Had some requests for a second chapter, so here it is! Thank you to everyone who read, favorited, followed, and reviewed. You're all great and please continue. :-)
I own nothing!
Warning: This story contains child abuse.
FYI: Anna is about 13 and Elsa is about 15 (just saying)
Please enjoy and review!
Elsa awoke to the sun shining through the window and a mane of auburn in her face. Anna was sprawled across the blonde, snoring softly. Both girls were still dressed in simple summer dresses from the day before. They hadn't even bothered taking off their shoes before they fell asleep. Elsa moved, trying to escape from under her sister. Anna groaned, "Five more minutes. Elsa, go back to sleep."
Elsa smirked. "I can't. The sky's awake, so I'm awake. So, we have to play."
Anna's eyes shot open. She quickly rolled off of her sister to look at the blonde. "After all this time, you still remember that?"
"Of course I do. I spent a lot of my time trying to retain every little detail about the stuff we did together." Elsa said. Then she let out a small chuckle, "Although I don't remember you having such bad bed head."
Anna gave her a playful glare, "Well your hair isn't exactly pristine either."
The sister's cheerful moment was shattered by a loud pounding at the door. "Elsa, I know you're in there, and Anna is with you. Open this door before I break it down." They heard their father yell from the hallway.
Anna jumped into Elsa's arms in fear. "What are we going to do?" She whispered.
"I have to let him in. Go stand in the corner out of the way." The blonde replied.
"You can't!" Anna argued.
Elsa sighed, "I have no choice. He has broken down my door before."
"The ice will stop him!"
"He has probably already accounted for it."
"Elsa! I'm going to start counting!" The king yelled.
"Anna, please." Elsa begged.
Anna relented, and scampered into the corner. Elsa walked towards the door, melting the ice. When she unlocked the door, it swung open so fast that she barely has time to jump out of its path. The King stormed into the room. He grabbed Elsa roughly by the shoulder and pushed her back until he had her pinned against the wall. "Who do you think you are?" His question was almost a whisper, and was eerily calm.
All Elsa did was whimper slightly, her eyes wide in pain. Her father asked his question again, with a little more force.
"I thought-"
The King cut Elsa's timid response off with a harsh laugh. "You thought? Monsters don't think." Spit flew out of his mouth, causing Elsa to flinch as it landed on her face.
Elsa began an apology, which was quickly silenced with a loud crack as the King backhanded her across the face. "Shut up!" He exclaimed.
"Stop!" Anna's voice suddenly came from the corner.
The King turned to see his younger daughter step out of the shadows. "Anna," he drawled, "I assume your sister showed you her power. Now do you understand why we keep this demon away from you?"
"No, I don't understand. She has had complete control whenever I see her." Anna said defiantly. "But what I do understand that what you are doing is wrong! Elsa is no monster." Anna approached her father cautiously. "Please, let her go."
Their Father laughed, "You know nothing." Then the King lunged at Anna.
"No!" Elsa screamed. At that moment, icy spikes appeared, stopping the King just as he was about to reach Anna.
The younger girl leaped away from the spikes, towards Elsa. The blonde took her sister's wrist and began to pull. "Run!" She gasped.
The two girls sprinted out of the room and down the hall. As they were passing through the gate, they heard the command, "Raise the bridge."
In front of them, the path began to lift. Elsa let go of Anna, "Keep going. We're going to have to jump. It's our only hope!"
Both girls leaped off of the draw bridge. Elsa landed safely of the other side. Anna didn't quite make it and was dangling off of the edge. "Elsa!" The younger girl yelled for help.
The blonde grabbed her sister and dragged her onto solid ground. A split second later, an arrow glanced off of the ground next to them. "The forest," Elsa panted.
Elsa led the way past the tree line, weaving around trunks, bounding over boulders, and ducking under branches. Finally, they stopped. Both girls were gasping for breath, when they heard it. Off in the distance, there was barking. "Oh, no," Anna groaned.
Elsa began to panic. "They're going to catch us, and it's my fault. Anna, I'm so sorry."
"Wait," Anna cut her off, "we still have a chance. Quick, climb this tree."
Luckily, they were in an old forest, where the trees grew tall, and close together. Once they were in the tree, Elsa and Anna could crawl through them. They continued moving away from the sounds of the dogs in this fashion until midday. By then, they were miles away from the castle and could not even hear the dogs anymore. They rested in the upper branches of an old apple tree. The fruit was slightly under ripe, and somewhat deformed, but to the hungry girls, they were tolerable. "Elsa," Anna spoke, "we can't go on running in our dresses."
"Why not?" Elsa questioned.
Anna raised an eyebrow, surprised Elsa didn't see what Anna thought was logical. "The skirt keeps getting snagged. Plus, without them, we will be able to move better. We'll be faster and quieter."
Elsa looked at Anna before scrutinizing her own torn and dirty skirt. "What do you suggest we do?"
Anna thought for a moment. "Your bloomers, they go to your knees, right?" She asked tentatively.
"Yes," Elsa responded, starting to understand what Anna was thinking.
"What if we cut of the skirt, and left the bodice?"
"Anna, we're princesses," Elsa countered. "We can't go running around in our bloomers."
"Who's going to see us?" Anna asked, starting to get annoyed.
"It isn't proper-" Elsa began as frost appeared on the branch she was sitting on.
"Who cares?" Anna yelled. She took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Elsa, I don't want to argue with you. You do what you want, but I will do what I want."
Before Elsa could stop her, Anna took her skirt and pulled at one of the tears. Once she had it up to the bodice, she picked at the stitches that held two pieces of her dress together. Finally, she was holding the bottom half of her dress, left in her bloomers. "You look ridiculous," Elsa commented.
"And you're the only one here to judge," Anna shot back, still irritated.
Elsa glanced at the cloth in Anna's hand. "What are you going to do with that? You can't just leave it around for someone to find."
"You're right," Anna muttered, more to herself than to Elsa. Her eyes darted around as she tried to think of some use for the extra material. "Oh!" She exclaimed as an idea formed. The younger girl climbed higher into the tree. When she came back down, she had the cloth twisted to form a lumpy pouch that she tied to her back. "Do you think we should move on before it gets dark?" Anna asked Elsa.
"Yes," Elsa answered. "Wait, what did you do to the skirt?"
"Filled it with apples. Now we can carry food with us." Anna replied with a smirk. "You sure you want to keep your dress?" She asked.
Elsa huffed and began ripping her own clothes until she matched Anna. They put half of Anna's apples in Elsa's skirt, which was then tied to the blonde's back, and moved on. They traveled quietly through the trees until the sun began to set, covering much more ground than they had that morning.
"How does this place look?" Elsa asked. They had come to a spot where two pine trees had grown together. A few branches grew together, creating little pockets the girls could sleep in without fear of falling out of the trees.
"I don't think we could find a better spot." Anna answered. She tilted her head to the side. "Do you hear that?" She asked.
Elsa listened for a moment. "Water?"
"I think so," Anna replied. "I'll go check." The redhead offered as she removed her pouch of apples and tied it to a branch. Elsa did the same and climbed down too. She waited at the base of the tree, warning Anna to stay within earshot. The younger girl assured the blonde that she would and began walking towards the sound of rushing water. A few minutes passed before Anna returned. "Elsa, you got to see this. It's only a short distance."
Elsa followed Anna about twenty yards to a line of shrubs. Anna pushed the plants aside, revealing a small pool at the base of a thirty foot waterfall. "This is beautiful," Elsa agreed, "but we should get a drink and go back to the tree before it gets dark."
Anna agreed, and the sisters were soon sitting in the pine trees again, watching the sun disappear behind the horizon. "Elsa?" Anna asked to get the blonde's attention.
"Yeah?" Elsa answered absentmindedly.
"I'm sorry about earlier, at the apple tree. I shouldn't have gotten angry with you."
Elsa looked over at Anna, "I love you. You know that, right?" Anna nodded. "We're sister, and we are just starting to get to know each other again. There are going to be times where we will bicker. On top of that, it has been a very stressful day. The disagreement was my fault; I was being petty."
"I understand," Anna reassured the blonde. "A lot happened to us today."
"How were you so calm?" Elsa asked. "I mean, once we were out of the castle, you just took everything in stride."
"We ran away and-" Anna stopped in the middle of her sentence, clutching her sisters arm. "Elsa, we ran away and are alone in the woods. They shot at us. Dogs were sent after us. We can never go home."
Anna began hyperventilating. Elsa reached over and started rubbing small circles on her little sister's back to try to calm her down. "It's all my fault. If I hadn't been in the kitchen yesterday, none of this would have ever happened." Anna whispered.
"Anna," Elsa tried to maintain a soothing voice while still conveying the sincerity of her statement. "I'm glad you helped Kai in the kitchen yesterday. I wouldn't exchange the past twenty-four hour for anything. We may be alone in the woods, but we are alone together. I have my little sister back." Elsa paused as tears began to form in her eyes, "That's all I ever wanted."
Anna carefully repositioned herself so that she could lean against Elsa. The older girl immediately embraced her sister.
"I just don't understand any of it." Anna said softly. "Why did he that stuff to you? And why did mother never stop him?"
"I think mother was afraid of him as well." Elsa tried to explain.
"In the castle, you were amazing with your powers, but you left frost in the apple treeā¦" Anna's question trailed off, but Elsa understood.
"I'm not usually that in control in the castle. By the time father is done with me there is at least a light snow. I was thinking about it today. The only conclusion I could come up with was that everything I did this morning, I did trying to protect you. The apple tree was a very mild taste of what usually ends up happening around me; I'm usually a monster." Elsa's words were sad, apologetic.
"You're not a monster," Anna chastised with a yawn. "And I will continue telling you that until you believe it." With that, the younger girl snuggled into her sister's arms and fell asleep.
"I hope you're right." Elsa muttered, before she too drifted off to sleep.
That night in the castle, the chief guard approached the King. "Your majesty," the guard addressed his monarch on his knees. "The princesses were heading west in the woods, but the dog's mysteriously lot their scent. We searched for them all day, but there is no trace of them anywhere. Shall we try again tomorrow?"
The King stood with his back to the guard. "No, let nature have them. They have made their decision, and so have I. We will arrange for funerals. The princesses fell strangely ill and died. There will be two days of mourning and a joint grave will be dug. See to it that the arrangements are made."
The guard bowed and left to complete his task. The King remained in the throne room alone, staring out at the forest.
Miles away in that very forest, two girls slept in a tree, unaware that they were now safe from their father's wrath.
