Hello guys! Thanks again for reading and giving your support! The pace should start to pick up pretty fast from here, so I hope you enjoy some more action.
Please remember to favorite, follow, and review! It never fails to bring a smile to my face, and it ensures that I will stay on track to finish this story line. Also, don't forget that constructive criticism is welcome, just so long as it is in fact constructive.
Oh yeah, I still don't own Frozen.
The coronation ball was as glimmering and beautiful a party as Arendelle had ever seen. Its very essence was the sound of lively waltz music, the look of a thousand colorful garbs shimmering in the chandelier light, and the smell of chocolate. Anna just couldn't get enough.
As she slipped through the side door and onto the crowded dance floor, where many people were already enjoying themselves, Anna once again felt the freedom from any expectations that she had as a princess. In a room this packed with people, no one would even notice her.
Not only that, but Anna's senses were overwhelmed with everything going on in the area so that it all became a blur of dancing and laughter and, of course, lots of food—especially chocolate.
The only thing that put a damper on Anna's mood was seeing Elsa at the front of the room, already being attacked by a whole line—yeah, a line — of young men.
'Or maybe,' the little voice in her head told her, 'she isn't being attacked, maybe she likes it.'
'Oh, be quiet,' Anna mind replied—but a part of her agreed with her little voice, and that part kept nagging at her- demanding to be heard.
Still, she was determined to have a good time; after all, this would be the biggest party of the year—maybe even the biggest party she would ever attend. To stop herself from focusing on the negative, she walked brusquely through the crowds, away from Elsa.
As she walked, she again took notice of how extravagant the whole scene was. The room was covered with bright purple and green banners which were emblazoned with the golden flower of Arendelle. Anna had always loved her country's flag; instead of being all boring and official, it represented the spirit of Arendelle- beauty, growth, and liveliness.
In contrast to the colorful banners, the room was also decorated with intricate ice sculptures of all different shapes and sizes, ranging from tiny snowflakes dangling below the ceiling to life sized people. They, of course, were made by—well never mind, she wasn't going to think about that.
After a while of wandering around, staring wide eyed at anything and everything in the magnificent room, Anna noticed something particularly amusing. A short—bordering on dainty—older man dressed all in finery was attempting to get Elsa to dance with him.
Anna paused for a moment to watch, letting people stream past her like a river flowing past a small rock—she was still upset at Elsa, but she just couldn't pass up something that funny.
The man, who was at least a foot shorter than Elsa, practically dragged the queen onto the dance floor. Then he began to careen in circles around her while she just stood there making a halfhearted attempt to dance along. Anna couldn't help but giggle; it looked like he was doing some sort of crazy ritual.
Once she was done watching the unusual sight, Anna decided to move on to the next non-sister related activity—though she was starting to miss Elsa a little—but before she took the first step, she felt someone bump her from behind—knocking her off balance.
Anna flinched, preparing for the fall that she was sure would come next, but instead she felt a larger hand grasp hers and pull her back up to safety.
She opened her eyes to see what divine intervention had stopped her from making a complete fool of herself, and saw a pair of light-emerald eyes shining back down at her, "Hans?" Although she was relieved that she hadn't fallen on her face, Anna really didn't want Hans to see her like this . . . again.
"Good thing I caught you. You know, we really need to stop bumping into each other like this," he said with a broad grin—Anna had to force herself not to stare.
"Yeah, I guess so, huh?" she laughed sheepishly, rubbing her neck; she felt herself loosening up just from being around him—how did he do that?
"May I?" he asked, giving a small bow.
Anna's mind was singing a chorus of 'yes, yes, yes!' but she just giggled, "You may," and gave an overdone curtsy—she hoped she was pulling off the whole graceful thing.
Before she knew it, Hans was gently holding her in his arms and they were dancing. Anna felt an invigoration that she hadn't known since she and Elsa built their first snowman in the very same room so long ago.
There was no doubt about it, Hans was incredible dance partner. All the princess had to do was glide along, responding to his firm lead. It was as if they were the only two people in the world—no more duties, no more sneaky sisters with arranged marriages.
Anna began to think that the feeling must be true love.
Elsa had just escaped the Duke of Weselton—he had made certain that she knew his title—when she returned to her post at the head of the room. She knew that there wouldn't be much time before the next dance partner came along, but she needed to recover from- well, whatever it was that just happened.
All evening, she had been bombarded by guests. A few, like the Duke of Weselton, weren't interested in "winning her heart" (or at least she seriously hoped he wasn't), but most—as she had suspected—were. So, she went along with it, smiling and nodding at everything they had to say—most of them just gabbed about themselves or made small talk about completely pointless things.
Elsa glanced at the antique grandfather clock positioned in the corner of the room and sighed quietly; the ball wasn't even half over. There had to be at least one somewhat interesting suitor in the room.
The queen tiredly went to find a refreshment—at least she could enjoy the food. She grabbed a plate and put a sparse amount of hors d'oeuvres and a single piece of chocolate on it. She had wanted to fill the whole thing up with chocolate, but knew that probably wasn't the best idea—after all she was supposed to be the sophisticated queen of Arendelle.
After she had gotten a snack, Elsa dipped a crystal ladle into a punch bowl filled with a blue drink of some sort—she had gotten no say in the menu choices for the night—but before she could actually get any-
"Your highness, I believe the queen at the very least deserves to have her punch served to her," a tenor voice laughed, carrying a humorous but not quite condescending tone.
Elsa looked to see who had spoken and found a tall dark and handsome figure smirking down at her, reaching for the ladle—she had gotten just about enough of tall handsome figures for the night.
Still, she said, "Of course," and smiled as kindly as she could muster. The young man went on to pour them both a drink, his dark eyes glinting.
"I'm afraid I don't know your name," she added, trying to stick to protocol. This was why she had always taken to etiquette—it gave her something proper to say when she really didn't want to make conversation.
"Prince Aleksander of Lavonshire, and you are the lovely Queen Elsa of Arendelle," he said, bowing slightly before handing Elsa her drink. She had heard of the country, but it must have been very small because she knew almost nothing about it; she guessed that it would still be best to stay on this prince's good side.
"Yes, would you care to come sit down?" Elsa asked, momentarily ignoring the food even though she could hear her stomach complain.
"That would be great." He gave her a polite smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. They were always the same—shadowy like their darkness was hiding a secret.
If he was anything like every other politician Elsa knew, then they probably were.
Hans sat on the edge of a rocky overhang with Anna; moonlight streamed through the waterfall that poured from above their heads, casting a silver glow on both of their faces. The night was warm and beautiful, perfect for romance—even if it was completely fabricated.
He had been right; Anna's heart could be played like a drum given the right musician. She really had no chance; after the line about the twelve older brothers he could tell she was hooked. Then again, that might have been the most convincing story he had ever told to anyone-it was, after all, mostly true.
She was so naive and innocent he almost felt bad about what he was doing—almost.
Now came his big move, he had complete confidence that Anna would accept. Elsa, on the other hand might be a little harder to convince—she may not be so willing to give her sister away to a complete stranger.
"Can I just say something– crazy?" the prince asked kneeling; he was also carefully monitoring his tone and wording—he couldn't get sloppy, he was too close for that, "Will you marry me?"
"Can I say something even crazier?" Anna asked ecstatically, and this time he really could tell what she was going to say next, "Yes!"
Perfect.
On the walk back to the palace, Anna's heart skipped along; she was flying, just as high as the mountain peaks she could see framing the palace. Hans was the wind under her wings—wow she was feeling poetic, but maybe that was what true love did to you.
All she had to do was tell Elsa the good news; she could barely remember why she was mad in the first place. All the negativity she had felt before was lost in the euphoria of the proposal.
Anna compulsively reached out for Hans's hand, and now she didn't have to feel guilty for squeezing just a little too tight or staring just a little too long because now they were engaged. Or at least they would be as soon as Elsa gave her consent, but really why wouldn't she.
When they reached the palace, Anna and Hans locked eyes before entering the palace doors and journeying excitedly to the ballroom—laughing and teasing each other the whole way.
A thousand things ran through Anna's mind, like how she could imagine herself walking these halls with him everyday or how excited Elsa would be when she heard the news.
She couldn't wait to see to look on her sister's face!
When she and Hans entered the ballroom, hands still locked, Anna skimmed the crowd looking for any sign of Elsa. When she didn't see any she huffed, and Hans—being as considerate as he was—asked, "Should we just wait until tomorrow, I mean it could be a little overwhelming for her with everything else going on."
Anna thought about this for a moment, but soon she decided, "No, Elsa's my sister, she'll definitely want to know tonight." She also gave Hans a playful nudge, only it may have been a little harder than she intended.
"Whatever you say." Hans chuckled, nudging back, but not as hard as she had.
So, Anna continued to search the room for the queen—should it really be that hard? She was supposed to be the center of attention. Finally she spotted Elsa sitting with some guy by the far wall; Anna abruptly started pushing her way through the crowd, dragging Hans behind her.
When they had reached Elsa, Anna tapped her shoulder, and Hans straightened his posture, as if suddenly remembering that he was standing beside a queen.
"Ahem, Elsa I-I mean Queen Elsa," she added since her sister was with a guest, "Uh, I would like to introduce Prince Hans of the Southern Isles." She gestured rather dramatically to Hans.
He gave a gentlemanly bow, but Elsa only returned it with a small nod—Anna hadn't really expected much more, Elsa never had been one to open up to strangers.
"We would like-" Anna started, but Hans cut in with-
"Your blessing-"
"On-"
"Our marriage!" the couple finished in unison, giggling; Anna lay her head on Han's shoulder. She thought that was pretty impressive, if she did say so herself.
Suddenly Anna noticed that whatever handsome—not as handsome as Hans—man was sitting by Elsa looked pretty uncomfortable. Oh well, too late. . .Then the princess looked over at Elsa's reaction and saw that she was looking about ten times more uncomfortable as the other dude.
"Marriage?" she queried, but Anna couldn't figure out why her tone was so disbelieving—wasn't she happy for them?
"Yes!" Anna squealed, sure that once it sunk in Elsa would be as excited as she was.
"I'm sorry, I think I must be confused," the queen decided, shaking her head. What was there to be confused about? It seemed pretty simple to Anna, even if it was a little surprising. The princess decided to explain it a little bit further to her sister.
"Well, we haven't worked out all the details ourselves- we'll need a few days to prepare the ceremony. Of course we'll have soup, roast, and ice cream, and then—wait, should we live here?"
"Here?" Elsa asked, her voice rising—she didn't seem any less confused to Anna.
"Absolutely!" Hans responded, eyes all lit up.
"Anna-" Elsa started, but then Anna remembered that-
"Ooh! We can have all twelve of your brothers come stay with us!"
"What?! No, no, no, no, no."
"I'm sure we have the room—well, maybe some of them can-"
"Wait, slow down—no one's brothers are staying here, and you are not getting married!" Elsa interrupted, but that didn't make any sense; maybe Anna had heard her wrong because she would never. . .
"Wait, what?" Anna felt like there had to be a mistake, Elsa must have misunderstood again.
"May I talk to you please—alone?"
Anna was shocked; she looked over at Han's who looked equally concerned. "No, whatever you have to say, you- you can say it to both of us," she said, sure about that if nothing else. She also briefly noted that the guy next to Elsa looked like he wanted to—no, focus Anna.
"Fine, you can't marry a man you just met." Elsa said, a steely look in her eyes. Oh no, she wouldn't- after Anna had just spent all day worrying about-
"You mean like you're planning too? Because at least with me it's true love!"
"What are you talking about?" Elsa looked genuinely confused, but Anna knew that she was always pretty good at keeping up appearances.
"You really thought I wouldn't find out about all this suitor garbage? Do you really think I'm that stupid?"
"No, I- wait how did you-"
"You know, I don't even want to hear it. Hans and I are in love, something you apparently know nothing about. Enjoy the coronation your highness." Anna stormed out of the room with Hans in tow; she didn't want to think about how badly those words would hurt, because she was not going to apologize this time.
This time she was exactly right.
Elsa's chair was completely covered in ice, and the ice was spreading over the ground and up the wall like some sort of infection.
'Get it under control.' she forced herself to stay calm, forced her emotions back into their icy prison before too many people started to stare—as if they weren't already. Though her powers were no secret, it wouldn't look good for her to completely let loose in front of a crowd.
After a moment, only her hands and feet were frozen, but the ice swirled about in her soul.
How could Anna just go off and do the one thing Elsa would've given anything to avoid? How could she possibly want to get married to someone she barely knew, and even more pressing was how she could think that Elsa wanted to.
Besides all that, Elsa had avoided telling her sister the news for the sole purpose of making her happy, and Anna had accused her of being incapable of love. Elsa thought that Anna of all people would know better.
Suddenly she was exhausted, she downed her drink in a few large gulps, no longer caring that she should be taking lady-like sips—she honestly hoped there was something stronger in the punch than just juice.
After a short moment of pure exasperation, Elsa was reminded that Aleksander was still there when he cleared his throat and said, "My lady, if you would, can I speak to you for a moment—outside?" Couldn't he tell that she had something more important to worry about?
She wanted to say that he most certainly could not, as a matter of fact she wanted to scream that if it wasn't for pompous little jerks like him, her sister wouldn't have blown up in her face—but then that wasn't really true was it?
In the end, Elsa decided not to make a bigger scene and just go along with the prince; she figured that if anything happened she could take care of herself.
She got up—posture straight but fragile and weak—and followed the prince into the castle foyer. Everything was becoming blurry, and she wasn't quite sure where the floor began and the frosted trail that followed her ended. All she could think was, 'No, Anna, no.'
Once they had stopped at the palace door, Elsa gathered the strength to ask, "So now that we're here, what exactly is so important that you couldn't say it in the ballroom?"
Just those words drained Elsa of all the strength she had left—she didn't even notice that her hands were no longer icy, and neither was she herself.
But she was tired, so tired.
Aleksander looked at her for a brief moment, his face wrought with the importance of whatever he was about to say, but then the moment was over and his expression changed to a smirk.
"Good night your highness," he breathed.
His dark eyes were suddenly all that Elsa could see; and even their darkness was consuming her.
A streak of blond that wasn't there before, and then nothing.
Everything was darkness.
It felt good for him to be back to his usual self; changing forms for so long was exhausting.
He stuck his head out the door—hair almost white in the moonlight—and motioned for Markus to come help him out.
"It worked," he announced quietly to the broad man walking through the doorway.
"Told you it was foolproof," Markus replied, just a little too loudly for someone who had just helped drug the queen on her coronation night. Sometimes he wondered if hiring him was such a good choice, but Markus did come with a particularly rare skillset . . .
"Quit gloating and help me get her in the cart." There was no time for small talk, he wasn't sure there was any time at all.
"How exactly do you plan to keep her from—oh, I dunno—killing both of us?" Markus whispered, now helping his partner lift the queen into the air, "I mean sure, that sedative potion will knock her powers out for as long as she's asleep, but what's to stop her from freezing us as soon as she wakes up?"
"I'm banking on her taking our side when we tell her the truth—the whole truth—until then we'll just have to bluff. Now stop talking."
When they reached the small wooden cart which was hooked up to an old grey mare, the kidnappers plopped the queen into the hay inside the cart-bed. Then, they quickly covered her with old sacks that would've been used to carry grain or seed before adding more hay to make sure no sign of their contraband was seen.
"Here goes nothing," Markus sighed and took the reins.
The pair left the castle gates unattested by anyone; in the darkness they looked like a couple of stable hands.
Anna had stormed all the way to the castle balcony with Hans. She had been furious—could Elsa really expect to run her life like that, even deciding who she could or couldn't marry? It was Anna's decision.
However now, after venting to Hans for nearly a full hour, the heat of the anger was fading into a dull unpleasant sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. The tears from only a few minutes ago were still sticking to her cheeks.
She knew what she had to do, Hans had agreed, but that didn't make her hate it any less
"Are you sure that I should try to talk it out? After all, in the past Elsa hasn't exactly been very good at the whole "opening up" thing. Really, we could just leave Arendelle. . . "Frankly Anna wasn't entirely sure how she felt about that plan, but if it meant being with Hans-
"I'm positive, you won't be happy if you aren't here with Elsa." The prince stated softly; he was so much better at figuring out these kinds of things than she was.
"You're right, but—will you come with me? Just to escort me there?"
"Wouldn't have it any other way."
They shared an encouraging smile before walking downstairs and into the ballroom. Anna was nervous, but she made herself focus on taking steady footsteps. 'Left foot, right foot.'
Anna walked through the still crowded room, looking for her sister. This time it seemed harder to avoid the stares of the guests; this time everyone knew that she was the princess who had just had a fight with the queen—her own sister.
Anna really wanted to disappear. She almost wished she could become like one of those beautiful ice figures that Elsa had made-at least then she wouldn't have to go through all the pain and embarrassment she felt at that moment.
After a while the princess began to get a bit nervous—where was Elsa? Just as she was thinking this, Kai appeared out of the crowd.
"Is the queen alright my lady?" he inquired, voice a little more tense than usual, "Some of the guests are getting a bit skittish to meet her—"
"What?" Anna replied; really, what was he talking about? Anyone could see Elsa if they wanted, unless. . .
"You mean she's not with you?" Kai questioned, a deep frown easing its way onto his face.
"Wha- no, of course not. I haven't seen her for at least an hour." Anna exchanged a troubled look with Hans. She thought that she might know what Kai was getting at, but that was impossible.
"Oh dear." That was all Kai said, but the implications were huge. The queen, Elsa, Anna's sister, was missing. Queens don't just go missing in the middle of their coronation ball.
No, this couldn't be happening; there was no way that this could happen, no way. Anna racked her brain for something—anything— that could rationalize this . . . and she found a convenient answer.
That guy had been with her, or more accurately she had been with that guy. They were probably together right now- her telling him some sob story about her sister who just couldn't understand how complicated things were for a queen. Anna just couldn't stand it.
She let herself become angry, because the alternative—well, a small part in the back of Anna's mind was thinking, 'No, no, no, not Elsa.' So instead she chose to be angry, not ready to come to terms with the other option.
"Don't worry about it Kai. I think I know where she is."