Chapter 2: Anna's Arrival In Arendelle

Elsa was sitting in her room on a bright and sunny Saturday morning. She had her headphones in connected to her iPhone, and was currently listening to Spice Up Your Life by the Spice Girls. She was mouthing the words as she tapped her pen against the piece of refill paper sitting in front of her. She was working on her Calculus homework. She had her textbook opened to page seventy-four next to her and a piece of paper that had a number of questions written on it. Elsa had already got through seventeen questions out of eighteen already. The last question was quite difficult. Elsa's tapping got a little more intense as she thought through the question.

Elsa's music shifted to Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepson as she flicked through to the next page of her textbook. Elsa hummed the tune of the introduction of the song as she made a start on the question. She wasn't entirely sure of her answer but at least she had answered everything.

The sound of the front door opening could then be heard. The sound of her father greeting someone at the door then wafted through the air. Of course, Elsa thought as she sighed, Anna returns home this weekend. Anna had a couple of weeks break and so Anna had been invited home by her – their father, Elsa had to remind herself – so that she could spend some time with her family. She hadn't come home over the winter break as she had been invited by her friends to go to New York and thus missed Christmas with her family – although for Elsa it wasn't really a Christmas. Their father had been very gutted but had understood. He had allowed Anna to go and have fun with her friends. Anna had posted heaps of pictures of her and her friends on Facebook. Elsa couldn't help but have a twinge of jealously when she remembered this.

"Elsa!" yelled her father through the house.

Elsa quickly paused her music and took out her headphones. She never dared to keep the music too loud in case her father wanted her for something. Elsa quickly placed her phone on top of her homework and headed for the door. She caught sight of her face in the mirror that hung by her door.

Elsa was now eighteen years old and she was in her last year of school. Elsa bright blue eyes shined back at her in the mirror. There seemed to be a tiredness in them that wasn't new. Elsa then examined her face. There was still the outline of a bruise on her cheek. Over the years Elsa had developed some tricks to hide her injuries. Normally her father would be smart and not go anywhere that was easily visible but a few nights ago, he had lost his temper and got her face instead. Elsa use to wince in pain at these injuries but by now, she was used to them. They were every day occurrences for her.

Elsa grabbed her makeup kit and started to dab some makeup on. It started to look like nothing had ever happened. Elsa left her makeup on her dresser before she raced out of her room. Her father was hugging Elsa's younger sister, Anna at the door.

Anna was dressed in a white beanie that hung low with a matching white scarf. She wore a long black coat that was tied around her waist and had big buttons looped through holes. She wore long light blue denim jeans that were tucked into long black boots. Anna had a large suitcase sitting by the door. Anna and her father broke apart smiling at each other. As Anna never was around, she never saw her father's dark side. She never was the object of his rage. She never had his anger taken out on her. She was still innocent. She was safe and that was the main thing. As Anna wasn't around to make their father angry, she was considered his favourite daughter. Their father fawned on her and lavished her with expensive gifts and his love. Something that Elsa missed out on. She envied her sister's good fortune; her innocence and the love she received.

Due to Anna had growing up away from her family, she had no idea what was happening under the roof of her house. Anna boarded at her school along with all the other boarding students. Her father had done his best to make sure she never found out the truth about her family. She didn't know that Elsa feared for her life whenever her father grew very angry. She had no idea that her sister constantly cried herself to sleep every night when she was young, now Elsa had stopped; she had grown used to it. As if ironically, Anna had grown up resenting and being jealous of Elsa as Anna wanted to live with her family and at home instead of being sent away to some foreign country but Elsa had managed to convince their father that Anna needed to be away from home to become who her father had wanted to. It had worked and so Anna stayed where she was.

Anna had overheard these conversations when she was younger and thus blamed Elsa for sending her away. By the age of fifteen, Anna had grown to hate her sister – well that was the feeling that Elsa got from her sister, there wasn't a sisterly bond or much of a relationship between them due to Anna being far away and Elsa shutting her out all the time. Although Elsa always believed that Anna did love her deep down. But Anna was safe from their father where she was. Elsa didn't care that she had to pay the price of living with him. Anna didn't have to pay it and she never wanted her to. That price was too high for sister to pay.

Elsa paused, slightly concealing behind a jutting out wall. Her father and sister seemed to be talking about something. Anna was nodding and smiling widely. If Elsa had guess, their father had just asked Anna how she was or how school was doing. Anna looked around and saw Elsa hovering. Anna half-smiled at her older sister and Elsa returned it. Their father gestured for them all to go into the kitchen for lunch.

As soon as lunch was over, Elsa rushed back into her room. She put her headphones back in and started to resume her work. Once she was finished with her Calculus, she started on her Chemistry homework. Elsa worked very hard. She needed to have good grades so that she could leave Arendelle. She figured that if she got out, she could start her life over. She wouldn't even look back.

Elsa was searching for a certain diagram in her textbook when she heard a knock at the door. It wasn't her father. He would just barge into her room.

"Come in, Anna," Elsa said.

"How did you know it was me?" Anna asked as she entered her older sister's room. Anna had taken off her beanie, scarf, jacket and boots. She wore a red long sleeved shirt underneath and bright purple socks on her feet.

"Call it woman's intuition," Elsa muttered not even looking up.

"I haven't seen you in a while," Anna said in a stern voice, "and the first second you have, you run back to your room like always."

"I have lots of work to do," Elsa replied. "Besides, if I remember, you told me to stay away from you and I quote 'you are a fucking bitch, so stay away from me'."

"That is taken a little out of context," Anna scowled. "You were ignoring me and wouldn't even talk to me."

Elsa didn't say anything. Anna was speaking the truth. Elsa had ignored Anna because she didn't want to her to see her bruised face. This had gotten Anna made, so she had screamed some hurtful things before she raced off. That had been a year ago.

"What is wrong with you Elsa?" Anna asked. "I feel like whenever I see you, you're hiding something."

"I am not hiding anything," Elsa lied, speaking in a low voice.

"Bullshit," Anna said. She threw herself onto Elsa's bed. "I want fucking answers Elsa. You never see me. You never even talk to me. Hell, you never talk to anyone."

"Anna, just leave me alone," snapped Elsa. "I have work to do."

Anna looked mad but she forced herself to calm down. "Fine," she said in a calm voice. Anna got off her bed and pranced to the door. "If you want to be like that, be like that."

Anna slammed the door shut behind her. Elsa breathed a small sigh of relief. She hated having to push her sister away but she had no choice. Elsa didn't dare let anyone in. She couldn't.

The rest of the week passed without any incident. Elsa's father was happy that his other daughter had returned home for her holidays. Elsa wasn't yet on holiday. She had a week to go and that last week wasn't going to be easy. All of Elsa's classes were scheduling tests during that last week. Elsa was actually glad of this. It gave her an excuse to be alone in her room. Her father didn't really find in very fascinating watching her study, so he left her alone to drink and watch sports in lounge.

However, that Sunday night was the night when Elsa's father lost his good mood. That night, Anna had texted a few of her friends in Arendelle and they had organised going out to dinner together. Anna had waved goodbye to her family before heading out the door. Elsa had cooked dinner for her and her father before cleaning up the mess. By the time she was done, her father had finished eating and her dinner was cold. Elsa placed her dinner into the microwave to heat it up. Elsa had just been finishing up washing her plate when her father walked in. He looked angry. Elsa had seen him this angry before. She always got a little nervous.

"Yes dad?" she asked.

"What is this?" he growled. He produced a leaflet that was from a university in New Zealand. Elsa stared at it.

"That's just an advertisement for a university," Elsa said simply.

"Don't be a fucking smartass," her father advanced on her. Elsa started to sweat. "For the last time Elsa, you are either going to Oxford where the Dean, a very good friend of mine, can keep an eye on you or go to the University of Arendelle where I can keep an eye on you. You are not going half way around the world to go to some random university."

"I know that dad," Elsa took a step back. She had started to shake. "They were just handing out flyers. Everyone took one."

"Doesn't mean you have to take one!"

Elsa's father looked as angry as Elsa had ever seen him. He was starting to lose control and Elsa knew what would happen if he did. She had to defuse the situation as soon as possible. Elsa took another step back. Her head hit the pantry door behind her. Her father was right in front of her now. Elsa could feel fear coursing through her as she looked up at her father. She knew what was coming next.

"Dad," Elsa whispered but it didn't matter. Nothing she ever said in these situations ever did matter.

Her father's hands were suddenly around her throat. His hands tightened. Elsa felt all oxygen cut off. She started to chock. Her hands went to her father's hands as she desperately tried to pull her father off her but he was much too strong for her. Elsa started to splutter. She tried to tell her dad to stop, to get off her but his hands were tightening. Was this the end for her? Her father didn't seem to care that he was practically killing his own daughter.

"Dad!" sang Anna's voice throughout the house.

Elsa's father quickly let go of her and she fell to the floor. Elsa started to cough as she tried to regain her strength and breath. Her father cast a sideways glance of disgust towards her before heading off to find his other daughter.

"Fuck," Elsa whispered. "That was close."

Her father had nearly come close again. That hadn't been the first time, although that was the first time he had probably only been seconds away from killing her. Elsa massaged her neck. She felt tears stream down her face. The floor felt so cool and nice as Elsa remained on it. She didn't want to move from this spot. If she did, she would have to face her father again. He probably wouldn't let it go that she had been talking to other universities.

Her father didn't know that the second she got the chance, she would leave and never came back but she felt like that was a pipe dream. She could never get out. This was the life she had been handed. Sometimes she wished she could swap lives with Anna; live away from home in a nice school and away from any danger that her father could possess. But that was impossible.

Elsa carefully picked herself up from the ground. She felt quite dizzy and had to grip the kitchen bench to hold herself up. She tried to drink some water to help hydrate her. It wouldn't go down. She started to feel quite sick. She just made it to the sink before she up wrenched. This wasn't the first time this had happened to her and she doubted it would be the last.

Elsa decided that after a few minutes, she could leave the kitchen. Her father seemed absorbed in whatever Anna had called him for. Elsa was glad of this. Anna being around had its good points; her father was distracted and didn't always look for an excuse for pushing her around. However, Anna being here could mean that she could find out the truth. Elsa didn't want that. She idolised their father. She considered him to be a great role model. She wasn't alone in thinking this. Practically the whole of Arendelle loved him.

Elsa found her father laughing at something that Anna was showing him on her iPhone. It was some video or something. Elsa took advantage of this moment to sneak to bed. It was late and she had school the next day. Her father didn't like her staying up too late anyway. Elsa sometimes pretended to go to sleep. Sometimes she would need to stay up later in order to do things like the rest of her homework, the chores her dad set or attempting to get her plan together so that she can leave this hellhole. Her father's gaze caught hers. He just gave her a look as she passed. She wondered what could be going on in his head. Could he be cursing the interruption? Elsa hoped note. She didn't have a death wish. He turned his attention back to Anna as Elsa quickly walked passed. He put a smile on his face and pointed at the screen and laughed. Elsa wasn't aware that he could make such a sound. In the many years, he only laughed at whatever Anna showed him. That wasn't a surprise. His rage wasn't directed towards her.

Elsa opened her bedroom door and quickly closed it behind her. She slid down it and crumpled into herself. She cried into her knees as she just sat there. Time seemed to slow down as she just remained in that position. Elsa heard footsteps coming from outside. She quickly wiped her tears and headed to bed. It was late. School was in the morning. She didn't want to look tired as she usually did. Elsa got changed into her pyjamas; they long flannel pyjamas with little snowmen decorated on them. Elsa slid into bed and rested her head on her pillow still with tears streaming down her face. Her throat still hurt – painfully so. It was too often that she found herself in this position.

Sleep finally found its way to Elsa. She woke up hours later to her alarm going off. She groggily reached out to try and find her alarm clock. Elsa's alarm clock also doubled as an iPod stereo. It was long, slim and black. On the front showed the time and date. Elsa's hand finally found the 'off' button. Elsa rubbed her eyes and got up. She headed across the hallway to the shower. She got undressed and got into the shower. When she got out she examined her neck in the mirror in the bathroom. Some dark bruising could be seen. Elsa sighed. This wasn't going to be the first time she had to cover up something. Elsa quickly got dressed into clean clothes. Her father actually got her nice clothes – well he sent his secretary to go buy her clothes – as he wanted her to look presentable. He always told her that if she was a Winters, she should dress like one. Elsa made sure to pick a top with a high collar. As she examined herself in her mirror, she noticed that it didn't quite cover everything. She picked out a scarf and wrapped it around her neck which did the trick.

Once she had finished breakfast she headed out the door. She hadn't seen Anna or her father yet which was a good thing. Anna was probably having a sleep in as it was her holidays and she always made sure that she got up earlier than her father so that she had as little as possible interaction with him. Elsa found one of her father's cars and headed over to it. Her father didn't want her to catch the bus like the other students. Despite being hated by her father, he did allow her to have some luxuries of the Winters' family. Looks were very important to him. Elsa slid into the back seat of a luxury car with one of father's drivers sitting in the front seat waiting for her. As soon as Elsa was in the car and had her seatbelt on, the driver took off. He drove her carefully to Elsa's school; Olaf Arendelle College – one of the most prestige school in Norway and named after Elsa's ancestor. Elsa stepped into the school's courtyard, thanked the driver and headed out with her bag on her back.

There was a lot of chatter in the courtyard. People were anxious for the week to be over so that they can be on holiday at long last. Elsa was probably the only person in the entire school, maybe even world who hated being on holiday. School was a good distraction for her. It provided her with an excuse to be away from her father eight hours a day. Also Elsa had found concentrating on her school work was a good distraction from her pain that she had to endure day after day.

The first thing Elsa did was go to her locker to get the books she needed for the day. Elsa put in her English folder into her locker and took out her Biology books and Economic books. Elsa took off her jacket and placed that in her locker as well. She was starting to overheat a little. She made sure to leave on her scarf though. Elsa had a small mirror in her locker. She had installed it one day when she had come to school and realised that she had marks on her neck several years ago. Thankfully no one had noticed but it had been close. Her jacket had covered it up which was the reason for no one noticing it.

"Hey Elsa!" the voice of her old friend, Rapunzel could suddenly be heard from behind her locker door.

Elsa closed the door and found Rapunzel, indeed, standing behind it. She grinned at Elsa and flicked her long blonde hair out of her face. Rapunzel and Elsa had known each other when they were kids. Their mothers had gone to school together and so it was only natural that they grew up knowing each other. Elsa and Rapunzel had grown apart over the years but they always remained on good terms. Growing up abused, Elsa isolated herself from everyone over the years and kept her head down. However some friends still remained over the years which Elsa was grateful for. Sometimes she needed someone other than her father to talk to. Although Elsa was terrified that someone would discover her secret. Some people had asked over the years if she was okay and Elsa would always be able to convince them that everything was fine. There were moments when Elsa wished that she had told someone but she was probably suffering from Stockholm syndrome or something similar.

"Hi Rapunzel," Elsa said.

She swung her backpack over shoulder and walked down the corridor with Rapunzel right next to her.

"You nervous about the test tomorrow?" Rapunzel asked. Elsa shook her head. "Of course not," Rapunzel laughed. "Elsa the genius is never nervous, got some nerves of steel." She playfully punched Elsa. Elsa forced a smile. If only she knew the truth.

The bell rang and Rapunzel waved goodbye to Elsa with a big smile on her face. Rapunzel muttered something about not wanting to be late for art class. Rapunzel raced off in the direction of the art building, Elsa's face fell slightly as she walked towards the science building. She had Physics first thing. This was going to be a long morning. Elsa took a seat in her usual spot at the back of the classroom. Mr Brady gave her a smile as she hurried into the door. Elsa sat down at her desk and got out her pen and Physics book.

"Alright class, settle down," Mr Brady said over the noise of the class chattering. "Get out your homework. We're going to go through it. What did everyone get for the first question? Nick?"

Nick answered that the final velocity of the tennis ball that had been hit was twenty point three four five metres per second. Mr Brady said that the answer was correct. Elsa put a little red tick next to her answer for question one. She had included more decimal figures but she had gotten the answer correctly.

"Elsa," Mr Brady said and Elsa looked up when her name was called.

"Yes sir," Elsa looked down at her answer. "The answer is true, the air resistance can be negligible."

"Very good," Mr Brady smiled.

Elsa smiled as she ticked her second answer. So far, so good. Mr Brady continued to pace up and down the front of the classroom asking other children questions to do with the homework. Some kids got the question right and some got it wrong. Mr Brady was one of those teachers that made sure that every kid got the concepts he taught so when a kid answered a question wrongly, he helped them get the right answer.

Elsa walked into the cafeteria at lunch time later that day. She got some food and sat down at an empty table. It was the last one left. The other tables were full to bursting. Elsa did prefer to sit alone but usually her friends would come over and sit with her which was a refreshing moment. Speaking of friends, Rapunzel and her other friend Merida came down at sat opposite her. They all smiled at each other as they did.

"Hey Elsa," both of them said.

"How was class?" Merida asked.

"Fine," shrugged Elsa.

"Guess what!" Rapunzel practically squealed the words.

"Flynn finally asked you out?" Merida asked.

Rapunzel and Flynn Rider aka Eugene Fitzherbert had been flirting with each other over the course of the year. Elsa and Merida had been placing bets on when they were getting together. Merida has lost sixty dollars so far.

"When?" Elsa shovelled a large portion of coleslaw into her mouth.

"This Friday!" Rapunzel said.

"Way to celebrate the end of term," Elsa said.

"Thankfully you don't have any tests to study for," Merida added.

"That is true," Rapunzel smiled. "God, I am so excited, I could scream!"

Elsa and Merida both laughed. Merida causally placed a twenty dollar bill into Elsa's open palm under the table. Elsa snuck it into her wallet. Elsa then reached for the tomato sauce to squirt over her chips.

"Elsa, what's that on your neck?" Rapunzel's voice sounded quite sharp.

"What?" Elsa quickly rearranged her scarf. She guessed it must have shifted position as she reached over for the tomato sauce bottle.

"There's something on your neck," Rapunzel said. Rapunzel leaned forward and extended her fingers out in Elsa's direction. Elsa swatted her fingers away.

"What's up Elsa?" Merida asked.

"It's nothing," Elsa said.

"You sure?" Rapunzel asked.

"Yeah," Elsa nodded. "Everything is fine."

Neither Rapunzel or Merida looked convinced. Elsa decided that it was best to steer clear of these dangerous waters. Elsa suddenly started to talk about possible date locations for Rapunzel's date with Flynn. It worked. Rapunzel continued to gush about her upcoming date. It seemed to distract Merida as well as she continued to laugh at Rapunzel's reactions.

"Elsa?" another voice came from Elsa's left.

Elsa looked up and saw Kristoff Bjorgman standing next to her carrying a tray of food. Kristoff was many of the same classes as Elsa. He was smart but very shy. He also had some kind of reindeer complex which just made people think he is very weird. Elsa often saw him walking his Chocolate Labrador dog, Sven.

"Hey Kristoff," Elsa said. "What can I do for you?"

"Could I ask a favour?" he asked.

"Sure," Elsa nodded. "What can I do?"

"I'm failing Chemistry," Kristoff said. He sighed deeply. Elsa could see the pain in his eyes. Elsa was aware of this fact. Kristoff's grades had been dropping recently and his parents weren't very happy about this. They wanted him to pull up his socks. They were threatening to cut his pocket money if he didn't. Elsa remembered those days; get good marks or face her father's wrath. "I need some help for the upcoming test. Would you mind spending tomorrow afternoon at your place to do some study? I would offer my place but it's being painted and we're staying at my Grandad's place and it's a little cramp with no privacy."

"Let me ask my dad," Elsa said. "But I'm sure it will be fine."

"Thanks Elsa," Kristoff looked a lot happier at Elsa's answer.

He slid into the empty seat next to her and ate while grinning. Elsa went back to her food. Her face fell slightly. She wasn't allowed boys at her house. This was going to be an interesting conversation that she was going to have with her father.

A/N: Hey guys, I would firstly like to apologise for the lack of updates (with this story and with Thirst). My laptop has been having issues and so I had to get those sorted out. It has been a total nightmare and so I haven't been at all which has made me feel very sad. Thankfully, now those issues are done with, it has just been very annoying. But on the plus side I'm getting a new laptop next week! I am so excited! I cannot wait for my new laptop! Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. I hope that everyone enjoyed this update. Thanks for the interest, I will be sure to keep writing this story. Please review =)

Reviews:

gracialoveme (guest): Hey Irene, you shared some pretty emotional stuff and I'm glad you shared it. I hope that our conversation had inspired you to take some form of action. Really flattered and honored that you shared it with me. Stay strong and stay awesome. As I have said before, I am always here if you need to talk more on this. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed the story and find it promising. I shall hopefully continue to make it even better.

Frostbite Productions: Okay, interesting.

brilliz: Thanks, I hope you like the next chapter as much as the first.

ZERO-xxx: I do try and make things similar to the source material but with some changes here and there. Thanks so much for the flattering comment. By the way, I love your story Marionette and I'm always excited to see new updates. It is an amazing story that I am totally engulfed in. I kind of fangirled when I read your review.

ziabee99: Welcome back. I have missed reading your reviews. Yeah this story will be sad but there will be some happy moments in this story (I think we both know what moments I am talking about). It is very sad that this sort of thing happens in real life. It is something that makes me feel sick. Thanks so much for the comment! Have you been reading any of my other stories? Like Thirst which is still being written - I need to get the next chapter up soon.

Surika Baquest: Thanks so much! Will continue as requested!

ElsaTheSnowQueen2: Thanks so much! I shall keep going!