Anna was five when Elsa moved away. It wasn't far. Just across the hall. But for the small child, it could as well have been another kingdom.
It happened all of the sudden. Just after the first snow of the season. It had set, more than enough for her to make angels in, and she wanted to, like every other year before, play. With Elsa.
But when she woke up, her head hurting for some reason, she noticed her room was empty.
She ran outside, confused over where Elsa's royal blue bed had gone, only to notice her dearest sister take a single look at her before closing the door.
Anna didn't know what was up, but she was sure it had something to do with her hair. The white stripe wasn't there yesterday, no matter what her parents had said, and she was sure it had something to do with Elsa's new attitude.
Anna was six when she realized knocking the closed door had become habit. It had been exactly 328 days since that day, and it had snowed again. Considerably earlier this year than the last.
When she was asked to leave by an annoyed "go 'way, Anna" for the 327th time, Anna grumbled, sliding down on the wall until she was sitting on the floor, leaning at the door. She didn't say anything. Anything she could've said, she already had, this last year, and she was running out of different ways of asking "why won't you come outside?"
No. Elsa would never answer her questions. Sometimes, she'd just remain silent after the first "go away Anna", and wait for her sister to (inevitably, and not to their surprise quickly) give up and leave. Sometimes, Anna would remain begging, until Gerda or Kai or (in one case) The King himself would come to extract her from the hallway.
She was starting to lose hope of ever seeing Elsa again. Oh, she wouldn't give up on asking her to come out until she would, but she wasn't sure it would work anymore.
And it was making her lose hope.
Anna was nine when she noticed she had an interest in Politics.
It didn't start like that. The Kingdom's (technically, their Family's) history had been a subject she, as a royal, was expected to be tutored in. Economics, Warfare, History, and Politics from the moment she could sit down long enough for a tutor to be able to teach her. Most other kingdoms didn't deign to teach girls such things. Then again, most girls would be forced to marry into other families before they could employ any of the skills Anna was (to her chagrin) learning. But not Arendelle. They had stopped following such traditions as that of Corona and the Isles years before Elsa or Anna. Or their parents. Or their parents.
Anna didn't have an interest in politics from the beginning. With the different ideologies too complicated to keep up with and the different methods too stupid to care about, the seven years old Anna had bemoaned non-stop, "Whyyyyyyy do I have to be tutored in Politics, mother? I do not care about such trivial things…" but to no avail. For two years, she had hated every hour she was spending in the room, parroting statements to her tutor.
Until one day, it all changed.
"Why do I have to endure these lessons, mother?" she asked her mother, Queen Idun, "What is the point?"
"Oh, Anna" her mother smiled, "it's the duty of a Royal to know how to rule. All that you learn now, you will use when you are older."
"being a grown up is boring." Anna stated, pouting as she crossed her arms. A few minutes later, as the mother and daughter walked to the Hall for the Lunch feast, she asked "did you have these lessons when you were my age?"
"Of course I did, Anna." Idun replied, "Just like you, I was given the opportunity to learn how to rule." She huffed, "not that it came of use that much."
When the two sat on their seats, and the feast had started, Anna remembered to ask, "Is Elsa taking these lessons too?"
Her parent's lack of answer, and their meaningful glance at each other, was all that she needed to know.
After the feast, she made a trip to the Palace library, and brought out with her every book her Tutors had told her she was supposed to read.
Anna was eleven when she finally understood. Had she been only a couple years older, she wouldn't have. And her younger self did not really care about such things, but the Preteen Anna was the one that finally learned why Elsa had locked herself behind a door. Why the castle had become so… so haunted, if anything.
It wasn't a long procedure of scientific investigation. It was actually, now that Anna thought about it, quite hilarious.
It was early in the morning, and as always, Anna had knocked on Elsa's door, jokingly saying "hey Elsa, do you wanna build a Snowman?"
It was an innocent statement, of course. She didn't really want to build a snowman. More than that, She couldn't really. Not in the middle of Summer.
But alas, she had never been to Elsa's room, and had no way of knowing whether or not her room had a window (in fact, it did. She found out, years later) and so had no way of knowing whether or not Elsa knew it was the middle of summer.
As usual, Elsa's reply was brief, short, and quick. "go away, Anna."
Anna, of course, wouldn't go away. It was Sunday, and it was her off day. Nothing to study, nothing to learn.
"I'm not going away, Elsa" she explained, as she sat down, laying by the door, "It's been six years, and the number of hours you've been out of this room I can count in two hands. It can't be good for you, being cooped in this tiny room for so many hours."
"I'll be fine, Anna. Just go away!"
"Come on" she scoffed, "your voice tells me you're not fine. Come on, we'll just go play by the pond for a few hours! It'll be good for you!"
"I'm fine where I am, sis. I don't wanna play. Just go away!"
"I'm not leaving until you open that door, Elsa. You know that" she reminded her, as she sat.
The two (she could tell her sister was leaning by the same door just as she was. So close and yet… so far) took in the silence that came afterwards, until eventually, Anna started talking again.
"Was it something I did?" she asked, "did I do something all those years ago? Like, did I mess with your dollhouse or forget to make your bed?-"
"what?" Elsa interrupted "No! of course it wasn't-"
"Because if it was then you've got to be the pettiest person I've ever-" Anna paused. "what? It wasn't me? Then why have you locked yourself behind the-"
"Not everything is about you, Anna." Elsa replied coldly.
Normally, when Anna thought 'replied coldly', it just meant someone's tone. Always figurative, and never literal.
But not this time.
As Elsa had expressed those words, Anna could feel herself getting colder. A chill that she didn't feel even in the coldest winter. The only time she'd gotten even nearly as cold had to be when-
When-
She didn't remember. She knew she had felt this cold once. And she knew Elsa was in some way related to that event. But she had no memory.
Curious. So very curious.
One way to find out. "Elsa…" she asked, shivering already (how was it getting this cold in the middle of the summer?) "is it just me or is it getting cold all of the sudden?"
She heard a gasp. She was sure it was a gasp, and then deep, long breaths. Exactly the same thing the King did when he wanted to calm down.
Huh.
"It's j-just" the sound came, it was shaky, not weak but struggling, "it's j-just you, Anna. Don't you have work to do? Just go away."
Anna had no problem going away.
Anna was still eleven when she realized her sister had control over frost. Though, not yet a conscious control. But Anna was twelve when she finally decided to confront her parents about it.
"Well, Anna" her father said, as they were dining. "Anything you want to say?"
It was a barely into autumn. It had been less than a fortnight since Anna had discovered The Truth, and a week after her Name day. The weather was warm. Well, warm for the Fjord in Fall, and she was enjoying the taste of pheasant. It might have been foolish bravery, or perhaps a mere curiousity, but she responded.
"Yes, father" she said, "when were you going to tell me Elsa had given me my white stripe?"
Her father, quite rudely for a king (if you asked her), spat the drink he was sipping, coughing, in shock. "w-what?" he asked, a few moments later, when he could talk coherently again. "What are you talking about, Anna?"
"My white streak." Anna pointed at the aforementioned streak, "the one I've had for as long as I remember. When were you going to tell me Elsa and her magic was responsible for it?"
Anna chuckled as she saw his father, unlike how he'd look while on his throne, show his emotions and thoughts on his face. She thanked the politick tutor she'd annoyed to death all these years. had it not been for him, Anna wouldn't have thought of playing her main cards like this.
Anna's father, the King, looked at her, and eventually, he grew into the calm that he was so used to. With a smile, he raised an eyebrow, "who told you?"
"Nobody" Anna responded, "don't worry about firing anyone." She omitted the 'or worse', "your secret's safe. I figured it out on my own. But that's not even what my question is." She explained.
"And what, per se" Ming Angmar asked with a stony face, "would that question be?"
"Do I have leave to speak freely?" she asked. It was vital to make sure about it first, because Anna had a feeling she was going to be quite rude if she was allowed to. The king nodded.
"Who's brilliant Idea was it to lock the young, untrained sorceress in her room until she's grown up?" she asked, "because whoever it was, that's who you should fire. Probably."
"it was my idea, actually" Angmar said, with a chuckle in his tone. "Our people are still a superstitious bunch. One wrong move… and it'd be impossible to fix."
Oh.
It- it makes so much sense.
"So. You had the heir apparent locked in her room in fear of what the superstitious might do to her if they see her powers?" she asked,
The king nodded.
"At least, is she getting trained in her power?"
"Ha-ha" the king laughed, "train her? She needs to hide that-"
"is she getting trained in how to rule? Like you were? And I am?"
"Do you really think we can trust any of the tutors to-"
"So, we have a Future queen who, in fear of harm, was locked in her room, out of contact with the people, without any formal or informal education of any kind for her future duties who, since she is inexperienced and untrained, may unleash the full wrath of Skadi upon us all. Do correct me if I'm wrong, father" Anna explained.
Her father sighed. "what would you have me do?"
"Let me help."
Anna was still twelve when she joined her father's side the first time, listening to the people's grievances.
Anna decided that she liked it. It was soothing, and it was almost as nice as any other hobby she'd find.
Anna was fourteen when her father allowed her to perform the daily royal duties by herself, alone.
Something told her that The King was grooming her. For some reason, the king didn't seem to believe Elsa could do her job right. All the better for the kingdom. All the better for Anna.
Anna was fifteen when she became the queen of Arendelle.
Anna was fifteen when she had to bury her mother and father's empty caskets alone.
Anna was fifteen when she knocked on her sister's door the last time.
And Anna was eighteen, just a legal adult qualified for her duties, when the coronation was held.
AN: Hello, everyone. This is my latest (probably to-be-abandoned) story on this site. This is, for now, an AU one-shot on Frozen.
The premises, which you probably figured out, is obvious. Elsa striking Anna's head when they were kids did more than just throw her in a coma. it ... woke something in her. a quasi-Machiavellian personage that she would eventually grow into, a cold manipulator (obviously, not seen in this ficlet) and a possible politician.
I might continue this, if I have any ideas for it, and feedback is always appreciated.
AN 2: 2/22: Updated again, primarily due to a few reviews I've recieved in the span of the week this story's been up.
1- If you haven't found out already, This is an AU. An extremely OOC AU. Every character will be OOC. I looked at the main content, decided that I wanted to write something new, I threw out most of the characterizations but kept some of the main plot, and then proceeded to write my story. Every character is OOC. What I'm hoping is that they are coherently OOC (IC in their OOCness, if you will).
2- The Plot itself uses the movie's plot, as well as the plot alluded to in the Soundtrack Demo Scores, the plot that was supposed to be used but wasn't, the plot of Snow Queen, as well as various other fanfictions.
3- I'm not a native speaker. I do realize I make grammatical and vocabular mistakes. please do PM me if you want to Beta this story. thanks.
until then,
Davoid, signing off.