This story was written for the Elsanna Shenanigans December 2019 Contest with the prompt being small town (word limit: max. 3k words). Please check out elsanna-shenanigans on tumblr for more information on the monthly prompt contests or join us on discord at discordDOTgg/TU9NpnH (you know what to do with that DOT).

Somewhere Only We Know

There are cities, there are towns, small towns, reeeeally small towns… and then there's Arendelle.

It wasn't exactly that small if you looked at it on the map, but a huge part of what belonged to the Arendelle town grounds were woods, lakes and meadows. Buildings were few and far between, the entire town square made up of literally a gas station and one shop, but people lived there since the dawn of time and didn't seem to give up on the idea anytime soon.

Everyone knew each other.

And when Anna said everyone, she meant literally everyone, unless they were a baby not yet capable of recognition. Though even then, everyone would know that baby. What was the baby's name, what it looked like, when it was born, and before that–the mother's due date. Everyone. Knew. Each. Other.

Which is why growing up in Arendelle was… hard. Super hard. Mega extra hyper turbo hard. Made a mistake? The town remembers. An embarrassing thing? The town remembers. Accidentally called the principal of the tiny elementary school mom? The town remembers.

Spilled out your sister's deepest secret? The town would remember.

Which is why, ever since she was old enough to understand what it meant, Anna made sure to never, ever, not in a million years tell anyone about Elsa. About what Elsa could do. About Elsa's powers.

The town was small and the townspeople small-minded. They would never understand.

"Elsa!"

That she still had the energy to shout after running so much amazed her, but she didn't have the time to stop and think about it.

"Elsa!"

She saw Elsa run off into the woods just in the nick of time. Had she looked in that vague direction a second later, she wouldn't have a single clue of where to search for her. "Elsa-haaa!" Not that it mattered terribly, anyway. It was the freaking woods. With trees. And bushes. And wild animals that could have well eaten Elsa at this point anyway. "Elsa!"

That last shout sounded a little more desperate that she'd meant to.

"I'm here, Anna."

The voice, quiet and calm, almost scared her right out of her shorts. For a brief moment she couldn't even figure out where it came from; Elsa was nowhere to be seen, not hiding in the bush, not sitting in a tree, almost as if she–

"Are you underground?"

It was so stupid she almost couldn't believe she said it. It's not like Elsa, her calm, beautiful, collected sister would–

"Yes."

"What."

Elsa sighed. "Circle the tree."

Anna did just as she was told, mouth just short of hanging open as she stepped down a tall ridge, along the giant roots of– some old tree. She wasn't really good with trees. It had leaves and not pines, and that was the extent of her tree knowledge. A few seconds passed that she stared at the dirt wall in front of her now, almost certain Elsa was toying with her and sitting somewhere in a branch or whatnot, before she saw it. A small, unseeming opening between hanging vines– ivy?– plant-y stuff.

She kneeled down before it and, bravely, put her head inside.

A large, dark burrow was not something she really expected to see. And Elsa, sitting with her knees up to her chin and her back against the dirt wall, wet and covered in mud was something she really didn't expect to see.

"Are you okay?" she asked with the proper amount of forethought fitting a nine-year old. Were her hands not full of plants, she'd slap her forehead.

"No."

"Right, sorry."

"No, Anna, it's not…" Elsa trailed off, finally turning to face her. It was hard to tell in the dark, but Anna was pretty certain she saw fresh tear-washed lines on her dirt-covered cheeks. "It's not you. I'm sorry."

That was her cue. She lunged in (trying not to think of the various disgusting bugs that had to be there, ew) and caught the dirty woodland creature in the vague shape of a pre-teen girl in the strongest hug she could. "You're stupid," she said into Elsa's hair, receiving a half-choked grunt in response. "You have nothing to be sorry for, you hear me?"

Begrudgingly, Elsa nodded, Anna's head bobbing along.

"What happened? I only saw you run."

She let go of Elsa just enough to let her talk.

"A girl–" she stopped, obviously holding back a sob. Without even thinking much, Anna grabbed the rim of her own shirt and at least tried to wipe Elsa's cheeks. "A girl pushed me. On the canoes." It was the field trip day for their little school, and this time they made it aaaaall the way over to the lake 5 miles South, almost right where Elsa and Anna lived with their parents. Fun. "I f-freaked out and I–"

She stopped, and Anna could feel what she meant. Her entire exposed arms got cold, and ice cracked on the dirt wall.

That was bad. She'd hoped it wasn't that, but it was that, so now there was only–

"Did she see?"

Elsa shook her head. "I don't think so. But I tripped and fell in the water and they laughed…"

Anna patted her hair.

"That's okay, no big deal. They'll have something else to laugh about in like a few hours, don't worry."

Again, the utmost confidence of a nine-year-old. Man, she was good at giving advice.

"Thanks, Anna."

"And if you tell me the name I'll push that girl back for you."

"There's no need."

Anna shrugged. "If you say so. But I could totally do that."

She settled in next to Elsa, resting her head on the taller–for now! Anna really hoped she was gonna get taller than her soon–girl's shoulder.

"How did you find this place anyway?" she asked after a while, watching the little bit of sunlight that made it through the vines dance on the opposite wall.

"I tripped over one of the roots and fell inside."

"Like Alice," Anna sighed dreamily. "But like, no rabbit. Or cool stuff."

"Yeah, no cool stuff. Just an obnoxious brat."

"Hey!"

Elsa nuzzled into her hair with a giggle. "I'm joking, dummy. I love you."

"Love you too."

When everyone in your town knows everyone, everywhere and everything, having one place not a single soul knows about is a blessing.

"I knew you'd be here!"

Instead of a real answer, she could only hear Elsa sniff, her face turned away from the burrow's entrance and, consequently, away from Anna's flashlight and concerned gaze.

She got in as swiftly as she could, cursing as she hit her head on the 'ceiling' of their little hideout. It was getting harder to fit inside with every time she visited.

"Elsa?" She placed a careful hand on Elsa's knee, waiting for any sign of her flinching away, but Elsa just sat as she did, slumped and miserable, cheeks glistening in the faint light of Anna's flickering flashlight. "Hey, come on… look at me."

Reluctantly, as if it brought her physical pain to do so, Elsa raised her head and locked eyes with Anna. She looked tired, more so than Anna'd ever seen her before, like she'd missed a good few nights of sleep in a row.

"Shit, you look like a zombie."

That, while completely not thought-through, surprisingly made Elsa huff with a tiny laugh. "Don't swear," she said quietly, dropping her head back down to rest her chin on her knees while Anna shuffled to sit beside her, crammed between the cold dirt wall and her admittedly not very warm sister. "What are you doing here?"

Anna sent her a sideways look. "Looking for you, duh." She rolled her eyes, bumping her shoulder into Elsa's. "What about you?"

Elsa shrugged.

"Come onnnnn..."

No reaction.

"Don't make me tickle–"

"Please don't," Elsa said hurriedly, putting her hands up as if she was ready to push Anna away the very second she started something fishy. Which she'd already started, but she made it seem like the arm snaking around Elsa's waist was just there to hug her by pulling her in tighter. "I don't know what I'd…"

She tried to worm her way out of Anna's embrace, but now Anna was determined not to let go. "You wouldn't do anything," she said calmly, watching Elsa's expression shift from fear to doubt. She placed the trusty flashlight on the ground before them and used the now free hand to cup Elsa's cheek. "You wouldn't do anything bad to me."

Elsa shook her head, fresh tears now rolling down Anna's fingers.

"You don't know that," she muttered in a defeated voice, but she made no attempt to pull away from Anna again.

"I do know that," Anna assured her quickly, rubbing the tears away. "Because you love me."

She leant in to kiss the tip of Elsa's nose.

"And I love you. I'll be fine."

The work was shoddy at best, but at least with the hazardously nailed together planks on the ceiling and walls dirt was no longer crumbling right onto their heads, and the thick layer of cardboard on the ground kept most of the cold from freezing Anna's butt off.

"I swear," she said as they sat with their little travel lamp between them, Elsa's head on her shoulder as she still sobbed quietly, loose hair covering her face from Anna's eyes. "If he shouts at you like this again I'm gonna fight him."

Elsa swallowed down a sob and buried her cheek deeper into Anna's collar. "You will do no such thing."

"Oh, but I will. I just swore."

At least she got her to giggle.

"I love you," Anna said softly into the crown of her head, placing a little kiss there to prove the point. "And I'd never want to lose you. But sometimes I think you should just–"

She coughed. Wow, this was much harder to say than she'd thought.

"–just get away. From– from here."

She pulled her in closer as Elsa gave her a faint nod. "I hate this town," she said quietly, her hand on Anna's stomach twitching nervously.

"I know." Anna covered her hand with her own and intertwined their fingers. "Hey, but you're almost eighteen. You can totally move out."

She ignored the sharp pang of pain in her heart.

"But I–" Elsa shifted even closer. "I don't want to leave you."

Anna forced out a laugh. "If you think I wouldn't follow you the second I could–"

"I'm serious, Anna."

There was regret in her voice, but something fiery dancing in her eyes when Anna looked down at her, something fierce in her furrowed brows, and something in the way her lips were just the tiniest bit parted–

Anna kissed her.

Not a sisterly kiss on the nose. Not on the cheek. Not the forehead. Anna kissed her on the mouth, with her free hand tangling in that beautiful fair mane to keep her steady, but Elsa was not moving away. Anna's tongue slid past those parted lips, past a row of perfect teeth and around a cold tongue as Elsa let out a shaky breath through her nostrils, and a quiet moan reverberated in her throat. She tasted of salty tears and just a hint of the cherry gum she'd chewed when they got here. Anna could get lost in that taste forever.

But suddenly the cold mouth was unbearably cold, and the lips stung like a popsicle you'd suck on for too long.

Anna broke away with a gasp, her lips numb and jaw stuck, teeth exploding with pain as every individual nerve coated with frost.

There was blood on Elsa's lips and horror in her eyes.

She did keep up the promise.

They came back home a few hours later, when Anna's cracked lips already stopped bleeding, but her tongue was still too numb for her to speak with ease, and most of the skin around her mouth was still frostbitten.

"What the hell did you do."

They were spotted before they even had a chance to move for the stairs.

Elsa's hand gripped hers tighter. "I– w-we were playing," she stopped to look at Anna, who nodded, unable to confirm otherwise. "I accidentally threw a snowball at Anna's face–"

Their dad looked furious. "I told you to never use this– this thing."

"I'm sorry–"

"We talked about it this morning!" he screamed, and suddenly Elsa was so small at her side she was afraid she might disappear. "If anybody saw you…"

"Nobody did," she added quickly, tears streaming down her face again. "We were alone, I swear."

"You were ALONE!?" He moved over to grab Elsa's wrist and yanked her harshly. Elsa lost her grip on Anna's hand as she stumbled forward. "What if you did anything worse to her, you stup–"

With his hand still raised in an attempt to strike her, he fell down on his side, cursing as his hip hit the hard floor. Anna stood over him, fuming, one arm draped protectively around Elsa, the other hanging by her side, fist shaking with fury.

"Don't," she croaked out, hot breath like a thousand knives on her thawing tongue. "Touch. Her. Ever."

His wide eyes dashed between their faces. "Go to your rooms," he growled, but he made no attempt to get off the floor. "Now."

Anna steered Elsa up the stairs, to her own room, and locked the door behind them.

In the end, even once she was eighteen, Elsa couldn't leave. Their father made sure to make that as difficult as possible. And as days, weeks, months, years passed, it was slowly becoming wiser to just wait for Anna.

The quaint, small town became their prison.

"... and then we dash. We could take the car, but then he'd have something he could lawfully expect back," Anna continued her master plan, watching Elsa play with a flurry of snowflakes in her palm. They sat in their usual hole, cuddled close together on the pile of couch cushions Anna had been gradually hauling there every now and then. With the orange glow of their small kerosene heater as the only light source, Elsa's eyes gleamed golden over their usual blue. "Unlike us. He'll never get us back."

Elsa hummed, shifting under the thick duvet to cross her legs over Anna's.

"You're eerily calm."

She sighed. "I'm just… so ready for this to be over. I don't even care where we go, so long as he doesn't know," she breathed out, closing her palm, the snowflakes disappearing into nothing. Outside, behind the trap door Anna installed last Winter, an actual blizzard howled. "But I'll miss this place."

Anna looked around. Over the years, her handiness picked up considerably. The walls and ceiling were neatly supported by planks, with actual heat isolation to keep them warm on nights like this. The cushions covered almost the entirety of the wooden floor, the trap door held tight and safe with sturdy locks, and their newest addition–the heater–really made it easy to spend a night even in the dead of Winter. Whenever they needed to get away.

"Yeah, me too."

Elsa suddenly snuggled so close to her she almost toppled Anna over, placing those cool lips that Anna grew to practically worship close to her ear. "There's one thing I want to do here before we leave."

"What thing?"

Elsa slid further into her lap.

"Oh."

With a smile, she locked her lips with Elsa's.

By the time the Spring came, everything was ready.

They drove in silence, Elsa curled up in the passenger seat, only the sound of their bags clattering in the backseat with various objects inside whenever they hit a bump in the road breaking the constant hum of the engine.

It was four in the morning. Not the perfect time for Anna to be awake, but the only time they could count on for their dad to be deep asleep. She'd snuck out two hours earlier, leaving a very worried Elsa waiting on her bed with all the bags already packed and ready, though Anna knew that as soon as she left Elsa would find another bagful of little things she simply had to take with her. She'd practically ran to where she'd parked the car–their own car, bought with their own money saved over the years, they were not going to give him any reason to contact them–in the forest nearby the night before.

She'd arrived on the driveway with her headlights off just before three. The window opened almost immediately, and Elsa threw her the first of the bags.

Catching Elsa herself as she jumped out the window and kissing her deeply right in front of their now-old living room window would be forever imbedded in her mind.

She rubbed her eyes, fighting to stay awake and on the road when something in the distance caught her attention.

"Elsa," she husked out. "Ellllsa." When that didn't work, she placed a hand on her bare knee, careful to avoid the flowerpot with the tiny tree sapling sitting in her lap.

Elsa snapped out of her half-slumber and looked at her, then followed Anna's pointing finger to the sign by the road.

Now leaving Arendelle. Come back soon!

"Never," Elsa whispered, shifting to the other side of the seat to rest her head on Anna's shoulder.