Rifiuto: Non Mirena
"Oh Elsa, it's not your fault. Liesel was sick-"
But the Scandinavian queen shook her head, even as Victoria brought her hands up to kiss in comfort. "No, it's true..." Elsa pulled away, turning from the others, struggling to keep her composure. She would not break down in front of Victoria and Albert, no matter the strong bonds they shared. "I... I have wavered in my faith..." She continued to ramble, her grief making her words incomprehensible, before she turned back to them when Albert tried to interject.
"Elsa, a wavering of faith does not -"
"You don't understand! None of you! You have not lost a child! I have! My child is dead!" She beat a hand against her chest, as ice slowly began to slither out beneath her feet, stretching outwards, crawling slowly over the furniture and up the walls towards the ceiling, pulsing black to match her grief.
"My little Elisabeth... my Liesel... she's gone! I will never hear her voice or see her smile again!" She choked on a sob, shaking her head.
"Elsa, you are being-" Victoria began, moving towards her, hoping she could get her friend to understand that her wavering faith had nothing to do with the little girl's death.
"She was my child, Victoria!" The British queen caught herself on the ice, stopping not far from the younger woman as Elsa turned away from her. "Do not stand there and use that patronising tone to make me obey as though I am one of your subjects! I am not one of your subjects, I am the Queen of Arendelle! I rule the strongest empire in Scandinavian Europe; I will not be spoken to like a lowly scullery maid!"
"I... I'm not. Elsa, I..."
"I am burying my child tomorrow! Do you not understand that? Do none of you understand that? That little girl I carried and bore six years ago is gone! She's gone, and I will never get her back! I will never feel her arms around me again or her lips on my cheek or hear her laughter! Never! Because she's dead! She's dead, and all I want is to be with her! How can I protect her if I'm not with her? Tell me, Victoria, how?"
The queen buried her face in her hands, shoulders shaking with barely repressed sobs. But before Victoria could move towards her, Hans was at her side, pulling her into his chest.
"... alone... I can't let her... it's so dark... so scared..." Hans pressed a kiss to her head, swaying gently back and forth with her.
"She won't be alone Eliza, my love. Your parents are buried there too-"
"But she wants me -"
"Eliza, you cannot follow. Not yet, not when you have so many more years, so much more good to do, other children to raise -"
"Lesie... would climb into bed with Mama when she got scared." Victoria turned back to Annes, who'd spoken at his aunt's soft inhale.
"She was... afraid of the dark..." Suddenly Elsa's insistence made sense- compounded by grief, she wanted to be there to provide comfort for the child who had often gone running to her in the aftermath of nightmares and scary dreams. For the little girl she had born and raised, and loved as only a mother could.
"She fears the dark, Hans! You were never here when she would climb into bed with me after a nightmare! You would not hold her and sing to stem her tears! You would not kiss her and promise to always protect her! Do not tell me what you presume to know! You know nothing of what-"
"You think I don't remember Liesel climbing into bed with us at Jannicke after a nightmare? Or that I would not wake to the sound of our door opening and her little feet running to our bed in Halsten? Open your eyes, Eliza! You may be her mother, but I am her father! I remember as well as you! Do not compound your grief to believe you are the only parent mourning the death of that little girl!" Victoria covered her mouth as Hans finally took Elsa roughly by the shoulders and shook her gently. "She is my child, too, Elisabeth! You are not the only one who wishes they could be by her side in that coffin-" The king shook his head, tears flowing freely down his cheeks. "You are not the only one who blames themselves." He took a deep breath.
Elsa pulled away, wrapping her arms around herself, before her knees gave and she sank to the floor; Hans reached to catch her, but she pulled away, landing in a heap of black ice at his feet. After a moment, Hans knelt beside her, staying a respectable distance. He sighed. "You are not the only one alone in your grief, wife. Liesel is my child too."
The service was beautiful, simple. All of Arendelle turned out to support the monarchy in its grief, and the small royal chapel was filled to bursting. The sight of the queen making her way down the aisle towards the front pews, the princess and the Southern Isles King at her side for support tugged at the hearts of all who watched. The young Crown Princess, next in line to the throne, stayed close to her mother, and while she kept to her mother's side, her younger brother kept a stern eye on their younger siblings.
The sight of the young prince leaning towards his younger sister and telling her something as they stood on the steps of the palace and watched the coffin be carried past towards the royal crypt tugged at the hearts of the people. Sofi turned to her brother, messily wiping at the tears on her cheeks.
"But... Nessie, can't we..."
"- only after the coffin goes by, Fia," Annes cut her off, the special nickname the siblings used for the eight-year-old, rolling easily off his tongue. He pointed out, past the crowds, towards where the royal crypt was, off in the distance. "Bet is going to be with bedstefar og bedstemor. She won't be alone."
"But-"
"Nethie." The twelve-year-old prince looked up at his older sister's voice. Milla had taken a tight grasp on her mother's hand, and slowly, they made their way down the steps of the palace, following behind the coffin. Victoria and Albert watched with the other visiting dignitaries who followed, as every citizen bowed or curtsied to the royals as they passed.
At some point, people began to reach out, offering a hand to the queen, a soft touch in solidarity of their grief, holding out flowers or what was eventually revealed to be small sweets wrapped in paper with short ribbons tied around them- signifying the passing of a child- which had prayers in the mother tongue inscribed on them. By the time they reached what would be the child's final resting place, both Annes and Milla had taken their rightful places on either side of their mother, both holding tight to her small, pale hands.
"Majesty." The priest bowed to the queen, and she nodded softly. The rain that broke was warm and gentle, and though recognising the gravity of the day. By the time the burial service was finished and the child's coffin placed within the royal crypt beside her grandparents, the rain had stopped.
Something in the queen seemed to break, and the moment the family was back in the royal apartments, Albert and Victoria with them, Elsa shook off her oldest children's hands, gathering her skirts and hurrying down the hall. "Mama-"
"Eliza, don't shut yourself away, please." The doors of her chamber slammed shut just as Hans reached rested his forehead to the cold wood with a sigh, even as he reached for the handle. The sound of the lock clicking into place as he moved to turn it echoed in the apartment, and Hans sniffled. "Don't do this, Eliza. Don't lock us out. I know you're grieving, but so am I, and so is everyone else here, and so is all of Arendelle. Don't keep this burden to yourself, please, Elisabeth, I'm begging you. You are not the only one of us who lost that child. I did, too. You are not the only one who loved her, I did, too. She was my child as much as she was yours," He choked on a sob. "Elisabeth, please. I need you as much as you need me right now, and our other children need both of us. I'm not going to let this tear us apart; I'm not going to let another locked door stand between us. So you stay in there all you want, Elisabeth, I will wait. I'm not going anywhere, no matter how long you stay in that room. You understand me?"
The rest of the family watched as the king dragged a chair over and took a seat, resting his elbows on his knees and rubbing his face. "You can hide behind that door until the end of time, you can spend the next ten years behind that door, and I will be right here, Elisabeth, waiting for you. That's a promise, and you know I never break my promises."
As things slowly settled and tea and coffee was brought, the click of the lock sounded. Hans, sitting back in the chair, head resting against his knuckles, emerald gaze filled and locked on a spot on the hardwood floor, deep in thought, barely noticed. When he finally turned his green gaze from whatever he'd been fixated on, it was too her blue gaze staring at him through the crack in the door. Tears raced down his cheeks, as he met her gaze. After a moment, he stood, going to the door and gently pushing it open. She let him in, allowing him to embrace her with a soft kiss to her forehead, before the door slid shut behind them, the lock clicking back into place gently.