once again, Jack didn't like that. He forced himself to sit up as much as he could and objected, "Wait! What about me? What do I tell Hiccup or anyone else that might come looking for you two?"

That gave Anna another idea. "North, the Vikings could help us!"

North wasn't so sure. He was already pushing it revealing himself to a stranger as it was. "Uh..."

"No, really! They've been making weapons specifically to ward off the Angel. What if we explained—" In the middle of her sentence, a hole burst next to her feet and Anna leapt away. Bunnymund stuck his head out and immediately began to speak.

"North! We got a situation in..." He saw they weren't alone, "uh... Hello."

Anna pointed her finger. "Giant... Rabbit..."

Bunny hopped out to his full height and finished, "The guards of Arendelle, someone let them out of the dungeons and now they're fighting the Danish guards. I left as soon as I saw what's going on, but who know what Hans will do?"

Jack panicked. All he could think about was his mother, sister, and children. What if he used one of them as collateral? Fuck, he already was! "We have to go now!"

"Jack, calm down!" Anna begged. "North, take me to Arendelle. Let me stop this."

"I'll go too!" Elsa said.

"No!" Jack said, voice desperate. Perhaps it was his injuries and exhaustion making him frantic, but he reached out and grabbed Elsa's arm, "Elsa, don't go. Not without me." As the candlelight caught his face, Elsa saw Jack's red-rimmed eyes that were close to crying. It frightened her to see him so afraid, mostly because she knew there was nothing she could say to comfort him. "I can't let that thing kill you."

"It won't—"

"I don't want to lose you! So please, let me go!"

"We won't let that happen, mate." Bunny said, but Jack ignored him.

"Elsa, I can't go through that again. I can't sit here not knowing if you're alive or not, if our kids are okay or not."

"And I can't risk losing you because you think you always have to be the hero."

"Look!" North cut them off, rubbing his temples. "How about while you two argue, we let Danish Princess here go on and give Hans a talking to. Whatever that means."

"I know Hans better than anyone else does. It might not be much, but maybe I can at least talk him out of holding your family in the castle." Anna looked at the Overlands pleadingly, "I know I was awful to you two before, and maybe you still don't trust me, but the last thing I want to see is a beautiful kingdom destroyed... more so, your two children harmed. I know my brother's a monster, but I've kept him from going too far before."

"And right now, I'm willing to take you up on that offer. While we discuss what to do here, Bunny will escort you to the castle."

Anna prepared herself, nodding. "Okay." She looked over at North's glowing snowglobe. "You said you used this snowglobe, right?"

Bunny chuckled, "Heh, snowglobe. That's cute."

"Huh?" Anna didn't get a moment to ready herself when Bunny opened a portal beneath her and she went sliding with a yelp. Bunny hopped in after her without another word, leaving North once again to try to reason with the two younglings. Back to square one.

...

Before Anna could even figure out what happened, she found herself being abruptly thrown onto her feet in the halls of Arendelle's Castle. She almost stumbled forward and lost her balance. Of all the crazy things she'd witnessed the past week, this somehow topped every one of them.

Bunny poked his head out from the hole, "Oi, Princess!" He whispered. "We're countin' on ya." He then disappeared.

Anna could only sigh. And people called the Danish weird.

She could hear a ruckus, but she didn't know where from. As Anna followed the noise, she was startled by a movement from outside one of the windows. She gasped when she realized she was looking at the folded wings of the Angel. It was still, floating, its hands in a prayer, its face tortured. There was something so oddly human about the way its hands were folded together and the way it gazed upwards—was it hoping someone would hear it? Was it actually praying?

A familiar voice took Anna out of her trance. Hans. He was saying something to the fighting guards... At least that's what she could assume.

"You will not take Arendelle!" Shouted the General's voice. "We will fight that beast until the end of time if we must."

"You forget what you're dealing with, General." As always, Hans' voice was smug and mocking. Not even an avalanche had changed him. "With a simple command, I can have this entire kingdom obliterated. Then what would you have to fight for?"

"You're a coward." Said the voice of a young woman. "Without that monster, you're just a power-hungry tyrant!"

Whoever that was, they hit the nail on the head, Anna thought to herself. She found where all of this was coming from; near the ballroom. As she reached the end of the stairs, she saw bloodied, injured soldiers all tending to each other, many were still standing by, waiting for the other to make a move. Perhaps Anna had arrived just in time.

A Danish guard recognized her and he gasped, "The Princess!"

Hans's heart jerked. He thought for a moment that Elsa had actually wormed her way home, but when he turned around and saw who he saw, he was equally stunned. "Anna...?"

Anna narrowed her eyes. "I see you've been busy." She saw who Hans had been addressing directly—General Mattias and Jackson's sister; Anna couldn't remember her name. They stood at the front of their group. She could see the pain in their eyes; to see the enemy's family had come home but not their own.

Hans walked closer. His expression surprised Anna—he was sincerely taken aback, even relieved. He held her shoulders, "I thought you'd died back on the mountain."

Anna didn't answer.

"I'm afraid our father's—"

"Dead. I know." Anna finished curtly. "If this is your way of grieving, I'd say it's a good thing you don't show your feelings often."

Hans ignored her last statement, "How'd you get back here?" His brows shot up, "Are those freaks here with you?"

"No. And let's just say I found someone kind enough to give me a ride here."

Hans didn't question it; he didn't think his sister was foolish enough to side with the mages. Her answer, however, upset Sophie further. She felt her heart in her throat.

"Hans," Anna began, "what do you think you're doing? Do you see what a complete mess you've made trying to carry out father's plan?"

"These hooligans fought back, so I retaliated. What more could I do?"

"You wasted men." Anna fought, trying to get into the proper 'Westergaard' mindset. "Even more, this talk of destroying the kingdom isn't going to get you anywhere."

"I can if I wanted to, right now even! I don't even know why I bother waiting for the freaks' return when I have something even more powerful than them in my control. I can take over the nation if I wanted."

"Not if you destroy it all. Then there won't be any kingdom to rule, you idiot!" Anna cried out. Her harsh words were resonating with Hans, mainly because it was partly what he wanted to hear. For once, it appeared that he and his sister were on the same page. "Do what the Queen says, wait until dawn. And then if we don't see them return, we can move forward with how we want to take over."

Hans raised a brow, "We?"

Even Anna felt disgusted despite she was only pretending. "Yes... I'm through with Denmark. Even if I'm not fit to rule, I at least want a good portion of the kingdom's earnings so I can live comfortably somewhere else."

"...It is what I promised."

"Until then, the fighting has to stop. Lock the guards back up and tend to the wounded." Anna pointed at the Arendelle Royal Guard, "And you'll all go quietly unless you want to see the royal family harmed." Her own words cut right through her skin, but she had to keep the masquerade going. She knew she'd broken the heart of a young girl waiting for her brother to come home and an old general who must feel like a complete failure. Was this what it felt like to be a Westergaard? How on earth did her family do this without any feeling at all?

"You heard the Lady." Hans said, full of renewed pride. "Escort them back to their cells."