Second Chances

Chapter Three: Completely Rewritten

It was dark. Very dark. She felt like she was falling then she couldn't breathe and she was drowning and then she began falling again. She thought she could hear someone whispering in her ear but she couldn't quite understand the words.

Lights danced before her eyes and suddenly she felt real again as though everything had focused back to normal.

"Elsa!" a childish voice said. Elsa sighed rolling over a bit, "Wh-what?"

She gasped eyes snapping open as she brought her hand to her mouth. Was that...her voice? Why did it sound so...high-pitched? She let out a little scream as she saw a little head with strawberry blond hair tied into pigtails.

"Oh my...Anna?!" she whisper shouted, sitting up quickly.

"Yay, you're awake!"

"What...why..." she felt herself grow a little light-headed as she faced her sister thirteen years younger than when she had last seen her, "Wh-what...time is it?" she said, thoughts racing through her head. It was the only question she could comprehend enough to ask.

"How am I supposed to know?" little Anna pouted, "You're the one good with those things...why are you staring at me like that? Do I have something on my face?" she asked, rubbing her cheeks.

"But...you're 18!"

"Are you alright, Elsie? I'm 5..."

"No, I mean yes, I mean...what?" Elsa's eyes darted around and she almost blacked out again when she realized that this was her old room, the one she shared with Anna before... "Oh my god."

"You're not supposed to say that, it's bad."

"I...what? Sorry but..." she tried to calm her frantic heartbeat as she turned her head to the old Grandfather Clock in the room. 4 in the morning...she turned to the window and her soul suddenly felt as though it weighed a ton. The Aurora Borealis was in the sky and this seemed exactly like the day the accident had occurred. The day that she hurt her sister in a way that split them apart for what she thought would be forever.

"Maybe you should go back to sleep, Elsa," Anna said, cocking her head to the side, "You're acting funny."

Elsa slowly nodded; maybe this was all a dream? A very vivid dream, "Yes...okay..."

Anna grinned at her sister. She pulled herself up Elsa's bed and leaned close, planting a kiss on her sister's cheek as though it were the most normal thing in the world then she scampered off towards her own bed.

"Goodnight, Elsa!"

"Goodnight...Anna."

She closed her eyes anxiously hoping that she would wake up soon.

(*)

"Wake up, my dears!" a voice cried, muffled by a door. Elsa recognized the call as Gertrude's, one of the older helpers of the palace. She yawned, and got up groggily, stretching her arms and rubbing her eyes. She opened them to see a pair of warm blue eyes staring right back at her.

"Mmh, Anna, I've just had the strangest dream..." she said, still too dazed to even question how her sister snuck into her room and why she was suddenly right in front of her.

"Really? What was it about?"

Elsa let out a shriek of surprise as she backed away and faced little 5-year-old Anna, "You're...still..."

"I'm going to come in now, your highnesses," Gertrude called. There was a faint sound of a lock clicking and the door opened, "Breakfast will be served soon and your parents want to talk to you."

"Okay!" Anna said, bouncing off Elsa's bed happily. She began undressing and Elsa looked away, thoughts racing through her head at the speed of light.

She had somehow been sent back through time...she ran through what she remembered. Her last memory was the sweet traditional red wine filling her taste buds with warmth, a feeling of light headed-ness, and someone's voice whispering something to her, but she couldn't recall exactly what. She closed her eyes, deep in thought and let out a gasp of realization. The wine. What had Kristoff said about it? It erased regrets...

Regrets. What day was it today? If it was the day that she thought it was...

"Gertrude? What day is it today?"

"September 8th, dear."

Of course. The day she had regretted the most.

"Elsaaaa, aren't you going to change?" Anna said in a sing-song voice. She was now seated next to Elsa in a pretty, green, day dress, "If we finish early enough we can build a snowman," she whispered in her ear.

Elsa shivered but nodded slowly anyway. Her trail of thought lost. She slowly got off the bed (which was now ridiculously big) and headed towards the bathroom.

"Where're you going?"

"The bathroom."

"Why?"

"To change?" Elsa said, raising an eyebrow.

"Why?"

Oh, she thought. She forgot, she was 8 now. It was perfectly acceptable to be naked in front of people. Her breath hitched when she realized...she was eight now. It was September 8, hours after the worst moment of her life.

She had never struck Anna.

She had never put her sister's life at risk.

Anna knew about her powers. She never forgot and...there would be no door to close anymore. She felt her legs move automatically running towards her little sister. Her arms found Anna's and she tackled her in a strong embrace. She felt tears run down her cheeks. Tears of relief.

"I love you. I love you. I love you..." she repeated the three words over and over again, whispering them into her sister's ear.

"Um, Elsa? I love you too?" Anna said, obviously confused.

Elsa pulled back after a minute, eyes still watery.

"Sorry to interrupt, Miss but your parents are still waiting." Gertrude said, snapping Elsa back into reality.

"My parents? My...parents!" Elsa's eyes widened in realization. She hurriedly put on the blue dress set out for her and grabbed Anna's hand, running out of the room and down the all too familiar hallway.

"C'mon Anna!" Elsa grinned and set off like a child which she realized that she now was.

(*)

"Mama! Papa!" she practically threw herself at her parents who were staring at her with the same expression of confusion as Anna's.

"Elsa...good morning?" her mother said, "Why are you so...elated?"

"She's been acting weird since this morning, Mama!" Anna said.

"I'm sure she's just feeling well, Anna," her father assured her, "After all, today is a special day."

"Why? Is it someone's birthday today?"

"As a matter of fact it is!"

"Ooh, who's?"

Elsa looked up, curiously, taking a seat at the table

"The leader of an ancient troll-tribe," their mother piped in, "We are indebted to him..."

Elsa didn't get to hear the rest of her very much alive mother's sentence because a thought suddenly occurred to her. She was here, she was 8, she was sent back in time. Elsa was sure that this was no dream but she realized that if she was stuck here, she'd have to relive her whole life again and she completely rewrote the most significant moment of her existence. She didn't know what to do from here.

"We're going to the Valley of the Living Rock?" she suddenly said, cutting off whatever her mother was saying.

"Why...yes, Elsa. How did you know?"

"I-I..."

Great move, idiot. You're not supposed to know this kind of stuff yet.

"-read up on it."

"Oh." the King said, dismissing the matter entirely.

Elsa decided that the best person to talk to about her current situation would be Grand Pabbie, which was good because they'd be visiting the trolls today. Not only was he the wisest person she knew, but the oldest (saying that in the best way possible). He would know what to do.

Elsa breathed sharply, her head pounding. It was only years of rationality and experience in keeping her emotions in check that stopped her from having a full panic attack in the spot. She had just changed everything and probably rewrote her whole life. And what would happen to the Anna that she knew? In saving her sister now did that cause her to kill her sister in the future? Elsa shook the thought away-she would get nowhere thinking like that.

"Elsa, calm down." her mother said, snapping her out of her trancelike state. She looked around and gasped, the dining room had turned into a complete winter wonderland. It was snowing heavily and tendrils of ice crawled up the walls.

"Yayyy, now we don't need to go out to build a snowman!" Anna said, grinning. She grabbed Elsa's hand and began making a small ball of snow, "C'mon, Elsa!"

"Ah..." her father said, blinking twice. He looked around, surveying the damage of the room and he nodded like it happened every day, "We'll clean this up later."

He looked at his daughters, eyes softening, "Be ready at around 6, alright little ones? Ask Gwyneth to prepare your best dresses."

"Okay, Papa!"

"Yes, Papa." Elsa said, relishing in the feel of saying those words again. She had her parents back, her sister wasn't knocking at a door that would never open, and she was in the dining room building a snowman.

Maybe this wasn't as bad a situation as she was making it out to be.

Author's Note

*angrily groans* I'm so sorry, I had such a bad case of writer's block and I've never written children before. I don't like this chapter much and it's a bit hastily written. Elsa might seem a bit out-of-character too but I'm giving her a few mental changes because I think of it more in the way of her 21 year old memories transported into her 8 year old body and there's a difference if her 21 year old mind was put into the 8 year old body...if that makes any sense. Anyway, this might be my last chapter for a while because I'm going to be out of town until January...2?

Happy New Year!