Chapter Nineteen

Disclaimer: I neither own the rights to Disney, Frozen, the Disney universe nor any of its associated media, derivatives or products. I do not profit from this work.

Warning to Kristanna shippers: this chapter will be sad. *Winces* Sorry. The song is an edit of one of the original outtakes; you can find it here:

www. youtube watch?v=hUMiU2wp7ZQ

(Add slash-dot-com after "youtube.")

The knock-knock kn-knock knock pattern told Kristoff exactly who was at his door. Seeing as his plan to discuss his concerns about the marriage with Elsa hadn't worked out, he was incredibly wary of meeting his fiancé, especially alone. Still, he couldn't just sit here forever and hope she went away, so he stood up and blew out a sigh, taking off his glasses.

When he opened the door uncomfortably, Anna was standing there, biting her lip. "Hey," she said, offering him a smile. "Can, um, can I come in?"

"Uh-" He didn't know what to say. While he couldn't ignore the fact that Anna was indeed a princess and he was anything but royalty, he also knew that he'd spent a good six days hardly seeing her, and honestly? He missed her like crazy. "Sure, come in."

Anna walked inside, hands clasped as she looked around. "So, um… how're you doing?"

"Great," he lied instantly. "Great. Uh, and you?"

"Fine," she said quickly. "I'm just… fine."

An awkward silence passed.

"So, um, what're you working on?" Anna said finally, flouncing over to his desk.

"Grain report," he answered.

"Wow; you're almost done," she said, peering at it in surprise.

"Yeah, I've had a lot of free time…" He trailed off.

More silence.

Anna sighed, turning to face him. "Kristoff, I'm sorry; I know I've sort of been a pest lately."

"What? No, no, you're not a—it's my problem, Anna; I've just been really busy," he offered.

"Are you busy right now? I mean, if you are, I can leave-"

"No," he said quickly, though part of him hated himself for it. Now that she was here, he couldn't stand to tear himself away. "No, don't go. I'm not busy."

"Oh, good," she said, with obvious relief. "I was wondering if you wanted to go for a walk or something?"

She was so darn adorable that he couldn't help smiling. "Yeah, that'd be great."

Anna smiled back. "I just came to say today,

Let's give us a fresh start.

And now that you're like 'wow,' it's all like,

Warm in the heart."

"It's great that you're here, y'know,

'Cause I've got to agree.

There shouldn't be a door that's stuck

Between you and me."

"We've been falling out for way too long,

So let's forget who's right,"

"And forget who's wrong," he finished.

"Okay," they both agreed.

"I gotta say," Kristoff added,

"We should never make this our last resort."

"'Cause life's too short."

"To always feel angry and confused

At the man that I love to know," Anna said with a grin, putting her hands on his shoulders.

"Life's too short."

"To always get so caught up in life

That love ends up on the back row," he agreed, taking her hand in his and spinning her.

"Oh-whoa-ho-ho!" she laughed. "I never understood-

"I never understood-"

"But now I do," they said in unison.

"Life's too short

To give up on a friendship like you."

"Just let me get my coat," Kristoff said, reaching for the gray fur tunic.

"You're wearing that?" Anna said, surprised.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well just wait a moment, I wanna see…" She headed towards his wardrobe.

"Is there something wrong with how I dress?" Kristoff asked, sounding a little offended.

"There's nothing wrong with it; I'm just saying something else would probably match better, since you're still in your church clothes…" she said, poking her tongue out as she opened the doors.

Kristoff stared. Then, his stare narrowed into a glare. "I can't believe you."

Anna turned around, surprised. "What? I just thought-"

"Well I don't need your advice," he snapped.

"Can't you just give it a rest?"

"What?" Anna was baffled. "I'm just trying to help.

Isn't that for the best?"

"So what, I'm just a pet

That you think has to be trained?"

"Hold on!" she argued.

"That's not what I said;

Let's get back on the same page."

"Gee thanks for the support, y'know,

'Cause that's just great," Kristoff said sarcastically.

"As if I didn't have enough

Without this on my plate.

Don't worry! I get the message:

It's clear I don't belong in your court.

Goodbye-" He brushed past her.

"Wait!"

"'Cause life's too-"

"There it is!" she cried furiously.

"Your own self-serving sense of pride!

You know, last time I checked,

I was on your side!

Shut me out if you will,

But between me and you,

I think it would help if you

Would just get a clue!"

Kristoff's eyes snapped wide, and he whirled around. "You can think whatever you want

'Cause I don't care!" he snapped.

"You're the one who married a stranger!"

Anna gasped. "That is so unfair!"

"I swear!" they shouted,

"I'm through with taking your unshaking, unwavering

Support-"

"Support-"

"Support-"

"HA!

'Cause life's too short-"

"To care when you go off and shut me out,

Since apparently you're too thick to see!" Anna yelled, throwing up her arms angrily.

"Life's too short-"

"To listen to a reckless fool

Who only ever sees the things she wants to see!" Kristoff retorted.

"You don't know-"

"You have no idea-"

"What I've been through," they both spat, and then pointed at the other,

"Because of you!

Life's too short to waste another minute!

Life's too short to even have you in it!

LIFE'S TOO SHORT!"

"I can't believe I thought you were ready for this kind of responsibility!" Anna said furiously.

"Responsibility?" Kristoff demanded. "You wouldn't know responsibility if it jumped up and bit you in the nose!"

"Maybe we shouldn't get married!"

"Maybe we shouldn't!"

The two stared at each other, stunned speechless. Finally, Kristoff muttered, "I should go." He turned and headed for the hall.

"Kristoff," Anna started, voice breaking, but he was already gone, leaving the door open behind him.

"And then she just chews me out, like I was the one being ridiculous!" Kristoff said furiously.

Sven looked at him sympathetically while his master continued to rant. "Thick, irresponsible—she may as well have called me a stupid, bumbling, uncultured oaf not fit to be prince-"

He stopped, realizing what he was saying. Run the kingdom into the ground. "…But isn't she right?" he asked himself quietly. "Maybe she finally figured it out, that I'm just… just nothing."

Sven snorted in opposition, and Kristoff filled in for what the reindeer couldn't say himself. "Don't talk like that!"

"But it's true, buddy," Kristoff sighed, leaning his back against the reindeer dejectedly. "I am just some nothing-peasant who happened to be in the right place at the right time."

"Isn't that called fate?"

"Fate, destiny—or really bad luck," he replied glumly. "If I hadn't gone to Oaken's that day, I'd still be just some guy with a reindeer and a sled. I'm not a prince, Sven. And I never will be. Anna… Anna deserves her prince charming, not some ice harvester pretending to be royalty."

"So what are you going to do?"

Kristoff looked over at the reindeer and didn't answer.

"And then he says I can't handle responsibility, and he just leaves!" Anna said angrily, gesturing dramatically. She flopped down on the green couch and sighed. "What do you think I should do?"

She looked up imploringly, but Joan didn't speak back. Anna sighed. "I can't believe he said he didn't want to get married. I mean, I said it, too, but I didn't really mean that… right?"

Anna fell silent for several seconds, before she said softly, "But… why would I say that if I didn't mean it? Why would he say it?" Her mind flew back to how angrily he'd reacted to her suggestion of the jacket instead of his fur tunic, and she sat up. "Was I nagging him? Is that what I'd be like as a wife?" she wondered aloud. "What if… what if we were right? I mean, if being married to me is just going to make him miserable…"

It was such an awful thought, that she might not marry Kristoff—Kristoff, whom she loved more than anyone and anything in the whole world—that it made her stomach drop. But it was an even more awful thought that she might make him unhappy for the rest of his life.

It took more self-will than she'd ever had to use, but whenever she pictured his face (his kind, sweet face), browbeaten and depressed because of her, the truth became painfully clear. "I know what I have to do."

The sun had fallen over the northern country, and five-o-clock found Kristoff sitting in a pile of hay in the royal stables. His lute sat unused beside him, and his expression was one of dull dread.

"Hi."

He looked over. Anna was standing in the stable doorway, hands clasped uncomfortably. Kristoff looked away. "Hey."

"Can I come in?"

He shrugged, which she took to mean yes. She walked over and sat down beside him in the hay. For a long while, neither said anything.

Finally, Anna sighed. "We need to talk, don't we?"

"Yeah," he agreed tiredly. "Anna… I've been thinking. About… about the argument we had today."

"Me too," she said quietly.

"I thought that, after I cooled down, I'd regret, you know…" He trailed off. "But… what if… what if we're right? What if…"

"…We shouldn't get married?" Anna finished.

The question hung in the air, and for a moment, neither could bear to answer.

"Do you…?" Anna said finally, trailing off.

"Do you?" he asked in reply.

She bit her lip so hard blood welled up, but it didn't stop the tears from brimming in her eyes. "Maybe," she whispered hoarsely. "Maybe… that's what's for the best."

His heart broke at that, but he knew she was right. So Anna had realized, then, how much of a deadweight he was to her, how totally incompetent he'd be in a royal court. "Maybe," he agreed quietly. I don't belong in your world.

"I mean, marriage, that's… that's huge," she said, voice almost begging. "And I thought we were ready, I thought I was ready, but now…" But now, what if I'm wrong? What if I'll only hurt you or our kids? I don't want to hurt you, Kristoff.

"This just…wasn't ever going to work, was it?" he said finally, looking over at her.

Her face twisted into a grimace, and the tears ran down her cheeks. "I don't want to lose you."

"And I don't want to lose you, but—if this isn't heading towards marriage, what's it heading towards?"

And they both were smart enough to know the answer to that. They couldn't go back to being "just boyfriend-girlfriend." And they couldn't stay engaged forever. If marriage wasn't at the end of this line…then the only thing left was a big, fat nothing.

Anna swallowed. "…What do we do?"

Kristoff sighed, trying to think. After a minute, he answered, "…We need to call off the wedding."

"We can't put any more stress on Elsa; she's dealing with enough as it is," Anna protested.

"Alright, then we'll tell her once Hans has gone," he decided. Anna nodded at this, not speaking.

For a long, long time, they just sat there in the hay, Anna crying silently, Kristoff hardly moving. Finally, the mountain man said dully, "I won't force you to see me around for a while, Anna. I'll make some excuse and go out tomorrow—check on my guys in the mountains, stay there for a week or so. I just… I don't want to make this any harder on you than this has to be."

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Yeah. 'Course."

There was another silence, shorter this time, and then Anna stood up. "Okay. Um…" She didn't know what to say, other than an exhausted, "…Goodnight."

"Goodnight." He didn't watch her go. He didn't want to see that. But when the stable door shut with a quiet click, he closed his eyes tight with a grimace and leaned his head back against the post.

No one who knew Kristoff Bjorgman would ever have said that he was the crying sort of man. And so no one could have guessed that the quiet, shuddering gasps coming from the inside of the royal stables could possibly have belonged to him.

A/N: *Winces again* …I said I was sorry, right? Please don't kill me! I'm a huge Kristanna shipper myself, so this broke my heart, too.

I know it was a sad chapter; next chapter will be a little more upbeat, I promise.