An author's note (dated 21/5) for any new readers:
By now, this story is completed in written form; I only need to type it up and clean it up a bit. Which means you may expect frequent updates, and you can rest assured that you'll be able to find out soon how it all ends!
I do feel I need to warn you however.
FFnet only allows two genres listed, but for this story, I would need three: family, humor and drama - even if the comedy aspect seriously outshines the drama.
Well, at least you're forewarned, so now on to the story of
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The Happy-Ever-After Syndrome
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Taking place a few years after Frozen II, with one alteration:
Elsa remained in Arendal and continued to serve as its queen.
Note: I have not seen any of the short films,
so their events are not taken in consideration here.
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"Elsa!"
Queen Elsa looked up from her book to see her beaming sister come running across the great hall. She may have rounded out her figure a bit after giving birth to three children, but she still went through life at a fast, almost skipping pace.
A smile touched her lips just as Anna threw herself in her arms.
"Guess what!" Anna jubilated in her left ear.
Elsa grimaced and rubbed her poor abused ear as Anna pulled back to look at her.
"Well?"
Elsa chuckled. "Well what? Has little Agnar just said his first comprehensible word?"
Anna chuckled in return. "No, he jabbers all day long, but he might as well be speaking Finnish for all I understand of it. Olaf is the only one who seems to understand him. Or pretends to understand him."
Elsa smiled. "Just like him. But what is the great news you were going to share then?"
"Oh!" Anna dropped down on the settee next to her sister and happily sighed, "Well, if all goes well, you should have a new little niece or nephew before the winter."
A little cry of joy escaped Elsa as she took her sister in an impetuous hug. "I'm so happy for you, Anna! And for Kristoff of course! I love having children around the place!"
Anna suddenly pulled back from her sister's embrace, and regarded her with an expression of astonished doubt. "You do?"
"Of course I do, silly. I adore my little nephew and my nieces!"
"But I thought...?" Anna fell silent.
"What?"
"Oh, never mind. It's none of my business anyway."
Elsa looked bemused. She knew her sister. "What is none of your business?"
Anna heaved a heavy sigh before turning to her sister and taking her hand. "I'm worried about you, Elsa. You're not getting any younger. You're still mighty beautiful and lovely and all that, but you're going on thirty and you're still alone. Well, at least as far as I know... Or is there...?"
Elsa smiled at the hopeful note on which the question ended. "No, you're right. There is no one like that in my life. But I've got everything I can wish for: I've got you, I've got Kristoff, and Iduna and Elsalill, and Agnar, and I've got Olaf, and Sven, not to mention all the people of Arendal..."
"But that's not the same!" Anna protested as she took Elsa's other hand in hers, too. "Everyone should have someone special, someone to share their life with, someone who..."
"Isn't that exactly what I'm doing with you and your family?"
"Well, yes, but that's not the same: it's still my family, my husband, my children. Elsa, you need, nay, you deserve to have a family of your own! You're far too lovely to wither away as a spinster."
For a moment, Elsa was taken aback. Sure, she was quite used to her sister's impulsive bluntness, but occasionally, Anna still caught her off-guard. But she quickly recovered enough to laugh it off.
"Is that how you see me: as an old spinster withering away due to a lack of love? Really, Anna, that is ridiculous. I'm perfectly happy with my life. Believe me, I've got all the love I want."
"But don't you want to find your true love? Marry? Have children of your own?" Anna sat up. "At the very least you'll need to produce an heir to the throne."
"You're already doing that for me." Elsa gently patted Anna's stomach. "Between you and your three, hopefully soon four children, I'd think Arendal has heirs to spare."
Anna's jaw dropped. "You're serious."
"Indeed I am."
"You don't want to have children."
"No. I've got yours to love and to entertain."
"And you don't want to marry."
"No, I don't."
"Not even once you find your true love?"
"I'm not looking for a true love; I'm perfectly happy single, as a doting auntie to your children."
For a full twenty seconds, Anna stared at her sister. Hard.
And then she slowly shook her head. "I see what the problem is: you just don't realize what you're missing out on. When you've never experienced true love, or the miracle of bringing your own child into the world, of course you'll feel perfectly happy without. But Elsa, dearest, dearest Elsa, that's not what life is about! You need to find your true love in order to find true happiness! What you have now is but a surrogate, a pale facsimile. But you deserve the true thing: love! Marriage! Children of your own!"
"But...!" Elsa began, but Anna stood.
"Don't worry, dearie. Kristoff and I are here for you. We'll help you find the right man." And with that, she quickly crossed the hall towards her own wing, leaving Elsa to roll her eyes.
"Oh boy... If this is going to be her prenatal fetish this time, it's going to be a loooong pregnancy..."
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A/N: This was only *meant* as a little one-shot, but the story flatly refused to cooperate... The question of Elsa's marital status (or lack thereof) turned out to have a more serious edge to it than I orginally intended to explore, while at the same time leading to some hilarious situations. There's already a good number of chapters waiting to be typed up, so you may expect pretty frequent updates on this!