"I'm not saying it's a bad thing but…"
The princess set the pitcher on the table and poured two cups. "No that's exactly what you're telling me." She grabbed the two sets and walked around to sit on the chaise. "Here," She said offering her sister the glass.
"Thank you," She sighed, "I never knew how scared I was until he fell into that chair." She took a sip, "Really Anna?"
"You looked like you needed something stronger than tea."
"It's just after one!"
"Wine goes with lunch," She argued, the queen sighed and sat back in the chair. "Drink, like a good adult."
The queen laughed once and did as she was told. The raspberry flavor helped take away from the burn. Anna sipped her wine as well curling a leg underneath her.
"I almost wish he didn't do anything,"
"Elsa-"
"I would have figured it out," The queen interjected neatly, she took a sip and raised an eye brow at her sister. "What's a little trial and error anyways?" She said with a smirk.
Anna choked on her wine and Elsa laughed a hand coming to her mouth in a failed attempt to hide her amusement.
"Not cool!" She cried, reaching for a napkin. "Ahhhhh it went up my nose!"
Elsa threw her head back and laughed, unable to hold it back any longer. She always felt better after she talked to Anna, something like this would happen and make her laugh, or something Anna would say would make her smile. She couldn't imagine life without her, and yet she'd neglected her for sixteen years, and almost killed her on top of that. She thanked God every day since.
"Anna, I wanted to tell you something." She said, twirling the glass in her hands. The princess looked up around her own and made a sound, "Thank you."
"For what?" She said clearing her throat.
"Everything," Anna looked at her confused, "Anna I've done some horrible things to you, cruel things, and yet you still find it in your heart to forgive me. Even with my flaws and ridiculous existence…"
"Your existence is not ridiculous."
Ice coated the room, twisting in elegant designs and turning the high-backed chair into a twisted throne of thorns and ice. Elsa tilted her head down with a smile, "You don't think so?"
"Now you're just showing off," Anna giggled.
Elsa barked a laugh and recalled the ice, returning the room to its original form. She stood and moved to the window.
"Seriously though Anna, thank you. I don't deserve a sister like you."
"No," Anna said, leaning towards her. Elsa felt a twinge of sorrow at the word, but she knew it was true. "You deserve a better family than me."
"I'm sorry?" She turned back to her sister, caught completely off guard.
"Elsa you're like this because papa didn't know what else to do. If what you and Kristoff told me is true, he was just as scared as you were, if not more so. Even though you did commit yourself to a life of isolation you hid yourself from yourself, if that even makes sense. As we grew older you fell farther away, no one could touch you. I tried to, and it was always that hope of seeing you again that kept me trying. I was the only one who believed you weren't a monster when the kingdom froze over. I only wished they hadn't locked the doors on us, so that I could prove it to them." Anna blinked and felt the unbidden tears fall against her cheek. "I guess the only good thing is that it ended up saving my life in the end."
She didn't hear her move, but she felt a hand turn her chin up. Elsa smiled though her eyes were glazed over, "I can't change the past, but I would have told myself to open that door, and to never have hidden from you." She brushed a tear away with her thumb. "But I was right; I don't deserve to have a sister like you." She leaned down and kissed her lips, briefly but enough to let the gesture's meaning take hold. Anna's eyes fluttered and she smiled up at her sister, who also held the same loving smile.
She bit her lip and her nose crinkled, "You taste like raspberries."
"Better than reindeer I guess." Elsa smirked as a shocked laugh escaped her.
She waited for a rebuff, but instead Anna glanced away in thought and then shrugged, "M'yeah…."
"Oh goodness," Elsa laughed and headed for the door.
"You're meeting him tonight right?"
"Yes," She said at the door. She quickly opened it and saw Kristoff walking down the hall towards them. "I don't know what's going to happen, but I have a feeling it's something big. I just can't figure out what…." Her voice died off as her thoughts clouded her mind, at the sound of heavy boots she quickly looked back up. "Hello Kristoff," Elsa said twisting around his large form as she headed towards the Council Chambers.
"Your Majesty," He said with a slight bow.
"I love you!" Anna shouted around him, she only heard the faintest replies before the door shut.
"Is Elsa heading out?" The Ice Master said, taking his hat off and running a hand through his hair.
"Not until tonight." Anna set her now empty glass of wine next to its partner and turned towards her mountain. "Kristoff, do you think things would have been different if Elsa hadn't struck me with her powers."
"Which time?" He mused; taking the chair Elsa just vacated. "Never mind, the answers the same; yes."
"How so?"
"Well for the most recent debauchery of winter, we'd still be in it. I'd be out of a job and you`d be a frozen statue of ice. Heaven knows what would have happened to your sister."
"What do you mean?"
"Anna she heard Hans's sword, we all did. That's how you noticed she was in trouble." Anna looked away as she recalled the hazy image of Hans shifting the sword in his hand as Elsa lay collapsed upon the ice. Why didn't she defend herself? "Elsa believed you were gone, she had no friends, no family and even the kingdom hated her. She had nothing left to lose, but her life."
"No, I don't believe that."
"Ask her yourself one of these days." He said, swinging a leg up to his knee. "I think it hit her like your parents hit her. Sorrow is a powerful emotion Anna; I wouldn't put it passed her."
"She's too kind a person to have the amount she's had."
"As for the first time that started this, I think she would have turned out very different, I can't say exactly but I'm sure of one thing." He leaned forward and Anna smiled, "I never would have met my family, and that includes you." He kissed her nose and she laughed in her throat.
"I guess something's we can't change."
She stood and took his offered hand, together they left the library to wander elsewhere. She paused briefly at a seemingly uninteresting white faced door. There was a touch of frost at the keyhole. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion but with a tug on her arm she continued on her way. Elsa's hand dropped from Jacks mouth and she turned back to him. With a smile he kissed her again and her hand tangled in his hair.
She was on her way to a council meeting and it was remembering it several minutes later that had her push Jack off of her. She'd headed down the hall until a door flashed open and his cane wrapped around her waist. Swift greetings were exchanged and a few words as well, but she'd forgotten what she'd said to him soon enough. She bade him farewell and practically ran down the hall. She was nearly an hour late. She'd been scolded as soon as she walked through that door and as soon as she sat in the hard chair, she wished she'd never left that room. Instead her mind drifted to Lord Frost and the approaching festival. She didn't dare avoid it, but nor did she desire to be a wall flower either, her status wouldn't allow it either. She needed someone other than the inhabitants of the castle to talk to. She needed Jack, and her gaze turned towards the North Mountain, a plot forming in her mind. This will take some convincing…
Night came quickly enough and she pulled herself up onto her horse. Anna bid her farewell, completely unaware of what transpired earlier that day. At a jest about her and Lord Frost's relationship she sent a snowball at her, striking her in the face. She laughed and waved as the queen rode through the gates and beyond her sight.
Elsa stopped just passed the tree line and scanned the green of their meadow. He was not there. She felt a small stab of frustration but it was well enough. Usually he would beat her there, and tonight of all nights she did not have time to wait for him. If she doesn't get him there soon….
Her thoughts trailed off as she heard a loud bird-like whistle. Her horse shifted underneath her and she glanced around. She was rewarded with an acorn dropped right on her head. She blinked and shook it away. She heard the cracking of a branch and she made a sound of annoyance. She called up to him but there was no answer. If that was the way he wanted to play, then so be it.
She spurred her horse around as he bombarded her with acorns. Though they missed mostly, it only made her horse more nervous and Elsa laughed, it wasn't until her horse reared in fright did she herself feel it. She was nearly tossed from her saddle when a great force struck her and tackled her to the ground.
Tumbling she thought it was Jack at first. Until she'd rolled over onto her back and a mass of grey fur tumbled past her. She froze and stood in fear, tears lacing her cloak. Backing up to her horse, she grabbed the reins and scanned the trees. Eyes glared around her, and her ears filled with the sound of snarls and gnashing teeth. Where was Jack?
She saw a large squirrel clamber halfway down the tree and throw an acorn at one of the wolves. It missed, but distracted it enough. Her heart dropped. It wasn't Jack. He was never there to begin with. The sound of padded paws turned her attention back to the pack. A large wolf ran to her with eyes bright with hunger and fury. She screamed.
Her power reacted quickly, sending a flurry of ice jutting at it, knocking it back. It howled but another was soon in its placed. She recovered quickly and fought back. They came in waves as they launched themselves from the tree line. Ice held some to the ground while spikes jutted out in bold shapes. She'd clawed her way past a few; they had fallen to the ground, never to rise. She was hit with a glancing swipe, the nails and teeth racking her forearm. It had but a moment before her own swipe found its purchase and sent the young wolf colliding into a tree.
With a shout she cast a wall of ice that knocked the rest back, and even as they fled back into the forest it continued to follow them. She felt a dark smile at the sounds of their whimpering howls. She was knocked down again and the wall dropped. They tumbled to the ground and with a vicious shout she landed atop her assailant, her hand poised to strike. The ice curled her hands into a claw and was already dripping with blood. The other pricked at his neck as the ice bit into the skin. He held up his hands in surrender.
"The most terrifying creature I know." The Lord of Snow quoted, a proud smiled on his face.
Relief was all but an ocean before her, and the ice and blood melted from her finger tips. She fell back and felt her shoulders heave with the adrenaline coursing through her veins. She covered her mouth with her hands as she began to sob a laugh. He sat up and hugged her, that smile still on his face. He saw the blood that pooled near the fallen and the spatter and gashes on her cloak from the scuffle. His eyes cast a dark glow into the blackness and a warning chill seeped into the forest, for he noticed a few eyes glaring back at him. They blinked and left and his dark smile nearly matched her earlier one.
He took her face in his hands and she held onto his wrists. He brushed the bit of blood from her cheek and she smiled. He smiled in return though her eyes were closed. Then he moved forward, pressing his lips to her forehead. He felt a wetness run down his arm and it was only then did he see the large tear in her dress. The sleeve had all but shredded, and in the opening there was nothing more to see but dark blood against the deep blue fabric. He ran a hand down the arm and she winced, sucking in a breath.
Ice and snow flurried around the wound and she grimaced as the flesh knitted itself back together. With a bustle of snow and a hiss the wound was gone, and the only thing that remained was the tear and blood on the fabric. She looked perplexed at the fresh skin. There was no mark, as if it had never existed in the first place. She gave him a questioning look, but he simply gave her a knowing smile.
With a laugh she leaned on his shoulder and looked back over the meadow. In the wake of the chaos her horse had disappeared into the forest, though she could hear a clinking sound from the metal ringing together. She felt his lips in her hair.
"I'm proud of you." He said softly, an arm draped across her shoulders.
"I'm scared," She said quietly, looking at her hands.
"Of me?" She gave him a look before playfully nudging his chest. "You did what you had to do. I'd rather be alive and afraid than-"
"That's not why I'm afraid." She said cutting him off. He gave her a look and she sighed, "These violent delights have violent ends, and in their triumph die, like fire and powder, which as they kiss consume."
Jack felt a shiver down his spine at the foreboding words. He turned her head to his and he saw the lingering fear and confusion.
"But come what sorrow can, it cannot countervail the exchange of joy that one short minute gives me in her sight." He saw the smile return to her eyes and he smiled down at her.
He opened his mouth to speak again but she silenced him with a tug on his collar. Her lips parted and he all but devoured her. She felt the familiar thrum of energy and need from earlier as her hands tangled into his hair and pulled him down. This was different somehow, savage even, running off the high from the chaos before. With a start her hands were at her head as he loomed over her.
Enough, he couldn't get enough. He never had enough, and he craved her all the more. His lust was only restrained by love for her. It warred with him tirelessly and seemed unrelenting in moments like these. The way she cringed in pleasure, the soft sounds from her lips, his very name sounded different as it escaped in a gasp. His teeth had found her neck and he felt like a different creature looming over her. He heard the crackle of frost against the blades of grass and she chuckled darkly. He looked down at her and tilted his head to the side.
Her eyes were narrowed. "I hate that play." She sneered.
He laughed and sat up. Her words had quieted his lust some and he was almost grateful. He actually liked that dress on her and he had no desire to ruin it further.
"I agree," He said as she sat up. "A sappy love story that's highly unrealistic. All this murder and suicide for something they knew nothing about." He saw that darkness creep back into her eyes and he waved a hand dismissively. "You'll get over it."
"It was fun…" She said toying with a finger before looking back across the meadow.
"It always is." She froze at the hard tone his voice took and for once she was scared of the man that was beside her. She felt his hand under her chin again. "So my fair queen, afraid of me yet?" He mused, his lips hovering just below hers.
"I never said I wasn't." He laughed. She pulled him back down for another kiss before pushing him away and standing. "But I'm about to ruin your mood."
He groaned, like a child whose plaything was taken away from him. She threw a look over her shoulder before she whistled for her horse. It came trotting back from beyond the pine. She stroked its mane and quickly mounted. Jack was running up to her.
"You never answered my question earlier."
"Which was that?" He asked, slowing to a stop.
"Do you trust me?"
"Not entirely," He said at once, she laughed. "But curiosity is such a curse."
With a crooked smile she kicked her horse forward, laughter on his lips. He shook his head slightly but headed after her. She led him beyond the meadow entirely and wound her way to another unseen path.
"Where are you going?" She heard him ask but he sounded so far away.
"Come now my lord," She said on a laugh turning past a large evergreen.
"You know, I only like that name from your lips." He called after her. He heard her laugh again and as he brushed past another thick branch, he wondered just what he had gotten himself into this time.
