Special thanks: antelucem, CocoVanillaMilk

A/N: It's now 3 a.m. Sorry for not fulfilling my promise of updating the next day. I didn't expect it to grow to be this long, actually. In fact, I don't think I've edited it enough. I guess I'm just too sleepy for my mind to function properly... As it was before, I would be really happy if you would let me know what you think about it. Thanks.

Smoke and steam combines with the milky sky of winter day and night without stop. It floated, hanging in the air like a veil over the city, casting an everlasting gloom over its flooded alleys and looming pipes. Sounds of clanking gears, whistling steam and human chatter filled every corner of the place with the foul odor of rot emanating from the sewers and smog billowing up from each of the thousands of factory chimneys.

Anna walked briskly across the busy main street, her bright purple coat swishing around her boot-covered legs. Her braided strawberry blond hair bounced over her shoulder as she nearly broke into a run to get home as soon as possible. The cold air had given her cheeks a rosy blush and turned her breath a frosty white, even despite the warm clothing she donned and the leather bag she hugged closely to her chest. She pulled her scarf a little higher to cover her nose before taking a sharp turn and disappearing into one of the darker alleys. Her boots splashed a few puddles and dirtied her coat with mud, but she didn't even seem to notice. She slowed her walk as she found a small stairway that groaned under her feet. It led up to what seems to be small apartments. Little children in dirty grey jumpsuits were running around the halls. They stopped when they noticed Anna and smiled sheepishly in greeting. Anna pulled her scarf down and grinned at them. After watching them going out of the building, she stopped in front of one of the doors.

"Elsa?" she called into the room as she opened the door. It revealed a small apartment with old but carefully-kept furnitures filling the space. The building was so old that when she closed the door behind her, she could feel the whole room shaking with it. She dropped her bag onto one of the wooden chairs and draped her coat over it. "Elsa, have you eaten yet?"

A door creaked open and a woman slightly older than Anna stepped out of what seemed to be a bath room. Her hair shone a pale gold under the gas light and her face was empty of any expression, but free of all the dirt usually tainting it, she was very pleasing to look at. A hint of the scent of soap wafted from her simple green dress. Anna watched her as she strode over the room to pick up a glass of water in the kitchen. "Elsa" she called as she slowly walked over to the kitchen with her, as if any sudden movements would frighten the woman away. Just like a cat, Anna thought to herself. She took out a fire stone from the kitchen drawer, trying hard to look casual doing it. It glew orange and yellow as light hit it, warming up immediately. She swiped the stone on top of the stove and it lit up. Be cool, Anna, be cool. Except she forgot to get the pan nor the food ready before turning on the fire. Ugh. "I'm cooking stew. Do you want me to cook you something?"

Elsa put the now empty glass down almost immediately. It clanked gently against the wooden countertop. Anna stopped.

"I've already eaten."

"But don't you want some dessert?" she hurriedly walked over to her bag. From it she fished a couple of oranges and held them up for Elsa to see. "A classmate brought some today. We can share! I'll warm us some tea from the neighbor at room 20 and we can talk over it like ordinary sisters. Except it's not like I'm saying that I brought them especially so that we can talk, psh. Wait, wait, that doesn't mean I wouldn't like for us to talk, god that would be great, but in case you don't want to, it's just us, two oranges and tea, okay?"

"I just want to sleep, Anna." She answered, walking towards her room without even sparing the oranges a second glance. Anna's awkward grin vanished. Just in front of Elsa's bedroom door, she stopped. "And you should get some too after you eat. You'll need it for the test tomorrow."

The thump of the closing door shook the whole apartment.

"…but it would be nice if we can actually talk sometimes." Anna mumbled under her breath. She was about to put the oranges back, but decided against it. May as well eat everything herself. She stared at the fruits in her hands and pouted. "The way she avoids me, you'd think she'd die if we were to spend some time together." She mumbled to the orange on her left hand.

I'm going to die, thought Elsa.

That morning had been exactly like any other. Cold and gray with no sun nor snow. Anna was still sleeping when Elsa left. The oatmeal tasted like oatmeal, but it was edible. Ordinary.

Spotting the city watchers on the mouth of the mine, however, was not.

She tried to get closer to them, but still where there's still some way out in case it goes bad. She slowly walked to get a better look, her brown jumpsuit making her look undistinguishable with the other miners heading to the mine. Elsa had disliked the brown at first. It worried her since she thought it would make it hard for anyone to tell the miners apart from the soil around the mine. She later found out that it had actually been made in the colour exactly for that reason, as an attempt to hide them from the attention of the creatures below. But it also makes it harder for others to tell them apart from afar, since they're not only in uniform but also blended with the landscape around them. Elsa slowly moved over to the right of the road, where the wall of dirt separating the entrance and the exit from the mine was. She tried to make sense of the emblem behind the watchers' cloaks from afar. It was the sign of the sun and a staff under it.

Elsa froze. She recognized that sign.

A man bumped into her, snapping her out of her shock. Before he could shout some curses at her, she turned right to the path behind the dirt wall. Another sideway glance at the cloaked watchers confirmed her fears. It was the hunters, and because of the noise the man behind her made, they looked at her. The flash of recognition on their faces sent terror into her spine.

She ran and didn't stop. She could feel her messy bun of a hair starting to unravel and fell down as a braid behind her back. Her breath turned to pants and heat started to grow inside her. She turned and jumped and ran over people like she never did before. Even when she knocked a woman's cart over, she jumped right back up and ran again. She could feel a mixture of adrenaline rush and fear coursing through her veins like life itself. As the woman cursed her, she disappeared into an alleyway and only slowed down when the voices of the street had weakened. She looked up to one of the buildings beside the alleyway and as if she had seen something that convinced her of her whereabouts, she stopped.

She waved her fingers and an ice ladder formed out of thin air onto the wall.

The young woman grabbed the ladder tightly and up she went. She climbed with a sense of urgency with her, as if she was chased by time. The ladder may have seemed as if it was frail, yet it was sturdier than even a metal one under her. Up, up, up. It wasn't long before she reached the top. Looking around and recognizing some landmarks, Elsa was glad to know that it really was the roof of her apartment building. Carefully, she walked over the leaking tiles to the front of the building. No one there. Holding back a sigh of relief, she circled the roof to a spot at her left. Her thin fingers grabbed one of the tiles and carefully moved it away. It revealed a hole to the attic.

Guided by a ball of light she crafted out of her left hand, she squeezed herself into the gap. She landed with a soft thud, but it was enough to send the wood panel under her creaking. She paused and listened. Nothing happened. "It'll be okay" she whispered. "I've got it under control."

She breathed in the dust filled air and lifting the ball of light up again, she started to walk silently. It was a short trip. As if she had memorized the whereabouts of everything in the small space, she squatted and lifted a wooden panel poking out from its place. Right under her was her bedroom.

She closed her eyes and listened once again. The cries of the children next door, the shouts of the fighting couple next to it, the laughter of the senile grandma across them. There was nothing unusual. Satisfied with it, she created another ice ladder with a wave. Slowly, she climbed down and after grabbing a bag under her bed, headed to the door.

Elsa froze when she saw Anna sitting on the chair with a cup of warm milk in her hands.

"Anna! What are you doing here?"

Anna too was actually surprised at the sight of her sister, but Elsa's voice snapper her out of it. She got up from the chair.

"Elsa! I've been searching for you! At school-"

"Yes, you're supposed to be at class now, doing tests. Why aren't you?" Elsa stared at Anna exasperatedly. Then she looked as if she remembered something, so she squatted and opened one of the drawers. Anna put the glass of milk on the wooden floor.

"I was getting to that. You see-"

"Anna, you're not supposed to be here." Elsa looked up briefly at her and got up, inserting a small bag of cloth into her bag. It jingled.

"I know-"

Elsa looked away from her sister. The bag's buttons just refused to be closed properly. "Look Anna, I think I'm going to go away for a while."

The younger sister's eyes grew almost as big as saucers at that. "Wait, what?"

Elsa straightened her back and stared right into Anna's light blue eyes.

"Anna, things have changed. But I have made sure that it is safe for you to be here. I have some money I hid under your bed. It should be enough for at least until you graduate-"

"But why? Aren't you going to tell me anything? Where are you going? Why can't I come with you? I'm coming with you!"

"Listen, Anna-"

"I've been listening to you, but have you ever, ever listened to me for once? What is happening, Elsa? Why are you going?"

"Anna, I can't stand here and argue with you. I don't have the time for-"

"Why don't you have the time? Were you chased by those city watchers?"

Elsa froze. She couldn't believe her ears.

"Where did you hear about that?"

"I was trying to tell you! This-"

They could both hear it. A group of people climbed the stairs to their apartment, their boots hitting the stairway with loud, uniformed clanks. The walls were so thin and the metal stair so loud that they were sure it must have been heard from all the rooms. The frightened scream of the old lady living across them answered their fear. The hunters are here. Elsa shook her head. "I don't have time for this. You'll be safer here. They would never hurt you." She said, both to Anna and herself. She fastened her bag and rushed to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. "Wait!" screamed Anna. Confused, the girl grabbed her own bag from the floor and ran after her. "Elsa-, oh god." She gasped. Elsa had disappeared into the attic, but not fast enough for the ice ladder to disappear completely when Anna came barging in.

Suddenly, everything clicked into place.

"Elsa!" Anna shouted for her. But her older sister was already back up on the roof, making her way down the building. She ran faster this time, trying to convince herself that it was better this way, that running away too is a form of protecting Anna.

The scenery merged into a blur. The rows and rows of houses leaning against each other were only lines of grey in her eyes. She must have been running for at least half an hour before she slowed to a half jog and stopped in front of a series of buildings with signs that said "The Northern Dock" and different numbers on it. She was a panting mess. Elsa allowed herself a few seconds to catch her breath before she stood up straight and cleared her throat. She felt lightheaded, but it was not the time to rest. The buildings themselves were not as tall as the others around it, but each had dozens of huge chimneys jutting out from its body. And there must at least be dozens of such buildings itself around there. Looming above some of the chimneys were airships of many colours, hissing with steam and the shouts of men. They cast huge shadows under their bodies, all looking both great and dangerous at the same time. There was no flag in all of them, nor were they expensive looking enough to make them government owned nor for transporting men. That meant each was owned by traders, to transport goods from somewhere else. Elsa opened her bag and pulled out a piece of paper from it.

Paper in hand, Elsa lifted her chin and knocked the door to one building on the leftmost. There was no answer. She knocked a little harder. Still nothing. She was about to do something worse to the door when it finally clicked open.

"Look miss, one of ours are taking off so we really can't let you in." said a young man irritably, almost nervously, like he's about to miss something very important and Elsa had just disturbed him. He was clad in an engineer's suit; oil taint and all. His hair showed hints of gold under all the ash covering it and he brushed it back I agitation.

"I have this." Answered Elsa calmly, pushing the piece of paper to the man. His annoyed scowl turned into a look of confusion as he took it and stared at the object. He returned his gaze to Elsa and stared at her disbelievingly. "Wait here." He signaled for her to stay.

Elsa didn't have to wait for long. The young man immediately came back jogging to her. "Well, I don't know what you're doing." He scratched the back of his head. "But come in."

The engineer led her into a flight of stairs leading upwards. It spun and spun along walls so narrow, it must have been one of the chimneys she saw earlier. But the "chimney" had what seemed to be a roof over it and a hole at the middle. From it, she could see the body of an airship getting closer and closer as they climb higher and higher. They stopped. He turned to face her before he pushed at a trapdoor on the ceiling. "We're here. Be careful, the wind is strong."

Strong is an understatement. The wind on top of the chimney was immensely powerful. It howled angrily, the air biting her skin like miniscule claws trying to keep her from leaving the city. She felt as if she was about to be pushed into the hole in the middle of the chimney. The young man shouted something to another man in similar clothing inside the airship. The other person immediately ran into the ship, so Elsa figured that he must've given him the okay to fly. Squinting, she followed the engineer hurriedly to another shorter stairs leading into the airship right above her head. He yanked her hand upwards to help her get in.

"Look!" he screamed over the angry howling of the wind. "You should've arrived earlier! We're going right now, so see that rope over there?" he pointed to a rope a few meters from where they were standing. "Tie yourself to it tightly and don't fall out, okay?"

"Wait!" shouted a young woman from under the airship.

"What's wr-? UFF!"

The young engineer was hit by a flurry of bright purple. It popped up from the door under the airship and landed on his torso with a thump so loud, it must've at least left him a huge purple bruise. Both of them groaned in pain on the floor. The purple mess tried to get up and revealed the form of a person. The person's hair was a beautiful strawberry blonde, kept in what due to the impact were very messy twin braids. She held her head with both of her hands in pain, mumbling curses under her breath. When that person turned its head to stare at Elsa with brilliant pale blue eyes, it filled the elder's chest with dread.

Anna grinned. "I told you I'm coming with you."