A/N: First chapter right here! Everything is crazy and on hiatus right now, I had this all planned out (I've written up overall summaries until dozens of chapters ahead) and I don't really want to mess it up ^_^; So get your seat belts on and get ready to ride this fluffy-angsty roller coaster with me! I just want to know if the first few chapters are the toughest to get through. No? It's just me? Well then.
Content Warning: This story contains some serious stuff (suicide, implied incest, rape, just a ton of crazy things.). I'm strongly warning you right now, so please be very careful.
I'm planning for this to be a pretty long fic, so if you're up to it...enjoy, you know...if you'd like :)
Light shone through the tall windows in a wide lecture hall as a few abled and awake students bore their eyes to the front of the class. Anna sat cross legged, her foot moved impatiently under the table waiting for time to pass. She alternated from looking up at the board to the swirling patterns created by her pen on her desk. Doodles were hurriedly strewn from the sides of the paper, everything from hairballs to quick flicks of the pen were made.
The tall man sighed, "Ms. Arendelle," she looked up, "would you like to enlighten us on Napoleon's time on Elba?"
"Ha," she stood up straight, "yeah sure. He had a great time, I mean, he had time to think about his actions. Or plan his next move?" her voice squeaked.
"What year was it?" he asked.
Anna immediately slumped and looked around nervously avoiding the man's gaze. Suddenly a boy from behind her coughed, he muttered a continuous sound.
"1814," he coughed, "1814."
The man lifted a brow, "Mr. Bjorman, please fix that cough of yours. Let Ms. Arendelle answer the question, ya?"
She quickly sat upright as if remembering, "Ha! 1814, it's then right?" she looked up to him.
"I'm sorry about this doubt, but we'll talk about this so there are no bad feelings, ya?" he said walking to the front of the class.
"You're welcome Arendelle." A voice from behind her commented sarcastically.
Anna sighed rolling her eyes.
"Now children," he said optimistically, "make sure you study up! You don't want to be unprepared for any question! Of course you..."
Anna stared at him blankly as she could feel her eyelids slowly fluttering. Only a few more seconds. Her classmates quickly started chatting up a storm as they anticipated the bell.
"Especially you Ms. Arendelle-" he stopped as the signal interrupted him.
"Sorry Sir," she stood up quickly gathering her things, "guess we'll have to finish this later!"
As she turned to quickly head out the door, he stopped her. Waves of students flooded out the door before he spoke.
"If I may," he stood before the threshold, "the Headmaster would like to see you. He asked for good feelings, no arguing this time please!"
She frowned but quickly straightened up.
"Yeah," she spun, "I will!"
Running down the hall, she started to sort herself. With her pack on hand, she bit at the cuff of her navy blazer and took it off awkwardly, zooming by seemingly a bit too close to some students. Stunned looks were shot from her classmates as she fled by them, the heir to the Arendelle fortune, a clumsy hurried mess.
Following with the unspoken code, schools had followed one after the other in maintaining dress codes. Anna's was no different.
A dark blazer and tie (color according to year), a white button-up shirt, skirts of knee length, and shoes as deemed fit.
And with this straight from the student handbook of Arendelle School, obviously these guidelines were required to be followed. But with her fiery, strawberry-blonde twin tails quickly following behind her, Anna stood out above all the rest. Still, this didn't keep her immune from all the stares she was given daily. Today, being disheveled held her no aid.
Trying to tuck her dress shirt in, she glanced to her side. Doing so, she quickly bumped into a man of small stature and a gray toupee.
With a quick thud they both fell, but the position of standing was quickly regained for the both of them.
"Anna dear," he smoothed out his suit, "I was looking for you. I thought Professor Oaken would have delivered the summons to you already."
She turned away, straightening out the wrinkles in her clothing.
"No, I got it. I just need to go home already, I have," she patted her sling, "a lot of projects to do. It's near the end of this semester, I want to finish all my projects early, get some free time and do what I want."
The man smiled, the crease in his eyes growing more noticeable by the day. She turned to the students passing by making it quite obvious she wanted to leave sooner rather than later.
He sighed, "You're going today aren't you?" he motioned for her to come in his office. Blowing a puff of hair that slightly moved her fringe, she unhappily obliged.
The large oak doors were opened and he sat at the chair behind the mahogany table. The room was fitting, dark yet elegant woods contained the shelves of books. Certificates rung perfectly on the wall as Anna studied her guardian closely. Though he waited for her to sit down, she stood staring at him.
"I know that I've stopped this happening every year," he watched her slowly to see her pending reaction, "it's been the same thing really. But I still do not want you to go see your relatives. I don't think you're ready Anna, you're only if ever, still a small child-"
Her eyes widened quickly, "Excuse me 'Headmaster Weselton'," her voice rose higher, "but you told me last year I would be able to see them this time! Changing your mind again? I want to go see my parents."
Weselton clenched his eyes at her tone, "Anna, please just understand. They're…they…they just aren't needed to be visited right now. There are more important things you have to deal with, it's not the right time to grieve-"
The girl's teeth clenched as she stood defensively, "Really? I just thought maybe it would be nice after three years to at least visit their graves! Three years of not even looking at their graves, let alone having time to myself to heal. Keeping promises is really an issue isn't it?" she turned around. "You know what, I don't care anymore! Really, I don't! I'm already 18, I can do whatever the heck I want! I knew you'd try to stop me again, but really!" she exasperatedly voiced as she turned towards the door.
Weselton moved quickly, "Anna," he stood behind her, "your parents entrusted me with your care. I can't let them down, I don't want you to go."
The redhead turned around swiftly.
"That was years ago," she said simply, "you wouldn't understand."
Anna had merely just wished to leave the horrid school behind. Whatever distance, it would be too little. Clumsily, she ran as quickly as she could out of the school. Along the way she had bumped into a few students and obscenities were shot at her, but those who did were held back by others.
A boy grabbed her arm, "Almost hit me last time," he stared at her, "slow down!"
She shoved his hand away and looked at him desperately, "Sorry," she walked backwards, "really. I'm in a hurry." and as she turned, she almost lost her footing.
The steep stairs at the entrance were skipped over oafishly despite her petite size, and she had slowly turned into a blubbering mess. She lifted herself onto her bicycle and gripped the handles as the pedals were pushed forcefully. Had she stayed any longer, a meltdown would easily be assured. A voice was heard at the back of her head, seemingly calling for her. But she simply shook the feeling.
Her pedaling had started with a vigor of the need to escape, but as she remembered where she was going, she slowed down. Tears were slowly but surely starting to pool at her eyes and her feet were slowed until they completely stopped. A cold chill whistled through the wind, the surrounding area seemed to be entirely silenced.
Anna leaned her bike on the tall cobble wall as she turned to the rusty iron gate. Bits of black paint were chipped off and the hinges made an annoyingly high pitched squeak as she pushed herself through. As she passed through, she held onto her sling. They were easy to spot, the reason being that their memorials being quite a bit taller than everyone else's.
She approached them slowly, almost cautiously.
You should have stayed.
The guilt had struck her, but she demanded to not be made the subject of pity.
"Why'd you leave?" no response. "You didn't give me a good 'parent figure', you know that?" she rubbed her nose. "He doesn't get it, not at all. I have no one, I'm just waiting to leave that hell hole. I want to leave everything behind, go somewhere, anywhere. He thinks he can replace you, but then again...he did."
Stop it.
"You don't really care about me do you," she said. "And even if you did, you didn't do such a great job of showing it."
You don't mean it.
The redhead's cries tugged at her.
"You should have just done it earlier then, that would have been wonderful now wouldn't it? You would've left me much earlier, just so I wouldn't be used to you coming home and hugging you. At least, by now, I could've gotten over it." her voice cracked. "You should have...you..." her lower lip trembled as her stare seemed to burn through the grave.
Don't say it.
"You should have just killed yourselves in front of me instead. It wouldn't hurt me more than it already has, and if it would, I would've solved that problem real fast!"
She whispered angrily at the stones, her throat was getting dry as minutes passed slowly. The sky was getting darker and little drops of water had fallen, a saddening ambience took center stage.
Anna looked slowly at the other surrounding memorials, many of whose markings were faded. Some had flowers, but despite the best, they were all wilted and long perished.
The girl sniffed, "Sorry," she looked at the stones, and then to the ground as she fluttered her eyes, "I forgot to bring flowers." Tears slowly fell as she choked out, "I didn't dress for the occasion either. I know I'm going to forget to bring the flowers again next time, send me something to remind me, will you? I just," she took a deep unsteady breath in, "miss you a lot, both of you, I love you."
Wishing for some peace, Anna simply continued to stare at the ground. The rain was falling in small quantities as the wind had died down. Yet the cold still persisted and still blew a few gusts at intervals.
The air moved the trees into a small sway, the bushes nearby had begun to rustle unforgivingly. More so to the girl in a tousled blond braid hiding within them. Watching the redhead from afar, she frowned slightly and nearly went to comfort her. Nearly.