Anna awoke the next morning and yawned, stretching with a grin on her face. Glancing to her sister's bed, she was surprised to find it empty and untouched since the previous night. Leaping up, the redhead hurried from the room, racing for the kitchens. If Elsa wasn't in bed then she must have been having breakfast. Coming to the dining room, Anna glanced around at all of the servants clad in black with lackluster expressions upon their faces.

What's going on? Anna wondered, glancing around for her sister and parents. None of the servants paid her any mind this particular morning and this unsettled the little five year old, making her search harder for her family.

"Anna." The little redhead turned with relief, recognizing her father's voice.

"Papa! I was looking for you." Anna watched the king's face fall and cocked her head in confusion. Is he sad?

"Anna…" Simen knelt down beside his daughter with a heavy sigh. "There's something we... I need to tell you. It's about Elsa."

"Yeah, where is she?" Anna inquired, glancing around for her sister once more. And her mother for that matter. "And where's Mama?"

"Your mother is still in our bedroom." The king quickly replied. "She's… she needs time to compose herself. Anna, you aren't going to be able to see Elsa anymore."

"Why not?" the little redhead pouted. "Does she not like me anymore?"

"It's not that." Her father soothed. "It's just… Elsa… last night… Anna, Elsa is dead."

"W-wait, what?" Anna gasped, disbelievingly. Her sister, her best friend, the one person that she thought would always be there for her was… was gone? It couldn't be.

"Elsa is gone now, Anna. We're hosting her funeral this afternoon. Go with Gerda to get ready, alright?"

"No!" Anna wailed at the news, realizing that her beloved sister was no more. "No! Elsa can't be gone! She promised to stay with me forever. She promised!"

"Anna-."

"You made her hate me, didn't you?" Anna demanded. "She… she would never have died if she knew I still needed her. She wouldn't have gone if she still loved me."

"I'm sorry, Anna." Simen whispered, standing and passing her off to the head maid to get her ready for the funeral. Anna sniffled and huffed as she was washed and powdered, slipping into her black funeral dress without much resistance. When the maids had finally left her to her own devices, the young princess moved over to her sister's bed, flopped onto the pillows and began to sob her little blue eyes out.

...

The queen looked out over the e garden, watching as the small coffin was built for Elsa's 'body'. The carpenters were busy at work trying to measure the size and having difficulty doing so due to no one being allowed to see Elsa's 'corpse'.

Such lies. The brunette inwardly spat, her eyebrows wrinkling in disgust at the display as she turned her attention to where Kai was overseeing the decor for the garden. The ceremony was to be held in Elsa's second favorite place since, as Simen theorized, using her favorite place for the funeral would devalue the meaning it held to her.

That and the library is too small to hold so many people. She huffed, taking a seat on the bed. She had moved all of her things into a new room, one with blue crocuses on the door and a large triangular window that overlooked almost the entire palace. It was painted in soft and hard blues and she had chosen it as a reminder of her eldest daughter, whom the entire kingdom would mourn the loss of today, but would not be mourning for the right loss.

The grandfather clock struck twelve and the startled queen sighed. She had been thinking for far too long, worried as she was about Elsa and her whereabouts. The funeral would be starting shortly, if the clock's time was to be taken seriously.

Emmanuelle toyed with the idea of not even attending the funeral, knowing that it would all be a lie and the coffin would actually be empty. However, motherly instinct for Anna made her slip into her mourning dress and accompany the little redhead out into the garden.

Anna's head was bent and tears sparkled on her cheeks as well as her eyes. Emmanuelle knelt next to her daughter and her sky blue gaze met watery teal. Anna's lip trembled as she wiped away some of tears only for more to fall. Emmanuelle knew that she would never be able to figure out the right words to comfort her daughter, so instead of trying, she pulled her younger daughter into a hug.

For her part, Anna refrained from breaking down in front of everyone. She squeezed her mother tightly before Emmanuelle pulled back.

Both mother and daughter stood on one side of Elsa's grave together while Simen stood on the other. The priest droned on about the pity it was that someone so young had to die and that she was still alive in all their hearts. Emmanuelle refused to listen to such blasphemy, opting instead to keep a close eye on Anna.

The redhead had trouble controlling herself and tears were beginning to leak from the corners of her eyes. Deciding to give her daughter some of her strength, the queen squeezed the five year old's hand, drawing her attention away from what the priest was saying.

Anna turned her eyes to her mother and spotted Emmanuelle's small smile. Anna nodded and held her chin high, refusing to cry.

At last, the funeral was adjourned and Emmanuelle took Anna back into the castle, heading for her bedroom. Once there, Anna climbed from her arms and moved over to Elsa's bed. Finding a pillow different than the one she had been crying on that morning, the redhead hugged it to her chest and began to cry some more.

Sitting on the bed beside her, Emmanuelle wrapped her arms around her youngest daughter and began rocking her, singing a lullaby to help her relax. After a while, both began growing drowsy and Emmanuelle laid them down. Anna snuggled into her and the queen kept her in a protective embrace as they dozed off.

Simen moved around the palace, wondering where his family was. Surely Emmanuelle didn't take Anna after Elsa. That is a recipe for disaster.

Coming to Anna's bedroom, he peeked inside and found his answer. Curled up on the bed was his wife, cuddling their youngest daughter on their oldest daughter's bed. Feeling a tug in his heart, Simen sighed, wondering if it really was the right thing to send Elsa away. Shrugging off the guilt, he turned and shut the door, needing to return to his duties.


Ah, and there's another wonderful chapter. I understand that some of you were probably pissed in the last chapter about Simen's harsh decision (despite it saying in the summary what was going to happen) so I wanted to show you that he still had a heart.

Also, just so y'all know, I've got a Twitter, a Tumblr, a Facebook page and an Archive of Our Own page so that you guys can check things out, get updates, check out sneak peeks of things to be published, get inside looks at new chapters, the like. (Wow, I really do sound like a news journalist). All the details are on my profile.