Hero, a frozen fanfic

I'm cold. So cold.

The blizzard is pushing me around, and I can barely stay on my feet. I can feel myself growing weaker and weaker. Colder and colder.

Moving is getting more difficult by the second. My feet feel as though they are made of lead as I slowly shuffle myself forward, fighting against the shivers rocking my entire body. The cold hurts, it burns. Not just the gusts of wind roaring in my ears and crashing into me, or the snow hitting me like a million tiny daggers, but the cold inside of me. Slowly encasing my body from the inside out. My head is foggy, I barely remember where I am or what's going on. I can feel my eyelids growing heavier, begging to be closed, praying for sleep.

What an inviting option.

No. I can't sleep. Not now. I can't quite remember why...

Suddenly, the snow stops in it's tracks. Frozen in mid air. The wind dies completely and everything is quiet, so quiet that normal sounds seem to echo in my ears. Footsteps thunder as Kristoff races toward me. I try to shout his name, but it only comes out as strangled whisper.

I couldn't see anything but a wall of white snow a moment ago, and now the entire fjord is visible.

There's a sound. A swishing sound. Almost like...

My body continues to quiver as I turn my head toward the peculiar noise. It was a sword unsheathing. Hans' sword unsheathing.

And he's heading toward...Elsa?

I thought she wasn't coming back...

She's on the ground...why is she on the ground? Is she hurt?

"E-Elsa!" I manage to whisper, stealing one longing glance back toward Kristoff. I remember, a kiss, a true love's kiss is what I need to save myself. That's why I need to get to him.

I can feel the cold encasing me, slowly trapping me in an icy prison.

No. I can't let Elsa die. There's no question.

I summon all of my energy, I beg my muscles to move as I race toward Hans and Elsa. He's got his sword raised as he closes in on her, and she's...not moving.

Why isn't she moving?

I'm trying to reach them, but it's as though I'm making no progress. In fact, it seems like they are getting farther away the harder I try to get to them.

I open my mouth, trying to beg Elsa to run, to stand and fight, to do anything but just sit there. After all, I heard him unsheathe his blade, she must have too.

Right?

No...no no no...

Hans is bringing down his blade, Elsa's neck is clear in his sight. Why does it feel like I'm not moving? Why can't I reach them?

"Elsa!" I manage to scream, but no one seems to hear me. I force my legs to move faster, praying that I won't be too late.

My prayers go unheard as my body begins to freeze in place, preventing me from stopping Hans as he swiftly drops his blade right on target.

"And that's when I wake up..." Anna finished in a mumble. She's been reluctant to recount her recurring nightmare to her sister, for fear of how she may react. They were in Anna's room, Elsa brought there by Anna's screams in her sleep. Anna was still in bed and Elsa sat on the edge, hand wrapped soothingly around her sister's.

Anna waited for Elsa to reply, nervous when the silence stretched on a little too long. She couldn't quite see her sister's face in the dark, so she had no way of knowing how she was handling the information.

Unbeknownst to Anna, Elsa was merely sitting in shock, blaming herself for Anna's nightmares. After all, if it weren't for her and her lack of control, none of that would have happened in the first place. Anna would have never had to go through something so traumatic, and therefore wouldn't be plagued with these awful dreams. She just couldn't believe that she had caused her sister so much pain, her baby sister, her only reason for living.

"Elsa...why didn't you move?" Anna asked suddenly, breaking a silence that, in her opinion, was stretching on way too long.

Elsa was brought away from her thoughts, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, back in the fjord...why didn't you try to get away?"

"I did. I'm embarrassed to say that, at that point...that's all I was trying to do," Elsa replied sheepishly. "I thought that if I could just get far enough away...maybe you'd all be safe."

Anna couldn't tell if her sister truly didn't understand what she was asking, or if she was just playing dumb.

"No, I mean, after you froze the blizzard...after Hans unsheathed his sword..." Anna paused, trying to gauge her sister's reaction, to no avail, "Why didn't you move?"

Silence once again hung over the sisters, the gravity of Anna's question, and of her unspoken insinuation, weighing on both of them.

Were you just going to let him kill you?

"I-I didn't know...I had no idea he was-"

Anna glared at Elsa in disbelief.

"What?" Elsa asked, sensing her sister's annoyance.

"Elsa, if I heard him take out his sword from across the fjord, then I know you must have."

Elsa rolled her eyes, though her sister couldn't see in the darkness. She wanted to beg her to stop talking about this. Ask her to talk about literally anything else.

But, if this is what it took for Anna to banish these nightmares, then so be it.

Elsa let out a heavy sigh before looking her sister in the eyes. "He told me you were dead. That you..." she paused to bite back a sob, "He said you had frozen to death...because of me...because I froze your heart..."

"Elsa-"

"You don't understand...that's been my greatest fear...ever since we were young, ever since I was struck with the realization that my powers were capable of destroying everything I love..."

Elsa couldn't hold back her sobs any longer. Though she knew Anna was sitting right next to her, warm and alive and very clearly not frozen to death, the memories of that day still stung just as much as they did when they were made.

Anna remained quiet, wanting to console her sibling, but not sure how, or if it would even be okay. In that moment, Elsa seemed so frail, so...broken. Her sobs cut through the silence, thickening the tension that weighed down on them both. Anna felt as though she was the cause of all this pain her sister's been put through. After all, if she hadn't been so naive as to trust a stranger, so foolish as to put all her faith into someone she didn't even know...

"I thought that..." Elsa began tearfully, slowly regaining her composure, "I thought that I had...killed you, Anna. After all those years of staying away from you, from everyone, so that my powers wouldn't hurt anyone...all those years of loneliness and pain...all those years protecting you from me...and in that moment it all amounted to absolutely nothing just because I couldn't control my emotions, just because you tried to help me...and that was how I repaid you..."

"No, Elsa, you didn't-"

"I heard him," Elsa whispered earnestly, "I knew what he was going to do. The truth is, I just didn't see how life was worth living anymore. There was nothing left for me, no kingdom, no freedom...no family. You were all I had left, Anna...you were all I ever had...and you were gone."

Anna wasn't sure what to say, and wasn't sure she'd be able to speak even if she did. Her quiet weeping was uncontrollable upon hearing that her sister was actually ready to die that day. Even if Anna hadn't survived, she wouldn't have wanted Elsa to die too.

"I'm sorry I told you about the dream," Anna said through sniffles.

Elsa looked at her sister in confusion.

"I shouldn't have...I mean, I know you feel awful about it...I shouldn't have pushed..."

Elsa gave a humorless chuckle as she gently placed a hand on her sister's cheek, "Please don't be sorry, Anna," she said, using her thumb to wipe away Anna's tears, "I'm your sister, you can talk to me about anything. I want to help you. It's all I've ever wanted."

Anna smiled and Elsa pulled her into a hug.

"For what it's worth, I'm glad I'm still here. You're my hero, Anna, and I couldn't be more grateful," Elsa whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Anna hugged her tighter. "I'm glad you're here, too," she replied. "And Elsa?"

Elsa was about to pull out of the hug to look at her sister, but Anna wouldn't let her go. She gave a weak chuckle.

"Yes, Anna?"

"You've always been my hero."

Author's Note

Did anyone else find it odd that Anna heard Hans unsheathe his sword, Anna who was much farther away from him than Elsa was, Anna who was freezing to death...and yet Elsa didn't even seem to notice?

Of course there's the possibility that she was too engrossed in her grieving to notice. After all, she was just told that her greatest fear had come true. I can imagine that realization would be rather absorbing.

And yet, as much as I try to convince myself of the former, what I've written here seems to make the most sense to me. If you look at it from Elsa's point of view, her only reason to live was gone. Sound too dramatic? Think of it this way, Elsa has lived her entire life for her sister, her parents, and her kingdom. All those years spent in solitude were for Anna, to protect Anna, because she loved Anna and she didn't want to hurt anyone else like she'd hurt her sister. At this point, her parents were gone, her kingdom was against her, and now her sister was gone as well. What did she have left to live for?

Of course, the situation has been left to our own interpretation. I'm not saying mine is correct or canon in any way. I'm only explaining myself, and how I see it. In my opinion, Anna saved Elsa not only from Hans, but from herself as well.

And, when you think about it, Anna learned about self-sacrifice from Elsa's example. So there's that too.