All they ever did was argue, it seemed. Even when she was younger and used to eat meals with the other members of her family, they had argued. She knew it was her fault. She was the one with ice powers she couldn't control. She was the one who has nearly killed her sister through one careless mistake. And now she was breaking up her parents' marriage to. She was a failure.
"Idun, Elsa's powers are getting stronger! We need to do something!"
"But we don't need to be that drastic!"
"Yes, we do! Look, Idun, people are getting suspicious. They're wondering why we don't open the gates and why we have next to no servants. Anna is becoming a young lady! She needs to learn some social skills. She talks to paintings, for goodness sake!" Idun's reply was too quiet to hear. But Elsa knew what she would say. She would agree with everything her father said, agreed with her being sent away to the very furthest reaches of Arrendale, where she would stay until she mastered her powers, or became Queen. But she knew that by then, Anna would be married and living somewhere else, where she could be happy without her big sister constantly hurting her. Elsa felt in her heart that if she left, she would never see Anna again.
But maybe that's for the best, she reasoned. Anna would be able to have friends and be happy and she would be able to let her powers go without fear of hurting anyone. Besides, she didn't deserve to stay here, when all she caused was trouble. Some days, she wondered why her parents kept her when they discovered she had ice powers. All she ever caused was misfortune for everyone around her. Especially Anna. Her little baby sister, who never deserved to almost die, and then be shut out by her and the rest of the world. Anna shouldn't be cooped up inside the castle. She was like a light, full of hope and brightness and happiness and she was trapped inside the palace where nobody else could see her. It wasn't fair. And it was Elsa's fault.
"Right, that's decided then. We'll tell Elsa after the trip."
Later that day, Elsa curtseyed to her parents as they prepared to leave the palace.
"Do you have to go?"
"You'll be fine, Elsa." Her father assured her and her mother nodded. She hadn't hugged them since she was thirteen. She would never hug them again. She watched as they left the palace and hastening up to her room, saw them as they climbed aboard the boat that would take them to some obscure wedding which they had told Elsa nothing about, but after all, it wasn't her business.
Four weeks later, she received the news her parents were dead. They had drowned at sea. As Gerda told her the news, she made a move to hug her, but Elsa flinched back. She felt completely numb inside and frost was starting to creep up her arms. She excused herself quickly and walked up to her room.
On the day of the funeral, she didn't attend. Instead she sat against the door, frozen to the core, until a gentle knock startled her.
"Elsa, please I know you're in there.
People are asking were you've been.
They say have courage,
And I'm trying to,
I'm right out here for you.
Just let me in.
We only have each other,
It's just you and me.
What are we gonna do?
Do you wanna build a snowman?"
And for the first time since her parent's death, she found that she could cry. The frost broke and tears began to fall down her cheeks readily. She laid her head in her arms and silently cried. She cried for her parents and Anna, who would never be happy, away from her, and most of all, she cried for the little girl in a frozen room, who blamed herself for everything.
It had never been her fault.