Hey again!
Asteroth1 and emmamiapayne: Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! :D
Belmont9: Haha, glad you understand! :D Thank you. :)
Prettyprincess45: Oh no, it's fine, don't worry! :D Haha, thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it. :)
"I do."
Elsa felt a lump form in her throat. Her hands were sweating profusely from the tension, but Hans showed no sign of noticing as he held them.
"And do you, Queen Elsa of Arendelle, take this man to be your husband?"
"I. . ." she whispered.
Elsa could see Kai over Hans' shoulder, staring at her with an expression of concern and confusion.
Hans grasped her hands more tightly, drawing her attention. Although he smiled down sweetly at her, she knew what he was trying to say: "Do it."
Her hands trembled, but she knew that there was no backing out of this forced union. "I-"
The front doors suddenly swung open, and Elsa closed her eyes in relief. Even though she knew she would still have to go through with this, she was glad for the interruption so that she could gather what little courage she believed she had.
"Elsa!" a clear voice rang out.
Hans quickly dropped Elsa's hands and backed away. Gasps were heard throughout the room.
She opened her eyes and turned towards the source of the voice, confused by Hans' response. She lifted her veil, knowing full well that she wasn't supposed to yet, but annoyed with it obstructing her view. As soon as she saw who it was, she understood why Hans had reacted as he did.
Her little sister stood in the aisle. . . grown into a beautiful young woman. An older version of her parents stood behind Anna, gazing at her with tears in their eyes. Kristoff stood next to Anna, Olaf and Sven behind him, as he stared at her, wonderstruck by her beauty.
"What. . . how?" Hans sputtered.
Elsa turned to look at him, anger blazing in her eyes. "You monster," she coldly pronounced. "You lock them up, then threaten to kill them? Then, you blackmail me into marrying you. Well, now I'm free of your tyranny. Not of my own accord, but ironically, by the ones you imprisoned. It's over."
She brought her hand up, causing ice to appear at Hans' feet and then slowly crawl up his legs, stopping at his calves.
Elsa gracefully ran down the steps, but slowed down as she neared Anna. She felt tears well up in her eyes as she slowly approached this woman with the same hair, same smile, same sparkle in her eye as her sister. "Anna?"
Anna gave a relieved laugh and nodded, not caring about the heavy stream of tears that raced down her face.
Elsa rushed forward and embraced her, sobbing uncontrollably. "Oh, Anna. . ." she sobbed into her sister's shoulder. Anna wrapped her arms tightly around her sister, with no intention of letting go anytime soon. "Elsa, I've missed you so much," she managed to say between hiccups and gasps.
Elsa pulled back and grasped Anna's hands tightly in her own. She took in her parents' changed appearances over Anna's shoulder in shock. "Mama. . ."
With a shaky smile, the Queen enveloped her daughter in her arms. Elsa released Anna's hands as she carefully hugged her mother back, frightened by her figure so much like that of a china doll's. She shot Anna a worried look, to which her sister replied with a sad nod.
Elsa closed her eyes, breathing in the familiar smell of her mother. "Mama. . . are you. . . alright?"
"I'm fine," the Queen whispered. She released her hold on her daughter, only to kiss her forehead before turning to her husband.
The King walked forward, a wistful, yet happy, expression on his face. The Queen moved back to step beside Anna.
The King gently placed his hands on Elsa's shoulders. "My eldest. . . grown up so quickly. . ." he murmured, almost disbelievingly.
Elsa stared into his light-green eyes, eyes tamed by age. She gave him a teary half-smile, knowing exactly what both were thinking: their family had lost so much time together.
The King surprised her by wrapping his arms around her, bringing her in close for a hug. The two quietly cried into each other, not caring about all of the strangers around them.
When he finally let go of his daughter, he quickly glanced at Kristoff before looking back at her. With a knowing smile, he moved to be next to his wife and Anna, all beaming, although Anna's grin was the widest, as Elsa slowly approached Kristoff.
"I. . . are you. . . I'm so sorry," she spoke in am anguished whisper.
Kristoff moved closer to her and held her hands protectively in his own. His eyes shone with unshed tears as hr smiled down at her. "It's over now, don't worry," he comfortingly murmured.
Elsa removed her hands from his only to lightly place a finger on his mouth. "I let my fear get the better of me, let it twist my reality into something that it wasn't. But I'm not scared anymore. I will never doubt you again."
Kristoff was about to respond when his eyes flickered to the top of her head. "Elsa, your veil!"
Elsa turned around to see the edge of her veil. . . melting? "How? I'm not doing anything!" she spoke in surprise and confusion. Had she finally found a way to stop the winter?
A door in the back slammed shut. Everyone's heads looked back in response. "Hans!" Elsa exclaimed.
The prince had disappeared, leaving only a puddle where he had previously been standing. Somehow, the ice had thawed, and he had slipped away while everyone was caught up in the family reunion.
"Guards!" Elsa exclaimed. "Search the surrounding area! He can't have gotten far." She dropped her hand from Kristoff's face. "I'm going out there. I can't let him get away like this."
"I'm going too," Kristoff staunchly replied.
Elsa nodded and started to head for the back door when Anna stepped in her way. "I'm coming too."
"Anna, no. Please, I can't lose you again," Elsa pleaded.
Anna was about to protest, but stopped herself after taking in her sister's panicked expression. "Okay. Wait." She quickly removed the veil from Elsa's head. "There, much better. Go punch Hans," she said with a confident smile.
Elsa responded with a light laugh. With one last glance at her family, she headed out the door with Kristoff, in search of justice.
"Elsa, slow down!"
She could barely hear Kristoff as the storm raged around them. The wind howled in her ears, and she couldn't see anything more than a few feet away.
Elsa knew that it was reckless to continue on without Kristoff, but she couldn't let Hans get away unpunished.
She brought herself to a sudden halt. "What are you doing?! You already lost Kristoff once, don't lose him again!"
"Kristoff!" Elsa yelled into the storm, scanning the area behind her.
All of a sudden, she heard a loud, anguished cry of pain.
"Kristoff!" she yelled more urgently as she ran towards the source of the noise.
By the change in sound of the clicking of her heels as she ran, Elsa guessed that she was now out on the frozen water. She spun around, desperately searching for any signs of Kristoff. A flash of blond through the swirling snow caught her eye, and she quickly ran towards it.
There stood Hans, with Kristoff trapped under one of his arms while the other held a bloody sword. He stood facing Elsa with Kristoff in front of him as a human shield. "Don't come any closer," he crooned to Elsa. "Otherwise. . ."
He plunged his sword into a fresh wound on Kristoff's thigh while Kristoff cried out in pain.
"No!" Elsa screamed. "No, please! Don't kill him!" she cried out hysterically.
"Elsa, no. . ." Kristoff struggled to get out. Hans brought the sword to his neck, cutting off his sentence.
Hans looked at Elsa with a sadistic grin. "Goodbye, Elsa. I truly hope that your lover makes it." He threw Kristoff to the icy floor and ran off into the blizzard, flaming hair soon gone from sight.
Elsa ran to Kristoff's immobile body, dropping to her knees and lifting his head gently into her lap. "Kristoff?" she spoke in a pained whisper.
Kristoff's eyes slowly fluttered open, revealing the warm, brown eyes that had come to bring her so much comfort. "Hey. . ." he mumbled with a half-grin.
Elsa moved his hair back from his face and kissed him tenderly, pouring all of her hope and fervor into that single kiss. When she pulled away, Kristoff gave a small chuckle. "What did I do?"
"You didn't have to do anything. You're going to be fine, Kristoff," she told him through a teary smile.
Kristoff's blinked a few times. "Hans. . . you have to get him. . ." he weakly spoke.
Elsa fervently shook her head. "I can't leave you," she said as she brought her hands to his face.
The corner of Kristoff's mouth perked up a little. "I'm used to. . . being alone. You can stop. . . him. Don't be afraid. . ." he barely managed to say. He brought a shaky hand up to cradle Elsa's face, while she moved one of her own to place it on top of his.
She turned her head to give his hand a gentle kiss before looking back down at him. "I'll be back. You're going to be okay," she earnestly told him.
"I'll be waiting."
Elsa quickly made a pillow of snow and carefully laid his head on it before ripping a piece of fabric from the bottom of her dress and tying it around his wound. She winced and bit her lip, fighting back tears as blood started to seep through her makeshift bandage.
With a feather-light kiss on his forehead and a smile of reassurance, Elsa stood up and headed in the direction Hans had gone.
Kristoff stared after her retreating figure, slowly drifting off into unconsciousness. "Don't be afraid. . ."
Ahh, what will happen?! ;)
Okay, so Elsa's veil and the ice holding Hans in place melted because, you guessed it, true love. Both familial and romantic love. The love erased the fear that she had, her fear of having Hans puppeteer her and her family around. Therefore, the items she had created tied to that fear melted when that fear disappeared. Her dress stayed because it was something she had created in a different setting , one of self-confidence and hope, completely separate from Hans' blackmailing.
Do you guys ship Jelsa and/or Helsa? I wasn't really into them before, but some fanfics totally changed my mind. o_o Now I'm just like, "I must find more", although I stay away from that NSFW stuff.
I'm going to be really busy this weekend, so the next update will be on Monday! I'm sorry! D: