The Sky Is Awake

XVI. Oh, The Sky Will Be Blue

"Anna?" Elsa whispered.

"Um." Anna took her hands away from her mouth. "Okay—this might sound crazy and I know I say a lot of crazy things… but I think there's a creepy talking snowman behind you."

Said creepy talking snowman gasped. "Oh, oh, where? I'd love to meet a creepy talking snowman!"

"Oh God, there's definitely a creepy talking snowman behind you. I'm just going to wake up now. Elsa, pinch me."

But Elsa said, "Olaf?"

"Wait, you know the creepy talking snowman?"

"I—"

"Ooh, are we doing introductions? I'm coming!"

"What? No, no, no, you should stay…"

Too late, the snowman ran towards them with an excited grin. Jesus, Anna didn't even know snowmen could run.

She pulled frantically at Elsa but her sister was frozen, wide eyes transfixed. Anna gulped and shoved Elsa behind her—just as the snowman stopped at her feet.

He flashed a row of buck teeth up at her. "Hi!"

Anna kicked out without looking. "Run, Elsa!"

Only Elsa didn't move, so Anna had to grab and drag her. Which was so weird because she'd always dragged Elsa towards the trouble when they were little, never away from it.

Elsa stumbled after her. "Anna," she gasped. "Anna, wait."

"For what?" she yelled back.

It hit Anna that everything was definitely out of whack if she was the voice of reason. Was this really happening? If this was a siege and she was clearly the princess, where in the world was her valiant knight?

They made it to the doors. Anna pushed Elsa through, then heaved the great doors shut. And she leaned there for a moment, catching her breath and her thoughts.

Then she began to laugh, and she must have sounded crazed because Elsa snapped out her daze to give her a concerned look. "A-Are you alright?"

Anna wiped her eyes, still chuckling. "Oh yeah. I mean, I just decapitated a talking snowman! How brave is that?"

"Hellooooo?" a muffled voice echoed through the door.

"Oh no, it's still alive!" Anna squeaked, as Elsa stared down at her own hands.

"But how?" she whispered.

"I don't know! Isn't that the mystery of the century? Gosh, Elsa, you usually make so much more sense." Because if Elsa didn't know what to do, what could Anna do?

Sneeze, apparently.

"You're drenched," Elsa said.

Anna finally realised that Elsa's hand was… warm. She wasn't wearing her gloves and— "Are you holding a carrot?"

They both looked down. Elsa's fingers twitched in Anna's, and Anna started loosening her grip because this was something she had always known—not talking snowmen, but watching her older sister bring up her walls. She wished she'd kept her mouth shut.

Elsa pushed her bare hands (and carrot) behind her back, hiding them. Then she slid down the wall to the ground and hugged her knees.

Anna just stared, and it was so bizarre, looking down at Elsa, that she shivered. Was it just her, or was it really cold? She sat down, too, but not too close, because she was still wet from the rain and she didn't want to get Elsa sick.

"I took them off," Elsa said quietly. "The gloves."

"So I guess you really don't have a thing about dirt?"

"How could I, with a sister like you?"

Anna's mouth dropped open. "I'll have you know that I'm very graceful now, thank you! And it's not like—" Like we've played together like that in years. "—um, not like I still chase animals and climb trees—much."

Elsa smiled and looked down.

They listened to what sounded like squeaky feet sliding on ice on the other side of the door. Anna hugged her knees. How did it get like this? Not too long ago, she had been fighting with Elsa and getting counsel from Chestnut. Now there were talking snowmen and snow falling from empty ceilings. Some of the snow had even made it out here, clumped at the bottom of the stairwell. Where did all that leave them, now?

Anna held her arm out to Elsa. Elsa glanced at her, then gently pinched the underside of her wrist. Ow. Anna mumbled, "Damn."

Elsa sighed again, dropping her head back to the door. A moment later, she said, "Language."

Anna turned her head. "Really, Elsa?"

Elsa looked back. "Yes?"

They continued staring at each other. Then they both burst into laughter.

"We're going crazy," Anna snorted, giggling.

Elsa covered her mouth as she laughed and Anna forgot to be angry with her sister. Suddenly, she was sure she could never be truly mad with Elsa, the same way she was certain that Elsa would never, ever, hurt her.

"You know," Anna said. "A talking snowman is actually pretty cool—okay, a little creepy. But cool. Hah, cool. Get it?"

Elsa pursed her lips. "Anna… I need to tell you something."

Anna tried not to look surprised, but she really was. When was the last time she and Elsa had really, really talked? "Okay. Shoot."

Elsa fidgeted with her hands and took a deep breath. Then her eyebrows knitted together and slumped back down. "I don't know how to start."

"Guuuuysss?" the snowman called, making them both jump. "A little help over here?"

Anna jumped. Elsa hugged her knees even tighter. She looked so much smaller like that. Anna wondered if Papa had known Elsa did this, and if he'd told her it was okay to, just like Mama had told Anna it was normal to feel lonely.

Anna bit her lip, then got up and brushed herself off. "Okay!" she said in a bright voice. "Here's the plan. I'll distract him and Elsa, you run for your life." She pushed against the door. "And if I fall in action, which I won't because that's obviously when my knight in shining armour is supposed to come riding in… but in case I do—"

"I made him," Elsa said.

"What?" Wow, that door was heavy.

"I said I—"

Anna yelped as the door abruptly opened. She fell inwards—just as a headless snowman body bolted out of the hall. Anna didn't have the breath to scream. She just stared, entranced, as the snowy body did a little dance in front of Elsa, then escaped merrily up the stairs before either of them could move.

The snowman's head was still stuck face down on a hill of snow. "Is this a bad time to mention I'm just a little scared of the dark?"

"Yes," Anna said without thinking, because seeing him like that made her feel like a bully. How did she even decide this talking, dancing, gullible snowman was a threat? Anna loved snowmen. She squared her shoulders and took a step forward. "Okay, hang on—whoa!"

She slipped on the ice… and fell backwards into a slope of snow that she didn't remember being there.

"Be careful," Elsa said quietly from behind her.

Anna shot a quick grin over her shoulder. She made it across the hall without injury and, very carefully, picked up the snowman's head.

And almost dropped it when it exclaimed, "Oh! Lights back on!"

Okay. Too weird. Anna held it away at arm's length. "You have a lot of explaining to do, Mister… uh… what did Elsa call you earlier?"

"Olaf!" he supplied helpfully.

"Yes! Olaf! You can't just waltz into a castle like a… wait." Something in her memory dislodged. Anna frowned and looked at the snowman.

He grinned back. Somehow, his face looked like it was missing something. A carrot?

Watch this! her big sister whispered excitedly in the dark

"Olaf…?" Anna breathed.

"Yup! And you are…?"

I love you, Olaf!

Opening and closing her mouth dumbly, Anna turned around.

Elsa was standing behind her, arms folded and tucked towards her stomach. Their eyes met.

"Elsa?" Anna didn't know why she was whispering. Maybe because she felt strange; her thoughts were scattered and starting to hurt her head, and she just couldn't figure out why all this snow and ice looked so familiar. So she asked the one person she'd always trusted for an answer: "What's going on?"

"I told you," Elsa whispered. "I made him."

"Made?"

Do you wanna build a snowman?

Elsa took a deep breath and swallowed. "I made Olaf." She gestured at the rest of the snowing hall. Anna looked up. "I made… all of this."

A falling snowflake stuck to the back of Anna's hand and melted on her skin. Cold and definitely real. "What," Anna laughed jokingly. "Like magic?"

Elsa didn't say anything.

"… Elsa?"

"I don't know how he came to life," her sister blurted. "I never found out what I was capable of. Father tried to help me control it but I just couldn't and… I'm sorry, Anna, I'm so sorry…" Elsa took a deep, deep breath and asked, "Do you remember now?"

As if Anna had forgotten.

"I… You mean I knew about this before?" A sharp pain speared her head. Anna stumbled back a step, stunned. "Whoa… ow."

"Do you have a headache?" Olaf asked. "I always wanted to know what it feels like to have a headache feels."

And then Elsa was there, just like she was every time Anna fell over or did something stupid or… Did I really forget? "Anna? Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

It felt like a certain part of her hair was glowing hot into her scalp. "I-It's okay," Anna said. She shook her head lightly. "I just…" Just. "What do you mean you can do magic?"

Elsa looked like she wanted to hold Anna's face in her hands and make sure she was really alright. Instead, she reluctantly met Anna's searching gaze. "Father said I was born with them."

"Born?" And then a thought. "Does that mean I have them, too?"

"No," Elsa said quickly, lightly. "I don't think you do."

"Oh…"

"You wouldn't want them, Anna."

"Why not? It sounds—looks—amazing to me. I mean, you made all of this!"

"It was an accident." Elsa said it like it pained her.

"Do you do this every night? By yourself?" Because the thought made Anna sad and angry, and neither of those emotions went well with snow.

"No. It hasn't happened in ten… eleven years. Anna, it was an accident." Elsa seemed desperate to make her understand that point. And Anna thought she did. Kind of.

But even if she believed Elsa—and she did; how could she not?—there was one thing she didn't understand.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Elsa looked away. "I… did tell you, Anna… You didn't believe me."

At first, Anna frowned because Elsa just wasn't very good at telling her things. But then she remembered knocking on Papa's office doors and finding them locked and Elsa on the other side whispering, Anna, I… I have powers.

"Oh my God—you didn't tell me to believe you!"

Elsa blinked. "What? No, I—I didn't want you to believe me. You would've been scared."

"Scared? I'm not—wait. Wait." Anna wished the whirring in her head would slow down, but it only scrambled faster. "Is this the reason you shut me out for all these years?"

Elsa opened her mouth and shut it again. Her eyes said it all. Anna let out a short, disbelieving gasp.

"Elsa! You shut me out for ten years because you made up my own mind for me?"

"No—Anna, you don't understand. My powers are dangerous." As Elsa said this, a gust of winter chill picked up off the ground and began to swirl in an agitated gale around her.

"Come on, guys," Olaf piped up worriedly. "Sisters shouldn't fight, right? Now let's come together and give each other a warm—"

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Anna realised she was shouting. She looked past her sister at their parents' empty thrones, and her throat clammed up. "Mama and Papa knew, didn't they? I was the only one who had no clue?"

Elsa kept shaking her head. She started to pace. The gale picked up into a storm, flinging snow around the hall. "Can't you see? I was trying to protect you!"

How many times had she heard that before?

"But why did it have to be from you?" Anna heard herself ask.

And the storm froze. Everything, even the snow in the air and Anna's breath and Elsa's horrified expression—everything froze, suspended. Like a blizzard between two sisters.

Anna forgot that she was afraid of storms.

"Because," Elsa whispered, swallowing. "I still remember how you jumped on me in bed. I remember that the sky was awake. I remember ice-skating and building Olaf together, and I… I remember Papa and Mama running into this hall. I remember my first time on a horse. I remember red lights in the sky."

Anna heard ice cracking.

"I remember, Anna," Elsa said. "And you forgot that I didn't always manage to catch you."

OoOoO

"I have a good feeling about this one," Olaf said happily. "A wonderfully good feeling! Just the kind of place my butt would run to."

Elsa stepped forward and opened the door to what had to be at least the third broom cupboard.

"Okay, guess not!" Nothing seemed to dampen Olaf's spirits—even though dampening was exactly what he was doing in Anna's hands. His chill was turning her hands slick and dribbling down her wrists.

"Olaf, you're melting."

"Aha! I have a particularly good feeling about the door over that—no, the one after that. Yes. Open it!"

"Olaf," Anna said, exasperated, because she hardly knew him yet somehow cared so much more than Olaf did himself, and it might've been that he acted like a bubbly child or just the fact that he was a snowman and she loved snowmen—she just worried that he would melt. Disappear.

This time, Elsa opened the door to the music room. Anna knew, of course. She knew all the doors in castle. Which comforted her just a little, knowing something. Because right now, Anna didn't know a lot of things. Like whether or not Elsa wanted to talk to her ever again.

How could she have forgotten?

"This one! Amazing feeling about this one. I'd feel it in my bones if I had any!"

Anna looked up. And blinked. A few steps ahead, Elsa had stopped. Anna could see why Olaf had a good feeling about this door; it was already standing ajar, and there were sprinkles of white on the floor.

For the first time since leaving the snowing hall, Anna caught Elsa's eye.

"I'm coming, butt!" Olaf struggled in Anna's arms to peer around the door.

"Wait," Anna told him. "We need to knock first."

"Oh. Why?"

"Because it's a bedroom."

"How do you know?"

"Because. Gosh, Olaf!"

"Then whose is it?"

"It's—"

Elsa reached over Anna's shoulder and pushed the white door open. "Mine," she said softly.

Whenever Anna imagined Elsa's room (which was often), she pictured what Elsa's side used to look like in their shared bedroom, a little more grown up. Because if Anna's had barely changed, Elsa's couldn't have either, right? There would probably be dolls in order by name, various teas in little drawers, maybe a magnificent house of cards on display…

Anna stepped inside, and gasped.

"Papa?"

"Butt!" Olaf exclaimed. He rolled out of Anna's arms landed with a thick wet splat on the floor. He struggled towards the made bed, where the rest of him was bouncing on Elsa's comforter.

Anna stared at the crooked portrait, his lopsided smile, and wondered how long Papa had waited for her to find him here.

Then a cold breeze brushed past Anna's elbow and swept up Olaf's head, propelling him back onto his body with a satisfied "Ah! Much better."

And even though she was upset and confused and awkward, Anna spun around and said, "That was amazing."

Elsa bashfully lowered her hand. "I wasn't sure I could do it."

Olaf, now fully intact, barrelled into the back of Anna's legs. "Let's do this properly now, shall we?" He wrapped his stick arms around her shins and beamed up at her. "Hi, I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!"

Anna crouched down to shake Olaf's enthusiastic hand. "I'm Anna and I'm sorry for kicking you."

"That's okay; I don't have a skull. Or bones. Say, you two are sisters, aren't you? I've always wanted a sibling! What's it like?"

"It's…" Anna glanced up at Elsa. Were they still fighting? "… kind of complicated, sometimes. But it's something that never goes away."

Elsa knelt down on the other side of Olaf. She reached out and carefully stroked his head with her fingertips. "No," she agreed. "It doesn't go away."

"Sometimes they stop talking to you for no reason, though."

"Sometimes they don't understand when you're doing something for their own good."

Anna's nose wrinkled. "It can be frustrating, but it's something I would never trade for anything."

"Because it's unconditional," Elsa said.

"Wow," Olaf remarked, pushing his slumping front teeth back into his mouth. "You two really are sisters."

Elsa met Anna's gaze again, and Anna blinked because there was a warm, familiar look in Elsa's eyes that made her feel like, between Anna and the world, Elsa would choose her little sister. Always.

Anna pulled a giggling Olaf into her lap. "Can't you help him, Elsa?" she said. Because even though they hadn't known each other long—and she had spent most of that time wrestling with his dislocated body parts—Anna was suddenly certain that she would be devastated to say goodbye to Olaf.

She caught Elsa's glance up at Papa's portrait on the wall. Anna looked at it, too, and it made her heart squeezed, seeing her father so close. She wished Papa and Mama hadn't moved Elsa into this room.

"Why are you so scared of your magic?"

"Why aren't you?" Elsa asked back.

Anna thought about it. Then she stood up so quickly Olaf tumbled from her lap into Elsa's. "If you could do anything to me right now, what would you do?"

Elsa's brow furrowed.

"Oh, just play along! I'll even close my eyes."

Olaf chimed in, "Is this a new game? I'll close my eyes, too!"

Eventually, Elsa asked, "Anything?"

Anna nodded. She even spread her arms a little—just a little, because she didn't want Elsa to think she was expecting a warm hug or anything, even though there was no doubt at all—

Something wet and cold slapped her square in the face.

"Elsa!"

"You said," Elsa laughed, brushing white powder off her hands, "I could do anything."

Anna shook snow out of her hair. She didn't realise how hard she was laughing as well, until she had trouble speaking. "And you… threw a… magic… snowball… at me?"

"I'm sorry," Elsa smiled, eyes twinkling.

"No, you're not." Anna grinned back. "And look—you didn't hurt me."

Elsa's smile faltered.

"So what's the aim of the game?" Olaf called out. "Am I supposed to guess what's happening? When do I open my eyes?"

Anna turned back to Elsa and smiled hopefully.

Elsa exhaled, closing her eyes for a moment. Then she slowly rubbed her hands together and, right before Anna's eyes, indigo sparks flickered to life.

Magic. My sister is magical.

"Ready?" Elsa whispered.

As the sky woke over the rain, Anna realised she had never quite understood the true meaning of unconditional until that one, simple word.

A/N: It's done! I have many, many mixed feelings about this chapter. Such a bad place to pick up from a mini-hiatus. This felt like a turning point, you know? So I must admit something: I considered making this the final installment, and wrapping the fic up. My main reason for this is that, after experiencing Camp NaNo, I came back to The Sky Is Awake and felt like I'd written myself into a corner (typical!). It felt like I risked ruining what was already here if I pushed on, juicing out more of Anna and Elsa's untold story. This fic is just too important to me to ruin.

But then I remembered: I started this fic not knowing where exactly it would end up, but I certainly did not envision it stopping here. I was committed to something larger, maybe just a few chapters longer, and I owe this story more than what I've given it so far. And really, I've never properly finished a piece of writing in my life! So I'm going to try and keep going, guys :) It won't be long and magical, I tell you! In fact, I apologise in advance if it winds up disjointed in my desperation to just let the sisters enjoy each other's company, instead of gradually building up to it. This is why I tried to leave plot out of this series of oneshots; just so I could write shameless family cheese. But no matter how it ends up, thank you, reader, for sticking out this far! And to those who still plan to stick around, let me just say you guys will be the reason I ever finish something in all my years of writing :)