A/N: Sorry for the long delay! I hope you guys have a safe and happy new year! Enjoy.
Chapter 28
Hans couldn't believe he agreed to go all the way down to the stables on his crutches. He knew that Anna would need some time with her sister but he could have just as easily given her space while reclining in a spare room rather than searching out the stables. He was whipped.
A helpful servant pointed him in the direction of the stables and he headed out into the cold night air. He was careful walking through the snow, trying not to fall and injure himself more. As he approached the stables, he heard voices and was about to announce himself when he heard a loud, rhythmic thudding punctuated by curses. Hans rounded the corner to see Kristoff banging his head on a wall while the large reindeer and Olaf watched piteously.
"Stupid, idiot!" He shouted as he continued to bang his head. "What was I thinking, kissing Elsa like that?"
"You kissed the QUEEN?!" Hans exclaimed, surprised by Kristoff's statement.
Kristoff spun around, looking worried. "Oh man, how long have you been standing there?!"
"Long enough to hear you freaking out about it." Hans admitted, sitting on a nearby bench and laying the crutches down. "Did she shoot you down? Is that why you left?"
Kristoff sighed. "No, she didn't shoot me down. I left the room before she had a chance. But she probably hates me now."
"Poor Kristoff." Olaf said from next to Sven. He waddled over and patted Kristoff on the arm. "Love is hard."
"Well, I haven't seen a hoard of castle guards searching for you so that probably means she hasn't put a bounty on your head yet. That has to be a good sign." Hans tried to lighten the mood. Kristoff groaned. "I'm just kidding. Calm down, I'm sure it's not that bad."
"Not that bad?! I told her I loved her, I kissed her, and then I fled the building!" Kristoff shouted, covering his face with his hands.
"Whoa, that's huge." Hans raised his eyebrows.
"It doesn't matter." Kristoff sighed. "There's no way she could ever feel the same way."
"You can't know that!" Hans said, trying to cheer the mountain man up. "I never thought I'd find anyone who would even look twice at me but then I met Anna."
"Yeah but you're… I don't know… high class. Like a Duke or something, right?" Kristoff said, sitting heavily on a bale of hay.
"A prince." Hans chuckled.
"See?" Kristoff shook his head. "She's the queen and I'm… I'm just Kristoff."
At that moment, Eugene walked into the stable. "You know, I couldn't help over hearing your entire conversation. Since I was, you know, eavesdropping."
"Great." Kristoff muttered, not excited that someone else was weighing in on his embarrassment.
"What is it that you do exactly?" Eugene asked.
"I'm an ice harvester." Kristoff answered. "I take Sven up to the mountains and cut the ice out of the mountain and sell it to the neighboring villages. So I'm really nobody. Just an orphan that was raised by some magical trolls."
"Trolls? Never mind. But you're an entrepreneur! That's good. 'Cause let me tell you, my wife is princess of Corona and now that we're married I'm the prince consort…" Eugene started, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. "But when I met her, I was known just a runaway orphan who dropped his name and became Flynn Rider, one of Corona's most notorious thieves."
"What?" Kristoff gasped, trading a surprised look with Hans.
"Yup!" He nodded proudly. "I had stolen the one of the crown jewels and was on the run when I came across this tower in the middle of nowhere where I met Rapunzel. It's kind of a long, involved, story but it all worked out and I found out she cared about me just as much as I did about her. So wooing a queen will be cake for a straight edge like you!"
"You were a thief?" Hans asked, bemused. "And now you're a prince? I think that's happened before in Agrab-."
"Ok, setting aside all the questions I have about that." Kristoff interrupted Hans, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. "You still don't know that when I met Elsa, it was because I had climbed the mountain planning to kill whoever started the storm. I nearly attacked her!"
"Well that was an honest mistake." Hans offered. "I mean you didn't end up hurting her, right? And then you helped bring her back to save Anna so…"
"Yeah but-." Kristoff started.
"Yeah! And you probably thought you were doing the right thing at the time, right?" Eugene asked, talking over him. "So your heart was in the right place. And besides, I didn't know Rapunzel was a princess and I had planned to ditch her once I had gotten the crown back from her. So really, if I can bounce back from that, you can too."
Kristoff was quiet as he mulled over Eugene's story. It left him with more questions than reassurances but he didn't feel like it was his place to point that out. He was sitting, staring at his shoes when Olaf wadded over to him.
"Kristoff?" The snowman started tentatively.
"Yeah, buddy?" Kristoff said wearily.
"I don't think you should worry. I know Elsa likes you." He announced to the group, adjusting his carrot.
"Oh really?" Kristoff fought the urge to roll his eyes.
"Yeah, I can tell!" Olaf said confidently.
"You know…" Hans started. "Olaf may be right. Didn't Elsa make him with her magic? Wouldn't it stand to reason that they were somewhat connected? Maybe he's right."
Kristoff felt a small swooping in his stomach. "Whether that's true or not, I'm not taking any more chances until I hear it from her."
"Well we can't figure it out if you're hiding out here. Come on! We'll go up to the castle, check on the queen and maybe have some dinner. I'm sure you're all probably starving. I'm sure Rapunzel knows where to rustle up a meal." Eugene said, tugging Kristoff to his feet.
"I suppose you're right." Kristoff sighed, following Eugene up to the castle with Hans hobbling on behind them.
For the last hour, Anna had listened as Elsa took her through everything she remembered of getting her powers and the incident that changed everything. She told Anna about visiting the trolls and the consequences of restoring her and how their father moved Elsa out of their shared room because she couldn't be trusted not to hurt her again.
"So papa was the one that decided not to tell me about your powers?" Anna had asked, wanting to get it all straight.
Elsa nodded. "I think the plan was to keep it from you until I had learned to control it but I was never good enough. In fact, I overheard him one night before they died; papa didn't even want me to become queen."
"I heard something about that when Hans found papa's journals. It's ridiculous, Elsa. You have to know that. There's no one better suited to be queen than you!" Anna said, trying to reassure her sister.
Elsa shrugged. "Sometimes I'm not so sure."
Anna chose to ignore that. "But what happened? After mama's and papa's accident you still didn't tell me."
"I couldn't trust myself around you. I was always afraid that I'd accidentally hurt you." Elsa explained.
"But that happened anyways." Anna shook her head. "If I had known, maybe things would have been different. Maybe I would have known how to avoid it."
"I know, believe me. I know now that I should have trusted you and I'm sorry." Elsa said, wishing Anna would believe her.
"You don't have to be sorry. You didn't know." Anna sighed. It was hard to process all the information she was hearing. "So that's everything that led up to the coronation. What happened after you ran away?"
Elsa took her through her trek up the mountain and the formation of her ice castle. She was momentarily lost in the memory, recounting how good it felt to create something and not be afraid of hurting anyone since she was the only one in sight. She glossed over her first encounter with Anna seeing as she'd been there and moved on to her encounter with Kristoff. Anna gasped indignantly when Elsa told her about the Duke's emissary that attacked then on the way down the mountain and how Kristoff got hurt protecting her. Anna had more questions once Elsa started talking about her time with the trolls but Elsa pushed on until they were both caught up on everything that had happened.
"Love will thaw." Anna repeated once Elsa had finished.
"That's what Grand Pabbie said. I still don't get it." Elsa shook her head.
"I do." Anna said emphatically.
"What?" Elsa said skeptically.
"It's exactly how it sounds." Anna tried to sound confident. "You have to be focused on good feelings, like happiness and love, when you try and thaw something. It's what happened in the woods and what happened here when Kristoff kissed you. You did it without thinking about it!"
Elsa wasn't convinced. "Yes, but-"
"No buts! You just need to practice! Let's try something now." Anna said sternly, grabbing something off a nearby shelf. "Here freeze this!"
"Anna, I don't know-" Elsa started.
"Please, Elsa? What's the harm in trying?" Anna pleaded, trying to put an encouraging smile on her face.
Elsa sighed. "Alright, give it to me."
Anna placed the knickknack in Elsa's hand and watched as it was suddenly covered in frost. "Question. Did you mean to frost it or did it just happen?"
Elsa turned the item in her hand, trying to think. "You know, I'm not sure."
Anna rose from her chair and grabbed a book end. "Here take this one but don't freeze it yet. Gimme that one."
Elsa let Anna take the frozen item and replace it with the book end. To Elsa's surprise, the object didn't immediately freeze over.
"I can't remember the last time something didn't immediately freeze over when it touched my skin." She commented.
"So it's usually something that happens?" Anna asked as Elsa nodded. "But that's good! It means your control is better. Freeze it over now!"
Elsa concentrated on freezing the item, feeling the power spread from her fingertips to the object. She felt a small feeling of pleasure, like stretching your muscles after sitting too long. She was briefly reminded of the feeling of release she felt on the mountaintop.
"This feels different than before." Elsa remarked quietly.
"What do you mean? Before you were injured, before you came down the mountain?" Anna asked, trying to keep up.
"Before the coronation. For years, my powers where always escaping me. Any time I touched something or felt too much emotion it was guaranteed that something would freeze or that it would snow. Looking back, it felt like being in a dress that was too small; my skin felt pulled tight and everything was just bursting to get out. But now…" Elsa trailed off, turning the now frozen item in her hand.
"Maybe it's because you're actually using them?" Anna mused. "Maybe you're wearing them out?"
Elsa shook her head. "I have used them more in the last few days than in the past 13 years but I don't feel like the power has faded or weakened. If anything, it feels stronger. It's just that I don't feel it fighting to get out."
"Well, maybe it's a magical back up. Like the longer you went without using your powers, the more it wanted to be used?" Anna suggested, shrugging her shoulders.
Elsa thought about that. Grand Pabbie had said that her powers were meant to be used. Maybe that was the key to control? "Maybe…"
"Well, let's try unfreezing it now." Anna suggested.
Elsa sighed. "Here goes nothing."
She tried to unfreeze the object, focusing all of her energy into warming up her fingertips with a happy memory. She was trying to recall every detail of building her ice castle, the least stressful memory she had. She kept expecting her hand to warm and for it to spread to the object and was surprised when, instead, it frosted even more. She tried for several minutes, Anna watching hopefully, before becoming thoroughly fed up.
"Nothing!" Elsa tried to toss the book end across the room and faltered when her shoulder throbbed. "Argh!"
"Elsa!" Anna scolded, grabbing the fallen item. "It was just a first try! There's no reason to throw a tantrum."
Elsa gave her sister a withering look. "Anna, I'm telling you. I'll never get this. Everything is ruined."
"No!" Anna stood suddenly, her hand clenched at her sides. "I'm not giving up on you! I know you can do this, Elsa!"
Elsa was moved by her sister's outburst but she still wasn't convinced. "Anna, I appreciate that but…"
"Look, just try. Why don't you tell me what you're thinking when you tried to unfreeze it." Anna offered, handing her the book end again.
"I don't know. I think of when I built my castle. It was the only time in the last 13 years that I felt like there wasn't the weight of the world on my shoulders." Elsa was quiet for a few moments. "I try to picture everything warming up but nothing happens."
"Maybe it has to do something with the way you're trying to 'warm' the ice?" A voice behind them said.
Both girls jumped, startled by the intrusion. They looked towards the door to see Hans and Kristoff hovering by the doorway. They could see Rapunzel and Eugene standing behind them. Anna waved them all in, not missing the way Elsa blushed when Kristoff entered further into the room.
"Sorry, we didn't mean to startle you." Hans said, hobbling across the room to an open chair.
"Yeah, sorry I left… uh, earlier. I just had to go check on Sven" Kristoff added, taking a seat by the wall.
"I'm glad you're back." Elsa said quietly to him.
"You are?" Kristoff asked, perking up a bit. Elsa nodded.
"So you're trying to practice unfreezing this?" Eugene asked, peering over Anna's shoulder to the object that sat on the bedspread.
"Yes, but it's not going very well." Elsa mumbled. "I doubt I'm ever going to get it-."
"Hush." Anna shushed her and Elsa rolled her eyes. "I gave her the book end and she was able to hold off on freezing it."
"Yes, but when I try to reverse the process, I ended up adding more ice." Elsa added.
Rapunzel looked thoughtful "You said something about trying to warm the ice. What was that about?"
"The trolls said that positive emotions would thaw the ice so I'm thinking of the best memories I know and trying to warm the object, but it's not melting." Elsa explained.
"But magic doesn't always work the way you want it to." Kristoff shrugged. "Grand Pabbie always said that magic was alive and that you asked it to help you but there wasn't always a guarantee."
"My powers definitely feel alive to me." Elsa agreed.
"But your magic only seems to work through the cold and ice, to warm something up may be going against the nature of your magic." Hans rubbed absently at the back of his head.
"But she's melted things before. We saw it!" Anna argued.
"Instead of trying to melt something, have you tried pulling back the magic?" Rapunzel asked absently.
"What?" Elsa blinked, confused.
"Well, when I had my long hair, the magic was channeled through a song and it affected whatever or whoever was touching my hair." Rapunzel explained.
"Really?" Anna scoffed quietly to Eugene. "Again with the magic blonde hair?"
"Its true, ok?" Eugenechuckled, not even pretending to be upset. "What? Ice powers and trolls you can believe but healing hair is a stretch?"
"Hey, portraits or it didn't happen." Anna held up her hands, palm up.
"Guys." Hans interrupted their bickering.
Anna playfully stuck out her tongue and Eugene let out a loud guffaw. Rapunzel shook her head at her husband and turned back to Elsa.
"Anyways." She said pointedly. "The woman who had kidnapped me used my powers to keep herself young. I had never realized when I was younger but, she carried my magic around with her and she took more when it faded. When my hair was cut, all the magic that was still left in her body was pulled out and returned to me. Eugene had been injured in the struggle and but I was still able to heal him. It wasn't until much later that I realized that I saved him with the residual magic that was returned to me when Gothel died."
"So you could feel the pull of the magic." Elsa said quietly, trying to process. She had never tried to feel her power once it was outside of her skin.
"Yes. Maybe you instead you can try pulling your power out?" Rapunzel suggested.
"I never thought about it. I guess it wouldn't hurt to try." Elsa grabbed the frozen item in front of her.
Elsa held up the bookend that had stayed frozen throughout their conversation. Trying to ignore her audience wasn't easy but Elsa took a deep breath and focused. She once again pictured her mountaintop and the flurry of snow she had commanded there. When she had recaptured the feeling of freedom she had felt, Elsa tried to use her powers to call to the ice on the bookend. She was able to sense her residual power clinging to the wood and, rather than warming the ice, tried to banish it. Her mouth dropped open as the picture in her mind mirrored reality and the ice shrank and disappeared, leaving the item dry and ice free.
"Oh my…" She trailed off, holding out to Anna.
"Holy crap!" Anna shouted, grabbing it from her hand and holding it up for the group to see. "You did it! You really did it!"
"I can't believe it." Elsa scoffed.
"I knew you had it in you." Kristoff said, smiling softly.
Elsa returned his smile with a shy one of her own as Anna danced around the room. Rapunzel and Eugene embraced before examining the unfrozen bookend with genuine curiosity. Anna eventually stopped her cheering long enough to pull Elsa into a hug, careful not to squeeze her sister's injured shoulder.
Elsa froze at the contact, afraid for a second that she was going to hurt her younger sister. After a moment, the fear passed and she allowed herself to relax into the embrace. She was aware of the fact that this was the first real contact she'd had with her sister in years, and she reveled in the contact.
"I'm so proud of you!" Anna whispered in her ear.
"Thank you, Anna." Elsa whispered back, feeling a little overcome with emotion.
"So do you think you're ready to unfreeze the country?" Anna teased, giggling as she pulled back.
"Maybe we should practice a bit more." Elsa said, smiling in response.
"Actually, you should be getting some rest." Rapunzel interjected. "The country can wait for another day."
"She's right. We've all been through the ringer. We should all get some sleep." Hans suggested, grabbing his crutches again.
Kristoff hesitated. "Alright, I guess I'll just grab Sven and go…"
Elsa shot Anna a worried look and Anna knew that she couldn't let Kristoff leave while Elsa was still figuring out her feelings. "No, wait!"
Kristoff looked at her, slightly startled. "No?"
"Uh, I mean, you should really stay here. We have plenty of room. I'll have Kai make up an extra room." Anna told him, trying not to leave any room for argument.
"Uh…" Kristoff glanced at Elsa, who nodded. "I guess I'll stay then."
Everyone said their goodnights before Rapunzel ushered everyone out of the room. Anna was chatting animatedly the entire way out to Hans, who was looking at her sister like there was nothing more interesting in his entire life, and Kristoff kept throwing shy smiles over his shoulder as he left the room.
Elsa sighed as the door closed, finally alone. She glanced around the room to the roaring fire and her shelves of books that lined the walls. It felt different to be home and not have to worry about anyone finding out about her powers. She shifted down in bed until she was lying comfortably, finally feeling like things might work out.