She was home.
Navigating his way through the halls, watching as people come and go –waving his hand when they had noticed him and gave a little bow or a nod in acknowledgement, the pitter-patter of his feet was nothing compared to the working shoes that the adults wore. They had appeared to be so busy this morning, busier than usual even as even his Papa and Auntie Anna had not greeted him at all and instead had him being handled by his nannies the moment he had awoken.
Hushed whispers were exchanged above him, too low for his ears to catch especially when they had stopped the when they had seen him nearby. There were secrets being exchanged it seemed, yet none seemed to bother sharing with him.
Mama would have shared. She told him everything. She would have sat him on her lap as she told him stories, of her day and the nosy Council men as she imitated their grumpy voices –and he would have laughed because his Mama was the best at doing it. Sure, Auntie Anna's voices and her big gestures make everything funnier, but there was something different when Mama did it, just different.
And he missed that.
"—you have to." His feet stopped, just around the corner of the hall, head perking up at the voice of his Auntie. "I know you don't want to leave her, Hans, but the Council had been asking tirelessly."
"Then tell them I'm busy attending to my wife." Papa had sounded mad, he rarely did, and it made the young Prince remained at his place, not daring to make a sound. But did he just mention Mama?
"She's resting." Auntie Anna insisted, "I'm sure they won't keep you long. I'll be here to watch over her, I promise."
A sigh, then he heard as his Papa's footsteps moved and grew further until he couldn't hear it anymore. Peering around the corner, he could see his Auntie standing by the door to his parents' bedchamber. When her turquoise eyes had caught the sight of him, she had looked rather surprised, but why would she? She knew he was there, in the castle, this was his home too after all.
"Wilhelm, hi, what are you doing here?"
He didn't know if he should ask. But he wanted to. He had to. "Is Mama home?"
The strawberry-blonde haired Princess bit her lower lip, considering things. But why would she? The answer was easy: yes or no. Only when he had pressed on by calling her name that she finally nodded, slowly. "Yes, she's home, Wilhelm. She came home last night."
Why didn't anyone tell him? She's his Mama, she was the person that he loved so much, and everyone knew how much he missed her. Yet none of that mattered to him for long because she was home, she was here, back in the castle where he was. Eyes lightening up, he had not hesitated in making his way close, eyes fixed on the closed wooden door, but his Auntie had move to block his way.
She lowered herself to crouch in front of him so that she could be at his eye level, hand gently reaching out to hold him by his upper arm. "Mama's sleeping, Wilhelm." She told him, though he already knew because that was what she had told Papa as well. "We shouldn't bother her."
Brows furrowing, he couldn't understand why he shouldn't 'bother' her. He did it all the time, coming to wake her up if she wasn't already there when he woke up. Mama never said no to that. "But I want to see Mama!"
"I know, I know." The Princess sighed, offering a small smile as she nodded. "But she had a rough—" she paused, if only for a moment, before continuing. "She had a tough time when she was away. She's tired."
"I want to be with Mama!" Just that, nothing else. He would even trade his toys with his Auntie just to be let in. She was there, right at the other side of the door, but why couldn't he see her? Frustrated, his eyes had started to well up with tears. "I missed Mama!"
"I know, Wilhelm, I know you do." Then why? Auntie Anna loved to give him what he wanted, and this was all he ever wanted. Just his Mama. "But you have to be patient." He couldn't, not when he missed her so much, not when he had spent a long time without her. "I'll tell you what, in the afternoon you can see her."
Why the afternoon? Why not now? He wanted to cry, to whine, and to show his Auntie that he didn't like this, not one bit. But Mama's words echoed in his mind, telling him to be good, and he resigned from his initial temper. Mama loved it when he was a good boy, she would praise him and give him kisses. He shouldn't get angry.
Still, he couldn't avoid the sniffle that escaped him as he used the back of his hand to wipe his nose. "The afternoon?" he repeated, as his attempt at confirmation that he really couldn't just see her now. When the Princess had nodded, he had let his head hung low in defeat. "Okay…"
"Go play with Olaf for now, alright?"
But even the snowman could not entertain him.
Everything felt so dull, nothing was fun for him, not even his many toys that was offered up by his nannies nor the endless chatter that he usually had with Olaf was able to turn the frown on his face into a smile as he listened to the bustling day outside of the door. Why would Auntie Anna not let him see Mama? Why didn't Papa? Everyone seemed to be so busy today.
"I don't understand, Olaf." He complained, pursing his lips in annoyance. "Adults are so weird."
The snowman nodded, sharing similar feeling of confusion as he too was declined to come and see the newly returned Queen. "They really do."
Tossing the wooden toy horse aside in distaste –he was in no mood to play knights if there was no Mama to play the Princess and every other character that he may wish to add in the story, he opted to pick up the knitted penguin doll that his Auntie had found up in the passageways during her hunt for treasure.
"Mama must be lonely." He lamented, tugging lightly at the three thread strands that made up the doll's hair, earning a nod of agreement from the snowman once again. He always liked Sir Jorgenbjorgen, kept him close wherever he was, even bringing him to bed to keep him company. But maybe, just maybe, this time someone needed him more. "We should take Sir Jorgenbjorgen to Mama!"
After all, the doll had once belonged to her, and she may be looking for it, looking for a friend to talk to as she stayed in bed. It could get really boring quickly, not going outside to play.
"That is a brilliant idea!" Olaf gasped, clapping his hands together in amazement, and Wilhelm himself had taken pride of his ability to come up with such thought. "You should take him to her immediately!"
"But… what about Auntie Anna?"
"You're just giving Elsa a friend, I'm sure she'll understand."
Yes, he was just giving one of his toys to Mama so that she wouldn't be lonely while everyone else was too busy to stay with her and he couldn't be there until afternoon just like Auntie Anna had said, it will be fine.
Jumping onto his feet, he was quick to make his way to the doorway, calling back that he would be right back soon as the sullen expression was immediately replaced with one of determination while he ran past the servants that had moved back as not to collide with the young Prince, the knitted penguin clutched tightly in his hand.
He had just reached the end of the hallway when he had to once again stopped at his tracks, watching as Auntie Anna exited from Mama's bedchamber with the doctor following behind her. He remembered him, had seen him frequent the castle's grounds especially when someone is sick. They seemed to be engaged in a conversation, though it was far too hushed and quiet for him to truly listen.
"—baby seemed fine." The doctor nodded, as he walked by the Princess side, unknowingly passing the young Prince who had step back and hide as not to alert them of his presence. "But the Queen needs all the rest she could get. Her pulse is rather weak."
This brought a frown to both the strawberry-blonde haired Princess and the young Prince. Mama is sick?
He remained quiet until the two disappeared around the corner, casting his eyes down to the doll he had been holding tightly. Mama couldn't be sick, she never did. Even that one time that Auntie Anna was overwhelmed by sneezing as she suffered through the spring pollens, Mama remained strong and had only smiled as she tended to her sister.
Shaking his head, he reassured himself that no, Mama wouldn't be sick, the doctor must have been wrong. But he did take cautious steps as he neared the door, just in case someone would catch him, and had taken the utmost care in pushing it opened as he peered inside.
Mama was nowhere to be seen, at least from this angle, not sitting at her mirror brushing her hair or even reading a book on the armchair that they had spent countless nights at as she told him of stories as he sat on her lap. Pushing himself further, Wilhelm had tilted his head at the sight of the heap of blankets on the bed. When Auntie Anna had said that Mama was sleeping, he didn't think that she would actually be asleep, Mama never slept in the middle of the day, she always been up and going all around the castle, she was Queen after all and Queens were always busy.
Inching closer, the young Prince had taken a moment to consider in what he would do. He was not supposed to be here before noon, he promised Auntie Anna that he would be good, but Mama seemed… odd. He may get in trouble for this, but at this moment he didn't really care as he pulled himself up onto the large bed, crawling across to where the heap of blankets was, he had to look.
"Mama?" There was no respond that came from the Queen, leaving the boy to stare at nothing but platinum blonde hair peeking out. Moving closer, he held onto what he assumed to be her shoulder –or maybe her arm, shaking lightly to gain the attention he needed as he grew impatient. "Mama!"
A groan, low and quiet, came from her from the pair of small hands assault. "Not now…"
If Mama didn't want to come out for him, then the only thing he could do was to come in with her. Tugging against the covers, he had lifted enough to allow himself to squeeze in between his mother's arms, snuggling close until he had his face against chest with Sir Jorgenbjorgen securely held by him.
Mama let out a tired sigh then, but her arms had wrapped themselves tighter around him, holding him close instead of trying to push him away. "Watch for your legs." She murmured, moving him to curl higher until his head rested on the pillow instead.
Baby. The doctor said something about that, and he remembered Auntie Anna's words about Mama having a baby in her belly, so he had to watch out for that.
Moving his head to look up caused Mama to move hers as well to avoid being hit, and being this close to her allowed him to study her face and notice the differences it held that made him frown because he had never seen her like this. Her overall expression looked so tired, eyes shut tight and had shadows under them, her skin had looked even paler than usual, and her face had looked thinner as well.
"Mama…?" he didn't like her like this, without that warmth coming from her and the smile that he adorned so much. What did happen when she was away until she changed? Reaching up, he had rested his hand against her jaw, frowning further when her skin felt colder than usual. "Are you okay?"
Another sigh, before she had reluctantly opened her eyes, and yet he was once again left in disappointment when he couldn't find that lively gleam in them. "Mama is fine, Wilhelm, just tired." A sniffle, followed by her own hand reaching up to brush his auburn hair away from his face. "Let's just go to sleep, okay?" but the sight of a black cuff around her wrist had made him taken hold of her arm, curious over the piece of jewelry he never seen her wearing.
"What is this, Mama?"
There was a look of discomfort in her eyes, though the boy was far too focused on the cuff to had taken notice, and there was a fleeting instinct telling her to pull her wrist free, yet she had pushed the thought aside. She didn't have to alarm her son. "The people that—" pausing, as the memory of weeks before flashed in her mind, she had to clear her throat to dismiss of the lump forming there. "The people that had me put these around my wrists." Her other hand was lifted to show the matching cuff there. At first, she had thought that Duchess Atalie's 'special cuffs' had been the metal ones –the ones that chained her like an animal, but after cutting that off, she realized that she had referred to these black leathers that wrapped snugly against her skin that had hid under the metal instead.
"But why?"
"To cancel out my magic." Even conjuring a single snowflake was out of the question. It felt really odd not to have that pulsing in her veins, that rush of adrenaline whenever she used her power. "I can't do anything."
"Then take it off!" he loved Mama's magic, there was never a moment in his life where her magic was non-existent. Small finger tried to slip in between the leather and her actual skin, but it almost felt like it was one with her. "Mama, take it off!"
"I can't!" she would if she could, she would be more than glad to be able to rid of every little reminder of what had happened during the time that she was away from Arendelle, spending each and every day fearing not only for her safety but her unborn child's as well, feeling hopeless because she couldn't do anything if she wanted to keep her child safe. "I can't, Wilhelm, I tried but I can't, it's magic and I can't do anything about it!"
The raise in her voice had surprised the young Prince, whose eyes had widened in shock at the side of his mother he had never encountered before. Mama was angry, and he couldn't understand why. Was she angry at him?
Realizing what had occurred, at how she had lost control of her emotions and lashed out at her son who had nothing to do with it, her heart had dropped as she saw the look that he had on his face. "Oh God, Wilhelm…" hand coming to cradle the back of his head, she had pulled him to her until his breath was basically against her neck, holding him close as she wished that she could have taken back everything that she had said to him. "I'm sorry, darling, I'm so sorry. Mama didn't mean to yell at you, I'm sorry."
She was a mess. She didn't want to admit to it but she was, if she could easily snap like so then she most definitely was not okay. She thought she could keep the Duchess away, at arm's length and not let her slip into her, but evidentially she had managed, no matter how hard she tried to close herself off and stand her ground, Atalie still managed to get her fingers wrapped around her.
Wilhelm had pulled himself away from her, just enough so he could see her properly as small hands reached up to cup her face. "It's okay, Mama…" his thumbs awkwardly wiped the tears that she didn't even realized had rolled down her cheeks, too short to actually reach the bottom of her eyes. "I'm not mad, I know you didn't mean it. don't cry, Mama."
"But I'm not a good mama because I yelled at you."
"That's not true." Shaking his head, more auburn hair had fallen over his eyes that prompted the Queen to brush them back once more. "If you're a bad mama you're not going to have another baby."
The statement had completely taken her back, enough for her mind to momentarily forgotten of the earlier tragedy and how she was blaming herself for it. "W-what?"
"Baby." Wilhelm repeated, as if his mother had not heard him the first time. "You're having a baby, Mama!"
As amusing as it was for him to say it in a 'matter-of-fact' manner –as if she was not aware of her own body's condition, she did have a hard time in masking her clear confusion. "Who told you that?" she certainly had not said anything about her son's younger sibling to him, let alone explaining to him the concept of pregnancy and what it had meant until he could sound as confident.
"Auntie Anna," Wilhelm shrugged, "When you're still away."
The Princess did ask about the baby, when she had arrived in her husband's arms last night after a rather long journey that she mostly didn't remember about, far too tired and too shaken up to take notice of her surrounding as she did not even acknowledge much of the Southern Isles' Princes that had come with him, so there was no doubt that Hans had told Anna of her condition. She could tell that, when she eventually had regained her energy, that the Princess would give her an earful of scolding as well, she was just glad that she had been merciful enough and not do that the moment she arrived.
If Anna knew then Kristoff most definitely would too, the two never failed to share important information to each other, and somewhere during the time of her absence her younger sister had managed to inform her son about it too.
"Mama?"
She was brought back from her train of thoughts by the quiet call, looking down at those wide blue eyes staring back at her in wonder. "Yes darling?"
"You're a good mama." Wilhelm repeated with a confirming nod, the corners of his lips pulling into a gentle smile that she didn't think a young child such as he could even muster intentionally. "Don't worry, okay? I love you and Papa loves you too, and Auntie Anna and Uncle Kristoff as well."
Heart swelling, she had sniffled and pulled her beloved son to her chest once more, holding him as she relieved on the fact that she had not done so in what felt like forever. "I love you too, my heart, so much."