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It's the trolls, Anna realizes. It was always the trolls. How long does she have before she stops being herself. Is Kristoff in on it? Is Elsa? Who? Anna can feel her heart thundering in her chest, can feel her breaths coming in fast little gulps that strains her chest against the corset. That's how she knows they haven't done it yet- they would have calmed her down. Right? Would they? Anna doesn't know, doesn't have any way of even guessing what the little monsters do want- oh my god, Hans… Poor Hans...
But she knows they won't let her remember. Do they already know she's figured it out? Are they already working their magic? Is she still going to be herself when she wakes up tomorrow? She goes quickly to her desk, takes out a piece of parchment, dips her quill in the little black ink pot. Anna hesitates. Is this for real? She's going to look like such a fool if she's wrong but then, who else is going to read it? Herself? Quite in spite of her situation, Anna lets out a short stressed hiccuping kind of laugh and presses the quill's sharp tip to the parchment. That's when she feels it. A sick, subtle feeling. Like oil seeping through the crevices of her mind. Snatching that little detail, warping that one, changing who she is. She shudders, and starts writing. Not long now. She doesn't know how where that little bit of knowledge comes from, but not long now. So she writes. Short and simple, she has to have time to hide it…
"Anna, if you remember writing this, you have nothing to fear. If you don't, it was the trolls." She scatters sand over the letters to dry them, folds the parchment once and slips it beneath the floorboards. In the little cranny she always used to hide things from her parents...
"Elsa?" Anna asks. She's sprawled beside the fire. It's more comfortable than standing, and there's only the one chair. It looks like it's a very comfortable chair, but Elsa's using it, so… at least the rug is soft.
"Hmm?" Elsa replies absently. She keeps her office cold, but Anna is near the fire, so it's not so bad. Not as bad as it would be next to that big, beautiful stained glass window.
"I was just thinking, how amazing it was that we went our whole childhood without me ever once noticing your powers," Anna grins up at her sister. "I mean, when you were shut in your room all day, sure, of course I didn't notice ANYTHING, but back when we played together all the time, you must have had to try so hard?"
Elsa's hand clenches, and her face gets just a little paler. Something sad comes into her eyes. Anna immediately regrets bringing up their childhood- please don't make me go… "Didn't you ask that last week?" Elsa grimaces.
"Did I?" Anna frowns. "Sorry. Guess I forgot?" She wonders how…
Elsa sets down the quill. "I hurt you," Elsa says. "With my powers- I didn't know how to use them yet, and… I told you this last week."
"I don't remember it," Anna frowns. "That's odd. I would have thought, since it's so important, I would have remembered?" She shrugs.
Elsa sighs, and it seems like she would rather cry. "The trolls made you forget about my magic," she says. "They had to, in order to heal you." She goes back to her paperwork, as if it could shield her from the memories.
"They… made me forget," Anna repeats.
"Yes," Elsa says. "What's the matter?"
"Nothing," Anna says, her voice carefully neutral. Is Elsa? No, not her sister. No one, maybe. Maybe Anna is just being paranoid. She tells herself that must be it.
There's a knock at the little pine door. A solid Kristoff kind of a knock. The door trembles in its housing. "Come," Elsa commands, and it opens.
Kristoff stands at the aperture, hunched apologetically. Or maybe just to clear the low ceiling, it's hard to tell. There's the familiar rush of warmth in Anna's core. That soaring leaping joyousness in her heart that she had only felt once before, with Hans…
"Darling," Kristoff smiles broadly. "It's almost dinner time…"
"Heya," Anna gives him a distracted smile.
"Are you well?" Kristoff's pale brows furrow with worry. "You're not sick, are you?"
"No you silly goose," Anna grins- is he in on it? Is there anything to be in on? "Nah, I'm just tired. I'll see you in the morning. Omelets at the little cafe in town? Uh, what's it called?"
"Orville's?" Kristoff tilts his head.
"That's the one," Anna stands and gives him a peck on the cheek. "See you in the morning?
"Yeah," Kristoff runs his rough hand through her silky hair. "Sounds great." Anna hurries down the hall. "Er, uh, my queen, I mean, your grace…" Kristoff's voice recedes as Anna does. She smiles- such a lovable oaf.
What was that song the trolls sang? "So he's a bit of a fixer-upper? So he's got a few flaws?" Anna smiles again at the memory and hums along.
So she's a bit of a fixer-upper, that's a minor thing. Her quote 'engagement' is a flex arrangement, and by the way I don't see no ring. Something something get the fiancé out of the way and the whole thing will be fixed. Oh my god. Anna stops in her tracks. Hans… they didn't. It takes a colossal effort not to run down the hall and slam her bedroom door. Even so, she earns a few odd looks and the door closes a little more loudly than she had intended. Where- parchment! Quill! She grabs both and scrawls out a hasty note.
"Do the trolls make me forget?" The letters are sloppier than normal. That's odd, she sharpened the quill a few days ago and hasn't written anything since, but now it's worn to a nub. Anna sands the letters, makes a mental note to sharpen the quill again. She folds the parchment, her sunny green skirt bunches around her thighs as she kneels and lifts the loose board she has always hidden things under.
There are dozens of little folded pieces of parchment in her hideyhole. It's a good hiding spot. A little hollowed out flaw in the floor's construction- Anna has hidden hundreds of things here, shiny rocks when she was five, pretty shells when she was six, a necklace stolen from her mother… it's a good hiding spot. No one has ever found her secret treasures, but she has never hidden a piece of parchment in it before. Never had a reason. Not that she's remembered, at least. Anna can almost feel the heat draining out of her face, and lingering uncomfortably around her neck.
Anna reaches down with one trembling hand, takes the first…
"It's the trolls. I don't know how long they've been doing this…"
"It has to be the trolls. They're the only ones that could. Trust no one!"
"They're going to get me again soon. I just know it. I tried to act normal, but I guess I wasn't good enough. Kristoff is treating me like I'm made of glass, Elsa's afraid to talk to me, the castle staff thinks I'm crazy. I don't know who all is in on it, but someone has to be. I'm sure they know. Next time Anna, we're going to have to act better."
"Anna, if you remember writing this, you have nothing to fear. If you don't, it was the trolls."
"Damn, got us again I guess. We'll have to be better next time. Here's what we know. It's the trolls, it's got to be. Who else could take our memories? We know that someone close to us has to be telling them, but we don't know who. We know they won't let us leave. I made it three days. I wrote a note each day, and replaced the old one. If this one doesn't get replaced, it means I made it three days. Today, I'm going to see if I can trust Kristoff. He knew the trolls first, he's got to be the first suspect. It's hard to think of him doing this since he's such a lovable dork, but he has to be the first suspect. -Anna 27"
Anna swallows conclusively. That seems to help, so she does it again. It's a good thing she's kneeling because she doesn't think she could manage alone. Oh god. Oh GOD! Twenty seven times? Her note seems so insufficient now, but what does she know really? What can she add? She signs it, so at least future hers will know how many Annas the trolls have erased.
AN: Have I finished my other stories yet? No, I have not. Should I be working on those? Absolutely. This is what I felt like writing though, so... *childish noises*