This is the prequel (or interquel between the Frozen 2 movie and the start of my first sequel, Book 1 : 'Frozen Again: 'Faith, Hope, and Love') to my 'Frozen Again Trilogy' that I have so much gratitude for all of your love and support in my writing over these past 6 wonderful years at Fanfiction together. Thanks for reading with an open mind for some minor tweaking to bridge between where our story begins, dear Frozen friends! — HarukaKou

We do not own 'Frozen' or any of its characters.

"Frozen Again Prequel"

"And Now These Three Remain"

Part 1 :

'Without You by My Side"

Once upon a time, there was a breathtaking kingdom which Almighty God placed in the far, far North corner of the world. There the mysterious midnight sun and ethereal polar nights danced beneath the mystical veil of the aurora borealis.

In this beautiful Land of the Midnight Sun lived a special pair of siblings. Sisters, both special and unique, who possessed an unparalleled faith in one another and the gift called 'selfless love' that never gave up on anyone, especially each other.

By a hard-fought path full of destiny both Elsa and Anna Bernadotte had become Queens of this extraordinary kingdom. Each fearless, brave young woman was, in their own right, a wondrous example of heart, a brilliant leader of character, a faithful caretaker of the land and the people entrusted to them which they both loved.

After a heartbreaking journey where sisterly devotion won the day, the difficult lonely nights of separation – one sister left to rule in Arendelle, the other remaining in the far-off Enchanted Forest to bridge the gap between humans and the spirit world –– had taken a toll on Anna and Elsa both.

It was hard without one another to share their daily lives and talk to and laugh with and enjoy life as best friends and confidantes day by day in these critical maturing stages. Particularly after the unhappy experience of being forced to part in their youth had reared its unwanted head now again as Elsa and Anna entered womanhood.

Thus was each compassionately generous thought which beat within the heavy hearts of Queen Elsa and Queen Anna, who were raised to be too kind and caring to ever complain of their own heartaches.

At least out loud.

Elsa's uncanny ice magic powers had kept the girls apart all through their formative youth at their kingly father Agnarr's well-meaning, yet faulted decision to shelter both of his beloved children safe until his elder daughter had learned control of her cryokinetics behind the closed gates.

After years that stole away the sisters' only lifeline – their loving parents, King Agnarr and dear mother Queen Iduna, it took a convoluted Coronation day, a rebellious Ice Queen, a failed Southern Isles Prince's coup d'etat some five years ago—left a kinship love that always endured for Anna and Elsa to be reunited as they should be at last.

But after a mere three short years of good times in Arendelle with a promising future in sisterly bliss, another trial of the past ruined the peace and tranquility of the two young women now just on the cusp of enjoying life to its fullest potential, together and free at last, at the ages of 22 and 25 with liberating excitement around every corner.

Now, this recent trial that a cruel grandfather they never met, the selfless mother and heroic father they had lost, and the elements of the wind, earth, water and sky, had set into motion enveloped these two special daughters of Norway.

Elsa and Anna were thrown in a whirlwind of danger and intrigue amid mystical energies and forces of nature that only the miraculously gifted first child of a good Arendellian father and brave Northuldran mother who bridged the gap between the two worlds could tame.

But only at the cost of that most special young woman's liberty to choose a normal family life in her home, and rather sacrifice her freedom to the mystical duties that bound her as the legendary Fifth element of harmony.

The dutiful leader in Elsa Bernadotte was almost resigned to forever serve as bridge between the humans through Anna, and protecting the spirits of the mysterious Enchanted Forest.

But it broke the now warm heart of the loyal sister in Elsa Bernadotte to be so far away from the little sister she adored. Not to mention her homesick pangs for the kingdom of Arendelle she was born and reared to love and dutifully rule as Queen of the cherished people held close to her heart.

On top of all that, Elsa wasn't even remotely ready to entertain what the tingling sensations in her full heart meant whenever her mind wandered to thoughts of a certain handsome –

Handsome?! Where did THAT come from?!

-red-headed young man she thought was long time gone, merely a bad memory, from an adventure or two ago in the past which seemed a different lifetime ago now.

But after encountering Ahtohallen's mystical river of her most important memories again, Elsa didn't understand why Prince Hans's charismatic signature ran so deep within the channels of her mind.

Along with his pervasively lilting tenor voice where the prince seemed to leave an indelible mark on her subconscious as Elsa yet heard his words over and over again echo in her ears when she was in solitude, as was the case so often now.

"'Your Majesty, if I may assure you...'
'Queen Elsa! Don't be the monster they think you are!'
'If you would only just stop the winter…'
Bring back summer, please.'
'I will do what I can.'

Feeling vulnerable against such a man, even as an all-powerful elemental, Elsa shakes her pearlescent head in yet another attempt to dismiss the unmistakable mental signature the thirteenth Prince of the Southern Isles apparently left on her.

Oh, Anna. You'd probably laugh at me for this. How I wish I could be back in Arendelle with you so you could do just that! If only to sneak into your room and cuddle up under the covers to tell my dear little sister all my haunted heart's troubles which I can't understand on my own. Not without your clearheaded optimism to guide me, Anna.

The elements are peace with me here, and the Saami who stayed behind are helpful and kind. However…

I miss you so very much, Anna… I would give anything to be back with you in Arendelle… Nothing and no one could ever replace having my sister at my side to warm my once cold heart…

But I mustn't complain. This is my destiny…

…isn't it…?

Raising her icy fingers up towards the southern Norwegian sky where she knew her beloved sister, soulmate, and best friend was no doubt still slumbering beneath, Queen Elsa, in all her wintry white ethereal glory gazes up through the veil of the Enchanted Forest, longing to return to Anna and be part of that enticing summer in Arendelle once again…

"Elsa? Brrr! You've got cold hands, big sisty! Don't hog all the blanket!"

Sleepily talking to Elsa as if her sister was here having one of their slumber parties again, the ginger girl was shivering in her rolled up sleeves, pale green nightdress which she had ditched the jacket thereof during a hot sweaty night.

But now a stripped down Anna woke up as cold as ice.

Having become unusually overheated under her bedcovers in the middle of summer time, the slumbering young woman had unceremoniously discarded her outer nightwear. But now awakening a little more than chilly, Anna deliriously murmurs as she stirs from her canopied bed.

Actually, it was Elsa's canopy bed, Elsa's room, that the lonely-for-her sister young girl had moved into, just to be closer to her absent sister's scent and sights and aura in some small way again.

"Cold-cold-cold-cold!" Instinctively, the energetic gal leaps up to collect another blanket or sweater or article of clothing from the closet dresser. That's when her dizzy trembling hands touch upon the knit yarn folds of a piece of fabric so near and dear to her heart that the girl forgets all about her shivering.

"My birthday shawl…" With a soft smile on the verge of tears, Anna sentimentally recalls how her adored big sister Elsa – during the first of those three wonderfully precious years they were permitted to live together side-by-side in sweet sisterhood– had made her 20th birthday the perfect-est day in every way.

Even though Elsa was suffering from a pretty severe cold at the time, the tall blonde Queen had never shirked from her plans to give her little sis an unforgettable celebration.

From the fun sunflower decorated courtyard to the incredible kingdom wide party, to the invigorating scavenger hunt filled with presents of every shape and size, Queen Elsa had painted the town BIRTHDAY for Princess Anna that year.

And this colorfully woven shawl from Oaken's movable kiosk store was the icing on the ice cream cake for Anna. Because at the end of the day, when Elsa finally succumbed to admit her frozen fever, Anna had the opportunity at last to care for her dearest friend and most special person in the world, putting her gifted warm shawl around Elsa's shivering shoulders then.

And that was the greatest present to Anna of all, the chance for her to show her love and care for her best friend of a big sister by nursing Elsa back to health for a week full of precious days she thought would never end.

It was the best of times, just the two of them, side-by-side slowing down from the grindstone of castle duties and governing a nation to just be 'Elsa and Anna' loving sisters again, caring for each other, talking, laughing and sitting on the bed together dreaming of normal things.

Things like fun trips and picnics, Olaf hijinx with Marshmallow and the snowgies, Kristoff announcing to the world of his love and calling Anna his 'Baby' at the party in public that left prim and proper Elsa reeling…

To Anna's memory that was the finest of weeks, despite Elsa's illness, because she kept her very indispensable sibling close to her, just to be her sister again and not have to share her with the citizens of Arendelle, all the time.

Or the rest of kingdom, for that matter. Elsa in demand was constantly busy enough as the all-important Queen of Arendelle. But it was even worse now that she had to become the Fifth Elemental spirit who bridged the gap between humans and the elemental world.

Because it took her way up there in the lonely, desolate, distant Enchanted Forest to keep in check those needy elemental spirits.

And you left me here to be Queen of Arendelle in your place!? I don't know what the heck I'm doing half the time! But I'll keep trying, because you believed in me, Elsa.

Just like I will always believe in you…

With the shawl Elsa had given her wrapped tightly around her sighing shoulders, Queen Anna trots over in her bare feet to Elsa's bedroom window. With her hands spread over the clear glass, Anna's forehead touches the cool panes as tears forming in her watery eyes trickle down her cheeks.

Though I've been holding on tight to you, Elsa, I miss you being physically, actually here so much! I know it's selfish, but I'd give anything to have you living in Arendelle with me, permanently like before!

Then you can be the real Queen of Arendelle again! I really suck at making all of these tough decisions, wading through tons of important paperwork, meeting so many dull dignitaries and the like!

The only good part through all this has been Kristoff. He's stood by me through thick and thin, and been really supportive, even on my bad days when Kai was nitpicking and had me tearing my hair out.

Oh, did I mention Kristoff has recently been oh-so-gently pushing for me to set our wedding day? You know, in his mellow, beat-around-the-bush kinda way. But it's been so nuts here these past months of me tying to get used to being Queen, and all the full schedule duties it entails, that I asked Kristly to put our marriage on hold a bit.

He hasn't minded much, probably 'cause I think he's a little nervous about being 'Prince Consort' to the Queen now, too. Poor guy just got his head wrapped around being the second Princess' hubby! He never imagined I'd be upgraded to Queen!

Heck, neither did I!

Well, it's now been almost nine months since Kristoff proposed… He seems to be hinting it's time now to get married since I've more than come of age on my 22nd birthday last week…

The one you weren't able to come to, Elsa, because Nokk and Bruni were playing tricks on each other again…

But I refuse to walk down the aisle with my guy without you here by my side, big sisty!

If you just say that you can come, you'll save Kristly from expiring from his long wait for me! Plus, you can take over where you left off as Queen…at least while I'm off honeymooning across Arendelle with my big guy, right?!

Then I bet you'll want to stay forever when you see how much you've missed it! You were so good at being Queen, 'cause you always liked reading and bookwork and staying so prim inside the castle stuff, while I loved running free in the wildflowers outdoors!

Lil' ole me just wants to be a lil' ole wife in a lil' ole cottage in my own lil' ole way again. No more of this crazy responsible Regal Queen charade for me! If just for a little while of being liberated newlyweds…

Pretty pleeease?

"Ooh! Letter time! I know I just sent one via Gale, whom Elsa said was feeling a tad under the weather with a summer cold—those stink—but…If a pre-wedding teaser doesn't get Elsa home for me, nothing will!" Plottingly rubbing her hands together, her chill assuaged by the sudden energetic burst of an idea's excitement, Anna rushes over to Elsa's desk and rifles through it for pen and paper supplies.

Once gathered, Anna plops back on the bed and starts to write furiously on the pad of paper she rests on her knee as she recites aloud.

"Dear Elsa," Anna starts, chewing on the end of the fancy pencil she'd found in one of Elsa's neat drawers.

"Kristoff is in his 'righteous romancer' mode and wants to marry me now!" Right out of the starting gate, bluntly honest Anna's hand writes that plea for her sister/ best friend/ better conscience almost automatically on its own.

Then, with a girlish giggle at the humor invoking statement, the rest of Anna's letter goes into detail about her upcoming wedding to said-impatient Kristoff that would be irrevocably postponed until Elsa arrived.

"Please come home soon…" The more emotional entreaty is whispered on Anna's moist from tears lips as she seals the missive's envelope addressed to 'Queen Elsa of the Enchanted Forest' with a kiss.

Then the lively ginger – looking more like a guilty schoolgirl than a royal queen in her bare feet, disheveled nightie, and bedraggled hair – scurries down the flight of steps in the dusky dawn to place her letter on the official-looking 'Queen's Dispatch' mail table at the base of the stairs in the Great Hall.

Magic element on sick leave or not, I'll send my fastest guardsmen to deliver this note up to you in no time, Elsa! Hey! What're the perks of being Queen if I don't throw my weight around every now and then?

"Ooh-oops!" Mighty Queen of Arendelle or no, Anna was still a little clumsy as she over-calculated and knocks the delicate flower vase down where it sat next to the silver tray for the letters on the table.

"Huh? Anna? You couldn't sleep either, huh?" A mellow voice catches with one hand the valuable porcelain vase and rights it onto the little round table in the hall without missing a beat.

There was her savior, Kristoff Bjorgman, Anna's hunky mountainman of a fiancé in his olive green nightrobe, emerging in surprise from the Arendelle Library doorway when his keen ears picked up the commotion.

He had apparently been up and at it all night in the quiet reference room on this pre-dawn morning.

"Kristly? What were you doing in Papa's Library this early? Looking up something in our letter 'C' encyclopedia? I'm surprised Olaf hasn't spirited them all away. Must be important for you to be researching this time of the morning, looking so fine in your nightrobe." Anna makes the comment in a whisper, having little to no embarrassment to be caught seen by her guy in such an unkempt state of sleepwear. Especially if it meant she could view him in his guacamole lime yummy one.

Her curiosity outweighed both that and her sad exhaustion when Anna's keen eyes spy the Encyclopedia Britannica's third volume tucked in the blond Ice Harvester's arm.

"I…umm…No, not that important…Just…uh…studying some of the books to check out some stuff, umm… 'cause Sven looks like he might be coming down with, uh, con-junk-ti…Ummm…Con-junc-ti-vitis. Yeah. Sven's got a bad case of uh, that." After a wild scan of the previous page's ocular pink eye disease, Kristoff guiltily slams shut the reference book he had really been looking up the duties of being a Prince 'Consort'.

It had taken the down-to-earth boy a while to get used to that idea, but since Elsa had remained in the Enchanted Forest for close to a year now, with only a few sparse visits, it was looking like Anna would permanently have to maintain her duties here as Queen.

And that meant that if he was going to marry Anna and be her husband like he so wanted to— for years now, Kristoff would be required to step up to his unexpected and undesirable role as the Queen of Arendelle's partner.

Which he had heard Councilor Kai discussing with the Archbishop on his recent visit, would put this orphaned hardworking lad in the inimitable role of something called a 'Prince Consort'.

Now, Kristoff may not have been educated in regular schooling – nor could he be called 'worldly' in the ways of woman wooing, for that matter, either – but his adopted Troll Mom Bulda made sure he could both read and write, even the big, snobbish words.

So, Kristoff had a pretty basic idea of what a Queen's 'consort' meant. The hands-on type of guy just was too darn embarrassed to ask anyone what else a grand 'Prince Consort' would have to do in the kingdom.

The more his testosterone filled hormones pestered Anna about consolidating their wedding day, the more Kristoff then had to scramble to once and for all investigate what would be expected of him as Prince Consort to the Queen of Arendelle.

It's sounding like the opposite of me from what I've read. What if I blow it?

All I know is that I'm crazy lucky to have you, my brave and beautiful, gorgeous Anna. But are you, as Queen, just plain crazy to have me? Sometimes I wish that you and I could just sneak off back to Troll Valley and get married without all this royal pomp and circumstance.

But I realize you have your duties, and I totally will support you in making the right choices for your kingdom, Baby. Either way, I will love you with all my might, Anna, 'til the day I die.

So I need to marry you.

"He-eyy, Kristly? Earth to Kristoff! Did you just zone out there on me? I thought I was the dizzy one in the early morning." Anna obviously had been trying to call her deep in thought fella to attention as she waves a hand in front of his deliriously lovesick eyes. "I was just saying that I hope Sven feels better soon."

"Oh, yeah, Sven. Sorry about that, Anna. Just thinking about you and me." The big blond sentimentally brushes several loose ginger strands of Anna's hair back behind her suddenly reddening ears.

"So have I, Kristly." Anna says breathily, taking a dangerous step towards her mountainman to be sandwiched between the stair post and his heavily breathing chest in just her light pale green nightie. "You and me. And our imminent wedding." Fearless Anna smiles as her lips seemed to enjoy stressing that last word that her young man has been eagerly awaiting for months.

"Our imminent wedding?" Gulp. Now the nervous one, Kristoff's voice cracks to a high C when his 'Feistypants' lives up to her moniker and runs a hand up to his bare chest peeking through his loosed nightrobe to tickle it.

"You've got that right. I've been thinking a lot lately. I have been so rotten to you, Kristoff, keeping you waiting this long as I got settled into being Queen. I'm not sure if I'll ever really get used to this all change. But one thing that never has changed is how I am sure about you. You always know me better than I know myself, Kristly. And you're so right about it being time. That's why I've been up writing this letter to Elsa to come home soon. Then we can get married, ASAP." Anna explains as she picks up the envelope from her dispatch table and waves it in front of Kristoff's crimson face.

"Let me take it up to her in my new racing sled. It'll be a great test for it and we'll be faster than the normal Arendelle mail service for sure! Whoo-whee! I'll go on a ride for my beautiful bride!" The big musclebound blond easily scoops up Anna by her tiny waist and swings her around in the air with a fun rhymed joik.

Kristoff had been patiently waiting for his gal's matrimonial green light these nine months or so since he mustered the guts to propose. And this journey to fetch his future sister-in-law from her caretaking of the other four elements would give his invigorated senses something useful to do in the meantime.

And at a safe distance from the castle he was thus far innocently cohabiting with his gorgeous and willing fiancée.

"Didn't you say Sven wasn't feeling well?" Anna just manages to sputter out her worry for her Rangifer friend's well-being.

"Nothing a few hundred kilometers' drive out in the wide open North country in this fine summertime couldn't cure, my love!" Gaining confidence with each word, Kristoff announces a little too loudly. But an amused Anna shushes him with a hand clamped over his mouth, lest he wake up their longtime advisor Minister Kai or Captain Mattias, the family's recently reinstated Captain of the Guard.

"If Sven and I start out right now, we'll be there in no time, and bring back Elsa quicker than you can say 'I do', I promise! That'll give you time, your Majesty, to set our marriage in the Church, with all the fixins, into motion, as only you can, Baby." Tossing off his green robe over Anna's mass of ginger curls head after getting so hot under the collar on this Summer dawn, Kristoff leans down to land a smacking wet kiss on the current 'Queen' of Arendelle's lips beneath the chaotic orange and green mess.

Then he snatches the letter from the deliriously smiling girl's fingers before her Ice Harvester high tails it out the door towards his reindeer's stall in the barn at full speed.

"But you're not even dressed." Watching an eagerly animated Kristoff practically trip over his own big square slippered feet down the path, Anna chuckles at how just one word from her could make her bare-chested guy in his jammie pants so spontaneously impetuous.

He's in love.

Just like me.

Please make those dreams of love come true for us soon, Elsa. I need you here to be my sister so we can hold on tight to each other again…

By the time Kristoff had told Sven of the abrupt trip north and saddled up the reindeer to the newly built, not yet even varnished racing sleigh the mountainman had personally designed, Anna had his bags packed.

"Here's a basket of food leftovers I found in the larder and water I filled in those canteens you gave me for our hikes to the mountains. I packed the few changes of road traveling clothes you own in this rucksack, Kristly. Definitely gotta get you some new undies for when I'm gonna do the laundry for my new husband." Anna giggles at the humorous memory of laughing as she rifled through Kristoff's meager drawers of stitched-up drawers, holey big knit socks and tattered working man's clothing after she snuck into his room just down the hall from hers to gather his traveling bags for him.

"Yeah…laundry for your new husband." Kristoff was sensitive and sweet enough to still blush at the notion of his Anna rummaging though his intimate articles of clothing enough to be familiar with their holey shabbiness.

Then her offer to wash them too was blowing his beyond embarrassed mind.

"I'll be back in two shakes of a reindeer's tail, Baby." Kristoff shakes off his humiliation to envelope his trembling lady in a big bear hug embrace when he notes how Anna had that far-off look in her eyes when she gazed northward.

"And your sister will be leading the way home." He adds, glad that brought a bright smile to his sweetheart's face as he mounts his sleek little two-seated racing sled Kristoff so dubbed 'Baby' in Anna's honor.

"Thank you, Kristly! I love you!" With a bolstering kiss planted on her fiancé's lips, Anna was so grateful to have such a caring, understanding guy who knew her life could never be complete without her beloved sister to watch her take the next big step in it.

"That's why you're gonna marry me!" The kiss inspired blond young man calls out to psyche himself for this long, lonesome journey ahead as Sven and 'Baby' speed away. "Watch out for her while I'm gone, Olaf!" He yells back to the blurry-eyed, eye rubbing snowman who appears beside Anna at the rear courtyard in the early summer Midnight Sun morn.

But Kristoff knew he was never alone, with good friends like Sven at his side and sweet Anna's love close to his heart all the while. After all she was his true north.

Hello, my dear Frozen Again friends!

This week has been a whirlwind for all of us in the Frozen universe, with the new 'Frozen 2' movie throwing quite a few chilled monkey wrenches into our story's previously explored past, particularly concerning Elsa & Anna's parents.

If you've been following my sequel series –(we were that close to the 3rd book's happy ending wedding of Hans and Elsa, I'm taking a little pause from!) –Queen Iduna's singing- the writers too include her as a gifted soprano in the movie- had played a mystical part of possessing healing powers due to her exposure in Corona as a girl to the Rapunculous sunflower's magic.

However, now that Disney has chosen for Queen Iduna to be of native Northuldra lineage, complete with some incredible 5th elemental bridge between the element spirit and humans, I've got some more rewriting to tackle.

But first, I think we'll go waaayy back to the beginning of my long tale with a little prequel to fill in how before my novel starts, Elsa has returned back to Arendelle from being the protector of the Enchanted Forest.

Her loving little sister was terribly missing her Elsa as much as the Ice Queen has been homesick and missing her, too. Anna's apparently been stringing Kristoff along from setting a wedding date, but it's high time they did! So Kristanna's wedding (how Book 1 of 'Frozen Again'– 'Faith, Hope, and Love' pretty much began ;) is the perfect foil for a certain big sister to come home, right?

Looks like weary of being 'Queen' Anna has some plans to try to keep her beloved best friend Elsa close, so she can hold on tighter to her!

After all, Elsa belongs in her home, with her dear ones near to love and support her, not sentenced to live in some far off distant kingdom of isolation! We all thought the Queen of the Ice had learned better than to conceal herself and her heart away, practically alone and so far away, separated from Anna again, now even worse in the far corners of her country, that needs her steady hand.

And maybe our Elsa can finally be allowed that happy ending of a normal life full of happiness and love and family she's prayed for with a certain handsome young Prince of the Southern Isles who deserves a second chance too, after being reformed with the Lord's forgiveness in true atonement…

So, I heartfully thank you for holding on tight to 'Frozen Again' through these necessary prequel rewrites I'll be weaving throughout the many chapters to keep our dearly loved 'Frozen Again' sapient to the wonderful fairytale of romance and Sisterly love of the 'Frozen' phenomenon going!

God keep you and all you love in our wonderful country safe and prosperous on this Thanksgiving Day the Almighty has blessed us all with!

Love and friendship,

HarukaKou

p.s. Did you see some reference to Kristloff's stunning 'Lost in the Woods' lyrics in this first installment of this prequel leading into 'Faith, Hope and Love'? Hunky Jonathan Groff really knocked it out of the park as the best song of the new movie! I love his smoothie mellow voice to kibbles and bits! He makes it all worthwhile!

p..p.s. As always, would love to hear your reviews! ^_^