The puff of white breath from her lips during the summer night was the first hint, but the ice crystals along the corners of the ceiling were all Anna needed to see to know it was one of *those* nights. It wasn't unusual for her to take a long time to fall asleep, or to wake up occasionally during the night (though mornings were a different matter. It was always as if once her body decided to finally fall asleep it didn't want to wake up again).
It came in handy at times like this. The inhabitants of Arendelle still harbored some fear of their new Queen, and the more Anna could spearhead any bursts of Elsa's power, the more she could help smooth the relations between her sister and their people.
Anna slid out from under Kristoff's arm and reached for her heavy robe. She always had it folded at the edge of her bed, no matter the time of year, just for nights (and days) like this.
She pulled on her robe and stepped into slippers before padding out towards her sister's room. A twinge of anxiety tugged her lips at the closed door – unless they had visitors Elsa seldom kept the door closed since her return, which was a blessing. Anna wasn't sure that she'd ever fully shake the uncomfortable feeling of a closed door.
The chill emanating from the door didn't scare her – instead it spurred her forward, a beacon signifying that her sister needed her now.
Anna lifted her fist to knock on the door, but paused as she realized the door was opened just a fraction. Opened at all was an invitation.
She pressed her knuckles gently against the door and pushed it open to find the room coated in snow. Elsa's silhouette was visible under the blankets on her bed, laying on her side. In the darkness Anna could see her eyes were closed, but her statuesque posture betrayed that she was awake. Nightmares didn't come as often, but she was more restless during them. Feigning sleep possibly, forcing sleep most likely (though Anna knew how well /that/ tended to work, or not work).
Elsa. had no qualms between night or day, darkness or light, but she held little appreciation for the time period between laying down and falling asleep. The Queen was not a woman to let her mind wander, or at least she tried not to. However, during the twilight hours when the body needed to go still and the mind needed to quiet, there was little else for it to do *but* wander. The /what could have happened/'s and the /improper or foolish things she may have said or done today, or yesterday, or some other time/'s, and the /what if she slipped up with her powers again, or there's more to them than she knows/'s could so quickly teeter her off the edge of an anxiety spiral.
It took a significant difference in temperature for her body to register, hot or cold (as her body generally chilled itself to tolerate heat), and cold felt differently to her than it did to other people. It was more like feeling a crispness in the air, potentially pleasant if she was alone and far away from others who would find the crispness less pleasant. In the middle of the night, in Arendelle, it surged her heart and clenched her hands into tight fists.
The crispness meant her powers were chilling her room. So long as it didn't spread further, no one else would know of it.
Conceal, don't feel.
Or…feel less. Feel it less, at least right now.
Had the chill spread past the room? It was hard to know how far her powers stretched. She hadn't even realized Arendelle was frozen when she had run away. Elsa couldn't step out of her room to check, unless she risked bringing the ice with her. If the other rooms weren't icing over, they *would* be when she checked. So she stayed where she was and willed the room not to grow a degree colder.
It was so hard to stop once it started.
The harder she tried to quiet her thoughts, the louder they became.
Would falling asleep even resolve the problem? If it would be dreamless – and usually it was – that would work, wouldn't it?
Would it?
She heard the subtle creak of her bedroom door. Her eyes snapped open, then squeezed shut as soon as she saw her sister's familiar form enter the room.
Elsa wasn't sure what she was doing, feigning sleep as she was. She should assure Anna, perhaps? That wouldn't work, and it'd be foolish to try. The Queen was hardly a woman of optimism, especially fake optimism. They both knew how unstable her powers could be, and it'd benefit no one to say she could stop it if she couldn't. She could try to usher Anna out, shut the door she had foolishly (purposely) left open. Did the chill travel more quickly through the crack in the door?
Twice she had hurt Anna with her powers. Twice she had almost killed her with them, the person she loved more than anything else in this world. For a brief period, she had-
"Elsa?"
Anna's hands grasped her fists in the dark. Elsa's eyes snapped open to see her sister kneeling beside the bed. A vague part of her knew she had snapped to attention too quickly to sell the feigned sleep, but she didn't have it in her to pretend nor to explain. For her sister to be there right now, the ice had to have spread. How else would she think to come here?
Elsa's cold fists twitched in Anna's grasp. She had a habit of digging her hands into the covers or in gloves when she was anxious – as well as wear their mother's scarf. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Anna could make out their mother's scarf partially visible within the covers.
"Anna," Elsa whispered, drawing the younger woman's attention. "I'm sorry-! I didn't mean-"
"Everything's okay. I'm okay. The castle's okay. We're okay," Anna urged, rubbing Elsa's fists. It had only been a few weeks since Elsa's return to Arendelle, and a few episodes like this, but between that and everything that had come before Anna had a working theory. "We can handle a little snow. Let go."
Elsa's eyes darted across their surroundings urgently. "I'm trying, but I can't get it to stop!"
"It doesn't need to stop," Anna said, the soft smile never leaving her face. "Let it come."
"What?! Let it—I can't!" Anna could feel her Elsa's wrists tug, but she held steadfast to her fists. "Not here! I can't stop it as it is!"
Anna's brows knit with worry. "The harder you hold on, the more you try not to feel it, the worse it gets, right? Let go, let it come, pass over and go on its own."
"It's too dangerous!"
"It's okay, I'm here," She said soothingly. "We'll get through it together. Nothing we can't thaw."
Elsa met her gaze. "You're not scared?!"
"Of you?" Anna's smile never wavered. "Never."
Elsa searched her sister's gaze, and Anna wasn't sure what she was looking for but she remained steadfast, her grip tight on her sister's fists. Finally, she squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her face partially into her pillow, but Anna could feel her fingers lax just enough to urge her fists open and hold her hands. The two women held hands as the snow surged into a blizzard of hail around them – the two of them in the eye of the storm.
Anna lifted her head to watch the storm. There was always something beautiful about the snow and ice Elsa created - something magical in a way that was different than the simple /unnatural-ness/ about it. Dangerous, sure, but as much as her sister feared taking life with her power, it could also give life. Olaf was a testament to that, and to the power her imagination could take when she wasn't crippled by fear.
She looked back to her sister, curled up in a loose fetal position under the covers and her eyes squeezed shut as if to hide from what she was creating. Elsa's grip was tight on her hands, holding on as if to stop the winds from blowing her away. Anna's knees ached from kneeling. Some of the hail pelted harmlessly against her robes, most of it surging around them. She pushed herself up onto her feet. At the movement, Elsa's eyes snapped open and she looked up to her sister. Her grip tightened almost painfully – though it was hard to feel as Anna's fingers were starting to go numb. Still, Anna appreciated the pain – preferring the pain of a tightened grip over the pain of separation, a closed door between them and her sister shying away from her help.
"Are you alright?!" Elsa mouthed, her voice lost in the roar of the winds. Anna climbed up onto the bed and sat next to her, squeezing her hands in return.
"It's okay, I've got you," Anna answered as she settled. Elsa urgently searched her face, her hair, her posture for any signs of harm, and Anna realized her sister couldn't hear her in the wind. Her gaze softened and she drew closer. She released Elsa's hands – and Elsa immediately released her in return – to reach out to pull her into a hug. The other woman returned the hug immediately. Even in the urgency of the moment, Anna couldn't help but relish the embrace. Physical affection had been nonexistent for so long, and the young woman direly missed it. Whispering up close, she repeated. "It's okay. Let go. I've got you."
She could feel her clothes tightening and bunching against her back as Elsa held on, like a child clinging to a parent. Anna could also feel the temperature change – the chill less biting. She looked up to see the hail softened to snow even if the intensity hadn't changed. A broad smile lit her face. She knew it! It was working.
Anna could feel the occasional tremor in her sister's frame. Crying, most likely. Couldn't be from the cold. She leaned into whisper. "I'm here, I'm here."
She rubbed the other woman's arm, watching as the snowstorm eventually mellowed before settling to a subtle drift, the hail softened to heavy snow, then lightened to flurries. She could feel the temperature warming, the fallen snow already beginning to melt.
Elsa's grip on Anna loosened until they went slack, but she didn't withdraw, and Anna didn't let go. The snow queen let out a breath of air, and lifted her head to check her sister.
Anna was looking out past her, towards the interior walls of the large bedroom. Elsa shifted to follow her sister's line of sight, to see the snow-covered walls, dresser, chest, curtains. Snow-covered everything, except the bed which was mostly untouched.
"I wish you could see it," Anna said softly.
Blinking her eyes, Elsa looked up to her. "See what?"
She couldn't possibly just mean the snow, because how could one *not* see it?
"Your powers, the way I see them," she answered. Elsa continued to watch her, and Anna shifted to smile back at her. "You, the way I see you."
Elsa furrowed her brow. "My powers, and I, have almost killed you, Anna. Twice."
"But you didn't, and can't," Anna said with a slight laugh of assurance. "Love thaws a frozen heart, after all." Her expression grew more serious. "You're nervous about the meetings tomorrow."
Elsa had begun to lay her cheek on Anna's shoulder, but paused at the statement. It didn't hold the tone of a question, but she answered it anyway. "…yes. Is it that obvious?"
Anna chuckled. "I had a feeling."
Elsa laid her cheek on Anna's shoulder with a sigh. "It's hard, talking to people. I don't know how mother or father ever did it so often."
"They also didn't grow up isolated and struggling with their powers," Anna offered, giving her sister a squeeze. "Give yourself a break. Also, I'll be there! I can do the talking."
"I can't let you do that," Elsa frowned.
"Of course, you can."
"That's not fair to you."
"If I want to do it, how it is unfair?" Anna asked. "Besides, I love talking."
"Because…" Elsa paused, then chuckled. "…well, yes, you do."
"And I'm really good at it!" Anna insisted.
"You are."
"And I also know all of the trade routes, procedures, all that important royal stuff," Anna added as she waved her hands. "So I know what I'm talking about!"
Elsa let out a slow breath, the tinge of guilt warring with the relief of not having to deal with those other politicians alone. "Yes, you do know."
Anna smiled, rubbing her arm. "Then it's settled."
Elsa smiled tiredly, the smile fading after a pause. "I'm sorry, for relying on you so much. I-"
"Enough of that!" Anna waved her hand with enthusiasm, her smile broadening. "I want you to! I can't begin to tell you how long I've wanted you to lean on me." Her smile softened and she lowered her hand to gently press her knuckles against her sister's forehead. "Now let's get some sleep. Even if I'm doing the talking it'd look really weird if you snored during the meetings."
Elsa laughed lightly, then eyed Anna as she felt her sister's knuckles run soothingly against her forehead. "I know what you're doing."
"Thaaaat's what you get," Anna said in a sing-song voice. "For showing Kristoff how to do this."
"He told you?" Elsa said with a chuckle. She could already feel her eyelids growing heavier. She couldn't help but be amazed at how profoundly that gesture soothed her.
"He showed me," Anna laughed.
"So that's why you were up so early yesterday?" Elsa asked.
"He just wanted to see if it 'actually worked'," She answered, imitating his voice. Anna could imagine how awkward that conversation must have been – Elsa had trouble talking to people at length, especially with anything as intimate as that. That her sister went out of her comfort zone to show Anna's boyfriend a way to calm or otherwise show such a specific affection meant a lot to her. "He's also tried it on Sven, but it didn't work for him."
"I wouldn't imagine it would," Elsa murmured, her voice drifting.
Anna watched as Elsa began to doze, and with a warm smile she hummed their mother's song. The remaining snow began to melt, and despite what remained the room felt comfortably warm.
Notes: Okay, so I never thought in a million years I'd be writing any kind of Frozen fanfiction. I liked the movies alright, but not nearly enough to do any fan work for it. But then I watched the Broadway stage play at my local theater. I figured I would feel about the same way about the play as I did about the movie, but I was wrong. The stage play took everything I didn't like about the movie and fixed it. I loved the dynamic between the sisters so much more, and the changes to the way Anna and Elsa's confrontation inside of Elsa's castle went down. More time, songs and development was given to Elsa and it was everything I had wanted to see. I also liked Olaf a lot more in the play. If you're a fan of Frozen then I highly, highly recommend watching the Broadway show. Anyway, this fanfic idea came to mind, inspired a bit by the play and by Frozen 2 (I have my critiques about the sequel but I did really like the dynamics between Elsa and Anna, and the general idea of Anna wanting to take care of/look after her and Elsa trying to be open with her). I hope this one-shot captured that feeling!
