A/N: I didn't realise that I'd get such warm and fuzzy feelings when I read your reviews, thanks guys =3. If you have any questions or suggestions, don't hesitate to ask. And I so should have gone to bed at least 2 hours ago. I've got an early start in the morning :(. Hope you enjoy this chapter! Feel guilty when I'm dying from lack of sleep in my lecture tomorrow X
Chapter 3:
"There is no normality in life" – Helena Bonham Carter
It was a particularly cool day, and a thin layer of frost graced the ground, but the weather did not deter Anna, who was waiting in the arranged spot for Elsa. She hadn't been there for long; in fact, it was her own fault really. The redhead had turned up early, thinking it best not to keep a member of royalty waiting. A gentle breeze caressed her body. Bristling leaves echoed in the background. Anna's thoughts wandered back to the mantra her father had drilled into her as a child. Don't trust. Don't fear. Don't hesitate. She knew it well, yet she still repeated it over and over again in her head. Don't trust. Don't fear. Don't hesitate. She didn't notice Elsa make her way towards her, a bag in her hand, and she still didn't notice when the other girl had stopped to stand in front of her. Tentatively, Elsa reached out a covered hand to shake Anna from her thoughts. Don't trust. Don't fear. Don't-
"-hesitate!" Anna, shocked out of her thoughts, yelled the rest of the mantra in surprise, and raised her fists in a defensive motion in front of her body. In a split second her eyes had adjusted to take in the sight of Elsa and she quickly lowered her arms. A sheepish smile crept onto her face, "Ah sorry about that."
"Hey don't worry about it, its fine." Elsa's eyes twinkled, "Although I was a bit worried that you were going to start a fight there. One which you would sadly lose I'm afraid." Elsa wondered what Anna had been thinking about to get such an intense look in her eyes.
The younger girl decided to play along, "Yes you're right, I probably would have lost. No one is a match for you Elsa. Disarming people with your beauty and then cutting them down with your strength. Who would stand a chance?" Anna said dramatically.
Elsa became flustered due to Anna's remarks. She couldn't believe that Anna thought she was beautiful. She quickly changed subjects. "Right well, we can't just stand here all day. There's a lovely place we can go in the forest where we can spend time without being interrupted."
Anna hummed in response and walked besides Elsa deep into the forest. She smirked to herself. Sure the Queen may have been joking, but all Anna could think about was how easy it would be to kill her now. They were alone in the forest, there were no guards to protect her, and Anna was pretty sure that no one even knew that they were here. Elsa had told her that she had lied to the castle staff, telling them that she had important documents to go through in her father's office and that she need not be disturbed until dinner time. That gave her several hours. It was a shame that the King had not yet given Anna those orders. It would make things so much easier in the long run; especially before she got too attached – not that she would of course. Don't trust. That was rule number one.
After about twenty minutes of walking, the two girls reached a clearing. It honestly was a sight to behold. Before them was a vast area of grass surrounded by trees. The subtle layer of frost made it look like it was covered in tiny gems as the sun bounced off of it. It was stunning. Anna glanced at Elsa. The older girl was busy removing a thick blanket from her bag and laying it across the ground.
Elsa sat herself down and patted the ground next to her, "Come, sit."
Anna quickly nodded and dropped down, shuffling about to get into a comfy position. It had been rather ungraceful, unlike Elsa, who even managed to make sitting down look like an elegant move. Elsa sat with her legs crossed, back straight and her hands sat on top of each other in her lap. She wore a long black coat for warmth, along with some black gloves with intricate teal coloured designs. Her companion was unaware that her attire was merely for show. The cold had no effect. Her platinum blonde hair was also twisted up into a bun, just like when Anna first met her. The redhead did not look quite as regal as her friend. Instead, she was lying on her back with her elbows propping her up, positioned so that she could easily look up to the Queen beside her. She wore a navy blue winter coat, and forwent the gloves. Her fiery red hair was neatly plaited into braids. It was a picturesque moment.
The two girls spent hours talking and laughing with each other before Anna decided to bring something up about Elsa that had been bugging her. She sat up and mirrored the blonde's position. "Elsa, why do you always wear gloves?" A look of confusion passed over the other girls face. "I mean, I know its cold out now, so it's necessary, but from what I've heard you wear them all the time." Realisation dawned on Elsa's face. Anna thought that she looked stressed at having been found out. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend you. I shouldn't have brought it up. Forget it." She could not afford to mess up her delicate relationship with the Queen.
"It's ok, Anna. You didn't say anything wrong." Elsa felt tense. Maybe she could take the gloves off in front of her new friend. Perhaps she wouldn't lose control. It was strange that she wore gloves all the time. She didn't want Anna to think of her as odd. Slowly, Elsa removed the gloves one at a time. She held her pale hands out in front of her, a smile upon her face. Nothing seemed to be going wrong. But she didn't notice them tremor.
"Elsa your hands, they're shaking!" Anna began to remove her coat, pulling it apart from the lapels. "You're cold. Here take my coat."
"No wait," Elsa's cold hands reached out and rested on top of Anna's warm one's on her coat, effectively halting her removing it. Anna gasped at the sensation of Elsa's soft hands. It was the first time their bare skin had touched. "I'm fine, Anna. Honestly." They shared shy smiles.
"Your hands are cold." Anna said quietly.
"You know what they say; cold hands mean a warm heart." Elsa winked.
It was then that the older girl chose to remove her hands from Anna's. They had been there for far longer than appropriate. But the redhead was having none of it. As soon as she felt the separation she clasped Elsa's hand back in hers and entwined their fingers bringing them to rest upon her lap. They were a perfect fit. A flurry of snow began to fall around them. Elsa knew that it was her fault. Her nervousness had hijacked her powers. Luckily Anna didn't seem to notice. She was far too excited by the amount of snow that now covered the ground and their blanket. She had been laughing in such a carefree manner since it had started. Elsa didn't even try to make it stop.
Anna turned to her, the enthusiasm never leaving her face, "Do you wanna build a snowman?"
Two months had passed and Anna had still not received any other orders from the King. What was her father playing at? He had never left her under cover for this long before. He was really being thorough this time. Acquiring Arendelle obviously meant a lot to him. She thought that surely Arendelle wouldn't be that difficult to take over, especially with such a young Queen, but Anna knew better than to question her father's methods. She would pay severely for it if he found out.
During this time Anna and Elsa had met up with each other at least three or four times a week. Elsa had been shirking a lot of her queenly duties, but luckily she had an entourage of loyal men who were used to keeping things in order before she became of age. Anna felt that all of her hard work had paid off. She was certain that Elsa trusted her now, thanks to the strong friendship she had forged.
It was a Sunday evening, and enough harassment on Anna's part had lead to Elsa having dinner at her small cottage in the woods. She had made up some lie about how her mother and father had simply adored the King and Queen and were devastated at their passing. And that after they had found out that Anna secretly knew Elsa, their daughter and the new Queen; they wouldn't let her off the hook until they met her. The older girl eventually relented to Anna's wishes. What she didn't know however, was this was about as far from the truth as it could get. Lars and Hilda loathed the Queen of Arendelle. Although they had never met her, it was more the idea of her that they hated. The fact that she was so young and inexperienced, it was laughable that she was now running the kingdom. Well, for the time being anyway. It was also because of how long they had been on the mission for, kept away from their families back in Stavanger, they blamed her for that too. Anna was unsure of Kristoff's opinion of her, he masked his emotions well.
Surprisingly the evening had gone fantastically. Hilda and Lars fell into the caring mother and father role easily, and Kristoff acted similar to how he did when he and Anna were kids, so he seemed just like an older brother. Her 'parents' were also great at pretending to be huge admirers of the Royal family, without coming across too strong to scare Elsa off. Kristoff even flirted with Elsa a bit, using his boyish good looks to try and charm her. Anna hadn't worked so hard to craft this friendship for them to ruin it all in one night. She was relieved everything had gone well, reminding herself to congratulate them all on a job well done later.
Elsa thoroughly enjoyed herself at dinner. Anna's family seemed picture perfect, something that others should aspire to be like. She was almost jealous, never having had this sense of normality in her life. She supposed being a princess and now queen made it difficult for normality to occur, even without factoring her powers into the equation.
After a large meal of deer and copious amounts of potatoes and vegetables, the two girls retired to Anna's room. They were holding hands, something that had become quite natural for them since the first time it had happened. Elsa had taken her gloves off once they were in the safety of Anna's room. They sat on the small bed in a comfortable silence. That is, until the redhead decided to break it. "You should let your hair down one day." She tucked a stray strand of Elsa's hair behind her ear. "I'd love to see what it looks like free, like how you acted this evening." She had yet to remove her hand. "I bet you'd look beautiful. Even more beautifuller than now. I mean more beautiful. Not that you don't always look beautiful." Oh no she was rambling. What was wrong with her? She quickly pulled her hand away. Both of their faces had a red hue. Anna stared into her lap, too embarrassed to face her friend.
"Why do you always do that?" Elsa asked.
Anna's eyes snapped up to meet hers. "Do what?"
"Call me beautiful?" Elsa looked upset. "You shouldn't say things like that. You don't understand what you're saying."
A cold chill settled in the room. That was odd; Anna could have sworn that the fire was on in another room.
"Why not? It's true. Even a blind man could see how gorgeous you are." Anna was adamant on this subject.
"Stop it! You don't know what you're doing to me" Elsa's voice rose in volume. The older girl was panicking. The room had definitely become a lot colder.
Anna knew that she should probably put an end to this argument, but she couldn't find it in herself to do so. "Then tell me! Because you're right, I don't understand."
Elsa snapped. She thrust Anna down onto the bed, climbing atop her in one swift motion. One hand rested on her Anna's chest, whilst the other rested ever so gently on her freckled cheek. The younger girl didn't know what was going on. Her arms lay limp at her sides. She could feel Elsa's weight pressed against her body, her cool breath tickling her lips. They were suddenly dry, so she licked them for moisture. Elsa's eyes darted away from her eyes to watch the motion. Anna could have sworn that she saw the blonde's bright blue eyes darken.
"Ok" was all Elsa said before she closed her eyes, leaning in to press her lips against Anna's soft and supple ones. They heard a gasp, neither sure who it belonged to.
Elsa sighed as she pulled back. Her eyes opened and took in the shocked state of Anna. It was in that moment that she realised what she had done. Horrified, she jumped back off the bed and backed away towards the door. Anna managed to sit herself up on the edge of the bed, blankly staring at Elsa. Her mouth hung slightly open, and her eyes were unseeing. She was frozen in place, but figuratively, not by the fast approaching branches of ice that seemed to be coming from where Elsa stood. The blonde girl realised what was happening and was terrified. She had lost control. Not just of her emotions, but her powers as well. She swung open the bedroom door and bolted.
Anna raised her hand slowly, and traced her lips with a finger. She felt strange. The slamming of the front door woke her from her trance. She looked round. There was ice everywhere. It covered the floor and had begun its journey up the walls. Elsa was gone. Anna shot up and ran towards her door, the handle had completely frozen. She swung it open and sprinted to the front door.
"Anna, I know it's late but I think this letter has just arrived from your father." Hilda had blocked her path, thrusting a letter in Anna's direction.
"No time!" In a frenzy, she shoved the poor woman with all her strength out of the way into the nearest wall. As she made it out of the front door, an unimaginable snow storm almost knocked her off of her feet.
She had to find Elsa.
