Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen.

Child of Winter

The sound of celebrations resonated within the castle chambers, where a young couple sat on a grand bed, with the fire roaring merrily in the fireplace, huddled close together. There was a visible spark in the eyes of the man, and the woman held a small bundle close to her heart, so very close, whispering soft utterings in the ear of her newborn daughter. This was the King and Queen of the great kingdom of Arendelle, and today they had been blessed with a healthy, beautiful baby.

The other people in the room marvelled at the sight of their new Princess, and the good news had spread quickly through the castle, and from there to the city. The people rejoiced, and wrapped in as many clothes as they could find, they came to the castle to convey their warm wishes to their monarchs. There was a storm brewing on the horizon, but the people's spirit was not to be hampered. Undaunted, they waited, until their King addressed them, thanking them for their blessings and then urging them to go inside the safety of their homes and the warmth of their hearth before it got even colder.

That night saw the worst snow storm to touch Arendelle in decades.

Elsa was special.

Queen Edith first noticed it when she saw her eldest daughter showing her new baby girl the "pretty lights". And after the lights came the flecks of snow. Her little baby, named Anna after her grandmother, was born just this past month, on the day spring arrived. Anna had yet to see the winter snow in her young life, except what her sister was showing her. It would have been terrifying if it hadn't been so beautiful. And seeing Elsa bent over her little sister so lovingly, she couldn't say anything.

Two days later, the King saw it. The abject fear in his eyes made her heart squirm, and she asked him why. Her husband's reply did nothing to reassure her, though.

"I've read in the archives about something like this happening many, many years ago," her husband told her, his voice grave but not quivering, even in the face of news such as this, no doubt as a result of years of careful honing and experience in the court. "Sometimes, a child of winter from our royal line will bear the mark. She will have powers beyond mortal understanding, but… It will be a double-edged sword. Her path will be long and hard, her power will be great and terrible, and of her destination, only she will know."

Her first response to that was denial.

"No. No, that can't be right. You could be wrong. This is something else."

Following that came bargaining.

"There must be something that can be done, though, right? We should be able to do something to stop this from happening."

After that was anger.

"You're the King! Can't we even save our own daughter from a future like that?!"

King Phillip sighed, and when he replied, even he couldn't keep the despair out of his voice.

"I wouldn't wish this fate upon anyone, least of all my daughter. I promise you my Queen, I will try my best to help her bear this burden."

Finally came acceptance, as Queen Edith understood the meaning of his words.

Elsa was cursed.

The people talked, of course, but no one actually knew the reason the castle gates had been shut one day, on orders of the King, never to be opened again. People, both within and outside the kingdom, speculated. Even within the castle walls, there were secrets that only some knew. Only a few staff members at the castle remembered the time when their two Princesses played together, unbridled joy on their faces, their joy at simply being in each other's company. Even fewer had ever got to witness the older princess display that mysterious power she wielded. Those were the ones who attended her now, honour bound to carry the secret to their graves if needed, and the only ones apart from the King and Queen who ever went to her room.

The one room where even Princess Anna was not allowed.

Princess Elsa did not attend the funeral.

She had cried enough when she'd gotten the news that her tears had gone dry. Following that, she'd blasted ice off her hands till it seemed that that too, had gone dry. Now, she absolutely refused to lose control of herself in front of the entire world to see.

Don't let them know.

And so she watched from her window as Anna stood alone in a sea of people, all come for the funeral. She looked so tiny and fragile, bundled up all in black, that Elsa wished she could go out there and hug her, tell her that she was there for her.

Don't let them see.

The death of the King and Queen of Arendelle was a shock to many. Both their allies and enemies had expressed their condolences at this completely unfortunate accident. Because of course, no one could have guessed. Because the Queen hadn't been expecting a baby. Because the baby couldn't have been the male heir everyone was hoping for. Because they hadn't both been invited for an event of questionable diplomatic importance.

I shouldn't have let them go.

But like so many things in her life, this was out of her control.

So she shut herself in, her room a frozen mess, trying to make the pain end.

Frozen

After one glance at the seal, Elsa tucked the envelope back in the stack. It had been a long day, and she was not in the mood to read another missive from the Southern Isles, once again asking for her pardon as regards to the behaviour of a certain Prince, and asking they renew their alliance in the most pleading way as possible. Prince Hans' brothers were turning out to be quite the diplomats, but she was not about to give in just out of sheer annoyance.

'We profusely apologise for the unimaginable wrongs committed by our treacherous brother against the crown of Arendelle', they'd written. As if every one of them wouldn't do the same given half the chance, she thought with distaste.

Being Queen was not easy. She'd hardly expected it, but even then, it wasn't as glamorous as it was made out to be in the songs and tales she'd read.

Elsa was glad to be home though, more happy than she'd been here in years. All thanks to Anna, she mused fondly, thinking of the incident that had led to the eternal winter being set off in Arendelle due to her, and how Anna had braved the harsh weather, and undertaken the dangerous journey to find her.

How she'd faced wolves and snow-men and even her own sister to bring her back home.

How she'd sacrificed herself in order to save Elsa.

"What power do you have to stop this winter?" she'd asked Anna that day, fear and despair in her eyes. "What power do you have to stop me?"

It had later turned out that Anna did have a power stronger than hers. Love is such a powerful force, she thought. The most powerful force in the world.

She finally decided to give up on her work for the night and go see Anna.

Princess Anna was asleep.

Or, that's what she told herself as she desperately (and futilely) tried to not think of Kristoff. The mountain-man had been smiling the last time she saw him, all set in his new sled to ride up the nearest mountain for his ice-business. Anna had been sad to see him go, but ice was his life and she didn't want to take that away from him. So she'd gone to bid him a safe journey, and tell him that he'd better get back soon. To which he'd replied that he'd be there before she knew it. And then he'd kissed her.

Anna had always imagined what falling in love would feel like. She's read stories of the great romances, and it always struck her as the most magical thing to happen to a person. No one ever told me it would be so troublesome, she thought wryly. After having experienced such betrayal at the hands of what she thought was her white prince, her notion of the fairy-tale love story was dispelled. She would have turned altogether bitter(not to mention possibly dead) had it not been for Kristoff. Even though it wasn't him who saved her by delivering her the True Love's Kiss, she knew his kiss would've worked.

But this time, she was taking in account the advice given to her by her sister, and even Kristoff himself. She was getting to know him better.

To her annoyance, things were going rather slowly. Anna was not a person who did things slowly. She was an adventurer- feisty, spirited and restless by nature. She seized the day and always came out on top. Even her whirlwind engagement was a result of that spirit. But she was doing this for Kristoff, and she was determined to succeed.

The knock on her door took her by surprise.

Who could it be this late?

It wouldn't be Kristoff, he would know better than to come to her room at this time of the night, even if he wasn't miles away by now. It wouldn't be Elsa, she never came to visit her in her room without notice. It wouldn't be the servants, unless there was some emergency.

Emergency? Is something wrong? Elsa!

Feeling rather unsettled, she threw away her blankets and put on her robe before walking over to the door.

"Who is it?" she asked, her voice, to her pride, not showing her rather unfounded but very real concern.

"Anna? I- I hope I didn't wake you up?" came the reply from the other side.

"Elsa!" she said, opening the door and ushering her sister in. "What's wrong?"

Looking her over, Anna decided that Elsa looked fine, if a little surprised by her line of questioning. Doesn't seem like there was any trouble with her ice or anything.

"Nothing's wrong.. Not that I'm aware of… Why, do you think there is?" Elsa asked her, one eyebrow raised.

"Oh, no! Nothing like that! I was just a little surprised to see you. You've never come here this late, to my room, that is… and without so much as a word… I just- kind of… assumed the worst," Anna smiled sheepishly.

Elsa smiled at her sister's ramblings. "Well, I just came to talk to you, if you were awake- which you apparently are."

"Talk?" Anna asked, uncertain. "Right now? Okay… Talk about what?"

And so they talked. Talked about anything and everything. Anna and Elsa had been close since that incident, closer than they'd been in years. Elsa was now free to be who she really was, to embrace every part of herself she'd kept hidden from the world, and to be accepted by those closest to her. Anna, for her part, was happy to be with her sister once again, to understand what had once driven a wedge between them, and to stop that from ever happening again.

But they had years worth of silence between them, and they were covering that distance, one step at a time.

They were healing, but they were happy.

They were sisters again.

Just something on my mind after watching Frozen for the n-th time. Such a good movie! :D

I didn't realise I'm making Elsa, and even Anna, seem so world-weary until they were written :/

The ending's kinda bleh because I didn't know where I was taking this… so much of the story happened by itself.

I call for creative license for the parents' names :P (Unless someone can point out their canon ones)

Anyway, please do tell me what you think! Please review! :D