Thank you again for all the reviews and faves and everything. Y'all are awesome. Yes, this is an intense topic but I feel it is actually cathartic to write about. Sorry about the previous cliffhanger...and now, to ease your minds a bit :)
Entering the room, Anna stood…motionless at the sight. The room was freezing, ice covered the walls and sharp spikes ice began to pierce into the room. Curled in the corner, Elsa sat, crumpled and defeated.
"Elsa?" Anna whispered as her breath hitched in her throat. Seeing her sister, a renewed sense of urgency over took her. "Elsa!" She screamed running over to the broken girl. Anna let out a gasp as she noticed Elsa's arms, covered in blood and lines of healing and fresh wounds. She saw the shard of mirror at her sister's side. "Elsa…what happened?" Elsa simply sat there…too ashamed to even look her sister in the eyes. Anna's voice became pleading "Elsa….did you…did you do this to yourself?"
Elsa looked at the ground…a small tear escaped, she had been caught. She was sure Anna would abandon her now…she was unworthy of any love. She was dirty and guilty. The tears fell faster.
Anna took the shard and threw it across the room, out of the older girl's reach. She then leaned down and wrapped her into a hug, rocking gently back and forth. "It's ok, Elsa…It's ok. I'm here for you. Always."
Elsa was shocked, she was sure that Anna would want nothing to do with her. The pain was almost too much for her to tolerate again…grief overtook her and she sobbed silently in her sister's arms. She let go of the fear of breaking down and the belief that she would be a burden. She couldn't keep it in any longer. Anna began to stroke her hair and hum a lullaby their mother used to sing to them. Elsa finally was able to calm down enough to speak. "I'm so sorry" was all she could manage in a slight whisper.
"No. No, Elsa I'm sorry. I wasn't there for you when you needed me the most." Elsa was amazed at how Anna was always so selfless and loving. For years Elsa shut Anna out, still she was trying to apologize for not being there. Elsa didn't have the strength or desire to argue a fight she knew she would never win though.
"Elsa?"
"Mhm?"
"We need to tell someone…a doctor…someone."
"No…please, Anna…please.." the thought of her secret spreading any further terrified her and she felt hot tears forming in her eyes.
"Shhh..it's ok…I promise..it'll be ok…" Anna looked at her sister's arms and feared that she wouldn't be able to handle this alone, but didn't want to put Elsa through anything else that night. She told her sister she'd be right back, and taking the piece of glass with her to discard, she went after the first aid. Elsa winced as her sister cleaned her arm and Anna let out a small gasp as she could see the full damage. Though none were very deep, her arms were riddle in lines of various degrees of healing. Anna finished wrapping her sister's arm in a bandage and Elsa felt safer now that it was at least hidden again.
The girls stayed there silently the rest of the night, Anna continued to hum songs and Elsa, emotionally and physically exhausted, fell asleep. Anna didn't dare leave her side, and quickly joined her sister in slumber.
Kristoff, meanwhile, had been left alone playing host. When the last guests finally dispersed and he finished getting everything out of Sven's antlers, he went looking for the sisters as he hadn't seen them for hours. He peeked in the door of Elsa's room and saw them both sound asleep on the floor. He wondered what in the world they were doing, but knowing that he understood nothing that girls ever did, he simply shrugged and covered them both with a blanket before leaving for his own room for the night.
