Merry Christmas, Constant Readers, and welcome to my story for Frozen! Y'know, I had a feeling I'd be writing one eventually, and here it is! This will cover the events of the film, because that's how I usually do things, and I may even do a one-shot sequel to cover the events of Frozen Fever. This will be an OC/Elsa story, naturally, and while the romance will be both slower and faster than usual (you'll see what I mean when you read the story), I hope you guys appreciate what I'm doing here.
Welcome to Opening of a Door Once Closed!
Wow, a T-rated story from me … Seriously, the only thing in this that I would say is inappropriate for children is the strong language and innuendoes that my character will be spouting. I find myself curiously unable to write a completely child friendly story, apparently. Must be all the Stephen King books I read. shrugs
(As I write this AN, I'm aiming to write out this whole story and then release it all on Christmas day as a gift to you all. If I'm not done by then, I'll just upload what I have, as I'm sure it will be at least two or three chapters.)
Let's begin.
Winter is Coming
This story began much earlier than I'm going to start it, but you must forgive me for that. I wasn't actually around for the events that acted as the catalyst for this whole situation, but I was, in a way, involved in the aftermath. Well, more affected than involved, but you get the idea.
My name is Simon. My parents – Kai and Gerda – were both servants of the Arendelle royal family, meaning that we lived in the castle. (Which wasn't as glamorous as you might think – it was like living at work.) I worked for them, too, but in a lesser capacity; at least in my younger years. I helped Mum and Dad with whatever work they thought I could handle, and I spent the rest of the time trying to entertain myself.
Entertaining myself normally meant spending time with the two princesses, Elsa and Anna. Since my family lived in the castle – in the servants' quarters, mind you, but still in the castle – I had known the two practically since the day I was born, and while a few of the snottier nobles disliked the idea of a servant being friends with the princesses, neither my parents, nor the king and queen, seemed to mind. And so I spent my younger years getting to know and be friends with the future queen and her sister. (Though when it came to spending time with them alone, I curiously spent a lot more time with Elsa than I did with Anna.)
It wasn't until later years that I realised just how little I truly knew. But that comes later.
All was going well, until one day, when I was about six or seven years old – I don't remember, exactly – the only one of the two I could find to spend time with was Anna. For some reason the gates of the castle were closed off near enough permanently, too. I tried knocking on Elsa's door a few times to see if there was anything wrong with her, but all I ever got was "Go away," and "Leave me alone." I couldn't have told you why at the time, but hearing Elsa say that to me really hurt. And yet it didn't stop me from trying – every time Elsa's birthday or Christmas came around, I would slide a card under her constantly closed door.
It hurt Anna, too, I could tell. Anna and I spent an awful lot of time alone together over the years, and neither of us ever saw hide nor hair of Elsa for years to come. With every passing day, I grew more and more worried and depressed. For some reason Anna took to singing about snowmen every day for years, but I just assumed that was her way of coping with the lack of contact with her sister. Either way, over those years we spent together, I came to see Anna as more of a sister than a friend, something that made me feel almost uncomfortable for some reason.
Our time together shrank, however, when I hit my teen years, and my parents started giving me more work to do around the castle. I still saw Anna whenever I could, but opportunities to enjoy our time together were few and far between. Slowly but surely, we began to drift apart.
Then the king and queen left by boat to go to a wedding in the far off land of Corona … and never came back. Their ship never even reached its destination.
This hit everyone hard, as the king and queen were about as nice a pair of rulers as you could get. I could certainly tell it hit Anna hard, though due to lack of contact, I couldn't tell you about Elsa – I could only assume she was devastated. My parents and I attended the funeral, and Anna was there, but Elsa was not. I gave Anna a hug, but I never even got an opportunity to see how Elsa felt.
Things went on as usual after that, just with a dark cloud hanging over us for awhile. I cleaned, I delivered messages, and eventually I became a full-time servant around the castle, complete with all the duties. It was good work, and I did enjoy working with my parents, but the idea that I was leaving Anna alone most of the time didn't sit right with me.
But then came a day when I got the opportunity to speak with both Anna and Elsa.
Elsa turned twenty-one years old, and that meant she was to officially become queen. On her coronation day she would have to exit her room and interact with people. The thought of it made my heart leap for joy.
There are no words I can use to describe just how much I was looking forward to the possibility of speaking to both of my childhood friends again.
Too bad that was the day we found ourselves up shit creak without a paddle.
It wasn't hard to wake up that morning. It wasn't hard to wake up any morning. As a servant of the castle, I was expected to be up and about as quickly as I could manage on any day, and the day of Queen Elsa's coronation was of particular importance, for obvious reasons. The second my eyes drifted open, I got up from my bed and set about making myself as presentable as could be. My parents had me greeting some special guests as they arrived at the docks, and I would have to look proper if I was going to make a good impression.
I got out of bed and immediately went over to the mirror. I was still slightly groggy, but that would pass by soon enough.
Reflected back at me were both the entirety of my small room in the servants' quarters, and my own face. My face was thin but strong, and my deep blue eyes reflected back at me, blinking out sleep. My hair was short, curly, and black, and the first thing I did was grab a comb and slick it back to make it look more well-kept. When that was done, I went over to my small wardrobe and took out a dark blue suit. Taking off the rags I wore as pyjamas, I revealed my toned body – you would be surprised how much exercise one could get from working in a castle – and immediately threw on the suit, brushing what few creases there were out of it.
I looked back in the mirror and nodded at my reflection. I put on a pair of black shoes over white socks, and I was ready for the day.
I exited my room, and there was already a rather large hustle and bustle amongst the other servants. I weaved my way through them with some effort, intending on making my way to the kitchen and maybe grabbing myself a piece of bread to eat for a small breakfast on my way to the docks. It was after successfully navigating my way through the moving labyrinth of people that I came across my father, who was no longer a simple servant, and more of an overseer in the castle.
He was a big fellow, my father, with balding brown hair that only now covered the sides and back of his head. His nose was rather large, but that was around the only abnormality about him. He wore a blue jacket over a brown waistcoat, which in turn was worn over a white shirt; around his neck was a large white bow.
"Ah, Simon," he said, smiling, as I approached. "You're up a lot later than expected."
"Am I?" I asked, suddenly panicked. "I got out of bed as soon as I woke up, and I still end up being late?" I sighed. "Sometimes I wonder why you don't just fire me. And if it's because I'm your son, I'm quitting on basic principle. Just FYI."
Dad laughed. "No, I'm not quite that biassed. Your punctuality may not be your best feature, but your work speed certainly is. Being late to start work and still getting all the work done on time isn't something a lot of people can do, you know."
"I know." I looked out of a nearby window to see how late I was – it looked like I still had a little time before the boats docked. "All right, then. I guess I'm skipping breakfast. Tell me honestly: how do I look? I don't wanna go down to the docks looking like crap."
"Language," he scolded.
"I'm twenty years old. You don't get to use that any more."
"Yes I do, I'm your father. Anyway, you look absolutely fine, son. Just get to the docks so the guests who travelled from overseas feel welcome."
"Will do. See you at the coronation."
I walked away swiftly, moving my way to the front of the castle. The gates would still be closed, but there was a way out that the servants used when we needed to buy things from the market, which was the way I would be using. The gates weren't to be opened until the Queen said so. Exiting the castle through the front door, outside of which were the gates, I turned off to the right. There was a smaller door off to the right, which I went through. It lead into a back alley of sorts, and after walking down it for a few moments, I found myself out in the city of Arendelle.
Things were particularly lively on that day, as you can well imagine. The market was positively bursting with activity from citizens preparing to attend the coronation, to merchants in the market trying to sell as much as possible. I had truly never seen the place so alive before.
Not having time to stand around and admire the spectacle, I made my way as quickly as I could to the docks, where I could see the first of the ships was just about to arrive. I gave a silent sigh of relief that I was just on time to get there before anyone got off the ship.
I stood on the end of the dock (not the end by the water, but the one they'd be walking to) and brushed my suit down one more time. I put on a winning smile and prepared to greet whoever was on this first ship. There were three that we were expecting that had a lot more significance than the others. The Duke of Weselton was expected, what with Weselton being Arendelle's closest trade partner and all, and the princess and prince of Corona were coming, as Anna and Elsa were the princess' cousins. (The prince was only royalty through marriage, if I recall correctly.) The third ship was something of a surprise; someone from the Southern Isles was attending the coronation. Arendelle didn't have a particularly close relationship with them other than in trade agreements, so I was rather curious about it.
Actually, isn't it still a little early for the ships to be arriving? I thought to myself. I only went for breakfast because I thought I had plenty of time, and even though I got up later than I thought, from the fact that nobody is waiting at the castle gates just yet, I'd say that this ship is quite a bit early.
The ship docked, and I cut off that train of thought. I checked myself over one last time and smiled.
The man who got off the ship first was around my age, maybe a little younger or older – I really couldn't tell. Even as a straight man I thought he was good looking, with fair skin and some freckles lightly dusting his nose. He had well-combed, auburn hair and sideburns, and green eyes. He wore a light grey and black, patterned blazer, over a blue shirt, an indigo vest, and a magenta cravat tie. On his shoulders were black epaulets and a gold aiguilette. On his bottom half he wore navy blue trousers and black boots. On his hands were a pair of white gloves. He was leading a brown horse with him.
As he approached, I cleared my throat and made sure I was standing straight. "Welcome to Arendelle," I said once he'd reached me. I gave a small, polite bow of the head. "Who might I have the pleasure of addressing?"
"Prince Hans of the Southern Isles," he said, smiling and polite.
"Welcome, my prince," I said, bowing much lower than I had previously. I hadn't expected that the Southern Isles would send royalty, of all things, when Weselton, whom Arendelle had a much closer relationship with, had announced they were sending their Duke. "Would you like someone to come and tend to your horse?"
"Thank you, but no," said Prince Hans. "I'd like to ride him around town for awhile."
Luckily my polite smile masked the laughter that was building up from the way he worded that.
"As you wish, my prince." I bowed again. "I hope Arendelle is to your liking."
"Oh, I'm sure it will be." There was something different about his smile that time, but he had walked past me with his horse and left before I could figure out what. Instead, I was left to greet and offer aid to those who had travelled on the ship with him.
As it turned out, they really had gotten there rather early. I couldn't tell you how much time exactly I was stood there because I didn't have a watch on me, but judging from the way the crowd in front of the gates started to form and grow, I would say it was at the very least an hour. When the other ships started coming in, I was rather relieved to have something to do. I straightened myself up again, my posture having slackened due to the large amount of time I spent idle, and began to greet the new arrivals.
The second of the more significant guests to arrive was the Duke of Weselton. The man was a pompous ass, if I ever saw one. He was old, short, and put way too much effort into making himself look as fancy as possible. I would have appreciated the effort he put into looking good for the coronation, but the way he acted gave me the impression that he dressed that way as much as he could. I would describe him to you, but I really don't want to waste my time talking about that guy. He had two big guys with him who looked more like thugs than bodyguards – that's all you're getting.
It was what I heard him say shortly after he left that I think is worth talking about.
"Ah, Arendelle, our most mysterious trade partner," he said. "Open those gates so I may unlock your secrets and exploit your riches." There was a pause. "Did I say that out loud?"
Yes you did, you daft sod, I thought, smirking to myself. Filing that away to tell Dad about later … and I'd better warn Anna or Elsa, too, just for safety's sake. Probably Elsa; Anna's a great person, but she can be a little air-headed at times.
It didn't occur to me that, after all these years, I didn't know all that much about Elsa any more. The thought of seeing her again, speaking to her again filled my mind, and I felt a sudden wave of joy and excitement. I thought I was just highly anticipating a reunion with my childhood best friend.
It was a few moments later that, upon glancing in that general direction, I noticed that the windows at the front of the castle were opening.
More ships were arriving by the minute, and the dock master joined me in the little meet-and-greet I'd been doing. All I had to do was wait for the ship from Corona, greet the two royals that would be on it, and then I could go and get ready for the coronation. To be quite frank, I was only told to welcome the more high-class guests, and then I was allowed to leave. It seemed a bit snobbish to me, but I certainly wasn't going to complain about being able to move from my spot at the end of those damned docks at long last.
I saw the boat from Corona quite easily when it arrived. The flags were all white with a symbol that looked curiously like a cross between a flower and the sun. It was a rather nice little art piece.
The ship docked, and people started getting off.
There were two people accompanied by a white horse. The man had dark brown hair, a slightly scruffy goatee, and light brown eyes. He wore a dark grey shirt with a dark brown sleeveless jacket over it. He was wearing black trousers and shoes, though he looked rather uncomfortable in them, like he was used to being able to move more freely in his clothes.
The woman had fair skin with a hint of blush to it, short, dark brown hair, and bright green eyes. She wore a simple yet fancy cream-coloured dress, and had a … chameleon on her shoulder.
The horse looked like most other horses for the most part, but there was a sense of intelligence in his face that I had never seen on a horse before. He was fully decked out in a saddle, ready to be ridden at any given notice. There was some kind of pendant around his neck, presumably a name tag.
I stood myself up straight again and greeted them.
"Greetings, and welcome to Arendelle," I said, smiling widely at them, bowing my head. "Can I assume that you're the royals from Corona?"
"What gave it away? The big golden flower on the flags?" asked the man, grinning.
The woman elbowed him in the side lightly, but I laughed.
"That and the chameleon," I said, nodding to the lizard on the woman's shoulder. "It may surprise you to know that we don't often meet people who have friends of a reptilian nature." From the man's demeanour, even if he was a prince, I felt it safe to joke around with him.
The man's expression morphed into one of shock. "You mean that's not common?"
"Eugene," said the woman, drawing out the man's name as she said it. She shook her head, then looked at me. She curtseyed, which was a new one on me – no one introduced themselves to the servants that politely. "Princess Rapunzel of Corona."
"Prince Eugene of Corona," said the man, bowing down to me.
"A pleasure to meet you, your highnesses," I said, bowing down. "My name is Simon, and I'm one of the servants up in the castle." I looked between the chameleon and the horse. "And who are these two fine creatures?"
"This is Pascal," said Princess Rapunzel, looking fondly at the chameleon on her shoulder.
"And this noble steed is Maximus," said Prince Eugene, clapping the horse on the side.
I smiled at the closeness these two shared with their animal companions. "Well, I don't know enough about chameleons to know what they eat, but we have an excellent orchard here in Arendelle," I said. I took a glance at the intelligent-looking horse. "I can bring you some later, if you'd like?"
Maximus gave an approving whinny, nodding his head at me.
I smiled again. An animal that can perfectly understand English, I thought. Who'd have thought?
As I found out later, sentient animals was a lot more common than I initially thought.
"Well, don't let me keep you," I said, bowing to the lot of them again. "I'm sure you're eager to get to the coronation. I'll be heading there myself shortly. Good day to you, your highnesses."
"Y'know, Simon, because I like you, I just want you to call me Eugene," said Eugene. "That 'your highness' crap never really worked for me, anyway."
"Eugene, language," said Princess Rapunzel.
I found myself laughing rather easily around these two. They were a great couple. "All right, then, Eugene, I hope you enjoy your time in Arendelle. You, too, Princess Rapunzel. Pascal. Maximus."
"Just Rapunzel," said Rapunzel. "Any friend of Eugene's is a friend of mine."
"That, and you're friends with basically everybody," said Eugene.
Pascal seemed to nod at me and smile from his perch on Rapunzel's shoulder. I was a little shocked that yet another animal could understand me.
Maximus came over and actually nuzzled against me slightly, then pulled quickly away as if he'd just done something embarrassing.
They left after that, and I found myself watching them go. As they reached the castle, the gates opened, and I took that as my cue to get moving.
As I walked away from the docks, wishing goodbye to the dock master as I went, I found myself being overtaken by a great sense of joy and excitement. There was a skip in my step I barely noticed, a smile on my face that probably should have thoroughly destroyed my cheekbones, and my heart was practically singing.
I have waited many years for this great moment,
Wandering through the halls of that giant castle,
Asking just where all the fun went
Amidst the hustle and bustle.
But now the day is here at last
And my heart is beating fast;
The sun is shining brightly
And my feet are moving lightly.
The wind is passing rapid through my hair so black
Because today I get my two friends back!
I couldn't tell you where the sudden urge to sing came from, but it was there. Maybe Anna's little song craze is contagious. I doubted it, but she had been singing the same snowman song for years, so there was a possibility. Why I was singing didn't really matter in the end. As I went in through the gates of the castle, I was reminded of exactly what did matter at the moment.
I was about to see Elsa for the first time in years.
The bells hadn't even rung to signify it was about to start, and I was already excited!
The chapel in which the coronation was taking place was absolutely packed. The rest of the servants and I ended up having to stand up near the back, but it was worth it, because at the front of the chapel stood Anna and Elsa, together for the first time since we were children. I would have given anything to be up there with them, my two best friends, but I was no royal, no was I even considered important enough in the grand scheme of things to have a seat. I would have to be content with watching from the back.
There was a choir singing in the stands above us. It was setting quite the mood.
Anna looked much the same as she normally did. Her eyes were turquoise blue, and her hair was strawberry blonde, though there was a streak of platinum blonde that had randomly appeared around the same time Elsa had shut herself away in her room. (Anna kept insisting she was born with it, but I had never seen it before.) Her skin had a fair complexion, and her face had a few dusting of freckles. She wore a black dress with off-the-shoulder green straps, and the skirt portion of the dress was an olive colour. There was a pendant around her neck showing Arendelle's symbol. She had worn her hair in a bun for the occasion.
It was Elsa that really got my attention, though.
After years of not seeing her, the only word I could use to describe the way she looked was "beautiful." Her hair, platinum blonde as it had always been, was tied up in a bun with a more regal look to it, and a slight fringe that drew toward the left side of her face.. Her blue eyes were enchanting even from that distance. Her skin was pale, and, like her sister, there was a dusting of freckles on her face, though it was much less noticeable on Elsa. She was wearing a teal dress with a sweetheart bodice, with dark teal, maroon, and purple patterns on the bodice and skirt. Beneath she wore a black, long-sleeved, turtle-neck blouse with red and teal patterns. On her feet were brown flats with golden outlines. On her hands were a pair of sky blue gloves.
I couldn't bring myself to take my eyes off of her, not even for a second. I was mesmerised. My heart was beating in my chest, and I felt my face heat up ever so slightly. I remembered having a similar reaction whenever I saw her as a child, albeit much more severe.
Elsa bowed her head, and the bishop performing the coronation placed a tiara on her head. He picked up a pillow, upon which were a sceptre and an orb. Elsa made to reach for them, but the bishop said something I could not hear, and Elsa slowly, almost hesitantly, removed her gloves. She picked up the two items and turned toward the crowd. Even with the distance between us, I could tell that the neutral expression she bore was taking her some effort to maintain.
Then the bishop spoke again. "Sehm hon HELL-drr IN-um HELL-gum AYG-num ok krund ee THES-um HELL-gah STAHTH, ehk teh frahm FUR-ear U-thear … Queen Elsa of Arendelle."
"Queen Elsa of Arendelle!" the crowd, myself included, repeated.
Elsa put the sceptre and the orb down and rapidly put on her gloves. She looked all right now. I couldn't help but wonder if may she'd developed some kind of aversion to touching things. Like some kind of germ phobia? It was the only way I could explain her apparent desperation to get her gloves back on. And the fact that she wore said gloves all the time seemed to support that theory.
With the coronation done with, everyone began to file out of the chapel.
It was time to celebrate!
The ball room where the celebration of the coronation was taking place was filled with springy music, and all of the guests were dancing, eating, and drinking happily. The servants were around to help anyone if they needed it, but otherwise we were free to enjoy the party. Which is exactly what I did. I've never been a great dancer, I'll admit, so I spent most of it mingling with the crowd, making sure they were enjoying themselves. I found myself wanting to look for Eugene and Rapunzel, because I quite liked those two.
I kept one eye on the Duke of Weselton whenever he was in my line of sight. After what I had heard him say earlier, I had no intention of letting him go anywhere unwatched. I'll have to tell Dad when he comes out.
That didn't take very long, as it turned out.
Trumpets began to play, and at the front of the ballroom, an area which no one had occupied up until this point, Dad was stood.
"Queen Elsa of Arendelle!" he announced, and Elsa entered from the right. She looked a lot more composed than she had before – I dare say she even looked strangely content. "Princess Anna of Arendelle!" Anna ran into the room from the left; she stood there and waved rather awkwardly. Dad ushered her over so that she was standing right next to Elsa. When he was gone, however, she took an awkward step away.
I could understand, in a sense. Having not seen her sister in years, it was fairly reasonable that she would feel strange to be standing next to her.
The crowd applauded, and I joined in with them. The music picked up again, but it was slower this time, like something you'd dance a waltz to. Much more traditional ball music.
Without really thinking about it, I made my way over to Dad, who was about to start talking to the guests.
"Dad, can I talk to you for a sec?" I asked, quietly.
He looked at me, concerned. "Of course, Simon," he said. "What's bothering you?"
"It'd be, er, best if we kept our voices down. This concerns one of the more high-profile guests." He nodded his understanding, so I continued, "The Duke of Weselton said something earlier that's, um, got some rather disturbing implications." I repeated to him what I'd overheard the Duke say, and his eyes narrowed.
"That weasel," he said with distaste. "That's what they should have called it – Weaseltown."
"I dare you to say that to his face." I smirked, then my expression turned serious again. "Given the nature of today, I think it would be unwise to confront him openly, so … I suggest simply keeping an eye on him will have to suffice for now."
"You're right, but I think I'll go and have a talk with him, anyway. Just to see if he gives anything away on his own, you know. If what you say is true, Simon, then he can't be the most subtle of men."
"Yes, saying one's evil plans out loud does require a certain degree of stupidity," I agreed. I glanced toward Elsa and Anna, who seemed to be conversing uncomfortably. "Meanwhile, I'll go and see if our princess and newly crowned queen are in need of anything."
We separated, and I, knowing exactly what Anna would be craving, grabbed up one of the plates with the chocolate on it. Women and their chocolate, I thought with a light titter, though it was all in good humour. As I neared the place where Anna and Elsa were stood, I felt my eyes being drawn to Elsa rather than watching where I was going, which, luckily for me, didn't become as big a hazard as it should have been. As I got nearer to them, I saw them start sniffing in the air, and when I finally reached them, I heard the final word of their conversation.
"… Chocolate," they both said at the same time, then started laughing a little.
"Is right here," I said, presenting the plate in front of them with a smile on my face. "Good to see cravings don't change over the years."
"Don't you know it," Anna said, picking a piece of chocolate off the plate and eating it in a rather unprincess-like manner. I would have laughed under any other circumstances, but given the company in the room, I thought it best not to make it look like I was laughing at the royals.
"Of course I know it. You were rather adamant about there being some at the party." I looked at the older of the two sisters, and the pace of my heart sped up, my face heating up for reasons I could not tell. "Your Majesty." I bowed, unsure of whether or not she would appreciate me calling her by name after all those years. I couldn't keep the smile that formed upon seeing her again off my face, though. "Would you care for some?"
"Just Elsa is fine, Simon … and yes, thank you." She took a piece of chocolate from the plate and ate it much more elegantly than Anna had. She looked me in the eyes, and I was mesmerised by hers. She smiled at me, though there was some discomfort and awkwardness behind it. If it weren't for the fact that I knew she had some freckles, I would have thought her face had gone slightly red. "Thank you for all the cards, by the way. It's very nice of you to keep on doing that."
"It's no problem, really," I said, a little more quickly than I probably should have. I scratched the back of my head, just knowing that my face had gone red. "I've, er … I've missed you."
"… I've missed you, too."
It descended into silence after that. I really didn't know what to say; a number of things came to mind, but none of them seemed quite right, if you understand what I mean. Anna looked like she was about to say something, but there was a bit of an interruption.
"Your Majesty," said Dad, leading a familiar small man from the crowd of guests. "The Duke of Weaseltown."
I barely had the self-control to hold in the laughter that threatened to burst forth from my lips. Son of a bitch, he actually did it! I held in my laughter well enough, but the grin on my face could not be controlled.
"Weselton!" the Duke snapped. "The Duke of Weselton." He looked at Elsa. "Your Majesty, as your closest partner in trade, it seems only fitting that I offer you your first dance as queen. It will surely be more entertaining for you that conversing with the rabble." He briefly gave me the stink-eye. Then he broke into one of the strangest, most dysfunctional dances I have ever seen in my life. It was a complete mess. At the end of it, he took a bow, and the grey hair on his head flapped forward, revealing that he was wearing a toupee.
I had to clamp a hand over my mouth to prevent from bursting out laughing. Elsa and Anna both looked like they were experiencing similar problems. The amusement I felt far outweighed the fact that he had just insulted me.
Elsa cleared her throat. "Thank you … only I don't dance."
"Oh?" the Duke asked, sounding mildly offended.
"But my sister does," said Elsa.
"What?" asked Anna.
"Lucky you," the Duke said, taking Anna by the arm.
"Oh, I don't think—"
The Duke yanked her into the crowd, not paying any attention to her protests. "If you swoon, let me know, I'll catch you."
"Sorry," Elsa said, smirking a little.
I let a chuckle slip through my lips. "Letting your sister go off with that old bugger?" I asked in false shock and disapproval. "For shame, Elsa. For shame!"
She laughed. "Well I certainly wasn't going to dance with someone who insults my old friend," she said.
"No, of course not, you're just going to let your sister do it." I grinned. "While I can't say my actual thoughts out loud in a public setting, they go something along the lines of: I greatly dislike that man."
"I can see that."
It descended into silence again. I wanted to say so many things, but there was one particular thing I wanted to say above all others. It was on the tip of my tongue, but I myself had no idea what it was. I think I remembered saying it in a joking manner when we were children, but in truth it wasn't a joke, and it was even less so now.
"It's good to see you again," I blurted out rather suddenly. My face was heating up again. "I've been working an awful lot these last few years, and I haven't had much time to just spend with friends. And you – you and Anna," I corrected myself, "have always been my best friends. I guess I … um … Well, it's just felt like something's been missing while you were gone, is all."
My eyes had drifted down to my shoes, and my face felt like all the heat of the sun had been pumped into it. I could have sworn my heart was going to explode out of my chest any second.
The feeling of a gloved hand on my shoulder made me look up again. Elsa was smiling at me, and it made my breath hitch in my throat.
"It's good to see the both of you, too," she said.
Anna came through the crowd, groaning and limping a little.
"Well, he was sprightly," said Elsa.
"Especially for a man in heels," said Anna, rubbing her undoubtedly sore feet.
"If it takes heels to make him that tall, I bet seeing him without them would be hilarious," I said.
"Oh, Simon, don't be mean," said Anna, but she was laughing, and so was Elsa. The three of us stayed like that for a few moments, laughing amongst ourselves. For a brief moment, I saw us as we were, just three little kids trying to pass time in a large castle. It seemed so close, yet so far away. "This is so nice. I wish it could be like this all the time."
"I'd love that," I said.
"Me, too," said Elsa. She looked down and her smile faded. "… But it can't."
"Why not?" asked Anna. "If—"
"It just can't."
The happiness in my system caught in my throat and became sour. Any hope I had of the three of us spending more days like this died in that exact moment.
"Excuse me for a minute," Anna said. She walked into the party crowd.
Elsa and I stood silently. Elsa had watched Anna go, and she looked saddened by it. I was, too. Just as it had started to feel like it used to …
"Are you okay?" I asked Elsa, concerned.
"… I'm fine," she said after some brief hesitation. She looked me in the eyes, but there was no smile this time. "You should probably go, too."
It felt like I had been physically slapped. Unexpected tears stung the backs of my eyes, but I held them in. I gave a cut nod. "All right," I said, unable to stop it from sounding slightly choked. "Goodbye, Elsa. It was nice seeing you."
Then I walked away.
Disheartened as I was (thinking back, that's probably an understatement), I did my best to keep up an appearance of happiness as I mingled with the guests at the party. I gave help where it was needed, talked when I needed to talk, and was just generally available for whenever I was needed. I think I still gave off a general aura of sadness, though, because people tried to avoid bothering me and just called for one of the other servants unless I was the only one in sight.
Eventually, however, my mood picked up slightly when I ran into a couple of familiar faces.
"Hey, Simon," Eugene greeted me as I was making my way through the room. He honestly looked rather bored.
"Hi, Eugene," I said. "You look like you're enjoying yourself."
"I know, right? Because who wouldn't enjoy a party with slow music and no bar fights."
"While the Snugly Duckling is, admittedly, a much more exciting place for a party, we need to at least try to enjoy this, Eugene," said Rapunzel. Pascal was still on her shoulder. She looked at me. "Hello again, Simon."
"Hello, Rapunzel," I said. "How are you enjoying yourself?"
"I'm enjoying myself fine. This place is nice. Not like Corona, but nice."
"Good. Lemme guess: they let you bring in Pascal, but a horse was a little too big for them?"
She laughed. "Got it in one."
"What are you, psychic?" Eugene asked jokingly.
"Yes, and I can tell you for a fact that someone is going to take offence to that mess of a goatee and kill you for it." I found myself grinning, my mood improving by the second. "I take it it's safe to assume Maximus is in the stable?"
"Yes, but he's not very happy about it," said Rapunzel. "Maximus has a lot of pride, and he likes being able to move around places. I think he finds the stables restricting."
"Well, I'll take him some apples out later. See if that'll cheer him up."
"Prepare to be followed everywhere until we have to leave, buddy," said Eugene. "Changing topic, I saw you chatting with the queen and the princess a little while ago. You looked pretty comfortable. There a story behind that?"
"Not much of one," I said, shrugging. I felt slightly uncomfortable discussing this topic given what had happened before, so I wanted to get the conversation off this line of inquiry as soon as I could. "My parents are both servants here, too – well, Dad's the overseer, but you get the point. They both live here in the servants' quarters, and since they were working here when I was born, I ended up growing up here. There weren't a lot of other children around the castle, so I ended up making friends with the princesses. That about sums it up."
"Huh …" Eugene clicked his tongue, then grinned evilly at me. "You sweet on either of 'em?"
I then found out that it was entirely possible to choke on air. "I, um, er … w-what?" I sputtered out.
"Eugene, be nice," Rapunzel scolded him.
"I'll, er, just go get you two some drinks," I said, then made a quick exit. As I went to get them some wine, I took deep breaths in an attempt to cool down the raging blush that had taken over my face. My efforts were not in vain, and my blush did die down eventually, but my mind was still playing what Eugene had said over and over again. The word "yes" and an image of Elsa's face flashed in my mind, but I wiped it away. Yes, that may have explained why I never took any romantic interest in any girls growing up, but just because it made sense didn't mean it was okay. The servant and the queen? Yeah, I bet that will go down well with the high-class snobs. Besides …
"You should probably go, too."
Elsa's words form earlier, along with all the times she had told me to go away whenever I knocked on her door, rang through my head.
… I'm not so sure she really likes having me around any more.
I got the wine, did my best to put my happy face back in place, and returned to Eugene and Rapunzel. If the subdued look on Eugene's face and the satisfied one on Rapunzel's were anything to go by, she had thoroughly scolded him for his behaviour. That was nice, but unnecessary – despite the effect if had on me, it was all in good humour, and I could honestly say that I would have said something similar if I were on his side of the conversation.
"Here are your drinks," I said, presenting wine glasses. "Now, I need to go and do my job more, but if you need anything at all, I'll be around. See you guys later."
Just before I could hand them the wine and walk away, however, I caught sight of something curious, and I just had to stop and observe.
"Oops! Pardon. Sorry."
I distinctly heard Anna's voice from somewhere in the crowd. A mere few moments later, I saw her, and she was pulling Prince Hans by the hand. That made me feel a little odd instantly. Maybe she was in a hurry and just wanted him to keep up? It was when they reached Elsa, who had begun mingling with the crowd, however, that thing got very interesting in the worst of ways.
"I mean … Queen … Me again," Anna said, awkwardly. "May I present Prince Hans of the Souther Isles."
"Your Majesty," Prince Hans said, bowing.
Elsa gave a polite but reserved curtsey in response.
"We would like …" said Anna.
"Your blessing …" said Prince Hans.
"… of …"
"… our marriage!" they both finished together.
There was a sudden smashing sound from somewhere very close, and I became very aware that there were rather a lot of eyes on me. It took me less than a second to realise that, in my shock, I had dropped the wine glasses to the floor.
"Oh shi— language, Simon!" I growled to myself, not wanting to curse in the middle of the party. I looked up at Rapunzel and Eugene, who were both looking at me in concern. "I am so sorry. I'll just, er, get this cleaned up." I bent down and started to move all the broken glass into one area of the floor, thinking that it would be easier to clean up that way. I kept taking little glances at Elsa, Anna, and Prince Hans, though, and from the way my eyes occasionally met Elsa's, she knew exactly why I had dropped those glasses. At earliest she could have met him this morning! I yelled in my mind.
"Marriage?" Elsa asked, shocked.
"Yes!" Anna said, as if it wasn't a big deal.
"I'm sorry, I'm confused."
"Well, we haven't worked out all the details ourselves. We'll need a few days to plan the ceremony. Of course we'll have to have soup, roast, and ice-cream, and then— Wait. Would we live here?"
"Here?"
"Absolutely!" Prince Hans agreed, enthusiastically.
"Anna—"
"Oh, we can invite all twelve of your brothers to stay with us—"
"What?" I felt rather sympathetic towards Elsa in that moment. She sounded confused and distressed at the same time. "No, no, no, no, no."
"Of course we have the room." Anna spoke as if Elsa had said nothing at all. "I don't know. Some of them must—"
"Wait. Slow down. No one's brothers are staying here. No one is getting married."
"Wait, what?" Anna asked in confusion.
"May I talk to you, please? Alone."
Anna hooked arms with Hans. "No. Whatever you have to say, you can say to both of us."
"Fine. You can't marry a man you just met."
As if that shouldn't be obvious, I thought, wondering just when it had been that Anna had lost her mind!
"You can if it's true love," Anna argued.
"Anna, what do you know about true love?"
"More than you. All you know is how to shut people out."
I got the feeling Elsa would have flinched if she weren't so good at steeling herself. "You asked for my blessing, but my answer is no. Now, excuse me."
Prince Hans said, "Your Majesty, if I may ease your—"
"No, you may not. And I … I think you should go." She walked away, stopping briefly beside one of the other servants. "The party is over. Close the gates."
"What?" Anna asked, dismayed. "Elsa, no. No, wait!" She made a grab for Elsa's hand, but ended up pulling off one of the blue gloves instead.
Elsa gasped, and I saw a look of very real horror and dismay cross her face. She spun around and made a grab at her glove in a panic. "Give me my glove!" she said.
Anna made a point of keeping the glove out of Elsa's reach. "Elsa, please," she pleaded. "Please. I can't live like this any more."
"… Then leave."
… I could literally feel the tension in the air after Elsa had uttered those words. Even I started to feel tense and worried. If Elsa went back to never showing her face, and Anna did as she said and left, I would lose both of my best friends in one go. The thought of that filled me with a despair worse than any I had felt before, and I couldn't hold myself back from getting involved in the conversation any longer.
"You two have started being a little dramatic over this now, don't you think?" I asked, cautiously making my way forward. "I'm sure you can talk this out in a nice, calm wa—"
"What did I ever do to you!?" Anna asked Elsa, her face being the dictionary definition of hurt.
"Enough, Anna," said Elsa, turning away.
"No," said Anna. "Why? Why do you shut me out!? Why do you shut the world out!? What are you so afraid of!?"
"I said, enough!"
In the split second before the real shock came to me, my eyes were drawn to Elsa's ungloved hand as she swung it around when she turned to face Anna. I briefly noticed a blue glow, but then I took an involuntary step backward as the blue glow shot out of her hand and onto the floor, and giant icicles suddenly spiked out of the floor. I let out a strangled gasp as I felt the cold tip of something press against my neck. If I hadn't taken that step back, that would've scoured my throat, I thought, wide-eyed. When my mind once again caught up with what was happening, I turned my eyes back to Elsa … and so did everyone else in the room.
The crowd were all muttering amongst themselves, staring at Elsa in varied looks of shock and fear.
"Elsa …" I said, and I think I heard Anna saying it, too. But if anything, Elsa seemed to take it as her cue to start running. "Elsa!"
I grabbed the icicle that was up against my throat, and I carefully moved away from it; I wasn't going to be much good to anyone if I somehow managed to impale my own throat on it after so narrowly avoiding it before. That done, I made to move around the semi-circle of icicles and go after Elsa. But I felt my arm being grabbed.
"Simon … what just happened?" Eugene asked. He didn't look scared like the others. Nor did Rapunzel, for that matter. They just looked confused.
"I'm don't really know myself," I said. "But if you'd excuse me, I think I'd better go after her."
I pulled out of his grip and got moving. I made for the front door, knowing that, if she had wanted to escape, that would have been the logical place to go. (It didn't occur to me at the time how lucky I was that I turned out to be right – I would imagine that logic was hardly on Elsa's mind at the time.) I could see out of the doors, and the Duke of Weselton and his two thuggish bodyguards had fallen to the floor.
"Monster … monster!" the Duke exclaimed, pointing at a terrified-looking Elsa, who was standing in front of a frozen fountain.
"Elsa!" I yelled, but she ran again. I exited the doors of the castle, and delivered a swift slap to the back of the Duke's head on my way past. I was in no mood for his shit.
"Elsa!" came Anna's voice from close behind me. There was more than one set of footsteps, but I didn't turn around to check who else was there.
I followed Elsa's easy-to-follow trail out of a set of gates, and I stopped briefly when I noticed she was standing on the edge of the fjord.
"Elsa!" yelled Anna, who was now stood right next to me. "Wait, please!"
Elsa glanced in our direction, but turned away quickly. I saw her take a step into the water, and for one terrifying moment I thought she was trying to drown herself, but then she started running across the water, freezing it into a kind of pathway as she went. The second I saw that she was running again, I started moving down the stairs, taking them two at a time in order to pick up speed.
"Elsa!" I called out.
"Elsa, stop!" cried Anna. As we reached the edge of the ice, however, she slipped and fell. My feet slipped and slid, and in spite of the desperation I felt to reach Elsa, I knew it would be unwise to keep going, so I stopped.
"Anna!" Prince Hans said in worry, moving to help Anna up.
That would explain the other footsteps, I thought.
"No …" said Anna in despair.
Prince Hans gasped. "Look … the fjord …"
I just barely noticed the snow and the full freezing of the water at first. My eyes could focus on little but Elsa's rapidly shrinking form in the distance.
All I could do is watch as the woman I've loved since childhood ran away.
Well, folks, this is the concept I'm running with. The "childhood friend" concept is very overused in other categories, but since I've come across so few Frozen OC stories that take place during the events of the movie, I thought it would be safe to use it. And don't worry, I know that this is a rather large amount of emotion to include in one chapter, but due to the events of the movie itself, I'm having to rush a little to get the romance aspect going. I hope you don't mind.
I couldn't resist the urge to make a Game of Thrones joke in the title, for which I apologise (but not really).
So, from looking it up, turns out the bishop is speaking Ancient Norse during the coronation scene. Who knew?
Oh, and while I may be able to proofread this before I release it, it's not likely. I started it a little late, and I'm becoming increasingly more certain as time goes on that I won't be finished by Christmas. Still, I'm going to damn well try.
This chapter also includes what is likely the only piece of original song-writing you'll see from me. Because I don't know if you've noticed, but I kinda suck at it.
That'll be all for now, Constant Readers. See you next chapter.
