"Kristoff?"
He stood up from his spot on her bed and smiled wide and genuine. It broke her heart how he looked at her. "Anna! Sorry, I know that after all that happened today, you probably wanted to be al-" He couldn't finish his sentence as Anna had crossed the distance between them and thrown herself into his arms.
Her little form shook against him, tears spilling out as she choked "I don't want to be alone, not tonight, not ever."
Instantly, his arms came around her in a tight embrace. She latched onto his shoulder and let out a string of ugly sobs into his neck. He didn't shush her, she needed this, needed relief. He was more than willing to hold her through it.
I fall into your sunlight
moments passed and the two had moved to lean against the bed. Kristoff still held her, gently but with a secure firmness, one hand spread along the dip of her back, the other in her hair. Anna's cries had quietened and she only sniffled now and then. She clung tight to him like he was going to slip out from under her.
Kristoff broke the silence hesitantly "You know I'd never let something like that happen to you again, right?" Anna pulled back to look at him. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't save you the first time." His eyes were filled with a myriad of emotions. Regret, worry, love. The regret bubbled to the surface with a few tears emerging from his eyes and tricking along the just-there tear stains.
"It wasn't your fault, Kristoff." She wiped his few tears away and lay a tender kiss to the tip of his nose.
A laugh erupted from him as he realised that that gesture was something he had been longing for for so very long. He was about to pull her close for a much needed kiss when the door opened.
They turned to see a flushed Elsa in the doorway. "I-I didn't mean to intrude! I only wanted to check on Anna."
Anna smiled and bounded over to hug her sister. Kristoff stood up. While Anna was happily embracing her, Elsa swiftly picked out the ring from her pocket and held it out for Kristoff. As she dropped it into his hand she mouthed something along the lines of "take care of her." Whatever she really said didn't matter, he knew what she meant.
That night Anna had found her place in between a sleeping Elsa and a snoring Kristoff. Her heart felt full. And yet she couldn't shake the chill from her bones. She shifted so that she could look out the window at the brilliant colours streaking across the sky, the water of the fjord just visible. Her stirring prompted Elsa to move closer to her and Kristoff's hand to barely tighten its grasp on her hip. She could hear something. Nothing like the voice she heard in the bathtub, this was coming from outside. It was still too early in the winter season for ice but she could hear the familiar sound of the fjord freezing. The sounds of the frozen water splitting under the pressure like the song of whales. Reminded of all the times she'd spend hours watching and listening to the sounds of the water freeze and sing as a child, Anna slipped out of her cosy little space and crept over to the window.
The water was fluid, moving, free. It wasn't frozen. There was no snow in the air, no tickling of frost at the edges of the window. Anna turned back to the figures on her bed, the song of the ice echoing in her ears. They didn't move.
She looked back out at the world around her, searching for a source to the sounds. Then she saw it. The Nokk staring up at her from the water's edge.