Parallel World.

Elsa froze. The blood drained from her face as his words sank in, colliding into her skull like a damn wrecking ball. Her mouth opened and closed like a malfunctioning puppet. She had so many things to say, so many things to yell at him…

But before she could, the door creaked open and a group of timid maids shuffled inside, their heads lowered so deep they might as well have been praying for their lives.

One of them cleared her throat. "M-My lady… the ceremony begins in half an hour."

Elsa almost laughed. 

Thirty Minutes. She had thirty minutes before she had to walk down an aisle and marry some king she had never met.

And she was wasting her last minutes of freedom arguing with her alleged… stepson? Ex-lover? Scorned one-night stand?

Tristan let out a low chuckle, stepping aside to let the maids pass. His smirk was full of sharp edges. "Good luck," he said mockingly.

Elsa had the violent urge to hurl something at his head but she stopped him instead.

"Wait!" she blurted, spinning toward him.

Tristan paused. He didn't turn fully, just tilted his head slightly over his shoulder.

Elsa's mouth went dry. She didn't even know how to say it out loud. "Do you really believe I… that we…?"

Tristan's expression didn't change. His voice was flat and emotionless. "It does not matter what I believe," he said. "What matters is that you have made your bed, literally. Now, you shall lie in it."

And then, just like that, he walked out , slamming the door shut behind him. The maids followed.

Then there was Silence. A long, tense silence.

Until-

"Well." Iris's spoke, her voice way too calm. "Isn't he just delightful?"

Elsa inhaled very, very slowly. She was going to lose it.

"Start talking, Iris," she muttered under her breath. "Where the hell am I? Is this real? Did I time-travel? Am I in some poorly written fantasy novel?"

"Oh, it's real alright," Iris said, her tone losing its usual smugness. "This is a parallel universe. That means it exists alongside the one you came from, like two books on the same shelf but with different stories, different rules, but part of the same collection. You didn't just wake up in a new country or another timeline, you're in an entirely separate reality with its own history, people, and events. In this world, they haven't experienced modernity nor technology, this is their own time zone. You're not dreaming and you're definitely not in some book. This is simply your life now, as real as the one you left behind."

Elsa scratched her head. "Could it not have been a normal modern universe then? I did not pick this one."

"Yes, you did," Iris hummed. "You pointed at 'Queen' like a little kid picking candy. This is the world that Queen happened to be in. What did you think? That you're becoming some modern queen who spends her days shopping and waving?"

Elsa inhaled very slowly through her nose, hands curled into fists. "You are so close to getting mentally evicted."

"Aw, don't be like that," Iris cooed. "Where would you be without me?"

"Living a normal, non-psychotic life, maybe?!" Elsa hissed.

"Ah, yes. Dying at the bottom of the ocean was very normal, humans are so ungrateful."

Elsa had to physically stop herself from slamming her head into the nearest wall.

"Fine. Whatever. Can I at least know what the hell is happening then? Like what the hell that Tristan guy was talking about?!"

"…Beats me," Iris admitted, sounding way too casual for someone who was supposed to be a guide.

Elsa's eye twitched. "You're telling me I'm stuck in someone else's dumpster-fire of a life in some parallel universe and YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW THE BACKSTORY?"

"Look, I only know as much as you do. Maybe even less, since you're the one experiencing it," Iris said, completely unhelpful."

Elsa felt like she was going to cry. "Okay, then what about the scary mother and the sniffing girl?"

"Yeah, so, about that… the previous Elsa tried to kill herself to escape the wedding. So they found out."

Elsa's brain shut down. Her mouth opened. Then closed. Then opened again. "…She did what."

"Oh yeah. She tried to drown herself."

Elsa felt her soul leave her body. "So let me get this straight," Elsa began, voice dangerously calm. "I am now inhabiting the body of a girl who literally killed herself to escape this wedding, and everyone in this castle thinks I just woke up and decided to go through with it anyway?!"

"Basically," Iris confirmed.

Elsa wanted to scream.

"Oh, don't be dramatic," Iris sighed. "Could be worse."

"WORSE?!" Elsa shrieked. "WORSE THAN THIS?!"

At that exact moment, there was a timid knock on the door. "My lady…" a small voice came from the other side. "The royal court is waiting. The ceremony cannot begin without you."

Elsa's blood ran cold. She slowly turned toward the door like some horror movie antagonist.

The ceremony. The wedding.

So she was really expected to walk onto some grand altar, stand in front of a room full of strangers, and get married to some king she hadn't even met?

She glanced down at herself and—oh. Oh. 

The dress.

It was a wreck. Torn, tattered, absolutely ruined. She looked like she had just survived a war, not like a bride about to marry a king.

And yet, time wasn't stopping for her. The court was waiting. They were all waiting.

Elsa's fingers moved quickly, trying to adjust the fabric, smooth out the damage—anything to make herself look a little less like an escaped prisoner. She tugged at the waist, pulling the ripped fabric back into place. She yanked at the hem and tore it whilst trying to convince herself that it wasn't scandalously short, but…

Yeah. It was bad.

"Okay, Iris," she muttered under her breath, straightening her shoulders as she turned to the mirror. "Anything else I need to know before I step out there?"

The voice in her head huffed dramatically. "Oh, not much," Iris said, tone dripping with sarcasm. "Just that the king is a complete psycho and one wrong move could have him lopping your head off. No big deal."

Elsa's eye twitched. "You couldn't have mentioned that earlier?"

"You were busy freaking out about your trashy dress," Iris snorted. "Priorities, babe."

Elsa inhaled sharply through her nose, forcing down the rage-fueled meltdown she desperately wanted to have. There was no time for this. She had no choice but to walk out there and face whatever disaster was waiting. 

And so she did, she opened the door but the first thing that greeted her was a sharp, horrified gasp as soon as she stepped out into the hallway. Elsa froze.

The dress.

It barely covered her legs. It wasn't just short. It was scandalously short. No noblewoman in history had ever been seen in something this indecent.

Damn it, I'm stupid.

The maids stood frozen, wide-eyed, their hands clamped over their mouths like she had just walked out naked.

Iris's voice practically cackled in her head. "Exactly my reaction."

Elsa wanted to punch the air but it was too late now. With no other options, she squared her shoulders and kept walking. She couldn't fix this. She didn't have fabric. She couldn't magically summon a different dress.

So she owned it. 

'Whatever.' She told herself, 'Let them stare. She didn't create this mess.'

But the real disaster came the second she reached the temple doors. The grand double doors swung open— And every single noble inside gasped.

Audibly. Loudly. Some people even visibly recoiled.

Elsa kept walking, forcing herself to ignore the horrified whispers and the way at least three old ladies looked ready to faint.

A loud whisper cut through the stunned silence. "What on earth is she wearing?"