Snow Red
By Eversskye
Summary: There is a type of magic that only the royal family knows, and it is the winter magic Elsa had been practicing all her life. But the King does not allow Anna to partake in any of this, nor is she allowed to command any of the battles with her twin sister. Elsa starts to wonder whether there is a deeper, darker secret waiting for them both. Frozen AU with many Disney crossover characters. Elsanna.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the plot.
Long, gnarled fingers stroked the newborn's forehead as the leader of the trolls spoke.
"A child born during the winter star's alignment with the eclipsed moon is fated to lead, your majesty. Under the princess's reign the country shall prosper more than ever before. However, there is one other child, born on this same night who shares the same destiny. I cannot say who will be triumphant in the end."
"Then I will find it," the King declared, "and I will destroy anyone who dares to threaten the rule of my true heir."
Word has it that when the Queen gave birth during a royal outing, information was leaked from the midwives that the kingdom was prepare to welcome a princess. Therefore, no one was surprised when the king and queen came back from their visit with the trolls carrying a pink bundle in their arms. What was unexpected, however, was when the imperial officials later that week announced the welcoming of two princesses.
Arendelle was to be blessed with twins: Elsa and Anna.
Naturally, despite the initial confusion, the kingdom rejoiced. A countrywide celebration soon commenced, carrying on for two weeks as the people feasted and waited around the castle for the princesses to be presented. And indeed, less than a month into their return, the queen had carried Princess Anna in her arms, carefully showing the beautiful red-haired baby to the crowd below. Princess Elsa, however, was nowhere to be seen.
Suspicion soon arose with some people doubting the existence of the mysterious princess, while others claimed that Princess Elsa was born with a terrible illness and was not fit to be taken outside. Despite the people's curiosity, the secrets inside the castle's closed doors remained impenetrable. As years passed, eventually the existence of Princess Elsa became a distant memory, while the people focused their love on the amiable Princess Anna, who could often be seen sneaking out of the castle to play with the children on the streets.
Friendly and warm, Princess Anna did not carry in her personality the usual polite detachment that was born into most people of her upbringing. To the common populace, she was not simply the potential next-in-in for the throne. They loved her as they would a part of themselves, for she acted as nothing more than a child from the neighborhood streets. It was hard, really, not to love her mud-smeared cheeks and the easy way she shook hay from her unkempt hair.
As for the other princess of Arendelle, no one outside of the king's ring of secrecy had ever laid eyes on Princess Elsa until the princesses both turned nine. The first person to see Princess Elsa outside of the king's most trusted subjects was none other than Princess Anna herself, though if one was to be entirely accurate, it was actually Princess Elsa who had caught sight of Princess Anna first.
To Elsa and Anna, the moment they met was when their lives truly began…
Chapter One: Cursed Child
The royal tutors told Elsa that she was cursed.
When she was barely a few days old, a witch from the northern lands had injected liquid fire into her veins. The infant princess would have died; only, the king had brought her to the trolls in time and the result was that Elsa would have to learn how to control the magical poison in her veins for the rest of her life.
Ever since Elsa could remember, she had slept in a cold stone room on a bed made of ice- supposedly to absorb its frosty essence and combat the potion burning through her heart. In Elsa's memories, there was never a day when she did not spend her entire evenings working on her wintery blend of royal magic. Without practice she would die, the teachers said. The princess did not doubt a single word she was told, and indeed, the blazing feeling inside of her would calm down after each session. Her powers in controlling ice grew stronger, even if she herself felt weak after using them.
Up until Elsa turned nine, her world had consisted of nothing more than empty halls and grey stone walls. The only people she knew was her father- the King, a dozen or so servants, and the ten tutors her father had hired to teach her everything that was required to rule the kingdom. Elsa was an obedient child, and Elsa learned faster than most. But how could she truly learn to lead, when she did not even know what a kingdom was, did not know who it was she was supposed to be leading?
To the young princess, there was no other life than the top floor of the castle. She did not want a different life, did not miss the outside world…for how could she miss something that she had never known? There were no other people aside from those hired by her father. There were no seasons, no dates, and no light from the sun. So how was she to understand what the tutors had meant when they wanted her to learn history, when they taught her etiquette that her countrymen would deem fitting for a princess, when they told her to write poems about trees and birds and oceans?
Once Elsa could read, she found her answer through storybooks kept in the palace library. At night when the servants had all left and the candles were blown out, the young princess snuck out of her room. It was within the pages of folklore and fairytales did she learn that there were others, children much like she, who did not spend their days studying and learning magic. Between deep breathes of musty parchment, she learned that children played games. That there was not only fathers, but mothers as well as sisters, brothers, aunts and uncles. That the world contained much more people than she had ever imagined…and that what people cared for most was not etiquette or history or ruling.
When Elsa learned to read, she also learned that people loved, and it was this love that she began to desperately seek in her father's actions each time he visited to check on her progress. She doubled her efforts in controlling her powers, and absorbed her studies faster than water.
She wanted to ask Father, did she have a mother as well? Did she have a brother, or a sister? Why was she not allowed to leave these lonesome walls? Why were there no other children around?
She wanted to ask, wanted to feel the love that had been so praised within the texts…and yet whenever she looked into the king's eyes she could see nothing less than absolute stoic authority. It was all for her own good, all for her protection, he said. Thus Elsa did not complain.
She did not tell anyone of her midnight ventures either.
Elsa continued to live that way, until one night, a small voice echoed through the walls as the young princess was reading through the second passage of a particularly expansive text. Intrigued by the unfamiliar voice, the young girl placed the book back into place and crept quietly over to peek through the doors of the library. What she saw nearly made her grasp out loud.
There in the halls, was a little girl standing about the same height as she herself. Elsa watched, amazed, as the other girl began to tug against the arms of a beautiful woman, who smiled at her adoringly despite some protest.
"No, Anna, you know that it is way past your bedtime by now. Your father will be angry if he finds the both of us awake."
The red haired girl did not cease her pulling. "But mommy! I can't go to sleep now. They sky's awake, so I'm awake too!"
At this the woman laughed, and let her daughter guide her down one of the halls Elsa had never dared to enter.
Behind the doors of the library, young Elsa stood frozen, her mind racing with different scenarios to accommodate these new findings that could change her world. Unable to handle the shock, after a moment, the princess broke into action. She ran and ran, through the doors and into the familiar corridors until finally reaching her room.
Uncertain and afraid, she did not leave the room the next two nights.
On the third, curiosity had gotten the best of her. She left the room once more, in secrecy. But this time, her destination was not the royal library, but to find that girl.
Despite her unfamiliarity with the rest of the castle, within thirty minutes she had stumbled upon the strange little girl talking to herself within one of the art rooms. Elsa stood quietly in a dark corner as she watched the object of her fascination converse animatedly with one of the paintings about her day.
That night, and the many nights following, Elsa listened and learned from the girl much more than she could have learned from anywhere else. For example, she found that most people slept on beds made of softer, bouncier material in which Anna enjoyed jumping on. She learned that the small green things stuck in the girl's hair were leaves from trees. She learned that Anna was also a princess, and most likely her sister.
Eventually Elsa found herself not only listening, but observing Anna herself: the freckles on her cheeks, the way her eyes sparkled in the lights, and the awkwardness of her movements. She couldn't help but think of how they were so different, yet so similar. Elsa had never seen anyone her age before. Never met someone who saw the world the way a child would, someone who possessed the innocence that Elsa herself was never allowed.
She watched as if entranced, as on that particular night, Anna was carrying a large bucketful of snow. With haste, the little girl dumped the snow onto the floor and ran off- only to come back with another bucket. She repeated the action a couple of times, until a few of the tiles were partially topped with freshly added snow. Once Anna decided that her work was complete, she started rolling some of the snow into small little balls. While the first one succeeded, much of the snow on the ground had melted as the girl attempted to place the second ball on the first. The result was that the top began to sag as the young princess anxiously tried to hold it in place.
A foreign, bubbly feeling began to emerge from Elsa's lungs as she stood, looking at the increasingly frantic movements of the other girl. As Anna let out an unprincess-like squeak before uttering pleads for the snow to quit melting, a laugh erupted from the silvery blonde-haired observer.
Elsa's eyes widened in surprise of what she had just done, while the other girl gasped.
"Who's there?"
Reluctantly, Elsa stepped out from the dark corner and into the red-haired girl's line of view. They stared at each other for a long, silent moment while Elsa's mind raced and Anna contemplated the girl in front of her curiously. All of a sudden, Anna sprung into action, closing the distance between them in a few swift steps and grabbing both of the lighter haired girl's hands within her own.
"Elsa?"
Shocked and never having imagined that the other girl would know who she was, Elsa could only nod her head. At once the other girl squealed, before hugging Elsa tightly in her enthusiasm. The stunned princess could only remain still as she struggled to understand Anna's deluge of incompletely spoken thoughts.
"I knew it! I wished for you to be real for Christmas last year! I mean, I know you're real-real…but everyone says I have a sister somewhere in this castle, yet I never saw you. I've always wanted a sister. Where have you been all this time? Oh! Do you want to play with me? I'm trying to build a snowman. Of course, I've never seen one before, so I'm not sure…dad never lets me outside when it's cold, but I managed to unlock one of the side doors today so I can go out and get some snow!"
Lacking in experience with others of her own age and unsure of how to reply, Elsa took a brief look at the melted snow that her sister had discarded behind them and summoned her powers. With a flick of her fingers, the snow became fresh as new. Satisfied, she motioned to the still rambling girl attached to her.
Anna turned. A happy gleam glowed in her eyes. She moved to clasp her hands together, obviously impressed at her newfound sister's abilities.
"Ohh! Can you make some more?"
Elsa grinned. With a wave of her hands the room was filled with a thin layer of snow. Anna did not hesitate to dive in to touch the snow, throwing some onto her sister and running off.
Thus, the girls began to play.
If they had met at a later age, they would most likely be more wary of the other's identity. Maybe they would have wondered why they were kept apart, and what troubles might soon materialize now that they have met. They might have even opposed each other- as no doubt there is only one who would claim the throne some day.
At such young an age though, all they could feel was how they were drawn to each other, attracted by the differences so easily seen. Red and white. Loud and quiet. Warm and cold.
But the truth was, deep inside they knew they were not too different at all. One was born with innate trust in everyone. The other had never met experienced the world enough to distinguish between truth and lies. In a position above most, they had both lived their childhood amongst adults, never without company yet always alone.
Perhaps they had been waiting all their lives to find each other. With a pinky swear, they promised to always meet again.
A surge of newfound protectiveness overcame Elsa that night. As they both snuck back to bed before any of the palace staff awoke, her last thought was of how cute Anna was, and how it was nice to have someone as her own.
Her sister. How perfect was that?
She slept peacefully, unaware of the troubles yet to come.
End Chapter One.