Author's note: O.o Ok, so these chapters are getting longer and I don't know whether or not that's a good thing. On the plus side, it's a sign that my writing skills are improving somehow (Right?), on the minus side... I don't know, are they getting too long for you guys or is it just me? Let me know and if they're too long, I'll try and shorten them ^_^" Anyway, I really like the song We Know Better which didn't make it into the movie (Randomly-placed disclaimer: Yes, it's a song from the movie, therefore no, I don't own it DX) because I like the fact that it implies that Anna and Elsa were pretty rebellious as kids, especially with Elsa using her magic for pranks, so I kinda wanted to write a chapter about them being rebellious kids. At first I wasn't going to include the song, but I thought it'd be nice if I incorporated it somehow, even if I suck at incorporating songs so... Tra da! Note that the lyrics have been altered slightly, because it's the first time Elsa's ever sung this song, so Anna wouldn't know any of the lyrics and therefore wouldn't be able to sing her parts. Anyway, I feel like I'm talking too much so, uh, yeah, the next chapter, in theory, will be the Valentines day one on Friday so look out for that :) Until then, thanks for all the reviews, follows favourites - heck, thanks for everything, guys, seriously, I never thought anyone would love my Elsa and Anna oneshots - and I hope you enjoy this crazily-long 4k+chapter ^_^
History was never Elsa's favourite subject, she had to admit, but she did find the tales of how her ancestors came into power rather interesting, if only the tutor, Mr Klaus, put some enthusiasm into his speech, rather than just droning on about how great great great great grandfather Demitri conquered Arendelle in a dull, monotone voice. The 7 year old Princess was finding it hard to concentrate when the way he voiced the tales of the past did not captivate her young mind and as for Anna, well…
Elsa glanced over to her sister at the next desk merely a couple metres from hers, only to find that Anna's head was resting on her arms, a soft snoring sound escaping as she slept through Mr Klaus' monologue. Poor Anna, she was only 4 and she had to suffer through lectures about things she probably wouldn't understand yet. Still, Elsa enjoyed sharing a tutor with her sister, just to have someone there to entertain her. Then again, a sleeping Anna wasn't nearly as entertaining as an awake one.
A smirk lit up the young Princess' face, looking forward for a second to make sure Mr Klaus' back was to her, and then she formed a snowball in her hand, throwing it at the sleeping royal.
"Oomf!" Anna startled as the snowball collided with her strawberry blonde hair, almost falling off of her chair in shock. Two sets of blue eyes snapped forward, but Mr Klaus remained obvious to Anna's almost-accident. Giggling came from the other desk, and she narrowed her eyes playfully at Elsa, knowing instantly that she was the snowball thrower – who else would be able to create a snowball in April? The youngest Princess opened her mouth to speak, but Elsa stopped her with a finger to her own mouth, pointing towards the blackboard. The message didn't need to be voiced for Anna to understand it; 'Don't speak, just focus on the lesson.'
"Hmph!" Was Anna's only response as she crossed her arms defiantly over her chest. Still, she tried to focus like her big sister told her to.
That lasted for about 5 minutes before Elsa was suddenly hit in the head by something light. Her gaze wandered to the floor to see what appeared to be a paper snowball – perhaps Anna was getting revenge – but upon further inspection, she realised that something was written on it. Small hands swiftly picked up the paper, then carefully began to straighten it out.
'Elsa! I'm booooored!'
Elsa sighed at her sister's words, knowing that there wasn't much she could do about it, and wrote a reply as neatly as she could. 'I'm sorry, Anna, but there's not much I can do about it. I know how you feel, Mr Klaus is boring me as well, but we have to learn this.' She threw the paper back to her little sister, but Mr Klaus caught sight of her actions and folded his arms across his chest with a stern look.
"Princess Elsa, are you even paying attention?" He asked the girl, who resembled a startled deer, her blue eyes wide with the shock of being caught.
Well, Elsa had been paying attention, but then she had been distracted by the mischievous little redhead on the opposite desk, who was now trying to hold back laughter, but she would never let Anna take the blame, even if it was her fault, because the next-in-line hated to see her upset. So instead Elsa simply frowned and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Mr Klaus."
"Hm. Very well." Mr Klaus returned to the lesson at hand, leaving Elsa to breathe a sigh of relief, thankful that she didn't get punished for her actions.
The slight shuffling of a chair could be heard, though Elsa tried to ignore it as she began writing notes about how King Demitri had positioned his men prior to his battle. However, as soon as she felt her personal space being invaded, the Princess looked to her right to see that Anna was sitting right next to her, a smug grin on her rounded face.
"Oooh, Elsa got into trouble." The copper-haired little princess teased light-heartedly, causing Elsa to roll her eyes, but with a smile.
"You're just lucky I didn't shove the blame onto you." She whispered back, poking Anna in the side and causing her to giggle.
"That's because you love me, right?" Anna received a nod. "And I love you too. Soooo…" The little Princess moved some blonde hair away from her sister's ear and whispered into it. "Let's sneak out!"
"What?"
"Come on, Elsa! Just for one day! We could sneak into the kitchen and eat all the chocolate! Pleeeeaaase?"
Ugh, not the puppy dog eyes! Elsa couldn't resist when Anna used the puppy eyes, her lower lip jutting out into a pout to emphasise the pleading look. And the promise of chocolate if she escaped this boring lecture was so, so tempting… Glancing over to Mr Klaus, then to her sister, then back to Mr Klaus, she surrendered, heaving a sigh.
"Ok, ok, fine. We'll sneak out." Seeing Anna about to say 'Yay!', Elsa covered her mouth. Once again, she put a finger to her lips, then pointed to Mr Klaus, although this time her actions had an entirely different meaning: 'Be quiet! We don't want him to hear us leaving!'
As the tutor began writing on the blackboard, the chalk squeaking against the surface, Elsa took the lead, slipping out of her chair and getting on her hands and knees. Anna came up next to her, holding back the excited giggles trying to erupt from her throat, then followed Elsa to the door as quietly as possible. The older Princess took a deep breath then, opening the door and letting Anna crawl out first before doing so herself, closing the door quietly.
The Princesses of Arendelle ran. They ran as quickly and quietly as possible, making sure they had turned several corners before they slowed and allowed the laughter to consume them. Elsa's sides hurt so much from the laughter that it literally hurt, and she had to clutch her sides in an attempt to ease the pain.
"We did it! We're free!" Anna giggled, twirling around with her hands raised to the sky. The platinum blonde smiled fondly at her sister through the laughter, enjoying how carefree and happy she looked.
"You do realise that as soon as Mr Klaus realises we're gone, we're going to be in big trouble, right?" The more sensible sibling pointed out, though the smile never left her face. "And if we get into trouble and Mama and Papa yell at us, you'll owe me for getting me into this mess."
"I'll pay you back with chocolate after we steal it from the kitchen!" Bouncing to her sister's side, Anna took Elsa's hand and tugged on it, trying to get Elsa to move again. "Come on! Before Mr Klaus realises we're gone and come looking for us!"
"Hold on, hold on!" Releasing her hand from Anna's grip, the next in line to the throne moved her to the side slightly, out of the way, before a blue glow surrounded her hands. Within seconds of the blue glow appearing, Elsa thrust her hands forwards towards the ground in front of her, magically creating a strip of ice which went all the way down the hallway. "Ok, let's go!"
Jumping on the ice, Elsa skidded towards the end of the hall, hearing Anna giggle and following in her path. A quick glance backwards told her that her sister was unstable on her feet, but didn't look like she was about to fall, so she continued onward. Keeping her hands out in front of her, Elsa created her own path to the kitchen, only stopping once she reached the door.
"Ok, we've made it. Now, how are we going to-"
"Woah! Woooaah!" CRASH! Unable to stop, Anna bowled right into her sister, knocking her right off of her feet. The two toppled to the ground together with a loud thud. It took Elsa a moment to figure out what just happened, but an image of the 4 year old banging her head against the solid floor snapped her out of confusion, her eyes widening with worry as she looked toward the smaller Princess. "Anna!" She exclaimed, sitting upright and pulling the injured Princess' upper body into her lap. "A-Are you ok?"
Anna's body began to shake. Then giggling could be heard, and then the giggling turned into a laughing fit. "That was sooo fun! Let's do it again! Again, Elsa, again!"
Breathing a sigh of relief, Elsa allowed herself to laugh a little and rose to her feet, helping Anna up as well. "Not right now, we have chocolate to steal, remember?" She prompted, her protective side carefully checking Anna's head for signs of blood.
Flinching away from the Snow Princess' painful touch, the strawberry-blonde nodded, trying to ignore the dizziness she felt from the action as best as she could. "Yup! I remember! Ok, we'll do more ice-sliding after we get the chocolate… Now how are we going to get it?"
Even though Anna was the one who came up with the idea of stealing chocolate, she had no idea how to carry the act out? As the older sister, it seemed as if Elsa was left to come up with the cunning plan. Peeking into the kitchen, she surveyed the area, and the people in that area. The head chef, Chef Garrett, was keeping a close eye on the lunch preparations made by 10 other highly qualified cooks. How were the Princesses meant to evacuate the kitchen? Before Mr Klaus, or Mama, or Papa, or even Kai and Gerda saw them? Surely they must've been looking for the missing students right now, and it was only a matter of time before they came across the ice path that led right to the kitchen!
Elsa was annoyed with herself now for creating the ice path. She should've thought it through! She should've realised that, since she couldn't get rid of it, it'd be leading the adults directly to them! She should've just tried entertaining her sister some other way, maybe with a huge snowman! At least a huge snowman wouldn't have led anyone directly to the Princesses!
Wait a second, a snowman! A scary snowman would scare the staff right out of the kitchen! That was a brilliant idea!
Smirking at her own genius, Elsa turned to her younger sibling, a mischievous glow in her ice blue eyes as she asked, "Anna, do you want to build a snow beast?"
Thanks to Elsa's powers, it had only taken about 5 minutes to put together the 'Snow beast', with the Snow Princess using her magic to form the huge balls of snow and Anna drawing a scary face on the rather misshapen snowman, being held up by Elsa so that she could do so. Of course, working under the pressure that anyone could come by and see them – and Gerda almost did, had it not been for the girls' quick thinking, hiding the scary snow beast behind a suit of armour, then hiding themselves under a covered table – meant that they had no time to find sticks from outside for arms, but Anna argued that the stubs she had attempted to make into arms looked even better than sticks ever would've, so they left the snow beast as it was.
Poking holes in the snow beast's face to create hollow eyes, the younger sister covered her mouth to suppress a giggle, and then pointed to the ground with a whispered, "Down! Down! It's done."
The 7 year old obeyed the order, setting her little sister on the ground as she moved the snow beast closer to the kitchen door. "Are you ready for this?"
"Yup! Wait! No!" Running over to the door, the copper-haired Princess opened it slightly, then ran to hide under the table out of sight again. "Ok! Go!"
Hiding behind the one closed door, Elsa used her powers to push the snow beast into the castle's kitchen, trying to stifle a giggle at the roaring noises Anna made to make the snow beast seem even scarier.
The extra effects weren't needed. Seeing a… A thing – a snow thing – enter the kitchen, presumably without assistance, was enough to send the kitchen staff screaming and running out of the back door. Even the men let out some rather undignified screams as they escaped from the monster. After what seemed like seconds, the kitchen was completely silent, void of all life, except for a little girl who peered around the door, her cautious expression turning into one of sheer joy and excitement when she found the large room empty.
"We did it, Anna! We conquered the kitchen like how great great great great grandfather Demitri conquered Arendelle!" She giggled, running past the snow beast and into the kitchen, soon being followed by an even gigglier redhead.
"Woohoo! History's more fun when we learn like this! We should have less talks and more playtime!" Elsa had to admit, that idea sounded very tempting, but she wasn't exactly sure how much learning would be done if they went through with Anna's idea. Still, it was worth a try at some point, right?
Just as she was about to tell the younger royal that they should discuss that idea with their Papa, the King, she was dragged closer to the long line of cupboards, about 10 of them, all located above counters, the oven and the stove. Anna's thumb and index finger framed her chin as she looked up at the counters, her tongue sticking out in thought as she tried to figure out which cupboard the chocolate would be in. The thinking process lasted mere seconds as the redhead decided to just pick a random cupboard and hope for the best.
"That one!" She exclaimed, pointing to the third cupboard away from them while glancing at Elsa. "The chocolate's in there!"
The more logical Princess wasn't convinced, however, and, to be honest, she wanted to avoid the cupboard that hovered directly over the stove as much as possible, in case something went horribly wrong. "I don't think it is, Anna. It would melt if it was above the hot stove, so I don't think anyone would have put it there." Hopefully that was enough to deter her sister away from trying to climb onto the stove.
"Hmmm… You're right! Our chocolates are never melted and yucky, so it can't be up there." She didn't hear the quiet sigh of relief escaping the blonde's lips as her sky blue eyes, glanced at the cupboards again, this time choosing the one furthest away from the stove and running over to the counter that it stood above.
"Ok, ok! This one has the chocolate in it, I'm sure of it! Now help me up!" Anna tried scrambling onto the counter herself, but was far too short to do so, so she needed Elsa to give her a boost up onto the counter.
The anticipation and excitement of reaching the chocolate building up inside of her, the older Princess eagerly did as her little sister instructed, lifting her up onto the counter. Still, her eagerness did not outweigh how protective she was over Anna so, just in case, she made a blanket of snow to cushion Anna should she fall. It would be like landing on a pillow, in theory, but even so, she kept her arms outstretched, never taking her eyes off of her sister, just in case.
Though she refused to admit it, Anna had been wrong on the first few attempts to find the chocolates. Nevertheless, she continued her quest, crawling along the counters with Elsa never too far away, carefully rummaging through the cupboards in search of the precious sweets. As she got closer to the stove, Elsa got more worried. That was until the 4 year old let out a squeal of excitement and pulled out a box of chocolate!
"Victory! We've found them!" Anna exclaimed, waving the box of chocolates in her arms.
"Anna, be carefu-" Too late. Anna overbalanced as she waved the chocolates around and fell off of the counter, into her sister's thankfully awaiting arms. "It's ok, I've got you." Elsa breathed, rolling her eyes at the younger Princess' laughter.
"Woopsies." As she was let down on her feet once again, Anna tried to control her giggling.
"Are you ever going to stop being clumsy?" Elsa teased, her hands on her hips with an eyebrow raised – something she had only recently learnt to do.
"Nope!" Came the simple answer as Anna reached into the box of chocolates and put one in her mouth, savouring the sweet flavour for a moment before adding. "But you'll always be there to catch me, so that's ok!"
Elsa contemplated whether or not it'd be ok to be clumsy, before realising that Anna would never be under the same pressures to be perfect like she would be, so Anna would be able to get away with being clumsier a lot easier. "I guess you're right." She concluded, taking one of the chocolates for herself and eating it, taking her time so that she could really enjoy the rewards of her victory – the first of many, as she decided that she might just have to do this again one day, especially when the results were chocolate and her sister's beaming grin.
"And what exactly is going on here?"
The Princesses tensed as they heard the stern, angry voice behind them, slowly turning to be met by the glare of their father, their mother close behind him, staring at the snow beast and the blanket of snow by the counters in mute shock.
"Uhhh… Nothing, Papa!" Came Anna's voice almost instantly, though her words were all in vain, because it was all too obvious what was going on here; she had been caught chocolate-handed. "We just, uhh… W-We-"
"Snuck out of lessons, left a trail of ice throughout the castle and now this!" The King gestured to the snow in the kitchen, his gaze narrowing in on Elsa, the only one who could've cause all this snowy chaos in Spring. "Elsa, this is not what we expect from a Princess, let alone a future ruler; you know that. Be the good girl you always have to be and stop causing mischief with your powers."
Elsa sighed, but nodded her head, obeying her fathers as always. "Yes Papa, I'm sorry."
"And Anna," With wide eyes, the strawberry-blonde, who had been trying to make an escape towards the back door, snapped her attention to her father. "When are you going to learn to remain calm, and not get both you and your sister into trouble?"
Her jaw dropped, as did the box of chocolates she had been holding. Of course, Anna knew that it was partially her fault, since she came up with the idea of sneaking out in the first place, but Papa didn't know that! Wait, did he? "But I-"
"No buts. Now, both of you, return to class. Once that's over – and once your mother and I convince the staff to return – you will have dinner and then go straight to bed. Do you understand?"
Both Princesses nodded reluctantly, then watched as their parents left to track down the fleeing kitchen staff. Heaving a sigh once again, Elsa took hold of Anna's tiny hands and started leading her back to class, being a good girl and doing what was right.
After dinner, the two Princesses of Arendelle went to bed as they were told to do, although Anna was far too excited about what had happened today to sleep. In fact, she was too excited to stop talking!
"- And then I went 'Roar!' and then the staff went 'Aaah!'" Anna recalled the day to Elsa, even though her sister had been there to witness everything. "Even Chef Garrett screamed like a girl, it was so funny!"
"I suppose it was." Elsa answered simply as she brushed her little sister's hair by the vanity, not really paying attention as she thought about her father's words. 'Elsa, this is not what we expect from a Princess,' She was only 7, and Anna was only 4, and yet they expected a whole lot from them - everyone did. A Princess wasn't proper and wasn't poised and perfect like they wanted the two sisters to be, a Princess was… Just a normal girl. A real Princess, not the Princesses found in fairytales, was just like Anna and Elsa, not this graceful, pink-loving person that everyone thought. Nuh uh, the Princesses knew better than that.
"- And then Papa told me to stop getting us into trouble, but I-! Elsa? Ellllsaaa!" Anna waved her hand above her, in front of Elsa's eyes, causing the platinum blonde Princess to snap out of her thoughts.
"Oh! Sorry, uhh, I'm done now." Putting the brush away, Elsa made her way towards her own bed and climbed in, only to be joined by Anna, who clambered under the covers and snuggled into her cold – but, at the same time, warm - hugs.
"You weren't listening, weren't you?" There was a frown in Anna's voice, though it never showed on her face, because she knew that Elsa wouldn't just zone her out unless she had a good reason for it.
"Sorry, Anna, I just have a lot on my mind." Elsa replied, stifling a yawn as she pulled the covers up to her chin, making sure that both she and Anna were tucked in nicely.
"That's ok. It just means I'll have to tell you all about it again tomorrow!" The copper-haired Princess smirked, causing the slightest eye-roll from Elsa, accompanied by a small smile. "Will you sing me to sleep? Pleeeaaase?"
How could Elsa refuse her precious little sister a lullaby? It would be impossible, especially when Anna was cuddled up to her like this. "Ok, I will. Which one of Mama's lullabies would you like to hear?"
"None of them!" This reply confused Elsa, but Anna quickly explained what she meant. "I want to hear one of your songs."
"But I don't have any of my own songs, Anna."
"Then make one up!" Big blue eyes pleaded with Elsa and she let out a sigh. Elsa had no idea how to make up a song, but it was just thoughts put to music, right?
"Ok, but… I can't promise it will be any good." Thinking for a moment about what she was going to sing, the Snow Princess took a deep breath and let the words flow out in a soft melody, hoping that it would put her sister to sleep:
"They say a Princess is full of charm and grace,
They say she always knows her place,
They say a Princess wears pink and frilly clothes,
They say she never laughs and snorts milk out her nose,
They say she's calm, they say she's kind,
They say she never speaks her mind,
Or freezes nanny's big behind…"
Elsa paused as she listened to Anna's laughter, reflecting on one of last week's prank in the last line and smiling to herself.
"But you and me, we, we know better."
Anna was beginning to calm down now as she listened to her sister sing, but she wasn't ready to be lulled into sleep just yet, so Elsa continued, trying to create a whole song out of her feeling towards the expectations of a Princess, hoping that one day Anna would be able to sing it with her.
"They say a Princess is super-duper sweet,
She doesn't fight, she doesn't sweat and you never see her eat,
They say a Princess doesn't climb and scrape her knee,
They say a Princess wouldn't freeze her tutor's tea,
They say she's poised,
They say she's fair,
She never mentions-" Leaning forward, Elsa whispered into Anna's ear, "Underwear!" receiving more laughter, followed by a small yawn.
"Or longs to see the world out there,
But you and me, we, have big ideas of our own,
For the distant someday when we're grown,
When I'm queen and you're my right hand,
You'll get to travel throughout the land,
You'll tell them of your sister, and the magic things she can do,
We'll take care of our people and they will love me and you."
In her head, Elsa painted a picture of an older version of herself, sitting on the throne in front of a bowing crowd with her sister right beside her, and then another picture of them on a boat, having an adventure and going off to explore different countries.
Letting out a yawn of her own, the blonde Princess felt herself getting sleepy, her eyelids struggling to stay awake. Just before she fell asleep, though, she kissed Anna's head, her smile growing affectionate at the snoring she heard coming from the sleeping Princess' lips. Settling down, Elsa decided to add just a couple more lines to her song in a gentle whisper, the most important lines, which meant the most to her,
"No one can tell us what a Princess should be
As long as we're together, you and me."
Yes, as long as they were together, no one could tell them what to do. As long as they were together, they could face any threat or fear or beast, made of snow or otherwise. As long as they were together, everything would be alright.
Whispering a soft, "Goodnight, Anna." Elsa hugged her sister tighter and fell into a peaceful slumber, allowing dreams of a bright future, one which she could spend every day with Anna and have fun and live a happy life as Queen of Arendelle, flood her mind.