Chapter Eleven: Owls and Bad Dreams

Theme Song: Snowy by Toby Fox (from Undertale) and Nightmares by Myuu

After visiting their parents' memorials, Elsa and Anna spent the rest of the day in each other's company doing various things. But now Friday had passed, and Saturday morning had arrived.

At ten o'clock, the two sisters were sitting with Kristoff in his new sled as Sven pulled them through the forest to the queen's ice palace—the Ice Master had picked them up in a cart that he owned to use in the summer at nine-forty-five as promised, and he had driven them to where he kept his sled. Olaf was also with them, and was riding on the back of his reindeer friend, chatting with him.

Though the Great Freeze was over, it was still more than a bit chilly on the North Mountain's summit, so—per Elsa's request—Anna wore her boots, mittens, and cloak over her dress. In addition, the princess had a small satchel in which she held her sketchbook and some pencils, since she wanted to draw some pictures of her sister's palace while she was there.

Anna bounced excitedly in her seat between her sister and her suitor, an equally excited squeal coming from her throat in her failed attempt at self-control.

"Thanks for showing us the rest of your ice castle, Elsa!" the princess thanked for the fifth or sixth time that day.

"Yes, thank you, Queen—er, no that sounded awkward—I mean, um, thank you, your Highness," Kristoff added; his lack of human contact causing him to stumble over his words.

"I haven't show it to you yet," the queen replied to them with a fond smile, "but you're welcome. And Kristoff, please, call me Elsa."

"Oh! Uh, okay, your High—" the Ice Master caught himself and shook his head, "I mean, okay, Elsa."

Their conversation up the mountain was pleasant. Anna told Elsa how she and Kristoff met and how they narrowly escaped a hungry pack of wolves, which she recounted with great enthusiasm. "—and then Kristoff's old sled went up in flames and Sven and I pulled him up to safety! And that's how we escaped from the wolves…" she rubbed her neck with her mitten covered hand as she added, "and that's why I owed him a sled."

"Wait, how many wolves were chasing you two?" Elsa asked in shock.

"I counted about eight," Kristoff answered.

"Eight?!"

"Yeah, but we totally sent 'em runnin'," Anna added while crossing her arms over her chest with a smug smirk on her face. "Now they know better than to mess with 'Ice Master Kristoff' and 'Fire Ball Anna'!"

"Don't you mean 'Feisty-Pants Anna'?" Kristoff playfully corrected.

As Kristoff and Anna debated the princess's 'super cool fighting name'—as the younger sister had dubbed it—Elsa decided that she would have to look into finding a way for her little sister to stay safe if she should ever go into the forest by herself.

In time, they made it to the front of the ice palace, and as Kristoff was helping Anna out of the sled—not because he thought she needed his help, but because he wanted to be a gentleman—Elsa noticed that the rail of the icy staircase was broken, and sent an icy gust to repair it while the other's weren't looking. She didn't want to tell them what had happened just yet, though it would probably be inevitable.

When the Ice Master had helped the princess, the two joined the queen at her side. Sven snorted and pawed at the ground excitedly where he stood still harnessed to the sled. "Sorry, buddy," Kristoff apologized to the reindeer, "but I think you should stay here."

"Aw, why?" he asked for his friend as the reindeer pouted dejectedly. Elsa arched an eyebrow at the mountain man's behavior, while Anna simply smiled, aware of his habit of talking for his reindeer friend.

"Because, Sven," the ice harvester began in his normal voice, "you hooves aren't exactly built for ice stairs."

"Don't worry, Sven, I'll keep you company," Olaf happily volunteered while giving his friend a reassuring pat with his twiggy arm.

With that sorted out, Elsa then led her sister and the Ice Master up the icy steps to the entrance of the palace. The cold and sleek doors opened seemingly of their own accord, and the Ice Queen smiled at her companions while motioning inside with one hand, beckoning them in. "Welcome to my ice palace," she stated.

The eyes of Kristoff and Anna were widened in awe as they entered. They didn't get much of a chance to fully appreciate the icy architecture the last time that they were here.

"Now that… is ice," Kristoff murmured, "I'm gonna cry again." Elsa smiled under the praise, glad to see at least one person outside her family who thought her powers were beautiful.

"Don't worry," Anna softly reassured without breaking her gaze form the interior, "I still won't judge."

Fortunately for Elsa, the entrance hall didn't have any evidence of the attack from Weselton's men.

After a few more moments, the queen led the duo up the stairs to the side rooms. The first room was a replication of Elsa and Anna's room and the second was a recreation of their parents' bedroom. All of the objects within the rooms were made out of ice, except for the mattresses, pillows, and blankets of the beds which were made out of snow. Anna and Kristoff loved all the thought and detail that went into the making of the rooms. Elsa commented that she had recreated only the rooms she had the happiest memories of. Her and Anna's room was the most happiest, their parents' room was the next happiest, and the last room was the third happiest: their father's office.

When they entered, it was an exact recreation of the real thing… except many things were knocked over and there were a few jagged ice formations scattered here and there. Oh, Elsa thought to herself upon seeing the mess, I forgot about that.

"What happened in here?" Anna worriedly questioned, gazing at the icy mess in fear; not of her sister, but for her sister.

Blushing, Elsa clutched her left hand with her right and looked awkwardly about the room. Steeling herself, she took in a deep breath and murmured, "Well…"

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

SLAM! Elsa slammed the door to the balcony closed and stood in her new ice palace. Finally… a place where she could feel and reveal her powers to her heart's content without having to worry about hurting anybody.

Without having to worry about hurting Anna.

Tears welled up in her eyes as a sad smile graced her features; Anna was safe. After thirteen years, her little sister was finally safe.

Blinking back the tears—"You'll never see me cry,"—she rubbed her cold palms together in anticipation; time to work on the castle's interior. She recreated her and Anna's room, then her parents' room, and finally, her father's office. Elsa had made the three rooms on an upper floor directly above the room where she had finished singing her song. The entrances of the three rooms joined together with a stairway and a small wall with a window in a pentagon shaped landing. Starting at the top of the stairs and going clockwise, it was stairs, office, window, parents' room, and her and Anna's room.

She was over at the window-seat in the office adding the final touches when she heard a noise coming from behind her, such that the pages of a book make when held by the spine and shaken.

Shoulders hunched in fear, she slowly turned around to see…

…a little white owl standing in the middle of the room looking up at her with its great big eyes.

"Hoot."

"Aah!" Elsa yelled in surprise, whirling the rest of herself around as she accidentally shot some ice from her hands in her alarm. Fortunately, the ice only hit the floor and the ceiling and not the owl, who seemed totally unfazed by the crystalized formation of ice standing right next to it, and even took another hop towards her.

"Hoot."

"Shoo," the queen softly ordered while waving her hands in a sweeping motion in the bird's direction, trying to shoo it away. "Go on, shoo." She then stopped and looked at her hands, remembering how she had almost killed the Duke of Weselton in the castle courtyard, before quickly hugging her sides, desperately wishing that she still had her gloves.

Since she first heard the flapping of the owl's wings, she had been filled with fear. Not of the owl, mind you, but rather for the owl; she didn't want to accidentally hurt it.

The owl tilted it head to the side slightly as it continued to calmly observe the queen. What a very peculiar bird, Elsa thought to herself. I thought that owls typically felt threatened by the presence of humans and behaved aggressively towards them. Though the Snow Queen had never really had much contact with animals, even before her isolation, she did remember reading a book or two on birds while locked in her room for those many years. She didn't know why, but the random fact of owls being threatened by and aggressive towards her species had always stuck.

This bird was very peculiar.

She was brought out of her thoughts when the bird of prey suddenly flew onto the icy desk and took and few more steps closer to her. By now, a flurry had formed over the Snow Queen, causing large snowflakes to descend around her as she took a step back towards the wall. The owl followed to the edge of the desk, snapping its beak at the snowflakes, thinking they were some sort of flying insects.

Clutching her hands in fear, the Snow Queen's thoughts raced as she frantically tried to think of what to do. A bird once managed to get in the castle when she was little. If only she could remember what Gerda did to shoo it away…

Aha!

With a quick swirl of her hand, a long ice broom materialized in the queen's grasp. Its handle was made out of a long icicle and its brush was made of strands of compact snow, and, handle and brush together, it was almost as long as Elsa was tall. Holding the end of the brushing tool with both hands, she gently swept it at the owl while murmuring, "Go on, shoo!"

To her dismay, it stayed where it was, and after a few moments, it hoped onto the broom itself, causing the queen to shriek in surprise and drop the broom, accidentally shooting more ice around the room. The owl gave the Snow Queen a glare with its large eyes as if to show how annoyed with was with her dropping his new perch as soon as he had hopped upon it. Elsa could sense its annoyance, and was sure that if the bird could speak, it would probably say something along the lines of, "How dare you drop my perch! Do you know who I am, peasant?! I. Am. An owl!" Okay, maybe it wouldn't say exactly that, but it was a close enough guess for now.

Cautiously picking up the broom once more, the queen began to try and gently sweep the owl out of the room by using the snowy brush to push the bird's feathery bottom in the direction of the door.

The cycle of Elsa trying to shoo the bird away and getting startled by it doing something unexpected—usually moving closer to her—kept repeating for a few hours—since she had left the doors to the other two rooms open by mistake and the bird went in them and the rest of the castle instead of out the window or one of the doors to outside.

The three rooms and the landing were all littered with random ice blasts by the time she had blocked off the stairs and the doors to the two bedrooms. She shooed the bird onto the landing with the ice broom, closed the office door behind her, and was proceeding to shoo the owl towards the window, when a sudden sound chilled her soul—though not with cold.

It was the sound that the pages of books make when held by their spines and shaken.

Slowly looking up towards the window, the Snow Queen's eyes were met with the sight of at least four or five birds of various species perching on the windowsill and staring at her with large eyes.

Neither Elsa nor the birds—or even the pesky owl—moved or made a sound for several moments… until the owl that she had been dealing with gave a loud "Hoot!" and it started flapping its wings to fly away.

This sudden action caused the queen to unleash a very unsophisticated scream and flail her arms about in a very ungraceful manner, blasting even more ice around as she panicked and slipped before falling on her bottom. The commotion frightened the birds, and as the Snow Queen was screaming, flailing, slipping, and falling, they all flew away… even the pesky owl from before.

Seeing the birds fly away, Elsa huffed and tried, but failed, to blow a loose strand of hair out of her face before carefully rising to her feet again—kneading a now sore bum. Once she was up, she began to clean up the mess that had been made—which took a while.

She was about to clean up the office when she heard a knocking come from the front entrance of the castle, and the voice that she thought she would never be blessed to hear again…

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When Elsa finished recounting how the mess in the office came to be, she was blushing up a storm—not a literal storm, though—since Anna was snickering, giggling, and at times outright laughing throughout the story. Kristoff, on the other hand, had been biting his lip so hard to keep himself from laughing that it was a miracle he hadn't started bleeding yet.

Elsa wrapped her arms around herself as she watched her sister laugh and the ice harvester try not to laugh. After a moment or two, Anna approached her sister—still giggling—and wrapped her arms around her neck in a hug. "Oh, Elsa," she chuckled, "I'm sorry for laughing, I just... didn't think that I'd ever see this side of you again."

"It's okay," Elsa murmured while timidly returning the hug. "It's… sort of funny, now that I think about it." Pulling away, she smiled and stated, "How about we finish our tour?"

"Yes, please!" the princess excitedly begged.

Going back down stairs, the three made their way to the floor with the balcony—they had skipped it since Elsa had insisted that the top floors were the most interesting.

Entering the room, the princess was shocked at what she beheld. All about the room, shards of shattered ice that once made up the magnificent chandelier were scattered all over the place like broken glass, there were jagged spikes of ice about the same height as a full grown man jutting out of the floor, the doors to the balcony had been knocked off of their hinges and were laying on the ground forgotten while the balcony itself was blocked by a large portion of what could be described as a wall of ice, but what captivated the princess's attention—and her horror—was a thin, flat sheet of ice that shot up from the ground which held a single arrow in its cold grasp.

Anna stared at it with brow furrowed in anger and jaw hanging in alarm. Without looking away from the deadly bolt, the princess sternly asked, "What happened here?"

Nervously hugging herself with her head bowed, the queen began, "Several hours after you… left," she winced as she tried to block out the memory of striking Anna's heart, "Hans came with several of our guards to take me back to Arendelle. The snow gollum that I had made that afternoon was keeping him and the guards busy, but two men—who I now know were working for the Duke of Weselton—managed to slip past him. They forced their way into the palace and pursued me to this floor. I tried to tell them to leave, but they wouldn't listen, and they… well…" she motioned to the bolt, "they attacked me."

By now, a small flurry had formed over the Snow Queen's head. "At that point, things sort of become a blur," the queen continued. "I started panicking a bit and was just so focused on getting them out that I didn't realize that I…" she hesitated, "I didn't realize that I was about to kill them until Hans and the guards made it past my snow gollum and he… shouted at me to stop. While I was distracted, one of Weselton's men tried to shoot me, but Hans grabbed his arm and directed his fire up and away from me. Unfortunately, the bolt struck the chandelier and it came crashing down. Since I was standing directly beneath it, I tried to run so that it wouldn't crush me, but as I was doing so, I slipped and hit my head. When I awoke, I was in the dungeon. I managed to break out and I was looking for you when Hans found me again… You know the rest." A dry chuckle escaped her lips; she had completely forgotten that Kristoff was in the room, otherwise, she would not have said all that she had. "Heh, imagine. The person who nearly killed us both kept me from murdering those two men. How ironic is that?"

Needless to say, Kristoff was shocked at what he heard. Those were some serious accusations that the queen was making against herself. With wide eyes, he turned to look at Anna to see how she would respond to that.

Walking over to her older sister, each step as firm as the base of the very mountain upon which they stood, Anna took Elsa's face in her hands and forced her to look her in the eyes before stating, "No, Elsa. You are wrong."

"But Anna, I almost killed them," the queen argued in a hushed tone, shifting her gaze over to the ice harvester for a split second, suddenly aware of his presence once more and embarrassed that she and her sister were having this sort of conversation in front of him.

"That doesn't make you a murderer," the princess argued back. "You said that those two men attacked you first, that makes them assassins and guilty of attempted regicide, and you are innocent and were only defending yourself." She let out a sigh before continuing more gently, "When someone attacks someone else and they end up killing the person who attacked them while trying to defend themselves, it doesn't count as murder. And that's what you were doing! Defending yourself, that is. You're a queen. You've studied Arendellian law. Papa must've taught you this, right?"

The queen nodded timidly.

"And guess what?" the princess added with a smile.

Elsa arched both eyebrows slightly as if to silently ask, "What?"

"You didn't kill anyone."

There was a pause before the older sibling quietly countered, "But I almost did."

"But you didn't," the younger sister firmly yet gently corrected. "If anything, those two men should be punished for trying to kill you. So don't make such awful accusations against my big sister, okay? Because I know that the last thing she wants to do is hurt anyone."

There was a long pause as Anna gazed into her sister's eyes with a loving and determined smile and Elsa returned the gaze with a look of disbelief, wondering how on earth she was blessed to have a little sister with such kindness and mercy in her heart.

Finally, the Snow Queen nodded and whispered, "Okay."

"Okay," the princess returned with a smile. The flurries that had been dusting the two of them with snow stopped, and the younger sister lovingly brushed the snowflakes off of Elsa's arms and shoulders, even though she knew that the cold didn't bother her. Taking her sister's hands in hers, Anna then asked with a smile, "How about we clean up this mess so that it won't make you feel guilty anymore, okay?"

"Alright," the queen replied with a small smile of her own. Anna whirled around and had begun to pick up pieces of ice—and Kristoff was about to help her—when Elsa raised her hands and used her magic to draw the ice together and fix the balcony with its door, remove the jagged icicles that clung to the floors and walls, and lastly, restore the chandelier to its former glory.

Kristoff gapped at the beautiful chandelier before asking, "How do you do that?"

Smiling at the praise, the Snow Queen wiggled her fingers and replied, "Magic."

Walking underneath the chandelier, Anna noticed that if she stood directly beneath its center, the large decoration looked like a snowflake. Looking down at the floor, she observed the large snowflake patter there as well, and looking back and forth between the floor and the chandelier, she realized that they were both the same shape, maybe different in size, but it was the same snowflake. Standing at the edge of the room, the princess took her sketchbook and a pencil out of her bag and began to sketch the snowflake.

Noticing the position of the sun shining through the walls, Kristoff stated, "We should probably get going if we all want to make it back to Arendelle by supper time."

"You're right," Elsa agreed before turning to her sister, "Anna, come on, let's go."

"Okay, I'm coming," the princess replied as she carefully tucked her sketchbook and pencil in her satchel and linked arms with her suitor as the queen led them out. "Thanks again for showing us your ice palace, Elsa," Anna thanked as they reached the sled.

"Yes, thank you very much, Que—I mean, Elsa," Kristoff added as he took the reins in hand.

"You two are most welcome," the Snow Queen warmly replied as she and Anna sat down in the sled.

With one arm around her sister's shoulder and the other linked with the arm of her suitor, Anna talked with her companions as they journeyed home.

The princess was exceptionally chatty, and did most of the talking on the way back to the village, but her companions did not mind. In fact, when the girl fell asleep, they were more disappointed to not hear her voice any more than they were relieved that there was quiet once again. Anna fell asleep with her head resting on Kristoff's arm, the strong limb still linked with her smaller, more petite one. The princess's other arm was also still draped around her elder sibling's shoulder, and the queen rested her head against her little sister's head fondly, with one arm wrapped round the girl's waist in a sideways hug.

"Kristoff," the Snow Queen suddenly began, "do you care about my sister?"

The ice harvester glanced at Elsa then back at the road ahead of them before answering, "Of course I care about her."

"Would you do anything to protect her?"

Thinking for a moment, the Ice Master replied, "Anything but sin."

The queen nodded, satisfied with this answer, and there was silence between them for several moments. After almost a full minute, Elsa began, "When Anna and I were little, we used to sneak out of our beds at night and build snowmen."

"That sounds nice," Kristoff commented with a smile.

"It was nice," the woman confirmed with a smile of her own. However, it slowly disappeared as she added, "That is until one night… the night that changed both of our lives."

"What happened?" the Ice Master asked.

"I had made several piles of snow, and Anna was hopping from the top of one to another, asking me to make the next one a little higher than the first. The next thing I knew, the piles were very large and Anna was jumping before I had made another to catch her. I had asked her to slow down but she kept going, and in my panic, I slipped on my own ice just as she jumped. I tried to make another pile of snow to catch her… but I missed, and the ice… hit her head." There was a pause before she added, "Up until that moment, I had never been so scared in my life." Unbeknownst to the Snow Queen, a small flurry had formed overhead, dusting the three of them with cold white powder.

Feeling the cold in her sleep, Anna subconsciously pulled the warm bodies either side of her closer. Turning to look at her little sister, Elsa gently brushed the snowflakes out of the princess's bangs, causing the girl to smile in her sleep. Taking comfort in the fact that the fateful night that separated them was in the past, Elsa began dispersed the flurry that had formed above them.

"Then what happened?" the Ice Master asked.

"I ran over to Anna and held her in my arms just as a blonde streak appeared in her hair before I called out for our parents…" Elsa continued. "She was so cold.

"Mama and Papa found us and we raced on horseback to the Rock Trolls, where Grand Pabbie took the ice out of Anna's head—along with all of her memories of my magic. Afterwards, he told me that there was both beauty and danger in my powers which would only grow stronger as I got older. He also said that fear would be my enemy, but I figured out only recently that he was speaking of my fear of myself and not just the fear of others."

Kristoff thought that it would probably be a good idea not to mention that he was there that night as Grand Pabbie spoke to Elsa and her family, so he held his peace and continued to listen to the queen's story.

"It was close to morning when we returned home. Papa had the servants move my things from the room that Anna and I shared to a separate room at the other end of the castle, and from that moment forward, my sister and I were separated."

"How long were you separated for?" Kristoff asked.

The queen sighed before answering, "Thirteen years."

"Wow," the Ice Master quietly exclaimed, "that's a long time."

"Yes, it is," the Snow Queen agreed. "But do you know why I did it?"

"Why?" Kristoff asked.

"Because I love Anna, and I felt that it was all worth it if it meant that she would be safe."

There was a pause as the queen's words sank in.

At last, Kristoff stated, "I… I haven't known Anna very long, but I think she's worth it, too. I-If I ever had to do anything like that to protect her, I would definitely do it in a heartbeat, too."

"Would you really?" the queen questioned.

"To the best of my ability."

"Will you promise me something?" Elsa asked.

Kristoff glanced the queen and nodded.

"No matter what happens between the two of you, never, ever, under any circumstances are you to shut her out and ignore her like I did, okay? I did that for thirteen years, and though it was to protect her, it caused us both so much pain—it caused her so much pain. Protect her in any and every way that you can, but don't make the same mistake that I did, okay?"

Looking over at her, the Ice Harvester stated, "I promise."

"I'm holding you to that promise, Ice Master."

At long last, they made it back to the Arendelle. Since there was only snow on the mountain, the Ice Master parked his sled near Oaken's and they took a cart that Kristoff had back to the castle. The two had managed to get Anna half-awake when they changed from sled to cart, but when they were on the road once more, the princess kept going back and forth between conscious and dozing.

Finally, they arrived at the castle. After the princess was awakened, she and the queen exited the wagon and the snowman hopped off of his reindeer companion. The three bid the Ice Master and reindeer goodnight and—after Anna had quickly given Kristoff a kiss on the cheek—they went inside.

When they entered, Kai greeted them and informed them that supper was ready and waiting for them—they had kept it warm for them.

After supper, the two began to prepare for church the next morning.

Most people in that time period didn't bathe as often as we do today; they usually only took baths on Saturday night so that they would be nice and clean for church the next morning—the only other time that they bathed during the week would be if they randomly fell in some mud or got really dirty in some other way.

Anna bathed first, and as she did, Elsa picked out the dresses that they would wear in the morning so that they wouldn't have to rush to get ready. Once the princess had finished her bath and changed into her nightgown, she proceeded to scan the bookshelves for something to read while the queen took her bath.

After Elsa had finished and changed into her nightgown, the two sisters said their prayers and quietly read from the book that Anna chose together before bidding each other goodnight and going to sleep.

Sadly, however, just because you wish someone a goodnight and pleasant dreams, that doesn't necessarily mean that their night will in fact be peaceful…

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

It was a beautiful summer day as Anna and Elsa sat next to each other in the castle garden. The queen was reading a book out loud to her younger sibling as they had done together when they were children.

The princess leaned her head against her sibling's shoulder to follow the text as the Snow Queen read aloud, but was surprised when her sister moved away from her touch.

Not being entirely certain as to how to react to this, Anna scooted closer and leaned her head against her sibling's shoulder again, only for Elsa to scoot away from the contact. The princess was thoroughly confused. She had asked her sister before if some physical contact was okay, and had been reassured that it was alright, so why was she pulling away?

She rested her head on her sister's shoulder one more time.

Elsa scooted away.

She held her sister's free hand with her own.

Elsa pulled it away.

She tried just barely touching her shoulder with the tip of her finger.

Elsa jerked and moved even farther away.

In a normal situation, Anna would've read Elsa's body language and understood that she didn't want to be touched and would've stopped, but for some reason she decided to ignore the signs and wrapped her arms around her sister in a tight hug.

This caused Elsa to throw down the book and shove her little sister away from her before getting up and running back inside the castle. The princess followed.

"Elsa, please," the younger sister called out as she ran, "what's wrong? Why are you shoving me away?"

"Just go away, Anna!" the older sister shouted.

"Why? What's wrong? I thought that some touch was okay. I thought that I wasn't doing anything wrong. What am I doing wrong?"

"Uhg! You are far too clingy and needy for a princess! Why can't you do anything right?!" the queen shouted back, more of a statement of annoyance rather than an answer—but it could still be seen as an answer nonetheless.

"You mean… you don't like warm hugs?" the princess asked as she stopped in her tracks and watched her sister run to her old room.

"Yes! I hate them!" Elsa shouted as she opened the door. Looking her in the eye with a hate-filled glare, the Snow Queen added, "And I hate you!" before slamming the door closed.

Running over to the door, Anna took the doorknob in her hands and tried to open it… but it was locked.

"Go away, Anna!" Elsa shouted from behind the door. "I don't want anything to do with you!"

"You promised…" the princess whispered sadly before shouting, "You promised!" She pound on the door with her fist as she screamed over and over again with tears in her eyes, "You promised! You promised! You promised! You promised!"

Suddenly, she found herself unable to move, and was drawn away from the door by some mysterious, invisible force.

Anna was seized with panic as she struggled in vain to move and was filled with even more alarm when she saw none other than Prince Hans slowly making his way to her sister's room with drawn sword in hand.

Anna tried to warn her sister—to call out, to shriek, to scream, to do something—but no sound came out of her mouth. Trembling where she stood, she was forced to watch as Hans opened the door to Elsa's room and slowly entered before closing it once more.

Not a single sound was heard as blood seeped out from underneath the door.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Waking up with a start, Anna bolted upright in her bed.

Gazing about her, she saw that she was in her room… in the dark… alone.

When she looked around for her sister, she couldn't even see any evidence that they shared the room at all due to the darkness, and tears began to silently stream from her eyes. She couldn't see her sibling's bed, nightstand, or anything else that belonged to the queen, which made it look like Anna was the only one who slept in that room… Which made it look like the queen and the princess had never reunited at all.

This was what she had been afraid of. She was afraid that her reuniting with Elsa was only a dream… and here she was… all alone.

Had she finally woken up from the dream that was too good to be true?

She feared she had.

Gazing straight ahead into the inky blackness, Anna did something that she hadn't done for a long time:

She sobbed.

She sobbed like a very scared and very lonely little girl who had finally realized just how alone she really was, and as her tears trekked down her face—doing little to cool her burning cheeks—the sounds of her cries echoed in the big, empty room.

The last time she had wept this bitterly was a few months after her parents drowned at sea. When it finally sank in one night that her parents weren't coming home and that Elsa wasn't going to come out of her room, the princess sat in her bed and sobbed her poor little heart out until her eyes were red and her throat was sore.

Soon, however, the sound of her weeping was accompanied by the sound of quickly approaching footsteps followed by the door to the room being thrown open.

The light from the gas lamps in the hall—though few and dim—appeared very bright to the princess's eyes, and she held up a hand to shield them as she finally noticed the bed across from hers.

Wait, was that… Elsa's bed? Anna thought.

"Anna! Are you alright?!"

In the expanse of the next few seconds, quite a few things happened. Anna looked over to the silhouette of the person standing in the doorway and recognized her big sister standing there. Before she could even question whether it was a trick of her tired mind or reality, she held out her trembling arms towards her sibling—like she had done many times when she was a baby—silently asking for her to hold her. Almost instantly, Elsa was on her bed, holding her in her arms as the younger of the two wrapped her arms around the queen's back and clung to the fabric of the blue nightdress like it was a lifeline, sobbing into her shoulder all the while.

"Shh, it's alright, Anna, I've got you," the Snow Queen murmured while pulling her baby sister to sit sideways in her lap, gently rocking her back and forth like small child. "I'm right here. Everything is going to be okay, Sunshine. Nothing is going to hurt you." Elsa's heart began to break for her sister as the usually happy and cheerful princess sobbed and trembled in her arms.

"What happened?" the queen finally asked.

"Y-you sh-shut me out a-gain, a-and you-you s-said th-at I c-couldn't d-do any-anything r-r-right a-and that you h-hated m-me. Th-that I w-w-wasn't g-good enough. A-and I f-froze be-before Hans k-killed y-ou," the princess stuttered between hiccups and sobs. "A-and then I w-woke up a-nd you we-weren't here, and I-and I thought that-that you and I weren't-weren't to-gether again; that-that it wa-was all a dr-dream. I-I thought that I w-was alone."

Elsa's heart officially broke as she tightened her hold on her sister, cradling the princess's shoulders with one arm and cupping her tear stained cheek with the other hand as she continued to rock her back and forth. Forcing the younger sibling to look her in her own tear filled eyes, the queen murmured, "Oh, Anna, my dear sweet girl, I could never ever hate you."

"No-not even wh-when I wouldn't l-leave y-you alone?" the younger sister asked. "E-even wh-when I an-noy y-you?"

"I have always loved you, Anna," the older sister began, "and I have never stopped loving you. Even when you drive me crazy and refuse to leave me alone, I still love you so, so much." Wiping the tears off of Anna's freckle covered cheeks with her thumb, she added, "I hated every single second that we were apart, but the only reason I did it was because I love you, and I don't want you to ever get hurt, and I especially don't ever want to be the one that hurts you. But now that we're together again and I'm learning to control my powers, I promise you that I will do everything in my power to never ever be separated from you like that again."

Elsa's words caused Anna to start crying once more—only this time in relief—as she buried her face in the shoulder of her sister's nightgown. "I-I love you, Elsa," the princess whimpered.

"I love you, too, Anna," the queen murmured before giving her a kiss on the head.

For several moments, neither said a word.

Anna was content to just be held by her big sister, and Elsa was equally content to hold her baby sister in her lap like when they were little. Anna's sobbing eventually quietened down to an occasional hiccup or whimper, but other than that, there was silence.

"What made you think that us being together again was just a dream?" Elsa asked at length.

"You weren't here, a-and it was so dark that I couldn't see your bed on the other side of the room, so I thought for a bit that it wasn't there," Anna hoarsely replied. "It sounds a bit silly now that I say it out loud. "There was a pause before she asked, "Where were you?"

"I was thirsty and got up to get a drink of water from the kitchen," the queen replied. "I'm sorry, Anna, that that made you feel alone. Can you please forgive me?"

"I forgive you, Elsa," the princess replied.

"If ever you feel lonely and think that I've disappeared, just come look for me, okay?"

"Okay."

"I promise you, Sunshine, that this isn't a dream," Elsa continued while carefully running her fingers through her sister's tangled red hair, "I'm really here."

There was silence for a few more moments before Anna timidly asked, "Do I ever annoy you or make you uncomfortable with all the hugs and cuddles I give you?"

"Since I've gone so long without physical contact, it does feel a bit weird and strange and, I admit, uncomfortable at times, but I wouldn't trade it for the world because, to be honest, I've missed it." She combed her fingers through Anna's bangs, brushing them out of her eyes and offering her a small smile. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too, Elsie," the younger sister stated in turn with a sad smile of her own.

The constant motion of Elsa slowly and gently rocking her from side-to-side was beginning to lull the princess to sleep. Noticing this, the queen sent a quick, icy breeze to close the door to their room. It wasn't as quiet as she had wished, and the younger sister jumped a bit at the loud noise it made. The older sister mumbled a quick apology as she maneuvered Anna so that she was laying down properly on the bed with her head on the pillow.

The princess sleepily watched as Elsa got underneath the quilts and pulled the blankets up to cover them both. Anna snuggled close, her head resting underneath her sibling's chin. They both wrapped their arms around each other, wanting to stay close so as to chase away any and all nightmares that the other might have.

Pressing a loving kiss against the princess's forehead, the Snow Queen whispered, "I love you, Sunshine."

"I love you, too, Elsie."

At that, sleep claimed them once more, and the nightmares kept their distance, knowing that they were powerless when the two sisters were together.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I got the inspiration for the main theme of this chapter from a post on confessions from a frozen fan dot tumblr dot com (take out the spaces) which said, "Considering the night and day scenes in Frozen I think Anna and Kristoff spent—at the very minimum—a little over a day looking for Elsa's castle. A sequel short film thing based on what she was doing this entire time in which funny things happen would be pretty great because even though Elsa's great, she's pretty much the most serious character in the move and I think such a contrast in this short film would be really interesting." I read that and I instantly pictured some sort of bird coming in and wreaking havoc.

I got the idea for Elsa using a broom to try and shoo the owl away from a scene in Once Upon A Time where Snow White's singing and humming at a little bird that's perched on the kitchen table before picking up a broom and trying to smack it. Haha! (Don't worry, the bird didn't get hurt.)

Also, I just want to ask, did anyone notice the World War I reference that I made in the previous chapter? I'll give you a hint: The reference is made before Elsa starts reading the letter from King Viktor out loud.

I'm just curious if anyone saw that or if I made it so obscure that it went over everyone's heads.

Just as a heads-up, on the 28th this month I'm going to be starting college, so the updates aren't going to be weekly anymore, and maybe not even monthly. But rest assured that I'll still try balance my schedule so that I'll (hopefully) get good grades and update this story as often as I reasonably can.

Thank you all so much for reading this chapter; I hope you enjoyed it.

Please tell me what you thought about it in the review box below (your comments never fail to make me smile, even if it's constructive criticism.)

God bless you and your day.

Sincerely, The Professor