A/N: Hello all, and welcome to Fire and Ice! I have fallen deeply in love with the move Frozen, and I've been inspired to write a tale of my own! Do not worry, Anna and Elsa WILL be in this story, make no mistake about that. I love their characters too much to leave them out. Please, and I'm not saying you will, but please do not tell me I'm ripping off the original movie. This is a work of fiction INSPIRED by frozen, and I've never written a sibling story before. I promise this IS NOT a retelling of Frozen. Without any further procrastination on my part, let us start our journey together!
"It's Christmas Raine! Wake up!" Running up to her sister with a smile, a 5 year old Mia shook her older sister awake again as she ran around the house. The air was nippy, and slipping into her dark brown winter dress and boots she looked back again and fumed seeing Raine hadn't moved an inch. "Alright you, it's time for the Christmas tree!"
Stomping over to Raine she smiled before curling up and concentrating a little, the space beneath the blanket growing warmer as time passed. "C'mon~ do you want to go ice skating?" Reaching up to the headboard she jostled the tiny skates and chuckled as Raine began to wake up at the heat.
In actuality it was two days until Christmas, and this was the day the two and their parents would be off to find a tree. This was Mia's favorite part of the winter months, even if she didn't really care for the cold.
"Oh Raine..." Walking in a young woman in her late twenties chuckled upon seeing her eldest daughter of 7 years struggling to stay asleep. "Now Mia, you know Raine doesn't like it when you do that." She stated walking up to the bed and gently plucking her out from beneath the sheets of Raine's bed.
"Aww~ but momma, she won't get up!" Mia grumbled being placed off to the side.
Giving a chuckle Ellie looked over at her youngest from where she sat on the side of the bed. "Alright, well I'll fix that while you go find your father." Turning her attention back to Raine she ran a hand through her silver-ish white hair and smiled. "Come now, its past time to wake up." Pulling off the blankets she pulled her child close and blew a raspberry into her shoulder.
It was her secret way of waking Raine up when she was being stubborn.
"Momma~!" Raine finally muffled a laugh into her pillow before crawling out of bed and running across the room. "That's not fair!" Watching her mother she saw he smile and ran back around the bed, wrapping her arms around Ellie's waist. "Can I put Mia's present under the-oh yeah! We're getting a tree today."
Shaking her head as her eldest daughter ran around the room Ellie let out a sigh. "You are just like your sister…or your sister's just like you." Stopping to think about it she looked back a moment later to find Raine fully dressed in her winter dress, doing her hair in frustration. "What?"
"Momma, why do I have to wear my hair long?" She questioned as her mother approached from behind and pulled a brush out from the drawer nearest the mirror.
"Well…you see there was once a witch living in a distant castle in a place where it was winter year round. Her palace was such a dark and cold place that no one ever dared to visit her, and her heart grew cold and bitter toward everyone in the land." She was interrupted when Raine stood up in her chair and turned around.
Her eyes were big and also confused as she tilted her head off to the side. "But momma, what does that have to do with my long hair?"
With a chuckle Ellie placed her daughter back in her seat the right way and continued to do her hair. "Don't worry, I'm getting to that." Continuing on she took a deep breath. "One day, a small girl wandered up to the castle gates and they opened. The icy pathway was dark and yet so beautiful in its deep rainbow of colors that she could not help but venture inside. With her first step onto the pathway she found her foot to be stuck to the path, and looking up she could see the figure of the witch making her way over."
Raine was in complete suspense as her mother continued the story, her mouth gaping a bit as she watched her in the mirror.
"No matter how hard the girl tried to run she could not move, and as the witch grabbed her by the hair she whispered an enchantment. She placed a curse upon the girl stating that her children would face a mighty curse, and the first to cut her hair in childhood would be the one to bring an everlasting darkness to the land and its people. So now, to stave off the witches curse all young girls must wear their hair long until they are no longer children." Finishing up Raine's hair she placed a long blue ribbon in te center of her bun and smiled. "Now that's better right?"
Turning to her mother she smiled. "Yeah." Walking around her chair she gave Ellie another hug. "I love your stories." Closing her eyes as her mother ran a hand through her hair she relaxed.
~~
Down stairs a man in his early thirties stoked a fire before stepping back as it roared to life. He quickly closed the iron shutters to contain the heat and turned around to see Mia run down the stairs and over to the door.
"And where is it you think you're going?" Daniel questioned as he watched his youngest daughter open the door to the outside without her shoes, gloves, hat, or scarf. "It looks to me like you've forgotten something." He shook his head before she closed the door again.
"Oh yeah!" Running over she jumped up onto the bench with her father and smiled happily as he helped her slip on her mittens and snow boots. "Do I get to cut down the tree this year?"
Shaking his head Daniel patted his daughters head, mussing up her long Auburn hair. "Ah, not this year Mia. I'm afraid you are still too small to hold an axe."
At this Mia looked quite displeased, and crossing her arms she grumbled to herself. "I never get to be a big girl."
"Huh? But Mia, you are already do big...don't grow up too fast." He warned wrapping her in a hug and poking her on the nose. "Now what do you and your sister do every year when your mother and I cut the tree?"
"Uh...Oh! We go skating on the pond!" She cried looking up to her father as he nodded with a smile.
She smiled jumping off the bench in the small living room of the cabin, making her way to her own room before running back down stairs with small boots skates in hand. "Oaf!" She huffed tripping over the last step, catching herself before running to the front door and pulling it open. "Wow..." Stepping outside she stood on the front door and looked around.
The sky was blue and filled with white puffy clouds, their masses slowly changing as they drifted past the distant mountains from overhead. Ray's from the sun passed through the branches of the trees and danced along the ground, warming the soil in the areas they touched. Everywhere the world was still, and the air was crisps and cold.
However there was something strange about that day...nowhere she looked stood a single flake of snow. "Come on Raine!" She grumbled running out in front of the cabin and tossing a small stone at the window to Raine's room.
Looking out the window Raine pressed her hand to the glass and smiled, her breath fogging up a small area on the window. Turning her head to look over at the small wooden box she had hidden in the corner, she jumped down from her chair and pulled the box from its hiding place before looking around and spotting a blue ribbon mamma normally used for her hair. "Perfect."
Tying the ribbon carefully round the box she ran over to her bed, grabbed her skates and ran out of her room before her mother whom closed the door.
"You got your sister a present?" Ellie questioned with a smiled as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "That was very thoughtful of you." Grabbing her shawl from the coat rack she draped it over her shoulders before moving on to her gloves and hat.
"It's my job to make my baby sister happy." Raine responded walking over to the window and hiding it in the gift box behind the pillows. It wasn't very full seeing as they lived out in the country and their father only made a meager living on the furs and meat of the animals he hunted.
Taking his eldest daughter in his arms Daniel lifted her onto his shoulders and took both her hands in his as they both ducked out the front door. "You are definitely my big girl." Stepping off the front porch he looked over to see Mia already had the sled dragged out of the shed.
Raine gasped in excitement. "You want to go sledding this year!?"
"Papa say's I'm big enough this year!" Mia cried struggling along with the sled a little bigger than she was. It was made of solid oak and steal, making it hard to drag along behind her.
Allowing Raine to slide from his back Daniel took Ellie in his arms and let out a sigh as his girls started to pull the sled together. "It seems like just yesterday you and I pulled that sled. Remember?"
"Of course I do." She responded with a fond grin as she recalled the memory of their first winter as neighbors when they were children. "I was 6 and you were 9. The winters were so short in Arendelle, but the snow was amazing and always seemed to glow white. To this day I don't know why the winter snows stopped when the palace gates closed.
"You know…if they hadn't stopped we wouldn't have moved up to the mountains. Winter year round, you know…minus the snow in the off months." He looked around and shook his head. "Seems that's the case more and more often these days. We could uh…we could move to find more snow."
Shaking her head Ellie leaned into Daniel and watched the girls play tag. "We're fine just where we are."
"Come on! Let's build a snow man!" Mia cried running out in front of the sled.
Walking over Daniel took the string of the sled and smiled. "Not so fast. We have to get to the pond first girls. You know the rules. No-"
"No magic at the house." Both girls groaned before Mia jumped onto the sled, Raine running out to the path and standing at the tree before raising her hands. "Let's go!" Tossing her hands forward snow sprang up at her feet before making its way down the path.
Walking past Raine with Mia on the sled, Daniel held Ellie's hand and chuckled as his eldest jumped onto the sled behind her little sister before turning his attention to the path ahead of him. As always his daughter did amazing work with the ice, and because they lived so far out of the way she could practice her abilities without being discovered by anyone in the neighboring villages.
This was not what they had been expecting when starting a family. Not what he had been expecting anyway, and while he wished Ellie would have told him about the things that had happened to her in her childhood, it was understandable why she would keep it a secret. All of that was in the past now, and they would work to protect their girls from the curse.
"Papa, can I please play with my tricks now?" Mia begged standing up on the sled.
"Well…" He stumbled over his thoughts at that moment, nearly coming to a stop in the middle of the path as he scratched the back of his head. "I suppose..." One thing Daniel hated was the curse, and while Raine's abilities seemed harmless enough…he remained uncertain of Mia's potential.
Seeing her husband's uncertain behavior Ellie knelt down next to the sled and took her daughters hands in her own. "Now Mia…not right now ok? It's safer if you don't use them unless you have to ok?"
"But…" The 5 year old looked heartbroken at these words, and sitting back down she began to pout. "Not fair."
Raine could see this was upsetting to her baby sister and trying to think she smiled before holding out her hands and forming a tiny snowman. "Mia, don't be upset, look what I've got for you." Holding out the snow figure she watched as Mia's face lit up with delight, forgetting about the tiny injustice she had just suffered.
Nodding to Raine with a thankful smile Elli returned to Daniel's side before looking up at him. "Are you sure keeping her from it is best?"
"Her abilities are not like Raine's. You know it can be dangerous to allow her to use that ability." Daniel scratched the back of his neck in contemplation. "Last time it ended in near disaster."
Whit these words Ellie could not argue, and closing her eyes she nodded. "No, you're right…I just…"
"We'll teach her when the time is right. Now she is still far too young to properly wield that kind of power anyway." Looking to his wife Daniel smiled before grasping her hand and letting out a yell. "Here we go!"
At a brisk run he took off, dragging the sleigh behind him with both his girls laughing and squealing happily behind. It seemed to take Ellie a minute to catch up, but when she did it was off they went down the path to the pond.