This is a special edition birthday tribute to my best friend and sister Ellen. That's right Lemon, this one's written for you. Today is the special day where you were welcomed into the world making it a brighter place with your ginger hair. I'm sorry I can't be there with you today but I hope that you have the time of your life and enjoy it to it's fullest. You are my sister in spirit and one of my closest companions and I don't think that I've ever had a friend quite like you. You are unique, special and talented in so many ways and you're still finding more. Our connection is not something easily come by and the way that we can share lighthearted and deep and meaningful conversations shows the depth of our relationship or maybe our immaturity or maturity- I dunno, however you'd like to see it. I didn't think this is the way things would turn out but it is your birthday and regardless I was going to do something special for you anyway. This tribute is my way of showing you how much I love you, and I know that it may not be much but if I could see you I would give you an unlimited coupon for my incredibly rare hugs. Happy Birthday my ginja ninja, Love Sim1.

Now that I've let all that go, onwards and upwards! To the story!

WARNING: This going to set up the rest of the story and start to get interesting, well sort of, so go to the loo, grab a snack and get comfortable. This is one hell of a ride.

It had been one and a half weeks since Anna had left for Corona. Elsa was sitting at her desk reading a letter sent by her sister detailing her journey and arrival in Corona. She had a smile as she read, her sisters contagious enthusiasm leeching through the paper. She hummed a tune quietly but stopped as she read a last minute note added to the end of the letter: oh, and by the way I planned a ball for your birthday seeing as though you would probably forget. Don't worry I took care of everything, and I mean everything, including your dress.

Elsa just stared at the letter for a few moments gaping at it. That little...

"Kai!"

"Yes your Majesty," he answered running into the room.

"Where you informed of my sister's plans?"

"What plans your Majesty?"

"For my birthday, she says she's planned an entire ball."

"I'm sorry your Majesty she made us all swear that we wouldn't tell you and that we would be discreet and well...we all agreed that you deserved a break, at least for one night."

"Oh, well I can't really hold this against you," she thought about how persistent her sister could be sometimes. "This is Anna we are talking about after all."

"Thank you your Majesty," he said gratefully bowing out of the room.

knock knock knock

"Come in!" Elsa called not looking up from her paperwork.

"Hey!" Dante said walking in and leaning against her desk.

"Hey," she responded distractedly.

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Working yourself to the bone and talking to me while you're in 'Queen mode'."

"Queen what?"

"Queen mode. It's what Anna calls it when you're so focused on your work and not really paying attention to who you're talking to."

"Mhm."

"I love you."

"Yeah huh."

"I wanna make love to you."

"Okay."

"Will you marry me?"

"Yes- wait what! What did you just say!"

She dropped her pen and looked at him with wide eyes as he fell on the floor laughing.

"Dante! Not funny!" She said standing up and looking down at him on the ground.

"I'm...sorry!" he said in between laughs. "I just- it was too good an opportunity to pass up."

"It's not fair when you take advantage of me when I'm not paying attention," she said as he sobered up.

"I'm sorry," he said standing up. "But did you hear any of what I said before that?"

She frowned slightly and cocked her head to the left as she tried to remember what he had been saying.

"Oh my god!" she cried slapping his arm. "I can't believe you said that!"

"Me!" he cried acting innocent. "You were the one that said I could!"

"Hey, but I wasn't even listening!"

"But if you were paying attention then you wouldn't have fallen for it."

"But still! You shouldn't have taken advantage of me like that."

"Alright, alright! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have taken advantage of you."

"Thank you," she turned slightly batting her eyelashes at him playfully. "Now what was it that you came for initially?"

"Anna didn't tell you?"

"Anna didn't tell me what?"

"Oh my god," he muttered rubbing the side of his face with his hand. "Your birthday ball. It's today."

"WHAT! I when is it starting? Why did no one tell me sooner? Who's in charge? Who's been invited? How long do I have to get ready?"

"Woah, woah. Calm down, it's-" he looked over at the clock, " five o'clock, so you've got about two hours before the ball officially starts at seven. Kai and Gerda have taken charge of the whole thing and organized it under Anna's instructions and I'm not completely sure of who's coming but mainly important countries so nobody was snubbed. You would have been told sooner and you probably were but don't remember because you were in your 'Queen Mode' again."

"Oh, well...Where's my dress? Anna said she'd organized a dress for me."

"In your room."

"Oh thank goodness, thanks Dante," she smiled and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "I'll go get ready."

If only you knew the truth. Dante sighed as she left the room.

"What do you think?" Elsa said turning towards her cat.

Cuddles looked at her, licked his paws and stuck his tongue out.

"Yeah, I thought so too," Elsa responded to her cat. "Too bright, so not me."

She returned to behind the changing screen and came back out in a different coloured dress. Her cat jumped of the bed and rubbed himself against her dress.

"Well, this one it is then," she sighed and patted her cat.

"Announcing, Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elsa of Arendelle!"

The crowd fell silent as Elsa made her entrance. All eyes were on her as she walked towards the raised dais. They all bowed or curtsied to her and she nodded in return.

"Hey!" Dante said sidling up to her and drinking in her appearance.

She was dressed in a purple gown with what looked like an impossibly tight corset that cinched in at the waist accentuating her figure. The backing was purple lace that also overlaid her bodice and covered her shoulders. The purple brought out her eyes and contrasted her pale skin beautifully. She wore little adornments; just a pair of diamond studs. Her hair was braided up in an intricate updo that looked incredibly complicated and was beyond the description of mere words.

"You look stunning," he said sincerely.

"Thank you," she replied bowing her head slightly.

Is that a blush I see, Dante thought.

"You don't look half bad yourself," she responded.

It was true, Dante scrubbed up quite nicely in a suite, and his cologne smelled pretty good as well. What?

"I like that colour on you."

"Thanks, it was either this purple one or a red one and the red just looked so stark an it made me look incredibly pale. Majority vote for tonight was the purple."

"Majority vote?"

"Oh," she looked sheepishly at him. "Sometimes I ask Cuddles what he thinks of what I'm wearing. He preferred the purple."

"You ask your cat about what your wearing!"

"So, I was locked away for thirteen years! I was bound to end up with strange habits with having no one to talk to."

"True, but still... You are such a weirdo."

"Thanks," she said rolling her eyes at him. "Not many people would have the nerve or get away with calling their Queen a 'weirdo'."

He grinned at her earning a discreet slap on the arm as some delegates began approaching them.

"It's going to be a long night," Dante sighed snagging a drink of a passing tray.

"Agreed," Elsa smiled dryly grabbing a drink as well.

"So..." Dante left his unfinished sentence hanging in the air as his eyes scanned the room.

Was that? No, it couldn't be! Elsa wouldn't invite him but...

"Queen Elsa."

Elsa turned around and her posture stiffened, hands tightening on her champagne glass.

"Duke Roger," she replied maintaining his facade of civility.

"Such a pleasure to be invited your Highness," he quipped behaving so overly sweet it made her sick.

She glanced at the golden blonde girl clinging to his arm, her dress showing more than what was deemed appropriate.

"I wasn't aware of your invitation," Elsa continued still smiling.

"Ah yes, Princess Anna invited me. Prior to the uh, incident I believe."

"Yes, I suppose she did."

"Well, it would be awfully rude of me not to attend now would it not? Snubbing her Majesty by boycotting her birthday celebration, what would people think of me?"

"Nothing worse than they already do, but it is so terribly hard to dis-invite someone without causing offense don't you agree?"

Dante had difficult hiding his grin as he watched the Duke being whipped by Elsa's comment.

"About as hard as trying to bed an Ice Witch," he spat back.

It felt as if the room had temperature dropped a couple of degrees. The blonde clinging to the Duke's arm tugged whispering something in his ear urging him to leave before they created too much of a scene. Elsa glared at him daring to him go further.

"I would watch your tongue Duke Roger," Elsa addressed him formally eyes flashing a warning. "I at least was not the one bedding whores."

"But you were the one seducing me."

"I seduced you. From the way I remember it I believe it was you who forced yourself upon me."

"Are you accusing me of rape your Majesty? I would be oh so careful as Belantane does not take such accusations lightly."

"Neither does Arendelle."

"Is that a threat?"

"Only if you make it so."

The blonde tugged on the Duke's arm again breaking his stare down with Elsa. Suddenly his tune changed.

"Let's put these matters behind us your Majesty, it was not what I intended to converse about when I came over."

Elsa still glared at him slightly but was quiet, allowing him to continue.

"You see," the Duke continued. "Arendelle is a rather prosperous kingdom and Belantane has a formidable army, which is why we would like to propose a deal. I on the behalf of King Jonathan am proposing a marriage between our two nations."

Elsa stared at him stunned. The nerve!

"And you expect me to accept after my past experiences with Belantanians?" She asked incredulously.

"Well, it would appear as a major slight if her Majesty were to refuse and as I mentioned before, Belantane has a formidable army."

"Is that a threat?"

"Only if you make it so."

"Well, there are other ways to woo a woman," Elsa muttered under her breath, earning a smirk from Dante as she managed to still make light of a rather serious situation.

"Well after great consideration," Elsa continued even though she clearly hadn't. "I must decline his Majesty, King Jonathan's offer of marriage."

"I see," the Duke replied tightly. "Very well, you have made your decision."

And with that he turned on his heel and departed rather briskly, leaving Elsa and Dante stunned by his response.

"What, that's it?" Elsa asked unsure how to gauge the Duke's actions.

"Somehow I get the feeling that that wasn't all of it though," Dante replied.

The two continued watching the retreating couple until Dante heard frost crackling.

"Um Elsa," he nudged her arm to get her attention.

She looked at him.

"You're freezing your champagne."

"Oh."

Quickly she thawed her drink and the room's temperature rose a few degrees.

"You're getting stressed again," he stated.

"No kidding," she responded sarcastically trying to cover up a sick feeling in her stomach. Was it worry?

"Dance with me?"

"What?"

"Dance with me, it'll take your mind off things."

"You know I don't really dance."

"Come on," he smiled encouragingly holding out his hand to her.

She looked at him unyielding.

"Don't make me pull out the puppy eyes!"

She rolled her eyes at him.

"No? Alright, here comes 'the smolder'..."

Elsa looked at him unaffected.

"Seriously, this doesn't make you weak at the knees and want to throw yourself at me?"

She laughed at him covering her mouth with her hand.

"Man, you are one tough woman to please," he stated running a hand through his hair.

"Alright," she said.

"Alright," he repeated.

"Alright I'll dance with you," she said taking his hand and walking towards the dance floor.

The musicians seeing the queen approach the dance floor struck up a waltz.

"Seriously?" Elsa groaned.

This was too cliche.

Dante smiled at her placing his hand on her waist as she settled her hand on his shoulder.

"Smile," he whispered in her ear as the crowds stopped to watch them.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," she muttered but smiled nevertheless.

"I did the smolder remember?" he joked.

She laughed delicately unable to cover her mouth with her hand.

They danced across the floor flowing together like liquid; bodies intertwined, breath mixing together.

"Well, looks like the Queen is actually an expert dancer," Dante teased.

"Just because I don't doesn't mean I can't," she stated simply arching an eyebrow.

"Then I'll just have to get you to dance more often I suppose," he said cheekily.

"Where did you learn to dance?" she asked trying to direct the conversation away from herself.

"During my training we had a few functions and balls that we had to attend. Being able to dance was just an added extra."

They walked off the dance floor as the music ended and the musicians struck up a more lively tune.

"You're improving," Dante said as he observed Elsa critically.

He wouldn't know that she had heard his praise except for the fact that her eyes flicked towards him for less than a millisecond.

They'd been practicing for more than an hour now and he thought it was probably enough for the day.

"Alright, I think that's pretty good for today." He called out to Elsa who let her sword arm drop towards her side."Have a rest, you did good today," he said placing a hand on her shoulder as she walked past.

"Thanks," she breathed slightly out of breath.

Elsa walked out of the training courts and towards her room. She'd have a servant draw up a bath once she got there. She turned round the corner into her bedroom corridor and let out a high pitched scream as she saw the scene in front of her. Written in blood opposite her bedroom door was a message: King Jonathan hereby declares war on Arendelle as retaliation of their refusal of his Majesty's proposal. If you intend to see Princess Anna again you will join his Majesty on the battlefield. Belantane.

Underneath the message lay her dead and bloodied cat. His eyes glassy and body limp.

"No, Cuddles," Elsa sobbed tears streaming down her face smudging her makeup. "What did they do to you?"

"We must send an army to them!" one of her ministers cried.

"Wait, wait, wait," Dante said holding up his hands. "They may have the Princess. Marching in there with an army could put her life at risk and perhaps cause more harm then good. We must think about all possible outcomes before taking action."

"He's right," Elsa spoke up. Her makeup had been wiped of and she looked slightly pale. They'd called an emergency meeting as soon as the threat had been discovered.

"First we have to establish whether this threat is genuine. I say we send a message to Corona to see whether Princess Anna is with them or not, while we're at it we can also ask them for back up since we've forged an alliance with them. It would be best not to make any contact with Belantane but I suggest we put some spies in place," Dante proposed and looked at the council for approval.

"Then it's settled," Elsa said rising from her seat. "We'll have a messenger bird sent Corona and until then we'll prepare for a war. Start training troops and assessing our military. It seems like Arendelle is going to need them."

Her ministers nodded in assent and rose from their seats as well, slowly leaving the room with somber faces. Dante stayed behind as the rest of the ministers shuffled out of the room. He looked at Elsa who was standing at the end of the table lent over with her hands gripping either side.

"Hey," Dante said standing next to her. "We'll get through this."

"Will we?" She asked looking at him with sad blue eyes. She gave him one last look before walking out of the room and leaving him alone.

A/N

Oooh, cliff hanger. Well, sort of anyway. I many never update again or I may do a Christmas special, we'll see. I hope you like this Ellen because I wrote his especially for you. Heaps of Elsante and now we're going to war, HOORAY! This is so exciting, heaps of references coming up. I just love writing the animosity between Elsa and Roger, it's just soo much tell me what you think, updates are undecided. Does anyone watch once upon a time? Anyway, love you all, Alanna Official ^_^