With a sigh, Elsa grabbed an old book from the shelf and slowly opened it. She did not have many pictures of her parents, for they were expensive and difficult to make. But every year, at Christmas, all four of them would gather together and sit really still for a long time so they could add another picture to the book. Elsa always preferred the paintings better. At least those were kinder, showed fewer flaws. Photographs were always so ruthlessly honest, especially compared to the kind smiles of the painters honoured to be hired by the Royal Family. She opened the book at the first page, a blurry black-and-white image of her parents on their wedding day. It had been one of the very first photographs ever made in Arendelle. Two pages later the images are sharper, and this time there are three people, baby Elsa asleep on her mother's arm, her father looking down at her with intense love in his eyes. She smiled as she remembered that fond look. Oh, how she wished that her parents were still here, to see her, to see Anna, and Kristoff and Olaf and the happiness of the people of Arendelle. A few pages later she is standing next to her father, whilst her mother holds another baby. Anna, this time. Elsa smiles as she browses to the pages, her family ageing before her eyes. As she turns another page her free hand automatically reaches for her hair. She remembered that Christmas very clearly. She had cried and cried and refused to go on the picture, but she had to. She had begged and begged to be allowed to cover up with a shawl, but that would obscure her face too much for the image. So the picture was made, with her in it, uncovered, her head near bald. It was the year that her lost niece had been found, a bright-eyed girl with golden hair that glowed when she sang. Elsa closed her eyes as she remembered her parents' reaction.
/ / /
'Elsa, what have you done?' The king of Arendelle looked around, shocked. The room was dark, but the bright moon outside gave enough light to see the scene in front of him. His eldest daughter, sobbing, clutching a pair of scissors in her hands, standing the middle of a room surrounded by frozen locks of hair, poor Elsa herself nearly bald. 'What happened?' He had gotten up because he was cold. The snow and ice itself were usually contained to Elsa's room, but if his daughter was substantially distressed the cold radiating from her got in every nook and cranny of the castle. He knew the difference between the natural cold and that of Elsa's, and when he had woken up to a frozen nose and foggy breath he had dragged himself out of bed and to the source of the freezing. 'What did you do?'
/ / /
The King and Queen of Arendelle had taken great percussions before the arrival of the Queen's sister and her husband. They came with their newfound daughter, Rapunzel. After twelve long years of searching and sorrow, the lost princess of Corona had finally been found. And now, half a year later, Elsa and Anna would meet their niece for the very first time. The heightened security was strictly informed on apprehending potential threats, for the woman known as Mother Gothel, the one responsible for the disappearance of the princess when she had kidnapped the child when she was only two months old, was still on the run. They could not risk her return, they could not risk her stealing the princess away again. But after all the organising and planning and last-minute security additions, the long-awaited ship from Corona finally arrived.
/ / /
'Elsa..' The King rushed to his daughter, took her in his arms, ignoring the cold. His daughter needed him, and he did not care if it resulted in him getting ill later. 'Sweetheart-'
'I-' the young princess sobbed, leaning into him for support 'it worked for Rapunzel so-' the ice spread further and further, covering the bedsheets and the walls. 'I thought it would work-'
/ / /
To great relief of all parents involved, the three princesses got along swimmingly. Rapunzel seemed to be a perfect mixture of the shy and reserved Elsa and the happy and enthusiastic Anna. The Queens, too, were happy to be reunited, as it had been far too long since the two had seen each other face-to-face, and letters can only do so much, and both Kings found out that they had quite a few things in common as well. All in all, the visit was a pleasant one, without any accidents. There was one moment of panic when a woman looking similar to Mother Gothel was spotted, but it was quickly confirmed that the two were unrelated, and nobody got injured. The subject of Elsa's powers, however, was carefully avoided, and so was the topic of the magical powers in Rapunzel's hair, for the wounds - and wounds they were, since the golden hair of the child was the reason the wicked Gothel had kidnapped her - were too fresh to be a subject of open conversation. Where Elsa made sure to keep her gloves on at all times, Rapunzel carefully avoided singing any song, as she, due to the abuse she had faced in her young life, had noticed the fear on her parents' faces when she did. But the silent agreement of secrecy between the adults could not beat the ties of friendship formed between the two young heirs to the thrones, who, when Anna had long gone to bed, sat together in Elsa's secret hiding place high in one of the castle's towers, and spoke.
/ / /
'What would work, sweetheart?' his hands were blue and, as always, he wondered at his daughter's immunity to the freezing, unnatural cold surrounding her. '
Rapunzel told me-' with a clang Elsa dropped the scissors, motioned at the hair surrounding her, 'she told me that cutting her hair took away her powers, so-'. And as his daughter's words were drowned in sorrow, the King of Arendelle understood what Elsa had tried to do.
/ / /
'You can heal people with your hair?'
Rapunzel nodded solemnly. 'That is why I was kidnapped.'
'Can you…' Elsa hesitated. 'Can you- Can you heal me?' Rapunzel looked surprised.
'Heal you? Are you sick?' She looked at her newfound companion curiously. 'You look very healthy.'
'No, well, yeah…' Elsa looked around as if to confirm that no ears could hear and no eyes could see, but the hiding place was very difficult to find, and the adults were too distracted with each other to even go looking for their precious children. Besides, the guards would keep an eye on their daughters, right? 'I- You must promise to tell nobody! Not your parents, not even Anna!' After the vow was made, Elsa continued. 'I have powers too. But bad ones, not good ones like you. You can heal, I can only destroy. And I can't control them as you can. I want them gone.'
Rapunzel's eyes lit up. 'You have powers too? What kinds? What do you have to sing to use them? Can you show them?'
'Shhh!' her friend sushed, 'mine are bad powers! They just come and go, I don't have to sing for them to work. Can you please heal me, can you please take them away?'
/ / /
'You wanted to cut your hair? So your powers would be gone?' The small figure in his arms nodded her head. 'You know your powers work differently from that of your niece. Hers are channelled through her hair, yours are not.'
'I asked her to heal me first. But that didn't work. Her powers are good powers, and I thought that maybe, maybe- My hair isn't brown like that of you and mum, maybe my hair can change too!'
/ / /
The golden glow had long faded away and left the two princesses in the dark again, but Elsa's powers had not vanished. Rapunzel had been quick to assume that they weren't an illness at all, and she had been beside herself with joy when Elsa had made it snow. She had never seen snow up close before, as she was locked up in her tower during all the winters she had seen in her life. Soon enough, the entire conversation was forgotten by the blonde princess, as she was too busy packing in order to return home. Elsa, however, did not forget. She remembered the single strand of brown hair that had started the conversation in the first place. If cutting her hair made Rapunzel's powers stop, who wouldn't it stop hers? So she had grabbed a pair of scissors and has started with the task. But it was useless, she had hoped for nought. She just sat and cried in the arms of her father, spreading her damned ice all over the room.
Elsa smiled as her fingers traced the short-haired girl on the picture. Not a happy smile, a wistful one. Oh, how she wished she could go back to tell her younger self that it would be okay, that she would find happiness, that she would manage to control her powers, that people would love her for it rather than fear the cold. 'Elsa?' the Queen, startled by the sudden voice behind her, almost dropped the book in her hand.
'Anna!'
'Elsa! I was looking all over for you! We're ready for the picnic, are you coming?'
'I- I'm coming.' 'Elsa, are you okay?'
'I am now, Anna. Thank you.' She closed the book and put it back to where it came from. 'I just really miss them.'
'Me too.' Anna sighed. 'But we still have each other! And that would have made them very happy. Come on, I'm starving. And Kristoff and I have a surprise for you!'