A/N: Sorry this is so late. Because of the virus, there's been a lot of changes in my real life, and I'm rather not a fan of change. I'm gonna work on getting back on schedule. My university is going online for the rest of the semester, which means I'm also going to be working 30+ hours a week now that I'm back home. It might take some time to get back on schedule, but I'm gonna try.

Additionally, I'm going to be partaking in the Kingdom of Covid Frozen Angst Challenge from vuelie on tumblr for the next few days. I found it actually helps me get motivation for this story, so although it'll take a bit of time, doing those one-shots will help, I think. I'm about to post the first one, so feel free to go ahead and read it if you want!

"Anna, where are you taking me?"

"Hush! We're almost there!"

I rolled my eyes for the umpteenth time that day. It was the day before Thanksgiving, and so far, the week had gone pretty well. I mostly stuck by Anna's side, but I was getting more comfortable with her family.

Except for her adoptive father, Robert. He was still incredibly scary, and I think he realized that, because he made sure to keep a safe distance from me.

Anna had dragged me out of bed at five o'clock this morning – and, trust me, I was as surprised as you are that she was actually awake and functional at that time, since it was difficult to get her out of bed at all before noon or so, most days.

"Did you even sleep last night?" I asked.

"Shh!"

I shook my head with an amused smile. That explained it. Anna would crash later, and knowing her, she would crash hard. It was rare that her energy ran out, but when it did, it was like she was suddenly dead to the world. I had every intention of being there when she crashed, since it was now hard for me to go eight hours without getting incredibly tired. Hence why I was taking a nap pretty much every day.

Fucking bullet wound.

Anyway, I'm not going to go on complaining your ear off when there's clearly story to be told.

Namely, wherever the fuck Anna was taking me.

She had been very, very cryptic when she woke me up and rushed me out the door as quickly as she could. I had asked her a million times where she was taking me, but Anna did like her showy reveals and mysteries. And to think, she calls me dramatic.

Okay, maybe I am. A little bit.

I'm getting off-track again, sorry. We had taken her car a couple miles away from the house and then parked it on the side of a dead road. Propelled by Anna, I entered the grassy fields beside the road. The grass was high enough to practically reach my waist, and this time, I'm not exaggerating. They were some tall weeds.

"I know you're probably getting tired, but I promise, we are almost there."

I stopped and crossed my arms in annoyance. "I'm not tired," I argued defensively as she whirled around to face me.

"Okay, whatever, just come on. Please?" she begged.

"As long as you take a solid nap after this, Anna. I mean it."

She giggled and nodded. "I think I can do that," she agreed, once again taking my hand and pulling me forward.

We must have been walking for at least twenty minutes through the field, even as the grass thinned a bit and we began climbing over hills. I will admit that I got a bit tired, but honestly, I was fully planning on napping with Anna, so I wasn't stressed about it.

Anna led me up one final hill – much bigger than the others we'd ascended.

At the top, we had a clear view of almost the entirety of Tourrence. I exhaled and tightened my grip on her hand as I took it all in. Out in the distance, the sun was just beginning to ascend into the sky, being prodded awake by the mountaintops, much in the way that I was prodded awake by my sister.

The sky was filled with streaks of different shades of blue and very, very faint pink and orange near where the sun was peeking out. The buildings of central Tourrence were cast in a dim light, no streetlamps in sight between them. It was all more beautiful than I think I had ever seen the sky before – and ever would again.

As the sun slowly chased away the moon and stars, I found that my eyes had grown wet. Anna gently tugged me down, and we both sat atop the steep hill, looking out over the valley. I felt Anna lean against me, and then I felt my arm mindlessly go around her.

"Do you like it?" she questioned meekly, and her voice actually seemed kind of nervous, as if she was expecting me not to like it.

I turned my head and pressed a kiss to the side of her head, letting it linger. I couldn't make my tongue work, so I tightened my grip and left it at that, hoping she understood what I was feeling despite my inability to articulate it.

When she sighed and shifted closer to me so her head was pressed into my neck, I thought that I might've succeeded in communicating that I liked it.

Or maybe Anna had just gotten very good at reading me. It was hard to tell.

A small voice in the back of my head told me that it didn't matter. That was a funny thought to me, since my mind was so overactive that everything seemed to matter, all the time. Except when I was shutting down, but I wasn't shutting down right now. That was something that I was able to say with confidence.

Maybe Anna just had sister intuition, like she had said so long ago. Sis-tuition, she had called it, right?

In spite of myself, a small bubble of laughter burst forth, causing Anna to pull back and send me an inquisitive look.

"Sorry, I just… Sis-tuition. I remember that."

She giggled and quickly settled back against me. "Yeah. I like to think I know you better than you know yourself."

"Probably," I conceded with a grin.

"Are you okay?" she asked then, surprising me.

"I'm… better than okay, I think. I… My mind is really loud, sometimes. Most of the time. It can get really overwhelming. It keeps going, you know, despite how hard I try to stop it. That's why I get these awful ideas of being a monster. Because I can't stop it from going that far. With you, though…" I sighed and nuzzled the top of her head. "You make the voices quiet down a bit. You make it a little easier to function."

She wrapped her arms around my waist and turned her head so her nose was touching my collarbone. "That's all I want," she murmured as her grip tightened a little.

I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding and closed my eyes. "I'm going to protect you, Anna," I whispered then, for no clear reason at all. "No matter what happens. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you."


"Some wine, Elsa?"

I glanced up at Robert, but only managed to meet his gaze for a second before diverting mine. "One glass, please," I answered.

He brought a glass of red wine to the table and placed it before my spot. I was standing behind the counter with Anna's mother, using tongs to move the pinnekjøtt ribs from the rack to an empty plate. Anna had pretty much demanded I make it, even though it is technically a Christmas dish.

I had very little doubt that she'd make me cook it up for Christmas dinner, too.

Anna and Ashton were sitting at the table, ladling mashed potatoes onto their plates. Robert disappeared down the hallway to get Kevin, his seat at the table already prepared for him.

"You know, Anna was the cutest little kid," her mother was saying.

"Please. I was a tornado with pigtails," Anna giggled.

"She would always bring wounded animals into the house and try to save them. I always wondered how the animals got wounded in the first place, but she never had a straight answer regarding that."

I grinned, sparing a glance towards Anna while still being aware of the very hot rack before me. "You should have seen her when she was really little. I don't think there was a single window in the house that she hadn't broken by the age of five."

"Balls or bats?"

"Her head, usually."

"That explains a lot," Ashton commented while churning his potatoes with a spoon.

Their mother only laughed good-naturedly as Anna sputtered inarticulately. "I'll have you know, sir, that Elsa thinks I'm very smart!"

Once the pinnekjøtt was transferred to its plate, I crossed over to Anna and planted a kiss on the top of her head from behind while simultaneously putting the dish on the table. "You are incredibly smart, Anna. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

She beamed, and it was enough to make my heart soar. I loved causing her to smile. I had caused her a lot of pain and heartbreak in the past, so actually making her happy was something that I didn't think I'd ever get tired of.

"Kristoff thinks I'm smart, too. He'll tease me when I get things wrong, but he always does it jokingly. I know he doesn't actually think I'm dumb. He tells me every day how amazing he thinks I am, and… I just can't help but wonder how I got so lucky to have him," Anna began to ramble.

I sat down next to her and let her plop some potatoes onto my plate. "He threatened me."

She immediately stopped and stared at me with wide eyes. There were a lot of emotions swimming through them, but I couldn't quite pick any of them out.

"Well, not threatened me, per se…" Bad word choice. Bad Elsa. "But after… Halloween. He came to my apartment and he was furious. I just… I kind of took it as threatening when it wasn't because he's… He's huge, Anna. Like. Muscles, you know?"

Her worried look melted into a smile and she giggled. "He is pretty buff," she admitted. "Its sweet that he tried to defend me, though…"

"Well, I'm glad you got someone good for you," her mother cut in. "After He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, you deserve someone who really cares about you."

"He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named?" I asked with a curious glance at Anna.

She seemed to shrink away from my gaze, quickly dropping the lamb rib that had been in her hand. "Uh… An ex… He wasn't really good for me. He cheated on me a lot, and he only liked me as arm candy."

My fork fell from my hands, and I saw red tinge the edge of my vision. "Anna," I said carefully. "Give me his name. Address. My little sister doesn't get treated like that."

"No, no, it's alright," she sighed, reaching for my hand.

I withdrew before she could grab it, feeling the ice get dangerously close to the surface. It occurred to me that the conjoining kitchen and dining room had grown very quiet, and heat crept up the back of my neck, sharply contrasting the cold in my fingertips.

Desperate to keep as much dignity in front of Anna's family as I could, I cleared my throat and stood up. "I, uh… I'll be right back," I managed before practically running out of the room.

I fled up the stairs, slamming the door of Anna's room behind me. I didn't know why I had gone to her room instead of the guest room that I was staying in, but it could have to do with the fact that I had spent more nights of the week thus far in Anna's room than my own.

My hands clenched before me and I tried to calm myself by counting the seashells in Anna's collection. I didn't want to make a scene, not here, not now. I couldn't make a scene. I had to calm myself down before I turned the entire house into a fucking ice palace.

Frost creeped up the walls, causing me to hold my hands closer to myself and let out a small whimper.

I just couldn't handle it. The fact that someone had hurt Anna – my Anna – because I hadn't been there to protect her. Someone cruel, someone who very much deserved an icicle in his chest, had hurt my baby sister, and what did I do? Nothing. I cowered in a foster home, trying to forget the sound of my sister's voice because it was too painful to deal with.

I was so selfish. I didn't ever stop to think about how it would pain her. I was so wrapped up in my own tragedy (and I use that word sparingly, as I detest it so) that I tried to block out the desperation in her voice when she'd knock on my door and beg to build a snowman.

Knock, knock, kn-knock, knock.

Immediately, I jerked farther from the door, staring at it in horror. "Elsa?" came Anna's small voice. "Are you in here? Please let me in. I just want to talk to you. It's okay, I promise."

I hesitated, glancing around at the ice covering the walls and edges of the floor. I had to remind myself that I promised Anna I'd try to let her in – and besides, this was her room. Taking a deep breath to steel myself, I went over to the door and opened it.

Anna stared in with wide eyes. When she noticed the ice on the walls, she quickly shuffled in and closed the door behind her. "Elsa," she said slowly, taking my arm and guiding me over to the bed. "What's wrong? Was it something I said?"

I opened my mouth and tried to respond, but no noise came out. She began rubbing my arms, and I focused on that rather than the obvious fact that I was a complete and utter disaster in anything I tried to do.

I wasn't a good sister. I wasn't a good friend. I wasn't a good daughter. What was I good at?

Hurting people.

Clenching my jaw, I leaned forward into Anna and willed the churning of my mind away. She was murmuring soft words, and I zeroed in on that and her touch, letting it ground me a little.

"It's Thanksgiving, Anna," I managed to choke out.

She gave a small hum. "It is."

"It's Thanksgiving, and we haven't shared one in thirteen years."

"I know. It's okay."

"But it's not!" I protested as I pulled back, leaving her grasp. "It's not okay! I abandoned you because I was scared, but I always just assumed you'd be okay. That you'd toughen up. That you'd have enough other good people in your life, and maybe you'd just forget about me."

Her brow furrowed in concern. "I'd never forget about you, Elsa. You're my sister."

"That's not the point," I said with an exasperated sigh. I couldn't seem to make my tongue say the words I wanted to say, and it was stressing me out. I drew my elbows closer to myself and tugged on my braid with one hand, the other balling into a fist and covering my right eye. I was hardly aware of the snow beginning to swirl around the room.

Anna placed her hand on one of my knees and began rubbing that due to the lack of arm available. "Then tell me what the point is. Take as much time as you need."

I closed my eyes and counted backwards from ten. When I reached zero, I had found that the snow had stopped midair and hung there, awaiting instruction that I was too rattled to give it.

"The point is," I began, and then took another deep breath to steel myself. "I am your big sister. I am supposed to be there to protect you. I wasn't, because I was following our parents' orders, and now, on Thanksgiving Day, I question them, and it feels like I'm betraying them in some way. You got hurt, and I wasn't there to protect you. You're supposed to bring out the best in people, and I got so scared of that, I wouldn't let you near, because I feared there was no 'best' in me. I am what I am. There's no changing that."

"You've brought out the best in me," Anna said meekly.

"No, Anna, I haven't. You bring out the best in people, and I bring out the worst. I have fear. That's it. When people are in a situation where they can have power over a fearful person, sometimes they do it. They might not be terrible people in and of themselves, but when they get near me, it's suddenly… flying fists and harsh words. That's the best I can figure it, anyway…"

Anna's eyes were brimming with tears. She didn't hesitate before reaching over and drawing me into a hug. "It's Thanksgiving," she pointed out quietly, for the fourth or fifth time this conversation. "Please come down and eat with us. No one in this house will hurt you. I promise. Do you trust me?"

I didn't even pause before nodding, for my throat had closed up and my tongue felt heavy and lame in my mouth.

She took my hand and gently began leading me out of the room. I spared a glance inside before leaving and observed that the ice had completely gone away.

When we sat back down at the table, no one said anything about my disappearance. They just continued chatting about whatever they were talking about before – which, as it seemed, was the new ice-skating rink up in Edenberg.

"Oh, absolutely, we must go up there over the summer," Anna's mother was saying. "It's a heck of a drive, for sure, all the way up to Edenberg, but I know how my little Anna-bug loves the ice and snow."

"I'm regretting coming back down," Anna sighed dramatically, but she shot me a smirk.

I'm not the best at reading facial expressions, but I know my Anna better than I know anyone else, and I'm pretty sure she was trying to communicate the fact that she was glad she had a personal ice machine at her ready.

I tried not to focus on the conversation, as I was still a little shaken up about He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, and instead worked on my meal. I had grabbed some turkey as well as a couple of my pinnekjøtt ribs to complement my mashed potatoes.

"These are very good, Elsa," Ashton commented as he finished off one of the ribs. "Fuck Norway for hiding them away."

"Language," his mother chided.

He rolled his eyes. "Screw Norway for hiding them away."

"It was our Mama's recipe," I told them. "I was making pinnekjøtt with her since I was six. I had her write it down when I was eight so that I could have it with me. Unfortunately, it got lost in the move to America, but I had it committed to memory by then."

"Hey," Anna said suddenly. "Why didn't she let me cook with her?"

I fought to hold back a grin. "Because you had the grace of a one-legged cat, Anna."

Her father let out a hearty chuckle. "I don't doubt that," he teased lightly.

"That's not fair. What other recipes do you have?"

"Fårikål. Lefsa. Lutefisk, of course. Fiskeboller med hvit saus. Maybe some more, I don't remember."

Anna's jaw dropped. "That's it. I'm making you my own personal chef over winter break." She paused, thinking for a moment. "You know what I do know how to make, though? Pølse med Lompe."

For those of you non-Norwegians, Pølse med Lompe is basically Norwegian hotdogs.

I raised an amused eyebrow. "Oh, Anna, you're a master of the culinary arts," I teased.

"Bow down before my glory."

We went back to our meal, sometimes making idle chatter again. Kevin had been sat down at his spot before Anna and I came back, and he was mostly quiet, picking at his food. Whenever I caught him looking at me, I gave him an encouraging smile, but he always diverted his gaze back down to his plate immediately and stabbed it with his fork, one hand fiddling with something underneath the table.

"Kevin, buddy?" Robert said after some time. "Didn't you have something you wanted to give Elsa?"

He glanced at his father and nodded, then shook his head, and then nodded again, all while not looking at me.

I'll admit, my curiosity was somewhat piqued.

"What is it, Kevin?" I asked softly. "What do you have?"

He dropped his fork and lifted what he had been fingering all meal with both hands. It seemed to be a sloppily folded piece of paper. He hesitated, scrunching his nose up as he stared at it, and then slid it across the table towards me.

I took the paper and carefully unfolding it, pausing to look at what was inside.

It was a snowflake, not unlike the one that I had seen him drawing on Sunday, but still different, as if he understood that no two snowflakes were exactly the same. It was very intricate and very symmetrical, and he had attempted to write my name at the top, but it looked like he was better with small strokes of a pen than bigger ones, for the handiwork on my name was a bit jagged and imprecise.

Still, I couldn't help but smile as I looked at the picture. I reached out a hand and gently rested it on Kevin's. "Thank you, Kevin," I said sincerely.

He beamed and looked away, idly twisting his fingers together. When his father gently patted his shoulder and pointed at his plate again, Kevin took the instruction and set back to work on his food.

Anna leaned over and looked at the picture. "I think he likes you," she giggled quietly into my ear.

I rolled my eyes and pushed her away, folding the paper again and placing it securely in the pocket of my jeans. I gave it a little pat before returning to my own meal.

The rest of the meal went off without so much as a bump. I was even engaging in the conversation, to an extent, and not only when it was about Anna. It was easier to engage when it was about her, true, but I was really trying, and the smiles on Anna's face when I'd actually talk to her family unprompted were enough to keep me trying.

The only other time I nearly panicked – and very well would have if not for Anna and the glass of wine warming my stomach – was when we had migrated to the living room. Her father had turned on the news, and it just so happened that they were discussing something from Evansy.

"You're from Evansy, Elsa, aren't you?" Anna asked, as if to add insult to injury.

I was unable to hold back a wince. I had vowed never to go back to Evansy – there were far too many bad memories there. School was a shitshow. Most of my foster families were a shitshow. If I thought being isolated at age eight in my parents' comfy house was bad, being in America after Aunt Gerda died was far, far worse.

It was like I had told Anna. I had a tendency to bring out the worst in people.

"…The appeal for the case of George Streiss this past Monday ended with a shortening of his sentence. As of today, his release from Evansy Federal Prison into a probationary period is set for January 27th of next year. Almost four years ago, he was sent to prison with a sentence of six years on charges for continuous child abuse. The child, whose identity will remain anonymous, had recently turned eighteen when they were convicted of stabbing George Streiss in self-defense. The medical professionals were able to stabilize him before sending him to the prison. Furthermore…"

I couldn't understand much of what they said next because of the blood rushing in my ears. I unconsciously scooted closer to Anna and screwed my eyes shut and tried to keep air moving in and out of my lungs.

It was okay. It would be okay. I could deal with that later. It was a holiday. I shouldn't have to deal with George fucking Streiss on a holiday.

For once, it worked. Mostly because Anna was nearby, and her family turned on a game that we all took turns playing, and the wine from earlier was sending a small buzz through my mind. I wasn't great at the game, but I wasn't bad, either. I was a lot newer to it than they were. I think Anna let me win a couple times, though, which was a bit annoying, but I was able to step back and appreciate the thought.

When we returned to her room, Anna was about to leave for the bathroom so she could change when I was overcome with emotion that I couldn't quite describe.

I hugged her from behind out of nowhere with an iron-clad grip, not caring about the pain it caused me. Anna let out a surprised squeak and tried to dislodge my arms, but I refused to budge, even a little.

I was shaking as I hugged her, my head bent down and my cheek pressing against her back.

"Whoa, okay, Elsa, hang on," she said, struggling with me for a minute. I slackened my grip a tiny bit, and it allowed her to turn around in my arms so she could hug me back properly. "What happened? What's wrong?"

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. She was always the instant caretaker. No matter what she was feeling or what she wanted, she was immediately there and ready to take care of whoever needed her at that moment.

She tried to bring my head down to her chest, but I refused and instead placed it on top of hers so that she was pressed against me. After all, I wasn't sure exactly what I was feeling that was so overwhelming, but I was aware that it wasn't bad.

My throat was thick with tears, and that made absolutely zero sense, but by that point, I was really tired from the day, and didn't have the strength to fight it.

"Thank you," I managed to whisper. "Thank you for sharing all of this with me."

It went without saying that I hadn't had any sort of real familial interaction since I was eight years old. I didn't care about that, for once. All I cared about was the fact that, even after all of this time and everything I'd put her through, my little sister was still there for me. She was still looking out for me. I felt safe with her, and at that point, that was all that mattered.