So hey guys. The last chapter for this story was greatly received so I've decided to update as soon as I could. However some sort of ridiculous mishap led to my computer receiving an early death therefore it may take me longer than is normal for me to make updates. I hope you peeps of the fic world can remain patient. Sorry again for the long wait, I do feel bad if that is any consolation.

The blood stained tank top Elsa had been wearing when she had landed in the glass still lay discarded in her sink when Elsa had woke the next day. Her bathroom wasn't very large but it was within the safe confines of her bedroom so she was quite happy with it, especially today and especially since Ashton had forbade her from going downstairs. The many cuts in her back still burned like fresh wounds but at least they weren't bleeding anymore. Granted she had to improvise with stitches by using the super glue that had been lying around her room to close up the two deep cuts that she was sure wouldn't close up without outside forces to assist. It had been difficult, she had been forced to bend her arms at odd angles to get the glue on either side of the laceration and although it had been a sloppy job, it stopped the bleeding. It ached horribly, as did the smaller superficial cut on her stomach, especially after she had slept on them to avoid sleeping on the ones lining her back. Overall it had been difficult to fall asleep and not just because of the discomfort of the wounds but because of her swirl of confusing emotions. On one hand she felt guilt for making Anna cry, after all who would want to hurt the person they had grown instantly attracted too? Yet on the other she felt somewhat appeased to know she had hurt the girl her own father clearly adored more than she herself who came from him. She felt like she was on both sides of a seesaw, fighting for the same direction, but just bouncing back and forth until one of both versions of her gave up.

She sighed loudly as she rolled over in bed, unable to sleep any longer thanks to the sun bleeding in from the cracks in her curtains. Her bed was just soft enough and her blankets warm enough that she could be content to remain curled up in it for the rest of the day, blocking out everything outside of its comfort. Except, just as she was about to pull her comforter over her head and go back to sleep, there was a knock on her door. Now she knew it couldn't be her father because he didn't knock, he simply entered. So that left Anna or her mother and, judging from the musical playfulness of the knock, it was Anna. The very person she was avoiding under strict rule by Ashton and her own self imposed law less she hurt the girl again in someway.

"Elsa? Are you awake? May I come in?" When Elsa didn't respond Anna knocked again once then twice before she walked away, her soft footfalls echoing around Elsa's room. And so began the tradition of neglect that would go on for far to long. If not every day, at least five times a week, Anna would venture up the stairs to the attic to give Elsa's door a knock and like the day before, Elsa would ignore her. Sometimes Elsa would be in the shower when Anna came up and couldn't hear it but had memorized the times that she came so knew regardless that Anna was out there. Around week three of ignoring her step-sister she began to feel sick with herself, guilt mounting ever higher within, because Anna's knocks switched from soft musical notes to three solid knocks. She was beginning to give up on Elsa, which was good but hurt no less, and showed when in week five no knocks came at all. She hadn't realized until they no longer came how much Elsa looked forward to them. It was pathetic really how she had grown so fond of a single knock to her door, a knock from a girl she was ignoring, because just that small sound made her feel a little less alone. Because that knock was Anna for her and no matter how long she sat in this room, the feelings she had for the strawberry blond didn't dissipate. If anything they grew stronger. During this entire time that her new family had lived here she hadn't interacted with them outside of the first time she met them all, as Ashton had ordered. It was difficult at first to sneak downstairs and get food when there wasn't anyone around but then, a week later, Ashton brought up a mini fridge for her to keep in her room. She hadn't needed to leave after that. He came up with food for it once a week or sooner depending on when they went shopping and, though it hurt to be left out, she liked that she didn't have to attempt slipping past the other two females. Sometimes, when she was lying in bed with nothing to do, she could hear their laughter downstairs and it really hurt especially when she hear Anna's sweet giggle float above all the others.

It was one of those days that she had nothing to do when her bubble was finally punctured. It was the 8 week mark, 2 long months of seclusion from her family, that there was, once more, a knock on her door. At first she thought it might be Anna again after such a long absence but the cadence was wrong, the knock far to shy to be Anna's aggressive knock.

"Elsa dear? May I come in?" She was right. Irene's musical voice drifted through the wood of her door and warmed Elsa's cold bones. No matter how uncomfortable with the woman she may be Elsa couldn't deny that everything about the woman screamed mother and always touched at the little girl in her hungry for such love. Over the duration of the time Elsa had been ignoring Anna, Irene would come upstairs for her dirty clothes to wash and bring back the clean ones immaculately folded and smelling a sweet fruity smell. They certainly weren't close but they had gotten use to each other. Elsa didn't flinch so much around her and had managed to ease her way into speaking a few words to her on occasionally though she still couldn't quite meet her eye or allow the woman to touch her. Irene herself had come to understand Elsa was a flighty girl not comfortable with other people and needed to be handled with the utmost delicacy else wise she'd fracture and flinch beneath her touch. Something about the girl made Irene want to love her more even though the more she tried, the further Elsa pushed her away. She couldn't place it but something, something dark and twisted, resided in the girl that made her this way, made her hate the world and fear everyone in it. It wounded the mother to think that someone so beautiful and sweet when she wanted to be was so injured. Before her daughter had given up on his older sister Irene had decided it would be her mission to bring this girl out of her shell. She had started small with little reasons to come up to her room and witness her in her natural habitat where she felt safe but soon–today in fact–she intended to put into plan her next step.

Elsa spun away from her desk in her computer chair, her blue framed glasses nearly flying off her face she had moved so quick. "Um," She jumped up to grab something–a pair of dingy grey sweats with holes in the them–to cover her legs since she had felt to lazy to put pants on today before she sat down at her computer to finish her homework, "Yes. Come in."

Irene flounced into the room all smiles and warm feelings as usual with an arm full of Elsa's folded clothes clutched tightly to her chest. She gave Elsa a friendly smile that the blond wanted to return but couldn't make her face do so she just dropped her head to watch her fingers twist around themselves in her lap. The move didn't go unnoticed by Irene, always watchful of Elsa's mannerisms. An awkward silence filled the air as Irene carefully stowed away Elsa's clothes for her and the blond continued to sit in her chair, head down, picking at her sweats. This was usual for them though so it was comfortable–somewhat–for Elsa despite how awful she felt. The guilt still swirled inside her, growing every day until it was beginning to feel like an entirely different entity that mocked her and laughed at her day in day out. Guilt for being such an awful step-daughter, guilt for being an awful step-sister, and guilt for being a dreadful human being that could never reach her fathers sky high standards. Around Ashton she felt it like a pulse beneath her skin, throbbing with reminders of her failure, but around Irene it was lesser, almost a non judged birthmark that she did well to ignore so Elsa would be more comfortable. It was...nice but terrifying.

Irene glanced up from putting away Elsa's personals at the stoic girl still trying hard to ignore her presence, " Elsa, I wanted to chat with you about something."

The blond tensed. Any time Ashton said those words to her it was because she was in trouble or he was taking something away from her. Once he had taken away her right to hot water for an entire month and it started with that sentence. Now he has passed the words onto Irene to use and this soft but quiet connection with the woman had been broken by this. She slumped in her chair, her shoulders caving into themselves in a very undignified way.

Irene noticed–she always did with Elsa it seemed–and hurried to correct her mistake, dropping the clothes in her hands back to the bed and coming around it towards Elsa. She didn't touch her, they had an unspoken rule about touching, but she did kneel down close to Elsa until the girl made eye contact with her.

"You didn't do anything wrong sweetheart. It isn't a bad talk, don't fret."

Elsa nodded but still didn't trust the woman. Distrust was unfortunately the only lesson her mother had left her with when she went away. That and scorning men led to years of misery and violence that would leave her stunted and neglected for the rest of her life.

Irene seemed to think she had Elsa's trust though as she nodded happily and gave the blond that warm Mamma smile that always punched Elsa in the stomach, "Anna is having a coming out party for one of her friends tonight. Or...a coming home party, I can't remember which. Kids seem to have parties for everything these days. Any who, your sister wanted me to invite you to it since she was to afraid to come ask you herself. Ashton and I will be out for the night, we are renting a cabin at the beach for a weekend to give you kids privacy, so I trust you with making sure things don't get out of hand okay? Anna has a habit of letting that happen with his strange group of friends."

Elsa blinked down at her pseudo mother in obvious surprise. Elsa was not a girl who mingled well with other people and that was absolutely attributed to the fact that she had never been forced too, not since she was a toddler. She didn't have social skills to lean on for making friends– she had never even had a real life friend for gods sake–yet this woman was asking her to oversee a party of strangers hosted by the girl she had been forbidden to interact with? The very idea of it had her trembling with fear.

"No Irene I don't think that's a very good idea at all. I'll just stay up here and, I promise, if I hear them getting to loud or something I'll...text Anna to turn it down or send them home."

"Don't be silly Elsa, you are invited to the party. Anna wants you there she just doesn't know how to ask. You two seemed to have gotten off on the wrong foot and this could be just the thing to set that straight. Please go?"

When Elsa didn't answer Irene stood with a sigh and made her way to leave but paused in the door way at the last second, peeking around at Elsa, "At least consider it dear." The door clicked shut behind her and Elsa listening to each of her soft steps hitting the wooden stairs on her way back down.

She felt torn. Seeing Anna again was something she wanted since the very moment Ashton had forbid it from happening even though jealousy was still very present. She already missed seeing the splash of pretty freckles coloring Anna's face and hearing her beautiful laughter up close. She truly wanted to be close to her sister even if she didn't know how to do it properly. Yet she knew if she accepted what Irene, and by proxy Anna, was offering her and Ashton found out she would suffer a beating the likes of which she had felt since that night they fist moved in. He had made that very clear and Elsa didn't think a million hours with Anna was worth a single punch from Ashton. It was a pleasant idea to entertain but not a wise one.

Once she went back to her writing the turbulent feelings inside her smoothed out, as they always did when she submerged herself into her fake worlds. That was one of the main reasons she loved writing this way and why she had chosen Creative Writing to be her major verses the more practical English major. The creative side to writing was too magical and compelling for her to ever turn her back on. Here pressing keys and watching words appear she could make a world of her very own, like magic from the fingers, beautiful and all her own. In these worlds she could live, happy and forgiven of everything, without Ashton there to belittle her and kill her with every word he spoke. In here she could be a queen that ruled with love or a witch that fought with great power, she could have a family that loved her and a wife that was endeared to her. Or she could be as broken and desolate as she was in real life, so lonely that every aching feeling constricting her heart bled into words for greedy eyes to eat up somewhere else in the world. But that was the best part, she could choose whether it was real or fake and no one would know the difference because they would be too engrossed with her beautiful construction.

Unfortunately she sometimes got to lost within her work and forgot all things around her like hunger or time. When she finally managed to pull herself out of the piece she was working on it was to find that the sun had gone down and music was filtering up through the floor into her room. Loud obnoxious laughter was ringing overtop the thumping base and the sounds of a group of people chattering, unfamiliar laughter that made her skin crawl. The party. She had nearly forgotten. God damn it. Nerves were already buzzing beneath the surface of her sun neglected skin. People, a whole throng of them, were down below and every one of them were unfamiliar to her. Without having her father home she felt like a solider on enemy territory boxed in from all sides without a way to escape. No way would she be going down there to mix into an environment that didn't suite her just so she could please Irene or make sure Anna didn't break anything.

But lord was she curious. She wanted to know about the company Anna kept, she wanted to see how Anna mingled with friends, she wanted to see the teen in her comfortable state. She wanted people to like her so that she could find out what its like to have friends and, if they liked her, then maybe Anna would like her too. Sighing she pulled off her glasses to rub the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. Decisions were the worst.

No, she wouldn't go down. She just wouldn't. But she still went to her closet to pull out an outfit she hoped would look nice on her or rather, would look nice on her and meet today's trends in the teen world. Since she did all of her shopping online she had massive amounts of fancy clothes or just plain weird clothes that she never wore. She only bought it because Ashton had given her his credit card and told her to buy new things. He may hate her but he despised thinking she didn't look her best at all times. There was a pair of skinny jeans in particular she adored but had never worn because she never felt she had a reason too. They were tight and barley fit over her curvy hips but flamboyant, flashing blue and white stripes that ran horizontally down her legs like a pair of prison pants. Even as she told herself she wasn't going downstairs she found herself slipping into them and changing out her top for a bright white v-neck top she coupled with a grey double breasted vest with a big floppy collar and silver buttons. And even though she told herself she wasn't going downstairs she was in the bathroom in front of the mirror, putting her long hair into a more elaborate version of the usual fishtail braid and slicking the flyaway bangs back with her fingers even though they just fell right back down, framing her pale face. She wasn't going downstairs but she still put on the lightest amount of makeup to accentuate her natural beauty.

Well, it wouldn't hurt to check on Anna and her friends. Just to tell Irene that she did in case the woman texted.

She forewent shoes so she could creep down the stairs quietly without being noticed. Sure she fancied herself up but she didn't actually want to get mixed in the fray of things, it was just in case Anna saw her. She'd hate to look a mess. She only went far enough down to see the first floor and sat down right on the step beneath her feet, hugging her legs and resting her chin on her knee to watch the going ons below.

Most of the noise was coming from the livingroom which made sense considering the large group in there. The massive TV Ashton adored was on and showing gruesome images of two men holding guns killing what looked like zombies. The two controlling the game sat side by side on the couch. One a shaggy blond man with wide muscular shoulders and a significantly large nose between his two warm blue eyes. The other was an exceptionally thin teen with shoulder length hair the color of snow, putting Elsa's near white hair to shame. In fact all of him looked white as snow except his two pretty lavender colored eyes so light they were near pink. He was albino she realized after a moment of awe. She'd never seen an actual albino man before. She had always kind of thought they would look like really creepy vampire people with pink eyes and white lips but, whomever this was, looked quite normal and attractive in a gangly, awkward kind of way. Beside the albino boy was a slimy looking fellow, reclined back against the arm rest of the couch and doing something on his cell phone. His coppery hair was combed over with so much gel it looked like it would crack if she touched it. The only bit of hair that looked safe from his gel were the thick (unattractive) sideburns on both sides of his box-ish head. She didn't like him, even from this distance, without having to meet him, she knew she didn't like him. He reminded her to much of Ashton's perfection. The last boy was on the other side of the blond with a big nose. He had a hair of curly black hair and a goatee on his chin that made his sly smirk seem all that much more mischievous looking. In his hands was the shiny jewel crusted egg her grandmother had sent them from Norway as a gift for Christmas last year and Elsa worried, from the way his eyes were running over it, that it may disappear after he left. Ashton would probably break her neck if it did.

She stood to go collect it but quickly sat back down when Anna along with two other females left the kitchen, arms laden with food, to join the men in the livingroom. A petite girl with flax colored hair that ran clear to her hips, dumped the food into the lap of the gel crusted boy and stomped over to rip the egg away from the devious looking one. Overtop the noise Elsa couldn't hear what she said but she watched the way her lips moved quickly and her face contorted into a furious look. The other female laughed a loud rich laugh that came from the bottom of her stomach and rolled its way up. Long, bushy red curls like fire caressed her round freckle flecked face. Crystalline blue eyes round and full of darker blue specs stood out almost as much as her pretty but wild hair did. Again, Elsa couldn't quite hear what the redhead said overtop the noise but whatever it was made Anna giggle in that sweet beautiful that Elsa had missed.

Then there was Anna. Perfect, wonderful Anna that Elsa hadn't seen in two months. Seeing her again was a shock to the system, tripping up the patter of her heart and knocking the breath from her body like a solid punch to the chest would. She didn't look much different than the first time she had seen her except maybe less exposed in her yoga pants verses the tiny shorts from before and with her hair in a messy bun instead of braided pigtails but she was a sight to Elsa. The sharpness of her jaw rivaled the sharpness of her manicured eyebrows, darker red tonight probably because of makeup and a little longer. Even in a simple hoodie and regular pants she was breathtaking. Especially the little white streak in her hair that she hadn't noticed before. It was almost the same color blond as Elsa's own hair.

She sat there for another five or ten minutes before she had decided she'd had her fill. The party looked nice and they weren't going crazy or drinking any sort of alcohol so they should be safe if left unattended by her older, wiser eye. Truthfully she had only come down to see Anna again and, since she had, she had no reason to stay. Quietly she stood and dusted off the ass of her expensive jeans, intending to turn and leave but stopped when she looked back up and found she was being watched. The albino boy had turned just enough to catch sight of her, his lavender eyes lighting up with childish excitement, and, to her utmost horror, he threw his hand up to wave at her. The wave was noticed by a couple of the occupants who also turned to look in the direction of his attention, their curious eyes finding her standing there stupidly like a frozen statue. Then, like a chain reaction, the only ones not looking noticed the others and turned to find her there. Her stomach felt like it was shredding itself, her eyes wide in absolute terror. All she wanted was to sneak away after catching a little look into Anna's life but, no, she had to get caught and now they all knew she was there. They were all looking at her. She felt like sinking to her knees and crawling away to hide in a corner or behind the couch where they couldn't see her. If her legs didn't feel like they were melting from underneath her she'd turn and flee. Her eyes cut to Anna who looked like she'd seen a ghost, her pretty brows Elsa had been admiring seconds before so high on her forehead they were threatening to disappear into her hairline.

"Oh I'm...I'm really sorry. I didn't meant to interrupt, I was just...just um..." Her voice died off towards the end, her throat going so tight with nerves she didn't think she'd be able to keep talking even if she knew what to say. Someone, she couldn't tell who, turned down the loud music of the game allowing for her to finally hear what everyone was saying.

"– is your step sister!? She looks like a fucking model!"

"Holy fuck, dat ass."

"Oh my god I want her pants! Look how cute they are!"

"Shut up Rapunzel, the pants are all you notice!?"

"She doesn't look like a bitch to me.."

"Olaf!"

"Sorry."

"Seriously. Dat. Ass."

"Hans! She can hear you, you idiot!"

"She looks actually really nice. Can I go give her a hug?"

"No Olaf you can not go hug her. She doesn't like hugs." Anna stood from the couch, looking understandably shaken at seeing her step sister after 2 months of complete silence. Elsa still stood in her shocked stupor on the stairs, blushing wildly after hearing all the things they had said about her, and a little hurt to know Anna had thought her a bitch. She had to have, otherwise her friend–Olaf?–wouldn't have assumed her to be one. And it was a fair assumption wasn't it? Since she had been a right bitch to Anna the first day she met her then proceeded to ignore her for so long afterward.

"Oi, you gonna stan' there lookin' pretty or you gonna come sit over here with us?" The redhead spoke above the rest of the chatter, finally speaking directly to her instead of about her, with the slightest hint of a Scottish accent in her voice. She swallowed roughly and opened her mouth to tell the girl no but Anna beat her to it.

"Merida. Leave Elsa alone, she was probably just going out to visit some of her own friends." Anna's teal eyes were narrowed in a glare pointed at her redheaded friend–Merida–but when she moved them over to Elsa they softened, looking almost as skittish as Elsa herself felt. She ran trembling hands down the front of her vest to do something with herself, feeling each smooth button catch on her pinky finger.

"Oh no I was just...I needed something from downstairs. Honestly I didn't mean to interrupt, I'll just go back to my room." She pointed over her shoulder and took a step back, her heel catching air instead of wood, and sending her toppling down. The sharp edges of the stairs dug mercilessly into her ribs with each thump and bump on her fall down. When she finally hit the base of the stairs, her pride was wounded far more than she herself was. She was next to never this klutzy having gone to Finishing School when she was a child so she'd have the grace and poise a girl in such a high class family as hers should have. It was the only school Ashton let her leave the house to attend and even then she had special tutors that assured she'd be singled out and taught one on one. For her to show anything but elegant class when she walked anywhere meant a lot. She had been stunned absolutely stupid in front of these people. She sat up on her knees and touched a hand to the side of her head that had banged against the bottom step quite violently during her accent. Lucky it hadn't broke the skin but there was a definite lump there that was aching something fierce. Without having heard the hurried steps Elsa didn't realize that the group of people had crowded around her until she felt her hand pushed away from her head to be replaced by long, soft probing fingers, checking for a head wound. Her demure gaze flickered up to see Anna kneeled in front of her looking frightened beyond thinking, her fingers being the ones touching her. Her heart picked up pace, going far past its natural tempo into something erratic and hard to match her breathing with.

"Elsa–oh my god–are you alright!?"

"I'm alright...I've never done that before..." Her voice came out a meek whisper, choked by her tight throat.

"Here, let me." The one with gel crusted hair, Hans she was sure she heard, stepped forward to loop his arms beneath her shoulders and hoisted her to her feet. Somehow, she suspected on purpose, he made her trip over her feet again and land directly in his arms, her face smashed against his chest. Unfortunately he was the type to wear far to much cologne and a low collared shirt that his thick red chest hair stuck out of. She had the unpleasant opportunity to have her cheek pressed against the scratchy hair that reeked of expensive old man perfume.

As his brash hand on her hip began venturing far to close to her ass, his mouth came unwantedly close to her ear to speak, "You know, whenever a sexy man saves a sexy woman in the movies, she gives him a kiss."

Oh lord. She hadn't ever been around men like this. She had gone out with Ashton to stores or large events where very forward men hit on her and quite often invited her to their bed but never up close like this, never actually touching her. It made her nearly shut down with uncomfortableness. She pressed her palms against his, admittedly, muscular chest and shoved as hard as she could to separate them. He stumbled back exactly two steps–she was quite weak–and she fell back three, almost tripping again.

"No. No thank you. I, um," She carded her fingers through her bangs, slicking them back onto the top of her head in the styled disarray she liked, "This isn't a movie."

The group, even Anna, stared at her as if she had lost her head and was chasing after it but none looked quite as shocked as Hans himself. His arms were still handing midair, as if Elsa were still in them crushed against his chest, to stunned to even move them. No one moved or even blinked until a bright flash went off and Kirtstoff's laugh filled the tense air. They looked to him to see his fingers flying across the touch screen of his phone, a giddy expression lighting up his young face.

"This is going straight to Facebook to catalog the first time Hans was rejected by a chick."

Slowly, second by second, Hans brows went lower and lower over his light brown eyes, mouth turning down with them, "I don't...understand..."

Merida let out that loud, warm laugh that felt like a fire and lifted a finger to poke at Hans temple, mockingly saying, "Does...not...compute..." in a robot like voice. Rapunzel giggled girlishly behind her hands , her moss green eyes cutting from Hans back to an extremely tense Elsa.

The guy who had been trying to steal their golden egg let out a loud guffaw and socked Hans in the arm, "Sucks for you dude."

Hans snapped his head towards the guy, finally coming back to himself it seemed, and punched him back, harder, hard enough to knock the guy back a few steps, "Shut up Eugene."

Kirstoff finished fiddling with his phone and slid it back into his pocket, grinning like a Cheshire chat, "Maybe she just isn't into assholes. Maybe she likes nice guys," He then turned and held out a hand for Elsa to shake, "I'm Kirtstoff."

Before she could even think to shake it Merida slapped his hand away and reached out a pale, freckled hand of her own, "Maybe she doesn't like lads at all. I'm Merida."

Again, before Elsa could even brush her fingers against Merida's someone's–this time Anna's–hand slapped the offending hand away. Beside her Anna stepped closer and looped an arm through Elsa's that felt far more possessive than a sisters arm should. Step or not.

"Hey, last time I checked this was my house and not a singles bar! So rude!" The tone in Anna's voice sounded almost jealous. It was an interesting idea, one that Elsa was sure to entertain when she was alone and safe behind her own closed door in the attic. Until then she'd remain the tense scarlet faced girl everyone's attention was focused on. The three that had been vying for her only seemed the faintest bit chastised, Kirtstoff looking the most with Merida second. Hans though didn't even blink, his leer still firmly fixed on her hips. It was easy to block out with her step sister so close she could smell the sweetness of her perfume and feel the heat of her body pressed against hers. It didn't really register until now how tiny Anna was. Probably three or four inches shorter than Elsa and only as wide around as a broom handle. Her waist was even smaller than Elsa's. It made Elsa really want to...hug her. Hug her really close and really long.

Rapunzel held up a hand, her eyebrow cocked up, and her hand on her hip, "I wasn't trying to get into her pants, don't yell at me grumpy pants. Well...I want her pants on me, but I didn't want in them."

Olaf shook his head, his pristine white hair swishing back and forth beside his ears, "I wasn't either. I just wanted a hug. Hi, I'm Olaf." He smiled at Elsa, a massive boyish smile that melted her heart, and wiggled his fingers in greeting. Shyly she lifted her own hand to wiggle her fingers back.

"I'm Elsa."

Anna glared at her friends before pointing to the livingroom, "Go sit on time out and think about what you have done. Except you Olaf and Rapunzel. You two can have some of my gummy worms. I'll be right back."

Rapunzel and Olaf high fived while the other three looked entirely put out. Eugene looked upset that he was being roped into it all even though he hadn't said a word against Elsa the whole time. Anna just shrugged and stuck her tongue out at him which he rolled his eyes at before walking off with the rest of them.

"Bye Elsa!" Olaf called, still looking happy as could be, his arm thrown high into the air as he waved frantically. Elsa gave him a tiny, shy wave goodbye.

"Bye Olaf."

Hans turned to say something as well but before he could Anna tugged on her arm and pulled them up the stairs towards her bedroom. She didn't really think about that until they were actually inside her room and Anna was sitting her down on the end of her bed. She ran into Elsa's bathroom, making a lot of noise in there as she looked for something. What, Elsa didn't know.

"Um," She wrung her wrists in her lap, her eyes shifting around her somewhat messy room that Anna hadn't been in since Elsa had yelled at her two months ago, "What are you doing Anna?"

"Looking for something!"

Elsa pursed her lips and hugged her wrist to her chest, "What?"

She heard Anna let out a loud huff and something heavy clang against her white marble counter just before the girl stormed back out and came to stand in front of Elsa, "I don't know. Could you lift your shirt for me please?" A dark blush colored Elsa's cheeks and, after a few seconds, Anna seemed to realize how she worded that and her cheeks too colored in. She hopped from one foot to the other anxiously, her teal eyes looking at everything in the room except Elsa.

"I mean, I want to check to see if you hurt yourself on the stairs. That's all."

Panic, sheer panic, welled up within Elsa. Across her ribs, painted like a purple and blue montage of random color against a pale white backdrop, were bruises given to her by Ashton. They were to dark, to old, to be passed off as fresh bruises from the fall and too large. If Anna saw them there would be little she could do to explain them away.

"Oh no, Anna, it's fine. I'm fine. Really."

Anna took a tentative step closer, her hands reaching out for the hem of Elsa's shirt, "I believe you, I just want to check with my own eyes."

"No Anna please, I'm fine-"

Anna was beginning to look annoyed, her hands reaching for Elsa only for the blond to jump from the bed to avoid her, "Elsa just let me look."

Elsa backed away from Anna who was advancing on her, "I said I was fine Anna."

Elsa's back hit the wall and Anna reached out again, getting her hands slapped away by Elsa's much to her ever growing irritation, "And I said I wanted to look–stop it damn it! It's not like I haven't seen pretty girls naked before Elsa!"

They both paused at that small bit of unintentionally revealed information. Anna took advantage of it though, slipping her hands past Elsa's guard to yank her shirt up. The vest popped open–thankfully not ripping any buttons–and the shirt rode up far enough that the underside of her navy blue bra showed. That wasn't what made Anna gasp. Elsa knew that much. She averted her eyes, to ashamed to look into Anna's for fear of what she'd find there. All of her bruises were on display including the small pink lines on her stomach from the glass cuts that still hadn't finished healing quite yet. At least those would fade with time, the ones on her back would scar forever. A feather light brush of fingers crossed the left side of her rib cage, dragging across her quivering stomach to the right side. The right looked far worst, a much darker, deathly looking black and blue hue, since Ashton was right handed. Elsa couldn't suppress the little shiver she felt under Anna's gentle touch. No one had touched her so sweetly before. She let out a choked sound and yanked her shirt back down over her stomach, finally turning her eyes back to Anna to glare at her but it wasn't really a glare, not when she saw the tears welling in Anna's eyes and the care swirling within the depths of her teal irises.

"Elsa...what happened to you?"

She set her quivering jaw, back going impossibly straight, "I fell down the stairs."

Anna looked up at her, eyebrows crinkling in disbelief and what looked like worry, "You said you had never fallen down those stairs before."

So she had. Damn it. She tried stepping around Anna to get away from her and this conversation but the girl stepped in front of her, stopping her from going anywhere. When she tried to step the other way Anna moved with her, blocking her off. She let out a frustrated huff and crossed her arms, fingers twisting into her vest beneath her arms and tugging at it to expel her mounting nerves.

"Who did that to you Elsa?"

She snapped her head towards the auburn haired girl, eyes going wide, "Wh..what?"

Anna pursed her lips and glanced down at Elsa stomach again though it was covered by cloth now. She remained silent for a long while, just looking at Elsa and her tense posture that continued to tense the longer silence lasted between them. Finally something must have come to her because she gasped, a hand flying up to cover her mouth, and took a step away from Elsa as if the blond were something dangerous.

"Did...did Ashton-"

"Out. Now." Elsa's voice was ice, frigid and sharp, and no louder than a whisper. She lifted an arm to point at the door, hoping the tremble running through it wasn't obvious. Anna shook her head frantically, stepping forward to touch Elsa, to take her in her arms, but the tall blond pushed her back. Tears were rapidly filling her eyes and for the life of her she couldn't understand why.

"I said get out Anna." This time it wasn't so strong. In fact it wasn't at all, it was weak and rattled and came out choked.

"Elsa please, if he is hurting you, let me help you. Let me do someth-" Elsa couldn't trust her voice anymore so she grabbed a handful of Anna's loose hoodie and tugged at it to pull the girl behind her. She stopped near her door but kept pulling until Anna was in front of her then she pushed, watching the girl stumble across the threshold of her bedroom. When she was finally out she slammed her door shut and locked it. Immediately Anna began banging her fists against it, yelling at Elsa to open or to please talk to her, anything. The blond ignored it. She stormed over to her computer and clicked a few buttons until music began playing. She cranked it up as loud as it would go, drowning out the sound of Anna's pleading and the tears in her voice. Once she was free from the sound of Anna and safely separated by a door she let herself break down into loud, body shaking sobs, falling to her knees on the floor and dropping her face into her hands. Anna knew. Anna knew. God, Anna knew. If she said a word to Ashton about it, just one implication that she knew how he treated Elsa, he would start hitting her too. To silence her. God, how could she be so careless? She never should have gone downstairs.

Again, I'm sorry for the long wait guys. I'm very grateful if any of you out there that first read this and reviewed it/followed it are still reading it currently. I know it's annoying to wait. Also, I know you all probably think this will never start getting happy but I promise it will. We have to work our way to the happy.