/Anna/
I'm not alone. Those were my first thoughts as my sister pulled me out of the fire that I had created. I was shocked as I felt her hand in mine as we ran out of the now frozen flames with the party guests in shock. When I first heard the cry of 'Witch' my heart froze as I thought my secret was out. They knew, and all of my fears and worst nightmares were about to become a reality. But they weren't talking about me, while Elsa pulled me along with her I looked back at the crowd and saw the tiny duke's bony finger not pointed at me but at my sister. And I realized that there are worse things than for me to be hunted. I turned my back to the duke, to the castle, to Aarendale, so that I could look at my sister. And I never plan to look back.
I watch in wonder as the water of the bay freezes beneath her feet as we sprint across the ice. I nearly slip a few times but with my sister holding me up we make it across. We take a breather on the other side of the water and I look up to see my sister's brow creased in worry. "Shoot! They'll catch up before long!" keeping grasp of her hand I turn to see the mob tentatively making their way across the ice. They hold pitchforks and torches. They want to hurt us. To hurt Elsa, despite me nearly burning the garden to cinders the fire inside of me roars to life.
I won't let them hurt her.
"I can slow them down." I reluctantly let go of my sister's hand and crouch down to the lake's surface. The mob is about of a third of the way to us. Hope they can swim. I press my palm to the lake focusing on the heat inside and have to suppress a moan when I release a wave of heat that travels through the ice melting it and dissolving the ice bridge.
I'll do whatever I need to protect her, the only family I have left. I stand and turn to see my sister looking at me in shock, mouth slightly agape. "How did you?"
I give her a knowing smile and reach out to take her hand again. It feels nice and cool compared to the fire I've got beneath my skin. "You weren't the only one keeping secrets."
She looks at me stunned for a second before pulling me in for a hug. I'm shocked but return the hug. I nuzzle into her shoulder, smiling into her embrace. To think this is the first time I've held my sister in a decade. It's so comforting it's almost like she's extinguished my fire, the pressure that's been in the back of my mind for years is suddenly relieved. This is the best I've felt since that day, possibly ever. I would have been happy to stay like this for an eternity had I not felt moisture on my shoulder. Once again reluctantly I pull back from Elsa, I frown when I see the tears in her eyes. Why is she crying? Did I do something wrong? I begin to panic a bit, I mean seriously I don't see my sister for ten years and when I do I make her cry? I must be the worst sister ever! Oh my god how do I make this better maybe I sho- "I'm sorry" I'm brought from my inner thoughts by the sound of my sister's voice. "I'm so sorry Anna."
She's sorry? "Elsa, Don't cry. I don't know why you're sorry I haven't felt this good in a long time." I try to smile, to look reassuring.
It doesn't help. Elsa shakes her head at me, the tears falling even faster than before. I notice that they're starting to frost over her face. "I left you for years. I should have been there. How can you stand such a useless big sister?"
Nonono! She's got it all wrong, "No I'm sorry! This power that you have that's the reason that you always stayed in your room right?" A slight nod of her head confirms my theory. I start to feel my eyes tear up as I imagine my sister alone in her room freaked out about her abilities feeling completely by herself. I should have tried harder. "Maybe when we were younger it was fine not understanding, I thought that I had just done something wrong. But after I got my abilities, I should have known. You were afraid and alone, not to mention having to deal with becoming queen. I'm the failure of a sister here." I take a pause to wipe the tears that are starting to cloud my vision. "I should have tried harder, if only I had then you wouldn't have been alone. I'm sorry." I can see her shaking her head about to say something but I won't let her blame herself anymore. "But none of that matters anymore." The tears seem to have stopped leaving only frozen trails down her face. I brush my thumb over her cheeks and the frozen tears melt and fall to the ground. I give Elsa the biggest smile I have. "Because we're together now, and no matter what I'm going to be here for you this time."
Elsa starts to smile before a frown overtakes her face. "But Anna you need to go back." What? I glance across the bay and still see several people peering across the water in our direction; I doubt they can make us out from there though. "The people know about my curse but they didn't see you. They probably think that I kidnapped you. You can still go back and be a princess." I open my mouth to protest, to tell her how stupid that is but a gloved finger on my lips silences me. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. You don't have to be out here. You can go back to the castle, you can be queen."
I shake my head. "You don't know me very well if you think that I'd ever go for a dumb idea like that." She looks a little taken aback, maybe other girls dreamed about being princesses and queens but me, "all I've been dreaming about since I was six years old was the day that my big sister would come out of her room. I won't ever go to a castle without you, or rule a kingdom that hates you."
She opens her mouth to protest before she meets my gaze and sighs. "There's no convincing you is there?" I shake my head with a smile. Giving up on getting rid of me Elsa fixes her hair and straightens out her gown. "So now what do we do?"
- Aarendale castle -
Hans of the southern isles scowls as he stalks towards the meeting chamber. If it wasn't bad enough that the queen he was making progress with turned out to be a witch! She also happened to grab her sister on her way out. Today could not have went any less with his plans. "GOD!" He stops and slams his finely gloved hand on the stonewall in rage. Now unless the princess is rescued the ruling power of the country falls to the previous king's advisors, In other words, not to Hans. Although he was doing what he could to curry favor with the locals. The former queen seems to have cursed the land with some sort of ice age. The temperature seems to have decreased by a degree every second since she ran off about an hour ago. So Hans has had his guard help distribute blankets to the civilians, making sure to prominently show their southern isles crests of course. He even went out of his way to make a public appearance. It was enough to get him noticed by the advisors though, which must be why they called him to this meeting.
Turning the corner and heading into the meeting chamber Hans's frown deepens when he realizes that there are quite a lot of people here. He stands in the back of the room leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, with about fifty other people standing in between him and the raised podium where he assumes the advisors are preparing some sort of announcement. With a cool and calculative eye Hans observes the other people in the room. "Almost all men, some wearing armor, gross that man on the left looks like a commoner. He has a sword though, most of them do." What the hell could these old men possibly have to say to such a random assortment of people?
As if having heard him the room grows silent as one of the advisors steps up to a podium. "Thank you for coming to this meeting. Currently our great Kingdom of Aarendale is in a state of crisis." Hans can't help but to roll his eyes, how great can a kingdom be that has Ice as one of its primary exports? Still a king is a king, and that's what Hans intends to become. "It has recently been uncovered that the queen is a witch." A shocked murmur goes through the crowd, most probably weren't at the coronation, either that or they didn't see if for themselves. "It is still unknown if the witch was always Elsa of Aarendale or if she was replaced by the witch as some point during her seclusion." If she was replaced the original must be long dead by now. "She has cursed our land with frost, and the worst news yet is that she's stolen our dear Princess Anna for nefarious yet unknown purposes. That is why you are here." Finally this old geezer gets to the point. "Currently we are the acting power in Aarendale, and we are willing to offer the Princess's hand in marriage to the one who kills the witch and returns Princess Anna to Arrendale."
The room is dead silent. Han's feels like his heart skips a beat, this is it. "This is my chance! No more being thirteenth in line. It's time for me to become a king!" Hans just leans against the back wall as people flood out of the room all in a rush to accomplish the quest. Hans just leans in the back allowing the stream of people to rush past him. "Let them rush, I'm the one who's destined to become king of this frozen wasteland." After all it's common sense that it's far easier to kill a man than a witch.
Ok so this chapter is actually about 2/3 the size I'm used to writing but for this particular chapter it fit well. As for future chapters I'd like some feedback on how long you'd like the chapters.
I can turn out about 1500 – maybe 2000 words a week. (for reference this one is 1786) split across the other two stories I'm putting out I can either put out a chapter of this between 15- 20k every two or 3 weeks.
Or put out one chapter of 30k- maybe 35k every 4- 6 weeks. Please pm. Me or review with your preference, the first chapter is far longer than I'm used to writing but if you like that length be sure to let me know and I'll consider doing more of that size.
Fun fact* I smile every time I read a review of something I wrote Good or bad.
Thanks for reading
Xross-33
