Content warning: vomiting, not too graphic. Also may be OOC, but everybody's gotta blow at some point (pun not intended). Occurs a few days after the events of Frozen.


Fear

It was too much to ask for one day in Arendelle to go without some incident involving a clumsy, red-headed princess.

As Anna and Elsa prepare to descend the staircase leading to the main hall, the queen assumes that her sister has enough good sense to simply use the stairs. Instead, Anna jumps up and slides down the cast-iron railing with no warning or preamble. Elsa melts her ice shoes and pounds down the stairs, hoping she won't trip over her skirt. All the while, Anna is laughing and whooping once she reaches the bumpy part.

Towards the end of the railing, the princess teeters, with Elsa only able to watch in frozen horror as Anna continues her frenzied descent. The queen doesn't dare use her magic; her aim is shaky as it is. Anna manages to catch herself just before the end of the railing with a peal of childish laughter.

"Haha, aw man, I haven't done that in a while," she declares. She looks up, expecting Elsa to be at the top of the stairs, staring blankly at her sister's shenanigans. What she does not expect is her older sister panting and fuming at her side.

"O–oh, Elsa, you scared me," Anna chuckles with a hand over her heart. "I thought you'd be—are you okay?"

"Are you out of your mind?!"

Anna literally jumps backward. Did Elsa just raise her voice? At her? And when did it start snowing?

"El-"

"Answer me!" the queen shouts, earning a few quizzical glances from some castle staff. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? Do you want to get hurt?"

The princess shrinks back, her heart racing at this sudden shift in her timid sister's demeanor.

"I—I mean, I used to do this a lot more, but it's only—Elsa, I'm careful, I'm not gonna get hurt."

"Really? 'Cause it looked like you were about to fall! How old are you, five?! Even a five year old knows better!"

"Elsa, you're scaring me."

Anna's eyes widen and she shrinks even more as her sister advances, normally staid blue eyes blazing with fury. The queen is surrounded by a snowy, howling veil.

"How do you think I feel?! You terrified me! You could have gotten badly hurt! You could have hit your head! You could have died! Do you understand? Or is it too much for you to think about your actions?!"

"Elsa, stop!"

The queen halts her tirade at the rattled call of her sister. As her fear-induced snow settles, she shakes the red from her vision and looks at her current source of ire. Her face remains hard and angry. She's about to spew more venom, but something stops her.

And that something is a shaking Anna, sitting lamely on the floor as a result of her sister's outburst. It's not just her crumpled body language, nor the tiniest glimmer of tears in Anna's eyes that gives her away. It's the fear, etched clear as day in every square inch of the princess. Anna clutches her heart, her breath comes out in labored huffs.

"A–Anna?"

Once she's regained some semblance of her wits, Elsa advances towards her sister. When Anna yelps and shuffles further back, Elsa has to swallow the urge to vomit.

"I didn't mean-"

Before Elsa has the chance to justify her outburst or get any closer, Anna stumbles to her feet and absconds without daring a glance behind her.

"Anna, wait! Please!"

Elsa watches Anna turn a corner within ten seconds; she knows she won't be able to catch up. She brushes off the concerned inquiries from the castle staff and heads toward her study.

"What have I done?" the nails of her right hand dig into her lip. "She must hate me now. As if there wasn't enough reason for her to hate me before."

Elsa paces across the floor, not the least bit surprised that frost is crawling up the walls.

"I was—I was scared, but I shouldn't have said those things! That look—she looked like she was-"

The queen gasps, her back sliding down the door as she gracelessly lands on the frozen floor.

"She was afraid. I scared her."

A sudden lurch in Elsa's stomach forces her hand over her mouth. She knows she has less than a minute to find a bathroom. Her partially frozen door crashes open and she races down the hallway, barefoot all the while.

The queen barely has time to kneel in front of the toilet when she begins emptying was little is in her stomach. Her body shakes with violent spasms as she weakly grips the bowl's sides. The one silver lining to this is that no one else is in the room at the time, and no castle staff are hovering over her as she throws up, gasping with sobs as she does.

It takes about five minutes for everything to come up. With a disgusted sigh, Elsa wipes her mouth and flushes the toilet. She walks over to the sink and washes her hands, then splashes some water on her face to cool the sweat she worked up. The pallid woman staring back at her almost looks too alien to be her reflection.

Elsa knows she can't just go up to Anna begging for forgiveness right away. She also knows that if she did that right now, Anna would just be concerned about Elsa's obvious state of distress.

If she didn't hate her, that is.

They both need space, as much as Elsa hates to admit it. She hasn't forgotten her promise to keep Anna in the loop about her feelings, fears, and the like, but she's too wound up to make good on it right now. She doesn't know if Anna will forgive her after this.

"She shouldn't. I don't deserve it," Elsa braces herself on the sink, only letting go when she sees the spread of ice. She falls to the floor with a few weak, whimpering sobs. "I should have known this couldn't last."


Closing notes: Not sure if indoor plumbing was a thing in Norway at this time period, but since they're royalty, I'm willing to bet that it's possible. If it wasn't, well, Arendelle is super progressive. This will have a continuation.