Idk how I have the time to write, but here ya go

Disclaimer: I don't own Frozen.

Elsa crouched beside the cooking fire and stoked the embers with a stick. The flame dimly burned at the edge of the cave as a rabbit cooked on a spit, the fresh meat slowly darkening to a cooked brown.

The exit of the cave was a surprisingly great campsite. The cave mouth shielded the light of their fire and gave them a barrier to the wind. Though Anna seemed to disregard the latter fact.

The redhead laid in the grass, just out of reach of the firelight. Her hands were comfortably tucked behind her head as she gazed up at the velvet night sky. Her eyebrows were scrunched together in thought, and she bit the inside of her cheek.

Crunching grass behind her alerted her to Elsa's presence. She tilted her head back to look at her. The blonde's clothes, though new, already looked year worn.

We've been through a lot, she fondly thought. I'm honestly surprised we made it here alive.

Elsa looked down at her. Her cloth-covered hands fiddled with the sides of her pants. "What's on your mind?"

Anna shrugged. Her neck began to hurt, so she tilted her head forward so she was looking at the sky again. "Just thinking."

"About…?"

"Nothing, really. I was debating whether or not Gerda cleaned my room for me while I was gone. It would suck for me to have to go through that mess when I get back tomorrow."

Elsa was silent for a long moment. "You're a terrible liar, you know."

Anna tilted her head back in a sharp movement that made her neck twitch. Her brow furrowed into a pouting scowl. "I am not! That's really what I'm thinking about."

Elsa crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow. "Hmmm."

"Hmmm yourself," Anna half-heartedly spat. She sat up and turned around to properly look up at the blonde. "If anyone here's a bad liar, it's you. So hmmm," she said, sticking her tongue out.

Elsa blinked. "Me?"

"Yeah, Mrs. I'm-afraid-of-the-dark-but-I'm-too-cool-to-admit-it."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not afraid of the dark."

"Then why did you freak out back there? You went completely ice crazy, and then you sortof...sortof…" Anna trailed off, her voice dying to a whisper. She looked at Elsa and found the older woman looking away. "…changed."

Elsa sighed heavily, almost in defeat. Anna immediately regretted bringing up the subject. But before she could change it, Elsa spoke.

"I…don't like small spaces…," she softly mumbled. She shuffled her feet and tightened her arms around her middle. "They remind me of things I'd rather forget."

"But what about your place in the Northern Mountains?" Anna cautiously asked. She didn't want to cross any boundaries, but she still wanted to know what was causing the blonde pain. "It was pretty close-quarters."

"I don't really sleep there if I can help it. It's mainly a place to store my supplies."

Anna bit her lip. "I'm sorry," she quietly said. "I didn't mean to ask something that would make you uncomfortable. I wasn't thinking."

Elsa looked down at her, her attitude doing a nearly complete one-eighty. Either she washed away her feelings on the matter, or she had a great poker face. "Don't be. It's…kindof nice to talk about it." Though still skeptical, Anna smiled. "Now, stop trying to change the subject. What were you thinking about?"

Anna puffed her cheeks. "Promise not to make fun of me?"

Elsa rolled her eyes. Again. "I promise."

Anna gave her a long, serious stare before she turned to lie back down in the grass. "Okay. So I was looking at the dippers, right? And I thought that the big dipper and the little dipper could be siblings, y'know? Like in some sort of lore. I know the stories don't say anything like that, but I think it would be interesting. They are a lot alike and all. Even though the big dipper is the only one that actually dips. Like a big pot. The little one really kindof scoops."

"…Dippers?"

Anna tilted her head back. "Yeah. You know." She pointed up. "The constellations."

Elsa looked up for a long second before looking down again. "I don't get it."

"Oh. Well, ugh..." Anna scratched her cheek. "They're the shapes you make out in the stars. You know. Orion, Leo—those things."

Elsa looked taken aback. "You…" She studied the sky for a handful of minutes, her brow furrowed and her eyes searching for something she couldn't see. Her gaze eventually fell back to Anna. "You see pictures in the stars?"

"Well, yeah." Anna frowned. "How do you not know the—Oh! Duh!" she exclaimed, smacking her forehead. "Isolation, no human contact—forgot about that!" she laughed.

Elsa tilted her head, still confused.

Anna patted the grass next to her. "Here, lie down. I'll show you them. They're pretty cool."

Elsa slid to the ground as instructed, folding one hand on her stomach and the other behind her head comfortably.

"Now," Anna began, pointing up. "See that little cluster of stars over there? That's the little dipper. And just below that is the big dipper." She traced the constellations with her finger as she spoke. "And that's Orion. The stars make his body and bow so it looks like he's firing an arrow. He's not my favorite, but he's pretty cool. And then there's—Oh! You'll like this one. See that triangle-looking one over there? That's Leo. He's right below the pot of the big dipper."

Anna turned. Elsa was squinting, her brow furrowed. Anna couldn't help but stare at the way she thoughtfully chewed her lip. Soft tissue pursed beneath teeth that exposed a sharp canine. The princess' throat suddenly ran dry.

"I don't see it," Elsa finally said. She turned to look at the redhead. Anna nearly jumped. Elsa caught her stare and blushed from the discovery. The deep red spreading across her cheeks jumped to Anna's, warming her neck in embarrassment.

"U-Uhm…," Anna stuttered, trying to play it off. Her heart sped to hummingbird pace when Elsa looked away. "I-I—"

"Could you...comeclosertoshowme?"

Anna's head snapped up. "What?"

Elsa's throat bobbed thickly, and she stared at her free hand playing with the end of her shirt. "I can't see the pictures like you can. You could point them out if you were…y'know…closer." She nervously glanced at her. "I-If you want," she quickly added. "It's just hard to follow when you're over there."

Although 'over there' was maybe an arm's length away, hearing Elsa say it made it feel like a league, and Anna immediately wanted to close that gap. "Sure!" Elsa flinched from the quick, squeaky response. "I-I mean, I'd love to if it'll help," she said, meekly smiling.

It took two scoots to get their sides touching, and the flush contact did something to Anna that made her whole body shiver with a liquid hot chill. Her eyes widened when Elsa lifted her arm to invite her even closer.

Deep breathes, Anna. Deep breathes.

Anna slid against her side with a final push. Elsa lowered her arm to give her a pillow for her head, and Anna had to stab and kill the urge to cuddle in the secure embrace. Their sides pressed flush against one another. She could feel every rise and fall of Elsa's chest, and she felt her temple brush against her cheek.

"Okay…," Anna slowly said, keeping the shakiness out of her voice as best she could. "Which one do you want to see first?"

"Whichever one you want to show me." Anna suppressed a shiver when Elsa's warm breath fanned over her ear and cheek.

She swallowed hard. "O-Okay. Let's start with the easy one. See that really bright star?" she said, pointing up.

A long moment passed as Elsa squinted at the sky. "Uh-huh."

"That's the end of the little dipper. And if you draw a little line up with those other stars, you make an upside-down pot. Then right below it you see another, bigger pot that's rightside-up."

"Oh!" Elsa breathed in silent exclamation. "I see it!"

Anna smiled. "And then right down to the side of the big dipper is the triangle that makes Leo."

She could practically feel Elsa smiling, and she giggled when she whispered in awe.

"So someone just stared at the sky and drew pictures with their mind?"

Anna laughed. "No, no, no. There's much more to them than that. There's history and mythology and zodiacs and all sorts of things that made them."

"Is it normal for humans to know all that stuff, or is it just a princess thing?"

"Mostly a princess thing, but there are a lot of normal people who like stargazing." She giggled. "When I was little, my mother would take me to a hill behind the castle and show them to me. But…But then she died," Anna said, her brow furrowing. The memory, though old, still stung. "I was pretty young then, but I still go there sometimes. Although it's...it's just not the same."

Elsa fidgeted, repositioning herself against the redhead. "My...Mine too," she said in a broken mumble. She swallowed dryly. "My mother died, too. When I was young."

Anna's turned to look up at the blonde. "You had a mom?" she blurted.

Elsa rolled her eyes. "Of course I had a mom. Everyone does. I didn't pop out of the ground."

Anna flushed crimson. "Sorry, sorry, I just—I thought you were always, y'know, on your own."

"I was, basically." She paused. "…I can't really remember her that well, but I do remember that we were always moving. Humans don't take too kindly to how we look. Once we were chased out of a village because they thought we looked like demons with our blue eyes and white hair."

Anna's chest swelled with sadness and a slight anger. "That's horrible. I can't imagine having to live like that. It must've been really hard."

Elsa shook her head and shrugged. "Not really. My mother always made sure I was happy, one way or another. The only hard part was when we couldn't find food." She smiled. "Whenever I was sore from hunger or woken up from a nightmare, she would make snowmen with me to cheer me up."

"So she had powers like you?"

"Yeah."

"How young were you when…when it happened?"

"…Too young," Elsa sighed. "I was eight, I think. She came back very sick after hunting. She was gone for only a couple of hours, but she came back like she had been sick for days. She told me she was fine, but I knew she was lying. Then she told me we had to run. She was so scared. I had never seen her so scared before. It terrified me."

Elsa let her eyes roam the stars. "It was night at the time, but I think she was covered in blood. It was too dark to tell. We only made it a few dozen yards before I realized something was seriously wrong. She—She just looked so tired. She could barely walk. She told me to run. And then, she fell…And she didn't get up."

"What did you do?"

Elsa closed her eyes, her face contorting into a long-lost pain. Anna felt her muscles tense against her. "I was scared. I tried to get her to get up, but she couldn't. She was gone. I didn't know what to do. I knew something was coming for us. It smelled like humans. So I ran...like she told me to. I left her there, and I ran until my legs gave out."

Anna laid her hand over Elsa's, gently entwining their fingers. Her wrapped palm was as cold as the night air and sat limp in her grasp, but she felt her slightly relax from the contact. Her stomach twisted in grief for her friend, but she was touched by how Elsa trusted her enough to tell her so much.

"I didn't know how to hunt yet, so I snuck into small villages to steal food. I…It didn't really work." Elsa turned her head towards Anna's. At this distance, their noses were nearly touching. Arctic blue flickered around teal. "When you saved me that night, it was the first time anyone ever did anything for me."

"Well…that's because everyone else doesn't know you."

"You didn't, either," Elsa softly countered. "But you did it anyways."

Anna dumbly opened her mouth at a loss for words. Whatever retort or reason she could have thought of died on her tongue as she stared into calming arctic blue.

Elsa finally tore her gaze away. "Everyone else just…hates me, and I don't know why." She tightened her grip on Anna's hand. "I never asked for this…for this curse. I never used to think I was a monster, but since I'm the only one…what else could I be?"

Anna rubbed her thumb over the back of Elsa's hand. "Your gift isn't a curse, Elsa. I've seen your powers protect me ever since I've known you."

Elsa looked at her with pleading eyes. "You don't understand, Anna. I've hurt people," she said, her voice almost cracking. "I didn't mean to—I didn't want to—but I did. And I almost hurt you." She looked at their hands. "I'm a monster."

Anna's gaze hardened. "You are not a monster, Elsa."

"But—"

"No. I don't ever want to hear you say that again, understand?"

Elsa flinched back at the harsh tone, but nodded all the same. Anna smiled at her, an action that made it increasingly difficult to not reciprocate the gesture the more Elsa saw it.

The night air grew stale as the two sat in the grass, simply enjoying each others' presence and staring at the stars. Anna was beginning to think that Elsa intended on them sleeping in that spot before the blonde finally spoke again.

"What about you?" Elsa asked after a pregnant silence. "What was your mother like?"

"Welllll…my mom wasn't exactly your typical queen," she said, light laughter bubbling beneath her words. "She and I were like twins. Two peas in a pod. Sure, she wasn't the smartest person in the world, but she knew how to have fun. Like me, of course," she added as an afterthought, smiling when it made Elsa chuckle.

"Papa was happier back then, too. She was the light of his world." Anna's face fell. "She was murdered. Her carriage was attacked on a trip back from Corona."

Elsa curled her arm tighter around the redhead. Her warmth soaked into her skin, and her gentle touch helped calm her. "Papa changed after that. We used to hang out all the time, but now it's like he's avoiding me, holing himself into his study. The only time I can spend time with him now is if he reprimands me for pranking my lesson masters. He wants me to be this perfect, smart princess…but I just can't."

Elsa sat up, bringing Anna with her so they could sit face to face. She kept their hands linked together between them, her other arm resting on Anna's shoulder. "Anna, I'm sorry for what I said earlier. You're not stupid, and you shouldn't think that about yourself."

Anna sniffled, her eyes glossing over. "No, no, it's fine, really," she insisted, wiping stray moisture from her eyes. Gods, Elsa had childhood trauma and I'm crying over a fucking low I.Q. "It's true. I know I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer." She tried to smile to hide her tears, but the attempt made her lip quiver.

Elsa ducked her head, forcing Anna to look her in the eye. "Anna, you are the smartest person I know. You got me out of that trap, helped us escape Crow's men, led us out of the cave—I wouldn't be alive right now if it weren't for you." She gave a small smile. "And you're not just smart. You're a kind, compassionate, warm-hearted, beautiful young woman, and your father is lucky to have you for a daughter."

Anna stared at her.

Elsa blushed. "I-I'm sorry. Did I—Was that too much?" she mumbled.

She waited for Anna to respond and was horrified when the princess' shoulders shook harder and fresh tears bubbled into her eyes.

"Nononono, Anna, I'm sorry. Please don't cry. I didn't mean—"

The blonde nearly fell backwards when Anna threw herself into her arms, sobbing into her shoulder and tightly holding her neck.

Anna quickly pulled away. She wiped her face, sniffling and trying to get herself together. "S-Sorry," she said. "I know you don't like touching and stuff."

Her eyes widened when Elsa gently pulled her back, her warm arms tightly wrapping around her smaller body. "I love warm hugs," she mumbled against Anna's hair.

Anna wrapped her arms around Elsa's neck, relaxing into her protective embrace. She sobbed herself into exhaustion, but Elsa never let her go.

She fell asleep to the lullaby of a purr.

Anna smiled broadly as she was led through the castle hall. The sights and smells of home were more welcoming than she anticipated. Servants and friends welcomed her exuberantly, hugging and fussing over her until one of them had enough sense to run and tell her father that she was safely home.

The redhead smiled, remembering that morning.

"I think I may stick around for a bit," Elsa said, tightening the wrapping around her palm.

The two of them stood at the treeline on the end of the Kingsroad. Castle Arendelle was in sight and just a few hours away, and this was where they were to say their goodbyes.

Anna turned to her companion. "Where will you stay?"

"I told you I have a home around here. I'll have to make sure you hold up your end of the bargain, yes?"

"Oh. Right. Of course," Anna said, scratching the back of her neck. "Will…Will I be able to see you again?" she tentatively asked.

Elsa held her chin, humming in thought. '"I suppose…," she drawled, trying to act reluctant as a smirk lit her face. "Go northeast from where we first met until you see a vine grove. I'll be around there."

Anna smiled from ear to ear. "Great! I'll come see you tonight. I can bring chocolate from the castle and some blankets and we can look at the stars again! Or maybe—"

Elsa placed the tips of her fingers over her lips, silencing the redhead. Anna's heart nearly stopped from the touch, and Elsa leaning close to her almost made her faint. "I look forward to it," she said with a smirk.

Anna blushed at the memory, but she was pulled from her thoughts when the guards escorting her stopped in front of her father's study. She held her breath as each of the guards took a handle and opened the doors, preparing herself for the cold tongue-lashing she knew she would receive.

Anna had never seen her father look anything less than pristine. He drilled her in the importance of presentation and appearance, settling for nothing less than the face of a competent monarch.

So to say she was shocked by his current state was a vast understatement.

The king was hutched over his desk, absentmindedly writing a document. His red hair was parted in a greasy fray, and his uniform was wrinkled like he hadn't changed his clothes since the day before.

"Your Majesty," boomed the two guards, clicking their boots together and saluting.

Agdar looked up. Dark, nearly black bags hung deep under his blood-shot eyes.

"Unless there is a fire, I don't—"

The king saw Anna and froze, his jaw falling open. "…Anna?"

Anna nodded, a smile creeping onto her face. She probably looked like trash, but her father didn't seem to care in the least. "Hi, Papa."

Agdar shot from his chair, nearly stumbling over his own feet. He grabbed her in a steel hug that took her breath away. "Anna!" he cried, nearly shaking. "Oh Anna, Anna, Anna…my baby girl…"

Anna didn't move.

There…There was no yelling. He hadn't yelled at her. He didn't even scowl.

She finally returned his embrace, burying her face in his uniform. "Yeah, it's me…I'm home, Papa."

King Agdar did his best to compose himself, but his eyes were wet. "You," he gestured to one of the guards. "Tell Kai to cancel my audience with Lord Nokk. I…my daughter's home," he said, holding Anna as if the redhead would suddenly disappear.

The short remainder of that day passed by in a fast blur. Anna explained what had happened to her, but her father cut her off as she was beginning to explain the rough treatment she endured at the hands of her captors.

"You are home, and you are safe. I know enough to start a search for those men. Castle security will also be tightened, of course. And Ser Kristoff wi—"

She listened to her father go on about implementing new security measures as Kai brought them tea and chocolate cake. Dr. Geri was eventually called to give her a check-up, but Anna shooed him away with reassurances to him and her father that she was perfectly fine now that she was home.

Agdar dug out an old chess board that Anna remembered watching him and her mother play on when she was a girl. Her father was clearly still running on anxious energy, covertly using the game to focus his thoughts as they talked.

It was when she declared checkmate in their first game that Anna remembered her promise. About the deal she had made.

She looked up at her father. She had almost forgotten how he looked when he smiled.

It…It can wait till later.

Her father didn't let her leave his study until late that night, escorting her to her room and demanding two guards stay at her door at all times.

As she laid in bed, Anna couldn't stop hot guilt from snagging its claws into her chest as she thought about a certain blonde alone in the woods, waiting for a friend who wouldn't be returning that night.

Dun dun dunnnn...

-REKA