Elsa paced nervously around the room. A small voice somewhere in the further reaches of her mind told her that it was doing no good, but she ignored it. Pacing made her feel slightly calmer, and if she couldn't do that than there was nothing she could do to set her nerves at ease. She might just sit down and go insane with the tension.

There was still no word from the front, and she didn't know if her reinforcements had made it in time. Or whether Nathan was alright or not. She didn't know which was worse. She couldn't imagine what she would do if both were true. It was all that she could do now to hope that neither was true.

A sudden knock at the door made her jump, and Anna's voice came through the heavy wood of the door, saying "Hey Elsa, are you alright in there? I know you're worried, we all are, but you need to come out!" She let out a sigh. Why did her sister have to be so damn caring? She called out, saying "Ok, I'm coming!"

She walked over to the door and pulled it open, revealing the concerned face of her dear sister. She gave Anna an insincere smile, trying her best to fool her. It didn't work, and Anna only looked more worried. "Do you… want to talk?" Anna asked, her expression becoming just a little hopeful. She sighed and let her shoulders slump, knowing that arguing against her sister would have no real yield. "Sure. Let's go." She said, tired. Anna disappeared from the doorway of Elsa's room and started to walk down the hall. She followed her sister slowly, horrible thoughts of possible disasters that might have struck somewhere weighing her feet down.

Anna looked behind her and saw her sister lagging behind. She slowed her walk down so that she fell in beside her and gave her a careful look. She looked like she had been awake for days. She hadn't, of course, which made it more worrying in a way. Elsa glanced up to her sister with bags under her eyes before looking back down at the floor and continuing to walk silently. Anna knew that her sister needed help right now, and she might've asked Nathan to help, if he hadn't been part of the problem. In the absence of Nathan, Anna supposed that it was up to her alone to comfort her sister.

She ran through a small list of people who might be able to help her. Kristoff was gone, harvesting ice. Because of that Sven was out of the question as well. Olaf was gone, having vanished off the face of the earth as he seemed to do with increasing frequency. Eugene and Rapunzel might have been able to pull her out of the rut she was in, but it would take days to even contact them. She really was on her own.

"So…" her voice trailed off before she had even really started. She shook her head and steeled herself for another attempt. "So what's got you down?" as soon as the words had left her mouth she felt like slapping herself. Was that really the best she could come up with? She may as well start babbling about the weather.

Elsa seemed to feel similarly about her attempt, rolling her eyes and saying "I wonder…" Anna wasn't sure how to continue after such a huge misstep as her first move. If there was anything that might've saved her from the unbearable silence between the two after that, she would've done it in an instant. She looked out a window as they passed, and something occurred to her. Maybe talking about the weather wasn't such a bad idea after all.

She perked up and asked her sister "Do you think you could teach me how to change the weather?" Elsa looked at Anna with a questioning look before shrugging her shoulders and saying "maybe" in that same tired, almost monotone voice. Anna faltered for a moment, not sure how to respond, before saying "Well, do you think we could try?" in a voice that sounded more hopeful than she felt.

Elsa took a few moments to devise a response, and when she did, it was her looking to Anna, her eyes half closed, and saying "I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I think I just need to be alone right now."

With those words, her sister turned to walk away. Anna watched her go, dress trailing behind her as she walked. Anna felt something boil up inside of her. Something that she wasn't accustomed to. It started as annoyance. Why did Elsa have to do this? Why did she always think that being alone was the answer to everything? The feeling quickly blossomed into something else, something that made her cheeks burn and her fists clench. Then, without any forethought, all that emotion burst out in a barrage of words directed at her sister.

"Alright, fine! Go to your room and play with your powers! I'm sorry that I tried to help." The feeling subsided slightly, but quickly started to grow again. Elsa turned around to face Anna, a shocked expression on her face. Anna would've apologized for her outburst, but somehow Elsa's expression made it boil over again. "What? Why do you look so startled? Did you not think that eventually someone would get mad about how you… you… do this? How every time you go into a situation that clearly needs other people to help you just disengage? Because that seems really childish to me."

A heavy silence settled between the two of them. For what felt like hours, Elsa just stood there, staring at her with a stunned expression on her face. Then, as the feeling of hours started to turn to days, something started to change in Elsa's demeanor. Her shoulders started to shake, her chest started to heave, and tears started to flow from her eyes. A heavy dread came over Anna as she realized what she had said, and she started to hold her arms out for her sister. Before she had even risen them all the way, Elsa dashed forward and embraced her sister in a rib-shattering hug, burying her face in her shoulders and starting to sob.

Broken, spastic speech came from her sister. Words so saturated in sadness that she started to feel herself get sad just from hearing them. "I'm s-s-sorry, Anna. It's just t-t-that I c-can't do this o-on my own. I-I just feel like its m-my r-responsibility to handle it on my own."

She returned her sisters hug and felt the entire feeling that had overcome her fade away. She felt horrible about what she had said. "Elsa, I… I'm sorry, I just…" there was nothing she could say. Nothing that express just how she felt. She let the sentence hand in the air and die. Her sister hugged her harder, and she returned the gesture. She wondered how Nathan would handle this situation. Somehow she figured that there wouldn't be quite so many tears.

Anna looked down at the floor, just becoming aware of a thin film of ice starting to form over the floor. She wondered if it was from her sister or herself. There was no really way to tell, after all. She tried briefly to get rid of it, but she couldn't focus herself enough to do it.

The pair made their way slowly back to the library. The place that seemed to represent a constant in the girls' lives. A place they always ended up coming back to. They moved to a large chair and sat down next to each other, still clutching onto each other like their lives depended on it. They just sat there and cried a while, no words having any reason or meaning.

After another immeasurable span of time, there was a knock at the door. Both girls looked towards the door, surprised. Another knock at the door seemed to snap them out of whatever trance they had been in. Both stood, wiped their faces off, and straightened themselves. Elsa called out to the door, but faltered as her voice was still very unsteady. She coughed, cleared her throat, and tried again. "Come in."

The door opened, and a nervous looking guard hailed them from the other side. "Hello, your majesty! I… you may want…" he looked behind him, unsure as to how to continue, before looking back to Elsa with eyes that seemed to be asking for help. "The…uh… Royal Protector has returned."

The effect of Elsa was immediate and obvious. She straightened up and smiled, saying "Really? Where is he?" The guard gulped, and Anna could tell that there was something up with him. The guard looked behind him again, and gestured for something. Then, with a few audible groans of pain, Nathan stepped forward, a wry smile on his face.

Both Elsa and Anna gasped when they saw him. He looked battered, bruised, bloodied, and almost broken. His normally orderly clothes were singed and burned severely, there were numerous bullet holes in his chest piece, a white bandage was slung around his arm and over his shoulder, keeping his right arm still, and he walked with a now very obvious limp. In spite of all that, though, he still smiled at Elsa, making a waving motion with his bandaged arm than wincing in pain as he seemed to realize that doing so was a poor idea.

Elsa ran towards him, outstretching her arms and giving him a worried look, saying "Are you alright?" in a more worried tone than Anna had heard her use in a long time. Before she could reach him and wrap her arms around him, Nathan stepped back and put his good arm up, saying "Maybe the hugs should stay at a minimum for a while, Elsa. I know It breaks your heart, but…" he gestured to his various injuries "…a little more than my heart here."

Elsa looked dejected, but still immensely happy that he had returned. Anna was happy as well, but more because his arrival took some of the pressure off of her. She was glad that he was alright, of course, but who said she couldn't be a little selfish every once in a while?

She shuffled uncomfortably, feeling a bit out of place in the reunion. If Elsa and Nathan wanted to be alone, she would be happy to oblige. All they had to do was ask. They didn't though, and she was left to stand awkwardly waiting for something to happen. Elsa walked slowly and cautiously forward, than embraced Nathan in a gentle hug, careful not to upset his wounds. The look on his face told that he appreciated the effort, even though it didn't entirely work. He flinched, but tried not to let the pain show.

Anna Gave Nathan a concerned look, but he didn't notice. He was too busy returning Elsa's hug. His movements were ginger and gentle, trying not to upset his wounds or cause himself any undue pain. Elsa came off of him and looked him over again. "Are you sure that you are alright?" she asked in a concerned voice.

Anna couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at this. It was very obvious that Nathan was not alright. Why did she ask that? In any case, Nathan gave a small, pained looking laugh and said "I'm sure I've been worse at some point. Anyways, how are you? Has your day been as exciting as mine?"

Elsa didn't smile at the joke. She motioned for Nathan to come into the library and motioned for the guard to go. The man seemed happy to oblige, and Nathan behaved likewise. He took a few struggling steps before reaching out an arm and making a noise that seemed to suggest that he needed help. Elsa rushed back to him and let him put an arm over her shoulder, letting some of his weight onto her. She staggered under the sudden weight, and motioned for Anna to come and help her.

She rushed over to help, getting herself under Nathan's other shoulder. He smelled like blood. Blood and smoke. She didn't like the combination. She and Elsa worked together to get Nathan over to where they had been sitting before, and as they did so Anna felt herself get increasingly worried for Nathan. He seemed as fine as one could be under his condition; able to walk, move, and talk under relatively his own power, but there were small quakes inside of him that Anna could just barely feel. Muscles were twitching under the pressure to continue what they were doing. She could feel small muscles in his arm struggling to continue keeping himself up on her shoulders.

They got him to the seat and laid him down, a few of his joints popping as he shifted his weight off of his legs. He let out a groan, and a small smile came across his face. "Feels good to sit down" he said to nobody in particular. Anna looked across him to Elsa with a questioning look. She would've asked her what she thought happened to him, but all that she could divine through her mental link was worry. Her concern was far too major. She wanted to help her sister calm down, but there wasn't anything that she could do to ease her discomfort other than stay by her in case she needed something.

Nathan took a deep breath, and started recounting the story of had had happened to him. Anna and Elsa listened, intrigued to hear what happenings could have possibly led to him getting as beaten as he had. By the end of the story, Anna was sure that he had exaggerated at least some part of it. His voice hadn't wavered in any way that people did when they lied. It all coincided with what injuries it looked like he had gotten, and he didn't seem the type to exaggerate anyways.

Author's Note:

I apologize for the short chapter, but various things made a longer one not viable. The next one is going to be longer.

As always, leave feedback, share with your friends, whatever. I appreciate it.