Disclaimer: Frozen and all recognizable characters are owned by Disney. (Though I'm pretty sure you all knew that, already. ^_^ )

Summary: Rather than talking to paintings, after Elsa shut her out, Anna took to playing with her invisible friend, Mara. Only, as she grew up, Mara didn't go away.

Three Years Later

She was late, again.

It was all Anna could do to walk calmly down the hall, rather than breaking into a sprint. She was supposed to have been in Elsa's office at least ten minutes ago. Well, Elsa got caught up in paperwork all the time these days, right? Maybe she hadn't noticed?

She winced and walked a little faster.

Just a few years ago, she wouldn't have been fighting her natural inclination to hurry. In the time since, however, Elsa had insisted that, when she was where other people could see her, she at least give the illusion of maintaining proper decorum. It was one of the only things Elsa had ever asked of her, and there was a part of her that was embarrassed that she'd even needed to be asked to behave like the proper Princess she was supposed to be. As such, she'd taken to trying to give herself enough time to actually get places without rushing, and finding the best way to phrase her reasons for being late without it seeming like she was making excuses.

She'd been getting a lot of practice at the latter.

She'd also made sure to keep her discussions with Mara as private as she could manage. She had a sneaking suspicion that was at least half of what had prompted Elsa's request; Arendelle already had an heir that suffered from depression and anxiety attacks (Anna had freaked out the first time Elsa had one while she was around - Elsa had 'neglected to mention' that any such thing ever happened - to the point where Mara had needed to calm her down just so that she could, in turn, calm Elsa down), they didn't need a princess that walked around talking to voices in her head. She'd never said Mara had to go - she'd been very careful about that - just not to be seen doing it. It had been a reasonable enough request, and she hadn't felt like explaining Mara to anyone else, so she'd agreed.

Fortunately, Mara hadn't been offended.

Lengthy conversations were reserved for when they were alone. Elsa's presence was acceptable, but not necessarily preferred. Anna knew that her sister got a bit uncomfortable when she did that, and that, in turn, irritated Mara. Best to just avoid the whole thing whenever possible. Around other people, she did her best to limit herself to simple statements that seemed to be just thinking aloud. Quirky was acceptable for a princess, crazy was not.

Elsa didn't show up for every meal, but ever since that first awkward breakfast, she'd been doing her best to do so more and more frequently. If she couldn't make it for whatever reason - usually work-related - she at least made sure Anna knew ahead of time not to expect her. Learning how to talk to each other in an informal setting again had been a slow, lengthy process. Still, while things could even now be a bit stilted and awkward between them, they did talk, and read together, and, on rare occasions, even play.

That had been the most difficult part of this whole business. Elsa had taken a while to get to the point where she was even at all comfortable around other people. Physical contact had taken even longer. Getting her to relax to the point where she was able to have fun...? Still a work in progress. Sitting together reading was one thing. Simple things like card games or chess hadn't been too much harder. (Anna could often win the first, if only due to Elsa's unfamiliarity with them, but, unsurprisingly, Elsa almost always beat her at chess.) Bicycle and/or horse riding had been flatly rejected... which had actually been fine with Anna, who had trouble getting along with skittish animals like that, for some reason.

Anna hadn't yet worked up the nerve to ask Elsa to make a snowman.

Still, even if it took helping Elsa with her work, Anna made sure to spend time with her sister every day. With her coronation approaching, Elsa got frazzled more easily than ever these days. Not being completely stupid, her tutors, aware of the calming affect her younger sister had on the Queen-To-Be, had rearranged her few remaining lessons to make sure they had plenty of time together.

And they didn't even know about Elsa's powers.

That had been one of their more frequent discussions, whether or not she should reveal her powers to the kingdom - and thus, the world at large. Elsa, who had mostly shaken her old "Conceal, Don't Feel" mantra (that just made Anna want to hit their father), still couldn't help but want to keep it a secret. Anna, on the other hand, felt that if she revealed them in a predetermined, controlled manner, it would eliminate the risk of an accident letting it slip and blowing up in their faces. She was pretty sure Elsa didn't disagree, but was just to scared to do so, yet. There were days when, even though she didn't need to, anymore, she still wore her gloves. (Learning why she did, and where they'd originally come from, had been rather depressing.)

That was fine. Anna fully intended on doing everything in her power to help Elsa get to a point where she felt comfortable letting other people in. Which, she acknowledged ruefully, would be a lot easier if she could be on time more often.

She sighed, looking around. Seeing the coast was clear, she broke into a run.

The good news was that she didn't run into anyone else on the way to Elsa's office. (It had formerly been the King's study, but since, even three years later, thinking of her late parents still hurt, she'd taken to calling it an office once Elsa had begun making use of it.) The bad news, though, was that Elsa wasn't there, either. "I hope she's not out looking for me," she commented as she closed the door behind her. Her body was caught in an odd state where part of her was content to just let her breathing, which had picked up a little, settle back to normal, while the rest of her wanted more, wanted to really run. Some day soon, she decided, she was going to indulge that part. For now, though...

Why would she be? Mara asked reasonably. She knew you were coming, and you being late isn't exactly uncommon.

"Hey!"

Truth, and you know it.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," she muttered, settling into Elsa's chair and studying the documents on the desk. "Let's see what we've got here... Revised trade agreement with Weaseltown-"

Weselton.

"-with Weaseltown, proposal for funding of a hospital - you'd think we'd already have one - request for funding to enlarge the harbor to build additional docks... Well, that'd help with trade, I suppose. Request for-" She choked as she read the next paper. "-Elsa's hand in marriage?!"

Well, there's something she neglected to mention.

"I..." Anna shook her head. It had taken her a while to get used to thinking of her as a real, flesh-and-blood person, rather than a voice behind a door. Her getting married was something she had trouble conceiving of. "She might not have seen it, yet. And if she has no intention of getting married, she might not think it was even worth mentioning."

It's on her desk. She's seen it.

"That doesn't mean anything." Still, she began studying the other papers on the desk more carefully. A number of them were letters, indicating more active correspondence than she'd been aware Elsa had been taking part in. They didn't indicate another person was trying to court her sister.

Ten more were.

Reading through them closely, it certainly seemed like Elsa had been politely but firmly turning each person down. "How long has this been going on?" she wondered aloud, shaking her head.

Since she came of legal age to wed, I would imagine. Young, single, heir to the throne... Every prince and noble that learned of her would begin trying to win her heart. I wonder if they were all single?

"Mara," she chided.

What? She'd be quite a prize. A pause. Both of you would, for that matter.

Anna blinked, having no real idea how to react to the idea of some random stranger wanting to marry her, sight unseen.

That won't be happening.

As reassuring as that statement might otherwise be... Something in Mara's tone made her hesitate. She knew that, while Mara didn't say anything, she still wasn't entirely happy about having to share her with Elsa. During some of the worse days, she'd made it clear that Anna would always have her, and that she didn't really need anyone else. She could understand it - she was Mara's only friend, so if Anna was spending time with someone else, there wasn't exactly anything else for her to do - but still... "You know I'm not leaving you," she began.

Would you? Mara asked suddenly. If you could?

"Of course not! You've always been there for me! I honestly don't know what I'd do without you."

And if you do meet a man someday that you might fall in love with? What then?

"Well, I guess he'd better be okay with sharing me, hadn't he?"

Elsa leaned against the railing of the balcony, eyes closed, letting the refreshing breeze wash over her. She'd been reading through the various proposals she'd recieved - personal and professional - until she'd begun feeling closed in, needing an escape before she began covering the study in ice. Only knowing that she could do so, now, that she didn't need to just stay shut in one room (or series of rooms) had let her keep her magic in check.

She didn't know how long she'd been out there, but suspected that it had been long enough that, ironically enough, Anna would by now be waiting for her. She felt a fond exasperation as she thought of her perpetually late sister; she'd considered buying the girl a pocket watch, but somehow knew it wouldn't do any good.

Okay. She could breathe easily enough that she felt confident she wasn't going to slip into an anxiety attack. The tension hadn't gone away, exactly, but it was at least at a level she knew how to work through. She headed back inside, making her way toward her study.

It still felt so odd referring to it as hers. All her life, it had been her father's. She'd known she would inherit it one day, when she became Queen, but she should have had many more years to prepare for that.

And what would have happened to your relationship with Anna, if you had?

The thought drew her up short, making her pause at the door to the study. She hated to put it that way, but it was true. Chances were, if their parents hadn't died so suddenly, if Anna's patience hadn't finally snapped, causing her to force the issue then and there... Well, things between them might have deteriorated to the point where their bond would have been broken beyond any possibility of repair. Anna wouldn't have waited forever, and Elsa, her self-esteem shot to pieces, would never have tried to get her to stay.

She felt bad speaking or even thinking ill of the dead, but her father had been wrong in his approach to the situation, all those years ago. Especially where Anna had been concerned. Though, she thought guiltily, I do share the blame for that part of it. Why, oh why, hadn't she ever followed their advice, and tried to reconnect with Anna at least a little while they'd still been alive?

Ah, well. Too late for second guessing. She could "What if?" herself to death, and it wouldn't accomplish anything. She'd lost her parents, but she had her sister back, and wouldn't be letting her go again without a fight.

Even if, some days, she was convinced Anna - and everyone else, for that matter - would be better off without her. Those were the days she needed Anna the most, needed the love and affection Anna was always more than happy to provide.

She reached out to grab the door handle... then yanked her hand back with a quiet hiss at a by-now familiar spark of static electricity. Not even her gloves, when she wore them, could keep those out. Clearly, Anna had already skidded her way into the study. (While her other reasons had been entirely valid, she would admit that part of it had been that, when Anna wasn't dashing about the carpeted halls, such jolts seemed to be fewer and further between.) She opened the door, then paused. Anna seemed to be in the middle of having a spirited conversation with herself, which she knew from experience actually meant she was, however politely, arguing with Mara.

Her sister's insistence on maintaining her imaginary friend for so long was as sad as it was troubling. Admittedly, Elsa could only spend so much time with her, and still didn't feel comfortable enough to have the gates opened, while Anna couldn't wander too far away from her, should Elsa need her help dealing with her anxiety or depression. It wasn't really fair to expect so much of her, but Anna always waved off her concerns, stating that it was even less fair for Elsa to have had to deal with it all on her own for so long.

"No, I... Yes, I know," Anna was saying. "Well, when would that even happen?" Elsa slowly walked through the door, shutting it quietly behind her. Anna was standing in front of the mirror hanging on the far wall - Elsa was pretty sure Papa had put it there to make sure he and Mama looked presentable when leaving, should they ever have been... enjoying each other's company in the study - glaring at her reflection. "I don't see why you're getting so worked up about this... Yes, you are! It... Okay, no... Well, obviously not. But who'd even... What?" She turned to look toward the door. "Elsa!" she exclaimed, straightening up and brushing some imaginary lint off her dress. "There you are!"

"I'm sorry I'm late," she said, walking forward to collect Anna's now-standard greeting of a bone-crushing hug. (She wondered, sometimes, if she actually wasn't the only one of them to have powers; Anna always seemed a lot stronger than her size and stature suggested she should be.) "I hope you weren't waiting long."

"Nah, not really," Anna said, waving it off. "I know I've kept you waiting far longer than this." Her eyes darted off to the side briefly, and her smile became slightly strained.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Again, that brief sideways glance. Anna sighed quietly, seemingly conceding to something, and added, "I was reading through the papers on your desk."

A knot of tension began forming in Elsa's stomach. "Ignore the proposals," she insisted. "That sort of thing is fairly standard among the ruling class. Honestly, if they can't even bother to actually meet me in person before they decide to try courting me, they're not worth my time."

Anna seemed to relax a little. "That's what I said... Well, it's close enough to it," she insisted, darting another look off to the side. "For future reference, though, you can tell me about the unimportant stuff like that, too. Maybe we can even laugh at some of them together," she said with a quick smile.

"Okay. And I am sorry. It's still... hard... sometimes, to open up about things. To remember that I can, now."

"Don't worry about it, it's fine." She paused. "Yes, it is!"

Elsa hesitated. "...are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I-" Anna whirled to face the mirror. "I am not saying that!"

Elsa honestly had no idea how to react. This wasn't a situation that had ever come up, before. "If you're sure...?"

Anna drew herself up with as much dignity as she could manage. "I am. If you'll excuse me a moment, I think I'll go find Gerda and ask her to bring us some water, then we can get started." So saying, she hurried out of the study, her emerald skirt swishing as she went. Elsa sighed, shaking her head as she wondered what had gotten into her sister. She looked briefly at the mirror... and jerked her head back in surprise.

The young woman in the reflection was NOT her.

"I'm watching you," the stranger said flatly, her voice having a trace of an accent to it that Elsa wasn't familiar with. Her hair was solid black, an unusual color in that part of the world, and a riot of curls. "You may have had good reasons for it, but you hurt her. Badly. I will not sit idly by and let you do so again."

"What..?"

She couldn't think of anything else to say, but that seemed to be the wrong choice. The woman's surprisingly dark eyes narrowed, and her arm actually reached out from the mirror, grabbing hold of the front of Elsa's dress and yanking her forward, until her face smashed into the glass. "Do not feign ignorance of what you've done, 'your Highness'! I am warning you... I will not let you, or anyone else, hurt Anna ever again. Understand?" Elsa made a pained noise that was evidently taken for agreement, and she was released to fall to the floor. When she looked back up, eyes wide with fright, the other girl was gone, leaving only a bloody smear on the glass from where her nose had hit.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there, trying to compose herself - and pinching her nose to stop the bleeding - before she heard footsteps hurriedly dashing toward her, and Anna was at her side. "Elsa! What the-? What happened?"

"I think... I think I owe you an apology regarding your invisible friend," she said slowly, because there was really no one else that could have been.

She also decided that the question of what had gotten into her sister had just taken on a far more serious meaning.