Episode 12: Broken Promises, Empty Words

Elsa knew Anna was already awake when the tea in her cup suddenly went from its relatively undisturbed state to producing tiny, rippling waves. This signaled that the strawberry-blonde whirlwind was fast approaching the dining hall. Draping a blanket around her cast to make it less conspicuous, Elsa brightened her countenance in anticipation of sharing breakfast with her younger sister.

Anna, however, seemed to have other plans. Rather than her usually bright and cheery self, Anna had a worried look on her face and withdrawn demeanor when she entered the dining hall.

Elsa's face flashed with concern, though it wasn't enough to override fulfilling her small wish of sharing breakfast with Anna despite the younger girl's sullen mood. "Are you alright, Anna? Would you like to have some breakfast with me?" Instead of wherever it is you're heading off to…

Anna approached the table but didn't take a seat, just hovering near her usual place and tracing the armrest of her chair. Her face held a pout, eyes downcast and it was as if to have a raincloud hovering above her that threatened to burst. Whatever was bothering her, it seemed, was really serious. The worst part was that she didn't even seem to want to share her problem.

"Come now, Anna, tell me what's bothering you. After all, a shared burden is a lighter one," Elsa coaxed, echoing a sagely proverb she heard recently.

All she received in response was a shake of the head. No.

Guess I'm going to play 20 questions, Elsa thought as she began her inquiry, "Is it school?"

"School's fine, Els," Anna sighed as she reached for a biscuit. As if sensing Elsa's barrage of questions soon to follow, Anna made a quick follow-up statement. "Um…I'll be out today. I'll be hanging out with Kristoff."

"Oh." The disappointment in Elsa's voice was palpable, but she tried to mask it as best she could. "Well, don't stay out too late," she said cheerfully, reaching for Anna's hand.

When she was given a puzzled look, Elsa went on. "Let's go out to dinner tonight. You and me. And not fast food either. I'm thinking sit-down restaurant. Your choice. I'll make reservations for this evening." Stop babbling like an idiot, Elsa, the older girl warned herself. She looked at Anna expectantly, waiting for the younger girl's response and hoping that she would accept her proposition, or at the very least, have the promise of dinner out lighten her mood.

Like a sunbeam breaking through rainclouds, Anna's face indeed brightened a little bit. "Okay," she gave Elsa a small smile, "I like eating out."

"So, where are we going tonight?" Elsa replied.

"I'm feeling some breadsticks and pasta, so…how about that Italian restaurant? The Olive Patio?"

"It's a deal, then! If you do arrive a smidgen earlier than me, don't finish all the breadsticks." Elsa joked.

Anna grinned back and replied with another proverb, "The early bird gets the worm, Elsa."

The Smokin' Oaken was quickly becoming Anna and Kristoff's usual rendezvous point. When Anna arrived at the café, Kristoff was already there, as usual. He had a cup of coffee between his hands, looking worse than he had the last time they met. He looked tired, and had the beginnings of dark circles forming around his eyes.

He wasn't just looking physically awful. His actions showed that he was nervous and jittery, often running a hand through his hair, making it more tousled than it already was. This made Anna feel even worse than she did when she received his message that morning to come meet her at the café as soon as possible, wanting to talk to her about something. Although the message didn't state what he wanted to talk to her about, Anna was 99.9% sure that it would be "20 Questions about the Snow Queen."

When Kristoff caught sight of the girl, he quickly called a waiter over and ordered a hot chocolate for Anna. "Hey," Anna began, accepting the hot chocolate that was soon brought to her. "Hey yourself," Kristoff nodded, trying to appear relaxed.

"So, that hostage situation yesterday," the blond went on, "pretty big, huh? And it happened like right after we separated."

"Yeah," Anna nodded, taking tiny sips of her beverage to calm her nerves.

"We shouldn't have split so early, though," The reporter continued, "I missed a great opportunity to meet the Snow Queen." Anna tried not to cough when she heard that bit of news.

"Don't try to act surprised. I saw you leave with her yesterday, Anna, and I hope you didn't forget to ask her some information." Kristoff said, looking directly at his companion.

Anna fell silent as she pondered on her dilemma, wondering why she dug herself into a hole by agreeing to meet with Kristoff that day.

Although her meeting with the Snow Queen ended far into the night, she totally forgot to ask any Kristoff-relative questions to the vigilante. Whenever she was around the blonde, it seemed, everything else seemed to be insignificant; even disappointing Kristoff again.

"I'm sorry," was all she could manage before seeing Kristoff's shoulders droop even lower, signaling that she increased his woes. "Really, she's just really secretive and doesn't like to share information…"

"Or it's you who doesn't want to share information!" Kristoff interrupted, surprising Anna.

This didn't seem like Kristoff at all, he seemed really aggressive today. And his unfounded accusation set Anna off. "Why are you so intrigued about her, anyway? I mean, your news vans are always there every time she appears, so why do you need her personal information to gossip away to the public? Don't forget, she's a human being too! She isn't public property!" Anna shot back, intent on defending the Snow Queen.

"She's a celebrity, Anna! People want to know who—or what exactly—is protecting them! And it's my job as a reporter to let them know!"

"She's not a celebrity, Kristoff. There's a difference! She's just someone who keeps the peace like the police officers do, except she has powers!" Anna briefly paused for breath, "But if you want information that badly, here's something for your headline. The Snow Queen is a really private person, so she'd appreciate it very much if news teams will respect that and leave her alone."

Before Kristoff could reply, Anna placed a bill and some coins on the table. "I'm done here. Thanks for the hot chocolate."

Elsa was not having a smooth day, either.

Of all days for everything to go awry, Elsa thought, staring at her dead phone. She let out an irritated sigh, watching the clock's hands moved ever closer to 7:30 P.M. She was supposed to meet Anna half an hour ago, but some things had to be done. Elsa tried to send Anna a message telling her that she was running late, but before she could press "SEND," her phone died, and she'd left her phone's charger at home.

To add to her woes, Ingrid, the woman she hired as a scribe for the day, had beautiful writing, but her pace could be comparable to a turtle—or maybe a snail.

Why doesn't she know shorthand?! Elsa frowned as watched with mounting frustration her hired note taker slowly wrote the day's inventory in the company record books. Since Elsa's right arm was bound by a cast, she couldn't take her own notes and couldn't read the chicken scribble made by her left hand. Plus, with Gerda and Kai were busy meeting with some new investors, Elsa had no choice but to hire Ingrid.

Trying to speed things up in order to be on time for her and Anna's dinner date, the CEO managed to take some of the more important notes during the day's meetings by typing on her laptop, but one working hand can only do so much.

"Ingrid," Elsa began, "I appreciate you helping me out and all, but can we maybe speed it up a little? I have somewhere to be right now." The heavyset woman frowned, but grunted and gave a slight nod. Elsa watched the pen moved a fraction of a second faster. Elsa was about to tell her to speed it up once more, but a soft knock on her door interrupted her thoughts.

"Miss Elsa?" Kai announced as he entered the office, "I can take over from here. Anna just called me and said she was about to leave the Olive Patio. I told her you're on your way now, so she should sit tight for about fifteen minutes more. Things are just running a little…slowly." Kai gave a quick glance at Ingrid, before he continued, "I've already alerted Leif to pick you up."

"Thank you, Kai." Elsa breathed in relief as she bid farewell to the pair.

The normal ten-minute drive to the Olive Patio turned into forty. Traffic was heavy, as it was already the evening rush hour. Elsa borrowed Leif's phone in an attempt to contact Anna, Kai, or Gerda, but to her dismay, the man's phone book was completely empty.

"You don't have anyone's numbers on your phone?" Elsa asked him, trying to keep a level tone to mask her frustration.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," came the reply, "that's actually a new phone. The old one crashed this morning and I haven't had the chance to transfer my contacts to this one."

"…Thanks anyway," Elsa replied as she handed it back. As soon as the car's wheels came to a halt in front of the restaurant, Elsa jumped out and dashed inside, her eyes quickly scanning for a familiar almost-but-not-quite redhead.

"May I help you, miss?" the maître d' asked.

"Has the other guest on the reservation of 'Elsa' arrived?" Elsa asked.

"Yes, but I regret to say that she left around fifteen minutes ago." He responded.

"…I'll pay for whatever's been ordered."

"No need. She didn't order anything. The little miss just had our complementary bread sticks, so we can't charge anything for that."

Elsa mumbled her thanks as she exited the restaurant and made her way back to the car. "Was I too late, ma'am?" Leif asked apologetically as Elsa climbed aboard.

"Let's go home, Leif." The blonde responded as she fell back, exhausted, on the soft leather seat.

"At once, miss Elsa."

On the drive home, Elsa cradled her head in her hands. She would have a lot of explaining to do to Anna, but she knew that the younger girl always tuned her out when it came to "The Business." Elsa frowned as she changed position to lean her head against the cool window pane, wondering how to make amends with Anna and have the younger girl hear her out. Suddenly, she was hit with a flash of inspiration.

As Elsa, she couldn't reach Anna. But as the Snow Queen, well, it was worth a shot.

Author's Notes: Anyone has that day when everything that needs to go right just goes all…wrong? Isn't it really frustrating?! Anyway, I'm sorry! I know most of you have been wanting an Elsanna moment right now! But maybe there will be one in the next chapter? *hint* *hint*Stick with me, folks! I mean, Elsa's got a loooooooot of explaining to do. But actions speak louder than words, right? Hint, hint, hiiiiiiint. And as for Kristoff, I won't spoil you, but he's not a bad guy, I promise! I would NEVER do that to him. :D

A big welcome to 'Snowflake's' new followers! OMYGOSH we hit 400! I'm so happy! Thank you, all! I hope you're enjoying the ride so far. Big thanks those who took the time to drop me some kind words of encouragement: TheElementHero, Z3R0-TH3-H3R0, battousai24, imsorrymissamerica, Spikesagitta, NoblePlatypus (whoa! Thanks for reviewing on previous chapters too! :) Gladly appreciated!), pandypaws, patronustrip, Swagrias, northernlamplights, KroganThrashballer83, tutta88, thewordlessthinker, JPElles, and anon!

Spikesaggita: Gerda is Elsa's Chief Operating Officer (COO) [Episode 4]:)

Swagrias: Thank you! I'd really appreciate that. I appreciate any and all help!

northernlamplights: Eeep! Thanks for pointing out my typo! I'll get it fixed :) And thanks for your kind words! I do enjoy both art and writing :)

KroganThrashballer83: Thanks so much! That's really encouraging! For me, it's a delicate balance trying to develop a normal pace towards Elsa and Anna's more-than-sisterly affection towards each other. I'm trying my best to make it as natural as possible, not just having one or the other wake up and suddenly feel, "Oh, I'm in love with my sister."

tutta88: Aww, thank you! :) I'm glad that you're enjoying this!

JPElles: Thank you! All will be revealed sooner than you think :)

All those who followed, fav'd, and reviewed, once again, thank you! Here's to the next episode.

~MidnightStriker