Elsa was a solitary person.
Aside from Marshmallow, she lived by herself. Her days were quiet, composed, and cut off from people in the only way one could really manage in a bustling city.
She rarely left her apartment for anything.
The only thing that really drew her away from her isolation was work - and even then, she could do the majority of that from home, either from the computer or over the phone.
Technology really was a wonderful tool for keeping the rest of the world at a perfect distance.
While reserved as a child, Elsa wasn't always so...disconnected from others.
She was a happy child, from a happy family. She had two loving, supportive parents, and a younger sister that adored her. School wasn't ever an issue, she excelled in quite a few subjects - even at a young age - and actually enjoyed it. She was a talented artist, inheriting her father's keen architectural design and her mother's sense of fashion.
Of course, things changed after the accident up at the cabin one winter...
"Elsa...Elsa!"
A tired sigh from the eight-year-old was followed by the soft shuffle of quilts. "Anna, go back to sleep," Elsa mumbled, trying to snuggle deeper into the cozy blankets on her bed.
Anna finally managed to clamber up onto her older sister's bed, flopping onto the other girl's prone form in a way that left the little redhead staring at the ceiling. "But the sky's awake, so I'm awake, so we have to play," she whined, throwing her arms up, only to let them fall back a moment later.
Struggling to hide her smile, Elsa playfully pushed the five-year-old off of herself. "Oh, go play by yourself!"
Closer to the edge of the bed than she'd thought, Anna landed on the rug-covered hardwood floor with a quiet "ooph!".
Not one to give up so easily, Anna bounced right back; all but launching herself back at her sister. "Do you wanna build a snoooowman?" she asked, dragging out the word, as she lifted up one of Elsa's eyelids to check that she wasn't faking being asleep.
Elsa caught herself smiling - much the same as she had done then, so many years ago now - at the memory. The young woman shook her head, as if to dispel such unbidden recollections.
Elsa hadn't even heard from Anna in several years. It was quite obvious that those happy days were over and done. She saw no point in dwelling on a past that would have no future.
So why did thoughts of her sister still plague her mind?
"Thanks so much, T!" Anna gushed, taking the white paper bag from her friend and wrapping her up in a big hug.
"It's no problem, Anna - just don't eat them all, like you tried last time," Tiana warned playfully, returning the embrace before pulling back to head into the twenty-four hour diner. "You better get a move on, your ride looks 'bout ready to stomp on the gas."
Anna looked over her shoulder, having already grabbed into the bag for a beignet and stuffed it into her mouth, seeing Kristoff tensely hunched over the wheel as Olaf animatedly blathered on in his ear.
Poor guy...
"Well, one of them's having a ball," Anna laughed, the noise muffled by the powdery confection in her mouth.
"And the other one's just started hitting his head against the steering wheel," Tiana commented, shaking her head, causing soft black curls to bounce in the confines of their ponytail. "Better go save him, Anna."
The redhead smiled mischievously, cocking her head to the side as she started back to Kristoff's truck. "Fine, but you've gotta come out dancing with me next time!"
"I already gave you a discount on those beignets, don't push your luck!"
Kristoff visibly uncoiled as soon as Anna was back in the truck, giving him a buffer to the constant word vomit that was coming from Olaf. A lot of words for such a short little guy.
"Thought those were for me," he commented slyly, eyeing the pastry that was still hanging out of Anna's mouth as he pulled the truck out onto the street again.
"Aw, come on! You can't eat all of these by yourself! I'm helping you not get a stomachache," Anna replied, quickly brushing white powder off her lips.
"Bet I can."
"Bet you can't."
"What do I get if I can?"
"A gym membership."
"I don't go to the gym - guess that's why I've got stick arms, huh?" Olaf piped up, waving his arms around as best he could inside the cramped cabin of the truck. "Oh, oh! Turn, turn!" he blurted out, sticking his head over the shoulder of Anna's seat.
"Turn? Turn where?!" Kristoff asked, quickly looking over to Olaf for further direction.
"Here, right here, right - there...," Olaf continued, pointing to the turn they'd just missed and bouncing in his seat. "Uh-huh...Oopsies!"
"Maybe a little more warning next time, Olaf?" Anna suggested, patting Kristoff on the arm in an attempt to curb his clearly tested temper with the shorter male.
Kristoff ground his teeth in agitation, curling and uncurling his fingers around the steering wheel.
Deep breaths, deep breaths.
Olaf was just...really, really absentminded...and easily distracted.
"Please tell me we're at least getting close?" Kristoff sighed, making the next turn up so that they could get back on track.
"Hmm, yeah, I think so," Olaf nodded, looking out the window again, as if to get his bearings.
We better not be lost at nearly midnight because of this li'l, buck-toothed-
"Oh, right over there - the big, white building at the end there!" Olaf shouted happily, his seat belt locking up at his sporadic movement.
Both Kristoff and Anna were similarly awed by the sheer size of the building - it was massive, all modern design and glass. The whole place almost looked like it was made out of ice, in the right light.
"Whoa...Your sister lives here?" Kristoff whistled, pulling up to the posh apartment building - which quite decidedly put where they lived to shame.
"I...Apparently?" Anna murmured, similarly gobsmacked by the place.
Anna came from a very wealthy family, but she had wanted to make her own way in life, and so only used the vast amount of money at her disposal only when she really need to - or wanted to splurge on something in particular on any given month.
Elsa clearly hadn't done the same - though Anna knew she was more involved in their family's business than she ever would be. Papa had always said Elsa was born with a gift for the world of business.
"...Are you sure you still want to do this, Anna?" Kristoff asked, noticing that she hadn't made any move to get out of the truck.
Anna sucked on her bottom lip nervously, teeth grazing over the soft flesh. "I have to talk with her...It's been too long, and...and I want to know why," she said, her voice low but still carrying some of her previous confidence; opening the passenger side door, and slipping out with only a little wobble in her step after being in the vehicle so long.
"Alright, everybody out," Kristoff ordered, stepping out of the truck, and pushing the seat forward so Olaf could get out as well.
"Actually...," Anna trailed off, her voice going up an octave, "Maybe you guys should stay out here. We haven't spoken in years, and last time I introduced her to a guy, she sort of...freaked out."
"Wait, seriously?" Kristoff asked, helping Sven out of the back of the truck.
Anna gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry, that's just - a long story, you know? Just give me five or ten minutes to sort of...figure things out with her, and then you guys can come up, okay? I don't want to overwhelm her with all these people suddenly showing up," she explained, hoping they'd understand.
Olaf looked confused, and like he was about to ask why he couldn't just go up with Anna, but Kristoff placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "Alright, we'll wait out here, Anna. But, if you need us to come up there, just text or something?" he sighed, a knowing look on his face.
Just because they had helped her get here, didn't mean they had a right to barge in on something that was very clearly personal.
"Thanks, you guys," Anna sighed gratefully, running toward the glass doors of the building; awkwardly twisting around as she was moving to add, "Ten minutes, okay? Just give me ten minutes!" She narrowly missed running into the doorman, disappearing into the grand building with a wave and an anxious but excited smile.
"Come on, come on, come on!" Anna squealed excitedly, tugging on Elsa's hand as they made their way out of their room and across the cabin.
"Shhh!" Elsa warned, her free hand holding her index finger up to her mouth as they reached the door.
Glancing back at their parents' room for a second, to check that they hadn't been discovered sneaking out of bed, Elsa remembered to have them put their jackets and boots on before heading outside.
Out, into the snow and onto the ice; laughing and playing in the cold night air, not a care in their made up world of fun. They played in the snow - which was still falling in silent, light waves from the dark sky - building a misshapen snowman, and throwing partially formed snowballs at one another; they didn't feel the cold, though they were clothed in only their pajamas and winter jackets.
But then, they were on the ice, the lake by the cabin frozen over in the winter. Elsa had been holding Anna's hand as they slid about on the slick surface, but all of a sudden - she couldn't even remember why - Anna's little hand had left hers, and her sister had strayed away from her.
"Anna, slow down!" Elsa cried out, seeing her sister speeding across the ice as fast as she could.
Anna was laughing, ignoring her older sister's worried voice as she continued to slip and slide over the frozen lake. "This is amazing!" she whooped, giggling when she fell to her knees - but kept sliding due to her momentum.
Elsa's eyes widened in shock as she saw a break in the ice, right where her little sister was headed. "Anna, look out!" she yelled, voice high-pitched and cracking with fear. She scrambled to try and stop Anna's trajectory towards the fissure, but Elsa lost her footing; falling roughly onto her back, unable to keep her sister from falling into freezing cold water.
"Mama! Papa! H-Help!"
After a little bit of snooping around the main lobby - she had stumbled upon the little mailboxes for the residents of the building, which thankfully had surnames, and were set up to correspond with different floors and room numbers - Anna had found which floor her sister lived on.
As she made her way up and through the building - this elevator ran a lot more smooth than their building's - Anna couldn't help but take in the sleek, modern designs. Blue eyes wandered over little details, catching onto a very familiar insignia.
Did her family's company build this place?
Considering she'd never really been privy to any of the goings-on in the family business, Anna wasn't incredibly surprised that she was so in the dark about anything concerning her late father's business. Elsa must have helped with the architectural designing for this place, getting it up and ready long before Anna had even thought of moving back to the city.
It was jaw-dropping, that was for sure.
Shaking her head, Anna tried to stop distracting herself from what she was doing. She couldn't help it, though. Getting worked up and nervous, Anna's mind would run all over the place in procrastination until she just did whatever she needed to.
Finding the right door - or so she hoped, did she screw up the numbers in her head? - Anna took a shaky breath, hesitated, and then knocked on the door.
"Has it been ten minutes yet?" Olaf asked, the second time in under a minute, as he moved his feet back and forth on the heels of his shoes; the short little man having planted himself on the stairs until he was allowed to go into the building.
Kristoff glanced away from watching Sven do his second round of sniffing around the building's well-kept landscaping, settling a deadpan expression on the brunet. "No, it hasn't. It's barely been five minutes, Olaf...," he sighed, rubbing a hand over his face wearily - only to let his hand drop, and see Sven starting to dig up some of the too-stunning-to-be-real flowers out of their beds.
"Sven, no, you're going to get us kicked off the property and we never even got inside!"
Elsa was almost thinking it was time to put work aside for the day, and try to get at least a few hours of sleep, when a most unexpected knocking sounded from her door.
Who on earth could that possibly be? And at this time of night?
Hearing Marshmallow growl from his large, round dog bed in the corner, Elsa ushered him into her bedroom and shut the door behind him. Thin fingers curling in up against her palm, nails nearly biting into pale skin, Elsa approached the door with a sort of cautiousness one usually designated a dangerous situation.
Elsa wasn't entirely comfortable around people, not for anything that they did - other than just being people. She found it hard to read them, to know how to act or react.
So, as she opened the door, Elsa was further thrown off by the fact that the person intruding upon her life of solitude was, in fact, her near-estranged younger sister.
"...Anna?"
