Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen or any of its characters, nor am I affiliated with Disney and/or any of its productions.
*No stealing stories, thanks.*
Chapter 1 - Leaves
The fall wind cut through Elsa, blowing her coat askew and her bangs in her face yet again. She could feel the cold creeping in, tickling her neck and wrists. Elsa frowned and walked faster, as if to escape the biting weather. Surrounded by the cold of New York, the warm sun and the feel of golden grass beneath her toes seemed like just a fleeting memory, even though she had been only been away from home in California for a few weeks.
It was impossible to ignore the color all around her, though. The leaves that crunched beneath her boots, the red and orange that transformed the sidewalk of the park into a rustling fire and the grass into a sea of sunset hues- it was a different kind of beauty she didn't quite understand. Palm trees didn't exactly cut it when it got cold, but the trees surrounding her now created a spectacle when the fall set in. For a second, Elsa watched the leaves on the trees swim in the wind as she walked past. Then the wind enveloped her, too, and she remembered why she was walking so fast.
Hurrying along, Elsa broke out of the park and started down the street, brushing past people as she blended in with the crowd. It was so noisy and loud- cars honking, people yelling, puddles splashing, the clang of hammer on metal, and the occasional slam of doors opening and closing. This was something she knew well enough- the sound of life. She listened to the cacophony around her as she walked, moving against the flow of people on the sidewalk. The faces of the people around her were downturned, sheltered from the wind, or facing a companion- all away from Elsa, who carved her path alone. It was like this everywhere she went; people kept to themselves, making an outsider like Elsa feel even more alone than she already was.
This whole move was a major risk that she had taken; being displaced so far away to pursue a passion- singing- especially since she had never performed professionally. There was always the local theater productions, the school plays, and the choir concerts to participate in back in California, but Broadway? That was a level of performance that no community stage could come close to. She had graduated from university with a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance, and she was proud to say her acting skills were decent, if not amazing. She had an agent- she wasn't completely unprepared, like some dream chasers. But all of this felt irrelevant living in the shadow of buildings that have housed the voices of legends, and auditioning amongst seasoned veterans. She felt like she had intruded some foreign world, and to her, it felt blatant and obvious that she didn't belong. Instead of feeling the bustling life around her, moving from California to New York had only distanced herself even more.
Finally, Elsa reached her destination; an apartment building at the end of the street. Upon reaching the front doors and buzzing herself in, she stepped into the lobby and immediately the cold retreated, the wind extinguished as the doors closed behind her. She was lucky she got this apartment; her parents weren't affluent, per se, but they had the money and connections to know where to look for housing in a city where a good apartment felt like more of a privilege.
Reaching the 8th floor, Elsa unlocked her door and entered her flat. The walls were decorated with pictures of her family and a couple musical posters, pale blue curtains swung over the windows, and, as Elsa immediately noticed, the apartment was freezing cold. After turning on the thermostat right away, Elsa changed out of her heavy coat and shuffled into the kitchen. Opening her favorite box of tea, she breathed in the scent of jasmine and smiled to herself. Tea always made Elsa feel calm and warm, despite the weather and the events of the day.
As she settled on the couch in the living room with a mug of the herbal brew, her phone lit up with a call, jingling like a broken fire alarm. Picking up her phone, she chuckled- it was as if someone had read her mind- and answered the call.
"Hello?"
"Elsa!" The voice on the line replied brightly. Elsa's smile widened and all the gloom weighting her down vanished.
"Hi, Anna."
A/N: If you have reached this far, thank you so much for taking the time to read my fanfic! I've had this AU idea for a while, after publishing a Frozen one-shot almost a year ago and being encouraged to write a multi-chapter fic. I'm writing the chapters in advance, so hopefully, this attempt at a multi-chapter fic will be successful! If you have any recommendations/criticism/general comments, etc., reviews are always appreciated. Thanks for reading! Cheers!