Author's Note: Hey everyone! I really should have done this in the first chapter, but it's my first story so I wasn't entirely sure how to add an author's note. Now I know. :-)
Anyway, thanks to everyone who read the first chapter of my story, and double thanks to the people who took the time to leave a review and follow and favorite my story! Anything positive really encourages me since I'm really self-conscious about my writing.
I apologize for the not-up-to-par first two chapters. Typically when I write, it takes me at least a chapter or two to actually get the hang of what I'm writing and really get into the story. It gets better in chapter three, I promise. There's very little dialogue in this chapter, since it's basically what Elsa's going through during her childhood, as seen in Anna's song Do You Want To Build A Snowman? I just added Jack and his sister to the plot, so this chapter is really just a filler to explain what happened in Elsa's life. I really hope you all like it, and can forgive any mistakes or not so great writing skills you see. Thanks everyone! Love and snowflakes to you all!
Chapter 2: After the Accident
Elsa and Anna saw Jack and Emma regularly for the next few months. But everything changed the night of the accident.
Anna had woken Elsa up once again to play, saying, "The sky's awake, so I'm awake, so we have to PLAY!" Elsa agreed, but the only thing she could think was, my sister must have some sort of power connected to the stars. To tell the truth, Elsa loved waking up in the middle of the night, especially when it was a full moon. She loved to just stare out her window at the moon, watching how it's light illuminated the castle courtyard and everything around it, and would sometimes even imagine what the moon might say to her if it could speak. This night was another full moon, but it didn't end as happily and peacefully as most nights like this did. This night ended with Anna getting hurt. Elsa had tried to protect her sister while they played, but Anna was jumping off snow pillars too quickly for Elsa to make more, and Elsa slipped on the icy floor of the throne room. Her hand shot out towards Anna to try anything she could to save her sister from falling, but instead an icy blast shot from her fingertips and struck her sister's head, causing her to fall unconscious to the ground. Elsa became scared, and the entire room froze over, and her parents rushed in and whisked the two young princesses away, leaving a trail of Elsa's ice in their wake. The king and queen brought the girls to a group of magical trolls who were able to cure Anna, but they took all memories of Elsa's magic away. Elsa's father said it was for the best, and after seeing what could happen to Elsa if people feared her powers, they returned to the castle.
After that day, Elsa was no longer allowed to spend time with her sister, but had to instead sit by her door and listen when Anna would come knocking, asking for her big sister to come play with her. Her father gave her gloves to help control the icy magic inside the young princess, but they didn't work well enough to allow her to spend time with her sister again. The gates to the castle closed, and Anna lost every friend she had.
Every night, Elsa would have horrible nightmares. Sometimes they would be about her powers hurting her sister again. Other times they would be about her powers hurting her parents, or Gerda or Kai. Occasionally they were about Jack and Emma being hurt by her powers, or something happening to Jack, Emma and Anna that Elsa should have prevented but couldn't. Each night, her nightmare was different, and each night, it was more horrifying than the last, but each nightmare had two things in common: someone got hurt because of Elsa, and there was always a tall, thin man with grey skin, gold eyes and black hair that struck fear into the very core of her soul. She was always the only person who could see him, and her fear of him became so strong that she began to see him in her bedroom, standing over her or behind her or behind whoever else was in the room. He became real enough to her that she could feel him touch her, which terrified her even more. He never spoke, but his presence every moment of her childhood was more than enough.
One day, Gerda came into Elsa's room to see if she needed anything, and found Elsa sitting at the window in tears. She came closer and attempted to pull her close, for Gerda did not fear the young girl's magic, but Elsa moved away for fear of hurting her.
"Oh, Miss Elsa, what's wrong?" Gerda asked the girl worriedly. She found the princess upset quite often, but almost never actually found her crying at the window, since she sat next to the door when she missed her sister. Elsa sniffed and attempted to wipe away her tears, to no avail, and Gerda felt her heart break. She knew Elsa had loved playing with the two children who often came into the castle courtyard, so she asked carefully, "Is it the children you played with you miss?"
Elsa nodded and began to cry harder, and Gerda finally succeeded in pulling the ice-cold child into a hug. After a moment's thought, she pulled away and motioned for Elsa to follow her. Elsa stood and walked over to where Gerda was standing by the wall, and watched in shock as the maid simply touched a panel near the corner of the room closest to the window and saw a secret door open. She went closer and saw a set of stairs that appeared to go on forever. Gerda explained that the palace was full of secret passageways, and that the one in Elsa's room would lead outside of the castle walls, should Elsa want to visit her friends. At first the idea terrified the young girl, since her father had closed the gates to protect the outside world from her and didn't want her leaving the palace until she controlled her powers, but Gerda told Elsa her powers would never be controlled if she was always sad and trapped. Since her parents were terribly busy and only visited once each day, once they were gone Elsa would be able to leave the palace to visit Jack and Emma.
"But, what about Anna?" Elsa asked the woman who showed her a secret way out of her prison, but Gerda could only smile sadly. She knew Elsa would never want to leave her sister, but it was impossible for Anna to leave since she was always exploring every inch of the castle. She explained this to Elsa, and told her that Anna would never know the difference. She promised to make sure Anna was never too lonely, and if she wanted someone to play with or talk to, Gerda would keep her company for Elsa. When the princess once again hesitated, Gerda told her that if she could learn to control her powers outside the castle, she would be able to control them inside the castle too, and would be able to play with her sister again. With this hope in mind, Elsa agreed and went through the passageway to find Jack and Emma.
She found their home quickly, as she had been there once while her parents were on a day trip, and Jack was surprised to see her outside. She explained what had happened, and why Anna wasn't with her, and Jack made her feel better. He cheered her up with his pranks, and she released her grief a little at a time through small flurries of her magic, bringing a smile to his face and cheering up his sister despite the fact that Anna couldn't come play anymore. Jack taught her to feel and to not conceal her powers, not wanting her to hide, and Elsa let it go, though she always remembered her father's words.
For the next seven years, Elsa left the palace almost every day in hopes of learning to control her powers. When she was around Jack, she used her powers solely for fun and no one was ever hurt, and Elsa was happy. She never saw the grey skinned man with the gold eyes while she was with them. But the moment she returned to her bedroom and the secret passageway closed, the grey skinned man returned and the happy memories became simply that: memories. She tried making snowmen and snow scenes to mimic her happiness while she was around Jack and Emma, but it was never the same. Anna would come to her door once again asking to build a snowman or ride their bikes through the castle halls, and would tell her about her conversations with the paintings in the room that was solely dedicated to art. She would recount stories that her painting friends would tell her, and Elsa would become upset once again and her powers would become uncontrollable, so all the progress she made with Jack and Emma would be lost.
The time that hurt Elsa more than anything, however, was the day Anna stopped coming to talk to her through the door. Elsa's only connection to her family became her parents, and they couldn't help Elsa when her powers grew stronger. Gerda and Kai both tried to help, but all they could do was tell her that Anna was ok. Jack helped her, when she would visit him, but she always had to go back to an empty bedroom to spend her nights alone with the grey skinned man no one but Elsa could see.
After Anna stopped coming to talk to Elsa, their parents went on a trip to a kingdom called Corona for a princess's wedding. There was a relation on her mother's side, but Elsa wasn't sure what it was. She thought it was her cousin, but unfortunately she never found out. Her parents died at sea during a terrible storm. Elsa hadn't wanted them to go, but they reassured her by saying they would only be gone for two weeks, so she accepted it and retreated to her room while they were gone. She went to visit Jack and Emma a couple of times, and the last time she saw them before the news of the king and queen's deaths reached the palace, Elsa hugged Jack, saying she wanted more than anything to hug her sister. Jack had hugged her back, promising that the next time he saw Anna, he would give her a hug in Elsa's place.
When the funeral came around, Elsa knew she wouldn't be able to control her powers enough to go bury her parents, forcing Anna to go alone. Elsa's bedroom froze over that day, and she sat in front of the door. She missed her parents, but she missed her sister more knowing that while she was alone in her room, her sister was alone in a huge castle. Elsa was able to go visit Jack and Emma, but Anna had to stay inside with Kai and Gerda. Elsa knew she would be safe, but she wanted to be with her sister so badly she hurt.
That night after the funeral, Anna came to her door and begged Elsa to let her in, finally asking once more to build a snowman. The older princess wanted to be with her sister, and wanted to say that yes, she did want to build a snowman. Before she could unlock the door, however, the grey skinned man appeared and she had a flashback to the night of the accident, reliving the moment she hit Anna with her magic after they built a snowman together for the last time, and watched once more as her sister's memories were taken away. She curled up in front of the door and cried silently, and didn't go see Jack and Emma for a few days.
Before Anna left that night, she told Elsa that she had seen Jack and Emma at the funeral. She said it had only been for a moment, just long enough for Jack to give her a hug and tell her he knew Elsa would never stop caring for her, and that she probably wanted to hug Anna herself but couldn't. Anna tried once more to convince Elsa to let her in, but when Elsa remained silent, the youngest, loneliest princess returned to her own bedroom to mourn for her lost family.