Chapter Five: Elsa
She was alone. Nothing new there. She'd been alone for a long, long time. Alone and scared. if she had to sum up her life in two words, those would be it. Alone and scared.
That had never been the intention. To seclude her. To isolate her. It just sort of happened.
She'd always been a sickly child. Always on the brink of life and death. For most of her life, she'd been confined to her room, too sick to move or exert herself. When it first started, her parents had reduced the staff, limited her contact with people, and kept her ill health hidden from everyone. Including Anna. They hadn't wanted the press to find out. Hadn't wanted the info that the heads of a big and powerful company had a sickly daughter. She would've been ostracized. He face, name, and story plastered across every front page. Her parents had only tried to protect her from all that. Protected her from the press, the unwanted attention, the hounding paparazzi. She knew that. She knew it had been for her own good. But that didn't make being alone any easier to handle.
And then there was Anna. Elsa had been separated from her sister ever since her ill health had started. The thought was that it would only be temporary. That she'd get better soon enough. In the mean time, they simply hadn't wanted to worry Anna. So they locked Elsa away and kept Anna at bay.
Only, it wasn't temporary. Elsa did not get better quickly. A few weeks of ill health turned into months. Months turned into years. The lie kept getting bigger and bigger. Elsa was confined to her room, whether she was well enough to leave or not. No one could find out how sick she was, not even Anna. And Elsa had gone along with it.
She didn't know why she'd agreed. Agreed to be locked away like some animal or monster. Agreed to be isolated and alone. Agreed to be separated from her sister for so long. Her parents had only meant well, but look at what "well meant" did.
She regretted it now. Regretted to going along with their choice to keep her locked away and alone. She was alone now. Just as she had been for the past thirteen years. Alone and scared. Her room was empty no more nurses. No more doctors. Just her. In her room. Burning up from the fever. Terrified of what she'd turned into after the coma hit. Alone.
She wished she had someone there with her now. Maybe then she wouldn't be so scared.
But she couldn't. She couldn't let Anna in. Couldn't risk even the smallest chance that Anna would catch the virus from her, despite the fact that her sister had been immune until now. Couldn't risk the chance of her turning into, into one of those…things while her sister was near. She just couldn't. Anna was her only family left. She had to protect her in the only way she could. By keeping the door shut and keeping Anna away.
Even though she wished more than anything that she didn't have to.
The worst part about all of this wasn't even the fact that she had caught the virus. It was the she'd been getting better. After years of a poor immune system and teetering on the edge of death, she was finally getting better.
It was the doctor. A Mr. Bodhi Mann. He'd introduced a new treatment. One that was making her stronger, making her healthier. She hadn't been sick in weeks, thanks to him. She was getting better. The thought of a life beyond her bedroom walls was becoming real. She was going to be out in the world. She wasn't have to be alone anymore.
That is, until the virus hit. At first, they couldn't tell what it was. Even Dr. Mann was at a loss. All they knew was that she was burning up. Her eyes fogged over and her skin grew pale. She had shortness of breath and her skin began to sag. It was an unknown disease. It was new. It was strange. It was terrifying.
And then it was on the news. This virus. This HSE disease. What would eventually be called "the zombie virus." Apparently, she wasn't the only one to have caught it. There were reports of it across the globe. Reports from London. Bangkok. New York. Sydney. Tokyo. It was everywhere. And there was no cure.
At least they knew what was happening to her, now. It was only a matter of time before she'd pass into a coma, just like every other patient. And then she'd rise from the dead, clawing and biting like some animal. She'd turn into a monster. That was a fact.
Soon, Dr. Mann stopped coming for her regular check-ups. The maids and the cooks stopped coming to work not long after. The world was in a panic. The epidemic was everywhere. The schools closed. Then the hospitals. Then the news stations shut down. Any method of transportation in or out of the country was impossible. They couldn't risk the infection spreading further than it already had. There were riots in the streets. Storied of people attacking each other. Killing each other. Eating each other. It was chaos. It was fear and confusion. It was the infection.
And then, the unthinkable happened. Their parents caught it. Elsa could do nothing as she heard her sister say those words through her closed door.
"They're sick, Elsa."
At least they didn't have to suffer long. They succumbed to the coma and its aftereffects quick enough. The virus was funny like that. For some, the infection would last for months before the coma hit. For others, merely hours.
Elsa never knew what happened to her parents after the coma part of the infection left them. She never found out what Anna had to do when their parents suddenly started attacking their daughter, scratching and biting wherever they could reach at. She never knew. Never found out. She never wanted to.
It wasn't too long before Elsa succumbed to the coma, herself. As she lay there in bed, staring at her ceiling, her skin on fire as she felt as the virus began to cook her insides, she thought of her sister. Anna. More than anything, she wished she could've opened her door, for once in her life. Let her sister in. Let her know what had been happening to her. She wished she'd been able to play with her like they'd always used to when they were younger. They used to be best buddies. And now, they weren't. And thanks to this stupid virus, they never could be again.
Tears ran down her face, the coolness of them welcome when in contrast to her burning skin. If she'd had the strength, she would have screamed. Would've shouted to the heavens at the injustice of it all. She never had a childhood. Never had friends. Never knew a look on her parents' faces that wasn't fear or worry that she'd drop dead the next day. Never had a chance to get to know her had a life of her own.
And now, she never would. Looking back, it was ridiculous to think that she'd ever had a chance at living a normal life. Of being healthy and care free. It'd always been a pipe-dream. Some unreachable goal that was beyond impossible.
Finally, it'd caught up to her. Her ill health had reached a point of no return. She was sick. And she was never getting better.
One last tear rolled out of the side of Elsa's eye to soak into the fabric of her pillow before she closed her eyes and let the virus over-take her.
There were dreams. Images that flashed before her.
It's a little known fact that people still dream while in a coma. Their brains are still active enough to create, random sparks of code and information that we can interpret as sounds and images. That was what she was seeing now.
Two girls, running through the forest. A sleigh in each set of hands as they bounded through the snow. Elsa's heart soared as a smile stretched her face.
"Anna, wait!" she called with a laugh. "You're going too fast!"
"Come on Elsa!" her sister shouted over her shoulder. "Let's build a snowman!"
They continued to run, ignoring the chill, winter air that bit at their cheeks and nipped at their noses.
Laughter rang out like Christmas bells through the trees.
—
She crept towards the door. Her parents were in the other room, talking in hushed voices. There was a third person. A doctor.
"We'll protect her. We will limit her contact with people. Keep away the press. Limit the staff and close our doors to the public. The less we put her through, the better."
It was her father. He sounded scared. She didn't know why he was scared. Maybe it had something to do with the papers the doctor had. "Reports," he'd called them.
—
She was crying. Sobbing and screaming at the doctors and nurses that filled her room.
"Stay away from me!" she yelled. A nurse came at her with a needle.
She screamed and kicked her away.
"No, no, no! No more tests! It hurts!"
They'd had to call her parents.
"Elsa, honey, look at me," her dad said, holding her shoulders, not letting her move.
"I know it hurts, but it's the only way they can help you. It's the only way you can get better. Do you understand that?"
Tears streamed down her face.
"But Daddy, it hurts!"
"Then you have to conceal it," he said, his voice filled with pain at having to watch his daughter in so much agony. "If you lock away the pain, it'll go away. Don't feel it. Don't let it show. But, Elsa, dear, you have to let them do their tests. It's the only way to help you. Can you do that for me?"
She sniffed. Her eyes were still streaming and her arm still stung from where the nurse had poked her. She looked over at the sharp, metal tool on the tray next to her bed and then back to her father.
With another sniff, she nodded.
—
A dark man with black hair sat at her bedside. She held out her arm, ready for a needle filled with green medicine. She'd grown out of the tantrums and screaming years ago.
"Dr. Mann?" she asked, disrupting the quite of the room.
"Yes, my dear?"
"Do you think I'll be able to see my sister again?"
The doctor froze as he reached for his syringe. A small smile tugged at his mouth, before continuing to move to pick up the needle.
"Absolutely. I do think, my dear, that you shall be completely healthy in no time."
Elsa smiled at the thought as she laid back on her pillow and let Dr. Mann swab her arm with alcohol. She showed no reaction as the doctor slid the needle into her skin. Over the years, the pin-pricks and injections never hurt any less. She'd just gotten better at concealing the pain.
She opened her eyes. Shadows were spread across the ceiling as light streamed in from her window. It was dead silent, the only sound being her breathing to fill the still air. She blinked. Her fever was gone, the heat and sweat from her skin having disappeared. She blinked again.
What?
Was this another dream? No. It couldn't be. Everything was so real, so solid. She sat up, letting the covers fall away from her. She instantly regretted moving as a agonizing pain shot through her skull. Her hand shot to her head and her shoulders hunched over. She took a few seconds, quickly dealing with the pain and repressing it as best she could. Head still pounding, she stood and made her way towards her door.
On her way, she glanced at herself in a mirror hanging on the wall. She stopped in her tracks.
What?
She stumbled towards the mirror, her mind confused by what it was seeing.
Her hair was white. Like snow. Her eyes were bright blue. Like ice.
That didn't make sense. This was not what she looked like. She was supposed to have her mother's hair and her father's eyes. What was in the mirror was not her face. She reached up and ran her fingers through her hair. Her reflection copied her. She blinked. The reflection blinked.
Thoughts whirled in her head. A memory or two of news reports saying that those that had woken from teh HSE coma all had birght blue, dead eyes. Some of the infected had clumps fo white hair, turned britle and dead by the virus. That couldn't be what had happened to her, could it? No, that didn't make sense. She felt fine, she hadn't turned into one of those...things. She wasn't dead. Plus, she'd never seen a picture of an infected person with a full head of white hair, like hers.
What is going on?
Mind reeling, headache still pounding, Elsa pulled away from the mirror and staggered to her door to fiddle with the lock. Aside from the torture of a headache, her head was fuzzy. Her limbs were heavy and her thoughts slow. It felt as if she'd just woken up from a long, afternoon nap. Only the feeling was magnified tenfold.
Elsa staggered her way to the top of the stairs, and gripped the handrail to support her shaking legs as she made her way down the steps.
The house was silent, devoid of any sounds or life. She couldn't help but wonder if her sister was still here or if she'd had already left. Elsa wondered just how long she'd been in that coma.
The house was still silent as the grave as she reached the bottom step. She glanced around and found everything in a slight order of disarray. It wasn't as if everything were trashed or anything like that. It was simply a lot less clean than what she was used to seeing. From what she could see, she couldn't find any signs that someone had been here recently. It all felt so…empty. Elsa could feel her heart sink as she realized that the house must have been abandoned.
"Elsa?"
She spun around, the sound startling her in the silence. She froze.
Right there, on the tile of the grad entry way at the bottom of the stairs, was Anna. She was standing there, shoulders and hands filled with bags and gear. Her eyes were wide, her face in a state of shock.
"Anna?" Elsa asked, a small laugh escaping her as relief flooded her chest. She wasn't alone after all.
Anna's face lit up. Her bags fell to the floor as she ran towards her sister and nearly tackled her to the ground in a bear hug.
"Oh, my God! You're alive!"
Elsa laughed as she wrapped her arms around her sister.
"I know!"
"You're okay! You're alive!" her sister repeated as she threatened to crush Elsa's rib-cage.
Elsa could only laugh as her relief overwhelmed her and tears started streaking down her face.
"Oh, my God!" Anna said again. "What—"
She pulled away suddenly to look at her sister from arms length, tears streaming down her face.
"How on Earth...? What? You're supposed to be dead!"
Elsa couldn't come up with words. She was at a loss, all she could do was shrug.
"I-I mean. Look at you! You survived! You're alright. My God, your hair! Your eyes!"
"I know," she said through her tears and laughter. She couldn't understand what had happened any better than her sister. She had no answers. No clues or hints. And quite honestly, she didn't care that she didn't have a clue. All she had was a working heart and thinking brain and her sister, standing right here in front of her. That was all she needed.
"What happened? No one has ever survived. How did you survive? "
"I don't know."
A/N: guys. guys. GUYS. Be still my heart, have you SEEN the newly released HTTYD2 clip of Hiccup and Astrid? HAVE YOU? If not, see it NOW, or so help me, my fandom powers will strike you down. These two lil' shits. Are the cutest fucking thing I've ever seen. (And I'm not one for a hetero ship, usually. (no hate, I swear, just usually can't find a good one that i like)) You see Astrid hold out her hand when Hic starts talking and he just gives her his pencil like they've done it a mill times before and they're so in sync and you can tell that they just KNOW each other and it's such a REAL relationship thing they got goin on and I JUST CAN'T. To be honest, never been much of a Hicstrid shipper, but fuck. This clip. This ship. New OTP. Drowning in feels. Pls send help.