Frozen x Lilo & Stitch Collaborative Project
Words by me, art by the amazing laikaken, see more of her lovely work at candied-dreams dot com
Note: This project was inspired and helped by tumblr users ohmyrowling and theseerasures
Note: This fic is accompanied by four pieces of amazing artwork that is blocked by this dumb website. So please see the original tumblr post (counterpunches dot tumblr dot com/post/79175786559/light-my-morning-sky-frozen-x-lilo-stitch-ficlet) to see the fic + amazing images
knock knock knock
"Come in," Elsa says.
The door creaks open just the slightest bit and Lilo tentatively peeks her head through the crack. From her spot on the bed, Elsa pulls off her glasses and lets the book she's holding fall to her lap.
"Lilo?" she calls out softly at Lilo's hesitant position by the door.
Once Elsa calls her name, Lilo runs in, scrambling up to the bed in a rush and barrels into Elsa, throwing her arms around her. Elsa's eyebrows shoot up in surprise, "Lilo!" she says as she returns the hug slightly stunned, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Lilo blurts before burying her face into Elsa's shoulder.
Elsa starts to rub circles on Lilo's back, "Sweetie, are you sure nothing's wrong?"
"Nn, I jff wn hgg yoo."
Elsa smiles fondly, "I can't hear you through that mumble, silly."
Lilo angles her head just slightly enough to say, "I just wanna hug you."
"Ok, and any reason in particular?" Elsa chuckles as she tucks a loose strand of hair behind Lilo's ears.
Lilo buries her head again but this time her words are clear as ice, "Because Anna told me everything."
Elsa stiffens, "She-she told you?"
Lilo nods into her shoulder. "She told me about the accident. And when your parents died, and when you were both all alone, and when you ran away and you froze everything."
Her entire life summarized in just a few sentences seems so small but Lilo is smaller in her arms and so Elsa squeezes her tight against the things that are too big. There are some things children should never have to know, and Elsa's heart is heavy at what all four of them have lost.
Lilo slumps down into her lap, "It was a really long story."
"Uh huh, I bet," Elsa says as she leans back. She remembers enough about overly dramatic and rambunctious little girls to know how warm and distracting adventure can be. Anna. "Did she tell you about the wolves?" she asks.
Lilo's eyes grow big, "Wolves?"
"Mhm," Elsa nods, "Anna and Kristoff fought them off."
"Wow," Lilo breathes in amazement, "She's really brave."
"Yeah," Elsa agrees, talking about much more than the wolves, "She is."
Lilo pauses for a beat before asking, "Did you ever feel brave? For trying to protect everyone?"
Life is wonderful now, but the fact that everything still stands in such stark contrast to before never makes remembering any easier. "No," Elsa answers sadly, "I didn't."
Before the silence can feel too heavy, Elsa adds, "But you know what kept me going?" she adds as Lilo shakes her head. "Anna."
"Even when you couldn't see her?"
"Even when I couldn't see her."
"But, weren't you sad?"
"I was. But you know what? Anna was also sad. Because she was all alone, too. And I was the one hurting her, even if I didn't mean to."
Lilo twists her fingers together nervously, "Sometimes I do things that I know makes Nani sad or upset, but I don't do them on purpose."
Elsa nods in understanding, "And sometimes Nani does the same thing, but it's only because she wants what's best for you. I did it to Anna. But you know what makes me feel better? Hugging her now whenever I want."
"That's why you made Olaf, isn't it," Lilo says more than asks. "Because you wanted to hug her but you couldn't."
For just a second, Elsa's in another room- another life- and her chest thuds once before she squeezes Lilo tighter against the past. She'll never get used to the little girl in her arms telling truths with such clarity. Maybe if were more people like her around when she was younger, things might have been different.
"Anna must have asked me a hundred times to build a snowman. We made Olaf together when we were little, so when I finally could, I thought of him and…there he was."
"They're ohana," interjects Lilo.
"I never left them behind and I never forgot them," Elsa finishes.
She senses something brewing in Lilo's silence, so she runs her fingers through Lilo's hair and waits. "I miss my parents," Lilo finally mumbles in an almost-whisper.
Elsa's chest clenches. "I know," she says and kisses the top of her head, remembering when her mother used to do the same, "I miss mine too."
They sit for a few minutes, holding onto each other, letting the sadness fade away like a slowly unfogging mirror until Elsa sniffs and clears her throat.
"Tell you what," Elsa says, "After you finish your homework, let's go get Anna and Nani. I'll whip up some snow in the backyard and we can all make some snowmen together. What do you say?"
Lilo's eyes light up, "Oh! Can we? Can we? Can we?"
Elsa chuckles. "Yes. But only after homework," she punctuates with a bop on Lilo's nose.
Lilo runs out of the room, but not without giving Elsa one last squeeze, and finishes her homework in record time.