Elsa's eyes shot open. Knock knock knock. The sharp sound reverberated throughout the chambers of the castle. Who the he- oh good Goddamn. Anna. The sense of panic that shot through her system jolted her awake. What is she doing here? No – this can't be happening. She has to leave. Now. The next sound she heard cut her to the core. She had been hearing those words for years.

"Elsa? Elsa, I know you're in there. Please open up."

Flash

Elsa was curled in a fetal position by the side of her bed, trying to recall how everything had been turned upside down so quickly. Just two nights previously, the royal family had returned from visiting the Valley of the Living Rock. The next day, all of Elsa's possessions – bed, wardrobe, everything – had been moved to a separate room, apart from Anna.

The knocking continued. "Elsa? What's happening? Is something wrong?"

The one thing that the future queen could possibly conceive of worse than this moment right now was all the days in the future that would inevitably be the same. Never again would she be allowed contact with her sister, whom she loved more than herself. Never again would the two sneak into the kitchen at night to steal chocolate. Never again would they build snowmen or play in the snow.

"Elsa? It's okay if you're feeling bad. I can come back later."

She stifled a sob, then as she heard small feet walking away, began weeping uncontrollably.

Flash

Unconsciously, her legs had propelled her body to the center of the entrance hall. She could see her sister's figure vaguely through the ice making up the doors.

"Anna! Please! Stay away from me!" Snow flurries were beginning to fall from the air above, lightly dusting the floor of the castle.

"No. Elsa, I am not running from you. Just let. Me. In."

"Please – you're not safe here!"

"Elsa, I am staying right here until you open these doors. And you're going to do that. Right now." Elsa could imagine her sister's actions mimicking her words, her putting a hand on her hip and pointing to the ground in front of her. It almost brought a smile to her lips. Almost. Goddammit Anna. I love your stubbornness – but not now. It's too dangerous.

"Anna! Stop! You don't know what I'm capable of! I don't know what I'm capable of!" The wind that had begun to kick up in the castle in response to her agitation had clearly begun to transmit outside, as was evident in Anna's response.

"You're not going to hurt me, Elsa. Please, just let me in. Please -" Her words were cut off as the doors shattered. Anna, to her credit, didn't even flinch, even when a sliver of ice sliced across her cheek. "E – Elsa," the princess stammered. Elsa watched her sister's eyes rake her body, which felt suddenly exposed. Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit! Turning slightly away from Anna's gaze, she wove her ice dress around her body, completing it with a crown of ice. Her composure however, unlike her attire, was completely gone.

Anna's brain had officially shut down. She had been able to see the ghost of her sister's silhouette through the door. Even that much contact made her warm inside. Everything will be alright. I just need to convince her of that now. All those thoughts flew out of her mind when she actually saw her sister. The shards and ice dust hadn't even hit the ground by the time her eyes found the queen. And HOLY SHIT holyshitholyshitholyshit she was naked. Not a shred of clothing, and looking extremely agitated and angry. And absolutely gorgeous.

"E-Elsa," she managed to get out. What had begun as a cry of joy died in her throat at the sight of the goddess before her. Her eyes, which had momentarily been locked on the blue orbs opposite her, now began to slip farther south, and she was unable to stop. Anna took in her full breasts, tipped with absolutely delicious looking light pink nipples. Her mouth dropped open. Again her gaze locked up, then continued down over the smooth, flat contours of her sister's stomach. Her alabaster skin was pulled taut across the faintest traces of abs. Anna's eyes resumed their journey down, taking in the impossibly thin waist, then the gorgeous hips of hers. Some small corner of her brain reminded her that she was supposed to be in love with Kristoff – what's a Kristoff? – but that was ruthlessly shut down by the rest of her mind.

Anna's eyes flicked up to Elsa's face momentarily, just in time to see a faint frown of confusion mold into one of realization. In a flash, that beautiful body was concealed once more in an ice blue dress. Elsa's eyes connected once more with hers, and she saw a flash of anger in those blue globes, rapidly replaced by concern. Her sister rushed forward, reaching out toward Anna's cheek, but paused just before making contact. She looked absolutely lost.

"A-Anna. You're hurt." She began to draw her hand back to point, but Anna grabbed it quickly and pressed it to her cheek.

I just saw her completely naked, and she's worried about me? "Elsa. It's fine – it doesn't hurt. See? You can touch me. I'm fine. Really." She gave a reassuring, albeit shaky smile. I wonder what it would feel like to hold them, to run my hands over her chest.

Her sister forcefully pulled her hand away, then showed it to Anna. "See? Your blood? I caused that. That was me. My fault. Just like everything else. That is why you can't be here, Anna – sooner or later, I will find a way to hurt you."

The redhead moved forward, grabbing her sister's arms. "You don't scare me, Elsa. You're not this monster people say you are. You're my sister. And I love you." And then some.

Elsa froze. Anna could feel her tense beneath her hands. "W-what?" Her sister's voice was nearly a whisper. The princess frowned slightly. I thought she'd calm down.

"I love you," she repeated. "It's kinda my job you know. I am your sister," she added with a small smile. That did it. A bit. The blonde let out a shaky breath and closed her eyes and slowly nodded, but remained taut as a bowstring.

It's just -" Elsa started, but closed her mouth instead. She looked at Anna with such a look of raw fear and hurt in her eyes that the redhead couldn't help but embrace her sister and hold her tight.

Olaf suddenly made his presence known to the queen. As soon as the doors had exploded, he had been flung back to the head of the bridge and was buried in a snow mound with his two stubby legs poking out of the top. After some struggling, during which he was able to hear the two sisters talking but couldn't discern what exactly they were saying, he had managed to wiggle his way out of the pile. The snowman paused momentarily to readjust his nose, then rapidly waddled over to the pair.

"Elsa! It's so good to see you again! Wow, this thing is still here, huh? Looks – different. Kinda pokey. But it's nice – very nice! Adds a distinctive kinda ambiance to the whole place," he added, waving his fingers about.

Elsa was staring at him over her sister's shoulder with an expression of shock. "Anna? What is he doing here?" she whispered in the redhead's ear, still keeping her eyes glued to Olaf.

For her part, Anna was more than a little annoyed at the interruption. "Olaf, honey? Could you, um, give us some time here? Like, go play with the horse or something."

"Oh, okay! I'll be back soon!" And off he went, talking to himself all the way across the bridge.

Anna re-tightened her grip on her sister, chuckling. "Can't go anywhere without that guy," she said quietly. Remembering what it was that had initiated this embrace, she tried to pull back, but the blonde's grip didn't loosen. "It's okay, Elsa. You'll never hurt me. I'm fine. I'm here," she whispered into her ear. She heard a sound halfway between a cough and a sob come from her sister, and gripped her even closer. A pair of thin, cool arms encircled her – their grasp loose at first, then tighter. Encouraged by this, Anna rubbed her right hand up and down the blonde's back, continuing to whisper words of comfort in the conveniently placed ear next to her mouth. At times, her lips brushed its cool skin, and she thought she felt Elsa shiver – must've been my imagination. Maybe she's cold – but she doesn't get cold. Oh well. At least I FINALLY get contact with her! Part of Anna wanted to jump in the air and punch the sky with excitement, but another, more inquisitive part, wondered what had caused this change.

Elsa, your sister loves you. She's hugging you for Chrissake! She loves you! A small, tiny, almost insignificant part of the queen wanted to jump in the air and punch the sky with excitement and joy, but the vast majority of her being knew that not only that that was most definitely NOT regal behavior, but also in shock as to her sister's admission. Never had anyone told her that she was loved. Hell, at this point I'm not sure what love is. Her parents had taken care of her, of course, kept her fed and clothed, but she had always felt apart from them. At the time, they seemed to continue behaving as they had before, but as she grew older she realized that their attitudes had changed after the Accident.

The first incident she could recall where she noticed something was definitely out of the ordinary was when she turned thirteen. Her first birthday apart from Anna was the hardest, but her parents had been there. There was a dinner in the main hall, complete with a massive chocolate cake. She had asked if Anna could come down and have some, but her father replied that he would have some sent up to her once Elsa had gone to her room. When she became a teenager, though, there was no sort of celebration. Of any sort. When she later asked her mother about it – she had long since realized her father wouldn't provide any meaningful answers – she said that it meant that she was growing up. All the gifts that she received were a letter from her parents on her dresser and an extended time period where Anna waited outside her door for a reply.

Even the servants had begun to look at her differently. Rumor had rapidly spread about the castle among the remaining staff that the young blonde princess was different, though reasons for this varied from her having six toes to having bat-like wings. Gerda and Kai of course did not participate in such gossip, and attempted to quash it whenever they heard it, but to no avail. By the time she was sixteen, Elsa caught wind of a pool that the servants had, betting on what exactly her deformity was. The smart money, she overheard one saying to another, was that she had a vestigial tail. Whenever she tried to bring this up to her parents, though, her mother invariably directed her to the king, and he told her to either take care of it herself or to simply ignore it. Evidently the matters of the state were too pressing to be bothered with a teenager's problems.

They were of course still friendly and amicable with her, but not as she thought parents should be. She wasn't given any room for mistakes – in hindsight, this would prove to be a good thing, especially after their untimely deaths. It wasn't that her father was harsh with her, it was rather his disappointment that she feared. It seemed that she would never be good enough in his eyes. It was because of this treatment that she cherished her memories with Anna. Even the pain of the Accident, which had faded to a dull ache, was looked upon fondly simply because it contained her favorite redhead. Elsa had learned to both fear and welcome her sister's morning requests for entrance into her sanctum. Over time, they had become sporadic, but this only served to lend an air of mystery about them. Sometimes, if she was lucky, she was able to catch a whiff of her perfume that reminded her of pine needles and sunshine – or maybe that was just because you were thinking about Anna. Speaking of...

Her sister had been holding her tight for what seemed like ages without so much as a response from Elsa. Tentatively, she brought her arms up behind the redhead, and when she didn't jerk away, moved them further around and grasped tighter. This feels so – so right. Like we should be doing this more often. When her sister rubbed her back, she laid her cheek down on Anna's shoulder, facing her neck. Suddenly, the blonde felt warm breath wafting over her ear, and every so often, soft downy lips brushing the skin. She couldn't help but think of the dream she had had involving a situation so much like this! and fought back a tremor of excitement. Almost unconsciously, she began nuzzling her sister's shoulder, brushing her nose against Anna's neck.

"E-Elsa!" Anna giggled nervously, causing her head to rocket up, narrowly missing the redhead's chin. "I brought food for you! I thought that – that you might be hungry! I mean, you've been up here for a really long time now, like four or five days and I remembered that you didn't bring anything, and - " Elsa cut her off, laughing.

"Thank you, Anna. That was very thoughtful of you." After a few moments, she continued. "So where is it?"

"Where is what? Oh – the food! Yeah, it's right here!" Anna said, laughing self consciously, and pointed down at the basket she had brought. "I didn't know what to bring, so I just kinda grabbed whatever I could. So can I, you know, come in?"

"Oh – I'm sorry – of course!" The two stepped apart, the queen leading the way inside the castle through the ruined doors. As they passed through, she waved her hand absentmindedly and they reformed.

"That's amazing how you can do that," Anna breathed, looking back at the doors in amazement.

"What? Oh, that," Elsa said. "I just think it sometimes and it appears." She too marveled at the creation, which was much more refined and detailed than the ones they replaced. It's amazing how the design almost frames her head with that red hair of hers – she shook her head, breaking off that train of thought.

"It's beautiful," Anna replied, still looking at the ice. "Just like -" She stopped midsentence, turning very red. She cleared her throat, then picked up the basket again. "So, uh, where should we eat?" Her voice was unnaturally high.

"Well, I don't really have a dining room here..." Elsa said, frowning. "But I can fix that." In a swirling flurry of ice and snow, a table complete with two chairs was formed.

"Wow," the redhead said while her sister looked on with a bemused expression.

"What? It's just a table and chairs."

"I know – it's just- Sometimes I wish I could do that."

Elsa's countenance hardened immediately. "No you don't. Don't ever say that." "Catch me!" She turned away, arms wrapped around her middle.

What just happened? What did I say? Everything was going so well! I thought she was opening up to me finally! One moment, the two had been talking almost like normal sisters, then suddenly the queen had returned to her legendary reclusiveness.

"Elsa? What is it?" Anna tried reaching for her sister, only to have her arm swatted away.

"Anna, don't touch me." The wind had picked up in the castle; snow and ice was beginning to accumulate in the corners.

She lost it. "Dammit, Elsa! What is wrong? We were hugging just a few minutes ago! There's nothing to be scared of! What the hell is going on? What are you so afraid of?" That question seemed to strike a chord in the blonde, making her go rigid.

"What am I so afraid of?" she said in a quiet voice that scared Anna. The calmness of the response, her sister's frigid voice, struck a nerve deep within the princess. "What am I afraid of? My dear sister," she said with a mirthless laugh, "it is you who should be afraid of me." The queen turned, releasing her arms from around her. Her eyes were full of tears.

"Elsa?"

"You don't remember, do you? No, of course not. You don't know what it's like to hold your sister in your arms, not knowing if she is going to wake up. You don't know what it's like to hear she won't remember who you are, what you are capable of. You don't know what it's like to hear her knocking every single fucking day for YEARS! And you can't open the door because if you do you know your sister will be hurt more than you can ever imagine!" She nearly shrieked the last sentence, the tears flowing down her face, grasping her hair as if caught in the throes of madness.

"E-Elsa?" She said in a small voice. Now her eyes were swimming with tears. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"No, you didn't! H'ow could you possibly know? Mother and father always loved you, adored you! You were the normal one, the one who was supposed to get married, have kids and never have to worry about your freak of a sister! This was never supposed to be your problem! Anna, I'm a monster. I've killed people! You say you love me – you don't even know who I am. Somehow, some way, I will find a way to hurt you."

"I don't think you're a freak." A single tear rolled down her freckled cheek. Oh my God. How could she have kept all this inside?

She gave the redhead a small smile that was full of hurt. "Don't you see, Anna? That's what I am. I have no place in this world. I've caused you so much hurt, so much pain. And now all of this," she said, gesturing all around her, encompassing all the events that had transpired over the past week. "You should just go back and marry Hans, get away from here. That way I can't hurt you anymore," she sighed.

"Yeah, about that – Elsa, he's kinda – well, he tried to kill me." She grimaced, bracing herself herself for Elsa's reaction. It didn't help.

"He WHAT? I am going to kill that bastard! I'm going to rip his throat out with my bare hands!" A sudden blizzard erupted in the room.

"No! You can't go back there! His men are still in the city with orders to kill you on sight! It's too dangerous!"

"Then I'll kill them too." The conviction in her voice terrified Anna.

"You – you don't mean that."

"Yes I do. Anyone tries to lay hands on my sister and their life is forfeit. Anyone who stands in my way of justice being served will suffer the same fate."

"And what if I'm that person? What happens if I stand between you and him, to ensure he receives a fair trial?" Anna was scared to hear the response she would receive.

"What? Anna, you can't be serious," Elsa said, her mouth twisting upward. "He tried to-"

"I know what he did, and he will face judgment. But you cannot for any reason, go back there! If you start massacring people in the streets, the people will riot against you. This whole winter-in-the-middle-of-summer thing already has them kinda pissed."

"So what would you have me do? Stay here?" Her rage was gone, replaced by an almost pleading expression.

"Yes." Elsa crumpled to the floor in a heap, flurries of snow drifting around her.

"I am so, so sorry Anna. I never meant for this – for any of this to happen. I wish I had never been born." The queen said the last part softly, so softly that Anna had barely caught it, but it cut her to the core.

"Elsa! Don't say that. Don't ever even think that! I am going to be right here for you. I am not going to give up on you, even if you give up on yourself." I'll never give up on you.

Miles away, deep inside the Arendelle castle, a man awoke to discover his body mutilated and strapped to a bed.

"FUUUUCK!"

Welcome back everyone. Or rather welcome back to me. It's been a while – too damn long, really. A whole bunch of things came up this past semester so I put off writing, but HOPEFULLY I ought to be updating more often. So like once a month instead of waiting like 5 months or something. Enjoy, and continue reviewing and following the hell out of this story. Tell your fellow shippers too. Get the word out. I've got some pretty kickass ideas for this story, but it'll take a while for it all to play out. Just stick it out – trust me: it'll be worth it.