Author's Note: I apologize if this chapter is not as detailed as previous ones. I had to fit all short stories in one average length chapter.
One Shot: Many Misadventures
One month after Lena's birth
Elsa: Being An Aunt
Elsa sat at the end of the great dining table in the dining hall of the castle. Two fireplaces were set up in the room, each on opposite sides. A beautiful chandelier hung from the top of the ceiling, hanging over the table. Three more chairs were set up around the table, all fairly near Elsa. Food was set up on different place which were scattered in front of where Elsa was sitting. She looked at the clock behind her and found that it was about ten minutes before six o'clock. Ten minutes before the special dinner started. This dinner would mark the one month anniversary of Lena's birth.
As she waited, she wondered where everyone else must've been. Kai was probably chasing down some crook as usual. One month ago, Kai failed to get to the suspicious cargo on time. The ship that brought it had already sailed away by the time he got there and the people who got off the ship, along with the cargo, disappeared. This was a case that Kai could not let go of for an entire month. As of right now, he had one lead. He was probably going after it as Elsa sat there and thought about it.
Anna was probably with the baby somewhere. She was just starting to adjust the change in becoming a mother. Lena would sometimes drive both Anna and Kristoff crazy, especially Anna. There were nights where the child would wake up crying and the parents would have to calm her down somehow. Even through all the stress Anna had, she still looked great. She was easily able to get rid of her bump she had on her stomach when pregnant.
Kristoff had something else to take care of besides Lena. The other day, two children trolls arrived at the castle in hopes of spending time with their human family member, Kristoff. He had been keeping an eye on both of them ever since. They were suppose to leave the next day which gave them plenty of time to spend with Kristoff. Elsa didn't know whether or not the children would be joining them for dinner. She had no idea what trolls ate.
Then, the door to the room opened. The grand doors made a creaking sound and Elsa looked over at the direction it was coming from. Anna walked into the room, a sleeping Lena in her arms. Anna wore a fancy green dress similar to the one she wore during Elsa's coronation for this special occasion. When Anna scanned the room, she gave Elsa a confused look. She quickly walked over to Elsa, careful not to wake the baby.
"Where are the others?" Anna asked Elsa.
"No idea." Elsa answered. "I thought you knew."
"I think I know where Kristoff is." Anna said. "He mentioned something about showing the trolls the plaza."
"Well, I hope he doesn't forget." Elsa said.
"He better not." Anna said. She then handed over Lena to Elsa, Elsa surprised by what Anna was doing. Elsa had very little experience with a baby before, only holding Lena once or twice in the past. She wondered why Anna was giving her the baby now.
"I'll go look for Kristoff." Anna said. "Can you watch Lena for me?"
"Sure..." Elsa said.
Anna then ran to the door as quick as she could, not wanting Kristoff missing the dinner.
"Anna, wait!" Elsa said, but Anna was already gone.
Elsa sighed. "Okay, I can do this." Elsa said to herself. "Lena is fast asleep so she won't be a problem."
Then, as if Lena heard Elsa, Lena started crying. Tears started to trickle down Lena's closed eyes. A wailing sound coming out of Lena's mouth. Elsa wanted to face palm but she didn't want her hand to stop supporting Lena.
"There there." Elsa told the baby, moving her arm up and down in hopes of comforting her. That didn't work, though. Lena just began to cry harder and louder. Elsa's ears were not having fun at all.
"What do you want?" Elsa asked Lena. Lena responded with only more crying. Elsa should've known Lena wasn't going to answer her. This time, Lena began to move her arms, flailing them as she cried. Elsa did her best to avoid being smacked in the face by her neice.
Then, Elsa knew exactly what was wrong. Lena must've been hungry. Elsa reached with one arm across the table, trying her best to hold Lena with the other. She pulled a plate of grapes towards her and the baby. Elsa then broke off a grape and put it in front of Lena's head.
"You hungry?" Elsa asked. Elsa had no idea what babies liked to eat other than milk. Lena was the first baby Elsa ever had to take care of, and Elsa was without training. She never paid attention on how Anna cared for the child. Elsa then shook the baby, and Lena opened her eyes. When she saw the grape, she stopped crying. She looked at the grape with fascinated eyes.
"You want it, sweetie?" Elsa asked. After a moment of silence, the baby then began to cry some more. Elsa, disappointed, threw the grape behind her and it dropped and rolled on the ground.
This time, the baby's hands and arms swung around some more. Lena's hands soon found themselves grabbing Elsa's single braid which was over her shoulder. Uh oh, Elsa thought. Lena then yanked and pulled the braid, making Elsa feel pain. She then jerked her head forward along with her braid. Lena then pulled the end of the braided hair and put it closer to her mouth.
"No no no no no." Elsa said. When Elsa pulled her hair out of Lena's mouth, about two inches of it was wet and slimy. Elsa gagged at the sight. The baby seemed to cry more now that she had nothing in her mouth.
Elsa then snapped her fingers, knowing what would be perfect for Lena. She shook Lena's body, and Lena opened her eyes, looking up. Elsa then shot a blast of ice into the area above the table. It exploded into snowflakes which fell down beautifully over the food and over the table. Elsa hoped that that would entertain the child.
Lena looked at the snowflakes and smiled, even managing a smile. Elsa looked down at her cute niece, proud of herself. Elsa leaned her head down to kiss Lena's head. When she looked up again, the snowflakes have already stopped drifting down and were one the table.
Lena's smile quickly faded and was replaced by a normal, straight face. Elsa waited in anticipation for the baby to start crying again. She had a feeling Lena would start crying. Elsa never had the best of luck. After a few seconds of waiting, Elsa assumed that her stress would be over. She let out a sigh.
Lena then immediately began crying after and Elsa smacked her head against the table.
Anna: Acts Of Charity
Anna stood in the plaza, looking around to see if she could find Kristoff at all. Unfortunately, she couldn't find Kristoff in the crowd nor could she find any of the trolls he was supposed to be with. It was probable that he had already returned to the castle before Anna left, not knowing he was home. Right now, all Anna knew was that her husband and father of her child was not in the plaza.
Anna was almost tempted to continue searching the city in hopes of finding Kristoff. But, she knew that there was no way he would take a chance at missing his daughter's celebratory party. The likeliness that he was out in the city was very very low. The most probable place he was in was the castle, and that's where Anna was going next.
She turned around to walk back to the castle, the stone bridge in her sights. But, she heard sniffling to her side. She turned toward her right and found a little boy with a green hat, blue jacket, and gloves standing in the plaza occompanied by no adult. She wondered why he was crying? Had he lost his parents? Was he abandoned? As princess, it was Anna's duty to treat her subjects like family and that's what Anna was doing for so many years of her life. She wasn't going to turn her back on the boy.
She walked over to the boy and towered over him. He looked up, still crying with a red nose, red eyes, and mucus pouring out of his nostrils.
"Hey, what's wrong little boy?" Anna asked. She then knelt down next to the boy and put her hand on his shoulder in hopes of comforting him.
"Norm's missing." The boy said in the middle of his sniffs.
"Norm?" Anna asked.
"My pig!" The boy elaborated.
"Oh." Anna said. She thought the boy had lost something much more important in his life, but seeing how distressed he was, Norm was really that special to him. Anna understood how it felt to lose someone that special. She took it upon herself to make sure this boy doesn't feel that pain.
"Well, want me to help you find him?" Anna asked politely.
"No!" The boy said. "I want Captain Kai to help me find him! I heard he can get the job done."
Anna rolled her eyes and sighed. Of course this boy wanted Kai's help. Everyone in Arendelle wanted Kai to solve their problems. He quickly became a favorite figure in the city when Elsa first introduced him to everyone. All the ladies wanted him and all the guys wanted to be him. Anna wouldn't be surprised if Kai eventually overshadowed her. Anna didn't want to be thought of as unhelpful anymore. She would make a change in her acts of charity starting with finding a pig.
"I'm surprised you didn't know this, kid." Anna said. "I am the kingdom's top- PIG!"
The boy looked over at what Anna locked her eyes on. Many meters away, a pig had it's head stuck inside a wooden box filled with fruits. The pig heard Anna yell pig and took its head out of the box. It stared at Anna for a second and ran off.
"Halt you swine!" Anna ordered. Anna then chased after the pig as fast as she could. She knew that the pig wouldn't run away from her forever. Plus, Anna had a feeling that she was much faster than a simple pig.
She chased the pig for about twenty five meters in the plaza, dodging the stands that were in her way. Every step she took, she closed in some distance. As she chased the pig, she didn't mind her surroundings and only focused on the pig. She felt that she was close enough to grab it from where she was. She was looking down at the pig with her arms extended, bending her back down slightly. But, before she could grab it, Norm took a sharp right turn to which Anna was not expecting.
It was too late for Anna to see what she was running into. She crashed into a large wooden basket of apples set up by a merchant. The basket fell over with Anna inside of it. Most of the apples rolled or went out when Anna crashed into it. She quickly crawled out of the basket, an apple in her mouth. She spit it out and looked at the merchant.
"I'm so sorry." Anna said. "I'll replace the apples."
Before the merchant could reply to her, she spotted Norm trotting down the plaza happily as if he was proud he had outsmarted Anna. She jumped up from the ground and sprinted after Norm, careful not to step on any of the apples. Luckily for Norm, he was watching her come towards him. He too broke off in a run.
As Anna closed in the distance, she once again forgot to mind her surroundings. Only when she saw the pig run under a cloth of a stand did she realize what she was running into. Anna hit a pie stand and her body flipped across the counter of it. Her upper body crashed into the purple pie. She then found herself on the floor, on the other side of the part of the stand she hit. The bakers were standing above her with horrified looks on their faces.
"I'm so sorry." Anna apologized. "I'll help you bake more."
"No!" Both bakers said at the same time.
Anna once again jumped up and looked around the plaza. She saw the pink behind of the pig run into a street which connected to the plaza. Her instincts kicked in and she ran after the pig and into the street. This time, the pig didn't stop running as he assumed Anna was still going after him. They both went through different twists and turns on the streets until they found themselves running down a steep street.
Anna had the advantage since the steep street meant her legs could take longer strides. Norm saw how quickly Anna was catching up and he knew that there was no way he could outrun her this time. He slowed down, accepting his fate. Anna jumped and tackled Norm, rolling down the street for a few moments but she eventually got back up with an unamused pig in her hands.
"Haha!" Anna exclaimed. "I got you!"
Anna then heard some running footsteps behind her. She turned around and found a man running down the street. While wondering who the man was, she looked at her right and was surprised. A carriage with no top was rolling down the steep street, and if she was not mistaken, Kai was standing on it. He raced past her on the carriage and after the man.
Anna was confused. In her confusion, the pig jumped out of her hands and ran up the street. It took Anna a few seconds to realize that Norm was gone. She looked over where she heard the oinking and ran up the street, right after Norm. Norm had a head start to Anna, and a large one at that. Though Anna did her best to close the distance, he was still fairly far away.
Anna chased him into the plaza where he kept running. The two them found themselves at the end of the docks. No ships were docked on either side of the wooden platform they were on. Norm was at the end of the dock, facing the water. He turned to find Anna standing in between him and freedom.
"No where to go now." Anna said.
The pig grew determined eyes. Anna ran forward in hoped of grabbing and taking the pig once and for all. She wasn't counting on Norm to run up to her as well. Anna tripped on Norm's body and fell forward. Norm just continued to keep running forward non stop.
Anna then fell into the water, unable to keep her balance. She stuck her head up from under the water.
"Oh boy." She muttered.
Kai: The First Lead
This was all so last minute for Kai. For a month, he was tracking down any leads for this strange case. He needed a name. Any name that was involved in what he thought was a human trafficking ring. After he and many other guards were researching for the month, he finally found a name. Actually, he found more of an alias than an actual name. He was looking for a man who called himself "The Lookout". Kai had a feeling he knew why he was called the Lookout. He had to be involved in all of this somehow and Kai was going to find out everything.
Kai did his research and discovered where the Lookout usually hung out whenever he wasn't doing whatever Kai was going to accuse him of doing. The Lookout spent much of his time in a pub in the city whenever he had the chance. Kai stood in front of the pub door, the Lookout inside, not expecting Kai for company. Kai wore his fancy white Captain of the Guard uniform. He meant to change into more formal clothes earlier as he was to be present during Lena's celebratory party. But, this was all last minute. Kai had only just recently found out about the Lookout and decided he should be taken down as quick as possible. He knew he was going to be late to the dinner, but he knew his priorities.
He pushed the door open to the pub. Everyone inside the pub looked over at Kai. Everyone as in the two people inside the pub; the bartender and one drinker sitting in a stool in front of the bartender. Kai had a feeling he knew which one the Lookout was. Kai walked over to the man on the stool, his hand over his sheathed dagger in case something went wrong. The likeliness of that was high. The man did not do anything out of the ordinary and just ignored Kai.
"You the Lookout?" Kai asked the man in an authoritative tone.
"Yeah. Who wants to know?" The man asked.
"Arendelle security." Kai answered. "You're wanted for questioning."
The Lookout then turned and punched Kai in the face. Kai staggered backwards with his hand over his nose. The Lookout then got out of his chair and followed the action by pushing Kai down to the ground. Kai could hear the Lookout's footsteps as he ran out of the pub. Kai jumped up looked over at the door. The Lookout was already out of the building. Kai looked at his hand and found blood on his fingers. The Lookout had made Kai bleed, and that made things personal. Kai ran out the door and got outside. He looked to both the left and right of the street he stood in front of and found that the Lookout was nowhere to be seen.
Kai noticed a ladder that led to the rooftops on the other side of the street he was standing in front of. He looked up and found that the Lookout had already reached the end of the ladder. As Kai ran to the ladder, the Lookout ran away from it and across the rooftops. Kai climbed the ladder as quick as he possible could, skipping a few steps. When he got up, the Lookout was already about two hundred meters away from Kai. Kai was glad that the Lookout was trying to give Kai a challenge as Kai loved challenges. But, Kai was running late to something as it is. So, the Lookout was being slightly annoying.
Kai broke in a sprint after the Lookout. He was already many rooftops away, but Kai had a feeling he could close that distance easily. As Kai ran, he found that he was heading towards a rooftop edge that was many feet high above over the following rooftop. The Looker made the jump and got up with legs that were almost broken. Kai couldn't let that slow him down. When Kai got to it, he jumped and extended his arms, bending his elbows at an angle. Kai then formed fire around his arms, doing his best to not burn his clothes. Kai then swiftly glided down on the rooftops below him and let go when he was close enough.
"I didn't know I could even do that!" Kai exclaimed. He now put gliding in his list of powers. Because of that, he wasted less time catching up to the Lookout. He kept running at full speed towards his adversary. The Lookout had hurt his legs slightly when he made the jump, forcing him to run slightly slower. Kai was only about fifty meters away from the Lookout when he shot a blast of fire at his back. The fire scorched the back of the Lookout but it did not continue to burn his clothes. The Lookout was pushed off the roof by the sheer force of the fireblast and fell down twenty feet to the ground.
Kai looked down at the Lookout, hoping he had not killed him. He was relived when he saw the Lookout get back up. Kai jumped off the roof, gliding towards the ground with his fire. When he landed, the Lookout, though with a broken bone somewhere, got up and ran down the street. Now, he was running much slower than usual. Kai ran after the Lookout, catching up very quickly. When he was right behind the Lookout, he put his hand over the man's shoulder, indicating the little chase was done. But, there was a convenient merchant stand right next to them selling pots and other utensils.
He swung the clay pot at Kai's head, smacking Kai back and onto the ground.
"Again with the head..." Kai groaned. His vision and hearing were fuzzy. He couldn't make out anything with his eyes. After laying there for about a few seconds, he got up even though he had trouble seeing straight. When his vision finally cleared, down the road, he could see the Lookout make a turn to another street. Kai followed him and entered the area where the Lookout entered. It was more of an alleyway than anything else. The Lookout was not in sight in the alley. Kai followed the path down and found himself on another street. This street was much more steep than the others and it went down to Kai's right.
Kai looked down the street and found the Lookout running down it. The Lookout had a large advantage over Kai. Kai noticed a carriage with no top in front of him. It looked like a sled without wheels. The only thing keeping the carriage from rolling down were two large stones in front of the front wheels. Kai knew exactly how he was going to catch the Lookout.
"This is crazy." Kai said. "So, it's perfect."
As the Lookout ran down, he passed someone who he thought to be Princess Anna holding a pig in her hands. He didn't have time to question the specifics of it. He turned around and his eyes widened. Kai was standing on a carriage which was rolling down the slanted street at top speed. There were barely any citizens in the street for Kai to hurt, so that made things easier for Kai. Kai passed Anna holding a pig, which he thought was odd but shrugged it off. He then focused at the task at hand.
Before Kai's carriage could even hit the Lookout, the Lookout jumped to the side and the carriage just rushed past him. Kai silently cursed and looked ahead at him. He widened his eyes when he saw what it was. It would be too late to avoid it. Ahead, there were red barrels, stacked on top of each other. Ropes were wrapped around them. It was obvious that those were meant for transport. They were already a few feet in front of Kai's carriage when he noticed them.
They couldn't explode if something simply crashed into them, right? Right?
Kristoff: Babysitter
Kristoff promised to take the troll children outside to see the grand sights Arendelle had to offer. What he wasn't counting on, though, was that they would disappear. When they were still in the castle and when Kristoff had his back turned, they simple just vanished as if they were never there in the first place. Kristoff knew they were there for a fact though. He hated it when they played games like this on him. Never had he ever had any enjoyment playing these games. It always ended horribly for him.
He intended to simply leave them in his and Anna's room while he left for the dinner. Bringing them along would just complicate everything. He couldn't just let them run wildly around the castle as who knew what messes they could create. He ran out of his room and looked down the corridor. He could see no trolls whatsoever. Kristoff chose one side of the corridor to follow, hoping that that would be the one they went down. As he walked, he looked down at the intersection of the floor and the wall, hoping to find them there.
He could not find anything out of the ordinary as he walked. All he could see were the feet of the sets of armor set up. At one point, he saw two small rocks with moss covering them. He passed it casually. Then, his eyes widened, realizing what they were. He turned his head back and looked down at the intersection. The moss covered rocks were not there anymore. Kristoff was confused. He could have sworn they were there a second ago. Before he could turn around, he fell to the ground as if someone had pulled his feet from behind. Kristoff landed face first on the ground. He looked ahead of him and found two rocks rolling down the hallway quickly.
"This isn't funny!" Kristoff said.
He then got up and ran after his friends. Both trolls rolled on different sides of the floor; one on the far left and one on the far right. As they rolled, they hit the feet of the armor, knocking the armor to the floor in front of Kristoff one by one. Kristoff did his best to avoid being hit by the armor, but he wasn't having the best of luck. Some parts of the armors jumped up when they made contact with the ground. Kristoff ran into many of these parts as he ran carefully towards the trolls. The trolls were always a step ahead of him though.
"Keep up Kristoff!" One demanded in humanoid form. He then transformed back into his rock form and rolled away.
Kristoff stopped when he found that a knight right next to him had not yet fallen. He was sure that the trolls hit the feet of this one, too. Kristoff shrugged it off and raised his leg to take a step forward. The knight armor immediately fell forward over Kristoff. Kristoff was pushed to the floor and the armor was all over him. He took the metal off of him and jumped up. Once again, the trolls were no longer in his sight. That did not mean he could not hear them, though. Kristoff heard the sound of laughter coming from his room. Kristoff rushed to his room immediately to see what all of the commotion was about.
One of the trolls was jumping on the bed while the other was going through this Anna kept in her chest. First, Kristoff ran to the one in the chest. He quickly pulled him out, knowing Anna kept valuable things in her chest. The troll jumped out of Kristoff's hands and ran toward the bed.
"No, no, no!" Kristoff said.
The troll jumped on the bed and jumped alongside his friend.
"Be good!" Kristoff demanded.
"Oh, come on Kristoff!" One troll said. "Have some fun."
"This is not fun!" Kristoff asserted.
"Says who?" One troll asked.
"Says me!" Kristoff countered.
"I''ll show you fun!" One troll said.
The troll then bounced off the bed and onto Kristoff. He grabbed onto Kristoff's shirt's collar. He then climbed behind Kristoff until he was dangling from Kristoff's back. The weight of the troll forced Kristoff to fall once again on his back. The troll rolled away under Kristoff's body. Kristoff groaned in pain, sick of being a babysitter. He wondered why he even accepted the job in the first place. The other troll who was on the bed jumped off of the bed and fell towards Kristoff's face.
"Catch me!" The child exclaimed.
The Dinner
Elsa sat with Lena in her arms, looking back at the clock. When it was finally time for dinner, Elsa turned back towards the grand door that led into the dining hall. It did not open, much to Elsa's disappointment. She wondered why they would be late. It wasn't like them to ever be late, except for maybe Kai. His commitment to being punctual was very bad. He only ever came when he was desperately needed. It would probably be best if Kai was never late again, but that was something people just can't change.
After waiting for about five minutes, the door to the dining hall finally opened and Elsa smiled, happy that they were at least able to make it. Her smile quickly faded when she saw what they looked like. Anna was in the front of the group, soaking wet. Some green plant was on top of her hair but she didn't seem to notice. Kai's white clothes were now almost completely black. His face, clothes, and hair were covered in what looked like black powder. His hair was sticking up and a little fire was on top of it. Smoke came out of his body. Kristoff had bandages covering his face. His eyes and mouth were barely visible. He was holding a rope with the two troll children tied to the other end.
They walked in silently while Elsa stared at them with surprised eyes. They all took their seats. Kai sat at Elsa's right, Anna at Elsa's left, and Kristoff next to Anna. Elsa looked at her sister.
"What happened to you?" Elsa asked.
"Pig, pie, apple, and ocean." Anna answered.
"That's nothing compared to what I've been through." Kai said.
Elsa looked over at Kai, noticing how bad he had it compared to Anna. "What would that be?" Elsa asked.
"I don't want to talk about it." Kai said. "All I can say is that the guy got away."
Elsa turned over to Kristoff who she could barely recognize because of the bandages.
"What happened to you, Kristoff?" Elsa asked.
Kristoff angrily pointed at the trolls who both had smiles on their faces, believing this was all a good game.
"How was being with Lena?" Anna asked Elsa, looking down at the sleeping baby in her arms.
"I think she likes me." Elsa lied.
"Really?" Anna asked.
"No." Elsa said truthfully. Elsa then handed Lena over to Anna who was reluctant at first because of her wet arms. Hopefully, the baby wouldn't notice.
"Well..." Elsa said. "This has been quite a day."
"Sure has." Kai said. "You had it easy."
"I know." Elsa smiled.
With that, they began to eat their dinner in silence. They didn't know that they should cherish moments like those. Dark days were ahead of them, and the dark days would easily be able to cut the time they all had together.
