AN: I'm back with the "What If?" sequel I had promised at the end of the first one. In this one, Anna will visit the What If? & I will actually dedicate part of this story to it this time around (I felt kind of bad that I just glossed over it with narration after building the story up although I did show the creation of it but I didn't really explore it as much as I would have liked). Frozen isn't owned by me.
They viewed the alternate timeline again and again and Anna had the same reaction to it. Even though Elsa was still plagued by guilt over what happened before, Anna reassured her constantly that she wasn't at fault and their parents were to blame. "So, when you did this process, what was it like?" Anna asked.
"Well, Pabbie reached into my memories and had me choose which one to fix. I thought about fixing the ones before and during my coronation but I figured since most of our troubles began after I was locked away, I doctored the memory of when we were first seperated", Elsa explained.
"How did you do it though?"
"He dosed me with something that knocked me out so my soul could seperate and enter the memory", Elsa said, explaining the process was like sleep. Anna got it.
"So, how did you fix the memory?"
"What I did was I chose the moment in time where the memory could still be altered. I turned you away at the door yesterday morning in the memory because originally, the reason why I stopped speaking to you through the door was because when Papa came in to check up on me, I told him I was still communicating with you and he gave me the biggest thrashing for it, saying that getting emotionally involved was hampering my control over my magic and forbade me from speaking to you through the door again. I visited my younger self and cryptically told her what would happen if she and our parents kept going down the path they started", Elsa said.
"You didn't reveal your identity and what would happen in the future?"
"You can't. It's one of the rules of visiting the past. You can't give a person future knowledge of what would happen. However, I asked Pabbie if my fixing the past erased both accidents. He said no because it was the events AFTER the first accident that could be changed. Your frozen heart still happened but it happened under different circumstances", Elsa explained.
"Oh. So even after studying and gaining control of your powers in this new thing, you still manage to hurt me again?"
"Part of the training of the rock requires that the rock understand the manifestation of powers. Essentially, when an argument between us occurs and my powers start to manifest, you're supposed to stop and allow me to gain control back. But since you didn't in this timeline, the invietable happened", Elsa said.
"Like at your coronation?" Anna inquired.
"Yes, like at the coronation, you kept pounding me with questions and I felt my powers manifesting up because of your pounding. But since you didn't stop, I shot spikes out. But, Anna, you were right. You deserved to know everything and knowing the memory spell Pabbie used to doctor your memories was never permanent made me regret it even more", Elsa said. "And besides", she added. "You made it up to me by offering Hans your life instead of mine. That showed regardless of what I did, how much I wronged you, you still loved me enough as a sister to do that and Hans couldn't see that", she finished.
"It wasn't permanent?"
"Yep. He said he only did it under the impression that our parents would eventually tell you when you had a more mature grasp on the situation and the fear that you may grow up to become like Weaselton if your memories went unaltered the older you got", Elsa said.
"Oh"
"Anyway, you wanna experience the What If for yourself?" Elsa inquired.
"Sure!"
"Well, get dressed and we'll head out in a few hours. We can't send you into the What If looking like that", Elsa said. Anna didn't even notice she was bare and censored herself with a blush before grabbing some clothes. Once Anna was dressed, the two headed to the Valley of the Living Rock, the bottle that contained the What If in Elsa's hand.
When they reached the Valley, Elsa called for Pabbie and the wise troll rolled up to the sisters. "So, what can I help the royal sisters with this time?" he asked.
"Anna wants to see the What If herself", Elsa said.
"Is this true, Anna?" the troll asked. Anna nodded.
"Very well. However, this is where the rules come into play. The What If can not be altered by any means whatsoever. Any attempts to alter the What If in any way will cause a chain reaction that will also affect the current timeline", Pabbie explained.
"Like what if I stopped myself from meeting Hans on Elsa's coronation?" Anna asked.
"Okay, let's go with that. If you stopped yourself from meeting Hans, Elsa would still be hiding herself and you trying to communicate with her would be what you would come back to. Because even though it was utimately bad in the longrun, it was your meeting with Hans that DID set the ball rolling for her eventually learning how to control her powers", Pabbie said. "You understand what I'm saying?" he asked. Anna nodded again. "Good. Elsa, the bottle", he said. Elsa uncorked the bottle and gave it to him. Pabbie then emptied the bottle and the What If formed in the sky. He turned to Anna. "Now, what would you like to see?"
"The day of Elsa's coronation", Anna said. Pabbie then manuevered the What If to the coronation but he then put it back to the docks.
"I'm sending you back earlier. Remember, DO NOT, under any circumstances and although you may want to, do not attempt to alter the What If", Pabbie said. He then dosed Anna with the same thing he used on Elsa and in an instant, Anna was knocked out into Elsa's arms while her soul left her body and entered the What If.
Anna quickly noticed that she was invisible and that only herself could see and hear her. She scanned around and noticed she was at the docks. "This is where I meet Hans", she said to herself. She noticed Hans disembark his horse, move a stray bucket over to the spot where she would eventually hit it, she then saw Hans reembark his horse and move it backwards. It was then she realized that Hans had set up their meeting in the original timeline. She thought about moving the bucket so that the alternate Anna wouldn't trip and thus meet up with Hans but then she remembered Pabbie's warning and decided to let the events play out normally.
To Anna, watching her meeting with Hans was like deja vu for her but when she saw her alternate self start to run, she quickly faded out so her alternate self couldn't see her because like with Elsa, the same rules applied on her trip to create the What If. Once Anna was certain her alternate self was gone, she faded back in and noticed Hans lift the rowboat up so he could smirk at how easy his plan was going to be. Anna realized right then and there that Hans targeted her because she was the more ideal target for his scheme: being younger and not as emotionally mature would have been a major asset for him to use in the grand plan of usurping the throne. She faded out and ran to view Elsa's coronation ceremony.
Again, Anna felt the sense of deja vu watching the ceremony itself, probably because she already experienced it. The only difference was that Elsa, before taking the orb and scepter, looked over to Anna's alternate self and smiled at her which softened the original Anna, whom Elsa didn't even acknowledge at the ceremony in the original timeline, under the delusion she needed to emotionally isolate herself from Anna to protect her, not realizing that repeatedly pushing Anna away was still hurting her emotionally. Anna also viewed the coronation party, watched her alternate self mingle with Hans a little bit but noticed that when he got to the proposal. "Can I say something crazy? Will you marry me?" Hans asked. The original Anna, invisible, bit her lip, wondering what her alternate self would say because, as she viewed the What If with Elsa prior to this, she noticed that they were more well-adjusted emotionally and had the companionship Anna had been denied, which was her original motive for accepting Hans' proposal in the first place.
"Um," the alternate Anna said. The invisible Anna noticed that Hans, although he wasn't showing it, was getting annoyed. She knew that Hans wanted to get hitched so he could execute his plot. "I'll have to think about it first", the alternate Anna said and left to return to the party. The invisible Anna wiped her forehead off in gratitude and proceeded to watch the rest of the events.
Anna then noticed that her alternate self actually turned down Hans' proposal but said they'd be better off as friends. Again, although he didn't show he was fuming, Hans agreed to the alternate Anna's terms. The alternate Anna then befriended Kristoff but then, a couple days later on, the sisters had an argument. Anna, still invisible, listened in. Apparently, the fact that the alternate Anna was feeling neglected by Elsa's queen duties which is what was driving the argument. Although the alternate Elsa felt her powers manifesting, she tried to warn the alternate Anna but she pushed Elsa to the breaking point and the inveitable happened. Anna couldn't watch anymore.
"Pabbie! Send me back!" she called. Apparently Pabbie got the message and summoned Anna's soul back where it rejoined with her body in the presnet timeline.
"So, how was the trip?" he asked.
"Okay, I guess", Anna responded.
"See, Anna? You had a chance to view the life you two could have led if Elsa and your parents weren't blinded by fear. What did you think of it?" Pabbie then asked the kicker question. Anna didn't know what to answer to the mystical troll. She had said numerous times to Elsa that she was never at fault for anything and she mostly blamed their parents for everything but now, getting a glimpse for herself, made her see the answer herself.
"It was fine. Elsa had better control of her powers, I was smart enough to turn down Hans' proposal. Why couldn't we have that?" Anna asked.
"It's like I told Elsa. What actions we take in the past set the course for the future. Anna, your parents had good intentions but we can't ignore the fact they were blinded by fear, robbing you two of the opportunities the What If presneted. Elsa was more open and you weren't as socially awakard", Pabbie said. Anna understood what the troll was talking about. "Is that it?" he then asked.
"Yep", the sisters said and returned back to the castle, their bond stronger then ever. They kept the What If as a reminder of the life they could have led if their lives weren't in constant fear.
AN: That's It! That's It! The conversation with Pabbie was a little tricky to write because of how I wanted to handle Anna's emotions during that conversation, which is why she sounds more neutral to it in the final scene, in case anyone's wondering about the neutrality to it. R&R!