So this has been a story I have been tinkering with recently. Will post updates to my other stories soon :D

Rated M due to later chapters and strong themes (maybe language and smut?).

Chapter 1: Past Demons

Images flashed in her mind.

A boy's cry.

Gunfire.

Tears.

Elsa woke up in a complete sweat, panting hard. The nightmares…they were only just getting worse. It may have been three years since it all happened but they wouldn't go away. Clutching her head, she let out a groan, her head was killing her. She may have overdone it the previous night but then again, what else was new? What was the time? She forced her blurred vision to sharpen as she tried to focus in on her alarm clock. The numbers slowly came into focus. It read a quarter past six in the morning. Well, she got approximately seven more minutes than last night. So, that was a bonus.

Groaning again, she forced herself to get up out of bed. Kicking empty bottles out of her way, she walked towards her bathroom. Gripping the sink, she forced herself to look in the mirror. God, she looked awful. She wished she could throw up; the nausea was hitting her bad today but she forced herself to breathe deeply and look back into the mirror. Suddenly, it wasn't her reflection she was looking at. Another's was in her place; a boy, no older than eight was staring back at her.

Shrieking loud, she threw her fist at it in her desperation to defend herself from the nightmare. When she looked back, her own reflection was staring back looking scared and sombre. The mirror had a rather large crack in it now and her knuckles had glass embedded in the wounds. Blood was pouring out of them, dripping onto the sink and onto the floor. Sighing, Elsa tidied up the mess she had created. Seven years of bad luck for breaking the mirror but she had been cursed already three years ago.

Finally managing to sort herself out, she zipped up her jacket and headed out the door an hour later. A bandage was wrapped around her left knuckles. It hadn't been the only injury she had sustained due to this and she doubted it would be the last. A book was grasped in her non-injured hand. Where she was going, she wouldn't say no to a little light reading. As she walked along, she spotted a familiar figure only ten or so paces behind her. What was he doing here? As if she didn't already know…

Riding the subway, she could see him halfway down the compartment, pretending to read a newspaper as she gripped the railing on the roof. Her compartment might be packed but she could still see him and she knew he could see her. Even though it appeared that he was reading the latest headlines, she could sense one eye on her. Oh god, how she wished he would leave her alone. How she wished they all would leave her alone.

Getting off at her stop, she made her way back to the surface – her old friend still trailing just out of sight behind her. He was persistent, she would give him that. Walking towards an open field, she found a nice bench and sat down at it. Numerous kids were playing in a local soccer match. Her eyes focused in on one familiar blonde hair boy as she sat down. Opening her book, she started to read but she always kept one eye on the blonde boy. A smile came over her face when he scored a goal. However, it was soon dampened by the arrival of her friend. Well, guess it was now time to bite the bullet.

"I know why you're here Bunny," she said, not even looking up from her book.

Edmund Aster Bunnymund came to sit next to her and stared out at the children playing.

"Which one is your nephew?" Bunnymund asked.

"Number seven," Elsa replied staring out at her nephew. In the background, she could have sworn she could see her sister, Anna, and brother-in-law, Kristoff, cheering him on.

"Play here often I see," Bunnymund was obviously trying his hand at some light-hearted conversation but Elsa wasn't really having it.

"Every week," Elsa shut her book. "Bunny, I told you my answer."

"Elsa," Bunnymund turned to look at her, "we need you. We all miss you. I do, North does even Jack-"

"I told you no!" Elsa's eyes flashed suddenly at the name. "Why can't you understand this? North thinks he owns me but he doesn't." Elsa almost shouted that last word but she managed to keep her cool. Lowering her voice, she forced herself to remain calm but ice still remained in every syllable. "Leave me alone Bunnymund. Go back to your master and tell him no! I have had enough!"

"Elsa!" Bunnymund tried to engage Elsa into more conversation but she refuted him.

Walking and muttering to herself, she walked away leaving Bunnymund alone on that bench. Anger flowed through her veins at her former friend. Did they understand that she just wanted to be left alone? That she wished she could just shut herself away forever? That would probably be for the best.

"Kick! Kick! Pass! Pass! That's it! Go for the goal! Come on! Shoot! Shoot! SHOOT!"

Anna cheered as her son scored the winning goal. She practically leapt to her feet and yelled the hardest out of all the parents. Sure, Josef's cheeks redden when he saw his mum being extremely embarrassing but did Anna care? Not one bit! When Josef came running over to his parents, Anna tousled his hair in her affection.

"Mum, stop it," he muttered but Anna only grinned.

"I think it is time for this one to have a well-earned breakfast!" Kristoff said. "How about we stop at IHOP? I have a craving for pancakes!"

"Yes," Josef did a little jig at these words. "Pancakes, pancakes, pancakes!"

"Pancakes it is!" Anna sang as she gathered up her belongings and headed towards the car with her family.

That was when she noticed another member of her family. In fact, it was the last person she ever expected to see. Off in the distance, was a figure she recognised. It was her older sister Elsa.

Her jaw dropped as she recognised the familiar blonde hair. What was she doing here? Had she come to Josef's game? She hadn't seen her sister in months. Dropping her bag, she chased after her sister.

"Elsa!" she called her name again and again but she soon disappeared without ever seeing her.

It seemed as if Elsa had disappeared into thin air. Kicking the ground in her disappointment and anger, she walked back to her husband and son, both were looking at her confused.

"Everything okay mum?" Josef asked, swinging on her hand.

"Yeah, everything is fine," Anna said but she gave Kristoff a look that clearly told him that she needed to talk to him later about this.

The rest of the day she was determined to focus on her son's effort to help his team win the friendly match but that didn't last long. Her mind kept wandering about her sister. Something had happened three years ago. Something had changed her and not for the best. While the three Bjorgmans had their pancakes at the IHOP that was less than five minutes from the field, Anna kept looking out the door as if she expected to see Elsa causally strolling outside the window. Kristoff had seen her eyes wander a little too often to the outside but he didn't mention it until they were home later.

"Mum! Dad!" their two daughters screamed the second the pair of them walked through the door. Helena and Heidi came running up to them desperate for hugs which they did receive.

"Thanks for looking after them Bulda," Anna said to her mother-in-law.

"Oh, it was no trouble hun," Bulda ruffled her granddaughters' hair. "I am always happy to babysit."

"We owe you, one mum," Kristoff said giving his mother a kiss on her cheek.

"I do enjoy facials," she said with a grin and a wave as she was finally allowed to leave the house (the three grandchildren may have wanted a lot of goodbye hugs and kisses).

It wasn't until the three kids were safely asleep in their beds later that night did the conversation finally get onto the topic that Anna was waiting for.

"So," Kristoff said when they were in bed together, reading books, "I can gather there has only been one thing on your mind all day and it wasn't Josef scoring the winning goal."

Anna shut the book she had been trying to read – in fact, she had been staring at the same paragraph for the last fifteen minutes.

"Do you think I should go over and see her?" she asked, staring at the book's cover.

Kristoff paused, choosing his words very carefully. "Would that be wise?"

Anna flashed her husband a look of anger. "She is my sister!" Anna then sighed and adopted a calmer voice. "Look, I just want to help her you know?"

"And she still won't say what happened?"

Anna shook her head. "I don't know what caused her to go down this path. She refuses to tell me. In fact, she refuses to tell me anything anymore." Anna let out a groan. "It's frustrating you know? I want to help her through whatever is causing this but she won't let me in! She keeps pushing me away and I hate it! I just wish she knew she could tell me anything!"

Kristoff laid his hand on top of hers and gave her a kind expression. "She does, she just doesn't know how to tell you."

Anna sighed. "I think I will see her tomorrow."

"Do what you think is the best honey."

That was how Anna found herself outside her sister's house the next day. To say she was nervous was an understatement. These days, Elsa had a tendency to blow up at the smallest thing. That was probably why Elsa kept her distance these days but Anna wasn't going to let that continue. They were family, after all, the only ones they had left. Their parents died soon after they had moved to the states from Arendelle. Their deaths impacted the two sisters greatly. Anna didn't want to lose her sister too.

Carefully walking up the stone steps, she paused as she was about to knock on the door. Was this the right thing to do? However, she knew that if she didn't try to re-establish their relationship, she might lose Elsa to whatever she was battling. Knocking a few times, she waited, nervously bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"I'm coming, hold your horses," she heard Elsa yell from within. The door opened and Elsa was suddenly struck dumb by what she saw on the other side. "Anna," she managed to breathe out. "What are you doing here?"

Anna was struck at just how damaged her sister looked. Elsa looked like she had aged several years even though she was still young. Her clothes were stained and ripped and gone was the poised elegance she always liked to present herself with. It looked like she had gone through hell and back. Come to think of it, Anna hadn't really seen her sister up close for a couple of years.

"Can I come in?" Anna asked, uncertainly.

Elsa paused as it looked like she was weighing her options. Eventually, she nodded and moved back to allow her sister inside. As Anna walked in, she found her sister's house in disarray. It hadn't looked like it had been cleaned for several months. Things were thrown about and nothing looked like it was in their proper place. Anna was struck by the number of bottles she found lying about. She knew Elsa had a problem but she didn't realise it had gotten this bad.

"Take a seat I guess?" Elsa said shrugging as they walked into the living room.

Anna sat down on the dirty couch that had several old newspapers thrown on them. Elsa sat opposite her, another bottle in her hand.

"Can I get you anything?"

"No, I am good," Anna shook her head.

Elsa gave her younger sister a long look. "So," she really drew out the word. "What are you doing here?"

"You came to Josef's game," Anna said, shrugging slightly.

"I wanted to see how he was doing," Elsa laid down her bottle without taking a sip, her cheeks redden. "Listen, I know things haven't been great but, I still like to check on the children."

"Then why haven't you even met Heidi?" Anna's voice suddenly was filled with anger. "She was born three years ago and she hasn't even met you!"

Elsa gulped. "I know I haven't been a good sister recently, it's just that…" her voice trailed off.

For a split second Anna thought that maybe will finally reveal the cause of her self-destruction and spiralling but instead, Elsa stared out the window and didn't continue. Anna squirmed in her seat; she didn't like losing her cool but she just wanted her old sister back – back into the real world. Was that too much to ask?

"Hey," Anna tapped her sister on her knee to get her attention, "how about you come out with me this weekend? I have two tickets to a musical play."

"Wouldn't you prefer Kristoff's company rather than mine?" Elsa said but a small smile was playing around her lips.

"He'll understand, so what do you say?"

Elsa fiddled with her hoodie's zipper for several minutes. It looked like her brain was having a fierce battle. To go or not to go? Finally, she gulped and looked into her sister's blue eyes, and smiled.

"What the heck," she shrugged. "Why not?"

A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed this story! Lots more to come!