"Anna?"
Anna snorted a bit as she woke up. At first she thought that the knocking on her bedroom door was only a part of her dream, but then she remembered how the past several weeks had been. With a small groan, she forced herself to sit up and light a small candle.
"You can come in, Elsa," she said with a soft yawn.
The door creaked open, and Elsa walked in, wearing a silver nightgown and a look of grave concern.
"Anna," she said. "You are alive, right?"
"Yes, Elsa," said Anna, with the same politeness she had when she answered the question every night. "I am alive."
"Oh," said Elsa. "I'm...I'm sorry to have woken you. I just..."
"You had the dream again?" Anna asked.
Elsa just nodded, and awkwardly turned to go back to her room.
"Elsa?"
"Yes, Anna?"
"If you want to talk about it, we can," Anna told her sister gently.
"I...probably shouldn't," said Elsa slowly. "I mean, it's the middle of the night. We should both get some sleep."
"I have a feeling you won't get any sleep if you go back to your room," Anna said. "You'll be too afraid of having to watch me die again."
Elsa turned away from Anna, but even in this light, she could see tears starting to form in the queen's eyes.
"Or, you could just stay and sleep with me," Anna suggested. "We won't have to talk about anything you don't want to."
Elsa didn't say anything, but slowly closed the door as quietly as she could, apparently not wanting to wake any of the castle's servants. She then carefully walked over to Anna's bed and sat herself down.
Anna studied her sister for a moment. Although Elsa had both a grace and beauty about her that came to her perfectly naturally, at the moment, she looked terrible. There were dark circles under her eyes, possibly from lack of sleep. Her hair was unkempt. And her facial expression looked like that of a person who had just seen a ghost.
"Oh, Elsa," said Anna softly, stroking her shoulders. "You poor thing..."
"I'm the Queen of Arendelle," said Elsa, sounding angry at herself. "I'm not...I shouldn't be losing sleep over...over dreams..."
"Shhhhhh," went Anna. "Everyone has dreams from time to time that haunt them. After...after our parents died, I kept having dreams where I was drowning in the ocean...or, even worse, watching them drown."
Elsa wiped her eyes and looked at Anna.
"I don't think you ever told me that before," she said.
"I...wanted to, but..." began Anna, not wanting to bring up that sore subject right now.
Elsa nodded sadly.
"I know why you couldn't," she said, looking down. "It's because I wouldn't let you."
"I know why you were doing that now," said Anna. "It's the same reason these dreams are keeping you awake at night. You never wanted to hurt me..."
Elsa swallowed hard.
"And yet, I did anyway," she said. "In fact, I...I killed you."
"Hey, I was only gone for like twenty seconds," said Anna, trying to act like coming back from the dead really wasn't a big deal. "And you didn't hurt me on purpose. You would never hurt me on purpose."
"What difference does it make at the end of the day?" Elsa said, unable to look at Anna now. "Accident or not, you were still...you were still..."
"Shhhhhh," Anna went. "It's okay..."
"No, it's not, Anna," Elsa said hoarsely, and she could tell that her sister was weeping now. "Every night...every night...I see...I see your dying breath...literally...I see it coming out of your mouth..."
Anna wasn't sure what to say.
"What if...what if it happens again?" Elsa asked.
"It won't happen again," said Anna firmly.
"But what if it does?"
Anna thought for a moment.
"Well, then we'll deal with it the same way we did last time," she answered simply.
"HOW?" Elsa almost shouted. "Anna, you're only alive because you were willing to sacrifice your own life to save me. If...if Hans hadn't been a traitor...if he hadn't had his sword raised above me...if you hadn't stopped him...you would've died for real. In saving me, you saved yourself without knowing it."
"Well, I suppose I have at least one reason to be thankful for Prince Hans now," said Anna, again, trying to make this grim conversation just a little lighter.
"But if...if your heart became frozen again," said Elsa, speaking as though she were forcing the words out of herself. "We...there would be nothing I could do...there would be nothing you could do..."
"Maybe I should start wearing chest armor if it will make you feel better," said Anna.
"I'm serious, Anna!" cried Elsa, finally looking at Anna and revealing red, tear-soaked eyes. "I can't...I CAN'T watch you die again! I...I would rather die than have that happen!"
"Neither of us are going to die, Elsa," Anna tried to reassure her. "Not for a very long time, at least."
Elsa didn't seem comforted by these words.
"Look," said Anna. "Lay down on the bed. Place the blankets over yourself. We can hug each other as we sleep tonight...just like old times. Would you like that?"
Elsa didn't respond, but she did slowly get herself under the covers.
"See, that's nice, right?" said Anna, lovingly placing her arm around Elsa's shoulder. "Now for the rest of the night, you won't have to worry about me being dead, because you'll hear me snoring. I've been told I snore very loudly."
She hoped that Elsa would at least smile when she said this, but instead she just stared at Anna, as though trying to convince herself that she was in fact still alive.
"Oh, Elsa," whispered Anna. "Your dreams really do seem that real to you, don't they?"
Elsa slowly nodded.
"As real as this feels," she admitted softly.
Anna gave her sister's arm a sweet kiss.
"You'll be fine," she said. "We'll both be fine. I promise..."
But she could tell by the horrified look on Elsa's face that she wasn't convinced.
"Our parents promised us that they would be fine, too," she said bluntly.
Now it was Anna who wanted to cry. But she didn't let herself do so. Instead she forced herself to stay awake until she saw her sister's eyes close. She swore to herself that she would stay strong for Elsa no matter what.
Author's Note: I'm not sure how frequently I'll update this one. This is by far the most serious fanfiction I've ever attempted, and it's going to take me to a very dark place emotionally. So, to keep myself from getting depressed by it, I'm going to have to write it slowly. In the meantime, my main focus will remain on Elsa the Wicked Warden (or Anna Behind Bars, as it may soon be called), but I'll work on this one whenever my mood/state of mind allows it.