Frozen the Dragon Empress

Chapter 4

I don't own Frozen.

Elsa woke to the sun peeking over the castle. She groaned and snuggled into her sisters' side, not wanting to leave the warmth and sweet scent. The past few nights Elsa had gotten the best sleep she had in years, with no nightmares and no fears, wrapped in light and warmth. During the day she went about her duties filled with energy and life as if just being in contact with her sister had refilled something inside of her. Then there were the stories. Her sister had always been a good storyteller even when they were children, and her skill had grown over the years. Elsa could almost see the friends she had made, the places she had been, the life she had led in her quest for the heart of infinity. One of the newest joys of her day was settling in at night to listen to Anna's story as she lay snuggled in warmth and safety.

"Your majesty?" Kai asked standing over her. Elsa groaned and tore herself away from the warmth.

"Good morning Kai" Elsa said drowsy.

"Good morning Majesty let's get you freshened up" The man said. After Elsa had brushed her teeth and washed she entered her study and sitting down behind her desk got to work, signing off on new laws and decrees, as well as reading reports from all around the kingdom about crop yields production which all looked to meet the years projections. After half a day work, she got up and stretched before walking back to the garden.

"how are you feeling?" Elsa asked looking at her sister.

"I don't know if I can ever look at her like this without gaping" Elsa thought as her sister stood and stretched, and even Elsa could see she had grown both taller and broader, with her wingspan increasing to where they blocked out the sun when she unfolded them.

"better. I think I may be out of the worst of it" Anna said shaking.

"I thought this was supposed to last a month?" Elsa asked slightly disappointed. She had been looking forward to a month of sleeping out here, nestled into her sisters' side as Anna told her stories.

"Looks like I sped through it, possibly due to my growth being stalled out for three years. I'm not out of it yet. I'm still sore, and my magic is still tied up in the shed" She said lowering herself back down again.

"I hate this" She whined.

"It's going to be alright" Elsa said resting against her sisters' side.

"you make such a nice bed" Elsa said.

"Thank you it's nice to know that I've been raised to the exalted position of the queen's bed" Anna Joked making Elsa laugh.

"So, what happened when you got to Dubroch?" Elsa asked.

"Have you finished your work?" Anna asked.

"I'm taking a break" Elsa said softly.

"Hey, no napping" Anna said nudging Elsa back to her feet.

"I'll tell you a story tonight. I'm sorry I can't help you, but you have to finish your work young lady" Anna scolded her lightly as attendants brought braziers.

"But first lunch" Anna said. Elsa had a small table set up and conversed with her sister about her day and what she had been working on.

"Sounds like it's going to be a good year" Anna said.

"I do hope so" Elsa sighed.

"Well, back to work" Elsa said.

"Hold on" Anna said and in a burst of fire her sister was standing in human form.

"Anna, what are you doing?" Elsa asked.

"I was sick of lying around" Anna said rubbing her shoulder.

"Are you hurting?" Elsa asked.

"I'm a little sore, but no more than I've been the past few days" Anna said grabbing her sisters' hand.

"Let's get to work" Anna said almost dragging Elsa back to her office and there they spent the rest of the day together working though Elsa kept an eye on her sister to make sure she didn't push herself and forbid Anna from taking any of her scheduled meetings.

"Elsa, I'll be fine" Anna said.

"If nothing Elsa I can take my meetings out in the garden if you know what I mean" Anna joked.

"Absolutely not" Elsa said sternly and with finality.

"Elsa?" Anna asked.

"What message would it send, scaring our allies like that?" Elsa asked.

"Okay, we'll go with that, for now" Anna said and gasped in pain.

"Anna" Elsa said at her sister side in an instant.

"I'm fine" I just need rest Anna said and they walked back to the garden where she transformed and rested for an hour before they got back to work. When they were done at dinner Elsa thought they would walk back to the garden, only to have Anna pass it.

"Where are you going?" Elsa asked.

"I'm sick of being cooped up in the garden" Anna said and following her little sister they walked out to the courtyard where Anna transformed.

"Ah, that's better" She said stretching out, the large courtyard more than big enough to hold her.

"Now I can be the castles watch dragon" She said earning a laugh from Elsa.

"I would prefer you stay in the garden" Elsa said softly and Anna shook her head.

"Elsa, I understand. You're worried about sharing me with the world. I feel the same way about your powers sometimes, like it's our secret" Anna said bringing her snout down to Elsa.

"I really am worried about you scaring our allies, but yes, I don't want to share this with anyone else" Elsa said putting her head to Anna's snout as the Braziers were brought, and Kristoff joined them for a pleasant dinner in the courtyard.

"I like the garden, but this is nice too" He said.

"Indeed, this is more pleasant than I thought it would be" Elsa agreed. When it was time for bed Elsa had a mattress brought out for her to sleep on.

"Your majesty this is highly inappropriate. It is alright that you sleep in the garden, but out here in the courtyard where anyone can see you?" Kai worried.

"Kai, if anyone is lurking around late enough to actually see me sleeping against my sisters' side, I think being inappropriate will be the least of our worries" Elsa said as the mattress was set near Anna and Elsa helped make it up.

"Besides there is nowhere safer in this kingdom than next to my sister" Elsa said as she shifted her dress to a nightgown and crawled into the new bed, snuggling into her sisters' side with a sigh.

"Now, story" Elsa commanded.

"Yes, your highness" Anna all but snorted.

"Room for a few more?" Kristoff asked walking up with Sven and Olaf. Kristoff threw down his sleeping roll and getting it ready laid down on Anna's other side.

"Wow, you make a nice bed" Kristoff said as Olaf laid down next to him and Sven laid down on his other side.

"You guys?" Anna asked.

"Tell us a story Anna" Olaf asked.

"Fine, but I already told Elsa how I got my powers, so I'll summarize it for you" Anna said.

"Where was I?" Anna asked.

"Dunbroch?" Elsa prompted.

"Right, my next jump was to Dunbroch, a Scottish kingdom around the same time as Berk" Anna said and told the story of how she met Merida, dug a hole into the earth and found both the stone of earth and a sword.

"You were almost crushed by a cave, that must have been scary" Olaf said.

"Not really" Anna said.

"So that was the test?" Elsa asked.

"Partly. The test was coming to terms with blaming myself for you shutting me out" Anna said.

"The more I blamed myself for what happened the heavier the ceiling got" Anna explained.

"Merida helped me realize to not take so much weight on myself" Anna said.

"Sounds like a she'd make a good big sister" Olaf said, and Elsa found herself tensing up.

"Yeah, I mean she had three brothers about my age back then, so she was a big sister." Anna said.

"We made a strong connection. I really miss her sometimes" Anna sighed lost in thought and forgetting who was there as Elsa had to swallow a surge of jealousy at a girl she has never met.

"So, have you thought about visiting her again?" Elsa asked.

"I don't know. I mean we'd be the same age, or I might actually be a little older, and that would be really awkward" Anna said.

"So, what happened next?" Olaf asked.

"I returned home and trained for the next two years" Anna said and explained how both Borealis and Terra trained her in more magic and how to fight.

"So along with learning everything Elsa was learning you were also learning magic and combat. Must have been rough" Kristoff said.

"It was. There were days I was so tired I could barely move, but it was also fun. Those were the best years of my life" Anna said.

"You really are amazing" Elsa thought. As much as she was praised for her natural abilities, she couldn't imagine taking on the workload Anna just described with such fondness.

"So, you were about what, nine when you set off again?" Kristoff asked.
"Yeah, to Corona to find the heart of fire which Aunt Primrose had" Anna said.

"What?" Elsa asked shocked.

"Um…yeah, both mom and Aunt Primrose were dragonborn, but lost their powers when Oroboros fell" Anna said.

"Mother actually helped me with my lessons later one. She was almost as good a teacher as Bor was" Anna said.

"Which is why I don't get why she couldn't help you?" Anna sighed.

"We can talk about that later; you were going to corona?" Elsa asked.

"Right, the problem was that I was going to jump into the future for the first time" Anna said.

"You told me you jumped into the future" Elsa said.

"Right, the catch was this first time I was going to jump only a few years into the future. If there is one rule that was hammered into me, it was not to mess with your own timeline if you can avoid it" Anna explained.

"But you could have jumped back and stopped the accident" Elsa said.

"You're getting ahead of yourself. I didn't get my memories back yet" Anna said.

"So, I flew to corona, but along the way I found a tower and someone very interesting" Anna said and told of her meeting with Rapunzel, and how they parted.

"How sad" Olaf said.

"Don't worry, we met up again sooner than I thought" Anna said and told of her jump into the future and how she met Rapunzel again.

"For her it had been years" Anna said.

"I'm finding it hard to wrap my head around this" Kristoff said.

"Yeah, it's best not to think about it too hard" Anna laughed.

"So, did you find the heart of fire?" Olaf asked.

"Yes, and more. Once I touched the heart of fire, it burned the troll magic away and returned all my memories" Anna said.

"That's when everything changed" Anna explained.

"And I think that's a good place to stop" Anna said earning groans from everyone including Elsa.

"It's late and you both have to get up early" Anna said.

"Alright Scheherazade, good night" Kristoff said.

"I'm surprised you know who Scheherazade is" Elsa joked and only heard a grunt from the other side as she settled down to sleep. The next day the soreness was almost gone, and the itch was completely gone, so Anna turned back into a human to help Elsa with her work taking breaks every now and then to turn back into a dragon for an hour or two when the soreness got too much.

"Elsa, I'm going stir crazy" Anna whined giving Elsa a doe eyed look that was impossible to say no to. By the end of the day Anna was starting to feel back to normal though transforming into a dragon was still a minor relief.

"I think I'm through the worst of it" Anna said stretching and extending her wings which had grown by another foot.

"I hope so" Kristoff said.

"Are you calling me fat?' Anna asked, an amused glint in her eye.

"No, your beautiful whatever size you are" Kristoff joke back and before he could move Anna shot out her long tongue and slicked him from bottom to top.

"Oh, thank you very much" Kristoff said wiping some of her drool off him.

"I thought you liked my spit?" Anna asked laughing.

"in small doses" Kristoff shot back.

"Alright, that's enough" Elsa said feeling a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach at the display and called for dinner. Afterward everyone settled down again and waited for the next part of the story.

"Now this is where the story gets a little dark" Anna sighed.

"I really don't know if I should tell you this part before bed" Anna wondered.

"Don't worry, we can handle it" Kristoff said.

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep wondering how dark things got. It's better knowing" Elsa said.

"Alright, you asked for it" Anna said and explained what happened after her memories were restored, how Rapunzel her Aunt and Ventia comforted her.

"It must have been awful" Elsa whispered.

"It wasn't my best day" Anna sighed.

"I can't imagine how angry you must have been" Elsa whispered.

"Anger was the least of it. Sadness, confusion, wondering why was part of it too" Anna said.

"you must have hated us" Elsa said.

"Hated me" Elsa thought to herself her heart clenching.

"I could never hate any of you." Anna said sincerely.

"How can you not hate us, after what we did to you?" Elsa asked.

"I'll get to that" Anna said and continued her story about how after recovering at Corona castle she and Ventia continued onward to find the last stone.

"you didn't think about coming home?" Elsa asked.

"I knew that if I did it so soon after regaining my memories it would be bad" Anna sighed.

"So, this was when I landed in the future" Anna said and explained how he met Jack Frost.

"Wait, the Jack Frost, the spirit of winter?" Kristoff asked.

"The one and only" Anna said exasperated.

"Spirit of winter?" Elsa asked.

"He's a magical being that can control ice and snow like you" Anna said and explained about Jack and the guardians.

"Unfortunately, as fun as he can be, he's also smug, thoughtless, reckless, and just plain irritating" Anna said.

"Wow, I didn't think you could dislike anyone this much except for Hans" Kristoff said.

"If you ever meet him, you'll understand" Anna said.

"Guys we're missing the most important part of the story" Olaf said.

"Anna…met…Santa!" Olaf cried.

"Yeah, that was fun" Anna said as she described her ride to the north pole and Santa's workshop. She went on to explain about how the final stone was moved and how Santa took her to find it.

"Wait, you were going to face the darkling mirror?" Kristoff asked and Anna nodded.

"That sounds bad" Olaf said.

"It's one of the most dangerous magical artifacts in existence. It digs into your soul and takes every bad thought, every negative emotion and turns it into a monster that rips you apart" Kristoff said in a scary tone that made Olaf shake.

"OW! Hey" He cried as Anna whacked him in the head with the tip of her tail.

"So, what was your monster?" Olaf asked and Anna stayed silent, not knowing how to explain what happened.

"It was me wasn't it?" Elsa asked.

"Elsa how can you say that?" Olaf asked.

"Because it's true" Anna answered.

"It was you, but it wasn't. It was…. how I thought you saw me" Anna explained as Elsa came to a blinding realization.

"I…had a dream once, a dream that seemed so real. I imagined that I was fighting you in a strange ice cave, but it wasn't me. I was saying awful cruel things that I would never say, as if there was someone else controlling me until in a final clash with our magics, you burned away the darkness that was controlling me in a blaze of white light" Elsa said describing her favorite dream that she always thought was a dream.

"I still think about it from time to time" Elsa said as Anna bent her head and stared at her with one large eye.

"I'm sorry" Anna said.

"For what?" Elsa asked.

"For dragging you into my problems without meaning too. I never knew" Anna said.

"Anna, you don't know how much comfort I took from that dream" Elsa said smiling.

"The sight of you standing so strong, bearing up under anything that my magic could throw at you, I thought it was just a fantasy created by me, but knowing that's what really happened, that you can face anything I throw at you, that I can never accidentally hurt you again, means more than you can imagine" Elsa said.

"Yeah, you are basically immune to her powers, now aren't you?" Kristoff asked.

"More or less. I mean that shadow was a lot weaker than Elsa was back then but fighting her was still one of the toughest fights of my life" Anna said.

"So, what happened after the fight?" Elsa asked.

"Ventia took me on vacation" Anna said.