Many Beauty and the Many Beast

by Felicity Collins

  "I-…I beg your pardon?"

  "I-I wanted to ask Anna to- to marry me" he repeated "And I'm not asking for the Queen's blessing, I'm asking for yours" he added. There was a moment of silence.

  "You've only known each other for a month" I said

  "Elsa, I'm not Hans. I'm not going to betray and hurt her like he did" he said looking straight at me with his brown eyes.

  "It's not that, Kristoff. Don't you think it is a little too early?"

  "Maybe it is, but I love her. I love her very much"

  "I know, I can see that. But still, hoping that I'm wrong, what if things don't work out between you two? What if one day, you two find out that your… 'spark' is over?" Kristoff remained quiet for a moment "You are Anna's first love, Kristoff… and I want, more than anything, for my little sister to be happy and have her happy ending and I can see she's happy with you, but… you never know"

  "Anna's my first love too" he said "and I want her to be my last"

  "More reason for you to think about what I just said"

  "Since when have you become a love expert if you've never been in love?" he asked crossing his arms on his chest.

  "Female Sixth Sense, and Big-Sister-Watch-Out-Third-Eye. You wouldn't understand, plus, I'm thinking it rationally" that made him chuckle a bit. Then he looked at me with a serious face.

  "Please Elsa. I- I love Anna very much and I just can't imagine myself without her" I thought about it for a moment, then I made up my mind.

  "Do you really love her, Kristoff?" I asked even if I already knew the answer.

  "With all my heart" he answered as I expected. I nodded at him.

  "Then I'll offer you a deal"

  "I'm all ears"

  "You can either wait some more time –which I don't think you will- and then ask her to marry you, OR you can ask her as soon as you want, but you'll have to enjoy a long engagement"

  "The long engagement sounds best. How much do we have to wait to get married?"

  "Two years" I stated.

  "A month" he countered.

  "A year and a half"

  "Two months"

  "Ten months"

  "Four months"

  "Seven months. Take or leave"

  "Deal" he said and we shook hands on it.

  "You have my blessing, then" his face broke into a huge smile.

  "Really? You don't want me to come back and ask you again?"

  "Do you want me to take it back?"

  "Nonono! Thank you, Elsa!" he said and before I could do anything he grabbed me by the waist lifting me up and spinning me around repeating 'thank yous', smiling happily and I couldn't help but smile myself "Thank you, so, so much! You're awesome!" he repeated again holding me up in the air, I laughed a bit at his enthusiasm.

  "Put me down, Kristoff" I said with a smile patting his shoulder.

  "Sure" he said putting me back down "I can't thank you enough, though. Thank you, Elsa" he said and hugged me, planting a kiss on my cheek a moment before releasing me from the hug.

  "So, what are you going to say?" I asked.

  "Actually… I haven't thought about it yet" he confessed scratching the back of his neck nervously.

  "Why don't you practice? I could help you. Pretend I'm Anna and improvise" I suggested as I walked back to my desk and leaned on it. Kristoff shook his head with a chuckle but agreed to it.

  "Anna-"

  "Wait! You got to get down on your knee"

  "No, I'm not getting down on my knee" I took a step towards him.

  "She'll like it. She'll like to see you down on your knee" I said softly.

  "I don't want it to be too cheesy"

  "It won't be. Trust me, I know my sister very well. She'll like to see you down on your knee" He exhaled deeply.

  "Okay, fine" he said and got to his knee.

  "Much better. Okay" I said as I went to lean on my desk again, with a smile.

  "Anna" he began

  "Yes, Kristoff? Is there anything you need to tell me?" I said doing my best Anna impression. Causing him to chuckle.

  "That impression was awful, don't make me laugh" he said composing himself again "Okay… Anna" he began "Will you… uhm…uuhh… marry me?" My smile faded.

  "No." Kristoff jumped back up on his feet.

  "Oh, come on!"

  "What do you mean 'will you uhm uuhh marry me'? You don't sound or look happy or excited about the prospect of spending the rest of your life with her!" he slapped his face in his hands. "Try it again. You're asking Anna to spend the rest of her life with you. You're asking her to be the only man in her life. You're telling her she'll be the only woman in yours. You're promising her a future together. At least say something to tell her how much she means to you"

  "Alright" he got back to his knee and began again "Anna… so gentle and so-"

  "-Yeah… and so virtuous she appears" I interrupted "Why are you quoting Dante Alighieri? And more importantly: how do you know him?"

  "By having half a brain" he answered. I rolled my eyes "And because Anna followed your hint on giving me a little education"

  "She actually listened?"

  "Yup"

  "Well, that's a first" he chuckled.

  "Besides, I kind of like Dante" I raised an eyebrow, half between amused and impressed.

  "Looks like Anna is really about to get engaged to a man of good taste" I commented.

  "Thank you Elsa. How come you're being so nice to me today?" he replied with a smirk.

  "Don't get used to it and don't tell Anna I just let you hug me and kiss my cheek or I'll use the spoon"

  "And I believe you. Let's try the proposal again" he said, cleared his throat and took my hand "Anna, my love, my sweet, my soulmate, my one and only, my beautiful love. You're my Juliet to my Romeo, you're my Ophelia to my Hamlet, my Isolde to my Tristan-"

  "-Okay, no" I interrupted again.

  "What now?"

  "First, that was extremely too cheesy and so rehearsed. Second, Anna is going to die of boredom like I was. Third, you're making a proposal, not reading an address book! And fourth, you really have no idea what happened to these couples, right?"

  "Uhm… well, they're famous lovers so I guess...they get married and have kids?"

  "Romeo and Juliet kill themselves"

  "Oh…"

  "Ophelia and Hamlet die"

  "Uhm…"

  "Tristan dies due to a wound and Isolde dies of pain because of his death"

  "Oh, my God" he complained exhaustedly "This is going to take a while, is it?" he said letting go of my hand. I was about to answer when there was a knock on the door which made Kristoff stand back up.

  "Your Majesty, may I come in?" said Kai from out the door.

  "Yes, sure" I answered. Kai's head stuck out of the doorway he gave both me and Kristoff a little bow with his head. "I just wanted to inform you that dinner will be served in 5 minutes"

  "Thank you, Kai. We'll be right down" I answered. He nodded his head and walked away. Kristoff and I shared a glance, then we made our way to the dining room.

  At dinner, Anna was talking non-stop since the moment she came into the room. Kristoff seemed to be listening to her and participating. I remained silent for the whole time, thinking about how to break the news to Anna. We were already eating dessert and I was so deep in thought that I didn't notice Anna was calling me until she hit me in the forehead with something.

  "What?" I asked coming back to Earth.

  "Finally! I called you three times already" Anna complained. I looked down on the tabled and noticed the small chocolate ball and picked it up between my index and thumb.

  "Did you just hit me with a chocolate ball from your dessert?"

  "Yes, I did"

  "Oh, thank you!" I said and ate it. Anna's blue eyes widened.

  "That was mine!"

  "Sorry, you threw it at me" I said nonchalantly. Anna pouted.

  "Seriously, though" she began "What's wrong? You haven't spoken since you got
here"

  "Nothing. What makes you think there's something wrong?"… the way I said it sound just like: Hey Anna, I'm hiding something!

  "You're staring blankly to your right. It's something you do every time you're in deep thought about something that makes you nervous" I blushed sheepishly.

  "Oh… I didn't notice"

  "So, what's up?" Anna asked taking a spoonful of her dessert.

  "Yeah" said Kristoff "Even in your study you were all weird about a- aaahh…" he slurred interrupting himself as I nonchalantly raised my spoon, so he could clearly see it, reminding him of earlier "Something" he ended instead of saying 'an envelope'. I gave him an ever so small smirk that only Kristoff managed to see.

  "So?" said Anna expectantly. Alright, make or break.

  "I was just thinking… uhm…" I began. I felt Anna's eyes on me as she waited "I was just thinking about what happened last month and… I thought about Hans and… well… I was wondering how you would react if he showed up again one day" Nice. Really smooth, Elsa… Anna raised an eyebrow.

  "Seriously? That's it?" she said "Well, I'd probably be the first to tell you to freeze his butt and kick him out" Okay… this is not good. "I think I'd probably punch him again. Kristoff, in a scale from 1 to 10 how much do you like Hans?"

  "-100?" the blonde man suggested "If he showed up again I'd be my pleasure to teach him a lesson"

  "Good answer" Definitely not good. "I wonder what punishment he was given in his trial"

  "About that…" I butted in, awkwardly "What if –hypothetically speaking- he didn't have his trial yet?"

  "Huh?" was Anna's remark

  "I mean –hypothetically- what if he didn't have his trial yet? Because… I don't know… the king had other urgent matters to attend to, and according to the hypothetical law both Arendelle and the Southern Isles share, a law that declares that he needs to have his trial in the kingdom he committed his crime in…" Anna and Kristoff listened intently " and according to this hypothetical situation-"

  "Elsa, why are you even thinking that? I mean, why would you waste your time thinking what I would do: if Hans came back, if he didn't have his trial yet, if that's because the king couldn't deal with him because of urgent matters etc.? I mean, it does make sense but-" she abruptly stopped talking dropping her hand on the table as realization hit her "Hans is coming back to have his trial, isn't he?" I gave her a weak apologetic smile nodding my head. "When is he coming?"

  "In four days"

  "Four days… great" she said sarcastically

  "Try not to think about it too much"

  "Wait! You're not serious, are you? This is an early April Fool's Day" Kristoff said.

  "No, she's serious" Anna said. He covered his face with his hands exasperated

  "I can't believe it"

  "Neither can I" Anna and I said in unison.

  "Does this have to do with doubling the ice supplies?" he asked again.

  "Yes, the noblemen and noblewomen that were here during the Thaw are coming for Hans' trial as witnesses" Kristoff nodded. I turned my attention to Anna who had found a certain interest in her dessert.

  "Anna, I know you're angry at him" I began

  "Oh, I'm more that angry at him. I loathe him" she said.

  "You're not the only one. Anyway, you do know that at the end of the trial it's up to us to sentence him, right?"

  "Yeah? Well, actually it's up to you, you're the queen but we're in this together aren't we?"

  "Yes, we are. But I just need to ask you a favor, that King Theodore asked me and I'm trying my best to prepare myself on restraining my powers from freezing him when he gets here"

  "Okay, shoot"

  "Don't let your resentment for him get the best of you" I said "We need to be fair, and to be fair, we have to treat him like we would treat any other criminal: like a person we don't personally know" Anna took a deep breath.

  "How am I supposed to do that? After all he did to us"

  "I don't know. Just… treat him like a stranger in court and don't strangle him or beat him up with Kristoff outside"

  "I'll try… but I'm not promising anything"

  "Neither am I" Kristoff added. After that we ate our dessert in silence.

  I was in deep sleep when I felt someone shaking me slightly. I grunted sleepily as I was slowly waking up.

  "Elsa" I heard Anna's voice call me softly. I turned around to face her. She was in her green nightgown, with her long red hair loose instead of in her signature braids. "Elsa, may I talk to you for a moment?" I slightly opened an eye looking at her then at the clock on the wall behind her.

  "Anna, it's 3 a.m." I complained closing my eyes "Don't you know about the '3a.m. wake up tradition'?"

  "Uhm… no…What's the tradition?"

  "Telling you to buzz off" I could feel her glaring at me. I peeked at her through my half closed eyelids "What is it?" I asked closing my eyes again

  "I… ehm…" she stuttered "I couldn't shake the idea of Hans coming back out mind… I… I had a nightmare" she paused. I slowly opened my eyes completely and looked at her. Anna was looking at her hands uneasily. I already knew what she had dreamt about: Hans leaving her to die and Hans raising his sword to kill me.

  "Would you like to sleep here with me?" I suggested sitting up.

  "Really? May I?" she asked hopefully. I smiled and raised the covers.

  "Come on" I said. Anna smiled and jumped on the bed sliding under the covers as put them back on us. I laid down putting my arm under Anna's head as she used my shoulder as a pillow, snuggling to my side hugging my waist as I stroked her upper arm with my hand.

  "This is nice" she said "I missed it"

  "Me too" I said softly. There was a moment of silence.

  "Elsa?"

  "Hm?"

  "Why did you shut me out all of a sudden?" she asked suddenly. I inhaled deeply

  "Does it matter now?"

  "Not really, but… I think I have the right to know" she said. Arguing would have been stupid, but I knew this was going to come up, sooner or later.

  "You do…" I paused and looked at Anna who's big blue eyes were wide open, waiting for me to talk "When we were younger, you actually used to know about my powers. We would go into the ballroom and you would ask me to do the magic so we could play and build snowmen. One night though, you came to me asking me to come play" I paused as memories of that night came back. Anna listened intently "We went to the ballroom as usual and as usual you asked me to do the magic, so I did. Everything was going fine, we were having fun, we built Olaf for the first time. We were sliding down a pile of snow and you flew into one, then started jumping and I would have caught you by creating other blocks of snow under your feet, but every block was getting higher and higher. I suddenly slipped on the ice and when I saw you jumping, I just tried to reach out but I accidentally, shot you and hit you. That's how you got that white streak in your hair" I confessed. Anna's mouth was slightly opened at the news. "Anna, you were so cold… Mama and Papa immediately brought you to Pabbie and he removed all your memories of my magic, replacing them with memories of us during the winter. I shut you out because I wanted to protect you. I never wanted to leave you. You have no idea how hard it has been for me to hear you every day knocking on my door asking me to come out and play. You have no idea how much I wanted to come out, to hug you, to play with you, to be there for you when our parents died. But I just couldn't. I…" I paused taking a deep breath "I didn't want to hurt you again… but I did and not just by freezing your heart. I… I'm so sorry, Anna" She remained silent. I was expecting her to let go of me, to walk away from me, but she surprised me. Anna leaned up and kissed me on the cheek.

  "Well, now I know that my streak doesn't come from being kissed by a troll" she said smiling and rested her head on my shoulder again.

  "You're not upset?" I asked genuinely surprised.

  "Why should I be? You're my sister, you would never hurt me intentionally. During the winter I never once doubted
you, I knew you could thaw it. I knew you weren't a monster" she said.

  "Oh, I love you, Anna" I said kissing her forehead.

  "I love you too… does that mean I can borrow your clothes some time?"

  "No"

  "Oh, come on!"

  "Maybe"

  "Okay, I can live with that" she said satisfied. We both closed our eyes. I was about to drift into sleep when Anna spoke up again. "What are we going to do with Hans?" she asked. I sighed.

  "I don't know. We'll have to wait for the trial and decide then"

  "One thing's for sure… we can't have him executed for two reasons: A) You revoked that law and B) We both know no one deserves to die, not even him" And not just for that… I thought.

  "When have you gotten so wise, Anna?"

  "Maybe you're rubbing it off on me" we both laughed softly.

  "Well, that's good. But when he comes here, just… just try not to fly in rage. Believe me, I'm still having a hard time taking the news in as well"

  "You can't do anything for not having him here?"

  "King Theodore already summoned here all the other aristocrats who attended my coronation, I can't just send them away"

  "Well, that was rude. He should have asked you first"

  "Agreed. Now let's get some sleep" I said Anna remained silent. I was about to drift into sleep when Anna spoke up again.

  "Elsa?"

  "Annaaaa… I want to sleep" I complained

  "One last thing" she pleaded. I didn't even bother to open my eyes.

  "What?"

  "Can we move in together again?" I opened my eyes, turned my head and looked at her. She was staring at me with hopeful eyes. "Move in as in sharing the room again. I missed this, I missed the times when I would sneak into your bed, or you would do that, I missed our night talks and… it's quiet difficult having night conversations in separate rooms" I turned my head back on the other side to hide the smile that was slowly forming on my lips.

  "You're not supposed to have night conversations, you're supposed to sleep"

  "Please Elsa? At least until one of us gets married" she suggested. At the word 'married' Kristoff immediately popped into my mind. Well, we made a deal. I guess I could share my room with my little sister for seven months. I turned my head back to her and smiled.