See Chapter One for disclaimer.
A/N: …I'm sighing. I'm sighing so loudly right now. I should stop before my brother yells for me to shut up.
…Sigh.
Anna was having a bad night.
She was, in fact, already several hours into her bad night, but found she couldn't sleep. She was restless in a way that she hadn't been since she was a little girl.
The sky's awake, so I'm awake! So we have to play!
She sighed, turning over and rubbing her eyes, which seemed very stubborn about shutting. They simply refused, instead choosing to land on the silver tray upon her nearby nightstand, shining under the moonlight, a mischievous glint it was granted by the curtains Anna had chosen to leave open tonight.
Anna thought back to what must already have been a good hour ago (she had been tossing and turning for what seemed like millennia now), and wished that the silver tray still held a pot of hot chocolate and two full mugs, and that her room still held good company.
Truly, the younger—and perhaps also the clumsier—of the two princesses had needed someone to constantly watch her since she was a child, especially when the King and Queen could not. An older woman, Agnes, had been Anna's personal favourite for about as long as she could remember. At first, Agnes had been her wet nurse, but had become the young girl's best friend after her sister essentially abandoned her. Agnes had continued to be a loyal and kind-hearted servant, always watching over and managing not only her official affairs, but her personal ones too, and when Anna needed her most, she was there, just as she had been tonight, cookies and warm beverages in tow.
After her parents had passed—better put, were cruelly ripped away from her by the violent force called nature—the castle staff had dwindled even further than before, despite significant increase in the royal advisory council, but Agnes had still been there. She was constant, a force that storms could not weather, nor gales topple. Aside from her, a few people remained to serve in the kitchens, and most of the maids were still needed, since the castle always did remain the same size, despite feeling much larger and quieter and emptier the past few years, but her mother's and father's personal servants had all disappeared one day, leaving only hers, as Elsa insisted that she could handle her own matters.
Anna turned onto her back so that she faced her bed's canopy roof.
Elsa, why are you doing this to me? It was going so well, too. Your coronation, and a little whiff of chocolate. Some smiles. You haven't smiled at me in years, Elsa. Did you know that? It's been years. I wonder sometimes if you were ever there at all, or if all of my memories have been stolen and stored away from those bedtime stories Mom used to tell us. I miss those stories, y'know. I miss them a lot. I wish you would miss them with me.
I wish you wouldn't make me lonely, too. I met the most perfect prince, Elsa! Handsome, and sweet, and funny, and he understood me. He understood! Finally, someone shows up here, and they tell me all about their perfectly matching not-so-perfect life, and it's like he just knows what's going on in my head before I do. It's crazy that way. I got swept up in the moment, I guess. Maybe marriage was a little too much to ask out of you, but I would've settled for courtship!
I bet it would be good for you too. I can imagine it, see it clear in my head as day. My beautiful prince and I, out for the morning—horseback rides together, singing silly songs to each other, feeding the ducklings out at the pond! Oh, it'd be perfect. So, so perfect—and then we'd come back late in the afternoon, probably laughing and hugging, or at least holding hands, and you'd have just gotten out of some silly meeting with a bunch of stuck-up-ish nobles, and the three of us would just sit down and have a picnic, and you would tell Hans all these embarrassing stories from when we were little, and he would laugh is wonderful, charming laugh, and I would go bright red and tell you to stop it.
We'd be a family.
Family, Elsa. Doesn't that sound so perfect to you?
A series of calm knocks came from Anna's door.
The door opened. However, only one person was allowed into her room at this time.
"Agnes?" Anna rubbed her eyes and sat up, briefly running a hand through her tangled mane. "Agnes, what's wrong? What's happened?"
The door closed, and a weight settled at the foot of Anna's bed. "Princess, I've got a message for you, but I can't say you should read it."
Now Anna knew something was definitely up. Agnes didn't refer to her as "Princess" unless she was feeling a little cold-shouldered about something. However, Anna hadn't done anything to upset her, as far as she knew, so the message must have been an unsettling one.
"Tell me the message, please. I can handle it." Now that she thought about it, could the message be from Hans? No, surely Agnes wouldn't act this way to give Anna what must be good news. What if it was bad news, though? What if Hans had gotten injured on his voyage home? If he had—
"Princess—Anna, dear, it's written. Would you like to see it yourself, or would you like me to read it to you?"
"Who—who's it from?"
"It's from Queen Elsa. Your sister." Agnes' voice regained some of its edge. She knew how sore Anna still was about the events from earlier in the night.
Anna's heart skipped a beat. She froze in place, sitting halfway up. Did she hear that right? Elsa? Of all people…Elsa? Could it be an apology? No, that was probably just getting her hopes up. More likely, it was just some notice about new court schedules or something. Anna sighed, turning on the lamp that rested on her nightstand and letting the flickering light fill the room.
"Thank you, Agnes. Really, thank you, but I think I'll do this one myself. I can handle it," she repeated. "Do me a favour, though, and close the curtains, maybe, before you leave? And…um, I can't really sleep, so I guess—"
Agnes cracked a smile. "Another mug of hot chocolate for my favourite little princess, perhaps?"
"Don't forget the—"
"Extra marshmallows," Agnes finished, chuckling quietly. Anna joined in, then held out her hand in silent question. Agnes handed the letter off, and hummed a calming tune as she went about her tasks, first closing the curtains, then taking the silver tray from earlier, promising to return with a warm cup of comfort soon, and quickly taking her leave.
Anna opened the letter.
Curious. The handwriting looked…neat. Elegant. Refined. In fact, Anna was very certain that only one person in the kingdom had that writing.
Elsa.
Which meant it wasn't an official note. If it were, she would have dictated it to someone else to jot down. This was a personal call.
Anna was starting to wish that she'd gotten Agnes to stick around.
To my sister:
I have sat here for several hours, wondering how to speak to you. The medium was easy enough to choose; I'm sorry to say that I lack the courage to face my own kin, my own blood. How I shall manage an entire kingdom is still beyond me. Nonetheless, I have faith in our subjects. After all, they have held their own for years now with little guidance. Should I fail my new duties, I think they will be all right.
I think I owe you another apology. This is not how I wished for this letter to progress.
Before I continue, I would like to say that I understand completely if you would like nothing more to do with me outside of meetings with dignitaries and throne room sit-ins. I am completely aware that I have failed you as a sister. As your only remaining family.
I can't believe I'm still asking you a favour.
Anna, I ask you to find it in your heart of pure gold to give me one last chance to be your sister again.
I know this isn't fair to you. I'm sorry. I am always, eternally sorry.
Regardless of what it is, I ask you to grace me with an answer, even though I am undeserving.
Elsa
Anna stared at the letter in complete disbelief, then rubbed her eyes again.
Oh, this was definitely turning out to be a very long night.
A/N: So I was going to make this chapter longer, but…I got…lazy…well, no, actually, I started chatting with a friend, and I lost track of what I was doing here, and then I was like, shoot, I wanna get this out for Canada Day. Dammit, I'm cutting it off here.
So I guess I'm cutting it off here. (Actually, I'm too late for Canada Day now, but, um, I tried, I guess. I actually finished writing the story portion of this chapter at 11:52, if it means anything, so that part's on time, in some illegitimate way.)
By the way, for anyone curious, I had actually given up on this story, because if I keep going, at this rate it'll be, like, fifty chapters, and I'm a little wuss who's scared of commitment. However, one of my good friends demanded to see this story when I mentioned it, and she found it, and then she said that I just had to continue. And I didn't really want to (and honestly, she would tell me it were good even if it sucked just to encourage me because she's just lovely that way), but then I ended up accidentally writing Elsa's letter when I was bored, so I had to write this chapter.
Moral of the story: never expect me to update. This way, it won't hurt if I don't return until like a year from now. Treat this fic as dead. Yeah. (Actually, I must say, continuing this is getting harder, since by now I've forgotten many of the plot ideas I had several months ago. I never did write them down, which was a poor move on my behalf. Speaking of, thank you all for the wonderful name suggestions, even though I've forgotten what I wanted to do with them. :'D)
- Izzy
Side note: I'm pretty sure Frozen happened before marshmallows, but I don't care. Feeeel the sugar.
More Review Responses (for my clever little guest users)
Strawberryluv: Oh, gods. I feel like I'm setting myself for the biggest failure of all time. Thank you for the compliments (although as you say them, I can only remember how I myself am not certain how this whole thing is going to play out xD)!
Shadow Huntress: Doing my best to respond to the reviews. Can I just say that you sound like a really cool person? (Also, I disagree. I am so completely undeserving of the response I was given! Really, I'm an awful person.) Is it legal for me to yank you over to me through the internet and, like, shrink you down or something and keep you in a jar forever. :I
As for relating to Elsa...distance from people. Hiding. Secrets. Or, alternatively, having clear clues out in the open to said secrets, but no one ever being quite there to pick up on them. I've had my own metaphorical set of gloves before, and wearing them everyday was very mentally taxing.