"Elsa, Elsa!" A high pitch squeal rang out behind the door. "Elsa! Mama and Papa said you could come out and play with me today! The gates are open, just for us! Come on, Mama and Papa gave us money to buy those fancy chocolates and ice cream!"
It had been several weeks since Elsa had hurt Anna, and she had not seen her sister since then. A wide smile graced the eldest princess' lips as she set her book down one the nightstand beside her bed; maybe Mama and Papa had changed their minds about her and Anna not having any contact with each other.
Several knocks and promises of chocolate came from behind the door, and it made Elsa have a sudden burst of happiness. "I'm coming, Anna!" she called, and happily opened the door. Anna grabbed her hand as soon as she came out of the room and practically dragged her downstairs.
"We are gonna have so much fun, Elsa!" Anna said happily, smiling up at her older sister, who had suddenly stopped walking. Elsa's smile disappeared. "I know, I know! I was supposed to say 'going to.' I forgot, Elsa." Although Elsa noticed her sister's grammar mistake that was not what she was upset about, so she just continued to be led by Anna through the ballroom.
"Elsa, remember to take care of Anna, darling," the King's voice said behind them. Elsa turned around, and looked skeptical. Her father was the one who wouldn't let her play with Anna, and now he was letting them go outside alone. "Anna, no wandering off! Stay next to your sister at all times; I know how you get when you are excited."
"I know! Stay next to Elsa! Got it!" Anna squealed happily as she dragged Elsa to the palace doors that were being opened by two guards.
"Have fun girls, and stay out of trouble!" the king called as his two little girls disappeared out the doorway.
"Look at all the people, and all the shops, and all the nature!" Anna said wonderstruck as she and Elsa walked up and down the cobblestone streets filled with amazing things. People smiled as the two little princesses walked by. A kind faced man gave Anna a shiny red balloon from his cart. Elsa almost rolled her eyes at how excited Anna was over a balloon, but then she remembered she was a princess. Princesses do not roll their eyes.
"Let's get the chocolate now, before we have to go home," Elsa said, pulling her sister away from a cart of beautiful flowers. Anna obeyed and waved at the lady selling flowers as Elsa led her to the chocolate shop.
They each picked out several of their favorite chocolates, and Elsa handed the man the money at the counter. He gave them several extra pieces and winked as they grabbed the bags and walked out the door to a bench outside the shop.
"What's wrong, Elsa?" Anna said, her face stained with chocolate.
"You are not mad at me," Elsa stated with a curious look on her face. "Papa let us go outside without any guards. I'm not supposed to leave my room. This is all very strange to me, Anna. I'm glad I can be with you again!"
"You're dreaming, Elsa. I just wanted to play with you one last time, before you wake up," Anna said with sadness in her eyes. "I don't want you to wake up! I want to play with you forever!"
"Do not worry, Anna. I am going to play with you until you are all grown up and will not want to play with me anymore!" Elsa said putting her arms around her younger sister. "I am awake, can't you see?"
"No, Elsa, you're not," Anna said with wisdom in her voice. "Do you wanna build a snowman? We might never get to ever again."
Elsa nodded, with tears in her eyes. Anna wasn't making any sense, and she was scared. If this was all a dream she should be able to use her powers without hurting anybody. She should be able to build a snowman with her little sister one last time before facing whatever happens when she wakes up.
"Well come on then!" Anna said dragging Elsa away from the bench. Anna led her towards the fjords, and Elsa had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Do the magic! Do the magic!" Anna shouted, and Elsa started making it snow. "This is amazing!"
Anna started rolling snowballs to make the body of her snow man, as Elsa kept supplying the snow for it. Elsa helped Anna put the head on the body, and she smiled when it was finished.
"Look, Elsa! It's Olaf! We built Olaf again!" Anna squealed, hugging the snowman. "Will you play 'catch me' again, Elsa? You won't hurt me! Please, Elsa! For me?"
Fear coursed through Elsa's body. She was afraid she would hurt Anna again, but she didn't know how to refuse to her puppy eyed sister. She knew she had to be more careful, and it wasn't likely that she would hit Anna with her magic a second time. "Only if you don't go too fast, Anna. If I hurt you again I don't know what will happen."
"I promise, Elsa! Now catch me!" Anna said as she jumped. Elsa supplied the snow drifts as Anna jumped slower than she had before. As Anna had started picking up the pace, Elsa's blood ran cold. How did Anna even know she had powers? She had her memories taken away. The troll said they wouldn't come back.
"Elsa!" Anna screamed as she tumbled towards the ground. Elsa reached out to grab her, but it was too late. A blast of her ice magic struck Anna on the way down. "Anna!" she screamed, as she ran towards her. Both Elsa and Anna were no longer young girls anymore.
An eighteen looking Anna, was sprawled out on the ground. Her skin was tinged blue and she was ice cold. Her hair was completely white. Elsa started sobbing and clutching Anna's lifeless body.
"Why did you kill me, Elsa? I wanted to live. I wanted to enjoy the sun and open up the gates! I wanted the chance to find romance! I don't want to be alone!" Anna's voice rang out over Elsa's sobs.
"Elsa, what have you done?" her father's horrified voice rang out.
"Monster!"
"Elsa!"
"Elsa!
O.o.O
"Elsa!"
Her eyes opened suddenly, and she winced at the minimal light coming from the window. Her heart hammered against her chest, and tears had fallen down her cheeks involuntarily. She should have known it was just a dream when her parents allowed her to play with 'dream Anna.' Luckily the ending wasn't real either.
She sat up and looked at her chained hands, her head throbbing. She sighed as she got up to look out the prison window. The snow and wind whipped across the frozen fjords, making Elsa afraid and deeply upset. Anna was right. She had cursed the land to an eternal winter, dooming everyone.
"Elsa, you are awake," a quiet voice said sitting in a chair by the door of the cell. Elsa whipped her head around to face Prince Hans, the charming man Anna had wanted to marry so suddenly, holding a lantern.
"Why did you bring me here?" Elsa asked Hans, remembering that everyone who stormed her ice palace wanted her dead. He could have left her under the chandelier rubble to die. That would have been the smart thing to do. She was a danger to everyone in Arendelle.
"I couldn't let them kill you," he said, his green eyes filled with sadness and sincerity. He tried to grab her hand, but she pulled away.
"But I'm a danger to Arendelle!" Elsa said desperately as she walked back to the window. Maybe it would have been better if he left her to die on the North Mountain after all. "Get Anna!"
"Elsa…" he said sadly shaking his head. He walked over to the sad queen and put his hand on her shoulder. "Anna has not returned from the mountain. We have had search parties looking for her, but... Elsa, it has almost been a month. She could be buried under several feet of snow by now."
Elsa stared at him like he was crazy, "No, it hasn't been almost a month. I have only been asleep for a day or two. Anna…" tears started forming in her eyes "Anna is safe. She came back home when I told her to!"
"She never made it. The palace doctor has been force feeding you, and I have been overseeing the kingdom in both of your absences,"
"Anna is alive!" Elsa said trying to reassure herself. Hans kept looking at her sadly. "Anna… she had her whole life ahead of her. She only went out in the storm looking for me! I was only trying to protect her! That's all I have ever done, and now… I never got to be a sister to her. Do you know how many times I cried because I couldn't play with her? How many times I cried because she cried? She was the only one who still believed in me. My parents locked me up in a room my whole life because they were afraid that I was going to hurt everyone. She was the only one who ever loved me, and… I-I killed her!" Elsa said and collapsed to the ground. Icy tears streamed down her face as sobs racked her body. Hans ran to the window and noticed the blizzard had stopped.
"Elsa, I don't think you are a bad person, so I'm going to warn you ahead of time. The Duke of Weselton and the other foreign dignitaries are already blaming you for Anna's disappearance. They have been planning to get you off the thrown permanently, and they aren't going to wait for a unanimous vote from the people either. I could tell them that you confessed to killing Anna, but that would be unfortunate for you and the kingdom," Hans said, suddenly serious and the sympathy in his eyes gone as Elsa looked up at him; a look of understanding and then horror appeared across her face. The Duke wanted her killed.
"As you may already know, I am thirteenth in line for the thrown in my own kingdom, so if I ever want to be king I will have to marry into the thrown somehow or have a lot of blood on my hands. If you die, Elsa, I have already been promised that I will be the new King of Arendelle. But it doesn't have to be that way, Elsa. You could be my queen." Hans said smiling.
A look of realization passed over Elsa's face, "No. You can't be serious. You sorry son of a-"
"Language, Elsa," Hans chastised before she could even finish what she was going to say. "You have two options; either marry me or die. It's your choice."
"But… why would you want to marry me? You l-loved… Anna. Why are you doing this?" Elsa said looking at him desperately. She was breaking even further on the inside.
"Oh, Elsa, you really are blind and naïve," he said chuckling, grabbing her off the floor and setting her onto the cot. She was too confused to protest his actions. "I don't mind sharing the thrown; after all, I will eventually need a wife to give me an heir anyways, and why shouldn't it be you, Elsa? After all, you are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. Why would I let you just slip away? You would be saving me more trouble than it's worth. As for your sister, don't get me wrong she was a sweet girl, but she never really meant anything to me. You, as heir, were always preferable, for obvious reasons, but no one was getting anywhere with you. Anna was the next best option, until I found out how dreadfully annoying she was. That girl was crazy and had no intellectual thought, whereas you were smart and reserved. Anna is no match for you in beauty. I am already attracted to you, Elsa; I don't think there needs to be any further explanation. Death is the only other option, but that would be such a waste."
She didn't know whether to be flattered or appalled at his explanation. No one had shown any interest in her, but he betrayed Anna and herself. A look of defiance revealed itself on Elsa's face after she decided that what he did to Anna and his devious motives were not forgivable, "I would rather die than marry you. The only person I love is dead and I have nothing else to live for."
Hans shook his head at her in disappointment, "What a shame; I'm sure we would have had many things in common if you had given me the chance. I will tell one of the servants to tell the Duke that you are awake. Your execution will take place tomorrow in the town's square."
Hans walked towards the door smirking. As he was about to leave he took one more look at Elsa, who was staring blankly at the floor. "If you happen to change your mind, all you have to do is say 'I want to live' and I will save you. If you don't, well, good luck; there are no queens in the afterlife."
The door slammed shut, and Elsa began to cry.
O.o.O
"Anna's been sleeping for a long time," Olaf stated as Kristoff was spoon feeding Anna.
"She should wake up any day now, Olaf," Kristoff said quietly, not wanting to disturb the peaceful girl's recovery slumber. "Grand Pabbie said she would sleep for a few weeks after she unfroze."
"So any day now?" Olaf said excitedly. "I wanted to kiss that Hans though, but then you had to ruin everything and kiss her!"
Kristoff rolled his eyes at Olaf's comments and continued putting tiny scoops of mashed green beans in Anna's mouth. He could imagine her spitting them out and stuffing her face with chocolate if she was awake and found out what he had been feeding her. He was surprised when the kiss worked, but he was also extremely happy. There was no time to go to Hans, and apparently it wouldn't have worked anyways.
He got up and gave the plate to Bulda to wash, after he was done feeding Anna.
"Take your clothes off, and I'll wash them," Bulda said brightly, scrubbing the plate clean.
"No, it's ok. You just washed them yesterday!" Kristoff said nicely, sniffing his shirt just to make sure they were still clean.
"Kristoff! Kristoff!" Olaf yelled from Anna's room. "Come quick!"
Kristoff bolted into the room and was met with Anna's smiling face looking up at him. Olaf looked like he was about to faint out of delight.
"Kristoff?" Anna said smiling widely. He came up to the side of her bed and embraced her in a comforting hug, rubbing her back as she leaned on his shoulder. "Kristoff, I love you."
"I love you more than anything, Anna," Kristoff replied back. "I don't know what I was going to do if you never woke up."
"What about me?" Olaf said, as he jumped on Anna's bed.
"Oh, I would never forget you, Olaf," Anna said, letting go of Kristoff to hug the eager snowman.
"Once you are well again, we can try to find Elsa again, and bring you back to the palace. I hope Elsa isn't in trouble. You will just have to tell Hans the truth, I suppose… you know, about us," Kristoff said sheepishly.
Anna's smile suddenly turned into a look of confusion, "What are you talking about?"
"Well, hopefully Hans won't take the break up too hard, and hopefully Elsa found a way to bring back summer,"
"Oh I've always loved the idea of summer, and the sun, and all things hot!" Olaf squealed. Both Kristoff and Anna ignored him as he started singing his summer song.
"Wait, Kristoff, I really have no idea who you are talking about. Who are Elsa and Hans?"
"Don't be silly Anna, your sister and the guy you were going to marry," Kristoff said as he looked at Anna like she was crazy.
"I don't have a sister Kristoff, and I don't remember knowing anyone named Hans,"
"Do you remember my reindeer's name, my adoptive mother's name, the old troll's name, your butler's name, your parents' names?" He said looking desperately into her eyes.
"Sven, Bulda, Grand Pabbie, and I don't remember… In fact I don't remember anything before falling off of a cliff with you."
O.o.O
Every monarch messes up at least one time in their reign, but they always find a way to fix their mistakes, Elsa's father used to say. I'm the one exception she thought bitterly, as she was led up to the execution platform they had set up for her. Her mistake had killed her sister, and who knows how many other people had died of the cold? This time it could not be fixed. Perhaps maybe if she would have let Anna marry Hans, Anna would still be alive. But then Anna would be stuck with a man who never loved her, and Hans would have been out to kill me still anyways. If she was able to go back in time, there would have been no easy solution to fix the mess that happened.
"Queen Elsa is responsible for your pain and suffering! She deserves to pay for what she has done to you and the members of your family…"
Elsa drowned out the Duke's speech and focused at the crowd. Most of the people were staring at her with sympathy or indifference. When she caught one of their eyes, they looked away; whether they did it out of fear or sorrow, Elsa didn't know, but it made her heart sink lower each time someone looked away from her. I'm stupid if I think one of them is going to save me. But in her heart she hoped one of them had the courage to speak up against the Duke of Weselton.
Elsa saw her personal maid and nanny growing up, Gerda, looking up at her in tears. She put a hand over her heart, and it made Elsa think of the times when Gerda told her to be strong when she was deeply upset. Tears started falling down her cheeks as she was reminded of her childhood.
She thought of her parents who would be deeply disappointed in her. Her father would have been screaming and berating her for not keeping her powers hidden. Her mother would have gone along with whatever her father said, being the perfect little queen she was. Her father would have said she got exactly what she deserved. And maybe she did deserve to die, but it didn't make it any less hard.
She thought about Anna, her sweet, happy go lucky little sister. Anna would have defended her when no one else would. But she killed her. Elsa killed the only person who ever gave her the time of day. Anna would have also said that she knew it was an accident, and Elsa shouldn't have to beat herself up about it. Elsa almost smiled at how forgiving her sister was, but then she realized the kind of situation she was in. Anna would have told her to live. So why shouldn't she live for Anna, if she couldn't live for herself?
That was when she realized that she didn't want to die. Was it selfish for her to want to live when she caused so many people pain? Maybe; she didn't know, but it wasn't like she ever wanted any of this to happen. She tried to prevent her powers from getting out of control all her life, but the only time it really mattered was the time they cursed the whole kingdom. She was sorry for what she did, and that was more that could be said for most people.
But did she really want to marry Hans? The answer was a firm no, but at least she would know what her life would be like if she chose to marry him. Death would bring her to the unknown, and what if the afterlife was horrible? She might not even get to see Anna there.
Her mother would have encouraged her to marry Hans. He was the type of man that every young woman should aspire to marry; he was ambitious, kind, loyal, and good speaker. He was the type of man to lead the family, the type of man that would be a firm but fair king. But he also was blackmailing her to marry him. If Anna knew that she was going to die if she didn't marry Hans, she would encourage her to marry him, even if she still loved him.
Perhaps the marriage could work out later in life, but she knew that he would expect things from her sooner rather than later. He had already mentioned that he wanted kids. She had never even thought about having children before, but she tried to push the thought out of her mind. She had to think about what was going to happen right this minute.
She glanced at the crowd again, and some of the people had started crying along with her. She caught Hans' eyes willing her to protest against her death.
She didn't want to die, but she deserved to die. She didn't want to marry Hans, but she would have had to marry a man she wouldn't have loved anyways. At least Hans would want to do Kingly duties, and had already had taken an interest with her.
"…that is why I sentence Queen Elsa of Arendelle with treason, and sentence her to death," the Duke of Weselton said, finishing his speech.
One of the Duke's men started positioning his crossbow in front of her heart. Gerda had sunk to the ground in tears. Hans was shaking his head. For once in her life she was afraid of death. It was now or never.
"Please I'm sorry, I want to live," Elsa said surrendering, looking into Hans' eyes the entire time. She broke down into a sob and sank to the ground. A look of triumph passed over his features, before he leapt up into the platform in front of her.
"People of Arendelle, would you really want to kill this poor woman over something she couldn't control? Everyone is crying, but no one will really stand up for their Queen? You all are really willing to let a foreign Duke from Weselton kill your monarch? He has no more authority in this kingdom than a speck of dirt, yet you all are letting him commit treason? Queen Elsa is not dangerous; she just made a mistake like every single person standing here has done! The blizzard has stopped as everyone standing here can see! Snow and unfavorable weather won't kill anyone; unless they are not wearing the proper clothing! There are kingdom's that withstand harsher blizzards than Queen Elsa's. There are people in some kingdoms that only see the light of day two weeks a year! There are kingdoms that are so filthy, the plague kills and deforms every single one of them!" Hans shouted towards the crowd. People shuddered with shame and disgust towards other kingdoms. He took out his sword from his sheath and sliced the chains and ropes binding Elsa.
She whimpered as he picked her up off the ground and forced her to hug him. He kissed the top of her head trying to hide his smirk from the people. She only sobbed harder into his chest.
"Since everyone is here, I would like to ask…" Hans said dropping down to kneel on one knee. There were several gasps and cheers in the crowd encouraging him to continue. "Queen Elsa, my love, will you do the honors in becoming my wife?"
Several women started crying in admiration, and many people started clapping and hollering happily. Several cries of 'how sweet' and 'they look like the perfect couple' caused Elsa to freeze momentarily. She was completely trapped now. "Yes… yes, I will marry you Prince Hans of the Southern Isles." Tears slid down her face as he slipped a beautiful diamond ring on her finger. She ignored the gasps of how beautiful and expensive it was. All she could think about was how Hans had persuaded the crowd to be content with her and be completely enamored with the engagement in a matter of ten minutes.
Author's Note: Well it's good to be back writing! Please review!