The Kingdom of Arendelle had returned to the usual hustle and bustle that had filled its streets before the Great Freeze. The only difference now was that the castle gates had been opened. Permanently. The decision hadn't been made by Queen Elsa, or rather, hadn't been made willingly. Anna was the one who had assumed the gates would always stay open after Elsa had returned the kingdom to it's former glory. And Elsa hadn't had the heart to disabuse her younger sister of the notion despite one small important fact.

Elsa wasn't ready to open the gates.

She wasn't ready to be surrounded by so many different people after a life of isolation. The elder sister wanted somewhere safe to retreat to at the end of the day's important political meetings. Managing the affairs of an entire kingdom was one matter. Having said entire kingdom wandering the royal palace and grounds was another. But Anna hadn't understood and now Elsa was hiding more and more behind the door that had separated the two sisters for most of their childhoods.

Now Anna stood poised before the powder blue door in the midst of a very important decision. Emphasis on very important. The ginger haired girl chewed her lower lip as she slowly raised a hand in preparation to knock, gentle apologies and heartfelt explanations poised on the tip of her tongue. Oh, how she could explain to Elsa the many ways compromise could be sought. How she might bring Elsa out of her icy shell and watch with joy and delight as it melted away leaving the warm and loving sister she had always longed for.

Almost unnoticeable, a gentle pattern of frost etched itself across the surface of the door, catching Anna's attention and causing her to withdraw her hand. Veins of frost stretched across the painted swirls of blue upon the door. Anna sucked in a breath, feeling the sudden bite of cold in the air, ginger brows furrowing in worry. A small wheedling voice in the back of her mind whispered that forcing her sister to thaw on command wasn't the real answer.

Instead of knocking, the young princess bent forwards and pressed an ear to the chilly surface. Nothing. No sounds at all. For all she knew, Elsa could be up in the observatory tower gazing at stars, or raiding the larder for sweets, or talking to the portraits on the walls ... wait. No. Those were all things that Anna would be doing. She doubted Elsa even knew they had an observatory tower let alone how to get to get there. Exploring the castle had been more her thing. Locking herself behind a door and pushing everyone away out of fear had been more Elsa's thing.

With a sigh the princess pulled away from the door, rubbing at one cold red ear, before tentatively asking, "Elsa? Please, I know you're you in there..." Silence pressed in against the younger sister as she stood alone in the darkened hallway. Words from a long ago plea echo in her mind bringing back the same desperation she had felt upon receiving word of their parents' death.

Anna raises her voice, singing softly, "I'm right out here for you, just let me in." Sun kissed fingertips trace the spiraling fractals racing across the door as the frost increases. Her heart jumps painfully in her chest to see it. No. Not again. "Please don't shut me out again ... please don't slam the door."

On an impulse, the princess wraps her hand around the icy doorknob, giving it an experimental twist. "Remember?" she whispers, the words leaving her lips in a frosty cloud. "You don't have to keep your distance anymore."

Elsa's room has been transformed. Snowflakes hang suspended in the air as Anna steps into the room with a little shiver. Her hands come up to chafe at her bare arms. "Even if I didn't before, I finally understand." She takes a few more steps into the room before her eyes catch the blanket wrapped form resting on the comfortable sitting sofa before the frosted window. "We can find a way to compromise. We can fix this hand in hand."

No response.

Anna sank down onto the floor, dress pooling out around her folded legs, ignoring the freezing cold that was cutting through her to the bone. Words weren't working. Anna nodded once to herself before gathering up her courage. She reached out tentatively, taking in another deep breath of biting cold air, before announcing, "I'm going to touch your shoulder, Elsa. Please don't be afraid."

Despite her warning, the covered shoulder flinched when Anna's fingertips grazed against the blanket. The younger girl didn't give up, rubbing slow soothing circles against her older sister's shoulder, subtly moving closer to where Elsa laid. The other girl shifted her shoulder causing Anna's hand to fall away. Still, she refused to speak.

Anna's face scrunched up as she pulled her hand back to rest against her chest. Even if she was sitting right besides her sister, she might as well have been standing out in the hall again, with that same blue door closed once more in her face. "Elsa ..." The princess thought hard before resigning with a sigh and letting her head rest lightly against Elsa's back. Anna stared down at the ice covering the otherwise comfortable cushions of the sitting sofa and wondered how her sister never felt the cold that would otherwise send her running. "... I'll tell you a secret. But only if you promise not to tell anyone else."

That got the other girl's attention. Elsa turned, even if only a little, and the blanket slipped off enough so that her silky platinum blonde hair was visible.

"I love the gates being open. I love being able to greet all the people in the town whenever I want. But ..." She reaches out and tugs the purple blanket back up over where it had slipped down over Elsa's shoulder. "Even I get overwhelmed sometimes. And if I'm feeling swamped, then I know you've got to be feeling absolutely crazy."

Anna blinked and scooted back as her sister slowly raised up from where she'd been laying on the plush sitting sofa. Elsa looked down at her younger sibling uncertainly as though if unsure of whether or not to believe her words. The ice queen ran a hand through her perfect hair and the princess watched as it unbelievably fell back into place.

"That's so unfair," Anna blurted out, pointing to the other girl's hair.

Elsa, for her part, appeared confused, looking at her hand that had moments before combed through her hair. "Wait. What's unfair?"

Anna gestured to her older sister and said in exasperation, "That thing you just did with your hair! You're always so perfect!"

A small smile begins to form on Elsa's lips causing a flush to sweep up Anna's face. "N-Not that you're always perfect, I mean we're all human even if you do have these weird ice powers. I-I didn't mean weird powers, just supernatural, like, super extraordinary! Like your perfect hair!" Anna gestures to Elsa with a faint grimace at how badly she was failing at this moment. "No matter what, you always have perfect hair, even in the middle of that snowstorm you raised you had perfect hair! I've even seen you sleeping and still it's perfect! Whenever I sleep, I always wake up with the absolute worst case of bed head and-"

"You've seen me sleeping?"

'Way to stick your foot in your mouth,' Anna thought, giving in to her embarrassment and burying her face in her hands. She sat there and swore that when she next opened her mouth it would be to do what she'd came here. To reassure Elsa. 'Hey, we could close the gates, what was the big deal anyways? Sure, it'd be nice to have them open every once in a while, but we can work around your schedule to make you feel more comfortable, because hey, who doesn't get tired of people asking you a gazillion and one questions all the tim-'

Cold hands gingerly took Anna's hands away from her face, leaving the girl to stare up at her big sister in complete embarrassment. Elsa watched the emotions flash across Anna's face and when the red head opened her mouth, pressed a chilled fingertip against her lips. That adorable flush only increased as Elsa brought her hands up to cradle the younger girl's face, thumbs stroking over red cheeks. 'So warm,' she thought as the room around began to slowly thaw.

She had been feeling horrible for weeks now. So many people surrounding her at all hours of the day, royal visitors asking for this favor or that law, servants accidentally bumping into her when she sought escape, and Anna at the center of the chaos, looking so very happy. The frost spiraling across the window panes began to slowly condense and streak down to the window sill, melting as Elsa said, "I thought you would have outgrown sneaking into my room a long time ago, Anna."

'And there it is. That blush hasn't lost it's charm even after all these years,' Elsa thought with a secretive smile, feeling the new flash of heat hit her cold hands, Anna whining in protest.

"Jeez, it's not like I was being a total creep or anything! I mean, if anyone else had snuck into your room while you were asleep, I can totally get behind that being creepy. I mean, ick, really? But I'm your sister, and sometimes I just get so worried, like maybe you're having bad dreams, or your powers are taking control again..."

Elsa's face fell and she tried to stem the flow of Anna's words. "Anna..."

"No!" Anna took Elsa's hands in hers and said, "I worry Elsa. I worry that you'll shut me out again, just like you had to thirteen years ago. I understand. You had reasons. But I don't want to lose you again, and if the gates being opened means you're just going to lock me out again..." Anna's words spilled out of her mouth so fast that she lost her steam, taking in a deep breath, before seeing the crestfallen look in Elsa's ice blue eyes. She tried hard to ignore the pressure building up behind her eyes as she feebly admitted in a small voice, "...I'd rather the gates be shut forever. So long as I don't have to lose you again."

Elsa watched in shock as tears began to gather in Anna's eyes, reaching out with a soft sound of pain to gather her sister to her in a cool embrace, whispering, "Oh, Anna. That's never going to happen. You won't lose me." Her sister smells like sunshine, of things warm and alive, and as Elsa closes her eyes, she adds softly, "You might have lost me once, but please believe me, you will never lose me again. Didn't you know?"

Anna sniffled, fighting back the tears as they came, burying her burning face into Elsa's shoulder.

"What?"

Elsa smiled as she brought one hand up to stroke at the single thick line of white streaking ginger hair.

"You have and always will be my heart."

A/N: So. A fic of love beginning to bloom or just sisterly affection. Call it whatever you will but I like to think of this fic as an Elsanna one. We'll see how well I do at writing a different prompt for this fandom a day, so expect to see a variety of one shot chapters here. If you like a particular story somewhere along the line and are just dying to see it continued as a multi-chaptered fic, please share that in a review and if possible, I'll start a separate story with updates specifically pertaining to that plot. Also. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Have a great one. Peace!