My first Frozen Fanfic! Yay! I love the movie soooo much! This will be a three-shot. I hope you enjoy!
Warning: Non-graphic mentions of death.
"Things we loose have a way of coming back to us in the end. If not always in the way we expect." -Luna Lovegood, Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
"Hey, Kristoff?"
It was a quiet summer evening in the castle. The windows were open, letting the warm breezes in. Olaf was enjoying the weather and so was the rest of the kingdom. It had become a tradition for Elsa to make a skating rink in the middle of summer and she had made it just after sundown to surprise the villagers with in the morning. The children always got so excited.
For Anna, summer meant chasing Sven with Olaf, Kristoff, and even sometimes Elsa around the meadows and playing with the village children. It also meant that the smell of flowers filled the castle's every room and the sun came into every window. The overall feeling in the castle was cheerful. Even more so considering that last week, Sven became a father to a little calf named Irena.
"Yeah?" Kristoff looked over at Anna, who was stretched out on their bed. If you folded the bed in half, top to bottom, she would be laying right on the crease. Her hands were unbraiding her hair carefully and she was looking straight at him.
"Where are your parents?"
Kristoff looked surprised at her sudden question. It was a miracle this question had made it to three months after their wedding. He had been able to get around Elsa and Anna's questioning about his family for this long by answering "You're my family now.", but he always supposed he'd have to tell them eventually. This time he would have to answer it. "I-I don't know."
Anna sat straight up at that and cocked her head a bit. "You don't know where your parents are? Do you remember them?"
Kristoff shrugged. "I remember my mom more than my dad."
Anna crawled over to him. "Do you know what happened to them?"
Kristoff grew somber. "I think my father froze to death. Or drowned. Maybe both. Hypothermia perhaps."
Anna frowned as he continued.
"I was really little, two or three, when someone came to our door. I was watching the reindeer outside our house, Sven's mother I think, and I heard my father's name, and 'too cold' and my mother burst into tears and then she came over and picked me up. I was too confused to ask what was going on then, but I think it was the next day when I asked her where my father was, she told me he was never coming home." Kristoff sounded choked up.
"I'm sorry," Anna said softly, snuggling against him. "You don't have to finish. I've lost both my parents, it's hard to talk about. I know it is."
Kristoff pulled her close to him and shook his head. "I have to go on. I've waited too long to get this off my chest."
Anna didn't say anything more. Even she knew sometimes all you could do was be there for someone when they needed you. Just being a listening ear could comfort someone.
Kristoff was looking at something Anna couldn't see when he spoke again. "My mother, on the other hand, I remember more. She was with me longer. She was beautiful, gentle and kind and quiet, but really fun. She was the one who found Sven as a baby, orphaned and alone, she brought him back home and let me name him, promising me we would nurse him back to health. She used to sing to me too, I don't remember the words, just the melody. Sometimes it creeps into my mind and I... anyway, there was a big snowstorm and she told me she'd be gone for just a while to bring an elderly lady back to our house. That is was too much for me and that I needed to stay with Sven anyway..."
"Can I come too, Mama?"
"No Kristoff,"
"Why not?"
She came over to him and knelt to his level. "Because dear, it's very cold and windy. Too cold for even my brave little Kristoff."
"I'm not little!" he protested, crossing his arms. "I'm a big boy! You said so yesterday."
She chuckled. "That's right, I forgot. Even for my big, brave boy, it's much too cold. I'll only be a little while Kristoff."
"But Mama-"
"But Kristoff," she interrupted, imitating his whine. "Who will take care of Sven if you come with me?"
Little Kristoff turned to look at the little reindeer curled up near the fire.
"He needs a big, brave boy to protect him. He's frightened you see, of the wind. If you stay with him, he won't be so scared."
"Alright Mama," sighed Kristoff.
"That's my boy." she hugged and kissed him. "I love you, Kristoff. See you in just a little while."
"I love you too, Mama."
She smiled at him and wrapped her cloak around her body. She waved at him and opened the door, letting the cold wind in. She walked out and smiled at him one last time before shutting the door. He watched her trudge past the window and then went to sit by the reindeer, who nuzzled his hand.
"I'll keep you safe," he promised. "Just like my Mama keeps me safe."
"Sometime later, over the wind, I heard a scream. And somehow I knew it was my mother. I stood by the window for hours waiting to see any sign of her, but I knew she was gone. I cried myself to sleep and a few days later, one of the ice harvester's wives came to get me. She let me bring Sven and I lived with her for a while, going with her husband to harvest ice. I knew I didn't fit there. But then, one day, I saw Elsa and you and your parents with the trolls. I was amazed and they liked me, so I stayed with them. The ice harvester never came looking for me."
"What," Anna asked softly. "do you think happened to her?"
"I don't know," Kristoff responded, looking at her. "I've assumed all these years that some kind of animal took her, but I'm not sure."
Anna smiled and took his hand in both of hers. "We can look for her!"
"Anna-" Looking for her so many years later?
"Look for records, I mean. Elsa's queen, she has access to all kinds of stuff. They monitor who leaves on ships and things."
"I don't know..."
"It couldn't hurt, Kristoff. Maybe she's alive. And if she's not, maybe someone knows exactly what happened to her. You could get some closure at least."
"Yeah, maybe." He smiled a little as he took in her hair, one braid was only half unbraided, the other was undone already. He moved his hands to finish the unbraiding. "You know how much I love you, right?"
"Yeah," she smiled at him.
He had finished unbraiding her hair and rested one hand on her cheek. She rested her hand on top of it.
"I love you too." Anna kissed him. "So much."
"I think you need to leave your hair down more often." he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I think you need to stop looking at me like that." she teased, looking at his face.
"I'm sorry, you're beautiful. How can I not look at you like that?"
"You could look at me like this." she crossed her eyes, puffed her cheeks out, and pushed her nose up like a pig snout.
He started laughing and pulled her on top of him. "I can't believe I got so lucky."
"I guess you're okay yourself," she replied, smirking.
He pushed her over and started tickling her. "You'll pay for that, feistypants." Anna was squealing with laughter.
They could worry about bad memories tomorrow. For right now, they were going to be happy.
A/N: Please Review if you can! I'd love to know what you guys think! I appreciate you reading this story!