Anna

Thus we journeyed back through the forest and brought my sister with us.

I took her home with me to the Oaken's, who didn't mind at all having my sister spend the night.
As soon as I got her through the front door, I piled blanket after blanket upon her still-shivering body.
I also managed to find an outfit among my own clothes for her to change into.
Being that I am slightly smaller than Elsa, I just gave her some pants and a t-shirt that were just a tad too large on me.
Even though these clothes weren't the fashion statement of the year, my sister was grateful. She warmed up in no time.

I do believe we both caught colds, but I could handle a runny nose if it meant I got my sister back.

Everything changed.

Elsa told me about the true identity of the Weseltons. Apparently, Mr. Weselton had been our parents lawyer. Because of this, he was very aware that they had set up a trust fund for us, which could be accessed by Elsa upon her eighteenth birthday.
The trust fund was a very generous sum of money. Evidently, Mr. Weselton thought so, too.
He took Elsa into his home in hopes of adopting her only to get his greedy hands on his would-be rich daughter's money.
I guess the only thing he didn't plan on was Elsa not cooperating with his desires.
I suppose, he assumed Elsa would be so desperate to have a family again, she would've agreed in a heartbeat.
He assumed wrong.

The only time Elsa went back to the Weseltons' was when she went back to pack up the remainder of her belongings.
Once she had done this, she slammed the door without so much as a goodbye.

Elsa came to live with me at the Oaken's, who were still ecstatic to have her with us.
She had decided that she would stay here until even after her eighteen birthday, which had taken place exactly one week before her high school graduation.
Why deal with all the unnecessary stress of finding an apartment the last week before her graduation when she already had a home that was fine enough to live in for one more week?
She will move out after graduation.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, she will be taking me along with her.

Kristoff and I remain friends; really good friends.
I realize that I should probably get to really know him before deciding to take our relationship to the next level.
You know, just because someone seems perfect, it doesn't mean they actually are.
I learned my lesson from Hans.

Kristoff may not be absolutely perfect; he's a bit of a fixer upper.
I'm turning him around, though.
I've even managed to get him to say "awkward" in casual conversation.
I think he was describing something as awkward the other day... oh wait, he was describing me...

He takes me riding on a regular basis.
Arendelle Stables feels like a second home to me now. But, I doubt I'll ever get used to that awful smell.
I still tease Kristoff about that time I heard him singing with Sven.
His ears still turn pink with embarrassment.

As for Rachel Corona; she had an incident.
I'm not sure what this incident actually was. The gossip going around declared it was everything from someone smooshing their bubblegum into her hair to Rachel having an emotional meltdown from losing Prom Queen and cutting it all off herself.
It also could've been a bad dye job.
Whatever it was, it ended up with Rachel Corona's long, blonde hair getting chopped off.
We were all pretty shocked when she showed up to school with short, brown hair.

Flynn and Hans... well, they pretty much stayed the same.
Once a jerk, always a jerk.

Olivia still loves her carrots and eats them for lunch every single day.
I still don't have any idea why she loves them so much.

Mainly, she's excited to do whatever Freshmen do in Summer.
Neither of us are exactly sure what that is.

Elsa and I spend our time together strengthening our relationship as sisters.
I think the thing I missed most was the laughter.
Nobody can quite make me laugh like my sister.
Our time together is magical.

She already promised me that when Winter comes, we'll build a snowman together.

She doesn't say much about what is happening between her and Jack.
Her relationship with him is very personal to her.
I don't mind that she doesn't tell me everything.

I like to watch them from afar.
When I see them together, I know that some day I want what they have.

Perhaps my greatest accomplishment was convincing Elsa to read The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen.
I know it was difficult for her, but she did it.
When she was at the end of the story, she knew more than she did at the beginning.

Elsa

The auditorium is dim.
A single spotlight shines upon me as I step up to the podium.

Even though they are hard to see in the darkness of the large room, I still manage to see their familiar faces looking up at me expectantly.
The first two rows of seats spread out across to each of the walls on opposite sides of the auditorium. This is the designated area for my graduating class.
Behind them, even though I cannot see this far, I know that our friends and families are taking up the remaining portion of the room.
Anna and her friend Kristoff are undoubtedly sitting with the Oaken's and the Pabbie's. I also was able to officially meet Anna's dear friend Olivia before the ceremony began. I'd heard so much about her. She really is as wonderful as Anna always said she was.

A good part of Arendelle High's student body had also gathered to watch the Senior class graduate.

Everyone's eyes are upon me now.

I can feel their eyes with a nervousness that wells within me, clenching it's fist around my stomach uncomfortably.

Jack's face smiling up at me from the right-hand side of the first row fights the nerves away. I believe in you.

I can do this.

With a deep breath, I begin my speech, "Have you ever realized that our journey through high school is kind of like falling snowflakes?"

I've got their attention. No one dares shift their eyes away from me.

"When we first start out our Freshman year, we fall from the safety of the clouds and out into this amazing free fall.
Four years of our life; we have no idea where we're going or where we'll land."
I pause, preparing to shift my speech to it's next destination.
"And we're all different, we're all specially created just like there isn't one snowflake that's the same. Each snowflake has it's own original design, just as we as individuals do.
We're all different. We're all special. We're all royalty."

I scan my eyes over the room with confidence. My head is held high, my back is straight, and my hands are at my side.
I can feel the voluminous fabric of the green graduation gown hanging onto my body. I can feel the golden tassel dangling down, tickling my face. My cap is secured in place by several bobby pins.

"But, sometimes there's a gust of wind that comes along and knocks us off course.
The wind tries to tear us apart. It tries to shove us to the ground, even though we aren't ready to land yet.
The wind tries to get us to believe that we aren't good enough." My next line comes out as a whisper, "But we are good enough."

Regaining the strength in my voice, I go on. "It's taken me a really long time to see this, but I think that the gust of wind was only trying to make itself feel bigger. It was trying to make itself feel special. It was trying to shove the fragile pieces of glass to the ground so that it could build itself up.
Were you a gust of wind?"

I look over the audience again. My eyes settle on Rachel Corona and her short, brown hair. She stares down at her lap, appearing more fragile than I'd ever seen her before.
I pity her.

"If so, I just want you to know that you don't have to tear people down to make yourself feel stronger.
You don't have to prove anything. You don't have to hurt anyone.
I believe that you are as special as the rest of us.
You just need to stop blasting the snowflakes out of your way.
I don't think you realize the amount of damage that causes."

One last paragraph.

"And for those of you that witnessed the torture, but never did anything about it:
You think that because you weren't the ones that caused the pain, you weren't the ones to cause the bruises... so it wasn't your responsibility to do anything about it.
But, you saw it with your eyes and heard it with your ears.
You turned away when someone needed your help.
There was a snowflake being thrust to the ground with a force strong enough to shatter it into million pieces... and you could've caught it.
I'm not here to accuse you. I'm not standing here because I'm mad.
I'm not asking for an apology.
I'm here because I want to see a change."
I pause once more.
"Will you hold your hand out and catch a falling snowflake? Or will you walk away without looking back?"

I gave my speech not as their Prom Queen, not as their Snow Queen... but as Elsa Snowe.

A stunned silence hovers over the room immediately following the end of my speech.
I stand there, at the podium, and I stare at the audience, unwavering.

Just as I am beginning to step down from the podium, someone starts to clap on the right-hand side of the room.
This grows until the entirety of the audience is clapping enthusiastically.
One by one, I watch them stand up until everyone as far as I can see has gotten to their feet.

They're standing for me.

My vision blurs, but for the first time in forever... it's happy tears.

The ceremony goes on in the usual manner that ceremonies do.
I acquire my high school diploma.
I throw my ridiculous hat into the air.
I become a high school graduate.

It feels like a fairy tale.

It feels like my life is finally beginning.
I feel new.
I feel free.

I don't feel like the Prom Queen, nor the Snow Queen.
I feel like Elsa Snowe, an ordinary girl with an extraordinary life ahead of her.

I walk out of Arendelle High and away from the snowstorm that had plagued all those years of my life.

"And it was summertime.
Summer, glorious summer."
-The Snow Queen

A/N: Well, this fic was considerably different from my prior ones.

Not much plotting or planning went into this beforehand.
I mainly just wanted to write something again so I just went with the flow.
I think it turned out a lot better than I thought it would; I'm pretty happy about that!

The main inspiration behind this story was my desire to write about Elsa in the way that I see her.
The character of Elsa as portrayed in this story is basically the reason why she's one of my favorite characters ever.
I can relate to Elsa's struggles with personal struggles I have to deal with every day of my life. Obviously, I don't have snow powers, but I see the snow powers as being symbolic as these very real life struggles.

I also wanted to write Jelsa because I admit that this character pairing softens my heart a little. It's so cute and perfect!

At this point, I'm not exactly sure what my next project is going to be.
I have a couple of ideas that I've been pondering, but nothing is set in stone yet.
I'm kinda kicking around doing a sequel-type thing based off of this fic. Maybe just some one-shots about their life after Elsa graduates?
How did you guys feel about the modern AU style vs. my previous writing style?
I'm always up to hear what you all have to say and where you think I should go next!

I also want to give a special shout out to Unicorns, who has been reviewing my stories since my first fic! I can't ever talk to her because she's one of my anons, so I figure this will do.
You're awesome, by the way!

I usually put a list of fun facts at the end of my Author's Note, but being that this fic is entirely different from my previous material, I don't really have enough fun facts for it to be fun :(
Sorry y'all, I didn't use any secret messages in another language this time.
However, I did compile a few songs that I feel kinda set the mood for the fic.
If you're as much of a music geek as I am, they go as follows:

1. When She Cries - Britt Nicole
2. From Where You Are - Lifehouse
3. Breathe Me - Sia
4. Safe - Britt Nicole
5. Stand In The Rain - Superchick
6. You Set Me Free - Angie Miller
7. Still That Girl - Britt Nicole
8. Let It Go - Demi Lovato

And because I always like to display how long my fics take me to complete; this fic took me approximately 33 days to write.

Thank you all so much!

Until we meet again
~Aubri