A/N: Hey guys! I'm starting up a new story and I hope you like it. I want to try and create a more emotional piece and I hope your advice can direct me in the right path that I strive for.

So this is going to get a little depressing. Which is a first for me. There'll be a lot of other firsts in here for me in this story. I hope you enjoy, if so then leave a review.

Thank you!

A little Elsa stole a glance out from behind her mother's dress and squealed in delight. Her father, the King, had momentarily rid himself of his royal countenance and adopted a jovial manner. The man stalked towards his daughter who was meanwhile racing circles around the Queen so she could avoid getting caught. When he thought that he had her, the Princess would turn around and run to the other side. After many minutes of this he wisely calculated a plan to catch his elusive daughter. The King feigned a lunge to the right sending the girl giggling and squealing the other direction. All he had to do was stay where he was; this was one of the few ways he had caught her before in the past, and as always, she fell for it by running right into his awaiting arms.

"I've got you," the King proclaimed as he caught her and twirled her high in the air, "now, it's time for your bedtime." His daughter dug her face into his shoulder which almost completely quieted the protest of disapproval she was voicing.

"Elsa, love, We'll see you tomorrow." A hand swept her unruly blond hair back into place and the girl peeked out with a ghost of a smile on her lips.

"I know…" she sighed ", PLEeeaaassseeee, can I say goodnight before I go to sleep?" she tilted her head winning her parents over instantly and the couple shared a smile.

"Of course,"

The restless princesses was returned to the ground and spun around and revealed her trademark heart-breaker smile.

"Goodnight Dad!"

"Goodnight my Little Princess."

Elsa ran towards her mother and the girl wrapped her tiny arms around the Queen's leg in a tight bear-hug, "Goodnight Mom, Goodnight Sister!" She patted her mother's stomach and cooed at her soon-to-be friend inside. A hand joined her daughter and it's owner smiled with pride and love.

"I can't wait to see you!" Elsa cried out ecstatically.

"Time for bed, dear. You'll see your sister soon enough."

I love you, with all my heart-

I miss you oh-so much.

I wish I could have told that to her, if only just once more.

Because all I know, is Life's too Short…

It only went on for a few minutes; the screaming, the shouting, the crying. Elsa was crouched in the corner of the room with her hands wrapped around her tiny body. She shivered helpless against a self-conjured blizzard that covered her room in snow and ice. The noises grew more panicked and pained before it was eerily silent. The Princess preferred to have them back, anything than this silence that tugged harshly at her heart...

At last it was broken by a gentle cry, sweeter than the nightingale, but still harsh in it's newness. She peered towards the light in her door, not knowing for how long she waited until at last it was broken by a shadow. It contorted the light from underneath the other side of her door.

A sigh. A choked moan. A retreat of footsteps.

There were a couple of hushed voices as two maidservants passed the princesses quarters not long after.

Elsa crawled back to her bed and slept restlessly for the rest of the night.

A Queen must always awake with the rising sun; it is simply not done to do otherwise.

Elsa sprinted to her window and took in the view of the sun peaking up over the high city walls of Arendelle. The morning was a bit cool but it felt like a gentle kiss on her skin. The chill was like a gentle kind of warmth to her. A useful skill to have, for unlike many of maids and servants inside the castle at the moment, her body and breath housed the magic of ice and snow within her core. Anything above freezing was bound to feel hot to the little Princess.

People were just starting to wake up she noticed. Her gaze shifted forward to look across the Fjord and over the hills and mountains beyond. Her face was smashed up against the window as she watched curiously for a while. Satisfied, she finally withdrew herself away to get dressed for the morning. Her hair was pulled back in a loose braid that was quickly coming undone, she'd have to get mommy to fix it after breakfast.

It didn't take her much effort anymore, she had already memorized the layout of the castle floors- and even if she hadn't- she simple needed to follow her nose. She could smell the food being made but she also doubted very much that it was ready to be served yet. So instead, to pass the time, she took the long route that took her through the art gallery room of the castle. One of her favorites, Joan of Arc, was tacked onto the wall but something caught her eye. She quickly dismissed it. Without sparing a second glance, Elsa continued onward feeling a little bit unsettled now.

'Nothing could have happened last night. Everything's fine. Everything was normal.'

After reaching the dining room, Elsa looked around expectantly. It wasn't too unusual for no one to be there; however… Elsa grabbed her chair and pulled it backwards. She squirmed onto the chair from her stomach and turned around to sit herself upright. Her legs were still so small that they didn't quite reach the floor; so she swung her feet in the air as she waited.

Footsteps echoed at the chamber door and Elsa ducked in her chair and hid behind the tablecloth. Footsteps faded away and she jumped up in her chair as her eyes chased after the retreating figure.

'What is it? Oh, it's a servant. That's unusually; why's he wearing black?'

Only a few moments later there was a cart being wheeled in to set the table up for breakfast.

None of the people looked at Elsa, none spoke anything above a whisper, and they never returned an answer to any of her questions. They just withdrew as silently as they had come. To say the Princess was confused was an understatement, and she was about to give up on anyone giving her a straight answer before a regal figure strode into the room.

"Daddy!"

"Elsa," he smiled painfully before quickly masking his expression and looking away.

"What's wrong daddy, are you upset? Are you sad, Do you know where mo-" Elsa's voice cut off in shock. A tear slid down the King's cheek and soon a couple more joined them.

'He was crying!'

"My Princess, Elsa, she's gone." He watched her eyes turn to the floor. "She's not coming back."

Elsa barely understood what he meant, she was barely old enough to know. But she knew that the Queen was gone for good.

She would never see her anymore.

All the paintings done of the queen were draped in mourning curtains.

Her mother not being downstairs in time to tuck her into her chair.

The black outfits all the servants and those working for the household started wearing.

Her father crying.

The screaming/ the panic/ the shouts from last night.

No!

"What about my sister." Her voice came out sounding a lot stronger than she felt.

"She's here. She is alright."

Elsa peered down into her orphaned sister's cradle. She smiled and formed a couple of giant snowflakes before tilting her hands, allowing them to spill over and out. They twirled and danced downwards. They started landing onto her sister, most of them melting at first contact to the newborn's warmth, but one stuck to the little Princess's nose making her sneeze. Brilliant sea-foam eyes opened to peer inquisitively up.

"Hi Anna!"

Baby babble met her response. Elsa crossed her arms and giggled.

Elsa reached down and took hold of the tiny hand that belonged to her sister; her sister squirmed uncomfortably against the cold that was her sister. "Anna," she whispered before she began to cry and withdrew her hand to wipe at the tears streaming down her face. "We only have each other, it's just you and me. What are we going to do?" She paused. Elsa knew the baby was too young to be able to talk to her, but that didn't mean she couldn't.

"I promise; I'll protect you. No matter what, nothing will harm you. I love you lots!" Elsa held up her arms and stretched her hands as far apart as they could go, showing just how much she loved her little sister.

Tired eyes blinked twice at Elsa before closing. After such a rough past few hours, she needed to catch up on a lot of sleep

The blond child crawled down off the side of the cradle and retreated to the door. She had just made a promise that she didn't know she couldn't keep, no matter how hard she tried. But the young queen would keep her promise as best as she could.

Anna grew up with the passing days. Their father, anguished from the loss of his lover, was never around for the rest of their childhood. He was never quite the same.

He was haunted from the passing of the late Queen. He hated himself for letting her die; he was bitter towards Anne for killing her. It was almost a blessing that he found himself distracted by doing the work the kingdom required; Anna wouldn't have been able to cope with his malice towards her accompanied by the loss of her sister. But that is going too far ahead.

"Elsa, wake up, wake up, Wake Up!" Little Anna was shaking Elsa awake way to early for any sane person's taste.

"Go back to sleep, Anna!" Elsa squinted her eyes and pretended to fall back to sleep. Her ploy was discovered and easily seen through by her little sister.

"I can't, the skies awake so-ooo I'm awake." Anna flopped onto Elsa theatrically," So we have-to-play!'

At this Elsa turned around and lightly shoved Anna off the bed. She flopped on the ground and the blond quickly resumed her position in the bed, "Go play by yourself." her voice tinkled lightly in mirth- showing that she was open for negotiation.

Anna took a moment to ponder the situation, Elsa would, every once in a while, respond in this way. And they both knew there was only one way to convince her to play at this late hour. It worked every time, it was fail proof.

"Do you wanna build a snowman!"

Elsa turned around and smiled mischievously.

The room was a mess. The snow had melted away into giant puddles which left the maids- one again- trying to guess what short of shenanigans conspired at twilight hours that could turn an entire floor into a pond. There were many rumors and guesses but none were close to actually hitting the truth.

"We have to leave; remember last time father walked in and caught us!"

Anna winced at the memory and nodded somberly. She glanced at the window and watched as the sun, just barely started to color the horizon, was rising to greet the new day. "Thank you Elsa! That was loads of fun. Oh, let's have a race!"

"A race?" Elsa questioned and smiled lightly.

'Oh, how much more adorable can my little sister possibly get?'

"Yep, A race. On three, Kay?" Elsa nodded and lined up to join her sister behind an imaginary starting line.

"Get ready….: Three!" Anna shot forward leaving behind a stunned Elsa.

"No fair, that's cheating." Elsa gasped quickly catching up to her sister.

"Is not."

"Is to!"

"Is Not! I said on three, so there."

Elsa let Anna win as she always did. They both reached their bedroom with Elsa only seconds behind her little sister. They both raced towards the bed; Anna jumped in first and her sister wasn't far behind tackling her down into the mattress. The younger sister laughed at the sudden assault on her sides and squirmed to get away. After a few moments they collapsed beside each other on the bed, gasping and giggling, before turning into each other.

"I love you."

"I love you more." Anna whispered and snuggled closer. She loved cuddling her sister, even if she was a bit cold.

"I love you most." the blond watched her little sister nod off until she was finally claimed by sleep. Elsa would have to be up soon, but not yet. She shifted her gaze over to watch the horizon play through it's colors as the sun neared the point of breaking the dawn. The North Mountain, just beyond the river-bend, overlooked the kingdom and even more distant places. Places she nor her sister had ever been to before.

Elsa wondered what the sunrise would look like from there.

"Anna what's wrong." Elsa asked concerned; she lightly ran her fingers through Anna's untamed red hair. Her sister only squeezed harder into the fabric of Elsa's dress and shook her head. She stood waited for a moment and petting the crown of Anna's hair. It was only when she had started to hum soothingly for a bit that Anna eventually let go.

"Daddy's angry at me again. There was a pi-g-g. And a b-b-oy… The ocean-" Anna started crying again and Elsa's eyes softened at once. Their father was always finding some reason or another to yell at Anna. It was different with Elsa though, he couldn't even look at her. He'd make a sound of a drowning man whenever he saw her and would turn around to retreat back his office.

Elsa was really beginning to look like her mother, especially when her hair was pulled up into the same style she had seen in all the portraits and paintings of her.

She wanted to look like the queen. Anna never got the chance to see her; she never got to spend time with the Qheen before she died, so Elsa tried to act, speak, and sound just like their mother did- in the same ways she remembered her mother did for her. It was like mom was their right beside her when she did so, and she left a bit of their mother for her sister each time.

She never acted her age anymore, she was in every sense of the word, a mother to Anna. Elsa doted on her little sister and in return was tailed closely by a bright and energetic red-haired girl.

"Anna, he might be a little frustrated, but he's not angry. He loves you and me lots, but he's just unsure on how to go about showing it." Anna nodded quietly. Elsa sighed once more and lightly rubbed her sister's shoulders to comfort her. After the little episode was done, she sent a very-exhausted Anna to bed and walked to the King's office.

'Knock, knock, knock.'

"Enter."

Her father was in his chair reading through several large books. He was distracted enough that he never saw Elsa enter the room. He didn't know she was even there until she spoke.

"You've been reading those damn books for far too long; your going to make yourself sick or senile, crazy old man."

"Sweety, we've been through this before, I kn-" His voice tapered off when he lifted his eyes and settled onto those of his daughter.

'God, she even sounds like her.'

"Anna's crying again. She's upset and thinks you hate her." Elsa paused and cleared her throat, "You should go see her, it would mean a lot to her..." her voice tapered off unsure on how to continue.

They stared silently at each other..

"Well, it would mean a lot to the both of us, really. I hardly get to see you anymore and I would love just a day with you to play around like we use to do."

Again silence. After a time he nodded and pulled away from his desk.

"Okay, l-little princess. I'm feeling tired, I could use a break from all this work." He walked forward towards Elsa and paused just before reaching her.

"Good, let's go see Anna and play in the hall. It'll be just like we did before, only with Anna. Anna and I still go there to play; we're careful when we do though, so we don't get caught."

"Of course, you've always been good at running away." the King smiled when he remembered how she would sprint away to avoid having to go to bed.

Elsa was very good at running away.

So there her father stood smiling as he watched Elsa playing with Anna by using her magic. It was beautiful, she had grown so much in the past few years. He missed her more than he realized.

Anna was happy seeing her father, being able to play with him- although all he really did was stand out of the way and observe them run around in the snow.

Elsa had created a row of banks in front of her that Anna jumped onto. She sprinted up them and looked at her sister begging her to make some more when she reached the end of the line. Elsa smiled and created some more for her sister to jump to. Her smile slowly started to fade as the blond strained to keep up with her little sister's speed. Anna was now leaping out into open air and Elsa was left scrambling to get a snowy bank underneath to catch her before she fell.

"Anna," Elsa shouted out a warning, "Slow down, Anna, your going too fast! I can't keep up!"

"Anna!" Elsa called again.

Anna didn't even here her.

"Anna!" A voice boomed from behind both of them.

Elsa and Anna both flinched when they heard the tone of their father. It took Elsa but a moment to realize she hadn't created a snow pile for Anna to land on. Elsa saw her sister falling down in the air. She lunged forward calling up for more power than she had used ever before in the past, but as she lunged, she lost her footing on the ice.

'Sister!'

A sharp crackle of ice snapped in the air and blasted forward. It struck Anna and knocked her off her ill-begotten course and sent her tumbling down the side of a snow bank.

Elsa was already running before her father could even react. She reached down and cradled Anna's head in her hands and plopped down onto the ground right beside her.

"Thank God! You're okay! Right? Anna-Anna? Anna!" Elsa watched as a white strand form in-between a few strands of her sister's red hair.

Anna was unconscious and didn't hear the cries her sister made. The King approached Elsa and stood silently behind her, his mind seemed to freeze up. Elsa turned her eyes and focused on him through the tears.

"Help- please help her."

"I know where to go."

There is great beauty in your power; but it is also dangerous.

Lock the Gates, close the doors. She must learn to control it.

Fear will be your enemy.

I'm sorry Elsa, but your sister no longer remembers anything about you.

Your magic tried to change her, but it couldn't. She can't remember, and she mustn't.

Sadness swirls within me like the snow.

I've frozen out the only friend I'll ever know.

Conceal it, don't feel it. Don't let it show.

The King was royally angry. Now, it wasn't just one life Anna had ruined, but all of theirs. She not only almost got herself killed but Elsa, his little princess, was now locking herself away inside her bedroom. To keep her promise to her sister. To keep her sister safe; even from the magic inside of her that had never harmed anyone before in the past. Anna didn't have the right to make anyone more miserable, she would stay away from Elsa, she wouldn't destroy Elsa's life anymore.

Anna stood curiously in front of her sister's door.

'Is it normal to have never seen your older sister before?'

"Elsa?"

Silence.

She felt a familiar pang in her heart. The mind can be persuaded but the heart is not so easily changed.

"Do you want to build a snowman with me?"

'Where did that come from. It's not like we could, there's no snow outside.'

"Go Away Anna!"

'Why did that hurt. Seriously, what was she expecting...? But for some reason it still hurt, she thought this was fail-proof. She was expecting something. Wait, why was she expecting something?'

She removed her hand away from the door and smiled sadly.

"Okay, Bye."

And walked away. She would try again, and again. Each time feeling more frustrated than the last.

If she only stayed behind to listen.

She would hear Elsa's heart breaking over and over again. How each one of her innocent questions ripped away at her older sister's soul every time she asked them.

"You were the first promise I broke."