Canon AU (picks up at the end of Frozen 1)

"Are you ready?"

The Queen's question was met with applause from her people, and with her pulse thundering in anticipation she tapped her foot to the ground, sending a wave of ice across the courtyard. Her heart seemed to swell in her chest as her people's laughter and cheers filled her ears.

And then her sister was there, slipping and sliding her way into her older sister's arms. Elsa felt the heat of her sister's touch sending waves of nervous anticipation through her body, but she quickly clamped down on the uncomfortable sensation. Anna was so beautiful, such a sweet and innocent soul, and the blonde couldn't help but smile at her sister's arrival by her side.

"I like the open gates," her sister said, her teal blue eyes shining in honest appreciation. Elsa had missed those eyes, and the beautiful girl who possessed them. Woman, she corrected herself. Her sister had definitely grown up in the last thirteen years she'd been locked away and she couldn't help but admire the womanly figure she'd matured into.

"We're never closing them again," she replied. She flicked her fingers to her sister's feet, a wave of magic fluttering about Anna's boots. The redhead was lifted a few inches and her boots were covered in twin lines of ice to form skates.

"Oh Elsa, they're beautiful but you know I don't ska—"

"Come on!" Elsa said playfully, pulling her sister along with her. She felt so free, so alive, and for the first time in forever, she had her sister there with her and she was going to spend every moment she had making up for the years she'd kept herself locked away from the beautiful redhead.

"You can do it," Elsa said encouragingly, swinging her sister around, and Anna's heart seemed to leap into her throat at the dizzying sensation, both from the motion and from seeing her sister so carefree and genuinely happy. It was like all the shadows and pain she'd kept locked away with her behind that door for so many years had disappeared in a blinding ray of pure joy.

"Look out, reindeer coming through!" Kristoff yelled, sliding by with Sven.

Anna was stumbling and slipping on her skates, and just as she was about to fall she felt Olaf push her up and into her sister's arms.

She suddenly couldn't find enough air for her lungs as she felt the cold softness of her sister's body fill her senses. Anna hugged her sister close, as a surprising wave of heat ran through her. She loved her sister so much. They'd missed so much of their lives and now she was there with her and she simply didn't want to spend a single moment away from her.

"I love you," she whispered to her sister. There were tears in her eyes but she was smiling as she buried her face against the blonde's shoulder, breathing in the cool airy scent and clinging to the woman.

"I love you, too, Anna," her sister whispered back to her.

Anna's thoughts jumped to the last time she'd said those words to Elsa...

She'd long since forgotten what warmth felt like as she struggled to keep her body moving. She stumbled forward across the frozen fjord by hope alone, not sure anymore where she was trying to go but trudging along still the same. Her thoughts flitted about as the snowstorm raged around her icy body, yet one thought seemed to repeat itself again and again.

True Love will thaw. True Love will thaw.

Just then, the storm was suddenly calm, still. She could see Kristoff in the distance, running in her direction. Her mind tried to wrap itself around that, her body stumbling toward him. True Love will thaw. Again the words repeated in her head yet there was unease as her feet tried to keep moving her forward.

Then a sound of metal brought her head around. The sight before her caused her failing heart to stutter painfully in her chest. Hans was approaching her sister lying meekly on the ground, a broken yet beautiful goddess.

She took one last moment to look at Kristoff and made her decision. She stumbled quickly across the ice, the cold pressing deeper and heavier into her heart. Not yet, she thought, just a little longer, please. There was Elsa, her quiet crying a painful sound to Anna's ears.

With one last burst of will, Anna threw herself in front of Hans, her hand raised, "Noooo!" And then there was only cold and bleak darkness. All sense of herself was gone, nothing but the cold remained.

"Anna!" a voice screamed, but it was so far away, an aching echo of pain that she could no longer feel. "Oh, Anna, no...no please..." she hated that sound, that soulful ache. And the heart-wrenching cries. Angels shouldn't make that kind of sound...

And there, in her chest, a small warmth began to bloom, heat spreading out from small drops of heat falling on her frozen body. Elsa. Her sister was holding her, crying racking sobs of lament. Anna couldn't stand it, she needed to comfort her sister. Elsa needed her.

The warmth spread quickly across her body until suddenly she gasped, her breath returning in a warm spasm of sound.

"Anna," her sister gasped softly, standing quickly to face the Princess, pulling her into her arms for a crushing hug.

"Oh Elsa," she whispered into her older sister's embrace, her heart flooding with warmth and love for the precious, beautiful woman in her arms.

Elsa pulled away, and Anna grasped her hands in her own. Teal eyes met pale blue ones and Anna could swear her heart seemed to expand in her chest, swelling with love for her sister.

"You sacrificed yourself for me?" her sister asked 's voice was filled with a heavy depth of emotion as she replied simply, "I love you." And in those words she heard an echo of another thought, True Love will thaw. In that moment there was no doubt in her mind what those words truly meant. Her sister, her world...her love.

Anna gasped as that familiar heat again spread through her chest, staring deep into her sister's eyes as she held her in a desperate grasp. She wanted so badly to tell Elsa just how she felt, but that heat was pouring through her body with a rapid intensity, and suddenly her feet hit solid ground. Surprised, she stepped back and looked down as steam flowed up around the both of them. There was a circle of melted ice surrounding their feet. She vaguely noticed the bottom of her sister's ice dress had melted as well. As Anna tried to puzzle through that, her head began to ache and her chest seemed to be on fire.

Panting, she put one hand to her head as the other gripped her sister's shoulder for balance. The world was spinning and her heart seemed to burn with a penetrating, searing pain. "E-Elsa?" she whispered, searching for her sister's blue eyes but failing as her vision swam. She was falling, falling, the earth rising up to meet her and then all she could feel was cool arms holding her, a voice calling out to her. The voice of an angel...