Fireside Tale

Disclaimer: Frozen and all related characters and settings used in this piece are the property of Disney. This story is a fan piece, and no money is being made from it.

"Oh, Arendelle? Yeah, it's a legend 'round here. They say it never stops snowin' there, did you know? The winter never ends. No one lives there anymore. People did, once. It used to be a real nice little kingdom. What do you mean, what happened? Haven't you ever heard the story? Well, it goes like this…"

The winter didn't stop.

The sword plunged in and the queen cried out in pain, and as Hans yanked it free, there was a moment of pity for her—she was no more than a mad dog, a vicious animal to be put down before she destroyed Arendelle forever. She had no more control of herself than one, either. For the good of the people, she had to die. It was just luck that that happened to be for his good, too.

For a second he was confused as a deep, freezing cold began in his hands, and as he understood what the bitch was doing to him and raised the sword again, his muscles began to seize, his body to stiffen. The queen fell away, turning as though to protect herself and falling on her back into the snow.

As the redness began to spread around her, there was a single moment where he wondered—

why wasn't the ice melting?

—and then the ice spread faster and faster and as he froze in position, he thought no more.

Anna's lips met Kristoff's and the cold, the cold, the burning cold eased, began to quiet as warmth began to crawl back into her system, began to push out the ice inside…

She'd heard a high shivery sound in the air, but she'd thought it was the screaming wind, or maybe her own dying voice as she called for Kristoff; she was becoming so dissociated from her own body, from anything but the cold. Then there was a thunk like the sound of the cook's cleaver when he chopped up raw meat for the castle dogs and a scream, and Kristoff jerked back from her with a horrified gasp. He'd seen something over her shoulder.

Anna spun around, mobility already coming back to her limbs as true love's kiss thawed the ice, and she screamed, too.

"Elsa!"

She heard Kristoff shouting something behind her, but she couldn't even hear him, much less understand. All she could focus on was her sister, all she could see was Elsa sprawled on the ice with a deep blossoming redness across her chest.

So much blood. There was so much blood.

Paying no mind to the frozen statue that stood above her sister with the ice sword raised high for a second blow it would never strike, Anna ran. Tears were already streaming down her face as she dropped to her knees in the bloody snow. She was optimistic but she wasn't stupid, and the snow around Elsa told its own dreadful story. Somewhere deep inside herself, she already knew.

Elsa's eyes had lost so much of their sparkle as they turned slowly towards Anna. "A…nna?" Her voice was weak, whispery, with none of its adult resonance or power. She sounded like a child again. Anna swallowed, struggling to get control of herself. Elsa needed her now. She had to be brave.

God, there was so much blood.

"It's okay, Elsa, it's gonna be okay, you'll be all right," she babbled, taking her sister's icy hands in hers. "We'll get someone, you'll be okay, I—"

"You're…alive." The faraway smile on Elsa's face broke Anna's heart. "Thought I…he said…"

"He lied." Her voice cracked. "Elsa, I'm sorry, you were right, about everything, you were right, I'm sorry, I was so wrong, I was so stupid, please, I love you, you're going to be all right, you have to be all right—" Hands shaking, she yanked off her cloak and wadded it up, pressing it to the wound, trying to make the blood stop. "Don't worry, Elsa, you're going to be fine, just hang on, we'll fix this, I promise."

Elsa's fingers flexed, brushing ineffectually at Anna's knee. "Anna," she whispered again. There was a tiny spurt of snowflakes from her fingertips.

"No, Elsa, don't try to do anything, just stay still, I mean you're already doing that really well, just don't put in any effort or anything, you have to stay still, I remember someone told me that once, that if you're losing blood you shouldn't move and…and…it would help…and…you should try to stay awake, and…" A choked sob forced itself out of her throat. "Please don't leave me." She pressed harder on the cloak, trying not to feel the stickiness under her palms—no, no, no, if it was already soaking through her cloak—how much more blood could Elsa lose—?

"…love you, Anna…"

"Elsa, no!"

Her sister's eyes drifted shut, and no amount of begging from Anna could get her to open them again. With nothing else she could do until someone came to take them back to the castle where they would be able to save their queen, she settled for matching her breathing to Elsa's. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.

Breathe in…

When the sled arrived for them, with Kristoff and Sven trailing behind, Anna wouldn't let the soldiers take Elsa from her—she climbed into the sled herself, half-carrying and half-dragging her sister. For someone so slight, Elsa was heavy. She'd have to tell Elsa that when she woke up, tease her a little the way younger sisters were supposed to do. She'd stay until then—she had to stay with her sister, had to be there when Elsa opened her eyes. She had to make sure that Elsa knew she wasn't alone, not now, not ever again. She'd be there for her big sister no matter what.

The whole ride back, she sat in the sled with Elsa's head in her lap, stroking her sister's hair, telling her about all the things they would do once they got back to the castle and brought back the summer. "Maybe we won't even have to bring back summer right away, right, Elsa? We can have a long winter if you like, I'm sure we have the stores and if not we'll ship them in…or, well, sled them in, I guess. We could build snowmen in the courtyard together just the way we used to and everything, and I'll…we could have snowball fights! Are you still as good at making snowballs as you used to be? I bet you're even better now. Or…well, maybe we're too old for that now, maybe you're too queenly for that. But it's okay. We don't have to. We can do anything. Anything you want, Elsa."

Elsa felt so cold. Surely it couldn't be healthy for anyone to be so cold. But maybe it was normal for her—it wasn't like Anna would know after all those years they'd been kept apart. Well, they would get her inside and to the fire once she woke. That would help to warm her up.

When they pulled into the courtyard, one soldier after another came to the side of the carriage to offer her help stepping out. She dismissed them all. Elsa needed her little sister as a pillow right now, and Anna wasn't going to disturb her.

At last, Kristoff came to the side of the sled and offered her his hand. Anna frowned at him. "I already told everyone else, I can't move. I'll wake up Elsa," she pointed out, sounding very reasonable to her own ears. "She's been hurt. She needs her rest."

Kristoff looked back at her, and his voice was uncertain and oddly gentle as he said, "Anna."

"I don't want to wake her up," Anna insisted. "It's okay, it's not that cold. I can wait until she wakes up by herself. Then we can take her in and get her warm, and…"

"Anna," he repeated. Then, even gentler, in a voice so unlike his, he added, "You know better."

For a second, she stared at him. Then she turned her head to look down at her sister. Elsa looked so lovely, lying there quiet and at peace, Anna's purple cloak hiding the bloodstained ice dress. Surely she was just sleeping—losing all that blood could make anyone tired. Surely she'd wake up any minute, and smile. Then Anna could apologize for ruining her coronation day and causing all this trouble, being the reason that Elsa had gotten hurt in the first place, and Elsa would say it was okay. That she still loved her. That they could be friends the way they'd been as children, now that Anna knew about her powers. They could put the past behind them at last, and be the sisters they always should have been, and…

…and she was so cold, and she wasn't breathing, and she was gone.

As Anna's eyes filled and spilled over, Kristoff helped her down, and she clung to him, trying not to scream her grief to the world. "Elsa," she choked against his shoulder as tears streamed down her face, already beginning to freeze to her cheeks in the biting cold. "Elsa. Elsa."

"I'm sorry," he whispered back. "Anna, I'm so sorry."

"Your Majesty," said one of the soldiers.

Anna didn't answer, didn't even think to look up. It wasn't her name.

The soldier rephrased himself. "Queen Anna."

"I'm not the Queen," she snapped, automatically defensive at even the idea that someone was addressing her by her sister's title. She was the princess, and to call her anything else was wrong. Elsa was the queen, Elsa was the heir, Elsa had only been officially crowned…could it only have been a few days ago? They couldn't have forgotten already, could they? "That's—"

Elsa was the queen. And Elsa was dead.

The noblemen had gathered in the courtyard with their arrival, and as two of the soldiers solemnly lifted Elsa's body from the sled, there was a collective sound, somewhere between gasp and moan.

Though Anna tried not to, hiding her face against Kristoff's shoulder and shaking her head, she still heard the dreadful words the guard captain spoke. The horrible words. The words that couldn't be true.

"The queen is dead. Long live the queen!"

Hardly a moment later, the Duke of Weselton bustled towards Anna, but Sven moved between them, preventing him from reaching her. That didn't stop him from shouting around the reindeer. "Your Majesty, what is the meaning of this—of this snow? If the monster is dead, then—"

"Shut up!"

Anna didn't even realize she was screaming until the courtyard went completely silent.

"She's not a monster!"

Whirling away from the noblemen, pulling free of Kristoff, she ran after the soldiers who had borne Elsa away. They'd taken her sister, but Elsa needed her, she needed her to be there, and Anna had to get to her—

Stopping in the entrance hall, she looked around frantically. She didn't see them anywhere. Though she ran from room to room, she couldn't find them. Little by little, slowing down as she ran out of energy, she worked her way upstairs.

She blinked as though coming out of a daze, and found herself in front of a familiar blue-and-white door. Reaching out, she tapped on it gently with her knuckles, too tentative to be called a knock. "Elsa…?"

There was no answer. There never would be an answer. Never again. Not even Elsa telling her to go away, just go away, Anna.

"Elsa, please…I'm sorry, I know it was all my fault, believing Hans and…and not listening to you, and thinking I was in love when I didn't even know what love is, and being distracted by Kristoff, and, and worrying about myself instead of helping you…but please don't be mad, I'll make it up to you, I swear, I'll do anything…"

She'd give anything just to hear Elsa tell her to go away.

"Anything."

She whispered it like a promise, raised her hand, and knocked one more time. And received nothing but empty silence.

Kristoff found her hours later, sobbing in front of the closed door, still begging Elsa to answer her.

And outside, a fresh blizzard began to rage.

"And they say that's how it happened. The younger one, she never got over it. They say she went mad. Without the sorceress, and with a mad queen, they could never stop the winter. It was a problem—you can't live on ice, after all. People got to eat. So everyone had to go, after a while…They say the young queen stayed after everyone left, just stayed in the castle and mourned until she died. You know, they also say that sometimes, if the wind's howlin' and you listen hard, you can hear 'em. The sisters, I mean. Cryin', callin' each other. Still lookin' for each other after all these years.

'Course, it's probably nothing but an old story. No one's ever seen the place where Arendelle's supposed to've been. Most people aren't crazy enough to go much further north than here. But…listen to that wind, it's like to chill my bones just hearing it. Don't you…almost…hear someone callin' out there?"