Chapter 10: An Old Friend

Anna looked from her sister to her sister's friend. Ariel was just standing there as if she couldn't believe what who was standing before her. She hadn't seen Elsa in thirty years and now she was right before her. Ariel looked like she had seen a ghost which Anna reasoned with. She had felt something similar when she had first set eyes on Elsa at the Hospital. Ariel just stood there. She didn't speak. Anna felt like Ariel couldn't. She was sure that Ariel's voice was stuck in her throat. Anna looked at her older sister. She was in a familiar state but then she smiled. Ariel got a weird look on her face.

"Hello Ariel," Elsa smiled.

Ariel just looked at her. She still didn't speak. She didn't even dare move. They just looked at each other.

"This can't be," Ariel stuttered. "This can't be."

"Ariel," Anna whispered.

"I can't do this," Ariel quickly gathered up her stuff and headed for the door.

"Wait, Ariel," Elsa grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

Ariel shivered at Elsa's touch.

"You're cold," Ariel said staring at Elsa's fingers.

Anna knew what Ariel was talking about. Elsa was always so cold now. It was if she couldn't warm up. Maybe that comes from being dead for thirty years.

"I know," Elsa whispered.

There was another moment of silence.

"Who are you?" Ariel asked her. "Are you really my friend who drowned in the river?"

"Yes," Elsa whispered.

"If you are then what was the nickname that we gave Jack when we teased you about him?"

"Frosty boy," Elsa smiled. "It would always annoy me because I didn't want you to be teasing me about my crush."

Ariel paused for a minute. Anna didn't even know that. She could just imagine Elsa's friends teasing her about her obvious love for Jack Frost. Anna looked back at Ariel. She knew what Ariel was doing. She wanted to see if Elsa was really Elsa.

"Why did you hate Maths when you were always good at it?"

"Because the teacher hated me for correcting him when he got his Maths wrong," Elsa said with a smile.

"Last question," Ariel took a deep breath. "When I first told you that I was thinking about marrying Eric after university, what advice did you give me?"

"I told you to slow down and to think about what you wanted and what you wanted with Eric," Elsa said.

"And why did I not approve of this advice?"

"Because I gotten married to Jack just a month earlier. You thought I was a hypocrite."

Ariel's face welled up tears. Anna could see that no one else knew about that exchange that had taken between her sister and Ariel. Ariel put her hand to her mouth and started to shake. Tears started to form in Ariel's eyes. Soon they were pouring down her face. She had just confirmed that her dead friend was back and standing before her. Ariel had probably thought that she would never see her again.

"The last time I saw you was when-"

"We had coffee at The Teapot and The Candlestick," Elsa finished with a smile. "You had been telling me about your trip that you and Eric were about to take for your fifth year anniversary."

"Yes," Ariel's voice was shaking more than ever. "That was only seven weeks before you drowned and I would never see you again."

"You told me that you had wanted to sail around the Pacific one day," Elsa continued. "Did you ever get round to it?"

"Yes, after your funeral I wanted to get out again for a while," Ariel said her voice was thick with tears. "I spent seven months in the Pacific trying to control my grief. It was hard to lose a friend who I had known for ten years."

"I know," Elsa said.

"I'm not saying it was your fault," Ariel said quickly as if Elsa would be thinking something ridiculous like that. "It was just difficult."

"I know," Elsa nodded.

"Have you seen Sigrid? Leif? Jack?"

"Not Leif," Elsa shook her head. "I really want to though."

"He's grown to be quite the character," Ariel laughed.

"I hoped he had," Elsa smiled.

Jack was sorting through the mess on his desk in his study. He had piles of papers scattered out of order and that wasn't really useful when it would be easier to find what he needed if they had been. He was getting more and more frustrated as he couldn't find it.

"Hey Dad," Jack heard a female voice and he didn't need to look up to see it was his daughter.

"Hey sweetie," Jack looked up and grinned at her.

Sigrid took a seat opposite where Jack was sitting. She looked at her Father and the mess he had made.

"I gather you are looking for something," Sigrid smiled.

"Is it that obvious huh?" Jack laughed.

Jack continued to rummage around. Sigrid reached over and pulled out a piece of paper. She waved it in front of Jack's face. She knew exactly what her Dad was looking for.

"Is that what you are looking for?" she asked.

"Yes," Jack sounded surprised as he took the piece of paper that Sigrid had handed him.

Sigrid stayed silent while her Father typed up some things on his computer.

"So I've been thinking," Sigrid said breaking the silence.

"About what?" Jack asked not taking his eyes of his computer screen.

"My wedding," Sigrid fiddled with the ends of her dress.

Jack looked his daughter straight in the eye.

"If you're having second thoughts about that," he said, "it's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Oh no," Sigrid shook her head. "Nothing like that."

"Then what?"

"I've been thinking about this whole thing with Mum," Sigrid responded. "It's made me realise that life is precious and we should plan for the here and now and not just for the future. Mum thought that she would be able to raise me and my brother while she lived her life with you. She was proven wrong. She died a young woman. She hadn't even lived a decent length life. She was only twenty one at the time of her death. Barely enough time on the Earth."

"What are you saying?" Jack was puzzled.

"I want to be married, I love Nathan so much," Sigrid said, "and I want both my parents to be at my wedding. I want you, my Father, to walk me down the aisle with my Mum crying in the front row. I never thought that I would be able to have my own Mother at my wedding. Something changed that. I am not going to question that miracle. I don't know how long Mum will be with us. A month? A year? Does anyone really know?"

"So what have you decided?"

"I want to move up my wedding," Sigrid said firmly. "I want to be married as soon as possible so my own Mother can attend her daughter's wedding."

"You know what this means though?"

Sigrid sighed. "That I will have to tell Nathan the truth?"

"Bingo."

"Man, is he going to freak out."

"Didn't we all?"

"I supposed."

Nathan was heading towards the cemetery. He had something he needed to do and he needed to do it before he committed himself to his beloved. He opened the wrought iron gate and headed along the rows of stones until he stopped at two. The stones read 'Agdar Winters and Idun Winters'. They were Sigrid's grandparents. Jack had told her that they had died when Sigrid's Mother was only eighteen years old. They had gone on a cruise when a storm had hit. The storm had been quite powerful indeed. The Captain had radioed for help but in that kind of weather, well no one was going out. The sea ended up taking over fifty lives that day. Some did survive but not many. It seemed strange that both Sigrid's grandparents and Mother both died from drowning. It almost seemed like a curse.

Nathan moved along to the next one. It read 'Elsa Frost'. It was fitting that she had been buried next to her parents. Nathan set down the bouquet of flowers he had been carrying in front of the gravestone.

"Hello Mrs. Frost, Elsa," Nathan said. "I've come to see you because I think I should tell you something. No doubt, Sigrid has told you that she is getting married, to me, Nathan Bennett," Nathan put up his hand, "I'm your husband's best friend's son. You remember Jamie and Emma? Well I've their son. I just wanted you to know that your daughter is in good hands with me. Your husband has approved of me and trust me that is no easy task to achieve. Took me a fair while but it was worth it. So I just wanted to really reassure you that your beloved Sigrid will be fine with me," Nathan grinned at the headstone. "So that's all for now. I'll be back later. Hopefully with news that you will be a grandmother," Nathan's grin got wider. "So thanks for listening."

"Chatting to beyond the grave eh?" said a voice.

Nathan turned around and saw a woman walking towards him. Nathan was quite shocked. He thought he had been alone. The woman walked closer to him. Nathan was reminded of someone but he couldn't quite place it.

"Is she someone you knew?" the woman gestured towards the gravestone.

"Oh I never met her," Nathan said. "She would be my mother-in-law when I marry her daughter."

"Oh so you're engaged?" the woman looked amused and happy. "I love it when there is a little bit more love in the world."

"So do I and yes," Nathan grinned. "To the most wonderful woman. I love her with all my heart, soul and mind. For me, there is no one but her."

"She sounds lucky to have found you."
"Trust me, I'm the lucky one," Nathan let out a laugh. "She could have had anyone and she choose me."

"I know I don't know you but I get this vibe that I think she would have approved of you," the woman gestured to the gravestone. "Sorry I couldn't help but listen."

"Oh that's okay and thanks," Nathan smiled. "I would like to have met her. I've heard stories and she sounds rather fascinating."

"From your fiancé?"

"Oh no, the husband," Nathan said. "She died when my fiancée was only a baby."

"How terrible," the woman adopted a look of sadness on her face.

"I know."

Nathan stared down at the gravestone. What would Elsa have felt during her last few moments? Fear? Or did she even know she was about to die? It would have been terrible to be happy one second and then completely gone the next. Nathan looked back up to look at the woman but she had gone. Nathan looked around but he couldn't see her anywhere. She moved fast.

Bunnymund was at work. He worked as a Detective Inspector for the Burgess police. He had decided to follow in his Father's footsteps. He was currently looking through the police's archive of old newspapers. Ever since he had made the connection with the woman who had been murdered, he couldn't get it out of his mind. His current theory was that Elsa had returned because she had unfinished business and this case was her unfinished business. She maybe had known something that she had wanted to pass along but she obviously didn't get to.

Bunnymund stopped scrolling on an article. It was an article about a Hans Westergaard. Westergaard was a big business man. He had started his company up her in Burgess before moving to New York to expand it. Bunnymund continued scrolling. He stopped again on a paper that was about the murders. The article had some pictures of the crime scene photos that had been leaked. Bunnymund stopped and stared. He enlarged the photo. It wasn't very good quality so he hurried to find the originals to double check what he had seen. He found them in storage. He quickly collected them up and then hurried back to where he had been sitting. He scrolled back to the article about Westergaard before looking at the crime scene photos. He took out a magnifying glass and examined the pictures. In the pictures, on the ground, was a pin on the ground. When Bunnymund looked back at the article, Hans Westergaard was wearing one just like it. Bunnymund scrolled to a later article. He managed to find one on Westergaard. It was just him commenting on his business's success. Bunnymund looked closer at the article and noticed something important. Hans Westergaard wasn't wearing the pin anymore. It had gone.

A/N: I hope that everyone enjoyed this update. Please review =)