A/N - It's been much too long! Thank you kindly for being so patient! I appreciate it :) I've since updated Falling Into Darkness (which was a complete two-shot, it is now being continued) and Arendelle's Untold, I really love the two most recent chapters (which explores Anna's feelings towards Elsa seeing their mother, having not had that chance)

Queenfixerupper - Thank you so much for all the love you continously leave in the reviews! It means the world :)

Lara Yuumura - Muito obrigado, seus comentários sempre me fazem sorrir! Estou tão feliz que você goste de minhas histórias!

JGR - The Karpman Triangle is so so so interesting! I had to use it, it just felt so fitting! Thank you (as always) for your kindness and support!

Writing these stories, trying to get in the headspace of these characters - especially as an angsty writer is really difficult. Because we're nearing the end of this story I'm really trying not to screw any of the chapters up, hence the delay, I want them to be the best I can make them.

Hiraeth | "homesickness or nostalgia, an earnest longing or desire, or a sense of regret. The feeling of longing for a home that never was"

A rescuer's greatest fear is that they will end up alone. They believe that their total value comes from how much they do for others. It's difficult for them to see their worth beyond what they have to offer in the way of "stuff" or "service." They believe, "If you need me, you won't leave me." They scramble to make themselves indispensable in order to avoid abandonment.
– Lynne Forrest

The sun was just barely shining, even with the curtains wide open, the sky was thick with a grey depression, clouds restricting near every ray of light that attempted to pierce through. Had they have not just come back from an awful trip, Elsa could convince herself, just momentarily that everything was normal. She was with her sister, safe in the castle. Gerda had promptly made hot chocolates upon their return, the sweet aroma filling the halls with nostalgia and comfort. Everything was as they had left it.

But Anna, the girl who was currently overriding her head with worry - taking up every thought, and every emotion, Anna was not okay. So she was not okay. This, was far from okay. The hot chocolate in their bellies was no contest against the light winter Elsa was inadvertently creating in the living room. Taking some deep breaths, she willed for the ice that was slowly forming across the floor to not reach Anna, who had taken to staring at the window silently, bracing herself for the impending difficult conversation.

Let her be okay.

Let her tell me what she needs to say.

"You okay there, kiddo?" Sympathetically smiling to her baby sister, Elsa gently nudged Anna out of her thoughts. The younger sister's blinked back at her sibling, her fragility coming to the surface. She might just break. If she allowed herself to.

"Yeah, of course." Anna breathed, gently smiling at Elsa. She had to be, there were people that were counting on her. She would make it so. Elsa tried to divert the conversation, unsatisfied with her answer. It was lie, a full blatant out right lie. She didn't quite get it, why Anna was still trying to push this narrative.

"Whatcha thinking about?" She asked, her gaze turning to the landscape that Anna had been so fixated on. Despite the dreary weather, the beauty the world had to offer was simply beautiful. It wasn't as attractive as The Enchanted Forest, but it was home. Home was the most magical place on earth. However bleak, it still remained to be the same sky that Elsa and Anna once spent counting stars under, this side of the castle in particular held the most extravagant sights of the sun rising and setting. Anna had clambered on top of her many a time The sky's awake! So I'm awake! So we have to play!

Her tender heart strings being pulled in the silence that filled the room. Elsa quietly listened to the distant sounds of everyday routines taking place just down the hall from them, sounds of Gerda sorting salad plates, the clattering becoming the only sound to be heard in the living room. Because Anna wasn't answering. Not vocally, her eyes however told a very different story. The notion of the question had brought tears to her eyes, she was painfully staring out the window. She looked frustrated with herself, sighing, and with a gentle shake of her body trying to stuff the feelings down again, Elsa observed silently as she watched Anna struggle through her conflicting emotions.

"It's going to be okay, Elsa." She whispered, her voice ever so slightly wavering. What could have passed for assurance felt more self-directed. It wasn't meant for her, despite the address.

"You're right, it will be." Elsa gently placed a hand on Anna's shoulder. A warm smile somehow cracked through her frown, a small ray of sunlight in an otherwise dark sky. That was Anna all over, in any kind of difficult conversation she was always accompanied with an inventory of hugs, smiles and reassurance. Even if the world didn't look so bright, she always either created it herself or showed you somewhere else. "Because we have each other." Elsa hinted, hoping to get Anna to open up.

But her hints were not so subtle, soon she was locking eyes with her younger sister. Tear-filled, with a seriousness etched across her face, So, not Anna. "In your ice castle, when those soldiers came for you. How did that feel?"

Determined to not be thrown off by the unexpected question, Elsa perused for a moment, trying her best to think of an answer that would benefit her younger sister. "I was scared.. I just wanted to be left alone." She confessed, remembering how complete strangers had weapons aimed at her. "Being told you froze your kingdom, and then having hitmen arrive to assassinate you"..." Stammering, Elsa frowned in trying to find the right words. "It's erm.." Trailing off, it was most certainly one of the lowest points of her life, but in the strangest way, at the time it almost made sense. She finally experienced what her parents had feared, on a larger scale, effecting more than just her family.

"That sounds difficult" Anna commented, twiddling her thumbs absent-mindedly.

"It was." Elsa sat down on the sofa, hoping Anna would join her, That perhaps this was the initiation of a conversation. But silence fell once more, and she couldn't help but replay the event in her mind. How she was ready to kill them cold-bloodedly - because, ice - in self-defence. At that point there was no hesitation, it was simply about survival. If running away and building a life away from them wasn't clear enough of a message, she would scare them away. Don't be the monster they fear you are. A sentence that shook her to her very core. It all started because she just wanted to make her baby sister happy, it was never meant to end up like this. She had stupidly and painfully let herself believe it. In a matter of seconds, she became nothing more than a monster. A woman defined by nothing more than her ice powers, that had until this point, only hurt people.

Anna wasn't there to recount every magical adventure they went on as children, or the good that could come from it. It had been so many yearsnot using them, their only appearance being through mistake - she had come to resent them too. But now the outside world confirmed that she should. A monster. The name she had been searching for, an explanation as to how she could end up locked in her bedroom. A justification for staying under that sword, yielded by the one who called her that. Now, of course the sentence made her chuckle, it was rich coming from Hans, who was guilty of a pre-meditated attempted murder. The last person to ever question her moral judgement or ethics.

"I was sticking up for myself, I don't hate what I did." She said thoughtfully, she well and truly meant it. Elsa was by no means that same person, she probably wouldn't do the same now. But context was important, and after having suffered so much, she had to learn to forgive herself. There was no use in punishing the past. "Like you were sticking up for us, in the forest." Elsa interjected, hoping to draw the truth from Anna. "You did nothing wrong by asking to be treated right."

She thanked her lucky stars when she felt the sofa fall. The scent of Anna's perfume, her sister beside her. "I've not done anything like that before Elsa." She said sadly. "I don't feel great about it."

"You punched Hans?" Elsa reminded.

"He doesn't count, he tried to kill me." Anna recounted, frowning at the memory. It bothered her how she could be going about her day, and then all of the sudden that thought popped into her head. She could have so easily been dead, she would not have been sitting there with Elsa had he of succeeded. If she really got thinking about it, she found herself remembering everything that happened after. How little of the world she would have experienced. It was mind boggling to say the least, and the not so gentle reminder plagued her at some of her happiest, and mundane moments. "He got off lightly, so I'm told." Anna mused, how several Arendelle residents questioned if the punishment was enough, if there was a chance they had allowed the possibility of him one day returning to try again. After a nights week of paranoia, Anna came to the conclusion she was safe. Though she made sure all guards had an updated illustration to keep an eye for. Besides, she now knew how powerful Elsa was, and she rarely left her side. "Honeymaren, she wasn't all that bad... was she?" Anna asked apprehensively. It was a cloaked question, one that Elsa saw through - as she was an expert of asking these questions herself.

"She was persistent on making you look bad." Warmly, Elsa took Anna's hands into her own. "Not everyone listens with their ears."

"I wish I hadn't done it, I just.. I was so angry. I didn't really think." Guilt flashed across her face, her rosy cheeks growing red almost as though she were embarrassed. The wounds on her fists had scabbed over, the itching serving as a constant reminder to what she had done.

"You don't need to explain yourself." Gently, Elsa's hand guided Anna's face to her own. Her eyes looking deeply into her baby sisters. "If you saw yourself the way I do, you wouldn't be beating yourself up over this. You shouldn't be beating yourself over this."

"It's just not me, Elsa." Anna mumbled. Biting her lip, she took a deep breath. "A part of me enjoyed it."

"It was freeing, right?" Elsa asked knowingly. "Not holding back."

"Yeah, I suppose." She still didn't look convinced, though Elsa nodded in understanding.

"Anna we won't be seeing her again. We don't let the past, or our actions define us. You taught me that." She said with as much heart as she could offer.

Anna stayed quiet momentarily, stewing over the thoughts. Having already categorised herself as The Persecutor, in the Karpman Triangle, Anna failed to recall a fourth addition. One that combined all three corners of the triangle - persecutor, rescuer and victim - into one. The Martyr. The person who in hurting, hurt other people. The person who takes full responsibility of their actions. In her pain of having Elsa leave her, of having Honeymaren spew nonsense to dig the knife deeper, she lashed out. A bad thing doesn't make a bad person. Nor it is impossible to live your life perfectly. Her perception of herself shattered the moment she did something that didn't align with her identity. She lived to makes others happy, and was known to befriend strangers. It stung if someone didn't like her. Powered on people pleasing, her battery died when she initiated a fight against Honeymaren, it was something she never saw herself doing - it was an act that could easily make you dislikeable. How would Arendelle's citizens perceive it? She hadn't been certain she could justify it.

"Do you remember what Olaf said about the forest, on our first arrival?"

"I believe he called it a place of transformation." Elsa mused.

"What if I'm worse off now?" She croaked, a singular tear rolling down her cheek. "What if I'm becoming a bad person?"

"I think by asking, you've answered that yourself." Elsa ran her thumb across Anna's face softly. Seeing Anna's confusion, she elaborated. "A bad person wouldn't feel nearly as guilty as you do." Elsa emphasised, "If I've learnt anything about people in all our years of life, is that we're complicated. People mess up." She couldn't help but think back to her parents, on many occasions Elsa spent the nights wondering what would she have done differently in their circumstances. They had indeed made a mistake, a great fuck-up caused The Great Thaw - but they couldn't have foreseen it, they were meant to have come back with answers. She couldn't quite piece together the logic for every choice her parents made, it hurt her brain to do so. All she could do was look to the future, and hope that better days were coming. After the truth was out, and Elsa's powers were seen for all their glory - the good that it could do, people came to her asking how she did it, how she forgave them. Though she couldn't answer - that was a complex thing in itself, it changed almost daily - there was a small comfort in having strangers tell her that what their parents had done wasn't okay, that she didn't deserve it. Nobody of course had any alternative suggestions. But there was love, still.

"Anna, you don't have a mean bone in your body" Gently pulling Anna into a hug, she embraced the weight of Anna's head resting on her shoulder. "You are not a bad person." They stayed like that for several minutes, letting the words sink in.

Breaking the silence that enveloped them, "I just wish I could move on, you know? Let it go." Anna groaned. Her eyes wide in realisation, the damage was done. Cringing, she turned to Elsa to see a sparkle in her eye. Admittedly, she walked into this one. "Elsa, don't." She warned, but it had already started, and her heart was helplessly lifted in joy over the stupidity of what was coming.

Smiling proudly, Elsa squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. "As it happens you're in the presence of an expert of letting things go. The past, is in the past." She grinned jokingly. Anna mustered enough embarrassment to roll her eyes, she could swear the aroma of cheddar was filling the room, because it was super fucking cheesy.

"The past is in the past?" Anna furrowed her brows, stifling laughter. "That's some real wisdom Elsa, a great nugget of knowledge right there - you should write it down for the history books."

"I just might" Elsa began laughing "You watch millions of people around the world will recite those words." For the first time since leaving the forest. Home felt like home. They had survived Honeymaren, they had survived round two of The Enchanted Forest, and through it all they were still together. How it was always meant to have gone.

A/N - I'll make sure to mail you my formal apology for that horrendous final paragraph for this chapter by next week - I'm very tired. The apology also extends for the pun of cold-bloodedly and Elsa's ice powers.

Also, I've only just made the connection that I am of the same age as Elsa in the first movie and Anna in the second. I will be dedicating time to figuring out which 21 year old character I relate to more. The way I see it, there's either angsty Elsa or very sad Anna.

I'm not sure when the next chapter will be, I have an assignment due in five days, so my attention is turning to that.

Thank you as always, for all the love you show me in the reviews. I've thoroughly enjoyed updating them all over the past few days :)

Hope you all have a great day!