"Elsa."

It had the intended effect. Both parents immediately gave her their full attention, dinner forgotten. Anna mentally patted herself on the back. She'd been planning her speech for hours, banking on both parents coming home together as per tradition. However only her mother arrived at the appointed hour, telling her Agdar had been caught up with "something urgent". Anna had wanted to tell her mother right then, but held her tongue. When her father finally arrived, he'd been too agitated to listen to her. She'd tried and failed a few times until now, as they all sat in the kitchen. To not risk losing their attention, she'd gone with something she chose to call her precision strike method (as silly as it sounded): a single, four letter word.

Her parents shared a glance before her father nodded. "And what about her?"

"I saw her today. She's... she's beautiful and amazing and... she shouldn't be shut away in there."

Agdar chuckled, putting his fork down. "Oak gets softer everyday. All he needs is a pretty girl in front of him and he'll fold every time." Anna blushed brightly as her mother gasped. He apologised to them both before continuing. "So, you found her? You must have scared him pretty badly, given you don't have anything to offer - well, nothing he could get for free elsewhere. How did you get to him? Sweet talk his secretary?"

"Something like that." Anna ran through the conversation in her head before a thought struck her. "You aren't going to move her, are you? Don't you dare!"

"As if you could threaten me?" He picked his fork back up and resumed eating. Chewing a mouthful of his food, he added "There's not much point now, is there?" He swallowed. "I trust you to keep your mouth shut."

Anna bristled and opened her mouth to argue before her mother interjected. "So Anna, what did she - did Elsa - have to say?"

"Elsa. Ehl - saa." Anna rolled the name around in her mouth, getting a feel for it. She'd never heard the name before. Similar names, yes, but not this one. She picked up her phone from where it lay on her bedside cabinet and prepared to search for it. She fumbled momentarily, typing in a few searches to ensure she was using the correct terminology before she found her answer.

So Elsa is short for Elizabeth? I guess that was pretty obvious. According to this it's a German name. Guess it came from mum then. I really, really like it. It sounds... well, it sounds lovely.

Her giddiness faded as she looked back at the first page of the folder Oak had given her. No surname given. How could you dad?! She scanned the rest of the page, drinking in all of her sister's basic information. I can't believe I missed her birthday! I missed it by, like, two weeks! Are you kidding me?! She ran her fingers over the imperfections in the corner of the page; two small tears where a sheet had been removed.

An image of her sister.

When she'd asked Oak to remove all of the pictures, he'd raised an eyebrow. Anna had told him she wanted her first look at her sister to be lifesize, in full colour.

In truth, she was too scared of what she might see.

Phone in hand, she turned the page, now looking at a series of reports made by psychiatrists. Every so often, she'd have to pause and look up a term before continuing. Eventually she gave up on trying to understand every minute detail (Because none of it will matter when I finally see her.) and just absorbed whatever she could. Her breaths grew short as she did, the problem only made worse by the various notes added in the margins. How many "further complications" can a person have?! How could any of this - how could she possibly be worse?!

When she closed the file, hiding it under her bed before collapsing atop it, relief occupied a significant portion of her mind. When her fingers stopped trembling, she waited for the sound of footsteps to fade from the other side of her locked door before dialing a number.

"Hello? I'd like to see one of your patients..."

A few days later, Anna walked into the clinic. The reception area was far more welcoming than the last one she'd visited, though her nerves were no less tense. In fact, they got worse with each step she took towards the desk. It was a brunet who greeted her with kind brown eyes and a warm smile. "How may I help you?"

"Yes. Um, hi. I'm - I..." She slammed her eyes shut, leaning on the desk as she forced herself to calm down. When she opened her eyes, the man was stroking his goatee with a worried look on his face, which cleared when their eyes met. "My name is Anna Arendelle. I phoned in yesterday? I wanted to see... someone."

He nodded before checking his computer, nodding again as he found the relevant record. "That's fine and dandy. Here to see Elsa, yes?" Anna was surprised to hear him mention her name so casually, but remembered to nod. The man called over a nurse to guide her, a woman with spiky brown hair and a simple pink dress. The man gave Anna an encouraging smile before she followed her deeper into the building. Anna returned the gesture with an appreciative one.

Anna felt a sudden boost in confidence as she and the nurse, whose name she learned was Rachel, walked towards Elsa's room. It was enough for her to ask for the room number ("427. Why?") before she bolted down the corridor ("Hey! Slow down!"), the wind against her face soothing her. She slowed down as she neared the room, eyes checking the numbers along the doors on either side. She was getting close! She beamed at an adorable Golden Retriever that had wandered outside a room and waved at its owners, a little old man sitting up in a bed chatting away with his grandson. She reached the door she was looking for and her hand rose to meet it. She stopped.

All the fears and doubts in her mind crashed down on her. Last time she failed to knock on a door, her anger had given her strength. Now she had nothing, so she stood there, hand raised, staring at the four letters adorning it.

Elsa. She's right there! Just knock! Why aren't you knocking?!

Rachel caught up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder and gently moving her to one side. She knocked and they waited for what felt like ages before a voice emanated from the other side.

"Coming."

Anna heard footsteps as the speaker approached. She looked up to see Rachel looking down at her sadly. The door opened, just as she mumbled her final words to her.

"I'm sorry."

Anna couldn't find the words to reply as Rachel left, keeping her head down. The woman who'd opened the door watched her colleague leave before looking down at her. "You must be Anna."

"Yes."

"Come in." She ducked back inside. Anna was all too aware that she was positioned off to one side of the door; she couldn't look into the room from where she stood.

This is it.

She gulped.

This is going to be painful, I know, but I won't cry in front of her. She doesn't deserve that.

Before her nerve failed her, she stepped through the doorway. The nurse stepped to one side and Anna focused on the occupant of the single bed in the middle of the plain white room.

Elsa laid there, body held straight under a thin duvet that came up to her waist, dressed in a thin sky blue T-shirt. Her hair was done up in a messy braid which lay draped over her left shoulder. Anna stared at her sister, trying to memorise as much as she could. She stepped closer, trying to count the faint freckles dusting her nose and cheeks, nearly invisible against her pale skin. Wait...

It was then that Anna realised just how pale her sister was. Her gaze went back down her body and she saw how thin and bony she seemed; the edges of her arms eerily sharp. As her eyes passed over the quilt she saw enough to suggest the same held true for the rest of her body. She looked back up and noticed that Elsa's eyes had yet to meet hers, instead fixated on the television across the room, their stunning blue surrounded by flaky dry skin. Anna rounded on the nurse who had been observing her actions with a grim expression. She opened her mouth before changing her mind, looking back at her sister.

"Elsa? Elsa, can you hear me?"

She didn't respond. Anna bit her lip before trying again.

"It's me. Anna. Your sister. Re - remember me? Elsa?"

Elsa still ignored her. Anna worried her lower lip before a hand landed on her shoulder. She turned to see the nurse had stepped forward, a sad smile on her face. "That won't work ma'am."

"Why not?"

"Elsa's not... good with strangers. You can't expect to her to just open up to you like that."

"But I'm not a stranger. I'm her sister!" She turned back to the bed and dropped to her knees, looking up at Elsa's face. "You just need a reminder, don't you Elsa? Like this!" She ducked out of sight before her head and shoulders shot back up. "Psst!" She closed her eyes, resting her forehead onto the bed as she giggled. "Remember that Elsa? Apparently I did that all the time... as a kid." The last three words came out as a whisper when she looked up to see she had still not gotten Elsa's attention. She pulled herself to her feet, refusing to let the sense of defeat overwhelm her. "Okay, don't... don't panic. I probably just started that after - after you left. Don't worry. Mum - our mum - says I did a lot of crazy stuff as a kid. Just wish I'd paid more attention to her ramblings..." She laughed nervously, talking more to herself which lessened the blow of being ignored yet again. The woman returned her hand to the redhead's shoulder and shook her head when Anna turned.

"It won't be that easy. You seem a very nice girl, but you have to take things slowly with Elsa."

Anna fought the urge to scream. "Why? Why can't I just..." She shook her head. Control yourself.

"For starters," the nurse began slowly, "Elsa's never had a visitor before. This is all new to her and she needs time to get accustomed to that." Anna opened her mouth, but the woman raised a hand to silence her. "Furthermore, I know it's hard, but you have to accept that you need to do the work here. Elsa... Elsa struggles with the most basic of tasks. She can't eat or sleep or even leave this room without someone to support her. You need to consider this a fresh start. Miss Anna?"

Anna had turned back to her sister who seemed fully absorbed in the advertisement currently onscreen during the nurse's message, standing completely still. When she spoke, her voice was barely a whisper.

"That's a lie."

"Excuse me?"

"That. Is a filthy LIE. And you KNOW IT!" She finally snapped. Everything she'd gone through, all the heartache, rushed to her surface.

"Please, Miss - "

"Don't 'Miss' me," her eyes spied the nurse's badge, inscribed with her name, "Joan. You don't know anything about her! If you did, you'd know that she did a fine job looking after me when I was growing up! Until I was two, when she got stuck with you, alright? Apparently, she did a pretty good job too, feeding me and hiding me from strangers!"

She heard a whine but ignored it. It's that dog down the hall trying to distract me.

"So, if she could take such good care of me, if she could be so protective, do you really think I'd believe you when you say she can't look after herself?! You don't even care about her, do you?! I bet you're just doing the bare minimum to keep my parents out of gaol!"

A second whine. Joan raised a hand but Anna growled. Stupid dog.

"Like, she had her birthday about three weeks ago, right? What did you do for her? Give her cake? Throw her a party?"

"She - she doesn't like different foods," spluttered Joan, "and she finds it difficult to mingle with the other patients..."

"Is that really all you can say?!" Anna roared. "If she doesn't like cake, just give her a cupcake with a candle in it! And what do you mean 'she finds it difficult to mingle'? You mean to tell me you keep her cooped up in here all the time?! Don't you have parties? Celebrate Christmas?" Joan tried to interrupt but Anna carried on. "If you really think she's too scared to sit with the other people here while you have Santa Claus running around or something, why wouldn't you let us know?!"

A third whine. Anna marched to the door with heavy footsteps and slammed it shut. Who let that mutt in here anyway?!

Still facing the door Anna continued. "She needs her family! So what if my mum and dad ignored her? You could have found me! There's nothing I wouldn't have done for her and now..." She closed her eyes, slammed her forehead against the door and pressed against it with her palm. "Now she doesn't even recognise me. I bet all of this is just some sick joke, making her like this. It is, isn't it? Isn't it?!"

A dry sob interrupted her this time. Anna looked up in surprise, staring at the door. Dogs don't sob, do they? And I didn't hear it through the door...

Horrified as the realisation dawned on her, she turned around.

Neither the sob nor the whines had come from the dog after all.

They had come from Elsa.

Anna hadn't wanted to acknowledge it at first but she'd known Elsa had scooted away from her slightly whenever she'd tried to talk to her. Now she lay curled up after rushing to the far side of her bed gasping for breath, her eyes unable to form tears yet blinking rapidly as she tugged at her braid, clumps of hair flying from it and cascading over her face and shoulders. Anna couldn't get past the sheer fear on her sister's face as she spasmed. Joan immediately ran to her side, hands on the blonde's shoulders, keeping her still and speaking in soothing terms, even when Elsa began to scream. Anna fell back against the door and slid to the ground as she felt the consequences of her actions sink in.

The first thing you make her do after sixteen years, is freak out and cry?! Well done Anna. You hear that?

That is the sound of absolutely no-one clapping.

She managed to look up as Joan rocked Elsa, still determined to learn everything she could about her sister. Joan was rubbing circles into Elsa's stomach. Anna had heard of children that liked that particular sensation, was Elsa the same? Why was Joan keeping hold of Elsa's shoulder? Did she like that too? On the other hand, Anna noted that Elsa probably didn't like anyone touching her hair, as loose strands fell over her eyes even though Joan had had ample time to brush them away.

That's just it Anna! You're not Joan. You're the one being selfish, not her. That was the most pathetic argument you've started in your entire life! What the hell is wrong with you?!

When Joan finally set Elsa back down on the bed, she gave Anna a reproachful look. "Sometimes people get worse," she said simply, "and I know how you feel, but her being overprotective of you was never a good sign. I'm sorry."

Anna nodded as she pulled herself up, stumbling back over to the bed with her head down, too ashamed to meet the matron's gaze again. This altered her trajectory so when she knelt at the bedside she was positioned by Elsa's feet.

Fitting.

"Elsa?" She spoke slowly this time, still keeping her head down. "I'm so sorry." She chanced a look. Elsa was still ignoring her but thankfully stayed still. "I guess sixteen years is a long time, but I'm your sister. Anna. Pronounced the weird way. You know, Ah-na? Even if you don't remember me, I just want you to know I'm here now. I'll always be here for you, for as long as it takes. I hope you do remember me someday though. The weird girl with the red hair?" She looked up and gasped.

Elsa was smiling. Smiling!

Anna straightened her back, her gasp fixed to her face as she gazed at her sister in wonder. She looked over to Joan, ready to exchange grins or thumbs up or something, but faltered.

Because Joan's smile was sad and she was shaking her head. Anna looked back at her sister and realised with a rising sense of dread that Elsa wasn't even looking at her; she was looking over her shoulder. Anna turned to face the television. The adverts had ended.

"The doom and gloom up in his room are broken instantly!"

Anna's face fell immediately. Elsa wasn't happy to see her, she just wanted to watch her show. Of course, why would she want anything to do with someone like her, someone who only ever thought of herself? Anna felt tears build up in her eyes so shut them tight, bringing her head down onto the hard material at the end of the bed as she felt her heart thump her chest. She gasped for breath.

I promised I wouldn't cry in front of you Elsa. I promised. I promised! I don't want to let you down ever again...

Which is why when the tears fell she had already run out of the room.