let's celebrate because i've been able to update on time *fireworks display in a distance*. anyway, this is really great and sad at the same time to say that this short series is about to come to an end. this is the second to the last chapter, and i hope you would all gladly finish it! this short series was fun to write, as well as a great way to grind me back to continue my other series. so, an anon said i've stopped writing To Rise With A Star, no, i have not forgotten or given up on the story. as of currently, i'm just a bit stuck on some parts of it, and hopefully i'll be able to finish it and polish my writing. and it the same goes for The Winter Thief, i'm a bit shaken and please remember that i too have a life out of writting and fandoms, and i'm currently trying to survive high school. but i do try to write whenever i can, and hopefully there will be updates some time soon!
long a/n, i know. anyway, enjoy!
Kristoff already helped Anna finish up most of what's jot down on her little notebook; Indulging in the Parisian life, visit Shakespeare and Company, and watch a movie in one of the rackety theatres in town. Some were better than the others, some were fine, and others, like this, were completely and utterly insane in his eyes.
"Okay, okay," Anna mumbled, eyes squinted as if looking directly at the sun on her little notebook. She tapped a thin finger on its page.
"Next, we need to roll over daisies," she said ever so casually, looking up to see Kristoff's reaction. He wasn't so happy about it.
"But Anna—" he groaned. One thing was sure during the whole trip: He's been such a grouch. Well, he always has been. But he had to admit, he's been extra con throughout the whole trip. Sarcastic eye rolls, momentary shake of the head, face palms every now and then, and if his mouth isn't releasing a tired sigh it'd be gaping at her with a look of disbelief on his face. And miraculously, Anna seems to brush this off every time and drag him around anyway. "Where on earth do you think we'd be allowed to play in dirt? We'd get caught, and worse—jailed!"
"Don't exaggerate! They won't throw us in jail that easily for a minor offense." she rolled her eyes at him before mumbling. "…and it's Parisian jail."
"Still jail." He deadpanned.
"Oh, come on no one has to see," she pouted back before she slammed the small notebook shut. "Plus, it'll be fun. The sun on our cheeks, flowers in our hair—"
"—Bugs in our shoes, shirts getting soiled…" he grumbled back.
"Kristoff!" she smacked his chest. "I'm so close to completing it now just…" her eyebrows suddenly raised and she pursed her lips stopping to think. "It's only less than fifteen more left. And I think I could really finish this, you know… here, in Paris? And it's our last three days here in Paris, can you at least help me finish this?"
His hand seemed to have a mind of its own and he slapped it along his square jaw. "This is ridiculous."
"This is crucial, Kris. Come on, live a little! And maybe rolling along daisies would drown out your pungent smell," she teased, sticking her tongue out at him.
He didn't feel a bit offended with her words, but wanted nothing more than get things over with and grab lunch. He sighed, throwing his head back in defeat to see the sky filled with gray clouds stretching all over the city. When they left in the morning, the sun was shinning bright as ever, hot on his face, and now he doubts the sun would be on his cheeks when they go rolling in daisies in a minute.
"…fine."
"Yay!"
At the least she didn't write anything as ridiculous as swimming with sharks or taking a shot of spontaneous combustion, right?
When they found a good spot, as small hill popping daisies on its side leading down to the foot of the lake, they huddled to an obscured scene behind park benches and towering trees. Anna had to take the time to breathe in the flowers and greet the birds like a Disney princess, which made Kristoff's eye roll and drag her away by the arm from her little innocent acts of kindness.
She went first, of course, giggling profusely before curling into a ball and turning to him to tell him to do the same, and he does, and began their pursuit to finish her little request. She threw her arms over her head and screamed like she's riding a rollercoaster and she's off, rolling, tumbling to the flat ground, Kristoff not so far behind. The world spins for a moment, a few bumps along the way, yet he found that it was tolerable. When earth's gravitational pull stops them flat, Anna turns her head to look at him, cheeks smeared with dirt, hair ornamented with flowers, sticking out in weird directions. She laughed to see him so decorated, and he gives in to her, letting out a chuckle or two too.
They stay like this for a beat, watching the clouds roll by, the bees buzz by, breathing in each other's scent. He breaks their mild stupor before he finds himself leaning against her in hopes for a kiss.
Jumping up, he brushed his jeans off, before stretching a hand down to help her up.
"See? Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" she smirked, wiping her nose with her arm and giggling. "You had fun! I could tell!"
"No, I didn't."
"Yes you did! You were all smiles and sunshine for once, isn't that great?"
"Again, no. I was laughing because you looked silly with a smudge of dirt on your face," She stuck her tongue out at him, but before she could even retort a better come back, something stops her: a raindrop.
It wets her cheek, dribbles down her face to her jaw, making her blink several times, catching her in shock. Kristoff cranes his neck to look up the sky, Anna does too to see a sea of dark clouds stretching across Paris, giving the city a gloomy ambiance. Slowly, more raindrops fall before the two finally bolted out of the open, arms over their heads, heads ducked, bags squeezed under arms with the short realization that they didn't bring an umbrella.
"Tell me again why on earth didn't we bring an umbrella to this trip?!" Kristoff spat in disbelief as he jogged, head swiveling to the ginger scampering beside him.
"Uh, forecasts that said Paris would be all suns and smiles for the next three weeks?" Anna shrugged as they reached the shade of a bushy tree, shoulders and backs slamming on its bark with the velocity of sudden contact, and just as they did the rain fully began to drench the city fully, the sound of the rain meeting the earth filled around them.
"Obviously, their predictions were wrong," he exhaled, slightly out of breath. "Should've foresaw this and brought an umbrella," he said and he shook his head.
They stood under the shade of the tree for a full five minutes, watching as the downpour began to damp the earth, soiling the ground wet, the water in the lake rising, other people protectively seizing their arms overhead to shield their flimsy suits and dresses from the rain, and as the whole of Paris turnover into a moment of stillness with the humidity in the air washed away. Anna had rested her back against the bark, minute by minute inching to the ground, and when her bottom hit the ground she hugged herself, shivering slightly.
"You cold?" Kristoff asked, hands bunched in his jeans. She shook her head no.
"No, just tired," she answered, nose tucked under her arms. Her lips stretched into a grim line before speaking up again. "It's taking forever to pull up. Do you think it'll ever stop?"
"Patience, feisty-pants," he smirked, yet his eyes were still trained somewhere far off in no particular place at all. "Just you wait. It's unusual for it to rain, but hey, maybe it'll be over in a few."
They waited and waited, until a full ten minutes Anna shot up from her fetus position to a standing, before announcing confidently: "That's it, let's just go."
"What?" Kristoff turned to give her a weird look.
She only gave him a mischievous smile before slipping out of her doll shoes, hanging it on the end of her fingertips, huffed out a breath and seizing into the rain.
"What the—Anna!" he shouted for her, but she had already disappeared into the mist and the pelting rain, leaving him dumbfounded as ever. Frantically stepping from foot to foot, Kristoff could think of nothing else but 'Screw it!' and ran after her, worried and half cursing as he went.
The ginger barely made it out to the park bench, no other sign of shelter or shade out in the open, before the burly man had caught up on her and held her wrist, jerking her hard to face him.
"Anna!" he breathed, a little harder than normal. The look of disbelief still plastered on his face. "What the hell? Have you lost your noggin? You could've tripped! Or fell flat on your face. Hurry, we need to get back to the tree you before you catch a cold—"
"Kristoff!" Anna laughed, in her singsong voice Kristoff hated being used on him in an urgent moment, she knew how much her melodic voice could make him weak in the knees itself. Stepping forward, she seized one hand to run up his chest, other wrist still clamped on his shaking calloused hand. "I'm fine, really! This is actually in my bucket list but I didn't expect the opportunity to open up in front of me here in Paris…"
"And what exactly is this now?" he asked with a half groan, one eyebrow high up. The rain began to damp their heads, hairs a mop, clothes drenched. The rain was pounding an uneven sound in his ear, but he could hear the beat, a music, a melody he was certain of.
She didn't answer, but instead, seized soothing hands to both of his, placed one on her hip and held tight into the other, and took a confident step. He gaped at her at first, watching as she took steps, one after another, before it truly hit him that she was actually dancing.
And he was too. Each step she took, he would be parallel to it, forming their own little rhythm to the thumping sound of the water, and it took a longer moment for him to register that he's letting her lead him on, his body responding to hers in perfect sync.
What surprised him, was, how it all felt so natural altogether. He was never the dancer, nor was she. He remembered distinctly failing dance class in high school and seeing Anna fall flat on her face in one of Elsa's parties a year ago, but now, as if being controlled like a puppet, he's really dancing. He's dancing with Anna.
"A-are we—"
"Dancing," she laughed, making it sound easy. "We're dancing, Kris!"
All he could do was gape with a wow on his face. She laughed.
There was a few exchange of apologies and shy giggles every now and then, whenever she'd accidentally step on his big feet or when he'd twist her arms a little too much, but they couldn't help wiping the large smiles they wore or the glint of jubilee in their eyes.
He felt light on his feet, buoyant and she was his wings. He couldn't believe it himself, and before he knew it he was twirling her in one hand, her skirt flying as she spiraled, before he caught both her arms now and she crashes into his chest, smile so wide her freckles glowed and her eyes shone a different kind of glimmer in the rain.
Suddenly, the world stops. There are sparks in their eyes, breathless, fazed, the beating in their chest one, a whole new feeling felt in each others arms.
And there, it hits him.
I… I love—
"You," she laughs, a carefree sound in the rain.
His heart thunders in his chest again, and all of his senses hits him with the truth.
"You're a lot lighter on your feet, mister," Anna laughed, and only then did he register how close their face was, her breath tickling his skin.
"You too, feisty-pants," he grinned back, bracing himself with their closed space. "Care to take another spin so that I'm positively sure this isn't a dream?"
"Ah, a doubter, I see," she giggled, before stepping far enough for their dancing stance, giving him a saucy curtsy before flashing him a playful grin. "Prepare yourself for my mad dance skills, I'mma knock your socks off," she winked.
"Says the one with two left feet," he guffawed, and she growled and laughed along with him.
And all afternoon, all while it rained, they danced secure in each other's arms between tumbles and laughs, ignoring the thoughts of those who watched afar, thinking they were insane.
But the thing is, they just couldn't hear the music the way they did.
...aaaand the long awaited scene and a hopeful spark of a relationship happens next chapter! stay tuned for the last one and thanks again!
review?