Anna slowly turned the knob on Elsa's door easing it open gradually; this was her way of giving Elsa notice that she was coming in. Anna had spent over a decade knocking at this door to have it answered with harsh words or not answered at all; it was never opened for her. It was at Elsa's insistence that she just walk in, saying that her baby sister had knocked on it enough for one lifetime.
"Hey Elsa after your done with court today do you want to build a snowman, we haven't done that in a while." The petite redhead asked as she walked into the room, before she noticed her platinum blonde older sister lying in bed with an expression of anguish on her face; and a fine layer of crimson frost covering everything in the room.
Anna immediately walked over to Elsa at sat down on the side of bed next to her.
"Hey what's wrong" she asked while slightly shivering and stroking her sister's hair, a touch of concern coming across her face.
"My head is throbbing and I feel nauseous, and court starts in about 15minutes" Elsa adding this last part with dread.
"So cancel it."
"My duty to the kingdom does not go away just because I am ill."
"You're the Queen; you can do whatever you want."
"If it were only that simple, this is my duty. Holding court is a vital part of Arendelle's governance, and our people deserve only my best."
"How can you give our subjects your best, if you aren't at your best?"
The Queen couldn't argue with that logic.
"Perhaps I could postpone it until tomorrow." Elsa said finally conceding.
"Good I'll tell Kai to cancel, and then I'll come back and lay here with you. Maybe I can just hug you into feeling better." The slender royal spoke with a kind and gentle smile.
"That would be nice" Elsa thought.
"(((Yea let her catch whatever we have, that would be real nice you selfish bitch)))" Elsa's subconscious, or more aptly 'guilt center' proclaimed.
"No Anna, as comforting as that sounds I might be contagious."
"I'm not worried about that, I'll risk it if I can make my wonderful big sister just a little less miserable."
"(((You don't deserve her, after all you did and she still loves us)))" guilt center spewed out with contempt.
As harsh as her subconscious was Elsa could do nothing but agree. Acceptance of what Elsa perceived as a painful truth, made tears start to form and slowly trickle down the young monarch's face.
Anna saw the Queen's tears and the crawled on to the bed pulling Elsa's back into the auburn haired girl's chest with a strong hug.
"What's wrong Elsa, tell me." Anna asked as she gave the blonde a peck on the cheek.
"Nothing for you to worry about my little princess."
"Uh-uh, sisters don't keep secrets remember." She cared about Elsa too much to just drop it.
"I do not wish to burden you with my…" Elsa couldn't finish because Anna cut her off
"Do I need to give you a pop on the butt like I did at 'Oaken's Sauna'?" Anna asked only half serious while playfully patting her big sister on the hip.
"That was more like forty six pops on the butt dear" Elsa chided trying to divert the conversation.
"You kept count... hey don't change the subject; why were you crying?"
"(((not getting out of It huh, go ahead make her sad because were guilty, she is more precious than diamonds and you're less than pond scum, god you disgust me!)))"
"Why do you love me Anna?"
"That's a silly question, you're Elsa, that's why I love you"
"You shouldn't. I have done so many horrible things to you, Anna you have every right to hate me its ok, I hate me… Ouch" the Queen yelped because the Princess actually did pop her on the butt. Anna then turned Elsa on to her back and then straddled her hips, placing her hands on the slender blonde's shoulders, looking her directly in the eyes.
"You listen to me missy, I love you more than anything in this whole world; more than hot baths and riding horses, more than Kristoff, hell even more than chocolate and that's saying something. I couldn't hate you if I tried; and yes Elsa I did try to hate you, after enough time went by, after the thousandth time I knocked on that door and you wouldn't answer. I tried to hate you, tried very hard."
Anna's eyes were now starting to get wet.
"No Anna, don't cry, not for me, please don't' I'm not worth it." Elsa thought seeing Anna's tears starting to form.
"(((God damn right you're not)))" guilt center added.
"But you see Elsa I can't hate you, so you can't hate you either." Anna now freely crying
Elsa did the only thing she knew to do and that was to pull Anna into a hug
"I'm so sorry Anna, I've always loved you and never knew how to show it" Elsa was now openly crying to.
Anna composed herself and kissed Elsa's forehead thinking "Be strong Anna, you have to be the big sister right now."
"Elsa you don't have to apologize for anything you have been forgiven and punished for it so it's like that never happened, clean slate."
"(((Clean slate my ass, she could beat you with a whip every day for the rest of your worthless life and it still wouldn't be enough)))" guilt center reminded Elsa.
"(((She is so perfect, lie, lie to her so she can feel better, you don't deserve to but she does.)))"
"I guess you right Anna. Just blame all of this nonsense on my headache and nausea."
"Now that's more like it." Anna said with a genuine smile as she stroked Elsa's hair and placed another kiss on her forehead.
"I should probably get some rest, maybe I'll feel better."
"You sure you don't want me to stay with you."
"I'll be fine Anna; you go do something fun, ok."
"All right, but I'm going to come check in on you latter."
Anna climbed off the bed and started towards the door when she noticed her sister's crown resting on a pillow that was atop of a podium.
"Hey why don't I take this to the gold smith and have him polish it up for you after I let everyone know that court is postponed until tomorrow?" Anna asked picking it up and giving it a glance.
"Thank you Anna, you're such a good sister." Elsa answered.
"(((More than you deserve bitch)))."
….
As Arendelles's heir apparent walked down the empty hallway she noticed a familiar puff of smoke accompanied by a popping noise appear over her right shoulder. As the smoke cleared Anna could see a three inch tall version of herself sitting on her shoulder, wearing a red and black dress and holding a scaled down pitch fork in her hand. She was identical to the Princess in every way except for two small black horns on her head and a bright red tail that whipped back and forth.
"Goldsmith my ass, we know what you're going to do with that crown." Demon Anna spoke.
"Go away; all you do is get me in trouble." The copper haired girl retorted. This was not the first time the two of them had meet.
"Yeah, but we always have shit loads of fun while doing it."
"Well not any more, I'm a good girl now." Anna stated proudly.
"Right, good girls go around setting carriages on fire."
"FOR THE LAST TIME, THAT WAS A FUCKING ACCIDENT" Anna shouted in anger and then immediately glanced around hoping that no one had heard her insane little outburst. When she saw no one Anna sighed and looked back to the demon on her shoulder. It spoke before she could.
"Do good girls also use such colorful language? Come on you know what you want to do"
"Are you crazy? Elsa would cane me with an ice switch for pulling a stunt like that."
"Oh please you saw the guilt coming off of her it was starting to flood the whole room; you could declare war on France and get away with it today."
"No I will not take advantage of that" Anna stated firmly.
"Yes you will, because you will never get this chance again."
"Well when you put it like that... Hey wait isn't there supposed to be like another one of you or something?" The petite royal asked.
More smoke appeared and dissipated leaving another three inch version of the redhead seated next to demon Anna instead of on the other shoulder as the princess would have assumed. Only this one was wearing a pure white dress and had a golden halo above her head.
"Ok, time for the counterpoint" Anna thought.
"Seriously, how much more convincing do you need?" angel Anna said in an annoyed tone, completely agreeing with her demon counterpart.
Anna shrugged her shoulders and spoke as she placed the crown on her head. "Well guess that settles it."
"AWESOME SAUCE!" the demon and angel shout in unison while fist pumping at the same time, before both of them disappeared in a final cloud of smoke.
"Weirdos" Anna thought, shaking her head.
….
The young red head turned a corner walking into the corridor connecting the royal residence wing into the castle proper when she saw Gerda and Kai both approaching the direction she had just left.
"Just the two I was looking for" Anna spoke with her best poise
"Your highness?" Kai spoke with some confusion as he noticed the Queen's crown upon her head.
"Not touching this one with a ten foot pole" Gerda thought, opting to remain silent.
"Elsa is not feeling well and will be spending the afternoon in bed resting. She has appointed me Queen for today and I will be holding court in her place."
"Make that a hundred foot pole" Gerda still not saying a word.
"This is highly irregular you highne…" Kai attempted to say but Anna cut him off with a point to the crown on her head.
"Do you see the crown?" Anna asked.
"Yes but…"
"Do you argue with the crown?"
"No but…"
"Are there any further questions?"
"No your Majesty" Kai answered with a sigh, resigning himself to the fact that this was a battle that could not be won.
"See Kai that's what I like about you. You are smart enough to realize that I'm always right. Now please inform the assembly that court will commence in five minutes."
"Right away, your majesty." Kai answered with a bow.
"Oh, and Gerda be sure to let the staff know that my sister is not to be disturbed under any circumstance."
"Of course your majesty" Gerda curtsied before swiftly walking away.
"It's good to be the Queen" Anna thought as she merely strolled to the throne room.
….
. "Yes, I know this is insane, but you don't argue with the crown." Kai disputed with the Herald in whispers
"When the real Queen finds out about this were toast; she made an eight hundred foot tall ice tower for fuck's sake, do you really think a guillotine is that far off.
"It is a bit of a rock and a hard place, yet what can we do?"
"Defect to Finland" The Herald answered in sarcastic aggravation.
"We'll call that plan 'B'" Kai said sympathetically.
Their exchange was cut short when a ceremonially dressed guard pulled open a door and Anna stepped thru it. Kia looked over to the Herald, giving him a sad look that said 'you're up'.
The Herald cleared his throat (while wondering if his life insurance policy was up to date) and spoke in a resonating voice. "Presenting her royal majesty Queen Anna".
A wave of murmurs washed over the sea of people in attendance, mostly standing with a few higher ranking nobles seated in cushioned chairs. All behind a purple velvet rope and two ceremonial guards holding halberds. A few non ceremonial guards armed with muskets were dispersed thru out the throne room.
"Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen, no Elsa has not shrank four inches and dyed her hair red in case you were wondering" Anna said in a clear and crisp tone void of fear or apprehension while easing herself into the throne.
Most of the assembled subjects gave this a quiet laugh
"That's right lead in with a joke, you've got this" The faux Queen thought.
Even though Anna was not a real Queen she was no stranger to public speaking or being the highest noble in the room. With the actual Crown Princess indisposed for almost thirteen years, the younger one had assumed a lot of those duties; this was no different from the countless commencement ceremonies she had preceded over.
"Her majesty, good Queen Elsa has fallen ill; though it is nothing serious or life threatening she cannot be here today. So she has appointed me 'Regina Surrogatus' for today's proceedings."
"Yep, totally pulled that one out of my ass" The auburn haired girl thought.
A large bald man around sixty wearing a red sash adorned with gold medallions stood and raised his hand. Anna gave a nod to the Herald.
"His grace, Duke Halvorsen of Aust-Agder" the Herald called out for everyone to hear
Anna recognized the name of Arendelle's southernmost province, they were part of the failed petition to have Elsa removed from the throne, citing that 'Arendelle's monarch shouldn't have magical powers and a tendency to sing in the mountains while dressing like a total slut puppy' (actual wording of the petition), Anna did not like this man at all.
The Duke began to speak, "Your highness…" Anna cut him off with a raised finger; she would tolerate no insolence today, especially from this douchebag.
"My apologies your Majesty, Forgive me but I am not familiar with the concept of 'Regina Surrogatus', perhaps you could enlighten us to its origin.
This did not deter Anna in anyway; she was used to thinking on her feet
"I believe it comes from the old kingdom sometime around 950A.D, I'm not sure of the exact date.
"Forgive me again you majesty, but if it comes from the old kingdom then why is it in the Latin instead of Old High Norse?"
"Multiculturalism?" The Redhead blurted out.
"Shit, Shit, Shit" Anna thought. She had to shut down this conversation fast
"Your curiosity is apparently limitless, your grace; however the crown's time is not. If you are this concerned about such trivial semantics, then perhaps we should go to my sister's sick bed and I can awaken her so you can inquire about the etymology yourself."
"That won't be necessary my Queen, yet again my most humble apologies." the Duke quickly realizing that reports of the Princess being an airheaded pushover were greatly exaggerated.
"Accepted, now do you have any actual business to place before the crown today or are you simply here to waste everyone's time."
"Of course not your Majesty there is a pressing matter of lumber shipments from the royal forest" Halvorsen said trying to move past the embarrassing exchange with 'this arrogant child' as he would latter describe Princess Anna to his peers.
"Pressing how?" Anna asked, becoming bored with the subject already.
"Well your majesty, we have fifteen thousand tons of pre milled timber harvested and we have received two generous, yet different offers from Germany and Switzerland."
"And seeing that this lumber comes from the royal forest you need me to make the decision, very well. What are their offers?"
"Germany has offered seven thousand tons of wheat and The Swiss have proposed one ton of fine chocolate, the market values for all three commodities places both offers as lucrative and in balance with one another."
Anna's mouth started to water at the thought of a ton of chocolate.
"Simple choice, your grace; get the chocolate, and have a few pounds of it sent to me." Anna hadn't had chocolate in almost a month due to a very horrible temporary ban placed buy a very spiteful sister.
"Your majesty please, I must speak!" A woman in her mid-thirties wearing a nice but not elaborate dress cried out as guards held her from crossing the ropes.
"Allow her to approach." The pretend monarch said to her guards
The moderately dressed woman walked to the dais and knelt on a pillow (Elsa kept the tradition of petitioners knelling at the throne, though she didn't want them to do it on a hard uncomfortable wooden floor.).
"Speak" Anna said in a tone that came out a bit harsher than she had planned but decided to go with it.
"My name is Agatha Sorenson and I am the director for your majesties orphanages thru out the kingdom. I implore you, your majesty; that wheat would make enough gruel to feed every parentless child for the whole winter."
"Gruel? Yuck, poor kids; I'm not forcing anyone to eat that." Anna thought.
"Wheat shmeat, we need chocolate" Anna answered while pounding her fist on the throne's arm rest.
"Of course your majesty, the Queen is wise" "the actual Queen, not you, you little brat" Sorenson said and then thought.
As the defeated orphanages director rose and left Anna spoke
"Next"
Two guards stepped forward each holding an arm on a poorly dressed man who was rail thin and quite filthy. Anna tilted her head in confusion.
"Your majesty this scoundrel was caught committing lewd acts in the capitol village" the first guard announced.
"And crimes committed in the capitol are judged by the monarch, so I have to deal with it." "This is not as fun as I thought it would be" Anna said and then thought.
"Ok, what lewd activities is he charged with?"
"It would be inappropriate to say aloud, your majesty" the guard answered.
"Oh, come on were all adults here" Anna urged, excitedly thinking "this might get juicy".
"He was caught peeking into a woman's bathroom window while masturbating" the guard answered slightly blushing.
Anna glanced at the accused with a wide eyed look of shock and spoke.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself sir?"
The perverted man simply shrugged his shoulders "I like the ladies" his breath smelled of beer and rotting teeth.
Anna became outraged at the degenerate's nonchalance at admitting his disgusting behavior, so much so that she quickly jumped from her seat at the throne and punched him in the stomach. The pervert doubled over in pain and hit the floor, while everyone in the throne room gasped in shock. Anna look down at him and spat angry words.
"First off, it's I like the ladies, your majesty, and second what in the flipping fuck is wrong with you"
The assembly of subjects gasped at the 'Queen's' use of vulgarity. This kind of annoyed Anna.
"Oh lighten up" she muttered under her breath.
"Strip this scum naked and stick him in the stocks for five days, maybe that'll fix the little sicko."
The guards drug him away as Anna composed herself.
"I think that's enough icky stuff for one day. So now I want everyone to stand up if you aren't all ready and do the 'Hokey Pokey'.