Reopening old wounds

A courtroom full of people was the first thing Elsa saw when she opened her eyes; and, to her dismay, she was the person sitting in the witness box. She had hoped for the trial to be postponed, but apparently the date had arrived sooner than it felt it was physically possible.

Since when did time move so fast? Why didn't she remember the passing of time? Why hadn't she prepared something to say? Why hadn't she talked to Kai during that time?

She looked around and noticed everyone was waiting for her to say something. They were all expecting her to talk and share what she knew about Weselton.

Weselton, the disgusting man who had been a constant figure in her nightmares was now sitting right in front of her. He wasn't smiling, clearly concerned for the things she knew. But still, he held his eyebrow high, challenging her to open her mouth and say something against him. She knew it was ridiculous to think he could hurt her in some way in front of so many people, but she felt a chill ran down her spine nonetheless.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. She could feel her powers begging for release and she found it hard to concentrate on the questions the man near her was asking. What had that strange man said? She couldn't remember. Elsa guessed she had to explain what Weselton had done to her.

In theory, it was simple. After all, she knew what she had to do; she knew more than anyone the things that man was capable of, and she had to say those things aloud. But deep down, she feared what her powers could do once she began to talk. Her body had always reacted on its own whenever she was nervous. If she was not careful, she could freeze the room and everyone in it in a matter of seconds, and there was no guarantee what the judge and policemen were going to do to her if that happened.

If she hurt people around her, Weselton was going to have all the right to say he had been trying to avoid people getting hurt by locking her inside his clinic. And part of her knew they were going to agree with him. Her own birth parents had been afraid of her. They had thought she was too dangerous to keep. Why wouldn't the rest of the people think the same?

She heard the voice of a faceless judge by her side. It didn't matter how hard she tried, she couldn't focus on his face for some reason; however his order was clear. Speak.

He ordered her to speak but she couldn't get the words out.

Among the people in the room, she could see her father. Kai was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room. Detached from the rest, he sat with his arms crossed, waiting for her to do or say something. She tried to call his attention. To ask him what he wanted her to say. She tried muttering the question to him in vain, since he was too far to understand.

The judge once again urged her to speak. To stop wasting everyone's time.

She could feel her body trembling and the ice forming in the palms of her hand. She tried once again to come up with an idea, with anything to say, when she noticed Weselton's expression change. He was now smiling, no longer concerned about the things she could say.

Elsa thought it was strange for him to change his attitude so suddenly, but then she felt a snowflake fall on her face. She looked up in fear and realised her powers were manifesting without her consent.

Someone in the room yelled at the police officer standing next to her to do something, while the judge urged a doctor to sedate her.

She felt someone grab her arm and a strange voice say her name.

Weselton laughed at her. And she closed her eyes, trying to ignore him. She knew it was a matter of time before she was drugged, and she needed to run away from there. But something or someone held her in place, as the voice kept repeating her name.

Elsa opened her eyes again, but this time she was in her bed. There was no trial. No faceless judge. And no Weselton. The voice was still there however, she could hear it clearly now.

"Elsa! Elsa, are you okay?" Anna asked, as she shook Elsa's arm for the last time.

Elsa turned to her side, surprised to see Anna kneeling next to her in the bed. Her presence explained better the reason the lights in the room were turned on, and the strange voice that kept calling her name. But still, it made Elsa wonder what the girl was doing there. By the girl's hair and tired expression, Elsa thought it was safe to say Anna had been sleeping next to her.

"Elsa, please, say something." Even if Elsa had turned to look at her, she was not responding nor stopping the snowfall in the room. "You are scaring me. Are you okay?"

The question helped Elsa come out of her trance. "Yes…" she said. "I'm fine."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Anna let go of Elsa's freezing arm. "I'm sorry I woke you up. You were trembling and I got worried when you began to…" She wasn't sure if it was correct to address the falling snow, but she was getting colder by the minute and Elsa didn't seem to notice. "Well... to snow."

Elsa sat on the bed, resting her back on the headboard, and looked around. Noticing for the first time the snow around her. The bed was covered in it. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she sighed. The snow was materialised proof her dream had been more unsettling than she was willing to admit out loud.

She tried to come up with an excuse for what she had done in her sleep; when Anna, brushing some remaining snow from her hair, distracted her. Elsa saw the girl looking at her. Her eyes showed concern, but her smile tried to offer some comfort.

"You did the right thing," said Elsa after another tired sigh. There was no point in lying or trying to come up with justification for the snow around them. She was sure Anna had already put two and two together. "My powers can get out of control in my sleep."

"Were you having a nightmare?"

Elsa gave a short side-glance to Anna, and then offered a nod in response as she hugged her legs to her chest.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

If Elsa was honest with herself, she didn't. The dream had been unsettling enough and she knew explaining it to Anna was going to be hard. She was about to say it was best for them to go back to sleep, when Anna surprised her by holding her hand.

"I want you to know, I'm willing to listen and help you with anything you need…" Anna said, while she gathered some courage to ask Elsa about her past, like she had done the previous night. "But I can't do that if you don't let me in." It was a disguised request to stop turning her back to her and finally open up.

Elsa understood Anna's request. She knew Anna was still trying to break her barriers and actually help her. Something only her family had tried to do for her before. 'You won't heal if you keep hiding from everyone who's ready to help you,' Anna's words were still present in her mind and it became hard for Elsa to ignore them. She wasn't sure if it was the tiredness or the stress, but she thought it was time to actually listen to Anna's advice and stop hiding.

"There isn't much to say," began Elsa. She had suffered worse nightmares when she was younger. "I was being forced to talk in a courtroom full of people and I didn't know what to say. Kai wasn't helping me," she clarified. "And Weselton... He was there. Sitting right in front of me." Part of her knew it was only Weselton's presence in it what had triggered her powers.

Anna was glad to know Elsa was finally willing to talk about the things that troubled her mind. But the mention of Weselton made her feel nervous already. Finding out the night before Kai wanted to keep the man behind bars gave Anna the idea he was the one responsible for Elsa's childhood traumas.

"Are you afraid of this man? Weselton." She was dying to finally understand who Weselton was and what he represented to Elsa, since she already knew who the man was for her parents.

A short nod was the only answer Elsa offered.

"Why?"

"He was the doctor in charge of the orphanage where I lived. The orphanage worked inside a big clinic. And he was the owner of both institutions," explained Elsa, unaware Anna knew that part of the man's life already. "Every nurse and employee answered to him. He was a cruel man."

"This isn't the same orphanage Kristoff lived in, right?" Her parents had explained he owned a clinic in Romsdal, but Anna wanted to make sure she was situated in the right place and time.

"No. It's where I lived before and after my time in Trollheim's orphanage."

So far, Anna noticed, Elsa's answers were short. Showing she wasn't feeling really comfortable with the conversation, but the fact she kept answering, prompt Anna to continue. "In the petition I read last night Kai mentions he is in prison…"

"Yes. He's been in prison for the last eight or nine years." Elsa hid her chin in the crook of her arms which were resting on her knees. Part of her was dreading Anna's next question. But she had made up her mind, she was going to finally come clean about her past to her.

"What did he do?"

"He and his colleagues were found guilty of practicing illegal medicine."

"Illegal medicine?"

"Weselton's clinic was officially closed the same year I was moved to Trollheim's orphanage, when I was about eight years old. But they continued working illegally, treating people who couldn't pay for their medical bills."

"Wait. If the place was officially closed the same year you were transferred to Trollheim, why did Kristoff's orphanage sent you back there years later?"

Elsa sighed. She wished her story with Weselton could end the year his clinic was officially closed, but sadly life didn't work that way. "The only reason I was transferred to Trollheim was because Weselton needed to keep me hidden. Once things calmed down for him in Romsdal, he took me back to his now illegal clinic."

"What? Why?"

Elsa turned to look at Anna and said, "I was not just another kid in his orphanage, Anna. I was the kid he was interested in."

Dreading the answer she would get, Anna asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Elsa hugged her legs even tighter, as if she were trying to shield herself from the memories. "When I was little, Weselton used to visit the orphanage to see me. He would ignore the other children and only spend time with me, always asking me to use my powers. At the time, I was too young and naive to notice he was actually studying me." Shaking her head, she tried in vain to erase the memory of him watching her every move. "I remember feeling so happy to be able to use my powers, I always complied to his wishes; but the idea of him watching everything I did was unsettling even then."

An old man looking at a little girl for hours creeped Anna out. But she tried to divert her attention from that unsettling fact. "Weren't you able to use your powers as a kid?"

Elsa shook her head. "They would lock me in my room for days if I did without Weselton's or his colleagues' supervision. I also had to stay inside my room whenever someone who didn't belong to the clinic's permanent staff arrived to the orphanage."

"Were you even able to play with the other kids?"

"Not really. Weselton didn't want people finding out about my powers since he was interested in them. Obsessed even."

Anger stirred within Anna. No one in their right mind should ever stop a child from playing with other children. It wasn't a surprise Elsa had problems socializing if she hadn't had the chance to do so at an early age.

"When I was young I didn't really notice he was so fixated with the way my powers worked," she continued. "His strange behaviour made sense to me when I returned to Romsdal years later."

"What happened?"

"He confined me to small room inside his clinic to study me. And he was willing to do anything to understand how my powers worked..."

Goosebumps erupted all over Anna's skin. She definitely didn't like where the story was going. "What- what did he do?"

"At the beginning, I was only forced to stay inside the room and eat whatever they fed me. I was under a strict diet and I had to respect it. Weselton would show up once or twice a week and ask me to use my powers." A bitter laugh escaped her lips before she said, "it may sound strange, but that was actually tolerable now that I think about it."

"You were confined inside a room and being studied. How can you think it's something tolerable?"

Elsa looked at Anna once again, as she tried to find a way to explain the way she felt. "All he and his colleagues did then was feed me and ask me to use my powers." Her eyes narrowed at the memory. "Don't get me wrong. I hated being locked inside the room. I missed Kristoff and the anonymous life I lived in Trolheim's orphanage. But after a few months, things inside the clinic changed for the worse."

"What do you mean for the worse?" Anna was holding her breath, not knowing what to expect.

After taking a deep breath, she continued, "the worst began when Weselton said 'I couldn't keep wasting his time,' and he began doing some physical examinations, which soon transformed into experiments."

"No. No," Anna muttered, as she stared at Elsa in horror.

"It was scary and strange for me," Elsa kept talking, not paying attention to the girl next to her. "Every time he showed up, he had a different idea. A new test in mind."

"What kind of tests?" asked Anna in a low voice. A big part of her didn't want to know the answer. She wasn't sure she could stomach the truth anymore. But Elsa was talking, finally opening up about everything she had gone through, and she knew Elsa needed someone to listen and help her let go of what was plaguing her mind.

"He would try different drugs on me to see the effect they had over my powers."

Anna watched her close her eyes and ran her trembling hands through her hair. The memories were clearly affecting the older girl. And Anna couldn't help but feel guilty for making her go through it all again. "Elsa, it's okay, you don't need to tell me."

As if Anna hadn't spoken, she continued, "He would lock me inside an empty room and force me to stay awake for hours on end. Some other times, I wasn't given anything to drink or eat for hours; just to see if those things were linked to my powers somehow."

"Elsa…"

"Most of his experiments ended up in me fainting or my powers reacting on their own, trying to harm him and his colleagues," she choked out her words. She closed her eyes tightly, hoping to stop the tears. But the moment the first tear fell, she couldn't stop the flood of uncontrollable ones that followed. Fighting against her feelings, she took a couple of shuddering breaths and continued, "When this happened, he would order his lackeys to sedate me… As if it was my fault my powers were out of control!" she blurted out, surprising Anna. "My powers were only trying to protect me! I was weak and so, so tired at the time."

Anna let her own tears fall when Elsa looked at her with so much pain in her eyes. She felt useless watching Elsa cry all her pain and frustration. However, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. The temperature in the room had dropped when Elsa began crying. And, by her clenched fists, Anna knew she was having a hard time controlling her emotions.

"I still remember vividly the day he entered my room in company of two other doctors. They took me to the test room and injected me with- with… I don't really know what it was."

Anna blinked multiple times, showing her consternation. Elsa's angry expression showed how much resentment she still held against those men.

"I didn't disobey their orders. I didn't fight back." The painful look on her face returned. "And a few hours later I began showing symptoms of whatever it was they were testing. I had the worst fever I've ever had that night. My whole body trembled. I was so afraid…"

"Did nobody help you?" Anna asked, hoping there was someone inside that place humane enough to help a little girl.

"Even if a couple of nurses stayed by my side, and I could see their concerned faces as they kept checking my vital signs, they did nothing to help me." Elsa choked back a sob. "I was so scared but no one gave a crap about me. The nurses just turned their faces away whenever I begged for their help."

Anna tried hard not to swear out loud. She was so mad she couldn't think straight. She felt a sharp pain on her heart for her sister's misery, and there was nothing she could do to help her. "How long did you take to recover?" she asked after she was able to calm down a bit.

"Days? I don't really know," she answered as she tried in vain to stop her tears.

In an desperate attempt to make her feel better, Anna threw her arms around Elsa and held her close. She was trying to stay strong for her, but her heart ached at the thought of her sister enduring such terrible things as a child.

Anna stayed silent, giving Elsa enough time to calm down, and some time to herself to think and process everything she had just learnt. The more she analysed everything her sister had gone through, the angrier she got. She got angry at her parents, her grandfather, at life for being so unfair; but especially, at the monsters who had held a little girl captive for years.

It was only when she felt she couldn't contain her anger anymore that she spoke, "I can't believe someone would do something so terrible to you!"

As she dried the last tears from her cheeks, Elsa said, "Weselton was so obsessed in understanding how my powers worked, he stopped looking at me as a person. For him, I was just a dangerous animal…"

"How could they think something like that?! You were just a scared child!" She had imagined Elsa's childhood had been difficult and full of hardships. But nothing had prepared Anna for the real story. That damned doctor had forced Elsa to experience inhuman atrocities which could be only compared to those of the war, and it made her feel sick.

Looking at her hands in shame, avoiding Anna's eyes, Elsa admitted, "He may not have been mistaken though."

"What?!" She didn't want to raise her voice, but she couldn't let Elsa think something like that about herself.

"When I recovered from that fever, I-" It had taken a lot of courage to confess her past to Kristoff years go, and right now it was proving to be just as difficult. The guilt in her eyes spoke louder than her voice when she confessed, "I hurt one of the nurses. I don't know what happened. I lost control of my powers… I never saw that woman again."

Anna opened her eyes in surprise, but didn't make a comment. Who was she to judge a little girl's actions when the world had turned its back on her? Besides, the guilt in Elsa's eyes let Anna see she had clearly not meant to do any harm to that nurse.

Instead of saying anything, Anna held Elsa close and let her rest her head on her shoulder. She desperately wanted Elsa to understand she didn't condemned her for it.

After several minutes, when Elsa was able to breathe more or less normally again, she said, "I fear people will see reason behind Weselton's actions once they find out what I did to that nurse. That's why only you and Kristoff know about my past."

"Kai and Gerda don't know?" It had never crossed Anna's mind that Elsa hadn't discussed something so serious with her family.

"They know what Weselton did to me… Just not every detail. And I was never brave enough to tell them I hurt a person before. They've always done so much for me, I fear they'll never see me the same way again."

"I'm sure they'll understand, Elsa. Just like Kristoff and I did." Anna stopped on her tracks when she realised Elsa hadn't explain the whole story to her. Only the worst part. "Hey, Elsa?"

"Mmh?"

"How did you escape that place?"

"I was rescued by the police," she said matter-of-factly.

"Did someone betray Weselton and confessed what they were doing to you?"

"Remember I told you they were found guilty of practicing illegal medicine?" Anna nodded, letting Elsa continue. "Well, the police found me in his clinic the day they searched the place. I was a real surprise for everyone involved in the case."

"No one knew you were there?" It was concerning to think Elsa's life changed for the better only by mere luck and carelessness on Weselton's part. But Anna ignored the thought. There was no point on dwelling in what could have happened. "You must have been really thankful to see the police arrest these people."

"I don't remember that. The last thing I remember inside the clinic is Weselton running into my room and injecting something in my neck." Her frown didn't go unnoticed by Anna. "I woke up some hours later in hospital room in Trolheim's main hospital. I was surrounded by doctors and nurses. Gerda among them.

"Wait, hold up. Gerda? Your Gerda?"

Anna's antics put a smile on Elsa's face after hours of pain and sadness, and she felt blessed for having the girl sitting next to her at that moment. "Yes, my Gerda. She was working there at the time."

"I can't believe that's how you met…"

The sad smile that had appeared on Elsa's face remained there as she explained everything that happened after she was rescued. She talked about Gerda's visits. How the old woman had worked hard to earn her trust and helped her overcome the worst part of being hospitalised. She also told Anna the way Gerda and Kai had stayed by her side when the rest of the people involved in the case wanted to get rid of her.

"And then they adopted you?" asked Anna, still amazed her parents-in-law had gone against their own bosses to protect Elsa.

"Yes. After that, they did everything in their power to become my guardians."

"Wow…" There were no words to describe how much she respected her parents-in-law. "No wonder you love them so much."

"They are my heroes, you know?" said Elsa with a small smile. "I know it may sound silly, but they showed up in my life when there was no one else. They opened their arms to me, not asking for anything in return."

Anna didn't get a chance to answer before Elsa's expression became more melancholic. "I think that's why it hurts so much to know Kai is breaking his promise now. Years ago he said he was going to help me build a life away from my troubled past. But that petition looks like the complete opposite to me."

"I'm no one to tell you what to do or how to feel, Elsa. However, I think you should give Kai a chance to explain himself better. You can't jump to conclusions based on a piece of paper." Anna offered a smile when Elsa looked at her, and continued, "Kai knows what this man did to you and how hard your life's been. I don't think he'd force you to do anything you don't want to do."

Elsa nodded and smiled, but didn't say anything in return. She was still having a hard time accepting what Kai was doing, and she wasn't sure she was ready to talk to him yet.

Trying to change the focus of the conversation, Elsa suggested having an early breakfast. She was aware she had dropped the temperature in the room several times during the night, and she thought it was best for Anna to have a warm bath while she prepared something for them to eat. After all, they had stayed awake most part of the night, and it was already morning.

Anna accepted in a heartbeat since she hadn't had anything to eat the night before. The idea of a warm bath and something to eat was just perfect in her opinion. Besides, she could notice Elsa was trying to find something to distract herself after their talk.


They enjoyed breakfast in silence, trying to avoid any sensitive topic. There were several things Anna still wanted to find out about Elsa's past, but there was no need to ask more questions right then and there.

Noticing how tired Elsa looked, Anna felt the need to cancel their class that morning. There was no point in forcing Elsa to focus on Math or History while she was still clearly concerned about Kai's petition.

"I think it would be best to leave the class for next week, Elsa," she said to Elsa when she made up her mind.

"There's no need, Anna. I know how busy you are."

"You won't be able to concentrate today. I think it'd be best for you to go to bed and rest."

It was true Elsa was feeling mentally exhausted. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I could also go home early and finish a couple of things I need to do. If you don't need me to stay for a few more hours, that's it," she added, hoping Elsa was feeling good enough to stay alone. Truth be told, she was planning on going to Kristoff's house and let him know of everything that had happened. She didn't trust Elsa to call her father and clear the situation on her own, and Kristoff was the right person to help her with that.

"Don't worry about me. You've already helped me a lot."

"Okay," she said, trusting her word. She also knew Kristoff was going to be by her side as soon as she let him know. So, it was safe to say Elsa was going to be in good company sooner than later.

Walking into the living room to get her things ready, Anna found her backpack on the floor where she had dropped it the previous night. At that moment, she remembered the letters she had brought with her. The letters she had been so eager to deliver the previous night.

She kneeled down and opened her bag. She took the letters out as she contemplated what to do with them. She wasn't sure if it was correct to give those letters to Elsa after everything she had told her about her childhood. Anna could understand Elsa's resentment towards her birth parents better now. But, on the other hand, Anna believed her mother's explanation could help Elsa understand she had been loved, and it had never been her parents' intention for her to suffer so much. On the contrary, Idunn had wished for her to have a great childhood, full of love and opportunities.

Making up her mind, she turned around with the letters in hand and faced Elsa, who had been standing behind her all that time.

"Elsa, I know you've got a lot of things in your mind right now. But I wanted to give you these."

"Letters?" she asked, puzzled.

Anna nodded and handed them to Elsa. "I brought them for you, and I think it's wrong not to deliver them like I promised."

Elsa's perplexed expression made Anna realise she had to explain herself better.

"Mum wrote them to you."

Elsa frowned and put the letters back in Anna's hands. "Anna…"

"No, wait, let me explain," said Anna. She needed Elsa to understand why she was delivering those letters. "I know you've got more than enough reasons not to trust mum and dad. But I think it could make you feel better if you gave mum a chance to explain her and dad's story. These letters are a chance for you to find out what happened without having to face mum and dad in person." She tried to hand the letters back to Elsa.

"No, Anna."

"Mum just wants you to know how sorry she is."

Arms crossed over her chest, Elsa didn't move to pick the letters from Anna's hand. "An apology won't erase the things I went through."

Anna sighed and looked down. She understood Elsa's point of view, but she still tried once again. "I know. I wish there was something that could help you erase your past. But I thought this could be a good chance for you to read their part of the story and finally understand why they did the things they did." She noticed Elsa was about to retort, and she spoke again, before she got the chance. "They are yours to keep or burn. You can read them or not. You can write back or not. Whatever you do with them, it's up to you. But, please, accept them."

Elsa sighed and extended her hand for Anna to give her the letters. "I will accept them... for you. But I can't promise I'll read them."

Anna smiled. The fact she was willing to accept them just for her meant more than Elsa could imagine. "Thank you."

Looking at her with a small smile, she said, "I should be thanking you. You've been doing everything in your power to help me since we met."

"I only do it because I know you deserve it," said Anna with a grin.

Elsa smiled back and surprised Anna by hugging her tight, "you're a good friend, Anna. Thank you."


Kai had been searching for his composition books in every drawer and every place he could imagine inside his study. He was sure he had left them in the bottom drawer where he usually did, but for some reason they weren't there. He was certain he hadn't left them at the police station, since the last thing he remembered was reading the document in his desk lat at night. He had been trying hard to have everything figured it out before showing Gerda what he had in mind.

Running out of options, he thought it was best to ask his wife if she hadn't seen them. "Gerda, have you seen my composition books? The ones I keep in the bottom drawer of the desk?" he asked as he entered the kitchen.

"The old marbled ones? I gave them to Elsa the last time she was here."

"You did what?" He hoped she was merely joking.

"I gave them to Elsa."

"Gerda, I'm serious, where are they?"

"I'm telling you, I gave them to-" Surprised by the look her husband was giving her, Gerda stopped herself mid sentence and asked, "why are you looking at me like that? You never used them and Elsa was carrying all these sheets of paper around, instead of using a proper notebook."

"Did you give her all of them? Or just the ones which were empty?"

Gerda was certain the last time they had talked about those books Kai had made a comment about never using them. She had checked the first two and they had been completely blank. It was for that reason she had given them to her daughter. "All of them were-"

"Not all of them," said Kai sighing, as he left the kitchen.

"I'm sorry Kai, but you had those books there for years. More than once you told me they were taking up space! What's the matter?"

When her husband didn't answer, Gerda followed him to find out what was wrong. "Kai, what's the matter? she asked once again, but the doorbell distracted her. She thought whatever was bothering Kai could wait, and she went to open up the door instead.

A big smile appeared on her face when she saw her son at the door, and she soon welcomed him inside. However, the serious expression on his face made her worry in an instant. "Are you okay, dear?"

"Is dad home? I need to talk to both of you."

The sudden visit of Anna earlier that morning had surprised Kristoff. The last thing he expected was for his girlfriend to show up at his place when she was supposed to be teaching Elsa. And great was his consternation when Anna explained to him everything that had happened to Elsa the day before.

He was thankful Anna had kept her promise and she had gone directly to him before doing anything on her own. They talked about Elsa's anxiety attack, the document she had found and how both girls had stayed up most part of the night talking about the past. After discussing their options, both agreed it was best for Anna to be patient and let Kristoff find out what was going on, before she talked with her own parents.

It was for this reason, Kristoff was now standing in his parents' living room, hoping to understand what Kai had been thinking he could achieve by opening Elsa's case once again. The obvious answer was justice, but was justice really worth it if it destroyed the life Elsa had worked so hard to build for herself? He didn't think so.

"Yes, he is." said Gerda, surprised by his demand. She was about to ask him what was going on, when Kai appeared in the room with his jacket on, ready to leave.

"Hi, son. How have you been?" he greeted, but didn't wait for him to answer. He looked at Gerda and said, "I'm going to the mountain. There was an important document inside one of the books and I need it."

"I'm here to talk about that document, dad." interrupted Kristoff.

"Document?" Gerda had no idea what her son was talking about, but she didn't like the tone of voice Kristoff was using.

"Kristoff, what are you talking about?"

"Elsa found a petition inside one of yours composition books. She's worried sick about it." Not giving his father enough time to answer, he continued, "What's wrong with you, dad? How could you do something like this behind Elsa's back?"

"Elsa read it?" The idea of Elsa finding out about his idea like that didn't set well with Kai. He could already imagine how concerned Elsa could get without him explaining things to her.

"I don't understand. What's going on?" asked Gerda. The way her husband's expression changed made her worry. "What did Kai do behind-? Oh, no." She stopped herself when an idea came to her mind. "Kai tell me you didn't-"

"I didn't do anything behind her back. She just found some notes she wasn't supposed to read."

"That's exactly what 'going behind someone's back' means!" said Kristoff raising his voice. He had been trying to stay calm, but his father denying the fact he betrayed Elsa's trust didn't help him in the least.

"Kai, tell me you didn't write a petition to open Elsa's case back!" Gerda was now understanding her son's anger. If Kai had really gone against Elsa's wishes, he was not going to hear the end of it.

Kai took a deep breath, before trying once again to calm his family down. He had written the petition, but he hadn't planned to do anything with it without Elsa's consent. "Calm down," he said. "I did write a draft. But I didn't send anything. I was going to talk with-"

"A draft? It's a legal document with several signatures. That's not what a draft looks like."

"Kristoff, calm down."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Kristoff didn't waste time to challenge his father, "weren't you the one who told me to respect Elsa's boundaries?"

"Yes, I did," he agreed. "And I do respect your sister's-"

"Do you?"

To hear his son doubt him made him lost his temper. "Don't say I don't respect-"

"If you sent that petition without her consent, then you are not respecting her wishes, Kai." Gerda had to agree with Kristoff in that matter. "I can't believe you went ahead with this stupid idea of yours!"

"Could the two of you listen for a moment?" He needed his family to listen to him. To be accused of not respecting Elsa's bounaries really hurt Kai, and it made him fear what his daughter was thinking of him. "It was never my intention to do anything behind her back. I was going to talk with her."

"Was it too difficult to talk about this before writing the petition?" Kristoff asked. He had planned to talk things in a more calmed, collected way, but he needed his father to understand how bad he had messed up. "She had an anxiety attack last night."

"What?" Kai and Gerda asked at the same time.

Kristoff sighed and tried to explain what Anna had told him earlier that day, "She barely understood half the things that were written in it. But the petition mentioned her name several times. You can't expect her no to worry, dad. I can't understand why you didn't talk to her instead of putting a legal document in her face."

Kai understood why Kristoff was so concerned then, and the guilt of putting Elsa through something like that was unbearable. "Again, it was not my intention for her to find out like this. Trust me when I say I wanted to talk to her. I was going to talk with all of you."

"Did she call you?" Gerda asked, now more concerned about her daughter than her husband's explanations.

"No. Anna was there with her. She helped her calm down and she tried to explain things to her, but there wasn't much she could say. After all she had no idea what Elsa had gone through until this morning when Elsa told her."

"I need to go check on her," said Gerda as she left the room to find her own jacket.

"Did you see her today?"

"No. Anna stopped by my apartment and explained everything to me. She was worried about Elsa and wanted us to help her. I came here to talk some sense into you before heading there."

"I'll go to the mountain right now and explain everything to her. It's best if you and your mother come too. I want all of you to see this was a huge misunderstanding."

"Okay. I'll drive you. You better be honest with us, Kai."

His son calling him by his full name hurt more than Kai imagined it would.


My apologies for taking such a long time to post this chapter. It was never my intention to keep you waiting a whole month, but life got in the middle.

I hope you were able to enjoy this chapter regardless.

As always, thank you so much for your reviews and comments.

Stay safe!