A/N: Based off a tumblr post that started with a creepy edit of "Do You Wanna Build A Snowman" and turned into a long line of ideas and art and I just... had to write it. *3* If you want the link, let me know. I don't think I can link within a fic? It's been a while since I actively posted anything online.
"...Anna?" Elsa's hands gripped her sister's nightgown, shook the tiny form crumpled on the floor. "Anna, wake up!" The movements shook snow loose, sent the white powder scattering across the icy ballroom floor. "Anna- Anna, I'm sorry! Y-you can stop now- this isn't funny!" A choked sob escaped the young girl's throat as she shook harder. "A-Anna, you're scaring me!"
Elsa scrambled closer on all fours and pulled her little sister tight to her chest, holding her limp form like a doll. She rubbed her cheek against Anna's, shoulders shaking as her small body was wracked with frightened sobs.
"I-I won't do it again, Anna, I promise- please- wake up..." She pulled away, brought a hand up to move her little sister's bangs out of her face, so, so gently. Strawberry-blonde hair lightened a few shades, leaving a streak of near-white in her hair. Above her right eye was a faint blue pattern from where Elsa's magic had struck her. Elsa pressed a kiss to it, trying to will it to go away, tears rolling down her face and freezing into tiny diamonds as they fell on Anna's still face.
"M-Mama! Papa!" She called, looking around, tears coming faster now, freezing thin lines down her cheeks. Her shaking voice barely echoed around the ballroom. She sobbed, held Anna tight to her chest.
The ice on the floor practically shattered, sending spiderweb cracks across the floor, up the columns and walls. Elsa rocked back and forth with Anna held in her arms, singing a lullaby to the huddled form of her little sister. She'd stop, call for her parents again, choke back sobs- return to stroking the little girl's face, singing her strangled lullaby.
Shaking, she stood, trying to lift Anna and carry her out of the room. She managed one step, two, before her slippers came out from beneath her and she collapsed with the younger girl on top of her, knocking the wind out of her. Elsa let out a plaintive wail before curling around her sister, tiny body wracked with frightened sobs.
"I'm right here, Anna, I-I'm not gonna leave you, you're gonna- you're gonna be okay..."
The servants found them the next morning, Elsa pressed against the still, rigid form of Anna, still crying softly, too tired to properly sob. The ballroom was almost impossible to enter, with spikes of ice shooting up from the floor and out of the walls. There was even a spike that burst straight through the main ballroom's door, knocking one side off its hinges completely.
As Elsa was lifted gingerly away from the body, she seemed to snap, reaching for Anna and letting out a choked scream as she managed to cling back onto her sister's still form like her own life depended on it. Further attempts to separate the two of them led to two servants almost being impaled on spikes of ice jutting up from the floor around the two girls, a freezing wall shutting Elsa off from everyone, the girl curled protectively around the body of her sister. In her eyes, behind the grief and worry, was the fear of a cornered animal protecting her family. Blue eyes flashed dangerously any time someone stepped close, and shaking hands reached out to force them away with frozen stalagmites jutting from the icy floor.
Elsa screamed until she was hoarse, blocking even her own parents from reaching herself and Anna with row after row of bristling ice walls. She stood over her sister's body, guarding her like an avenging angel, fending off anyone who came close, not understanding that they were there to help. Eventually, though, after a final wordless cry and thrusting her arms forward, no ice came. Elsa pause, looked at her hands through tear-filled eyes, blinking dumbly as though she didn't understand. And then, she wobbled, loosened braid swaying in time with her movements for a brief few moments before she collapsed to the floor beside the still form of her little sister.
What should we tell her?
Familiar words, familiar voices. They filtered through the deep fog of sleep without fully settling in on Elsa's muzzy mind.
Anything but the truth. You saw how she reacted...
She was buried in a snowdrift, sounds around her muffled and thick, her arms and legs terribly heavy and hard to move as she clumsily raised a hand to scrub at her eye.
She's moving! We- we should have locked her up-
The words still seemed... garbled? She wasn't fully aware, waking up slowly, trying to dig her way out of the mental drift with heavy, numbed fingers.
It was an accident. She is still our daughter.
...Anna. Elsa's attempts to focus grew stronger as she tried to remember- all she could remember was something wrong with Anna- she whimpered, her face twisting in a mask of pain and confusion.
Oh no. Don't let her-
The room began to feel colder, a slight wind picking up and gusting across Elsa's bare face. She furrowed her brow, wrinkled her nose- and opened her eyes wide, sitting up and gasping as though taking her first breath after being buried.
"Anna!" The wind in the room began whipping into a frenzy, snowflakes thrashing through the air with increasing force. Elsa's face contorted, fat tears beginning to fall and land on the blanket as glistening pieces of solid ice. "Mama, Papa, where's Anna?!"
Her father crossed over to the bed first, holding his hands out warily as he tried to get closer to his daughter.
"Elsa, please calm down," he said, wind whipping his hair into his face and cold air beginning to turn his cheeks ruddy. "Please, you're going to hurt someone..."
Tear-filled blue eyes glanced at the blizzard thrashing about the room in horror before Elsa let out a choked sob.
"I-I can't! Where's Anna?!"
The king took the last step to Elsa's side, pulled his daughter against his chest, stroking her hair gingerly. Elsa could hear his heartbeat - a rapid thump thump thump that didn't match his soothing tone.
"Anna was hurt, badly. She's going to be staying with the trolls until you can control your powers, Elsa."
But they had just been playing with her snow, how could Anna have been-
Realization dawned quickly and painfully.
"I-I hurt Anna?" she asked, bringing her hands up to cover her mouth. She repeated it, quieter, a sob present in her voice. "I hurt Anna..."
Suddenly, she gave her father a shove with both hands and scrambled to the far side of the bed she was in, practically screaming. The blizzard inside the room grew to a frenzy, making it harder and harder to see.
"G-get away from me! Don't touch me!"
Her father looked surprised and, near the end of the bed, her mother stepped back, raised an arm as if to protect herself. Elsa brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, resting her forehead on her knees as her shoulders shook with sobs.
"Elsa, your power is a blessing. You just need to learn to control it."
"I'm never using it again," she whimpered, words muffled and broken by sobs. "I don't want to hurt anyone else..."
"You won't," the king said, his voice low and commanding. "We'll make sure you don't. You can learn."
"El~sa~"
It had been months since Elsa had heard that voice and she awoke with a start, afraid she'd dreamed it. The last time she'd heard it... it had been summer. Just before her birthday. She remembered asking Mama and Papa why Anna couldn't come back from the trolls just long enough to see her on her birthday. Mama had turned away, Papa had changed the subject. It had been her birthday wish to see Anna again, and she'd checked the room she used to share with her little sister on a daily basis, hoping to see her in it once more. Every day, it was just as empty and silent as the day before. No Anna.
But she'd heard Anna's voice. It was... faint. Singsong, almost, though it was a little difficult to hear over the snowstorm battering her window. Elsa looked at her door.
"Anna?" she asked, quietly, not daring to hope. To say she missed her sister was an understatement - every day without her left an aching hole in Elsa's chest, especially knowing that it was all her fault. Her fault that she wasn't allowed to see Anna's smiling face, or give her sister a hug, or hear her voice...
"Els~a~"
There it was again! Elsa's face broke into a wide grin for the first time in months, and she practically leaped out of bed, reaching for the door-
Only to stop and stare at her hands. She- she hadn't been doing a good job of controlling her powers. She spent most of her days in her room, just trying to keep from accidentally hurting anyone. Did she want to risk it with Anna?
But... she missed her sister so. She wanted to at least see her... maybe if she stayed out of sight. Stayed far away. Even just down the hall would be enough... she just wanted to see Anna again.
She clenched her hands into fists, settling her face in a determined expression. That was it, then. She'd get close enough to see Anna, and then hide before she got close enough to hurt her. That should keep her sister safe. And then... Elsa could still see her. They couldn't play, it wasn't safe for the to play, but just to be able to see her sister's face again...
"Elsaaa, where are you?"
With a deep breath, the princess swung the door open and rushed out into the hallway in her nightgown, standing in the middle of the hall with her feet planted. She brought her hands up to cup her mouth and amplify the sound.
"I'll be right there, Anna!"
She swung around, listening for Anna's voice so she'd know the right direction.
"Elsa!" came Anna's voice again, and Elsa took off running towards the sound, following her sister's voice. Down this way, she knew of a room she could duck into and lock, keeping Anna far enough away from her that she'd be safe...
It hurt not to be able to play with her sister again, hug her, but... at least... Elsa could see her, right?
At the end of a darkened hallway, Elsa paused, looking around. With the snowstorm hiding the moon, it was difficult to see far in the less-used sections of the castle, but she was sure Anna's voice had been coming from somewhere around here...
"Elsa?" came the voice again, from the end of the dark hallway. She squinted, trying to see in the faint moonlight that had won the struggle against the storm outside.
A form emerged, a tiny one, walking slowly and... oddly. Its steps were erratic, jerky, like a clockwork toy winding down. Elsa wrinkled her nose. It... looked...? Like Anna? But it was so dark... it was hard for her to tell. Until it spoke.
"Elsa!" Anna sounded... different, a little. It sounded almost like her voice was echoing in the dead air, or like someone else was speaking the same words just a fraction of a second behind her. It sounded like Anna, but there was a sort of disconnect. But it was Anna. It had to be Anna.
"Anna!" Elsa cried, her voice breaking at the realization that it was her sister right in front of her. For a moment, she tried to resist. Tried to keep from closing the distance between them. But... it was so hard to see Anna. It didn't really count. It sounded like Anna, but she had to get closer-
She reached her arms out and caught sight of her hands again. With a choked sob, she pulled her arms back against her chest and took a step back, shaking her head.
"S-stay away, Anna, I don't wanna hurt you-"
"Elsa... do you wanna build a snowman?" Anna asked. Elsa blinked, looking up through teary eyes. Anna took another unsteady step towards her, arms outstretched. Did- did Anna want a hug? Was she falling? Did Elsa need to catch her?
Elsa held her own hands out, forgetting the danger for the moment as her sister teetered in her direction. She ran, closing the distance between them, not wanting Anna to fall on the floor and hurt herself.
The storm cleared up for a moment, swirling flakes slowing to a more manageable speed and letting more moonlight in. Elsa pulled up, just short of Anna, and fell to the floor with a gasp.
It was Anna, yes. Mostly. Her hair had white-blonde streaks in it, ice crystals clinging to the strands; her eyes were much lighter than Elsa remembered, with tiny pupils. Her face was pale, almost white, with what looked like cracks running from her eyes, down her cheeks, and from the corners of her mouth. Her outstretched arms, in the stronger light, looked less like a plea for assistance and more like a pair of grasping claws, with ice clinging to her fingers. Her clothes were black, funeral finery, but torn and muddied as though she'd been dragged through a field at high speed.
"A-Anna?" Elsa whimpered, looking from one of her sister's empty eyes to the other, searching for... something. Some sign of life. "Anna, are you... okay...?"
"Do you wanna build a snowman?" Anna asked again, head tilting to one side. "Come outside with me!"
Her teeth looked... sharper. Elsa didn't understand. This... couldn't have been Anna. It only looked like her. Right?
"D-don't come any closer!" she squeaked, pushing herself backwards with her bare feet. "What are you?!"
The not-Anna thing crouched down to Elsa's level, moving towards her with a sort of hop-scramble that seemed to be considerably faster than the shamble it had been moving at before. It stopped right in front of Elsa and gave her a huge, toothy grin.
"I'm Anna." Elsa blinked. "Are we gonna play now?"
"A-Anna..." Elsa murmured breathlessly, reaching up to touch her face. She was cold, cold as the ice that Elsa found herself creating when she was frightened. There was no ice now, though... "What happened to you?"
Anna sat down with a clumsy whump and cocked her head to one side.
"I was asleep. And it was cold. And now I'm awake. But it's still cold..."
"What about the trolls?" Elsa asked. "Are they nice?"
Anna, or not-Anna, or whatever was almost wearing Anna's face, wrinkled her nose and gave an almost unsettling giggle.
"Trolls? Don't be silly!"
Elsa drew in a quick breath. But, if she hadn't been with the trolls...
Footsteps.
"Elsa, get away from her!"
"Papa, Anna's back!" Elsa turned to see her father approaching and Anna raised her hands, reaching out to him as he got closer.
"Papa!" she squeaked, with that same slightly-off voice.
Elsa felt herself swept up in strong arms and hugged tightly to someone's chest - Kai, likely, judging by the familiar smell - while her father got between her and Anna, drawing his sword.
"Papa, don't hurt Anna!" Elsa cried, trying to struggle.
"That's not Anna!" he replied. "Kai, take her to her room. Make sure nobody goes in and nobody comes out. Don't let any harm come to the princess."
"Papa- I just wanted to see here again- please don't hurt Anna!" Elsa sobbed, making every attempt to struggle out of Kai's arms, ice forming on the floors and walls.
"Hurry!" her father commanded Kai, and before Elsa could do much more, she was being carried swiftly down the hallway. There was the sound of wailing behind her, the sound of a sword hitting something hard, followed by an angry, inhuman cry.
A/N: no, this isn't finished. *7* there's lots more to come! at least... a couple chapters worth. /rolls around
Follow me on tumblr at pandypaws for more Frozen, art, fic, general stupidity, whining about writing... I promise I'm not too crazy. *u*