Who would have guessed that a single year could have brought so much change to Arendelle? A year ago the kingdom had two isolated Princesses sequestered behind the locked castle gates, and now they had blossomed into a beloved Queen and Princess who kept the gates open and welcomed the citizens into their extraordinary lives.
Yet this transformation had not been without its challenges. In the past year the inhabitants of Arendelle had seen an extra winter, and come to terms with their Queen's magical powers. But despite some initial hesitancy, the entire kingdom was dedicated to helping the royal sisters get used to public life after their difficult childhoods.
Of course, the biggest challenges were faced by Queen Elsa and Princess Anna themselves, but they were together again, and that was all that mattered.
Everyone was ready to concentrate on the future and to usher in an age of happiness and prosperity unlike any other in Arendelle's history.
It was the anniversary of the Great Thaw and Elsa and Anna were preparing for the evening's celebrations. All of Arendelle's nobility would be there, along with a large number of foreign dignitaries, some who had been present at Elsa's coronation, and also a great many ambassadors from other lands. This was intended to show the world that Elsa's powers were no threat, and to quell any false rumours that may have spread from the magical events of last year. Even representatives from Weselton and the Southern Isles had been invited to the festivities with hopes that any further troubles between them and Arendelle could be avoided.
The midday sun shone in through the high windows of the Great Hall, brightening the large wooden chamber. The Hall was considerably brighter than usual, however, having been decked with drapes and streamers in shades of green, gold and purple.
Elsa and Anna surveyed their work, having spent the past hour or so arranging the room together, refusing to accept help from any of the castle's servants. The curtains had been drawn to cover the alcoves, drawing attention to the large space in the centre where there was plenty of room for dancing, or skating, and there were tables on either side where a buffet of food would be served later.
The sisters stood on the dais by Elsa's throne and looked down at the Hall.
"It looks wonderful," Anna said proudly. "We did a good job!"
"Well," Elsa said, taking Anna's hand, "I think there's one thing missing." She led the younger girl down the steps of the dais and turned back to face the throne.
With her free hand, Elsa shot a blast of magic onto the step below the throne, which, after forming a swirling and sparkling cloud, manifested into a life-sized ice sculpture of Anna. The statue looked so realistic that Anna half-expected it to start moving. The only differences between it and the real Anna were that the sculpture was the crystalline blue colour of ice, and it was dressed in the cloak, dress and boots that she had worn last year, whereas Anna was currently clad in a light green party dress with a bodice and flat shoes both in shades of emerald green.
"The hero of Arendelle," Elsa said, smiling.
"What? I'm not a hero. I mean, yeah, I saved you and helped you to unfreeze the kingdom, but I don't need a statue. Not that I don't like it!" Anna continued. "It's amazing, but I think there should be one of you."
"Anna, we're celebrating the Thaw, and I'm the one who brought the winter in the first place," Elsa said, still feeling guilty about the events of last year.
"You know everyone's forgiven you, Elsa," Anna replied, squeezing her hand. "You deserve a statue, too. Besides, every Anna needs an Elsa!"
Elsa realised she had a good point, the statue seemed somehow incomplete or lonely by itself. "You win," she conceded and magicked an icy double of herself next to Anna's sculpture. Elsa regarded it for a few seconds; it was an exact copy of herself, complete with her signature ice dress. She flicked her wrist and removed the train from its dress, it had taken up too much room and made her statue look more important than Anna's.
"It's perfect!" Anna exclaimed, letting go of Elsa's hand to take a closer look at the sculptures. They really were exquisite, and she was proud that her sister could create in seconds something that would take anyone else months of hard work. Anna felt the familiar rush of love well up within her and turned around to face Elsa. "Now they're together, nothing can go wrong!" Anna grinned. She dashed to Elsa and wrapped her arms around her waist, embracing her tightly. Elsa held her close and they stayed like that for a while.
Anna lifted her head up to meet Elsa's bright blue gaze, moving her hands slightly to rest on her sister's hips. "Don't worry about the party," Anna said softly. "Everything's going to be fine."
"I couldn't do any of this without you, Anna," Elsa murmured, bringing a hand up to cup Anna's cheek, her thumb stroking some of those adorable freckles.
Their hearts were racing, their lips were slightly parted, and their eyes were locked together until for a moment each had completely forgotten everything beyond the feeling of near-perfect closeness to her sister.
But then the moment was gone.
Elsa blinked and removed her hands. A shy half-smile was on her lips and a faint blush coloured her cheeks. "Well..." she began, taking a step away from Anna and breaking their contact. "I'd better go and check on the kitchen. Do you want to finish up here?"
"Um, yeah. I'll join you in a bit," Anna said, tucking some loose hair behind her ear and hoping that her face wasn't as red as she felt it was.
One last smile and Elsa was gone, her pale hand lingering on the door before she pulled it closed behind her.
Anna waited a few seconds, then silently cursed herself, grabbed her braids and jumped up and down in frustration. "You did it again!" she scolded herself out loud. "Just like last year at the Thaw! You should have kissed her! It was a perfect moment and you wasted it!"
She stopped jumping, took a deep breath to calm herself and tried to look over all the decorations.
Anna knew her little incestuous crush was going to get her into trouble eventually. Yet she couldn't help but suspect that it was more than just a crush. She sensed that Elsa shared her not-so-sisterly feelings. In her mind Anna revisited all the fond memories she had of their recent time together and hoped she was right in her suspicions.
Elsa was always giving her gifts, doing cute little things for her, calling her beautiful... She felt like more than just a sister to Anna.
They spent every day and even some nights together. Of course, they did nothing more than cuddle. Or sometimes tickle. Anna had been thrilled to discover how ticklish Elsa was. Anna loved pinning her onto the bed and looking down at her flushed face and dishevelled hair after tickling her for as long as she could. But Elsa gave as good as she got and Anna couldn't decide if she preferred it feeling the comfortable weight of her sister on top of her, Elsa's cool hands making her writhe and shriek with laughter. And then to sleep in each other's arms, a mingling of limbs, warmth and sweet breath... It just felt so right.
They had even kissed. On cheeks, foreheads and hands. Anna's favourite was to kiss Elsa's hands. They were so soft from having been kept in gloves for most of her life. They were also sensitive, and Anna delighted in seeing the blushes that would arise in those usually pale cheeks after she gently pressed her lips to her sister's flawless hands.
But somehow they always knew when to stop, like there was some sort of barrier that they could sense they were approaching but would not cross.
Sometimes during moments looking into Elsa's eyes Anna thought there was something, almost like her sister was holding something back. Anna hoped Elsa felt the same way about her, that she shared the desire for more, to bond in every single way. And Anna felt brave enough to find out... Well, almost...
More than anything, Anna didn't want to scare Elsa or drive her away. And she sadly admitted to herself that there was always the possibility that Elsa did not share her feelings...
Anna sighed and her eyes were drawn to the ice statue of herself. It really was like looking in a mirror. She was touched that Elsa remembered every detail about her, right down to the outfit she had been wearing on that life-changing day.
Had it really been a year ago?
In just one year, they had gone from basically strangers to being completely inseparable. Anna didn't know how she had coped without Elsa in her life. They needed each other. Anna was positive Elsa needed her just as much as she did, everything they did together backed up her theory.
And even Kristoff was starting to notice how much the sisters really loved each other. Kristoff called it an obsession. He said to Anna that sisters aren't supposed to go on dates with each other, or hold hands, or share beds, or give such extravagant gifts, at least not at their age. He said it was weird.
But Anna knew Kristoff was just jealous. Especially since Anna had basically ignored his, frankly, embarrassing declaration of love on her birthday and gone off to spend the night taking care of Elsa.
Anna had a lot of regrets where Kristoff was concerned. She had rushed into kissing him last year, and that seemed to have given him the wrong impression about her feelings. Of course, Anna liked Kristoff, but she had only kissed him because he had asked and she had felt she owed him something. And it had helped that he was blond and did things with ice...
Anna wished she could erase it from history. Because there was only one person who Anna truly wanted to kiss. But since she was currently absent, Anna would have to make do with the next best thing. And a little practice before she summoned the courage to kiss the real Elsa wouldn't hurt...
Anna stepped in front of her beautiful sister's ice statue.
If Anna had known that her next actions were going to change her life forever, then maybe she would have paused. But since she lacked that foresight, the Princess just followed her heart.
She looked into the sculpture's face, and it was a perfect likeness. Her eyes roamed over the familiar, beloved features of Elsa's face. That cute nose, those perfect long eyelashes delicately replicated in ice. Anna realised that the ice itself was the same colour as Elsa's eyes, which only made her love the statue more. She stepped closer, her hands clasped together at her chest, her eyes lingering on the image of her sister's mouth. Moving even closer and standing slightly on tiptoe, Anna brought her lips to meet the statue's, closing her eyes at the last moment.
Anna imagined that Elsa's lips would be much warmer and softer, but she was kissing the shape of them, at least. She remained kissing Elsa's ice likeness, her mind conjuring images of all the missed opportunities for this contact with her, and her sister's smiling, blushing face.
She tried to deepen the kiss, such as it was, by moving her lips. But found she couldn't. Anna's eyes snapped open to meet the blank stare of the sculpture.
Anna tried pulling her head away until she felt a tearing pain in her lips, and then she started to panic.
No, no, no! This can't be happening! She tried calling for help, but all that came out of her mouth was a muffled "mmph."
No, don't make a noise! What if someone comes in and finds you like this?! she mentally chastised herself. It's not too late to fix this, you just need a little leverage.
She put her hands out in front of her and onto the cold ice of the statue, pushing a little. Then she immediately pulled her hands away when she realised she had just placed them on the statue's boobs. If she got her hands stuck too it would be even worse than it already was if someone found her kissing and groping a sculpture of her sister.
It was no use. Anna was stuck. She could barely move her face without feeling pain in her numbing lips. All she could do was look into the icy effigy of Elsa's face and wish for the floor to swallow her up.
Just then, she heard footsteps and the creak of the door opening. Anna turned her head as far as she could and saw something blonde out of the corner of her eye.
Oh no. That's it. My life is over. She braced herself for the worst.