A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing!:)
AnacToria Sky-Yay, new reviewer (I'm 99% sure;))! Thanks for the review!:) Elsa can't do that (yet) because I'm keeping this in canon.:)
Lindstrom-I'm thinking maybe he can't accept that someone else is right about something...And besides that, Agdar is really stupid and misinformed.:P
FanGirlJen-Agreed...:/
WarriorQueen 14-Elsa does need a hug, doesn't she...?:/ And yeah, Agdar totally deserves a slap:P
{Randomness: I think Elsa paid us a visit...IT SNOWED HERE LAST NIGHT! AND IT DIDN'T ALL TURN INTO ICE OVERNIGHT! YAY!:) And there's actually enough to play in...hey sis, do you wanna build a snowman?:P}
On to the story!:)
The next day, Anna stuck a note under Elsa's door. Elsa ran to pick it up. "Dear Elsa, I'm super sorry about what happened yesterday. I hid that paper with our conversation in it and I kinda may have told Dad I burned it. And he didn't believe me and said I couldn't have any chocolate till I told the truth. Grrr… I have a hoard of chocolate in my room though so it didn't really matter. Heehee. Love ('CAUSE YOU DESERVE IT), Anna." Elsa heard Anna making noises right outside her door, so she answered, "Tell me when you run out of chocolate. I'll get you more. I better not talk anymore right now. Bye, Anna."
"Elsa, you answered!"
Yeah, I did. Because I'm stupid. Why did I say anything? Every time Anna and I try to have any sort of contact with each other, we get in trouble. And should I have any contact with her? Maybe it's for the best if I don't. I always end up getting upset and losing control or something…I don't know. Anyway, I can get Anna some chocolate easily enough. I'll just do that and nothing else. Elsa's thoughts rambled.
Anna was going to say more, but she thought she heard footsteps down the hall, so she ran off. I'm not getting us in trouble again if I can help it.
Elsa couldn't decide whether she was relieved or disappointed when she thought she heard Anna's footsteps run off. The howling wind outside muffled and distorted sounds outside Elsa's room that she could usually easily decipher otherwise. Dumb storm. I wish it'd hurry up and end. I'm so tired of that noise. Thinking about the storm reminded Elsa of her father thinking she had caused it on purpose, and trying to get her to dispel the storm. Elsa frowned. Why was Dad so adamant that I had caused it? I know I didn't. And the dungeon? Really? That's creepy, mean, and it's not fair. Elsa had only been down to the dungeon once in her life; and although her three-year-old self hadn't been particularly creeped out by it all that much, she had been forbidden to go down there again. When Elsa had wanted to explore down there with Anna when she was six and Anna was three, they had gotten caught halfway down the stairs to the dungeon, and the little bit that Anna had seen had scared her. Since Elsa didn't want to scare Anna (who was usually rather fearless otherwise), they hadn't tried to sneak down there again.
THIRTEEN YEARS AGO…
Three-year-old Elsa knelt next to her baby sister's cradle. "Mommy! Anna's sooo cute! Can I hold her?"
"I don't think you're quite old enough to hold a baby, honey," Idun said.
Little Elsa stood up and put both hands on her hips, accidentally bumping the cradle in the process. "I'm a big girl!" She held up three fingers. "I'm three, 'member?"
Anna started crying in her cradle.
"Why's Anna crying?" Elsa asked.
"Probably because you bumped the cradle. Elsa, why don't you come back later?"
"Didn't mean to make Anna cry." Elsa's face puckered up as she herself started crying. "Mommy don' like me anymore?"
"Of course mommy still likes you. Mommy just has to take care of the baby right now," Idun said, gently rocking the cradle back and forth.
"Can I help? Maybe Anna like snowflakes," Elsa said, plopping down next to the cradle again. She held out her hand and made a snowflake; then flipped her hand over so her palm and the floating snowflake faced baby Anna. "Look, Mommy! Snowflake de-fy-ing gra-vi-ty," the little girl sounded out, pleased with her new trick. "Anna likes it too!" Elsa added happily, noticing that her baby sister had stopped crying and was staring at Elsa's snowflake instead.
"Let's not show that to Anna just yet, Elsa. Wait till she's older," Idun said, pushing Elsa's hand away from the cradle.
"Why?" Elsa asked. "Anna likes it! Ooh, d'you think Anna has magics like me?!" Elsa thought that would be so cool! She and Anna could make awesome things together. Or play catch with floating snowflakes! Elsa hopped up from her spot next to the cradle, careful not to bump it again. "Me an' Anna could de-fy gra-vi-ty together!" She formed a snowflake in her other hand and flipped both palms toward the floor. "Mommy…? Watch this!" Elsa bit her lip in concentration as she tossed both snowflakes at the floor and caught them again, as if she were doing a yo-yo trick.
"Elsa…where did you hear the words 'defying gravity'?"
"Daddy tol' me. Gra-vi-ty keeps us stuck on the ground. De-fy is what I do when I'm bad an' don' listen." Elsa continued bouncing her snowflakes up and down. "Mommy…? Does Anna have magics like me?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Maybe they didn't show yet." Little Elsa dropped her snowflakes, ran over to her baby sister, and grabbed her hands. "Snow, Anna! Snow! Mommy, Anna's darker'n me. See?" Elsa compared her pale hand with Anna's slightly darker one. "And it didn't work," she pouted, referring to Anna's inability to make snow like Elsa did.
"Elsa, please stop. Run off and play with your dolls or something."
"Tired of that. Play with Anna?" Elsa asked hopefully. "I won' ask 'nymore ques-tions!"
"Honey, Anna is too little to play with you."
"Can I hold her? Pleeeaase?" Elsa begged. "I'm three. I'm big enough."
"Maybe when Anna is a little older. Be a good girl and run off and play."
"Okay, bye…" Elsa trudged slowly out of the room. I know I could hold Anna if Mommy would let me! She'd be super careful. Maybe her mother just didn't want her showing her special ability to Anna because she didn't want Anna to catch cold. "Cold" never affected Elsa, though, so she had no idea what it felt like. Anyway, Elsa wasn't going to worry about that now. She was going to go exploring instead. When Elsa arrived at the top of the staircase, she decided it was going to take much too long to get down to the bottom with her short three-year-old legs. So she made a sheet of ice just large enough to sit on before pushing off and thumping and bumping down the staircase.
Maybe this was not one of Elsa's better ideas. Halfway down the stairs, the edge of the ice sheet caught on a stair and dumped the little girl off. Elsa went rolling down the rest of the stairs, unable to stop. "HELP!" she shrieked, reaching for a railing every few seconds but failing. She finally came to a stop at the foot of the stairs, finding herself sprawled in a pile of snow. I don't 'member making that, she thought. Maybe my magics knew I needed help and it did it by itself! Elsa hopped to her feet and stuck her throbbing finger in her mouth; then jerked it out a moment later when something sharp poked her tongue. "I got an owie," Elsa said to no one in particular when she saw the splinter in her finger. "Won't come out!" she said in frustration when she couldn't get hold of the splinter to pull it out.
Elsa heard angry-sounding voices from somewhere downstairs. The 'owie' temporarily forgotten, she headed towards the voices, wanting to know what was going on. Daddy's talking to somebody from 'nother kingdom in the Great Hall. Elsa knew she wasn't supposed to bother her father when he was having a meeting, but she really, really wanted to know what was going on. She pushed the door to the Great Hall open and stepped inside.
"For the last time, no, Arendelle is not raising taxes on imports and exports from Weselton! Why would you, the duke, want to do that anyway?" Elsa heard her father say.
"I should think Arendelle would be most eager to do that, as your kingdom would gain more income," the Duke of Weselton replied.
Elsa immediately decided she did not like that man. She wasn't sure why; he just made her skin crawl. Elsa looked back at her father, wondering how he would reply. Neither adult had noticed her yet.
"Raising taxes is unnecessary at this time," Agdar said calmly.
"But it's beneficial to all parties involved!"
The real reason this strange man wanted her daddy to raise taxes suddenly hit Elsa. She had no idea what a lot of the words the two men exchanged meant, but she did know what taxes were, and that you didn't want to raise them unless it was absolutely necessary because it made your kingdom's people mad. If her father said raising taxes was unnecessary, then it was. So the strange man was probably wanting the extra money for himself. "You mean it's just be-ne-fi-cial to you 'cause you wanna cheat an' keep extra money for yourself, Mr. Weaseltown," little Elsa announced loudly.
"Who said that?!" the duke asked angrily. "It's Weselton!" The duke caught sight of Elsa standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips. "King Agdar, is that your daughter?" he said, pointing an accusing finger at Elsa.
Before Agdar could say a word, Elsa ran across the room to the throne dais, gave a slightly clumsy curtsy, and said, "Crown Princess Elsa of Aren-delle, sir."
Agdar squatted down to Elsa's height and said quietly, "Elsa, what are you doing here? You're interrupting an important meeting."
"I was wonderin' what all the noisy talking was." Elsa pointed at the duke and added, "Daddy, he's trying to cheat on moneys!"
"King Agdar, you aren't going to believe a toddler, are you? She doesn't know what she's talking about!"
"I'm not a toddler! I'm three!" Elsa retorted. "Daddy, will you fix my finger? I got a splinter."
Agdar shushed Elsa and quietly told her to leave the room and find Gerda instead before standing up and saying, "She may be three, but she does have a point. What other reason could you have for being so adamant toward raising taxes?"
"It would gain Arendelle more income! You have no proof that I am trying to 'cheat on moneys', as your daughter so eloquently suggested!" the duke replied. "I don't look forward to that little brat on the throne of Arendelle in the future," he added under his breath.
"Did you just call my daughter, the crown princess of Arendelle, a little brat?"
"No! No, of course not!"
The conversation faded away as Elsa headed farther away from the Great Hall. That mean man called me a brat. He's the one trying to cheat and get extra money! Not me! She was sure her daddy would tell him off, so she skipped off in search of Gerda to fix her finger.
She finally found Gerda in the kitchen. "Gerda, I got a splinter. I can't get it out!" Elsa held up her finger. "I smell choc'late! Making cake?" she asked.
"Yes, princess. The cake is for after dinner, not now. Let's take a look at that finger." Gerda picked up the little girl and set her down in a chair. "Now which finger is it?"
"This one." Elsa stuck out her tongue at the offending splinter.
"It isn't nice to stick out your tongue, princess," Gerda said as she looked at Elsa's finger.
"What if I don' care? Didn't do it at a person," Elsa said. "That hurt!" she added, trying to pull her hand away.
"Hold still, princess. It's almost out."
Elsa did her best to make her three-year-old self stay still. "Gerda…? C'n I show you somethin'?"
"How about when we have your finger all fixed?"
"Okay." Now Elsa had a really good reason to stay still.
A few seconds later, the splinter was out, and Elsa stuck her sore finger in her mouth. "Thanks you, Gerda," she said.
"You're very welcome. Princess, don't put your finger in your mouth. Let's rinse it off instead, shall we?"
"All right." When Elsa stuck her hand under the stream of water in the faucet, she flipped her palm face-up toward the ceiling, and a fountain of water sprayed everywhere, leaving twinkling ice droplets on the ceiling. Elsa giggled. "Stars on the ceiling!" she announced proudly.
Gerda turned the water off. "Princess Elsa. Look at the kitchen! There's water everywhere! You know doing that with the water makes a mess."
Elsa's lower lip quivered and she started to cry. "I just wanted t' see if I could make stars on the ceiling…" She pointed at the twinkling ice droplets. "Sorry I made mess." Elsa glanced at the snowflakes falling around her. "Gerda, why's it snowing 'round me? Looks de-press-ing."
"Because you're upset, honey. Don't worry about the mess. Just don't make the water spray everywhere again. Where did you hear the word 'depressing'?"
"Mommy. Somethin' about not being able to fix me. I heared her talkin' to Daddy. But I don' need fixing! Like Elsa way I am. Happy Elsa makes happy magics?" Elsa asked curiously, poking at the falling snowflakes. The snowflakes disappeared entirely as Elsa's mood changed.
Gerda knelt down to Elsa's height and gave the little girl a hug. "Yes, princess, happy Elsa makes happy 'magics'. You're right; you don't need fixing."
"Mommy said I did. Why'd she say that then?"
"I don't know, Princess Elsa. Don't worry yourself about it."
"Okay. C'n I go ex-plor-ing?" Elsa asked.
"Just be careful, princess."
"Mmkay!" Elsa ran out of the kitchen and headed toward the stairs that led downstairs to the dungeon. She had never been down there before, but she really, really wanted to know what was down there. Elsa climbed down the stone stairs and tiptoed past the guard at the bottom. Made it! Glancing down the long hallway at the row of doors, she wondered which one to pick to open to look in. One, two, three, four, five…five, four, three, two, one…I pick…that one! Elsa pushed the heavy door open and peeked inside. "Ah-choo!" she sneezed. It was very dusty and just a teeny bit creepy down here. Not creepy enough to make her run back upstairs, though! Elsa went into the cell and stood on her tiptoes, trying to see out the latticed window. I'm too short. No fair. There were two metal cup things lying on the floor attached to long chains. Elsa picked up one of the mysterious metal things and promptly dropped it a second later because it was too heavy for her small hands to hold. It clattered loudly on the stone floor. Oops. A moment later, Elsa found herself looking up at the guard who had been at the bottom of the stairs.
"Princess Elsa, what are you doing down here? Little girls such as yourself don't need to be down here in the dungeon."
"I'm just lookin'. What's the metal things?" Elsa pointed at the 'metal things' on the floor.
The guard wondered just what to tell to a three-year-old that would make sense but not scare her. Elsa liked learning new words, and would promptly start using them immediately thereafter. "They're shackles, princess. For locking up bad people. Now you run back upstairs and don't come down here again."
"I wanna look in th' other rooms first," Elsa announced. "Creepy an' int'resting down here." She headed out of the cell and started to push open the door to the one next to it.
"Let's not." The guard scooped up the little girl and carried her back up the steps to the main first floor of the castle.
"THAT'S NO FAIR! I CAN PULL RANK, Y'KNOW!" Elsa stamped her foot, and a thin sheen of ice began spreading under her feet.
The guard rubbed his eyes in surprise. "Is that-is that ice? And where did you hear the term 'pull rank'?"
Oops. Daddy and Mommy told me not to show anybody my magics 'cept Kai and Gerda. Elsa calmed down; the ice disappeared; and she said, "What ice? An' I heard pull rank from Daddy. I'm third in au-thor-ty in Aren-delle. Daddy, Mommy, then me," she counted on her fingers. "Why's people keep askin' where I hear words?"
"Princess, you use words kids your age don't normally use, that's all."
Elsa thought that over for a minute. "Does that mean I'm not normal? An' if I'm not…is normal somethin' I wanna be?"
The guard sighed. Why did he have to be the one trying to explain what exactly 'normal' means to the three-year-old crown princess? "It just means you sometimes talk like a child older than you are."
"Oh. Okay." Elsa turned and walked away, trying to do her best mature and grown-up walk. Then as soon as she reached the main staircase, she dropped that and scrambled up the stairs as fast as she could go. "Mommy! Mommy! Guess what I saw down-stairs?! I was gonna tell Daddy too, but he's busy with a cheater man in th' Great Hall!"
BACK IN THE PRESENT…
Elsa paced back and forth in her room, thinking. When I was three, I didn't know any better. I purposely went down to the dungeon to explore. What a dumb little kid I must have been. I got forbidden to go down there because it 'wasn't a place for a young girl' to be. Now Dad actually wanted to put me down there. She shuddered, remembering those metal shackles she'd seen so long ago. All because of a storm I didn't make…because I predicted its occurrence. Then again, I don't think Mom and Dad ever really 'approved' of me, even when I was little. Even then, I wasn't allowed to use my powers outside the castle. It just didn't matter to me all that much because I could easily control it then. And because I was naïve and didn't know any better. "Of course, I'm not that same little girl anymore…I wasn't out of control then. What made me unable to control my powers anymore?" she wondered aloud. My powers weren't nearly as strong then, either…
You hurt Anna. That's what did it. "But I'm still me! I should have been able to fix everything afterwards!" Elsa said. You hit your sister in the head. You freaked yourself out and almost killed Anna. You lost your naïveté. That's what happened. "Why can't I remember how I controlled it when I was little? Why?!"
A/N: So...technically Elsa has seen the 'special cell', but she thinks it's just a regular one since she never saw any of the others.
Sorry if little Elsa talks too well for a three-year-old.:P One of my "headcanons" is that Elsa has this super awesome vocabulary, although she doesn't use it all the time. (Hence her 'I advocate you do naught apropos this contravention of punctilio' remark in the last chapter...) So I thought little Elsa would like learning new words.:)
Next chapter coming soon!:)