It was cold. Anna knew that because she could see her breath, though she didn't feel chilled. Running, that was what she was doing... playing in the snow. But there shouldn't be snow here. Something happened. What happened? She couldn't be sure, but she was freezing now. So cold...
Anna woke up from her dream by a hurried knock on her bedroom door. It was still dark out, moon high in the sky.
"Princess Anna! Princess Anna!" More knocking.
"I'm up!" The redhead quickly pulled on a robe she now kept by her bed and stumbled to her bedroom door. "Is it bad?"
The young female servant nodded. "The worst yet. She keeps screaming for you. Please..." The servant was visibly upset.
Anna didn't bother to listen to the rest of what of the girl had to say, she was already rushing down the hall. Two more servants were worriedly waiting outside the Queen's bedchamber, the screams from within loud and clear.
"ANNA! NOOOOOOO! ANNAAAAA!"
Without any hesitation, Anna threw open the door and rushed in.
The room was covered in frost and snow, Elsa was thrashing in bed in the midst of a nightmare. It was bitterly cold but Anna's concern was getting to her sister, not the freezing temperature. Anna jumped onto the bed and crawled over to her sister.
"Elsa." She shook the blonde gently.
"Oh god no! ANNA!"
"ELSA! Wake up!" Shaking the thrashing woman harder, Anna ducked a flying fist aimed at her head. "Eeep! ELSA!"
Finally her sister opened her eyes. Breathing hard, Elsa sat up quickly and hit her head against Anna's.
"Ouch." Elsa clutched at head. "Anna? What..." She noticed the snow and frost, and with a wave of her hand it all disappeared, the room warming instantly.
"Ugh, you have a hard head." Anna rubbed the bump already starting to form. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Wiping away the tears, Elsa turned her attention to her sister. "Let me see your head." Her heart was still beating a fast rhythm, the fear still pulsing through her veins. Distraction was what she needed from the nightmare still playing in her mind where Anna was frozen solid and in a panic, Elsa had knocked her over, shattering the fragile girl into pieces. This happened over and over, no matter how careful she was, and each time her sister was dead. Gone forever.
"I'm fine. Are you okay?" Anna was used to her fair share of scrapes and bruises.
"Don't worry about me, it was just a bad dream," Elsa placed a purposely cool hand against the already rising bump and winced. "I am so sorry." She traced a design on the bump, knowing the frost left by the touch would melt in about an hour, but would also should help keep the swelling down.
Anna smiled at the concerned look on her sisters face. "The same dream?"
Closing her eyes and trying to hold back tears, Elsa nodded.
"Sleep over!" Anna crawled under the covers breaking contact with icy fingers.
"What?" Elsa blinked.
"You are not staying up reading treaties or whatever boring things you read."
"Those are import-"
Anna waved off her sister. "Whatever. The point is, you're going back to sleep." She snuggled deep under the covers trying to get rid of the chill she felt from the previous snow.
The blonde stayed sitting up in bed watching her sister; beauty, kindness, and some innate sense of what to do all in one delightful package. It left little doubt in her mind why she had slowly fallen for the redhead.
"Anna..."
"Elsa," Anna interrupted, "you can't keep doing this, you need to sleep. When was the last time you actually slept more than four hours?"
Turning her head away, Elsa kept silent, willing the fear to stay at bay. Conceal, don't feel. The old mantra was incessant.
"I bet it was last week when we fell asleep in my room." Anna smiled at the memory of waking up cuddled with the blonde, something she would give anything to wake up to every morning.
"Yes." Elsa responded shakily.
Anna held out her arms, ready to hold her sister throughout the night and ward off the nightmares.
Elsa couldn't stop the images plaguing in her mind, she fell into her sisters arms crying.
"Shhh, I've got you. I'm alive." Wrapping her arms around the shaking form, Anna held her sister close. "Hear that? Hear my heartbeat? It's still beating. I'm fine." It took a while, but eventually Elsa's sobs slowed down and she fell asleep to the sound of Anna's heart beating steadily on.
The spring dawn was just starting to brighten the sky, promising to be a beautiful day as one of the lumps under the covers stirred.
Slowly Elsa woke from a wonderful dream. Everything was peaceful and she felt nothing but love and security. A movement under her cheek pulled her further out of her dream, causing her to wonder why her pillow was moving. Elsa's sleepy mind couldn't be bothered to sort it out, so she snuggled further into the warmth, the scent of her pillow comforting.
"Ugh... go back to sleep Elsa." All the wiggling woke Anna up. She tightened her hold around her sister. Waking up cuddled close last week had nothing on waking up with Elsa actually in her arms, all soft curves and cool skin.
Perfect.
"Anna!" Elsa was blushing as she pulled away, nearly falling off the side of bed in her haste to put space between them.
Well, almost perfect.
"Noooo... get back here." Anna's subconscious was only focused on getting the blonde back, so she rolled over and wrapped her arms around Elsa pulling her close. "Sky's asleep..." Already she was dozing off, the rest of the sentence was left unspoken.
Anna's hold on her only tightened as Elsa tried to gently wiggle free from the embrace. That was how she ended up on her side with the redhead snuggled up behind her when she finally gave up trying to get away. It was still very early and a few more hours of sleep sounded nice. Elsa took a deep breath and relaxed back into the hold around her, drifting off to sleep.
Anna had been the first to wake up again later that morning to her grumbling stomach. The sun was fully in the sky so she guessed it to be mid morning. Elsa was still sleeping soundly. Ever so reluctantly the redhead extracted herself from the warm bed and tiptoed to the bedroom door. Peeking out she was unsurprised to find a servant nearby, ready to serve the Queen at a moments notice.
"Psst! Erik!" Anna waved him over.
"Yes Princess Anna?"
"Sssshh! You'll wake Elsa." She looked over her shoulder to make sure her sister was still asleep. "Can you get a couple of breakfast trays brought up?"
"Yes Princess Anna. I will inform the kitchen." He turned around and quickly walked away to fulfill his duties.
Not wanting to leave Elsa to wake up alone, Anna grabbed a random story book off a pile stacked on a chair and carefully slipped back into bed. She soon found herself immersed in the fairytales she always enjoyed.
A very soft knock on the door brought her back to reality. Silently she made her way to the door and directed the two kitchen workers to place the covered plates on a small table with two wingback chairs. Once that was taken care of, Anna crawled back into bed to continue reading. She could wait a little longer before waking her sister up.
After trying three times to read the same paragraph, Anna gave up and let her mind wonder back to the fuzzy memories she had of the dreams she had been having recently.
"What are you thinking about?" Elsa asked sleepily. She couldn't remember the last time she had such a restful nights sleep.
"Aahh!" Anna had been so lost in her thoughts that Elsa's question startled her enough to send the book in her hand rocketing across the room.
It hit a vase of flowers and shattered it to pieces.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!"
Elsa couldn't hold back her laughter. Her sister was an adorable klutz.
"Elsa! I broke your vase! Why are you laughing?" Anna hurried out of bed and walked to to flowers and book on the floor. Then promptly fell backwards in surprise when the pieces disappeared then reappeared back on the dresser.
"Don't worry, after the last vase you broke I decided it was probably a good idea to just make my own." The blonde slipped on her robe and walked over to her sister who was still sitting on the ground.
Anna winced. "You noticed that?"
Elsa raised an eyebrow at her sister.
"Ummm... breakfast?" Anna gestured to the covered plates from her spot on the floor.
Chuckling, Elsa helped her sister up and placed a kiss on her cheek. "Thank you."
"I-it's just breakfast" Anna replied while her ears turned red, still holding hands.
"For last night." She squeezed the hand in hers gently. "I haven't slept that well in a long time."
"Oh, in that case. You're welcome." Anna bounced on her toes. "Can we eat now? I'm starving."
"Come on," she pulled her sister over to the table. "It smells delicious." It only took a couple of minutes to get settled and start eating.
"What had you so distracted this morning?" Elsa asked curiously. Normally it was only adorable animals or a quest for chocolate that could keep her sisters attention to the exclusion of everything else.
"I've been having the same dream the past two weeks. I'm playing in the snow but I know that there shouldn't be snow there. I think it's the Ballroom." Anna was concentrating on her memories and missed her sister's spoon stop halfway to her mouth. "I was running around and jumping in the snow. I wasn't cold but then suddenly I was freezing. And then, I wake up."
"It's just a dream." Her voice was shaky and this time Anna noticed.
"Elsa?"
"We aren't talking about this." Elsa's hand shook as she set down her spoon and stood on wobbly legs. She spent years trying to forget that night. Why was Anna remembering it now?
"But what if-"
"Anna I said no!" Elsa turned around and walked out of the bedroom to a side room to dress for her day, breakfast only half finished.
Anna walked into her own bedroom confused by Elsa's behavior. After Elsa had thawed out Arendelle, the two had talked so she knew that her sister was born with her snow powers and grew up afraid of them. The blonde had made so much progress in controlling her powers and now only lost control during her nightmares. So what was scaring her now?
Slowly Anna changed out of her nightgown and into a beautiful green and yellow dress, her mind busily going over her dream and Elsa's apparent over reaction to it. Elsa was obviously not going to talk about it. But there were servants working in the castle who had been there for decades.
Maybe there was more to the dream than she originally thought.
"Hi Gerda!" Anna waltzed into the large kitchen where the elderly woman was directing the cooking staff.
"Good afternoon Anna. Is there anything I can do for you?"
"You've been here a long time right? Ooo, chocolate." Anna snagged a piece in a pile on the table behind Gerda and ate it.
"Stop that, you'll ruin your lunch." Gerda took the plate and moved it out of the young woman's reach. "And yes, thank you for reminding me how old I am."
"Ummm..." Anna gave a weak smile. "Sorry?"
The older woman couldn't hold back her smile. She snagged a piece of chocolate and handed it to Anna, her weakness for the young princess evident.
"Thanks!" Anna took a bite. "Before the coronation, did you know Elsa could make snow?"
"Yes." Gerda sighed, she had been expecting this question for a while. "I don't know what happened, but one day we were told to close up the castle and to never talk about what Queen Elsa could do, no matter who asked."
"Who told you to do that?"
"Your mother, the Queen."
"Did... did I know what she could do?" Anna put down the bit of chocolate she had, her stomach suddenly upset.
"Yes. The two of you used to play with them often and you were always fascinated by your sister's abilities." After all these years it felt odd to speak openly about Queen Elsa's powers.
"Why don't I remember this? What changed?"
"I'm sorry Anna, I don't know."
The redhead sighed. No luck. Time to talk to more people.
Finding servants that worked in the castle from the time Anna was little, was harder than she thought. Most of them either retired and moved away, died in the past ten years, or simply did not work where the girls had spent their time. She couldn't find anyone else that day after Gerda who knew anything. It was tiring.
Continuing the book she started in the morning, Anna was snuggled into the blankets when Elsa walked in.
"Anna?" Elsa had not expected to see her sister after walking out during breakfast.
"Hi Elsa, ready for bed?" Anna closed her book and put it on the night stand.
The blonde blinked. "What?" This was not happening, at least not in real life. In her fantasies... she shifted uncomfortably and tried to not think about how those usually ended.
"Bed? The place where you lay down to sleep?" Anna smiled. Her sister was too cute when she was flustered.
"Your room is down the hall." Elsa finally walked fully into her bedroom and stepped behind a folding screen to change. "I figured we'd sleep together."
The thump of Elsa accidentally hitting the partition was loud.
"Umm... Sleep in the same bed. We'll both get to sleep through the night, let's skip the late night wake up this time." Seeing her sister walk out from behind the screen in her nightwear stopped any thought she might have had and Anna fell silent, trying to keep the feelings overwhelming her at a distance. Just as she believed her parents would want from her.
Elsa slipped into the other side of the bed after extinguishing all the candles in the room except for the one on her nightstand and placed a hand on the bump on her sisters forehead. "How are you feeling?"
"Huh?" Anna was confused. "Oh, that. It's fine." She had forgotten all about it, honestly.
"You are so good to me." Elsa leaned over and hugged her sister tightly. "Thank you."
Anna watched as an elderly maid sat polishing the silver. She had a vague memory of the woman braiding her hair the few times her usual nanny, who had since moved away to work in another royal household closer to her daughter, had been off visiting family.
"Anelise?" Anna sat down across the table. She picked up a rag and started to help the woman polish the silver with a practiced hand. Many hours were spent doing this very chore as punishment for her antics.
"Yes dear?" The elderly woman finished polishing the spoon in her hands and picked up another.
"When Elsa and I were kids, did you notice anything strange?" Anna hated polishing forks, so skipped them and stuck to the plates in front of her.
"I never spent much time with our Queen, she was always busy with her studies, even at a young age Your mother had our Queen in lessons from... Oh the age of five if I recall correctly. She wanted to give her the best chance at being a good ruler. A lot of was always expected of her." Anelise was old, she cared not about what she was, and wasn't, supposed to say anymore. The former rulers were dead and she no longer saw any reason to abide by their odd rules of silence and sudden ban on talking with the royal children.
Anna remembered her sister studying a lot when they were little but they still played together so at first when Elsa shut herself away she had assumed it was her schooling that kept them apart. But after a year of no contact, little Anna had started to believe it was something she had done.
"I must say dear, it is odd to no longer see you without that streak in your hair after getting used to it."
"Wasn't I born with it?"
"Heavens no child, it showed up suddenly one night. You were...perhaps five years old at the time. I saw it one day when nanny Hilda was away visiting her daughter in Corona. When I asked the Queen about it, she told me to ignore it and never mention it again."
Anna stayed listening to Anelise reminisce for the next hour, helping her polish while pondering seriously for the first time about the white streak that was no longer there.
"I never spent much time in the castle Anna." Ivan smiled. The young Princess had been down at the stables many times over the years. He could still remember a little girl begging him to teach her to ride. He couldn't hold back a chuckle at the memory of the tiny girl on the small pony her father bought for her.
"Guess not." Anna continued to brush the white horse that was her favorite. Four days of dead ends. It seemed no one knew or remembered much and Elsa was still silent on the subject, leaving the room any time it was brought up.
"Though there was that one night," Ivan stopped cleaning the stall thinking hard, trying to remember. "You girls were very little. The King rushed in and told me to saddle up two of our fastest horses for him and the Queen. Next thing I know, all four of you were riding off. After that, I never saw your sister down here. She used to love this one horse named Spotty." He chuckled. "The horse was a little daft but he absolutely adored our Queen. Follow her up and down the fence, probably would have followed her around like a puppy if we didn't keep him in the paddock. He never was the same after she stopped visiting."
Anna paused in brushing her horse, trying to remember any time the four of them rode together.
"Anything strange about that night?"
"Beside the midnight ride?" Ivan asked with another smile.
Anna nodded, hoping that he might remember something more.
"It was warm that night, summer was just starting. But the Queen had you wrapped in a blanket and I could tell you were shivering. I assumed they were taking you to a doctor, but after all of you left I noticed I could see my breath the stables it had turned so cold in here. Never could figure out why, until the coronation six months ago."
Anna had figured the first person she should talk to was Kai but tracking him down had been more difficult than she first thought, so it was her fifth day of gathering information when she finally found him. He had been her father's personal man servant, his right hand man. He was in the official Royal office, sorting correspondence and filling out the Queen's schedule for the next few days.
"Hey Kai! You busy?" She dragged herself into the room tiredly, she really needed a full nights sleep. While Elsa was finally sleeping through the nights thanks to their new sleeping arrangements, Anna was now the one who couldn't sleep. Too many questions and not enough answers.
"Good morning Princess Anna. How may I serve you?" Kai's formal training was impeccable, though put to the test on more than one occasion when dealing with the Princess.
"Can I ask you a couple of questions?" Anna tiredly flopped down on one of the comfortable chairs in front of the desk.
Kai stopped sorting through the papers in front of him, stood, and gave the redhead his undivided attention. There was something in her voice that gave him paused. He knew the children their whole lives but out of the two of them, Anna was the most like their father. It made her much easier to read than the Queen.
"How long have you been working at the castle?"
"Since your father was a young Prince, Princess." Kai wondered what the young woman really needed to know.
"Elsa and I used to do everything together, but then one day she stopped coming out of her room. I still don't know why and have no memories of her powers. That seems really strange considering how close we used to be." Anna took a deep breath and sat up straighter. "No one can tell me why. What happened?"
Kai had struggled for years with the King's orders after whatever happened that night. The girls were to never be together, never talk with each other, no one was even allowed to tell the young child anything about her older sister. It was the only time he had ever argued with his King. The helpless feeling while watching the two children suffer had caused a wedge between the two men. Once they were as close a brothers, but after that night, they had drifted to a formal working relationship.
It was finally time to break his silence.
He walked around the large desk and sat on the chair by the young Princess.
"One morning when you were five years old, your father came to me with a list of actions he wanted me to take." He sat back as he remembered that confusing time. "I was to dismiss all but absolutely necessary castle staff, the castle doors were to be shut, I was make sure no one was to ever speak about Elsa's powers to anyone, and keep the two of you apart."
"Did my father tell you why?" Anna finally felt as though she was getting some answers, excited at solving the mystery, but very aware of the gnawing feeling growing in her belly.
"You showed up to breakfast the next morning with a white streak in your hair and your older sister terrified to leave her room. It didn't take much to realize that something had happened. But the King never confided in me about what." Kai sighed.
"The day after that he had me order two dozen pairs of gloves for your sister. He ordered more every few months, thousands of pairs over the years. One day Brita sewed a beautiful red dress for you sister, it was for her birthday. Her thirteenth birthday. Your sister was stunning in it."
Kai rubbed his eyes, trying to keep back the tears. This had been the last straw for him.
"In that dress your sister was happy. Elsa said it made her feel beautiful and it was the first time I had seen her smile in months. She had gone to show her parents and ask if maybe the two of you could spend the day together as her gift. The King and Queen ordered her to take it off and have it destroyed."
"Why?" Anna was stunned. She had always assumed the isolation had been her sisters idea.
"It was sleeveless."
Anna waited for more but Kai was silent.
"That's it? It was sleeveless?"
"The Queen ordered all her clothes to always have long sleeves. All skin was to be covered up to avoid any contact. That dress was against the rules."
They were silent for a long time after that. Kai remembering sadder times in the past and Anna viewing her childhood in a different light.
"I hear Elsa is sleeping through the night now." Kai broke the heavy silence. He knew what was happening and watched the young woman closely.
"She has nightmares." Anna couldn't meet Kai's eyes certain the man would know her true feelings.
But Kai was a patient man.
Anna couldn't stand the silence so she looked up. He raised an eyebrow.
He knew. Kai knew her true feelings for her sister and it scared her. In a panic, she stood quickly.
"I know my parents would never approve. Nothing will happen... ever." Anna walked out before anything else could be said.
"And that is what worries me most, Anna." Kai murmured to the empty room
The long time family servant had only ever seen Elsa happy when the sisters were together and the only time Elsa had been able to control her powers had been with the love the two shared. In what ever form that love took, it didn't matter.
Anna closed the big double doors behind her.
"This is where whatever happened that night took place." The young woman mumbled to herself as she slowly paced the outer edges of the Ballroom. The memories of what happened were just beyond her grasp. Every time she tried to hold onto a wisp of a memory, it would disappear like so much smoke. It was frustrating. After finishing her trek around the outer edges, she stood in the middle of the room hands on hips.
"Elsa said she was born with her powers. Gerda said we used to play together with them. Ivan told me about a night when Papa woke him up to get two horses saddled. A week after that Anelise noticed the streak in my hair..." Anna sat down on the floor as she silently went over all the other stories she heard. The isolation, most of the servants being dismissed, the endless gloves being made, and her parents forbidding any talk of Elsa's gift.
The creaking of one of the big doors opening behind her brought her back to the present.
"Anna!" Olaf and his private flurry walked over.
"Olaf! How are you?" She was always happy to see the little snowman. A nagging memory came to her, of him being here in the Ballroom and not in the garden out back. Could it be...
"Wonderful! Did you know you have a garden? So many flowers!" Olaf finally made his way to where Anna was sitting and spread his arms out even wider. "Can I have a warm hug?"
Searing pain shot through her head as images bombarded her.
"Ready?" A young Elsa was smiling as she twirled her hands around.
"The sky is awake, so I'm awake, so we have to play " Anna dramatically threw her arms out as she laid on top of her sister.
"Watch this!" Elsa looked excitedly at Anna then stomped on the ground with her left foot. Before Anna realized it, ice was covering the floor and she was sliding away.
"Do you want to build a snowman?" Anna pulled at Elsa's eyelid.
"Do the magic! Do the magic!" Both girls were giggling as they ran into the Ballroom.
Anna was holding Olaf's twig hands as Elsa pushed them around the icy floor with her powers.
"Anna slow down!" Then Anna felt a stabbing pain in her head and saw nothing but blackness...
"Anna! Anna!" Olaf was poking her with this twig arms. He didn't know what to do, after he asked for a warm hug (his favorite), the redhead had cried out in pain and fell over. "I need to get Elsa. I've got to get Mom!"
The little snowman ran as quickly as he could, even ignoring things that normally would distract him, muttering 'Elsa will fix it, mom will know what to do' the whole way.
At the white door painted with snowflakes he tried to knock with his little arms. They didn't make much more than a scratching noise, so he threw himself at the door causing a much louder thud. It took three times before Elsa answered the door book in hand.
"Olaf? What's wrong?"
"Anna!" The little guy was over excited and couldn't stay still as he ran around in a circle.
"Anna?" Panic filled Elsa and the book in her hand frosted over. "OLAF!"
The snowman continued to run in circles.
Not bothering to waste time calming him down, Elsa used her powers to freeze Olaf in a block of ice. "What about Anna?"
"She's in the Ballroom. I asked for a warm hug and she fell over! She just fell asleep!" Olaf opened his mouth to continue talking but Elsa had dropped her book and was already running down the hall, forgetting to unfreeze Olaf.
Elsa tried to not let the panic overwhelm her, but she couldn't stop the ice forming behind her as she ran. Bursting through the Ballroom doors, she nearly fainted at the sight of her sister unconscious on the Ballroom floor just like when they were little all those years ago.
"ANNA!" Elsa was crying as she rushed to her sister and scooped the redhead into her arms. "You're okay Anna, I've got you." Holding her close, Elsa rocked back and forth reliving that horrible night in her memories.
"Please," Elsa whispered, her tears freezing into bits of ice as they fell. " Please, don't leave me."
"I won't ever leave you." Anna whispered. The pain in her head began to lade as she slowly woke up.
"Anna!" Helping the groggy woman sit up, Elsa felt her panic recede. "What happened? I was waiting..." She stopped herself, just because Anna had been sleeping in her bed for the past five nights didn't mean it would continue. Her sister just might want to go back to her own bed.
Exhausted, Anna snuggled further into her sisters embrace. "I remember."
"Remember what?" Elsa tightened her hold.
"That night when we were kids. I should have slowed down. It wasn't your fault." Anna wrapped her arms around Elsa's neck and hugged her. "Why didn't you say anything? "
"Father told me to never tell you, that it was the only way to keep you safe." A deep breath. "I never wanted you to see the monster I became."
"You were never a monster!" Anna cried, upset. "You..." Anna's voice broke. She didn't know if really wanted the truth. "You told me that Hans was the one that brought those cuffs into Arendelle. But no one outside the castle knew about your powers. How could he have known?"
Elsa stilled, hoping her sister didn't continue. "Let's get you to bed-"
"Is that true?" Anna interrupted.
"It's been a long day-" "
Is. It. True!"
"No." It was quiet in the Ballroom, the only sound came from the two women sitting on the floor in the middle of the room. "Papa and Mama had them made a couple of years before they... before they died. I lost control of my powers one day and destroyed a table in my room."
Anna was stunned. Her parents planned to lock up Elsa? That couldn't be right. It had to be a mistake. Her parents where good, loving people.
Tears began to slowly fall again down Elsa's cheeks. "They were so scared. I couldn't control my powers, not since that night. Papa's mantra wasn't working like it used to. It was either those cuffs or..." She stopped talking at the sound of sniffles. "Anna?"
"What did Papa tell you?" Anna couldn't contain her tears. Who were the people she grew up loving?
"Conceal, don't feel. Don't let it show." The well practiced words flowed easily off her tongue.
"I'm so sorry Elsa, they shouldn't have done that to you." Everything started to fall into place. The memories of growing up, the stories she had heard the past few days, but most of all Elsa herself. Little things like flinching when Anna would hug her, the look of surprise at a compliment, the willingness to lay any blame at her own feet.
"It's okay Anna. They were doing what they thought was best," Elsa said, defeated.
"It is not okay!" The tears had stopped and now only anger remained. "They locked you up and told you that you were a monster!"
"Anna, they-"
"NO! Don't you dare defend them!" Anna pulled back and placed her hands on the side of her sister's face and looked into her Elsa's eyes."They were wrong and never should have locked you away. We should have never been apart."
They stayed looking in each others eyes a long moment before Elsa finally nodded.
"It's late, we should go to bed." Standing first, Anna held her hand out to help her sister up. She held Elsa close throughout the night.
Anna stalked to the two large headstones in the well kept Royal cemetery. This wasn't the first time she had been there, but this was the first time she had come without flowers. Overwhelming fury had taken hold of her. Stewing all last night about the information she had gathered over the past week finally bubbled over.
"How could you?!" she shouted at the cold marble."How could you do that to her?"
Pacing back and forth in front of the graves of her parents she let loose with her anger. The words pouring out of her.
"She was eight years old damn it. It was an accident. I should have slowed down and she had tried to warn me. I heard her crying, I heard everything that night." Tears filled her eyes but didn't spill. "'What have you done?' You blamed her before you even knew what happened!"
Stopping her pacing, she glared. "You locked her away. You taught her to fear herself, fear her gift. Conceal, don't feel? Who tells a child that? Those cuffs." Anna stopped speaking, unwilling to continue that line of thinking at the moment. "Elsa still has nightmares about that night, and now, she has nightmares that I die. She still flinches when I go to hug her, she's still terrified of hurting me. You did that!"
Rage finally boiled over causing her to finally completely lose her temper. Grabbing a couple nearby stones she threw them hard in the direction her father's and mother's headstones, her anger making any control of her throws go wild.
"I HATE YOU!"
Silence.
Not even the birds were singing.
"Despite all you two did," Anna wiped away the tears that were now streaming down her face, "Elsa has become an amazing woman and a wonderful Queen. Arendelle loves her, they don't see the monster you let her believe she was. The monster she never was."
The young princess' legs gave out and she fell down onto the grass. A week of tracking down the details of all that had gone on behind closed doors simply wore her out.
"When I came here last month I told you how I fell in love with Elsa. I was so confused." Anna's gaze lost focus as she continued to talk. "Ever since you died, I tried to do what I believed you would want me to. Six months. It has been six months since the coronation and my feelings for her has only gotten stronger. The more I get to know her, the more time we spend together..." She sighed and stood up.
"I love her and I'm no longer going to hold it back. No more locked doors. No more fear. No more lies." Anna took a deep breath. "She deserves to know, a chance to make her own decisions."
For once since this crazy week started, Anna felt warm. It was finally time to go against her parents wishes and do what was best for her and her sister. To tell the truth and not hide anything away.
"I still love you." Anna turned her back to the two cold headstones that bore her parents names. "But I won't ever forgive you for what you did." Not glancing back, she walked back to the castle and the woman she loved.