Ex: Elsa? Elsa? Hmm, that's a little unsettling. Anyway, I know it's been a long wait again, and though many contributing factors created it, I make no excuses. Anyway, for those of you who may have thought I left the story behind, I have not. If you want a further explanation, send me a PM, but in the meantime, on with the show.
"A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit."
-Richard Bach (This one's for me, not a description of the chapter)
'Conceal, Conceal.' Elsa thought to herself as she was seemingly tossed from one conversation to another. Of course, replacing the feelings of nervousness and fear she used to hide behind the words, Elsa hid her disinterest at most of what was being said.
As Elsa continued to run the old phrase in her mind, she realized she had completely ignored most of what had been said to her. 'How to I know this man again?' She thought to herself as the short plump man in front of her continued to speak. She tried to focus her attention back on the conversation, but found her mind wandering once again. Namely, her thoughts were on Mathias, and she found her eyes drifting to him across the room. To the casual eye, he appeared to be himself, but she knew better.
Elsa knew Mathias wasn't an open person, and kept his emotions to himself. It was one of many traits they shared, a habit they had picked up from years of hiding their powers. However, they had always felt comfortable confiding in each other. The comfort of knowing that someone else understood being a secondary factor behind their feelings for each other. Lately though, Mathias had become somewhat distant regarding whatever was plaguing his thoughts.
It wasn't as though he avoided her entirely, quite the opposite in fact. Ignoring their cooperative efforts to keep Arendelle running smoothly, nearly every moment of free time was spent together. And in those moments, all seemed normal. It was whenever the subject of his nightmares came up that he began to skirt around or change the subject entirely. Elsa hadn't pressed the issue, but it was beginning to frustrate her.
Elsa again realized she had completely ignored whatever the man had been saying. Luckily another guest approached him and he took his leave to engage in the conversation. 'I really hope he didn't say anything I'll need to remember.' She thought to herself. As Elsa continued to mingle with her guests, she noticed she hadn't seen Anna or Kristoff in a while. Kristoff's absence wasn't to odd, considering he didn't usually stay at parties too late, but Anna's disappearance was a bit more startling. Anna loved having parties and events of all kinds, and usually managed to be the center of attention. It wouldn't have concerned her had it not been for a similar situation earlier in the day...
Over the past few months, the castle courtyard had become one of the less frequented areas of the castle staff. Since Elsa and Mathias had both fully recovered from their previous injuries they had spent a large portion of their time practicing with their powers. Their constant experimenting however made it a dangerous area to be, even Anna and Kristoff made sure to keep their distance during said times.
And today was one of those days with both of their powers on full display. Elsa could barely be seen in the flurry of ice and snow around her, rapidly switching between a harsh snowstorm and a solid wall of ice. Mathias meanwhile was standing perfectly still about twenty feet from her, lightning shooting out in large bursts in the opposite direction of Elsa. Mathias had been trying to figure out the lightning teleportation he had done when fighting Zalran. So far the transparent state was all he managed to accomplish.
As he continued their practice, Elsa looked through her storm at Anna and Kristoff on the other side of the courtyard. Kristoff and Anna were in a practice duel with captain Reynard watching from the side and offering advice as they dueled. At their insistence he had agreed to train them to fight and they had made significant progress. As Elsa prepared to return to her own practicing, she saw Anna stop and then without provocation, fall to the ground.
"Anna!" Elsa yelled as she ran toward her sister. Her yell caught Mathias' attention and he to ran in Anna's direction. As Elsa approached Kristoff helped Anna into a sitting position and she looked around for a moment, seemingly confused."Are you okay?" Kristoff asked.
"I think so." Anna replied.
"What happened?" Elsa asked.
"I guess I must have tripped on something." Elsa gave her sister a quizzical look."I didn't see you trip on anything. You just sort of… stopped and fell."
"Come on Elsa, people don't just fall to the ground. I'm sure I just tripped over my own feet. You know how clumsy I am." Elsa continued to give Anna the same look, so she quickly continued,"Anyway, I'm fine. Let's get back to practice."
"Actually, the party starts in about an hour,"Kristoff interjected."We should probably head in and get ready." Anna looked at him like she wanted to argue, but something about the look he returned made her nod and say,"Yeah, I guess you're right." Kristoff helped her up and they made their way toward the entrance to the castle, leaving a confused Elsa, Mathias, and Reynard standing there.
"That was weird." Mathias said before turning to Reynard and saying,"You didn't see her trip on anything?" The captain shook his head and Mathias turned to Elsa. She shook her head in answer to his silent question."Yeah, that was weird." he repeated.
After the incident Elsa and Mathias had gone in to prepare for the party as well, with Elsa going to find Anna first. When she found her Anna seemed fine and had insisted she was okay, but her disappearance now had Elsa worried thinking about the earlier incident. glancing around the room one more time, Elsa decided to ask Mathias if he had seen where Anna had gotten to. As she made her way over to him, Mathias noticed her approached and excused himself from an ongoing conversation with a pair of visiting dignitaries.
"I was wondering when i'd see you again." He greeted with a smile.
"It hasn't been that long."
"No, but you know how the ends of these parties tend to drag. Something on your mind?"
"Just wondering if you'd seen Anna. She appears to have vanished." Mathias looked around room as he replied,"Now that you mention it I haven't seen her for some time, and she's usually the last one out of here. Kristoff disappeared a while ago too."
"I agree. Think our guests will miss us if we go searching?"
"I'd hardly care if they did, but the party's thinning down anyway." Elsa smiled at his reply and they made their way to the door arm in arm, giving nods and greetings to the guests they passed. Upon entering the hallway, Elsa looked in both directions before saying,"I suppose their room would be the best place to start." Mathias nodded in agreement and they headed in that direction."So, anything of great importance come up during the party?" Mathias asked as they walked.
"Nothing new that I remember, though I may have unintentionally ignored the last man I spoke to."
"Unintentionally?"
"Well, I had other things on my mind."
"I suppose I can't be the one to judge, I drift into my own thoughts often." They arrived at Anna and Kristoff's shared room and Elsa knocked at the door. After waiting for a moment with no reply she knocked again and called out,"Anna? Kristoff?" Still no reply."Well, now where do we look?" Mathias asked.
"I don't know, maybe we should split up." Mathias nodded and they headed in opposite directions down the hallway. Elsa checked the library, the garden, and even the council meeting room with no signs of Anna or Kristoff. After searching every room multiple times, she decided to see if any of the castle's servants had seen them. Returning to the ballroom, Elsa found it near empty with just a few servants cleaning up. Among them was Kai, supervising the effort. Noticing her as she entered he approached her."Good evening your majesty. Is there something you need?"
"Yes Kai, I was wondering if you've seen Anna recently? Or Kristoff?"
"I'm afraid not, your majesty. Not since they left the party." Elsa let out a sigh, but then Kai added,"I do know where they went however." Elsa perked up and Kai continued." They took his sleigh out into the town. I thought it odd, but they insisted they were just taking a short sleigh ride."
"Thank you Kai, could you have someone keep watch for me and let me know when they get back?"
"Of course your majesty." Elsa smiled in appreciation and exited to room and made her way to her study. 'where did they go? Why did they go? Why is nobody telling me anything?' Elsa thought to herself. She found Mathias already there and coming out the door."Any luck?"
"Kai said they went into town on Kristoff's sleigh."
"Strange, but at least we know where the are." Elsa nodded as they both entered the study. She sat down at her desk and let her head hit it as she did."Are you alright?" Mathias asked as he sat down next to her. Elsa was silent for a moment before raising her head."Why is nobody telling me what's going on?" She asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Something is going on with Anna, but she clearly doesn't want me to know what it is." She said, sadness evident as she set her head back on the desk into her folded arms. Mathias stood a knelt down by her chair."We don't know that there's anything wrong with Anna. It could all just be coincidence."
"And what about you?" Elsa replied, turning her head toward him."Why haven't you been telling me what's going on?" Mathias knew what she meant, but was unsure how to answer. Before he could reply however, a knock came at the study door. They both stood up at the sound and Elsa called out,"Yes?" The door opened and a young servant girl stepped into the room."Apologies your majesties, but princess Anna and Kristoff have returned."
"Thank you, you may go." The girl nodded and exited the room. Elsa looked at Mathias before heading for the door."Elsa wait." She turned around to face him, an unreadable expression on her face."I'm… sorry. I haven't been as open with you as I should, and I'll try to change that." Elsa walked back over to him and pulled him into a tight hug."Thank you." She whispered right into his ear."That's all I needed to hear." They pulled back and were silent for a moment before Mathias said,"We should probably go find Anna and Kristoff." Elsa nodded with a smile and they headed out the door.
They head toward to hallway that housed Anna and Kristoff's bedroom, and as they rounded the corner they spotted them. They were both walking slowly as if trying to be as quiet as possible.
"We're almost there, just keep quiet." Anna said.
"I'm trying, but I have big weird shaped feet." Kristoff replied.
"Aww, I like the shape of your feet. But seriously, we don't want to wake up Elsa or Mathias."
"I don't think that's going to be a problem." Elsa said, finally making her and Mathias' presence known. Anna and Kristoff both jumped at the sound of her voice and turned to see Elsa and Mathias standing there."Oh, hi." Anna greeted after a moments silence."We were just a, you know, heading to bed."
"Yeah, after a long party and all that." Kristoff added
"And after your late night sleigh ride around town?" Mathias asked, raising an eyebrow.
"A few hour long late night sleigh ride." Elsa said. Anna and Kristoff exchanged nervous looks before Anna said,"Yep, well goodnight." And practically sprinted for her door."Anna." Elsa said in a stern tone. Anna stopped and turned around."I'm not mad, I just want to know where you went."
"Know where, just for a nice sleigh ride."
"We went to see my family." Kristoff blurted out.
"Kristoff!"
"What? I'm not gonna lie to her."
"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on." Elsa cut in, silencing them both."Why did you go to see the trolls?" Anna let out a sigh and replied,"Well you know, I've been a feeling a little sick lately. And with the whole passing out thing earlier today…"
"It was my suggestion." Kristoff added."I thought grand pabbie might be able to tell us what's going on."
"Right. So anyway that's where we were, goodnight!"
"Anna," Elsa stopped her again."What did he say?" Anna let out another sigh before uttering her quiet reply.
"I'm pregnant."
Ex: Well, that turned out better than expected.
Elsa: What?! How could you leave us with that?!
Ex: Elsa, where were you hiding?
Elsa: That isn't important. first of all, where have you been? second of all, and I repeat how could you leave us with that?!
Ex: Okay, I feel like I'm about to be chased by some kind of ice monster, so I'll wrap this up quick. I missed Christmas, Valentines day, Frozen Fever, the announcement of Frozen 2, and most importantly the one year anniversary of Thundersnow. I have a few chapter idea's for Snowsparks based off of a few of the things I just mentioned. If you think I should do them, let me know by reviewing or sending me a PM. I won't make promises on when the next chapter will be out, but it will not take six months again.
Elsa: Review, follow, possibly favorite? See you guys next time! Now my army of Snowgies, after him!
Ex: It's good to be back.