I went through a lovely phase last summer where I listened to First Time in Forever on loop. I came up with this idea because I got left in the car while out grocery shopping. It was a fun time. I figured why not publish it today since a new Disney Twisted Tale comes out today. Coincidentally, I'm also in the middle of reading Unbirthday.
Disclaimers - This is my first Frozen fic so I apologize for any OOC. I don't own the characters.
I hope you enjoy :)
Between the Lines:
"And then, Anna and Elsa ran through the kingdom with their arms full of baby reindeer!"
Anna laughs as she looks through the sheet of paper she and Elsa were writing on. Since they couldn't play together in person, they came up with other techniques where they would stay on their respective sides of Elsa's bedroom door. She looks upwards, rolling her head against the door as she hears Elsa's soft laughter.
Today, they decided to write a story one line at a time. Anna would write one line on their sheet of paper. When she would finish, she would hold back her laughter, biting her lips together in anticipation as she would slide their paper under the door. Anna would press her ear against the door, nearly clawing against it as she would wait to hear Elsa's reaction to reading her words. The paper would slide across the wood floor since Anna imagines Elsa's sitting against the door. If it wasn't in the way, their backs would be against each other. Anna envisions Elsa holding the paper in excitement before snickering at Anna's additions.
After a few rounds, their story was a mess of their different handwriting. Anna's was scribbled pencil block letters where half of the letters were backwards whereas Elsa's was cursive in silver ink that would smudge if it was past under the door too quickly or Anna accidentally touched it while reading.
"Come on!" Anna exclaims, wanting to break down the door. She wants to know what Elsa would write next. It'd be better if they were sitting next to each other, sliding their story back and forth without the door in the way.
"They brought the smelly reindeer back to the palace where the chefs fed them many carrots."
Elsa fiddles with her pen as she thinks of the next line to write, trying to block out Anna's pounding on the door. She's gotten used to reading her sister's messy and semi-misspelled writing, backwards letters trying to stay on the line. Before Anna wrote the word reindeer, she would attempt to draw one in its place, which was more a circle with sticks and round legs. It wasn't until Elsa spelled it that Anna started trying to copy the letters.
Their parents like it when they would play this story writing game. They even got a good laugh out of reading the result, which Elsa would only hear if it occurred right outside her room. Her parents would alternate reading the lines with dramatic retellings and Anna would bounce giddily as if she didn't write half the story herself.
One of the best things about writing is imagination. Elsa pictures herself and Anna sitting in front of a fireplace or even out in the gardens as they write back and forth. She indulges in the feelings and experiences, a world of wonder since she doesn't leave her room for everyone's safety. She can write about the unknown, the desired. That's the point. If she wrote about only things she knew, it'd make for a boring and stagnant story.
Reindeer can come into the palace because it's in their pen's power to allow it.
"After their extravagant feast, they ran through the palace halls, galloping to the rhythm of the songs Anna and Elsa sang for them."
Anna smiles, humming to herself as she lies flat on her stomach to read the new line to their story. She pictures each line in her head, from the start of the story so she could watch it play out. Each new run is better than the last and it gets her creative juices flowing. She wonders if she and Elsa are singing songs about building snowmen with the reindeer galloping around them.
Then Anna pauses. She doesn't have to wonder because she can write it down and make it happen. Writing is a journey from inward out, not the other way around. She can write anything out of her simply joyful thoughts. Anything she wants can happen, right?
She can be with Elsa again. No more stupid door between them or words scribbled between lines on a page.
"As they sang about building snowmen with the reindeer, Elsa didn't go back to her room ever again!"
Elsa's smile fades as she finishes reading that line. Anna's drawing of the snowman they used to build instead of spelling out the word wasn't her focus anymore.
Their little story was an exaggerated reality. It had aspects that could be real. In an alternate world, the one on paper, Elsa and Anna could run together with reindeer and build snowmen. It's more likely to happen than Elsa stepping out of her room.
She can't. She can't risk potentially hurting Anna again, especially when they could still have fun moments like this, where they have a locked door separating them and their imaginations working in sync for the same experience.
Now? The story is aching because it's scratching the surface to get into a secret place. Anna wants to know more but she can't. Elsa won't let her in.
Elsa blinks tears that pull her out of her thoughts. She looks down and sees a thin layer of frost coating her hands, crawling up her fingertips and frosting their story. Elsa gasps, dropping the story. She watches it saunter onto the floor, the edges now damp from the snow she didn't think she made.
She ruined their story, just like she ruined being a sister. They're too fragile for her.
It's quiet.
Anna's no longer outside her door, knocking and asking for Elsa to continue the story. As if Elsa heard it the first time. She thinks it's over because it is. She must've left. Elsa's glad she was too trapped in her thoughts to hear Anna's small footsteps trodding away, eventually being too far for her to hear.
It's better this way.
Elsa would've ended the story on that happy ending anyways for Anna's sake. If only she was still at the door to receive the story one last time.
Listened to the same song on loop while writing it.
Thank you to everyone who read this story! Please let me know what you thought. If you have a story idea you want me to write or a story you want me to beta, don't be scared to ask!
~ MysteryGal5