TW: paranoia, hallucinations

Chapter 3-Weather the Storm (Anna, Elsa, Astra)

Anna sighed heavily as she walked out of the class. It was a drag. And the day wasn't nearly over. She went to her locker and read the slip from Kiri again. Looking at the map, her next class was in the 200 hall. It was earth science. Shouldn't be too bad, right? She took her seat in the back of the class, quietly ignoring the other students and their snide remarks about her. Why was everyone against her? Were they really against her or against someone else? She could understand if they were against that horrid red haired panther woman. She was a vile, despicable woman. But did they see her or Elsa? Anna never really understood that. She appeared to be herself and not Elsa. She and the girl looked completely different. Couldn't the others see that too? She shook her head and took notes on how the Earth's crust was under so much pressure that rocks were heated and pressed into gems over a period of time. Anna found the unit interesting and was most intrigued by rubies. Most rubies were lab created nowadays. Who knew? All too soon the class was over and Anna was on her way to her locker. With a sigh, she headed to the next class, algebra. It was in the 300 hall. Anna wasn't looking forward to it. Math was never really her strongest subject. She walked into the building and found the room number, sticking to what Kiri had written about seating. She looked to the board and was instantly confused. Negative B plus the square root of B squared minus 4ac? What on Earth was that supposed to be? It looked like a foreign language to her. Anna felt her stomach knot up. She played with the ends of her braids as the rest of the students filed in.

"Alright class, hand in your pre-exam sheets."

Anna let out a tiny squeak. The teacher seemed to have dropped from the air. Had he been in the room the whole time? She ruffled through her backpack and found the assignment. He smiled as he took it from her and went around to the rest of the class. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, hoping he wouldn't call on her during the lecture. But she didn't have any luck.

As soon as he had collected the papers, he turned his sharp gaze to her. "Elsa, can you tell me what this formula is?" His marker pointed to the equation with the b's and numbers.

She gulped and slouched back a little. "Um, I can't…really remember right off…I had a hard night last night…"

A few students laughed, murmuring that she was just a dumb kid. The teacher shook his head. "Really Elsa you were on fire with this last week. It's the quadratic formula."

"Sorry sir…" She muttered, looking down at her desk.

"Don't apologize or make excuses. Make effort and progress." He turned to his desk and grabbed a stack of papers. "Open your books to page 143 and do these practice sheets. I expect them to be done by the time class is over." He stood at the front of each row, handing out the sheets. Anna stared as her paper came to her. It all looked like alphabet soup was thrown up on by numbers and lines.

"I can't do this…It's too complicated."

The girl in front of her turned around. "What's wrong, Elsa? Your little genius pill wear out? Yeah I heard from Katie how you take pills. You aren't anything special. Just a dumb little kid who takes pills and gets smart from them. You're a pill popping kid. You should be ashamed. What does your mother think?"

Anna leaned back, a little offended. "I do not pop pills. Whatever that means. So I take medicine for things, what's wrong with that? No one is perfectly healthy and normal."

The girl snorted. "We are, you're just some kid with freak issues." She turned back around with a mean laugh.

Anna slouched down further in her chair. "I should have kept my mouth shut." A feeling of being watched crept its way under her skin. It was like an itch she couldn't scratch. As the class worked in silence, Anna looked around the room. No one, not even the teacher, was watching her. So who was? Anna thought back to the hallways. She had gotten the feeling then, too. She looked around and thought she saw a face in the classroom door window. Anna shook her head. There was no one there, everyone was in class. So why did it feel like she was being watched? Her heart picked up, making her breathe a little faster. She opened her book to the page and tried to focus on the lesson. Her uneasiness grew steadily until she couldn't keep her feet from moving restlessly. The words on the page seemed to dance. Anna rubbed her eyes several times to try and clear her vision. It didn't work. So she looked from the book to the posters on the walls. Most of the posters were lame attempts at mathematical humor. Something dark moved in her peripheral vision and Anna quickly swiveled around to catch it. It was just shadows in the corner of the room. But the more Anna stared, the more they moved. Was something crawling on her arm? With a squeak Anna swatted her arm. 'Calm down, Anna. The last thing you need to do is give these teens a reason to single you out as a joke…Just, just breathe…'

'You can't calm down and you know it. You're in a place you've never known and you're surrounded by people who are out to get you. There's no calming down from here.'

'No, I'm not gonna listen to you.'

'I only speak the truth. Even the shadows in the room are out to get you. Haven't you noticed the shadows wrapping around your legs to hold you down?'

Anna just barely opened her eyes and glanced under the desk. The voice was right. The shadows were wrapping around her legs. Without a word or hall pass, Anna bolted from her chair and out of the room. She couldn't let the shadows grab her. They would drag her…Drag her where? It didn't matter where, she just couldn't let them take her. She bolted into the nearest girls room and stood over the sink, panting. A thin layer of sweat glistened on her skin as her heart raced. Anna panted and ran the water. Her hands shook as she splashed water on her face. Her head was throbbing and her lungs felt as if they were bound tightly. "That was a close one…." She whispered to her reflection.

A classmate came in a few moments later and crossed her arms, tapping her foot. "Seriously, Elsa. What the fuck is up with you? One day you're a fucking genius making us all feel like grade schoolers and the next you're flipping your shit and bolting from the class. Get your shit together. He wants you back in class now. I'm not coming in again." The girl turned and left, twitching her butt as she left.

'Great. Day one of high school for me and already someone hates me. I just want to make friends and have fun. Is that so hard? Is that too much to ask for?' Anna leaned against the wall by the door for a few seconds, trying to calm herself. Her heart was still racing and her breathing still labored. But it seemed in high school no one cared what you were going through. If you caused an inconvenience, you were in trouble. Her stomach sank. She couldn't go back out there. But she had to. With a deep breath and some false confidence, Anna left the bathroom and retraced her steps back to class. The class was silent as she approached but as she walked in, a few people started whispering to each other about her. At least she assumed it had to be about her. What else would they talk about after she came back? How exciting math was? As if. She sat down and tried to focus on the lesson again.

Steps approaching made her look up. The teacher was frowning at her. "What was that about, Elsa?"

Anna's mouth felt as if her tongue had been left in a desert for days. She gulped and struggled with words until she heard herself blurt out, "I'm sorry. I thought I was getting my period early." The class snickered at her, the girl in front of her scoffing. "I had really bad stomach cramps and thought, well…I already said it." Her mouth kept on. "It won't happen again."

"See to it that it doesn't. I'll let you off this time with a warning." He returned to his desk, eyeing her now and then between grading papers.

The girl turned around to face her. "How old are you? Like 12? Why would you get your period a year early? Think you're fucking special? Get a grip you freak."

"I'm not looking for trouble so don't start any." Anna's mouth retorted. What was she saying? "I'll do my work in peace if you just leave me alone." The response shut up the rude classmate. Anna fell back against her chair back and sighed heavily.

'Anna, did you take your medicine today?'

'Kiri? Uh no, I was rushed out and didn't have time to.'

'You can't possibly handle the rest of the day. I'll take it from here.'

'Thank you so much Kiri! This school life already seems impossible to navigate!' Anna felt the familiar sensation of falling and blackness as she let Kiri take control. Gravity fell into her and she turned to see the familiar ice castle she has moved to. Happy, Anna skipped to it.

Elsa sat on the couch in the living room. It seemed not long ago that she had created this castle using her magic. Her thoughts were spinning. She had a disorder that made multiple people live in her head. Wasn't that just an active imagination? Imaginary friends? Normal? But from what Dina had told her, imaginary friends and these 'alters' she had created were entirely different. The few memories of her childhood were haunting and in complete contrast to what she remembered. Her father performing rituals on her, Hans and his friends basically treating her like crap during grade school, almost freezing to death in her own room… A splitting pain in her head had Elsa curling up for a few seconds. What else about her childhood was just lies and white sheets over demons?

"Don't dwell on the past without reason, Snowflake." Astrania's familiar voice didn't even startle Elsa. "You'll find out everything in time. Until then, don't trouble yourself with it. Live for the present."

Elsa looked up to see the angel, as usual Arcana was perched on her back. "She really loves your wings, doesn't she?"

Astra smiled warmly and patted the young girl. "She does. It's where she feels safe. And if she feels safe under or near my wings, then she can be there whenever she wishes." Astra didn't so much as wince as another feather was plucked.

"Geez, with how often she plucks out your feathers, you'd think your wings would just be bones by now."

Astra's laugh was musical and Elsa couldn't help but smile. "My feathers grow back. It's no matter to me if she wants to take some. I do believe she's working on something with them."

"Is Lady talking to her imaginary friend again?"

"Yes I am, Arcy. You're a smart girl."

"Isn't Lady a bit old to have imaginary friends?" Arcy bopped Astra's face with the plucked feather.

Astra chuckled. "You're never too old for a friend, Arcy. Real or imaginary."

Elsa looked to the two. Arcy was a cute little 8 year old with sandy blonde hair always half up and piercing dark blue eyes. A stark contrast to Astrania's fiery red hair and emerald eyes. It was amazing to think that locked in the first castle was a woman who was identical to Astrania but apparently evil. Elsa stared at Astrania, wondering how much she knew about her 'twin.' A deep and unnerving depression settled over Elsa as she glanced at her arms. There were scars there from who knew what/when. There were so many pieces of Elsa's life missing. When would she see Dina again? Elsa sighed and curled up on the couch as Arcy gushed to Astra about another morbid drawing.