Wedding Day was like nothing Arendelle had ever seen, shops were closed but the streets still bustled with hundreds of people in their Sunday best. Those who merited a personal invitation entered first and, after they had filled in, earlycomers were admitted in, packing every inch of the church, save for the aisle and alter.
Everyone tittered and gossiped – just which one of the royals was to be married? How would she look? Who was the groom? They exchanged ideas, few of which had any substance or probability, but they needed something to do nevertheless.
Anna peeked out of her sister's dressing room into the hosting room. She always thought people were exaggerating when they said it was fit for a wedding. But, hey, seemed that they were right. Not that it mattered, because each person filling in there was another person who'd be staring at Anna and wiping tears, not knowing anything behind why she was marrying this man they had never heard of.
"Sir, you're not supposed to see the bride before the wedding!" a maid tittered, and Anna moved to hide herself, cocooning herself in her large veil.
"She's not my bride." A deep voice sadly mumbled, pushing past the fretting girl.
Anna stepped back out into the light, biting her lip and looking up at Kristoff. "Hi." She muttered, looking up at him and feeling her face grow hot with embarrassment.
Kristoff sighed longingly and grabbed her hands. "You look beautiful." He said sincerely. He exhaled shakily then pulled her into a crushing bear hug she gladly reciprocated. "God, I don't want you to do this."
"I don't want to either!" Anna began to cry, and her makeup came off on Kristoff's blue shirt. "But that was the rule…"
"What rule?"
Anna was sobbing down, finally letting all of the emotion out she had been trying to keep pent up. "Elsa talked – sob – to the other politicians, and they – sob – only want princesses being married to other – sob – royals because that's more – sob – political. And 'cause all the other – sob – princes were here and – sob – flirting, they said if one proposed in –sob- three days, I-I-I – sob – had to accept. Elsa argued for months, and just to get them down to th-" Anna wailed and buried her face in Kristoff's chest.
He picked her up and cradled her against him, trying to process everything.
"Marry me first." He said quietly.
"Right n-now?" Anna still cried.
Kristoff got down on one knee and held out the little ring box. It turns out that he didn't need those days of practice, it didn't matter what he said or how he said it. Before he could even open his mouth, Anna had accepted and dove down to her knees to meet him.
"I want to marry you, I do, I do." Anna cried still, knowing it could never happen.
"That's….why I was gone." Kristoff said, putting the ring on her finger, just to have a memory of how it looked. "I wanted to make it up to you, and show you that I really did love you, even if I'm terrible at showing it sometimes."
"I know you love me." Anna nodded, sniffling now and looking up at him with big eyes. "I love you, too."
Elsa came into the room, looking at the mess of emotions splayed out on the floor in front of her. "Oh Anna…" she said, biting her bottom lip.
"I can't do it Elsa, I can't!" Anna said firmly, scooting closer to Kristoff. "I can't know that Kristoff is out there, and still agree to marry Jack." She seemed to suddenly remember the thousands of people waiting for her. Anna clamped her hands to her cheeks, the rosy color drained out. "Oh no…" she murmured, looking up at Elsa with tears in her eyes. "What are we going to do now? There's all of Arendelle out there, expecting the announced Royal Wedding! And Jack is waiting at the altar. If I embarrass him like this, there could be war! He could stop trade! He certainly wouldn't be happy, oh…"
Elsa bit her lip and looked to the side, fingers drumming on a certain vanity.
Anna didn't notice. "Elsa – this is terrible! I've got to pull him aside, I've got to ex- no. No. I can't do that. There has to be the royal wedding. Everyone knows, all the dignitaries are here, everyone's here! There's nothing I can – no, there has to be something! I know, I know. He already told me that he approached this as a – how did he put it? – a merger. If I just wait a year, I can slip out of the marriage without him being embarrassed. But we couldn't be getting divorced, that would never be permitted, oh, and I don't want Kristoff to feel shame at having to keep our true love a secret-"
"I'll take something over nothing." Kristoff said quickly. "I can wait a year."
"Anna, Anna." Elsa cooed, putting on a brave face and trying to be as reassuring as possible. "The royal wedding will commence."
…
And Elsa's instructions were carried out perfectly. Everyone in Arendelle got the announced Royal Wedding, and watched with doe eyes as a blushing bride nervously pecked her new prince. The new couple scampered down the alley between the pews, throwing rice as Jack helped his bride into the carriage. She waved, a convincing smile on her face as she greeted her subjects. She gave a smaller, but more pointed, wave to Kristoff, giving him a weak, semi-reassuring smile.
"I must say, I didn't expect this." Jack mumbled into her ear, opening the buttons on his jacket and reclining back into his seat.
"We'll talk later." She said nervously, tucking a few loose strands of hair behind her ear and cocooning herself in her voluminous veil.
…
At the reception later that evening, Anna sought out Elsa with great intensity, moving so purposefully through the crowd a ruddy-cheeked Kristoff struggled to keep up with her.
"I can't believe this…" Anna mumbled, wrapping her sister in a hug and then drawing back, still holding her hands. "I…" she stumbled over for words. "Please…"
Elsa sighed. "Anna. It was…part of the original deal. If a man proposed in the three days, you two would be married. If not, and you married Kristoff, well, I would have to marry someone a bit more…political."
Anna felt a surge of guilt. "I'm so, so sorry Elsa. I didn't mean to-"
Elsa held up her hand; she had more to say. "And this was a two-birds-one-stone deal. I knew you wouldn't be happy with anyone but Kristoff, and if we humiliated Jack on a world stage, well, good-tempered as he is, I wouldn't expect him to take it well. I wouldn't expect anyone to take it well."
"You…" Anna gulped a little, reaching up to play with her sister's veil, adjusting it to better frame her face. "You would sacrifice yourself for me?"
Elsa stopped fiddling with the new ring on her fourth finger, and smiled to look up at her sister, taking Anna's hands in hers. "I love you."
