~~ELSA~~

Elsa looked at the outward manifestation of her fear and anger, ice. It surrounded her and pointed threateningly at the crowd, promising protection to its master. The gathering was now characterized by horrified faces that were just as scared as she, the ice queen heard mutterings of sorcery, but the only face she could see was Anna's. The young red head wore her emotions on her sleeve; she had never mastered the art of royal obfuscation. Elsa could see her sister was shocked, scared, and angry? She didn't expect the last one, and could not bear to see it any longer. It was just a few seconds between the manifestation of power and her decision to run; she remembered her original plan to get away before anything like this went down.

I've got to get out of here. She thought to herself, as the shock wore off and let the panic seep through again.

Elsa burst through the doors and found herself in the courtyard, where her people had gathered in celebration. Her social anxieties settled in on top of the fear and panic like a cherry resting on a Sunday, completing her cocktail of emotions. She lost all regal control and just started dashing about, not caring how it looked to the bewildered subjects. They were trying to congratulate her and offer up praises to her name and reign. All she could see were the walls closing in around her. I can't breathe.

She heard the palace doors bang open and people were calling her name, all she needed was some space. She backed into the ornate fountain and her ungloved hand made contact with the water. Instantly a perfect ice sculpture of the flowing water rose up before the crowd.

"Sorcery!" someone yelled.

With that the platinum blonde realized that running to a quiet place within her palace was out of the question, in fact, she was going to need to leave the kingdom if she was to survive the mob. Guards were actually coming after her, she noticed with a flare of indignation, and then she was back to borderline hysteria as her unreliable ice powers shot shards at the palace guards. I've got to get out of here before I actually hurt someone. She ran to the water, wondering if her body temp had dropped enough to freeze the sea to ice. She whispered a prayer and stepped out onto the fjord.

Some part of her mind took the time to marvel at the power seeping form her toes that was allowing her to escape so effectively. Most of her was just concentrating on running as fast and far away as possible. For a second the frightened girl thought she heard her sister call out, but she discounted it quickly, that would be too much to hope for. She finally lost herself in her panic and just ran.

She was halfway up the north mountain before she stopped thinking like a fleeing animal and more like a rational human being. The Ice Queen stopped to take in her surroundings, how did I even get here? Her panic attack had blocked out most of her memories of the last few hours. She thought about the events leading up to her "coming out" so to say.

"Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know" she mumbled cynically, well now they know. The wandering monarch glanced back in the direction she'd come, "I guess all my dreams have come true," bitterness invading her voice, "I can be done now."

Instead, for the first time in a long time, the young queen felt light and free. Just that morning she thought that a large part of her wanted her people to find out and come after her with pitchforks and torches.

"It looks like you got your wish," she chuckled wryly to herself and she trekked through the snow. "Funny thing is, maybe you don't really want to die after all."

Now there was an interesting thought. For so long the solemn girl had wanted nothing but the chance to stop, yet when it was presented on a silver platter she had done nothing but run.

The storm inside her head that she'd been cut off from for so long had finally been broken. All of the energy she'd constantly used to keep it bottled up and safe was now free, and it coursed through her veins in a shot of exhilaration. But if it's not bottled up inside my head anymore… she looked up, oh, there it is. The Snow Queen felt a tenuous connection between her and the storm brewing above her head, the power flowing through her body and into the air was palpable – she could almost taste it.

A memory from her childhood popped and grabbed her attention. She was thirteen and puberty was wreaking havoc on her already dubious control. She was starting to get desperate and trying to come up with better ways to control herself. The young princess thought that maybe if she practiced using her powers on purpose, that NOT using them on purpose would get easier. She tapped into the storm at the back of her mind and let a delicate stream of power flow through her fingertips. She was so deep in concentration that she didn't hear the door open behind her. "What are you doing?" She jumped at the sound of her father's quiet voice and the model ice castle she'd been building shattered. She turned to meet his gaze and shrunk as it grew hard and cold. "Are you playing with your powers? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? Do you even care?" Tears formed in the girl's eyes and she looked away as the room quickly frosted over, her father had never spoken to her this way before. "Well?!, Answer me!" He grabbed her arm and tried to force her to look at him. She panicked and her powers came forth, unsummoned, to protect her. She watched in horror as the king was thrown back against the wall by a sheet of ice. The princess fled from her father's study in tears, fearing the worst, and waited the remainder of the day for her coming execution.

The expected outcome never came, and her father visited her later that night. He was a bit sore, but okay overall. He apologized for scaring her, and explained that he was scared when he found her playing with something so dangerous. He emphasized again the importance of concealing and ignoring her powers; he forgave her for her lack of control, and used this as a lesson for how important control was.

The queen wrenched herself away from the memory. No. Back then she didn't even bother to defend her actions to her father, she didn't have the guts to tell him that all his lessons on control were useless. That she was slowly but surely losing grasp of the power entirely and soon only luck could be blamed for whatever "control" she exhibited.

Slowly the slender blonde reach out and grabbed her tenuous connection to the storm above and let the power flow through her fingers, from the air into the ground. She thought back to the last time she did this, she built a tiny castle, and pictured it all around her. That one thought crystalized in her mind, becoming clearer as she closed her eyes and added more and more detail. Icy winds blasted around her as she poured all of herself into her power, feeling more alive than she'd felt in years. I am never going back, the past is in the past she thought, as she let it go and finally opened her eyes to witness the beauty of her creation.

"Well," she said with a small grin as she stood in the center of her ice castle, "at least the cold never bother me anyway."

~~ANNA~~

Anna paced back and forth at the stairs leading up to the ice castle. "This is it!" She said out loud, trying to psych herself up to go knock on the door. Kristoff and Olaf were looking at her like she was insane, but the redhead did her best to block them out and focus on the task at hand.

She needed to talk to her sister and get her to thaw out Arendelle; easy, right? Anna thought back to the disastrous end to the party the night before. How terrified Elsa had looked, like a cornered animal, eyes desperately searching for any means of escape. It was difficult to correlate that version of Elsa with the one she'd looked up to her entire life. In Anna's world, Elsa was the aloof older sister, perfect in every way, and in need of no one. She was a loner because she was better than every one else, she was meant to be queen, and future queens don't have the time or the want to hang out with their adopted baby sisters.

But this Elsa… This Elsa had ice powers and what looked very convincingly like panic attacks. Anna had been with a chambermaid one time she'd had a panic attack, and after much pestering the castle doctor had explained to the little princess what one was, how to recognize it, and what to do to help if someone is having one. Anna loved the castle doctor and was always pestering him to teach her stuff like that, her father had allowed her to indulge in such knowledge. As long as she'd understood it would always be a hobby, princesses were not doctors after all.

The redheaded princess then went back to berated herself for not recognizing the body language of the queen, her sister's movements were practically screaming "get away I can't handle this" before ice shot out of her hands. For a moment, Anna regretted pushing so hard, but then she remembered that if she hadn't, nothing would ever change.

For years all she wanted was to be noticed by her big sister, to know that Elsa loved her and wanted her. She'd put the young monarch up on a pedestal and figured that Elsa didn't want her, because Elsa didn't need her. Now it was different, now she knew she was needed, the feisty princess wanted to storm in and save the day! She knew the secret and Elsa didn't need to protect her anymore. It was her turn to protect Elsa.

With that final thought, Anna steeled her will and marched up the steps. She hesitated for a moment at the doors, remembering all the years Elsa shut her out. No. This time she wouldn't take a shut door for an answer; love is an open door she thought. It was time for her to open Elsa's door.

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long, I had major writer's block. I'm still not happy with how this chapter turned out, but I had to get through it in order to get to the part I REALLY wanted to write. Reads and Review's are always loved, next chapter shouldn't be too much of a wait.