It was the first snowfall of the season, and just like the year before, Hiccup felt anxious as fuck. He rubbed his hands together as he watched the gathering taking shape right In front of his eyes.

"Are we really doing this again?" he asked with a glance in his silver-haired friend's direction.

Jack laughed as he crouched down and molded some snow into a tight ball. "And here I thought you'd learned to be a little more adventurous, Third."

"Yes, I admit: We've done way stupider things this past year," Hiccup conceded with a chuckle. "Things should be fine as long as we stick together, right?"

Jack smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Careful, pretty boy. Astrid may get the wrong idea if she hears you."

"Says the guy who told her he had priority on me!"

"Which is nothing but the truth."

Hiccup crossed his arms. "You know chances of you stopping being perpetually single lessen every time you say stuff like that, right?"

Jack groaned, shaking his head. "I am so not getting relationship advice from you, dumbass."

"Well, know that I am all ears whenever you need to talk, Frosty," the auburn-haired guy informed with the sincerest of the smiles.

Aiming his spherical projectile at him, Jack snarled, "Stop patronizing me, or I'm snowballing you in the face, Hiccup."

"Save it for the battlefield, handsome—"

"Why am I not surprised to find you two here?"

The boys had been so occupied with their conversation that they didn't even notice the Student Council team approaching, and in the center of the group, stood Elsa, with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face. The familiar image hit him so hard that Hiccup had to put a hand over his mouth to stop the laugh that threatened to leave his lips.

Jack greeted the platinum-blonde with a two-finger salute. "Hiya, Your Majesty. Beautiful day, isn't it?"

"Sure is, Frost. Care to explain how you figured that"—she gestured with one arm to the expectant crowd waiting nearby—"would be a good idea this time?"

Jack shrugged. "Well, it was already a brilliant idea the first time, so I fail to see your point."

Shaking her head, Astrid huffed, "Moron."

"How about you join us?" Jack asked, his attention still focused on Elsa.

"How about you end this stupid gathering and go back inside where it's nice and warm?" Elsa suggested with an arched eyebrow instead.

"Yeah, where's the fun in that?"

Hiccup watched as a wary-eyed Andy stepped forth before any of the girls could come up with a retort. "Jack. You know what happened last year."

Jack shrugged with nonchalance. "Worry not, Davis. The appropriate countermeasures have already been taken care of."

"Meaning?"

"What, you want me to ruin the surprise?"

"Jack…" To a common bystander, Andy was simply saying the silverhead's name, but to anyone who knew those two, that one word translated into fifteen slides worthy of a lecture about the importance of rules-keeping.

Jack threw his arms in the air and grunted. "I told you already, everything is perfectly under control. All that's left is for you guys to pick which team you wanna be on: Hiccup's or mine."

"Wait, you're ditching me?" Hiccup pouted, faking indignance.

"We gotta level the playing field, Third." Jack told him with a wink. Then, his eyes returned to the Student Council members. "So what do you say?"

"We're not gonna join your stupid game, dumbass."

Snorting, Jack shook his head. "You are gonna say that, Hofferson? Really? North can probably sense your bloodthirst all the way from his office."

As he spoke, he approached the blonde, leaning forward with his hands behind his back, and Astrid's eyes narrowed.

"Come any closer and I'll rip that smirk off your lips with my nails," she snarled.

"Don't you get tired of being this scary, Hofferson? Why don't you... cool down a little bit?"

"What—" Astrid's words were silenced as a flying snowball hit her square in the nose. The girl fumed as snow slid down her face. Her eyes narrowed, jaw clenched, and her chest rose and fell with slow and calculated breaths. "You."

"Whoops." The silverhead quickly stepped away from her. Turning to Hiccup, he added, "Third? Blow the horn."

"We don't have one—"

"GET BACK IN HERE, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Astrid threw herself in Jack's direction, and he barely managed to dodge her claws in time. He dashed into the frozen garden, shouting to the rest of the group, "Okay, gotta fly. Later, guys!"

Astrid continued to shout profanities as she chased after the silverhead, who took advantage of the attention the pair was attracting to announce the start of the battle. Soon enough, all hell was let loose, and snowballs started flying everywhere.

"... And of course, she's chasing after him," Hiccup mumbled with a sigh.

"In her defense, Frost knew just how to push her off the edge," Elsa countered.

"Oh, look, she's getting closer," Andy added just as Jack took a sharp turn and sent Astrid stumbling down on the ice.

Hiccup flinched. "Ouch. That must've hurt."

"She's gonna kill him."

"Yeah… probably. Should we go there?"

"I commend your bravery, soldier," Andy admitted, patting the auburn-haired guy on the back. "Lead the way."

Hiccup noticed that their female companion had yet to move, and he looked at her from over her shoulder. "Elsa, aren't you coming with us?"

The blonde shook her head. "I think I would rather just go back inside."

"you can't go yet!" Hiccup cried, arms flying everywhere.

Andy clicked his tongue. "Right... That so-called surprise, huh?"

"Y-yeah, that!" Hiccup's eyes moved from the other guy to the girl. Trying to convey the sincerest of good intentions, he begged, "Stay. Please?"

Elsa bit her lip for a long while before letting out a defeated sigh. "Guess I'll wait on the sidelines, then. be the referee or something like that."

"Awesome! You won't regret it, Els!"

"I highly doubt that, Hiccup..."

Hiccup's team was announced victorious at last, and Jack gave the signal for his friends to commence the second part of their plan. Students were ushered back inside, where the heater worked in full force and gallons and more gallons of hot chocolate awaited to warm their cold little hearts. The 'how's behind the operation were unimportant; what mattered was that he was being a responsible lad, making sure that every single one of those kids was cared for—both mentally and physically.

As Jack headed to their makeshift drinks counter, he waltzed through the lined-up students, high-fiving and fist-bumping enthusiastic fans as he moved. Getting there, he pulled Anna to the side and handed her two scalding cups of the hot chocolate without a word.

"What's this?" the girl asked.

"A peace offering for you to take to your sister."

Anna frowned. "Now? But I'm still helping here—"

"Violet can cover for you, right, Vi?"

Violet rolled her eyes. "Sure, asshole. I was born to serve you anyway."

Jack gave the brunette a quick wink before looking back at Anna. "See? Violet's got this."

"Why the rush, though?" Anna tried to return Jack his cups, but the silverhead just crossed his arms and glared at her. "This is, like, my first big operation. I wanna help until the end!"

"You've worked plenty. Take five."

Anna laughed, but her face contorted into an awkward scowl. "Don't worry, Jack. I'm a tough cookie, I can totally keep going—"

"Anna. I'm trying to be nice right now, but if you don't go, I'll drag you. And trust me, it's not gonna be pretty."

"But—"

"Do you want to make up with your sister or not?" Jack snarled, making the girl look down in embarrassment.

"... Of course I do," Anna reluctantly mumbled.

"Then go."

"What do I tell her?"

He shrugged. "How should I know? She's your sister."

Anna rolled her eyes. "Sheesh, great help you are."

"You have got ten seconds, princess."

Anna continued to shift uncomfortably from one foot to the other, and Jack huffed.

"Ten. Nine—"

"Alright, alright, I'm going!" the girl announced as she walked around the table. Lowering her voice, she grumbled, "You don't need to be all grumpy just because Astrid kicked your ass…"

"I heard that!" Jack shouted, and he watched for a while longer to make sure that Anna wouldn't bail. It was then that he noticed Violet's attention on him, and he turned to glare back at her. "What are you looking at?"

Violet shrugged. "You can be pretty cute sometimes, Frosty."

"... Don't you have drinks to serve, Violet?"

Elsa laughed as Hiccup shared with her some of the snowball battle's frontline stories. According to him, his girlfriend had somehow managed to bury Jack in a temporary snow grave, requiring the rest of the boys to dig the silverhead out not to have him freezing to death down there. He was in the middle of mocking Astrid's lack of self-restraint when Elsa spotted her sister coming in their direction. Elsa busied herself with rebraiding her hair, and she could feel Astrid's hard glare on her. But instead of saying anything to one another, both girls continued to listen to Hiccup's storytelling as the younger Arendelle got closer and closer.

"I want some chocolate," Astrid suddenly announced, startling her companions. She snapped her fingers twice and pointed at her boyfriend. "You. Come with me."

Hiccup frowned. "You know there's a huge line of people waiting, right?"

"That's what you're for," Astrid replied with a shrug.

"Is that why you and I are dating? Easy backstage access?"

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Exactly."

The guy chuckled. "I was joking before, but I'm starting to feel kinda upset now."

"How about you start walking instead, dumbass." Astrid gave her boyfriend a shove just as Anna reached them, and Hiccup barely avoided a collision with the younger girl.

"Oh, hey, Anna! What's up—"

"For fuck's sake, Hiccup! Move!"

Hiccup opened his mouth, but Astrid silenced his retorts with a glare and started dragging him by the collar. The couple continued to nag at each other as they headed to the front of the line, and Elsa couldn't help but chuckle as she watched her friends leaving.

"Astrid seemed… energetic…" Anna's voice trembled as she spoke.

"And she hasn't even had any sugar yet."

"Speaking of, would you like some hot cocoa, Elsa?" Anna didn't even give Elsa time to choose, already forcing the cup onto Elsa's hands.

"Thanks…"

Anna hummed as she sipped from her own cup, and Elsa silently copied her sister's movements. As the moment dragged on, however, Elsa looked around for a distraction, any distraction really, and found a silver-haired idiot watching her and her sister from the beverages counter. He had his arms crossed over his chest and glared at them—either one of them or maybe both, she couldn't quite tell.

"Remember when we were kids and Kai would give us etiquette lessons?"

Elsa frowned, confused at seemingly random topic of conversation. "What are you talking about—"

In a single breath, Anna continued blabbering, "You could memorize three hundred French words in one day, you always knew which one was the salad fork… You aced everything on the first try, Elsa, and you made it look so easy."

"Anna—"

"Elsa, please, let me finish first," Anna interrupted her for the second time, yet her eyes remained glued to her beverage as she spoke. "I used to pretend to be you in front of the mirror sometimes. I would stand straight, chin up, and I would practice walking with that kind of poised aura you always carried… I looked ridiculous—not that you looked ridiculous, just that my attempts at impersonating you sucked."

"Man, you set the bar so high, and you were so far ahead that I couldn't reach you. And I tried. I tried so, so hard to reach you, I just was never good enough... And I couldn't look at you, of all people, and see that I had let you down."

Anna finally looked up, eyes wide with apprehension, brows furrowed, and lips trembling, and reached for one of Elsa's hands.

"I know I made it look like I wasn't, but I'm proud of you, Elsa. And I wanted you to be at least a little bit proud of me too…" Anna stopped to take a deep breath. "Being your sister isn't always easy, but I wouldn't want it any other way. I love you too much to actually want a life without you. A-and I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for making you think otherwise."

Anna squeezed Elsa's hand, and the blonde stared at their linked hands with startlement. Considering the distance that had recently developed between her sister and herself, that type of affection felt rather foreign to her, and it took a lot of effort not to pull her hand back.

"Y-you can talk now…"

Elsa's chest felt too tight, new thoughts kept pushing one another inside her head, and she could feel a migraine coming. She put her cup down and exhaled slowly. With a weakened voice, she spoke the words carefully, "You may not see it, Anna, but you carry a warm light that brings everyone together, and that is something I was never able to emulate. You say you tried to be more like me when in reality, I wished I could be more like you..."

"You're free-spirited, and bright, and genuine, and after Mother died and Father… changed, I felt like it was my responsibility to protect you… Only recently I realized that I was trying to control you instead." A choked laugh left Elsa's throat. "I was so scared of letting you get hurt that I tried to take your choices away from you."

"As it turns out, you never needed my protection. Never need me."

"Elsa." Anna tugged her sister's hand, desperation in her semblance. "Of course I needed you. I need you now, and I will always need you!"

Elsa smiled weakly. Opening up had helped loosen the lump in her throat, but the emotional conversation was also taking its toll on her. "I'm sorry I made you feel lessened."

"It's okay, I needed that." Anna shrugged. "Tough love, right?"

Elsa closed the distance between them, and her free hand cupped Anna's cheek. "I'm proud of you, Anna. And I don't want you thinking that you need to prove yourself to anyone, much less to me."

She wasn't sure who had taken the final step, all she knew was that in the next moment, they were hugging, and laughing, and maybe crying a little bit altogether. After days of avoidance, weeks of hurting, and years of neglecting the growing wall pushing them apart, they could finally start to heal. Pulling back, she could see Anna grinning at her, and she knew right then and there that no matter what the future held for them, they would be okay.

"Love you, sis," Anna sang.

Elsa chuckled, pulling her sister for another tight hug.

"I love you, too, Anna."