Trigger Warnings at End of Chapter.

Chapter 5

All the following day, Elsa's mind engaged in a tug of war between replaying the moments with Anna, when they met in the parking lot, shopping, eating dinner on the street and commenting on the costumes, the feel of her fingers around her arm inside the haunted house. That was always immediately followed by a sense of impending doom as she considered how close she had come to seriously injuring her. It got to the point where Elsa couldn't finish her lunch and ended up tossing half of it in the trash. That afternoon, focusing on professors' words proved impossible as well. There were at least three instances where her pen had stopped writing as she lost herself in recurring daydreams about Anna, half good, half bad. She ended up with only a partial set of notes for the day's lectures.

"You can't go on like this," she thought as she drove home that evening. She ordered room service, a light salad and a diet coke, and ate silently at the suite's desk. Visions of Anna, smiling, bouncing with exuberance, soon gave way to glimpses of her profile in the shower, changing clothes…

Elsa closed her eyes as she chewed and tried to think about something else, to tamp down her burgeoning lust.

"Logistics, think about logistics," she thought, but in Logistics class she had been daydreaming about Anna.

"Damn, think about dad," she thought. Her father was about the most unsexy thing she could imagine, but then her brain conjured an image of a sunlit stone patio, a summer cottage in Norway, where she introduced Anna, all bubbles and smiles, to her father for the first time.

She opened her eyes and breathed deep as an ache formed in her chest, and tears nearly sprung to her eyes.

"It's not possible Elsa," she said out loud, "she's straight. She's not interested in you like that, not even in the slightest. You're only going to hurt her, like you hurt everyone."

She squeezed her eyes shut as if uttering the words out loud somehow made them more real.

"A little bit of fantasizing is okay though, isn't it?" she thought. That might help her deal with the ache, and she did ache, horribly, for Anna, for her smile, for her presence.

"It's not a betrayal of whatever friendship we have, is it?" she thought, "it's not like she would, or could, ever find out, and what she doesn't know can't hurt her."

She let her mind wander down forbidden corridors, to imagine what it would feel like to lock lips with Anna, to taste her tongue, to have her arms wrapped about her, her naked body pressed against her own. The coiling, tingling sensations roared to life as she allowed the scenario to play out in her head, until her clothing grew far too constrictive and she moved to the bed, loosened her jeans, and unbuttoned her blouse to run her fingers over her stomach, from her ribs to down below her waistline.

"Anna's hands," she thought as she touched herself and let her head fall back on the pillow. It was wrong to do this, to use her friend's likeness for her own selfish reasons, but even at this early stage, she was too far gone to have any hope of stopping. Her bra grew uncomfortably tight, and she imagined it was Anna who reached around behind her to unclasp it, then tweaked her own nipple as she imagined Anna's teeth tugging at it, all while she stared up at her with those beautiful, teal-green eyes.

"You're so beautiful, and so… so… virtuous, and you don't even realize it," Elsa whispered as she slipped a hand into her panties. She pictured Anna's soft fingers spreading her wetness around, up to her clit, then quickly stood up to tear off the rest of her clothes so she could lay naked and splayed on the heavy blanket. Flashes of Anna's face, her freckled skin, cut across Elsa's mind's eye as she fell into familiar motions. She imagined Anna's voice panting, her mouth wide as she gave off sensual moans, and that pushed her over the edge, breathing heavily as her own fingers brought her to orgasm. Even before she came down, the ache returned to her chest, for she knew that was as close to an intimate moment with Anna she would ever have… all while Hans Westergard, that jerk, claimed her as his girlfriend, sullied her with his…

She rolled onto her side and hugged a chilly pillow to her bare chest and stomach. Even imagining it made her nauseous.

"It's not fair," Elsa whispered into the pillow. She lay like that for several long minutes until she started to feel sleep on the horizon, then she stretched a hand up above the night table to the master switch which would turn out all the lights in the room, and quietly drifted off.

The scent of Anna's strawberry shampoo reached her, and Elsa opened her eyes. The redhead knelt at the foot of the bed, between Elsa's legs, her nipples barely hidden as they pressed into the hotel comforter. Anna's lovely teal eyes stared up at her as she smiled and extended her tongue to dip into Elsa's sex, and Elsa lay back to let it happen. The sensation of warm, wet tongue against her clit had her moaning almost immediately.

"Elsa?" Anna asked, a questioning tone in her voice. Elsa propped herself up on her elbows and followed Anna's gaze to the wall, where ice crept up from the floor.

"No," Elsa whispered.

Anna looked back to her, this time with fear in her eyes.

"What's happening?" she asked. She tried to stand, but couldn't rise from the floor.

"Elsa? Help me!" Anna said, now with panic on her face.

"No!" Elsa said as she crawled forward to see Anna's calves frozen to the floor. Anna pushed with all her might and stood up, but with a horrible cracking sound, one of her legs broke off at the knee.

"Wha… what?" Anna said as she stared at half her leg still encased in ice on the floor, then looked back to Elsa, scared and confused. The ice continued to creep up her remaining leg with frightening speed, up and over her hip. Her arms cartwheeled as she struggled to keep her balance. Elsa lunged for her, too late, and like a felled tree, she topped to the floor, where her body shattered into a million pieces.

Elsa screamed as she sat up upright in bed, and a blast of icy cold coated every surface in the room with white frost. She breathed short, fearful breaths, and her limbs trembled, but not from the cold.

"Never from the cold," she thought.

She brought her knees up and hugged them to her chest as she sat on top of the thin layer of snow and ice blanketing the comforter. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she closed her eyes and wept, for she knew she had gotten too close to Anna. As much as it would hurt, she knew what she had to do; risking the alternative was far, far worse.

Later that morning, Elsa waited outside of Anna's dormitory until someone left, which allowed her to slip in the open door. As she climbed the staircase though, her steps slowed.

"What kind of a person knocks on someone's door to tell them they can't hang out anymore?" she thought.

At first, she'd thought she would tell Anna in person, but now, faced with the prospect of doing just that, her knuckles poised to rap on the thin wood, she hesitated. It was quiet, this early on a Saturday morning, and the hall was deserted as Elsa struggled with whether or not to knock.

"You're an idiot. What are you even doing here?" she thought,

With a soft sigh, she let her hand fall, turned, and walked quickly back to the stairwell. She turned upwards and climbed, all the way to the roof. The door opened easily, and she stepped into the chilly autumn sun. Hands found the bottom of the pockets of her hoodie as she walked towards the edge. The campus and the forest beyond lay spread out below her, still showing the brilliant colors of autumn, though now with significantly more brown than green. She found a spot near a vent by the edge of the roof. Several large trees stood next to the dorm, and bluejay arrived and perched nearby. Elsa watched quietly as it hopped from one branch to the next, perhaps looking for food or… simply doing whatever it was birds did on a Saturday morning.

"Maybe you should head home, start working with Father," she thought. A twinge went through her chest at the thought of never seeing Anna again.

"What about hockey?" she thought, "you've made a commitment to the team. And you've only got a few weeks to go to finish the semester… might as well earn the credits."

Was she trying to justify staying so she wouldn't have to say goodbye so soon? Possibly. It didn't really matter much though.

"I'll tell Anna if I see her," she thought.

The warbling of birds and the rustling of trees in the breeze, followed later by the voices of students in the distance as the campus woke up, helped calm her warring emotions. On the plus side, it seemed she had found a decent quiet spot on campus where she could come to be alone if she wanted. After a few hours with only her thoughts for company, her stomach rumbled, and she stretched, then pulled herself to her feet to head to the cafeteria for a bite. Thankfully, Anna wasn't working the counter, and Elsa filled up a bowl with some fruits, an omelette from the grill, and a glass of orange juice. Just as she sat down though, her heart skipped a beat as Anna strolled in. She wore the cafeteria employee apron; apparently, she was starting a shift soon. The redhead spotted her, smiled, waved, and headed her way. Elsa swallowed.

"Stay strong. Do what you need to do," she thought.

"Hi Elsa, what are you doing here today?" she said with a smile as she placed her keys on the table across from Elsa, "mind if I sit here? By the way, Kristoff is driving Punzie and me to a comedy club in town later tonight, if you want to come with."

A comedy club. Drinks. Sitting next to Anna. Laughing at jokes together. It sounded lovely.

"I… no, I don't think I will," Elsa replied. Anna's face fell.

"Oh… okay, maybe next time," she said.

Anna's frozen leg breaking in half. Anna's body shattering like glass.

"And… I don't think we should hang out anymore," Elsa added.

Anna blinked. She looked confused.

"What?" she said, and Elsa couldn't look her in the eye, "like… at all?"

Elsa stared at her fruit and stayed silent.

"I don't… I don't understand, why not? I thought we were friends," Anna said.

She needed her, the Ice Queen. She needed her now, her detachment, to protect Anna. She dug deep, reached for that inner strength she always looked to when she was fatigued on the ice and had to press on through sheer force of will. Elsa looked up, looked at Anna dead in the eye.

"Why, because we socialized a few times? We're not friends," she said.

The expression of hurt and betrayal on Anna's face tore at her heartstrings, but she kept going.

"Look, I'm really busy with schoolwork, and I need to focus on my studies," she added.

"But… it's Saturday, I don't understand," Anna said. Tears welled up in her eyes, her beautiful blue-green eyes, and she tried to blink them away; Ice Queen or not, Elsa wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.

"What's not to understand? I don't want to hang out with you," she said. Her own tears threatened to appear, and picked up her tray, stood, and started to walk to another part of the cafeteria. She forced her legs to keep going, even as she heard Anna's ragged voice behind her.

"Okay… Whatever I did, I'm sorry."

All through her shift, Anna's thoughts swirled with what she could have possibly said or done to piss Elsa off enough that she wanted to stop hanging out entirely.

"Was it because of what happened on Halloween?" she thought, but try as she might, she couldn't come up with anything that would warrant such a change.

She clocked out just after three and headed over to the theater, still consumed with whatever had happened between her and Elsa. She left her jacket on one of the seats and joined the rest of the club up on stage. Belle went through stage directions and ideas for props for acts one and two; they had a lot of work to do, even if it was only November and the event wasn't until May. At some point, Anna's mind started drifting, drifting towards Elsa again, and why she was angry with her.

"Anna?"

She blinked. Belle had several different colors of tape stuck to each of her fingers.

"This is important," Belle said.

"Right, yeah, sorry. Just umm… just a little tired," she said.

Belle nodded.

"Okay, so make sure you know what the different colored pieces of tape mean well before we start rehearsals," the club president continued.

Later on, as they went through a read of their lines, Olaf nudged her in the elbow.

"Are you okay?" he whispered.

Anna nodded, then paused and shook her head.

"A friend of mine just said she doesn't want to hang out anymore, and I have no idea why," Anna whispered.

Olaf glanced to Marshall, who merely gave a shrug of his massive shoulders.

"Their loss, you're super cool," Olaf said, and Marshall nodded his agreement.

Anna smirked. She already felt a bit better. Then an idea struck her.

"Hey… do you guys want to head into town and hit a comedy club tonight?" she asked.

Olaf glanced to Marshall, who shrugged again.

"Sure, I mean, why not, right?" the nerdy boy replied.

The two-drink minimum strained her wallet, especially when it was five dollars each for a sprite and an orange juice, but the comedians were funny enough to have her laughing until her sides hurt. Kristoff and Rapunzel seemed to get along fine with Olaf and Marshall, her 'theater buddies'. She'd hoped to forget about Elsa for a few hours, but the whole time, Anna couldn't help but imagine Elsa in Olaf and Marshall's places, imagine her laughing as she sipped her drink, imagine her in the back seat of Kristoff's car with her... but she hadn't come. As she climbed the steps to her dorm, Anna came to the realization that Olaf was right: If Elsa didn't want to hang out with her, that was her choice, and her loss.

"I have plenty of friends without her," she thought as she unlocked her door.

Anna apprehensively pushed her way into the locker room. She hadn't seen or contacted Elsa since the cafeteria, two days prior, and she wasn't sure if 'not hanging out' meant she wouldn't be playing hockey anymore, either. If that were the case, would Coach Westergard cut her minutes again? Would he cut her from the team entirely? So, when she spotted the blonde's long braided hair as she hung up her shirt at her locker across the room, a flood of relief went through Anna's chest.

"At least she's still going to skate," Anna thought. If Elsa noticed Anna though, she didn't acknowledge her as she made her way to her locker to change.

All through warmup, Anna kept her distance. They made eye contact once as coach Westergard put them through drills, but Elsa quickly looked away. After practice, Anna showered quickly, changed, and left without speaking to her, and it was much the same the following day. When they started scrimmages, Merida sat down next to Anna on the bench while Elsa skated a shift.

"Oi, what's going on between you two?" the captain asked.

"What do you mean?" Anna asked.

"I mean ye've had a falling out or something, and it's obvious. Everyone can tell," Merida said.

Anna didn't need to ask who she was talking about. She looked up at Elsa, who circled near the blue line to try and get open for an outlet pass.

"I don't know, she said she didn't want to hang out anymore, that she needed to focus on studying," Anna replied.

The redhead rolled her eyes.

"Ach, fine, whatever, as long as you're both ready for tomorrow," Merida said.

"Tomorrow?" Anna said, "tomorrow…"

Merida looked at her like she was an idiot.

"Tomorrow, away game, Northeastern?" she said.

Anna's eyes widened. She knew they had a big game coming up, but hadn't realized it was so soon.

"That's tomorrow?" she said.

Merida smacked her on the back of the helmet.

"Get yer head on straight," she said, "and whatever issues ye've got going on with Anderson, get them sorted."

Anna nodded. Suddenly, Merida leapt over the boards as players came off for a change, and Anna rushed to follow. After practice, she thought about her captain's words.

"Elsa was crystal clear though, she doesn't want to hang out with me," Anna thought. She showered quickly and tugged on clothes over damp limbs, but she still wasn't faster than Elsa, who wordlessly hefted her bag and exited the locker room without making eye contact.

"Well, I'm not going to make a fool out of myself by trying to chase her down." Anna thought, "It's not like I don't have enough on my plate already. I still have rehearsal tonight, plus that damn history exam I still need to study for…"

She zipped up her bag and threw her sticks down on top of it with a little more force than was strictly necessary.

"Hey, everything okay?" Rapunzel asked.

"Put on a smile," she thought as she plastered the expression on her face to reassure her friend.

"Yeah, just nervous about tomorrow I guess," Anna replied.

"It'll be a tough game for sure, but we've all been practicing hard, and Elsa's our secret weapon," the blonde said. Anna forced another grin in response. As they walked out of the locker room together, they spotted their teammates gathered around Coach Westergard.

"Is that it? Where's Anderson?" he asked.

"She left already," someone replied.

He nodded, produced a sheet of paper from his clipboard, and pinned it to a corkboard on the wall: the lineup for tomorrow's game.

Anna stood on tip toes to try and see, and she couldn't find her name at first, then Rapunzel's elbow nudged her in the ribs.

"You're on the first line with me and Elsa!" Punzie whispered. Anna's eyes snapped to the top of the sheet: LaFleur-Anderson-Christiansen.

Her mouth dropped open slightly.

"I'm a healthy scratch?" another girl said.

Anna glanced to her right to see Chloe whispering to Jessica, trying to comfort her. The redhead turned back at the lineup and eventually found Jessica's name at the bottom; she wouldn't be making the trip to Boston. Chloe patted her on the shoulder again, then looked up and gave Anna what only could be described as the stink eye. Anna picked up her bag and hurried out of the building, and Rapunzel followed close behind.

Elsa boarded the bus first and picked a seat near the back. The rest of the team filtered on in ones and twos, until only a few seats were left. She stared out the window, but every time footfalls clumped up the steps, she found herself looking to the front, until she saw her.

"Anna," she thought. The redhead made eye contact for an instant, and Elsa averted her gaze to stare out the window again. Even though she couldn't see her, she felt her, felt her eyes, felt her presence as she approached and slid into the seat next to her.

"Hey," Anna said quietly.

"Hey," Elsa replied, just as quietly, and without looking up from the window.

"So… we're on the top line together," Anna said.

Elsa paused. Hockey she could do. There was no real danger to Anna if they were playing on the same line together. She nodded once.

"Okay. I'm just… I'm gonna read through my lines. I won't bother you," Anna said.

Elsa bit her lip and nodded again.

"Stick to your guns, Elsa. This is to keep her safe. To keep yourself safe," she thought.

She wanted more than anything to offer to help Anna rehearse, to read through the play with her, but instead, she crossed her arms and closed her eyes. Papers rustled as Anna unzipped her bag and pulled out her notes. The bus departed not long afterwards, and they were on the highway to Boston. Every now and then, Elsa cracked an eyelid to peek at Anna, mouthing her words, miming various emotions like excitement or fear. It was all she could do to avoid commenting, to keep up the façade of slumber. The horrible, aching crush of her unrequited feelings showed no signs of abating, but they were her burden to bear, and hers alone. She kept her mouth shut.

They arrived at the stadium parking garage and filed off the bus; the grey concrete was a far cry from Arendelle's forested grounds. Even from inside the locker room, they roar of the home team fans bled through the walls as the team dressed in silence. They waited in the dimly lit tunnel for their turn, and then she was walking, following the others onto the ice in front of a near capacity crowd. The visiting team garnered a few boos, but magnified by what she estimated were about five thousand people, it weighed down on her like unfriendly crowds always did. Of course, her thoughts turned towards a certain redhead.

"I wonder what it feels like for Anna," Elsa thought.

"Please welcome, your Howlin' Huskies!" the announcer said. The crowd roared as the home team took to the ice. Anna had never played in front of so many people, all rooting for her to fail. She skated a quick warmup lap, did some stretches, then fired a few easy practice shots to help Alice warm up. Her heart raced though, and her hands shook inside her gloves. Northeastern were good, really good. If their 12-1 record wasn't enough to judge them by, their warmup skate and practice shots seemed faster and crisper than Arendelle's. There didn't seem to be a weak skater among them, and Anna struggled to maintain optimism in the face of their superior opponent. The lights dimmed and a young blonde, she looked like a student, stepped onto the ice to sing the US and Canadian national anthems. Then they were done, and the rest of the team skated to the bench. Anna took a deep breath to try and steady herself.

"Are you nervous?"

She looked over to see Elsa, white cage over her face, staring intensely at her. Aside from the brief exchange on the bus, it was the first time she'd spoken to her in days. Anna put on a smirk despite the butterflies in her stomach.

"Nervous? Me? Ha, you don't know me very well. I live for this," she replied.

Elsa smirked at that, and Anna felt her lips turn up in a genuine smile.

"I'm going forward on the draw, jump straight between their defense," Elsa said. Anna stared for a second with her mouth half-open, then it dawned on her what Elsa was saying.

"O-okay," she said.

Then it was time for opening faceoff. Anna lined up to Elsa's right and crossed sticks with Northeastern's left winger. She crouched low and tensed, and when the ref flinched, she leapt behind the opposing center, just as the puck skittered back between her legs. The D converged on her, and she partially slipped a body check from one and kept her legs going as the other harassed her from the left as she gained the zone and struggled to break free. She kept the puck to her right, protected it with her body as she turned both skates to cut in on the defender. The puck dragged behind her and she snapped a shot off, a laser aimed at the top right corner, but the Northeastern goalie flashed her glove and snagged it cleanly.

"What the hell?" Anna thought, "that was a perfect shot!"

The ref's whistle blew for a faceoff to the goalie's right, and Anna lined up on the hash marks on the edge of the circle as Elsa drifted in for another faceoff. This time, she lost to the Northeastern center, but Anna and Rapunzel both charged in and surrounded the defenseman on the boards, attempting to dig the puck out and keep them pinned in. The puck bounced out of the corner and Rapunzel skated three strides, turned, and ripped a shot which sailed wide to bang against the end boards, and Elsa collected it behind the net. Northeastern's D was on her in a second but she spun, banked the puck off the back of the net as she ducked a check, took one step to pick it up again, then sent a pass up over the goalie's stick to land on Anna's. It was a perfect pass, and Anna fired again, this time aiming for the blocker side. The puck hit twine, and the goal light went on. Anna raised her arms, almost in disbelief. Elsa crashed into her, an ecstatic smile on her face, and she stared straight into her eyes as if they never had any kind of falling out.

"I scored! We're up 1-0 on Northeastern! We can beat them!" Anna thought.

Scoring on their very first shift buoyed the visiting Ice Wolves, and they carried that momentum through most of the first period. Gradually though, the stronger, faster, and more skilled Northeastern team battled back, until a one-timer beat Alice to knot the game at one, and then they scored again on a rebound. Arendelle ended the first period down 2-1, and then the second down 3-2. Elsa played brilliantly, and Anna had several more shots, but the Northeastern goalie was amazing and stopped everything else she threw at her. As the game wore on, Elsa alone seemed to never run out of energy, constantly skating hard, and Anna was left in awe of her unparalleled agility, which allowed her to both avoid checks and create passing and shooting lanes where there were none.

With five minutes left in the third, Coach Westergard called timeout. Anna glanced over at Elsa's rosy cheeks as she recovered on the bench. Sky-blue eyes snapped to her, and Elsa smiled at her, just like she used to. Anna's heart lifted; she smiled back and nodded.

"We can do this," she thought. Coach was addressing the team.

"I know we're down, but it's only one. We're right with them, one of the best teams in the country," Westergard said, "You've earned this chance. We've got five minutes. Focus on the basics, good, clean passes, one possession at a time."

Anna hopped over the boards again for the neutral zone faceoff. Elsa won the puck back, but Northeastern were on their defense in a half-second, and pinned the puck to the boards near the blue line, as seconds ticked off the clock. Then the Huskies won the puck and started to cycle the it deep into Arendelle territory, keeping it moving while looking for an opening to shoot.

"We can't score if we don't have the puck!" Anna thought as Northeastern's forward moved up the boards towards her. She stepped away from her defenseman to make a play for the puck, but the Huskie sent it down the boards… straight onto Elsa's stick. Anna's eyes widened.

"Where did she come from!?" she thought, but there was no time for that; she had to get open!

Anna turned and sprinted up the ice in an attempt to get behind the defense. She kept her stick down as Elsa turned a tight circle and looked up ice to spring her. Northeastern players, everyone except the defenseman chasing Anna, raced to clog the neutral zone to stop the puck, but Elsa sent it lobbing through the air anyway, and it landed directly onto Anna's stick blade as she crossed the blue line, all alone on a breakaway. She pumped her legs to keep ahead of her pursuer and looked up to see the goalie move out to cut off her shot angle. Anna bore down, deked right to draw a poke check from the goalie, then switched to her backhand and managed to elevate the puck between the goalie's elbow and her body. The goal light went on, and she raised her hands to celebrate her second goal of the game, only to get slammed into the boards by the defenseman who had been chasing her. Anna saw stars as she stared up at the lights hanging from the stadium ceiling.

"What the fuck?" she thought as she struggled to find her breath. She rolled over and got one knee under her see Merida holding one of the Northeastern players on the ground in a headlock.

"Try that dirty late hit bullshite again don't be surprised if yer season ends early, ye feckin' cheapshot bitch," the redhead said as the Northeastern player's legs kicked futilely.

A scrum formed with a whole lot of pushing and shoving as referees frantically blew their whistles, and although no fights broke out, it took a while for everything to settle down. Anna stood up to look for Elsa and finally spotted her standing on the bench along with the rest of the team; she must have gone for a change after that last pass. Merida earned herself a roughing penalty, as did the Northeastern player who ran Anna into the boards after she scored. The teams played four-a-side for the final two minutes of the game while Anna sat a shift to recover, and then it was sudden death overtime, again.

"This is it," Anna thought as the top line, Elsa's line with Anna on her right, skated out to start the extra period. The roar of the crowd made it difficult to hear anything, but as Anna watched her, Elsa seemed laser focused on the puck in the ref's hand. Again, the blonde won it back and their D dumped it into the offensive zone for the forwards to chase. Anna fought against the Northeastern player in the corner to try and dig the puck out, and Rapunzel joined her. With her stick tied up, she managed to kick it back to the point where the defense fired a shot that deflected back into the opposite corner. Elsa, again seemingly out of nowhere, appeared to collect it and bring it behind the net. Rapunzel parked herself in front while Anna forced her fatigued legs to move to try and get open. This time, Elsa slid a pass to Rapunzel who fired a shot that was saved by the Northeastern goalie's pad, but the puck bounced around loose in the blue painted crease in front of the goal mouth. Anna lunged for it, only for Northeastern's goalie to make another diving save. With the goalie down and the puck pinballing around, Anna and Rapunzel both whacked at the piece of frozen rubber with their sticks as heavy shoves from the Northeastern D threatened to knock them down. Anna fell hard, but Rapunzel, off balance and falling, managed smack the puck with the blade of her stick, right into the open net. Lying on her stomach, Anna had a great view of the puck sitting on the ice on the other side of the goal line. She leapt to her feet and found Punzie among the shocked Northeastern players as the crowd fell silent.

"We won!" Anna shouted.

Elsa joined them, followed shortly afterwards by the rest of team as they cleared the bench to celebrate the unlikely win.

"Wait!" Anna thought, and she pushed her way free to collect the puck from the back of the net for Rapunzel. She looked back to see Punzie still swarmed by the rest of the team, and she rejoined them to find Elsa, the exhilaration of the game still plain on her face.

"That was amazing!" Anna said.

"I know! I love- this is what I love about hockey! It's the best feeling in the world," Elsa said as she laughed.

Anna joined her as laughter bubbled up from her stomach, and she threw herself at Elsa to bump their cages again.

"You played great tonight," Elsa said.

"Me? What about you? You were amazing!" Anna said.

The effervescent mood permeated the locker room, and Anna passed the game winning puck to Punzie, then gushed about the game with both her and Elsa as they hit the showers and changed, then walked out of the building together, with Anna feeling lighter than she had all year. Rapunzel boarded the bus first.

"I still can't believe you threaded that pass through like… eight people," Anna said as she dumped her bag into the storage compartment at the bottom of the bus. Elsa merely nodded.

"Yeah," she finally replied.

"Elsa?" Anna asked.

"It was a good game, but once we're on the bus, I'm going to have to study. I won't be able to chat," Elsa said.

The wind went right out of her sails, and Anna's shoulders slumped a little bit.

"Oh. O-… okay," she said, "I'll um… I'll leave you alone then."

Elsa nodded.

"Thank you," she said quietly, then turned to board.

"What the hell…?" Anna said quietly.

True to her word, Elsa all but ignored her on the bus, and whenever they saw each other at the cafeteria. On the ice though, it was a different story. During practice, and during their next home game, which they won handily, it was like nothing had changed; Elsa still looked to set her up for goals, still celebrated with her, laughed with her, gave her pointers and advice. As soon as the session or the game was over though, it was back to the cold shoulder. Anna couldn't make sense of it. She was, however, determined to take her game to the next level, so after drama rehearsal, she pulled her equipment together and headed down to the rink to get some extra skating and practice in. As she approached the locker room though, she heard voices, followed by the distinct slapping thunk of flesh striking flesh.

Her brows came together and she slipped into the locker room. Angry tones drifted from around the corner.

"Say something, you Scandinavian slut, or the next one's gonna break your perfect little nose."

Anna rounded the corner just as the next blow landed. Elsa sat on the bench with Jessica, Chloe, and Vanessa standing over her. Her eyes widened when she spotted Anna.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Anna said loudly.

The three girls spun around.

"Get out of here Christiansen, this doesn't concern you," Chloe said.

Anna pulled out her phone and held it up.

"The hell it doesn't. Leave her alone, right now, or these photos are going straight to Westergard, and you can explain to him why you're beating up his new star center," she said.

They stared at each other for a good five or ten seconds, but it felt like an eternity to Anna, until Chloe finally took a step towards her.

"Calm down Anna, it's just a little initiation. Everyone goes through it," she said, "I think we made our point anyway."

"Yeah, no harm done," Vanessa added. The three of them left, the echo of their cackles fading away as Anna tucked her phone back in her pocket.

"Are you okay?" Anna asked, but Elsa didn't respond except to look away.

"Embarrassed?" Anna thought. She moved closer and squatted down in front of the blonde. A thin scratch marred her cheek, and a drop of blood pooled and threatened to spill. One of the girls must have been wearing a ring.

"Jeez, you're bleeding," Anna said.

Elsa wiped her cheek with the back of one finger and frowned at the smear left behind.

"It's okay," Elsa said.

"The hell it is, hang on, I'll be right back," Anna said. She ran to get the first aid kit and brought it back, then opened an alcohol swab.

"This might sting," she said, then she swiped the blood away. Elsa winced when the alcohol made contact, then held still and stared at her as Anna worked.

"What happened, why were they hitting you?" Anna asked.

"I don't know… I think they're upset that Jessica's off the team, like it's my fault," she said.

"What the… but you're better. Like.. a lot better," Anna said, "I'm so angry right now, ugh! This has got to be like… illegal, or something. I bet I can get them kicked off the team."

Elsa sighed.

"Please… don't… don't do anything," she said.

"Why the hell not? Look at your face!" Anna said, "I mean… why didn't you fight back?"

Elsa paused for a long moment.

"There were three of them, it would have only made things worse," she replied.

"How… could they possibly be worse?" Anna asked, and then a chill went through her, "ah fuck, it's freezing in here."

"Yeah, it really is," Elsa said, "I think maybe the heater is broken or something."

She took an unsteady breath and leaned forward towards Anna, just a little bit, enough to make Anna think she was dazed from the blows.

"There, done," she said as she gave Elsa's cheek one last swipe, "do you need ice?"

Elsa laughed quietly.

"No, thank you," she said, then grew serious again. "Thank you… for helping me… even though I pushed you away. Thank you for… just being you."

Anna's mouth dropped open a bit at Elsa's expression. It lasted just for an instant, but the depth of emotion in her eyes, like she was about to burst into tears, stirred something inside her, but then it was gone so fast she wondered if she had imagined it.

"Anytime…" she said quietly, "something tells me this kind of thing has happened before, hasn't it…"

Elsa closed her eyes and looked away.

"I don't really want to talk about it," she said.

Despite her gigantic playmaking on the ice, at that moment, she seemed so small, so fragile, that Anna wanted to hold her and tell her it was going to be okay. Behind all that, she wanted to know why. Why had Elsa pushed her away?

"Should I press her on it? Come on Anna, it's obvious there's something else going on here… but she said she doesn't want to talk about it," she thought, "I guess the best I can do is…"

"Well, okay," Anna said, "but if you change your mind… you still have my number."

Elsa, her eyes still closed, merely swallowed and nodded.

"Umm… I'm gonna skate a little, do you want to come?" Anna asked.

Elsa shook her head.

"No, thank you," she said as she stood up unsteadily, "I should get back. It's been a long day. Thank you, again."

She leaned forward, just slightly, and Anna thought she meant to hug her, but Elsa instead brushed past her and walked towards the exit.

The following day, Anna stood in Hans' father's office.

"Two of them are centers, and if we lose them, we can kiss our chances of a playoff appearance goodbye," he said.

"Why the hell should that even be a factor?" Anna asked.

"It's not the only factor, you have zero evidence," Westergard said.

"Just look at Elsa's face!" Anna said.

"And will she name her attackers?" her coach asked, "I assume no, since you're here and she's not, so why are we still talking about this?"

"It's not right, they punched her in the face and cut her cheek. What if it happens again?" Anna asked.

"It's just a little hazing, Anna, you need to relax. Didn't you go through the same thing?" Westergard asked.

Anna shook her head, but he merely shrugged his shoulders.

"Count yourself lucky then," he said, "is there anything else?"

Anna's lower lip protruded, but there was nothing she could do; if Elsa didn't complain on her own behalf, she was at a dead-end.

"Can't believe they're just going to get away with it," she thought.

Trigger Warning: Nightmare, Female Masturbation