Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
Elsa tip toed into the room where she knew Kristoff was staying, near the stables just outside of the palace. She was sure he would make a fine king one day.
Yes, he would be Anna's king, Elsa on the other hand had to leave. Ever since the coronation and subsequent events, she had been having nightmares - nightmares where she would become evil, enslave the land and freeze the people. Nightmares where she would freeze Anna without remorse and take Kristoff for her own king. Would he be king ? Would she be queen? Without any people, could they ever even be called that?
She slowly opened the door, scared that he might be awake, scared that he might stop her. But she had to see him one last time.
He had saved her sister, both up at the ice palace, and by coming back for her in Arendelle, he loved ice and did not judge her harshly like the foreign dignitaries and some of her people. He had a sense of humor and, though he was far from perfect, neither was she... and neither was Anna.
Elsa had been to meet the trolls with Kristoff and Anna once. It had been a funny experience until the trolls had tried to marry Kristoff and Anna - apparently not for the first time! That was when she had realised that she had slowly been falling for the blond Iceman.
There he was - laying atop Sven (how had he managed to get him in?), his instrument by his side, a contented smile upon his face. she approached him slowly, scared of waking him up - scared of anybody finding out her plans. He was snoring, yet still she approached even closer. He was now only inches away as she gave him a short kiss on his forehead.
Maybe it was her imagination, but she was sure she could have heard him exhale her name after the kiss. Scared that the cold or her kiss had woken him up, she scrabled into the shadows, and watched frm the wall as he rolled over,and continued to snore.
Relieved, she quickly left to go and get a horse at the stables. She needed to leave fast - go beyond the mountains and seas to a place where she would no longer fear her powers or for the people she cared for. The name she had heard as she scrambled away from kristoff echoing hauntingly in her ear, like a reproach - like a taunt, taunting her about what possibilities she wa leaving behind. She reigned in her emotions. It would not do for her to be easily followed by a trail of ice caused by her lack of control.
Elsa ran - to another place, where she would be but a dream to those who once knew her. A place where no-one would seek to find her, and she would be free to dream alone.
For in dreams laid certainty, and in certainty, she could be herself, and do what she wanted without doubting or fearing the consequences. In dreams she could be a butterfly - in life, she was Elsa - the snow queen - a monster for some, and a lost little girl if she remained honest to herself.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?
Hans remained on the island where he was being held prisoner by his brothers as punishment for his crimes in Arendelle. He realised - now that his ambitions were no longer in the way that maybe deep down, he had truly loved Anna. Her naive acceptance, her joyful fiery nature, he missed it all. On occasion, he would pick up a handful of sand, and simply watch it blow away in the wind, thinking that the sand - this sand, could do no justice to the strawberry blond colour of her hair.
Some fell through his fingers, like her, like his future - dreams taken from him through his ambition, and foolish planning. He wept, knowing that it was too late. Knowing that he could not keep the sand or his dreams within his grasp. Knowing that it was all over.
Maybe tomorrow they would wake up, and all of these events would have been but a dream. Maybe tomorrow they would be free to live the dreams they had lost. But for now, they were unattainable. Like a dream within a dream.
Words to the poem by Edgar Allan Poe / dream within a dream.
I originally intended for this to be kristelsa, but Hans crept into the tale despite my best efforts.
Oh and I do not own Frozen.
For those of you wondering about updates to my 3 ongoing fanfics - I wrote this one-shot to get back into the frozen fandom in order to get my inspiration back.