thank you to everyone who has started their own snow queen!reader x barley or ian story inspired by my own! here are a few for you all to read if you really enjoy this concept!

Into the Unknown (Ian Lightfoot x Fem!Reader) by MadTripHoezz

Ahtohallan (Barley Lightfoot x Reader) by cleobellawrites

The Calling (Barley Lightfoot x Reader) by Melonhead15

you can find all of these imagines/series in these author's onward/pixar imagines books! thank you to everyone who has tagged me in their onward stories. i truly enjoy reading all of them and you all are so talented <3

You knew that you were dreaming, but it felt too real. You didn't feel safe.

You were in the van, laying back with your arms behind your head. Barley and Ian were talking together still, and you couldn't make out a single word that they were saying over the sound of the loud singing. The voice was calling you again, but this time it was getting louder and louder and louder.

Finally, you had enough. You sat up and covered your ears, flattening your palms all the way against your head. You cringed against the loudness. Covering your ears only made it worse; the sound was inside of your mind.

"Please," you whispered. "I hear you. You can stop---"

"You belong here, you know." You didn't know the voice.

The van jerked to the side. You gasped and fell onto the van floor. Glancing up at Barley and Ian, you saw that they were unaffected by what had just happened.

"Can you face what the river knows?" A different voice again. A stronger one.

"Did we just get hit?" you asked them, but they didn't answer you. You stood up and looked out the window to see a flash of blue --- a horse made of water was galloping right up against the van. Every few moments, it would knock against the van, threatening to tip it over, right into the water on the left side of the road. "Barley! Stop the van!"

He didn't stop. The horse knocked it again, the voice got louder.

"Not too far, or you'll be drowned."

You shouted, "Barley! Stop the van!"

As soon as you screamed, you realized that you were sitting up in the seat again. Barley slammed on the brakes and glanced back at you. Breathing hard, you got up and ran to the back of the van. You threw the doors open.

Barley had pulled over on the side of the road on a nearly empty street. There wasn't an ocean on your left or a horse made of water attacking you. The voice was silent in your head.

You climbed out and stood on the road. The wind whipped your hair around and you hugged your arms close to you.

Wordlessly, Barley got out of the van and approached you. He slowly put his arms around you. You sighed, embarrassed, and dropped your head.

"I'm sorry," you whispered. "It was just a nightmare. It just looked so real. I heard voices."

"You don't need to apologize for a nightmare. Come on," he urged softly. "You can come sit beside me for a while, okay?"

You nodded. He kept his arm around you and walked you to the passenger side. Ian slowly walked to the back of the van. He frowned at you, worried.

"Are you okay?" his soft voice asked.

You nodded and looked back at him. Giving him a reassuring smile, you said, "I'm okay."

Barley got in the van. His face was unreadable as he started it up and pulled back onto the road. The drive was silent for a few moments while Barley gathered up his courage to ask you what had recently started to bother him.

"Are you sure they're good? Whoever is calling you?"

"They're good," you said, nodding. "I'm just scared."

"How could you say that if you're scared?" he asked.

"I'm not scared of them," you said, eyebrows pulling together. "I'm scared of me. I'm scared of what this means for me. I'm worried about the answers I might get when we get to the Enchanted Forest."

"Barley, you need to get off the road and onto the path in the trees here," Ian said, his face in the map.

"Got it," he said.

"___, whatever it means, Ian and I will be right beside you," he said, putting both hands on the wheel. He turned off of the road and onto a path. "You aren't doing this alone."

You didn't say anything.

"___."

"Yeah?"

"You need to promise me something," he said. He was serious.

"Okay," you said, voice small.

"Promise me that no matter what, we do this together," he said. "Us three."

You hesitated for just a second before you nodded and said, "I promise, Barley."

But if it was dangerous, you thought, would you eventually have to do it alone?

Eager to change the subject, you said, "How far away is the Enchanted Forest?"

"I'm not sure," he said. "It's weird."

"What's weird?" Your eyebrows furrowed.

"Well," he said. "According to ancient history, travelers described entering the Enchanted Forest as entering a second dimension. An alternate reality. They would send their bravest adventurers to find what was inside, but they couldn't get in. The forest wouldn't allow them to enter."

"Is there a puzzle you have to solve or something?" you asked.

He shrugged. "No idea. No one ever attempted to illustrate what they had seen when they approached the forest."

"Weird," you said. "Definitely doesn't make me feel any better."

"Aw, babe," he said, smiling. "I know without a doubt that you can kick the butt of any creature that tries to attack us. You are stronger than any knight there ever was! And certainly no adventurers of the old days had ice powers like yours. You know that pose that you do when you shoot ice forward? You know, it's like --- it's like this---" He lifted his hands off the wheel and moved his fingers around.

"Barley, stop," you laughed. "Focus on the road."

"Yes, my love," he said. He placed both hands on the wheel and dropped his voice low. "I will drive seriously now."

You shook your head. "Oh, Barley."

He smiled, just happy knowing that he made you laugh.

You played with the end of your braid as you thought for a long moment. "You know, you're the only person who has ever treated my powers like they're a good thing."

"They are a good thing," he said. "One day you'll see it."

"Why are they good? Because you can tell people that you have a girlfriend who practices a form of magic?" you scoffed.

"No," he said. "Is that --- is that what you think?"

"No, I'm just... just asking, Barley."

"I think they're a good thing because they are a good thing." He glanced at you. "You're good."

Your eyes met his and they filled with tears. You leaned forward and kissed him on his cheek.

"Hey," he said, holding back a laugh. He playfully elbowed your side. "Ian's asleep."

"So what, is that your way of saying that you want to kiss me now?" you asked. He puckered his lips, making you giggle. "Barley!"

"What?"

"Ian is sleeping," you whispered. "And you are driving."

"We could stop. And that would be hilarious if Ian woke up." He laughed so hard that tears came to his eyes. "He'd be so embarrassed."

"Barley," you said, smacking his chest. You laughed. "What is wrong with you?!"

"I totally wasn't serious!" he exclaimed, then paused. He glanced at you again, elbowing you gently. "Or maybe I wasn't totally serious."

"You're a goofball, you know. You---" You turned in your seat and glanced out the windshield. A gasp left your lips and you grabbed his arm. "Barley!"

He slammed on the brakes at once. The front of the van stopped directly in front of a thick wall of glitter, flurries, and fog. It was so dense that you couldn't see a thing past it.

You struggled to catch up on your breathing. Ian picked himself up off the floor where he had fallen as Barley put the van in reverse and backed up.

Ian moved in between your seat and his brother's. "What... what is that?"

"I think that's the entrance to the Enchanted Forest," Barley said.

"Uh, that's... that's a little spooky," Ian said. "A little scarier than I had imagined."

You stared at it and gulped down hard. It twinkled in the bit of sunlight coming in from the trees above. It sparkled like your magic did. You lifted your palm and let some flurries gather above your hand for a long moment. The boys watched as it mimicked the way your magic twinkled.

"That's it," you said. "This is the Enchanted Forest."

"Great," Ian mumbled.

He glanced nervously at Barley, who put on a brave face and reached behind him. He pulled out a bag (where he carried a couple of snacks and his Quests of Yore book just in case) and his favorite role-playing sword, which he promised you before was the "real deal".

You felt an immense swell of guilt. You couldn't believe what you were dragging them into --- and for what? A couple of possible answers for why you didn't have parents? Maybe to lure them right into whoever was calling for you? What if they hurt them because they weren't you? Should you go in alone? Is that what you were really being told to do?

You struggled to breathe. Your hand shook as you undid your seat belt and gathered your courage to say what was sitting on your heart.

"If you guys don't want to come, you don't have to," you reminded them. "We don't know what is in there, or if it's even safe. I shouldn't have to ask you to risk your lives to find my truth. Actually, I would prefer you guys not to. And I know, you're probably mad that I---"

Barley looked at you in disbelief. "What did I just ask you to promise me?"

"That we do this together," you said. "But---"

"And what did you just say to that?"

"I said --- I said I promise. I know that. I just---"

"And you're just going to take it back?" he scoffed and got out of the van.

You frowned. You hated making him mad. "Barley, wait."

"You always do this," he said. "You always push me away."

"Barley, wait!" You walked around the van. He shut the back doors after he grabbed Ian's wizard staff. "I don't mean to push you away."

"Really?" he asked. He turned and looked at you. "Do you think I'm not capable?"

"Guys," Ian said nervously.

"No! I don't think that. I think you're more than capable of handling yourself. I just worry about you, Barley."

"I know Colt thinks I'm a screw-up. Do you think that too?"

You glared at him. "Since when does protecting you mean that I think you're a screw-up? I love you, Barley. I don't want anything to happen to you and I don't want anything to happen to Ian. Yeah, he's a wizard and yes, you're a warrior, but I'm the only one that has a link to this place. I am afraid of what it means if you two enter. I don't want anything to happen to you. You guys are all that I have! I don't have parents or siblings or anybody. I just have you. Is it so bad that I want to protect you?"

"No," he said, his voice softer now. "No, that isn't bad. But what do you think I want to do for you?"

"Protect me," you answered softly. You sighed in defeat.

"Yeah. And I know you can take care of yourself and you don't really need me. I know that."

You shook your head. "That isn't true."

"No, it is." He smiled. "You don't need anyone to rescue you from anything. You do that yourself. I just... I want to be there for you. You're my family too, you know. "

"I know," you said.

"I'm sorry," he told you. He smiled.

"I'm sorry, too." You sighed and leaned into him. His arms went around you and he held you close. You shut your eyes. "Thank you for never leaving me. I don't know how I would ever be without you."

"No matter what happens," he said, "we do it together." He looked over your head at Ian, who was awkwardly hanging at the side of the van. He chuckled. "Alright, the epic fight is over. Bring it on in, little brother. Big group hug before we face what this forest has."

You giggled, opening your arm for Ian, who stepped into the hug awkwardly. Barley wrapped his arms around both of you and lifted you up. You gasped; yours and Ian's feet left the ground.

"Barley!" Ian complained, although he smiled.

Barley put you back down and you looked up at him. You smiled as he gazed down at you. "Come on," he said. "Let's get some answers for you."

His hand found yours. Your fingers intertwined. Ian remained by your side, where you knew he would bravely stay. This wasn't just your quest, it was theirs. They didn't need to find any answers for themselves --- they just needed to find them for you.

Side by side with the two most important people in your life, you stepped forward into the unknown.

okay i put part four and part five together into this one to make it EXTRA long rather than make two separate parts. i hope you all enjoyed and i will be posting part five tomorrow :-)