The wind howls through the corridor, ripping at curtains. Snow buffets Anna's face - the last time the snow was this bad was during the Great Freeze and her heart is pounding almost straight out of her chest. She should not have left Elsa. She should not have left Elsa alone.
Anna turns a corner and almost trips on Elsa.
That's the first thing Anna thinks when her brain can think again, when her bare heels have dug into the snowy floor, her slippers somewhere between her room and this corridor, she skids to a halt after almost tripping over a small bundle of cloth.
Immediately she is scooping the sobbing frame into her arms, ignoring the way Elsa is pushing at her, fighting the frost that gathers on her ears and her lashes and she's felt this cold once before, just once before but Elsa needs her.
Elsa needs her so Anna holds her close, "shh, shh, it's ok, you're ok, I have you. I'm here, Elsa, I'm here."
Elsa gradually stops struggling, the sobs quieting and Anna brushes the tears from her chilly face with the pads of her thumbs. The snow storm has stopped though the wind still howls through the windows.
Anna shivers.
The painting of Queen Elsa looks down at them from the hallway.
Elsa hiccups.
Once, twice.
"Papa," comes the soft whisper, "Papa's gone?"
Oh. Anna winces. That is not quite how she imagined Elsa finding out that Papa is gone. She nods slowly.
Then Elsa forces the air from Anna's lungs with her next quiet words.
"Was it me?"
"No!" Anna cries, startled as she leans away to take in the look of devastation on Elsa's face, "no, no, no, no, never, you would never. You would never hurt us, Elsa, you would never."
"But I did!" Elsa chokes, "I hurt you, and I hurt them and I-"
Anna gathers her closer, "It wasn't you, darling, it wasn't. Mama and Papa would never want you to think that."
Elsa goes absolutely rigid and the next thing Anna feels is a prickling running up her arms that forces her to drop her sister and stagger back. She brushes needles of frost off her gown and watches them clatter to the floor.
The wind picks up and a swirl of ice appears overhead.
Elsa turns widened almost unseeing eyes to her.
"Mama too…?"
Anna wants to lie to her but her mouth will not move. Her lips will not part. Her heart just pounds in her chest as her teal eyes meet ice blue ones framed in a cracking soul.
Anna sees Elsa's heart shatter into a million pieces and rushes forward, ignoring the ice and the frost that threatens to swallow her - been there, done that, no longer afraid - and holds the trembling little form close to her heart.
"You have me, Elsa, I'm still here. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. I promise."
She rides the storm out until she can barely feel her face, then a quiet, "Promise?"
"Pinky promise," Anna loops a stiff finger around Elsa's. Elsa curls her pinky back.
Ah, thinks Anna, Elsa's hand is warm.
This time, Anna is there when Elsa wakes.
She is there to see the first wrinkle of her nose, the first measure of a frown, to see the blanket go crisp and white under a clenched fist.
Elsa stretches, nuzzles her head further into her pillow, then an eye cracks open.
"Hey sleepyhead," Anna smiles.
Elsa blinks. Then her face falls. Anna can feel the room temperature falling. Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh dear. What should she-
"Morning hug?" emerges from her mouth before she realizes what she just said.
Elsa's head tilts to a side in confusion.
To be honest, Anna has no idea what she is doing, holding her arms out like this but Mama used to hug her awake for years so maybe…
Elsa looks hesitantly at her. Anna can see her gaze flick down to her own tiny hands then to the still-crisp blanket.
"You won't hurt me," Anna says, "I know you won't."
Is this too much, too fast? She doesn't know. She never knew ten year old Elsa so she doesn't know what too much looks like. But she knows eight year old Elsa loved warm hugs and twenty-one year old Elsa loved hugs so it-
Elsa burrows herself into Anna's arms.
"Morning Elsa," Anna says.
"Morning Anna," comes back in return, muffled against her stomach and Anna cannot say when the last time was that two words made her feel so warm.
She looks out the window and a grin comes to her face.
"Hey Elsa?"
Elsa turns to her.
"Wanna build a snowman?"
Elsa's eyes go wide. Her lips tremble. Anna smiles encouragingly, wiggles her eyebrows.
Elsa nods and Anna cannot hold back her whoop of joy.
Elsa giggles.
Anna tries not to cry at the sound.
The gates are closed, which is the only way it is safe for them to be playing in the snow outside.
Or, more precisely, Elsa is just lying down staring up at the sky at the snowflakes falling.
Anna knows how ironic it is that she gave the order to close the gates and shut the windows but this is different. This is temporary. Until they find a way to make this right. Until she figures something out. She'll figure something out. She will. She's not going to let this take 13 years this time.
A sniffle.
She sits up and shuffles over to see Elsa wiping her eyes with the back of the mittens she made her put on.
Elsa looks up at her.
Anna rubs her cheeks gently.
"It smells good to be outside," Elsa mumbles, swipes at her eyes again.
Anna takes in a deep breath of the fresh winter air lightly scented with the fragrance of pine. The deep breath stops her heart from breaking as it has been trying to do for the past day.
"And the sky is so big," Elsa says, "and I miss Mama and Papa and I missed you and I don't know what's going on and I'm scared."
Anna doesn't know Elsa manages to put cracks in her heart and fill them at the same time but she supposes that is a special power that only sisters have.
"Snowflake," she manages, "we'll work this out. We'll work this out together. Me and you."
"Ok," Elsa twines small damp mitten hands around her own, looks up at her like Anna is her whole world, "I trust you."
"And I trust you," Anna says, "I always have and I always will."
If Anna had any doubts that Elsa would not remember Gerda, they are wiped clean by the shy smile that grows on Elsa's face when Gerda enters the room where they are drying their wet things in front of the fire.
"Gerda! It's so nice to see you!" Elsa runs over then hangs back at the last minute.
"Your M-Highness," Gerda's voice trembles.
"Are you OK, Gerda?"
Gerda's face softens and it is almost as if she too has been thrown back in time, "I've never been better, Your Highness."
Elsa beams up at her and Anna can see Gerda holding back the urge to hug her.
"Anna and I built a snowman today Gerda, and nothing happened. Like you said. It was fun to be outside."
Gerda dabs at the corners of her eyes, "That's wonderful, Your Highness."
"You were right, Gerda- Gerda why are you crying?"
Gerda meets Anna's teary eyes from across the room. Anna nods.
Gerda opens her arms and Elsa dives in without hesitation.
"Don't cry, Gerda. It makes me sad when you're sad."
"I'm not sad, Your Highness. I'm not. Oh heavens above, I'm not sad at all."
"So she's little. And she's with Gerda right now."
"Yes. She doesn't seem to remember a thing, Kristoff. I don't know if she did it or if that… Monster of a man did anything. It's clearly some kind of magic but you know I don't know anything about magic."
"Well, Grand Pabbie probably does. I can take you there."
"I- Could you tell me how to get there? She's with Gerda now but she's known Gerda for much longer and I think new people might be a little harder-"
"Ah."
"I mean, you're not a new person to me but she's-"
"Oh, don't worry about me. I got you, Anna. Now, you head out the gates and take the turn through the…"
"Are you going somewhere?"
Anna enters Elsa's room.
"You went to the stables. I saw you go."
"I was just going to talk to you about that," Anna says.
Elsa looks confused.
"Well," Anna sits down next to her, "I was going to ask if you wanted to come with me."
"Go? With you?"
Anna nods.
"Where are we going?"
"To get answers," Anna says, "to questions I don't know the answers to."
Elsa's face shutters but she nods.
Elsa's eyes are squeezed tight shut as her hands grip tightly to Anna's midriff.
They haven't even left the stables and yet her breath comes in shaky puffs. Her fingers tremble.
"Oh," Anna says, putting the reins in one hand and gently patting her with the other, "is this uncomfortable?"
Elsa shakes her head.
"It's going to be OK," Anna says, "Kjekk is a gentle soul. We're gonna be OK. He loves you because I love you."
Elsa's grip tightens.
"I won't let you fall."
Elsa nods but the trembling continues.
"Oh, and the trolls helped me the last time. They're nice folk, I promise."
Elsa shakes her head, chewing on her lip as she trembles harder.
"They-"
Anna waits for Elsa to continue with a soothing hand.
"They took your memories," Elsa says, "They said people would be scared of me."
They took you from me, Anna hears. They took everything that mattered from me.
Anna hugs her.
"Nothing is going to take me from you now, Elsa. Not the trolls, not magic, nothing. I'm always going to be here with you."
It does not escape her that Elsa does not ask her to promise.
"True love," Anna grinds out, "you're saying it has to be an act of true love?"
Grand Pabbie nods.
"Elsa darling," he says, "Do you mind heading over there with Bulda for a moment? I'd like to talk to your sister in private for a bit."
Elsa chews her lip.
It is clear to everyone that she does not want to leave. Anna also does not really want her to leave but Grand Pabbie is Grand Pabbie and he must have his reasons so Anna squeezes Elsa's hand gently, "I'm going to be right here. I'm going to be right here with you. I promise. Trust me?"
Elsa takes in a deep breath.
Anna nods.
Elsa lets her fingers fall to her side. Her jaw clenches though her eyes dart all around.
"This way dearie," Bulda says.
Anna watches Elsa's small figure disappear out of sight.
"Alright, let's get down to it," she says, "because the way you're describing it it's almost like you're implying her heart is frozen."
"Well," Grand Pabbie shrugs.
"That's impossible. Her heart can't be-"
"It is what it is, my child."
"So is she going to freeze like I did? What's going to happen to her? Oh God, her hair is already white and she doesn't feel cold. How are we going to know when it's too much? I-"
"I suspect," Grand Pabbie says, "that this is a more deliberate sort of freezing and if there's anything I've learnt about your sister, it's that she's extraordinary, Anna."
"So she's not dying?"
"I don't think so, but I cannot say for sure. You want to get her back as soon as you can."
Anna is this close to throttling a rock. Not that it would work. But she could try. She could probably try-
"Wait. Deliberate?"
Grand Pabbie nods.
"You think Elsa did this?"
He looks back at her, then looks in the direction where Elsa and Bulda disappeared off to.
"But-"
"I certainly don't think she knew that it would turn her little again," he says.
"So that was a side effect."
Grand Pabbie shrugs. Anna is coming to realize that Grand Pabbie should not be shrugging. He should be all-knowing. Shrugging is bad.
Anna puts a hand to her face, "And you said True Love."
Grand Pabbie nods, "True Love is the only way to cure a frozen heart. You know that."
True love. True love. It would have been hard - there is always the tiniest possibility that Big Elsa is a genius and is hiding a lover away somewhere though that really probably isn't the case. But Little Elsa definitely isn't.
And Mama and Papa are gone and-
A chill grows in Anna's heart.
"But we've been together for a whole day. And Gerda too. We love her, Grand Pabbie. We do. You know we do."
And nothing has changed.
The thought that they aren't enough, that she isn't enough hurts. But this isn't about her. This is about Elsa and by the gods Anna is not going to let anything take Elsa away from her. Not now and definitely not like this.
"You can't do anything?"
"There is nothing I can do, Anna. The heart is not so easily persuaded. You know this. It has to be True Love."
Anna's distress must be showing on her face because Grand Pabbie gathers her hands in his.
"Anna dear, we have always feared that Elsa's powers were too much for her. Now we must hope that they are enough."