AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey, everybody. Sorry that took so long; my life exploded a bit. Also, this chapter is a wee bit unusual (I write myself into the first part again), so... yeah, okay, please don't hate me. :-s Thank you all for reading and reviewing, I've REALLY missed you guys, you are all amazing, and I hope you have a fantabulous day!
CONTINUITY REMINDER: At the end of their argument a couple chapters ago, I hinted strongly that Jack put something in Elsa's hair. It's been a long while since I've posted, so... uh, yeah, I'm going to assume that no one remembers that. It'll come back at the end of this chapter. ;)
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65: FEELINGS ARE STUPID (or, DOUBLE FEATURE CHAPTER THINGY WHEREIN THAT TITLE REALLY ONLY REFERS TO THE SECOND PART)
After a few minutes of holding her crying sister, Queen Anna was starting to feel very, very cold.
Elsa was… heartbroken. Like she had been after the thing with Jack's creepo-necklace, on the first day. Anna had since forgiven him for THAT unfathomable screw-up, but if a certain stupidly gorgeous snow sprite continued making Elsa melt into tears on a regular basis like this, he was setting himself up to receive one sisterly fist to the stupidly perfect teeth.
Just as Anna could feel her sister's cold starting to seep all the way through her dress to reach her skin, Elsa pulled away. The Fifth Spirit—still refusing to make eye contact—sniffed, rubbing her arm across her face.
"I'm so sorry," Elsa whimpered, "I—I'm s-sorry; I—"
"—CUT!" shrieked a voice.
POOF!
Elsa and Anna gasped as a young woman in thick-soled, gothic combat boots suddenly materialized out of a cloud of smoke on the side of the room. Looking strangely familiar, and now in her mid-twenties (as opposed to early twenties), the young woman heaved an enormous sigh, shaking her head and walking towards them.
"Sorry, ladies," she announced, collapsing into Elsa's chair. "NORMALLY, I wouldn't do this, but the fact that—like—literally NOBODY caught the foreshadowing in the last chapter has got me reeling so hard that I can't even focus on my original fiction pieces, until I get this mess cleared up."
Elsa and Anna exchanged looks of confusion as the girl sighed, carelessly tossing her right left across her left and flipping open her notebook. Anna pulled in her breath.
"Uh—sorry," she stammered, "But—who—?"
"AH! Right," the young woman exclaimed, throwing her a quick nod. "I'm The Author. Elsa's met me before, but I've wiped her memory of that experience, so… yeah, I guess we're all new. By the way: love the pigtails."
The Author waggled her eyebrows at Anna, then reaching back and pulling one of her own long pigtails over her shoulder.
"After another couple hundred thousand words, I figure that I can drop one more miniscule detail about my appearance without causing too much harm," she shrugged. "Even though I obviously change up my hair, just like my shoes, in real life. And, I'm pretty sure that my hair is about 50% dry shampoo right now, so it's deceptively fluffy. You know—like this fanfic."
She grinned, pulling a pencil from behind her ear and scribbling something down in the notebook.
POOF!
A third chair to replace Elsa's materialized out of the air, beside the first two.
"And, yes," The Author added, gesturing to it, "I did randomly just decide to point out my hair, for the sole purpose of making that joke. Come have a seat."
Anna and Elsa looked warily to each other again. After a few moments, Elsa gave her sister a little nod, and they walked over the join the young woman with the notebook.
"Wait," Elsa said carefully, sitting down in the new chair as Anna took the other. "I—I've met you before?"
The Author nodded. "Yeppers."
"And you wiped my memory?"
"Yeppers again."
"Why? What happened?"
The Author opened her mouth to speak, and then froze.
"Ahhh… nope," she decided, twirling her pencil on her fingers. "Not telling. ANYWAY, I'm here to talk about Prince Frederik. But first, where did those truffles go? I could have sworn that Anna was eating chocolate truffles, before the scene cut off a chapter ago."
"They're right over—"
POOF!
"WHAT the—?" Anna gasped.
The bowl of chocolates, which had previously been sitting on Elsa's dresser, had suddenly materialized in Queen Anna's hands.
The Author snapped her notebook shut.
"Well, now they're in your lap," she stated, "So… there. Also, I'm here to point out the foreshadowing in chapter 64, so if anybody dislikes spoilers, they should skip down to the page break that is about 2/3rds of the way through this chapter, and pick up reading after that."
She reached for a truffle.
"Seriously," The Author repeated. "If anybody doesn't want to find out what's going to eventually happen with Prince Frederik, they need to skip down to where the chapter resumes after the page break, NOW."
She paused for a long moment, staring directly into her fanfiction's Virtual Camera. The Author then lifted a meaningful eyebrow at her readers, as though to indicate that this paragraph—while short—was their opportunity to leave, come back to where the story resumed after the page break, and not get mad at her for highlighting the foreshadowing pointing out future plot points.
She turned back to Elsa and Anna.
"Do you think that was too subtle?" The Author asked.
"That was nothing even resembling subtle," Anna retorted.
"WELL, I DIDN'T THINK THAT MY FORESHADOWING WAS SUBTLE EITHER, OKAY?" The Author snapped, suddenly agitated, "I mean, I—I've been planning The Big Reveal with Prince Frederik for well over two and a half years now, and—well, I posted it, and apparently nobody noticed that a big reveal just took place. Which means that I FAILED. EPICALLY."
"So, you're here to give everybody spoilers?"
The young woman snapped her mouth shut, looking down to the floor. After a few moments, she then grimaced, bouncing her foot up and down on her leg and leaning back into her chair.
"As a general rule," The Author began bitterly, "If a writer is trying to get something across, and it apparently doesn't GET across, then Said Writer should assume that it's their fault, and go back and fix the problem. But with THIS, I—I honestly don't know how to write it better. Without making it seem forced, that is. So, I'm not here to give away spoilers as much as I'm here to try to explain what I was TRYING to go for. Oh, am I glad I wrote chocolate into this scene."
The Author suddenly lunged forward, sticking her hand into the little bowl of truffles as Queen Anna held it out. As The Author sat back and stuffed the chocolates into her mouth, Elsa shifted in her seat.
"So, Prince Frederik is evil?" she asked.
"Nah. I feel like they already did THAT plot twist in Frozen," The Author shrugged, "And I don't want to just do a repeat of the movies, if you get my drift. The last chapter was supposed to show that Prince Frederik is a legitimately good guy—sorry if that disappoints anyone."
"Why not just let the readers get there themselves?" Elsa asked. "I mean—when whatever you're foreshadowing actually comes out in the book?"
The Author swallowed the truffle. "Because it's gonna take me a long while to get there," she whispered. "If this were a finished piece, I would be able to say 'just keep reading!' because the reader would get there within a few hours or days, as opposed to—months. That's the downside of posting one chapter at a time. I can't give you the whole thing at once, no matter how much I'd like to, because I haven't finished writing it. Also, there's so much drama coming up before you and Jack figure out what you're doing that I really think my readers should kinda know a bit of the end from the beginning. Contrary to popular belief, I'm NOT actually trying to make everybody on here miserable."
She reached for the bowl of truffles again, desperately stuffing three more into her mouth.
"That's good to know," Elsa whispered, staring down at her hands.
The Author nodded, frantically chewing and swallowing before she started again. "Here's the thing. I've done some subtle stuff in Ice Alliance," she sighed, "And I'm not really expecting everybody to catch on to all of that, especially if they aren't looking for it. Like, Prince Frederik's lapel pin. Remember that?"
Elsa nodded. "I remember that he was wearing one. But I didn't get a close look at it."
"That's okay; the readers did. Anyway, the pin is of Prince Frederik's family crest," The Author continued, "So, the symbolism's fairly straightforward. Frederik puts on the pin, he represents Kingsley. Frederik takes off the pin, he feels like he can relax and be himself."
Elsa nodded, her eyes slightly widened. Picking up a truffle, Queen Anna mouthed a long oooooooooh, then popping the chocolate into her mouth.
"And I'll be using that more later," The Author continued. "Whether or not he's wearing the pin is a symbol of whether or not he's wearing the literal mantle of being the Crown Prince of Kingsley. The readers can watch for that, if they so desire. In fact, as I write this, I think I'm gonna go back and tweak a bit of the last chapter to make it a little more clear."
She sat up and pulled the pencil from behind her hair, flipping the notebook open.
Scribble scribble scribble.
"Aaaaand, done," she declared, snapping it shut again. "Ready to discuss Frederik?"
"Now, this I want to hear," Anna breathed, sitting forward in her seat.
"Sounds good." The Author turned to Elsa. "You and Frederik actually have a lot in common. For a start, you both care very deeply about your kingdoms."
Elsa nodded. "Thank you."
"You're both very intellectual and polite."
"I try to be."
"You both tend to be self-sacrificing to the point of idiocy, although—sorry, Elsa—you're way worse than Frederik, in that respect," The Author admitted. "He's a bit more mature than you are that way, I'm afraid."
"Wait," Elsa blanched, her face pale, "I—what?"
The Author shrugged. "The way I see it, it's one of your main character flaws," she explained. "You're so determined to self-sacrifice for everyone that you often end up 'sacrificing' yourself when it's totally unnecessary—and then, you actually end up hurting the ones you love, in the process. Like, when you cut yourself off from everybody because you think you're going to hurt them."
"That—I didn't think I still—!" Elsa choked, her hands flying to her temples. She looked to Anna. "Tell me I don't still—"
"—It's okay," The Author interrupted before Anna could respond. "You're still basically just an adorable cinnamon roll. Wait—no."
Elsa looked back to her. "No?"
"No," The Author breathed. "You're—an—ICED cinnamon roll."
A wave of confusion swept over Elsa's face. She looked to her sister, but Anna appeared to be just as confused as she was.
"Ba-dum, ktch!" The Author whispered.
"Uh…" Anna started, "Sorry, but—what?"
The Author beamed. "Oh, I'm just a Millennial, awkwardly attempting to layer Gen-Z Tumblr slang with ice powers jokes," she corrected. "Don't mind me. Anyway, back to Prince Frederik."
Elsa shifted in her chair. "Are there any other similarities?"
"OH, yeah. Although, I'll also use this paragraph to assure the reader that Freddie has plenty of flaws, even though they aren't really obvious yet. But back to your similarities. For example, you're both extremely passionate about—everything."
"Okay."
"You both put your kingdoms first, but still like to have your academic pet-projects going on the side—even though Frederik's can admittedly get a bit out of hand, by comparison."
"I can see that."
"You both feel very attached to your families."
"That's true."
"You both struggle trying to cram yourselves into metaphorical boxes that don't really represent who you are."
"Alright…"
"And you both fall for Guardians."
"What?"
"What?"
The Fifth Spirit's eyes bulged, and she suddenly straightened in her chair, looking to her sister once again. The Author batted her eyelashes innocently.
"Let's switch gears," she suggested. "I propose that we talk about what Prince Frederik is looking for."
The Snow Queen said nothing. Queen Anna plunged her hand into the bowl of truffles again.
"Okay," Anna agreed.
"Well… both Elsa and Jack, in some ways, are very mature, extraordinarily smart characters. But emotionally, Prince Frederik is just a little bit… older."
Elsa suddenly looked uncomfortable. "So, he needs someone older?" she asked hesitantly.
"Emotionally older. It's nothing against you, sweetie. You just have zero experience with dating and normal social skills."
Elsa nodded, blushing as she quietly stared into her lap. The Author drew herself up.
"It should also be noted that there's that thing with the orphanage," she added.
Anna's head tilted to the side. "Orphanage?"
"Ah, right. You have no clue what I'm talking about. But the readers do, so I'll just go on," The Author shrugged. "Prince Frederik needs someone who's comfortable being constantly surrounded by little ones."
Elsa's eyebrows lifted. "I don't really have a problem with that."
"I should clarify. Hundreds of little ones."
Elsa's eyes widened.
"Oh," she said quietly.
"Like, Prince Frederik would ideally end up with someone who already is constantly surrounded by hundreds of little ones… by choice," The Author continued, lifting a meaningful eyebrow, "Someone who can get around really fast, to manage to all of them. Someone who likes to always have at least five to seven little attendants with her, even on personal missions, for no apparent reason. Someone who's really passionate about children. Perhaps, even someone who misses… let's see, quote, seeing the kids? Ringing any bells?"
The Fifth Spirit glanced to her sister. Queen Anna, wearing an equally blank expression, looked in turn to The Author.
"No?" The Author asked.
Both of the sisters shook their heads.
"Well," The Author sighed, "I guess that's to be expected. Neither of you have actually met her yet… nor has Frederik. Would it help if I pointed out that his bird obsession wasn't written to be arbitrary?"
Anna and Elsa exchanged glances again. Looking back to the young woman in the combat boots, they shook their heads.
"Ooooooooh-kaaaaay," The Author groaned, kneading her eyebrows, "Let's try something else then. Elsa?"
The Snow Queen bit her lip. "Yes?" she asked hesitantly.
"Why were you able to see Jack Frost?"
Elsa swallowed, nervously picking up the edge of her capelet and drawing it into her lap. "Um… because I..." she said, twisting the fabric between her fingers. "Believed… in him?"
"Right!"
Elsa and Anna glanced to each other warily, and the young woman in the combat boots scooted forward in her chair. She dropped the notebook onto the floor by her feet, leaning over and setting her elbows onto her knees.
"Soooooo," The Author enunciated, her hands pressed together, "When I have Prince Frederik spin around and dramatically proclaim that he 'will believe in ANYTHING WITH WINGS'…?"
She looked up, raising a meaningful eyebrow and waiting for them to finish the statement.
"But Jack doesn't have wings," Anna said quizzically.
The Author now looked like she was in physical pain.
"Right. Jack—doesn't," she gritted, "But—who—does?"
Anna looked to her sister, only to see that Elsa was, in turn, looking to her, as if trying to find an answer in her face. Realizing that neither one of the young women would reach the answer—having come from the wrong movie to do so—The Author heaved an enormous sigh of frustration, collapsing back into her chair.
A frustrated, angsty silence fell over the room.
After a few moments—kneading her eyebrows as she pulled in her breath—The Author drew herself up. Leaning back into her chair, she then carelessly tossed her right leg over her left again, impatiently bouncing her thick-soled, gothic boot up and down as she let out a dramatic sigh.
"Would you like to know my problem with the Rise of the Guardians fandom—a fandom which I am very passionately a part of?" she groaned, "A big ol' pretentious pet peeve of mine, if you will?"
Elsa bit the edge of her lip. "What might that be?" she asked hesitantly.
"It has this super-annoying tendency to forget that ROTG characters, who AREN'T Jack Frost, exist."
The Author leaned her head back against her chair, squeezing her eyes shut in frustration. After staying there for a minute, she exhaled, shaking her head.
"The chapter Prince Wonderful is written from Jack's perspective, so I wanted it to reflect his own biases and issues," she explained, "Including the part where—DESPITE the fact that Jack Frost totally has the answer for how to stop Frederik from pursuing Elsa—he doesn't realize that he does, because he's so busy hating the guy. I was going for irony. But what I apparently ended up with was having all of my readers COMPLETELY miss the plot point. And I don't know how to write it better to fix it."
She kneaded her eyebrows again, pushing herself off of the back of her seat and sitting forward. Without making eye contact with either one of them, she raised her eyebrows, staring determinately at her knees.
"Also," The Author added, "I'm pretty sure that I've pointed out Prince Frederik's glisteningly white teeth about ten billion times by now. But, what do I know."
She slapped her hands down onto the armrests of the chair, pushing herself up. Bending down to the floor, she snatched up her notebook again, flipping it open.
"Normally," she added, straightening back up, "I wouldn't care this much about wanting to make sure that everybody knows what's going to eventually happen with Prince Frederik. But as I said, there's going to be so much Jelsa drama coming up that I think it'd be a bit too hard to get through, without sort of knowing the end from the beginning."
Anna's ears perked slightly. "So, this is still a Jelsa fic?"
"Yes. You can tell from my subtle hinting, like the fact that I literally put the word 'Jelsa' in the title."
She blinked.
"I'm sorry. That was snarky," The Author admitted. "I swear I'm not trying to alienate my readers here. My readers are everything to me. But I'm at a loss. I honestly don't know how to write this foreshadowing any better."
Elsa's face was pale. "There's going to be more drama?" she asked hesitantly.
"Before you and Jack get onto the same page? Ha ha. Mwa ha ha. Yeah."
The Author snorted, grinning to herself as she looked down to the notebook, flipping through its pages. Shrugging, she looked back up.
"That being said… once you guys FINALLY figure out what's going on, you do not waste time," she promised. "It'll take you a while to get there, but once you do, it's a pretty fast snap-change. Would it make a difference if I promised that you guys are going to have a lot of fun on your honeymoon?"
Elsa's eyes widened. "Uh—"
"—Okay, see, Jack wouldn't have hesitated to answer that."
"I'm not—"
"—Oh, honey, I know. I know. I should clarify, though," The Author added, "My version of a sex scene isn't really an actual sex scene. Basically, it's pretty clear what's going on, but I cut everything so that nothing ever 'actually happens' on camera or during the chapters themselves. If that makes sense."
Elsa let out her breath, looking to her sister.
Queen Anna raised her eyebrows. "Because you're keeping it clean?" she asked.
"Oh, that's definitely a big part of it. Honestly, though, it's really mostly because I don't want to think about it that hard." The Author turned to Elsa. "I mean, I love you and everything, but—I do NOT want to know you that well."
Elsa exhaled. "Thank you."
"You are SO welcome."
"Can I ask you a question?" Anna said suddenly.
The Author nodded. "Sure."
The pregnant queen pressed her hands together, then bringing them to the bridge of her nose. Looking at her sister—and then back to The Author—she scoffed.
"What is taking them so long?" Anna groaned.
Elsa's mouth fell open. "Anna!"
"Queen Elsa and Jack Frost are both super stubborn characters," The Author giggled. "I mean, there was definite tension from right off the bat, but if they fell in love with each other immediately, I don't think it'd be true to who they are."
"I'm not stubborn!" Elsa protested.
"Yes, you are. Anna?"
Elsa turned to her sister. Biting the edge of her lip, Queen Anna was visibly struggling not to smile.
"Maybe a little bit," she admitted softly, holding her pointer finger an inch away from her thumb to illustrate.
"Anyhow," The Author started again, sitting back in her chair and tapping her pencil on her leg, "So, you're not 'together' yet. And a lot of people have been commenting on the fact that we're 64 chapters in—65 now, I guess—and nobody's confessed yet. But, I would argue that they weren't really in love, until at LEAST chapter 33. The under-the-bed scene was Jack's real tipping point, but for Elsa, it's all more gradual."
Anna raised an eyebrow. "That's… still a lot of chapters."
"Yeah. It is. I promise, if I were trying to prep this for some sort of legitimate publication, I would be chopping at least a third of what's currently posted."
She smiled bitterly. After a few moments, The Author adjusted herself in her chair, shaking her head.
"Look… I know that this isn't a professional-level cut," she sighed, "And I know that this fanfiction is enormous. Saying that it's currently too fluffy—as a couple people have pointed out—is a TOTALLY legitimate criticism. I'd call it a correct one, in fact. So, do you want to know why—despite how much actual action is left in the plot, and despite how long doing a fluffy, "uncut" version of Ice Alliance is going to take—I'm still including all of the angsty cuteness?"
Anna and Elsa looked to each other. The Author, taking their silence as a cue, leaned slightly forward.
"Because I like it," she whispered intensely.
Silence.
The Author sat back into her chair, uncrossing and then re-crossing her legs. As she began to impatiently bounce her foot up and down again, Queen Anna pulled in her breath.
"So—"
"—JELSA ANGST IS FUN TO WRITE," The Author proclaimed, suddenly leaping from her chair and gesturing with the notebook, "IT IS CUTE, AND I LIKE IT."
"Uh—"
"I CAN LIKE CUTE THINGS."
"But—"
"JELSA IS CUTE," The Author shrieked, whirling around to face her, "AND CUTE THINGS ARE FUN. FLUFF IS FUN. TORTURING YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTERS IS FUN, AND YOU SHOULD ALL TRY IT."
Elsa blanched. "Why would—"
"—BECAUSE THIS IS A FANFIC, AND I DO WHAT I WANT."
The Author resolutely punched the air with her notebook, gasping for breath as she finished her speech. After a beat, she spun back around to Elsa.
"And what I want," she breathed, "Is to spend this fanfiction closing up every single plot hole that I can find, while simultaneously laying out an argument for Jack Frost and Elsa's relationship in absolutely excruciating detail."
She smiled demonically.
"Speaking of which," The Author realized, picking up her notebook and flipping it open, pulling the pencil from her hair again, "Do you know what I want to do right now? I want to bring Jack into this."
Elsa's eyes widened. "But—!"
Scribble scribble scribble.
POOF!
The Spirit of Winter suddenly materialized out of the air, tumbling onto the ground in a heap. Elsa gasped, leaping from her chair. "Jack!"
Jack groaned under his breath, pushing himself up onto his elbow. Clearly discombobulated, he looked up, his gaze catching Elsa's in confusion.
"Elsa?" he asked, rubbing his head while she knelt down beside him, "What—how did—"
"—Over here," The Author interrupted. "Me. Hi."
Jack turned to her. "What on—"
"—Sorry, just wanted to take advantage of the fact that I'm sitting here in this scene to give you some unsolicited advice," she continued, twirling her pencil between her fingers.
Jack Frost, still sitting on the floor, looked to her in confusion. He rubbed his head.
"Okay…?" he asked.
The Author smirked, leaning forward in her chair and raising her eyebrows.
"I know you think that Elsa can read your mind," she chuckled darkly, then leaning back and writing something down in her notebook. "But: she can't. You have words. Use them."
"I—!"
POOF!
And Jack was gone.
"Wait," Elsa stammered, staring at the air where the Spirit of Winter had been a moment before. "Where—how did—"
"—Elsa and Jack WILL eventually get onto the same page," The Author announced, ignoring her. "Prince Frederik will get his happy ending. All of the good characters will get happy endings. All of the political stuff with Arendelle and Kingsley and the Enchanted Forest is going to work out. I'm sorry if I've offended anyone by doing this, but as The Author, I just really, really, REALLY felt the need to stomp into the scene to reassure everybody that all will be well."
She shrugged, tossing the pencil to herself and then placing its tip on the paper.
Scribble scribble scribble.
"But not until after I drag everybody through another fifteen lifetimes' worth of drama and angst," The Author added, snapping the notebook shut, "So it's gonna be a while. BYE!"
POOF!
And she was gone.
In silence for a few moments, Elsa and Anna blinked, mutually looking a little dazed. After a time, Anna started to turn to her sister again, just opening her mouth to speak before—
"CUT!"
POOF!
"I lied. I'm back," The Author announced, the cloud of smoke dissipating as she stomped forward. "I just realized something."
Queen Anna raised her eyebrows. "And what's that?"
"The tonal shift. It's too sudden," The Author groaned, kneading her eyebrows. "LAST time, I had an entire CHAPTER break to shift back to relationship-quiet-tender-sweet from satire-slapstick-funny-ha-ha. And this is a short chapter, so unless I break it up into two chapters, I need to add some sort of visual cue to emotionally reset the scene."
Elsa sniffed, her eyes narrowing with confusion.
"Okay…?" she said.
"YES. Okay. It is okay, because I HAVE A PLAN," The Author proclaimed. "Do you want to know what it is?"
Anna and Elsa exchanged glances.
"Sure?" Anna asked.
The Author hugged her notebook to her chest, leaning forward on her toes and waggling her eyebrows.
"Page Breaks," she whispered.
The Author waggled her eyebrows excitedly.
"Basically, the shift in tone to get back from My Barging In is so dramatic that there's no way to write it smoothly. So, instead of picking up where we left off, I'm just going to restart the scene. Along with wiping your memories of me in the process," she stated. "And page breaks are magical, for visually breaking things up in a chapter. And in the brain. And—stuff. You know."
She nodded to herself and scribbled something down onto the notebook. Waving her pencil around in the air, The Author then squeezed her eyes shut.
"RESUME TENDER EMOTIONAL SCENE!"
POOF!
.
.
.
After a few minutes of holding her crying sister, Queen Anna was starting to feel very, very cold.
Elsa was… heartbroken. Like she had been after the thing with Jack's creepo-necklace, on the first day. Anna had since forgiven him for THAT unfathomable screw-up, but if a certain stupidly gorgeous snow sprite continued making Elsa melt into tears on a regular basis like this, he was setting himself up to receive one sisterly fist to the stupidly perfect teeth.
Just as Anna could feel her sister's cold starting to seep all the way through her dress to reach her skin, Elsa pulled away. The Fifth Spirit—still refusing to make eye contact—sniffed, rubbing her arm across her face.
"I'm so sorry," Elsa whimpered, "I—I'm s-sorry; I didn't—"
"—You have nothing to apologize for."
Elsa's cheeks flushed. Snowflakes falling softly around her onto the carpet, she hugged her arms across her stomach, bending slightly at the waist and staring at the floor.
"I thought that I had everything under control," Elsa whispered. She shook her head. "And, I ruined it. Again."
"You haven't ruined anything," Anna reassured her, reaching out and putting a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Let's get you through telling me what happened."
Elsa hesitated for another long moment. Then—nodding, while swallowing hard—she let Anna guide her over to the two chairs that she'd pulled into the middle of the room.
And Elsa spilled. Queen Anna sat as quietly as she could, nodding thoughtfully and eating chocolate truffles from a bowl in her lap as Elsa relayed the events of the morning's audiences; the throne room, the way she'd designed her dress, the Evil Queen act, the suitors running for their lives, and—most of all—the surprise appearance and behavior of one Prince Frederik of Kingsley. It was only at this point in the tale that Anna interrupted.
"Wait," she blurted, her eyes wide as she swallowed a truffle. "Was that the guy in the red jacket out with the councilmen? Tall, regal, dreamy-looking?"
Elsa nodded. "That certainly sounds like him," she confirmed, oblivious to Anna's bulging eyes. "Why?"
Because, DANG, sissy!
The pregnant young queen picked up another truffle, struggling to school her expression. Elsa clearly wasn't in the mood to giggle over her growing little fan club of gorgeous boys jeeeeeust yet.
"Okay," Anna stated. "Keep going. What happened after that?"
Elsa continued, telling her sister of Prince Frederik's audience, and Jack Frost's suddenly strange behavior, from the ice, to the date, to the way that it ended.
"And I—I d-don't understand," Elsa shook, letting out a breathy scoff of a laugh. "He was so—affectionate earlier today, and happy, and now he's just upset. About everything. And he kept saying there was something he wanted to explain to me, and then he never did, and—"
"—Wait, what?" Anna interrupted. "Jack Frost still hasn't asked you to be his girlfriend?"
"Not even a little bit."
The Fifth Spirit pressed her lips together, squeezing her eyes shut and struggling not to cry. Anna's breath caught.
"Jack doesn't see me that way," Elsa stammered, "And, I—this is exactly what I was talking about, Anna. He doesn't think I'm good enough for that. He's happy to spend all this time teasing me, and kissing me, and touching me every two seconds, and—well—now there's Prince Frederik, and all of a sudden Jack's decided that I'm too stupid to get married!"
Queen Anna's eyes bulged. "Jack Frost told you that you're too stupid to get married!?" she sputtered.
Elsa sniffed, blushing furiously.
"Well—no," she admitted.
Good, Anna thought. Feeling her muscles relax a bit, she leaned forward in the chair towards her sister, just as Elsa gulped for a breath of air again.
"Jack's too kind to say something like that," Elsa added quickly, "I just—he didn't say that. But I'm pretty sure that's what he was trying to say."
"So… what did Jack say?" Anna prodded gently.
"I don't even know," Elsa whimpered, "I—I don't remember. Just—he was really upset, and—something about not having research because he wanted to meet me—and, he doesn't trust Prince Frederik."
"Really."
"He said I was gorgeous," Elsa remembered suddenly.
Anna jumped, then laughing outright at the sudden change of tone. "Well, good," she chuckled, "He has eyes. I'm glad that his brain isn't completely useless."
Only mostly.
"But it's not like that," Elsa insisted, her face going pale once again. "Jack doesn't think of me that way. I should be grateful that he's spending time with me at all, and he's been teaching me a lot of things, but I resent—I—!"
Elsa stopped talking, her eyes watering with embarrassment as she looked down to her feet, balling her hands into fists. Seeing her expression, Queen Anna's blood boiled.
Well,I resent the fact that a stupid SNOW SPRITE is making MY sister feel worthless, she thought angrily.
Elsa squeezed her eyes shut. Twisting her heel in the carpet, she then shakily pulled in her breath, looking up into her sister's eyes.
"I am not a fling," Elsa whispered.
Anna shook her head. "No."
"I d-don't care who he is," the Snow Queen stammered, sniffing as a few flurries of snow began to materialize out of the air above her, "Even if he is the Spirit of Winter, and—and his ice is—well, Jack does NOT get to just use me for—"
"—NO," Anna repeated. "He doesn't."
Elsa fell quiet, rubbing her hand over her opposite elbow. Anna sucked in her breath.
"—But just so you know," she added quickly, "I'm pretty sure that's not what's going on here."
Elsa nodded. Crossing her arms over her chest, she sniffed again.
"I know," she quavered. "And I'm sure you're right. Jack wouldn't do that. I don't know why I said it."
Queen Anna raised her eyebrows, drumming her fingers on her pregnant stomach and restraining from another snarky retort. "Jack 'wouldn't do that?' What do you mean?"
"He's too sweet, to just use someone. And, WAY too honorable," Elsa sighed. "Also, he's not interested in me. I mean, besides the fact that he seems to see me as a charity case."
Yes. That's EXACTLY why he keeps touching you and watching you and following you around while you're trying to work, Anna thought. Because he's not interested. That's EXACTLY how boys act, when they're NOT INTERESTED.
Anna chewed on the inside of her lip, restraining from making the comment. Whatever was going on, Elsa had to figure it out for herself.
"But that's what I don't understand," the Fifth Spirit reasoned on cue, thinking out loud as she got to her feet, beginning to pace. "If he's not just using me, then—why is he always acting so—flirty all the time, and everything? I thought it was just to try to make me feel better about myself, but if that were true, then why on EARTH wouldn't he be HAPPY for me with Prince Frederik?"
Anna shifted on her hips, trying to school her expression again.
"Is it possible that Jack Frost is jealous?" she asked carefully.
"JEALOUS?" Elsa balked, her face going pale again as she ran back to the chairs, "Jealous of what? Jack doesn't see me that way; that doesn't make any sense! I thought that we were friends, and I know Jack was pitying me and everything, but if we really were just friends, then why is he so angry about Prince Frederik? And all the things he's been teaching me, and then I suggest that I might eventually use them, and—and—oh, Anna!"
Anna watched as her sister stumbled back, collapsing into her chair and burying her face in her hands. Her back started shaking, her breaths coming sharp and shallow.
"I'm so bad at this," Elsa whispered between sobs. "Ice fortresses? Easy. Magical nature spirits? No problem. Running reforms under the table, without the Council finding out about them until they've already gone through? PIECE OF CAKE. But, this?"
She shook her head, scoffing to herself.
"I am. So. Confused," Elsa whimpered.
Queen Anna didn't respond. Her heart breaking at the sight of Elsa's pain—and the few snowflakes materializing out of the air above her—she pulled in her breath, trying to think of something to say.
"Boys are stupid," Anna decided.
Elsa laughed bitterly, letting out a gasping, hopeless half-giggle between sobs. She then shook her head again, re-burying her face in her hands as Anna leaned forward in her chair to stand up.
Looking up, Elsa's breath caught. "Don't—!"
"The baby is fine, Elsa."
Elsa snapped her mouth shut, swallowing her visible concern as her heavily pregnant sister pushed herself up onto her feet, waddling over to her. Queen Anna's heart swelled as she smiled, looking down to her stomach. Oh, Elsa…
"Honestly?" Anna said softly, reaching over and rubbing Elsa's back. "It really does sound to me like Jack Frost is jealous."
Elsa shrugged, not responding for a moment, and Anna kept rubbing her back on top of the ice capelet, restraining from pulling her hand away. In her currently heartbroken state, the Fifth Spirit of the Enchanted Forest felt even more freezing than usual.
Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold…
"You already said that," Elsa choked. "But it doesn't make any—"
"—Why wouldn't it make sense, Elsa?"
Unable to keep touching the ice, Queen Anna pulled her hand back as her sister straightened up. Clasping her hands together, she restrained from a shiver, unwilling to let Elsa see how contact with her beautiful ice dress made ordinary, non-magical skin react.
"If Jack wanted me to be his girlfriend, then why wouldn't he just ASK me?" Elsa stammered, "I've only given him about a million opportunities!"
Subtly massaging feeling back into her fingers, Anna's eyebrows lifted. "How did—"
"—Hey! Elsa!" her sister interrupted, dropping her voice in a horrible imitation of Jack Frost's, "Do you want to be my girlfriend? That's all he had to say! How is that hard? If that's what Jack wanted, then why wouldn't he just SAY IT? In fact, I—I—!"
Elsa cut herself off, looking up from her hands and biting her lip. Sucking in her breath, she abruptly rose from her chair.
"I have work to do," Elsa stammered.
Before Anna had a chance to respond, Elsa spun around, walking for the art gallery with her long capelet billowing behind her across the carpet. Anna got up from her chair.
"Elsa, wait—"
"—I'm sorry, I just—!"
Holding her pregnant stomach, Queen Anna lurched as quickly as she could for the art gallery, her heart dropping as Elsa's capelet whisked through the door. As Anna hurried to catch up, she saw Elsa instinctively begin to reach for the door handle.
Elsa looked up, and their eyes locked.
Swallowing hard, the Snow Queen shakily pulled her hand back, leaving the door open. Her cheeks flushing, she gave her head a quick shake, turning away from her sister and walking the three steps to her desk to start rummaging through the pile of papers on top of it.
Whew.
Letting out her breath, Queen Anna came to a stop, standing in the open doorway. Elsa picked up a folder, briefly letting her eyes fall onto its cover before casting it aside.
"Elsa," Anna said carefully, suppressing a shiver as the temperature began to noticeably drop once again, "I don't—maybe you don't want to go back to work just yet. I mean, I really appreciate how well you've been holding down the fort for me and everything, I do, but—I don't want you to hurt yourself."
Elsa gulped. "I'm just trying to get as much work done as possible before the baby—"
"—There will always be more work to get done, Sissy."
Elsa bit down on her lip, not looking up. "I've been temporarily reinstated," she choked, "And I'm currently Arendelle's queen. I have to be the queen."
"You also have to be yourself," Anna reminded her. "Which means that you have to take care of yourself. I'm right here. If you need to talk about your feelings—"
"—Feelings are stupid!" Elsa burst out suddenly, snatching up one of the folders and whirling around, "They're distracting, and they hurt, and—I hate them. I have work to do."
Anna's face fell as the Fifth Spirit stumbled back a step, hugging the file to her chest. Bumping into the chair, she shakily fell back into it, her eyes brimming with tears.
Anna felt her heart sink as Elsa clenched her teeth together, miserably looking down to the folder.
"I have work to do," she repeated softly, like she was talking to herself.
Clenching the folder to herself, the Snow Queen squeezed her eyes shut. Anna watched in horror as her sister's back started shaking, like she was ready to cry again.
"I am being the worst queen," Elsa sobbed.
Dropping the folder to her lap, Elsa burst into tears once again, burying her face in her hands. Queen Anna took a step towards her, pausing as her sister pulled in her breath.
"I've been a fool," Elsa moaned. "And an idiot! Only an idiot would ever think that—that the Spirit of Winter might—could ever—!"
Elsa cut herself off again, blushing furiously. As she dropped her head forward—gripping the file with all of her strength—Anna pulled in her breath.
"Would want you to be his girlfriend," she finished softly.
Elsa's jaw clenched.
"If I were being a good queen," she muttered, struggling to stop crying, "I wouldn't be that stupid."
"You're not stupid."
Elsa swallowed hard, falling quiet. As she stared down at the file in her hands, looking completely miserable, Anna walked up to the desk chair.
"Honestly?" she started again, gently reaching forward and touching Elsa's shoulder. "I really do think that Jack's in love with you. I mean, that's how he's been acting lately. And Kristoff thinks so, too."
"But if Jack wanted me to be his girlfriend, then why wouldn't he just ask me?" Elsa whimpered, "Why—why won't he?"
Queen Anna's heart sank as her sister looked up, her expression filled with helpless pain. Seeing Elsa's face, their eyes locking, Anna drew herself up.
"I don't know," she admitted. "But I'm going to find out."
The pregnant queen set her jaw with resolve. Holding her enormous stomach, she whirled around, starting to make her way towards the door.
She had a snow sprite to catch.
"Oh—and by the way," Anna added, pausing and turning back to her sister, "I like that little ice-ivy thing you've put in your hair."
"Ice-ivy thing?" Elsa asked quizzically, "What are you talking about? I didn't put any—"
She suddenly cut herself off, her eyes widening. Leaping out of the chair, Queen Anna stepped back from the doorway as Elsa then ran back into her room, stopping in front of the dresser and looking into her reflection. Catching sight of the icy flower buds, she hesitantly reached up to touch them.
Elsa froze, gasping as the frozen buds burst open. Glowing blue, a sparkle of delicate snowflakes fell into her hair as the row of elaborate ice flowers exploded into bloom, silently settling into her braid in a shimmering blue mist.
From where she was standing in the doorway to the art gallery, Anna's jaw fell open.
"Whoa," she whispered.
Elsa said nothing, gingerly reaching up and touching the edge of the largest flower. It bloomed even brighter as her delicate fingers brushed past it, and Snow Queen stared at the stunning piece in the mirror, her lower lip beginning to quiver.
"Elsa," Anna laughed in disbelief, starting to walk towards her, "You've never made anything like that before! That's incredible! I mean, it's ice, but it's—like—it's alive, and—"
"—I have made ice like this before."
Queen Anna abruptly stopped talking.
"Back before the Spirits woke up," Elsa stammered, "Mother's voice led me out to the fjord, and—well, it was like Nature was taking over my powers, using them in new ways. And—and this happened! My ice looked just like this! I haven't been able to replicate it since!"
As the flowers began to fade, snowflakes disintegrating into her hair from off of their edges, the Fifth Spirit's voice trailed off. Turning around to the mirror, she gingerly reached up to it, staring at their reflection in wonder. "But perhaps that's exactly what I've been doing wrong…"
Anna's face broke into a good-natured grin. "Well, you'll just have to ask Mister Frost how it's done," she chuckled, crossing her arms over her chest, "Because that's still the most amazing living ice I've ever—"
"—This isn't ice."
The redheaded queen raised her eyebrows.
Straightening up from the mirror as the last of the flowers fell away, Elsa spun around to face her sister again, her eyes wide and glassy with emotion.
"It's frost," Elsa breathed.