Chapter 7


Despite the nights they spent together, talking to Anna was still something that made Elsa anxious.
There would always be a deafening silence while they ate, but at least Anna now ate next to her, instead of all the way on the other side of the table.

Elsa cleared her throat, "so what's your plans for today, Anna?"

Anna didn't have plans. All she ever did was spend time with Kristoff while Elsa was cooped up in her room, neck deep in royal jargon, but now, she couldn't even think of the man without her gut wrenching.

"Urghhh..." Anna groaned.

"Are you okay Anna?" Elsa asked, concerned.

"Yeah yeah I'm... I've... never been better..." she lied. Even Elsa could tell it was a lie from the Brunette's dejected tone.

"What's bothering you Anna?" Elsa asked, "and don't tell me nothing, I know something's bothering you."

Anna hesitated at first. The issue about Kristoff had been nagging at the back of her mind for the past few days, and she knew she had to confront Elsa about the matter someday. So why not now?

"Elsa..." she began shakily, unsure if she should say it or not.

"I... I don't want you to see Kristoff anymore."

*clang!*

The sound of utensils crashing down on the ceramic plates sent both sisters into shock. And inevitably, a long silence filled the air as both girl's were put into deep thought. Sorting out her feelings, the floor around Elsa began to ice over.

No more Kristoff? The thought of life without the burly mountain man sent the Queen's muscles into a static shock, unable to move.

'Okay Elsa, relax, you knew this was coming...' Elsa thought to herself, mentally preparing to respond.

But words were stuck in her throat, choking her. The Queen was smack bang between a rock and a hard place. She was put in the middle of the biggest dilemma of her life. How could she choose between two people whom she so dearly loved?

Anna was her sister, of course, and she's the only family left, so of course her needs were of utmost priority to her.

But how could she abandon Kristoff just like that. How could he just leave all of her feelings for that man so suddenly. And to think they were just beginning to get into each other. A man, so charming and charismatic, who was undisputedly the most knowledgable, and passionate person about ice (except for herself), and the only person she genuinely felt a connection with her whole life. And now she had to leave him? Her heart fell out of her throat as she choked on her own saliva, trying to concoct an audible answer for her sister, who was now looking at her with an expression full of expectations.

The Queen brought a glass of water to her lips, took a big gulp to clear her throat, then composed herself.

"As you wish, Anna..." she gave in. Snow started to fall around the Queen, indicating her clear sadness. Anna's needs always came first.

"I... It's not like I don't want you to have him! It's just... I can't even look at him anymore..." Anna declared. It was true, even thinking of the man sent Anna's body into a state of fright, traumatized from the countless nightmares she had. Kristoff was clearly a poison to her now, and she needed him out.

"I-" the Queen choked, "I understand Anna."

How was she going to break it to him?


A few hours later...

"So she's okay now?"

"Well... yeah... sort of."

"Sort of?" Kristoff asked.

"She's back to normal... But she still has nightmares," Elsa said before pausing.

"Nightmares about you, Kristoff..."

The man's eyes widened.

"About me? Wha-Well what about me?" the now concerned man asked, eager to know what he was doing in Anna's nightmares.

"She won't say. Everytime I bring you up she suddenly gets all sad and worked up, as if she's trying to fight something inside of her," the Queen said, "and so we don't talk about you much."

Kristoff's heart wrenched.

It had been close to a month since the mountain man had seen Anna. Life became harder and harder each day for him, not knowing how Anna felt about him, if she even wanted to see him. And now that Elsa was on good terms with her, the Queen and him no longer spent nights together, by the fireplace, talking about anything and everything (mostly ice). That was probably what he longed for the most.

Life was slowly becoming meaningless for him. He felt unneeded and irrelevant in the two sisters' lives. He felt lost.

"I wanna-" but Kristoff was cut off by Elsa.

"I can't see you anymore Kristoff..." Elsa broke out.

The words echoed in his head a couple of times before it sank in.

Wait what?

Even when it hit him, what Elsa meant, Kristoff needed a few more moments to recover before he could even try to speak.

Now Elsa was going to leave him too?

A sharp pain in his chest caused him to just stare at the Queen, with his eyebrows furrowed.

No no no no no, that can't happen, not Elsa, not after all we've been through.

"You're leaving me...?" Kristoff asked, eyes widening.

Tears lined the Queen's delicate eyelids, threatening to tip over and flow down all over her milky white cheeks. She turned away, she couldn't look at him.

"I have to Kristoff... For Anna..." she started to cry, the floorboards around her feet beginning to ice over, and the room, faintly starting to snow.

"She's all the family I've got! And I-I can't lose her again... Not after all those years we spent apart..." Elsa tried to justify her actions to both the man and herself.

Elsa loved Kristoff, more than anything else really (except Anna, of course). None of the suitors she had met were even half as charming, as handsome and as loving as the man that was standing right in front of her. Yet, she knew she had to leave.

Elsa was afraid. Afraid out of her wits. Afraid that her own personal desires would hurt Anna again, especially after all the times she had hurt her dear sister.

No, Elsa had to leave him.

"You can't leave me, Elsa..." Kristoff declared, "what am I gonna do without you?"

"Without you I've got nobody. Literally nobody!" Kristoff said, exasperated.

"And you're the only person I actually... Lov-Like. Like, a lot..."

Elsa remained silent. She knew if she started talking, tears would definitely burst out of her eyes. And her powers were already feeling threatened.

'Don't feel... Don't feel...' she mentally recited, as she prepared herself to leave the man, the man whom she loved so much.

"Elsa please, we can work this out together, I swear! You know we can, and I know we can! So just stop this madness!" Kristoff raised his voice, grabbing a hold of the Queen's hands.

"Look! I don't have a choice alright? Anna doesn't want me to see you anymore," Elsa pulled her hands away from Kristoff's. She didn't have the heart to leave him by her own choice, so bringing Anna in made it easier.

"But that doesn't mean we have to stop seeing each other! Look just give us a chance, give me a chance! Let me talk to Anna, let me see her and work things out!" Kristoff's voice became hoarse, as he got more and more desperate to convince his love to stay with him. He knew talking to Anna wouldn't solve anything, but at that moment, he was just so desperate for Elsa to stay.

'See Anna? Let him see Anna and hurt her again? No... That can't happen' Elsa thought. Memories of incident's where Anna got hurt flashed in front of Elsa's eyes. Of the time they were kids, and Elsa struck her with her powers, of the time Elsa struck her yet again in her heart, of the time Anna froze over completely and nearly died trying to save her.

"I love you Elsa," the man declared, "do you love me?"

Kristoff readied himself to hug the Queen as he anticipated words like 'of course I do' or 'yes Kristoff, i love you' to come from Elsa.

"..."

"No..."

The tension in the air rose quickly, but the temperature dropped. Elsa's cold, harsh words silenced the mountain man.

"You're lying..." he said softly, but loud enough for the Queen to hear.

"G-goodbye Kristoff..." Elsa said with a shaky voice as she stood up. But she felt a strong, firm grip on her elbow.

"Please don't go Elsa..." Kristoff said, in a fit of desperation.

"I can't live without you, without touching your fair, icy skin... without seeing your warm smile and hearing your dry jokes... without your endless passion for ice..." this was Kristoff's final attempt at making her stay.

"Ice is my life Elsa... You, are my life..." it took every muscle inside of the man to force back his tears, but he failed terribly as more and more words came out. Never had the mountain man opened up to someone so much.

"I..."

"I'm sorry Kristoff..." Elsa's arms glowed and threatened to freeze Kristoff's hands, causing his hands to dart back. Elsa scampered off quickly, fearing that if she had stayed any longer, things would get out of hand.

"You're just afraid Elsa!" the Queen heard Kristoff's screams behind her.

"You're afraid! And-and selfish!"

It was the last time Elsa would hear his voice for years.

Kristoff kicked an empty box near his right foot.

"Argh!" he screamed in frustration.

The anger inside him now overpowered the sadness.

"I shouldn't have trusted people..." he mumbled, wiping the tears from his eyes.

'People will beat you and curse you and cheat you, everyone of them's bad...' words from Sven nagged at him.

"I knew they'd end up hurting me..." he said bitterly, mentally vowing never to fall in love ever again.


A/N : Hello! Sorry for the late update. Anyways, this is the last chapter, and the next chapter is a prologue. Sorry no happy endings :( and sorry if I neglected Anna's take on all the story. I wanted to focus on Elsa and Kristoff more.

Thanks to all who fav-ed and followed, or even just read this story. And a big thank you to the special ones who left reviews :) I really really really love reading them! Probably my only source of motivation :D I'll probs be writing more Kristelsa soon, so yeah, till then! :)