Title: I Dreamt of You

Disclaimer: I don't own Frozen, or any of its characters – including the ones from other Disney films that cameo in this fic.

Enjoy!


Chapter One – Freshman Encounters


"Anna!"

There was a series of sharp, rapid-fire knocks against the girl's door.

"Hnnnnghh…?"

"Are you up yet, Princess?"

"M'yeah, yeah, I'm up…see?" The strawberry-blonde made a drunken attempt to swing her legs across the bed and onto the floor.

"Arrrrgggggggggggggggh!"

Thump – thud!

"Anna!"

"Ngggh…" Anna gritted her teeth in pain, but could not stop the tears from forming at the corners of her eyes.

"Not again…" She croaked.

The girl opened her bleary eyes a crack.

A pair of bunny slippers swam into view.

She blinked.

Their blue, fluffy faces loomed in the dark over her freckled nose just inches away, and stared down at her mockingly.

"Ish foo mearrly fo' ishh…" She moaned into the lacquered wooden tiles, her eyelids drooping shut.

As if in reply, the first rays of the morning sun lanced through the gaps in the curtains and fell upon her disgruntled face like an accusing spotlight.

"Right on cue…" She grumbled, blowing her unkempt hair out of her eyes.

"Anna, you haven't forgotten about today, have you?" The deep voice enquired almost casually from behind the door.

Anna froze instantly.

T-today?

Ah! Arendelle High!

She climbed to her feet in a clumsy struggle.

"Dad! I'm up, I'm up!"

She raced to the door with renewed energy, wrenched it open – and looked up into the smiling face of her father.

"I'm so excited!" She breathed, catching him in a bear hug.

Her father chuckled in amusement. Anna had spent what had seemed like every waking moment for the past month chattering about being accepted into Arendelle High, the most lauded boarding school in the land.

"Well, you had better get dressed then, if we are to be on time today…"

"I'll get dressed right this instant!" She promised, her teal eyes shining with delight.


The seminar room was hot and stuffy to say the least. It was jam-packed with the entire troupe of student leaders in Arendelle High, and, to make things worse, possessed a very questionable air-conditioning unit.

A tall, platinum-blonde girl sighed softly as she looked upon the mass of increasingly frustrated students seated before her, all tugging at their heavy black-trimmed, cream blazers and fanning themselves with their hand-outs in complaint.

There they sat, chatting animatedly amongst themselves. Over a hundred of them.

Over a hundred pairs of eyes…

Soon to be trained on her…

Her lower lip began to quiver.

"Elsa."

The girl blinked in surprise as she felt a brush of hot breath against her ear.

"You'll be fine, Ms President." The deep velvety voice whispered encouragingly.

Elsa smiled faintly, without turning.

Thank you, Hans.

She stepped up to the podium and cleared her throat into the microphone…

…and simply waited.

The buzzing in the room died down gradually as a wave of elbow nudging and shushing spread across the room. A respectful and expectant silence ensued.

Elsa smiled serenely and nodded once in acknowledgement.

"Welcome, dear members of the Student Council and the House Committees."

Hans grinned from behind her, used to her pre-stage jitters by now. The exchange student had gotten very close to the platinum-blonde beauty over the past three weeks, and flattered himself to think he had her wrapped around his little finger.

Intelligent and beautiful.

Boy, am I glad I made the trip.

He gazed at her with open admiration. The boy was intrigued by her ability to plead such gut-wrenching vulnerability with her large china-blue eyes in one moment, and harden them into sapphires of steely resolve in the very next.

Every time she stood on stage, it felt as though she morphed into a different person. As if she adorned an invisible cloak of confidence, emanating power and command. She stood taller and more elegant than ever – more alive! She was…

as regal as any queen.

He could've sworn she even sparkled from certain angles.

"God, don't you all look hot in your blazers." Elsa declared, giving her student leaders a cheeky grin.

The girls in the crowd yelled out appreciatively, even as the boys wolf-whistled in consent.

The President laughed lightly at their response.

"We've got to get the air-conditioning fixed…" She commented with a shake of her head, to murmurs of general agreement.

"That's your job, Elsa!" A loud voice cried out from the back row, causing the crowd to erupt in helpless laughter. "Dammit, you're the President of the Student Council! Get your act together!"

"Yes, well, thank you for the lovely introduction, Eugene." She remarked dryly, her raised eyebrows speaking volumes. "I think you've summed up my job description quite nicely."

"It's Flynn!" The voice yelled back, prompting more giggles from the crowd.

"Anyway, let's get things rolling." Elsa hurriedly continued. "It's so hot in here, I'm getting all drenched…"

The boys in the crowd turned back to Elsa with renewed interest.

"Let me begin by first thanking all of you for being here on the start of a very special day. Arendelle High will be welcoming in a grand total of 650 students this year."

Her last remark was greeted with enthusiastic applause.

"Yes, they're a very select group of our land's luckiest freshmen…"

Snorts of laughter.

"…and as their big brothers and sisters, it is our responsibility to ensure they all feel welcome in their new home…which means no pranks like what happened last year!"

"What!" A senior protested suddenly. "But that's taking out all the fun!"

"Is kidnapping a freshman on his first night in school and leaving him in the middle of a busy highway your idea of fun, Gaston?"

"Well, to be fair, that kid was a bit of a douchebag."

"Hey!" Another voice rang out from the crowd. "That incident has traumatised me for life!"

"Oh, Simba. Sorry, I didn't see you there, little bud."

"Gaston," Elsa began, her voice dreadfully quiet.

"Come on, Ms President…" He stood up in a fit of passion and almost begged of the buzzing crowd. "What about tradition? Of what Arendelle High stands for?"

"You mean our school motto: Keep Calm, Let It Go? I don't see the relevance, frankly."

"Shut up, you dork! Obviously he's trying to say we shouldn't be so uptight!"

"No, why don't you shut up! You're the one with the stick up your rear!"

"Why don't you all just shut up!"

"You know, speaking of butts, I've always found our motto inspiring…particularly in the lo–"

"Enough!" Elsa ordered, immediately silencing the lot of bickering students.

"We stick to the programme. No pranks." She expressed firmly. "Any objections?"

…but the President's stern gaze seemed to quell all of their objections. She nodded, satisfied.

"Now, if you would all refer to your hand-outs for the day's events…"


"See you in two weeks!"

Anna pulled her parents in a rough embrace, who laughed fondly in reply and squeezed back.

The strawberry-blonde teen finally released her grip and stepped back, though her eyebrows creased in puzzlement. Her mother's hand still lingered on her shoulder.

"Anna, you will remember to take your–"

Anna's eyes grew stricken in an instant.

"–I will, Mum!" She quickly reassured, eyes darting to the sides to make sure no one was listening in. "Don't you worry!"

Not that she herself had anything to be concerned about. There were hundreds of parents and teens alike crowding the courtyard of Arendelle High, but the buzzing crowd was too busily engaged in tearful or raucous goodbyes to pay them any heed.

Her father ran his fingers though his fine dark-blonde hair.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all…" He commented gravely. "Perhaps we ought to just send her to a high school in our vicinity."

Anna's face was the picture of horror. "Dad, you promised!"

He grinned.

"I'm only kidding, Princess." The man laughed lightly at the sight of his pouting daughter, earning an eye roll from his gentle wife, who was not unamused.

"She'll be fine, my love." He said warmly, placing a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder. "Didn't you say your niece would look after her? Hmm…what was her name again…?"

Mrs. Landvik returned him a wan smile. "Rapunzel."

"That's right. Didn't you mention that she's in the student council? Anna will be safe with her around."

"Still…"

"Besides, Anna is no longer a child. She must learn to take care of herself…"

Anna tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear impatiently, barely listening to her parents anymore. Her eyes widened in amazement as she took in the magnificent scene before her. Arendelle High's grey walls seemed to stretch for miles around. It stood before her like an imposing and yet romantic medieval castle, complete with regal turrets topped with royal blue flags that fluttered crisply in the wind.

She sighed lustily.

"My prince awaits."


"Elsa?"

Silence.

"Did you hear what I just said?"

More silence.

"Helloooo? Ms President?"

Rapunzel waved a hand cheerily in front of her friend's face, jerking the latter out of her trance.

"Oh. Rapunzel."

The golden-haired girl looked at the brooding girl quizzically, and then back to the packed courtyard below.

What is she staring at?

"Is there a problem?" The pale beauty enquired politely, turning away from the window at last.

Rapunzel frowned as she studied her friend's troubled face.

"I was just about to ask you the same question." She replied carefully. "W-wait, where are you going?"

"I–I think I need a moment." Elsa muttered distractedly, heading for the stairs. "I'll be back shortly."

Rapunzel combed her fingers through her long golden tresses absently, biting her lower lip in worry.

Hmmm.


Mr. Landvik strode over to the array of parked cars and managed to find his car quite easily. He smiled as he spied a tan handbag in his car's back seat even from a distance.

Just where his daughter had said she left it. In plain view too. He shook his head. Anna was too careless.

He stretched out an arm to aim the car lock remote at his gleaming Jaguar, when he was interrupted by a quiet voice behind him.

"Greetings, Father. It's been awhile."

The dark-blonde man swivelled around in surprise, his arm still raised in mid action.

"You!" He choked, as he drank in the image of a tall, slender girl dressed in a well-fitted black trimmed, cream blazer, a crisp blue plaid skirt, and calf-high snow white socks as she slowly advanced towards him. Her platinum-blonde hair was combed neatly into a vivacious braid that flowed down her left shoulder.

The man turned away guiltily.

"I didn't know you schooled here." He finally muttered, when she stopped a few feet away.

"I suspected as much." She admitted with a small, sad smile.

An uncomfortable silence fell between them.

"Don't I get a hug?"

Her father's eyes snapped up and looked at her with a frown. There was just the slightest inflection to her tone.

"Elsa–" Her father began, taking a step towards her.

"Anna seems well."

"Elsa."

"I'm doing quite well for myself too, you know." She began in a strained voice, turning away from her father's outstretched hands. "I'm the President of the Student Council, Arendelle High's projected Valedictorian…and I've been the reigning Snow-flake Queen for the past three years."

She chuckled disparagingly at her last pronouncement.

"Silly, isn't it?" She met her father's eyes at last, and saw pity in his brown eyes.

Pity…

She smiled thinly, resisting the urge to scream.

"I'm sorry, Elsa." He said, taking another step towards her.

The girl's piercing blue eyes flashed dangerously.

"It's my fault." He murmured soothingly, placing a trembling hand on her shoulder. "I should never have abandoned you…"

Elsa jerked her shoulder out of his reach.

"Don't touch me!" She snapped huskily.

Her heart was beating fiercely and rapidly now. Blood pounding furiously in her ears.

How dare you tell me this now…

How dare you…

You of all people…

A sudden wave of dizziness nearly swept her off her feet.

"Elsa! Are you alright?"

Father…are you actually…concerned?

She started to laugh.

"Elsa?" A light, musical voice called hesitantly from afar.

The President of the Student Council looked up unsteadily to see her beautiful, golden-haired Secretary jogging towards her, a worried frown on her face.

"I–I have to go…" Elsa mumbled, grabbing on to her friend who immediately wrapped a supporting arm around her waist. "They n-need me…"

The Secretary carefully guided Elsa along the path back to the main school building as she threw confused backward glances at the tall, handsome middle-aged man who looked on in distress.

"Who was that guy, Elsa?" The girl asked tentatively.

Elsa swallowed thickly. "Just an old acquaintance."


"Dad's back with my purse!" Anna exclaimed, pointing out his silhouette to her mother.

Mrs. Landvik frowned. Something was wrong. His usually perfect posture was marred by the slight slump of his broad shoulders.

Hmm…

He trudged up to the two of them and handed Anna her purse wordlessly.

"Thanks Dad." She paused, and caught the look he gave his wife.

Her mother nodded in mute understanding.

"Why don't you have a look around first, dear." She suggested, turning to face her. "Your father and I wish to make sure we've covered every detail of your enrolment."

"S-sure, Mum." Anna said uncertainly. She was quite sure something was off. "See you guys later…"

But her parents had already begun to walk away, deep in conversation.

She shrugged her shoulders slightly and turned to leave when–

"Oooooomph!"


To be continued...