Title: No Amount of Love Chapter four
Summary: There was love there, but nothing fixes itself. A happily ever after is only the ending to a tale, only the stop to what people usually want to see. But it's not the end, it's only the beginning. The beginning of the brightest sunlight. But what is the sunlight with the clouds before it? [An Elsanna fanfiction about growth, change, and discovering what you actually want]
Authors notes: This is an Elsanna fanfiction, which means there will be incest as it goes on. Thank you to Sheikm for helping me with extra proofreading as always. Arguments are fun to write.
Over the last week, Elsa and Anna did very little in the way of communication. It was as if they
were separated again, as if there was a door that was keeping them from each other again. Elsa focusing in the more diplomatic parts of the wedding, figuring out which countries to invite, whilst Anna focused on trying to intercept every single parchment that exited her sister's room.
Anna couldn't bare the idea of this happening, of Elsa doing this. And it made her even more furious that her sister wasn't even talking to her about it. Or even involving her about it. Kristoff had to go transport some ice to a neighbouring country for the weekend, so she was stuck inside all on her own. And being on her own sucked. It sucked chickens with monkey faces, that's how much it sucked.
Today of all days it was raining, so she couldn't go outside. The princess was stuck inside her room, trying not to seethe with anger at how the past week had gone. "Stupid prince being a big jerk and taking my sister from me, stupid marriage. Stupid.. everything!"
She went alert, like a cat hearing a new noise, when she could hear the muffled voice of her older sister.
"I would like the hall to have the drapes changed to match the wedding colours. And when it comes to the rugs, I need them changed for the time being. They were our parents, but they wouldn't mind the rugs being replaced with new ones, a change of scenery to bring on a new life to the kingdom, the new start to a future." Elsa passed by Anna's door. "We can put our parents' rugs in the back room for now." Not in any disrespectful way, they'd still be seen and used in the library.
Elsa had the firm belief that their parents would be eager for a wedding, he'd said she'd be fine, and their father had faith in her.
That was too much. Anna jumped to her feet and ran over to swing the door open with all her force. "What is your problem?! You can't DO THAT!" Her ears turning pink with anger.
The staff stepped back, leaving Elsa to try and keep her composure. "What are you going on about, Anna?" Looked at her, her eyes piercing cold.
"You can't just change everything about this castle just because you're going to marry some prince that YOU JUST MET!" Anna yelled. Someone had to bring that up.
"Anna, we've known him for years. Or well our family has. It's a country we were at war with once, before we were born, and this is none of your business." Elsa breathed out, trying to keep her composure.
She knew this was hurting Anna, but it was for the best. Anna had Kristoff, she deserved that much.
"SOME PRINCE I'VE NEVER MET!" Anna shouted as she punched the wall, tears forming in her eyes. "And HOW is it none of MY BUSINESS?! HUH?! Did you think I'd just sit back and leave my sister to make a huge decision all her own? Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know we were playing the 'let's ignore the other sister until she goes away' game again!'
"Anna, calm yourself! What is wrong with you?"
"What is wrong with me? What is wrong with you?! You... you tell me about true love and yet you're doing this. You've not said anything about love."
"Have you even been near me to hear me?"
"Well, no... BUT THAT SHOULDN'T MATTER! Elsa please, why are you doing this?" Anna pleaded, trying to grab for Elsa's hand.
Elsa bit the inside of her cheek, swallowing hard the lump that was forming in her throat as she stepped back so Anna couldn't make contact with her. "I l-ove him." Lying to her sister, what had become of her? She cringed when Anna fumed even more.
"You know that's not true, we're sisters! I can see it in your eyes that it's not true. Elsa please, just give this time first."
"ENOUGH, ANNA!" Elsa responded bitterly. "I am the queen and I will do what is needed for this country. As the princess, I expect you to act accordingly. Am I understood?" She tried to keep her breathing focused, to keep down the storm that was forming outside.
"I can't do that, I can't let you marry him."
"What did I say, Anna." Elsa glared, swallowing the lump in her throat again. "Are you not happy for me? Am I not allowed to be happy with someone? Or do you want me alone for the rest of my life while you get romantic affection." The snow queen said as she pushed her lips together. "Do I not deserve that?"
Anna's expression dropped with her shoulders. Her eyes moved down as her posture followed. "I... Of course you deserve it. And as you said, you're the queen, you don't need my permission to do anything." The princess brought her hands up to wring them together.
"Anna wait, I didn't mean it like tha-" She was cut off.
"I'm sorry, Elsa... I'm going to. I'll be going down to take a walk outside."
"Anna, it's raining. Do you think that's smart?" Elsa asked, arching an eyebrow.
'And what you're doing is?' Anna thought before speaking. "It's what I need to do." Before Elsa could protest anymore, Anna took off into a quick run, keep her head down as she pushed her way through the staff and out the door, going down to the gardens to grab her horse.
As she rode off into the forest, the rain poured over her cheeks, mixing with warm tears that poured down her face. When something jumped out in front of her, the horse startled and reared back, nearly knocking her off.
She managed to keep the horse from bucking her off and running. Sure, she'd said walk, but the horse was faster at getting her away from the situation. Anna led the horse into the forest, along a path that led to a little cottage that her and Elsa used to play in when they were just little, before everything bad happened.
The rain continued to pour onto her, soaking her dress through. When they got to the cottage, she tied up the horse in the small stable and went inside. Anna sat down on the straw bed and pulled her knees up to her chest, letting herself cry harder.
She couldn't even bear to think on everything, just letting herself sob.
Meanwhile, Elsa was left watching her sister run away. Is this how Anna had felt when she took off for the North Mountain? That feeling of helpless guilt. The Snow Queen dismissed her staff rather harshly as she made way to her own room.
As she passed Anna's, she noticed a dress being taken out of her room by one of the cleaners. She noticed blood and a rose petal that was very similar to the ones that had been in bloom when Henrik had proposed.
The same roses that just hours after had been cut to use as a gift to be sent with the prince when he went home.
In fact that dress had been the same one Anna had worn the day,..." Anna!" Elsa breathed out and hurried to try and find her sister. That guilt hitting her again. Why had she even felt it was a good idea to keep Anna out of this? Was it because she was selfish? That she wanted to keep things from hurting by seeing Anna's face to everything...
She became increasingly more worried when she couldn't find her anywhere in the castle or on the grounds, it wasn't until one of the men said she took the horse that a rise of fear crashed over her shoulders.
"Anna!" She looked out to see the storm outside, one that was not under her control. Elsa went to get a robe on, and took one of Anna just in case and hurried off on the horse. It wasn't until it began to get dark that she got the spark of an idea of where she was.
She reared her horse back and turned them to hurry down the path. Seeing fresh hoofprints in the mud made her hopeful. Seeing the cottage made her sigh out just briefly, tying the horse up with shaking hands before hurrying in.
It was dark and she couldn't see a thing, so she grabbed a lantern and lit it to look for her. Elsa's cheeks turned white when she saw Anna in a little ball on the bed they'd shared when only a few years old. She bit her lip and rushed over. Finding her breathing was good, but finding her cold definitely wasn't.
Her eyes darted around the room before grabbing the robe to cover her as she tried to make a fire. How was it their father had shown them to do? It took her several tries before managing to get the fire up and roaring.
She eased Anna over to sit by the fire. Peeling off the outer, more soaked layer of her clothing and put the robe around her. She ran her fingers through her hair as she held the redhead close. "It's okay, Anna. I've got you."
It was her turn the cry. How could she have been so stupid? Anna deserved to be involved in all of this, a wedding wasn't just about the marriage, but about family. And she was pushing Anna out again.
What was that about never closing the gates again? Both in the physical and metaphorical sense.
As Anna was held, she dreamt of her sister, of Elsa. Of how she'd look in a wedding down and she could feel it. She was jealous, not of her sister in the dress, but of Henrik and him getting to marry her. It was enough to jar her out of her sleep.
Finding herself in Elsa's arms made her feel both contented and nervous at the same time. "Elsa...?"
"Oh, Anna, you're alright." Elsa gasped and held her little sister even tighter, kissing the top of her head.
When Anna pulled away, she let out a little noise in protest. Elsa watched as Anna moved to sit in front of her and it was then that she noticed the cut on the inside of her palm. How had she not noticed that before?! "Anna, you're hurt!" She said as she reached of her sister's hand.
Anna jerked her hand back. "Oh, it's nothing, really. I'll be okay. I was running around and cut myself is all." She said as she pushed her hair behind her ear, feeling her nose tickle. It didn't take long before she sneezed, letting out a noise of discomfort.
This was not good. She hated getting ill. It meant she had to stay in bed and eat icky soups instead of sandwiches. It meant being stuck and kept under watch by the staff to make sure she didn't overwork anything.
Like she would anyway. Running around the hall didn't do anything bad, right? She coughed this time, covering her mouth before brushing her braids back behind her shoulders.
"You're catching cold..." Elsa trailed off. She can focus on the injury later, that would heal. The more pressing matter was getting Anna home so she could get her dry and warm and kept from becoming ill. "Let's get you home..."
"No." Anna said strictly, folding her arms, her jaw locked in a very unimpressed expression, despite the flushing of her cheeks from the cold that was trying to form.
"Why not?" Elsa asked, looking very confused. "You need to get warm."
"The cold doesn't bother me, not anymore." Did Elsa seriously forget that? She'd been an ice statue, AN ICE STATUE! You don't turn to ice all the way and not have any positive sides of not being bothered by it. If... there were positive sides to almost dying.
"Yeah, well, it will mean you can get ill if you're like this."
Anna looked to her and shook her head. "I'm not going to go until we talk about this."
"...do we have to?" Elsa bit her lip, talking wasn't doing either of them any good previously. When Anna looked up at her with pleading topaz green eyes she felt a spark in the pit of her stomach and sighed. "Okay, we can talk."
Anna smiled and took Elsa's hands. "Good. Okay, first question!" A grin, forced as it was. "Why are you marrying him?"