Chapter 40

~ A Restless Night ~

After a few hours of staying in the concealed alcove the captain began sailing again. Anna could see he was exhausted. Everyone was, her older sister was asleep in her room.

Elsa tossed and turned in her sleep, restless she was trapped in a nightmare.

Hans had backed her into the wall he had one hand in her hair the other holding her shoulder. "Oh Elsa, why won't you let me love you." Struggling she tried to free herself from his grip. The Ginger man ran his hand through her hair forcing her down to the floor in a sitting position.

"Because you're a horrible man." Elsa whispered in tears. Trying to look away. Hans brought his hand down to her chin and held it so that he could look her right in the eyes.

"My little Queen, can't you see that resisting is only hurting you." Hans tried moving closer to her but Elsa pushed herself farther back into the wall.

"Stop it." she called out struggling to get away from him. The King stood up and pulled Elsa forcefully to her feet holding her tightly.

"You're mine." he hissed in her ear. "I will do what I please with you, and if you don't love me I will force you to."

Elsa screamed loudly waking up. Thinking she had been caught somehow, that she was back with Hans. She looked around the room frightfully to see not Hans but Kristoff come through the door.

"Elsa..." he looked at her concerned it seemed as though she had been crying. As soon as Kristoff sat down beside her Anna came

In. "Elsa what's wrong... We heard you screaming. You sounded terrified." Anna sat on the opposite side of Elsa.

The Queen took a deep breath. "I was dreaming, I was back in Arendelle with him. He wanted to force me to love him. It was almost like he has an unhealthy obsession with me... and I'm terrified it's going to be like that again if we fail. That he's going to make my life miserable, hurt me, torment me. Force me to do horrible things." Elsa shuttered.

Kristoff and Anna held her tightly. "Elsa, We aren't going to let that happen. We promise." Kristoff looked at her concerned. Anna wasn't smiling anymore she felt horrible inside. Elsa obviously was not over what Hans had done to her, her mind was still plagued with haunting memories of what he had done.

"Try and get some rest okay? We are right here, nothing will happen to you I promise."

Elsa laid back down comfortably and Kristoff left the two girls alone. Anna remained at her sisters side until the blonde fell asleep. Elsa was right out by the time Anna left.

Hans moved towards her Elsa stood up from the desk as soon as he entered the room. "My lovely Pet how are you today?" he questioned.

"Fine." Elsa replied in a robotic tone.

Hans got closer and closer walking around to her back he placed his hands on her shoulders. "Oh Elsa my darling. I have so much to show you today." The King led her out of the study and into their room. He opened the wardrobe and pulled out a long dark blue dress. "Let's put this on."

Cringing Elsa hesitated but she put the long blue dress on then stood in front of Hans. He admired her walking up to the girl he reached for her hair. Taking it out so that her curly blonde hair fell over her shoulders. "You look lovely." he whispered in her ear.

Finally he pulled out another box of gloves that matched the short sleeved dress Elsa was wearing. She put them on slowly after taking off the green ones she had been wearing earlier. "One more thing" he spoke in a low voice holding up a necklace. One with the seal of the southern isles in a silver color.

Elsa struggled extremely uncomfortable. "You're my little pet, sweet girl. Don't think we're through here." Hans spoke playing with her long hair. He kissed her softly she was tempted to pull away but didn't

"Why are you doing this." she held her head low speaking in a saddened tone.

"I have a surprise for you, Elsa." he guided her out into the hallway. Down by the grand staircase. People were walking into the castle. Lots of them she hadn't seen before.

"What's this?" she questioned slightly fearful of the answer. "Why are all these people here?"

"They are all here for you my sweet little pet, this is your party."

"Party?" Elsa questioned confused.

Hans pulled her close and whispered in her ear. "This is our engagement party. We're getting married."

Elsa woke up screaming once again. It was the middle of the night and Anna was already in bed. But had been woken up by her sisters dreadful scream.

"Elsa!" Anna rushed over to her trying to calm her down. "Elsa shhh, it's okay nobody's going to hurt you, I'm right here."

"Hans." Elsa breathed out. "Hans wants me to marry him, if I refuse he's going to hurt you again." Elsa shook frightfully.

"It okay, it's just a nightmare Elsa, I'm Safe remember, you're safe too." Anna crawled in bed next to Elsa. "I'll stay right here with you, Okay? Please try to get some sleep, nothing can happen as long as I'm by your side." Anna promised.

When morning came Elsa woke to see her younger sister curled up next

To her. The Queen remembered everything from last night, the terrible dreams, the horror she felt. Actually believing they were real.

"Good morning Anna." Elsa said softly. The Princess slowly opened her eyes. Gazing up at her sister "how are you feeling Elsa?" Anna questioned. "You were so distressed last night. I was so worried about you, how are we going to get these terrible dreams to stop?"

"It helped me having you here." Elsa smiled at her sister. "Thank you for staying with me. Everything just seemed so real." Elsa shook her head. "I know it sounds silly, but..."

"It's not silly, Elsa." Anna took her hands. "Whatever that horrible man did to you, certainly left you with lasting damage. Don't tell yourself it's nothing. What you went through was very real, and we're all going to help you recover." Anna smiled, Elsa weakly smiled back at her sister. "I'm going to get ready. Kristoff is waiting for us outside we're all going to have breakfast on the deck."

Anna went over to the closet and picked out a dress. She noticed Elsa wasn't getting up. "Hey, you okay?" Anna asked turning around. Elsa stayed silent for a long time. "No." she spoke softly. "I'm not okay." The Queen confessed. Anna went over to her sister. Sitting beside her she wrapped her arms around Elsa. "We are going to protect you Elsa. Hans is never going to touch you again." Anna took her sisters hands and pulled her onto her feet.

Handing her some clothes to change into. "You're going to be alright." Anna assured quickly changing into day clothes. Elsa slowly did the same and walked out into the sunlight with her sister. Kristoff has breakfast set up on the deck of the ship Anna glanced over to her sister. She had the most frightened look on her face. "You are safe." Anna whispered guiding her sister to a chair. Kristoff bent down and whispered in Anna's ear. "Is Elsa okay?"

"She had another dream about Hans, he's really gotten to her, I feel so bad. There's really nothing we can do." Anna sighed.

"I know we haven't seen each other for so long Anna, Arendelle has been in trouble. But right now your sister needs you. Be there for her, okay? You're the only family she has, and right now she's struggling with some pretty significant issues." Kristoff looked at Anna and smiled.

"I've missed you." She said softly as he pulled her close. "I know I've missed you too, Anna. But your sister really needs you."

"I know she does." Anna whispered softly. "I haven't seen you in months and I still have so much to tell you." The Princess stated. Kristoff hugged her tightly. "I can't wait to hear everything. But it can wait a while longer."

Anna pulled away eventually and took a seat next to Elsa. The Queen still seemed very stressed. Anna took her hand and squeezed it tightly. "Its going to be okay, Elsa. I'm right here for you."

Breakfast was long and quiet. Elsa seemed exhausted. She didn't end up getting much sleep last night. Or yesterday when she tried to take a nap in the afternoon. Her sleep was plagued by nightmares. Her eyes were red and her face was pale, more than usual.

"You look like you could use some rest." Anna told her. "Why don't you go take a nap? I'll be right close if you need me.

Elsa didn't want to chance any nightmares. She couldn't stand to think of the horrible memories again. "I'm just a little tired Anna, I'll be fine soon." The Queen lied, smiling at her sister she pushed away from the table and stood up walking to the boats edge she stared into the water. Closing her eyes tears fell silently, Elsa hoped nobody had followed her. But she soon felt arms wrap themselves around her protectively. "Don't cry Elsa, please tell me what you need."

"I'm exhausted Anna, but I can't sleep. Not if those dreams are going to come back. Even with you there in the room with me I still had them."

"Why are you so hesitant to ask for what you need?" Anna questioned her older sister.

"I'm supposed to protect you, Anna. I'm your older sister. I'm the rightful Queen I'm supposed to help people, not be like this. I'm asking too much of everyone when I should be the one helping them."

The Princess shook her head. "I will stay with you, while you sleep. Right next to you if you need it, I want you to get some rest. Elsa, if you need anything from me, all you have to do is ask." Anna assured her. "You told me it helped that I stayed with you."

"You have much more to worry about, Anna. Like your engagement, your wedding, You are important to Kristoff. You should be with him now, the two of you have been separated for months."

Anna fiddled with her hands nervously rocking back and forth on her feet. "Kristoff said I should be with you. He can see you're struggling, he cares about you Elsa. He can see how what happened in Arendelle affected you and he wants to help."

"Anna, these nightmares aren't just going to go away. I can't pull you away from Kristoff forever. I need to learn how to deal with them on my own." The Queen looked to Anna with a depressed look on her face. Her voice full of sorrow, she couldn't help but feel sad, at this moment it felt like nothing was going to get better.

"Alright Elsa, but now you need some more sleep. Let's go, I'll stay with you, and don't refuse it." Anna added.

Elsa had quickly changed into something more comfortable, as did Anna. "Try and sleep." Anna told her drawing the curtains shut so no sunlight entered the room. "I'll be right here."

Elsa had woken up to a large pounding sound at the door. Hans and a few others came in her room. Anna was right next to her. Trying to protect Anna. Elsa began attempting to shake her awake. "Anna get up!" Elsa called.

But she couldn't do anything before long a man had her held tightly. Hans took a struggling Anna in his arms. "You disobeyed me, Elsa." Hans spoke in a low tone. Kicking Anna to the ground he placed the tip of his sword on the back of her neck.

"No!" Elsa screamed. "No please! I'll do anything! Leave my sister alone!" The blonde struggled by the strong man holding her back didn't even flinch.

"I told you what would happen if you didn't listen to me, Elsa." Hans shook his head. "How unfortunate."

"If you touch her I will freeze you and every one of your men!" Elsa hissed.

The ginger man glared at her. "Oh, about that... You see I've found a way around that. I don't really care about Arendelle. Not like you do, so for every time you use your power, every time you do something I don't like. I will kill an innocent."

Elsa gasped, she was sobbing. She could even hear Anna crying too, her little sister was terrified. "Please let my sister live. It would be easier than all of this."

Hans shook his head. "Oh Elsa, you broke my rules and I need to see you suffer for it." the man smirked pressing the blade deep into Anna's neck. The Princess didn't even have time to scream. Elsa was set free and she rushed over to Anna. Turning her over to see the girls eyes.

"I... I'm so sorry Anna." Elsa sobbed squeezing her hand tightly. "I'm sorry I'm so so sorry little sister."

"Elsa, Elsa! Elsa!" Anna shook her sister violently until the blonde opened her eyes. She noticed tears were soaking her face.

Anna hugged her tightly, and Elsa embraced her sister. Wrapping her arms around her tighter than ever. "Anna it was horrible, Hans... He killed you right there in front of me." Elsa sobbed into her sisters shoulder.

"I'm here, Elsa. I'm not going anywhere."