Second Chances

Chapter Four: Magic Awakening

Elsa had finished getting herself ready to leave. In the span of 7 hours she had been able to: spend quality time with her sister (which meant raiding the kitchens devoid of any dessert and maybe freezing the prunes accidentally), spend quality time with her parents (by surprising them with her sudden amazing talent at chess), and formulate a plan (which meant going to the Valley of the Living Rock and asking Grand Pabbie what to do).

Strangely, in the process of being sent back through time and into her 8 year old body, some mental changes had been present as well. Elsa found herself more willing to play and cause trouble with Anna than assessing the situation calmly and rationally first (which she was sure she would've done). It had been years since she had had this much fun, after all.

She also noticed that she developed an infatuation with chocolate. No doubt, she liked it enough before but now…it was up to the point that she and Anna had smuggled it into their room and hid it under their bed in a box labelled 'Secret Stash of Chocolate'. It couldn't get any more unsuspicious than that.

Then there was Anna. She didn't even remember how amazing her sister was when she was younger; all she recalled from her childhood was shutting her out along with the rest of the world. She had even almost forgotten the 'secret handshake' that they had made that one boring spring day.

"One, two, three together, clap together, snap together!" she laughed along with Anna who was doing her best to keep up with the quick gestures and movements.

Just as they were getting to the next part someone knocked on their door. Gwyneth entered, not needing permission from the two royals, and set down two beautiful matching dresses.

"Your highnesses, your parents said that you should be ready in a few minutes. You're leaving in a while."

"Okay," Anna said.

Elsa nodded, "Come on, Anna, let's get you dressed up."

"Okay!"

Elsa zipped up her sister's dress and quickly did her own. She forgot how much she missed helping her sister prepare for banquets and balls. This was the first time she did this in what seemed like forever.

"Elsa?" Anna said suddenly. The blonde focused on her sister who was trying to tie a ribbon in her hair. Anna looked at her pleadingly, holding out the white ribbon.

"Oh, alright," Elsa said, walking over to her and carefully arranging her hair. It looked similar to her own hair on coronation day (which was in a few years but had also been a few months ago).

"Wow," the younger girl said, looking in the mirror, "I'm asking you to fix my hair forever!" she said with glee. She gasped excitedly when she saw a small snowflake forming on the side of her head where Elsa's hand was, "Are we gonna build a snowman?"

"What?" the older one said, pulling back. She glanced at her hand nervously—she hadn't meant to do that! Elsa inhaled sharply at the frost forming at her feet and tried to control her sudden spurt of power.

Conceal, don't feel.

No, that never worked. She tried to remember Anna, the person she loved most about this world. She thought of how great her sister was and how much she loved her. If there was a person worth living for, it was Anna, it would always be Anna. She let go of a breath she didn't realize she was holding when the ice started thawing itself.

"I'm okay," she said to no one in particular. She had just 'fixed' things, she couldn't mess it all up again but she wondered how she had lost control in the first place. She wasn't angry at anything, nor was she feeling any extremely strong emotion but the ice had still stretched up to the walls! And the room was no small one.

Elsa stepped back from her sister who was staring at her, confused. This was so much stronger than what she had remembered. Especially considering that it was unintentional.

"I…"

"Children, we're leaving!" the King's voice sounded. Anna nodded at the door, "Coming, Papa!"

She grabbed Elsa's hand but jerked away just as fast, "Ow…cold."

Elsa looked at her own hands, then back at her sister's which were red from the ice forming around her palm, "I-I'm sorry."

"'s okay, it was an accident…" Anna said, wiping her hands on her dress. She ran to the door and opened it.

"Ready?"

"Yeah!" her little sister laughed, "Will there be chocolate? Ooh, and cake?"

"Maybe. We don't know yet, darling," their father replied, "It's a troll party, we don't know their customs. There might not be any dessert at all."

"What's a party with no dessert?" Anna pouted but went out anyway.

"Elsa, dear, are you coming?"

"What? Y-yeah," she said, stunned. Her voice quivered childishly though she was trying to stay calm and composed. Her feet carried her across the room, then further, then further until they were outside the gates where a sled waited for them.

Anna hopped in excitedly, her mother followed and she found herself lifted off the ground by her father who went in last.

"Hyah!" shouted a man sitting in front of them. He twitched his hand and the horses began trotting at a casual pace.

"When'll we get there?" Anna said, trying to shift seats with her mother so that she would be beside Elsa.

"Dear, it's too dangerous to stand now, we're already moving. If you wanted to be beside your sister you should've done that earlier," her mother replied, putting a hand on her child's lap, "We'll be arriving in 30 minutes."

"What? But the party will have started then!" Anna cried, dramatically slinging an arm on her forehead.

"Look on the bright side;" Elsa said quietly, "We'll have to wait a shorter time before desserts are served."

"If there are desserts at all," their father teased.

Anna ignored his comment though, "Ooh, good point. I like the bright side."

"Me too." Elsa smiled. Too engrossed in the conversation, none of them noticed the trail of ice led by the sled.

Author's Note

Your reviews were so cute that I couldn't help but grin. This chapter was actually ready for posting a long time ago but I had no internet connection. I'm also sorry, this one's a bit shorter than my average but I'll make it up to you in the next one (which was really fun to write!). Elsa's growing power is awakening but will she be able to control it?

I also recommend you guys to listen to the outtake 'We Know Better' which features little Elsa and Anna and it's really cute! It's where that handshake bit came from. Anyway, enough talking. Onward!