For My Kingdom
A Frozen Fan Fiction
Chapter Ten:
"My Sister Is Gonna... WHAT?"
As the warm, summer sun descended over the horizon, Anna and Kristoff laid next to each other on a grassy knoll just outside the castle gates. Their hands were entwined as they watched the day begin to disappear into twilight.
Anna sighed contentedly as she snuggled closer to her husband, using his chest as a pillow. "I feel like I would lose myself in the sky if you weren't here with me," she muttered as he wrapped an arm tightly around her.
"Quite frankly, I wouldn't blame you. In fact, I'd be happy for you." Kristoff kissed the top of her head and stroked her braids. "You've been under so much stress the past couple of days... With Elsa..."
Anna groaned with exhaustion. "Please don't talk to me about that. It's too..." She rolled over onto her stomach so her face was flat against the ground. "Distressing." Her voice was muffled in the grass.
Seeing his wife's obvious displeasure, Kristoff rolled over on his side so he could look at her dejectedly prone position and rub her comfortingly on the back. "I understand, love, but hey! She's safe now, isn't she? We got that low-life traitor behind bars and soon he will no longer be a problem."
She didn't tell him what that low-life traitor told her in the dungeons earlier that day, and suddenly she felt guilty, but not enough to tell him. She lifted her chin up and rested it on her folded arms. "Heh, yeah... I guess so."
Not convinced, Kristoff lifted a hand to push Anna's crimson bangs from her eyes and lightly turned her head toward himself so he could look into them. "I'm not buyin' it," he teased gently and kissed her lips. "What's wrong? What do I not know?"
Anna sighed sadly and rested her forehead against his. "Elsa... Elsa could still be in danger."
Kristoff pulled back quickly, startled. "What?"
"Your highnesses! Your highnesses!" An older woman, Kara, who had been Elsa and Anna's caretaker since they were toddlers, was running haphazardly towards them from the castle, her heavy bust bouncing awkwardly with every cumbersome step.
"That's so weird," Kristoff muttered to Anna, referring to being considered a 'your highness' now.
Anna laughed. "Try dealing with it your whole life."
Kara was not laughing when she reached them. Her chest rose and fell heavily when she stopped in front of them to catch her breath. "Princess," gasp, "Anna," gasp, "Prince," gasp, "Kristoff, you must," gasp, "come." Gasp, "The queen..."
The princess's heart seemed to skip a beat. She was on her feet so fast she felt dizzy for a moment. Kristoff was up too and he steadied her, but Anna was forward with her hands resting urgently on the five foot three woman's shoulders. "What, Kara? What happened? Where's Elsa?!"
For the most part, the woman had stopped hyperventilating, though she was still breathing somewhat heavily. "Elsa is fine..." She took a brief moment to breathe. "She's in her bedroom, but..."
"But what?!" Anna didn't bother to conceal her fear and frustration.
"But, Anna, she's... she's getting married..."
Anna's fear and frustration magically transformed into a look of confusion and what-the-heck-just-happened. She stepped away from Kara and appraised her for a moment, trying to figure out if she was pulling her leg. "Wait, what?" She turned to look at Kristoff who also looked rather confused. "To whom?"
"That's the thing, your highness..." Kara looked her sadly in the eyes. "She doesn't know."
In a blind rage. That's what Anna was as she stormed through the castle and up the stairs to the corridor where Elsa's bedroom was. She stopped in front of the door and the guards, and rather than pay the guards any attention, she cried out, "Elsa! Let me in!"
Elsa's voice was quiet and miserable through the thick, wooden door. "Go away, Anna."
"No." Anna shook her head violently, biting down on her lower lip. "No! You are not going to do this to me again!" Her voice broke. "Let me in! Let me help!"
There was silence for a long and unendurable moment. The young princess couldn't prevent the tears from trickling down her downcast, freckled cheeks. Elsa wouldn't do this to her again. She wouldn't shut her out at a time like this! She couldn't.
From within the bedroom, Elsa sighed shakily. Her breath rose before her eyes in a ghostly mist of white. "Come in then," she replied, quickly wiping away fresh tears with the silken sleeve of her gown.
The door opened and Anna was hit with a blast of frigid air. As she stepped inside what could very well have passed as the most luxurious meat locker in the world, her heart began to break apart into fragments, bit by icy bit. "Elsa," Anna gasped. Her bedroom was transformed from a warm place of solace into a frozen fortress of solitude, with the responsible party sitting in the far corner of the room, crestfallen, with her knees held tightly against her chest. The queen's eyes were red and puffy like she had been crying for hours.
Anna couldn't get to her sister fast enough. Collapsing on the floor next to her, she shivered and wrapped her arms around Elsa. "It's okay. They'd understand."
The "they" that she was referring to was their father and mother.
"I promised..."she muttered. "We both promised... to never marry for any reason other than true love..." Her voice was fractured and broken. Guilt and pain riddled every syllable and every inch of her face revealed her agony.
"Oh Elsa..." Anna held her tighter. "Your true love right now is your kingdom. If anyone could understand that, it'd be the king and queen."
The queen looked up at the ceiling for a moment, her eyes welling up with a new round of tears, then turned and buried her face in her sister's shoulder. The sobs rolled through, unimpeded by any kind of pride or queenly restraint. In that frozen room, the two sisters clung to each other like they were kids again, afraid of the dark night beginning to close in around them.