Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long since the last update, i've had an incredibly busy week! Thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited and reviewed this story! It means a lot to me that people like it! :) I will try to update this again later this week, but no promises. Thanks again everyone, I hope you enjoy Chapter 3!
"Elsa..?" She heard a voice in the distance say. It was so far away... at least it seemed to be ….And it was so dark... Where was she?
She was surrounded by darkness, there was no light….or anything it seemed like. Suddenly a flash of red appeared, the figure was falling. She suddenly recognized it as her sister. Why was she falling? Elsa thought, and why could she only see the bright red of her hair?
"Elsa..?" She heard again, this time a little closer.
"Wh-what?" She moaned, still dreaming.
"Wake up..." The voice said.
"Wake up..." It said again, louder.
Elsa realized it was a real voice calling to her and quickly snapped out of her dream.
"Anna?" She asked, opening her eyes to find the red head staring down at her.
"Thank god." Anna said sitting down on the bed. "You wouldn't wake up and I thought... I thought.." She said the last one in a whisper, her blue eyes welling with tears.
Elsa sat up, ignoring the sharp pain in her chest.
"Hey," She started, "I'm not going anywhere." She said resting her hand on Anna's, coughing softly.
Anna smiled weakly. Remembering why she had come up, she stood up, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Let's get you some dinner and some more medicine, okay." She said as more of a statement than question.
Anna turned to the table beside Elsa's bed. She picked up the tray containing Elsa's dinner of what looked like chicken noodle soup and a slice of bread and placed it gently on her lap.
"I'm really not that hungry.." Elsa started but was quickly cut off by the glare she received from her sister.
"You have to. Doctor's orders." Anna said pointing her finger at her sister to emphasize her point.
Elsa did remember the doctor saying something like that…. she had just hoped her sister forgotten that little detail.
"Eat." Anna ordered gesturing towards the food on Elsa's tray. Elsa sneezed as if in response. The girls heard the familiar hum of the snowgies and turned to see 5 wandering around the room.
"I'll get them." Anna said rolling up her sleeves. "Come here you," she said going after one as it darted behind the dresser. Elsa suppressed a giggle. Anna never failed to lighten the mood.
"Gotcha!" She exclaimed holding 4 of the 5 snowgies. "I'll come back for the other one." She said smiling sheepishly. Somehow opening the door with her foot Anna teetered out the door. "Olaf! I have more for you!" She heard Anna shout from down the hall.
"More?! Ohhh! Come meet the rest of the family!" The snow man said.
Elsa looked down at the meal in front of her. She wasn't hungry in the least... But she had to admit it did look pretty good...
3 bites. She told herself. Just 3 bites. She took a deep breath and reached her shaky hand out for the spoon.
"Here, let me." She heard her sister's voice say, who had returned from Olaf's room ridiculously fast.
"Anna... I can feed myself you know.." Elsa blushed.
"You should save your strength. Come on..." She said, taking the spoon and holding it to Elsa's mouth.
Elsa hated being taken care of, she was used to taking care of herself. This all seemed too much fuss for one person. But as Elsa well knew, there was no use arguing with Anna.
She sighed, complying with her ever so stubborn sister.
Despite her apprehensiveness, it turned out Elsa was indeed quite hungry. In fact she had finished every last drop.
"There, was that so hard?" Anna teased, removing the tray from the queen's lap and placing it on the bedside table.
Elsa raised her eyebrows in response.
She was feeling a bit better. Not to say she felt good, she still ached from head to toe... just not as much as she did earlier in the day.
She peered out the window, it was pitch black, the chatter of the streets had quieted and all there was to be heard was the soft chirp of crickets. It must have been later than she thought.
She pulled the covers up to her chest, suddenly very tired.
"Oh no you don't." Anna said noticing her sister's eyes start to droop. "Not until you take this..."
Elsa opened her eyes. Anna held out the bottle of Oaken's medicine, a grin on her face.
Elsa cringed. Not again, she thought.
Too tired to protest, she willingly let Anna administer her medicine. It tasted even worse the second time.
Putting the medicine on the tray, Anna picked it up and turned to leave, making sure to grab the last snowgie before leaving.
Elsa was glad to get some rest, but thought it strange her sister didn't say goodnight.
Too tired to think, she brushed the thought off for the night, nuzzling deeper under the blankets. She was hot and cold at the same time. Everything hurt. She couldn't breathe through her nose and her throat was on fire. Sleep was her only chance at escape from the pain that gripped her body. She loved being out in the world again, but had decided very surely that she did not like 'the common cold.'
She suddenly felt the covers move on her left side and a small body slip into bed with her.
"Anna?" Elsa questioned, not opening her eyes.
"Yeah?" The princess asked, snuggling closer to her sister.
"What are you doing?" Elsa said struggling to open her eyes and rolling over to face Anna.
"I'm staying with you." Anna said matter of factly.
"You can't-" Elsa said, interrupted by a loud cough. "You'll get sick." She finished, her eyes widened with worry
"I'll be fine." Anna said, waving her hand. She knew she was more susceptible to getting sick, and maybe this wasn't the smartest decision on her part.. okay probably a pretty bad one.. but she needed to be there for her sister no matter what. She needed to make sure Elsa would be alright, and it felt safer to stay with her.
"Anna I really don't - "
"Shhh- just get some rest." Anna mumbled, cuddling right up to her sister, nuzzling her head on the queen's shoulder.
Elsa was stiff at first; she still didn't like being touched or crowded. Even when it was Anna it was hard for her to relax.
As Anna drifted into sleep she subconsciously wrapped her arms around Elsa. Elsa froze at the unexpected embrace, but gradually relaxed as she grew more tired, and more used to the contact. Eventually, she even rested her hands on her sister's shoulders, letting her head rest next to Anna's as sleep overtook her.
The sisters slept soundly for several hours, until Elsa's fever spiked again at around 1 in the morning.
The queen shivered, cold under the several layers of blankets. Her head tossed and turned, her breathing becoming more rapid.
"No..." The girl moaned in her feverish state, beginning to shake harder. "No!" She moaned louder.
Anna stirred in her sleep. She opened one eye. "What Elsa..?" She said, still half asleep.
"Slow down!" Elsa said, tossing and turning her whole body and shivering even harder.
Suddenly Anna was wide awake. "Elsa?" She said sitting up in bed "it's okay... I'm right here... I'm not going anywhere.." Anna comforted her sister, confused by what she was saying.
"Anna!" Elsa shouted in her sleep.
"I'm right here Elsa.." Anna said louder, wanting desperately for her sister to hear her.
"I didn't mean to strike you.." Elsa said, so quietly Anna could barely hear her.
Anna took a breath, realizing what this was about.
"It's okay Elsa, you were scared. You didn't mean too." She must be having a bad dream about freezing me a few months ago, Anna thought.
"No... You were so little... You almost died..." Elsa mumbled.
"What?" Anna said, her face twisting into a frown. What is she talking about? Anna thought.
"Mama! Papa!" Elsa shrieked, this one jolting her awake, gasping for air. She began to shiver even harder, her teeth chattering.
"Elsa?" Anna said softly, lightly touching the elder's shoulder. The queen relaxed back onto the bed, closing her eyes. They hurt too much to keep open. Her mind was everywhere at once.
She could hear Anna, but again, she sounded so far away..
"Elsa what were you talking about?" The words echoed in the queen's ear.
"I didn't mean to hurt you Anna... I didn't mean to..." Elsa mumbled, too delirious to think straight, her head was pounding so loudly she could barely hear anything at all.
Anna peered at her sister, concern evident on her face.
"You almost died... The trolls saved you... You ... Were... So young... only 5..."
Elsa was not coherently aware that in actuality her sister was right there. Her brain was not working, all she wanted was sleep, but these thoughts wouldn't leave her and did not process she was saying these things out loud.
She never wanted Anna to know the truth about what happened that night. She was afraid her sister would never forgive her if she knew Elsa had almost killed her twice. She had been doomed all night to relive one of the scariest moments of her life and just wanted it to end.
What on earth was she talking about? Anna thought, the last time she checked, she had only almost died once... And she was 18 when it happened, not 5...
"I had to lock myself away…" Elsa continued to ramble, "I didn't want to hurt you..they ... " Elsa's voice started to fade. "Erased your memories... You forgot... Don't forget who I am Anna.." Elsa slurred, fading back to sleep, but not slowing her shivers.
Anna grabbed the extra blanket Gerda had left beside the bed and wrapped it over the 4 thick layers that already surrounded Elsa. It didn't make much of a difference, as the queen kept on shaking but it made Anna feel better, like she was helping.
She sat there trying to make sense of what her sister had just said... Was Elsa trying to say what happened to her last year had happened before? But... That couldn't be... The sisters had promised no more secrets. Not that Anna was following that rule…as Elsa didn't really know about her medical situation... But that was different!
She lay thinking the rest of the night, unable to fall back asleep, which is saying something for Anna as the princess slept as much as she possibly could.
Later in the night Elsa rolled over, this time her arms wrapping around Anna's torso.
Anna didn't pull away, but she didn't return the embrace. She couldn't help but wonder if what her sister had said was true. She was running quite a high temperature.. Anna thought. Maybe it was just mindless rambling but what she said would make so much sense!
The closed door, Elsa saying she didn't want to hurt Anna... Maybe she had hurt Anna and didn't want to again…?
Maybe…. maybe she was the reason her sister had shut the world out... But what had happened? And why did Elsa not tell her about it?
These thought all troubled Anna, but the thought she could not escape was "Did I do something? What if I'm the reason Elsa shut out the world…. What if it's all my fault…."