Hey guys, sorry it's been mostly fluff so far. I promise you'll see a little more ~DRAMA~ in the coming chapters. :3 Enjoy!
"The Grand Floridian…" Anna said to herself. "That sounds so fancy!"
"It is really nice," Elsa agreed.
The design of this place was really beautiful. It seemed subtly Baroque to Elsa, what with the whites and golds and reds everywhere, and the overall ornate feel. She'd seen paintings of palaces in France and Germany that looked like this. Of course, she'd never thought this sort of thing could be found so far from Europe, but then again…
Anna approached a fountain nearby, starting to splash her hands in the water. "It's just like home, isn't it? Only…not."
Elsa giggled. "Well, kind of… There are a lot more people, to be sure."
"Yeah, no kidding!" Their castle had been a bit more full since the gates were open, certainly, but she didn't think even the whole of Arendelle had this many residents. And even if they did, they weren't quite as diverse.
Suddenly, an idea occurred to her. "Why don't you freeze up the fountain like you do at home?" she suggested. "I bet they'd love that!"
"I-I don't know, Anna. I mean, we just got here." Considering how the people of Arendelle had initially reacted to her powers, she figured doing something like that out of the blue would be a bad idea. Especially since this was a hotter place. They probably weren't used to seeing ice of any kind.
"Aw, come on! It'll be fun!"
"No, Anna not right now!"
"But…"
"Um, excuse me." The employee cleared his throat.
"Oh!" Elsa turned around. "No, excuse us, please. Try to understand, m'am, this is all new to us," she said with a bow.
The worker laughed. "It's fine, it's fine! It happens all the time," she replied with a smile. "And please, call me Sydney. Now then, let me lead you to your room."
"Oh, yes! Of course." The girls followed Sydney down the halls, taking in every sight they passed along the way. Even though the place seemed built in a familiar style, everything else was so strange. The way people dressed, the things they carried around with them… As much as the two of them tried to blend in, it was obvious that they were garnering quite a bit of attention from passersby.
Finally, they came to an imposing set of metal doors. "Where do these go to?" Anna asked, tilting her head.
"This is an elevator. Your room's on the top floor, so it'll be easier to use this instead of taking the stairs," Sydney explained. She pressed a button decorated with an arrow pointing upwards, and with a ding, the doors suddenly opened by themselves, revealing a small compartment with chrome walls and tiled flooring.
Elsa was unsure of this, but she eventually entered the space, Anna following her not long after. There was an entire mess of buttons and numbers by the door, and neither of them knew which one was the correct one to push, but Sydney did it for them just as Anna was about to try one. At least somebody knew what they were doing around here.
The doors closed with a bang, and almost immediately the contraption started moving. They were surprised at the feeling of gravity pushing down on them. Elsa instinctively looked to Anna as a slight dizziness hit her. There was no way she'd let them get her sister sick again… "Can you slow it down?" she asked, a bit frantic.
"Don't worry! It'll be over in a second," the worker replied. And just as she said, the movement stopped and the doors opened again, to a completely different floor. The queen let out a sigh of relief, only to realize that Anna hadn't had a shred of worry on her face the whole time. If only I could stay as calm as her, she thought to herself.
"Oh, wow." Anna skipped out into the middle of the hallway. "That's a lot of rooms!" Elsa couldn't help but laugh at her sister stating something so obvious.
Sydney smiled. "This way, please."
"Oh! Right!" The princess ran following the employee, and even Elsa had to sprint a bit to keep up with them. Soon enough, they stopped at a door in the corner of the hall. Sydney turned the knob.
What a nice room it was, with two beds, a nice little desk, and elegant curtains draped over the window. It reminded them of how their rooms had looked as children; still a good deal smaller, but Elsa could tell they had put a lot of effort into all the coordination and decorating. There were some things that still seemed strange, but she could figure those out later.
Anna, meanwhile, was ecstatic. "Oh my gosh! It's so fancy!" she yelled, hopping onto a bed and squishing a pillow. "Come on, Elsa! These beds are sooooo comfy!"
"All right, all right! Hold on!" She noticed out of the corner of her eye that their luggage had already been delivered to the room. When had that happened? Well, no use in worrying about it now. She gave in and laid on the best next to her sister, immediately sinking into the fluffy mattress. "Wow, you're right! These really are soft."
"I'm glad you're enjoying yourselves," Sydney interrupted. "Do you need help unpacking? Or maybe something to eat?"
"Hm? Oh, no thank you. We can take it from here." As much as she appreciated her servants, she'd been trying to branch out and assert her independence more in the past few months.
"All right! If you need anything, just call me." And Sydney let the two of them alone, the door drifting closed behind him.
Anna looked around the room, taking it all in. It was so beautiful! And there was a great view of the lake outside from the window. She saw something strange on the bedside table, and picked it up to examine it. It sure had a lot of buttons. Heck, everything here had a lot of buttons, it seemed. She pressed a whole bunch, trying to see what they did. Nothing happened until the big black thing in the front of the room suddenly flickered on.
"Oh! Movies!" she realized. Soon she figured out how to change the channel and how to turn the volume up and down.
Elsa rolled her eyes, but stifled a laugh. "Aren't you gonna help unpack, Anna?"
"…Hm? Oh, right!" She hopped off the bed and unpacked her things, glancing back up at the TV every few seconds. Elsa, though more focused on the task at hand, was a little interested, too. Still, what they were showing on this wasn't set up as well as the movies they had watched the night before. Something about two brothers on a ship.
To her surprise, everything was unpacked pretty quickly. And besides watching TV, the girls were left with nothing to do.
"This is…kinda boring," Anna remarked. "I thought this was supposed to be a fun vacation!"
"Well, I would think all the fun things are outside the room," Elsa suggested. Come to think of it, it wouldn't hurt to explore the place a bit. She'd felt a bit overwhelmed at first, but as long as they stayed in this building, there wouldn't be too much to take in, she figured. "So how about we walk around a little?"
Her sister smiled. "Sounds good to me!"
"All right, then!" They got up and walked down the hall together.
Strolling down the halls, tons of people walking around and chatting on the ground floor lobby were visible from the balcony. "There has to be something exciting going on down there," Anna thought out loud. "Elsa, let's check it out!"
"Um, sure!" she replied, facing the elevator before deciding it'd be safer to take the stairs down. Anna followed by her side. Seeing how nice the carpeted staircase was, Elsa thought that the staff there must've had to clean it almost every hour, considering how many people there were. But then, they'd all be using the 'elevator' instead, wouldn't they? Then it seemed pointless to have a staircase at all…
They found what was capturing everyone's attention: a small orchestra on the floor above. One could tell that the members had years of experience from the way they played. Elsa wondered if they performed here often. Even at home, hiring a band of any kind was something that was reserved for special occasions.
Suddenly she smelled something…something delicious. "Where is that coming from?" she said, looking around.
Anna looked through the lobby, when she spotted something. "It must be coming from that little café over there," she said, pointing. The smell was intoxicating. "God, I'm starving."
"Let's try to eat there. It is around lunch time." She rummaged through her handbag; would this cost extra? Usually the cost of meals was included with room and board at an inn, but the custom could be different here, especially with everything else being so extravagant. Still, she did quite a bit of money on her. They could probably pull it off.
Finding a vacant table proved to be difficult, but eventually they did find a place to sit down. This place emphasized pastels and floral designs more than the other parts of the venue, almost resembling a baby's nursery. Even surrounded by the chatter of the crowded tables around them, it was oddly peaceful…
A waiter immediately passed out menus to them. As the queen skimmed through the options, something dawned on her.
"Don't you think it's…strange?" she brought up to her sister.
She looked up. "Strange? What's strange?"
"Well, here we are in a foreign country, but everyone is speaking the same language as they do back home."
Anna blinked; she hadn't even given it a second thought. "Yeah, now that you mention it, that is weird." She tried to draw upon her limited knowledge of history. "Um…maybe people from Arendelle settled here? Like, years ago, I mean."
Elsa shook her head. "No, that can't be. Florida is Spanish territory. Or…was."
"I see…" she replied, trying her best to sound intelligent. But thinking about it too hard was giving her a headache. She quickly tried to change the subject. "So what do you think you're gonna order?"
"Well, I like the sound of this pasta. And maybe some French onion soup." So most of the food here was French? That just made things even more complicated!
"You know what? I think I'll try that, too!" her sister agreed, before her eyes drifted elsewhere on the menu. "Oh. My. Gosh. We have to get chocolate fondue for dessert!"
"Of course, of course!" she responded, nearly drooling at the thought of it herself. Still, a voice in the back of her head still expressed concern. How much was this all going to cost? She had no idea what the exchange rates were.
Nevertheless, they went ahead and ordered their food without any problems. Elsa took a moment to enjoy the atmosphere, taking a peek at the garden outside. But it wasn't long before Anna started up another conversation. There was already so much to talk about, and they hadn't even left the inn yet!
"I sure wish Kristoff and Olaf could see all this," Anna huffed.
"They can always come along next time," Elsa reassured her. "Besides, I don't know how they'd do in these crowds…"
She paused. "I guess you're right," she replied, giggling at the thought of Kristoff's baffled face.
The food arrived, and it was absolutely delicious. It was technically peasant's food, which neither of them were accustomed to, but it was great all the same. No one said a word for a long time, too busy enjoying the meal, yet their facial expressions were enough to communicate to each other.
They were both surprised at how much time had passed by the time they were finished. Elsa tracked down the waiter. "We'll have the bill now, please."
The waiter grinned. "I'm afraid I can't do that, your majesty. Your meal is free of charge."
"Wait, what?" Her eyes widened. She supposed she should've expected this, but it still felt wrong. "Look, there's no need to waive the cost for us. You've all worked very hard, and you deserve to be paid…"
"Sorry, it's manager's orders," he replied, shrugging.
She sighed. She could talk to the manager of this place, but then, she didn't want to make a scene. "Fine, but if he didn't say anything about a tip…" The queen left a generous little pile of coins on the table's edge.
The waiter's eyes widened. "Wow. Y-Your majesty, that's so generous of you!"
Elsa smiled. "It's not a problem, really."
The sisters left their table and took a seat back in the lobby. After a while, the older noticed Anna staring right at her, grinning from ear to ear. She raised an eyebrow. "What's with that look?"
Anna somehow smiled even wider. "Have I ever told you how great a queen you are?"
She blushed. "What…that back there? I-It's really not a big deal. Anyone else would've done the same thing…"
Before she could say any more, her sister had pulled her into another hug. "And so modest, too!" she gushed.
Elsa laughed. "Cut it out, Anna! You're embarrassing me," she said joking me.
The younger sister made a fake pout. "Oh, so your little sister is too much a nuisance for you, huh?" she teased.
"I never said that."
"I know, I know…" She finally let her sister go. "So what should we do next?"
"Hmm…" She observed at her surroundings. There were signs directing guests to a veranda, a swimming pool...ooh, and a spa! Maybe later, but not right now. Even if spas were supposed to be soothing, it still seemed like a bit much.
A loud noise came from nearby, startling them both. Unable to contain her curiosity as usual, Anna ran over to the source of the sound. Naturally, Elsa had no choice but to follow her there – not that she wasn't curious, either.
Another set of doors, these ones made of glass, opened themselves again. I'm never gonna get used to that… Elsa thought to herself. Anna didn't pay it any mind, just walking through. On the other side, the train from before was just leaving, making the same noise again. It glided on its track almost like…socks on a wood floor, Anna thought. How could they do that with a whole train? "That's so cool!"
"It's loud," Elsa added as the passing train blew her hair and skirt to the side.
"Yeah, that too." She'd never seen a train like this before. All the ones she knew about had been more smoky black things with gears, and not so much…glidey white things. A lot of people were waiting on the platform for the next one. "I wonder where this goes."
Her sister looked up and saw the timetable. She glanced at the clock; 12:30, it said. "It says the next one travels to…the Magic Kingdom." Was that where all the magic users lived?
"That sounds like fun!" Anna grinned.
"I don't know if I wanna go there just yet," Elsa responded. What other options were there? "But from there, apparently you can transfer to some place called Epcot."
"What's an Epcot?" she asked, tilting her head.
She shrugged. "You really expect me to know?"
"Well, yeah! You know, like, everything!"
Elsa laughed. "I'm just as clueless about this place as you are, Anna! Don't you remember?"
She paused. "Yeah, I guess that's true…" But she soon forgot about it as the next train pulled into the station. "You wanna try to go there, then?"
"Um, sure, I guess," she replied. The vehicle came in fast – so fast she wasn't sure when to go forward. But shortly after, the train did come to a stop, and both sisters headed for the turnstiles.
A guard stopped them. "Tickets, please?"
Tickets? "I don't think we have…" She glanced around; there wasn't a place to buy tickets anywhere nearby. "B-But we'd be happy to buy some. How much are they?" As she dug through her purse, her fingers grazed something that she knew wasn't there before. Confused, she pulled it out – and there were two cards, both with a picture of a castle in the clouds.
"There you go!" the guard said with a smile. "I knew you must've had some."
Elsa blinked. "You mean these are…"
"Ooh!" Anna immediately swiped a ticket from her sister's hand. Why would they make tickets out of something so hard? Wouldn't paper be easier to throw away?
"Now scan them right here, please."
"Hm?" The man gestured to a strange contraption attached to the turnstile. How was she supposed to put it in? Confused, she just reached her card out into that area, figuring she could find out as she went along. The contraption flashed red, and made a beep, startling her. Then the turnstile clicked. She pushed it a bit, and it moved just fine. "So…that's it?"
"That's it!" he grinned.
"Oh! Well, great!" And so she pushed her way through and practically skipped through the train doors. Elsa was starting to get a little edgy again around all this new technology, but she went ahead and followed her sister through anyway, finding a seat next to hers.
"That was…strange," she muttered, mostly to herself. Somehow those tickets had appeared out of nowhere – it was probably another spell. But did they all have to be such a big surprise? It'd at least help if they got some warning ahead of time…
"Sure, it's strange," Anna shrugged. "But isn't it fun?"
Elsa took a deep breath. "I guess so. You make it a lot more fun, Anna." She could still learn a thing or two from her. Keep on the bright side of things.
"Aww!" the princess blushed.
A person spoke up – but they couldn't tell from where. It sounded like this man was all around them. Maybe it was the captain? "As you board, please move across your car to make room for everyone…"
Almost on cue, a large group suddenly loaded itself inside, squishing both girls against the wall before they had even a second to prepare themselves. The car was quickly becoming crowded, and Elsa felt a bit claustrophobic. Why was this bothering her so much? She'd been around more people than this. Though not in such a small space…
"A-At least we got window seats," Anna mumbled, her face pushed up against the window – not because she was sightseeing, although she'd certainly do that anyway, but because it was the only place her head would fit.
Finally, the doors shut themselves, and the train quickly started its run. It was surprisingly quiet from the inside, considering how much noise it had made upon its arrival. The man over the speaker had called it a 'monorail.' Well, that made sense. One rail. Duh. How hadn't she figured that out sooner? Because everything else was so overwhelming, Elsa reminded herself. Maybe now she'd get some time to relax.
It wasn't long before some nice scenery started to show itself, and it was dazzling. Palm trees and tropical plants that the girls had only ever read about before were placed in every spare nook and cranny. All sorts of buildings surrounded the area, and none of them seemed to share a similar style. The kingdom architects must've been an eclectic bunch. But more spectacular sights were still ahead.
"Elsa! Look! Looklooklooklooklook!" A colorful setting came into full view as the monorail slowed to a stop. There was the grand castle they had learned about before. And even more – what looked like a fairground, a jungle, a small but neat looking village, at least two mountains, and structures neither of them could begin to name.
"Can you believe that?" Anna exclaimed. "They made a place that's almost every place at once!"
Elsa nodded, hiding her anxiety. "Must be the magic…" She had way more to live up to than she'd thought. Now what was she going to do?
Anna grinned. "Maybe they could teach you a thing or two, huh, Elsa?"
"I-I guess so." The idea of having to be guided along by someone she'd barely met embarrassed her, but it probably would help. Besides that, these people were creating mountains, rivers, rainforests out of practically nothing. Yet all she'd ever been able to do was make ice. Was it all based on the elements? Were there earth, plant, or water people, too? Questions continued to fill her mind even as the train moved on.
Anna couldn't help but notice her sister's change in behavior. "Hey, is everything okay?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah! Yeah, I'm fine." Elsa lied through her teeth.
"That doesn't look fine to me," she replied, getting into her face. The older sister leaned back, but there wasn't much room to lean back. "Anna, stop…"
She smirked. "I can tell you're nervous. You always get like this when you're nervous."
After a moment of silence, she answered with a sigh. She was cornered now. "Yeah, I guess I am nervous."
"Nervous about what?"
"A-About everything!" she blurted out. Her gestures were starting to lose their subtlety. "I mean…all my life I thought I was the only one with powers, and then all of this comes out at once! How am I supposed to respond to that? There could be people who have been doing spells for years and years, and… W-What if I'm not good enough for them? What if I've been doing something wrong this whole time without knowing it?"
She caught her breath. That had been more than she had expected to be able to say. Her seat was frosted over, and she thawed it as quickly as she could manage. Had she caused a spectacle? She took a quick look at the other passengers, but fortunately, they seemed preoccupied with their own conversations.
"Elsa…" Anna suddenly leapt over and caught Elsa in her arms, making the gap between seats even more scarce. "You are the most fantastic person at magic I know. You are the most fantastic person I know, period. I'm sure they'll love you as much as your own people do!"
She thought about it. "That's true, but…the people of Arendelle didn't know anything about magic. This is different."
"Well, maybe there'll be people who are better at it than you…although I really doubt it," she replied, muttering the last part under her breath. "But don't worry about that. You're Elsa, and that's all the reason anyone needs to like you."
The queen blushed. Even after things had improved so much, she still found herself stuck in the loop of putting on a false persona, pretending to be more dignified than she really felt herself to be. Old habits died hard, she supposed. And yet somehow, Anna had gotten so far just by being herself, ditzy moments and all. She couldn't imagine her any other way. It was about time she learned a thing or two from her sister.
She smiled. "You always know what to say."
"Really? I do?" she blinked. "'Cause honestly, I'm just making it up off the head most of the time."
Elsa laughed, and for a long moment, they just sat together, happy in each other's company.
BANG!
A huge jolt scared both of them, quickly refreezing both places where they sat. The girls heard startled screams and rushed, panicked conversations between the other passengers. The monorail had suddenly stopped. A voice started over the intercom, this time of someone different than before.
"Ladies and gentlemen, there has been an accident. Please calmly and slowly exit through the emergency doors directly above you. Do not rush, do not block the exits…"
"An accident?" This time, it was Anna who was worried for once. Had people gotten hurt? A moment after, someone managed to get the door on the ceiling opened, and everyone started climbing through. Anna started her way up first, then Elsa. It was tough in a skirt, but somehow they managed.
And that's when they saw in – in the car behind them, a giant hole the size of a human being burnt straight through, the metal scorched and awful fumes blowing along the track. The car's interior was almost totally destroyed. It was a horrific sight.
Both their eyes widened. Anna was the first to speak up. "W-What happened?"
