A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing!
I can't remember whose reviews I've replied to, and I don't want to give anyone two of the exact same reply, so...thanks to princessdianaofparadiseisland, Mandy, Elsa Tomago, and BellaCullen931 for their reviews on the last chapter. :)
On to the story! {Summary: It's Christmastime in Arendelle and Elsa and Anna each ask Gerda to make the other a Christmas present. And Christmas wishes don't always work the way you want them to. Elsa 7, Anna 4.}
"Anna, we don't go to school, and you aren't s'possed to have a procession of only two people. That's silly," seven-year-old Elsa explained for the umpteenth time. "So no, you can't be Lucia December 13…wait, that's tomorrow anyways." Elsa plopped down in the window seat and began tracing patterns on the glass with frost. "And you're too little."
"I amn't either too little!" Anna retorted, putting her not quite four-year-old hands on her hips. She spotted what her big sister was doing and climbed up on the window seat next to Elsa. "C'n I draw too?"
Elsa giggled and just laid her hand flat against the glass in front of Anna, delicate swirls of frost spreading from her pale fingers until an entire section of glass was covered. "There. All yours. You can just draw on the frost instead of using it to draw like I do," Elsa explained.
The two little girls drew silently for a few minutes until Anna realized she still was not getting to draw exactly like her big sister. "Elsa, I still not drawin' like you do!" she huffed. "I wanna do it like you do!" Anna had become keenly aware that she didn't have ice powers like Elsa did. "I wanna be spe-cial too."
No, you don't. Then Mama and Papa wouldn't like you, either. Elsa abruptly hopped down from the window seat and just flopped down on her bed with a pen and pencil to draw geometric shapes like she liked to do. "Anna, let's do something else, okay?" she offered. "I'll show you how to draw different shapes if you like."
Anna wasn't paying attention. "I want magic too, Elsa," she pouted. "C'n you gimme some?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"…just no," Elsa repeated flatly, continuing her drawing, just making careful squares on her paper in such a way that it created an optical illusion.
"C'n I borrow some?" Anna asked hopefully.
"No."
"Will you share some?"
"No!"
"Papa says we're s'pposed to share," Anna pointed out.
"Not that, Anna," Elsa said softly. She pushed her drawing paper away and just sat curled in a ball with her knees pulled to her chest. Why does Anna want magic like me? I do like my magic-it makes me happy when I play with Anna-but I don't want Papa to not like Anna, too. "Anna, I really can't give you any magic, though. It's stuck inside me, just like bones or a heart or something."
"Oh." Satisfied by her sister's explanation, Anna decided she would just make a Christmas wish. If magic like Elsa's was the only thing she asked for, then maybe she would get it, wouldn't she? "I'm gonna wish for Elsa-magic for Christmas," she announced happily. Anna frowned at Elsa a moment later. There was something wrong with her big sister. "Elsa not s'pposed to cry," Anna said quietly, throwing her pudgy little arms around the older girl.
Elsa hadn't been able to stop her tears from trickling down her lightly freckled cheeks. She knew deep in her heart that her daddy didn't like her simply because of the very thing Anna was wishing for. Anna didn't mind that she was abnormal…different…a freak…cursed…had a defect. No, her baby sister wanted her magic. While little Elsa honestly did not think that her powers were anything bad, overhearing her parents talking about her hurt. "They'll call her a monster," she remembered hearing her father say. "She has to keep that defect of hers a secret!" "But Agdar, Anna is going to tell sooner or later. Shouldn't we say something before that happens?" her mother had replied. Elsa had run off after that, not wanting to hear any more about it. She'd run to the kitchen and told Gerda about the whole thing; and Gerda had simply given her a hug and held her for a few minutes. "Princess Elsa, don't you ever believe such nonsense about yourself. You aren't a freak; you're special. And Princess Anna won't say anything, princess. Tell her it's a sister secret. She'll listen, even if she doesn't understand."
Now, Elsa hugged Anna back as she remembered what Gerda had told her. "Anna, my magic's a sister secret, remember?" she reminded Anna.
"Uh-huh. But I'm still wishing," Anna insisted.
Elsa decided she would make a secret Christmas wish of her own, even if she didn't really think it was possible.
A FEW DAYS LATER…
"Elsa, the wishing star isn't workin'," Anna complained. "Maybe I'm wishin' on th' wrong one." Because it was nine-thirty at night, the two sisters were supposed to be sleeping, but neither of them were asleep yet. Anna climbed off her own bed and ran over to Elsa's.
"Your feet are cold," was Elsa's only response. While Elsa wasn't bothered by the cold, she could still tell that Anna's little feet were far too cold for her. Elsa hopped up and grabbed extra blankets from the closet before draping them over Anna and climbing back into bed. "You can stay with me, but no kicking," she said firmly.
"Where's th' wishing star, Elsa?" Anna asked.
Elsa frowned. She didn't believe in wishing stars, but she didn't want to make Anna upset, either. "Maybe you can't see it this time of year," she said finally. "Anna, I thought you were wishing for Julenissen anyway."
"Christmas, Julenissen wishing star…Elsa, will Santa gimme Elsa-magic? Or could I've magic for my birfday?"
Elsa put her pillow over her head and ignored that.
Anna wasn't perturbed by her big sister's response, and she just curled up next to Elsa and fell asleep. "G'night, Elsa."
The next morning, Anna couldn't stop talking about her Christmas wish at breakfast. Elsa felt like she wanted to disappear. She ate her chocolate chip pancakes in silence and immediately asked if she could be excused when she was finished. I don't want to get in trouble. I know Anna doesn't mean any harm, but she's going to get both of us in trouble, me more so…
"You may be excused, but before you go anywhere, I need to speak with you in the hall, Elsa," Agdar said firmly. "Now."
Out in the hall a minute later, Elsa clasped her hands behind her back and looked up at her father worriedly. "Papa, I told Anna she couldn't have magic for Christmas, her birthday, from wishing stars, or anything else already. She didn't listen," she explained. Please believe me.
"Elsa, that isn't the point. Why does she want…magic all of a sudden? What did you tell her?"
Elsa bit her lip before replying. "I was drawing with frost on the window in our room, and Anna wanted to do it too. So I frosted over a section so she could draw too…but Anna realized she wasn't doing it the same way I was and she started asking me to give her some magic and share it. I said I couldn't and then she started wishing instead. That's all, Papa. I didn't do anything bad, I promise."
"You 'did something bad' by drawing on the window, Elsa!"
"Being me isn't doing something bad!"
"Are you backtalking?" Agdar demanded.
Elsa flinched and stepped backwards, tears shining in her blue eyes. I did backtalk, but…but I didn't do anything wrong. I know I didn't. "I have to go, Papa," she whispered; then ran off as fast as her seven-year-old legs would carry her. Elsa found herself heading upstairs; and she suddenly remembered something she had been wanting to do but hadn't, knowing that Anna would want to do it too and that she was too little. I'm going climbing.
A few minutes later, Elsa had gone right out the window in her and Anna's room and scooted precariously along the snowy ledge outside. She eyed a higher section on the roof and scrabbled for handholds and footholds as she climbed higher, using her powers to make ice ledges when she needed them. Soon she was near the highest point of the castle. Elsa shivered with excitement as she smiled and looked out into the distance. I'm glad I came out here. I feel…excited. No, better than excited. I don't know what the right word is. The little girl didn't know how to describe what being up so high in the cold-to-anyone-else air felt like. She felt all tingly inside and she could feel butterflies in her tummy, but she didn't feel scared in the least. Thinking that no one could really see her or what she was doing from the ground, Elsa stood up and shot ice straight up in the air toward the sky as high as she could and then counted the seconds until it came back down.
It didn't…unless she counted seeing it land in the partly frozen fjord a ways away. "I didn't know I could do that!" Elsa exclaimed in surprise. She attempted the same trick again, but this time she wasn't paying attention where she put her feet and fell.
Below, Gerda had been checking to see if Elsa had gone outside when she heard a little girl's scream and looked up to see the princess falling. "Oh, my goodness, Princess Elsa!" she exclaimed. What was she doing?!
Elsa felt herself plummeting off the edge of the roof to the ground and scrunched her eyes shut, hoping with all her heart that she would land in snow. Wait, I can do that! she thought absently. She crashed into a soft heap of snow and just lay there breathing hard. I'm okay…I'm okay. I fell off the roof, but I'm fine. One of Elsa's palms stung from cutting it on something sharp, probably a shingle, as she tried to catch herself to keep from falling; but other than that, she was fine, just shaken.
"Princess Elsa, are you all right?" Gerda asked, kneeling next to her in the snow. "Your sister wanted me to look for you so she could play with you. What on earth were you doing on the roof?!" Gerda held the little girl close when she scrambled to her feet and just hid herself in Gerda's arms.
"I wanted to climb it…and I c'n shoot ice all the way to the fjord from up there, Gerda," Elsa explained. "I'm okay. My hand hurts, that's all. And I prob'ly got bruises all over." She paused before asking worriedly, "Gerda, you aren't going t' tell Papa what I did, are you?"
"No, princess, of course not," Gerda assured her. She gently pulled Elsa's hand from where the little girl had been holding it protectively close and frowned. "You'd better come up with a good explanation for how you cut your palm like this, though, Princess Elsa." Gerda picked Elsa up and simply carried her back inside, relieved that the princess hadn't been hurt worse. "You just say you slipped and fell outside, princess, hmm? That's reasonable."
"But I don't slip on ice," Elsa pointed out.
Gerda took the princess into her-Gerda's-room downstairs before replying to that. "Princess Elsa, your father doesn't know that," she said quietly. "He doesn't pay you enough attention to know that. All the attention I ever see him give your magic is-" Gerda cut herself off, figuring she shouldn't be talking about the king that way, and that she would probably make little Elsa upset.
Elsa's big blue eyes turned stormy and sad at that. "I think Papa hates me," she whispered. "Makes me mad and it hurts and it's not fair! Why can't Papa like me? I try to be good-I know I'm not sometimes, but...it's still not fair!"
Gerda gently finished bandaging Elsa's hand and then just held the princess on her lap and hugged her tightly. "I don't think he hates you, princess. He just doesn't know how to accept a special girl like you. You're perfectly fine just like you are, Princess Elsa. You are only seven; you aren't supposed to 'be good' all the time." But it's not fair to Elsa. She's just a little girl. Yes, she might be 'different', but that doesn't make her bad or messed up like Agdar thinks she is.
"I got to be a good example for Anna. At least Mama and Papa love Anna. She deserves it. She makes me happy, even if she's a great big pest lots of the time." Elsa smiled as an idea popped into her head. "Gerda, c'n you make a doll for Anna for Christmas? I think she's big enough now that she won't chew on it or something."
"Of course, princess."
"Elsa, I got you a present," Anna announced proudly that night as she climbed right under Elsa's covers uninvited. She scooted close to her big sister and gave her a hug.
Elsa stuck an ice-cold foot on Anna's leg and pushed the younger girl away. "You can't sleep over here. You kick in your sleep. And thank you for whatever present you got me," she said sleepily.
"But I wanna stay here!" Anna complained. She sat up abruptly and stared at Elsa excitedly. "Did you get me a present?"
"Yes. But it's not magic," Elsa replied, wanting her sister to know that ahead of time so she wouldn't be disappointed. I kinda wish I could share my magic with Anna…then there would be someone else like me. But I wouldn't do that to her even if I could 'cause then Papa wouldn't like her either. Elsa sat up and pulled her knees to her chest; then just hopped up and padded over to the window. Would her daddy not like Anna either if she had magic like Elsa's? Or was it something else? Maybe it's 'cause I don't look like part of my family and he's scared people will think I'm il-ille- illegitimate. "Anna…d'you think I look too diff'rent t' be part of our family?" she asked hesitantly. Anna would tell her the truth.
Anna shook her head hard. "Outside diff'rence dumb. Love is what makes family. I love you. So Elsa is part of the family."
Elsa's heart sank at Anna's reaction. So Anna did think that she looked different…she just thought it didn't matter. Elsa decided she would ask her father herself the next day. But Anna is right. Love is what makes a family. Anna loves me, and I love her. I know Gerda cares about us. So she must be part of my family, too.
"Elsa, is somethin' wrong?" Anna asked as Elsa climbed back into bed and hugged her tightly. "You didn't want me here b'fore."
"No. You fixed it," Elsa informed her contentedly. "I like my hair and my magic just fine. They're unique." She giggled before adding, "I'd kinda sorta like darker skin so I wouldn't get burnt, though. I hate when Gerda makes me wear a hat sometimes just 'cause the sun's super bright that day."
"You turn red in th' sun," Anna said, as if Elsa didn't already know that. "I turn brown mostly." Anna remembered getting sunburned only once, and that was only after staying outside for a long, long time without coming indoors for breaks.
Elsa just squeezed her little sister tighter and didn't reply. Good night, Anna.
Anna continued talking about her Christmas wish for the next few days. On Christmas morning, both Elsa and Anna woke up early and ran down the hall to their parents' room. "Wake up, wake up! It's Christmas!"
"Quiet down, you two," Idun scolded the second she and Agdar came out into the hall. "You're princesses, not monkeys."
"I like monkeys!" Anna nearly screamed.
Elsa quieted down as she was told, but she was still bouncing with excitement inside. She loved Christmas. She and Anna would get to laugh at the ridiculous things other people sent her and Anna. Evidently some people outside Arendelle from other countries forgot how old the two Arendellian princesses were. Last year, she had received both a silver baby's rattle and a most-likely-expensive jewelry set that the then six-year-old princess wouldn't be able to wear 'til she was at least twelve or thirteen. Anna had opened one gift that was a dress too large for their mother to wear.
And Elsa and Anna would also get to open things that were actually things they wanted or needed, too. Both sisters like opening the things they simply wanted the most.
Plus, after all the presents, Gerda would take both princesses to the orphanage and they would give the couple who ran it all of the 'ridiculous things' people had sent the two little girls. The couple would sell those things to buy presents for the orphans. That whole thing had been Elsa's idea, although Anna had unknowingly helped her come up with it. The only thing Elsa disliked about that was that she didn't get to actually play with the orphans. She felt like she was being snobby to just drop off the things and not say anything to them. But that had been the caveat that let them be allowed to even do it-her father had told her that she wasn't allowed to play with them because she was the crown princess. Elsa thought that was stupid.
"I get t' put the star on th' tree!" Anna shouted. "'Fore we open presents!"
Elsa sighed. She knew it was Anna's turn to do so-Elsa had gotten to do it last year-but she liked getting to put the star on the tree. A lot. Elsa silently clasped her hands behind her back as she listened to Anna's excited rambling continue.
"I wonder how magic c'n get wrapped! What d'you think, Elsa?" Anna exclaimed happily.
Anna still thinks she's getting magic for Christmas, Elsa thought worriedly. She stole a glance at her parents, who were both frowning at her. Suddenly all of the little girl's excitement just drained out of her. There would not be any magic for Anna under the tree. Anna would throw a fit. Elsa would get in trouble because the whole thing was because she had magic herself and Anna wanted it too. She just knew it.
Elsa watched quietly as her father lifted Anna up so she could reach to put the star on the tree. She decided she couldn't wait until they went to the orphanage later. Maybe I can sneak off and talk to another girl that's my age… Elsa nearly jumped out of her skin when Anna suddenly dropped at least four packages onto her lap. As it was, Elsa accidentally iced the floor around where she was sitting. Almost instantly she dissolved it away. "Sorry, Papa, Anna startled me," she said quickly.
"Don't let it happen in public, Elsa," was all Agdar said.
Elsa opened one present after another. A dress too small for her. Earrings she was too young to wear. A porcelain doll wearing a red dress. "Gerda, will you hold her so she doesn't get broken?" Elsa asked.
"Of course, princess." Gerda was sitting on a sofa right next to where Elsa was sitting on the floor, per Elsa's request. Gerdaa knew the little girl just wanted one adult nearby that she really, truly trusted; but she wished the princess could trust her parents the same way. She thought little Elsa was an overall happy child, but that a bit of her was always hurt or sad. Just a tiny bit…the part of her that became mad and upset that her parents didn't like her magic.
Elsa reached for her next present and nearly squealed once she opened it. "Anna, did you ask Gerda t' make her for me?" she asked. The seven-year-old hugged that doll with the blue dress and the platinum hair close. She loved that doll already. "She looks like me, Gerda," Elsa said happily, hopping to her feet and hugging Gerda and then Anna tightly.
"D'you like your present, Elsa?!" Anna asked (much louder than was necessary).
Elsa had completely lost interest in whatever else was under the tree for her; she loved that doll. No, it wasn't worth as much as the porcelain one in the red dress, but she didn't care. She loved this one, the one Anna had asked Gerda to make, the one Gerda had taken the time to make for her. The little girl scrambled up on the sofa and whispered in Gerda's ear to make Anna open her corresponding present next. Then she simply curled up in a ball on the sofa, holding her new favorite toy tightly. Thank you, Anna.
FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER…
While Anna was delighted with her sister's present, she still had her now-four-year-old self set on her Christmas wish-that she would have magic like Elsa's. "Mama, where's my wish?" Anna asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Did y' hide it some-where? I want my magic!"
The princesses' parents exchanged glances. "Anna, you don't want to wish for that anyway," Agdar told her firmly. "Do you want to end up like your sister?"
Elsa slid herself off the sofa and began helping Gerda pick up all the wrapping materials all over the place. Then she would have an excuse to leave the room. That hurts, Papa. 'End up' like me? There isn't anything wrong with me, but you make it sound like there is. What if he makes it so Anna doesn't like me anymore? I don't wanna lose my baby sister. She's a great big pain, but I love her all the same.
But Anna didn't even look at her big sister before nodding vigorously. "Uh-huh, 'course I do! Elsa could be a…a…a s'perhero or somethin'! When she's growed up."
"Elsa is not a superhero, and she's never going to be. She's just an abnormal little girl. Anna, you are not getting any magic."
Anna's first thought was that she didn't know what 'abnormal' meant, and then, "Elsa is too a s'perhero! I want magic like Elsa's!" Then she screamed. She screamed and screamed and screamed.
Elsa just stared with wide eyes at Anna and clutched her doll to her chest. "Anna, quit that! You're hurting ev'rybody's ears!" she scolded. And you're going to get both of us in a heap of trouble, if you haven't already.
"I WANT MAGIC LIKE ELSA'S!"
Elsa glanced at her parents and then just handed her doll to Gerda and went over to Anna and hugged her tightly. "I told you I can't give you any anyhow. And-"
"I MADE A WISH!" Anna had finally admitted to herself that Elsa couldn't share her magic-it was stuck inside her, right?-but she still thought she would have gotten her Christmas wish.
"But Anna-" Elsa felt herself picked up and then set down firmly a few feet from Anna. I had something else to say, Papa…
"Anna, that will be quite enough yelling and screaming and carrying on," Agdar said firmly. "If you don't stop right this second, you'll lose that doll for three days."
"But I made a wish!" Anna shouted in a slightly quieter voice. "That's mine! Papa, gimme my dolly back! Elsa gave her t' me!"
Elsa hesitated for only a moment before making her decision. She drew herself to her full seven-year-old height and looked her father in the face. "Papa, you can punish me 'stead and give Anna her dolly back," she said in a quiet but unwavering voice. It's kinda my fault Anna made that wish anyway…I doubt she would have done that if I didn't have magic. Although Anna really didn't need to be screaming. I'll just consider this an extra present for Anna.
Anna hid behind her big sister the second she had her doll back.
Elsa's blue eyes flashed when her father made a motion like he was putting on gloves and just said, 'until tomorrow'. "Why don't you just say it out loud?" Elsa asked indignantly. I knew that was most likely what Papa would say…why am I so mad? And that is so stupid. He doesn't punish Anna with that.
"Three days then. If I catch you without them, it'll be a week."
Elsa turned and just walked as dignified as she could out of that room, half of her feeling like screaming and the other half feeling like crying. The second she was in the hall, she ran as fast as her legs would carry her to her own room she shared with Anna. Well, at least silly ol' Anna still got to keep her doll. That's good.
The second Anna tiptoed into the room a little while later, she spotted Elsa curled up on her side on her bed. "Elsa?" she asked hesitantly. Anna still felt awfully guilty for what Elsa had done for her. Why'd Elsa do that anyway? She didn't have to. She's silly.
No reply.
On an instinct she didn't understand, Anna turned and locked their room's door before going over to Elsa. "I…no, I'm sorry, Elsa," Anna said, but the older girl still didn't reply.
Elsa just lay clutching the doll Anna had given her tightly, her gloved hands folded close against her chest. Tears trickled down her lightly freckled cheeks. "Christmas…wishes…don't come…true," she whispered. "Anna…I made…a wish, too," the little girl confided. You should've known though, Elsa. You're a big girl, way too old to be believing in things like Christmas wishes.
Anna climbed up on the bed and just hugged Elsa tightly. Elsa was not supposed to cry; she was Anna's big sister. "What'd you wish, Elsa?" Anna asked curiously after a minute.
"You don't wanna know. It's dumb, Anna," Elsa replied softly. I wished Mama and Papa, especially Papa, would love and accept me. I can't tell Anna that. I can't. And I should have known it wouldn't happen. I'm seven, not three.
"Elsa's not dumb, so Elsa's wish isn't dumb neither. An' can't you take those off? You hate 'em," Anna said, pointing at her sister's gloves. "I think wishes are s'posed t' be super big anyway. Maybe really big Christmas wishes just don' happen for super long time. But we'll still get 'em 'ventu-lly." That was Anna's new logic. Maybe really big wishes just took a bunch of extra time to actually happen.
Elsa shook her head, but she managed to give Anna a genuine smile. "I got you an extra present-I kept you from getting punished for yelling, you little stinker." Elsa's smile faded as she stared at Anna with worried blue eyes. "D'you really think it just takes extra time for big Christmas wishes and that my wish isn't dumb?" she asked. Anna doesn't even know what my wish is…she can't know whether it's dumb or not.
Anna just nodded and squeezed Elsa as tightly as she could. "Pos'tive. An' I love you." She thought for a moment and then glanced at the door and then back to Elsa. "The door's locked, y'know."
Elsa giggled, knowing what Anna really meant that she wasn't sure how to say. "Do you wanna build a secret snowman?" she asked in a whisper.
Five minutes later, the two little girls sat on the now-snowy floor stifling quiet giggles. Elsa put her arms around her baby sister and pulled her close. "Thank you, Anna." I'm still not sure I believe in wishes, but it can't hurt to wish anyway. And Anna made me happy again.
"For what?"
"Fixing Christmas," Elsa replied instantly.
Anna didn't understand what Elsa meant by that, but she just said, "you're welcome," anyways.
"I love you, Anna. Merry Christmas." Elsa didn't know if she would ever get her Christmas wish, but she knew with Anna by her side, everything would be just fine. Thank you, Anna.
A/N:I've thought for a long time that Elsa and Anna probably once made Christmas wishes like that when they were little. But I wanted to have something to post for Christmas, so it's being written and shared now. :)
TIMELINE SO FAR:
1)Off! Off! (Olaf) (November; Elsa 5, Anna not quite 2)
2) Christmas Wishes (December; Elsa 7, Anna just turned 4)
3)Rainy Day Games (February; Elsa 7, Anna 4)
4)Ice Cream Escapade (February; Elsa 7, Anna 4)
5)It's Not MY Fault! (July; Elsa 7 [she turns 8 at the end], Anna 4)
6)A Fairy and a Kraken (October; Elsa 8, Anna not yet 5)
7)To the North Mountain (March; Elsa 8, Anna 5)
8)Let's Go Tree Climbing (early April; Elsa 8, Anna 5)
This is MantaI-305Apollo'sChariot signing off for now, over and out! Merry Christmas! :)