The Ice Behind Bars
Chapter XXIV: The Lost Sister
"U-Uhm… Hi?" Anna said nervously.
Aphrodite's eyes widened, "Anna!?" She called happily.
Brandon looked between the two, "I should leave you two alone." He said and gave Anna a 'Be gentle.' smile and motioned for her to come in, in which she did. Brandon then closed the door behind him and left a mother and a daughter in an awkward silence.
Anna and Aphrodite stood in the room with a huge distance between each other. It was a really awkward silence as both avoided eye contact. Anna looked around, trying to distract herself while Aphrodite scratched the back of her neck. "So…?" Anna said weirdly.
"So…" Aphrodite said with a nervous smile. God! I'm a stupid mother! So! Is that what all I can say?! Aphrodite thought and mentally facepalmed.
"U-Uhm… I-uh… I'm just…" Anna stammered. God damn it! This is really awkward! How should I tell her that I'm sorry and didn't mean what I said!?
"A-Anna... I… W-Would you like a seat, first?" She asked with an unsure smile that came out more like a wince. Would you like a seat?... Am I inviting her to dinner or something!? Aphrodite thought angrily at her lack of words. How should I tell her that I'm sorry and didn't mean what I said!? Aphrodite thought and didn't knew that this was exactly what was Anna thinking of.
"Y-Yes… Of course." Anna said and both went to the table and sat on the chairs. Can it get any weirder?! Anna thought.
Can it get any harder?! Aphrodite thought as another awkward silence fell between the two. Anna drummed her fingers on her knees nervously, while Aphrodite sat straight and proud like a queen, yet on the inside she was more nervous than Anna and her heart was racing.
I should speak to her first! They both thought in unison.
They both took a deep breath before they looked into each other's eyes and-
"I need to tell you something!" They both said quickly in unison and their eyes widened.
"O-Okay, you first!"
"No, you!"
"Okay, me!"
"No! I-I mean… You start!... All what I wanna say is…I didn't mean what I said and…" They both trailed off, then, "I'm sorry!" They gasped and stood up, then, "What?!... But I was-… And you were-…"
"Can we stop speaking at the same time and start listening to me?" Aphrodite finally said and tried to stifle a smile but failed. She gestured for Anna to sit down.
Anna smiled shyly, "Sorry…" She said awkwardly then sat down.
Aphrodite gave her daughter a warm smile and sat. She took a deep slow breath, then, "Anna… I'm… I'm so sorry about what I told you before. I… I-I swear I didn't mean any of it."
"But you said-"
"I know what I said!" Aphrodite suddenly cut off, angry at herself. She closed her eyes for a second then opened them to stare right into Anna's eyes, then she leaned forward and took Anna's hand in hers. "You listen to me, now. You are my daughter. You are brave, kind, sweet and gorgeous. You had the great courage to walk right into that dungeon to save a woman you never even met before." Aphrodite knew better than this. "You didn't care about the consequences. You cared about one thing… and its Justice. You saw how Elsa was being mistreated…" She winced at the memory, then, "You would have sacrificed your own life to save hers. You were very brave that even when we told you not to go… You couldn't just leave Elsa there because you knew how much she needed you and that no one but you would be able to help her. You are smart and funny and everyone loves you. And after what Elsa h-had been through… I have seen with my own two eyes how she trusted you. You have promised her protection… And you succeeded." She felt a bit sad. Something I failed to do. "You are strong because you know what's right and when you see an opportunity to be good, you run for it and never hesitate…" She trailed off and smirked, "Even though you're sometimes stubborn and headstrong." She said and tapped Anna's nose in which resulted in making Anna giggle. "You have done things I couldn't do myself. I wanted to tell you how much I'm proud of you, Anna." Anna was now at the edge of tears. "I don't care what you choose to be, whether a thief, a knight, a dancer or a horrible baker…" Aphrodite said with a giggle, "I know one thing. That you are doing what you're doing with good intentions. I have a great daughter with the warmest heart… And I'm so proud of her that I couldn't ask for anything else." Aphrodite finished.
Anna finally lunged herself across the table and wrapped her mother in a crush hug and cried. "I'm sorry I'm sorry! I'm really sorry I hurt you, Mama!" Anna said as she buried her face in her mother's neck.
Aphrodite moved away from the table and wrapped Anna in a proper warm hug before she felt her own tears spill, "I'm so sorry that I hurt you, too, Anna!... I-I swear I didn't mean what I said… Please believe me!"
Anna nodded quickly, "I do! I do! I swear I do believe you! And I'll always will!" Anna muffled as she soaked her mother's neck.
Aphrodite squeezed her younger daughter tighter and wished with all her heart that someday she would be able to do the same to Elsa. "I-I know I've been acting strange lately, but I swear I'm not afraid of Elsa! I-I dying on the inside, Anna! It's killing me to know that I made Elsa afraid of me! A-And now she hates me, a-and then there was the fight with y-you, a-and…a-and…" Aphrodite's tears ran down like waterfalls, "Oh God, Anna! I'm a horrible mother! Please forgive m-"
Anna quickly lifted her head to stare at her mother's wet eyes with her worried and wide ones, "No, Mother! You are not horrible at all! You are the best mother on this crazy earth! I love you. I love you. I love you with all my heart! And Elsa is not afraid of you!" She said and wiped her mother's tears with her thumb and gave her mother a sad smile, "In fact, you should thank her later. She was the one who sent me here to talk to you and GOD! You should have seen this blank face of hers! It was so cute yet creepy! I felt like she was looking right through my soul and-"
Aphrodite's eyes widened, "Wait, wait, wait!" She placed a hand on Anna's mouth to prevent her from rambling, "Elsa t-told you to come and talk to me?!" She asked with a smile in disbelief and started to feel her heart flutter in joy.
With her mother's hand still on her mouth, Anna nodded. "Uh-hm!" She hummed in confirmation. Though she didn't quite 'Tell' me… She more like stared at me and pointed until I couldn't take it anymore.
"Elsa?... Like Elsa Elsa!?" Aphrodite asked again, still not believing her eyes and ears. Anna smirked from behind her mother's hand and nodded again.
Even after what I did to her!? Even after I made her feel Fear again!? She… She cares about me!? She still cares about me! MY BABY CARES ABOUT ME! Aphrodite started to laugh in glee, "She cares about me, Anna! She cares about me! Elsa cares about me!" Aphrodite shouted happily as she twirled her younger daughter in the room.
Anna joined the laugh for a reason she did not know and allowed her mother to twirl her around. She never in her entire LIFE heard her mother's voice come out like that. It was so full with joy and relief. She didn't know why her mother seemed so happy. She didn't think too much about the idea since she wanted everyone and especially her mother to love Elsa. And now she knew that her mother really did care about Elsa. She mentally shrugged her shoulders and continued her laughs with her mother.
Aphrodite suddenly stopped and grabbed her daughter's face as she stared at Anna with wide and serious eyes, yet they were full with excitement, "Anna, you have to tell her that I'm sorry! You have to, Anna! Do you hear me!?" She said as she squished her daughter's cheeks with her hands and forced Anna to pucker her lips, "You have to! You have to! You have to tell her that I didn't mean anything that I have said."
Anna laughed at her mother since she never ever saw her so excited, "Owkay, owkay!... Now Leaf my cheeks alone, pwease." Anna tried to say through her giggles while her cheeks were sill squished.
Aphrodite realized how ridiculous and childish she just acted and she quickly relieved her daughter from her cheek torture. "Sorry about that." Aphrodite said with a shy smile as she brushed the pain from her younger daughter's cheek away.
Anna giggled as she rubbed her other cheek and suddenly smirked and looked slyly at her mother, "Why do you care so much about, Elsa?"
Aphrodite's eyes grew wide, "I-I care about all my patients." She said as she turned to distract herself and hide the nervousness of her face.
Anna wasn't convinced. Her smirk grew and she folded her hands behind her back as she approached her mother, "Yeaaaahhh! You wash every patient you heal and you dress them properly," She remembered when she was with Kristoff, standing in front of Elsa's bedroom door and how her mother came out of the room and glared at the man, before Anna went inside to find the unconscious frame of Elsa washed, cleaned and dressed. "And you make a special remedy for the bruises for every patient," She wiggled her eyebrows and Aphrodite even though nervous, had to stiffen a smile. "And don't think that I didn't see how you ran all worried to Elsa when she blew up the sanctuary because of the cauterization." Both Aphrodite and Anna mentally winced at the memory, "And also when you were standing behind the door when Elsa had her first sandwich."
Aphrodite gasped, "Y-You… You saw me?"
Anna shook her head in amusement, "You're not quite good at hide and seek either… Oh And not long ago you just twirled me around the room as if you found a long lost treasure and you actually seem to care about her like you care for me!" Anna said happily and didn't know how her mother's heart was drumming faster with every passing second. To Aphrodite, she really did find a long lost treasure.
Anna finally placed both hands on her mother's shoulders and she smiled fondly at her, "Now, I know that you didn't mean to say that to Elsa… But I'm too stupid to see how you really care for her." Her smile grew and she wrapped her mother in a hug, which Aphrodite still had her wide eyes, "I love you so much, Mother… You are the best mother I could ever have. People still can't see that softy muffin spot of yours inside." She said as she poked her mother's chest where her heart laid, "And I don't know why you seem so cold with everyone else but I know one thing," She kissed her mother's cheek, "I can never ask for a better, stronger, braver, prettier mother."
Aphrodite couldn't feel but guilty at that. If you knew what I did you would have thought differently of me.
"And that's why I'm going to arrange a day for you and Elsa together!" Anna suddenly said.
Aphrodite's eyes couldn't get any wider, "Wait, what?! No! Nononono! I can't, Anna! I-I'm… I-I'm busy! A-And-"
"Oh stop it!" Anna waved her hand playfully, "It's only for one day! And Elsa already trusts me and Rapunzel… It's about time to trust other people."
Aphrodite was both excited and scared. She wanted desperately to spend time with her lost daughter but she was so afraid to do so. Afraid that if Elsa found out, everything would crumble and she didn't want to even imagine how Elsa would react and throw accusations and words of mild hate and rage at her mother. "Anna, you saw what happened between us." She scoffed, "What a first impression I made for her." She said and placed her palm on her forehead and shook her head.
Anna frowned, "Okay fine!... But I'm not giving up on this. You two are going to meet again and you are going to work it all up!" Anna said happily.
Aphrodite smiled fondly at her daughter, "Well if I have a stubborn daughter like you, how could I say 'No'?" Aphrodite deadpanned.
"Admit it… You love my stubbornness. You just don't know it yet." Anna said as she puffed her chest and made Aphrodite laugh for real.
"Well then, Sunshine. Go on ahead, now. Elsa and the others are waiting for you." Aphrodite said before both hugged each other tightly. "Remember, that I'm so proud of you and that I know what you're trying to do is all with good intentions."
Anna's smile grew and she buried her head in her mother's neck, smelling her scent and making her instinctively even warmer and happier. "Mother?" Anna said while hugging.
"Hm?" Aphrodite replied.
Anna posed for a moment, then, "Did I ever had a sister?"
Aphrodite's eyes widened and she broke the hug to look at her daughter, "W-Why would you ask that?"
Anna avoided eye contact, "I kind of… Heard Brandon say that… You'll get your daughters back… Was he… talking about me and… my sister?" Anna asked uncertain.
Aphrodite sighed, "You probably just heard wrong Anna…"
"No. I clearly heard him say daughters." Anna said with a raised eyebrow. "Do I have a sister, mother?" Anna asked in curiosity and felt worried when she saw her mother's sad face.
Aphrodite looked into her daughter's determined eyes before she couldn't take it anymore and she lowered her head, "Yes." Aphrodite whispered.
Anna's face lit up, "I DO?!... W-Where is she?! Why isn't she here?! What's her name?! How can't I remember her?! What does she look like?!"
"Anna!" Aphrodite voice came out sad.
"Oh my god! Why didn't you tell me?! I wanna meet her! We can become best friends! Is she older than me?! Younger?! Small?! Big?! Pretty?!"
"She's gone, Anna!" Aphrodite suddenly shouted and buried her face in her hands.
Anna quickly stopped and her face suddenly fell. Her mouth formed an 'Oh'. She suddenly felt sad, "W-… What happened?"
"I can't talk about it… Please." Aphrodite turned to walk away.
"Mother, please!" Anna gripped her mother's arm gently. "I… I need to know."
Aphrodite kept her face turned the other way, "She was taken from me."
Anna waited and listened.
Aphrodite turned to look at her daughter, "Your father… He took her from me… She's gone, Anna… She's gone!"
Anna already knew that her mother hated her father. She never knew his name, not even what he looked like but she knew that he had hurt her mother badly. Every time she had asked her mother, Aphrodite would either turn angry or cry. She kept asking all these years with the same results until one day she understood that her father wasn't a good man and she stopped asking about him since she didn't want to anymore because he only brought bad memories for her mother, and it only meant one thing: Her father was a bad man. And she didn't want to even meet a man like him, even if he was her father.
"I did a bad thing, Anna… I did a bad thing to your sister! And as a punishment... I lost her!" Aphrodite suddenly let out tears.
Anna silently gasped and she quickly hugged her mother. "Hey, it's okay… I don't think it was your fault. Whatever you did… Can you at least tell me what happened?"
"Anna, p-please!" Aphrodite still couldn't stand the guilt of how she wronged Elsa.
Anna furrowed her eyebrows. She didn't want to push her mother further since she understood that it was a very sensitive topic. "Can… Can I at least know her name?"
Aphrodite opened her mouth to speak, but she closed it shut. "I'll tell you someday. Right now… You're not ready."
Anna didn't understand why her mother was so secretive, but now she had so many questions running in her mind, ready to know everything about her the sister she once had. She felt sad that her sister was dead, but she also was excited to know how she was.
"What was she like?" Anna asked and broke the hug to look at her mother, wiping off Aphrodite's tears with her thumb.
Aphrodite smiled sadly, "She was older than you… She was beautiful, intelligent and sweet… She was a bit like you but much calmer. She used to love when I read her stories, when I brushed her hair and when I sang her the lullaby she always loved."
"Like the one you used to sing for me?" Anna asked excitedly.
Aphrodite giggled a bit, "Yes… Like the one I used to sing to you." She smirked, "Yet the lullaby never put you to sleep like her." She joked and made Anna giggle.
"She was playful too… She loved to play in her sno- I-I mean she loved to play in the snow." Aphrodite quickly corrected and luckily Anna didn't dwell about the idea since she wanted to listen and know everything about her sister.
"Did she love to build snowmen?" Anna asked with a child's awe.
"Very!" Aphrodite said happily, "They were her favorite!" She said and both of them laughed.
Aphrodite smiled fondly as the memories of her little Elsa popped in her mind, "And She used to love chocolate… And she used to hate vegetables! Especially broccoli!"
Anna gasped happily, "Elsa hates broccoli too! You too! And my sister too?! Why does everyone hate broccoli so much?!"
Of course she does hate broccoli… How could I ever forget?! She remembered when she first fed Elsa a smashed broccoli when she was two years old and how Elsa ended up spitting everything at her mother. And the look that Aphrodite had made, had resulted in a laughing two year old baby Elsa. Aphrodite then had vowed that there would be no more broccoli for Elsa.
"How can you even eat that stuff, Anna?!" Aphrodite asked with a smirk.
"Ah, come on! It's not that bad!" They both giggled and then fell into a silence until… "Do you miss her?" Anna suddenly asked.
Aphrodite's face fell and she winced. She sighed, then, "Every single day." Aphrodite then shook her head to relieve herself from the sad thought and she looked at Anna with a sad smile. She removed a strand of loose hair out from Anna's face and cupped it behind her daughter's ear. "You should probably go now. Everyone is waiting. I… I promise that I'll tell you everything about your sister later. But not now. It's still early and…" She cupped her daughter's cheek and looked at her with determined eyes. "Your sister… Is a secret between us… Okay, Sunshine? I… I just don't want anyone to know about this… It's quite personal."
Anna quickly nodded with a smile. She understood that it was hard on her mother that they spoke about her deceased sister. Anna wished that she could have at least saw or met her sister, but she never had a chance. She just always wanted a sister. Too bad her sister died before she could meet her. Anna felt a bit down at the bad news. By the manner her mother seemed to act when they talked about her, it looked like she died in a horrible way. And Anna didn't want to know what her mysterious father did, and she couldn't help but to hate him about what he did to her mother-and her sister too-even though she never met him.
"Go on, now." Aphrodite woke Anna from her thoughts, "Kristoff is impatient." Aphrodite said with a wink.
Anna eyes grew wide and she turned red. "I-I don't know what you're talking about." She quickly turned on her heels and scurried off, "Love youuu!" She called out.
Aphrodite laughed and shook her head in amusement. She whispered to both of her daughters even though both couldn't hear, "Love you, Sunshine… You too, Snowflake."
Aphrodite's eyes suddenly widened and her heart stopped when she heard what Anna said next.
"OH! And by the way!... You're going to tell me who's this Aphrodite you guys were talking about!" Anna called out one last time before she went out of the infirmary, leaving a shocked Aphrodite.