Chapter 2
"Aaaanna," Elsa murmured gently, nudging her sister's shoulder. "Anna, come on, land is just ahead of us," she said softly.
Anna had fallen asleep quickly, and had to be woken just as quickly. Kristoff became defensive at Elsa's first attempt to wake her sister, but she insisted that it would not do to have Anna carried into Arendelle just when all of its inhabitants had learned that she hadn't killed her sister after all. Kristoff begrudgingly agreed, but let out a small groan every time Elsa's attempts proved fruitless.
"Gah, see? She's exhausted, Elsa, just let her sleep," he begged once more, concern touching his brow as he looked uneasily upon his odd companion.
Both Elsa and Kristoff let out sharp breaths of air as Anna's eyelids flicked and she gave a soft groan, her lips parting slightly as she attempted to raise herself up. Elsa helped her into a sitting position and Anna rubbed her face sleepily, letting out a huge yawn and opening tired eyes to see first Elsa, her face a smooth petal filled with light amusement, and behind her stood Kristoff, smiling hugely, relief radiating off of him in waves.
"Did I fall asleep?" Anna asked, confused. She was met with light laughter, and she sat up straighter, feeling suddenly belittled.
"I'm afraid you've been asleep for the whole process of the ship floating fifteen minutes to land; you fell asleep right before we set out." Elsa told her softy, glad to see that at least the circles under her eyes had lightened.
Anna's eyes grew slightly. "Wh- Bu- But I…" she trailed off, sounding disappointed, almost frantic.
"What is it, sweetie?" Elsa asked, worry settling on her shoulders once again, as she rubbed her sister's back, trying to wake her up more fully.
"I really wanted to talk to you, Elsa, but we barely got two minutes and then I fell asleep!" Anna groaned, clearly exasperated with herself.
Elsa, however, just got more worried.
"What are you talking about, Anna? We have all the time in the world to talk," she reminded her, trying to get her to stand up.
Anna simply slumped back down, looking for all the world like a two-year-old about to cry; her face was scrunched up and red with tiredness, her small frame shaking slightly with bottled-up feeling.
"No, Elsa, we don't," she began, "What if you go back in your room again? You won't ever come out! Please, Elsa, just wait with me awhile longer, I- I don't want to go home. Please?" Anna implored, looking up sadly at her sister, one tear already rolling down her reddened cheeks.
Elsa nearly lost it- nearly grabbed her sister up and clutched her in her arms, sobbing, assuring Anna that she would never leave her… But in Anna's overly-exhausted state, she knew that might just upset her even further.
"Anna," she crooned, "Everything's alright..."
Kristoff could only stare. He had never heard Elsa speak so gently before, like she might destroy the secret to happiness if she spoke in any manner harsher.
"I won't leave, Anna, i promise, I'm right here.. Shh.. It's alright," she continued, until Anna's shaking slowed and she settled into her sister's side.
"Don't leave me," Anna said weakly, struggling for an upright position, remembering that Elsa and Kristoff had woken her for a reason.
"I won't, sweetheart, I promise," Elsa said in that bubble-soft voice again, supporting her sister by her right arm with both of her hands. Anna leaned heavily into Elsa, eyes closing frequently until she jerked herself awake each time, always making sure Elsa was there with her.
Kristoff supported her other side, and by the time they were twenty feet inland, they were practically carrying Anna.
A carriage arrived to bring them the next half a mile to the castle, and Kristoff lifted Anna in easily, letting Elsa get in next. He hesitated.
"Um," he started, thinking of the reindeer he had in the ship still, of the home he had with the trolls, and most of all, of the small shape huddled by Elsa.
The Queen realized the reason for his delay at once.
"Oh, yes," she started, a bit flustered; she hadn't realized just how tired she was, too. "You are- Well, I mean, of course you're welcome to stay as long as you like," Elsa started, feeling completely inadequate speaking with the reason she and her sister were still alive.
But Kristoff just let out a big breath.
"Great," he enthused, "I really would appreciate it- I mean, Sven's still freaked out from falling in the water, and we're both tired, and-"
"More than welcome." Elsa stated firmly. "As long as you want. You'll always be welcome here." she finished, stroking her sister's forehead and watching her closely as she took deep steady breaths, already deep in sleep.
Kristoff smiled and shut the carriage door, walking back to get Sven from the makeshift stable he had prepared for him.
In the carriage, Elsa was falling.
Hans stood above her, sword held high. Even Elsa could tell that, and she was turned away, head in her hands. Elsa looked around frantically- where was Anna?! She was just there- in her arms- asleep! Where was she?!
She heard dark laughter float from behind her and finally turned to see the metal glinting at her. wielded by the man she now knew was her sister's tormenter.
"She's dead because of you!" he yelled out, laughing even louder, his laughter turning high-pitched, crazy, uncontrolled- his image split and the Duke of Weselton's goons tore from the sides of Han's form. Elsa gasped- in the thicker one's arms hung Anna, limp across his outstretched forearms, his hands curled like claws against her soft shape.
Elsa let out a sound which can only be described as an animalistic roar, seeing her sister in danger the only incentive for her to keep going. She ran towards him, and yanked Anna easily out of his arms. Clutching her sister close, she looked around for any further intrusion, but found only smoke where the three traitors had been. Elsa sighed, collapsing to her knees as she looked at her baby sister in her arms-
and screamed. Anna was frozen solid, her eyes opened in fear, the rest of her limp in Elsa's arms.
No. No, no, no, no NO! Elsa thought, not able to form coherent words. No, if only she hadn't interfered, if only she had let Kristoff take her… No!
Suddenly, she heard her name being called from far away, and saw a faint silhouette approaching.
Good, she thought, maybe it will be Kristoff and he will be so angry with me that he'll kill me. She prayed for death.
"Elsa!" she heard, closer, now, and felt herself be pushed- which caused her sister to tumble from her arms. Elsa reacted quickly, but not fast enough; Anna was shattered.
"NOOOO!" the denial ripped its way out of Elsa's throat, tearing vocal chords along the way, and she thought she could see the figure running towards her, even behind her eyelids; it was definitely a feminine shape.
"Elsa! Please!" the voice screamed again, and Elsa noticed the voice was agonized, crying, and she was pushed over once again, this time landing froward on her hands and knees. Wait, what? There was no sign of her broken sister, and Elsa's sobs abated some, became oddly quiet in her panicky search for her sister.
"Anna?!" she called frantically, "ANNA?!" she spread her hands out on the ice, searching for pieces of her sister to bury, to give to Kristoff to bury while she buried herself, and suddenly, the ice cracked, broke- and Elsa fell in. Gasping, she swallowed water, and couldn't breathe, was inhaling the water. Good…. she thought again, My sister has been avenged..
"ELSA! PLEASE! JUST WAKE UP! She heard torn from a scratchy throat. She slowly opened her eyes to see her sister in the water with her, banging her fists on the impossible ice, beating them bloody as she tried to escape.
"ANNA!" Elsa tried to scream, but her mouth just filled with water- with her sister's blood- and
Elsa screamed and broke through the surface, coughing harshly, and pushing at the figure directly above her. The coughing fit lasted a good five minutes, and she was presented with water from shaking hands.
"Here, drink this," she was instructed by a terrified voice, shaking and raw with tears.
Elsa took the cup of water in violently shaking hands, spilling some before it reached her mouth, and when she tried to drink from it, there was only one swallow; Elsa rubbed her eyes open with her forearm and looked inside the cup- its contents were frozen. She coughed a few more times and breathed heavily, her body trembling violently.
She felt someone rubbing her back roughly but with tenderness also, and looked to her left to see a tear-streaked Anna, her lower lip trembling and her eyes wide with worry and- was that.. fear?
"Oh!" Elsa huffed, trying to scoot away from Anna; Anna should never be afraid, and if she was the one making her afraid she would do everything to put herself as far away as possible. Instead, Anna's arms wrapped tightly around Elsa's shaking figure.
"Anna-" she tried to choke out, quickly realizing her voice was no more than a croak, "N-n-n-no, y-you're af-f-fraid of m-m-me," she chattered out, her throat growing persistently more raw as she continued. Anna simply held her tighter.
When Elsa's shaking finally slowed, Anna went back to just rubbing her back as Elsa looked around, horrified at what she saw- she had frozen the whole room; ice, a handspan thick coated the walls and the floor, and the window had shattered it had frozen over so completely, and her bed was ice, as was all of her furniture. She dared a look at Anna and almost regretted it: the girl was almost blue, shivering harshly in just her nightgown, and her eyes were still so scared.
A whimper escaped Elsa's throat and she covered her mouth with her hand. Anna tried to embrace her again, but Elsa pushed her hand away, trying her best to get out a sentence conveying her worry over the cold against Anna's skin, to no avail. She just sobbed brokenly until her breathing calmed down.
"Anna, you really shouldn't be here," Elsa told her, ice creeping along the backs of her hands as her emotions were finally at a level that emitted such a reaction.
Anna shook her head quickly. "No way, Elsa, there's no way I'm letting you go through this alone," her voice was hardly better than Elsa's, scraped raw from screaming, from trying to get her sister to wake up.
"Anna, no," Elsa started again, her voice calmer, more steady, "really, please, just give me a minute to calm down-"
"Look around you, Elsa. The worst has already passed."
Elsa couldn't really argue with that: the window was broken, and that had never happened.
"Let's at least go in your room, Anna, and get you out of this cold," she reasoned, wishing she could warm Anna's freezing skin.
"Okay," Anna succumbed, "let's go," she held an arm out to Elsa, and Elsa gripped onto it with a grateful smile which turned into a grimace when her sister wasn't looking.
They finally reached Anna's room, and walked right through the open door. Anna settled a still-shaking Elsa onto the bed and went in search of some big blankets. Returning with several a few moments later, she laid them horizontally across hers and Elsa's legs. She noticed that Elsa's face was blank and her eyes far away. She didn't dare touch Elsa right now- the girl would surely flinch -so she simply asked,
"Do you wanna talk about it?"
Elsa inhaled sharply, her frame stiffening.
"No," she said quietly, shaking her head and seeming like she was searching her hands folded in her lap for all the answers in the universe.
Anna nodded silently, and just tugged on her sister's shoulder, urging her to lay down, she finally succeeded after a few tries, and Elsa curled up on her side, watching her sister watching her.
"I'm so sorry, Anna," she said in a brittle voice, closing her eyes against the images she kept seeing over and over again as she absorbed her sister's features. At least she wasn't blue anymore, though she still shivered a little.
Anna put her hand slowly through Elsa's bangs, careful not to startle the girl.
"The storm.." Anna began. Elsa shut her eyes; there had been a storm? And Anna had seen it, had been there?! Anna saw the panic bubble up in her sister and hurriedly finished, "It went.. around me."
Elsa's head snapped up in surprise.
"It…what..?" she asked in a whisper, afraid to puncture this moment.
"I mean, sure I was cold," Anna began babbling, seeing her sister's apparent interest, "I mean, you did freeze your whole room, and being around ice makes anyone cold- well, I guess not you- because, well, you know…" Silence filled the room for several minutes until Anna continued. "But nothing… hit me or anything. I mean, nothing. Not one snowflake. There was a blizzard and everything, and you were screaming so loud that I actually didn't notice at first but… It avoided me. Like, it knew, Elsa," she finished in a hushed whisper.
Elsa took all this in, absorbing this new information. How? she thought. It just…knew? She released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, the air shuddering out of her lungs in shaky gasps as tears poured down her face in thankful gallons. Anna held Elsa tight, telling her over and over again that it never touched her, that it knew.
And Elsa finally let herself hope enough to sleep.
Anna stayed up for an hour or so more, just watching her sister sleep. Elsa's face was serene, save for the pucker between her eyebrows where her stress lay. Anna rubbed her thumb over the stubborn line, smoothing it out with some difficulty. She left her hand on Elsa's face and the sleeping girl relaxed further, her face softening. At least while she was asleep she trusted herself, Anna thought. She reached under a blanket and four ELsa's hand, gripping it in hers, twining their fingers together.
"I knew you would always protect me, Elsa," she whispered, content that her sister was sound asleep, that there would be no more screaming tonight, no more blizzards, no more Elsa thrashing terrifyingly on the bed, screaming Anna's name and Anna struggling to get through to her for what seemed like hours...
For now, there was only this.