Author Note: These first two chapters are the events in the movie, with the addition of memories and thoughts that add in the twist. My original story picks up in Chapter 3.
Arendelle and all its characters and the movie events belong to Disney. Obviously.
Chapter 1 - The Last Day of Childhood
Dreams were safe. Under a sky sparkling with the northern lights, a castle perched on an island in a fjord, fortified and positioned to protect the village and kingdom that clung to the side of steep mountains. Turrets, battlements, narrow windows set into outer walls built three feet thick of mortared stone, a wall that marched from the castle up the mountainside: all promised to protect and defend its inhabitants from any invader. All the defenses faced outward, and there were none to protect against the danger already inside. But her dreams were still safe.
Crown Princess Elsa smiled in her sleep, dreaming of summer. Blue moonlight spilled through a tall triangle of a window, cross-hatched with diamond windowpanes, but in her dream, sunlight, bright and hot, lit a meadow full of flowers and beat down on her head.
"Elsa! Psst!"
And of course, her little sister Anna was running through the meadow with her, plucking flowers and trying to get her attention, climbing on her when Elsa fell into the flowers.
"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" The real Anna took the place of the dream Anna, but Elsa didn't want to leave the summer sunshine.
"Anna, go back to sleep," she said.
Anna sprawled over her sister. "I just can't! The sky's awake, so I'm awake, so we have to play!"
Elsa allowed herself to wake up long enough to tell Anna, "Go play by yourself," and heaved her sister off of her and onto the floor, then cuddled back down to find the dream meadow again.
The dream meadow faded permanently away as Elsa woke up, which was impossible to avoid with Anna climbing back up to sit on her and peel her eye open with a hand. "Do you want to build a snowman?"
Well, maybe the summer meadow could wait for another dream. Elsa's eyes popped open and she smiled, rolling out of bed and letting Anna tug her down the stairs, calling "Come on, come on, come on!" as Elsa tried to shush her with a finger to her lips even while she was giggling herself.
Anna ran into the ballroom, and Elsa shut the enormous doors behind them, both of them bubbling with laughter and excitement. Everyone else was asleep, and they had the castle to themselves. Elsa wasn't supposed to do the magic, but there was no harm in it as long as no one ever found out.
Anna was already squealing, "Do the magic! Do the magic!"
With Anna, the magic was fun, and not frightening like it was when she was alone or with Papa. Anna made everything fun. Elsa smiled, rubbing her fingers together and creating a snowball framed in blue sparkles. "Ready?"
When Anna said yes, Elsa threw the snowball to the ceiling, where it exploded and shimmered blue sparkles all over the room. Both girls had their hands up to catch ice sparkles, and Anna went dancing and laughing in a circle around Elsa, calling out, "This is amazing!"
And with Anna, it was amazing, not terrifying or dangerous.
Elsa had a new trick to show Anna, one that she'd only just discovered herself. She smiled at Anna and said, "Watch this!" She set her foot down and ice spread smoothly over the floor, taking Anna with it as she went sliding away in a bevy of giggles.
Soon, there was enough snow to build a snowman. Anna heaved the snowball up on the other one. "Now we need a head!"
"I'll do the head, Anna. You just watch," Elsa said.
Anna obligingly sat on a bench, swinging her feet, all excitement and smiles as Elsa carved a funny head and planted a carrot nose before turning him around and introducing it to Anna in a silly voice. "Hi, I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs."
Anna ran to hug Olaf's face and declare, "I love you Olaf!"
Then they went ice skating, Elsa using a stream of cold power to propel herself around the room, with Olaf between them, skating with Anna.
Elsa left Olaf behind and struck out on her own. "Come skate with me!" Elsa called. "Watch me!" She slid across the ice, managing a small cautious turn before she fell.
"My turn!" Anna said, following Elsa across the ice. Anna had none of Elsa's caution, zipping as fast as she could go, landing in a snow drift when she needed to stop. Her next time across the ice, Anna jumped, flailed wildly as she came down, and shrieked with happiness when she managed to keep her balance.
"Don't fall!" Elsa warned her.
"You catch me when I do!" Anna replied, and flew across the ice again.
Elsa skated in front of Anna, cutting her off and catching her before she could land in the snow again. "Take my wrap," she said, pulling her blue dressing gown over Anna's head.
"I'm not cold," Anna insisted. She wanted to be just like Elsa, but her shivers gave her away.
Elsa skated off in nothing but her nightgown. "I'm older than you, so you have to do what I say."
"Bossy!" Anna accused.
Elsa threw a snowball at her, and the argument dissolved into a snowball fight. Elsa made sure to miss Anna most of the time. Anna had no such restraint and soon Elsa was covered in snow that didn't melt off her hands and face.
"Make the slide!" Anna demanded when she tired of throwing snowballs.
Elsa concentrated and a tall pile of snow formed at her bidding. She smoothed the front, created steps at the back, and put a soft drift at the landing. "Let's go together!" she called. With Anna safely hugged to her, the sisters slid down the slide and piled into the drift.
Anna popped out of the drift and threw snow in the air. Then she jumped out into the air, trusting Elsa to make a pile of snow for her to land in. Anna kept jumping into the air, calling out "Catch me!"
Elsa blew out another snow drift and triumphantly called back, "I got you!"
Anna started leaping faster and faster, not waiting between drifts.
"Wait, Anna!" The fun was too much for Elsa, and fear edged in.
But Anna didn't wait.
"Slow down!" As Anna flew through the air, Elsa's fear started to unravel her control. Anna wouldn't believe that Elsa couldn't keep up. She was the big sister; it was her role keep her little sister safe. But Anna was flying faster and faster. Elsa's snow piled deeper and deeper, but not in the right places. Anna was out of control; Elsa's snow was out of control. Elsa cried for her to stop.
Anna didn't stop, the smile on her face never faltering as Elsa slipped on the ice, fell, screamed her name and threw a blast of magic that didn't turn into snow. When the magic hit Anna's head, it spun her around, knocking her into a pile of snow. Anna rolled all the way down and sprawled at the bottom, still. Anna was never still.
"Anna!" Elsa screamed. She pulled Anna into her arms and watched a lock of Anna's ruddy hair turn pale blonde like her own. Like me, Elsa thought, and an immense craving for companionship filled her. If Anna became like her, she would have someone to talk to. Does it frighten you sometimes, she would ask. Can you still cry?
The rest of Anna's hair didn't change. Anna didn't wake up.
"Mama! Papa!" Elsa screamed, cuddling Anna. "Wake up, Anna, please wake up." The ice under her foot began to thicken and spread while Elsa whimpered. There weren't any tears, not anymore. The ice knocked over the snowman, then frosted over the pillars of the room and spread across the ceiling.
"You're okay, Anna. I got you!" Elsa insisted, hugging her sister tight and hoping it was true.
Her parents burst into the ballroom while Elsa was still pleading with Anna to wake up.
"Elsa, what have you done?" her father gasped in horror. "This is getting out of hand!"
Elsa cringed away from the accusation in her father's voice. "It was an accident," she pleaded with him. "I'm sorry, Anna," she said to her sister.
Mama took Anna away from her. "She's ice cold."
Elsa whimpered. She couldn't tell if Anna was cold, but it must be bad or Mama wouldn't sound so frightened.
"I know where we have to go," Papa said.
Papa knew everything. Elsa should have been able to relax now that Papa was in charge and would fix everything, but instead she tried to cling to Mama's arm and fix it herself.
Papa ran out of the room. Mama looked down at her, and Elsa tried to defend herself. "Anna wanted it. I only made so much snow because Anna wanted it." Then she looked around the room at the icicles and frost that had grown in the few minutes since she'd struck Anna. "Not so much as this," she admitted.
Mama pulled her arm away from Elsa, settling Anna in her arms while she gingerly picked her way across the icy floor, following her husband. Elsa let her go.
"Come with us," Mama said. She looked back at Elsa, and the ice under Elsa thickened fourfold.
She'd give anything to be back safe in her dream, rather than this nightmare.