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'Kay peeps, here's the next and last installment.
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Elsa was an avid learner.
She loved to learn new things and apply them practically, to figure out how things worked or be proven wrong about things she thought were right. She had learnt many things during her isolation in order to distract herself from her reality. And thus having practised the habit for so long, she found herself in her study, still awake whilst the whole castle and most probably the entire kingdom, were fast asleep. The other reason she had to stay up so late – or early – was because her sister had convinced the Queen that the need to build a snowman had far outweighed the need to do 'kingdom thingies' as Anna called them.
So now she had to catch up on the work she would've finished earlier because the need to build a snowman had in fact outweighed the other.
Cerulean eyes felt heavy as she read the minister of agriculture's flowing scrip describing the effect the sudden winter had had on their crops farther inland. Three weeks had passed since that fateful day, and Elsa thanked the gods repeatedly each time a report informed her that her magic had not affected her kingdom in any negative way. She was planning on making a trip throughout her kingdom to put her people's minds at ease about her powers. All of this had already been discussed with Kai, her most trusted advisor, but she had yet to discuss the possibility of a kingdom wide tour with her sister and convince herself that she wouldn't freeze the kingdom again if she decided to go through with this.
Her fear had lessened, in regards to her powers, but it still leaped whenever she thought about seeing people she didn't know and then trying to convince said people that she is not a wicked Ice Witch of the West. Still, her logical side usually fought off her irrational fear when she thought of how her people in Arendelle had accepted her. Perhaps things would've turned out worse if her magic had damaged the kingdom more drastically…
Elsa shuddered, banishing images of burning torches and pitchforks out of her mind.
Glancing up at the grandfather clock in her study, she stretched and became aware of how tired she truly was. It wasn't unusual for her to stay awake until the early hours of the morning, she had stayed up until three hours before dawn a few times before, trying to right the wrongs her Winter in Summer had caused, like fixing the numerous ships that had been destroyed on the fjord during her blizzard, stranding dignitaries for an indefinite amount of time.
She glanced at the clock again, then down at the report. Its flowing scrip started to move and grow like the crops it was describing. She rubbed her eyes, the words had returned to normal when she looked at them again.
Perhaps it's time to call it a night. she thought pushing her chair away from her desk.
Walking down the hall towards her bedroom, she had to pass her sister's door to get to her's. The blonde's sleepy brain vaguely detected an abnormality in the air and Elsa paused with a frown. She stood in the darkened hallway and listened.
Not a sound was heard.
Elsa fervently enjoyed the silence and would often retreat to a secluded area just to be… but tonight the silence made her uneasy. Something was missing. Some or other noise. She had trouble putting two and two together for her mind had already decided to fall sleep, she stood there blinking slowly. As soon as the dots connected, her head whipped around towards her sister's door.
It was quiet.
The usual pulsing snore that Anna was famous fo,r couldn't be heard. Elsa's sleepiness fell away so quickly, she stumbled standing still.
"Calm down…" she told herself as she turned towards the door. "She's probably still in there."
Taking a deep breath to quieten her stirring magic, Elsa opened the door to the familiar room. It opened noiselessly making the blonde wish something had disturbed the silence, hoping her sister's snores would. Icy eyes found the bed easily as well as the lump that thereon.
"Anna?" she called softly, concerned that her sister wasn't really moving or splayed out like she normally was.
She took a step forwards, and another and another until she stood right next to the bed and could clearly see her sister breathing, even though the redhead's back was towards her. The frown Elsa had worn since she had become aware of the silence didn't lessen, it deepened into legitimate concern.
Anna was breathing, but she was breathing too quickly for it to be normal. It's like she had been running. She was panting. After every other gust of breath, Elsa heard a whimper of sorts emitting from the bundle on the bed.
"Anna?" she called a little louder, walking around the bed to face her sister. "Are you alright?"
The redhead didn't respond leading Elsa to believe that she might still be asleep. Anna's teeth were bared in what looked like a grimace of pain, her eyes screwed shut so tightly it looked as if she truly was in pain.
"Anna? W-wake up."
Elsa was beginning to become frightened. Had she unintentionally hurt her sister again? Is she suffering from having been frozen just weeks prior? The temperature dipped ever so slightly, but she kept a tight hold on it. She could control her magic now.
Love.
Love was the answer.
No. Elsa sifted through her memories made earlier that day. No, I didn't hurt her. That stripe hadn't returned. But then why…?
The young woman kneeled and took a deep, calming breath. Her magic stilled inside of her, leaving it to hover close to the surface instead of bucking and rearing for an escape.
"Anna?" she tried again, reaching out to brush her red hair out of her face, the hair that had already made its upward accent into the air during her slumber.
As soon as Elsa's cool hand touched Anna's forehead, teal eyes snapped open and she jerked upright in bed. The eldest flinched at the sudden movement and lost her balance, falling backwards onto her rear. She sat on the floor looking up at her sister gasping for breath while rubbing her arms warm. Had she let the temperature drop again? No. She could feel her magic swirl inside her, restless, but it had not reached the point where she'd affect the environment around her.
Not yet anyway.
"Anna?" she whispered, uncertain as to what else she should do.
The youngest started at the unexpected noise and looked to her right, barely seeing her sister sitting on the floor looking up at her with wide eyes.
"Elsa?" she asked, confusing ringing in her voice. "W-what are you doing?"
"I-I came in to see if you were alright and…" she hesitated, climbing to her feet again, "A-are you alright?"
Silhouetted against the moonlight streaming in from the triangular window, Elsa looked down at her sister and worried her lip. Anna suppressed a shiver at the image her sister made, it reminded her of the nightmare she had been having: of Hans silhouetted against the light flooding into the library as he loomed over her freezing form.
"Yeah," she closed her eyes and took a calming breath, "I'm fine. What time is it?" Anna asked looking up at her sister again.
"Just past three, I think."
"Did I wake you?"
"No…I was already awake." Elsa shifted from one foot to the next, wringing her hands anxiously. "Are you sure you're okay? It looked like you were in pain just now…"
Anna sighed and rubbed her face tiredly. She hadn't really been sleeping well. Nightmares plagued her during her sleep frequently; sometimes she had three consecutive terrors, like tonight. She'd wake from one only to fall back into another. Keeping it a secret from her sister had been difficult, but she's had years of practise at putting on a brave face. Her sister didn't need to worry about her when she already had enough to worry about as is.
When Anna lowered her hands, they fell limply to her lap. She couldn't hide it anymore. She had to talk with her sister.
"C-could you sit next to me?" She whispered.
"Alright." Elsa answered just as quietly, trying to smile "Move over."
Anna shuffled over and opened the covers to admit her sister, with an unseen raised eyebrow Elsa slipped off her shoes and climbed under the covers. Both sisters sat back against the headrest, staring into the darkness blanketing Anna's room. Elsa dared a glance at her sister to see her fidgeting with her hands in her lap.
"What's wrong Anna?" she asked silently.
"Don't be mad." The redhead blurted.
"Why would I –? Did you break something again?"
"What? No, no I haven't…okay fine I did – but that's not why you shouldn't be mad."
Elsa felt herself smile in the darkness, "Why then?"
Anna sighed and hugged her knees to her chest, a gesture Elsa had realised early on meaning that she was insecure about something. Her red bedhead dropped to her knees and she mumbled her answer.
"Excuse me?"
The youngest repeated herself without lifting her head from her knees.
"You didn't want a furry me?" Elsa asked, saying what she thought she heard her sister mumble. "I have a fur gown, if that's ehat you're talking about. It had been sent as a gift from Russia, but I haven't worn it ever. And I'm not planning to. Imagine the image I'll create – I'd really look like the Snow Queen if I did."
"What?" Anna asked lifting her head, bemused. "I didn't say anything about fur. Wait, you have a fur gown?"
"It's somewhere at the back of my closet, along with all the other dresses I had been given…"
"Ugh, like that vile orange dress that looks more like a pumpkin than anything else?"
"Among others." Elsa smirked, relaxing against the headrest. The silence returned.
"I didn't want to worry you." Anna confessed softly.
"Worry me in what way?"
Another sigh escaped the redhead's lips. "I didn't want you to worry…about…me."
"Are you hurt?" Elsa asked concerned, "Did Kristoff –"
"Kristoff didn't do anything." Anna interrupted before her sister jumped to conclusions. "We're just getting to know each other. That's all."
"Okay…" This is awkward. "So, why – ? Anna, just tell me what's wrong."
"What got your legwarmers in a twist?" Anna countered somewhat angrily, "You're not the one who had to fight through three nightmares already."
"Anna," the eldest sighed, exasperated, "I haven't gone to sleep yet. I'm tired. I had to catch up on the work that I – Wait, what do you mean 'three nightmares'?"
A shuffled noise answered her question. Elsa assumed that noise meant that Anna had shrugged, but she couldn't be sure with it being as dark as it was.
"Could we light a lamp? I can't see – "
"No." Anna interrupted quickly, then softened her tone, "No, I-I feel more comfortable in the dark…"
"Okay." Elsa paused, trying to figure out what to say or ask first. She looked over at her sister still holding her legs and decided on her first question. "How long have you been having these nightmares?"
Another shuffling noise answered.
"Anna, I can't help you if you don't talk to me…"
The redhead tightened her hold on her legs. "Since the Thaw."
"The Thaw? You've been having nightmares for three weeks and you haven't told me?" Her tone wasn't accusatory, but Anna could hear sorrow in her sister's soft voice.
"I didn't want you to worry…" Anna repeated, trying to excuse it, feeling guilty that she had made her sister sad.
"It's my job to worry Solskinn," Elsa stated using the same term of endearment their mother had used, "Especially about you."
That did it.
That term, Solskinn meaning sunshine in Norwegian, was wat broke Anna's hesitancy and the last of her resolve to keep Elsa in the dark. Anna rested her head against her sister's shoulder causing the eldest to twitch at the sudden contact, but she didn't pull away. Instead she pulled her sister closer, the two of them settling down in the bed.
"I…" Anna sighed curtly, resting her head underneath Elsa's chin "I've been having nightmares about…what happened…"
Elsa closed her eyes and held her sister tighter, images of her frozen form flashed before her eyes.
She's scared of my powers, of me…That's why she didn't tell me…
"It usually involves Hans locking me up in the library to freeze to death." Anna continued in an abnormal monotone, "Sneering in my face that he'd already killed you. Or I'd be on the fjord…"
Anna took a deep breath, stilling her emotions, "I'd try and stop him – from hurting you, but I'd freeze too early and so slowly. Just inches away from you. And…I'd watch him r-run you through… I wouldn't be able to stop him."
Elsa waited for her sister to gather herself in the darkness.
"W-what's the third one?" she asked, opening her eyes to stare at the canopy.
"What?"
"You said that you had three nightmares…what's the third one?"
"Oh," Anna sighed, frowning, "That's one I hate the most…Remember when you told me about the…thing that happened at your Ice Palace with Weaseltown's goons?"
Elsa nodded, unable to trust her voice.
"This nightmare is the craziest, because I wasn't there. There are so many different scenarios that play out…"
She dreams about me killing them…I won't think of her any differently, I dream about that all the time…It's almost as bad as any nightmare with Anna in it.
"It always ends the same." Anna's voice interrupted her thoughts, "With them…k-killing you. And, and I can't stop them."
"Do you have others?" Elsa asked, needing to hear if her sister is afraid of her powers and what they can do as much as Elsa sometimes still is.
"No, those three are the ones I always dream about."
Could it be that her sister is not afraid of her powers?
She's definitely afraid of losing her, that much the blonde understood…but could it really be? Anna had burst into her room many a time in the past three weeks when Elsa had been having nightmares, so it would seem that she wasn't afraid at all. She had comforted the blonde in glacial temperatures wearing whatever she could get her hands on to brave the cold. It's even got to the point that Elsa had hung up an ice hook next to her door laden with winter clothes, so that Anna wouldn't have to struggle to get warm.
Now it was Elsa's turn to comfort her sister.
"You do realise that the dreams aren't real, right?" she asked, using the same words her sister uses each time she wakes Elsa up from a nightmare.
Anna nodded against her chest.
"And that I'm not planning on going anywhere any time soon, right?"
Another nod, albeit a bit hesitant.
"It's true Anna." Elsa affirmed, hugging her closer, "I won't leave you. Never again."
"W-what about the tour through the kingdom?"
"How'd you –?"
"I was walking passed your study when you were talking with Kai about it earlier today."
"Oh…I was going to discuss it with you at breakfast. Do you think that's why you were having these nightmares?"
Anna shrugged, "Could be, dunno."
"I am planning on leaving for a tour alone," the blonde confessed quietly, "but I'm never going to leave you again."
"How does what you just said make any sense?"
Elsa could hear the grin in her sister's voice, "But it does make sense, doesn't it?"
Anna made an affirmative noise, snuggling closer to her sister. They were silent for a while, revelling in the comfort they can give each other.
"Anna?"
"Hm?" came the sleepy answer.
"Can I sleep here tonight?"
"Thought you already were."
Alright, that's that. I've had some fun figuring out what each sister would do in this situation...perhaps you differ in what I have written, please drop a review or PM and we can gush about the characters :)
Until next time.