CORONATION DAY!!!, Arendelle, Fridayish Fandom Time (NFB-Distance)

[elated_or_gassy]

CORONATION DAY!!! Today was coronation day, and that was the most wonderful, perfect day ever.

Anna had dreamed of Coronation Day for months now. Because they were going to open the gates!! Because she was going to spend an entire day with Elsa. A whole day. Because there was going to be a ball, a real one, couples dancing and food set out and she was going to wear her absolute prettiest dress. Because Elsa might decide she liked the gates being open, and they might stay open forever from now on! Because --

Because there was just a chance she might fall in love today. Okay, maybe she wouldn't, but this was her one chance. Elsa might not decide to ever open the gates again, either, so this was her opportunity to meet someone and make friends and fall hopelessly, unbelievably in love with someone, who would then insist on being with her always and she'd never have to be alone again. Ever.

And then the craziest thing happened: she did fall in love with someone. She just tripped right over him and there he was: handsome, charming, a prince, and more importantly -- they spent the whole night just talking and he understood her. He understood all the weird little quirks she had and how lonely she'd been and he felt all of that, too.

Right there in the moonlight, he got down on one knee and asked her to marry him, and -- and of course she said yes. It was True Love. It was everything she had ever dreamed of. It was the answer to all of her prayers.

And then Elsa said no.

Not just no, like, I'll think about it, or no, as in, it's too soon, let's take some time, but no, Anna, you're stupid and you don't love him and I'm closing the gates again, so go back to your room. And when she pleaded with her sister, begged her -- told her she couldn't live like this anymore -- Elsa narrowed her eyes and just said, "Then leave."

It was all of her worst fears all at once. Elsa didn't care if she stayed or went. Elsa ... didn't love her. Maybe she never had.

Tears in her eyes, Anna bolted from the ballroom, not much caring where she went.





Hans
Hans ran after Anna. She couldn't get away! Not when he was so close! All of his dreams were inches from coming true and he wasn't about to let the key to them all slip away.

"Anna!" Hans called. "Anna, wait! Please don't run away from me! I'm not about to give up on you or our marriage, so please wait!"



Anna
Anna didn't stop for breath until she was in front of the doors for the portrait gallery. By then, her vision was blurred and her lungs were screaming.

"Hans," she said, reflexively smiling just to say his name. He'd chased her here. Maybe someone cared about her, after all. There was a flicker of hope, to that thought.

"You sh-shouldn't be here," she managed, pulling herself together with some effort. "Elsa -- she's closing the gates. Everybody out."

Just like always.



Hans
"Maybe she is," he said, drawing close to Anna. "But that doesn't mean I have to go alone. does it? Come away with me. We'll head home, to the Southern Isles. And get married, just like we planned!" He reached for her hands. "We'll stay for a few months, let you get to know my whole family. Your family. Then we'll come back, after Elsa's gotten used to the idea of us being together. It's the perfect plan. For us."



Anna
Anna let Hans take her hands. Her heart was pounding in her ears. It couldn't be that simple, could it? There were a thousand reasons she couldn't go with him, like Elsa (then LEAVE) and propriety (they'd be married in a few short days) and it being absolutely crazy. (wasn't love always?)

She slipped one hand out of his just long enough to fumble with the door knob behind her. Instead of replying, she tugged him into the gallery. The moon was casting long rectangles of ghostly light across the floor.

"This is my favorite room," she said. "Except for my room, I mean. My bedroom? That's first. But I come here when I want to think, or talk to people. Not -- people. I know they don't talk back? But I pretend they do. That makes me sound like a crazy person. Wait. Why am I telling you this?"

Because they were standing too close, and she'd taken his other hand again, and she was really considering it. Like actually considering it. Why couldn't she run away with him? Why shouldn't she? And what should she be doing right now, like, with her eyes, and her hands? She felt like fidgeting but that would pull her hands away, and she didn't want to take her hands out of his. Ever.



Hans
"That's the most charming thing I've ever heard," Hans assured her. "I love our portrait gallery at home. It was the only place I could go for quiet." He chuckled, reaching up to chuck her under her chin. "I guess I should warn you about that. It's never quiet in my palace. There's always someone stopping by to chat or to see if you want to go out into town or just about anything. Just say yes, Anna. And we can be together."



Elsa
Elsa was still shaken from the exchange after her coronation ceremony. She had been not far behind when Hans had caught up with Anna, and, not wanting to cause another fight, she'd stood back, taken a moment to attempt to gather her bearings, and had done something she should've done, when Anna had been introducing... him.

She had listened.

But now, she didn't know if she could handle what she was hearing. While she hardly had any right to hold her back, the thought of Anna just leaving with a total stranger made her heart ache and her stomach twist. And when she listened to what he was saying...

She took a deep breath, and knocked gently at the gallery door. It was a rhythm that Anna might be familiar with. Knock-knock-knockknock-knock.

"Anna?"



Anna
Never alone. Never alone again. A castle in the Southern Isles with siblings everywhere. Yes. Yes. She was going to shout it, scream it, although maybe possibly she was leaning up on twinkle-toes because she couldn't take her eyes off of his mouth and was totally going to kiss him. He was her fiance and they were going to elope and be married, that merited a kiss, and then she would shout "yes" loud enough that the entire world would hear it. Yes.

She could taste his breath, so she was going to be brave now and just close that last gap. She closed her eyes --

-- and immediately opened them again, at the knock on the door. And the voice that followed.

"Elsa," she gasped, dropping Hans's hands like they were on fire. And mussing her hair and taking an unsteady step back so that hopefully, Elsa wouldn't realize that Anna had just been about to kiss him, because they were in a deserted portrait gallery and that sounded a little ... something.



Hans
...Damn it, Elsa. You were in the way in every conceivable fashion. Seriously. Every single one.

"Your Majesty," he said with a small bow. "It's a pleasure to see you again."

Hopefully neither of them would notice the slight grit of his teeth as he said that. "Can we help you?"

That's right. We. He and Anna were in this together.



Elsa
"Prince Hans," Elsa said, notably more graciously than before. If Anna had decided in her heart of hearts that she was in love with this boy, no matter how insane a move it was, she was at least aware that she ought to show him some respect. She gave the faintest of nods of her head at the both of them. And then turned her attention to Anna. "I wanted to apologize to my sister," she said, gently. "I reacted... harshly... to your wedding announcement. It had caught me quite by surprise, I'm afraid."

Gentle. Careful. Anna was so close to running, now, and any wrong move could send her flying away into...

Into who-knows-what.



Anna
Into the Southern Isles, with Hans, who loved her. It was like a fairy tale. Except ...

Except Elsa was standing right here, apologizing, and ... and why elope if you didn't have to? Maybe if she took a minute and talked to Elsa, then her sister would understand. And they'd open the gates and Hans could live here, and Anna would have both of them in her life, and that would be even better than a fairytale.

Or -- or maybe Elsa was going to apologize and then explain why the gates were shut, and be sad that she couldn't open them, ever, but then -- but then Anna wouldn't be running away to marry Hans. It wouldn't be sneaking out in the dead of night. Even if she did leave, it would be going with her sister's full blessing.

Reluctantly, Anna turned to her fiance.

"Prince Hans," she said, calmly. "Might I have a moment alone, with my sister?"

And then she'd be his. No matter what. She promised.



Hans
There was a moment of slight eye-twitching before Hans smoothed it away with a smile. "Of course, Anna," he said, all gallantry. "I hope that the two of you can work everything out. Together. Alone. While I wait in another room."

Wait. Maybe that sounded a little too bitter. Hans widened his smile. "After all, it's my fondest hope to be able to call her my sister soon, as well. But, Anna, before I go..."

He swept her up into his arms and pressed his lips to hers in the most passionate kiss he could muster. He didn't think that Elsa was going to change her mind anytime soon, so it paid to give Anna something to think about that wasn't her sister's disapproval. "I'll be waiting for you," he said, voice husky and eyes full of promise.



Anna
AND THEN THERE WAS KISSING! Anna didn't know how her hands ended up around his neck, but Hans was way better at this managing-to-kiss-people thing than she was. And then it was like a crescendo, like all the music ever got way loud, and then he was talking and slinking out of the room for some reason, and not kissing her more.

Anna opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Which was probably a good thing because it would have been something like "Ahp" or "beh?" and that didn't really set the right tone of elegant sophistication she was going for.

After staring at the door for, oh, ten or fifteen seconds, her vocal cords remembered how to function again, and what came out was, "Bye, Hans."

Hans had left. That was very sad. Maybe he was coming back soon?

Focus, Anna.



Elsa
Elsa was going to... just...

Not...

Not think about what she'd just seen, there. That was the exact sort of something that required a bit of processing, and exactly the sort of thing she never wanted to process, either.

"Anna," she said gently, contemplating for a moment whether perhaps it would be condescending to wave a hand in front of her face to get her back into the present moment. "Anna, are you with me?"



Anna
"Yes!" Anna said, far too quickly. "I'm here! Wait, what?"

She blinked at her sister, who -- had just seen that? That was probably not good.

That was all it took for reality to come crashing back in. Elsa, disapproving; Hans, her new fiance. And the words "then LEAVE" echoing through her head.

"I'm here," she said, in a far more serious tone. "I ... I mean, you know. I'm here. We -- we should talk. You wanted to talk, so ... so let's talk."



Elsa
"Let's talk," Elsa agreed, and then looked around the room, spotted the large painting of their father, looking down at them from the wall. She pulled in a slow breath. Closed her eyes. Swallowed. "But not here. Come on, let's find someplace to sit down. My room, perhaps."

Her room, that Anna hadn't seen the inside of in far, far too long.

Her room, with the door that was always shut.

Her room, which was the only thing she had to offer her sister right now that could possibly show her just how badly she wanted to talk, right then.



Anna
"Your room?" Anna echoed, doubtfully. "Your room, really? I mean, yes. Let's. Let's ... go to your room. Absolutely."

She was going to see Elsa's room? There must be something serious going on.





Elsa
Okay, Elsa could do this. She just had to close her door behind the two of them, like so. And stand there for a moment, marveling at the fact that it was shut and for once, Anna wasn't on the opposite side of it.

She was more terrified in this moment than she had been in a long, long while. She pulled in another slow breath, gathered her poise, and then turned to offer Anna a small, almost nervous smile as she gestured to her bed, for her to sit down.

"So, Anna... tell me all about him."

All about him.



Anna
Anna could barely contain her glee. Elsa was listening to her. And she was here, in Elsa's room, and -- and Elsa wanted to hear about her fiance. Her FIANCE!

She plopped onto the bed in a flourish of skirts and giggles. "Hans is wonderful," she breathed, clapping her hands together. "Oh, Elsa, you'll love him. We met this morning -- when the gates opened? His horse knocked me onto a boat, and then he was worried I was you, but I wasn't. And we were dancing tonight and then talking about the fondue and his family -- did you know he has twelve older brothers? But no sisters, which is kind of weird if you think about it, I mean, what are the odds that in thirteen kids not one of them would be a girl? Anyway. It's like he got me. He knew everything I was going to say even before I did. We ran through the halls sliding in our socks and we snuck out to see the moon and he said, you know, he was just like, 'this is crazy but let's get married,' and I know it's crazy but it doesn't feel crazy. He loves me, Elsa. He really does."

She couldn't help a happy wriggle, but fortunately, then she remembered that she was supposed to be giving her sister useful information.

"His name is Prince Hans of the Southern Isles. He's the youngest of thirteen, he's dashing, he's gallant, he has a horse named Sitron, he's polite, he's well-spoken, and he came here to -- something about trade routes? We weren't expecting to fall in love, either of us. And I know that --" she was going to power through the bright-red blush "-- we were k-kissing a minute ago but he hasn't been forward, at all. I swear."



Elsa
Elsa swallowed back her knee-jerk 'except for that marriage proposal' reply, simply nodding along before, after a brief pause to gather her nerves, she made her way over to sit on the bed, next to Anna.

Not quite close enough to touch. But closer than they'd been since they were little, all the same.

"It looks to me as though you're really quite taken with him," she said, trying for 'warm' instead of simply 'diplomatic.' "Can... can you forgive me for yelling, back there? It isn't every day your little sister tells you that she's engaged to somebody you've never met before. I... panicked."

Yes. Panic had certainly been part of it.



Anna
"Oh, of course I can," Anna enthused, reaching out for a split second to take her sister's hands, but stopping short again when she remembered. Elsa didn't like to be touched. The weird germ thing she had. So, Anna abruptly jerked back her hands into her own and twisted them together. "I shouldn't have surprised you like that. I didn't mean to scare you. I don't -- know why that scared you, but it did, and -- I'm sorry."

Everything was okay, now. Elsa had just said those things out of panic, and fear, and not -- because she really didn't approve, or because she actually did want Anna to leave. Everything was going to be just fine.



Elsa
Elsa certainly hoped it would be. And so now she was folding her hands in her lap, and biting her lip for a moment.

"It's fine," she said, gently. "It's just... I still think of you as my little sister, and I worry about you. You've got so much of your life ahead of you, and I... I realized today, seeing you with Hans, that you haven't got much living behind you. Not really. I might be content to hide away in the castle, but what's best for me might not be what's best for you..."



Anna
"I'm always going to be your little sister," Anna promised. "I will. But I ... kinda ... grew up, when you weren't looking."

Not an accusation! Just, you know, commenting that, say, maybe a lot of time had gone since she and Elsa had really, like, had a heart-to-heart or anything.

"If you don't want him here," and she had no idea why, but maybe that was the sticking point, after all?, "then -- then he was saying, you know. We can go to the Southern Isles, and get married there. If that's easier for you. Because I can't --"

This was no time for an ultimatum, but she wasn't being demanding, now. Just stating a fact.

"I can't live like this any more," she said, softly. "When I said it earlier, I meant it. I just can't."

And if that meant losing Elsa, then maybe she would have to, and that would be harder than anything ever had been -- even harder than standing alone at Mama and Papa's funerals. But she was starting to go mad, like this.



Elsa
Elsa closed her eyes and nodded a little, listening to what Anna was saying.

And then she did something that she hadn't done in a long, long time. She was about to lose her sister. She had no room to be skittish, now.

She reached to rest one gloved hand gently on one of Anna's.

"I know. And I don't want to chase you away, not if you're positive that this is what you want." Even if Hans did strike her as a major slimeball who had tried to get her sister to elope the same day they met. Which, again, she couldn't just out and say. "It's just that... I... I have one small request. And you might not like it, but, please, hear me out? This is very important to me. You are very important to me."

Or else she wouldn't have gone into hiding in the first place.



Anna
"Okay," Anna said, quickly. She was squeezing onto Elsa's glove. "I mean, okay, I'll listen, not okay I'll do it. But I might. It depends on what it is. I probably will?"

Unless it was, 'please stay here inside again, forever and ever,' because she wasn't going to do that.

"I mean, tell me, and I'll -- I'm sure it'll be fine."

And then, because she hadn't actually said it yet, "You're important to me, too. More than you even know. I mean, more than anything."

More than Hans, even. They were sisters, and always would be. Just -- just so Elsa knew that.



Elsa
"Okay." Elsa forced herself to look up at Anna, to make eye contact, to keep her gaze off of their hands, where Anna was squeezing hers. She could pretend, perhaps, that she was just wringing her hands herself. Fight away the panic... the fear that she'd hurt Anna. The fear that Hans would hurt Anna. All of it.

She smiled a tiny bit.

"It's just that... you've been locked away here for so long, I'm worried that you're setting your entire future in stone before you've really had a chance to experience anything else in life. I... I'm not denying that you could possibly love Hans," as much as she wished Anna didn't, "but I don't... I don't think rushing into a marriage with him right this instant is the right choice for you, either. Not before you've had a chance to see more of the world, outside of Arendelle's gates."

Keep talking, Elsa. Don't lose this, don't let it sound like you're trying to pry her away from... that... man.

"It's true love, isn't it? Then... true love will be willing to wait, just a little while longer, while you both get to know one another better. And while you get a taste for more than everything you've encountered right here. And if, after you've had a chance to meet people, make friends, and live, you still want to marry him... I'll give my blessing and stand at your wedding myself."

It was a miracle she wasn't shaking right now. Or throwing up. Or freezing everything.



Anna
Anna had braced herself, unconsciously, for it to be something ridiculous, or outlandish, or difficult. But if she was following along right --

"Of course we can wait," she said, swallowing down a tiny lump in her throat. Was it disloyal to Hans, that she agreed so readily? But Elsa looked so scared, and she was asking so little. And, really, she'd agree to almost anything if it meant sitting on this side of this door.

Almost.

"I -- we were only going to run away because -- because you said you were closing the gates again. If you -- if you want to open them," and here, she was squeezing harder, the excitement getting the better of her, "--then it's perfect. We can take a few weeks and -- you can get to know him and see how wonderful he is, and maybe work up to the whole excitement of a wedding, right?"

Maybe it wasn't germs, but people. Maybe her sister was terrified of crowds, in which case, a few weeks of just herself and Hans ought to help a great deal.



Elsa
She wasn't going to panic. She wasn't going to panic. She wasn't going to blow this now, not now that she was so close to something that could potentially save Anna from making a terrible mistake.

"Actually," she said, and that nervousness was definitely not going anywhere now, "I was thinking something new. A... a school, perhaps. With other people your age. Dozens of opportunities for you to make new friends, to see the world outside of Arendelle. A chance for you to live and to learn and to grow. And... and on holidays, you can come home, and I'll arrange for you and Hans to spend time together when you do. You're still young, you'll still have your entire life ahead of you if you wait until you've gotten a better education than any books or tutors could give you here, and Hans..."

She set her jaw. She had to make certain she said this with conviction.

"Hans will wait for you. It's true love, after all, and you're worth waiting for."

And if Hans tried to argue that, she was going to freeze him to the ceiling upside-down by his boots.



Anna
A school? Anna wasn't half the reader Elsa was, and the Arendelle Library was enormous, but she'd still grown tired of re-reading the same few books that sparked her interest. Classes. Meeting people. Making friends. It was a magical offer.

Except ...

Reluctantly, Anna pulled her hands back from her sister's. So this was Elsa's big plan: to send her away, and hope that she forgot all about Hans.

She had really thought for a minute there that Elsa --

"I see," Anna said, her voice sounding hollow even to her own ears. "I wish I understood. You don't want me to leave with Hans, but you -- you certainly don't want me here. And you won't even tell me why."

Anna had pretended for a very long time that Elsa was afraid of everything else in the world, and closing the gates were just a way to protect them both. But what Elsa really wanted was to be in this castle all alone.



Elsa
Elsa's heart felt as though it dropped from her chest like a stone as Anna's hand pulled away from hers. She hesitated for a moment, and then pulled her hands to her chest and clasped them, silently wringing them, not able to keep the heartbreak from her expression completely.

"It... isn't that," she said, softly. "It isn't that I want to get rid of you. But I.... I don't know how to do this, Anna. I don't know how to give you the world you deserve to experience without pulling in again. And I know I need to do something about that. Believe it or not, I've been trying, since we were little." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I think... I think that if I ask you to stay, then you'll still only be seeing the same things that have always been here, and if you go with Hans, if you leave with him right now, then all there will be is Hans, and I know there's more in the world that I want you to be able to take in before your everything narrows down to his smile and his touch."

And his creepy, suspicious motives.

"I can't go with you. I need to stay here, and be the Queen. But what I want you to see, Arendelle can't offer. And I'm not entirely certain the Southern Isles can at the moment, either."



Anna
Elsa looked so sad, suddenly, when Anna's eyes darted over to her. Her heart wrenched for her sister.

"You don't have to be stuck here," she said, impulsively. "You can -- you could go, and travel, and I'll be Queen. I mean, I'll just -- be in charge of things while you're gone? You'd have to tell me what to do. Wait. Maybe this isn't such a good idea."

Anna had not exactly had Queen Lessons with Papa the way that Elsa had. She could still make a go of it, right? Maybe?

"It means this much to you?" she asked. "That I go, and -- and make friends and meet people?"



Elsa
Oh dear, Anna. The prospect of Elsa being the one to go see the world while Anna stuck around in Arendelle to take care of the kingdom was...

... Terrifying, a little. Fortunately, Anna seemed to talk herself out of that one on her own.

"It does," Elsa replied. "It means the world to me, that you do this. And... and if you like, I might be able to visit, from time to time. You'd definitely be welcome back any time you want... Arendelle is your home, after all."



Anna
"Only because you're here," she said, offering her sister a smile. "Okay. If I do this, you promise you're okay with me marrying Hans? Right in the chapel. No take-backs."

If it meant having both Elsa and Hans in her life? Then it wasn't so very long to wait at all.

"Then I'll go."



Elsa
"I promise," Elsa replied, nodding. "I'll organize the wedding myself. Right in the chapel, right where I stood today."

Elsa's smile went a little warmer, then. She'd actually sat down to have a conversation with Anna about something important, and so far the walls weren't icing up, and she hadn't run off with Hans. With the thirteenth son, who wanted to elope with her baby sister the day they met.

"I want you to be able to look back in a couple of years, and smile, and decide that you're satisfied with everything you've done in your life before marrying. If you can do that, Anna, then I'll be happy."



Anna
"Me, too," Anna said. Boarding school. It wasn't quite what she'd expected, out of Coronation Day, but life didn't always go where you thought it would.

Now she just had to break it to Hans, and hope it took it well. But he loved her, so that would all work out. Wouldn't it?

Of course it would. Everything always did, in the end.

(Lo, backstory! Many, many thanks to iceolatedqueen for playing Queen Elsa and to spin_kick_snap for playing creepy charming Prince Hans. NFB, NFI, but OOC is love.)