What If...? Frozen Edition

Space.
Reality.
It's more than a linear path.
It's a prism of endless possibility.
Where a single choice can branch out into infinite realities.
Creating alternate worlds from the one you know.
I am the Watcher.
I am your guide through these vast new realities.
Follow me, and ponder the question: what if...?

Arendelle, 1830

Anna slid down the snowy hill, giggling uncontrollably as Elsa held onto her.

"Ha ha ha! Tickle bumps!" she squealed, her green dress fluttering in the wind from their sledding. "All right, catch me!" The 5 year old girl jumped up from the snow as her sister cast progressively larger piles of snow in front of her, each jump a little higher, each mound taller. She kept jumping faster and faster.

"Anna! Wait, slow down! Anna!"

Just as Anna neared the ceiling, Elsa slipped and fell on the icy floor. As though time slowed down to a crawl, she watched in horror as her little sister leaped from the final snowpile.

Elsa froze. What should she do? Cast a slide? A hill? A pile of snow? By the time she made her choice, Anna had already fallen, tumbling down the side of one of the existing snow mounds. Her beam of ice struck the ceiling of the dining room, a small avalanche of snow tumbling down one of the walls.

"Anna, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it! I... should have caught you!" she cried, her hands trembling as she contemplated what she would tell their parents about how Anna got hurt.

Anna sat up, giggling. Her fall had left her none the worse for wear, having landed on even more snow. "It's okay, Elsa! I'm not hurt! Let's play some more!"

At that moment, the tall doors to the dining room creaked open, revealing Agnar and Iduna looking cross at them. Iduna gasped in horror at the state of the dining room, piles of snow everywhere, even on the royal throne.

"Elsa! What have you done? This is getting out of hand!" Agnar scolded.

The little blonde girl in the blue dress bowed her head. "I'm sorry, Papa."

At that moment, Anna stomped her foot. "It was my idea, Papa! I woke Elsa up and made her play with me," she pouted. "I should be in trouble, not her."

Iduna knelt down, hugging both girls. "Now, now. We have to take responsibility for all our choices. Anna, it's very mature of you to take responsibility for the playing, but your sister also needs to take some responsibility for the state of the dining room as well."

Elsa gave a small smile as she waved her hands, the snow lifting into the air and dissipating.

Arendelle, 1832

"Do you want to build a snowman?" Anna sang as she skipped down the halls of the palace, arriving in front of her sister's blue and white door. Without hesitation, she rapped on it with her knuckles. "Elsa! Do you want to build a snowman?"

"Go away, Anna!" came the muffled reply from behind the door.

"Elsa! I- I'm sorry."

Anna waited as shuffling sounds of someone moving behind the door let her know her sister was near. In a few more moments, the door opened a crack, her sister's eye peering from it.

"What are you sorry for?" she asked, the visible eye squinted.

"I-" the redhead took a deep breath, "I'm sorry for stealing your chocolate cake at dinner last night when you went to go to the bathroom. Please may you forgive me?" she begged, her hands clasped in front of her.

After a long moment, Elsa sighed and opened her door. "All right, but the next time we have chocolate cake, you owe me your piece if you want to make it right with me," the ten year old commanded.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Yes, Your Highness. Now come on, do you want to build a snowman?"

Elsa grinned mischievously. "I have a better idea! Come on," she squealed, grabbing Anna by the hand and dragging her down to the kitchens, past the startled staff who were used to only Anna wandering through at every hour of the day.

"Gerda, may we please have some of the cloudberry jam?"

The matron arched an eyebrow before reluctantly pulling out a small jar of the orange berry marmalade and handing it to the young blonde princess. Despite her reservations, one did not turn down a royal request, especially one so harmless.

"Watch this, Anna." Elsa grabbed two bowls from the counter and scooped a large spoonful of jam into each bowl. She grabbed a cream pitcher from the pantry's icebox and poured cream over the jam, then stirred it. Once mixed, she pulled off her blue satin gloves. With a furrowed brow as she concentrated, tiny mounds of snow began to blossom inside the cream, breaking it apart and spreading out. In moments, the jam and cream had formed into a Tuscan gelato snowman in each bowl.

Anna squealed in delight. "You can make gelato! Elsa, why didn't you tell me you could do this before?" The 7 year old began racing in circles in search of a spoon before Gerda caught her and handed her one.

"Your Highness, perhaps you should have a seat here," the matron pointed to the stools in the corner of the kitchen, "to enjoy what your sister has made you."

Without hesitation, Anna kissed her sister on the lips and immediately dug into her frozen dessert. After recovering from Anna's affections, she joined her and savored the sweet, tart ice.

Arendelle, 1836

"See you in two weeks!" Anna said as she hugged her mother and father.

"Do you have to go?" Elsa asked, worry clear on her face as her brow furrowed and her lips trembled slightly. Her parents had never left them alone for quite this long; they'd all traveled together for extended durations but this was a new precedent.

"You'll be fine, Elsa. Both of you will be. Remember to take care of each other and please listen to Kai and Gerda while we're gone," Agnar soothed.

"But... Papa, why do I need a husband? You and Mama are still both young and healthy."

Agnar laughed. "We're not getting you a husband just yet, Elsa. We're just meeting with King Georg to see if there might be a good fit for you and one of his-" he looked at Iduna quizzically.

"Thirteen."

"Yes, one of his thirteen sons. Surely, with that many, one might be pleasant enough company that Arendelle and the Southern Isles could strengthen its relationship. You know from your studies that we are always in need of allies."

Elsa sighed. The very thought of having to spend time with a boy unsettled her stomach, though she couldn't tell you why. "I understand, Papa." She stepped back to take Anna's hand, feeling her sister's warmth through the silk gloves. As soon as she'd made contact, the unsettled feeling faded.

"Maybe they'll find me a husband too, Elsa! Then we can have husbands together and make them play in the snow with us," Anna quipped.

Arendelle, 1840

"As always, Your Majesty, it was a pleasure to visit with you and your lovely family," King Georg said, a hint of mocking in his tone. The Southern Isles had a substantially larger military than Arendelle, a fact the aging, grey-maned king was never shy to point out, along with Arendelle's other shortcomings in comparison to his kingdom.

"The pleasure is ours, Georg." Agnar forced a smile. With Weselton and Westphalia looking at potential conquests in the region, Arendelle needed all the help it could get to protect itself. As the Southern Islander departed with his retinue, Agnar's stomach sank. In exchange for protection from the Southern Isles, he'd have to marry off at least one of his daughters to one of Georg's thirteen sons.

He sighed. Elsa was next in line for the throne and the people loved her and what she could do with her magic, but few men wanted anything to do with courting her. In public, everyone was dignified as royalty and nobles should be, but in dark rooms and behind closed doors, many of their peers whispered accusations of witchcraft and the Devil in regard to his oldest daughter. No, to ensure the treaty, he'd have better luck marrying off Anna to one of Georg's sons. Perhaps the runts of the elder king's litter might be better fits while the older sons vied for control of their father's throne.

He'd met all of Georg's sons at one point or another and the youngest, Hans, seemed like the least bad of the lot.

At dinner, Agnar kept making sideward glances at the 15 year-old, trying not to let the weight of the decisions he was making for her crush him. Just as he went to pour some of the mustard sauce on his salmon, Anna piped up.

"So Papa, did you find a husband for Elsa yet?"

Agnar dropped the gravy boat, spilling the yellow sauce everywhere. Staff rushed to his side to help clean up the mess while he stammered. "Ah... um, not quite yet, no, Anna. But... King Georg said at some point he'd like to introduce you to more of his sons, one of the younger boys."

"But shouldn't Elsa get a husband first? She's going to be Queen before me."

Agnar looked to Iduna for help but found none, his wife looking down at her plate, refusing to meet his eyes. "Ah... yes, I suppose so, Anna. But there are some people who are... well, afraid of your sister's powers. Even though she has marvelous control over them and only uses them for beneficial purposes, people are afraid of them."

Anna pouted. "Well, I would marry Elsa without a second thought. If no one else will marry her, I will!" she pronounced before crossing her arms.

At that admission, Elsa knocked over her water glass in shock. Where did her sister come up with these crazy ideas?

"Anna, you really shouldn't say such things. Women aren't supposed to marry each other," Iduna softly chided. "It's the way of Arendelle's people that women are supposed to marry men."

"Not all of them, Mama," Elsa murmured. "Beatrice and Ingeborg were married by Papa's hand two years ago, remember?"

"They were, yes, but Elsa, that was a special situation. The Church-"

"You head the Church, Papa. Your word is law," Elsa interrupted. "You allowed two of our servants to marry even though they were both women."

Agnar sighed. "Yes, as I said, that was a special situation. Regardless, to get back to Anna's question, no, I haven't found a husband for Elsa yet. But I'm confident we will find someone who deserves her and accepts her just as she is."

Later that evening, as the sisters prepared for bed, Anna sat down on Elsa's bed on the other side of their shared bedroom as she brushed out her hair.

"I wish I could marry you, sis."

Elsa dropped her own brush. "Wh- where did that come from, Anna? Both at dinner and just now."

"I was thinking about what Papa said, about how people are afraid of you. I'm not afraid of you. I never have been. You're so magical, you can make hot days cool and make gelato any time we want. Why wouldn't someone want to marry you?" Anna flopped back on her sister's bed, resting her head against the pillow as she stared at their ceiling.

"Because... because of my powers, Anna. They're afraid... they're afraid I'll harm them. Accidentally, or less than accidentally." Elsa turned her head away, facing the triangular window in their room. She'd overheard one of King Georg's sons - she'd lost track of which one - muttering to his father in the halls during a state visit that Agnar was grooming Elsa to be some kind of magical assassin. She'd get married off to the heir of a throne and then kill him in his sleep, taking the throne for herself in an imagined scheme of conquest by Agnar.

She wondered just how much was the young prince projecting.

"Well, that's stupid. You would never hurt someone unless they were trying to hurt you."

"Or you," Elsa replied immediately, whipping her head around. "If anyone tried to hurt you, I'd shatter them like glass without a second thought."

Anna sat down on the bed next to her sister and hugged her. "This is why I love you, and why I would marry you in a second if I could, Elsa."

Arendelle, 1843

"Queen Elsa of Arendelle!" Archbishop Hauge's voice echoed through the cathedral to raucous cheers. In the front row, Agnar, Iduna, and Anna all stood and applauded as Kai and Gerda wiped tears from their eyes.

"So what will you do now, Your Majesty?" King Georg's youngest son, Hans, asked as he leaned forward from the second row of the pews. Has was the last son of Georg to meet the Arendelle royals; for 6 years now, George had sent a son every 6 months to meet and possibly court the princesses of Arendelle, and all had been politely rebuffed.

As the applause died down, Agnar turned to regard the young man. "Well, for one thing, I'll stop having everyone address me as Your Majesty. Iduna and I are once again technically prince and princess of Arendelle. And I for one intend to enjoy our retirement." He smiled and clasped Iduna's hand with his. "We plan to travel some, see the world a bit, and then retire to my family's estate in the hills."

Iduna nodded along with him. "And what about you, Prince Hans? What of the Southern Isles and the royal family there? We were surprised to hear that Georg was unable to attend Elsa's coronation."

Hans looked down momentarily. "My father..." he glanced around to ensure no one was eavesdropping, "My father has taken ill. It is not widely known yet, of course, but my eldest brother Kristian will likely succeed him before the end of the year." He resisted smirking; his second-oldest brother Karl had been slowly feeding arsenic to the king for three years now, to hasten his exit from the throne.

"I'm very sorry to hear that, Your Highness," Iduna remarked. "Please give our best wishes to your family. What of your own plans?"

"I was, uh, hoping to ask your permission to court Elsa," Hans stammered, glancing quickly at the new monarch. Elsa and Anna were hugging and laughing about something, but over the din of the nobles he couldn't make out what.

Both Agnar and Iduna grimaced. "That's most proper of you, Your Highness, but... Elsa has little interest in companionship at the moment, as you well know from your brothers having met her over the years. You are welcome to approach her, of course, as one noble's right to another, but do not have lofty expectations."

At the coronation reception, Hans ignored Agnar and Iduna's counsel and shoved his way to the front of the reception line in the Great Hall. Of all his brothers, he knew without a doubt that he was the best looking. No woman in Aalborg had ever been able to resist his charms, so why should an Arendellian princess?

"Your Majesty," he bowed deeply in front of the new monarch, "As Arendelle's closest military and trade partner, it seems only fitting that I offer you your first dance as Queen." Behind him, the Duke of Weselton shot daggers at him, fuming.

Elsa stifled a giggle. "That is most kind of you, Your Highness, and I thank you... only, I don't dance."

"Oh?"

"But my sister does," Elsa grinned, giving Anna a small shove.

"What? No, Elsa-" Anna sputtered as Hans led her to the dance floor, the beat of Schubert's 12 Valses Nobles already struck up by the band's pianist, filling the hall with music.

As soon as the couple joined the rest of the crowd dancing, Hans made his move. Leaning into Anna on the first spin turn, he whispered in her ear, his breath warm against it. "Tell me something, Princess..."

Anna's eyes glanced to the side as she stepped in time with the man, admiring his precision and footwork. It wasn't as clean as her sister's; they'd practiced together as teenagers when the royal tutors instructed them on all aspects of comportment. She was still puzzled why Elsa lied about dancing; Elsa was by far the superior dancer of the two. "Yes, Prince Hans?" she murmured, leaning in a little closer on a weave.

"What sort of flowers does your sister like? Are there any particular sweets she enjoys?" he inquired, his eyes darting between his dance partner and the newly crowned monarch standing at the front of the room.

Anna's gut churned as her face flushed. How dare this spoiled noble cozy up to her, only to try using her to get to Elsa? Was she not good enough, not worth bothering to court? Sure, she wasn't the reigning monarch, but she was still worth something, wasn't she?

Anna contemplated all the different ways she wanted to communicate her displeasure, from outright punching the man in his stupid smiling mouth to finding a way to steer him into the punch bowl, but settled for something more subtle. On the next pivot, she asserted her dominance and changed her footwork to the men's box step, then forced Hans into a ladies' underarm turn. Confusion crowded out any ambition in his mind and on his face; Hans was so discombobulated that he ended up tripping over his own feet and pinwheeling into one of the potted plants.

"Oh, forgive me, Prince Hans! I'm sorry, I'm not a very good dancer," she cooed before snagging a champagne flute and walking away, the final notes of D.969 fading in the air. As the nobles politely clapped, she made her way back to her sister's side with a forced smile.

"If you ever make me even look at that cretin again, I'm going to sneak into your room and tie all your breeches in knots, sis," Anna quietly fumed as she stood next to Elsa.

"Why?"

Anna mentioned Hans' rather underhanded question and how it made her feel as the two watched Hans circle around the perimeter of the room before heading back towards the royal family. Elsa regarded him distastefully; asking for advice had its place and time, but not at the expense of her sister's self-esteem. With the slightest twitch of her finger, a nearly invisible sheen of ice formed on the underside of Hans' boots, and as he set foot on the parquet floor, his feet slipped out from under him.

Elsa smiled softly as Anna watched Hans repeatedly fall over, scramble to his feet, and repeat the process. She could barely contain her laughter, hiding her smile behind her hand as so many other women in the room were doing, watching the spectacle. Finally, Elsa turned to one of the guards nearby. "It would appear Prince Hans has perhaps had too much to drink. Would you carefully escort him back to his chambers so that he can get some much-needed rest?"

As the guards assisted the man, Anna finally let loose the belly laugh she'd been suppressing, sounding like a boar with allergies. "Elsa, did you- did you see that? Oh my god, Elsa, he was so..." she bent over laughing.

"Mmm. As Mama and Papa always told us growing up, temperance is key."

Anna rested her hand on Elsa's arm before leaning in to whisper in her ear. "Thank you. I... I know that was you, and he deserved it for treating me like that. You're the best sister ever." She gently kissed Elsa's cheek, enjoying the blush that crept up her neck.

Arendelle, 1844

"Majesty! MAJESTY!" Kai shouted, barging into the Grand Ballroom and startling the sisters during a small banquet celebrating Elsa's first year as queen. Elsa's soup bowl had frozen over at the shock and surprise, while Anna brushed fish off her blouse.

"What is it, Kai? What's happened?"

"Majesty, there are ships approaching the harbor, and the Lord Admiral says they are rigged for battle," Kai managed to get out between heaving breaths. "The Lord Admiral is on the western wall, awaiting your orders."

Elsa waved her fingers, dismissing her ice gown's long train in favor of a broad-shouldered jacket and trousers as she ran out of the dining room, Anna on her heels as the rest of the guests stared at each other in confusion. As the sisters ran up the castle stairs and onto the battlements, Anna could see the horizon, darkened with a dozen - no, two dozen - warships.

"Lord Admiral Bjorgman, what's going on?" Elsa asked, taking a spyglass from the blond-haired naval officer. Kristoff Bjorgman came from a peasant background and had risen through the ranks of the Royal Navy faster than any other officer had, especially for an orphaned boy. Crude jokes about him and a reindeer circulated through the navy early on, but he'd made his mark a couple years back, navigating a frigate through ice-laden waters without a scratch, earning him the nickname Ice Master.

"A ship of the line, a half dozen frigates, and a dozen brigs, Your Majesty. They're already trimmed for battle sails. I'm pretty sure they mean to at least blockade us, if not bombard us outright," Bjorgman said, scanning the horizon with his own spyglass. "And that's not the worst part, Majesty."

"There's more?"

"If Your Majesty will inspect the colors of the ship of the line..."

Elsa squinted through the spyglass. A red flag with a white cross on it. "You've got to be kidding me. The Southern Isles sent their navy? Why, because neither Anna nor I would marry into their family? This is ridiculous."

Anna grabbed the spyglass out of Elsa's hands. "So much for allying with us the civilized way. How many ships do we have able to defend Arendelle, sis?"

"Not enough."

Bjorgman sighed, his shoulders slumping. "Indeed, Your Majesty. Your Highness, the Royal Arendelle Navy is small by comparison. We have less than a dozen ships and only two frigates, on account of the fact that no one really deems us important enough to be a threat."

As they watched the ships slowly spread out into a line formation, a runner raced across the walls from the southern parapet where the pigeoneer kept his roosting boxes. "Your Majesty, a diplomatic message!" the youth shouted, kneeling down and holding out a thin tube.

Elsa broke the tiny wax seal on the canister and unrolled the paper inside.

SURRENDER AND PREPARE TO DISCUSS TERMS

ARENDELLE IS HEREBY ANNEXED TO THE SOUTHERN ISLES

"The nerve of that little turd," Anna sniped. "To think that he can just sail up here and threaten us."

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "How do you know who it is?"

"It's Hans. I recognize his handwriting from a letter he sent shortly after the coronation ball. Guess he's given up trying to woo both of us."

"Your orders, Majesty?" Bjorgman asked, gesturing for the page to wait for a message to send.

Elsa sighed, her shoulders drooping. Arendelle's navy was wholly unprepared to repel any serious military effort, especially a force four times as large as theirs. "Sending out our own fleet would be pointless, wouldn't it, Lord Admiral?"

"I... I am afraid so, Your Majesty. Our men are skilled and brave, but the odds are overwhelming."

"Elsa, you can't seriously be thinking about listening to him!" Anna chided, tugging gently on her sister's elbow and turning their backs to the men. "He can't get away with this. You can't let him!"

"Anna, I- we have no chance of winning a battle against them. What choice do we have?"

Anna snorted. "Choice? Elsa, you are a goddess. You have power over the wind and snow. Why don't you just use your powers to, I don't know, blow them back out to sea or something?"

Elsa stared at her hands. "That... do you think I can do something like that?"

"That and more, Elsa. I believe in you, more than anyone or anything. You can do this," Anna reassured, pulling her into a tight hug and rubbing her hands down Elsa's back. "I know you can."

"But my powers... what if they're not strong enough?"

Anna stepped back a small distance, clasping Elsa's forearms and staring into her eyes. "Remember what Pabbie and Papa said? That your powers react to your emotions? Let yourself be afraid, Elsa. Let yourself worry, and direct all that into your powers."

"All right," Elsa exhaled. "All right. It's time to see what I can do, I suppose. Test my limits. Lord Admiral, give word that the fleet should prepare to intercept, but no one is to set sail until I give the word." She glanced at Anna, who gave the slightest nod. "We're going to try something a little different first."

Bjorgman nodded and ran with the messenger to send pigeons down to their fleet. Moments later, a dozen birds left the roostery, and sails began to unfurl in Arendelle's harbor.

Elsa walked to the southwest corner of the castle walls, staring out at the clear blue harbor. She could hear the gulls in the air and the soft sound of the waves washing ashore. With a deep breath, she reached her hands out in front of her and began to weave a giant snowflake in the air. As she felt it form, fear and anger surged in her belly, wrenching her stomach, constricting her lungs, and setting her blood afire. Her cheeks reddened, and her muscles tensed as blue light shot from her hands into the sky.

With one final breath, she pushed thoughts of Hans mocking Anna, Arendelle burning, and her parents in irons in a Southern Isles prison into her magic, and the snowflake fell out of the sky into the water around the foreign warships like a meteor crashing into the earth.

In seconds, the water began to freeze. Ice crawled up the sides of the ships, across the rigging, freezing the sails in place. The ships slowed, then stopped as the hulls creaked against rapidly thickening ice. Sailors on deck clutched themselves in the bitter cold as the sun vanished from the sky overhead.

Within a minute, all two dozen ships were covered in two feet of dense snow and the hulls immobilized in the water, their cannons harmlessly pointed away from the shoreline. Elsa closed her eyes, feeling her magic gently pulling at her, but not draining her.

"You did it, Elsa! They're stuck!" Anna cheered, before racing for the stone staircase at the end of the castle wall.

"How- how long can your magic hold, Your Majesty?" Bjorgman asked, clasping his hands to hide their shaking. He'd never seen magic of any kind before, much less the kind that could nullify an entire navy, rendering all their might useless. Even when he was out with his pet reindeer, riding through the wintry hills of Arendelle, he'd never seen anything close to what the Queen had just unleashed on the enemy fleet.

"Long enough for us to deal with this." She turned to see Anna and one of the stable hands bringing out two warhorses, trimmed in armor, along with a complement of four dozen of Arendelle's soldiers.

The lead cavalier saluted, his forest green uniform offset by the crocus-adorned shield and sword at his side. "Long live the Queen!" he and his men shouted in unison.

"Thank you, Captain...?"

"Mattias, Your Majesty. Commander of the Royal Guard." Jakob Mattias was almost as much a prodigy as Kristoff Bjorgman. The nephew of their father's Royal Guard, Destin Mattias, Jakob had spent his life trying to follow in his uncle's footsteps and live up to his legacy. No small challenge, when your uncle sacrificed his life to save the king and help the king's son escape a deadly attack by the Northuldra tribe decades prior. The soldier grinned a bright white smile as he led his men in formation around the queen and Anna. Both sisters mounted their horses with the ease of skilled equestrians, having taken lessons since they were young.

"Uh, Your Majesty, not to question your judgement, but... what exactly are we doing?" Mattias asked as the platoon trotted down to the end of the docks.

"Captain, we are going to be taking prisoners from those ships out there in the harbor. Please ensure we have enough manacles and infantry to escort everyone."

Mattias looked around, his brow furrowed in deep confusion. "Majesty, uh... we're on horses and those ships are way out in the middle of the harbor. Shouldn't we ask the Lord Admiral for a ship of our own so we can board them?"

Elsa winked at her sister. "No need, Captain." With a wave of her hand, the water near the dock began to freeze, extending out towards the captured vessels as though the dock were simply growing longer. "No ships needed at all."

Mattias' eyes bulged. "Uh- right. Yes, Your Majesty, you're right. Men, form up for boarding an enemy vessel!"

After a few minutes' easy ride out to the ships, the party reached the enemy vessels. What few men were daring enough to stay out on deck had lived to regret it; they were encased in inches-thick ice, their skin blue. Mattias' men fanned out across the flagship, crossbows and swords at the ready.

Once the quarterdeck was secure, Elsa and Anna both boarded the Southern Isles flagship. "Any sign of Prince Hans?"

"Not yet, Your Majesty. The men are searching the lower decks now," Mattias reported, as his soldiers carefully picked up the entombed enemy sailors and put them on ice sleds to be hauled back to shore. More soldiers walked down the icy docks, boarding the other vessels near them. Across the water, one lone Southern Isles cannoneer attempted to pull the gunlock rope to fire the cannon, but the priming powder was so cold, it couldn't catch fire.

Elsa stood next to the railing on the quarterdeck, looking out over the harbor as Anna walked down the stairs to the spar deck. The hair on the back of Elsa's neck suddenly stood up, and she turned to see Anna at the bottom of the stairs, her back turned towards the door to the gun deck. Out of the shadows, Hans loomed behind her, his sword raised.

"Anna!"

Anna turned and raised her hands to cover herself, futile though that might be against a sword, when she felt the world turn blue. Thick ice surrounded her; through it, she saw Hans' sword descend...

... and shatter on the ice, a shockwave knocking him back and sending him skidding headfirst into the main mast.

Moments later, the ice faded away as Elsa practically jumped down the stairs, running to embrace her sister. "Anna!"

"You saved me, Elsa!"

Elsa relished the feeling of Anna's body pressed against her in a tight hug. "I love you, sis. Of course I saved you," she chuckled, gently pressing her lips against Anna's neck.

The sound of boots storming up a flight of stairs broke the moment as Mattias and four soldiers exited the main hatch. "Your Majesty! Are you all right?"

Elsa nodded. "Yes, Captain. Everything's under control now." She turned towards Hans' prone form as he struggled to his knees before Anna touched a hand to her bicep, waving her off.

Elsa stepped to the side with a smile as Anna walked over to the bewildered enemy.

"You... you were frozen!" he gasped, cradling his sword arm. The shockwave that had reflected his blow had also shattered several of the bones in his wrist.

"The only thing that's frozen around here is about to be you, mister. You picked the wrong royal family to mess with." Anna turned away from him with her chin held high before stopping, considering something in her mind for a half beat, then turned around and punched Hans in the face so hard, his limp body catapulted over the side of the ship.

Mattias looked over the rail to see Hans' crumpled form laying on the ice, unmoving. He motioned for two of the soldiers to capture him and place the prince in manacles.

"So much for his invasion," Anna snarked. "That was about as successful as his marriage proposal to you."

A few hours later, all the Southern Isles crewmen had been offloaded from the ships and imprisoned. Mattias had put the officers in the dungeons, while the enlisted crew were sent in wagons to prisons in the countryside.

Bjorgman looked in awe at the Queen as she and her sister returned to the shore, his mouth hanging open as the royal entourage followed the last of the prisoners.

"So, Lord Admiral, fancy a new navy? We've just captured the entire Southern Isles navy without a single shot fired." She looked over the harbor where the fleet of almost two dozen ships were tied up along the docks. Such a fleet would have cost Arendelle years of taxes and labor to build, bankrupting the treasury.

"Your Majesty, it would be my absolute pleasure to take command of our new fleet," Bjorgman grinned, bowing at the waist. "We may need to recruit some more crewmen, but Arendelle's naval forces will rise to the occasion. Not that we need much of a navy, owing to Your Majesty's ability to capture any enemy who has the misfortune to sail into our waters," he laughed jovially.

Late that evening, after the events of the day had receded in their minds, Elsa sat on the corner of her bed once more, undoing her braid. "Quite a day, wasn't it?"

Anna laughed. "That's putting it mildly. But I'm so, so proud of you, Elsa. Today you single-handedly saved all of Arendelle and stopped a war. You're... you're just so amazing, like a goddess come to life." She walked on her knees behind Elsa and draped her arms over Elsa's shoulders.

"I'm really not. You would have done the same thing if you could have."

"Still. You're Arendelle's hero... which means..." she leaned forward, breathing into Elsa's hair.

Elsa slowly turned her head while hugging Anna's arms. "Means?"

"It means that no one should care very much if you marry me, right? So... will you marry me, sis?"

Elsa's shoulders slowly rose and fell as she closed her eyes and breathed. With the defeat of the Southern Isles, Arendelle had proved its military supremacy, wiping out an invasion without a single shot fired or even so much as a soldier with a stubbed toe. As long as she was queen, Arendelle could be safe - and no one would be a better spouse to her than her sister. Anna had been hinting for years - well, more like blatantly saying - that she wanted to marry, and each year Elsa had fewer and fewer reasons to say no. Anna had no ulterior motive, no foreign enemy to persuade Elsa to conquer in her name like so many of the nobles who'd courted her had hinted. Anna didn't want Arendelle's throne, had no love for power or wealth, and only sought the happiness of their family.

Elsa swallowed, then opened her eyes.

"Yes."

One choice gave birth to a whole new history, to a life of fulfillment and love, to the rise of a new hero.

As for me, these are my stories. I observe all that transpires here, but I do not, cannot, will not interfere, for I am the Watcher.

Author's Notes

The premise of What If...? is pretty simple: what are the cascading ripple effects when one small choice is changed, one little thing? In this case, Elsa hesitated to save Anna from falling and never hit her head with her ice blast. Which unravels all of Frozen 1 and Frozen 2:

• Elsa never gets locked away and grows up relatively normal with her whole family, and she learns to control her powers instead of fearing them
• Anna never loses her sister and thus isn't desperate for any kind of companionship for someone like Hans to take advantage of
• Agnar and Iduna don't board a ship headed to the Dark Sea in search of Ahtohallan and Elsa's magic because it's not an urgent crisis that they need to solve
• Hans doesn't get a chance to take advantage of Anna's naivete and has to try to secure the throne of Arendelle by other means

Every major plot point of both movies hinges on that one little moment, and I thought that would make for a fun What If-style single episode.

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