Archive of Our Own

There is beauty in your power… but also great danger. You must learn to control it. Fear will be your enemy.

It had been exactly ten years since Anthony had last seen the gates open. For most of that time he had been bored out of his mind, definitely going on everyone’s nerves by jumping around everywhere, wanting to play with his brother but also not allowed to play with him and therefore just not having anything to do.

At some point, old enough to notice that he could be annoying the staff Anthony had tried, he really had, to stop running around, just reading, doing boring things. But not even two days later Ms. Danielsen, responsible for all staff, had come to him, calmly explaining that no one wanted him to stop, if he really bothered someone they would say so. They didn’t want him to repress who he was. That meant he still didn’t have anything to do apart from classes, but he did talk to the staff more often, asking to help them with tasks. Well, mostly the carpenter as he let him climb around the roof and timberwork, helping clean or repair damages.

After years and years of that he was intimately familiar with the castle, knowing every place to climb up and sneak around. Of course he couldn’t have just done that, he still ran around the halls, sliding down banisters, making up stories for the paintings and teaching himself every card and dice game in the book. Playing Solitaire in solitude did get boring after a while though, which was why Anthony was also glad for David Jacobs, son of the aforementioned carpenter, just a bit older than Tony himself and also the person to first call him ‘Race’, as he was getting really tired of getting beat by Tony in races around the castle grounds. And, well, David was, aside from Tony’s parents, the only person that went into Jack’s room sometimes.

That didn’t have anything to do with why Anthony spent time with him, of course.

The little titbits he learnt about his brother were just a bonus.

David was nice… and… ugh… didn’t complain about how hyper he was.

Okay maybe it was mostly that he had knowledge on Jack and that he was the only other kid his age here.

And then… Race’s parents had died. Three years ago now. That was when he’d learned to really appreciate David, who lured Race out of his cold, dark room to play games with him and talk. Without David he would have had a much harder time, especially since Jack still kept his distance. It was difficult to not be at least a bit mad at him, truth be told. But he was still Anthony’s brother, even if they hadn’t exchanged a word for years.

And today was his coronation. Which meant that Race could finally see Jack again, be there as he was crowned King of Arendelle.

But that wasn’t for a few hours yet, which left Race time to first wear his beautiful white and green suit and then run around the castle, watching the servants open the windows and gates. He greeted Ms. Danielsen as he ran past, marvelling at the at her and the others carrying at least a thousand plates to the banquet room. Where had they stored these all these years? And were there really supposed to be that many people here?

He passed the gallery, for the first time in forever illuminated by sunlight coming in through the windows. Seeing all the scenes of love and happiness, Race wondered. Wondered if maybe, just maybe, now that he was meeting so many people in one night, he could also meet someone like that. Someone to push him on a swing, lovingly look at him during a picnic, dance with him.

The one. His soulmate.

It wasn’t likely, he knew that, but his chances were a thousand times higher than every other day, cooped up in the castle.

Strolling through the halls he let himself dream. Of a handsome stranger, a prince smiling at him from across the room, his stomach doing flips at the sight of him. Of dances so wonderful he forgot there were more people in the room. Of shared chocolate fruits and laughter. Of a kiss under the bright moon. For the first time in years… he could meet someone like that. Someone from a distant place to sweep him off his feet.

Race just… he wanted to know how it felt, to like someone, to love someone, to kiss someone. He was sixteen he should make these experiences, but instead he had been cooped up behind closed doors almost all his life.

Feeling the anger and frustration on his situation arise he took a long, slow breath to calm down. This wasn’t the time, and it also wasn’t anyone’s fault. He’d get his chance today and he’d have to take it.

He got into the entrance hall just as the gates were opened and momentarily forgot his fantasy prince for the sunlight illuminating the walkway to the castle, people already trickling in. He ran out, breathing in the fresh air, running past people of all ages, from all countries and of all classes, jumping up on the railing of the bridge, swinging around a lamppost. He could finally see the beautiful flower bouquets at the lamps in detail and laughed excitedly at a new realization. The open doors didn’t just let people in, they could also let him out and right now he had to look at the town he had seen from afar for years. He still had time.

Seeing the town from up close was wonderful. There were so many people, his people, walking around, laughing, being excited for the coronation, or still doing their jobs. Race walked past street vendors selling food and decorations, looked into shops full of books he didn’t know, looked up at houses so different from the castle and still so homely, everything decorated with flowers and banners for the festivities.

How could he have ever lived without this? Every step someone greeted him, offered up wares or just smiled his way, there were so many people, and he wanted to know all of their names-

Uff. Race had, in his euphoria, walked right into someone, falling to the ground. It didn’t really hurt as much as it had just surprised him, truth be told.

The stranger was still standing in front of him. “Oh, I’m so sorry, here, let me…” Race saw a hand stretched out in front of his face and looked up, seeing- oh.

The stranger was redheaded, dressed in fine clothes and looked honestly worried for Race’s wellbeing. And he was handsome.

Quickly he took the hand and let himself be pulled upwards – with ease, he might add – now standing in front of the handsome stranger, seeing he was taller than him. Well, most people were.

“I hope you didn’t hurt yourself, sir…?”, he asked, obviously also inquiring on Race’s name.

“Oh, no I’m fine, more than fine actually. And- oh, yeah. Prince Anthony of Arendelle. Pleased to meet you.”

The redheaded man took a second and then his eyes widened as he quickly bowed. “Your highness, I’m so sorry-“

Race quickly interrupted him, waving his hands to get him to stop. “No! Not that prince. That would be my brother Jack, now if you had run into him that would be a problem, but no, it’s just me.”

The stranger smiled – and god that smile made him even more handsome – bowing again, but this time only slightly. “I am still sorry, Prince Anthony. I am Prince Albert of the Southern Isles. The pleasure is all mine.”

Jack didn’t know how he would survive this day. He has been practicing taking his gloves off and holding things for an hour now, but it just wasn’t working long enough. At least he was already dressed, but this just made him wish his parents were still here. Then they could tell him what to do, then he wouldn’t even need to have a coronation.

But as it was he could only calm down after yet another failed attempt by letting his hands freeze over totally and making a little ice sculpture. Seeing it come to life made him feel serene, like the crystal-clear ice, preparing him for yet another try. He loved doing art, be it with drawing or carving figures. Of course, with his powers it was a lot easier to create figurines, but he hadn’t tried out how well he could do them. His room was big, but not enough for him to truly test his limits.

And, of course, he couldn’t be suspicious. Because someone had walked in on his ice sculptures before.

A knock sounded on the door. “You’ll need to get ready for your coronation, Prince Jack.” Speak of the devil. Jack called out at him to come in, and David Jacobs entered the room, the only person to be allowed to do so, if only by sheer stubbornness of not leaving him alone, ever.

David smiled as he saw the little statue in Jack’s hand, a ballerina from a music box he had once seen. “That’s beautiful as always, your highness. Shame it melts so fast.”

Jack handed the little figurine to David for further inspection and then quickly wore his gloves again. David had never questioned them, luckily. “I told you a million times to just call me Jack. Don’t like that title too much.”

David just smiled, like every time he told him. “Only when no one is around, Jack.” He looked down at the figurine, twisting it in his fingers. “I’ve already seen Race running around and out of the castle.”

Anthony… he’d see him today, wouldn’t he. He hadn’t seen his brother since the accident many years ago where he had hit him with his powers, resulting in the trolls deciding to erase every memory of them. Jack knew that he only protected him by not meeting with him, not until he could control his powers, but he would love to hug him again, to play and watch him bounce around.

But those times were long gone.

Jack gathered the last accessories he needed and went out with David, off to his own coronation. Just for today he had to pretend, keep his emotions in check, and then he could lock himself away again.

Just one day.

The coronation had been wonderful, Race had even been able to wave to Albert again since they had to separate as the other Prince got greeted by the castle’s attendants, keeping a list of who had arrived where everyone would sit in the chapel. Tony had stood at the front and saw his brother come in, all regal with his long cape billowing behind him. As the priest gave him the royal insignia and Jack turned to the crowd as his reign was officially started, Race couldn’t feel prouder for his brother. This looked so… right for him. Race knew Jack would do everything for their people and he hoped to see a bit more of him now that Jack would have to rule the kingdom.

Next was the ball, Race had seen Jack talk to Davey, both smiling, in a side room before the new king would enter and he only felt slight jealousy at seeing them interact. With how David sometimes talked about his brother he had at least suspected that he had some feelings for him, but seeing Jack talk to him made Race realize that his brother might even feel the same. Which was the other reason he felt jealous.

Which was exactly why he should get in and find Albert again.

That hadn’t worked that well, after Jack had been shown into the room, Mr. Michaels had gently shoved Race next to his brother in front of the throne to show the entire royal family to the masses. Or something like that.

“Hi.” Race looked around as to who Jack could have talked to but didn’t see anyone else. That meant…

“You are… of course you’re talking to me, um. Hi yourself, Jack.”

Jack smiled slightly, seeming amused. Race had embarrassed himself already. Of course. “You enjoying the festivities, Anthony?”

Oh. He doesn’t even know most people call me Race. No one in the castle had called him Anthony in years, only Tony or Race, but how would he know, it’s fine, he’s talking to you, talk back. “Yes! Um, well, seeing so many people here is great, the hall doesn’t feel nearly as big anymore. And the smell. I really have to get some of that chocolate later.”

“Don’t remind me, I have to stay here for at least another half hour until I can get there, I just want some chocolate fruits.”

Jack even… laughed a little. Yeah, Race was doing this, he was bonding with his brother, everything was fine. “So good-“

A man coughed in front of them, Mr. Michaels announcing his presence: “This is Count Blister-“

“Pulitzer. It is Pulitzer.”, corrected the old man, bowing before them, but seeming like he only did it with great displeasure. “Wonderful to meet you, your majesty, I actually wanted to talk to you about my daughter, wonderful woman, smart and beautiful, she wanted to be here, but sadly caught a cold just before we departed, such a shame. I’m sure she’d love to meet you one other time if you could make the time.”

Race tuned the man out at that time, it was clear he wasn’t addressed anyways, the man only interested in offering his daughter to the new king to marry, obviously. He didn’t say it like that, but his intentions were clear.

Prince Anthony decided to excuse himself to give them more time to discuss the meeting, Jack looking at him in betrayal for only a second. Snickering once he’d turned around, he went to search for the redheaded prince he had waited for all his life.

It took almost an hour until he could shake off Count Pulitzer, saying he needed to talk to the other members of nobility. Which he probably did and most of the other people he greeted seemed a lot nicer than the old man, speaking their well-wishes and congratulations, how he reminded them of his parents and similar things. He hadn’t seen Anthony in a while, but he just assumed he’d been lucky and could eat the chocolate fruits and dance.

At least until he saw him approach Jack, arm interlocked with a redheaded man, probably a bit older than Anthony. Both were laughing, but Jack didn’t like to see this, they could know each other for a few hours at most. “Anthony. Who is this?”

Anthony smiled widely. “This is Prince Albert of the southern Isles. And we, well I- we, yes, we wanted to ask you something.”

Jack tried to not be defensive already, maybe Tony just wanted him to meet his new friend. He tried to ignore the bad feeling he got when looking at the smiling redhead. “What do you want to ask?”

They looked at each other, laughing happily, before turning to him again. “We want to marry.”

Confused, Jack just blinked a few times, waiting for them to reveal their joke. But they didn’t. “Anthony, can I talk to you? Alone?”

His brother’s smile died down, he stood up straighter and crossed his arms. “Whatever it is, you can say it to both of us.”

Albert was still smiling the tiniest bit and Jack had to keep from glaring at him. “Fine. You can’t marry a man you just met, Anthony. I won’t give you my blessing.” Jack wouldn’t let anyone marry his little brother after a day, he didn’t trust it. Love at first sight couldn’t be trusted enough for this.

But Anthony didn’t seem to see that. “You can’t do this, Jack.”

“I am the King, you are underage, you need my permission. Yes, I can.”

His little brother stepped forward and grabbed Jack by the arm. “Jack, this is my chance to see something else, to get out, you can’t do this. From tomorrow on the doors will be closed again and I can’t meet anyone, this is the one chance I get!”

Jack tried to get his arm away from Tony, and even if he understood in some way what he meant, he couldn’t let him do this. He could feel the eyes of the other guests on them. “That doesn’t mean you have to marry him already. You- at least meet him some more times, maybe we can figure something out, now let me go, Anthony.” Jack abruptly snatched his arm back, losing his glove in the process.

He tried to grab it back, but Anthony took it out of his reach. The glove, he needed it back or to get out, before anyone saw- “Jack this isn’t- Jack are… are you okay, what’s wrong?”

Breathing getting quicker he looked around, seeing all the ambassadors, nobility, and servants from the castle, they were all in danger if he couldn’t keep it hidden. He looked down and saw his hand already partly frozen over, not thinking further he just rushed to the exit, hearing Anthony’s pleads to wait.

Pulitzer got between him and the door in the last second. “King Jack, one second more-“

That had been enough for his brother to catch up. “Jack, what happened, can I help?”

“No, you- just… stay back!” And before he knew it, there were ice spikes on the ground, separating himself and the rest of the ball. Everyone had frozen, looking shocked at what he’d done.

He’d failed.

As soon as Race had gathered his bearings he rushed after Jack again. He had no idea what had just happened, where that ice had come from, but his brother was afraid, deathly afraid of something, and even if he hadn’t allowed him to marry Albert Race knew Jack needed him right now. David would be even better, but he didn’t see him anywhere.

As he’d made it outside, avoiding the deathly sharp ice, he saw the courtyard already freezing over, his brother having backed away into a fountain, the splashing water suspended in a beautiful, if sharp, ice sculpture. “A monster.”, whispered Pulitzer from beside him.

“He isn’t.”, snapped Race before following Jack who was running down to the water. He heard footsteps behind him, probably belonging to Albert, but he didn’t check, just focused on his brother, he needed help, and he was so panicked, he had to get to him.

Jack looked back at him as he reached the shore. “Jack, please! We can talk about this!”, he yelled, but Jack just stepped back, the water freezing on contact with him. He didn’t seem like he knew that would happen, looking about as shocked as Race, but he still continued to run, freezing over the entire fjord on his way. Every step created more ice, and it was beautiful, but also so uncontrollable, not stopping as Jack got away but instead growing farther and farther, reaching the ships that had docked onto their harbour.

Race tried to go after him but slipped and fell on the ice, Albert trying to help him up. His brother had reached the other side and Race could do nothing but watch him get away, fleeing from their home, so full of fear. What had he done?

It was already getting bright again when the guests had been escorted to rooms in the castle and all the people of the town had left the castle grounds. Race helped to distributed warm clothes and blankets to them, no one having expected a cold in July. And it didn’t look like it would get warmer again any time soon. The entire fjord was frozen over, all ships suspended in the water. There were even some snowflakes falling.

Pulitzer was one of the nobles who hadn’t gone to rooms provided to them in the castle and continued being a nuisance. He’d already asked if Race was also as dangerous as his brother, to which Race had replied that he hadn’t even known Jack had powers. And he’d thought ‘if you call my brother a monster one more time, you’ll get a punch in the face’.

Albert had stood by him the entire time, offering support. If it wasn’t for him – and Davey – Race didn’t know if he would still be standing. And the longer there wasn’t a sign from Jack, the more worried he became, knowing Jack hadn’t been in these mountains any more than he’d been, fearing for his brother’s life.

Race had to get him back.

He was already halfway over the bridge with his horse when David stopped him, Albert not far behind. “Race, where are you going?”

“You won’t stop me, David, I have to get Jack back.”

“Then at least wear something warmer-“

“Anthony, what if he hurts you?”, interrupted Albert, stepping in front of David, getting closer to Race.

“He won’t. But it might take me a bit to get back, so I need you and David to look after the kingdom in the meantime. Our people aren’t prepared for the cold weather and the only one who can stop it is Jack, so he needs to get back here as soon as possible. I trust you to make the best decisions until I bring him back.”

Albert leaned back a bit, looking surprised, but he quickly put on a smile again. “Of course. I swear on my life, I’ll do everything to help this kingdom.” And then he kissed the back of Race’s hand and Race quickly hopped onto his horse to avoid giggling like an idiot. He was so charming and nice and wonderful-

Concentrate. You have to get Jack, then you can have your dream marriage.

Riding his horse out in the open and not just in the courtyard was different, especially in these cold temperatures with snow everywhere. David had been right, he should have at least changed, but when you weren’t even used to dressing up warm for winter because you never get out it just didn’t feel that bad. Until you were outside, your horse running through the snow, wind biting at your skin, going through your thin summer clothes. And then a tree fell onto the path, scaring his horse, making it buckle up.

Race at least had the luck to land in snow instead of on a stone, but as he scrambled away from his horse’s hooves he landed halfway in a small stream, making his clothes even less suitable for winter. Naturally, his horse had run off into the opposite direction, too. Typical.

“No one ever said saving a kingdom should be easy. Though it didn’t have to be this cold.”, he murmured, picking himself up and walking ahead. He had to find his brother eventually, he didn’t have a horse to even get him this far on the mountain. And there had to be other people living out here, right?

Race felt like his fingers were going to freeze off when he finally saw another building, a warm light emanating from it. A sign advertised it as a shop of some kind – with a Sauna – so he got in quickly, not bothering to knock. It was a shop after all. Inside, there was a kind looking man a bit older than Race, who promptly greeted him: “Hello and welcome. I’m Mush. We currently have an ‘End of Summer Sale’, if you’re interested.”

Race could guess why, given that it had gone from a warm summer to snow in half a day. “No, thank you. Do you have anything fitting to… climb the mountain?”

Mush looked surprised at that. “Oh! We don’t have much, but our winter collection is… over there.”

Race nodded in thanks and went to the ‘winter collection’. It featured one warmer outfit as well as a pickaxe with rope and snow boots. Well, better then nothing.

Mush smiled as he went up with his items. “Sorry we don’t have more. My husband and I weren’t really prepared for the sudden change in temperatures. At least we have the Sauna, he and our kids use it right now-“

The door flew open, cold wind streaming in, a man wearing thick, dark clothes dusted by snow entering. He had a scarf wrapped around his lower face, also full of snow, so Race didn’t see much except his bright blue eyes, first scanning the room and then staring right at him. They were so clear and piercing, looked a bit like the ice his brother had turned the fountains into and God, why is he coming this close and standing right in front of me-

“Carrots.”

“Pardon?”

“Carrots. Behind you.”

Race scrambled to the side, embarrassed. He just stared at the ground, feeling his face burn up as the stranger talked to Mush. He tried to forget the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen because he had a fiancé and that fiancé also had very pretty eyes. Though not as nice as these.

While Race had been busy not thinking about ice blue eyes the owner of said eyes had been thrown out over a disagreement on the price with Mush. “So sorry you had to see this, I’ll give you a discount. So, just the clothes and the equipment then?”

Race looked at his things and the carrots that were still lying there after the unknown man had put them there. He had looked like he knew his way around the area – and he’d at least been prepared for this weather.

Finding the man wasn’t that difficult, there was a barn right next to the shop, the door slightly ajar, a thin sliver of light streaming out of it. As well as a very nice voice accompanied by the soft sounds of a lute. Race couldn’t tell what the man was singing, but it sounded good, so he waited for a few minutes until he heard the barn go quiet.

Deciding that being direct would be the best course of action he just went in. “I want you to take me to the North Mountain.”, he demanded, throwing the items the man had meant to buy at him. He let out a surprised grunt as it hit him in the chest and that was when Race first saw the man without the scarf covering his face.

He was younger than he’d expected, his own age at most, with delicate features, and if it weren’t for the scowl he was sending his way, Race would have thought he was the most beautiful boy he’d ever seen. You are engaged, stop thinking about this.

“What?” Though the rudeness made him a bit less attractive.

Race stood up straighter, pretending he was fine and composed. “I am Prince Anthony of Arendelle, and I need someone to help me get to the North Mountain. And I would… very much appreciate it if you did that, please.”

The stranger didn’t look very impressed at that. “You bought me stuff and just expect me to escort you up a dangerous mountain because you’re the prince?”

“Well… kind of. It is very important. I have to stop this winter. I’ll reward you if we make it back, of course. Just don’t have much on me.”

He looked at the reindeer – Race hadn’t noticed that actually – for a second and then sighed. “You know what? Sure. We’ll go tomorrow. Also, you forgot the carrots for Hot Shot.”

Race threw the carrots he had indeed forgotten to him. “We’ll go tonight.”

He just rolled his eyes. “Sure, your highness. I’m Spot. And if you are a burden during this trip, you can be as royal as you want, I won’t drive you any further up that mountain.”

Spot was already deeply annoyed by the royal highness he had managed to run into. He’d already had a bad day, selling ice wasn’t really a lucrative business when it randomly started to freeze over in July of all things, but he had thought he could at least have a good-nights sleep. Sadly, Hot Shot had looked at him angrily for declining a possibly lucrative offer – the royal family had money after all – and would have probably tried to eat his hat if he had slept until tomorrow, so here he was, driving the prince of Arendelle up the mountain in his sled.

Admittedly, the prince wasn’t bad-looking or even that rude, now that he had gotten Spot to fulfil his wishes, he seemed to be just a bit shy and unused to conversation. Which, based on the fact that Spot hadn’t heard from the family coming out of the castle at all in the last five years probably wasn’t even a wrong assumption. Speaking of: How did the prince know how to stop this sudden winter? There was talk it had been caused by the new King himself, but that’s all he’d heard.

“So, did your brother cause this sudden cold?”, he asked, the prince sitting up a bit straighter.

“Well, yes, but he clearly didn’t mean to, he was just… afraid, I think. It’s my fault, really. I got engaged and he freaked out because I only met him that day. We kind of had an argument when he wouldn’t give me his blessing and-“

Wait, what? Spot looked to the prince who was gesturing wildly as he told him what had happened at the party and could only think about how he wasn’t just naïve but a downright idiot if he got engaged to someone he met the same day, probably someone who would use that naivete without a second thought.

“Go back a bit. You got engaged to someone you only met yesterday?” Anthony looked at him confused, head slightly tilted to the side.

“Yeah. And us arguing really wasn’t good, I’ll admit that, but Jack just had to understand that this was my chance to get out-“

“You got engaged. To someone you met the same day?”

“Well, yes. Not like most royal marriages have the partners meet and I thought that I could at least find someone I like and it was my only chance anyway, the gates were supposed to close again-“

Spot interrupted him again, still not believing what he was hearing. “Are you aware of how sad that sounds? He’s a stranger.”

“No he isn’t.” Fuck the prince really is an idiot. A cute idiot with a sad life.

Ignoring his sudden need to protect prince Anthony he at least tried to show him the reality of his situation. “Do you know his last name? Favourite book? Eye colour? Do you know anything about that guy?”

“His name is Albert. And I don’t know any of that, but that’s fine. He’s trustworthy and the man of my dreams. And a prince.”

“Look, Anthony, I really don’t think this is a good idea either.”

The prince crossed his arms, looking down onto the ground of the sleigh. “It doesn’t matter, it’s true love.”

“It doesn’t sound like true love. You’re just desperate for freedom.” Maybe being direct helped a bit.

Anthony opened and closed his mouth a few times, not getting anything out. “And you are some kind of love expert?”

“Well, no.” He thought of the trolls back home who told him a lot about love all the time because they were at least a bit desperate to find him a partner. “But I have friends who are.”

Spot was a bit surprised to see Anthony blatantly roll his eyes at that. “Of course. Love experts. Just shut up if that’s how you’re-“

There was a sound coming from behind them, making Hot Shot go slower.

“Be quiet.”

“Excuse me-“ Spot put a hand over Anthony’s mouth to silence him.

Spot took the lantern from the sleigh to look around the area, flinching at the dark figures he saw behind them, spurring the reindeer on again as quick as he could.

“What is it?”, asked the prince, now seeming a bit afraid.

“Wolves.”

And as soon as he’d said it there were half a dozen figures running up behind them, howling. Spot tried to keep the prince out of the fighting but during their arguments about it he managed to hit a wolf with Spot’s lute, so he just ignored that for now. The prince could look after himself for a minute.

Spot tried to take aim with his slingshot and hit one of the wolves closer to them, but they were approaching quickly. Then Anthony snatched the torch he’d lit on the lantern out of his hand and before Spot could complain set one of the bedrolls he’s kept on his sleigh on fire, throwing it behind them and hitting two more of the wolves. So, an idiot but at least with some good ideas.

Looking forward for a second Spot saw that they had truly run out of luck as they were riding straight to a cliff. But at least there was another cliff close enough. Not thinking about it long he threw Anthony and some of their things forward to Hot Shot, cutting the ropes to the rest of the sleigh and praying he could jump far enough to also make it to the other side.

He did, the sleigh didn’t, and Anthony had to help him climb up, but they had lost the wolves, so that was something.

Spot looked at the prince, snow dusting his clothes and shivering, most likely from the adrenaline, but also grinning a bit as he looked back on the wolves they had left behind. Maybe the royal highness wasn’t that bad to have around after all.

They had to walk to get anywhere after losing the sleigh, of course. Spot was used to walking, Anthony – or, as he’d said after their surprise stunt ‘call me Race, my friends do’ – clearly wasn’t, but he kept his complaints to a minimum. Just as the sun had properly risen over the treetops they arrived at a frozen lake, the weeping willows next to it having frozen droplets all over their branches. It was beautiful, admittedly, and Race seemed to think so too, running forward into them, tiredness forgotten.

He gently touched the long leaves hanging down, shaking them slightly as he noticed they made melodic sounds. It was cute, seeing him play with the frozen trees, spinning around and dancing to the jingling noises. Spot pointedly ignored the looks Hot Shot was giving him as he watched Race, smiling. “Don’t you say a word.”, Spot murmured before following the prince further into the trees.

They stopped at the shore of the lake, seeing that there were… ice sculptures all around. They looked like people frozen in a dance.

“These look like… the ball for the coronation.” Race walked around the statues, looking into their faces. “And this is the princess of Marindorf and her husband. They look so life-like.”

He touched the princesses’ hair and suddenly the statues were moving, slow dancing to a song no one could hear. And it wasn’t just them, it was all the figurines, imitating the ball and looking like real people moving in circles.

Spot did his best to stay out of the way of the statues, he found them fascinating, of course he did, he worked with ice, but they were strange and magical, a bit too strange. He knew his way around magic, how could he not, but this was… different.

Anthony, on the other hand, didn’t have any reservations, having found a single ice statue and dancing with it. “My brother must have done this!”, he exclaimed, laughing. “Davey always said he did sculptures, but now it makes sense how he does them! They’re magical.”

The new king was, it seemed, far stronger than he’d thought, not only able to change the weather but also create almost life-like replicas of things. He would have to ask Granpabbie about this if he got the chance. If this got any more out of control than it already was…

Suddenly Race grabbed Spot by the hand, pulling him to the middle of the ‘dance floor’. “Come on, Spottie, have some fun!”

“It’s Spot. And I thought we had to stop this winter and had to be quick about it.”

“Ten minutes of fun won’t make no difference. I’ll teach you how to dance, come on.”

And Race did, placing their hands correctly, lightly shoving Spot to move according to the rhythm. “There’s not even any music.”, Spot tried to argue, because… well, he did have fun, and there was a cute prince teaching him how to dance and Spot knew he was engaged, as much as he thought it was a terrible idea.

Then Race started to hum a song that fit the speed in which they and the ice sculptures were spinning. His voice was lulling Spot into this, making him move in time, if a bit clumsily, looking at their feet, their joined hands and Race’s brown eyes, also dancing with how much fun he seemed to be having. In another world Spot would have been at this ball and would now kiss Race, and he didn’t even know where that came from, because he was pretty and kind of cute, but they had also just met a few hours ago and it was pretty hypocritical of him to think this while also telling Race he couldn’t have true love with that Albert.

He wondered if Anthony and Albert had also danced at the ball.

Spot stumbled over his feet, halting their spins. Race just laughed a bit, trying to get them to start again. “We have to go.”, said Spot, just short of snapping.

Anthony slowly lowered his hands, looking dejected. “Oh… sorry. You’re right we don’t have a lot of time.” Spot ignored the mad looks Hot Shot was shooting at him. Maybe he couldn’t do this after all.

Race didn’t quite know what to think of Spot. Most of the time he was rude, or at least brutally honest, which had felt bad when it was about Albert. But then he’d also looked so happy for a minute when they were dancing before he pulled back as he messed up a step. He hadn’t even been that bad, and if someone put him in better clothes he would have fit right in with the other nobility at the ball. Race bet he looked handsome in some fine clothes.

Anyways.

What didn’t change at all was Spot being protective, he tried to go first all the time, testing out the way for any dangers, helped Race over steep hills and made sure Race wasn’t getting injured by anything, which was sweet. Like just now when Race had attempted to climb a wall, failing spectacularly, and jumped down, landing perfectly safe in Spot’s arms. Spot glared at him a bit, but he didn’t even let him fall straight to the ground, just holding him until Race jumped down again.

And Race totally didn’t stare at him when he talked to the reindeer or tested the way forward. Because that would be ridiculous, as he was engaged, happily, to Albert. Who waited back in the castle and cared for the kingdom and the city. Which was why they really had to stop this winter soon.

They arrived at the North Mountain, finding a giant castle made of ice. Spot looked the most unguarded and surprised Race had seen him yet, carefully inspecting the beautifully crafted handrails and steps leading to the front door. “This is all solid ice… your brother can just… do this?”

Race shrugged. He had no idea what Jack could and couldn’t do, but it was kind of adorable seeing Spot marvelling at every little detail. The door – which was beautifully detailed, as Spot pointed out – opened without resistance, so Race stepped in. “Oh, Spot? Could you give me a minute alone with Jack? Last time I introduced him to a guy the whole kingdom got frozen, so…”

Spot sighed, looking longingly at the frozen fountain and pictures they could see from the open front door. “Of course.”

And then Race was here, in a giant ice castle, hand-crafted by his brother. His brother who was wearing a glittering blue suit and was walking down the perfect ice stairs towards him. Jack stopped halfway down, right beside a giant picture showing a landscape he was sure they had walked past on their way here, also made completely out of ice.

“Anthony. I’m… happy to see you.”, greeted Jack, sounding awkward.

“Jack. You look… interesting. Done something with your hair?” Race tried not to laugh. The suit was just a very different look on him.

That eased the mood a bit. “Funny. I never knew what I was capable of and now I feel so… free. I can finally do all this. Without… being a danger to anyone.”

“But Jack,” Race started going up the stairs now, hating that Jack flinched back a bit as he saw him getting closer, “You didn’t mean for that to happen. And I’m also at fault, you know? I’m sorry I pressured you like that.”

“No! That… wasn’t your fault, I’m just not made for being around people, it’s fine. You should go, you can do whatever you want now. You belong in Arendelle.”

“And you don’t? What about me, what about David?” Jack looked sadly to the other side of the room where Race only now noticed pictures of the staff, himself, and David, all still made from ice but so life-like.

Race walked over there and carefully touched the one of himself, thinking about the statues at the lake. And, just like them, the picture started moving, showing Race looking around and laughing, like a small snippet from his life. “Jack, how could you be dangerous if you can do this? And that wasn’t the only thing, Spot and I found statues you made, and they danced just like at the ball! Isn’t that wonderful?”

Jack still looked tense, but also so fascinated at what he’d done, likely not even knowing he could do it. Race went to David’s picture next. The carpenter’s son looked happy and bashful as he moved, and if it had been in colour he likely would have blushed. Jack was longing to see that for himself again, Race was sure of it with how pained but also adoringly he looked at it.

If Anthony himself couldn’t get Jack back, then hopefully at least David. Race needed Jack back, not just to safe the kingdom.

“I… did that?” As Jack was still distracted with the pictures and his thoughts Race tried to get closer to him again.

“Yes. And you can do so much more. Now that the people know we don’t have to close the doors again, you can be closer to them and… we can be closer to each other.”

That snapped Jack out of his daze, now dashing up the stairs. “No! I can’t, people will get hurt.”

Race followed him immediately, trying to soothe him. “Jack, don’t shut me out again. I can help you, we can fix all of this. You didn’t do anything wrong, but you can’t just stay up here, living in fear of what could happen. If we go back now, we can clear everything up.”

“Anthony, go home. I won’t go back.” Jack tried to smile like he wasn’t still clearly shaking inside. “You can open the gates, you can go out and marry your prince, isn’t that what you wanted? Don’t let me hold you back.”

“But I don’t want to do that without you. And besides-“

“I know you mean well, but I might be alone but I’m free to do whatever I want. Isn’t that what you wanted, too? You’ll be safe from me, like that, too.”

Race hated seeing his brother like that, so on edge, so trying to pretend everything was fine, but also so afraid to hurt him, hurt anyone. “We aren’t safe, though.”

“What do you mean?”

And Jack… he really seemed to not know, not at all know what he’d done. “You kind of set of a very early winter in the entire country.”

“I- what?” Race noticed snow falling from the ceiling suddenly, starting to swirl around Jack. He’d freaked him out again, that wasn’t- he hadn’t wanted to do that, oh no.

“Jack, calm down, we can find a solution together-“

“I can never be free, can I, it just follows me wherever I go-“

“Please, we’ll reverse this, just listen to me, stop panicking.”

“I can’t control it, don’t you see? You’ll only make it worse, if you’re here I could hurt you, Anthony!”

“If we just work together, we can do this, just come here so I can help you, Jack.”

Jack started to clutch at his head, the snow now pretty much a storm, whipping at Race’s clothes and hair, trying to get him to stay away, but if he could just reach Jack then he could hug him and calm him down and then everything would be alright again.

“I can’t!” And then there was another uncontrolled ice attack like at the party, this time hitting Race in the chest.

The storm had subsided, but the castle was now turning dark and sinister from what Race could see, clutching his heart and looking up to his brother.

“Race!” And there was Spot, first running and then sliding over the floor towards him, then helping him up, holding a hand over his shoulder protectively, probably glaring at Jack.

“Who is- that doesn’t matter, you have to go, now.” Jack shrunk back more and more, looking between Spot and Race.

“But Jack, we can still stop this-“

“What power do you have to stop this winter. To stop me.” Jack attempted to look angry and scary, but all Anthony could see was him being so incredibly afraid.

“Race, I really think we should go.”, whispered Spot, pulling at him to get him to move.

“No, I won’t leave you here, Jack.”

With a sudden resolve, Jack sent more ice their way, not aiming to hit, only to shove them out. “You will.”

And as much as Race wanted to stay, to get him to come with them, Spot seemed to agree with Jack, pulling him out as much as Race tried to get out of his grip. “Let me go!”

“No. You’ve been hit, and I need to make sure you’re safe first. Where did he hit you, Racer?” They were already out of the castle, the walls darkening further and further, making the ice look menacing instead of beautiful.

“My chest somewhere- I don’t know. Let me go back in.”

Spot pulled roughly at his arm this time, making him stop and then holding his shoulders tightly, looking him in the eyes. “Anthony this isn’t a fucking joke, you need to go, now, you could- he said if you get hit in the heart it can be very bad, they never told me how bad, but I was there the last time he healed someone. And I’ll drag your ass down there if I have to, but it would be a lot better if you would just forget about your brother for a second. If you die and it was his fault, the entire kingdom will be out to get him, do you understand that?”

Race tried to find any hint of Spot not telling the truth, but he couldn’t find any. He had no idea how Spot even knew so much about this, but if he really was in danger then… maybe he should go. He could come back for Jack later, when they both calmed down. “Okay. I… if you say that, then let’s-“

A sudden, stabbing pain engulfed his chest, making his knees weak but Spot was there to catch him before he could fall, picking him up and depositing him on Hot Shot who they had since reached.

“Let’s hurry. Come on, ‘Shot.” Looking over his shoulder to the ice castle one last time Race saw it dark and red, hating that his brother was so alone, but he’d tried his best. He would be back as soon as whoever Spot knew had helped him. The pain in his chest subsided enough to let Race breathe easily, but he kept sitting on Hot Shot, Spot guiding the reindeer down the mountain until the path was easy enough and he could also mount.

As soon as Spot deemed it safe enough, he hopped on behind Race, one arm around him and let Hot Shot ride as quickly as he could, away from the north mountain. As Race clutched his heart upon another stabbing pain, Spot hugged him tighter to himself. “Hang in there, Racer, we’ll get you help.”

But even as Race was hurt deeply, he thought back on Jack, in his castle, trapped in a storm of his own creation.

During their journey Race’s pain subsided, only leaving a faint coldness behind that he tried to not think about too hard. “What do you do when you don’t sell ice, Spot?”, asked Race quietly, not wanting to think about the impending trials, both regarding his wound and Jack.

“Well, you’ve heard me sing. Otherwise I don’t do much besides work and travel. Reading, sometimes. And you? You have to have a lot of things you could do in that castle of yours.” Spot didn’t look away from the path ahead of them, but Race felt him lean in just a bit closer.

Laughing, Race answered: “I did nothing but read and run around for years. It’s not that good living in a castle if you can never get out. I mostly helped the workers and taught myself card games.”

“How about we get together to play something after all this is over? I’m not too bad with cards myself.”

Race looked down to the ground. “Yeah… after all this is over.” After Jack had been brought back from his castle, reunited with David. After Race had gotten his brother back and opened the gates. After… he had married Albert, he supposed. It didn’t seem as important anymore, with some more time to think. Maybe Jack had been right.

“Do you… think I’ll make it?”, Race whispered.

Spot laid his chin on Race’s shoulder for just a second. “They can help you, I’ve seen it. And you’re the most stubborn person I’ve ever met, you’ll get through this. Believe in yourself a bit.” Anthony wasn’t sure if he liked Spot being this nice all of a sudden, though he hadn’t really been genuinely mean after their first encounter. Spot being this nice just felt a bit like Race was about to die.

He didn’t like the thought, going back to talking about whatever came to his mind.

Spot had felt Race get colder over hours they were travelling. It didn’t seem too problematic yet, but it wasn’t good either. Luckily, they were almost there, the snowy mountainside having transformed into a dense woodland and stony ground rather than endless snow. As Spot hopped off Hot Shot’s back, also helping Race, who seemed a lot steadier on his feet than some hours ago, he noticed Race’s hair being… whiter than before. But he shouldn’t concentrate on that too much. Instead, Spot wondered how he should explain where they were.

It wasn’t really… a normal thing, after all, having trolls as your adoptive family. Most people didn’t even believe trolls existed and yet Spot had, accidentally, run into them years ago, following what he now knew to be the former King and Queen of Arendelle, bringing their sons to the trolls to heal Race. Spot hadn’t realized that sooner, only when he saw the icy bolt hit Anthony in the chest, remembering the echo of words from a distant past.

The heart isn’t so easily swayed.

He wasn’t sure what exactly Granpabbie meant with that, but he would hopefully find out soon, leading Race into the circle clearing where he could already see most of his family rolled up into balls, sleeping. Spot went to his mother’s form, wondering what Race thought right now. Probably “is he crazy, this is a clearing full of stones.”

“Ma?”, Spot whispered, not wanting to wake everyone up. The stone in front of him quivered, then folded out, revealing his mother, or what was closest anyways, looking sleepy and a bit worried.

“Is everything alright? You usually don’t-“ And Spot saw the exact moment Ma laid eyes on Anthony, her eyes going wide. “Oh, Spot brought home a boy!”, she exclaimed loud enough that probably everyone else heard it too. Fuck.

“Ma, I really need Granpabbie, where is he?” But she didn’t even look at him, rolling straight to Anthony, most of the other trolls also unravelling to their true forms.

“Oh, aren’t you the cutest little thing!” Spot laid his head in his hands, not wanting to witness the next few minutes.

“Um… hi?” Race sounded confused, of course he did, and Spot just wanted to crawl into a hole. They didn’t have time for this, and it was embarrassing on top of it.

Some of the kids jumped on Spot’s back, forcing him to look up if he didn’t want them to fall. They were getting really heavy. “I earnt my first fire crystal!”

“That’s great, Peb, but I really have to get-“

“Such bright eyes and good teeth, you’ll do great for Spot.” Ma even let herself be held up to Race’s height to properly examine him and he really had to get over there before they started with the wedding plans.

“That’s not what I brought him here for!”, he yelled, trying to get through his family, still greeting everyone he saw, because it would have been rude otherwise.

Race, meanwhile, had also begun to deny any sort of relationship between them, looking at Spot pleadingly, to which Spot pushed his way through the excited trolls quicker, needing to reach him, fast.

Getting between Race and his mother, Spot tried to explain. “We really don’t have time for this. First of all, Race is engaged, so no this isn’t what I’m here for, and then, more importantly, he’s injured, and I need Granpabbie to fix it.”

That dampened the mood, the trolls making a pathway for the elder troll to roll up to them, looking worried at Race, who was shivering again. Spot put an arm around him.

“Ancient magic… Ice in your heart. It has been put there by your brother, has it now?”, started the ancient troll, his crystals glowing with worry. “It will freeze you forever if you don’t do anything against it.”

Spot pulled Anthony closer, already imagining him as an ice statue, like the ones he’d seen at the lake. That couldn’t happen to him. “But you can stop it, right?”

“I cannot, Spot. I’m sorry, lad. The only thing that can thaw a frozen heart is an act of true love.”

Ma perked up at that, looking Spot in the eyes. “A true love’s kiss, perhaps?” Before he could even glare at her, Race’s knees gave out, his hair suddenly seeming way whiter than just seconds before, now at least half of it white instead of black.

Seeing him freeze like that, the formerly energetic prince reduced to this, Spot knew he had to do whatever he had to do to fix this. “We have to get you to Albert.” He felt the shocked eyes of some of the trolls on him, surely having already sensed that there was… something Spot felt. But Prince Anthony was engaged, as much as Spot didn’t think it was a good arrangement. If Albert could safe Anthony, it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered as long as Anthony just got to live.

Spot got on Hot Shot’s back again, the reindeer also looking at him sympathetically, riding even faster than before, in the direction of the castle.

David looked up at the giant ice castle, seeming to pulsate, changing from clear blue to dark red. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to be here or not, but Prince Albert had insisted. David also didn’t really know what to think about him.

He seemed nice, but sometimes, when they were alone, trying to rule the kingdom in Jack and Anthony’s absence, he seemed… odd. Willing to help the kingdom, but behaving strangely in a way David couldn’t explain.

And now he had decided to get Jack back by force, Pulitzer being all for that – of course – and sending two men with him, the Delancey brothers. They didn’t say their first names or talk much to David at all, just climbing the mountain in silence. At least he knew the palace guards that were with them, travelling with just Albert and the Delancey would have made him truly uneasy.

That he was even here had been more of an accident, Mr. Michaelson insisting David should go with as he was friends with Jack and could hopefully talk to him, stop him somehow. David had thought that Albert had looked mad about that for just a split second, but before he could check the prince was just smiling again, urging him to get changed quickly.

Walking into the castle was a weird experience, especially with all the ice covering the ground, making it difficult to walk. The Delanceys had gone to the upper floor while Albert and David searched through the ground floor with the guards. At least until screams were heard.

The image of Jack pinning one man to the wall, ice spike dangerously close to his throat and another getting pushed out of the open balcony by an ice wall wasn’t quite what David had expected.

“King Jack, stop this!” Albert sounded commanding, making Jack’s eyes snap to him instantly.

With it he also saw David, making him lower his hands and look afraid rather than angry and murderous. “Go away, please.”

“We can’t do that.”

“Jack, please stop this.” David stepped forward, almost getting shoved down as Albert ran past him, pulling the arm of the Delancey pinned to the wall up, making the crossbow that had aimed at Jack miss his target. It didn’t miss the chandelier, the giant ice sculpture falling onto Jack who was desperately running right towards David but didn’t make it.

“Jack!” David didn’t care about the sharp ice still lying around everywhere, he knelt next to Jack, turning him on his back, putting a hand on his chest. He was alive. Thank God. He couldn’t die, not yet, not when everyone thought he was the bad guy even though he was just confused and afraid, when no one knew where Race was, because clearly he wasn’t here, so-

Someone touched him on the shoulder. Snapping back into reality David saw one of the older soldiers that had escorted them. “Let me help you get him out, lad. Doubt he’ll wake up soon.”

Jack didn’t, he was knocked out the whole trip and David could do nothing but watch and yell at them to stop as they brought Jack down into the dungeons, the soldier that had helped him before just shaking his head sadly.

He’d get down there later. Something was wrong about this and he wouldn’t stand by to watch it.

No matter how fast Hot Shot was, Spot still feared they would be too late, Race curling further and further into himself for warmth. He was sure they scared some townsfolk as they ran through the city and over the bridge, but it was worth it as Spot pounded against the door, Race in his arms, still alive. “Are you… going to be alright?”, whispered Race, looking up at Spot with such vulnerability that he had to look away.

“Of course. Just make sure you get to Albert, that’s the only important thing.”

The young man that opened the door looked at Race in shock. From the picture Spot had seen in the ice castle he’d guess that he was David, Race had mentioned him a few times. “Warm him up and get him to Prince Albert immediately.”, ordered Spot, startling David.

The carpenter’s son nodded and gave Race to the hands of the other workers of the castle, staying with Spot just a few seconds longer. “What happened to him?”

“Only true love can thaw a frozen heart.”, Spot recited, eyes still following Race who was slowly inching forward through the courtyard. I could have carried him over there faster.

David, noticing the glances between Spot and Race wondered if he should get Race back here. “Why don’t you do it?”, he whispered.

Spot slowly took a step back, not trusting himself. He wasn’t the hero of this story, he wouldn’t be the one to safe Race, he already had his prince.

Turning around he let the door to the castle shut, planning to get out of the town as fast as he could.

David didn’t know what to think. He’d heard the phrase “loving someone enough to let them go” before, and he wasn’t entirely sure if that was what had happened with the boy bringing Race home, but David felt as if he would have been a better choice then Albert. Albert who’d imprisoned Jack.

David froze in his tracks. Jack.

He had to know Anthony was back!

Running to the dungeons, making sure not to be seen by anyone, David made his way to Jack’s cell, looking through the window into it. The King was sitting on the cot, both hands enclosed in solid metal.

“Jack.”

Jack’s gaze snapped up. He looked so lost and as he recognized David he surged forward, stopped by the chains. “Dave.” It was almost a sob, breaking David’s heart.

“God, Jack, what did they do to you?” Of course, David had been there as they had gotten Jack back, so afraid that Jack had been injured, but luckily the chandelier had only knocked him out. But he hadn’t been allowed to see what exactly happened after, down here, and judging by Jack’s state it couldn’t have been good.

“They didn’t. It is what I did. I froze the kingdom! And- I accidentally hit Anthony with my powers, I don’t even know what happened to him.” Jack turned away from David, head hung low.

“He’s here, Jack. He’s fine. Just arrived a few minutes ago. Or… not fine, but he will be.”

The chains rattled as Jack turned back around. “What do you mean?”

David thought he really should have listened to the man bringing Race home better, asking more questions. “I don’t know exactly, but Albert can heal him. Now let me get you out of here.”

Jack’s head snapped up again, eyes wide in fear as he backed away. “No! I already hurt Anthony once, I am dangerous. I should just stay in here. Before-“ Jack’s voice broke. “Before I hurt you too.”

David wished he could get through the door to comfort him, but he was stuck, especially if Jack didn’t want to get out. “You would never do that.”

David saw ice gathering around Jack’s feet, slowly inching to the walls. “I also thought I’d never hurt Anthony. Now go!” Before he could do anything else, there was ice covering the cell door, preventing him from talking to Jack, helpless to do anything but see him break down onto the floor of the cell.

Maybe Race could help, letting Jack see he didn’t hurt his brother.

David hadn’t expected to hear “Prince Anthony has died” the moment he got out of the dungeons.

Race didn’t take in a lot as he was escorted through the castle. He had only noticed Spot and David talking and then his head had felt too foggy, not taking anything else in. Spot… he still had to repay him, like he had promised. Sure, they hadn’t saved the kingdom yet, but Spot had done so much for him.

“He’s in here.”, said someone next to Race. And then he was face to face with Albert, who looked at Race as if he hadn’t expected to see him again before switching to worry.

“What happened?”

Race didn’t notice the other people in the room leaving. “Jack hit me with his powers.”

Albert held onto Race’s arms, trying to hold him up. “I thought you said he wasn’t dangerous?”

“Well, I was wrong.” Another stabbing pain shot through Race’s chest, almost making him fall to the ground, but Albert helped him to the couch instead.

Race thought about Spot picking him up. Not now.

“I need an act of true love to safe me.”

Albert leaned back a bit, seemingly realizing something. “A true love’s kiss.”

Still feeling so cold, Race leant into the gloved hand Albert put on his cheek, closing his eyes in anticipation of his first kiss, magical in multiple ways.

“Oh Anthony.” At the mocking tone in Albert’s voice, Race’s eyes napped open. “If only there was someone out there who loved you.”

What?

“But… you don’t?” Race’s voice shook not only because of the cold but also because of his worldview being shattered. Jack had been right, Spot had been right.

“Of course not and you’re naïve to even think that. I had to marry onto a throne somehow and while your brother would have been the more direct way, he wouldn’t have been easy to convince. But you?” The fire dying after Albert poured water on it made him look even more menacing, clouded in shadow. “You were so desperate for love that you didn’t even question my intentions.”

Trying to get to Albert, shake him and demand he snap out of it, Race fell to the ground. That couldn’t be true, there had to be something else to it.

Albert only laughed at Race’s weak attempts to get to him. “Don’t even try. Now that you went off and killed yourself by trying to save your brother, all that I have to do is safe the kingdom by killing the Ice King.”

Race tried to pull himself up, if only to punch Albert in the face once. “You won’t beat him.”

With a cruel smile, Albert held up Race’s chin. “I’ll certainly do better than you.”

“You won’t get away with this.”

“Oh Anthony.” Albert’s look couldn’t have been more condescending and cruel. “I already have.”

As the door fell shut Anthony felt colder than he’d ever been. Not just because of his almost frozen heart, but also because he had never been so alone. Jack was on that mountain, he had sent Spot away, Albert had just revealed he’d never loved him to begin with. Sobs wracking his body, Race tried to crawl to the doors, finding them locked.

His sobs turned into desperate gasps as he realized the gravity of his situation. He would die here, having put his trust in the wrong person.

Curling in on himself he felt as if the cold had seeped into every inch of him, even freezing the tears running down his face. Pulling his coat tighter around himself he hoped, against all odds, for someone, anyone, to open the door.

David stopped Ms. Danielsen in her tracks. “What do you mean Anthony died?”

He couldn’t be dead, he’d seen him just a few minutes ago and he had been brought to Albert! Ms. Danielsen turned to him, looking almost ready to cry. “Oh David, dear, it’s terrible! Jack is responsible for Anthony dying and now Albert has sentenced him to death!”

No.

“What do you mean, Albert was supposed to heal Race. Where is he?” Had the act of true love not worked?

Ms. Danielsen told him the room Race had been brought to, going back to the other staff, telling the story in greater details. There was no way that Race had just died, there had to be something else going on. The only one who knew of the true love story was David himself, he thought, as the other servants of the castle hadn’t been present to hear Spot talk about it. Had Anthony passed out before he could tell anyone?

Rattling on the door to the room, David was surprised to find it locked. There was something very, very wrong going on here. Kneeling down David looked at the lock, he wasn’t the carpenter’s son for nothing, he knew how to open any door in the castle, key or not.

After a few seconds he had picked the lock, opening the door. And there was Race, hair almost entirely white, shivering on the ground, decidedly not dead. So Albert had lied, not only that, but he most likely even locked Anthony in here. David knew he couldn’t be trusted.

“Race?” David knelt beside the shivering boy, skin already seeming slightly blue.

Teeth clattering, the prince opened his eyes just a bit, frozen tear tracks running down his face. “Da- David?”

Looking around the room, David didn’t see a blanket to warm Race up, but he did notice ice gathering on the ceiling. That wasn’t good, not at all, that meant the situation was getting worse. Helping Race up he led him to the window, bundling up Race in some of the thick curtains, hoping to help at least a bit. David didn’t want to ask about the true love’s act. He knew Albert hadn’t done it, otherwise Anthony wouldn’t be here, almost frozen to the bone, but he also had to ask, just to know if he could still help.

“You can only be healed by an act of true love, right?”

Race nodded, looking like he was about to cry further. “True love’s kiss.”

That wasn’t easy to come by. Rubbing up and down Race’s back David looked outside, noticing the snowstorm had picked up, wind whipping through the grounds, rattling the windows and snow making it difficult to see to the fjord.

But there was something David saw, or rather someone, riding down the snowy hills around Arendelle on a reindeer. And David couldn’t pretend that he could see him clearly, but there weren’t that many people that would rush to Arendelle on a reindeer during a snowstorm. And Spot had clearly had some feelings for Anthony, so maybe they would be able to safe him after all.

“Race, Race come on, we need to get out, I see Spot over there.” David tried to help Race walk as best as he could, arm around his shoulders.

Anthony just looked confused. “Spot? Why would he… and what good would it do now, I don’t want him to see me die, Davey.”

David really wanted to shake Race. “I’ve only seen him for two minutes and even I noticed he has feelings for you, Race. He can solve this, then we can save Jack and then Arendelle, easy.”

Was David rambling and trying to be way more optimistic than he really was? Maybe. But he couldn’t let Race die, he wouldn’t even think of the possibility, pushing forward, even as they had to jump out of the window as the castle got frozen over with sharp spikes of ice.

Even as he saw Race’s fingers turning blue, frosty patterns spreading over his skin.

Spot couldn’t believe he was doing this but leaving Race alone in a castle with the prospect of being healed in a few minutes, and leaving Race alone in an unnatural snowstorm were very different things. Something was happening and he couldn’t leave him alone, no matter if he loved someone else. Also Hot Shot had done his damned best to keep Spot from leaving, talking him into believing that he still had a chance to be the hero. Which he wasn’t

But he’d helped Anthony and he was glad that he had done so, the adventure having been one of the most genuine human interactions he’d had in a while. As terrible as it had ended, seeing Race almost die.

The further Spot rode, the worse the snow became, but he tried to push forward, even as the frozen ships in the fjord broke, threatening to hit him, even as the ice broke beneath him, separating him from Hot Shot.

Reaching Race was the only important thing, so Spot pushed forward, imagining he heard Race call out for him.

Jack ran through the disorienting snowstorm, just knowing he needed to get away, as far as he could so that he wouldn’t harm anyone again. But because he wasn’t in control of anything even Jack couldn’t see where he was going, spinning in place, panicking, because khe was doing this, he was causing this much pain. Breaking out of prison also hadn’t been planned, but even if he thought himself a danger to others he didn’t want to die, he just wanted to be free and his loved ones to be safe.

“Jack!”, yelled the figure of prince Albert, getting closer. Well, wherever he would end up, Jack would run into the opposite direction of him.

“Just take care of my brother and leave me alone!”

Before Jack could really start to run, Albert said something that made him freeze in his tracks. “Your brother? He came back cold as ice, because of you. And I tried to safe him, but it was too late, his skin had turned to ice, and his hair was white as snow.” It couldn’t be. “Your brother is dead. Because of you.”

Jack stumbled to the ground, not able to believe what he’d just heard, the storm around them freezing in time.

Anthony had been fine, David had told him that he’d gotten back and that Albert would safe him. Jack couldn’t be responsible for his brother’s death, he had already gotten back to Arendelle and would be saved by Albert, David had said that, and Dave was smart, he wouldn’t lie about that. If David said that then it must have been true.

Which meant Albert had done something.

Jack’s shock and grief at hearing that he lost his brother turned to fury. Jack might be at fault, but Albert was too, he had seemed suspicious from the get-go and if that had led to Anthony’s death he would pay. The ice beneath the King’s feet turned darker, spreading over the ground.

“You. You had something to do with this.”

Albert looked genuinely surprised and afraid at that turn of events. “No, you hit him, it’s your fault.”

“And you were supposed to safe him, Davey told me they brought Anthony to you, so what did you do?”

Not far away, Race and David had stopped as the storm died down, looking around in surprise. Race first saw Spot, running in their direction, while David spotted Jack, looking about ready to kill Albert.

“Race- Jack, I need to stop him.” Looking to the side Race saw the problem, his brother looking the most murderous he’d ever seen him.

“Go, I- I’ll- Spot’s right there.” Race tried to smile encouragingly, but with his clattering teeth he doubted it worked.

David still left, running in between Jack and Albert to stop worse things from happening.

“Jack, stop! You don’t want to do this.”

“He’s at fault that Anthony is dead, you said he’d safe him, but he didn’t!”

“What- he did something, yes, but Race isn’t-“

“Then get out of my way, Davey!”

Albert used the unexpected argument to sneak away, not planning to stick around until Jack inevitably won.

Meanwhile, Spot had reached Race, worry increasing tenfold as he saw that some of the prince’s skin had turned blue. “What happened? Why aren’t you healed?”

Through his shivering Race couldn’t talk well, but he needed to let Spot know he needed that true love’s kiss from him and also explain why, telling him about Albert, because otherwise Spot would just keep being stupidly heroic and not kiss him, just because he thought he was still engaged. “He wasn’t- lying about… left me… wanted the crown.”

And through his half-closed eyes Race saw something move behind Spot, who was trying very hard to understand what Race was telling him, eyebrows scrunched up.

It was Albert who was approaching from behind. He had gotten away from Jack and David, a sword in his hand, raised in the air. He wasn’t aiming for Race, he was aiming for Spot, and Race didn’t know why, because he didn’t even know Spot, but no matter the reason, Race moved before he even realized it, hand stretched out above his head to catch the sword.

Anthony couldn’t even hear the outcries for him, already having turned to ice, with his last breath saving someone important to him.

Spot couldn’t believe it. Race was… gone. He had… if Spot hadn’t gone away, if Spot had just kissed him he wouldn’t-

Not caring about Albert, Spot gently touched Race’s cheek. “Racer?”

He got no reaction, of course he didn’t. Prince Anthony was now cold, not like the warm smiles and laughter he’d shown Spot on their journey, not like the fiery determination he held for saving his brother.

When Jack and David had heard the sword shattering, they finally turned around, neither believing what they saw. David stood still as Jack ran forward, needing to see what had happened to his brother. David was smart, he knew things, but he hadn’t been able to prevent this, too occupied with stopping Jack, not noticing Albert slip away and attack the others, forcing Race to-

He could have been with Race, explaining to Spot that they had to kiss, but he hadn’t been. Now he knew it had been Albert’s life – and with it Jack’s – or Anthony’s, and he wasn’t sure if he chose correctly, seeing how Jack sobbed as he threw his arms around Race’s lifeless statue.

Jack had already thought his brother had been dead, but seeing that he had been wrong and that not arguing with David could have maybe saved him-

He didn’t try to think too much, just sobbing as he held his little brother close.

Neither Spot, nor Jack, nor David saw the slight ripple that formed in the seemingly solid ice that made up Race, starting from his heart. It grew and grew, leaving behind flesh, skin and clothes rather than ice.

And then he breathed in, almost falling with the sensation of feeling again, being alive again.

“Race?” Jack pat down his shoulders and arms, trying to find out if he was truly alive. “You- but you died.”

He was sure he should react differently, but right now there weren’t a lot of clear thoughts inside Anthony. “That’s the first time you called me Race.”

Jack laughed, hugging him tight. “I guess it is.”

Spot stepped closer, not believing his eyes. He opened his mouth a few times, not getting anything out and Race just smiled. “Hey.”

As Spot still didn’t do anything Hot Shot shoved him from behind, almost making him fall onto Race. “Stop it.”, he snapped, at least not silent anymore. Jack had stepped back a bit, still rubbing his eyes but looking happy with David rubbing a hand down his back in comfort, so Race and Spot could look each other in the eye, nothing between them.

“What saved you?” Spot’s voice was quiet, and his hand twitched up once as if he wanted to touch Race to make sure it was for real.

Race shrugged. “Don’t know, really. But I’m back.” He opened his arms, inviting Spot in for a hug and was surprised when Spot hesitated for only a moment before pulling him into a tight embrace, face buried in Race’s shoulder.

Feeling Race’s chuckle against his chest, Spot sighed in relief. He really was back. “Missed me that much, Spottie?”

“I thought you was done for.”

“Dying certainly wasn’t nice, but hey, I’m fine.”

Spot leaned back a bit, looking annoyed but fond. “Can you not joke about that already?”

“Well the other option would be breaking down and I’m choosing to pretend I’m fine.”

Before Spot could hit Race or look at him in pity or something David had stepped forward. “Sorry to interrupt. But I have a feeling about what saved you, Race. Yourself.”

Race just cocked his head in confusion, not really understanding where David was coming from.

“Sacrificing yourself for someone seems like an act of true love, right? To thaw a frozen heart.”

“Love thaws…”, whispered Jack, looking around him at the still frozen fjord. Then he looked up at David, thinking about the years he’d spent with him, closing himself off and still needing to be close to him. Maybe it really was that easy.

Jack kissed David and around them the ice and snow started to melt, the magic spreading around all of Arendelle.

Spot kept Race from falling as the ice under their feet gave way to a ship rising up to the surface of the water. Sadly, the ship also rose underneath Albert, who had seemingly been knocked out until then. Stopping Spot who was already looking at Albert with a furious expression, probably ready to kill him if he had to, Race decided to solve this alone.

“Anthony?” He was clearly still disoriented. “But you-“

Not even letting him get any further Race hit him in the face as hard as he could, sending him flying over the railing. If his fist had still been made of ice it would have hurt Albert more, but it would have to do.

David and Jack hadn’t even noticed, still kissing softly.

“Can’t believe Jack beat me to it. I was the one that should get the true love’s kiss and now look at him.” Race wasn’t really mad, but it all seemed so surreal. A few days ago, none of this would have even seemed possible.

“Well,”, started Spot, nervously running a hand through his hair. “It isn’t too late to get it. Actually forget I said that, you just went through a bad breakup, I really shouldn’t-“

Race cut him off with a short peck on the lips, feeling himself blush furiously. “Thanks. For everything.”

That was all the confirmation Spot needed, surging forward to kiss Race again.

Spot wasn’t the hero of this story, just like he’d thought, instead it was Anthony who was the hero of his own story, saving Arendelle and his brother. And even getting his true love’s kiss.

A few days later Albert had been sent back, in a ship’s cell, to his home, Pulitzer had been kindly informed that Jack wouldn’t marry his daughter, the entire kingdom had celebrated that their royal family was safe and sound and Jack had probably not spent an hour in which he hadn’t at least given David a quick kiss on the cheek.

Race laid in one of the sitting rooms in the castle, lying on the ground and taking in the sun.

“It’s your turn.”

“Mhm”

Something poked him in the side. “I could just look at your cards and you wouldn’t even know.”

Race opened one eye just a bit, looking at Spot who was smiling down at him. “You wouldn’t.”

“Everything to win one more round.”

Sighing, Race sat up, kissing Spot softly and then picking up his cards again, making his move. Spot hadn’t joked when he said they could play after all of this was over, and he also hadn’t exaggerated when he said he was good at playing.

As much as Race had wanted to get out just a few days before, sitting at home and playing card games with your true love was also pretty good.