Frozen Heart (Kristanna & Elsamaren)

Chapter 15 • Anna

"Kristoff this is impossible...how is it still here?" I ask.

"I have no idea. But maybe someone in town knows," he says, taking my hand. I grip his hand tight, turning my knuckles white.

We emerge on to one of the trails that leads into town and as we get closer to where the houses are, I see people excitedly returning to their homes.

"Princess Anna!" Someone exclaims. I jump and turn around.

"Annette! What's going on? How is the kingdom still here? I thought it got wiped out by the tidal wave!" I say as she takes my hands.

"It was so close miss. The wave must've been just two hundred yards from the castle when the queen emerged from it and created a wall of ice, saving the entire kingdom," Annette says with pure joy.

"The queen...? You mean, my sister, Elsa? She...she saved it? She's alive?" I ask, pulling from her.

"From what I could tell up in the cliffs, yes," Annette says. I turn to Kristoff, who's eyes are just as wide as mine.

"Thank you..." I say. She nods and returns to her husband and children on the porch of their home.

"That's impossible...she died Kristoff, right? She didn't make it," I say. I feel Kristoff's hand on my back, trying to comfort me.

"Normally I'd think you're right, but...the people do say the woman who saved the kingdom made a wall of ice to keep the water away. No one else in existence, besides Elsa, has ice powers," he says.

"We have to go back to the forest...she could be looking for me..." I say. I'm starting to sweat and my stomach is cramping up.

"Anna, are you okay?" Kristoff asks.

"I'm fine I just...I need to sit down for a minute..." I say, sitting down on the ground. He crouched next to me and

"Anna...it's been days since you've had food or water...you've been running around the forest...goodness you're burning up!" He says, feeling my forehead.

"I don't care...we have to find Elsa!" I say.

"We can find her later. You can be mad later but you need to get taken care of first," he says. He scoops me up bridal style and I start crying and hitting his chest. Naturally, it makes no difference because he's so big and buff.

"Kristoff we have to find Elsa! Please!" I cry.

"Anna you're going to kill yourself! Give it one day! Get rested and cleaned up and feel better. And we'll go back okay!" He says. I stop hitting his chest, but I don't stop crying as we get back to the castle. We're greeted by castle staff, asking us all kinds of questions about what happened. Kristoff sets me on my feet and between being sick and all the questions, my head starts spinning. And before I can answer anyone, I collapse to the floor, seeing people's feet as they rush to help me before blacking out.

•••••

My eyes slowly flutter open and I see Kristoff sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Hey there sleepyhead," he says.

"Hey," I say. My voice is raspy and my throat hurts.

"Want some water?" He asks. I nod and he helps me sit up and holds a cup to my lips. I take a couple sips and sit back against the pillows.

"How long was I out?"

"A couple days. The doctor stopped by a couple times with medicine."

"Any word from Elsa? Or has...has anyone seen her?"

"Nothing. I'm sorry, Anna."

I let out a sigh and take another sip of water.

"We have to go look for her," I say, not looking at Kristoff. I can feel him giving me a look. He won't let me go.

"Not yet. I promise you as soon as you're better, we will go look for her," he says.

"But Kristoff I-"

"Not until you're better. You could easily die if you go back out there like this. It's pretty much winter," he says. I look out the window and see the snow gently falling. I let out another sigh of defeat and scoot over to him, huddling against him and holding the blanket around me; and then I feel myself falling asleep.

"I've been asleep for two days and I'm tired," I say and laugh. Kristoff chuckles a bit too and holds me closer.

"I've been awake for two days taking care of you," he says.

"What? You need to get some rest!"

"I'm alright, really."

"No, you should rest," I insist.

"Okay," he says, standing up. "Will you be okay?"

I catch his hand and pull him back to the edge of the bed.

"Stay in here with me...please," I say. He hesitates for a minute, probably because when Elsa was here us being alone in the same room, even with open doors, was practically treason in her eyes. But she's not here anymore, and I don't want him to leave me alone.

He climbs into the bed with me and pulls the duvet over us. We've never laid together, other than the one time I had a nightmare and went to him. He pulls me close to him and wraps his arms around my waist from behind. I turn around to face him so we're nose to nose.

"I love you Anna," he says.

"I love you too, Kristoff..." I say. He presses his lips to mine softly and caresses my cheek. I bury my face against his chest and he puts his arms around me again, holding me against him.

"I'm not going anywhere Anna. I promise," he whispers. I'm half asleep, so I can't respond before I completely pass out, warm in his arms.

•••••

It's completely dark out the next time I wake up. Kristoff is still out cold. I quietly sit up and push the blankets off of me. The floor is super cold on my feet. I put on the slippers that are at my bedside and go into the bathroom. It's been too long since I've showered. I run my fingers through my hair before I use the comb. Man my hair is dirty. I turn on the water and draw a hot bath. Once the tub is full I undress and sit down in it, sinking all the way down to submerge my face. I come back up and wipe my face. Man it feels nice to wash up. I use some shampoo and scrub my scalp until it hurts. Then I use a cloth to scrub the dirt from my body. When I get out and get dressed into a nightgown, I go back into the bedroom and Kristoff is awake, reading a book with a lantern lit on the table beside him.

"Feel better?" He asks.

"Very much. Although I am a little cold now," I say as I finish wringing my hair out with a towel. He chuckles a little bit and holds out his arm.

"Come here," he says. I climb back into the bed next to him.

"Whatcha reading?" I ask.

"Not sure. It was on the nightstand so I just picked it up and started reading," he says. I simply let out a small laugh and curl up against his side, enjoying the warmth that his body gives off. He puts one arm around me and ends up reading to me and I listen contently, loving every second of the sound of his voice and his arm around me.