Elsa's Confession
"Of course, I'm so glad you could—"
"Elsa! I mean, Queen, me again," Elsa turned as Anna interrupted her conversation with a pair of foreign diplomats, "May I present, Prince Hans of the Southern Isles." Anna finished excitedly.
"Your Majesty," Prince Hans said, bowing. Elsa acknowledged him with a curt head nod.
"We would like," they both began, glancing at each other and smiling as Elsa looked on.
"Ah, your blessing…" Prince Hans continued.
"…of our marriage!" They both finished, happily.
Elsa's eyes widened in bewilderment.
"What, marriage?!" She exclaimed, clearly taken aback.
"Yes!" Anna squealed.
"I'm sorry, I'm confused," the Queen responded.
"Well we haven't worked out all the details ourselves," Anna started to ramble, ignoring the Queen's protests.
"Wait, slow down!" Elsa interjected firmly, "No one's brothers are staying here; no one is getting married."
"Wait, what?" Anna stopped mid-sentence, confused.
"May I talk to you, alone?" Elsa added, staring pleadingly at her sister.
Anna looked at Hans, and back to her sister. She hadn't spoken one-on-one with her sister in years, and Kai and the Duke had cut their conversation short earlier...
"I guess so," Anna answered her sister after a pause, and began to follow her.
As they walked away, Prince Hans watched them go. Anna turned and gave him a nervous smile and a wave. He returned the favor.
"Elsa, what is this all about?" Anna questioned her sister as they entered a dimly lit hallway. She received no response; Elsa only quickened her pace. Anna almost had to trot to keep up with her.
"Elsa, slow down, would you?" Again, no response.
They finally came upon a door. A white door, decorated in blue and purple rosemaling. It was a depressing sight. Memories flooded back to Anna; the years she spent sitting outside this door, knocking and pleading, only to be met with cold silence. She grew upset. What right did Elsa have to tell her who she could marry? What did Elsa know of true love? Elsa had ignored her almost her entire life! Her face wrinkled with anger.
"Elsa listen to me," she started, almost yelling, but stopped short.
Elsa had turned around, hand on the doorknob, tears streaming down her face. Anna's anger dissipated instantly.
"Elsa…" she said, but stopped once again at the sight of her sister shaking her head.
Anna watched as her sister slowly turned the doorknob and walked inside. She beckoned Anna to follow.
Elsa sat down on the side of her bed, and Anna sat down beside her. Silent sobs racked her sisters body, her tears flowing heavily now. Anna tentatively put her arm around Elsa, and to her surprise, Elsa did not pull away, but rather buried her face in her hands.
"Elsa, please, tell me what's wrong," Anna begged, looking at her sister desperately. She had never seen Elsa like this.
Elsa looked up at her with bloodshot eyes.
"Please," Anna asked again.
Elsa sniffled.
"Anna, I…I don't know where to start," she confessed.
Anna smiled reassuringly.
"At the beginning," she replied, still smiling warmly.
Elsa looked reluctantly at her sister, but Anna's reassurance helped her continue.
"Do you remember how close we used to be?" Elsa asked quietly, looking at the ground. She felt her sister nod beside her. "Well, there was an…accident," she said slowly, nervously.
Anna said nothing, only looked at Elsa, silently encouraging her to go on.
"Well, I was trying to sleep, and you hopped up on my bed because you couldn't sleep. 'The sky's awake, so I'm awake'," she said, quoting five-year-old Anna and giving a weak laugh, remembering the moment fondly.
"Oh yeah..." Anna said slowly, "I remember that! Then we went to play in the ballroom!"
"Well, kind of," Elsa said, reverting back to her nervous state.
Anna looked confused. She remembered that night clearly, she woke her sister up and they went to the ballroom to play with their dolls. She paused. But…wait, what happened that night? All she could seem to remember was entering the ballroom with Elsa.
A heavy sob from Elsa snapped her back to the present.
"Elsa!" Anna exclaimed, growing more worried for her sister. What was going on?
Elsa continued to sob, no longer silent. She cried loudly, losing control of her breathing.
"Elsa please," Anna held her sister tightly, "please, tell me what happened."
Elsa continued to cry. Anna embraced her sister firmly, waiting patiently for her to calm down. The room seemed noticeably colder than when they had entered, but Anna did not shiver.
After a few minutes, Elsa regained some control of herself and looked at her sister.
"It was my fault," she said, barely audible.
"What was—" Anna began, but Elsa cut her off.
"It was me!" Elsa yelled as tears streaming down her face once again. "I was the one who hurt you! I'm the reason you had to be kept away from me! It was the only way that you could be safe!"
Anna looked at her sister, shocked and confused. When had Elsa hurt her? She couldn't remember anything like that ever happening.
"We were in the ballroom," Elsa continued, "You wanted to build a snowman. I just wanted to spend time with you; I wanted to make you happy. Your smile lit up my world, Anna. Seeing you so excited made me the happiest sister ever. Anna I'm so sorry…" Elsa trailed off, falling back into heavy sobbing.
Anna sat, confused. A snowman? She remembered this happening in the summer time.
"Elsa," she said slowly, "Elsa that was a summer night, are you sure you aren't thinking of something else?"
Elsa looked at Anna, an unmistakable look of worry strewn across her tear-stained face.
"Anna, I need to show you something," she managed to say quietly as she removed her gloves with shaking hands.
Anna watched as Elsa held her hands in front of her, palms up.
"Are you ready?" Elsa's soft voice held the same feeling of fear that was conveyed in her eyes as she looked at Anna.
Anna looked into her sister's eyes, having no idea what to expect, and nodded.
Elsa drew in a deep breath.
Anna gasped. Gorgeous wisps of snowflakes and ice flourished forth from Elsa's open palms, congregating in a large, single, beautiful snowflake that hovered in front of them.
Anna sat speechless as memories flooded back to her. That night…the ballroom…the snow…she remembered it all. Olaf, ice skating, jumping from snow hill to snow hill…her thoughts trailed off. The accident that Elsa mentioned, she remembered. How Elsa had called for her to slow down, to be careful, the fall…
Anna looked up and burst into tears. In front of her sat a little snowman with an oversized head, small coal eyes, and a misshapen, carrot nose.
"Anna, I'm so sorry," Elsa said to her.
Anna shook her head, laughing through her uncontrollable tears.
It was Elsa's turn to wait for her sister to calm down.
"No, Elsa," she said finally, sniffling, "please, just promise me one thing."
"Anything," Elsa responded, her fresh smile overtaking the sadness that had so recently painted her expression.
"Promise me that you and I can go back to how we were when we were kids," Anna said, looking hopefully at her sister.
Elsa beamed, her eyes and smile radiating the warmth and happiness that had been vacant from them for so long.
"I promise," she answered softly, taking Anna's hand in her own.
Anna laughed in relief as Elsa wiped a lone remaining tear from Anna's face. They hugged each other tightly.
"So," Anna said as they finally released from their embrace, "should we get back to the party? I need tell a certain prince that I'm definitely not looking to be getting married any time soon."
Elsa chuckled. "That sounds good to me!" she replied.
Anna opened the door for her sister, who was now walking with a bit more skip in her step.
"You know what I could really go for right now…" Anna said as she followed Elsa out the door.
"Hmm…" Elsa thought aloud, suddenly smirking, "Chocolate?"
Anna grinned at her sister mischievously.
