Chapter 34:

Epilogue

12 Years Later

"You're never going to catch me!" Violet cried, running up a flight of stairs.

"We'll see about that!" Erik yelled back. Anna and Kristoff's children, 12 year old Erik, and 9 year old Violet, were in the middle of playing a game of tag. At the moment, Erik was it, and he was hot in pursuit of his younger sister. Violet rounded a corner, nearly tripping in the process. When Erik did the same, he found that his sister was gone. She has to be somewhere, he thought to himself. Maybe she's hiding in one of these rooms.

Erik saw that one of the doors to the rooms was open, but it wasn't just any room. It was Auntie Elsa's room. One of the few places they weren't allowed to enter without permission. Erik eased the door open with his hand, slowly stepping inside. At the moment, there didn't appear to be anyone in the room, but he knew that Violet had to be in here. "Violet!" he whispered. "Violet! Where are you!"

Erik walked over to a large wardrobe at the other side of the room. He opened the doors, looking inside. Unfortunately, Violet wasn't inside, but he did see something else that caught his attention. On one of the shelves in the wardrobe, he saw a stack of papers with handwriting on them. He picked it up, and looked at what was written on the cover: "The Price of Love."

Erik flipped open to the next page, his eyes gazing over what was written.

"After escaping from Hans and the Duke again, we continued our journey to the Dover Mansion in France. I was pretty eager to get there, especially after all that we endured in the weeks since we left Arendelle looking for the treasure. I can honestly say that getting shot at, sprayed with fire, and hunted by a crazed man hasn't been very ideal."

"What in the world?" Erik said in disbelief.

From behind him, Violet crawled out from under the bed, looking annoyed.

"Wow! You're really bad at this!" she said. "Come on, let's get out of here before Auntie Elsa catches us."

"Hold on a second, Violet, listen to this," Erik said. He had been reading more of what he found, only to find that it got more exciting with every page.

"It was a magnificent sight, alright. The long lost treasure of King Nicholas was even greater than any of us could imagine. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of our inheritance, the reason we went on this quest, and of course, the cause of all our problems."

"What do you think of it?" Erik asked.

"I don't know. Who's King Nicholas?" Violet asked.

"I don't know, but it seems like he's related to us. Check out this passage; Auntie Elsa talks about mom getting drugged by some guy named Hans, and being forced to attack her.

Violet read over the passage, her eyes growing wider as she did. "Mom tried to hurt Auntie Elsa! Why?"

"There you two are!" said a voice from behind them.

Erik and Violet spun around, Erik seizing the stack of papers, and hiding them behind his back.

Anna and Elsa walked into the room, both of them looking concerned.

"Why are you in Auntie Elsa's room?" Anna asked.

"Um…" Erik tried to think of an excuse, but nothing could come to mind.

"And why are you going through my wardrobe?" Elsa asked. She quickly noticed that Erik was hiding something.

"What have you got there, Erik?" she asked.

The jig was up. There was no point in trying to play innocent.

Erik sighed, taking the stack of papers out from behind him.

"I was looking through your wardrobe, and I found this," he said.

Elsa's eyes widened. She took the stack of papers from him, flipping through the pages. "Did you read any of it?" she asked, looking even more concerned.

"A little. It was interesting," Erik confessed. "Who is King Nicholas?" he found himself asking.

"And who are Hans and the Duke?" Violet piped in.

Anna and Elsa looked at each other with uncertainty. Well, the cat was out of the bag on this one.

"Do you want to tell them or should I?" Anna asked.

"Let's both tell them. If you think they're old enough to know the truth," Elsa said.

"I think so."

"What are you two talking about?" Erik asked.

Elsa cleared her throat. "Erik, Violet, this is a manuscript I've been working on. It's a true account of a journey that your mother and I took twelve years ago. We were looking for the long lost treasure of King Nicholas, our ancestor."

For the next ten minutes, Anna and Elsa gave a quick overview of their journey, talking about their numerous battles with Hans and the Duke, their encounter with Edward, Anna being drugged, and the many men that died during their quest.

Erik and Violet were in awe at their tale. They never imagined that their mother, and their aunt actually did such incredible things.

"So you're saying that you guys were actually shot at by dozens of guys twice your size?" Erik asked.

"Yep, and not to mention they had a machine that sprayed us with fire," Elsa added.

"And you guys didn't keep any of the treasure?" Violet asked.

"No, sweetie, we didn't," Anna said.

"Why not?"

Before she could answer, Elsa stepped in. "Hey, I got an idea: what do you say we go out to the fields and have a picnic? It's a beautiful day, and there's no point in wasting it indoors," Elsa suggested.

"But wait! I have so many more questions! Mom, how did you learn to shoot a gun so well? Can you teach me? And Auntie Elsa, do you still have the map?

Anna and Elsa laughed. "Tell you what, if you really want to hear the rest of the story, go downstairs, and tell the chefs to prepare some sandwhiches for us. Your father should be around in the courtyard. Go invite him to come along with us. I promise we'll answer all of your questions soon," Elsa said.

"Ok," Erik and Violet said in unison.

The two ran out of the room, racing downstairs, and leaving Anna and Elsa to themselves.

"So you're writing a book about our adventure?" Anna asked.

Elsa sighed. "I just thought it would make an interesting read, that's all," she said.

"Well, those two are definitely interested, alright. They're already swarming us with questions. Do you really think we should tell them everything?"

Elsa looked at the manuscript in her hands. The mere sight of it brought back a flood of memories from their adventure. Even though there were bad times, and they didn't bring back any treasure, she still believed that the journey taught her and Anna that they already had the greatest treasure of all: love.

"I do," Elsa said. "After all, it's a story about us. What could be better than that?"

Anna smiled. "Well, let's head on down there. We can't keep our adoring public waiting."

Elsa laughed. "I'll be right there. Just let me take care of a few things in here."

"Ok. See you down there!" Anna called.

When she was gone, Elsa placed the manuscript back into her wardrobe. Next to it, was a photograph of her and Anna taken twelve years ago.

Elsa smiled as she looked at the picture. "The greatest treasure of all," she said.

A/N: And so concludes our tale. Wow! It's been a long ride! Thank you all who read and reviewed this story. I really appreciate your kind words, and critiques. The next chapter of the five shot "I Like What You're Selling" should be up soon. I'm also in the process of reworking "An Icy Kiss." In addition, a brand new story about Kristoff's real family is also on the horizon, but that will be awhile from now. Take care!