~ A.N.- Hello to all my lovely readers! This is an AU Frozen based story, that will contain absolutely no specific love pairings. This is NOT an Elsanna love story, so if that's what you're looking for, I'm sorry. It's just a story of two estranged sisters fighting against the bitter pulls of fate. It will contain extremely dark and mature material, which is why it will be rated "M". I however cannot stop anyone from reading this story based on their age, but this is for my protection. Since it will be an AU story, the events will not always match up to the actual movie of "Frozen". Some of the characters may also seem out of their roles, but I will do my best to keep them in how they are portrayed in the movie, so if they seem out of place, there is a reason, and you will have to read to understand. Also, I want it to be known that any hateful reviews will be deleted, and any form of harassment I receive, will be reported. On the flip side, I am unique author in that I openly accept any form of feedback, as long as it's constructive. If you don't like something, that's fine, just tell me why. I also will often give you, as the readers, a certain say in how my story will go. At the end of certain chapters, I will offer you all choices, and then I will work my next update based on whatever the majority feedback is, from reviews and PMs. Anyways, now that all that is out of the way, shall we begin?~
The immaculate kingdom of Arendelle had always been an empire that was nice on the eyes. The magnificent stone castle stood beautifully with the surrounding mountains and the clear crystal waters that surrounded this once prosperous kingdom. However, as time had continued, the King and Queen were forced to shut off this once promising kingdom, due to the fact that their eldest daughter, had been born with the power of ice. One might believe this power to be of God himself, with the way it beautifully and majestically coated the area during the winter, giving the earth time to heal, and ready it to come back to life in the spring. Elsa, as she was to be named, however was taught that her powers were from a demonic being, as she was to be locked away in her room until she could learn how to control them. At the time, she had been only at the youthful age of eight years old, and was torn from the key to controlling her powers, her little sister, Anna. The bond that was once held between these two sisters was one that could never even be defined by Mr. Webster himself. They acted as one, thought as one, and often felt as one. They could communicate with one another, even if not one word was verbally said. To say that both sisters were thrown into a downward spiral of disarray and pain once they were separated was truly an understatement.
Elsa, who was told that she must do this in order to protect her little sister, allowed herself to be locked up in her room, except for at night after Anna had gone to bed. At which time, she was free to do whatever she wanted, so long as she stayed within the castle. More times than not, Elsa found herself sneaking into Anna's bedroom just to watch her sister sleep. That soon however had to stop as Anna began to have night terrors, of the most severe nature. She would scream, and cry, thrashing about as if she was being held hostage by her own sheets. After almost being caught by her parents being in Anna's room, Elsa was forced to not return, and simply wander the halls, waiting for her sister's cries to reside. Each time, each nightmare seemed to crack Elsa's heart little by little until she had no interest in leaving her room at all, as she could not help her sister, and could no longer stand and do nothing, as her sister cried for her.
Years had continued to move forward, and seasons changed, but the desire for Anna to be reunited with Elsa did not change, in fact, as the years continued, the intensity and the need seemed to only increase and become more intensified with time.
Anna, now the age of 15, shoved her fork around her plate, spreading the grilled salmon around with little interest of actually eating any of it. She had not slept through the night in almost eight years, as horrific nightmares veiled her once pleasant dreams. She sighed lightly and looked up with her dull aquamarine eyes to her mother, who looked at her youngest daughter with pure concern and with an apologetic expression. She had not once agreed to keep her daughters separated, but she had little power over her husband.
"Anna, eat your food and stop playing with it. You know the finances of this kingdom aren't doing so well at the moment, so we cannot afford to waste a drop of food." Anna's father sighed disapprovingly as Anna put her fork down and looked over at her father.
"I am fully aware of the negative aspects that are occurring in this kingdom… All of them." Anna emphasized the last part as she stole a glance at her sister's empty seat that was next to her.
"Anna, why must you constantly make my life harder than it must be?" her father exclaimed as he pinched his nose in annoyance.
"I make your life harder? Well, excuse me!" Anna huffed, and ignored her mother's silent plea for her to remain quiet as she leaned back against her chair and crossed her arms abruptly.
"This is exactly why you are being sent away to the Southern Isles, tomorrow morning. You will finally do something right for this kingdom. You will not dishonor me, do you understand?" Her father hissed as he stood up and leaned against the table, looking directly at his youngest daughter.
"You know what, I would have gladly have accepted my fate, and allowed you to promise my hand to Hans, if that would be what it took to help Arendelle and the future of this kingdom, but it is all a lie! You just want me gone, so that I won't finally figure out why I've been having this nightmares and why Elsa was taken from me! I know my nightmares are more than what they seem, they're trying to tell me something, and you don't want me to know what it is. You want me gone so that I won't discover the truth!" Anna argued back, as she reached the tip of her breaking point.
"That is not true, we need you to go be with him so that you and him can create your own kingdom, and help Arendelle in trade!" Anna's father argued back as eyes hardened on his youngest daughter.
"I don't believe you. And let's just be honest for one moment. A real father wouldn't send his daughter away as if she was a prize to be won. On top of that, you never even asked if I liked Hans, or if I wanted to leave. My future arranged wedding with him won't help Arendelle. You know that, and so do I! I can't just leave Elsa behind, I won't do it!" Anna shouted as she stood up, silenced only when the strong hand of her father smacked her hard across the face, sending her down to the carpeted ground.
"I ask God every single night, why he cursed me with such a disappointment for a daughter. I wish more than anything, that you had never been born. Then maybe, just maybe, my other daughter wouldn't be forced to be locked away." The King growled and with a turn on his heel, he strode out of the room, taking his wife by the arm, despite her protests as her hand reached out for her daughter, who lay face down on the ground.
After the king and queen had left, Kai and Gerda both came rushing over to help the young princess to her feet. Anna forced her eyes shut, in a failing attempt to stop the tears that were running down her freckled and now bruising face.
"Oh my, princess, you will have quite the bruise on your face if we don't get the swelling down very soon." Gerda sighed as Anna tore herself away from Gerda's soft touch against her marked skin.
"Leave me be." Anna forced out through her trembling lips and ran off to her room, and slamming the door so forcefully that the whole castle heard it.
"Must you be so hard on her, my love?" Anna's mother cooed as she kneeled in front of her husband who had collapsed into his chair in his study and buried his face in his hands.
"Do you think I enjoy telling these hurtful words to her? If she would just have agreed to have let the whole Elsa situation go, I wouldn't have to be like this. I almost lost her, we almost lost her after Elsa struck her with her magic. I can't go through the pain of almost loosing my youngest daughter again." Anna's father sighed through his hands as his wife gently lifted his face to met her steady gaze.
" But, my love, don't you think that's exactly what is going to happen? You will send her away to be with Prince Hans, so that they can create their own kingdom far away, and then what? She still will leave. And if you continue to be this harsh with her, you will eventually loose her. We both will." His wife murmured as she looked deep into her husband's eyes.
" But, I can live with that, so long as she's free," The king paused and took his wife's hands into his own, " I can see the way she looks longingly towards the outside walls of the kingdom. She doesn't want to be locked up behind closed gates. And I know that she feels a strong sense of loyalty to us and especially to Elsa, but I need to her to hate me so that she will leave with Hans. At least when that happens, she'll be free. And more importantly safe." The King sighed as his wife closed her eyes and nodded.
"I just hope that one day, after she matures, she can understand." The Queen whispered through the pain of being separated from her youngest daughter.
"I can only pray that she will." The King responded, before breaking down into a fit of silent tears.
The sound of cries being muffled by pillows was the only sound that could be heard in the spacious but empty room of the youngest princess of Arendelle. Anna, flung herself onto her bed, crying into the pillows as she felt the weight of her predetermined future weighing down on her like a pile of bricks.
" I don't want to leave, this is so not fair!" Anna cried helplessly as she stood up from her bed, and wiped her face clean with the back of her hand, wincing as her hand brushed across the bruise on her face.
"I refuse to just sit here, and be dictated to how my fate is supposed to go." Anna whispered to herself as she walked over to her closet, and grabbed a large sack, and began to fill it with the bare necessities of clothing that she would need. For being only the age of 15, Anna was very wise for her age. From there, she walked over and grabbed her small pouch of money, containing 1000 gold pieces, 800 silver, 500 bronze coins, which she had been saving for in case of an emergency. Lastly, unable to part with it, she grabbed her doll that resembled her oldest sister, Elsa.
Anna put the sack onto the bed, and pulled off her dress and threw it into the corner, before shrugging on a pair of black pants, and slipping on a pair of thick leather boots, which came up to her knee and tucked her pants into them neatly. Next, she grabbed a long sleeve dark forest green shirt, and put on her royal purple traveling cloak on over it. Anna grabbed the fabric of the hood, and flung it over her head, covering the top half of her face.
With that, she made her way to her bed and hesitated. She noted that her hands were trembling, shaking lightly despite her strong desire to be free, she still felt a sense of nervousness. She would be free, but not safe. She would no longer be protected. She would be in the real world. But, when the sun would rise in the morning, her fate would be sealed with a young prince, whom she did not even care for in the least. If she truly wanted to be free, if she wanted to rewrite her fated destiny, this would be her last chance. It was now, or never.
Anna forced her hands to stop shaking, and grabbed her sack and flung it over her shoulder. With one last glance at her room, she peaked her head out of her room, and looked back and forth. There was no one in sight. Carefully and quietly as she could, the young princess closed her door and made her way down to hall, stopping only when she reached Elsa's door. Anna paused, and put her sack down onto the floor and put her hand against the painted door and rested her forehead against it.
" Elsa, I love you. Never, ever forget that. I will come back to you, I promise. And when I do, I will have the answer to why you locked yourself away, and I will have the solution so that you can be set free. I promise. I will not give up until you are finally set free. Please, forgive me." Anna whispered into the keyhole, not too entirely sure if Elsa had heard her, but there was no time to waste, lingering around.
With a shed of a tear from her aquamarine eyes, Anna grabbed her sack and hurried down the hallway, and turned the corner just as Elsa swung open her door and called out Anna's name as she ran out of her room, anxiously looking for her sister.
Anna gulped in fear as she heard her sister call her name. As quickly as her legs could carry her, she ran out of the castle and down the stone pathway that led to the armory building, near the stables. As quickly as she could, she grabbed her set of bow and arrows, and her personal sword that had been hand crafted just for her. Next, she grabbed a few vials of medicine from the nearby chest and stuffed them into her bag. She did not know if Elsa had alerted their parents, but there was no time to ponder on it.
Without thinking, Anna ran into the stables and ran over to her horse's stall. Her beautiful buckskin gelding nickered as he smelled his master, and anxiously paced in his stall as she grabbed the heavy bolt and thrust open his stall door. She grabbed the sack and put it onto his back, then grabbed a handful of his jet black mane and pulled herself onto his back, and guided him out of the stables. She flung her hood over her eyes, and squeezed her legs around his sides and held onto his mane tight, and kicked him hard in the sides.
"C'mon Sundance, that's go!" Anna urged as her horse snorted in surprise and took off in a full gallop.
Anna bent down low against his neck, thankful that she was a skilled rider. Otherwise, without the saddle and bride, she may have fallen off.
It was only when she reached the outskirts of her kingdom that she stopped Sundance, and allowed him to catch her breathe. Tears ran down her angelic face, as the nostalgic feelings of her past began to fill her mind.
"I'm finally on my own… And even though I good part of me is terrified about taking this journey, another part of me is anxious to get this started. I have so much left to do. I can do this. I'm sorry I was such a failure to you, Father… Mother… but, I know that there's so much more out there for me, just waiting for me to break free from this kingdom… And I promise that I will find it… Just you wait and see… Just watch what I will be. One day, I will make you proud. And Elsa, I will find the answers you need to be free. I promise. I will rescue you from your lonely world, no matter the cost." Anna whispered as she tore her aquamarine tear filled eyes from the only life she had ever known, and shifted them to in front of her, and urged Sundance forward, her heart becoming heavier with every step he took.
~ Well, here's the first chapter. Please, please, please Read and Review! Let me know what you think, and if I should even bother continuing with this story.~
+ Awoken Dreamer+