Chapter One

Anna POV

In Which Anna learns why her sister can't build a snowman.

Anna, eight year old princess of Arendelle, knocked on her sister's door.

She called, "Do you want to build a snowman? Or ride our bike around the halls? I think some company is overdue; I've started talking to the pictures on the walls!" Anna giggled to herself at her little rhymes; it had taken her an hour to come up with them. "It gets a little lonely, all these empty rooms, just watching the hours tick by!" Anna made clock sounds with her mouth to emphasize her point.

There was silence.

Anna sighed. Her and Elsa had been the best friends any human could want... until one summer's day, where Elsa spent less and less time with Anna. A few months after that, Elsa got her own room, and refused to come out for anything but the occasional holiday or party, and even then, she barely acknowledged Anna.

Elsa had to be twelve now. Anna wondered if she had forgotten what her sister looked like. But Anna didn't forget. Anna knew her sister had platinum-blonde hair- almost white- with beautiful blue eyes. Anna felt less beautiful than Elsa all the time. Anna had dark blonde hair- almost red, with a platinum-blonde streak in her hair that she was told she was born with. Anna usually put her long hair in two braids.

"Do you want to build a snowman?" Anna asked again. "It doesn't have to be a snowman!"

This time, there wasn't silence. Instead, there was a small- but inescapable- wail from her sister's side of the room.

Instead of scared or sad, Anna grew angry. "Why do you shut me out, Elsa?" she asked before she could stop herself. "Tell me why!"

There was a little more silence. Then there was a tiny knock on the other side of the door. "Hello, Anna." came Elsa's voice.

Anna sat down, trying to stay mad, but failing. Anna could never stay mad for long. "Why do you shut me out?" she asked again.

Elsa continued, "It wasn't my idea, Anna. But it had to be done."

"Why?"

A sigh escaped from the crack under the door. Not an exasperated sigh, but a sad one. "I'm going to tell you a story, Anna. It may seem unbelievable, but I swear that it is true. Every word I say is true."

Anna was ready to believe anything. "Go on."

"You didn't always have that streak in your hair." Elsa began. "And I didn't always shut you out. It all began when I was around three or four. I was playing in my room, and one of my paper dolls broke. I got so mad. I threw my hands in the air and screamed. And from my hands... shot ice. Pure ice."

Anna was spellbound. Elsa kept going. "I was horrified. Mother and father came in and calmed me down. Mother told me that I had been born with the powers of ice, but they never told me why; I guess they didn't even know. I thought it was the coolest thing; who else had the power of ice and snow?

"When you a baby, I made snowflakes for you to make you stop crying. As you grew older, we were inseparable. Every day, you'd wake me up early, and then we'd find some room or meadow we hadn't played in yet, and I'd create snow and ice for our amusement.

"Then, one day, when you were four years old, we went into the great hall. We built our own snowman; we named him Olaf. Do you remember?"

Anna nodded. "Hi, I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!" she quoted.

"Yes." Elsa was starting to sound sad. "Then you started leaping from snowpiles. You kept going faster and faster, and I couldn't make snowmounds fast enough. I slipped, and you started to fall, unaware of what was happening. I screamed, and involuntarily, I shot ice at you. It hit you in the head, and you rolled over onto the snow."

Anna was gripping the carpet. She was scared for her past self, even though she had turned out okay. But still... Anna couldn't remember any of this.

"I was terrified." Elsa was obviously suffering pain even thinking about these memories. "The ice and snow went wild. A platinum-blonde streak appeared in your hair. I scream for our parents. They came.

"They took us to a group of trolls. They healed you, but changed your memories of my magic to memories of normal life. They explained to me that my magic was powerful, but Fear was my enemy, and if it controlled me, I wouldn't be able to control my powers.

"I've been working on controlling my powers ever since. Mother and Father reduced the staff and shut me away from all human contact, except for them, and the maid who delivers my food."

Anna was horrified. "You mean, you didn't want to leave me?"

"No! Of course not. I love you, Anna, but it's Mother's and Father's wish. Maybe, when I have control of my powers..."

Anna couldn't resist the urge to peek through the bottom of the door. She saw the normal floor. Elsa, however, must have figured out what Anna was doing. "Anna, step back. Watch the bottom of the door."

Anna did as her sister asked. To her astonishment, snowflakes flew through the bottom of the door. It's winter, though. thought Anna, but that didn't stop her believing. "That was you?"

"Yes." Elsa sounded downcast. "So now you know."

Anna crawled back to the door. "But you can't learn to control your powers like that!"

"Why not?" Elsa asked, confused.

"Because you're living in a state of fear." Anna explained. "Fear that you'll hurt someone else. Fear that you'll lose all love. Besides, what did Bestla always tell us?"

Anna could almost feel Elsa smile at the thought of their clumsy old nanny that they used to poke fun of, but secretly admired for all she did. "There is no fear in love," Anna's sister recalled. "but perfect love casts out fear."

"Exactly." Anna grinned. "What kind of love can you have if your life is nothing but fear? Mother and Father must be tyrants for locking you up."

"They thought it was best." Elsa defended.

"Well, they thought wrong." Anna concluded. "They obviously never considered that."

"What are we going to do about it?" Elsa skeptically asked.

Anna thought for less than a second before she came to a conclusion. "We'll just have to leave, then."