Frozen Without THE KING (pre-accident) (unfinished)

"Be quiet, Anna," Elsa whispered to her sister. Anna was kicking her legs, leaning right to left and humming. Normally, this would be fine, but today was not a day for being happy.

 

Elsa's mother leaned over to her younger daughter. "She's right, Anna," she choked. "You need to be quiet and pay your respects to your father. He's not coming back, you know."

 

Anna looked up at her mother, her big, 4-years-old eyes full of questions. "Why's that?"

 

Her mother shook her head. "Now's not the time for that. Just be quiet for right now. We'll explain later."

 

Anna held her sister's hand. "What does momma mean?" She asked her sister.

 

Elsa just shook her head and sadly whispered, "You'll find out later."

--

After the funeral was over, the woman and her two girls sat in a carriage, headed back to the castle.

 

"Anna, do you remember when your father went on that hunting trip the other day?" the queen asked her youngest child.

 

Anna nodded. "Yeah. Did he get a big deer for us?" Her innocence never seemed to end.

 

The queen looked visibly confused and startled that her young daughter wasn't grasping this concept. "N-no, Anna. He was accidentally shot with a crossbow. He died almost immediately."

 

Anna sat silent for a moment. "Oh," she finally muttered, looking at the floor. Elsa put her hand on her sister's.

 

"It'll be alright," she said with a small, regretful smile. "We'll survive somehow."

 

The queen turned to hide a tear from her daughters. She was proud of them for being so brave.

Anna jumped on her sister. "Come on," she goaded the sleeping figure.

 

"Go back to sleep," her sister murmured, trying to shake her sister off.

 

"I can't," her sister replied. "The sky's awake, so I'm awake, so I have to play!"

 

Elsa finally shoved Anna off. "Go play by yourself," she said, a little more awake.

 

Anna was silent for a moment. Finally, Elsa heard, "Do you wanna build a snowman?"

 

Elsa smiled and got up. "Alright, alright."

 

The two went down to the big room downstairs, Elsa having to quiet her sister multiple times.

 

Elsa turned to Anna. "Ready?"

 

"Always!" her sister practically yelled in excitement.

 

Elsa twirled her hands around to create a snowball and then threw it up in the air. It exploded, sending bits of snow all around the room. Anna giggled.

 

Elsa stomped the ground to create ice, and her sister slid around, laughing gleefully. Hoping for more fun, she created a snowbank, where the two created a snowman.

 

"Hi, I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs" Elsa said, talking as the snowman.

 

Anna gave the snowman a hug. "I love you, Olaf!" She said.

 

Anna then turned and jumped on the top of the snowbank. "Catch me," she yelled as she jumped, trusting her sister. Elsa sent some snow to catch Anna's fall, which Anna used to jump again, higher. Elsa struggled to keep up as her sister kept climbing her snow pillars. Anna leapt off of a particularly high one, making Elsa a bit nervous.

 

"W-wait," she said, as she moved about, calculating.

Elsa was about to put down another pillar for Anna when she slipped. Afraid for her sister, she wildly sent some magic in her sister's direction. She watched in horror as it struck Anna in the head, knocking her sister out cold. Her sister hit the snowbank and rolled a bit.

 

Elsa got up and hurried to her sister. "Anna, are you okay?" she asked, shaking her now pale and unconscious sister. She got no response.

 

"Momma," she cried, not knowing what to do. "Momma!!"

 

Her mother entered the room and stopped when she saw Anna laying on Elsa's lap, then hurried over and felt Anna's head, noticing the white streak "She's ice cold. What have you done?" she asked, looking at her eldest daughter. "We can't stand another thing like this in this family. Not so soon after your father." She bit her lip. "I'm sorry, I just....don't know what to do in this situation."

 

Elsa looked up at her mother, the tears streaming down her face. "You mean, we can't do anything?" She looked down at her sister. "I'm sorry, Anna. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen."

 

The queen looked to the side, thinking of something, anything they could do. Finally she turned back to Elsa. "Let's get her in a warm bath. That might help."

 

The two carried the young girl to the bathing room, calling for maids to heat the water and fill the bath as they undressed her.

 

The queen sent Elsa to bed, while she herself watched over Anna.

By morning, the girl's skin had become less pale, but she wasn't waking up. Frightened, her mother called for a priest.

 

"My daughter has been cursed," she told the clergyman. "Can you do anything?"

 

"I'll try," was all he said. At the end of the day, he not only left the castle, but also the church.

 

The queen was distraught, and was unsure of what to do. Elsa was in her room, crying over the loss of her sister, repeating, "I didn't mean to do it, I didn't mean to hit her." over and over.

 

One of the maids approached the queen. "Milady, maybe you could try the trolls," she whispered, her Scottish accent making it hard to hear her suggestion.

 

The queen looked up at the maid. "Try the trolls?" she repeated. "But those are myths."

 

"So they say," she whispered. "But I've seen 'em. And if anything could help your daughter, it'd be them."

 

The queen thought it over. It was as good of a chance as any. Trolls would help, if they existed. She looked at the maid. "Take me to them."

--

The two women and the girl stood in the clearing where the trolls were rumored to live. Only rocks and boulders littered the coliseum, and the queen felt like a fool.

 

"Oh, trolls," the maid cried out. "We have a child who has been hit by magic. Please help her."

 

The rocks moved and became small people. They huddled around the maid, who carried Anna.

 

"Great grandpabby would know what to do," one said. "Go grab him."

One troll rolled away behind a bend. It returned, another rock following it. The other rock made its way through the maze of trolls and revealed itself as an older troll. It touched Anna's head.

 

"Magic?" he asked. The queen nodded. "How long has she been like this?" His voice betrayed worry and uncertainty.

 

"About a day," the queen said. "Are you able to help her?"

 

The troll looked down at the ground. "I'll try," he replied, unsure if he really could fix the girl or not. "You're lucky it wasn't her heart; I wouldn't be able to do anything." He closed his eyes and concentrated.

 

"I can see her memories," he narrated. "But that's it." He opened his eyes and removed his hand. "I can try one more thing, but it'll have to be quick."

 

"Yes, anything," the queen replied.

 

The troll turned to Elsa. "Little lady, could you do something for me?"

 

She looked at the troll unsure of what to say. She looked at her mother, who nodded. "A-alright."

 

"Good, now come here," the troll said. Elsa came and stood in front of the troll. He placed his hand on her head and closed his eyes in concentration. "Oh wow, you've certainly been through a lot. First your father, now your sister. And you feel absolutely terrible. Yes, child. I know. This was a terrible accident. Yes, your sister should not have jumped on that snow bank." The troll slowly moved Elsa over to Anna. "I know, child."

Elsa started to cry, going through all of those feelings again. A teardrop dropped onto Anna's face and the troll removed his hand and opened his eyes. He looked at Anna intently, and Elsa did the same, wiping tears from her face.

 

After several minutes of nothing, the troll turned back to the queen. "I've done all I can. Unfortunately, you came too late. Your daughter shall stay like that forever." He turned and rolled back behind the bend.

 

The other trolls looked at the queen. Almost as if it were choreographed, they all said, "We're sorry for your loss."

 

The queen lost it, tears flooded her face. "Anna," she cried through sobs. "Anna!"

 

The maid gulped back her own tears, still holding the frozen girl.

 

Elsa stood stunned. It took a while for it to finally hit her, and when it did, she dropped onto the ground and wept.

 

The three stayed like this for several minutes until the queen gathered herself. "Come on," she said, feigning regality. She turned and got into the carriage that had taken her there. The maid followed. Just as Elsa was about to get in, the queen shut the door and had the servant drive off.

 

Elsa stood, watching the carriage disappear into the distance, her mouth open in shock and disbelief.

 

A troll came up to the young girl. "I'm sorry, miss. Would you like to stay with me?"

 

Elsa nodded, and the troll led her to a small nest made of rocks. "Good," the troll said, looking at the girl. "Don't worry, I'll love you forever."

Every day for the next year, Elsa stood by the edge of the troll's land and wait for someone to pick her up. She finally came to terms with it, and lived with the trolls. Another troll had adopted a little boy named Kristoff, and the two were good friends. He was impressed by her magic, and loved it; though Elsa was sure it was mainly because he was a junior ice harvester.

 

The Great Grandpabby taught Elsa more about her magic and how to use it, and under his supervision, Elsa made amazing things out of ice; giant suits of armor, a small shack that she and Kristoff would play in, and even a 2:1 scale model of the troll's coliseum.

 

After a while, she forgot about her sister, thanks to the trolls (and probably a little of Grandpabby's memory-changing magic). Eventually she became as happy as she'd ever been, and even had Kristoff.

 

But of course it had to end. On one stormy day, a messenger from the palace came out to the troll's area. "Princess Elsa," he called. "I have a message. Your mother has been killed."

 

She came out of hiding and approached the servant. "What?" she asked, not believing it.

 

"Your mother went to go visit your aunt in Corona. The ship encountered a storm and sunk. There...there were no survivors."

 

"No," she whispered, unable to make any other sound. Her mother had abandoned her, sure, but this still shocked her.

 

"It's true. And you're the only living heir, so you must come back to the castle." The servant held his hand out to her.

 

Elsa turned back to her new family before returning her gaze to the messenger. "Alright, I'll go with you."

 

"Elsa," Kristoff called. "Are you really going to desert us? I mean, we're--"

 

The troll that had taken Elsa in all those years ago shushed him. "It's okay," she said. "Go on, darling. Just be sure to visit."

 

Elsa smiled. "I will," she said as she mounted the horse and sat behind the man.

--

The two approached the castle. Elsa got down and smoothed her dress. "Thanks...." she waited for a name.

 

"Hans," he said, not missing a beat.

 

"Thanks, Hans," she said again before running into the castle. She stopped when she saw the statue. It was all blue, and Elsa wondered what it was made of. Anna, lay on a pedestal, in the exact same height and pose as when Elsa had last seen her. Her heart dropped.

 

She quickly turned away and entered the building she hadn't entered or seen in several years. Once inside, many maids looked at her and her odd troll clothes. Some suppressed giggles.

 

"Come here, miss. We'll get'cha washed up," one called, pulling Elsa along. They pulled off her old clothes, put her in the bathtub, got her washed up, and changed into a new gown. Then they pulled her down to the main room.

 

"So, you're twenty-one now, right?" a maid asked. Elsa didn't see which one.

 

"Uh, no; I'm sixteen." The maids all looked at each other.

 

"Oh, that's a problem then. You can't have your coronation until you're twenty-one. That's the rules!"

 

Elsa whipped around.

 

"Forget the rules," she yelled. "This country needs a ruler, right? And I'm the only one here. Now you shut your traps and take me to my coronation!"

 

The maids looked at each other. "Hmm, must be that time of the month," one whispered. The others laughed. Elsa stormed off.

 

She approached the statue of her sister and touched it. It was made of ice; pure, beautiful ice that Elsa herself was jealous of.

 

"They say that this young girl was struck by a witch," a voice said from behind her. She turned to see Hans. "She turned into ever-melting ice. The queen put her on this pedestal in hopes that maybe one day she'll be awakened and that the curse shall be undone."

 

"I-is that true?" Elsa asked hesitantly.

 

Hans smiled and shook his head. "Nah, I made that up. One of the best sculpters came out and chiseled that from a block of ice. Some of the villagers watched him do it."

 

"O-oh." The disappointment hit her hard and she leaned against the pedestal for support.

 

"Sorry," Hans said, noticing her sadness. "I didn't know it would hit you that hard." He smiled to try to cheer her up.

 

She straightened and shrugged it off. "No, it's fine. You're fine. I've...gotta go. Coronation and all, you know."

 

"Yeah," he said, watching as she left and headed towards the cathedral.

 

Elsa entered to find the place empty, besides the priest. She sighed at the thought of being alone.

 

"I'm sorry miss, but your coronation isn't for a while yet."