"I promise I won't go too far..." Elsa wiped her sister's tears, her palm gently cradling her flushed cheek.
"Yeah? You promised me that before...and you DIED!"
"Anna... you've always believed in me...and it's time for me to believe in myself...I need to do this. For me, for us...please...I don't need you to protect me...I need your belief in me... Your love for me..."
"Oh, Elsa...I will always love you..."
"Then let me do this...give me time...to...find the answers to the questions I've carried all my life..."
oO The Great Flood: One week past Oo
"What is this?" Anna couldn't help the hurt and almost raw anger filling her words as she held a document outlining the procedures for abdication that she'd found poorly hidden on Elsa's desk among all manner of other matters that her sister had dutifully returned to.
Elsa winced visibly coming to her feet, she had wanted to talk to her about it when things had settled...as it was there seemed no hiding it now, "You know what it is. We've talked about this..."
"I didn't think you'd actually go through with it." Anna's voice peaked an octave, "I mean, you'd just come back from the dead and everything was moving so fast and..."
"I'm no good for Arendelle." Elsa's expression was blank, her eyes solidly placed down at her pen where she signed another trade agreement into action.
"How can you say that? You're a wonderful Queen! Everyone loves you, our borders are strong, trade is good. The people are happy." Anna was bristling.
"My very first official night I set off an eternal winter. I destroyed crops and made scores of people sick." Elsa defended, curling her arms tight around her waist. Her eyes flickered towards her sister who felt much too tall coming in front of her.
"No one blames you for any of that." She soothed.
"It doesn't matter what they think, Anna. I know what I did. Could have done." She didn't dare to move, her words soft but strong, eyes turning back towards the stack of papers.
"Elsa you're not thinking clearly..." A weight began to pull on Anna's shoulders, an old pain resurfacing.
"Am I not? What about the Nattmarra?"
"That was..." A grimace punctuated her failing argument.
"Just as, if not more so devastating. The people were completely taken over by its magic and I could do nothing! In fact, my magic made it worse. What would Arendelle be without you? You saved not only me, but everyone else both times..." Elsa was clearly winning but her face did not show victory, rather defeat as she gave pause to let the words sink in just a bit deeper into her sister.
"I can't rule in fear of what my magic can do... If I didn't have these powers...I wouldn't even be ruling at all!" Elsa's stomach twisted as desperation filled her tone.
"Now wait a minute. I will not let you take the blame for our parents. They lied to us, kept secrets from us. Kept us as secrets from each other. They did far more lasting damage than anything your magic has done." Like heat to a flame, her heart pounded righteously.
"Anna..."
"No!" Her hand slammed hard onto the desk, the violent noise of it making both of them flinch, though Anna recovered first, "If you'd been allowed to grow into your powers instead of against them we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now." Anna could feel their battlefield shifting, her eyes wide with conviction.
"I cannot change the past, all I can do is make the next right decision. For Arendelle." Elsa's back straightened to the challenge, slowly putting the chair between them, her stance growing firm so as not to fall under her sister's gaze.
"If I refuse?"
"Would you? Truly?"
They stared hard at each other. Elsa's regal and commanding posture easily dwarfing that of her sister's defensive stance. As expected, Anna lowered her eyes first though her fists clenched tight to her sides.
"I don't want this..."
"It is the right thing."
"I don't care..." Her voice cracked like a stubborn child, her eyes raising for only a second before burning into the polished wood between them.
"You said... that you didn't want to stop me from being what I needed to be..." The sharpness in Elsa's tone curved to a softer caress but there was an anger, a frustration along its blade.
"And I still don't..." Tears choked the princesses' throat, her body trembling from restraint.
"Then set me free..." Elsa held out her hands, as though they were bound, her eyes shimmering with her own tears.
Anna shook her head as she took hold over the invisible shackles, unable to resist her sister's reach. A deep sob bubbled up her throat before she raised her head, searching for anything that she could possibly say to make her stay.
"Be my hero once again..." Elsa knew how incredibly selfish her request was. How unbelievably unfair it was to place such a burden on such a free spirit that was her sister. She knew it down to the very pit of her soul. Still, she knew she had to make this choice. She had to give her sister the promise of a brighter tomorrow. One free of fear and of the unknown. To free her of something she could never truly be apart of. To turn her beloved Knight into a King as it were. She deserved everything the title held and more.
Anna could no longer restrain herself, her hands pulling furiously hard so that her sister crashed into her with enough force to skip both their hearts. Her fingers clawed harshly against snow-white skin as she held her tight. Much softer but still clinging arms coming under her own to hold her head into a rapidly beating pulse.
"I can't live this life without you..." Anna breathed in her sister's soft scent, jasmine and lilac.
"You will always have me... I will always be beside you..." Elsa pressed into deep summer hair, sandalwood and lavender filling her senses.
Another heartbroken sob pressed into Anna's throat and she took a steadying breath, "Please..."
Another heavy silence stretched between them, their hold on the other never waning. After what felt like years, Anna was able to compose herself well enough to speak, "I don't want the priest..."
"Anna..."
"No... if I'm going to do this... It has to be you... You're just as—no, more than holy to give me this honor..."
"I will do what I can..."
"You do this... for me..." Anna pulled her head back, her fierce determination reflecting in deep crystal waters.
"For you, anything..." Elsa pressed her lips solidly between furrowed brows before lowering her forehead to nuzzle softly between them, "I love you..."
Anna smiled reluctantly, her eyes closing to the feeling of her sister's words against her trembling lips, "I love you, too..."
Their breaths slowed, the silence between them no longer carrying any weight. A resolution, a promise shared between two fractured hearts.
"Come on, my little sunshine... It's late..." Elsa pulled gingerly at the arms that still held her close, tightly winding their fingers together as she took a small step back. A soft sniffle of her own causing her to raise their joined hands to wipe away her own tears.
"Can I sleep with you?" Anna wiped at her nose with her own arm, her hold tightening.
"What about Kristoff...?"
"Please?" Anna knew the other love of her life was waiting for her in her own room. Despite having his own, as it wasn't seen a proper for them to share a bed in their present state, despite his proposal.
"Alright." A gracious smile chased away the shadows still flickering behind her eyes.
oOo
During the deepest part of the morning, Elsa found herself trapped somewhere between the waking and resting world. Deep darkness behind her eyes while everything else around felt sharply focused. A rhythmic weight pressed down against her back, out of sync with her forced shallow breaths. The heat running down her spine and the bend of her legs, like a shadow perfectly formed. The warmth that had built beneath the sheets which had come up to her temple sometime during the night making the air that she was able to get into her lungs thick nearly suffocating.
"Anna...?" Elsa pushed as best as she could with her hands that had become partially trapped under her chin from their combined weight, "Anna...I can't breathe..."
"That should make my job much easier."
Elsa's eyes snapped open with a furious crescendo of her heart. A name dead on her lips replaced with a strangled yelp that was painfully swallowed down. The result of which caused a not too pleasant choke as she struggled to right her breathing.
"Mm... Elsa?" Anna shifted in her wild starfish pose. Her back tilted against her sister's, one arm dangling over the top of the sheets that pressed against Elsa's chin. Her leg was bent most ungraciously against her sister's backside, further trapping the praying angle into bed. While it wasn't uncommon for Anna to somehow lay over top of her sister this was one of the more unique poses to date. Considering she'd been gently holding Elsa from behind when they'd settled down to sleep.
Elsa grunted softly as she pushed for real this time, pulling at the sheets to free her face so that she could take in a breath of cool air. The action causing her sister to pull back her arm with a wet smack of her lips before releasing a disoriented moan.
"Anna... you're crushing me..." Elsa pushed again, a bit stronger this time, as her body began to come awake. The voice from her dream fading quickly into obscurity.
Anna relented to the push, rocking onto her side for a moment only to reach out blindly for the warmth that had been taken from her, "Don't... go..."
Elsa jumped slightly when the arms she'd managed to free from her person came back. Heavy and fumbling they wormed their way beneath the pillow under her head and across her modest breast. Her entire body sparking when Anna's fingers dug into the soft flesh as though taking hold of a cliff's edge.
"Anna..."
"Five more minutes..." Still nowhere near conscious, the fire-brunette nuzzled her cheek into the slip of skin along the rounded neckline of her sister's nightdress. A heavy sigh of content wafting the hair that hid away the moon-light skin. Her hips bucked slightly as she pulled herself ever closer, perfectly molding herself to Elsa's taller frame.
Knowing there was absolutely no way to win, Elsa took another breath before letting herself relax back down. Though sleep did not come until the rise of dawn. The gentle thump of her sister's heart against her helped to ease the worry in her own.
oOo
Late morning found Anna waking alone. Her arms curled impossibly tight around a pillow that had been left in her sister's stead. A small wooden stick lightly tapping on her hand as the bed shifted heavily from behind.
"Anna? Are you awake?"
"Mmph…Olaf?" Anna pushed her heavy body up, her eyes blinking the tiny snowman into focus, "What's…what's going on?"
"It's time to get up." Kristoff smiled warmly when Anna turned to his voice. Having sat himself behind her in an attempt to wake her up himself.
"OH…oh…" Anna's face ran through the rainbow of emotions before she furiously rubbed at her eyes, "Where's Elsa?"
Kristoff chuckled softly as he helped Anna untangle herself from the sheets, "She's with the council right now. You slept pretty late."
"The council?!" Suddenly remembering their previous conversation Anna was struck with a sudden bolt of energy that had Olaf scrambling out of the way of her legs when she flung them over the side of the bed, "How long ago?"
Kristoff's brows rose high as he came back to his feet, watching his future wife slide her way behind the dressing screen, "Uh…like two hours ago?"
"Two hours!" Anna squawked as she pulled the dress that had been left for her off its stand, it was definitely no every day looking dress.
oOo
"And what of the scouting reports?"
"Thus far our borders seem secure. There have been whispers in the black districts that we're keeping our ear to the stones for." Mattais set down the reports gently over the top of the growing mound of papers that had been settled in front of Elsa.
"Any more information on the Black Phoenix?" A small adjustment of her reading glasses pulled the papers closer, her eyes quickly skimming the words therein with practiced ease.
The men at the table shifted uncomfortably, turning their eyes to the one man who had yet to produce any information. He sat silently with his eyes pointed somewhere beyond where his Queen sat though his ears were listening intently to everything being presented.
Elsa pursed her lips noticing the sudden stillness. She set the papers in her hand to lay flat on the pile. As she turned her own sharp gaze down the long table she, near-instantly locked eyes with the silent man, "Raik?"
"Well, as you know there have been talks-"
Before the man could even begin his report the doors to the council room were thrown open, a very wide-eyed and exerted princess standing between them. All those present both at the long table and along the walls of the room turned to the disruption; the full weight of the council bearing down on Anna in one full second. She nervously wilted before trying to straighten herself up, a half-cocked grin ticking at her lips before she tried to catch her sister's eyes. The only indication that Elsa seemed to acknowledge her at all was the soft sigh and rub to the bridge of her nose as she pulled off her glasses.
"Let's take a break." Elsa pushed herself up slowly, her body crying out in protest for having been sat in such a rigid chair for so long. A small wave of her hand had the stewards opening the doors to the adjoining parlor where food and drinks would be quickly supplied.
Anna sheepishly moved through the small mass of people coming to their feet in murmured agreement. Her lips curled in as she tried to keep her composure. Elsa was the last to move, and for that she was grateful. It took only a few strides to come beside her sister and the soft look of endearment that had been masked was finally revealed.
"Why didn't you wake me?" Anna whispered, falling in step with her sister.
Elsa smirked just a little, "I tried. You threw a pillow at me."
"Oh! Sorry…" Anna grimaced just a little but the hidden smile in the corner of Elsa's lips made her relax, "So what'd I miss? Anything…you know-important?"
"You really think we'd discuss that without you here?" Elsa matched her sister's volume before nodding her head in thanks to the men who held open the doors, the pair of them the last through so that they were closed once more. She led them over to one of the chesterfield couches and allowed herself to sit down. The soft cushions immensely helping the crick in her back from the awful wooden chair. Though she didn't allow herself to completely relax, it was definitely more comfortable.
"Well…I don't know how these things are supposed to go…" Anna flopped down next to her before quickly trying to sit herself properly. Her eyes bouncing over to Kai who had raised a brow at her less than graceful movement before he'd bustled off to secure drinks and food for all those present. She let out a small sigh and let her shoulders sag just a little, "You were always better at remembering all the rules than me…"
"You'll be fine Anna. I won't let you go through this alone." Elsa took pity on her sister, though the pout on her lips didn't hurt. She took a small breath and reached between them to take her hand, "I promise, we'll still do this together."
"You keep saying that word…" Anna's hand curled tightly, her voice growing deeper as the sadness from their previous conversations reared itself again, "But I don't think you know what it means…"