Author's Note: Based off of a Tumblr prompt wherein Anna's first words after being frozen were "Who are you?" Figured I may as well upload it here to keep all my stuff in one place. No warnings need apply.
"Who Are You?"
For the first time in her life, Elsa shivered.
The ice, her constant companion, through fair and foul, pressed harshly into her knees and stung her skin. It covered the fjord in a thick layer, so solid and firm and supportive and useless, all of it useless, everything for naught, because survival meant day after agonizing day of retreat within, and failure was one gasping moment of negligence, the sole difference between just imagining holding her sister…and being able to.
The ice shifted. She turned her head, confused, and gasped as color exploded into her field of view, an array of pink and green and black in place of an endless sea of blue. She lifted her eyes up, and was nearly overcome at the sight of her sister's face, her chest rising and falling with each breath.
Anna looked down at her, and her face grew watery. Elsa blinked rapidly, a trembling smile growing on her lips, as she looked up into her sister's face, so bright and alive, and she felt her battered heart soar.
"Anna?" she breathed, almost laughing, as their eyes met, sky blue against sea green, and for a dizzying moment she could see into her sister's soul, feel its burning power and blinding love that had conquered her curse and deflected the blow meant for her and her alone, could taste the heat that had saved her, out here on the tranquil sea.
Anna's eyes narrowed.
"…who are you?"
Elsa's heart shattered.
"I…" She could do nothing more than mouth brokenly for the words that didn't come, her mind reeling, hands clutching in vain at the arms that belonged to her sister, the woman she had denied, the youth she had turned away from, the child who had been ignored. She stared back, stricken, as Anna's eyes roamed over her face without a hint of recognition.
"You can't be the queen," Anna said, slowly, peering at her, "you don't wear a crown."
Elsa wordlessly shook her head, the tears zigzagging across her face in response.
"And you can't be Elsa," Anna continued, and Elsa flinched. "Because I've never seen her cry."
"I…I never thought you would, either," Elsa whispered.
She bowed her head, pressing it against Anna's torso, craving the touch, knowing that she didn't deserve it, would never be able to, not while Anna could only look down upon her and say-
"You must be my sister." Elsa jerked her head up, startled, and saw Anna's quiet smile.
"…Anna?" It took every ounce of her will to ask again, and in that moment she truly understood.
"Only my sister loves me like you, so you must be her," Anna said, and gently stroked the top of her hair. Elsa bit back a sob, but the tears fell all the same, and before she was aware of it she was standing in Anna's arms, for the first time in years, and yet they fit together perfectly, as though they'd been practicing all this time. She supposed, in a way, this was true.
She dropped her head to Anna's shoulder and kissed her neck, laughing breathlessly at the flushed skin, the pulse that jumped with her lifeblood, and more tears slid down her face, but this time they didn't burn.
"Anna, Anna, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this, for any of this, to happen." Anna's arms tightened around her, and she greedily accepted the change, pressed even more tightly against her sister's body, her own shifting when Anna's laughter bubbled up and broke against the cold air, layering it with heat and light.
"I know. I know you didn't want this to happen, but…" Elsa turned her head. Their faces were so close she could count every last freckle, every eyelash, could see the breath ghosting out of her, evidence of her being alive, alive, could look into her beautiful eyes and finally know peace.
"I'm glad it did." Anna's smile was so radiant she found herself reflecting it without even thinking. "It got me here, and that's all that matters, isn't it?"
Elsa nodded. Held in Anna's crushing embrace, she at last could breathe.