#no one ever deserves to play gerda

[blood-orange-juice]

@yokelish reminded me and I can't stop thinking about it again

The Snow Queen's most loyal knight, a boy with a shard of troll's mirror in his eye.

Except that there's no Gerda. There never was a Gerda and there never will be a Gerda. No one will come. And also the troll's mirror might be showing the truth this time.

Or maybe all the Harbingers are like that.

"Perhaps it is fair to say that only those who possess an obsession close to or even exceeding the level of delusion might be willing to join this group."

(from the Funerary Mask description. I do think the mirror stands for something Khaenri'ahn though)

[hyperpsychomaniac]

Nightmare

Hilda fanfic

Another nightmare for Erik. I do like playing around with the surreal-ness of them. One-shot.

***

“Go on. Tell them, Ahlberg. Tell them you lied. You made the whole story up to get attention, because nobody likes you!” Jeremy’s accusation rang out, bringing a hot flush to Erik’s cheeks. He dared not lift his head as he stood, trembling, before the entire schoolyard.

“Tell them you never deserved that medal.”

Erik’s jolted upright, the second accusation knifing deeper than the first. How did Jeremy know he’d deliberated riled the Trolls - provoked them to attack the city he’d sworn to protect? How could he know what he’d done?

It was not the schoolyard before him, but all of Trolberg. A vast crowd, staring up to where he stood, alone on the stage where they’d presented his medal. This time, all those faces didn’t fill Erik with giddy elation, but with the same fear that had gripped him all those years ago. He’d been caught.

Erik looked about desperately for his deputy. She always knew what to do. She would get them out of this sticky situation. “Gerda? Help.” There she was, suddenly, standing at his shoulder. But his plea fell on a stone-cold expression. Gerda said not a word, but turned her back and walked away.

“No, please! Gerda, don’t leave me alone up here.”

“TELL THEM.”

It was not Jeremy that accused him now. The voice was familiar, but deeper. The same voice he’d heard in the vision, calling out his name. Behind the crowd, she stood, towering over them. The Troll’s mother. His mother.

She stepped forward, shrinking as she strode through the crowd, her face still carved of stone, but the features became clearer as she approached. Not kind. Not the loving face Erik knew, always there to tell him none of this was his fault. Nothing ever was. No, her features were twisted with utter disgust.

Erik raised his hands as he took a stumbling step back. “Mo-mother?”

She grabbed a fistful of his shirt, lifted him clear from the ground, and slammed him up against the wall behind. Erik gasped. Not only from the force of the blow, but the shock. His mother had never laid a hand on him before.

“Tell them.”

The crowed stared, expectant. As what she wanted from him dawned, tears sprung to Erik’s eyes. They would all know! They’d know he’d lied, they’d know he’d put them in all in danger. And worse, they’d know he’d made a desperate, pathetic grasp for their praise, love and affection.

She had never hurt him, but in that moment, Erik knew she would not relent until she’d wrung the truth from him. “Mother, please, don’t make me…” he begged, voice splitting, “I can’t!”

“If you won’t speak, I will reveal you to them as the man you really are.”

She raked her nails down his chest, tearing his clothes to tatters, stripping him bare. Unheeding of his pleas, she clawed one hand, then the other across his body, again and again and again, cutting his flesh to ribbons. And all of Trolberg saw him revealed. Not only for what he’d done, but his mother cut him deeper still. Through the layers of deceit, past the stories of doom, and the grandiose speeches that promised Safety Patrol, and its illustrious leader, as Trolberg’s heroic saviour.

“Mother, please, stop…”

Erik collapsed to his knees, whimpering, hugging his flayed chest together. But it was too late. Every eye had bored deep inside, seen past the deception and frustration to the fear and desperation which had driven him. Seen deep inside to the scared, unlovable, ugly soul, desperate to be seen as something it knew it could never be. They’d seen him for who he truly was, and they would never love him now.

Erik awoke, not violently, but with a faint, wrenching sob. He curled up on himself, and scrunched up tight, covering all his mother had stripped bare. Until, slowly, he realised it had been nothing but another dream. Another in the string of nightmares, waking him since his actions at the wall. Despite his safety, no longer in danger of being outed, despite no hope of falling back asleep, he stayed knotted in his covers for a long time.

[dexterouslycharming]

Hey, if you got to rewrite ANY EAH season, which would you rewrite and what would you change?

Mmm Epic Winter. I know its the one everyone picks but I despise Epic Winter and everything it stands for. I'll do bullet points here to make it more concise

Firstly, Crystal is the daughter of the Snow Queen, whose the villian of her tale, therefore Crystal is not a happy go lucky princess who doesn't know how to tie her own shoelaces. She's vain and deceitful and desperately wants to fulfill her story (so she'd be considered a Royal in the Royal/Rebel debate, but her mother refuses to let her attend EAH and insists on teaching her the ways of their story herself. Because of this Crystal is kept away from the other key players in her story (the children of Gerda, Kay, etc.) So she's only learning her story from her mothers scorned perspective

Jackie and Northwind aren't in Epic Winter, sorry guys but they're ultimately useless here and had little to no bearing on the story originally anyway

The whole plot of Epic Winter changes from the whole 'fetch all the roses' quest (which gets used in my rewrite of Way to Wonderland) goes out the window. Instead of that, the Ice Queen is attempting to teach Crystal more. . .potent magic for lack of a better word which results in Crystal cursing Ever After with eternal winter in the middle of spring.

Milton and Giles don't know what happened at first, blaming Raven for the curse. Raven obviously didn't do it, and her friends stick up for her. That's when Baba Yaga suggests they look into the Snow Queen and her wayward daughter. Snow is in their name isn't it?

Raven, Maddie, Apple, Darling, Briar, and Ashlyn set out on the quest to locate the Snow Queen and get her to fix what she (they assume it was her) did. Kitty also ends up tagging along for this adventure, she can't miss out on something that could end up so chaotic.

Raven, Ashlyn and Darling are really the key players, Apple doesn't do much aside from just being there to be there in the beginning, Briar is still fretting about having to sign the book (another change in my rewrite of EAH, the story book of legends is still intact and signable after WtW), Maddie plays a large part in actually locating the mountain on which the Snow Queen resides, and Kitty is there just to have a bit of fun. While they all play their part in some way, Ashlyn, Raven and Darling do most of the heavy lifting.

Finding the mountain on which the queen resides is a task in and of itself. Maddie eventually figures it out with a bit of help from our lovely Brooke Page (she drops a few hints only Maddie and Kitty can hear.) Once they do figure it out and set on the path, Darling takes charge and gets them through the worst of the terrain, she's a real adventurer after her time spent exploring Wonderland.

Obviously Raven's magic is a key factor in keeping everyone yknow alive and warm in the journey. They don't have a sled so they're on foot the whole way. Raven does her best to keep everyone's spirits lifted and to keep them going.

Once they actually make it to the Snow Queen's castle. . .well thats where things get a bit rough. They immediately are found by Crystal, who was out doing who knows what around the castle grounds. She initiates a fight with Raven, one that ultimately ends in Raven losing (you can't win them all, even if you're the main character.)

Crystal throws them all in the dungeon and they try to devise a plan to get out, but a few hours pass and they are fetched by some guards and thrown in front of the queen and Crystal.

The Snow Queen asks why they're there, and Raven tries to explain they just want them to undo the curse they put on Ever After. The Snow Queen refuses, saying that the people of Ever After deserved to suffer just as much as she and her daughter had.

The girls can't seem to even make the Queen budge in her hatred for Ever Aftwr and its citizens, and ultimately end back in the dungeon. Raven's magic doesn't work, and Kitty can't teleport out, the Queen made sure to put runes around the dungeon just for that reason (its witches magic, I wonder where she learned it. . . .)

They're stuck there for a good while, three days or so, trying to figure out a plan before they finally come up with one. It's a long shot, but they think it might work, at least they hope it does.

The next time Crystal comes down to taunt them, Raven challenges her to another duel, to which Crystal begrudgingly accepts. This time the duel is under the watchful eye of the Snow Queen, but the girls aren't allowed to witness it. So, with Raven out possibly fighting for her life (the snow queen isn't exactly one for mercy) the rest of the girls set the second phase of the plan into motion.

The next time a guard comes in to bring them food, Maddie distracts him long enough for Ashlyn to just barely slip by unnoticed (the rest of the guards are obviously up with the queen and Crystal incase anything goes awry)

A few hours later, Ashlyn had carefully made her way up into what she assumed was Crystal's room. Raven lost, again, and was thrown back into the dungeon.

Crystal goes back into her room, only to find Ashlyn there, sitting on her bed like a proper princess. She demands to know how Ashlyn got out of the dungeon, but Ashlyn refuses to tell. She instead starts on about how she doesn't get why Crystal isn't at EAH, and why she's acting like the lives of everyone down below the mountain don't matter.

Crystal goes to her mothers defense, even though she desperately wants to go to EAH. . . . Ashlyn then realizes something. . . And begins to tell Crystal about all the changes happening at Ever After High. How one doesn't have to follow their destiny if they don't wish to anymore. (The whole Hunter Ashlyn thing never happened, Ashlyn is a firm royal in my rewrite.) Crystal deflects, saying she does want to follow her destiny, but her mother isn't letting her do it her way, she hasn't even met the others in her story.

Ashlyn takes this chance to tell Crystal that the others in her story attend EAH, and if Crystal came with her and helped put an end to the eternal winter set upon Ever After, she'd help her fulfill her story, her own way and not her mother's way. Crystal seems to be slightly convinced, and agrees to help Ashlyn and the others, if any only if Ashlyn promises her she'd be accepted at EAH.

Crystal helps get the rest of the girls out of the dungeon, and they then go on to confront the Snow Queen, who reveals to them that the curse wasn't her doing, it was Crystal's, leaving out that it was a spell gone wrong.

Ashlyn is hurt and betrayed that Crystal didn't tell her that, and assumes Crystal was being fake in her want to help them and go to EAH. This starts a fight between Crystal and the Snow Queen, and with some help from Raven they defeat her and get her to cast a counter curse. EAH is freed from its eternal winter, and the girls bring Crystal (and the snow queen) back to EAH.

Tensions are still a bit rough between Ashlyn and Crystal, even though Crystal insists she didn't mean to keep the truth from her. However, Ashlyn still holds up her end of the bargain and introduces Crystal to the others in her story, and gets Milton and Giles to allow her into EAH.

Briar and Ashlyn have a heart to heart about destinies and how it's ok to not want to follow the one laid out for you. Ashlyn finally seems to understand why Briar wouldn't want her story to play out, and despite she herself wanting her own story, she knows not everyone does. Apple is slowly beginning to understand this too but she's not really the focus of this arc. And her change of heart takes longer than Ashlyn's.

[feistypaants-archived]

Between The Pipes [Chapter 24]

Rating: M Words: 2390 Pairing: Kristanna Summary: When a new owner takes over the Arendelle Ice Breakers, Kristoff isn’t sure about his future with the team. That is, until a PR nightmare throws the newest member of the media team, who also just so happens to be the daughter of the new owner, right into his arms. Kristoff and Anna can’t even stand the interviews they have to do together… how on earth are they going to fix this mess? Hockey!AU.

[Chapter Index]

Where To Read: [AO3]

Notes: when the gala that was only supposed to be one chapter including smut is now going to span three not including the smut.... hoo hooooo. Hope no one minds lol. 

Enjoy!

The ride over had been quick, which Kristoff had been relatively thankful for. The way Anna had shifted had revealed a long, high slit in the skirts of her dress, stopping only inches below the apex of her leg and pelvis, her pale skin a glaring contrast against her dark dress. It wasn’t enough to say that it was a major distraction. 

She had kept adjusting it as she leaned across the car to continue a conversation with Jelissa, but Sven clearly hadn’t missed how Kristoff’s eyes kept darting down to the freckles dotting her thigh. The shit-eating grin that had stretched on his lips only served to piss Kristoff off. He knew he wasn’t going to stop hearing about this tonight.

But fuck he couldn’t stop thinking about slipping his hand under all the layers of skirts and touching her gently, savoring the feel of her soft skin before finding her center and bringing her over the edge with his fingers. It would be so easy…

He sighed as the limo pulled up outside the arena, waiting in line behind other cars to let their riders out on a red carpet, rolled out long and decorated with thousands of lights. A marquee was secured above the entrance, blocking out the usual signage, reading simply The Roaring Twenties.

He supposed they used all their creativity up in designing the theme. 

But he couldn’t lie that he felt himself getting just slightly more excited now that they were here. He watched through the window as some attendees and players walked up the carpet, their photos being taken as they headed inside, and couldn’t wait to escort Anna down the walkway. He knew all eyes would be on her, glowing and beautiful as her dress sparkled while she walked, and he didn’t mind one bit that he was simply an arm to show her off. She deserved to feel like a princess, and he was happy to be her escort.

When they were next in line, Anna and Jelissa made an effort to check one another over, making sure there were no makeup or hair mishaps, and then both turned to face their respective partners. Kristoff couldn’t help but smile as Anna’s knees bumped into his. 

She lifted her hands to straighten Kristoff’s bow tie and he felt his whole face flush. “Hey,” she smiled, resting flat palms on his chest, just like she had on their first night out, and Kristoff prayed she couldn’t feel his heart racing beneath them. “I know I’m probably not going to see too much of you once we’re in there…” Her palm came up to his cheek, pressing gently against it. “I didn’t want to forget to tell you how handsome you look. Like…seriously, you should wear more bold suits more often.”

He couldn’t stop the toothy smile that took over his face.

His hands found her wrists, and lowered her hand before cupping them between his, and placed a tender kiss against her fingers. “Come find me whenever. I can leave for a bit. Sven won’t mind, I’m sure.”

Sven rolled his eyes but agreed as their driver stopped the car and stepped out to come around and open their door. He stepped out first, giving his hand to Jelissa as she adjusted the long train of her gown around her legs. His suit was white with blush pink accents and she wore pinks and golds to complement, and even Kristoff couldn’t deny that they looked perfect together. His fedora sat perfectly atop his curls and she had her hair done in a way that it fell over her shoulder in a waterfall of waves. 

The driver peeked in and gestured for them to exit too. 

Kristoff did his best to exit the car in a seemingly effortless way, but his large size always seemed to complicate it. Holding his hat to his head as he stepped out, Kristoff tried to ignore the flashing lights as he reached a hand back down for Anna.

She twisted perfectly, the slit of her dress showing off her skin and heels as they touched the ground with more grace than he could ever hope to have. It only took a moment for him to remember that she was from a wealthy family and there was a decent chance she had done events like these before. But when she stood up, her skirt billowing around her as she reached for his arm, Kristoff didn’t seem to care at all that she was miles out of his league.

Anna was here with him. And for now, she was his. 

He couldn’t help himself as they approached the end of the carpet. He spun her twice, admiring the smile on her face, and bowed at the waist as he stepped over the threshold, his hand out and ready for her when she skipped the last few steps forward. She followed him through the door, both of her hands resting in his as he stood back up, soft smiles gracing both of their lips. 

“Anna… You-“

“Anna!” Honeymaren came darting up, grabbing her hands out of his, and urged her to follow, the smallest wave of a hello and a goodbye the only thing letting him know that Honey had even noticed him.

Anna waved over her shoulder as she was pulled away, he assumed to get on with some of the recording for IBTV, and Kristoff let out a heavy sigh before another hand clapped down on his shoulder. 

“You ready?” Sven grinned, squeezing once. 

“As I’ll ever be.”

Part of the fun of the event was the gambling - every attendee was given fifty dollars of chips to start, and the more they played, the more the team hoped would sell and therefore be donated to the charity. And since the players were the dealers, it was always popular.

Kristoff and Sven got lucky enough to work the blackjack tables, and they always had lines.

The arena was fully transformed.

The whole right half was now a casino - there were about ten blackjack tables, six for poker, and two for roulette. A few other games sat around the edges, manned by some of the newer players, some spinning wheels with random prizes that cost chips to enter, and even a few unmanned slot machines. A few of the guys were at the auction tables, a few serving drinks, and then a couple more even behind the bar. It was an all-in experience where fans could be close to the players and get to know them a bit better while doing some good and giving back to charity. 

And, as always, there were copious amounts of alcohol. 

Through the night the guys worked one shift, getting half of the night to work and the other half to play - and Kristoff was ecstatic to be on the first shift. That meant he had the whole back half of the evening to have fun with his friends and drink a little and maybe even sweep his gorgeous girl off her feet and, if he had enough to drink, bring her to the dance floor and see how she could move.

The night was speeding by and before he knew it, his shift was done - He hadn’t even had a minute to be sad about not seeing Anna while he was working before Nieminen was tapping him on the shoulder and letting him know he was free to go. It was clear that his backup goalie was a little tipsy, but it was all part of the fun.

He thanked his last patron, grinned at Sven, and ran to find Anna the second he left his seat.

—

-

—

Anna waved over her shoulder as Honeymaren literally dragged her to the back room to get her set up for the opening shots for IBTV. It was a whirlwind as she was escorted around the room with a camera in her face, interviewing attendees and players and directors about how this night had come to be. They shoved a drink in her hand, told her to pretend to drink it and talk up the specialty cocktails before leading her back to the front entrance and having her record a quick introduction and conclusion to the video. 

As worn out as she already was, she was glad that she only had to participate in this for a short while. Then she would be able to spend the rest of her night actually drinking and having fun with her friends.

She heard him before she saw him. Just as they were wrapping up the video’s outro, Anna stood up straighter at the sound of her fathers’ voice booming over the music and practically traveling directly to her. She looked up, meeting his eyes briefly before she smiled and headed his way. He was finishing up a quick questionnaire with Gerda as she approached, and he nodded down at her when she got close enough to hug him. 

“Hi papa.”

It only hit her then that she hadn’t seen him in months. It hadn’t felt that long.

“Where are mama and Elsa?”

He scoffed, and Anna was immediately reminded why it had felt that way. 

“I assume your mother went straight for the bar. Elsa… I’m not sure.” He looked around, his eyes narrowed as Anna bit her lip slightly and stepped back, her own dropping to the ground between them. She knew this wasn’t his scene and she was proud he had shown up, but the suspicious expression that was taking over his features had her nervous and biting at her lip. 

Then she heard her name from a familiar voice, and felt her whole body relax. 

Elsa was coming towards them, a smile on her face, and an icy-blue gown hanging low on her shoulders and trailing on the ground behind her. Anna practically ran at her sister, enveloping her in a hug. “It’s so good to see you, Elsa.”

Immediately her father disappeared, and Anna was almost relieved.

“So,” her sister started, a teasing tone in her words. “Where is this boy toy of yours? It only feels right that I meet him.”

Anna laughed and shoved her sister’s shoulder before looking around for the time, missing Elsa’s eyes glancing up behind her. It was already almost half-way through the event. “Oh, he should be done any minute now!” 

As if on cue, Anna felt a pair of hands wrap around her shoulders, and a warm mouth press against the back of her neck, making her flush from the chest up. 

Elsa smiled knowingly. 

“Kristoff,” Anna sighed, wiggling under his grip just enough to get his attention. “This is Elsa.” She paused to wait for a reaction but wrapped her fingers around his wrist when he gave no sign of caring. “My sister.”

That got his attention.

“Oh,” he started, standing up straighter and moving his palms to rest on Anna’s bare shoulders. “I’m sorry, um, hi.” He reached out with his right hand and let out one awkward laugh when Elsa shook his hand around Anna’s body. “It’s… nice to meet you.”

Anna blushed deeper as Elsa cocked an eyebrow as her eyes moved up and down the pair, as if trying to make something add up. “Yes, Kristoff, I’ve heard… so much about you.” And deeper still.

It wasn’t like Anna had disclosed the size of his cock to her sister, but she was sure she had spilled more details than Kristoff would really want her sister knowing. And she was positive that Elsa wasn’t able to stop those facts from flooding her head again as she looked at the pair of them. It wasn’t like it was a secret that she was tiny next to him, and one could rightfully assume...

“I’m,” hummed, stepping out to stand beside the both of them. “I’m getting a drink. Anna… a cosmo, right? Elsa, would you like anything?”

Elsa smiled and asked for just a vodka tonic, and Anna let out a happy sigh as he pressed a kiss against her cheek before trotting off to the bar. 

And then she felt Elsa’s eyes lock onto her. “I can see why you’re… interested in him.” She winked. “He’s cute. And… larger than I expected.”

Anna rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself, shrugging. “Goalie gear, right? You never know what’s… below it.”

Elsa snickered beneath her hand.

“Shut up.”

It was only a short moment before he came back with their drinks in hand, seeming to be concentrating hard on not spilling them as he made his way through the dark room. He gave Elsa’s hers as smoothly as possible before gripping Anna’s by the bottom of the stem “Here, baby,” he grinned as she took the glass from his fingers. 

He had never called her baby before. Anna felt her heart skip into her throat before she pressed a nervous palm to his cheek. “Thank you, honey.” 

She swore she saw something new glimmer behind his eyes before he ducked down to kiss her, his now free arm snaking around her waist as his other hand rose to the back of her head. This was different. She couldn’t figure out why, but it was, as his lips moved against hers softly and slowly, not rushing, not pushing, just… savoring.

And then Elsa coughed from beside them, causing him to pull away so quickly she thought she might have been on fire. 

Though the way she was blushing this time might have burned her alive anyway.

Kristoff mumbled something along the lines of promising drinks for Sven and Jelissa on the dance floor, and promised to be back as quickly as he could before placing another kiss on her forehead and one more on the tip of her nose as she smiled up at him, her eyes dreamy as a soft smile spread across her lips. Anna wanted nothing more than to follow him and join their friends, but she also wanted her sister to meet them. So she stayed put, eyes following Kristoff as he strutted up to the bar, and only returned her focus to Elsa when she heard her name laughed from her peripheral. 

“Sorry.”

Elsa’s lips where pressed together now, a smile evident in her eyes.

“So… fake, huh?”

[swanqueeneverafter]

The Once & Future Queen Pt.30

Camelot. (Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights ride out of Camelot toward an unspecified destination. Over hill, through valley and beyond, they come upon a cliff overlooking the Impenetrable Forest.) Lancelot: “Where now?” Merlin: “Through the Impenetrable Forest.” Gwaine: “But it’s. . .” Elyan: “Impenetrable.” Gwaine: “We can’t possibly get through there?” Merlin: “We must.” The Impenetrable Forest. (The group make their way slowly through the forest, cutting away at the branches in their path. Gwaine manages to rip his cloak on the thorns, leaving a piece of it behind. Everyone stares at him while he frantically thrashes around in an attempt to free himself.) Gwaine: (Composing himself:) “Keep going.” (Everyone smiles and continues on through the forest.) Meanwhile, In Another Forest. (While Morgana rides, she drags a bound Anastasia by the hands behind her horse. Breathing heavily, Anastasia collapses onto the forest floor. Dismounting, Morgana walks over and offers Anastasia a drink from a canteen.) Morgana: “Here.” (Anastasia glances at the canteen but does not accept it.) Anastasia: “I don’t want anything from you.” Morgana: “Drink it. You may need it.” Anastasia: “Why?” Morgana: “I would not be in such a hurry to know.” (Morgana lifts her arm and pours all the water out of the canteen onto the ground. Remounting her horse, Morgana continues to drag Anastasia along on their journey.)

Arendelle. Forest. (After a quick trip across the sea, Regina and Emma have journeyed to Arendelle to seek advice from their friends.) Emma: "Are you sure Kristoff will be all right watching Maria by himself?" Anna: "Oh sure, he's very capable. Plus it'll help him get used to the idea of having a baby around." Emma: "Ohh, so you're feeling a little broody huh?" Anna: "Maybe... and besides, Maria will need some friends to play with someday." (As the foursome continue walking through the woods, the conversation turns to Elsa and Anna's childhood.) Regina: "So you were forced to hide your magic from others and made to keep away from your sister?" Elsa: "Yes and no. My parents knew of my powers from an early age and, while they may not have openly encouraged it, they were supportive. It was only after the accident with Anna that they became concerned." Anna: "An accident I still don't remember by the way." Elsa: "Well I do and my parents were right. I could've killed you, Anna. That's why I chose to lock myself away, for fear of hurting the people I love again." Emma: "I’ve been there. I know when my magic was out of control and accidentally struck Henry, all I wanted to do was keep as far away from people as possible." Regina: "Yes, but as you now know, that wasn't the answer. Your parents told you to conceal your magic because they didn't understand it, Elsa. That won't be the case for Maria. Whatever problems or accidents that occur, we'll be ready for." Elsa: "I hope you're right. I still shudder to think what would've happened if not for Grand Pabbie." Anna: "Speaking of which, we're almost there, come on." Valley of the Living Rock. (Eventually, they reach the valley and Anna calls out.) Anna: "Grand Pabbie, it's us." (Nothing happens for a moment as the four women stand around waiting and then a large boulder rolls towards them, revealing itself to be the leader of the trolls.) Grand Pabbie: "Oh, Anna, how wonderful to see you again. And I notice you've brought some new faces with you." Anna: (Smiles:) "Grand Pabbie, these are our friends Emma and Regina." Grand Pabbie: "Ah yes, the ones who united the realms and will one day do so again." (Regina and Emma look to each other confused by this statement.) Anna: "Grand Pabbie, they seek your help." Grand Pabbie: "Well I would be honoured to help you ladies." (Taking Emma's hand, Regina steps forward and gives a polite bow.) Regina: "We are the ones who are honoured, Grand Pabbie." Grand Pabbie: (Chuckles:) "It is remarkable how far you've come, Queen Regina. I can feel the lightness of your energy pouring out of you, matched only by that of your wife, Queen Emma." Emma: (Smiles:) "Well flattery will get you everywhere, but I'm no queen." Grand Pabbie: "Of course not, at least not yet. But enough of my musings, you came to me with questions?" Regina: "Yes. (Glances at Emma then back to him:) We wanted to ask for guidance in regards to our daughter." Grand Pabbie: "Oh yes, the miraculous child known as Maria. What is it you wish to know?" Emma: "Well, the thing is, we've only recently discovered that Maria possesses magic and we wondered what the future holds for her?" Grand Pabbie: "I see. Why is it so important for you to know?" Regina: "We realise she holds great power and we wanted to know if it was light or dark magic that she possesses." Grand Pabbie: (Chuckles:) "Well that is easy. There can be no doubt that Maria was born of both light and dark magic, just like the connection between you both feeds the strength of your combined powers. A power so great that it is unrivaled by everything that has come before it. However, if you wish for me to see into the child's future, I would have to be in her presence, but I urge you to let the future remain unwritten. I fear you humans put too much stock in prophesy and I do not desire to be responsible for another child's fate." Regina: (Sighs:) "Thank you, Grand Pabbie. I believe you're right. Knowing too much about the future can lead to terrible things." Grand Pabbie: "Wise words, Your Majesty. Is there anything else you wish to ask me?" Emma: "Actually... I was wondering if you could tell me more about what happened in Ingrid's past?" Regina: "Ingrid?" Emma: (Nods:) "Since she gave me back my memories and after everything we went through, I've always been curious to know just what happened to cause the Snow Queen so much pain." (Anna and Elsa step forward.) Elsa: "I think we'd both be curious to know too." Anna: "She was our aunt after all." Grand Pabbie: "Very well, that I can show you, but I give fair warning, it is not a happy tale. If you would all take each other's hand, we can begin." (Anna, Elsa, Emma and Regina all hold hands and at the moment Emma and Elsa take Grand Pabbie's, the vision of Ingrid's past plays out before their eyes.)

Arendelle. Past. (In the castle's garden, Ingrid sits clutching the urn and her new blue gloves.) The Duke: (Approaches:) “Ah, the Golden Crocus. A mysterious flower that blooms only for those who are willing to wait. I don't believe we've had the pleasure.” Ingrid: “Ingrid. (She curtseys:) You must be here for Helga. I'll go and fetch her for you.” The Duke: (Blocks her path and Ingrid drops her gloves:) “Yeah, I-I'd heard rumors of this mysterious third sister, but I had to see her for myself.” Ingrid: “Oh.” (Attempts to retrieve her gloves but the Duke advances on her.) The Duke: “The stories did not lie. You are more beautiful and intriguing than I could have ever imagined. Did I say that out loud? (Chuckles:) Of course I did. Oh, you are enchanting.” (He tries to kiss her.) Ingrid: “Oh, no. Don't do this.” The Duke: “Helga will never know.” Ingrid: “She loves you.” The Duke: “But it's you that I want, you mysterious flower... The Queen to be.” (He holds her.) Ingrid: “No, no, no, no, no, no! Get back!” (She pushes him away with her magic, sending him flying across the ground.) The Duke: “What dark sorcery is this? Stay away from me!” Ingrid: “Please, don't tell anyone. Please. This has to be our secret.” Helga: (Arriving:) “Ingrid. Ingrid, what's going on here?” The Duke: “Your sister started kissing me. She told me she loved me. And when I rebuffed her, she tried to kill me with... With her magic.” Ingrid: “No! Helga, no.” Helga: “Thank you, Duke.” Ingrid: “That is not...” Helga: “Thank you for showing me what a... Liar and a scoundrel you are, and for saving me the trouble of considering taking your worthless hand in marriage.” The Duke: “How dare you?” Helga: “We shall see to it that your diplomatic mission here is over. And we shall send you straight back to Weaselton.” The Duke: “It's pronounced ‘Wesel-ton.’ And I am its Duke, and I do not take orders from you. Believe me, when Arendelle learns the truth about her, they shall side with me.” Helga: “Ingrid is my sister, and I love her for who she is. And so shall everyone else.” The Duke: “Really? Is this why you hide her away from balls and royal dinners? Why no one has ever laid eyes on this freak?” Helga: “You are out of line, ‘Weasel-ton.’” The Duke: “Mock me all you want, but the people deserve to know what their future Queen is. Before I'm through, all of Arendelle will know your secret. And when they find out how dangerous your sister really is, you won't have to hide her any longer because they'll lock her up and throw away the key.” Helga: “Enough!” The Duke: “Because that is the only fate befitting a monster.” Ingrid: “Stop!” (Ingrid uses her power to hurt the Duke but Helga protects him and she is hit by her sisters magic.) Helga: “No!” Ingrid: “N-no! No! Helga! Helga, no. Helga.” Helga: “Ohh.” Ingrid: “Helga. Helga, hey. I'm so sorry. H-Helga... No. I... No! No! No! No! (Helga freezes to death:) What have I done?” (While the Duke runs for his life, Gerda arrives.) Gerda: “Ingrid? Ingrid, what happened? Where's Hel...” Ingrid: “I didn't mean to.” Gerda: “What did you do? What did you do?!” Ingrid: “I was trying to stop the Duke. It was an accident. You have to believe me.” Gerda: “You stay away from me. Stay!” Ingrid: “No! No. Please... Please, don't be afraid. We said that we would always be there for each other. We made a promise. I love you. Gerda, please, you have to help me. Take my hand. Please take my hand. You're all I have left.” Gerda: “Ingrid... You killed our sister. You're... You're a monster.” Ingrid: “No, G-Gerda, no. (Gerda takes the urn and traps Ingrid:) No! No!” The Dark Tower. Present. (Anastasia begins walking up a long flight of stairs with Morgana following her, holding a torch.) Morgana: “Keep moving.” Anastasia: “Where are you taking me?” Morgana: “You’ll find out.” (They climb the stairs all the way to the top of the tower. Morgana opens a door and Anastasia steps inside.) Anastasia: “What is this place?” Morgana: “Sleep well.” Anastasia: “Morgana. . .?” (Anastasia runs towards the door just as Morgana slams it shut, locking her inside. Anastasia turns and walks further into the room.) Forest. Recent Past. Night. (Guinevere walks alone in the forest, she passes by a tree and moments later Morgana steps out from it.) Morgana: “Guinevere.” Guinevere: (Stops, then slowly turns around:) “Thank you for meeting with me.” Morgana: “Your message was unexpected. After all these years, you still do intrigue me so, Guin.”

Guinevere: “After all we’ve shared, I’m glad I can still surprise you.” Morgana: “Indeed. And is that why you called me here, to lure me into a surprise attack?” Guinevere: “Would you still be here if you sensed any danger?” Morgana: “Then why am I here?” Guinevere: “I wanted to thank you.” Morgana: (Scoffs:) “For what?” Guinevere: “For sparing my life. You could have easily killed me back in those woods and yet you didn’t.” Morgana: “A rare oversight on my part.” Guinevere: “No, you knew what you were doing. In your own distinct way you chose to protect me. It was in that moment I knew the real Morgana was still in there somewhere.” Morgana: “You can’t possibly be this naive.” Guinevere: “You can protest all you like, but I know there’s good inside you, Morgana. That’s why I won’t stand by and watch you destroy yourself even further.” Morgana: “Merlin is the one destined to destroy me and yet you house him in the castle.” Guinevere: “I’m aware of the prophesy and I will do everything in my power to prevent that from happening.” Morgana: “Really. So is that why you wanted that sword from the Lady in the Lake?” Guinevere: “The sword is not meant for you.” Morgana: (Laughs:) “Oh no, of course not.” Guinevere: “I would never see harm come to you, Morgana, I swear it. I’ll prove it to you.” Morgana: “And how do you intend to do that?” Guinevere: “Lancelot rallies his men to find you, even as we speak. There is no place near that is safe for you right now.” Morgana: “I am aware of it. I have plans to travel far beyond Camelot’s reach.” Guinevere: “Regardless, it is only a matter of time before Lancelot and his men find you. And when the time comes, I shall send warning, giving you ample time to escape.” Morgana: “You would defy your beloved Lancelot to save my life?” Guinevere: “I owe you that much.” Morgana: (Chuckles:) “Oh Guin, such noble words. You’ll forgive me if I find them hard to believe.” (Guinevere gives her a look. A horses whinnies in the distance as a patrol approaches.) Guinevere: “Go!” (Guinevere pulls her hood up and runs off back towards the castle. Morgana calmly walks the other way. Gwaine arrives in the clearing, and spots the hooded figure running. Turning his horse, Gwaine heads the direction Guinevere went. As he passes, Morgana magically pulls Gwaine off his horse, sending him crashing the the forest floor and knocking him unconscious. Meanwhile,  Guinevere makes it out of the woods and straightens her cloak and walks back to the castle.) The Sacred Cave. Present. (Having navigated through the Impenetrable Forest, Lancelot and Guinevere enter a cave. Walking cautiously through the darkness, they turn as one at the sound of an aged woman’s voice.) Dochraid: “Who dares enter the sacred cave?” Guinevere: “We come to petition the Dochraid.” Dochraid: “Give me your hand. (Guinevere takes a step forward but is stopped by Lancelot who offers his own hand. The Dochraid takes it, sniffs it and pushes his hand away in disgust:) I smell the stench of enmity.” Guinevere: “We come in peace. In friendship.” Dochraid: “You are no friend of the Old Religion.”

Guinevere: “Great Dochraid, I am a friend of Morgana Pendragon.” Dochraid: “Silence! I know you, Guinevere. I will have no part in your plans.” Guinevere: “How do you know why I’ve come here?” Dochraid: “I am the Dochraid. The Earth speaks to me. You are not welcome here. Depart!” Guinevere: “Oh, I cannot do that. Not until I have what I came for.” Dochraid: “You dare challenge me, the ancient Dochraid? You? A puny Queen?” Lancelot: (Steps forward once more:) “And yet we will have what we came for.” Dochraid: “I am a creature of the Earth. You cannot kill me.” (Lancelot draws his sword and shows it to the Dochraid, who recoils in fear.) Lancelot: “This sword was forged in a dragon’s breath and it will do my bidding.” Dochraid: “You do not have the power to wield such a weapon.” (Lancelot swings the sword and slices the Dochraid’s arm. She cries out in pain and covers the wound with her hand.) Guinevere: “Please, we wish you no further harm, Dochraid. Tell me what I need to know.” Dochraid: “Your friend is doomed, Guinevere. Her spirit has been consumed by the Teine Diaga. Bound by the silver wheel for all eternity. Her body is nothing but an empty vessel filled by the will of another.” Guinevere: “By another? Do you mean Morgause?” Dochraid: “Regardless, Morgana has been set on a path to claim the throne of Camelot and will stop at nothing to achieve her goal.” Guinevere: “How do I break this spell?” Dochraid: “Only the greatest of sorcerers can attempt such a thing.” (Lancelot points the sword at the Dochraid again and she recoils in fear.) Lancelot: “Merlin, the greatest sorcerer who ever lived travels with us, he can break any spell. All we need to know is how?” Dochraid: “You must travel to the Cauldron of Arianrhod. There you will need all of your powers, for you must summon the White Goddess herself.” (Lancelot brings the sword closer to the Dochraid.) Lancelot: “And that is all?” Dochraid: “No. Morgana must enter the Cauldron. Its waters hold the Goddess’ power. Only their touch can heal her. Remember, Morgana must enter the water willingly. If she is tricked, forced or beguiled, she will fall into the abyss and be lost forever.” (Lancelot lowers his sword.) Guinevere: “Thank you, Great Dochraid. Thank you.” (Guinevere and Lancelot turn to leave the cave but the Dochraid uses her magic to throw a dagger at Lancelot’s back. Lancelot turns and uses his sword to block the blow, then using the blade to strike the Dochraid once more. She cries out in agony and crumples to the floor. Guinevere looks down at her for a moment before Lancelot takes her arm and leads them out of the cave.) The Dark Tower. (Anastasia is laying on the floor when liquid from a mandrake root above her drips onto her face. Anastasia sits up and sees mandrake roots all around her. A cacophony of shrieks and screams fills her ears. She crawls on the floor trying to distance herself somehow from the screaming when the door opens and Morgana walks in.) Morgana: “Come. . .let us have something to eat.” (Morgana leads Anastasia out of the room and she quickly follows.) Arendelle. Dining Room. (Returning to the palace, the foursome reunite with Kristoff and Maria. Taking a seat at the table, Emma speaks with Elsa while Regina allows Anna to spend some time with Maria.) Regina: "I hope she didn't give you any trouble?" Kristoff: "Nothing I couldn't handle. (When Anna looks to him eagerly:) Uh... but then you were only really gone for about an hour." Regina: (Smiles:) “Relax, Emma and I won't be leaving Maria here overnight anytime soon." Anna: "Oh but you will stay tonight, won't you?" Regina: "Well, we didn't want to impose..." Anna: "Nonsense. We have rooms for days, we'd love for you to stay over." (Regina looks over to Emma who nods.) Regina: "Then we'd be honoured." Lily: (Entering:) "That'll make a nice change." Elsa: (Rising from the table to welcome her:) "Lily!"

Lily: (To Regina:) "I mean it'll save you and Emma from having to find some random room where you can fu-" Elsa: (Wrapping her arms around Lily:) "What took you so long, I thought you were coming straight from work?" Lily: "I was, then as I was leaving I got a call about some disturbance." Regina: "A disturbance, in Storybrooke?" Lily: "I know, shocking right? It was at your vault in fact." Emma: (Joining them:) "The vault?" Lily: "Yeah, turns out it was nothing, just some false alarm." Regina: "Well that's a relief." Lily: "Yeah, but I'll tell ya, your sister has quite the attitude problem." Emma: "Zelena? What was she doing there?" Lily: "I don't know, but she accused me of trespassing before kicking me out." Emma: (Closes her eyes:) "As tactful as ever." Regina: "Thanks for checking it out, Sheriff." Lily: "Hey, not so loud, we don't want to jinx it." Emma: "Oh I have a feeling the job's as good as yours." Elsa: (Clasping her hands together, smiling:) "Well I'm starving, let's eat." (With a general murmur of approval, everyone takes their seats at the table.) The Dark Tower. (Sitting amongst the cobwebs, Morgana serves Anastasia some food at the large dining table.) Morgana: “Eat. Here. Food always makes me feel better. Would you prefer some chicken?. . .You must eat. You are fading away.” Anastasia: “I don’t know what cruel trick you are playing but I will not be broken by you.” Morgana: “I thought this would be nice. I know how lonely you must be. All by yourself in that room. At least you’re not shackled, there’s daylight, you can move, you can see. That’s a lot more than your sister was afforded in my hovel.” Anastasia: “You expect me to be grateful?” Morgana: “I too have suffered Anastasia. I spent years living in darkness. I would have sold my soul for someone to show me kindness such as this. Do you want me to take you back up there?” (Anastasia shakes her head and reaches out for a small bread roll. Watching her take a bite, Morgana smiles and pours the wine.)

The Impenetrable Forest. Night. (Guinevere, Lancelot and the knights are all sleeping in the forest while Merlin watches over them. Being immortal and with no need for sleep, Merlin continues his meditation. Opening his eyes, Merlin’s attention is drawn to something in the bushes. Glancing back at his sleeping companions, Merlin follows the fluttering sound through the woods. Only when he is out of sight from camp does the winged creature reveal herself to him.) Queen Mab: “Welcome to my realm, Merlin.” Merlin: “Who are you?” Queen Mab: “Why, I’m Queen Mab. I am the spirit of this place. And all the places that bring despair to men’s hearts. Few have ever seen me, Merlin, you should count yourself fortunate.” Merlin: “You... everything in this forest, it’s bewildering.” Queen Mab: “The forest is but one step on the journey.” Merlin: (Crouches down so that he is eye to eye with the forest spirit:) “How do we find a way out?” Queen Mab: “Oh powerful one... you should not have to ask. Left is right and right is left. And the way behind is the way ahead. It is simple.” Merlin: (Scoffs:) “Oh...simple.” Queen Mab: “You have a minds eye, Merlin. You must learn to trust in it. For far greater challenges lie ahead.” Merlin: “When we reach the Dark Tower?” Queen Mab: “If...” Merlin: “What do you mean?” Queen Mab: “You must beware Merlin, the tower is not a real place. It is the heart’s rest. The mind’s deepest fear. The stillness in a humming bird’s eye...” Merlin: “Stop, talking in riddles.” Queen Mab: “Then I shall speak in rhyme. Heed my words which you concern, for one of you will not return.” Merlin: “What do you mean? (Queen Mab chuckles gleefully. Merlin looks back towards camp:) Which one? (When he turns back, Queen Mab has disappeared. Hearing more rustling coming from his left, Merlin stands ready:) Show yourself.” (Much to his surprise, Merlin sees not a forest spirit but instead, with her bow in hand, Merida steps out of the darkness.) Arendelle. (Regretting her decision to stay in the dining room to talk with Lily while Regina put Maria to bed, Emma now finds herself lost and wandering the halls of the palace.) Emma: (Muttering to herself:) "This is god-damn ridiculous. (Knocks on a door and peers inside. Finding no one, she closes it and continues on:) Who needs a palace this big? (She tries another door with much the same result:) You would think one ball room would be sufficient for anyone's needs, but oh no, not here in Arendelle, they're just ball crazy apparently. Gotta have at least three ball rooms or the people might not take their Queen seriously. (Opens a door and closes it:) Balls. (Another door:) Balls. (Yet another door:) Balls. (No luck:) All right, deep breath Emma, you can do this. (She breathes deeply and slowly exhales before continuing her journey down the long hallway, passing several doors and pointing to each one as she goes:) Eeny, meeny, miny moe, Catch a tiger by the toe. If he hollers, let him go, Eeny, meeny, miny moe. Pig snout you're... (Coming to the last door on the left:) out! (Sighs:) Well, here goes nothing." (Emma approaches the door and knocks.) Regina: (From inside:) "Come in." Emma: (Greatly relieved, turns the handle and enters the room:) "You would have to choose the furthest room from..." (Emma stops in her tracks when she sees what awaits her. Wearing heels, stockings, suspenders and a bra, Regina stands leaning over the bed, casually reading a book.) Regina: (Looking up:) "Finally." Emma: "Regina, what-" Regina: (Stands up, stretching her back and giving Emma a luscious view of her curves:) "Well, as this is our first official evening spent in the palace, I thought I'd make it special. (Walking towards her:) Had I known you'd take this long talking shop with Lily, I may not have bothered." Emma: (Smiling at the vision before her:) "I'm sorry. This place is humongous and I just got lost. (While Regina walks around her to remove her jacket:) Can you ever forgive me?" Regina: "Hm. I don't know, you did keep me waiting an awfully long time. (Walks around to step before Emma, her arms folded and one foot tapping the floor as she playfully considers accepting Emma's apology:) Perhaps if you were naked I'd be more likely to forgive you?" Emma: (Counters:) "I think if we were both naked we'd each feel better about the whole situation." Regina: "I agree wholeheartedly." Emma: "And, seeing as you've got a head start, I think it only fair if you helped me out of my clothes?" Regina: (Smirks, her hands already unbuckling Emma's jeans:) "Sounds more than fair to me."

[anika-ann]

Hands Too Cold, but Heart of Gold - Pt.9

The Secret

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader, (one-sided Matt Murdock x reader)

Word count: 2600

Summary: Avenger!reader AU, love triangle. You went on a date with Matt aka Daredevil. The outcome is… interesting to say at least and strange to be more precise. And while you don’t want to talk about, Nat clearly does. Well... like you have a choice here. 

Warnings: some awkwardness, swearing, light angst, and tons of fluff... and Natasha being the sneakiest sneak to ever sneak

Story Mastelist

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You were sitting in your room, dully staring at your wall, the scene replaying in front of your eyes over and over again. Well, not really; you hadn’t seen much at the moment.

Everything had been great. You and Matt had gone to a date – a dinner date, the most classical date of all and he had been wonderful. He had been a gentleman, pulling out a chair for you, which had been a little ridiculous, given the fact that at least to untrained eyes, he had been the one that needed help, but you had thought it was sweet. The food had been good, the wine as well and the conversation flew surprisingly easily for two people who had recently beat up someone together as their first meeting.

Matt was nice, sweet, funny, smart and… very objectively attractive. When he had taken off his glasses as the restaurant had started to empty, you had been reminded that he was also objectively cute.

Then you had left the restaurant, the night air pleasantly refreshing, his hand on your elbow for guidance and possibly more and about a half of a block from the Tower – which you had considered a safe distance for avoiding Tony’s sniffing around – you had said your goodbyes and kissed goodnight.

Matt was a fucking amazing kisser. His lips were soft and as smart as his talk, perfectly balanced closed-mouthed kissing, nibbling and teasing and— and for some reason, it had left you completely unfazed.

It had been awkward. Incredibly so. You had kissed him back of course, but quickly had said goodnight once more and the only reason why your heart had been freaking out in your chest had been because you had thought you had been a total freak. You were spooked to death, trying not to run the last metres to your place.

You had attempted to sneak into your room, but of course you had run into Steve; you managed to tell him that the date had been nice and once you reached the safety of your bedroom, you locked the door and leaned your back onto it, sliding down.

What the fuck was wrong with you?

That had been two days ago. You practically refused to leave your room. Natasha had come to check up on you and so had Steve – twice. You cowardly hadn’t opened the door and had said you weren’t feeling very well. You hadn’t lied. You had barely slept, thousands of different thoughts in your mind, tiptoeing around one single topic.

For some reason, you hadn’t fallen for the incredibly charming man women and men would kill for. There simply must have been something terribly wrong with you.

You whined, burying you face into your pillow for the thousandth time in the past few hours.

A beep announced a received text. You whined louder, expecting it to be from Matt; every single one of people who had your number lived in the tower except him.

It was Matt indeed.

Can I call you?

“No,” you muttered, planning on throwing your SIM card away. Opening the phone, you realized what a ridiculous creature you were. Such a coward.

You took a deep calming breath with zero effect and dialled Matt’s number yourself. You could do this. When you heard Matt saying your name through the speaker, you were positive that you couldn’t.

“Hey Matt,” you breathed to the phone, your quiet voice shaking.

“Are you okay? You sound… tired,” he noted with concern and you huffed out a laugh. That was one way to put it.

“Uhm… yeah, I am. A little. You? How are you, Matt?”

You found yourself genuinely caring about how he was. You cared for him. And when you thought back to the mission…. Why the hell did you feel the way you did? Or rather didn’t feel? What had changed? Why were you… broken?

“Oh. Okay. I guess.”

“You guess?”

“I… I wanted to talk to you. It would probably be better in person, but… I want to give you an easy escape route,” he muttered nervously.

You heart skipped a beat. Shit. Here it came.

“O-okay. What is it, Matt?” you asked, feeling bad for playing dumb.

“I… I wanted to— to say I really enjoyed our night out-“ WHAT?! “-it was great.”

You gulped, panicking even more than before. Oh fuck. Matt liked the date. Probably liked the kiss and everything. Oh fuck, fuck, fuck-

“You okay?”

“What?!” you shrieked, horrified you cursed out loud.

“That’s a no to the okay question then-“

“No! I mean-“ you blurted out, you fist hitting your forehead too lightly. God, you wished you could just bang your head against a wall and knock yourself unconscious. Come on, coward, out with it. “Matt, I gotta tell you something.”

“Alright. So tell me,” he encouraged you gently and you mentally screamed. He was so nice to you and you were about to be a total bitch. Again.

“I… I loved our date night. I did. You were so amazing, you are amazing and there must be something seriously wrong with me and I hate it, because I just don’t understand why— why-“

“Why the kiss felt like kissing your brother?” he offered silently and you whimpered out loud as he caught up. He didn’t sound mad, but of course Matt wouldn’t be mad, he was so fucking nice (and deadly as Daredevil) it hurt.

“Incredibly hot and skilful brother-“

“Skilful, huh?” he hummed, light teasing in his voice. Great, now he was being cocky, trying to cheer you up.

“Matt, I honestly doubt I’m the first person to tell you you’re an amazing kisser.”

“Touché. But thanks anyway.”

You would swear he understood what you were saying, but he would make you say it in plain English, wouldn’t he?

“I’m so sorry, Matt. Any woman would be lucky to have you, hell I swear I would be lucky to have you, it’s just… I don’t know. I swear I don’t know,” you whispered miserably, resisting the urge to hide you whole face in your hands.

“Hey, don’t worry about it-“ Excuse me? “That’s not something you can turn on and off— poor choice of words, sorry-“

You giggled involuntarily and absolutely inappropriately.

“You can’t control that, Gerda,” he said softly, the same tone he used when he was navigating you through keep-Steve-cold-and-alive mission. “It’s why I called. I… suspected you were torturing yourself over it a little.”

Wait, hold a sec-

“What do you mean you suspected-“ Oh fuck. OH FUCK. “You could tell. You could tell with your freaky senses, couldn’t you?”

Oh, wow, this was whole new level of awkward.

“Yeah, kinda.”

“Oh my god, someone just kill me already.”

“Gerda. Calm down. I’m not mad.”

“But I am! Jesus, I really should just dig myself a hole to crawl into and die-“

“Stop with the blasphemy and especially with the talk about dying,” he growled and you jumped at the threatening tone, immediately obeying.

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, you already said that…. Do you think… do you think we can meet again? Not now, not this week, or yes, whenever you would want to. I like you, Gerda. If you let me, I would like to be your friend.”

You almost choked on your own spit. The idea was likeable for you in a way, but it would be incredibly unfair to him.

“You sure, Matt? I mean… that’s… I’m not being too full of myself, I swear, but…”

“But you know what it’s like to fall for someone and be by their side only as a friend?” he offered kindly and your jaw fell. Come again?

“What? I’m not sure-“

“Really, Snowflake?”

You blood ran cold at the addressing, your heart positively stopping this time. That wasn’t— wasn’t-

“You told me you loved him, Gerda.”

“Yes. And that he was family,” you added, panicking. Yeah, okay, so you had a stupid crush on Steve that was lasting embarrassingly long, but that would go away and— alright, you had no idea someone had noticed that.

“Yes. And you weren’t lying, I could tell. But I think we both know it wasn’t the whole truth.”

You turned into a statue with the loudest heartbeat on Earth. In the silence of your room, it felt like the sound was ricocheting off the walls, coming back to you. You loved Steve, that was no news, sure, but… but… never mind. It didn’t matter, because even if you did love him more than as a family, he didn’t, so— so that didn’t change a thing about the possibility of your inability to momentarily fall for another man.

You groaned loudly, falling back into your pillows.

“And finally, the blind man opens her eyes…”

“Shut up,” you muttered, caught between too many emotions to recognize either of them.

“Talk to him, Gerda. You deserve to be happy.”

“Excuse me?”

“…you know he loves you back, right?” Matt asked matter-of-factly and you wondered when the heck had you slipped in the shower to hit your head hard enough to come up with this craziness of a dream.

“Matt. You’re being really sweet, but please don’t make up stuff like that-“

“I’m not making up-“

You whined again, pulling the phone as far from your ear as you could. This was not something you needed to hear now. Or ever. False hope sucked.

Two loud knocks interrupted your misery.

“Hey, it’s Natasha, can I come in? You’re okay in there?”

“Matt, thank you for being so cool about all this, but I gotta go. I’ll call you – or you call me when you feel like it, it was good to talk to you, bye.” You hung up before he could say a word. For once, you welcomed the interruption and actually walked to the door, unlocking it.

Please, tell me we have a mission. Preferably without Steve, because right now I won’t be able to look him in the eye.

You met with Natasha’s worried gaze. “You okay? You sounded a bit…”

“I was on the phone,” you explained shortly, your tone indicating how much you didn’t want to talk about it.

“Okay. Uhm… are you ready to talk about you two days isolation? Are you sick? Because JARVIS can tell you weren’t sick.”

“Fucking AIs.”

“Sorry, madam,” the AI sounded from above and you yelped. Right.

“It’s fine, J.”

While you were talking to the AI, apologizing to someone who had no emotions thus probably couldn’t be offended, Natasha invited herself in and seated herself on your bed. For the first time, you noticed she had brought two glasses of red wine. You grimaced.

“Yeah, sure, come in, Tasha,” you noted sarcastically and she smiled innocently.

“Thanks. So… wanna talk about boys?”

You opened the door you had managed to close just before she asked that stupid question.

“Not really. Thanks for the visit. Door’s this way”

The spy rolled her eyes and sighed. “Come on. You were on a date and unless you were… taking care of yourself whole two days, too stunned to leave your room-“ Jesus, Tasha.. “-it’s didn’t go well. So. I’m all ears.”

You eyed her as if she just announced you were about to be a subject of torture. Which wasn’t exactly inaccurate. You closed the door again. “It was nice, okay?”

“Uh-huh. But?” she guessed and you let your shoulders slump, heavily seating yourself next to her. She offered you a glass and you just shook your head. You hadn’t really eaten in the past two days and drinking on empty stomach was never a good idea. She set the glass on your nightstand either for later or for herself. “Too much tongue?”

You looked at her deadly serious expression and you couldn’t help yourself. You just burst out laughing, the loud noise hurting your own ears after your time alone. The corners of her lips twitched.

“You really wanna know?” you checked and she wiggled her eyebrows. “No. Just the right amount of tongue. If I could take a guess, he took kissing as an elective in college.”

“Whoa, okay. So why are you making that face and why did you shut everyone down? Including Steve?”

You bit the inside of your cheek – it wasn’t exactly a secret you and Steve were really close, but… well. You really didn’t want to think about Steve now.

“I don’t know,” you said, realizing it wasn’t the truth. You knew. You were just having troubles to admit it and come to terms with it. “I… it just wasn’t there. I mean… Matt’s amazing. Like… I-would-pay-him-for-being-my-date-again amazing, but… the spark was missing. Which possibly means I’m frigid, but…”

Natasha covered your hand with hers – you didn’t even realize you were clutching the sheets.

“You know that’s not true, you’re not an actual Ice Queen,” she teased you lightly, but with the genuinely caring tone that made you realize that the whole team was already so much more than your team.

You had considered that before, but this very moment… you were paying more attention to your emotions than ever; which made you discover another thing. They were all your family. And family trusted each other.

“I guess I’m not.” She smiled at you, handing you the glass with no objections permitted. You chuckled and sipped the crimson liquid. “You know, you don’t need to get me drunk to make me spill all of my secrets. I told you about Matt rather willingly.”

Natasha grinned and sipped her wine too. “Oh, good. I need you sober.”

You narrowed your eyes suspiciously. “Why?”

“Later. Since you told me about Matt, is it time to tell me about Steve too?”

You choked on the next sip of the wine, utterly shocked at the words. Natasha’s reflexes saved your carpet when taking your glass away.

“What the hell, Romanoff?!” you rasped, another cough fit hitting you. She wasn’t impressed.

“Please. You could as well have the ‘desperate pining’ and ‘clearly platonic cuddling’ signs above your head.”

You were speechless, staring at the redhead, tears from the coughing fit blurring your vision.

“Don’t look at me like that. So I know you love him, it’s not a big deal,” she exclaimed with a shrug as if she was saying what the weather was tonight.

“Why does everyone keep telling me that?!”

“Everyone?”

“Well… you’re only second today, not that it makes me feel any better,” you mumbled, running your hand down your face.

Who else knew? Did Steve know too? The thought made you nauseous. What if he knew but never said anything, because he didn’t want things to be awkward between the two of you? Oh god, oh god…

“Huh. Gotta say that guy really is perceptive. I mean, he barely met you and Steve.” She sounded genuinely impressed. You hid your face in your palms, muffling another whimper that escaped your lips. “It’s not that obvious. I mean… I know about at least one person, who is perfectly oblivious. Otherwise he would have actually had the balls to tell you that he loves you back.”

Natasha’s tone was rather flat, informative, but you had learned to recognize the nuances in her voice. You could tell she was telling you something huge, yet, your mind was very slow with realizing what each of the words meant and what they meant together.

Then you finally made some sense of the sentence. Except you didn’t. You looked up, baffled.

“I— I’m sorry. I think I already had too much wine. Could you repeat what you just said?”

A smug smile appeared on the spy’s lips as she pulled out a flash drive from her pocket.

“Have a laptop lying around here somewhere, Snowflake? We need to process some evidence.”

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Part 10 (final)

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Tags:  @mermaidxatxheart​, @murdermornings​, @elisaa-shelby​ @ask-hellbent-tweek

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Last part ahead... and not to spoil a thing, but yes, you can expect enough fluff to drown in it ;)

[bad-at-names-and-faces]

The Timing and the Setting

Chapter 30

Chapter Index

Inga securely shut the door to her room after Frederick delivered the letter and sat down by the window.  She couldn’t remember what she had been doing before he knocked on the door a moment before, but he was probably right that she needed to get outside.  A change of scenery would help, or at least something to focus on besides her thoughts.  The same thoughts had been playing over and over, and she needed to find something else to think about.  

She looked at the letter.  She knew the writing.  Frederick seemed to understand enough to know not to open it.  The date on the letter was a few days after the previous one, so not a reply to her most recent letter.  She wasn’t ready to read it, but she could guess what it was: he had found time to speak to his parents privately, and either they had told him the truth, or he wouldn’t know the truth, and now she couldn’t tell him. She wanted to tell him. It was going to eat at her until she could say something to him.  

She hadn’t done anything since the party except changing into her nightgown, and she had quickly fallen into a restless sleep. She had woken up with a terrible headache yesterday, which made it easy enough to tell everyone that she wasn’t feeling well.  She tried to forget what she now knew about her mother. She tried not to think about what she had said to her father.  

Of course, telling herself not to think about something never worked.  

I’m sorry, Papa! 

She remembered telling him that in tears after Lars had left.  

Let’s get you to bed. 

That was all he had said to her before taking her inside and finding Gerda to make sure she would be looked after.  He had told her mother that they shouldn’t tell her right then, that it wasn’t the right time.  She had certainly had too much to drink, she couldn’t deny that.  Even so, how could she have let herself jump to those conclusions about Lars and her father?  It was her father.  She rarely saw him talk with anyone outside of their family, and he certainly didn’t have a reputation of any sort among anyone she had ever heard mention him.  And she had often overheard people gossiping about her family when they thought she was too young to understand, but no one had ever mentioned her father, except perhaps to say he had been unsociable. 

Of course, when a prince or a king had a secret like her mother’s, it was never very much of a secret, was it?  Half the time they gave the bastard a noble title, and even if they never acknowledged them, nobody cared unless they tried to take the throne. But a queen?  Even when they had secure power and position, the most obvious cases were still hushed up, records destroyed, people paid off.  What would people have thought about her mother if this had been widely known?  Inga had heard whisperings about the Southern Isles from visiting diplomats. Would they have made a claim to the throne?  She had once overheard some visiting diplomats who hadn’t closed a door entirely.  “I don’t know why the Queen is so afraid of the Southern Isles. That supposed marriage he claimed was never valid to begin with, and even if it had been, it was never consummated.”  For some reason, she had remembered those words, even though they didn’t make sense to her at the time.  During her lessons that same afternoon, she had asked her governess what “consummated” meant, and her governess had told her she must mean “consumed” and explained that word, instead.

Everyone had been lying in little ways for years.  Her mother had kept the truth from them, of course, but could she blame her?  Even if she hadn’t been queen, she could have been ruined, forced to spend life in a convent or begging in the streets.  Perhaps some actresses could get away with such a thing.  That’s why “respectable girls” couldn’t go into such careers, wasn’t it? 

Her aunt, it seemed, had been involved in all of this, too, but somehow, that bothered Inga less.  Her aunt was a mysterious person, really. Of course she would have secrets.  

And what of Corona’s involvement? How many of them knew? The Crown Princess had been involved from almost the start, but it was never clear if she had told anyone else, even her husband or the King or Queen.  

Some leaves blew against her window, startling her. She realized she had been sitting staring at the letter for a while, so she went ahead and opened it. 

Corona, September 30th, 1864

Dear Inga,

It’s been a week since I last wrote, and you probably haven’t even gotten my letter yet, so I apologize for sending two letters before you even have a chance to write a reply. I hope everything is well there. I have the feeling that I will get your next letter as soon as you’ve received my last letter, at least, I hope so.  Since you’re probably wondering, I finally did have a chance to ask my mother some of your questions about the time your mother visited Corona, but she said there wasn't very much to tell, just a series of balls and then winter in the countryside.  So now I’m even more curious, since there are much nicer places to spend the winter if you're already traveling.  Have you learned anything more?

However, my real reason for writing again, is that my family have decided to go ahead and send me and my sister on our Grand Tour very soon, possibly by the beginning of October, and they decided to make Arendelle the second stop.  You’ll get the official word some time soon, I imagine. 

Sincerely,

Henry

Inga felt herself shaking, and quickly set the letter down for fear she would crumple it. She wondered if his reply to her last letter would come before he arrived.  The thought of writing a reply scared her; she couldn’t tell him anything, not yet.  Henry obviously knew nothing, but his mother, at least, knew everything.  What else could she write about?  

She placed the letter inside a book she had tried and failed to read the day before, and collapsed back on her bed. She forced herself back up, and found her simplest dress from her wardrobe.  Edith, or was it Kate, had once told her that it made her look just like a shopkeeper.  A very nicely dressed shopkeeper, the other one had quickly added.  She wanted to blend in, and not be noticed if she could help it. She really didn’t know where she was going. She would walk somewhere. Perhaps it would help clear her thoughts.  

She escaped through the kitchen door, seeing no one on the way. The weather was pleasant, with an unseasonably warm breeze coming off the harbor. It was market day.  Inga spotted an unfamiliar face at an apple stall and walked over, smiling as the merchant addressed her as “Miss.” She bought an apple to have as a snack, and one to take with her, then kept walking out of town and up along the cliffs. As she got higher, she could see a ship approaching the harbor, but couldn’t identify it from the glare. She thought about taking a closer look later when she was back in town.

***

“Inga!” Elizabeth called from the field.

Inga looked over and saw a picnic set out, which Elizabeth and Mrs. Nilsen were sharing. She walked over hesitantly.  Did Mrs. Nilsen know that Inga had been told?  Your mother deserves happiness, she had told Inga when they had met in Corona.  It had seemed an odd thing to say. 

“It’s so good to see you!” Elizabeth exclaimed as Inga walked over to their picnic. “I was really worried about you.  I’m sorry I couldn’t get away from my mother. Lars said you were upset about something, but he didn’t say what.  Never mind that, she and my sisters are on my father’s ship, on their way to Wesselton.”

Inga looked over at Mrs. Nilsen, who looked suddenly tired. Trying to smile and look unaffected, Inga sat down between the two. “Thank you for your concern,” Inga managed.  She pulled out her apple, taking a bite to avoid having to say more.

Elizabeth looked over at her before starting to speak. “How are you feeling, Inga?”

Inga carefully finished chewing the piece of apple in her mouth, staring out at the fjord, trying to think of how truthful she wanted to be.  “I’m fine, really.  I mean… No, I’m fine,” she sighed.  She was sure it was obvious that she wasn’t fine.

Mrs. Nilsen looked over at her sympathetically. “My dear, if there’s anything you need to talk about, perhaps later you can come see me.”

“Um, thank you, but-”

“Inga, you can talk to me, too,” Elizabeth interrupted innocently.  Mrs. Nilsen looked knowingly at Inga.

“Of course, thank you,” she replied nervously, quickly taking another bite from her apple. 

The picnic lunch had been consumed, and Inga did her best to help them pack things up into their basket.  She paused as they were heading down the hill. 

“Were you heading somewhere else?” Elizabeth asked. “We’re going back into town, and you’re welcome to come with us.” 

“I… I really had no plans,” she admitted, joining them on the walk down. She could always believably claim not feeling well and return to her room once they got there. She watched the ship that she had seen on her way up move toward the inner harbor as they walked along. The glare of the sun on the water made it hard to see, but she thought she noticed official Corona insignia on the sails, but that made no sense.  Their naval ship had left the day before, and no other ships were scheduled to arrive for several more days. 

As they approached the center of town, she saw that the ship was already docked. She had heard people grumbling in the past about how slow the harbor master was, and supposed they were finally fixing whatever they needed to in order to speed things up.  As they got closer to the harbor, she spotted Lars crossing the square, and she wasn’t ready to talk to him after the other night. She was going to say something to Elizabeth and Mrs. Nilsen as an excuse to leave, but there was enough of a crowd from the market that she simply stood back a moment and lost herself in it.

She saw Frederick talking to Meibel, and Elizabeth and Mrs. Nilsen had gone over to Lars. A messenger ran from the ship into the castle.  Inga stood indecisively by a market stall, doing her best to blend in. The stand next to her was full of squashes of various colors and shapes, some of them familiar, others new to her, and she wondered what the unusual looking ones might be good for.  

Looking up, she saw Frederick leading a group including Lars and Elizabeth from the docks to the castle. She was focusing on Lars, who held back to walk with Mrs. Nilsen, and then saw Elizabeth walk on to join the young woman at the front of the group who was walking next to Frederick. As they passed near the stall where she was standing, she suddenly realized the young woman was Hilde.

“Hi,” she heard behind her. She whirled around, knocking over some of the produce in the stall to see Henry smiling nervously at her. "Are you hiding from me?”

She stooped down to start picking up the vegetables that had fallen. The merchant had come around, and was scowling at her. 

“I’ll pay for this,” Henry told the man, before stooping down next to Inga. 

“I buy stuff here all the time, it’s not a big deal,” she grumbled.  She felt warm, and she told herself that it was just the sun, even though she had been standing in the shade for several minutes. "Sorry," she added, realizing she had spoken too quickly, "It's just… I wasn't expecting to see you so soon. I only got your letter this morning."

"And I got your last letter while we were at sea yesterday," he replied, looking at the bruised gourd he had picked up from the ground. "Are you going to explain that sometime? My mother also got a letter that just showed up seemingly out of nowhere, right before they decided to send us on our trip earlier than planned." He glanced up at her half smiling.

"Oh," she muttered, placing another squash up on the stall while the merchant bagged them up. "I suppose I should tell you, shouldn't I? I would like to get letters from you sooner." 

When they had picked up the last of the fallen squash, Henry helped her up. She looked around the square while he settled with the merchant, who handed him the bag of various squashes. She didn’t see Frederick or the others, though she did see Meibel still watching the ship unload.  Meibel would probably tell Kate and Edith if she saw Inga.

“I could take those to the kitchen,” Inga proposed, still in a bit of a daze, “though our cook always complains when those green ones are too big like these.”

“Does it matter?”  Henry asked, somewhat confused.

“When that kind gets too big, they're just flavorless and bland.  But people in the market always seem to buy the largest ones they can find.”  She wasn’t sure why she was telling him this.  She wished she could just say thank you and be done with it like other people seemed to do.

“I see,” he replied, looking around, holding the bag of produce. “I’m sorry, I didn’t even ask where you were going.  I was following everyone into the castle, but-”

“I should be heading back now. I’ll go through the kitchen so that I can leave these there,” she said, moving to take the bag from him. 

“I can carry it,” he said somewhat defensively.  Inga shrugged with acceptance as they began walking toward the castle, not sure why he felt the need to do this himself.

“I guess I should ask how long you’ll be here,” she offered as conversation. She wasn't sure what she should ask. They had never said anything about the ball in any of their letters. Did he think about it?

“A few days,” he replied sounding oddly sad, “maybe a bit longer, depending how things go.”

“What sort of things?” Inga asked, unsure of what answer to expect.

“They…  they didn’t really tell us much before we left. I think it’s got to do with that ambassador situation you told me about,” he explained as he shifted the bag of vegetables to the side away from her.  “All I can say for certain is we have a few candidates from the Diplomatic School with us.”

“Really?” Inga swallowed a bit, not wanting to think about what Henry had taken to calling ‘the ambassador situation’.  “Surely they didn’t need to send you for that,” she added.  She saw his face tense up and immediately regretted her choice of words.

“They didn’t,” he admitted, “I suppose I should have stayed back.”

“I didn't mean it that way,” she apologized, putting her hand on his shoulder. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“You’re sure you won’t be looking forward to my departure, too?” Henry stopped and smirked at her.

“What do you mean?”  she asked, moving her hand away.

“Your last letter, you were looking forward to the Maldonian prince leaving, I think? Or was he not so disappointed?” Henry gave a half smile, clearly trying to make light of the situation.

Inga felt dizzy, and looked away as she leaned on the stone wall of the bridge. “I forgot I even wrote that. It seems so long ago now.”

“Wasn’t it just a few days ago?” he asked, frowning.

“It was. He was horrible, and I’m glad he’s gone... I’d almost forgotten about him, though,” Inga paused as she realized the truth of what she was saying.  She looked through the gates and caught a glimpse of her father talking to Frederick and Hilde, and wanted to do her best to get inside without being seen.  “Thank you for helping me with those,” she said, grabbing the bag of squash from Henry.  “I should take them to the kitchen now.  You should go catch up with everyone. I’m sure I’ll see you later.” She hugged the bag of produce to her chest and hurried to the side door to the kitchen. 

***

Anna walked down the hall to Inga’s room. She knocked at her daughter's door, but heard no response. 

"Inga? I can come back later," Anna called through the door.

"Mother?" Inga stood behind her in the hallway.

"Oh! You went out?" Anna asked, “Is everything okay? I hope Frederick didn’t cause a problem with that letter this morning.”

“What?  Yes, um, no… I mean, yes, I went out for a walk.  Frederick suggested it, and the letter was for me, it wasn’t a problem.”  Inga looked down at the gourd in her hand she had saved from her delivery to the kitchen, fiddling with it nervously.

“You’re getting letters from Corona? What about?”

“Do you really expect me to tell you?” Inga glared.

Anna took a breath. “I’m sorry. You… you don’t have to tell me everything, of course.”

“Um, good.  Thanks.” Inga fumbled with the gourd during the uncomfortable silence that followed. 

“What’s that?” 

“This?” Inga looked at what was in her hand. “Oh, our cook said this one was just decorative, so I could keep it if I wanted.  She’s going to figure out how to use the rest of it.”

“Did we get an order of squash?” 

“Um, not exactly…  it’s… it’s something I saw at the market.”

“Why did you buy squash at the market? How much did you buy, exactly? Oh, never mind-” Anna stopped herself.  “I came here to let you know that we’re having a small formal dinner tonight.  A ship just arrived from Corona this afternoon, and it will be… everyone from Corona here on official business will be there, if you understand what I mean.  You may come if you like, but we can make excuses for you if you’d rather not.”

“Everyone from Corona?” Inga asked in an oddly eager tone.  “Who will be there, exactly?”

“Would you like an official list?” Anna tried not to sound exasperated. “I can ring for Kai.  I think he’d just like to know if you’ll be there or not.”

“Please tell him I’ll be there,” Inga told her quickly, walking to her door.  She paused before going inside. “I’m sorry for what I said the other night. Most of it, anyway.”

Anna stared silently at the door after Inga had closed it behind her. She hadn’t expected Inga to agree to come to dinner.  Asking had been a courtesy, and she had meant it as an excuse to check in on her.  But she had checked in on her, hadn’t she?  Once again, it wasn’t the conversation she had intended to have.  She sighed as she turned and went back to get herself ready for dinner. Tonight’s dinner would not be the time to talk to her.  

“What was she doing buying vegetables?” Anna looked around to check that she was alone, realizing that she had said this out loud.  As much as she could understand her daughter’s desire for privacy, especially right now, some of her behavior was simply confusing. 

When Anna was back at her room, she found Kristoff already inside changing for dinner.   He looked over as he heard the door open, smiling a bit. 

“Did you know about the visitors?” he asked her.

“No.  I don’t think anyone knew.  Did Kai tell you about the dinner?”

“Yes.  Is it going to be as awkward as I think? I get the idea that Corona has made the decision for Lars about taking up our offer.”

“Probably even more awkward.”  

“What, does he know now?”

“No, I’m very certain he doesn’t, he…  no, he doesn’t know.” She paused.  “What I meant was, Inga told me she’ll be coming.”

“You talked to her?”

“I suppose you could call it that.” 

“How is she?”

“She went out today, so I suppose that’s good.  She kind of apologized, and I wasn’t even going to ask her to. She’s right to be angry.”

“And she wants to come to dinner tonight?  Does she know who will be there?  I mean, not just Lars, but the last I heard, she was still rather annoyed with Ambassador Meyer for all the talk about trying to set her up with Prince Henry. I mean, he seemed pleasant enough for the two minutes I saw him today, but...”

“Yes, I know.  She won’t tell me anything one way or another.  But she wants to go.  I’ll ask Kai to see how he can work out the seating.”

***

“Inga, you made it!” Frederick shouted happily as she walked into the dining room.

Their parents hadn’t arrived yet, and it seemed that Anton and Peder were still too young to be invited to this dinner. The only person in the room besides her brother that she recognized was Ambassador Meyer, who quickly ended his discussion with the young men sitting near him when he noticed her enter the room.   

“Good evening, Your Excellency,” she greeted him.

“Your Highness,” he replied, standing up to bow, the other men quickly following suit.  “If I may be permitted, this is Mr. Weber, special emissary from Corona.” 

Inga nodded as Mr. Weber bowed. She waited for him to introduce the others, but he seemed to be finished.  “Your Excellency will excuse my curiosity, but I didn’t get a chance to see tonight’s guest list.  Will you introduce me?”

“Oh, excuse me, Your Highness.  These are the young men that Corona has sent as candidates to be my new private secretary.”

“I see,” Inga replied, doing her best not to let her face show any sign of emotion. After all, she remembered, Prince Henry had told her he was traveling with candidates for the position. She took a slow breath to keep her voice steady.  “And, Your Excellency, will anyone else from Corona be joining us this evening?”

“Their Royal Highnesses will be here shortly,” he replied. Inga nodded.  “Oh, and of course, Mr. Nilsen. He informed me that he is escorting his mother and young bride to your General’s house for dinner tonight, but he will be here, as he is still my employee for now.”

“Thank you, Your Excellency,” she replied, sitting down next to Frederick at the opposite end of the table.

“Inga, did you know Corona was sending a ship here?” Frederick whispered to her. “Was that in one of your letters?”

“No,” she replied. “I mean, he said they would be coming at some point, but not this soon-”

“Ha!” he laughed a little too loud, “I knew it was him!”

“Wait, what?” she glared at him, realizing what he had done.  Before she got a chance to say more, the door opened, and Kai announced her parents’ arrival.  She retreated into formality to keep herself steady: stand up, curtsey slightly, sit back down when her parents sat down.  She felt their eyes on her, but she was afraid to look up.  A footman came around to fill the glasses, and she held her hand up before her glass was even half full to stop him, when she heard the door open again.

“Oh, good, Lars is here!” Frederick whispered to her as the proper greetings and acknowledgements were made once again.  She nodded blankly, thankful that he had to sit at the other end of the table with the Ambassador and the others.

The door opened once more.  Kai stepped inside for the announcements. “His Royal Highness, Prince Henry of Corona, and Her Royal Highness, Princess Clothilde of Corona.”

They stood up. The Prince and Princess bowed to the Queen, greeted her father, and then walked over to their side of the table. Henry shook Frederick’s hand heartily, and then walked over to Inga. This was all protocol, she reminded herself, trying to breathe calmly. Without thinking, she held out her hand to Henry. He looked her in the eye as he took her hand in both of his and kissed it. She swallowed. 

Hilde cleared her throat behind him. Henry gave her hand a subtle squeeze before dropping it, and walked over to acknowledge the Ambassador and Emissary who were bowing to him along with the others from Corona.

“I’m so glad to see that you’re feeling better,” Hilde smiled as she clasped her hands and kissed both her cheeks.  Inga reciprocated, and then sat down as Hilde left to greet the others. 

Inga tried to pass the dinner by focusing on minutia, not thinking about either the situation with Lars and her parents or whatever had just happened with Henry. Frederick was to her left, Hilde to her right. Her mother was at the head of the table next to Frederick, and their father on her other side. Henry was sitting across from her, next to her father.  Normally at a smaller formal dinner like this, she would have been seated in between her father and any foreign guests, as something of a buffer, but her mother must have spoken to Kai about changing the seating arrangement. Henry did his best trying to make conversation with her father. She caught herself smiling, thinking that her father would probably get a good laugh if Henry shared the story of how they met, but of course, he couldn’t do that in this company. Inga sighed, realizing her father was looking at her again. She had let herself feel happy.

She wasn’t hungry.  She moved the food around on her plate enough when anyone was watching, and then allowed each course to be removed along with everyone else’s.  The Ambassador’s voice was overpowering any time he spoke, with other conversations pausing even when there was no interest in what he was actually saying.  

"Yes," Lars replied to the ambassador without noticing the other conversations had temporarily stopped, his voice rising, "I'm aware that Maldonia is interested in renting out their consulate building in New Orleans at a very good rate. How can I make it clear that would not be an option at this-" he looked around and realized everyone was looking. "Excuse me."

Inga was thankful for the dessert set out in front of her. She still wasn’t interested in eating, but she could focus her attention on it. 

“Lars,” she heard Henry speak through the silence, “what about Boston?”

“What about it?” Lars replied. 

“They’ve got ice,” Henry added hesitantly.

“So do we,” Frederick laughed, “no offense, but you might have noticed that.”

“I mean…” Henry took a breath, looking helpless.

 Lars piped in, “Henry, are you talking about the ship building? They’ve got ships for transporting.  I don’t think Arendelle  has enough of those.”

“Oh, good point,” Frederick hemmed, as several others around the table nodded and began discussing the point. 

Hilde leaned over to Inga smiling. “If I didn’t know better,” she whispered quietly in her ear, “I’d think someone was trying to impress your father.”

Inga did her best to ignore Hilde’s implications, feeling unsteady even though she was sitting. This was dessert.  She could make it through dessert. Everyone else was busy talking; she didn’t need to.

***

As soon as the guests began standing and milling around the room, Inga did her best to quietly slip away.  She wasn’t tired, not exactly.  As she walked toward the gallery, she heard a group talking right outside the gallery door. The Ambassador’s voice was once again overpowering,  as he spoke to the Emissary and several others.  Without looking, she jumped behind the nearest curtain into an alcove before she could see who else was with them.  

The alcove was just large enough for her skirt to miss bumping into the curtain when she was inside. She stared at the familiar red velvet curtains that she hid behind during so many childhood games of hide and seek.  As the group moved along, and even the Ambassador’s voice faded, she heard a soft chuckle behind her. “Hello again.” 

Inga just avoided making a sound as she swung around and saw Henry sitting at the window in the alcove with her.  “What are you doing here?” she asked breathlessly.

“I was on the Ambassador’s tour of the castle, and I stopped here to look out the window. I’ve never seen an aurora before.”

“Oh, yes, they’re very pretty,” she acknowledged. “You’ve really never seen them?”

“We’re too far south,” he reminded her.   “But nevermind that, I suppose I’m being rude. Would you like to sit down?” He stood up and gestured at the bench next to the window. 

“I’m- Actually, yes, thank you,” she answered, carefully sitting down. 

“May I?” he asked, motioning to the spot next to her. She nodded.

“I’m sorry if I was rude,” she blurted out.

“Rude?”

“This afternoon.”

“No, no you weren’t,” he insisted. “I hope… I hope I didn’t embarrass you.”

“What?”

“Hilde, she was saying-”

“Wait… What?” Inga stammered, looking out the window. 

“Just… she thought I, um… might not have been, um…  entirely appropriate before dinner?”

“That was… fine.” Inga gulped a bit, looking at the colors out the window.

“It was nice to meet them,” he said.

“Who?”  She looked back at him.

“Your parents,” he replied.  “They seem nice. I can see why my parents speak fondly of them.”

“Oh…” she tried to think of something to say in response. “My father usually doesn’t get stuck sitting next to foreign guests.”

 “I suppose I should feel special.” he laughed.

“Or I should feel guilty,” she sighed.

“What do you mean by that?  I really didn’t mind, and I hope I wasn’t talking his ear off too much.”

“I’m usually the one to sit next to him, mostly since he likes having me translate if someone tries to pull something on him, but I said some things to him I shouldn’t have said the other night, and I don’t think he’s forgiven me.”  

“I didn’t pick up on anything like that, but I’ll take your word.”

Inga sat for a moment trying to decide whether to change the subject.  

“What did you talk about when you weren’t suggesting we import ice?” she smirked.

Henry buried his face in his hands.  “That’s not what I- Why do I even bother?  I’m not really supposed to be here, certainly not in any official capacity.”

“What do you mean? I thought your parents were planning a grand tour for you two.”

He looked up. “They were still planning it when they mentioned sending the emissary here, and I suggested we just get a head start.  I… I really don’t know what I was thinking.” 

“It’s fine,” she said, putting her hand on his. “You caught me at a bad time, I guess. It’s... things... I’ve learned some things, and… it’s been weird.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he murmured, putting his other hand on top of hers. She looked down, remembering the dancing in Corona, and the feel of his arm steadying her when they went out for some air.  She was glad he wasn’t asking for more details.  That could wait. She found herself yawning, and leaned her head on his shoulder.

***

Inga stood at the edge of the fjord, watching a man approach on horseback. It was the sneering redhead, the one she had seen in so many dreams, ready to abduct her again.  This was a dream.  She knew it.

"I know who you are!" she shouted at him. "Go away!"

"I'll always be here," he mocked, "you can't make me go away!" 

Suddenly, she felt someone come up from behind and grab her, handing her over to the man on horseback. In a panic, she looked to see that it was Prince Tarkan handing her over. She couldn't move or scream anymore as she was taken away.

"Inga?" She heard a voice calling gently, then felt a touch to her shoulder. 

***

Inga opened her eyes, looking at the ceiling. It wasn't the ceiling of her own room: even in the early morning light, that much was obvious.  

"Inga?" She heard again. It was Henry's voice. She suddenly recognized the molding at the edge of the ceiling: she was in the Palace in Corona. She looked to her side. Henry was there in the bed next to her. "You were having that nightmare again, weren't you? Come here." He reached over to her.

"What am I doing here?" she asked in a panic.

"What do you mean?  You live here, of course." 

***

"Inga?" She felt her shoulder being shaken. “Inga?” It was Henry’s voice again.

“What?” She startled, catching herself, grabbing at Henry’s arm.  They were sitting on the seat in one of the window alcoves.  She was sitting closer to him than she remembered. 

“You fell asleep,” he explained.  “I’d like to keep watching the sky here with- um, but I should probably get back to the Ambassador’s tour before they notice I’m gone.”

“Wait, I fell asleep here?”

“Yes,” he chuckled, “I guess I was kind of boring.”

“Just… here?  Nowhere else?”

“Um, yes?” 

“And we were just talking, right?”

He raised an eyebrow at her.  “I think I’d remember.”

She paused, the image of him from her dream a moment before intruding into her thoughts. “Have you ever… have you ever had one of those dreams where you think you’ve woken up, but it turns out you’re still in a dream?”

Henry smiled. “Definitely.  Once, I had a dream where I woke up three times before I was really awake. Some of the dreams I woke up into seemed really normal, which was the funny part.  What were you dreaming about?”

“Nothing in particular,” she lied, feeling her jaw quiver slightly, “but I suppose I should get going now.”  

“Do you think you’ll be okay?” 

She nodded and thought for a minute as she stood up, holding his hand as he stayed seated on the bench. She almost felt disembodied, and wondered if this were yet another dream. Was this any more real than the bedroom in Corona, or the men on the fjord?  Grabbing Henry’s face, she kissed him. As their lips met, she heard a muffled yelp from Henry, and realized this wasn’t a dream. Henry looked stunned. She quickly let go of him, wishing she could disappear entirely. 

“Sorry,” she mumbled, stepping backwards into the curtain. 

“Wait-” he managed to say. “What was that?”

“I’m sorry, let’s just forget that happened,” she apologized, still wishing she could just disappear.

“I guess, okay,” he said, looking down. “If that’s what you want.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, confused by his response.

“I wasn’t ready for that, I guess, but I… I don’t really want to forget about it.”  He looked up at her.

“Oh…” She felt herself shaking. “Well, um, let me know when you’re ready?”  She was ready to run away and hide, taking a step outside the curtain. Henry stood up and followed, taking her hands and looking into her eyes.

“Henry?” Frederick called out.  Inga slipped her hands away from Henry’s. “There you are! Your sister noticed you were gone and sent me to look. Do you- Oh, Inga? I thought you went to bed.”

“I was on my way,” she replied, swallowing her feelings of panic. “I got distracted.”

“Well,” Frederick replied, looking confused, “Anton and Peder are meeting up with me in the library, should I tell them you’re coming?”

“No, I really will be going now,” she said, trying to turn her nervous energy into a convincing yawn. “Thank you, and good night.” 

“Good night, Inga,” she heard Henry as she was nearly to the other end of the hall.

[aion-rsa]

Best Romantic Movies on Netflix

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Romance movies are not that different from horror movies. Both are incredibly hard to pull off, are heavily watched during a cold time of year, and hopefully end with every character covered in blood.

With that in mind we present to you a list of the best romantic movies on Netflix. Because romance deserves it, damn it. Virtually every song ever written is a love song but poor romance can’t get a fair shake at the movies. Whether it be a rom-com or just a straight-up soul-enlightening/crushing romance, our list of the best romantic movies on Netflix will get you back in touch with your cold, dead heart.

Set It Up

Set It Up is Netflix’s most accomplished original romantic comedy yet.

Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell star as overworked assistants Harper and Charlie. Harper is an assistant to Kirsten (Lucy Liu) the woman behind a sports media empire. Charlie works for finance maven Rick (Taye Diggs). Harper and Charlie realize that their respective workloads might lesson if their bosses were more focused on their love life and less focused on work. So they…set them up.

Set It Up is a fun, novel high-concept romance movie positively filled with chemistry on all sides.

Outside In

We embrace every kind of love on our list of the best romance movies. Sometimes that includes some questionable, and some would say “icky” kind of love. So…Outside In is a teacher-student romance. But don’t panic! It’s ok.

Jay Duplas stars as Chris, a man who was wrongly imprisoned at age 18 and who is relased at age 38. When Chris is released, he immediately meets up with his old high school teacher, Carol (Edie Falco), who was his penpal when he was in prison. He wastes little time before he declares his love for her.

Despite its subject matter, Outside In is a mature, well-handled exploration of love and what it means to love someone for themselves as opposed to what they do for us.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

With a name as long as The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, the movie better be good to justify how many times we poor cultural commenters must type it out. Thankfully Guernsey is quite good!

Based on a book by the same name, Guernsey is a historical love story set in 1946. Lily James stars as British writer Juliet Ashton. Juliet begins exchanging letters with residents of the islands of Guernsey, which was under German occupation in WWII (so like two years before the movie starts). While there she meets the dashing Dawsey Adams (Michael Huisman) and romance begins to blossom.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is an excellent, watchable classical romance

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Oh hey! Another Netflix original with a long title based on a book. Like the Potato Peel Pie Society, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is another effortlessly enjoyable romantic romp – this time of the teen variety.

Lara Jean Song Covey (Laura Condor) experiences every young person’s nightmare when private love letters to five boys she has or has had crushes on suddenly and mysteriously become public. But fear not. This is a romance movie, not a horror movie. So this sudden reveal has to go well for Lara Jean, right? RIGHT?!?

To All the Boys P.S. I Still Love You

The To All the Boys team returns for a sequel that teaches kids the harsh lesson that there’s no such thing as happily ever after! OK, so that’s a bit harsh, but To All the Boys P.S. I Still Love You does bring back its characters for another round of romantic angst.

Read more

Movies

To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You Review

By Delia Harrington

Movies

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Review: A Pleasurable Netflix Rom-Com

By Delia Harrington

Lara Jean (Lana Condor) is now officially Peter’s (Noah Centineo) girlfriend. But before they can relax and enjoy their lives together, an old flame of Lara Jean enters the frame. That’s right, John Ambrose (Jordan Fisher) is here and he wants to steal your girl, Noah Centineo.

The Danish Girl

2015’s The Danish Girl tells the story of a kind of love nearly unprecedented for its early 20th century time. Eddie Redmayne stars as artist Lili Elbe, who was born Einar Wegener and is believed to be one of the first individuals to receive sexual reassignment surgery. The film follows Lili’s journey and her love with wife Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander).

When Gerda asks her husband to stand in for a female subject in her painting, Einar does so and quickly comes to terms with the gender identity he’s been suppressing. The newly confirmed Lili and Gerda navigate this new dimension of their relationship and Lili continues her work as a subject for Gerda’s now very much in demand paintings. 

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Beauty and the Beast

2017’s live-action version of Beauty and the Beast isn’t the best depiction of the classic fairy tale ever but that’s ok. It doesn’t have to be. All Bill Condon’s Beauty and the Beast really needed to be was a fun little dip into nostalgia with sumptuous visuals and a believable romance. On that front, everything goes according to plan.

Read more

Movies

Emma Watson on Beauty and the Beast: ‘I’m Very Grateful That This Character Exists’

By Don Kaye

TV

Beauty and the Beast Disney+ Prequel Series Set with Luke Evans and Josh Gad

By Joseph Baxter

Emma Watson stars as Belle and Dan Stevens is her beast. Belle heads off from her small French town to the Beast’s castle to rescue her father. What follows is Stockholm Syndrome: The Movie. But sexier. Beauty and the Beast really does look good and Watson and Stevens have just enough chemistry to make this a worthwhile romantic experience.

50 First Dates

50 First Dates has a somewhat disappointing Rotten Tomatoes score. Ignore that. It’s probably partially due to many critics’ distaste for at least one of the actors in the above screengrab. Not that they can be blamed. The presence of Adam Sandler or Rob Schneider in any comedy is rarely a good sign. In 50 First Dates‘, however, it’s not an issue at all. 

50 First Dates is a legitimately funny and romantic romantic comedy. Drew Barrymore stars as Lucy Whitmore, a woman with short-term memory loss. Due to a car accident, every day she wakes up believing it is October 13, 2002. Sandler’s character Henry Roth meets her in Hawaii and the two must overcome this bizarre condition to establish a lasting relationship.

Carol

Todd Haynes, director of Carol and Far From Heaven knows longing. And if there’s an element that makes for an excellent romantic movie experience its longing. That desperate sense is baked into nearly every frame of Carol. Based on a 1950s romance novel, Carol is the story of a young photographer (Rooney Mara) and an older woman going through a divorce (Cate Blanchette) undertaking a forbidden affair.

Forbidden because, you know, ’50s. And that’s where the longing comes in. Nothing is more romantic or sexier than a forbidden romance. Carol channels that romantic energy into something mature, fascinating and heartbreaking.

Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook is all about how generally terrible it is to be a Philadelphia Eagles fan. OK, fine – it’s only a little bit about that. This star-studded 2012 film from David O. Russell is more about the challenges in finding love when one isn’t sure they even love themselves.

Bradley Cooper stars as Pat Solitano Jr., a young man with bipolar disorder living with his parents after being released from a psychiatric hospital. Pat is determined to win back his ex-wife and to that end enlists the help of young widower Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence). The two become closer as they train for an upcoming dance competition and share their respective damages with one another.

Silver Linings Playbook works because Lawrence and Cooper have a real crackling chemistry. And they both just happen to be devastatingly, almost supernaturally attractive.

Runaway Bride

From stars Richard Gere and Julia Roberts to director Garry Marshall to conspicuous usage of enormous cell phones – Runaway Bride is an intensely ’90s film. And to the rightly organized mind, that just makes it the platonic ideal of a low-stress romantic comedy.

Roberts stars as Maggie Carpenter, an alluring young woman who has made a habit of leaving multiple fiancé’s at the altar. Gere is Ike Graham, a New York columnist seeking to tell the definitive story of this “runaway bride.” Runaway Bride is a charming experience that will make you think long and hard about how you really like your eggs prepared.

Loving

It feels reductive to call Loving a “romance” movie, as its more of a historical exploration of the very real, very tragic legacy of American racism. At its center, however, the film is about love.

Loving tells the story of Richard (Joel Edgerton) and Mildred Loving (Ruth Negga), a mixed-race Virginia couple challenging their state’s law against interracial marriage in the Supreme Court. The details of the Lovings struggle for basic human rights are astonishing. Edgerton and Negga’s empathetic performances make sure the film never loses sight of the humanity at play amid all the legal drama.

Always Be My Maybe

Everyone always talks about “the one who got away”, but what about “the one who was always kind of around”? 2019’s Always Be My Maybe tells of one such story.

Ali Wong (who wrote the film) stars as Sasha Tran and Randall Park stars as Marcus Kim. Marcus and Sasha grew up next door to each other and also embarked on a brief, ill-fated relationship in their teenage years. When Sasha returns to San Francisco to open a restaurant, she discovers that romantic energy remains between her and Marcus. But is that enough to spark love in the busy, chaotic adult world?

Always Be My Maybe has a lot to say about family and growth. It also features a truly winning performance from Keanu Reeves playing…Keanu Reeves.

The Kissing Booth

There’s an interesting dynamic at play in teenage romantic comedies. Oftentimes, the worse they are, the more watchable (and rewatchable) they become. The Kissing Booth is a prime example. Based on a book by the same name from Beth Reekles, The Kissing Booth isn’t exactly celebrated for its realistic portrayal of American teenagers.

Thanks to charming lead performances from Joey King, Jacob Elordi, and Joel Courtney, however, that doesn’t really matter. The Kissing Booth is all about how one girl’s first kiss turns into an emotional minefield of teen angst. That alone is enough to support 105 minutes of pure high school drama…and two sequels!

The post Best Romantic Movies on Netflix appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[androidavenger]

do you have any agnarr/iduna headcanons? im sorry but content is scarce

I mean I’m a little baffled by that take because to me there’s literally so much content relative to canon and far more than I expected - but I usually ship rarepairs the most anyway, so anything above 20 fics is a massive fandom to me...

anyway to answer your question: yes, always!

a selection of my favourites with no particular order or timeline:

- kai, olina and gerda were hired as very young servants in the immediate aftermath of runeard’s death so they definitely took part in strategically matchmaking agnarr and iduna...

- I really like the idea from the one book that agnarr kept iduna’s scarf as a memento of being saved and then gave it to her as a present later with no idea of the significance or that it was hers to begin with, and so had no idea why she burst into tears and tackled him in a hug

- sometimes teenage iduna thought the spirits were still guiding her, like the time she was in the woods tearfully despairing about why she was even in arendelle after a terrible week and what could possibly keep her there, and then agnarr showed up having been desperate to find her but having gotten to her much quicker than he thought he would... or actually much quicker than seemed physically possible...

- dancing with agnarr is the only thing that feels light, fun and remotely similar to playing with the wind spirit to iduna, and so she does it as often as she can

- they’re actually both excellent dancers owing to lessons for agnarr and a lot of practice at technically the same sort of thing for iduna, much to kai’s disappointment as he was hoping one of them could teach the other and he could stop having to look at them be all wistful

- iduna drags agnarr to picnics in the sunshine to force him to stop working occasionally, and continues the tradition later with anna and elsa

- iduna resents arendelle at first and it takes her much longer than she’d ever admit when queen to properly love it, and a lot of that comes from how happy agnarr is about the ‘good and solid ground’ his home is built on

- she knows her mother would want her to be happy but still thinks her family would resent her because surely true northuldra don’t associate with people they were apparently willing to attack, and they certainly don’t consort with the king...

- teenage iduna therefore goes through a phase of avoiding agnarr in a burst of loyalty to her people because she feels guilty for forgetting northuldran ways and her mother tongue, and is only snapped out of it by remembering the wind spirit specifically rescued agnarr so he must be an exception, right

- the other part of her anger towards arendelle was that other nobles were perfectly nice people but they were soft and silly and certainly weren’t worthy of agnarr, and surely for all she suffered, she deserved this reward? to get what she wanted after sacrificing everything else to get it?

- teen angst vs complicated identity crises vs entitlement and struggling with jealousy but made much worse because of trauma that iduna couldn’t possibly reveal the cause of... it’s dark stuff

- comparatively, agnarr just has the trauma of seeing his dad die and the burden of a kingdom on his shoulders but he only has to hide his fears the way all monarchs do - a doctor told him once to conceal it and try to not feel the onset of a panic attack, so he does so but it’s much more successful when iduna’s around

- you thought this was gonna be fun but bam! traumatised orphans!

- they do get in the habit of visiting each other when they can’t sleep and it slowly becomes routine for kai to shoo iduna out of the castle stables in the morning and carry the king back to his bedroom before everyone else wakes up

- agnarr visits the orphanage so much he gets a real reputation for philanthropy that noble women use to flatter him, thinking he’s insincere, but he’s actually just genuinely fond of all the kids iduna introduced him to, not least because they always seem very keen to get them alone together

- the orphanage may or may not have a betting pool of sweets for when iduna’s gonna get proposed to by the king and they may or may not be trying to maximise their chances every time he visits

- kai splits the prize money from his bet with gerda and olina because they get a week off when agnarr and iduna do get married and they may as well all enjoy it

[originlist]

@caimkairos​ сказал(а) и сказала и сказал и забыла, что у меня есть субмит...:                                                           

"Why... why will you not listen to me?" They are on the floor, in this dream. A Douman that has not yet become an Alter Ego- the Douman that this Douman was born from. Clutching at the robes of one they look at like he is a saint, perhaps even a god, stared at with such envy, such jealousy, such devotion. They are crying. "Humans- they will not protect you. They will always see what is beneath the surface, in your blood. Why will you not listen to me, Abe no Seimei?! They cannot always love you! Not... not like one like you could." One who even supplicating in this moment has the claws of a monster, yet cannot even be called youkai nor oni. Something unable to be understood. Something not even half human.

"Please. They will destroy you. I know they will! I have seen you fighting in countless wars, never thanked! Against oni and demons from western realms-" A chuckle from the body Ritsu inhabits in this dream. (Because he knows, yet sees the good where Douman can only see evil.) It only enrages the one on the floor further. "Why will you of all people not believe me?! Do you think you are the only one who can divine the future?!" They stand and slam him into the wall, startling several servants who turned the corner. ("Finally, the demon attacks Abe no Seimei, eyes full of bloodlust and hatred-") There is faint sound, but this dream is not concerned with them, for they do not matter, cannot matter. "Abe no Seimei?! Why do you chose humanity over your fellows?! Over ME?!"

They are crying, something Douman never does. "Seimei... please... this Douman hates you. Envies you. Lo-" But whatever response was given is unable to be heard, snatched away by the hand that reaches around the living Douman's mouth, blinds their eyes. (It's convenient that Alter Ego is in their second ascension, to tell the two apart easier. Dripping with blood and ink like something truly unholy, like a divine being brought forth only for wrath.)

“Shh. Forget his response. It didn't stop it from getting worse, hm? Did he ever listen?" They purr, and this memory is from another time. They stand in a field, burnt, alone, the wreckage of a home in front of them. "You will never surpass him. He will never choose you, silly thing. Something ugly as you, unable to ever give in to your desires unless pushed?" The shadow, the Alter Ego, moves, cradling their living self's horrified face. "Let me in. Submit, Bei."

Only when the one they hold reaches out, does Alter Ego see the other visitor within this dream. A master wearing robes they do not belong in, the robes of an onmyouji, the robes of Abe no Seimei. The features blur, but the way the field around them is alive and lush and green instead says it all. They toss their origin point, the Douman who was real and lived and did not only hate, to the ground. (Alter Ego looks hurt, looks worried, like they could cry, but they don't shed tears.) "They will turn on you too, my lord. Do not forget that." Then, into flames, they vanish.

They can’t control their voice, even if they try there’s no words that come out. The body they’re in listens to this plea with what is at most ‘awkward discomfort that can’t wait to find an excuse to vanish’. Ritsu watches like a third party and is held down to only wanting to do something (never really been good with people crying, it’s too contagious, always makes them fret). The body they’re in won’t move, though, no matter how much they want to reach out for the Douman that isn’t the one they know. The body’s still, watching Douman who looks at them like they shouldn’t.

(They know this isn’t ‘their’ Douman even before the one that is appears. The Alter Ego wouldn’t show emotion like this and maybe couldn’t, openly.)

Ritsu gains some control when Alter Ego appears and recognizes them. It feels like something is released, and they get their face back. They’re able to breathe properly without sharing the same space with another form. A step is taken towards both Doumans, hand raising to them, before Alter Ego casts aside the living and turns to Ritsu with something pained.

And then they vanish. Ritsu is left in a field in a place and time they don’t know, with someone who wishes they were another.

Ritsu would prefer not to take Seimei’s role. It feels improper, disrespectful somehow, or at the very least unhelpful. Not much they can do about that, though, when they’re here in his robes. They glance at their hands -- they’re theirs again, the familiar scars and short nails, and they assume their face isn’t anyone else’s. They speak quietly, half to themselves, as they approach where Bei Douman is shoving themselves up, regarding Ritsu warily. “I keep ending up in your dreams as a role I’m not qualified to play, huh? Give me a script next time, so I don’t disappoint.” Ritsu laughs under their breath, and at least this is in their own voice now.

It does make them strangely sad, though they know it isn’t their fault that they keep being asked to be something else if they want to help. Well, that’s the usual case for things lately. Every Crypter and Lostbelt wants Ritsu to be someone else, too. Maybe that’s just life.

“I’m not Seimei, as I’m, uh, sure you noticed. Sorry about that. My name’s Ritsu.” As they speak, they sit near the Douman on the ground, offer them a hand if they want to sit up. “I’m that other guy’s... friend.“ Put it like that, sure. Close enough to not be overly worrying or entirely inaccurate. “I can’t speak for Seimei.” That’s part of the problem here, that they’re a replacement for something they aren’t going to equal.

“But I got in a war that might be endless, and my Dou-kun is worried, too. I feel bad about that, y’know? But I can’t stop what I’m doing. It’s about protecting a future for humanity. And humanity sucks sometimes. I know you’re gonna say something like ‘they’re cruel, they don’t deserve the Seimei I love’. Maybe they don’t, but it’s not always ‘bout what people deserve.” Ritsu looks down, trailing their fingers through the grass at their feet. Maybe it was a kindness that it was returned to this, instead of staying at the time when it burned. Maybe it was intentional.

There’s a field here, with grasses that are short enough to sit in, because someone made it like that. Someone had to weed and plant and cut it. Maybe to use for farming later, graze their animals so they could provide. Maybe someone just wanted a field because they liked it. Either way, there’s a human kindness to it. That’s an act of love, as well, the choice to help a family or town.

There is that humanity as much as there is the humanity who burned this place in a future or past that was shown only for a moment, but that Ritsu isn’t foolish enough to ignore.

A bug meanders over a blade of grass. Ritsu  taps the base of the blade and watches the bug take flight and disappear. “I know humanity can be cruel and harm each other, and can choose to hate things they don’t know. But it can also choose to be kind. I think that’s important. There’s a beauty in people choosing to be kind. When I meet someone while I’m traveling, they have the option to tell me I’m not welcome and the option to welcome and help me out. Usually, the latter happens. And that’s... it’s a mark of being loved, and humanity’s ability to love, that I think is worth protecting. I go to war and I fight so that there will be somebody who’s able to choose that, and someone else who will receive that kindness, and so the people I care about might get it in their future. Not just because I want to be appreciated or safe as an individual.”

Gerda never needed to let them in her home or give them food and her full faith. And back at the beginning, Drake never needed to drag them into her crew and make sure they were taken care of and given an example of how to challenge the impossible. Once when humanity was still around and Ritsu was younger, they met someone at a supermarket who took the time to teach them how to tell a ripe persimmon.

“If I get turned against, then I get turned against. I still wouldn’t regret protecting people. Plus, hm.” They turn to Bei with a smile. “It probably sounds kinda backhanded, but being worried about is a way to be loved, too, so when my Douman worries about me and wants to try and scare me off the battlefield, it’s still a thing that makes me feel cared about, and then I’m still determined to make a future that can welcome you guys with kindness, too. Maybe Seimei agrees with me, so he’ll go to war among people who won’t thank him, because he has people he cares about and who worry about him. To choose humanity in the hopes that humanity might be able to choose kindness and choose to welcome his friends.”

Is that too simplistic, or childish? Ritsu feels like the answer is probably, that it’s too naive to use ‘love’ so freely and their worldview will get them let down some day. But it’s also not proven wrong, really, and it’s enough to let them walk forward. “This is just a dream. But, still, if there’s a you that wakes up instead of vanishing here, I hope you don’t wake up feeling forgotten. Don’t worry, no matter what happens, you won’t be thrown away. There’s still a part of you left in the future, and I’ll never abandon that.”

For what that’s worth, anyways. It’s only a piece of the living Douman that remains, and in the hands of a stranger no less, but it’s still a piece with purpose and a place. They wave their hand against complaints that haven’t been voiced yet. “I know, I know, it’s a consolation prize. You want that from Seimei, and I’m not him and won’t ever be. But he has his reasons, I’m sure, and the humanity he chose can still welcome you, too, some day.”

[lukin08]

A Well Deserved Rest

For Kristanna week 2019

Canon

Rating: K

Words: 1300

Warning: this includes spoilers based on all the leaks.  

Also, this will all be probably proven wrong once the movie is out, but it was fun to play in a “what if” scenario on what could happen once they return to Arendelle 

------

A deep rumbling through the ground was the first thing he noticed.  The low growl sent waves through the forest.  

Earth Giants

Through a clearing, he saw them moving above the treeline.  There was an urgency to the way they moved.   They were so close, each punching step reverberated into his chest.

The trolls were connected to these creatures somehow; both ancient and part of the earth.  A connection that Kristoff could sense as well.  He could almost feel their anger as they gave chase to what woke them from their slumber.  They were moving fast, locked onto their prey.  

“Sven!”

He knew before he saw her, as panic washed over him.  The reindeer was already at a full gallop coming toward him when Kristoff turned, grabbed the antlers and threw himself up on Sven.  There was no time for any hesitation.  No room for any mistakes.  Kristoff kicked the sides of the reindeer and roared.  “Faster!”

He was catching up, coming in from the side.  She was running as hard as he had ever seen her.  But the ground cover was dense and she was stumbling over her feet as the giants drew alarmingly close.  He needed a few more precious seconds if she could only keep moving.  Just a little more.  

She fell.  He was so close, leaning as far off Sven as he could.  He was right there as she never gave up crawling when she couldn’t get to her feet.  He reached for her while she struggled and the creature’s massive foot stomped down flattening everything under it...

Kristoff bolted up, gasping for breath as his cry died in his throat.  He struggled to get his breathing under control while his eyes scanned the dark room.

“It’s okay.”  His voice came out in a hoarse whisper trying to assure himself.  “It's okay.  We’re okay.  She’s okay.”

He fell back down with a tired groan, his head hitting the pillow.  He ran his hand through his hair before letting his arm fall over his eyes.  Kristoff had never been one to seek out the comfort of a soft bed, but right now this was the best feeling his weary body could ask for.  

They had only arrived back at the castle that night.  It was late when Arendelle came into view.  The cobblestones of the main streets were still torn up and there was no way for a wagon to pass through.  Kristoff found a suitable barn for the wagon on the outstretches of town and Anna took Kristoff’s hand as they walked the rest of the way.  He could see the relief on her face as they passed the homes and buildings.  All were intact and in good shape.

A faint knock interrupted Kristoff’s thoughts, followed by the door opening and closing softly.  “Kristoff?”  Anna’s voice was low and hushed.

“I’m awake.”

“Oh, thank goodness.”

It was so natural for Kristoff to lift the covers and take Anna in his arms when she ran over.  She snuggled in, resting her head on the pillow as Kristoff turned to face her.  He laid his arm on the curve of her waist, his hand pulling her tight to him.

“Are you sure it's a good idea for you to be here?” Kristoff asked, giving Anna an inquisitive half serious look.

Anna’s mouth turned up into a sly grin.  “What are they going to do if someone finds out?  Tell the Queen?”

Anna erupted into a fit of giggles.  Kristoff shook his head and kissed her forehead. “Scandalous,” he said as he pulled back to look at Anna again.  It felt so good to see her laughing, to see her smiling again.

“In all seriousness,” Anna said after she settled down enough to speak again.  “No one will know.  Everyone is asleep.”

“Except us.”  Kristoff gently stroked Anna’s cheek.  “Couldn’t get to sleep?”

“No.  There’s so much going through my head right now.  So many things we need to do.  I couldn’t turn it off.”

There was less commotion arriving at the castle the hour they did and Kristoff was thankful for that.  He could see how exhausted Anna was through her smiles and hugs with the close staff who had greeted them with weary open arms.

The briefing between both parties was kept short.  Pertinent information only was necessary for the time.  But there was also warm laughter and lightheartedness that flowed through the room.  It wasn’t until they were parting and Kai gave Kristoff a small respectful bow of the head and addressed Anna as ‘Your Majesty’ that Kristoff knew Kai truly understood the full implications of what had happened during their journey.

But that was a conversation for tomorrow and for the weeks and months ahead.  Tonight, they needed rest and the feeling of Anna wrapped up next to him made Kristoff feel like he could now sleep the week away without a troubled thought.  

He kissed her softly.  “One step at a time.  You won’t be doing anything if you don’t get some sleep.”

“What about you?”

“I was asleep.  I… just… I woke up from a dream,” he finished quickly.

The way Anna was looking at him, studying him, he could tell she knew.  It was her turn to pull him closer, to give him a reassuring kiss and let him know things were going to be good.  “I’m fine.  We’re home.  We made it back together.”

Krstoff closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.  “I know.  Just, please don’t go putting yourself in mortal danger for the next month or two, okay?”

“I think I have enough to do to keep busy for awhile, including a very important wedding to plan.”

Kristoff felt his face flush.  There was a question floating in his mind since he said goodnight to Anna that he had to ask.  “What did Gerda say?”

Anna looked at him coyly.  “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean. What did she say after I left?”

“She was very happy and excited.  I think there may have been some tears.  I’m sure you will get an earful tomorrow.”

“Can’t wait.”

Anna pulled her hand from the covers to admire the ring.  She looked absolutely giddy.  “I can’t stop looking at it.  It's beautiful.  Have I told you that?”

“Only ten or twenty times.”

“And I’ll tell you another hundred times.  Maybe a thousand.”

Kristoff took Anna’s hand.  It was the first time he really had a chance to look at her wearing it.  His stomach fluttered thinking of future they would share together.

“This is a very special stone,” Kristoff started.  “It called to me the second I saw it.”

“How so?”

“Well, it’s fiery just like you and it’s the same color of your hair.  Nothing will ever match its beauty and uniqueness.”

“Do I sense a hint of your romantic side coming through?”

“Shhh, none of that.”

Anna looked up at Kristoff again.  “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Kristoff.  I need you to understand something.  This is what I always wanted.  It's always how I imagined us.  If I ever made you…” Anna stopped, looking away for a moment before recovering and meeting his eyes.  “Thank you for waiting for me.”

Kristoff answered by slowly kissing her, letting her know how much his love was for her.  When he pulled back, Anna’s eyes stayed closed, lingering ever so as she enjoyed his touch.

“Now, the rest of it can wait until tomorrow,” Kristoff said,  “We need to sleep.”

Anna settled in the bed getting as close to Kristoff as she could.  “I’m not leaving.”

“Ok.”

“Ever.  And no more nightmares.  Only good dreams about me from now on.”

Kristoff chuckled, kissed the top of her head then closed his eyes.  “Whatever you want, my Queen.”

[finchsfinest]

Poirot - The Hollow

Disclaimer:  There are major spoilers in this text. Also, I will refer to The Hollow as a ‘movie’, even though it really is a standalone episode in the Poirot TV series.

The Hollow is one of my favourite Poirot episodes. I have seen many of them before, but this one just stood out as something slightly different and new. Well, new to me, at least. I like the music, the editing, the costumes, the set design, all of it. But what really excites me is the cinematography. Some of the shots are amazing and giving me good vibes, inspiring me to start filming more.

David Suchet, in my opinion, is The One and Only Hercule Poirot. His acting is always marvellous and his smooth and elegant gestures are just right for the role. I quite enjoy the delicate humour that his reactions and pedantic habits bring to the episode.

On most parts the dialogue between characters is very believable, but sometimes it can get a bit too theatrical for my liking. Then again, it does go well with the genre. The only thing that really stood out as tiresome to me was when Dr John Christow (played by Jonathan Cake) got wound up by actress Veronica Cray (Lysette Anthony) getting up close and personal with him. Huffing and puffing like you need the back row of a theatre to see how uncomfortable your character is, is very unnecessary in film. I personally think that the more emotion you can show with less words and without making a scene, the better.

I love the dynamics of the relationship between John and Gerda Christow (Claire Price), and of course John’s mistress Henrietta Savernake (Megan Dodds). Gerda is a brilliant character – third wheel in her own marriage (without knowing it) and constantly overlooked and despised by pretty much everyone who knows her, without seemingly deserving it.

The death scene was very well constructed. It seemed odd and stiff at the time, and I scoffed at how fake it looked. But later, when Poirot mentions the weirdness of it, it all made sense – the viewer was discreetly shown a clue right there, that something wasn’t right. This is probably where the viewers were divided based on who they thought was the murderer: the obvious but unlikely one holding the murder weapon, the one whose name leaves the victim’s lips and who “accidentally” destroys evidence, or the one who moments ago had a row with the victim but isn’t there at the murder scene. This is where my overthinking took over and did me dirty.

If you are familiar with the style of these movies or with Agatha Christie’s style of writing, you know that the person they suspect the most is never the murderer. That person has most likely done something wrong, but never what they are accused of. That’s how I knew that the mistress didn’t kill John. What I never even considered though, was the wife being the actual murderer. What a twist! Her motive is understandable, but she being this murderous mastermind constantly hiding her true self is still implausible. Throughout the whole episode she was presented as this mellow and quite calm woman, who never showed much emotion or signs of breaking down, not even when provoked. I just don’t think it’s believable that a woman like her would commit a murder as the first ever act of rising against her awful husband. But what do I know, maybe that’s exactly how they solved issues back in the days.

What is very predictable and expected though, is the fact that she kills herself after getting caught. The same thing has happened in other Christie’s stories as well (Death on the Nile, for example), and Poirot has a history of simply letting it happen, even if he could’ve tried to prevent it. I guess that’s justice in his mind. I’m not a big fan of the ending, but it’s not the worst I’ve seen. Maybe a bit bittersweet, sad and happy at the same time, quite calming actually.

“Sometimes the eyes, they see what they are meant to see.“

In conclusion, I love Poirot movies and recommend this one abundantly. If you liked Death on the Nile, you’ll probably like The Hollow, and vice versa.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0393602/

[ashtheshortstack]

take my scars & make them stars - prologue

Rating: M Ship: Kristoff/Anna prologue

Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Sick Fic, Cancer Fic, Chronic Illness, Chemotherapy, Modern AU, Coffee Shop AU, Fluff and Angst, Fluff, Eventual Smut, Angst with a happy ending, Mutual Pining, Mentions of Character Death

Read on Ao3 

Next Chapter

Anna Anderson had grown up in a rather… sheltered environment, not that she’d like to admit it. When admitting to a sheltered life, it meant she was implying she was naïve, innocent, and unsure of the world. Which wasn’t true at all.

Mostly.

Being raised in her household meant she was always in Elsa’s shadow. Her elder sister was born premature, and their mother had a lot of complications during delivery. Elsa was labeled a “sickly child” by her parents and family. Anna shouldn’t have even been born as a matter of fact. Her mother, Iduna, was told Elsa would be the one and only child she could ever give birth to.

Clearly, that was wrong. Anna came into this world as a “miracle baby,” but a healthy one. Not one that her parents needed to fret over like Elsa.

Anna couldn’t even count the amount of doctor visits, hospital visits, or nights she was left alone with the housekeepers while her parents rushed Elsa out the door as she coughed wildly in her father’s arms. It was a miracle itself that Elsa survived cases of the flu, bronchitis, and even pneumonia once as much as she had.

“Can Elsa play today?” she had always asked.

Her father shook his head. “No, Anna. Elsa is sick today.”

“When will she get better?”

“I don’t know, Anna, I don’t know.”

When Elsa was seven, Agnarr and Iduna decided it would best to keep Anna away, for fear of her contaminating Elsa in any possible way. Her sister began wearing gloves on the regular. A mask over her face anytime they visited highly populated places. There were no more family vacations, no more sneaking outside to play, no more leaving the house.

Anna was ripped away from her first year of kindergarten as she and Elsa had begun homeschooling instead. Not together, of course. They weren’t allowed to be in the same room hardly, let alone do schoolwork together. Anna was removed from school because of the germs she could contract from other children. The possibility of having friends was suddenly unavailable.

Her parents were often busy with work as well. With Agnarr being the CEO of the family business, and Iduna often shoveling whatever overloaded paperwork he had, they didn’t have time to homeschool their children themselves. They had money for that. So, they hired tutors to teach their children. And for Anna… that meant she rarely saw her parents at all.

Elsa had their undivided attention. Whatever Elsa needed… at any time. No more bedtime stories for Anna… no more play time with Anna… She never wanted for anything. Anyone from the outside looking in would see that Anna had everything. Toys, games, books… but not the attention of her parents.

Not what she knew she deserved.

Anna could recall the lonely nights, curled up in her bed with a Gameboy in her hand. No one would ever pop in and tell her lights out. Sometimes, only sometimes, Anna wished she could be sick too. She wanted her mother and father to check on her. She wanted them to be concerned for her well-being like they were for Elsa’s.

She was special too, wasn’t she? They told her she was a miracle. A child her mother wasn’t even supposed to have. And at times… Anna wished she hadn’t. What was the point of existing when no one cared that you did?

And that’s when Anna found herself nose deep in romantic novels… Hoping to feel something. Anything at all.

She found herself wishing for that romantic moment of a prince coming to toss pebbles at her window. The desire for a man to come save her from this miserable life she’d been living consumed her mind. It was the one thing the prayed for, begged for… though there was no way to meet anyone when she was cooped up at home. Never allowed to leave the mansion for fear of getting her sister sick.

And no matter how tempted she was, Anna could never leave. If something were to happen to Elsa because she broke the rules, the guilt would eat her alive. It was a thought she couldn’t have sitting on her conscious. It was one her parents would never let her live down. She couldn’t imagine what they’d say if she was responsible for making their first born ill.

With that, Anna decided to continue her streak of dubious daughter. She followed the rules, played nice, stayed out of Elsa’s space.

And still sometimes wondered if Prince Charming would show up for her to let her hair down to him.

                                                         o~o~o~o

Thankfully, Elsa got better the older the sisters got. She was still a bit OCD, standoffish, and their parents continued to cater to her every whim. But at least they started to sit at the dinner table together every night. It was largely spread out. Elsa sat on the opposite end as to stay away from everyone else. But it was a start. Being able to talk to her parents again thrilled her. Getting to know Elsa again, her sister she’d been so close to before illnesses got the better of her, was so refreshing as well.

Anna had done everything she could to stay close to Elsa: slipping her drawings, toys, and cards under the door when she could. There was never a response, but she could see Elsa’s shadow take the item every time.

The car accident that took their parents from them when Anna was fifteen was completely unexpected. She wasn’t sure how they would make it through. Elsa would be next in line as CEO when she turned twenty-one, which was a lot of pressure to put on someone who had just lost her parents. Especially parents that coddled everything she did.

Gerda, one of their housekeepers, engaged in the lengthy process of becoming Anna’s legal guardian so the sisters could remain together in their home. It was a lot of paperwork. A lot of issues with the courts. But Gerda knew that Elsa couldn’t be Anna’s legal guardian as her health wasn’t up to par. Besides, it would only be three years until Anna was eighteen herself and could move away from home. She held onto that thought through it all. If she could just make it to eighteen, she could move out and find someone to be with.

The thought came to life sooner than Anna had expected. Gerda gave Anna the choice of enrolling in school and, of course, Anna took the opportunity to begin high school.

Which was just as much of a nightmare as television and books made it out to be. There were thankfully girls that were kind to her and took them under their wing. They had all warned her about Hans, but she didn’t take heed them. All she saw was that prince in her fairy tale dream she’d been waiting to come true. He was the first boy to show interest in her, so she’d be damned if she didn’t take the opportunity to fall in love.

She convinced herself Hans was her “true love” like all the stories told her. Elsa didn’t like him when she introduced him, but Anna brushed it off to Elsa really not liking anyone. She should’ve listened to her sister. Listened to everyone, in fact. Anna wanted to deny she was clueless, but she was. She had no idea what love was really like. She’d barely gotten it from her parents. She and Elsa didn’t start getting close until after their parents were gone…

                                                          o~o~o~o

 Senior Prom was the night that turned her dreams upside down. Hans whispered how “hot” she was in that dress. She was beautiful, he was lucky to have her, he wanted her on his arm to show off because he had the “prettiest girl in school” with him. He said all the right things. All the praises she needed to hear to flatter his way under her dress.

She’d let him. She wanted to get it over with, right? All of her friends weren’t virgins anymore. Anna was in high school, and she’d be in college the next year. It was normal to have sex with your boyfriend. Especially after prom. That’s what books told her. That’s what society told her.

The guilt ate at her afterwards. She wanted to enjoy it. This was her boyfriend, right? It should’ve been magical and great. Then why didn’t it feel that way? They were safe. Used protection. It wasn’t as if they were irresponsible.

But her body no longer felt like her own. He’d suddenly taken that from her. She felt dirty. Maybe, somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew he was no good for her. Knew he was using her. Knew he didn’t love her. The rose-colored glasses seemed to shatter… but would anyone else ever want to be with her? She didn’t think so… She was just some broken girl with dead parents and hardly a home life. The fact that Hans even spared her a glance was lucky, at best. Maybe, her wish came true in some form or fashion.

Thus, she stayed. She desperately wanted someone to care. Hans had given her attention when no one else did. So what if wasn’t the “one true love” ideal relationship she’d always dreamed of? It was still someone to be with her. Someone to kiss, to hug, to cuddle… even if he was kind of a jerk.

And she’d been stupid enough to stay with him through their first two semesters of college, despite how much worse he seemed to get. He got new friends in college… if Hans had been a jerk before, he was a real dipshit after he gathered his knew college posse. Anna had no desire to be around his frat buddies. They were obnoxious at best. They were loud, drank uncontrollable amount of beers, smoked who knows what all the time.

Everything Anna had been conditioned to avoid like the plague. She wouldn’t dare tell Elsa, who had long since taken over the company and had much less time to pay attention to Anna’s relationship woes. Elsa seemed to have given up the idea that Anna would dump the pretentious boy and accepted he was a part of her younger sister’s life.

Despite how miserable he made Anna, she was just so desperate. She’d realize that eventually when she continued to stay even though she’d overheard him say to a frat buddy that he started dating Anna in high school because there would be money to inherit eventually. It broke her heart.

She still said “yes” anyway when he proposed.

                                                           o~o~o~o

 It was the diagnosis that did her in.

When the doctor informed her, she had stage two breast cancer at the ripe age of twenty-one, a rarity. Anna decided a few things in that moment: if she was going to go through this, it sure as hell wasn’t going to be with Hans, if she was going to die (though a stage two diagnosis was hardly a death sentence especially since she was so young, but just a precaution) she sure as hell wasn’t going to let Hans have her money and profit off her dying, and she took this as her wake-up call, it was time to live her life.

She marched into his home, not even to bother knocking on the door. Only to find her fiancé lip-locking with some dark skinned, bleach blonde, who was obviously trying too hard. Anna barked out a laugh when she saw them.

Hans gaped, eyes wide as he pushed the girl. “H-Honey! Can you believe this bitch!? She just came onto me!”

Anna quickly slipped the ring off her finger before waving at him. “Oh, don’t stop on my account. I’m just here to get my things because we’re through,” she stated boldly before chucking the ring at him. It smacked him in the forehead, and he yelped. “I have cancer, too, by the way,” Anna chimed as cheerily as she could. The girl on the floor just sat stunned at the whole exchange. Hans seemed to be a bit shocked at her admission as well.

“Y-You’re sick?”

“Not that you care, but no. I’m not sick, I have cancer. There’s a difference.” Sick was a word she associated with Elsa. The sickly one. That wasn’t Anna. She wouldn’t be that girl.

Hans quickly stood from the couch. “But, hun, you need someone to be there for you through this.”

She tried not to laugh at the term of endearment. Sweet talking her wasn’t going to convince her to stay, especially not after she just caught him sucking face with a sorority girl on their couch. Anna started up the stairs to get her things, glancing back at him. “Certainly not you. I have my sister.”

“Oh, please, Anna. What has Elsa ever done for you?”

The glare she shot him was deadly enough, she hoped. “Warned me about you, for one. And I’ve put up with your shit long enough, Hans Westergard.”

His feigned concerned expression quickly turned into a smirk, as if he could finally drop the act. “Please, you think your sister will take care of you? What a joke, Anna, you said yourself she couldn’t even take care of herself growing up.”

There it was. That dark tone his voice took when he was talking about her behind her back. The one he tried to hide from her, but she’d heard anyway. He was only trying to keep her because he wanted to use her. He definitely saw dollar signs knowing she was diagnosed with cancer of all things. Hans didn’t know the details, so of course, he would just think she was going to die.

She continued up the stairs to their room, and he followed after her. Anna grabbed her suitcases from the closet. Yanking her clothes from the drawers and closets, she began shoving her garments into the bags. Hans stood in the doorway. If he was going to try to block her in, he had another thing coming.

“Honestly, Anna, this is ridiculous. You need someone to take care of you.”

“Like hell it’ll be you. I’d rather be surrounded by people who love me.”

He chuckled, leaning against the doorway. “Oh, if only someone did.”

Anna felt her fingers quivering. Oh, how badly she wanted to chunk something as his face. But she didn’t. Knocking him out with a snowglobe would be a poor decision. “You said you did,” she hissed. “But I’ve known for so long that it was fake. That is was all a lie. But I still stayed and hoped you would change like a complete fool.” She slammed the suitcases shut and zipped them quickly. “Not anymore, Hans.”

Walking towards him, he did as she suspected and blocked her exit. She gave him a hard stare. “I’ll have a moving truck come to pick up the furniture my sister paid for in a few days.”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

Her fist collided straight with his jaw. Hans stumbled backwards, falling to his ass on the carpeted floor. Rubbing his jaw, he glared up at her in surprise. Anna fled immediately. The girl was sitting on the couch awkwardly, staring at the engagement ring Hans had sat on the table.

“Good luck with him,” Anna blurted before slamming the front door behind her.

                                                         o~o~o~o

 As she drove away, the house she’d shared with Hans faded quickly in the background, she shed tears she’d kept in for so, so long. She kept her gaze on the road, driving towards the mansion, and wiped away the dampness on her cheeks.

Anna had led a sheltered life and had had many wishes growing up. She wished to have a prince to come save her from the mansion and take her away. She wished to be sick like her sister, so her parents would pay her the same attention they gave Elsa…

She realized in that moment that she shouldn’t had had such desires in the first place. Wishing on a star in real life was entirely overrated…

[feistypaants-archived]

Between The Pipes [Chapter 16]

Rating: M Words: 2162 Pairing: Kristanna Summary: When a new owner takes over the Arendelle Ice Breakers, Kristoff isn’t sure about his future with the team. That is, until a PR nightmare throws the newest member of the media team, who also just so happens to be the daughter of the new owner, right into his arms. Kristoff and Anna can’t even stand the interviews they have to do together… how on earth are they going to fix this mess? Hockey!AU.

[Chapter Index]

Where To Read: [AO3]

Notes: I’m a little bit sorry. 

Enjoy!

“Papa, please, could you just listen —“ 

Anna was pacing the small length of her apartment, listening as best she could to her fathers’ enraged rambling. Elsa had given her a heads up that Gerda thought it would be for the best that no one knew that it was for PR. You never knew who would be the one to spill the beans and ruin everything. Elsa had also let her know that she went with the story that Anna was so moved by his actions that they got to talking, and then decided to date. After the photos were taken. 

It didn’t seem like he had taken the news so well.

“I saw in the pre-game coverage,” he seethed, his voice low and threatening. “You two were fooling around on the bench, and then he plays like that?” She could almost hear the tapping of his fingers against his desk. “Absolutely not, Anna. If you’re a distraction, then maybe I just need to find some other work for you back here.”

“Papa.” She sighed, dropping down to sit on the bed. “Everyone has off games.” 

“I’ve already let this kid get away with so much —“

“The fans love his chivalry —“

“If his game isn’t worth keeping him around, what is even the point?” He cleared his throat and she could picture him shaking his head, gaze dropping to the ground like he always did when he was disappointed. “You’re very sweet, Anna, and you care about people. But you don’t understand the implications, here… I’m starting to regret taking your opinion into consideration.”

Anna swallowed around the new lump in her throat. She wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t. 

“I’m…” She wasn’t sorry. She knew she was right about keeping Kristoff. Everyone had bad games once in a while. He’d bounce back in no time. “I understand why you feel that way.”

He didn’t say another word before he hung up.

Anna didn’t let herself get this kind of mad too often, and before she did something dumb - like throw her phone against the wall and hope it broke so he wouldn’t be able to call her ever again - she pulled her fluffiest pillow up to her chest and curled around it before screaming until her downstairs neighbor slammed something against their ceiling to shut her up. 

She did let herself cry, now.

—

She wasn’t sure how much later it was when she woke up, but her head was pounding and her throat was raw and everything felt stuffy and muffled and weird. Glancing at her phone, she saw a few missed calls from her sister, and one from Honeymaren all timed at about two hours ago. 

So she had been out for a bit, then. 

One voicemail from Elsa: 

Anna, I’m so, so sorry. He did not seem that mad when he said he was going to call you. I tried to talk to him - tried to explain that you’re an adult and can date whoever you want… but he just said something about how Bjorgman is on contract and shouldn’t be fooling around with you. I think he thinks Kristoff just wants some sort of leg up? As if our father wouldn’t trade him for dating you. Maybe we should try Gerda again. See if she’ll let us tell him it’s fake? 

Anna, I’m sorry he spoke to you like that. I… I’m just really sorry.

One from Honeymaren: 

Heeeeey, Anna… so, Kristoff’s in a mood today. Not sure if you knew why? Also your father has called everyone who has any sort of say in anything down here demanding to know why he wasn’t told about the… um… torrid love affair… between the two of you. Hah. Never knew a man who demanded to know about his daughter’s sex life before. Pretty weird. Anyway, that’s not my business I guess.

My business, however, is letting you know that… after much deliberation, Gerda decided that - if and only if you want to - we can… discuss letting a person or two in on the whole scheme. Just uh, call me back, I guess!

Anna couldn’t stop glaring at her phone. Now they say it’s fine to tell him. Now they give her permission, after he already told her she was a screw up who couldn’t do anything but distract men. Awesome. Great. Fantastic.

She was pressing call before she had even realized it.

“...Hullo?”

His voice was thick and sleepy, and Anna frowned. It was an away game, and it was prime time for most of the team to be taking their pre-game naps. 

“I’m sorry ah…” she felt herself sniffle and then everything went downhill from there. “I didn’t even,” a wet laugh, “realize I was calling you.”

He sounded more awake, and she could hear some bed sheets rustling. “No, hey, it’s all right. What's up?”

Anna wiped at her face and let out another pathetic kind of laugh. “It’s so stupid, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t even be bothering you right now. It’s just… I guess I couldn’t think of anyone else to call and cry to.”

He let out a chuckle. “It’s really okay, Anna. Are you all right?”

She hated herself, then, because just the sound of his warm laughter lightened the weight on her chest and started to make her feel ten times better. “Ah, god, no. I mean… yeah… It’s nothing serious, like I said…” 

Hugging the pillow tighter to her chest, she breathed out a heavy sigh. “Just… my dad. I guess he doesn’t like that we’re… dating, or whatever.” Kristoff was quiet on the other end, and Anna immediately started beating herself up. It wasn’t real, and she had to stop talking about it like it was. “Gerda said… we shouldn’t tell him? I guess? Anyway he just basically… I don’t know. He thinks I’m distracting you, but I told him everyone has bad games … and I guess… I just wanted to talk to you, weirdly enough…”

He still hadn’t spoken. 

“I’m… sorry. I’m sorry, Kristoff I’ll… let you go.”

She heard him take in a deep breath. “We’ll… talk when I get home, okay?”

Anna started gnawing on her bottom lip, powerless to stop it. “... Yeah. I’m sorry, again.”

There was a sound of affirmation before he hung up, and Anna had never felt more alone than she did right then. 

—

-

—

Kristoff already knew that he needed to distance himself from her. 

Her calling him when she was upset just solidified it. 

He had to shut it down before it took on a life of its own. 

He had been playing like absolute garbage since their date, and he knew she was the only thing different in his life. He couldn’t stop thinking about her - both about her smile and her perfect ass - and he couldn’t stop staring at her on the bench. He couldn’t help the stupid rise of jealousy that burned at his throat when she interviewed his teammates and giggled along with their dumb jokes, either. 

At least she wasn’t on the roadie. They had managed to scrape out a couple wins and had started to recover from his last two godawful home games. They had one more game out here in Seattle and he would not let the knowledge that Anna was upset distract him. He couldn’t afford it.

This was why he didn’t date. 

He couldn't afford to be soft out there, or else he let his entire team down.

—

They had won against Seattle. Barely. The whole team had to work three times as hard to scrape by with a win in overtime because Kristoff had let in too many easy shots.

In the end, Kristoff got chewed out by Mattias and was warned that if he had one more game like this, they were going to bench him for at least five games, if not more. The bus ride was tense. The whole team was mad at him, and Kristoff could practically feel the tension in the air, it was so thick. 

Sven tried, like he always does, but in the end his jokes and positive mental attitude pissed Kristoff off.

He sat alone in the back. 

On the plane, too.

When they touched back down at home, Kristoff went straight to his truck, went straight to his home, took a hot shower and did his best to force himself to sleep. There were a few texts that he had missed while getting ready to sleep, and Kristoff couldn’t help the white knuckle grip that he was clenching his phone with. 

Sven. Hey man, are you okay? I’m here if you need to talk.

His mother. Baby, what’s going on? You don’t let in those easy glove shots. Is everything all right?

And Anna. I’m really sorry about earlier. I’m around whenever you want to talk. If you want, I guess. Congrats on the win. Hard fought and well-deserved.

Kristoff threw his phone down somewhere in the mess of his sheets and buried his head into his pillow, hoping more than anything that sleep would come quickly. 

—

The next morning he woke early, texted Anna to see if she was awake, then headed to her apartment even though she hadn’t responded. He knew he had to get this over and done with as quickly as possible. He was going to hate every second of it.

He knocked on her door a few times, waited, knocked again, sighed, knocked once more, and then when he was just about to give up he heard the locks clicking. Anna swung open the door, clearly still half asleep, and grumbled a “whatdoyouwant” that was so slurred he was amazed he even understood it.

She was sleep rumpled and adorable in her oversized tee and tiny, tiny shorts that barely poked out from underneath the top, her face flushed and hair messy, and he almost decided he didn’t want to do this. But his fucking career was at stake here. 

“Hey.” Kristoff kept his voice warm and even. “I’m sorry to wake you.”

Anna looked more alert when she noticed it was him and promptly stepped aside to gesture for him to come into the apartment. 

“I need to… say something.”

She stared at him for a moment, and if not for her blinking eyes he would’ve sworn she fell back asleep standing up, but then she nodded and held up one hand. “Let me just… coffee… You want some?”

Refusing, Kristoff waved her off and moved to take a seat on her couch. He had barely gotten dressed, just threw on some sweats and a t-shirt, and suddenly his mind was full of early mornings with her, looking like that, him still in his own pajamas, her bringing him coffee as he cooked them breakfast and fuckfuckfuck.

He stood quickly and marched into her kitchen and took in a breath before he stated from the doorway “we need to stop interacting as much outside of publicity things.”

Anna’s eyes were wide, a scoop of coffee grounds slowly poured onto the kitchen floor as her fingers lost their grip, the spoon dangling loosely from between them, and he had to avert his gaze when she made an obvious effort to swallow. “What?” Her voice was so quiet.

“I think,” he didn’t know what to do with his hands, so he clenched them by his hips. “Maybe…” He needed to give it no wiggle room. “You’re getting the wrong idea? We’re… not…”

She scoffed, threw the spoon onto the counter and then crossed her arms. “I know we’re not.” And then he watched her flicker between angry and sad too many times to count. “But I thought we were… kind of friends…”

He felt nauseated. 

“We need a more clear separation, Anna. You can’t...” He scratched at the back of his head. “I’m not actually your boyfriend.”

Anna’s gaze had drifted to the counter, and she was doing a fantastic job of staring a hole into the fake marble pattern. “I know.”

“I…” Don’t apologize. “It’s for the best, you know? Keep it…” He stupidly cut a hand through the air and cursed himself for not just keeping his fists at his side. “Cut and dry. No… confusion.”

“Sure.”

She hadn’t moved, and Kristoff took a step back. “So… okay. Just the… events, then. From now on.”

Silence from Anna was the worst thing he had ever experienced. Her still body made it worse. How had he taken her, so alive and energetic, and made her look like that? He knew it was for the best, but he couldn’t help the ache that squeezed in his chest. “So,” he cleared his throat and pointed his thumb over his shoulder, gesturing to the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Anna only gave him one stern nod before he let himself out, heading immediately to the gym because god fucking damn it he needed to punch something. 

[queen-rogah]

Trapped in Montreux (Roger Taylor x Reader) - Part Five

Summary: You got a job as a bartender in a yacht somewhere in Switzerland, and you didn't know that the yacht was rented by a famous band for the whole weekend...

Warnings: mild angst and mild fluff :)

Word Count: 2.8k+ words

Note: I think I will end this series by part 7 or 8?? :(

MASTERLIST | MOODBOARD

PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR

"I need to tell you something but don't say it to anybody else. All that I will have to say to you will stay here in Montreux. Promise?." You said and he interestingly looked at you.

"Okay. I promise." He smiles.

It's already midnight and you're still here in the boat party, the party is still alive downstairs where you can hear the loud blaring music and the chatter of different people down there. And now you're here, in the arms of a guy you just met earlier, keeping you warm in the cold night air of Montreux. You never really shared a time like this with a guy, especially a guy like Brandon.

"Is it wrong that I'm falling in love with a person that fast? I just met him in a short time but it feels like forever. I don't know why this is happening to me, ever since I took a step in this place." You said.

"Well, I guess we're even. I'm feeling that same thing too." He said, removing his arms around you as he sat comfortably beside you.

"You are?."

"I just arrived here earlier in the morning because of this job that Fionn offered to me and what you've said about falling in love that fast, I have felt it too when I am here." He stare at the sky while you stare at his hands getting close to yours.

"I don't want to share this to Gerda, she'll die in laughter if I'll say to her that I am falling in love." You laughed.

"Gerda is such a fun person, just like Frida." Brandon says.

"Yep, Gerda is truly the greatest person for me. She's just my only best friend and no one will ever replace her." You said and when he said Frida's name, you just remember how she flirted to Roger, and the fact that he's interested to what she's saying too.

And now you're thinking about him, while with another man with you who is talking about falling in love with someone. This is just getting weirder and weirder.

"But Gerda said that falling in love that fast is wrong..." You sighed. Brandon was shocked on your words.

"And why is that? There's nothing wrong to it for me." He interjects.

"I know right? Gerda is just--she's so protective when it comes to me and I love her for that, but when she said that to me, I guess it's just nonsense. Love is free and falling in love is a choice, unless if that person likes you back too." You chuckles, and now Brandon goes back in staring at you. He have that familiar smile he have when he watched you dancing in the bar earlier.

You catch his gaze and you snorted a laugh, "What?."

"Nothing, you're just so beautiful." He compliments and that immediately made you blush, and you tried to cover the romantic excitement with a shaky laugh, but you think that didn't go well.

"Wow, Brandon...I--uh, thank you? For the compliment." You stammer and he softly chuckles, reaching out to touch your blushing cheeks that turned red even more.

"So, is this the moment where I should kiss you now?." He asked. Your heart skipped a beat as you bite down your lip.

"I guess so..." You shyly smiled and watch him lean in until his lips came in contact to yours. The kiss was so innocent, soft and cute. Nothing too steamy, it's just feels so right. You closed your eyes, your hands finding his hair as your fingers curl around the strands of his hair.

Then you start to imagine this scenario, just like molding up a dream in your mind, you're both sitting on top of a yacht, under the stars and the moon that is perfectly illuminating the slow current of the lake. His hands were slowly inching to you waist, pulling you closer to make the kiss a little bit deeper and your hands around his hair. Everything seems perfect and blissful until your imaginative consciousness open it's eyes to see your hand earlier touching his blonde hair, then you pull away to see his face and down his swollen lips you've been kissing. That's when you lost your shit.

Your realization came back as your real self pull away from Brandon, breathing heavily to regain your composure. Your closed your mouth of what you just thought in the back of your mind while kissing him. That is wrong, that is some pure bullshit.

"I--I gotta go Brandon..." You stuttered, standing up as he also did, then quickly catches your forearm.

"Did I do something wrong? Y/N? Please tell me..." He pleads.

You felt sorry for him, "No, nothing is wrong it's just...you can't be in love with me...that fast Brandon."

Then his hands cupped your face, "I thought falling in love fast isn't wrong for you Y/N?." He asked.

You we're speechless.

"I can't...I can't explain Brandon. You just can't...I don't deserve you." You said. Your heart's been breaking but no tears pouring down your face, you're disappointed in yourself to what you've thought about.

You removed his hands that is cupping your face and gave him a reassuring smile, "I'm sorry Brandon. I'm so sorry."

You left him there, and your mind is just circulating on what you've seen inside your mind earlier while kissing him. When you got in the party again, you see him there talking with his bandmates and other people. You watch him laugh, throwing his head back like a child and slipping his hand inside his suit, touching his own skin.

This man, who is a rockstar, a lady-magnet, a cheater to his lovers, a flirt and a goddamn good looking drummer of Queen.

You can't believe you just imagined Roger Taylor while kissing someone else.

...

"Gerda?," You came back in the bar to see Arvin and Frida talking, "Have you seen Gerda?." You asked.

Arvin shakes his head, not knowing where she is.

"I think I saw her around in the crowd. She's talking to someone else earlier. Just find her there." Frida said as you thanked her. Going for the crowd, you dodged so many bodies, and even saw topless women dancing in the music, as more women also took off their tops and unclipped their bras as they freely danced around people half naked.

You tear your eyes away from the scene and got back in finding Gerda. You stopped in your tracks to see her in the corner, surprisingly making-out with Fionn as they are enjoying what they are doing. You stifled a laugh and back away from them, only to bump someone behind you to see it's Freddie Mercury.

"Oh--I'm so sorry Mr. Mercury it's--"

"It's fine darling, it doesn't hurt at all!." He enthusiastically said, giving you a smile on your face.

"But still, I'm sorry. I'm just gonna go--"

"--you're Y/N right?." He asked and you turn your head at him. You are also freaking out that Freddie knows your name. Only Roger knows yours.

"Yes Mr. Mercury...I am she.." You slowly said and he chuckles, letting out that cheeky smile that Gerda would lovely see.

"Oh darling, call me Freddie." He said and suddenly guides you to a couch as he lets you sit down across him. Now you're sitting with Freddie Mercury, the greatest lead singer in this generation. "How are you dear?." He asked.

He's now talking to you like he had known you as his friend, which made you feel the same anxiety on speaking to a famous person.

"I--uh, I'm fine..." You awkwardly replied, your eyes looking around the room to find Gerda if her business with Fionn is done. But nothing came in, maybe they are now carried away. In a room to probably finish their business.

"Roger's have been looking out for you earlier, he looked worried about you." Freddie said, finishing his drink. He rummage through his pockets to brought out a cigarette, "Do you have a lighter darling?."

"Yeah, I have..." You quickly took the lighter in your back pocket and with your shaky hands, you carefully light his cigarette, his brown eyes looking up to you, when the cigarette lits up, Freddie lean back on the couch again.

"Roger's...worried of me...you say?." You asked and he chuckles before nodding his head.

Worried of you about what?

"Roger darling! There you are!." Freddie's loud voice rang you ears, hearing his name again to see him already looking at your direction. You sat there in silence, quickly breaking away your glance at him. You can't look at him after what you've just imagined earlier. The awkward tension is building up again.

"I found Y/N, she's now right here!," Freddie says as he points at you, "Now stay here, I'll call the rest of the boys so that I'll introduce Y/N to them."

Freddie left the couch again as your anxiety increases, even when Roger sat beside you and felt his arm rested behind you on the couch. Your heart is literally beating out of your chest, you didn't know what the fuck is happening tonight.

The silence between you and Roger kills you, "What do you want from me Roger? I'm not that special, unlike Sienna." You asked.

"W-what?."

"Freddie said to me that you've been looking for me, after I stormed out from you and Sienna and you're worried about me. Please, explain everything to me." You said, your body turning to him.

Roger was speechless, and through his silence, the words from Gerda plays into your mind, the ones that she's been always saying that Roger Taylor is flirting with you, maybe Roger is into you, Roger's looks are different on you. And that made you think and say of something so stupid to him.

"Roger, do you--do you like me?." You blurted out those words, and you can see his eyes underneath those sunglasses widened, he quickly removed his arm behind you. Realizing that what you did is very foolish.

"I...I'm sorry I said that--ugh that's very fucked up of me. Me? Asking a famous rockstar if he likes me? That's some fucked up shit really! I'm a lunatic in front of you now Roger Taylor!." Your voice raised as you laugh at yourself.

"Y/N I--"

"No, no you don't have to answer me Roger. That's a question from me that is forbidden for you to answer. So don't..." You had shut your mouth, never laying your eyes on him. He's still sitting beside you, hearing only his breathing even though you're both in a room full of different people.

"Y/N," Your name rolled out his tongue again as you faced him, "I know this is wrong, but what you've asked me, I think I have the right to answer that."

You return your look to him, seeing Roger Taylor so tensed in front of you as you bite your lip, waiting for his answer. "Y/N, you're a beautiful girl, you really are. And I...I really can't express what I am feeling to you."

"Uh...so that means that you don't like me?." You questioned him and that made him chuckle, your heart flutter to see his smile.

"No, no. I like you Y/N. You're charming, lovely...um, nice--"

"--and...you're giving me compliments." You giggled, blushing on his words.

"Your smile is lovely. I never see you smile like that." He said. You hide your face in your hands, containing yourself to stop blushing like crazy because it's getting really embarassing.

When you regain yourself, your blushed cheeks fading out as you look at him once again. You are dangerously close to him, his hands slipped into yours that are laying on your lap, your eyes trailed down his lips that you have imagined on kissing them. He knows you're staring on his lips, that's when he made his move on leaning in to you, those lips that women wants to kiss are inches from you.

You start to lean in but when you heard Freddie's voice coming close, you both pull away from a kiss from Roger Taylor that was nearly to happen. You both look away from each other, having the both blushing faces too as the other boys are now sitting across you two.

"How's the talk with Y/N Rog?." Freddie asked and you look over to Roger, who slowly turn his look to the lead singer. Still have that flushed cheeks, you also have the same thing.

"She's fine. I did know her more while we're....talking." Roger said. You turn away to hide your laugh.

Yeah, talking--more like we're about to kiss you dumbass, you said in your mind.

"Know her more? What did you know about her Rog?." John asked, his body moved forward to listen to Roger. His chin resting on his hand, feeling so interested. So as the boys.

"I--uh..." Roger stammers. Clearly didn't know what to say.

Even you, you're speechless too.

"Roger?." Brian furrowed his brows. Then look at the others.

Freddie have a familiar smirk, thinking on something that might've happened. "You kissed her Rog, didn't you?." Freddie laughs.

"No we did not!." You and Roger both said it at the same time.

"You two are so bloody cute." Freddie goes on, nudging the two boys beside him. John was amused, but Brian was a bit off. All that is inside Brian's head is that he's seeing his bandmate probably cheat on his girlfriend, that Roger is just planning on marrying.

"Roger? Can I have a minute?." Brian says. You gulped and sit in silence, Roger nods his head and follows the guitarist out of the scene.

"So? Tell me the details Y/N." Freddie asks you again, even John is listening.

"I swear we're just talking, we didn't kissed. I wouldn't do that to Roger who has a family and a perfect girl." You said, also half lying because you just wasted the moment on kissing him.

And now you're disappointed to yourself again. You wouldn't believe you want to kiss a man who is...13 years older than you.

"You just expect the unexpected darling, especially when you're in my party."

...

"Seriously Rog? You're just talking about marrying Dominique and be the best father to your children and now I see you eye-fucking that girl, who is absolutely younger than you. Are you out of your mind?." Brian asked.

Roger was getting pissed on Brian telling him these things. Yes, he still loves Dominique and his family, and still wants to marry her, but when he's still here in Montreux and seeing you before him, his mind would be lost in the presence of you.

"Well what about you? Don't be too fucking innocent on cheating because I know you and Anita still fooling around behind Chrissie's back. So who's the bad guy here?." Roger fires back as he sees Brian clenched his jaw.

He was also pissed.

"Don't bring Anita into this Roger, she's different--"

"Bullshit. It's still the same thing! You and me are cheating on the women we loved. You are infatuated with Anita while I'm still working on Y/N. Don't tell me that I'm just the one who's making a huge mistake here, because you also did." Roger said in his gritted teeth.

Brian looked down on the ground, not wanting to let this argument go on. "I wanted to end things with Anita, but...she's just inseparable to me. It's like...she's the missing piece of my heart. I feel like she's the one for me." Brian started to tear up.

When Roger see the vulnerable side of Brian, he quickly approach him and tried to comfort him. Now he can see the hardships of being a family man who is cheating on his wife, in so many months he did it. He's now blaming himself to what he got into a mess.

"Brian, I'm sorry I pissed you off...it's just, I can't control myself when I'm looking at her. She made me feel the same thing that I have met Dominique while I'm with Sienna before." Roger said and Brian wipes away his small tears and smiles at his friend for so many years.

"The same thing goes for me when I met Anita." Brian says, his slender fingers hold on Roger's shoulder.

"We are bad, bad boys right Bri?." Roger cracked a joke that made him and Brian chuckle.

Good thing there are no press strolling around with their cameras.

"Yeah, we sure are."

________________

*TAGLIST:

@queen-turtle-boiii @toomuchtellyneck @caborhapch @lordofthunderthr @qtheressurections @jennyggggrrr @ohtheseboysilove @asquiresofftime

just reply to me if you want to be in the taglist!

[theonceoverthinker]

OUAT 4X07 - The Snow Queen

Looks like Emma’s facing a real cr-ICE-is in today’s episode!!! XD

As always, the review’s under the cut, so drop on by if you dare! BWHAHAHAH!!

Main Takeaways

Past

A big point in the segment is how Ingrid needs to give up the ribbons in order to get the gloves and urn. Rumple says that with enough emotional attachment, ordinary objects get magical values. When Gerda and Helga protest the exchange, Ingrid points out that the ribbons are a symbol of their love and that their actual love is stronger. The episode frames this as a poor decision, but that’s not a sentiment I agree with. While yes, the ribbons do indeed have a magical value, Ingrid’s right: Their real love is stronger. This is such a big element of other themes in other episodes (Basically EVERYTHING with Rumple dagger and the flashback in “White Out” come to mind), where symbols matter less than the power within and to see the raming reverse itself without any substantive self awareness is a weird choice. Ingrid’s fear of her powers and resolve to be a shut is indeed a problem, but the handling of this red herring solution stands out as an awkward choice. And then it reverses itself again with “we are your fail safe.” The idea of the value of objects over family goes back and forth like a tennis ball during a game of fetch.

And I can’t help but be on Ingrid’s side here. She’s not giving up her sisters. She’s giving up three ribbons so that she can have control over her magic and be able to go out in public with them, rule the kingdom, and just live her life. Their love is still there, but something that’s going to give Ingrid a tangible feeling of safety will be present too. And I feel like Gerda and Helga’s protests are nothing but platitudes.

Let’s also talk about the ending. Gerda, who shows so much love for her sister throughout the segment, grows terrified of her as Ingrid, the only other voice, testifies to her innocence to Helga’s death just before putting her in the urn. Like, had the Duke said something to Gerda either before the scene or during it, the fear would’ve worked better, but as it stands, it’s a weird shift for Gerda that works okay enough, but could’ve been better.

Present

There’s a lot to unpack here about Emma’s conflict. I can’t say that it’s improperly built up. This season and even the last finale have delicately pushed the idea of Emma’s magic still falling short in the face of a lack of a furthering of her education as well as her emotional issues. It’s usually a matter of her underperforming. This though is the first time we’ve ever seen it do the reverse. And I think it’s an interesting thing to explore. Not only is Emma new to magic, but she’s the only person in her family who has it. AND with the presence of a new brother and the Snow Queen manipulating her actions, things can get a little muddied from there. And while it is given a cursory look, there’s no focus to the why of the matter, choosing to try to be about all of these things while not diving into them. I feel horrible for Emma’s situation, so the tone of the episode is captured well and the framing does work perfectly, but the story itself is left kind of flabby.

I don’t do a worst dynamic on these reviews, but if I did, Snow and Emma would be it. Like, Jeez, Snow! Not even gonna hesitate pulling the baby back? Not gonna check on how your kid is feeling because I’m sure to some degree, you’re aware that magic is fueled by emotions? It’s a really shitty moment, but for me, a lot of what sucks about it is that while we’ve received hints about Snow’s apprehension towards Emma learning magic and the fandom has some pretty interesting theories about why Snow is so, we never hear it from the horse’s mouth. For that reason, Snow comes across as really cruel towards Emma for no reason.

On a lighter note in that regard, I used to really hate the outdoors scene with the light pole, finding Snow’s scolding of a terrified Emma to be disgusting, but upon watching it again, given the fact that Snow immediately changes her tone with Emma after scolding her shows very believable remorse. She knows this wasn’t Emma’s fault and that she needs support and love and she knows she failed to give her that. Granted, I’m not a fan of her telling David that the both of them fucked up when David didn’t react negatively to what happened and he even got into the situation to save Emma’s boyfriend (And also played a big role in trying to find her afterwards despite being injured when it really should’ve been the other way around). Like, Snow, that all was totally on you. But as for the initial outburst, I do find that it was handled better in hindsight.

That having been said, while I really dislike Snow’s reaction, I do like the pole scene by itself. It’s never wracking, has some great fast-paced editing, and is sympathetic to most everyone there. It’s as panicked as Emma feels and while I don’t like some of the buildup to that moment, I do like the moment itself and it feels earned enough. There’s a great element of tragedy to the scene too. Emma has tried so hard to overcome her walls and be a part of her family, but because her magic is out of control, she fears that she might not be able to.

As I watch this episode, I’m reminded of why I don’t really care for Robin. I swear I’m not trying to be anti-OQ or anything here, but it does infuriate me that Robin doesn’t even seem to TRY to fall back in love with Marian before getting turned down by Regina the second time. Feelings are valid and I understand that, but the fact of the matter is a person who Robin supposedly cares very much for (Even if the romantic feelings are lessened or gone, Robin would assumedly care about her as a former wife, a person, and the mother of his child) has a frozen heart and is in what is basically a coma and while the only foolproof solution to this lies with him, he’s putting in no effort to even TRY to save her by this point.

And I know what you’re thinking: He does try. At Granny’s, he and Will go over Robin and Marian’s story. And this did have me consider my stance. But the problem is that that’s all he does before just giving up and this isn’t framed as the complicated choice that it is. By all means, Robin, be happy that you love Regina, I’m not telling you not to. But acknowledge the fact that to be with Regina, you’re denying Marian what might be their best chance at saving her. (And the fact that Marian is Zelena of course isn’t a factor here as no one knew that at the time)

Because of all of this, I don’t feel all that sympathetic for his plight and I don’t find my belief that strong for the “code” he was so strongly speaking for in “A Tale of Two Sisters.” I’m with Regina -- that’s completely unfair to her as well as to Marian!

I also find myself a touch frustrated with Ingrid because a lot of the things that she comments on and acts like were her ideas are just random coincidences. I pointed this out, but the results of Emma and Elsa’s investigation haven’t been predetermined, but have resulted from spur-of-the-moment decisions that are usually made by third parties. Ingrid had no idea Emma even still had that video camera, let alone that she would play it and discover her and then investigate the ice cream truck. She had no idea that Belle would clue her into the mirror’s existence or even get that candle. And she had no idea that Emma was dealing with fear from Snow. And at some point OFF SCREEN, Emma apparently tells Ingrid about what happened at the Mommy and Me class or Ingrid brings up that she knows it. That especially irks me here. We see at the end that Ingrid did have a role to play in Emma’s bursts of magic, but because we don’t really see what it was that she did, it’s not effective.

“Sometimes even when you win, you lose.” I’m still annoyed that this is the most we ever got out Will as far as an explanation for his presence. Did Ana die? Did he get caught up in something Lily was doing, since A&E said that his story was related to Mal and Lily’s? At least now that the realms are merged, they can get back together, although their 15-ish years of separation sucks royally. :(

Stream of Consciousness

-Dude! That asshole just fucking KICKED Ingrid! Dude deserves to be BEHEADED!

-I wish the pacing was a smidge slower on this opening. Like, in just a flash, Ingrid discovers her powers, gets called a monster, panics, gets a fast speech, and then wham, things are mostly okay. Like, an additional second so that everyone could process even Ingrid’s powers or the fallen branch really would’ve helped for my money.

-It’s kind of weird how Elsa’s speech to Emma about how her family might look differently at her for her powers, however unintentional, is kind of the tipping point of this arc.

-Ingrid, I don’t want to tell you how to do your evil job, but if Emma hadn’t avoided that icicle, she’d be dead! You already have two dead sisters! A third won’t do you much good!

-Really! All three of them share a room? Granted, it’s a big room, but they’re royals! Not to mention, those beds are fulls at most! You telling me three royals, one of whom is the future queen, wouldn’t have bigger beds?

-Just saying, if I was Elsa, I would’ve followed in my little sister’s footsteps and decked her right in the schnoz.

-”...With your scary face on.” I love how Regina and Henry have that casualness to who they are! It shows how they’re grown!

-Ooh! I see some foreshadowing with Belle saving Killian from the secondary threat (The Shattered Sight Mirror)! Captain Book!

-I love that little flattered gesture Rumple makes when Ingrid calls him the most powerful magic collector in all the land. XD

-The Duke of Weasletown is a fucking creep and Helga is best character for putting him in his place!

-Ummm, I WANT A STORYBROOKE SNOW GLOBE, PLEASE!

-Loving that Rumple smile. Methinks something amazing is coming! XD Or rather, meknows something great is coming! *Rumple giggle*

Favorite Dynamic

Ingrid and Rumple. I love seeing villains interact and in this episode, Ingrid and Rumple do it really well. They act as overseeing deities playing with the chess pieces that they’ve made our heroes into through their manipulations and seeing them talk about circumstances so matter-of-factly is really interesting. I also love how they deal with each other. Watching their deal go through at the end of the episode is like watching a really interesting drug deal go down. Every action from Rumple securing the ribbons to holding onto one of them while waiting for his information to Ingrid whispering what he needs is so engaging! I always love scenes that despite the fact that I know what’s coming, I still get swept up in the action, and that is this episode in spades.

Writer

Adam and Eddy are today’s writers. I feel like this episode really needed more focus in its three main storylines. We’re given hints of character actions and through processes, but none of them ever go all the way. And I genuinely hope that I don’t sound like I’m incapable of putting these pieces together -- I promise you that I do get how these narrative points connect, but my issue is that they’re sometimes not tightly knit enough to support the big character moments and story points that they’re supposed to be able to support.

Rating

7/10. I’ve felt bad with some of these more recent reviews. Sometimes, it’s hard to communicate that despite the problems that I’m pointing out, I am enjoying myself. Like with “Family Business,” this isn’t a bad episode, but it just needs a bit more solidification. There’s a lot of cool ideas to work with here -- an examination of how Emma’s family views Emma’s magic, Robin trying and failing to recapture his love for Marian while in love with Regina, and Emma’s thoughts about her sibling come to mind. But while they dip their toes in that pool, little else is done. 

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Thank you all for reading! I think I did a better job here than I did with my “Family Business” review, but let me know if there’s something you want more elaboration on!

Shout out to @watchingfairytales and @daensarah!!!! See you guys next time!

Season 3 Total (49/230)

Writer Scores: Adam and Eddy: (16/60) Jane Espenson: (10/40) David Goodman and Jerome Schwartz: (10/50) Andrew Chambliss: (14/50) Dana Horgan: (6/30) Kalinda Vazquez: (14/40) Scott Nimerfro: (6/30)

Tags: ouat, once upon a time, watching fairytales, ouat episode code, ouat rewatch, jenna watches ouat, ships mentioned, triggers mentioned

*Links to the rest of my rewatch will no longer be provided. They take posts with links outside of searches and I spend way too much time on these reviews to not give them that kind of exposure. Sorry for the inconvenience, but they still can be found on my page under Operation Rewatch.