A/N: Welcome to the ride! I'm glad you'll be joining me. Now that you're getting settled in, there are a few things I should explain. And then we'll get to the story, I promise.

Firstly, this is supposed to happen in real-time. That means that each chapter will be taking place at approximately the time it happens in the story. Of course, that doesn't apply to this chapter, which leads me to the next thing...

This chapter was WAY late. As in, a month late. In the future, you can expect chapters to be closer to the date they actually happen on.

Different chapters will be from different points of view, alternating between Anna and Elsa. I'll try to be consistent with the pattern, but I can't promise you anything.

Future chapters are going to be a bit more fast-paced than this one, too. Keep that in mind.

I think that's it for now. I'll do a bit more talking at the end of the chapter, but for now, let's get to the story!

Anna gritted her teeth and slowly turned up the volume dial on the car radio, simultaneously daring to press the gas pedal even harder.

You're going to get yourself killed. Or even worse, arrested!

But Anna did not soften the pressure on the gas pedal. She only gazed with determination at the needle on the speedometer.

90...95...100...105…

She watched as the city lights that flanked the highway diminished, until she was surrounded by complete darkness, interrupted only by the stars above her and the dimly-lit pavement that sped through the scope of her headlights.

Even as she overstimulated her senses, she still could not manage to banish Elsa from her thoughts. Her parting words continued to reverberate within Anna.

"I have to let you go." What is that supposed to mean? How could she say that to me?

Anna felt her eyes dampen as her feeling of betrayal transformed into one of outrage.

Well then, you want to let me go? I'll go.

A warm tear rolled down her increasingly anxiety-ridden face.

I'll go.

The vehicle came to a bumpy stop on gravel, and the rumbling engine went silent. Anna stepped out of the car and looked up at the structure before her. Ivy and rust climbed the long-abandoned walls of the car factory. In the distance behind her, she could still see the yellow city lights, but they cowered in comparison to the beautiful white stars that gleamed above her.

Anna hesitated before entering the gigantic building, her sister's words continuing to resonate in her.

"Those people are dangerous."

Anna felt conflicted, but quickly shook the feeling and resumed her journey to the door, her pace picking up.

She doesn't even know them. Her judgement is meaningless!

Past the front door, she walked through a few cobwebby corridors before entering the Great Hall. It was the main room of the factory, and it was roughly the size of a football field; but more than half of the space was currently being taken up by marijuana plants. Despite the sheer size of the farm, though, the plants were very sparsely placed.

As soon as Anna walked into the Great Hall, Flarthur, the youngest person in the room, jumped up out of a lawn chair and ran to her.

"Anna! You're here!" he shouted, running to her with a goofy smile strewn across his prepubescent face. Before he reached her, though, he stopped, wide-eyed, realizing his mistake.

"I mean, hey Anna. What's up?" he corrected himself, glancing at the two much older boys behind him.

Rafiki, the resident pot farmer, began to laugh uncontrollably. He was a scruffy lunatic, who never seemed to slow down.

Anna looked past Flarthur to Rafiki, who was now screaming with laughter.

What the hell?

"Is he high?" Anna quietly asked Flarthur.

"Rafiki? Oh, he's always high." the boy giggled. "You should know that by now, Anna!" he said with a smirk.

"Yeah, I guess so!" she laughed, shaking away her caution.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Saminic regally rising from his huge chair against the opposite wall. As he rose, he stubbed his cigarette in the ashtray on one armrest, and then placed his half-empty beer bottle on the other.

Anna had always been wary of Saminic. Although he had only ever been kind to her, his unpredictability kept Anna on her guard. She eyed him with suspicion as he strode toward her.

Is-is he walking to you?

He continued to make a silent beeline across the room to Anna. He did not say a word, but he was clearly focused on her. As his pace quickened, Anna began to panic.

Yes, he is definitely walking to you. What on Earth does he want? What the hell is he going to do?

Anna took a step back, her heart beating faster and faster. Saminic looked so concentrated on her, and although he had only begun his journey seconds earlier, he was already halfway to the girl. Anna could feel primal fight-or-flight instincts take hold, and her blood flowed with adrenaline. As he moved closer and closer, she felt like she was watching helplessly as a tidal wave approached.

Run. Now.

But she didn't run. Some invisible force kept her feet pinned to the ground, and so there was nothing to do but watch as Saminic came within 6 feet of her, with no sign of stopping. She closed her eyes and prepared for the worst.

This is it. This is the end.

She felt a hand grab her own, and then-

What? Anna's eyes shot open as she felt lips touching the back of her hand. For a moment, she was horrified, but immediately recognized his gesture as one of politeness.

He's greeting you, dumbass.

The girl exhaled a mighty breath, and couldn't stop the expression of relief from flooding into her face. As her muscles relaxed, she forced a weak laugh.

"You kinda… scared me!" she managed, trying to address her obvious mistake before it could become a point of silent tension.

"Welcome back, Anna." Saminic replied evenly, ignoring her strange behavior.

Still a bit stunned, and quite confused, Anna couldn't seem to conjure up an appropriate reply. Instead of returning to his place on the other side of the room, though, Saminic continued to stare intently at the younger girl, waiting for her response.

After looking over Saminic's shoulder to Flarthur for aid, she murmured, "Thank… thank you, Saminic."

Satisfied, he turned his back to her and began the trek back to his throne.

Well, that was new. What was that all about?

While Saminic still had his back to her, Anna silently gestured questioningly to Flarthur, trying to be subtle in her search for answers.

Flarthur had no such goal. He talked loudly, shattering the silence that had blanketed the factory. "We already made our New Year's resolutions. Mine was to eat less chocolate..."

Anna cast a playful expression of hurt at the boy.

"...and Saminic wants to turn our club into an empire," he continued. "2015 is going to be a very eventful year!"

You have no idea, a voice in the back of Anna's mind whispered. She ignored it, and instead decided to join in on the excitement. "Wow, that sounds awesome!" she laughed. "Where do we start?"

"I'm going to go down to the candy store and tell the clerk that-"

"No, I mean the 'empire' thing!" she laughed. What a cute kid.

"Well, we started with a super cool fireworks show!" he answered excitedly. "But you were late," he sighed.

"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that," she replied sadly, looking down at her feet. "My stupid aunt made me stay for the damned ball drop on T.V." she said, the anger rising in her voice. "My uncle got in on it, too."

Oh, yeah, and my sister told me that she's disowning me. So there's that.

Her frustration was interrupted by Flarthur's suddenly melancholic tone. "I wish I had family," he said quietly, his eyes growing misty.

Nice going, jackass.

Anna's face softened, immediately realizing her mistake, but before she could comfort her friend, Saminic spoke up.

"No, you don't." he said forcefully, his voice reverberating throughout the abandoned facility. "It might seem like it would make your life all rainbows and sunshine, but it doesn't. Family, in that usage, means someone else controlling you just because they say so. Do you like the freedom you have now?"

Flarthur was staring at Saminic, wide-eyed. This outburst had obviously startled him, but the words were noticeably impacting him. "Y-yes, I do. Very much. But-"

"No. You want freedom? You can't get that with a family. At least, not that kind of family."

There was a moment of silence as everyone in the room processed Saminic's words.

He sighed, and his sharp expression morphed into an affectionate smile. "You've said it before, Flarthur, but I don't think you really meant it: We are your family. We will keep you out of danger. We will put food on the table."

He paused, and then continued with even more vigor. "But unlike a genetically forced family, we won't restrict you. Safe and free, right?"

By this time, Saminic was standing in front of Flarthur, and now, the declaration of the group's motto had created an aura of excitement and pride in the group.

"Safe and free." Flarthur affirmed.

"Safe and free!" Rafiki shouted, running in from the entrance, laughing ridiculously. He stumbled, and in an effort to balance himself, overcompensated, and fell directly on his back. He lay there, laughing, and the others laughed with him.

When did he leave?

Flarthur turned to Anna, clearly anticipating something from her.

"What?" she asked him, still giggling at Rafiki's efforts to stand.

"Are you safe and free?" he asked rhetorically. It seemed to be less a question than a request to join in on their rallying.

But Anna had a different idea in mind. "Well, I don't think I can really say that. I think that, at this point, I'm more of a friend than a family member," she said, shrugging.

Flarthur's face immediately fell.

Dammit, just as he finished recovering from your previous offense, you had to go and hurt him again!

"No, Flarthur, I didn't mean it like that-"

"No, no, you're right," he said quickly. "You don't live with us, or eat our food, or help with the... moneymaking. You're a good friend, Anna." He looked down at his feet. "But like you said, you're not a family member."

"Yet," Saminic interjected. During Anna's exchange, he must have quietly slipped behind her, managing not to catch her eye while doing so.

When did he get behind me?

Anna quickly turned around to face him, her twin braids whipping around wildly. "What do you mean by that?" she asked sharply, with more venom in her voice than she had intended.

Calm down. He may be creepy, but he's not hostile.

As usual, he did not take notice of her bitterness, and continued coolly. "You visit us all the time. You are the only person who is even aware of this place. You know us, and we know you. You're 18, you're not legally obligated to stay with your relatives, and you're not passing your high school classes anyways." She cringed at this, but continued listening.

He paused before delivering the final blow. "We can free you from those who hold you back."

She didn't need to think about it for very long before getting excited.

That sounds… wonderful! Why didn't I think of this?

Then she remembered-she had thought of this, shortly after turning 18, but at the time, the group didn't have the resources to support another person.

"But how will you afford it?" she reminded him.

He started walking past Anna. "As Flarthur said, I'm changing the way we do things around here. This is going to mean many things for us, one of which is that we'll be producing much more than before."

Now a few feet in front of her, he stopped walking and turned to face Anna. "Another result of these changes is the need for another dealer."

What? Me… a drug dealer?

Everyone's eyes were, once again, fixed on Anna, as she formulated a response. The suspense was let down by her anticlimactic answer.

"Wait, what?"

Rafiki laughed at her, and Flarthur rolled his eyes before joining the conversation. "He's offering you a job, Anna!"

Well, it's either that, or going back to Kai and Gerda.

The thought of her relatives emboldened Anna. "I'll take it!" she said excitedly.

For the first time that night, Saminic looked genuinely surprised, but it was short-lived. After his face had returned to its usual state, he replied, "Well then, the position's yours."

As Saminic returned to his seat, Flarthur began to excitedly tell Anna how much fun they were going to have. And for the first time in forever, Anna felt like things were starting to go her way.

"Everything will be wonderful from now on!" she exclaimed blissfully.

Rafiki found this particularly humorous, and was seized with hysterics.

"How was that funny?" Anna asked skeptically.

After a few failed attempts, Rafiki finally managed to squeak some words out between his fits of laughter. "You haven't even run away yet!"

"Well, I'm here, aren't I?" she countered.

Saminic began the journey to the group from his throne once again, as Rafiki roared with laughter.

Why does he keep going back to that silly chair?

"If you're going to join us, then you must do more than just leave," Saminic began explaining. "We thrive here because nobody knows our whereabouts. You're going to have to do a lot to make sure that nobody tries to find you here."

"No problem. Tell me what to do and I'll get started."

"Anna," he began, now standing a few feet from her, speaking fixedly with a furrowed brow. "Before you can be free, you have to break your bonds."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, a wave of uncertainty pouring over her.

"You have to sever all of your relationships. All of them. School, friends, family. You have to make sure that none of them will try to find you."

Reality hit Anna hard. She thought about Rapunzel, her best friend. She thought about her grandparents. How would they take the announcement that she was going to be completely detached from them for the foreseeable future?

Even the thought of telling Kai broke her heart a little.

How can I explain to someone that I won't be able to communicate with them for the next five, ten, fifteen years?

Anna left the factory shortly afterwards. As she slowly drove her car down the road towards the city, she muted the radio. The chaos which had engulfed her mind following Saminic's news was completely gone, and she was enveloped with a single unshakeable thought.

Elsa.

A/N: Hi again! I hope you liked the chapter. Again, future chapters are going to be closer to real-time, so please stick with me.

Something that I didn't make very clear was that this story begins pre-realization. That is, neither of the girls have feelings for the other at this point. The reason why Elsa was freaking out was because of her ice powers. I would have preferred to let you figure that out, but I was really unclear about it in the last chapter, so... I'll give you that one.

I fully intend to keep this going all the way to the end of 2015. If people like it, I might do a sequel for 2016. This is a learning experience for me, so you'll probably see my writing improve(hopefully) as time goes on.

Again, thanks for joining me! This will be a very exciting year for the girls, and I hope you enjoy it. Please, leave me some constructive criticism in the reviews section.

Alright, that's it for long Author's Notes for a while, so you won't need to worry about this happening again. See you soon!

P.S. You can find me on Tumblr and Reddit under the same username.