RECKONING

Three days went by after she ran away, and Anna now found herself in Elsa's ice palace, starving, freezing, and just too tired to do anything about it. At least for now. Before escaping from Arendelle palace, she had gone looking for Kristoff. Being the nice guy that he always was, he took her to Oaken's store, gave her some money to buy some clothes, and then let her be on her way without asking too many questions.

Anna gave him the excuse that she had a fight with Elsa, which actually was not too far from the truth, and that she wanted to be alone for a while. Just to think and get her feelings in order. Which also was basically true. Only the part about Elsa was a lie, which was nice, since Anna hated being a liar. And that twist of the truth had only happened because, even though Anna trusted Kristoff implicitly, this new development was… well, a rather delicate matter.

Anyway, at this point, Anna would prefer saying that she had miscalculated the amount of food she needed to stay in the North Mountain for a week, but she had not. Truth be told, she was so upset and angry when she arrived, that she had binged on her stash and ran out of food during the course of the second day.

Spring was here, so the palace was actually not that cold, but it still was cold enough. Especially considering she had been without any food for almost two days. Anna let out a loud sigh. She had gone and done it again. As if completely unable to learn from past experiences. She had jumped head first into a situation with no regard for the consequences. Why was it that oftentimes she did not pay any mind to the immediate future? Feeling exhausted and with nothing else to do, her mind began wandering to dark places.

What if she actually died up here? All alone and unable to ever see her friends or her sister again. Without a chance of telling them how much she loved them. Without ever telling her sister how much she loved her like one should not love a sister.

Yes, Anna had come to terms with her feelings. Or, well, she had at least come to terms with the fact that, if nothing else, she needed to have a serious talk with Elsa.

As the day went by, that possibility began getting more and more out of reach. Anna felt the tiredness grow gradually until it pervaded her entire body all the way to her bones. She had assumed that after a short rest she would have been able to walk down the mountain and at least make it back to Oaken's. Unfortunately, as the hours passed, she just grew more and more tired to the point where her eyes began closing on their own. Anna knew that falling asleep when in risk of suffering hypothermia was the worst thing to do, but she just could not help it anymore.

When the darkness finally claimed her, Anna dreamed of nothing, saw no light at the end of a tunnel, or even witnessed all her memories flashing before her eyes. There was only darkness.

"Anna," a voice called from a hundred miles away.

The redhead thought of begging for five more minutes of sleep as she usually did, but her mouth blatantly refused to obey. It felt as if someone had stuck a bunch of dirty socks in there.

"Anna, please." This time the voice sounded way closer. Like, right beside her.

After a short while, the Princess finally managed to open her eyes if only just a crack. Light immediately assaulted her in very painful ways, and she flinched, swiftly shutting her eyes again. God, she regretted even trying. Now she could feel the stirrings of a headache coming. And add to that the fact that her head felt several sizes too large.

"Oh, Anna!" the voice said right before the redhead felt a weight fall on her chest. "You're all right. You're all right!"

Ah, that weight and that shrill voice were doing wonders for her headache. If wonders were made of pain, that is. Well, at least the weight smelled nice. It smelled exactly as Elsa did after leaving her hair unwashed for a couple days. Wait, what?

Anna realized that the weight had to be Elsa. Her beautiful, sensual sister had gone and rescued her from the North Mountain! Like the heroes from books. Probably. Even though she was undeserving and had filthy thoughts, Elsa had found her and brought her back. She was alive!

"Water…" Anna managed to croak. She really needed to wash down those socks if she wanted to say anything to her sister.

"Oh, yes, of course," Elsa exclaimed and then lifted herself away from Anna. The redhead immediately felt colder.

Anna could hear her sister fiddling with something on the bedside table. It clinked, so it most likely was a pitcher. After a few seconds, the redhead suddenly felt smooth glass pressing lightly against her dry lips. Then, the water began flowing down her parched throat, fresh and revitalizing. For a second, Anna thought that it was almost as good as eating chocolate, but dismissed the notion almost as fast as it appeared. That was, quite obviously, absurd. She probably was delirious if she was thinking such nonsense.

After having her fill of water, Anna was once more claimed by the darkness.

When she woke up again, she felt way, way better. There were no more socks in her mouth, no huge head, and very little pain. Two out of three was not that bad. Even Anna herself could not win them all.

"Anna?" Elsa's voice called from somewhere beside the bed.

With difficulty, the redhead turned her head to one side and found her sister sitting on a wooden chair. It did not look comfortable at all, and the appearance of the blonde confirmed that suspicion. Had Elsa been sleeping by her side? The Queen looked tired and unkempt, which was practically the stuff of legend around these parts.

"Elsa." Anna smiled faintly.

Quite unexpectedly, the blonde lunged forward and enveloped her sister in a tight hug.

"Oh, Anna. I'm so glad you're fine. I was so worried, you have no idea."

"Of course I do, we're sisters, silly."

Elsa let out a relieved giggle and then began sobbing on top of Anna's chest. The redhead could not help feeling horrible. She looked at the trembling form of her sister and realized that now she had one more thing to write down in her list of stupid things she had done that ended up hurting Elsa. Not that such a list actually existed, but Anna considered that maybe she should really start one. As a preventive measure.

When Elsa's sobs finally began calming down, Anna looked down her chest and addressed her sister again.

"I just want to say that I'm so sorry for all this, Elsa."

"What?!" The blonde shot up and sat straight while staring at Anna in complete bafflement. Her sapphire eyes looked so weary. In fact, her whole countenance looked that way.

"If…" Elsa started saying, but seemed unable to find the rest of her words. She then stood up and began pacing in front of Anna, arms wrapped around her own body. Seeing her sister like this broke Anna's heart.

"If anyone has to apologize, it's me." The blonde was still pacing around as she talked. "There were… no… I have all these feelings inside of me. Things that are twisted and wrong."

Elsa shook her head and the pacing intensified. Now she was wringing her hands.

"I was desperate, Anna. I didn't know what to do, and then ended up doing the worst possible thing. Putting all the pressure of my own corrupted feelings on you. I'm so sorry, Anna. I…"

In that moment, the redhead found a sliver of strength and managed to sit up and reach for her sister's arm.

"Shh," Anna said while trying to pull Elsa toward her, but the grip she had on the blonde's wrist was feeble at best.

"No, Anna." The Queen was standing her ground both literally and figuratively.

"Elsa, please," Anna said, extending her free arm toward her sister as if to offer a hug. "Stop that and come here."

"No, you don't understand. I'm your big sister, I was supposed to protect you. What a fine job I've done my entire life! I'm worthle…"

"Elsa!" Anna shouted, startling her sister.

Before the blonde could begin with the self-deprecation anew, she continued.

"If you stop with the apologizing, then I'll tell you a secret. Would you like that, Elsa?"

Of course Anna knew it was a long shot. Even though the redhead was the member of the royal family known for being feisty and stubborn, people had no idea that their Queen was more stubborn than all the mules in the kingdom put together.

Elsa looked away from Anna, and then sighed tiredly after a few seconds. The redhead practically jumped in celebration of her victory. Being in the state she was, though, that would have to wait for another time.

"I would love that," the blonde said, and her eyes softened as the ghost of a smile graced her lips.

This was it. The moment of truth was here. Anna did not know for certain if she was ready, but when had that stopped her ever before? In any case, she had been born ready! Right? All she had to do was collect her thoughts, sift through her feelings, and then try to eloquently put it out there for her sister. Easy peasy.

Then again, this was Anna.

"I liked it!" she blurted, and then stared at her sister while her sister stared right back.

Ah, yes, the familiar burn of flushed cheeks. Anna was certain that, not only did she look like a tomato, she had transformed into one. Yep, she was now a tomato.

"Anna?" Elsa called to her, a little caution coloring her words.

The redhead buried her face in her hands.

"Everything you did to me this past month? I loved all of it, Elsa. There, that's the truth I've been denying even to my own self. Now it's out. Now you know. It's not enough to have twisted feelings for my sister, oh no. You know me, always the competitive one. So, to add insult to injury, I also am a deviant in the bedroom."

There was an awkward silence, and Anna laughed bitterly, her face still hidden in her hands.

"For God's sake, I even liked that dominant side of you! How you ordered me around and acted all queenly in my chambers. How can you even stand me when I'm such a horrible, depraved person?"

Now it was Anna's self-deprecation that got cut short. The temperature in the room had dropped sharply, which startled her enough to look up from her own hands.

Whatever she had been expecting, it certainly was not Elsa dancing in the middle of her room. The blonde slowly spun and twirled on the frozen floor, a gentle whirlwind of blues and whites. She was elegance and delicate beauty made human. As her arms moved with grace across the air, her hands turned daintily in this and that direction, and from the floor began rising a sparkling statue of multicolored ice.

Anna had seen Elsa sculpt things with her magic before, but nothing as complex as this. It was nothing short of awe-inspiring. All the redhead could do was gawk in silence as the sculpture took shape in front of her eyes.

Every detail, down to the strands that made its gown, was perfect. Its flowing clothes and thick waves of hair appeared to be moving, as if caressed by the summer breeze. But its most amazing feature was the way it reflected the rays from the sun. Oh, the way it scattered light! It seemed like every single snowflake that fell around it caused the sculpture's color to shift. There was a living rainbow in her bedchambers, Anna suddenly realized. And for a thing made of something so cold, it certainly had an aura of warmth to its radiance.

"Do you know who this is?" Elsa asked, looking Anna squarely in the eyes.

"I… uh," the redhead stumbled with her own words. History and mythology had never been her strong suit, and this was obviously something taken from either of those. "Is it one of those Goddesses from the old legends? Freyja? Maybe? I don't know…"

Anna sighed and began scratching the back of her head.

"Look closer," Elsa said, pointing with one finger at the face of the statue.

It took her a while, but after much squinting, craning her neck left and right, and making frames with her fingers, the realization finally fell on Anna's lap.

"No," She said incredulously, as if she had just seen people rising from their graves. "Me? That's crazy, Elsa. You've gone crazy."

"You really don't know anything, do you, Anna?" Elsa chuckled lightly and turned her head toward the statue, a loving gaze in those pretty eyes that were so full of devotion. Those eyes that to Anna were like the two most perfect gemstones in the entire world. Sapphires of endless depth that held the power to capture her attention by will alone.

Elsa caressed the side of the sculpture before continuing.

"This is how I see you. This is what you are to me. Never doubt it, never forget it."

To think that she had actually harbored so many doubts about her relationship with Elsa. Yet, here she was, being presented with this beautiful gift from her sister. Anna was perplexed at her own ignorance. The redhead's eyes filled to the brim with tears without any warning, and before she could even think of wiping them away, they fell in thick rivulets down her cheeks.

"Oh, Elsa…" Anna sobbed, and that was all she managed to get out.

Elsa practically pounced on her sister with a single leap, and then their lips met without a hint of hesitation. It was clumsy, it was hot, it was sweet. It was perfection wrapped in one fleeting moment. And yes, to the young Princess of Arendelle, it was in fact better than chocolate. Way, way better.

"I love you, Anna," the blonde said as they separated, staring unerringly into her sister's eyes.

"I love you, Elsa."

FIN