Disclaimer: I don't own Frozen. Disney does…damn you Disney!

Author's Note: This is probably the shortest story I have ever written and I may do another, but I shall have to see. This one is done though, it's a moment in time and it's about family. There is no inappropriate sister love happening so if you're looking for that…just move it along now and have a nice day.

Author's Note II: I really love the character of Elsa, she is simply fascinating to me and I usually am not a huge fan of Disney on Broadway, but this film would translate well to the stage. This deals with Elsa's feelings and thoughts throughout her isolation and how something as simple as a knock on a door can be a trigger. Hope you all like it.

Anna's Knock

By

Rogue Amazon Boo

Pain is a strange thing.

It affects different people in different ways. It is the measure of a person's strength and endurance, and for Elsa it was a constant companion. She hadn't had a pain free moment since she was eight years old. That fateful day when her powers has slipped and she'd injured the most important person in the world to her…her sister Anna.

She thought she knew all about pain…but she'd been wrong.

It all started with a knock. Anna's knock.

The first time she'd heard it, she'd just moved out of their shared room and into the one that was to become her entire world. There was a jaunty dun, du, du-du, dun at her door as her sister's small knuckles rapped and that sing song voice asking her, "Do you wanna build a snowman?"

Telling her to go away had ripped a piece of her heart away.

The years passed and that knock became less and less frequent, until it finally stopped all together. She cried icy tears the night she finally realized she wasn't going to hear it again. Her entire room was encased in ice for days and the tears finally dried. She convinced herself it was for the best, convinced herself that Anna was too much for her to handle.

Her sister was pure emotion. She was vibrant and energetic and witty and just…everything effervescent about life. Elsa couldn't afford emotion…and so she clung to the dull throb of pain and used it to control…everything else.

The day Anna's knock changed was the day she knew…she could never be free.

Their parents were dead…her father…her mother…her last contact with the human world. They were gone. Her powers took over as her grief crippled her and her room became a desolate wasteland of ice and snow. When Anna knocked on her door again for the first time in years…she almost gave in and opened it.

For this was not the jaunty knock of her vital, loving sister. This was a knock of someone lost and defeated and alone…it was hesitant and small. It was the knock of someone so heartbroken, but so hopeful all at once. This knock was a plea and Elsa felt like a monster for ignoring it.

She had just had her eighteenth birthday which meant Anna was only fifteen years old now. Fifteen…and bearing the weight of all the things Elsa should be shouldering. She slowly collapsed to the ground, her back sliding against the door until she was prone against it. She could sense her sister on the other side. Her words came and Elsa hung her head in defeat.

"Elsa?" She didn't respond. Her sister's choked sob felt like a knife to her heart. "Please, I know you're in there. People are asking where you've been. They say have courage…and I'm trying too…I'm right here for you, please let me in. We only have each other now, it's just you and me…what are we gonna do?"

Elsa didn't know…she couldn't make her hand move although her heart was screaming at her to open the door, to tug her sister into her arms…her only remaining family…hold on tight and never let go again. Never let a door or her powers or anything separate them again. Then her mind reminded her heart of what would happen if she gave in. She saw her sister laying in a heap, unconscious, cold, not moving…she didn't open the door. And then Anna tested all her resolve.

"Do you wanna build a snowman?"

Elsa's all-consuming despair knew no bounds. She had thought she understood pain, but her sister's choked up words had her drowning. She couldn't move…couldn't breathe…couldn't think.

She knew then…her inability to open the door had cost her everything.

Elsa was alone.

It was better this way.

She would endure…she would move forward…just…not today.

She sensed Anna on the other side and had a sneaky suspicion she was sitting against her door much the same way she was. She took a small measure of solace from her presence while at the same time wishing things were different; wishing that she was normal.

She gazed at the stark cold beauty of the ice encasing her room. The fear was all powerful and all encompassing. She had no idea what they were going to do. The silence stretched and a small sigh came from the other side of her door. No words were said, but she heard Anna get to her feet and then heard the slow click of her heels on the tile floor as she walked away.

The rest was silence…cold…eternal. She spoke.

"Yes Anna, I want to build a snowman."

And she cried.